The Dilemma of Modern Marketers

Marketers today face a dilemma. They’re caught between two apparently conflicting demands: what the evidence says their brands need to thrive versus what platforms such as Meta, Google, and TikTok tell them they need. Consistency and repetition or a continual stream of fresh content.

The Evidence Behind Brand-Building

We now have a ton of evidence for how effective brand-building communication works, which is essentially via the frequent repetition of consistently distinctive creative. However, platforms demand brands create a vast amount of fresh, varied content to keep their audiences engaged.

Media Fragmentation and Creative Challenges

The backdrop to all this is the media fragmentation that’s been happening for decades. As noted by Grace Kite, the future of brand building consists of “lots of littles” and the importance of coordinating them to create valuable synergies. This principle emphasizes that effectiveness builds as more channels and touchpoints are layered in, but brands must ensure everything is served up in a coordinated way.

The Need for More Content

Many practical forces push brands to create thousands of potentially inconsistent pieces of creative content. Platforms indicate that content can become fatigued quickly, necessitating the production of more material to satisfy algorithms and audiences.

Algorithms as the New Audience

In the current landscape, it’s crucial to recognize that audiences aren’t the only audience; fitting the platforms and appealing to their algorithms is vital for success. Poor-quality ads can incur penalties, making it essential to create ads that are both engaging for users and optimized for algorithms.

Aiming High: Consistency, Volume, and Fitness

To succeed, brands should aim for high consistency, high volume, and high fitness for platform. This means clearly defined brand codes while being flexible enough to adapt to platform-specific syntax. Brands need the resources to generate the required volume of fresh content while maintaining a singular strategic idea.

Examples of Success

Brands like McDonald's and Paddy Power are navigating these challenges successfully by creating campaigns that balance consistency with the need for high-volume, platform-specific executions.

In today’s environment, quantity matters alongside quality. The challenge lies in generating the necessary quantity without sacrificing the creativity that builds lasting brand recognition. As we move forward, brands will need to weave together these lots of littles into a cohesive and meaningful whole.