The Thesis

Brand Soul is the conviction that makes a brand matter.

It is the belief that fuels the offering. The personality that makes a brand human. The values that guide how a company shows up and how it serves. Without soul, a brand becomes forgettable, even if the product is brilliant.

This research examines 15 brands across three categories to understand what creates soul, what kills it, and what happens when it was never there to begin with.

The core finding: Soul is not a marketing strategy. It is an organizational truth that either exists at the core of a company, or it does not. It can be discovered and expressed, but it cannot be manufactured. And once lost, it is extraordinarily difficult to reclaim.

The Three Categories

HAS SOUL: Brands with a clear conviction that shapes everything they do. Customers do not just buy from them; they root for them.

LOST SOUL: Brands that once stood for something meaningful but lost it through acquisition, scale, or strategic drift. The shell remains, but the spirit is gone.

NEVER HAD IT: Brands that operate on pure utility or optimization. They may be successful, even dominant, but no one believes in them.

Why This Matters

In an era of infinite content and algorithmic optimization, soul is the last competitive advantage that cannot be copied, automated, or purchased. AI can generate endless marketing assets. It cannot generate meaning.

The brands in this study that have soul share a common trait: they are willing to be disliked by some in order to be loved by others. They have a point of view. They take stands. They make choices that serve identity over short-term optimization.

The brands that lost their soul share a different pattern: they prioritized scale over conviction, comfort over courage, or consensus over clarity. The soul did not disappear overnight. It eroded gradually, one safe decision at a time.

The brands that never had soul reveal that market dominance and brand soul are entirely different things. Power is not the same as meaning. Optimization is not the same as belief.

HAS SOUL

Brands with a clear conviction that shapes everything they do. People do not just buy from them. They believe in them.

1. Patagonia

Category: Outdoor Apparel & Gear
Founded: 1973
Soul Statement: We’re in business to save our home planet.

What They Stand For

Patagonia is the gold standard for brand soul. Environmental activism is not their marketing angle; it is their reason for existing. Every business decision filters through a single question: does this help or hurt the planet?

This conviction shows up in ways that would terrify most brands. They ran a full-page ad on Black Friday telling customers “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” They donate 1% of all sales to environmental causes. In 2022, founder Yvon Chouinard transferred ownership of the entire company to a trust dedicated to fighting climate change.

Key Evidence

• “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign actively discouraged consumption
• Worn Wear program repairs and resells used Patagonia gear
• Transferred $3B company to environmental trust rather than selling or going public
• Provides on-site childcare and bail for employees arrested at environmental protests
• Transparent supply chain documentation, including factory conditions

The Insight

Patagonia proves that radical conviction creates radical loyalty. By being willing to tell customers not to buy, they created customers who will only buy from them. The lesson: soul requires sacrifice. You cannot stand for everything and mean anything.

2. Liquid Death

Category: Beverages
Founded: 2019
Soul Statement: Murder your thirst. Death to plastic.

What They Stand For

Liquid Death proves that brand soul does not require earnestness. They sell water in tallboy cans with heavy metal branding, mock traditional beverage marketing, and maintain a commitment to sustainability disguised as chaos.

The genius is the contradiction: a brand that looks like rebellion but operates on genuine environmental conviction. They replaced single-use plastic with infinitely recyclable aluminum. They donate to clean water initiatives. They just do it while pretending to be a death metal band.

Key Evidence

• Aluminum cans are infinitely recyclable; plastic bottles are not
• “Sell Your Soul” loyalty program with intentionally absurd rewards
• Super Bowl ad featured kids at a party drinking Liquid Death, mocking alcohol advertising
• Country Club membership offers lifetime supply and equity stake
• Valued at $1.4B as of 2024, proving irreverence scales

The Insight

Liquid Death demonstrates that soul can wear any costume. Their conviction (sustainability) is genuine; their expression (death metal branding) is distinctive. The lesson: soul is about what you believe, not how serious you look while believing it.

3. Trader Joe’s

Category: Grocery Retail
Founded: 1967
Soul Statement: Your neighborhood grocery store.

What They Stand For

Trader Joe’s has operational soul. It is not expressed in manifestos or advertising campaigns; it shows up in every touchpoint of the experience. Hawaiian shirts. Hand-drawn signs. Crew members who seem genuinely happy. Fearless product discontinuation when something is not working.

They do not advertise. They do not have a loyalty program. They do not offer delivery in most markets. They refuse to chase trends that would compromise the experience. This restraint is itself a form of conviction.

Key Evidence

• No traditional advertising; relies entirely on word of mouth and the Fearless Flyer
• Employees (“Crew Members”) are paid above industry average and receive benefits
• Regularly discontinues products without sentiment, keeping selection curated
• Store design intentionally avoids warehouse aesthetic of competitors
• Private label strategy creates products unavailable anywhere else

The Insight

Trader Joe’s proves that soul can live in operations, not just communications. Their brand is not what they say; it is what they do. The lesson: every touchpoint either reinforces soul or erodes it. There is no neutral ground.

4. Nike

Category: Athletic Apparel & Footwear
Founded: 1964
Soul Statement: Just Do It.

What They Stand For

Nike believes in human potential. “Just Do It” is not a tagline; it is a dare. The brand exists to push people, not just athletes, to be greater than they thought possible. This conviction has led them to celebrate determination, resilience, and the willingness to fail publicly in pursuit of something meaningful.

The Colin Kaepernick campaign in 2018 proved Nike was willing to risk alienating customers to stand for something. They did not just feature an athlete; they featured an activist who had been effectively banned from his sport. The backlash was immediate. So was the loyalty it created.

Key Evidence

• Kaepernick campaign: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
• Featured athletes include those who overcame adversity, not just winners
• “You Can’t Stop Us” campaign during pandemic emphasized collective resilience
• Consistently highlights Paralympic athletes alongside Olympic ones
• Willing to take political stands that competitors avoid

The Insight

Nike demonstrates that soul requires courage. Taking the Kaepernick risk was not a marketing calculation; it was a values declaration. The lesson: brands with soul make some people uncomfortable. That discomfort is the price of meaning.

5. Lego

Category: Toys & Entertainment
Founded: 1932
Soul Statement: Only the best is good enough.

What They Stand For

Lego believes in the power of imagination and the joy of building. For over 90 years, they have maintained an almost obsessive commitment to quality, creativity, and play. The product has remained fundamentally unchanged because the conviction behind it has remained fundamentally unchanged.

What makes Lego remarkable is their ability to expand without diluting. They moved into adult sets, video games, movies, and theme parks without ever losing the core identity. A five-year-old and a fifty-year-old can both feel like Lego is for them.

Key Evidence

• Bricks from 1958 still connect with bricks made today; backward compatibility as philosophy
• Adult product lines (Architecture, Creator Expert) expanded audience without abandoning children
• Lego Ideas platform lets fans design sets, reinforcing community ownership
• The Lego Movie succeeded by embracing brand values, not just featuring products
• Premium pricing maintained despite commodity competitors; quality over volume

The Insight

Lego proves that soul creates longevity. Their conviction about imagination and quality has remained consistent for nearly a century while everything around them changed. The lesson: soul is not a campaign. It is a commitment measured in decades, not quarters.

LOST SOUL

Brands that once stood for something meaningful but lost it through acquisition, scale, or strategic drift. The shell remains. The spirit is gone.

1. Victoria’s Secret

Category: Intimate Apparel & Beauty
Founded: 1977
What They Used To Stand For: Aspirational glamour and unapologetic sexiness.

What Happened

Victoria’s Secret was once culturally dominant. The annual fashion show was a television event. The Angels were celebrities. The brand defined what “sexy” meant in America for nearly two decades.

But the definition of sexy changed, and Victoria’s Secret did not. As culture moved toward body positivity, inclusivity, and authenticity, the brand clung to a singular, narrow vision of beauty. Competitors like Aerie and ThirdLove emerged with messages of self-acceptance. Victoria’s Secret responded too slowly, and when they did pivot, it felt like damage control rather than genuine conviction.

Key Evidence of Soul Loss

• Fashion show cancelled in 2019 after years of declining viewership and cultural backlash
• Angels replaced with “VS Collective” of activists and athletes; felt reactive, not authentic
• Former executives made dismissive comments about plus-size and transgender models
• Rebrand messaging emphasized “what women want” without evidence of listening to them
• Competitor Aerie’s “no retouching” pledge resonated where VS’s glamour fell flat

The Insight

Victoria’s Secret lost its soul by refusing to evolve its conviction. They mistook the expression (Angels, fashion shows) for the soul itself. When the expression became outdated, they had nothing underneath to stand on. The lesson: soul must evolve with culture, but it cannot chase culture. VS did neither.

2. Skype

Category: Communications Technology
Founded: 2003
What They Used To Stand For: Connecting humans globally, simply and freely.

What Happened

“Skype me” became a verb. That is how dominant the brand was in defining video communication. The product was simple, reliable, and felt like magic: free video calls to anywhere in the world.

Then Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, and the soul slowly drained away. The scrappy company focused on human connection was replaced by a division focused on corporate integration. The UI became bloated. Features became confusing. Reliability suffered. Zoom, FaceTime, and Google Meet did not beat Skype on features; they beat Skype on focus.

