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Why analogue values are the future for digital strategies

By Roxanne Marais

14 Feb 2018

I recently completed the digital brand strategy course at Vega, and what surprised me most wasn't the content that we learned, but rather, how we learned to think about it.

Why analogue values are the future for digital strategies

After a brief introduction on perspective and how it drives critical thinking, our lecturer spoke about how we connect with consumers. “Digital solutions are only possible by having real conversations with the people we target,” Christian Zimelka, an academic navigator at Vega emphasized.

Now I know this sounds simple, but it’s the simple tactics that often elude us. I started wondering when last I spent time with the people that my campaigns target. I mean real, face-to-face conversations without an agenda, actively listening to understand.

Important to speak to people

We have tons on demographic stats and audience profiles to rely on to create the theory of our campaigns, but without spending time with the people that a business really wants to talk to, we can’t unlock the consumer insights that truly drive effective campaigns. Alex Sudhiem, senior academic navigator for copywriting at Vega believes that a generation gap can constitute as little as three years, given the exponential rate of cultural evolution in a digitally-driven and virtually interwoven world – which means it’s more important than ever to speak to people.

Critical thinking = observation + extraction

I’ve since seen the difference in approach to campaigns. When we pivot campaigns around a consumer insight, the campaign grows organically, pulling consumers in through relatability, and we reach the right people. Knowing how to reach the right people is becoming a very sought-after skill set, and so Vega isn’t future proofing careers with acquired knowledge, but rather doing so by teaching a way of thinking and doing, with purpose.

Creativity

Another lesson that was beautifully unpacked was that of creativity. Most of us were taught when we were growing up that you are either creative, or you are not. How ironic is it that creativity can only be classed into the haves and the have-nots! Is it not rather a sliding scale of degrees to which we are all capable of creative thought?

Creativity = unexpected + relevance

Creativity is being able to extract a relevant consumer insight and then package it in an unexpected manner - a familiar surprise if you will. Creativity can be honed because the original ideas are waiting inside the communities of people our campaigns want to engage with – we must speak to them.