Culture & Narrative Demystifying Online Reports... · Demystifying Online Culture & Narrative March 26, 2020 @therealyonder #onlineculture . ... of online social media culture created

OK BoomerDemystifying Online Culture & NarrativeMarch 26, 2020

@therealyonder #onlineculture

OverviewIn light of cancelled in-person conferences, we wanted to continue to bring our community of professionals together to discuss how the internet works today. We feel this is especially important with the increase in online activity. Our hope is to put into context how people engage around shared values and passions.

We were excited to bring this panel — originally scheduled for SXSW — to a virtual space, and share with a broader audience. Experts from ViacomCBS, Weber Shandwick, and Preacher joined to discuss how brands are using technology and data to understand and connect with consumers in more authentic and meaningful ways.

The takeaway: Brands have moved beyond using just demographics to understand subcultures and the trends they drive, and they are moving beyond simply listening across social channels. In order to engage in relevant ways, brand strategists and marketers must see consumers through the lens of their shared passions, and look for signals for when those passions may turn into important cultural moments.

YonderYonder

Meet Our Panel

Chris PerryChief Innovation Officer

Weber Shandwick @cperry248

Lydia DalySVP of Creative Strategy

& Cultural Intelligence@ViacomCBS

3


Jonathon MorganFounder & CEO

Yonder@jonathonmorgan

Seth GaffneyCo-Founder &

Chief Strategy OfficerPreacher

@sethgaffney

What do we mean by cultural intelligence?

For marketers, it’s the study of everything happening in culture and subcultures, and how that overlaps with what matters to their brand.


Lydia DalySVP of Creative Strategy & Cultural Intelligence@ViacomCBS

What new value does cultural intelligence provide brand builders?


Differentiation is more and more critical as brands try to reach new markets and stay relevant within existing groups of consumers. Cultural intelligence fuels that differentiation by helping brands develop messaging and creative that feels very crafted and individual.

Seth GaffneyCo-Founder & Chief Strategy OfficerPreacher@sethgaffney

THREE PHASES WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME

OUTBREAKFEAR & CONFUSION

RECOVERYDISTRESS & LIVELIHOOD

QUARANTINEANXIETY & INCONVENIENCE

How does the evolution of online social media culture make this challenging?


There are so many communities, subcultures, and streams of content brands should be listening too — and tools to do that. You have to make better choices and be more decisive about what you are going to tune into, and why.


How has the evolution of online social media culture created opportunities?


We haven’t seen a generation before where taxonomy/language is SO viewable to all of us online. The opportunity is in your ability to understand what consumers really want from your brand — being able to decode their emotions and then speak their language becomes a major competitive advantage in the effort to connect authentically.


How do we understand subcultures? What new data do we need?


We use social listening to report on what’s happening on the ground with subcultures — but that information is not something you can be proactive with. Intelligence about subcultures that is actionable at the strategic level is much more nuanced and it’s about staying ahead of the curve.

Chris PerryChief Innovation OfficerWeber Shandwick @cperry248



With social listening, we used to establish a hypothesis, set up keywords to monitor, and measure volume and sentiment to get a story. But it’s more complicated now. To know what’s trending and what’s emerging that might not be a conversation — yet — you have to cross-pollinate, combine data points and identify patterns.




Someone’s DVD collection provides more insight into who they are than demographics ever could — don’t underestimate what you can gather from the little areas of people’s lives. Don’t just look for paint points, either… but look to understand “passion points” for your consumers.


Are brands having to modify their values to line up with subcultures?


Have value you believe in in the first place! Some people will like them and some won’t. Know that you may end up alienating people to win over the customer you really want.


How do you distinguish between a bonafide trend and a something that is here to stay?


We’ve noticed people use the word “trend” very freely. An instagram post is not a trend, it’s a signal you can infer into a trend if it goes on for a long period of time.




Some brands are fine with jumping on the fleeting things that we call trends. They are in a position to move at the speed of culture and enjoy a moment. Other brands try to have more sustainable ways to be a part of the culture.




We call the trends that cause paradigm shifts “ruptures” — where something that happens in a short window of time changes markets overnight (e.g. Zoom with COVID-19). Things go from signal to headlines faster than a business can respond. Models have to evolve to embrace how much cultural intelligence can lead to business intelligence that will make or break a business.



The “It’s A Thing” campaign developed for Fanta was born out a realization that conversations about Fanta on social media was not coming from the Fanta brand. People were interacting with and talking about Fanta in modern, culturally relevant ways tied to their core interests.


What are examples of activities or campaigns informed by cultural intelligence?

What are examples of activities or campaigns informed by cultural intelligence?


We developed “Media Genius” as an open source platform that helps communicators advance their understanding of how intelligent technology is transforming media across the globe, how consumers are communicating through expressions and the ways in which they are connecting.


solveforx.webershandwick.com/newsletter

https://solveforx.webershandwick.com/newsletter

Are new roles emerging to help brands both live their values and understand cultural intelligence?


We need a mixture of skills to capture and make sense of cultural intelligence: Planners, strategists, market research, analysts... people who understand traditional research methods, and then people who are storytellers and can decode, disseminate, and explain in a way that's easy for everyone else to understand and act on.


Are new roles emerging to help brands both live their values and understand cultural intelligence?


The more powerful the data gets, the more we’ll start to see a Chief of Culture and Chief Intelligence Officer roles rise up.


Thank You.

A recording of the webinar will be shared with all attendees in the coming days.

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Culture & Narrative Demystifying Online Reports... · Demystifying Online Culture & Narrative March 26, 2020 @therealyonder #onlineculture . ... of online social media culture created