Key Evidence of Soul Loss

• Acquisition by Microsoft shifted focus from consumer simplicity to enterprise complexity
• UI redesigns prioritized feature density over user experience
• Reliability declined as corporate infrastructure was layered onto consumer product
• “Skype me” disappeared from cultural vocabulary; replaced by “Zoom” and “FaceTime”
• Brand messaging still claims connection, but product experience contradicts it

The Insight

Skype lost its soul through acquisition. The company that bought them did not understand or prioritize the conviction that made Skype matter. The lesson: soul cannot survive integration into a soulless parent. The culture always wins.  Notably, the replacements — Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet — have not filled the void. They are portals to human connection, yet none have attempted to own that meaning. The opportunity for soul in video communication remains unclaimed.

3. Chipotle

Category: Fast Casual Dining
Founded: 1993
What They Used To Stand For: Food with integrity.

What Happened

Chipotle pioneered the idea that fast food could be ethical. “Food with Integrity” was not a marketing slogan; it was a sourcing philosophy. They championed local farms, humane animal treatment, and transparency about ingredients. The brand made customers feel good about what they were eating.

Then came the food safety crises of 2015-2016. E. coli outbreaks across multiple states. Norovirus. Salmonella. The brand built on food integrity became synonymous with food safety failures. The recovery focused on operations and safety protocols, which was necessary, but the soul never fully returned. Today, Chipotle feels indistinguishable from any other fast casual chain.

Key Evidence of Soul Loss

• “Food with Integrity” messaging quietly deemphasized after food safety crises
• Recovery campaigns focused on safety protocols, not sourcing values
• Menu innovation (lifestyle bowls, quesadillas) feels reactive to competitors
• Digital ordering and throughput optimization prioritized over experience
• Current marketing is functional, not conviction-driven

The Insight

Chipotle lost its soul when crisis forced them to choose between conviction and survival. They chose survival, which was understandable, but never returned to conviction. The lesson: crisis reveals whether soul is real or performative. Chipotle’s soul did not survive the test.

4. Barnes & Noble

Category: Book Retail
Founded: 1886
What They Used To Stand For: The magic of discovery and the joy of getting lost in stories.

What Happened

Walking into a Barnes & Noble in the 1990s felt like entering a sanctuary. The stores were designed to encourage wandering. Live readings brought authors to life. The cafe invited you to stay. It was not just a bookstore; it was a third place before the term existed.

Then Amazon happened. Barnes & Noble responded with price wars, cost-cutting, and format experimentation (remember the Nook?) instead of doubling down on what made them irreplaceable: the experience of discovery. The stores became cookie-cutter. The magic disappeared. What remains is a chain that sells books, not a brand that celebrates reading.

Key Evidence of Soul Loss

• Store designs standardized and stripped of distinctive character
• Nook e-reader strategy chased Amazon instead of differentiating
• Live events and author readings reduced as cost-cutting measure
• Cafe experience declined; no longer a destination for lingering
• Current stores feel like warehouses with better lighting

The Insight

Barnes & Noble lost its soul by fighting the wrong battle. They tried to compete with Amazon on convenience and price instead of doubling down on experience. The lesson: when a soulless competitor attacks, the answer is more soul, not less. B&N chose less.

Note: Barnes & Noble has an opportunity for a comeback. The cultural demand for “third spaces” is rising. Independent bookstores are thriving by offering what Amazon cannot. B&N has the footprint to reclaim their soul if they choose to.

5. Facebook / Meta

Category: Social Media & Technology
Founded: 2004
What They Used To Stand For: Connecting the world and making it more open.

What Happened

Facebook’s founding story had genuine soul. A tool to connect college students. A way to stay in touch with friends and family. A mission to make the world more connected. For a while, it felt like that mission was real.

The erosion was gradual. Data harvesting practices. The Cambridge Analytica scandal. Algorithmic amplification of divisive content. A platform designed for connection became associated with disconnection, misinformation, and mental health concerns. The rebrand to Meta felt like an escape attempt, not a genuine evolution.

Key Evidence of Soul Loss

• Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed data practices at odds with stated mission
• Internal research showed Instagram’s harm to teen mental health; company downplayed it
• Algorithmic changes prioritized engagement over meaningful connection
• “Meta” rebrand seen as distraction from core platform problems
• Trust metrics among users have declined consistently for years

The Insight

Facebook lost its soul through the gradual prioritization of metrics over mission. Every individual decision to optimize for engagement seemed reasonable. Collectively, they hollowed out the brand’s meaning. The lesson: soul erodes one compromise at a time. By the time you notice, it may be too late.

NEVER HAD IT

Brands that operate on pure utility, optimization, or necessity. They may be successful, even dominant, but no one believes in them. Power is not the same as soul.

1. Amazon

Category: E-commerce & Technology
Founded: 1994
What They Stand For: Relentless convenience and optimization.

The Case

Amazon is the most optimized machine in modern commerce. They have revolutionized logistics, cloud computing, and consumer expectations. They are arguably the most successful company of the last 30 years.

They have never had soul.

Some argue early Amazon, the online bookstore, had soul. But that was potential, not conviction. Amazon was never about books; books were simply the first category that could be optimized for e-commerce. The mission has always been optimization itself: faster, cheaper, more selection. That is a strategy, not a belief.

Key Evidence

• No discernible conviction beyond growth and efficiency
• Treatment of warehouse workers contradicts any “customer obsession” values
• Brand evokes utility, not affection; people use Amazon, they do not love it
• Advertising strategy is entirely transactional; no emotional storytelling
• Acquisitions (Whole Foods, MGM) absorb other brands rather than building one

The Insight

Amazon proves that dominance does not require soul. You can win on optimization alone. But people do not root for Amazon. They depend on it. That is a different relationship. The lesson: power and soul are independent variables. Having one does not create the other.

2. Spirit Airlines

Category: Aviation
Founded: 1983
What They Stand For: The lowest price. Nothing else.

The Case

The irony is in the name: Spirit Airlines has no spirit. Their positioning is clear: we are the cheapest option, and everything else costs extra. That is a business model, not a soul.

There is no conviction behind Spirit beyond price optimization. No belief about what travel should be. No story about connecting people or enabling experiences. Just a transaction stripped to its most basic form: moving a human body from point A to point B for the lowest possible cost.

Key Evidence

• Entire brand identity built on price; no emotional or experiential positioning
• Customer experience intentionally minimized to reduce costs
• Marketing is entirely functional; no storytelling or brand building
• No loyalty beyond price; customers leave the moment a cheaper option appears
• Industry-lowest customer satisfaction scores worn as cost-leadership badge

The Insight

Spirit Airlines demonstrates that some businesses are designed without soul from the beginning. The model requires transactional relationships; soul would actually be a liability. The lesson: not every business needs soul. But businesses without soul compete only on price, and there is always someone willing to go lower.

3. Comcast

Category: Telecommunications
Founded: 1963
What They Stand For: Infrastructure you cannot avoid.

The Case

Comcast exists because many Americans have no other choice for high-speed internet. This is not a brand relationship; it is a hostage situation.

The company has consistently ranked among the most hated in America. Customer service is notoriously frustrating. Pricing is opaque and ever-increasing. The brand makes no attempt to be liked because it does not need to be. When you have regional monopolies, customer affection is irrelevant.

Key Evidence

• Regularly ranks as one of America’s most hated companies in consumer surveys
• Customer service designed to prevent cancellation, not create satisfaction
• Pricing structures intentionally complex to obscure true costs
• Brand advertising focuses on product speeds, not values or experience
• No meaningful community investment or cultural positioning

The Insight

Comcast proves that monopoly removes the incentive for soul. When customers cannot leave, there is no business case for making them want to stay. The lesson: soul requires choice. Brands that eliminate customer choice eliminate the need for meaning.

4. Albertsons

Category: Grocery Retail
Founded: 1939
What They Stand For: Proximity.

The Case

Albertsons is the brand you choose when there is no Trader Joe’s nearby and you do not want to go to Walmart. That is not a positioning. That is a default.

There is no discernible conviction behind Albertsons. No point of view on food, community, or experience. The stores are fine. The prices are fine. The selection is fine. Fine is not soul.

Key Evidence

• No clear brand positioning beyond “full-service grocery”
• Store experience indistinguishable from most regional competitors
• Marketing is entirely promotional; no brand storytelling
• No distinctive private label strategy or product philosophy
• Customer loyalty driven by location and habit, not preference

The Insight

Albertsons demonstrates that category presence is not the same as brand meaning. They exist in grocery; they do not stand for anything about grocery. The lesson: occupying space is not the same as owning a position. Albertsons occupies; Trader Joe’s owns.

5. Oracle

Category: Enterprise Software
Founded: 1977
What They Stand For: Database infrastructure.

The Case

Oracle is one of the most valuable software companies in the world. They power critical infrastructure for enterprises globally. They have made Larry Ellison one of the richest people on the planet.

Nobody roots for Oracle.

The brand is associated with aggressive sales tactics, complex licensing, and vendor lock-in. IT departments use Oracle because they have to, not because they want to. The company has never attempted to build emotional connection because their model does not require it.

