The personality trait of a disruptive marketer is centered on what, according to Daniel Gilbert, is believed to be the brain’s greatest achievement: “its ability to imagine episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and it is this ability that allows us to think about the future.”

The ability to imagine a future state is the human brain’s most important attribute. And it’s the thing we need to use more of—ignoring the obvious and conventional—in the world today.

Google’s Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg noted one way they ascribe to this “future state” forward-thinking philosophy: people who work at Google don’t do it into silos anymore. That would be too conventional in terms of the twenty-first-century definition of a knowledge worker. According to their book How Google Works,  [Google employees] are multidimensional, usually combining technical depth with business savvy and creative air. In other words, they are not knowledge workers, at least not in the traditional sense. They are a new kind of animal, a type we call a “smart creative,” and they are the key to achieving success in the Internet Century.

We know that the brands of the future will look a lot different from the brands of today. However, many brands are taking a long time to figure out exactly what they will look like. And all the while, the clocks are ticking and the business models are being burned to the ground. We know that over the next twenty years, machine intelligence will play a much larger role in value creation. Mobile devices and the Internet of Things will change how we engage with others.

It is only by algorithmically programming all the routine processes that organizations will be able to free up the creative space for differentiated and innovative offerings. The time previously spent “managing machines” and pouring resources into operations will be re-purposed into creative output. This is one reason companies that put more emphasis on free time to explore ideation and innovation have an added advantage in the new economy. Reshaping the economy from one based on knowledge to one based on creativity also involves reshaping the way marketing will work.

Disruptive Marketing…

• Allows you to see things others cannot because they can’t separate themselves from their innate biases—that is, what they perceive as “the right kind of marketing” and what might be unchartered territory as defined by the data.
• Makes it okay for you to be curious, to daydream, to be enthusiastically inefficient, and to allow your mind to wander and tinker with inconvenient facts.
• Is about not following the rules of conventional marketing but, rather, establishing your own rules because the new norms of the creative economy demand it.
• Questions everything you learned from primary school to business school because linear patterns don’t make up the real world we inhabit or the one we must create as a result of technology-inspired behavior.
• Does not explain away data-centricities with excuses like “bad batch of data,” “small sample size,” “not enough data,” and “that’s not our target audience because I have an innate bias that it shouldn’t be.”
• Understands the allure of conventional marketing and the challenge of leaving it behind to forge a new path using disruptive thinking and actions. But the latter can unlock opportunities usually hidden right in front of us that the former is reluctant to identify.
• Is for those who inspired it: data punks, designers, creative hybrids, growth hackers, bandits, delinquents, and business rebels of all shapes and sizes who will reconfirm your knowledge so you can help bring it to others in your organization, whatever the objectives (tech products, consumer packaged goods, industrial design products, innovative ideas, politics, new ways of thinking, philosophies) and whatever you would like to apply it to.
• Helps empower everyone through a rapid and radical time of business turbulence, when if you don’t lead the change and transformation, others—in this case your customers— will lead it for you.
• Rewards those who find and seek new opportunities in creative ways because they have more diligence than intelligence.
• Helps overcome preconceived ideas about what makes marketing work by testing and trying things that are smaller, subtler, and more immersive yet more effective than million-dollar campaigns by big companies like Nike and Coca-Cola.
• Is for thinkers, doers, questioners, and subversive naysayers who realize the most lethal phrase in business is, “But we’ve always done it this way.”

Learn how to keep your brand relevant in the 21^st Century in my new book Disruptive Marketing.

Join us in Hollywood, California for Brand Leadership in the Age of Disruption, our 5th annual competitive-learning event designed around brand strategy.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

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TED Curator Chris Anderson interviews Jonathan Haidt on November 2, 2016 in New York, NY. (Photo: Esiwahomi Ozembhoya / TED)

Watch for this TED Talk to premiere Nov. 8, 2016, on TED.com. A few highlights below:

With less than a week until America casts ballots in what has become one of the most controversial US presidential elections in history, TED invited the social psychologist and expert on the psychology of morality Jonathan Haidt to talk about our divisions — and how we might heal.

In conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson at TED HQ in New York, Haidt drew on a social-science perspective to explain why people on the left and right don’t just disagree with each other these days, they actually think the other side is a threat to the nation.

“We’re tribal — we evolved for tribalism,” Haidt explains. “It’s how we created society. We’re not doomed to always be fighting each other, but we’ll never have world peace.”

On the left, that tribalism has manifested itself with people who want to define their tribe more globally. On the right, the definition stops at local communities and nations. Haidt quotes the UK pollster Stephan Shakespeare, who put it this way: “We are either ‘drawbridge up’ people or ‘drawbridge down’ people.”

Another principle of social science explains why political arguments feel so unreasonable lately: As humans, our intuition comes first, while reason comes second. “Our intelligence actually may have evolved to help us manipulate each other and defend our reputations,” Haidt says. “That’s why you can’t win a political argument with reasoning and evidence.” Add in the internet, he says, and our post-hoc reasoning is ramped up on speed.

So is there a salve for a divided America?

“Both sides are right about something,” Haidt says. “There are a lot of problems in the country, but neither side is capable of seeing them all.” He suggests turning to the ancient wisdom of Buddha, Jesus and Marcus Aurelius for advice on how to drop fear, reframe our differences and stop seeing other people as your enemy. “Be more humble; you don’t know as much as you think,” he says. “Make an effort to meet someone on the other side. Only with people who challenge us can we find the truth.”

“Change is the only constant in life.” So observed the Greek philosopher Heraclitus in the 6^th century BC. It is believed he drew the inspiration for this from observing a river and concluded that “life is like a river” and that nature is in “a state of constant flux.”

He could have just as easily been describing the rapidly changing social-economic conditions in the US and around the world.

Things are in a constant state of flux, from virtually every standpoint. Be it demographic shifts, technological advancements, global connectivity, emerging markets, changing mores, the list goes on. And the changes come with more rapidity.

For today’s brand marketer, the question is not “do we change?” It is “how quickly can we change?” in order to adept to opportunities or challenges that present themselves with increasing speed.

But here’s the paradoxical dilemma. Brands rely on consistency … whether it’s identity, message, quality, presentation, delivery, and so forth. But yet the marketplace, like Heraclitus’ river, is constantly changing. So how do you maintain brand integrity while, at the same time, go with the flow, so to speak?

While you mull that one over, just consider the following two areas that are experiencing rapid, radical change and impacting the vast majority of consumer brands on the market today over the next 10 years.

Technology

• Electric vehicles will surpass internal combustion
• Wireless, hyper connectivity will be the norm
• Biodegradable packaging will be commonplace
• DNA mapping to manage disease risk will happen at birth
• Virtual and augmented reality will become common tools

Demographics

• The middle class continues to shrink
• Women in business leadership continues to grow
• America grows more politically liberal
• Asia replaces Latin America as the largest source of new immigrants
• Life expectancy will continue to increase

And with each bullet listed here, there are hundreds, if not thousands of steps along the way.

Leading the charge in rapid change for marketers is no doubt social media and all things digital. And therein may be part of the key to maintaining brand relevance in a rapidly changing world.

As is often quoted from Peter Drucker, “The business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation.” In our hyper-evolving marketplace with driverless beer trucks, drone deliveries and wearable health monitoring and transmission, no wisdom resonated more.

Brands surely must innovate to survive, but they must also communicate by the means and methods of a changing world, as well. Communication must be conducted by brands as a two-way experience: listening as well as speaking.

Social media provides brands with the engagement platform to stay constantly abreast and relationally connected to a shifting target audience. Research and big data and analysis will also play a larger and larger role as brands keep tabs on customer behaviors, motivations, intents, habits, and the like. In that way, marketing informs R&D of a changing landscape and facilitates the brand’s ability to remain nimble and adaptable in an unceasing cycle of development, assessment and redevelopment.

Unless brands are urgent and intentional about a priority and a process to stay not only current, but ahead of change in their industry, they won’t be around for long. Previously on Branding Strategy Insider, Mark Di Somma shared five questions brands should be asking themselves to reimagine their long-term future:

1. Is there an exciting idea that you can expand into that will give your brand a bigger license to operate? Why will your interpretation of that new idea be distinctive from what others are doing there now or where others may wish to go with a similar idea?

