A MILLENNIAL WHO GIVES A F*CK: A Personal Tale of a Modern Marketer

by Lindsay Kwaselow

I’m 28 years old, at the dead center of the Millennial generation. Due to the fact that the Millennial population in America has officially surpassed Baby Boomers (as of April 2016), I feel my opinion is of growing importance to my fellow marketers. So I’m going to take this opportunity to share my story of how and why I ended up here. I will walk you through the good the bad and the unfortunate of how I ended up specializing in brand behavior. You will learn where and when I discovered my indestructible love and respect for words and creating connections. This is the true story of what led me to where I am today, overseeing the creative and content departments of Digital Rain Inc.

Photo courtesy of TurboFuture

When I was in elementary school, computers were still very new. They were big and clunky and no one had heard of this futuristic beast known as the Internet. I remember the old Macintosh in my parent’s basement - the ones that looked like this with the rainbow Apple logo. 

A few years later, I remember the day we got AOL. I’ll never forget the sound of dial-up Internet. Click here if you’d like a reminder. Can you believe people used to be patient enough to listen to that sh*t? That would NEVER fly in today’s world of A.D.D.-riddled adults with the patience of a two-year-old (myself included). I remember the excitement I felt given this new outlet of opportunity, fun, and games the Internet brought with it.

When I was in school, books were still a thing. Submitting assignments still required actual paper. I remember the day I decided marketing was my true calling. I remember the ongoing arguments with my mother about why I didn’t want to go into the health field. “That’s where the jobs are! That’s where you can actually make money!” she would say. But my heart was already set on a much different agenda.

I found the line between print ads and fine art to be quite blurry as a teenager. I used to take a visually intriguing ad from the latest issue of Cosmo and turn it into a painting because…why not? To prove it, here’s an example of my work from 2003, when I was 15. (I'm proud to say my skills have both improved and evolved with age). 

By the time I got to college, I realized I was very good at three things. This is a huge turning point in my story because this is when I recognized my strengths. One was writing, so naturally, I started selling my services to friends who sucked at it for $25 a page. I quickly learned I could personify the “voices” and values of others by writing from their perspective. Give me a topic, and between Google and me, BOOM you had an expert of all subjects writing your college essay. I could also paint, and I’d sell a painting from time to time. I was a HUSTLER in college! The third thing I learned about myself was that I was Switzerland. I could get along with ANYONE…and I did! So yes, words, ads, design, communication, people skills…all figurative arrows pointing directly to a career in one thing and one thing only: MARKETING.

Fast-forward to my senior year of college. Unfortunately for me, that came during America’s Great Recession - not ideal timing to enter a job market that was attempting to recover from the worst economic downfall since The Great Depression. It was also a time of widespread societal transition. All-new courses were being developed specifically for digital media at Michigan State University. I enrolled in a graphic design course and I STRUGGLED. There was something about creating images on a screen that I felt took all the fun out of authentic hands-on creativity. Don’t get me wrong. Math was probably my favorite subject after art class as a kid, but I saw graphic design as a very technical field that limited real originality (at least back then). I mean, you had to click on like five different tools just to change the color of a stupid triangle that took me an hour to figure out how to make!

After about two days of that class I transferred to a copywriting course. The teacher was TOUGH. He was an old, crabby guy that considered anything less than greatness “absolute garbage.” He challenged me, and he changed me. That class showed me words were so much more than letters on a page. I learned there are few things on this earth more powerful than words. They are how we communicate and how we connect with others. Without words, we would be completely alone – and I don’t think life is about being alone. Life is about connections. Connecting with others is what gives us meaning. Words define life’s meaning, therefore language is bigger than us, and it’s a privilege to know and use.  

The summer prior to my senior year, I interned at BBDO Worldwide in Detroit. I LOVED it! I was offered a job upon my graduation in their Department of e-Solutions. Then tragedy struck. BBDO lost their biggest automotive account. Almost 500 people working in their Detroit office lost their job that day – and I lost sight of my dream of working at a big agency.

After earning my degree, I was spat out into the real world and shoved into the epicenter of two colliding universes. There was the world as we knew it, and then there was this emerging new digital world I didn’t quite understand yet. By the time I hit the job market, eCommerce websites were exploding. Looking back, when I was in that moment I never fully realized how unfortunate of a position my graduating class was facing. I was a hustler! Remember? I wanted to get out there and make money and be an independent woman! So I did! I wasn’t concerned with economics or politics. I was ready to get out there and do great things.