Key Evidence

• Brand perception driven by licensing complexity and aggressive sales
• No consumer-facing presence or cultural relevance
• Customer relationships contractual, not relational
• Marketing focuses on technical capabilities, not values or vision
• Competitor Salesforce explicitly positioned against Oracle’s culture

The Insight

Oracle proves that B2B success does not require soul. Enterprise purchasing decisions are driven by features, integration, and incumbent relationships. Emotional connection is not a factor. The lesson: soul matters most when customers have easy alternatives. Oracle’s switching costs eliminate that pressure.

Pattern Analysis

Shared Traits of Soulful Brands

1. Conviction that precedes strategy. These brands knew what they believed before they figured out how to monetize it. Patagonia did not discover environmentalism through market research. Nike did not test “Just Do It” in focus groups. The belief came first; the business followed.

2. Willingness to be disliked. Every brand in this category has made choices that alienated some potential customers. Patagonia tells people not to buy. Liquid Death looks like a beer brand. Nike features controversial athletes. They understand that meaning requires exclusion.

3. Consistency measured in decades. Lego has maintained the same core conviction for 90 years. Patagonia has never wavered from environmental activism. Trader Joe’s has resisted every trend that would dilute their experience. Soul is not a campaign; it is a commitment.

4. Integration across every touchpoint. Soul shows up in operations, not just communications. Trader Joe’s soul is in the Hawaiian shirts and hand-drawn signs. Patagonia’s soul is in the repair centers. These brands do not just say what they believe; they build systems that embody it.

5. Customers who identify, not just purchase. People describe themselves as “Patagonia people” or “Trader Joe’s shoppers.” They do not just buy from these brands; they belong to them. This identification creates loyalty that survives price increases, mistakes, and competition.

What Killed the “Lost Soul” Brands

1. Acquisition by soulless parents. Skype died inside Microsoft. The acquiring company’s culture overwrote the original conviction. This is the fastest way to kill soul: sell to someone who does not understand or value what made you special.

2. Optimizing for the wrong metrics. Facebook optimized for engagement. Chipotle optimized for throughput. When the metric becomes the mission, soul becomes collateral damage. What gets measured gets managed; what gets managed often loses meaning.

3. Failure to evolve expression while maintaining conviction. Victoria’s Secret confused their expression (Angels, fashion shows) with their soul (making women feel confident and attractive). When the expression became outdated, they had nothing to stand on. Soul must evolve; it cannot fossilize.

4. Crisis that forced survival over conviction. Chipotle’s food safety crises required a focus on operational recovery. That was necessary. But they never returned to conviction once the crisis passed. Soul cannot survive extended hibernation.

5. Fighting soulless competitors on their terms. Barnes & Noble tried to beat Amazon on price and convenience instead of doubling down on experience. When a soulless competitor attacks, the answer is more soul, not less. B&N chose less.

What “Never Had It” Brands Reveal

1. Soul is not required for success. Amazon, Oracle, and Comcast are enormously successful without any discernible soul. Dominance can be achieved through optimization, infrastructure, or monopoly. Soul is one path to success, not the only path.

2. Soulless brands compete on switching costs. Oracle has complex licensing. Comcast has regional monopolies. Amazon has Prime ecosystem lock-in. When soul is absent, brands must create other barriers to exit. The relationship is contractual, not emotional.

3. Nobody roots for soulless brands. People depend on Amazon. They tolerate Comcast. They comply with Oracle. But they do not advocate for these brands. They do not forgive their mistakes. They do not wear their logos. Utility creates usage, not loyalty.

4. Lack of Soul can be a strategic choice. Spirit Airlines has explicitly chosen to compete on price alone. That is a legitimate strategy. But it means they will never have customers who care about them beyond the transaction. Some businesses are designed this way.

READY TO BUILD SOMETHING PEOPLE BELIEVE IN?

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Over the past decade, we’ve watched something alarming happen in the world of branding and creativity. Not suddenly, the way a storm rolls in, but slowly and quietly, like a foundation settling at the wrong angle.

It’s the slow erosion of meaning from the brands we build and the work we create.

Everywhere you look, creativity has been flattened into content. Content has been flattened into output. Output has been flattened into deliverables. Agencies are trying to scale like SaaS companies. Brands are chasing trends like day traders. People are outsourcing their instincts to algorithms.

Somewhere along the way, we forgot that brands are not machines. They are not funnels. They are not logos awaiting feedback from the masses.

Brands, at their best, are alive.

And life (real life that is) requires a soul.

The coming years will draw a clear line between the brands that lead and the brands that disappear. The difference won’t be budget, or tech, or how many pieces of AI-generated content you crank out before lunch.

The difference will be soul. Whether a brand has it, whether its leaders protect it, and whether its partners can help articulate and amplify it.

This is a declaration of belief. A rallying cry for the brands who still believe that real creativity matters. Creativity that hits hard, makes us think, and awakens something in us.

If you’ve made it this far and feel even a hint of a spark, welcome. You’re our people.

WHAT IS BRAND SOUL?

Brand Soul is not a tagline. It is not a mission statement someone wrote during a leadership retreat and then laminated. It isn’t your logo, your color palette, your product roadmap, your competitive claims, or your MQL targets.

Brand Soul is the conviction that makes your brand matter.

It’s the belief that fuels your offering. The personality that makes you human. The values that guide how you show up, and how you serve.

It’s what makes people root for you.

It’s what makes your team feel aligned instead of scattered.

It’s what makes your story land with force instead of floating into the void.

Without soul, a brand becomes forgettable, even if the product is brilliant. Consumers don’t connect to perfection; they connect to humanity. They connect to tension, ambition, conviction, identity, vulnerability, aspiration. They connect to the feeling that a brand stands for something real.

In the years ahead, as competition intensifies and AI floods every channel with more content than the world could ever digest, the brands with soul will rise above the noise. Not because they shout louder, but because they actually mean something.

The future of marketing isn’t more. It’s meaning.

So, if soul is the heartbeat, what stops it? Two things: the cult of speed, and the comfort of “safe.”

WHAT KILLS SOUL

The Cult of Speed

We operate in an environment addicted to immediacy. The dashboard. The weekly report. The month-over-month growth line. The idea that if a piece of creative doesn’t deliver instant performance, it’s a failure.

Here’s the thing:

You cannot spreadsheet your way to brand soul.

You cannot gimmick your way to loyalty.

You cannot optimize your way to cultural relevance.

You cannot use an attribution model to find meaning.

If Brand Soul had an enemy, it might be speed.

When creativity is compressed into timelines that leave no room for insight, emotional intelligence, or the kind of deep listening that makes good work great, we end up with something that looks like creativity but feels like nothing.

We lose the moments where breakthrough ideas are born. The unexpected connections. The uncomfortable conversations. The willingness to walk past the obvious answers in search of the right one.

Craft becomes an afterthought. Care becomes optional. Soul becomes collateral damage.

You don’t have to be slow to be effective. You don’t have to be precious to be beautiful. But you do have to be deeply unwilling to sacrifice meaning on the altar of speed.

Rushed work doesn’t move markets. It just fills calendars.

The Comfort of “Safe“

Speed isn’t the only threat. There’s another force quietly draining soul from the work. The choice of who you partner with to bring it to life.

When sales are down, we naturally try to figure out why. But instead of being honest with our answers, we reach for easy excuses:

Our budgets aren’t big enough. Our website is too slow. Our packaging needs an update. Our conversion rates are below industry standards. We need more influencers. We need to create more content. We need a better sales deck. We need more brand awareness.

Or my personal favorite: We need a new agency.

Agencies can be catalysts for success, or they can exacerbate an existing problem.

If you’ve ever hired one, you’ve probably experienced the agency that says all the right things, plays within the lines, delivers the expected work, avoids friction, and never pushes too hard. A perfectly polite partnership that produces perfectly forgettable results.

Safe agencies are appealing because they reduce anxiety. They keep everyone comfortable. They avoid risk. They don’t challenge internal politics. They make leaders feel protected.

But protection is not progress. And comfort is the silent killer of breakthrough ideas.

The cost of choosing a safe agency isn’t measured in dollars, it’s measured in opportunity. The stories you never told. The bold play you never made. The differentiation you never claimed. The market share you quietly surrendered.

Safe work looks fine today. But it disappears tomorrow.

Safe should never define soul.

WHAT GROWS SOUL

So if speed and safety are the enemies, what’s the antidote?

It starts with how you define partnership and whether you have the courage to demand more from it.

Real Partnership

Great partnerships aren’t built on convenience. They’re built on honesty, curiosity, shared ambition, and a willingness to get in the trenches together.

Real partnership requires the courage to ask the hard questions and the humility to truly listen. It demands transparency, accountability, and mutual respect. It requires both sides to show up not as transaction managers, but as collaborators.

Partnership isn’t agreeing with each other. It’s believing in each other.

And when that belief is real, creative limitations fall away. Possibility expands. The work takes on momentum and meaning.

Soul takes root.

The Long Game

Short-term wins matter, but they’re not the same as long-term value. Quick hits don’t build brands people believe in. Soul does.

Great brands play the long game because they understand something the impatient overlook: connection compounds. Meaning compounds. Trust compounds.

Over time, the brands who invest in soul build a moat that competitors cannot replicate, no matter how much money they pour into performance.