2. What does your new idea open up that you have never seen before? How will the business cope with that, and how quickly? How will consumers adjust to that, and how quickly?

3. What are you trying to preserve? And is that what consumers want for themselves and from you?

4. What’s your timeframe for change – and how did you arrive at that? Is it based on what you feel comfortable with or what the market will demand?

5. If you are making rapid change because your current idea is quickly losing relevance, why were you caught off-guard? Did you not see the warning signs, was everyone in the senior management team playing ostrich or have things moved so fast that you were simply overtaken? And given that, how will you ensure the brand you will be won’t be subject to the same vulnerabilities?

Even old Heraclitus would agree, it’s time to embrace the paradox. Change to stay consistent.

Join us in Hollywood, California for Brand Leadership in the Age of Disruption, our 5th annual competitive-learning event designed around brand strategy.

The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate B2C and B2B Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

The second video in the SickKids VS campaign was released today. “SickKids VS Cancer” features the heartbreaking story of the lovely young girl Grace Bowen. The full “SickKids VS” campaign captures all the highs and lows of pediatric illness with 4 videos in total.

About the Grace video:
The parents of Grace Bowen, who tragically died of osteosarcoma less than two years ago, have graciously allowed us to share that journey in one of our ads, which is launching digitally Thursday November 3 and in broadcast Monday, November 7. Grace and so many other kids inspire SickKids to work even harder to understand their disease and find better ways to care for them. Grace’s story highlights the courage, strength – and very real pain – of kids and families in the face of a deadly disease. We hope her story inspires people to join SickKids in the fight and make a donation.

SickKids is leading the fight against Cancer. Today, over 80% of kids with Cancer survive. That means we’ve got 20% to go.
Please donate: http://www.fundthefight.ca

CREATIVE CREDITS:
Ad Agency: Cossette, Toronto, Canada

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); –ADVERTISEMENT–

By Rhonda L. Brauer, Senior Fellow, Governance Center, The Conference Board The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) were launched a decade ago with the strong support of then United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, as an admirable initiative to guide worldwide responsible investing in the broader interests of our society and financial markets. There were […]

Meet Kenyan technologist, entrepreneur and TED Fellow Juliana Rotich in the latest installment of the Fellows in the Field video series. Visit the iHub, an incubator for Nairobi’s young technology entrepreneurs, and learn about BRCK, a rugged mobile WiFi device with huge potential to bring connectivity to areas of the world with limited infrastructure.

“It’s been incredible to see how the technology sector has changed in Kenya and in Africa,” Rotich says. “There is more work to do to provide opportunity and to create companies that not only solve problems here, but can also solve problems around the world.

Interested in becoming a TED Fellow yourself? The search is on for the next class. Learn more about becoming a TEDGlobal 2017 Fellow in Arusha, Tanzania. We encourage all talented innovators in their fields — science, art, technology, entrepreneurship, film and beyond — to apply to become a TED Fellow, especially those working across the African continent.

Apply now to become a TEDGlobal 2017 Fellow in Arusha, Tanzania.

In April 2016, Rachel Dolezal spoke at an independently organized TEDx event held at a university. As you may know, Ms. Dolezal is a former president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter who sparked a national debate and resigned after the public discovered that she was a white woman identifying herself as a black woman.

Recently she announced on TV that she had recorded “a TED Talk.” Some of you were upset by this. Indeed, the news surprised us too, because we knew she hadn’t spoken at a TED event. But it turned out she had spoken at one of the thousands of TEDx events that are held around the world.

TEDx organizers host events independent of TED, and they have the freedom to invite speakers they feel are relevant to their communities. These volunteers find thousands of new voices all over the world — many of which would not otherwise be heard — including some of our most beloved, well-known speakers, people like Brene Brown and Simon Sinek.

What TEDx organizers have achieved collectively is remarkable. But, yes, some of them occasionally share ideas we don’t stand behind.

