*supercollider

Whether it’s in the form of a brand onion or a GANTT chart, it’s easy to become slaves to plans.

Even in these heady early days of the digital age, it still seems like the way things too often works is: a big idea is envisioned (or more often than not, a big idea is fudged), a TV spot commissioned, a few print executions crafted, and then almost as an after-thought a range of online banners are churned out, adapting the TV spot and print ad creative and completely missing the point and opportunity provided by the medium.

For many agencies and brands, the idea that communication can come back the other direction is a new one. You simply didn’t get that with TV. Focus groups are rightly derided, because the feedback is subjective and the sample size too small. But the reaction of your actual brand audience can give you insights that are worth their weight in gold.

This is why I like Levi’s response to the unexpected success of a viral teaser they’ve created. Instead of just saying "cool, let’s amplify that", they’ve also said "what does this reaction mean for our strategy?".

I think there are at least three key points from this which other brands and agencies would do well to incorporate into their thinking:

• Unlike TV, the web allows you to cost-effectively try out different ways of reaching your audience, and effectively trial what engages and what doesn’t, with real-time feedback.
• A strategy should never be set in stone and held up as sacrosanct. Strategies are created by people, based on theories and assumptions and information available at that time. If a reaction comes back from the other direction from the people you’re trying to reach that changes those assumptions or provides new insights, it’s well worth revisiting the strategy and seeing what the implications are.
• It’s wise to leave space in your planning and budgeting process to be flexible with your tactics based on the results of any marketing activity.