The long game isn’t slow. It’s strategic.

And in the years ahead, it will be the most powerful competitive advantage a brand can claim.

Courage

Partnership creates the conditions. But soul still requires one more ingredient: the courage to be different.

We believe creativity still matters and maybe more than ever.

We believe breakthrough work requires courage: from us and from the brands who hire us.

We believe “boring” industries are the next frontier of great storytelling.

We believe differentiation requires truth.

We believe the world doesn’t need more content, it needs more meaning.

And we believe that if you’re willing to build a brand with soul, we can help you make work that actually matters.

FOR THOSE WHO FEEL IT IN THEIR GUT

If you’re reading this and something inside you says, “Finally, someone who gets it,” then you’re the kind of brand we built this for.

You’re not chasing noise. You’re building meaning.

You’re not afraid of the long game. You’re committed to it.

You know that brand isn’t decoration, it’s identity.

And identity is destiny.

You believe your story matters. You believe your people matter. And you believe your work can matter more.

If that’s you, let’s build something.

The industry will continue shifting. Technology will accelerate. Content will multiply. Attention will fragment. Metrics will evolve. Tools will change. Trends will rise and fall.

But the one thing that will always remain…the one thing no competitor can copy, no algorithm can manufacture, no shortcut can replace…is your soul.

And the brands who honor it, articulate it, and express it with courage will own the future.

The future is wide open, and you deserve a brand that feels as alive as the ambition behind it.

LET’S GET TO WORK

My initial reaction to this slew of content is to feel revolutionized yet instantly behind the curve. If AI is brand new, how have so many people managed to become experts? Published experts. Published and profitable experts. 

Perhaps this is because AI isn’t actually new. The term ‘AI’ was coined in the early 1950s but the concept of technology and non-human tools has been around since the Stone Age.

A Brief History of the Future 

In 1988, Pixar released one of their most successful short films. Despite financial constraints, Steve Jobs agreed, in the midst of a complete financial shutdown, to fund the project; and the Oscar Award Winning cartoon ‘Tin Toy’ aired at a 1988 SIGGRAPH Convention to standing ovation. This film was the first official test of a software called ‘PhotoRealistic RenderMan’ and was ultimately responsible for making computer animation a credible form of artistic production. Later in 2003, The Library of Congress elected this film for preservation in the US National Film Registry dubbing it ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” 

If you are scratching your head and trying to figure out why in the golden era of Pixar masterpieces, you do not remember anything about a toy named Tinny desperately trying to escape Billy the infant, it’s because the movie was wildly rejected by the public. 

While the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software was truly spectacular, audiences hated the realistic features. Billy looked so human that it made people uncomfortable. Judge Adam Areseneau referred to this film in a DVD Verdict in late 2007 as “the most frightening and disturbing piece of animation in the history of this art form.” This feeling of unsettled rejection to human-like attributes, known as “Uncanny Valley Phenomenon”, is largely subjective and has been debated since the early ‘70s. Is this something that we need to ‘force’ humans to ‘get over’? Or is this something that we just need to accept, and continue producing lesser value productions for greater human enjoyment? I suppose this lends to the greater question, do we create to contribute, or just for the sake of saying we created something? 

Fast forward to 2022, ChatGPT is released and the business world collectively loses their mind in pure panic mode trying to determine how and if to incorporate this revolutionary AI technology into their every day business. 

Is it safe? Will it catch on? Are our competitors using it? Will it replace employees or require more skillsets? How are we going to find time to learn this? Can we use it to publish a blog about how we are at the cutting edge of using it while we figure out how to use it? 

So, where do we start?

Let’s start with understanding the vernacular and distinguishing ‘AI’ from its buzzword counterpart. 

AI (artificial intelligence) is an all encompassing term that essentially refers to any non-human generated smarts. This is in itself a paradox since humans are the ones who have to feed any technological algorithm. 

ChatGPT, while not synonymous with AI, uses the concept of AI to act as a virtual assistant. While chatbot technology has been around since the 1960s, ChatGPT certainly upleveled that capability and is largely responsible for the recent surge in AI trending language. 

But while your headlines may presently be drowning in AI tagged headlines that basically all say “AI has developed new technology…. We’re not sure how to use it… but it’s here and you/we should probably look into this”, AI is not new. 

The Magic of a Good PR Spin

If there’s one thing marketers do exceptionally well, it is capitalizing on profitable products/services by pushing the same thing in a plethora of positioning variations. Leave it to marketing pros to support and proliferate ideas until they no longer hold any meaning. (Taylor Swift watches football. Enough Said.) 

While AI continues to evolve and offer advanced use-cases and iterations, we needn’t panic about the overhaul of everything we know and understand about the world. Because we have already co-created with AI for decades. 

Respond > React

It’s natural for marketers to live a bit on edge. The world is changing, trends are flying (thanks Internet), and with the flooding of new data every second, our understanding and positioning as well as that of our customers is shifting sometimes daily. With the fire under our feet and expectations to deliver exceptional marketing in the same way we did before our consumers had access to every transparent piece of information, this can be a daunting and frankly impossible ask for anyone to oblige. 

Instead of reacting to every ‘new’ trend or buzzword, let’s respond. Reacting is impulsive and often rooted in panic and emotion. We immediately jump into tactics and make long-term decisions based on short-term insights. This can be exhausting as well as expensive as we are tasked with continually shifting direction. It’s like starting from scratch every single day.

When we respond, we pause to absorb the information we are receiving, and we wait until emotion subsides. We think about how to leverage what we already have, and we walk confidently forward in the same direction we have invested our time, energy, and dollars into since inception. 

Leveraging AI 

The goal of any business is to maximize profits and impact. When we partner with businesses to strengthen their brand, one of the first things we look for is their difference. What sets this brand apart from any other competitive offering? What is their story, their WHY, their personality? What can we share with their audience that they won’t be able to get anywhere else? One of the best ways I find to leverage AI is to sift and sort through the copious amounts of information available and use that to streamline your messaging.

Do marketers need to think about AI? Probably. But isn’t that in our job description as marketers? To think about everything? 

What do we do with this information?

AI can be a great asset to your business. You can use it to research, automate, streamline, annotate…. But a tool is only as useful as the craftsman who knows how to use it. 

Technology has existed and evolved since the beginning of time. Ideas are tossed to the masses and the acceptance or rejection of any new idea or change is largely rooted in providence and timing. AI, along with any other marketable product, will continue to be re-named, re-positioned, and re-released to capitalize on current trends. This is marketing.

Where do we as marketers draw the line between creating to contribute, and creating for our own egos? And when does this become problematic? 

It’s not a question of whether or not the world should exist with AI, but rather how do we best use it to better the human experience. With the potential gain of technology, what are the potential losses? If we benefit from saving time and money at the expense of cutting thousands of job roles, what does that mean for our economy? For morale? 

Our job as marketers, as creatives, is to not only know how to create, but when to stop. Going back to the uncanny valley phenomenon, Tin Toy was shelved, but ultimately became the story plot for another popular film series. With some revised and overly-animated cartooning and an A-list cast, Tiny Toy became what we now know and love as Toy Story, which ultimately inspired a whole new world of both award-winning and beloved entertainment. 

Going back to HI

There is power in the story we create. The words we use and the frame we package truth within can dramatically alter perception and results, even when working with the exact same, accurate, data. 

While we continue to tinker with technological advancements, it is crucial now more than ever that we highlight and preserve human intelligence and well-being. Considerations such as legal protections, plagiarism, privacy breaches, psychological impact, economic impact, etc are real human challenges that require exceptional levels of intelligence and discernment. 

What is the real WHY behind technology? I would argue that technology exists to improve the human experience. It exists to make our lives easier, better, and more flexible so that we can enjoy more human experiences. Creativity without contribution is no longer about creating, but taking. Rather than hyper-focusing on the intricacies of technological tools, let’s put the focus back on connecting with our customers. This is where the real magic happens. 

Gigasavvy helps brands move their business forward and position themselves for long-term success with comprehensive strategies, meaningful brand stories, and innovative creative campaigns. Connect with us to chat about how we can help you bring your brand into the future. 

Here are 7 benefits of having a strong brand.

1. Increased Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is how recognizable you are – or how well the target audience recalls the brand and identity of the products. Brands with good recognition can be so powerful that they’re known beyond their existing customer base; non-customers recognize the brand as well.

A great example of brand recognition is Starbucks. One of the major coffee chains across the US and the world, even if you don’t drink Starbucks, you’ve likely heard of it and seen the logo.

Whether you visit a Starbucks in your hometown or anywhere else across the country, you can rely on consistent logos, colors, fonts, messaging, and café interiors. You know that your favorite drink will be the same as it is at home.

2. Improved Customer Loyalty

Strong brands have a tremendous impact on customer loyalty. Research has shown that 57% of customers will spend more money on brands they’re loyal to, and they’re more likely to make repeat purchases. This comes from continuously positive emotional experience and satisfaction.

Loyal customers can be fiercely faithful to their preferred brands, often believing them better than their competitors. Some famous examples of this type of connection include Apple vs. Microsoft and Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola.

