A Mad Men’s discourse towards Utopia

[Femke Hulsenbek]

Creativity is an indispensible part of successful campaigning. That was one of the conclusions during the Branded Content Event 2011 held last Tuesday, co-organized by Beerens Business Press.

 

One of the speakers during the event illustrated this with dramatic television series Mad Men. This brilliant series is about an advertising agency in the 60s. At that time the creative directory and the production directory were strictly separated. Nowadays, everybody is in everybodies chair. As an advertiser you can’t just sell banners, you need to be part of a process producing creative content. Marketing and advertising became a “hit driven business:” Tweeking, sharpening and adusting to reach a turning point or a viral effect– in this era a campaign is never finished. Creativity and conversion are an interactive process.

 

The tendency is that running a campaign as successfull as the Marlboro Man back in Mad Men 60s, is a matter of combing several media. Putting print media television, events and online activities together is the only way to get a hold of todays consumer. Exposed to an overload of information every second of the day, you need to be creative to get a consumers’ attention. Therefore your story has to be authentic. Shareable. Personal. Achieving this is an organic process of two or more brands combining their content into one product. Into a story that makes sense. One that forms the mental agenda of its recipients.

 

As a pioneer in the social entrepreneurial world BCE2011 reassured me. Pifworld is an online charity platform that is at the right spot in the right time. We use new media to enable meaningful communication between brand and audience. This way you have social branded content. We socialize corporate social responsibility by facilitating employee/consumer engagement. Donors get (video) updates of the projects to see the change they made possible. It is personal. And shareable.

 

But, its true, it is a never ending story. Tweaking, improving, reshaping untill changing the world is as fun and appealing as possible. That campaign is successful when we reach Utopia ;-)