This particular talk has sparked much internal debate. For many on our staff, sharing the talk risks causing deep offense, and runs counter to TED’s mission of ideas worth spreading. But for others, now that the talk has been recorded, refusing to post it would unduly limit an important conversation about identity, and the social underpinning of race — and would be counter to TED’s guiding philosophy of radical openness. There’s no easy middle ground here.

So, in a doubtless flawed attempt to do the right thing by all of our constituencies, we have decided to make the talk available to you here, while highlighting the context in which the talk was created and the deeply felt concerns it has raised.

We are lucky to have a thoughtful audience, and we hope the conversation you engage in here will transcend the material that sparks it.

Sincerely,
The TED Editors

By Shel Holtz, Communication Strategist, Public Speaker, Author, Trainer, and Advisory Board Member, Society for New Communications Research of The Conference Board (SNCR) I regularly develop an overview of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. This post is an […]

Sales excellence depends on more than technology, data, and even great sales skills. People — sellers and buyers — must remain at the heart of every sales strategy.  Several writers made this point clear as they recapped their key learnings from Dreamforce 16, the recent installment of Salesforce’s annual conference (#DF16).  Here are a few of the best bits on the human factor in sales excellence.

It’s widely known that some companies have erected inherent barriers to sales excellence in their organizational structure.  Graham Curme, CEO of LiveHive, Inc., threw down the gauntlet on the disconnect between sales and marketing departments in his post, Recurring Themes from the Sales Summit at #DF16, saying, “Organizations must be aligned to meet new customer expectations. Disconnected teams cannot deliver the desired experience.  Because interactions with customers are more powerful when they’re driven by data, customer data needs to be made available and integrated throughout the organization.”

In Forbes, John Rampton  also conveyed this point in his recap, Top Dreamforce Takeaways for Your Online Sales and Marketing Team. “Put simply: To be a customer-centric organization, marketing and sales must be better aligned. If there’s one thing you do before the end of the year, it should be analyzing the connectivity of various internal teams – specifically marketing and sales.”

Trisha Winter, CMO at Amplifinity, observed that creating communities — whether focused on customers, partners, or employees — is a way to bring sales and marketing people together.  In her post, A CMO’s Insight into Dreamforce 2016, she wrote, “Building a community is a unifying project across department silos. It forces your company to work together across departments. And we all know good things come from this type of alignment.”

Peter Mollins, VP Marketing at KnowledgeTree, offered helpful advice about breaking down organizational silos and bringing out the humanity of sales in his Dreamforce recap.  “A better way to think of it (whether Salesforce was turning into a marketing software company.) is less about silos and functional territories. Instead, think of It from the customer experience perspective.”  He encouraged people to think about:

What are the tools, processes, and steps you can take to

• Identify customer pain and who’s in market
• Understand who is the buyer in the organization and what their political angle is
• Build a consensus to move forward
• Generate enough internal value with customers that renewal and upsell is a given

Those aren’t exclusively sales, marketing, or success functions. They’re good business because they focus on the customer first.

Among the Most Inspirational Quotes from Dreamforce 2016 listed by Nicola Brookes, Corporate Communications Director at NewVoice Media, were a couple emphasizing the human factor in sales excellence:

• “Behind all smart devices and other technology is the need to get closer to the customer” – Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce.
• “Social media without social connection is social stupidity” – Mark Hunter, ‘The Sales Hunter’.

In The Stakes Are Increasing for FinTech Innovation, a post about Dreamforce’s coverage of the topic of technological disruption within the financial services industry, Tom Krajan, Solutions Consultant at Hearsay Social, made a very astute observation: “Getting to know your customer can’t just be on a data level, it needs to be on a human level too.”

You can check out more takeaways from Dreamforce 16 in my slideshare, Notes & Quotes from Salesforce Conference.

related:

Stop Selling, Start Evanglizing

How to Achieve Sales Leadership

Use Technology to Enhance, Not Replace, Service

The post the human factor in sales excellence appeared first on Denise Lee Yohn.

According to new research from the ANA, in partnership with GfK, B-to-B marketers have the opportunity to become strategic drivers of business growth. Read the full report.