If customers have strong loyalty, they’re more likely to stick with products from the same company, ultimately leading to more sales. For example, Apple enthusiasts typically have a MAC, iPad, and iPhone, rather than mixing and matching their devices and operating systems.

3. Lower Price Sensitivity

Price sensitivity describes the effect of product cost on the target market’s willingness to purchase. Lower price sensitivity indicates that customers don’t consider price to be a major factor in making a purchasing decision.

As a result, a strong brand gives you the freedom to use premium pricing. Luxury fashion houses like Gucci and Chanel have the ability to charge high prices for their products because of the customers’ emotional connection to the brand, leading to a higher perception of value.

This concept is not just limited to fashion and status symbols, however. Luxury can be communicated in a variety of products, including the candy company Sugarfina. Branded as the “ultimate luxury candy shop for grown-ups,” Sugarfina offers premium artisanal candies with exquisite details that command higher prices.

4. More Referrals

Word of mouth can be a powerful tool for growth. When people favor a brand and believe in its story, they are more likely to make recommendations to friends, family, or even perfect strangers – ultimately leading to free promotion of your brand. Often, these brands offer consistent, quality products that deliver on their claims, such as Zappos.

The online shoe and clothing retailer grew quickly with its vast selection, exceptional customer service, and legendary 365-day return policy. The word spread, and eventually Zappos created a referral program of its own to help customers earn rewards for their recommendations.

5. More Successful Product and Service Launches

When you already have customers who recognize and trust your brand, you have a group of people eagerly ready to try out your newest products or services. It’s easier for an established brand with an existing customer base to launch new products and services with ready adoption from current customers who are willing to bolster initial sales and give referrals on your behalf.

And if your new product doesn’t gain traction, it won’t ruin your entire brand. There are plenty of examples of strong brands with major product flops that stayed standing because of their preexisting foundation.

One great example of a company that used its existing brand equity to expand its product line is Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Along with home, auto, life, and specialty insurance, Nationwide offers pet insurance. With so many competitors in the market, Nationwide tapped into a built-in audience with its pet insurance products to gain traction more quickly.

6. Better Brand Trust

Brand trust refers to the confidence that customers have in a brand’s ability to deliver on its promises. When a brand consistently meets the expectations it sets, customer trust grows.

With strong trust, customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and choose your brand over a competitor. Conversely, when the experience doesn’t meet the brand’s promises, customers are more likely to switch loyalties.

Knott’s Berry Farm is an example of a brand that used customer trust to continually expand its offerings. From humble beginnings as a roadside berry stand in 1923, Knott’s Berry Farm has grown to become the 12^th-most-visited theme park in North America. With its 40 rides, shops, restaurants, and other attractions, the park regularly hosts over four million visitors each year.

7. Easier Talent Recruitment and Retention

With an ongoing war for talent, having a strong brand can attract job candidates as well as customers. Top talent wants to have strong brands on their resume, and they’re looking for opportunities with companies that have a reputation for doing right by their customers and their employees.

A strong brand permeates company culture, keeping employees engaged while improving retention. Employees who are engaged are loyal to their employers, productive, and profitable.

Few brands have the reputation for being a positive workplace like Google. For six years running, Google took the top spot in the list of the country’s Best Companies to Work For from Fortune. This is due, in part, to its focus on employee perks like gourmet food and nap pods, positive company culture, and advancement opportunities.

Elevate Your Brand Strategy

Crafting a strong brand doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s a crucial part of having staying power and a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded market. The benefits of a powerful and lasting brand are virtually limitless, from more customer loyalty to simplified product launches to more customer referrals.

Gigasavvy is a brand strategy and creative agency with experience delivering results for brands award-winning strategy, content creation and marketing support. Contact us to talk about how we can help you with your brand.

While many companies and agencies are struggling on how to force employees back into traditional office settings, few have stopped to consider how to work better with work from home employees, and build on the successes of their remote workplaces. 

Remember: despite the initially forced nature of remote work, productivity never ground to a halt, collaboration and brainstorming moved online far more seamlessly than many dreamed possible, and a great number of organizations were able to maintain business continuity despite the disruption happening all around them.

From the very start, Gigasavvy proactively embraced the change. We realized early on that, while some things might return to their pre-pandemic routines, work life had been irrevocably altered. To adapt, we emphasized the need for flexibility, iterated our workflows and organizational structures, and ultimately created a model that we call: the Nomadic Office.

Harmonizing with Every Work from Home Style

The Nomadic Office is a framework specifically designed to accommodate a wide range of personal styles, preferences, and influences.

Everyone has their own optimal work environment. Our goal is not to create restrictions that force people with different needs into a one-size-fits all box, but rather to synchronize many different modes of working so that we can all collaborate, create and communicate effectively — regardless of exactly where, when, and how the work is getting done. 

Don’t Fight the Future. Shape It.

Discovering new places and experiences can’t help but stimulate your creative energies, provide new context for experimentation, and inject excitement into every day — all things that make a creative agency stronger. Once we embraced this principle we decided to give our employees the tools they need to work remotely, and trust them to deliver their work from anywhere.

To achieve that level of flexibility, we developed a threefold strategy, the three pillars upon which the Nomadic Office operates:

1. Consistent Manager-Organized Contact

Nomadic and work from home styles afford a high degree of autonomy, but there is still a need for routine oversight to keep everyone accountable. Managers are tasked with keeping their teams in contact, calling regular meetings, and also organizing events that serve to enhance collaboration, networking, and coaching.

2. Co-Working Opportunities

All key team members have company sponsored access to co-working spaces for client and internal meetings as well as for more informal get togethers. Team members can use day passes to work in common areas or rent private rooms on an hourly basis with manager approval. 

Not only do these spaces offer all the amenities needed to support a remote workflow, but they can also serve as a needed respite from a home office — particularly when family matters tend to intrude into the work day.

3. Teamwide Destination Events

Every month or two, Gigasavvy selects a beautiful location to rent a property that will fit our entire team. Given our homebase in Southern California, there is no shortage of scenic, coastal venues available on home sharing platforms like AirBnB and Vrbo. We choose locations with large indoor and outdoor spaces, a variety of seating, quiet areas for work time and meetings, and enough space to accommodate company wide gatherings. Using this approach, our team has effectively planned fun and productive office days at the beach, the marina and even at Angels Stadium.

Join the Revolution 

It’s easy to think, “Sure, that works for a creative agency, but we could never do that.” But Gigasavvy is not alone. More and more companies, including some of the largest and most innovative in the global marketplace, have realized that the trend of flexible work is here to stay — and that if they want to attract the young, digitally-capable, and in-demand workforce of tomorrow, they’ll need to adapt to them, not the other way around.

Microsoft, for example, announced it would cover all home office expenses for any employee that wanted to relocate either domestically or internationally. Evernote touted that one of its employees worked from her sailboat for six years. 

“The past few years have brought new possibilities around the ways we connect and work,” said Meta spokesman Tracy Clayton. “We believe that how people work is far more important than where they work from.” 

Employees, for their part, seem to agree. 68% of Americans now say they prefer a hybrid workplace model, and 30% say they would not want to work for an employer that doesn’t offer at least some remote work options. For Gen Z and Y, that preference rises almost to a hard requirement. Almost half say they would consider quitting their current company if it eliminated remote work opportunities.

The Nomadic Office concept delivers the best of all worlds: the freedom for employees to explore and be adventurous, combined with the tools to stay connected and in sync with their team. Gigasavvy’s Nomadic Office framework provides a foundation for successful remote collaboration, increased creativity and ideation, as well as efficient productivity.

Whether we’re thinking through employee culture, brand strategy, or content creation, the Gigasavvy creative agency applies innovative thinking to all situations. Contact us to see how we can help with your unique marketing challenges.

Gigasavvy’s Strategy Team has been keeping on top of changes in the marketing landscape over the last year, and has compiled a list of the 2023 marketing trends we see on the horizon. Here are our Top 6 up-and-coming marketing trend forecasts, and our recommendations on how to take advantage of them. 

1. Privacy Restrictions Will Lead to Creative Solutions

It’s been a long time coming, but the age of privacy is here. With Google planning for full cookie retirement in 2024, advertisers will spend 2023 finalizing their preparations for the change, and the effects that will be felt on each channel and platform. 

The reality is that consumers have become savvy about their privacy, and they expect brands to respect their demands. And while many companies have been preparing for this marketing trend by spending these last few years building databases of first party data for direct-to-consumer advertising, there’s also a creative side to the story.

Rather than finding new ways to be invasive (are you getting way more SMS ads, too?) brands are thinking about the value they’re providing their customers — and that includes in terms of their content. This year, companies will think about everything through this lens. Is branded content truly entertaining on TikTok? Are all messages relevant in contextual ad placements? And ultimately: do brands really understand what their customers care about? 

Privacy aside, there is a larger consumer trend toward an aversion toward invasive advertising in general. The more intrusive the ads and the less relevant they are, the more likely consumers are to opt-out, turn on ad-blockers, or just ignore them. In 2023, brands will spend more time considering customers’ actual wants and needs in order to avoid the dreaded skip button.  

2. Brands Will Rely on Richer Storytelling

As marketers struggle to respond to the ever-tightening restrictions on access to personal data noted above, many are coming to the realization that they need to relook at the way they speak to their customers. In the coming year, brands’ focus will shift to the quality of the message, versus the quantity of the impressions.

