Embracing Transparency

By: Justin Donnini

At Top Group Media we pride ourselves on being thought leaders; someone who looks at how things work in a unique way. It’s reverse engineering something to spot an opportunity to improve an industry. It’s not an attitude but a way of life.

I’ve recently been reading “Friction: Passion Brands in the Age of Disruption” by Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg. In the book, the authors describe how mobile devices are changing the way people receive ads. With people’s ability to swipe away & remove ads without thinking twice, effectively marketing to a targeted audience becomes an ever-more-difficult balancing act.

They point out that millennials & Generation Z will not tolerate paid disruptive ad campaigns. This realization came about as one of them watched a YouTube video with their daughter. Before the video played an ad ran. After the ad he paused the video to ask his daughter what the ad was about. She had no idea. He asked her again, this time to think hard about what the ad was about, she still couldn’t do it. She had tuned out the ad entirely.

That was his ‘Eureka’ moment. The younger generation is getting so desensitized by social media that in a split second an advertisement is either accepted or rejected by our subconscious. In order for brands to resonate with their target market they have to fundamentally change the way they look at marketing. Brands who embrace transparency are the ones who are seeing positive returns year after year & creating brand evangelists.

This is known as a qualitative approach to marketing. They empower their consumer’s with informative marketing, instead of marketing campaigns driven by a ROI. They realize and utilize the transparency in our lives. They embrace the fact that their social responsibility is to make the world a better place with their products.

Patagonia is one of the better examples when discussing transparency. Before Patagonia was Patagonia, the founders developed a strong brand called Chouinard Equipment, selling rock climbing equipment. They grew Chouinard Equipment to become the largest supplier of climbing hardware in America. After years of success, the founders were coming down from a familiar climb & saw how damaging their product was to the environment. They promptly phased themselves out of a proven market. They did this for the greater good of their brand & the environment. They redeveloped the equipment & took the first major steps toward revolutionizing brand behavior.

A major reason we’ve seen an influx of work at Top Group Media is because brands are realizing the importance of internet marketing & transparency. Brands are always trying to tell their story but doing so effectively is easier said than done.

All of our clients work collaboratively with our marketing & content creation department. This allows us to strategically Tell Your Story using unique curated content to effectively capture your audience.

Glossary:

Thought Leaders: one whose views on a subject are taken to be authoritative and influential

Brand Evangelists: a true fan, someone who wants to talk about and share your message and get involved anyway they can

ROI: return on investment

Transparency: lack of hidden agendas or conditions, accompanied by the availability of full information required for collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making

Top Group Media: the leaders in media & storytelling

Edited By: Kevin Pollard