It’s becoming clear that, in our bid to connect to everyone conveniently, many of our so-called “connections” have lost their sense of richness and authenticity. As performance marketing teams focused exclusively on algorithms and KPIs, continually A/B testing and optimizing the color of CTA buttons or the arrangement of captions in short copy blocks, they sometimes allowed data to take them away from the bigger picture.

Now, as a result, social media is seeing a reckoning that most of us never would have imagined a few short years ago. Although these platforms are still a part of consumers’ daily lives, people are starting to rebel against the constant bombardment of targeted advertisements, and are actively seeking out content that is more authentic. 

Fortunately, most companies and brands are rooted in some original purpose that is deeper than quarterly earning projections. In a new marketing trend that we fully appreciate, marketers are now resurrecting these original brand principals, dusting them off and realizing they can, and should, still stand on them. 

In 2023, we will see brands focus on weaving these brand narratives into their advertising campaigns with more impactful creative. With this “storyselling” approach, brands will seek to entertain, inform, delight and create memorable experiences with their audiences across any platform, so that they can inspire support and spur their consumers to take action.  

3. Social Media Content Strategies Will Shift

This story-driven content approach will also extend to organic and paid social media content. While in year’s past, social media trends marketing relied primarily on bold colors and highly graphic stills to stop the scroll, next year, social media platforms will increasingly reward video content.

To be successful, marketers must adopt a “video-first” approach, in the same way that UI/UX design teams had to shift to a mobile-first website strategy in the last decade. Although TikTok recently added Photo Mode to post carousels, it is still largely a video sharing platform, and all of the main social media platforms are currently rewarding video content, making stories increasingly prevalent.   

As video content is being prioritized across the board, platforms are now also accepting longer videos. While at one time video lengths often were capped at 15-30 seconds, platforms will now accept videos that are several minutes long. In 2023, brands will leverage these options for rich brand storytelling that varies in length for every stage of the customer journey, whether the videos are live or pre-recorded, whether they’re posted in profiles, feeds, stories, or reels, and whether they live on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or Facebook.

This list of platforms, and the way the list is prioritized, is also going to continue to shift in the coming year, as new platforms continue to crop up, new features continue to be added to existing platforms, and Elon Musk continues to make unpredictable proclamations. Marketers will have to be nimble, planning their content in terms of audience targets and customer journeys, then placing it wherever it will be seen. 

4. The Media Mix Will Be More Responsive

The need for an agile marketing approach has never been more real. The last year has seen drastic and frequent changes in digital marketing, causing a lot of marketers to have to rewrite their playbooks or suffer dips in effectiveness. Just as both Meta and Twitter have ended 2022 in major layoffs and general chaos, we expect additional changes in the marketing landscape in 2023. 

Next year, media and marketing trends will continue the constant state of change, forcing marketers to stay vigilant in order to stay relevant. Strategies will need to remain fluid to accommodate sudden changes in trends and platforms, and marketers will have to train their teams and their C-suite to stay open-minded and flexible. 

Consider the ever-increasing need for more video content. Social platforms have spent 2022 chasing each other’s success: think of the copy-cat strategies that Instagram has adopted to follow TikTok, and TikTok’s adoption of BeReal’s style. Each evolution has required a completely new content strategy to stay relevant. 

On the other hand, it might be time to double down on more traditional forms of advertising. Think about ad-supported streaming platforms. Despite previous trends to block or avoid ads, ad-supported video platforms have been growing faster than subscription-based platforms, and we expect that marketing trend to intensify with continued economic uncertainty. This opens the door back up to more traditional :15 and :30 spots. 

As questions about the future rule the day for consumers, marketers will need to keep their teams and their strategies more flexible than ever. 

5. Creating More Seamless Customer Experiences

Marketing is no longer just about trying to convince people to buy something from your company. Now, it’s all about providing the best all-around customer experience (CX). In a world of endless choices, consumers expect brands to care about them through every step of the decision making process. In 2023, delivering a customer-centric experience will go from “nice to do” to “need to do” marketing trend. 

So what makes a good CX? Consumers say efficiency, convenience, knowledgeable (and friendly) customer service, and easy payment options influence their buying decisions.

Brands that make it easy for shoppers to buy from them will often win their business. 73% of people say that customer experience is an important factor in their buying decisions, yet only half the consumers think businesses are providing a good experience.  

To meet these customer demands, in 2023 brands will focus on incorporating personalization, updating technology, and creating an intuitive customer experience at every online and offline touchpoint. These all may seem like arduous tasks, but not doing so may cost returning (and new) customers. Management experts Bain and Company say even a 5 percent boost in customer retention increases profit by 25%. 

Not all of this happens online. Companies learned the cost of having unhappy employees during the Great Resignation. To make sure offline experiences match the expectations set by online advertising, brands will coordinate their efforts among sales, marketing, and customer service teams to deliver an exceptional customer experience. In 2023, more employees will be given the tools they need to be successful and rewarded for following through. Brands will invest in their teams as a way to invest in their customers. 

6. Responsible Consumerism Will Become More Prevalent

Consumerism is changing. It’s no longer as simple as creating a great product that will attract customers. Now, consumers also care about the how, why, and where your product is created. How does it support the local economy? How does it positively (or negatively) impact society? How does it impact the environment? 

Responsible consumerism is nothing new. But each year consumers care more. Research shows that consumers are up to six times more likely to purchase products from a brand with a strong purpose. It’s more than buzz; brands need to live and breathe their efforts. 

In 2023 brands will spend more effort to find out which causes resonate with their audiences and rally around the single purpose that serves their interests and the greater good. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Companies can differentiate themselves and build brand equity by identifying ways to better their communities in an authentic way. 

Beauty giant Coty is committed to “make over the world of beauty.” The brand leads with this purpose to ensure that inclusivity and sustainability is kept in mind with every business decision.  To prove it, Coty releases an annual Sustainability Report, which outlines the progress made to advance the company’s sustainability strategy. In addition to programs to reduce packaging waste, they include updates on inclusivity strides, such as equitable pay for similar roles in performance, regardless of gender and the launch of a global gender-neutral parental leave policy. 

Brands that are hands-on with diversity and inclusion provide a welcoming environment for consumers. In 2023, brands will need to hold themselves accountable and back up their efforts with real results.

At the End of the Day, Authenticity Will Win

In short, companies who live and serve their customers authentically will be positioned to win in 2023. Customers have gotten wiser to brands with slick social media accounts that are not backed by any real substance, and have become suspicious of brands which do not seem to have a real story to tell. 

Every major marketing trend we see for 2023 can be addressed by aligning to an authentic brand purpose, building a customer experience that delivers on that purpose, and sharing it with brand storytelling that resonates with what audiences need.  

As a brand strategy, content creation and creative agency that is passionate about helping clients amplify their message and achieve success, Gigasavvy keeps tabs on marketing trends throughout the year to effectively guide our clients. Contact us for help with capitalizing on this year’s marketing trends.

Best Book on Branding that Connects

Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People
by Marc Gobe 
The philosophy of this brand book can be summed up with Gobe’s quote, “The biggest misconception in branding strategies is the belief that branding is about market share, when it is really all about mind and emotions share.” To be successful, brands must listen, focus on how people feel and why they do what they do, then shape their brands with a goal of meeting consumers on those terms, embracing, supporting, and sometimes celebrating the uniqueness and individuality of all consumers. Read more in our conversation about how brands win with authenticity.

Best Book on Branding Basics

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
by Marty Neumeier
This holistic book covers some of the most important aspects of branding, complete with a full brand glossary. Whether you’re just beginning your journey in brand strategy or you’re a seasoned vet, this book lays out both basic and complex branding principles in a comprehensive, yet easily digestible way. See these branding basics in action as we outline three easy ways to implement brand strategy.

Best Book on Brand Principles that Never Get Old

Customer-Centered Growth: Five Proven Strategies for Building Competitive Advantage
by Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan
This classic brand book, published in the 90s based on research with dozens of brands, is in publication because of the solid principles within. Whiteley and Hessan explain that when brands listen to customers and incorporate their thoughts, feelings and expressed needs into the brand strategy, they create a symbiotic relationship that breeds success. The best brands do this so seamlessly, it is almost a reflex. Conversely, brands which fail to truly listen to their customers are doomed to failure.

Best Book on Brand’s Role in Media

The Media Advantage: How to Reframe Marketing For a World Gone Dark
By Jim Elms
Many times, we think of performance and brand marketing as an either or. But what if they can work together? This book is part thought exercise, part manual, as it ponders what author Jim Elms calls, “A World Gone Dark.” How would you market your brand if all paid media disappeared? Turns out your brand plays a hefty role. Learn more about the impact of brand media strategy during economic uncertainty.

Best Book on Brand Naming

Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service
By Rob Meyerson
Brand naming is part science, part art, all strategy. Take it from Rob Meyerson, who has made a career of demystifying the processes and principles of brand strategy. In this book, Rob reveals some of the techniques that have driven his success as a brand and naming strategist, and some of the considerations that go into creating a successful name. 

Best Book on Building Creative Brand Culture

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
By Ed Catmull 
The best brands are born when creativity and innovation are allowed to flourish. This book, which recounts the founding of Pixar and the creative process behind some of their most well-known films, discusses the ways in which the company created a culture where employees felt comfortable to explore, imagine, and – yes – sometimes fail. Through a series of anecdotes, author Ed Catmull uncovers the basic principles that allow any organization to foster creativity as a core cultural pillar. See how we engineer creativity here at Gigasavvy.

Best Book on Purpose-Driven Branding

The Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts
By Ryan Holiday
This book on branding is not officially a branding book. Ryan Holiday explains that great branding (and marketing) will only take any product or company so far — and only in the short term. The only way for brands to truly stand the test of time is for brands to have a purpose, and then, in pursuit of that purpose, to make great products that are meaningful to their customers. Purpose, in this sense, does not have to be world changing – it could be as simple as to make people laugh, or to bring comfort. When these reasons for existence are first and foremost, the rest will fall into place in such a way that it can resonate with consumers for decades to come. See our synopsis on how to control your brand’s narrative by meeting consumers’ needs.

Best Book on Branding Experiences

This book on branding explains why and how, in today’s world, brands who build emotional connections are more profitable and resilient. Lindstrom goes on to explain that a brand’s’ emotional connection with consumers extends far beyond what we show our audience and what we say, but also extends to the experiences that engage all of the consumers experiences – what they see and hear, but also what they smell, touch and taste when they interact with our brand, as demonstrated by the feelings and childhood memories sparked by the smell of Play Doh. Check out some of our favorite brand sensory experiences.

Gigasavvy offers brand marketing strategy consulting and is a creative agency which is passionate about helping brands craft their authentic story. Contact us for help with your brand strategy.

Consumers need to feel a connection and develop a level of trust with a brand before they will part with their hard-earned money. In fact, 81% of consumers said they need to be able to trust the brand to buy from them, according to Edelman. On the flipside, brands which fail to build a connection or differentiate themselves are often relegated to obscurity, resulting in just another no-name product collecting dust at the bottom of the bargain bin. 

The best way to ensure you achieve a positive brand perception is to create and implement an effective brand strategy. Although the granular goals of a brand strategy may differ wildly between companies and industries, the overarching objective of your brand should have a unifying thread: to align your team and your customers around a common vision and purpose that will elevate your offering above your competitors’. 

Everyone Has a Story to Tell

Creating, nurturing, and protecting a positive brand image is not just about telling your story; it is about knowing your customers and understanding how your brand fits into their lives. 89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values, according to NerdWallet. The key to engendering the right perceptions is having a deep and constantly updated understanding of your customers, visitors, and other stakeholders:

• Who is your audience?
• What interests and inspires them?
• What pain points do they need alleviated?
• What causes do they care about? 
• What role does your brand play within their world?
• How can you develop a deep and durable relationship with them?
• How do you provide value with each and every interaction?
• How should your customers feel when they interact with you?

Brand strategy consultants ask questions like these and more to understand what makes your offering different, what makes it better in the hearts and minds of your consumers, and how your brand serves a purpose for your customers. Those elements serve as the building blocks for a brand’s purpose, vision, mission and values, which then serve as a launchpad for authentic brand messaging that can connect with your audience on a human level, helping your brand stay top of mind with your consumers.

Rise Above the Fray

Effective brand strategy instills positive associations and emotions that take root at a deeper level than the rivals. Based on an understanding of the audience, brands make promises to solve problems, enhance lives, create value, and uphold a certain standard of quality and responsiveness. Those promises create expectations in the minds of consumers, and consistently meeting and exceeding those expectations leads to sustainable brand growth.

Consistently is the key word here; consistency creates an experience that is essential to building trust and familiarity. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ research shows that experience is everything: 73-percent of consumers cite customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. As brands repeatedly deliver on promises, trust builds. Brands earn meaningful customer loyalty, find themselves empowered to charge premiums, and — most importantly  — increase the overall value for the consumer and for the brand.

Reap the Rewards

A study by Lucidpress found that brands that present themselves consistently generate 33% greater revenue than their rivals. When the brand and customer experience are optimized, consistent, and high-quality, everything else becomes easier: building greater brand awareness through reputation and referral, breaking into new markets, customer acquisition and retention, cross and upselling opportunities, and access to entirely new audience segments. 

When a brand is effectively stewarded, it’s not just more valuable, it becomes more resilient to disturbances in the marketplace, better able to recover from external and internal setbacks, and is less likely to suffer defections from its core audience during hard times or during the pains of exponential growth.

How is the marketplace perceiving your brand currently? How would you prefer it to be seen? Gigasavvy is creative agency that offers brand identity services that specializes in helping brands make human connections. Contact us to hear more about how our brand strategy consultants can help you build an authentic brand strategy.

The interest and desire for high-quality creative output is outstripping the supply. Audiences want more content and better storytelling, and brands need content that feeds that need while integrating harmoniously with their marketing strategies.

Video Is Dominating Content Today

Video has become both the most popular activity on the internet generally and a new key touchpoint on the buyer’s journey in a wide range of industries, B2C and B2B. 80-percent of people surveyed by Livestream and New York Magazine said that they would rather watch videos from a brand than read a blog. Furthermore, according to Social Media Week, users spend 88-percent more time browsing websites that have videos than those that don’t, and videos on landing pages increase conversion rates by as much as 80-percent.

Video consumption is also happening at more times throughout the day. Explainer, tutorial, demonstration, testimonial, and review videos have become a part of both work, play, and commerce. Which is why it’s not surprising that HubSpot found that the most popular viewing time for videos in the U.S. is on Wednesday between 7 and 11 AM PST. The real takeaway from that research is that consuming video content is happening pretty much around the clock.

Most audiences now say they prefer consuming video to reading content online for the simple reason that it’s easy, provides quick access to a lot of information, and because it gives them options. Text and images are purely visual. Podcasts are purely audio. Only video can be both or either. In fact, a study by Verizon Media indicated that 92-percent of consumers watch videos with the sound off and 50-percent use closed captioning.

The conventional wisdom among experienced marketers and trend watchers is that video is no longer just a value add on digital channels, it’s a necessity. No other format matches the level of engagement it offers — it’s a rare opportunity to express a brand’s values, character, and points of differentiation from competitors to an audience that is fully connected. 

From Design to Execution, Studio4 is Comprehensive Content Production

The dedicated content team behind Studio4 is backed by Gigasavvy’s brand-building expertise. Studio4 will execute on the ideation and planning led by Gigasavvy and our partners, bringing campaigns to life with targeted, high-quality branded content.

Services

• Brand Film and Video Production
• YouTube and Connected TV
• Broadcast TV
• Long Form Branded Content
• Photography (Product, Lifestyle, Conceptual, Commercial)
• Social Media and Influencer Content (Organic and Paid)
• Live Streaming and  Shopping
• 3D, Animation, and Motion Graphics

With the increasing demand for video content, brands need a partner that can scale with them and support the growth of their brand online and off. They also need content creators with diverse capabilities and competencies across a wide range of digital channels.

Studio4 produces content tailored for every major social network:

• TikTok
• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Snap

And in a number of popular formats:

• Film/Video Production
• Photography
• Branded Content
• Social Media Content
• Motion Graphics and Animation

Gigasavvy developed our in-house content creation studio as a means of leveraging interest in a storytelling tool that helps us better cut through the noise in the marketplace and accelerate brand growth by fostering genuine connections. 

Commercial Production

• Film
• Video
• Photography
• Full-Service Production
• Scalable Project Sizes
• Multi-Channel and Platform Output

Branded Content

• Short Films
• Documentaries
• Podcasts
• Live-streams

Social Media Content

• Organic
• Paid
• Subscription Model Content Packages

Studio4 is dedicated to crafting compelling brand experiences across channels and platforms that impact audiences where they are, by creating memorable moments that leave lasting Impressions. 

Every brand has a unique story to tell, and Gigaavvy taps into an audience’s core human truth to produce content in a style and voice that is authentic to them and the brands trying to reach them. Now, thanks to Studio4, that story will be told in greater detail and to a larger audience.

What Engaging Content Does For Brands

Video helps customers understand the businesses they transact with and the products they purchase. It’s a necessary interaction that helps engender trust and affinity with the brands they support and align with. It’s always the case that consumers are more inclined to like and purchase from brands that they devote time to engaging with. Video is a potent storytelling tool, able to evoke strong feelings in an audience and generate lasting memories. 

That increased engagement has positive effects for SEO strategies as well. Engagement is a big part of how Google measures the quality of a website’s user experience (UX), which is a large factor in the latest update to its search ranking algorithm. More time on page equals more engagement, better UX scores, and ultimately, higher ranking on search results.

Video is also a powerful tool for humanizing a brand, showing the faces behind it, and building authentic relationships with its advocates. It helps consumers better understand who they are interacting with, which builds trust, affinity, and familiarity — all factors that support strategies for growing brand equity.

And those intangible benefits translate into stronger results on balance sheets. Videos improve web traffic, generate and nurture high quality leads, and ultimately trigger conversions. Hence, Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing survey, which reported that 81-percent of marketers said integrating video in their marketing plan had a direct and positive impact on sales.

This Is Just the Beginning

Studio4, Gigasavvy’s in-house content creation studio, was designed from the ground up to meet the growing demand for high quality multimedia content from both our current clients and prospective customers, as well as to directly address the broader consumer trend towards highly engaging content that charismatically tells authentic brand stories.

We are thrilled to have an opportunity to show what can happen when you combine strategic brand expertise, visionary creative concepting, and an experienced production team into a one, fully realized production house.

Click here to find out more.

Our topline view is that the wild fluctuations in consumer confidence during the pandemic era show no sign of abating, but certain trends are holding steady — and though uneven across industries, the overall economic picture remains strong with positive signs for continued recovery in 2022.

Macroeconomic Factors

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the last five years have seen volatile swings in both the nation’s GDP growth and the growth of advertising and marketing expenditures in the country. The onset of the pandemic was the triggering event for these changes.

In 2020, as the reality of the pandemic hit domestic and global markets and lockdowns were instituted, GDP and marketing spend both fell precipitously to negative 7.1-percent. The rollout of vaccines and new therapeutics to treat COVID-19 in early and mid-2021 led to a sharp reversal. Lockdowns ended, consumer spending and confidence picked back up and the national economy began a healthy recovery.

The emergence of virus variants, Delta (first detected in late 2020) and Omicron (first detected in late 2021) tempered that recovery. Third quarter estimates for the U.S. GDP growth has been pegged at 2.3-percent — less than some hopeful forecasts, but still well above the nadir at the most uncertain period of the pandemic.

Marketing spend likewise, has tracked closely to GDP, as brands and entire sectors of the economy (notably hospitality industries) came back online, then wavered under the threat of the variants. Other industry sectors — including predictably, healthcare-related businesses and consumer packaged goods (CPG) — saw continuous demand and held steady or increased their marketing and advertising throughout the pandemic era.

Marketing and Advertising Investment Trends

Not Even a Pandemic Can Stop Digital’s Rise

One trend that predated the pandemic and which continues unabated is the shift away from offline marketing expenditure towards digital channels: Winterberry Group management consultants reported that $133.9 billion was spent in 2018 on digital marketing, compared to $233.6 billion devoted to offline channels, a split of roughly two-thirds offline to one-third online. 

Winterberry estimates that in 2022, $262.4 billion was spent on digital marketing and $196.7 billion on traditional offline marketing and advertising, a reversal where the majority (57.2-percent) of U.S. marketing was digital. The total compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2018 and 2022 in domestic marketing was estimated to be a 5.7-percent increase by Sage.

The Omnichannel Makes Room for Newcomers

Though the more recent quarters of the pandemic have seen a rebound in growth, it was not felt evenly across industries or channels. In offline channels, linear TV, newspapers, and magazines all saw declines in ad spend, whereas addressable TV, traditional outdoor, and sponsorships saw sizable increases, as did shopper marketing, according to Winterberry’s research.

By contrast, growth in digital was positive across channels, with some outperforming others. Paid social, search, and display ads remained by far the three largest areas brands devoted their marketing and advertising budgets to, but the biggest areas of growth year-over-year were influencer marketing, digital out-of-home, and digital video (OTT) and streaming.

The conclusion to be drawn from Winterberry’s research is that Google and Facebook, the respective leaders in search and social, aren’t going anywhere soon, but upstart channels — like rapidly proliferating video streaming services as well as apps that encourage influencer marketing such as TikTok — are growing fast and may soon rival the older tech giants. 

Regarding streaming services, a survey by Piplsay published in July of 2021 found that ad-supported video streaming is an increasingly popular option. The most-watched free video streamer was NBCUniversal’s Peacock, followed by The Roku Channel, ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV, Fox’s Tubi, and Amazon’s IMDbTV. Disney’s Hulu was the most preferred paid service with ads.

Data Spend

Another fast-growing sector for brand investment has been data and data services. In 2021, an estimated $27.1 billion was spent on analyzing the data of U.S. consumers to optimize the customer experience and brand outreach. Digital media data analytics made up the lion’s share of the spend and saw the largest growth at 25.1-percent.

TV data analytics made up a smaller portion of the total spend at roughly 15-percent but saw almost equally fast growth at 21.6-percent. The rise of programmatic TV ad buying and pure-play digital video streaming services has untapped a wealth of new data for marketers and brand managers to incorporate into their marketing automation planning, data optimization strategies, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

2022 Marketing and Advertising Outlook

Here are seven key areas we have analyzed for changes to watch as this year develops:

1. The Digital Revolution Won’t Be Stopped

Consumers have gotten a taste for customized experiences, and now personalization isn’t just preferred, it’s expected. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations is of paramount importance when establishing brand trust and delivering a brand experience that promotes loyalty and advocacy. 

Delivering personalized experiences at scale isn’t possible without robust digital tools and advanced marketing automation. Consequently, the growth in digital spend seen in 2021 has almost certainly not peaked.

2. The Appetite for Content Won’t Be Satisfied

Even with a firehose of new videos, articles, podcasts, photos, and interactive experiences to drink from, there still never seems to be enough to satisfy the desire for fresh, relevant, and engaging content.

Audiences are always hungry for more, fickle about where they want to invest their eyes and ears in the attention economy, and quick to abandon an outlet that loses its luster or fails to keep pace with an always-on and on-demand world of information, entertainment, and commerce.

For adaptive brand managers, the challenge will be to keep up with demand while staying in tune with the content and channels that appeal to their target demographics, and maintaining quality — but without letting costs go uncontrolled. Content marketing, like all marketing, still needs data-vetted KPIs to justify it.

3. Direct-to-Consumer Will Expand Into New Markets

Mail-order razor blades and meal kits were just the beginning. In 2022, everything from cars to home goods to health services will be marketed, sold, and distributed online and delivered directly to consumers (DTC).

In fact, the entire concept of DTC will evolve into a more holistic framework where a unified brand experience will be delivered over a variety of physical and digital distribution networks. BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup in Store) and BORIS (Buy Online, Return In Store) will continue to grow in availability — even after the pandemic subsides. 

Amazon’s investment in several new, digitally-enhanced brick and mortar retail stores, including its “Just Walk Out” grocery stores and more recently, a clothing store with digital fitting rooms, are clear signs they expect foot traffic to pick back up in 2022 and beyond.

Consequently, retail will reallocate its marketing spend to better address the upper and mid-funnel in an effort to gain stronger awareness and deeper consideration from consumers faced with more options. The brands that best execute a multi-faceted retail strategy (and most clearly communicate their capabilities) will see outsized attention and revenue growth.

4. Privacy Will Be a Key Brand Differentiator

And consumers will quickly realize who is merely paying lip service and who is actually putting skin in the game to protect privacy rights. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is just the first of a wave of new laws that will penalize organizations that are careless with sensitive data. Nations worldwide are recognizing the danger of letting personally identifiable information (PII) and customer data go unregulated.

Consumers will increasingly opt for brands that promote greater privacy protections. The fact that DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine which grew by 46-percent in 2021, is the first competitor in recent memory to gain any serious traction against Google’s dominant position is proof positive that this trend is just heating up.

Apple’s decision to make third-party tracking opt-in rather than opt-out will also continue to shift the balance of power in the privacy space. Brands will steadily lose access to cheap and readily available third-party user data, making fine targeting and attribution that much more challenging. As a result, smart brands will invest in collecting and leveraging more of their own first-party data, while continuing to invest in higher quality creative and branded content.

5. Linear and Advanced TV Will Converge

Where and how consumers access TV content will become less and less relevant to them. They will use smart TVs, phones, tablets, even wearables, and access their media over the air, on the web, and via a wide variety of devices. 

The content itself will overshadow the format. 2022 may be the first year in history to challenge legendary media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s famous adage: “The medium is the message.” After all, when every format is converted into a “smart” device that has similar capabilities, it’s all one, ubiquitous medium. We’re not there yet, but the early indicators are emerging now.

6. B2B Will Look More and More Like B2C

The Amazon Effect won’t spare a company just because they are strictly selling to other businesses. Absolutely everyone now knows it’s possible to deliver fast, convenient, high-quality products and services 24/7/365 — and they want it from everyone they patronize. 

The internet means switching costs are low, options are plentiful, and anyone that can’t or won’t meet this new demand will see their customer base rapidly defect to competitors that will. Hence, even the most staid and technical of firms will reinvest in their online presence, customer service options, and their brand experience.

7. Experiential Marketing Will Remain in a Holding Pattern

CES 2022 attempted to find out if it was time to bring in-person marketing expos back in full force with decidedly mixed results. Audiences are still skittish about venturing too far into public while the pandemic remains uncontrolled. 

However, the heydays of pre-pandemic Instagram Museums and lively in-person experiential marketing events will no doubt eventually return — even amid all the hype surrounding Zoom conferences, virtual reality, and the metaverse — because there is still no substitute for the visceral and emotional connection of truly being with another person face to face in real-time.

The Takeaway

With the pandemic’s end still not entirely in sight, volatility is still the order of the day for most brands, but there are strong signs of progress and insight-driven, human-centered marketing’s effectiveness continues to grow year after year. We expect 2022 to show a continued focus on authentic, brand-based creative strategies to meet consumer demands.