When we’re young, society hasn’t had enough time to pollute our outlook. Mental paradigms are still pure and anything is possible. There are a lot fewer people telling you no, or that you can’t do something. Back then, there were much less “what ifs” and “hows” and much more excitement and imagination surrounding what the future would bring. What I’ve learned since, is this child-like imagination is something marketers NEED to hold on to no matter what. This is how great ideas turn into brands that resonate.

Great marketers aren’t afraid to fail. Fear does not exist in the minds of those destined to BIG things. I have shared my story for two very important reasons. One being a call to action for all marketers to simply remember what it feels like to be a kid. This fearless, untainted way of thinking is what leads us to think differently. By thinking differently than everyone else, we can market differently than everyone else. We can emerge from this sea of digital noise and clutter that keeps multiplying at an exponential rate. Today, standing out is EVERYTHING. Modern marketing is about demolishing the status quo and creating something new. We all need to tap into our inner child a little more so that we can be better marketers and think in new ways. These reasons are exactly why I was so drawn to working for Digital Rain. I mean, the first thing you see on the company’s homepage is “WE ARE THE MEDIOCRITY KILLERS.” Done deal! A match made in heaven.

The second thing I hope you take away from this blog is you have to know what your strengths are. Define them, run with them, and don’t let fear get in your way. Change is scary. Failure is possible. But great marketers are professional adapters that never stop learning, growing, and changing. The best brands that have endured and conquered the digital shift are the ones that stay true to their strengths and their original values. “How” is a very dangerous word. If you truly want to accomplish something, take the “how” out of it. Rather than worrying about how you will achieve your goals, just take a step. Take one step in any direction you’d like to go and that is how dreams become reality, whether you are a seasoned marketer or just now entering the game. Just take a step.  

5 Ways to Brand Like a Boss

By Lindsay Kwaselow

1. Be Insanely Unique. This involves diving in and studying what your competitors are doing and do whatever it takes to set yourself apart from the ordinary, monotonous landscape. Do not be vague in your branding approach, but rather zero in on the qualities (or single quality) that simply makes your brand better. According to Entreprenuer.com, “Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.” The actual definition of branding involves a marketing practice that identifies, and more than anything, differentiates a product from other products.

Being unique also requires reflecting your own personal values and underlying principles within your brand itself. First you have to identify, what makes your brand or company tick? What do you stand for? What makes you special? Stay true to yourself and to your brand and your audience will follow. This creates a personal experience and today, the experience really is everything. 

2. Be a Thought Leader. Don’t act like a know it all. You don’t know it all, so act like a leader. Leaders lead by example. Leaders have an impact on others because they don’t just step outside of the box, they skyrocket themselves up and out of the box. They recognize and talk about companies across industries that have altered and improved the way consumers buy goods and services. Leaders recognize their strengths and dispose of their weaknesses. Better yet, they forget about their weaknesses entirely. Find your strength - one single thing you can do better than anybody else, and RUN with it. There is no such thing as a “Jack of All Trades.” So be a master of something. Own whatever that is, and do it in a way that differentiates your brand from the clutter and the competition.

3. Bleed Trustworthiness and Transparency. Despite the saying, “Fake it ‘til you make it,” you can’t fake being honest. Think of your brand as the promise you make to your customers – and you better intend on always keeping that promise if you’d like to sleep well at night, or more importantly, stay in business. How many people trust Amazon’s purchase process due to the brand they’ve built and the way they’ve changed the game? Everyone trusts the service they provide, and if you’re a Prime member, you trust your package will arrive at your doorstep within two business days. Amazon is in fact so transparent, and their customer base is so incredibly loyal, that they have actually forced the United States Postal Service to work on Sundays. Now that’s some bossy, powerful branding!

4. Start a Serious, Eternal Relationship with Mobile & Social. It’s simple. Your brand needs to be present where and how your customers spend their time. For the first time in history, time spent using mobile apps has actually exceeded the time consumers spend watching T.V. This is huge. We’ve seen studies that show results of consumers spending an overwhelming (and somewhat alarming depending on how you view it) amount of their time on their mobile devices. Here are a few stats to let that settle in:

·      According to TechCrunch, “Today’s consumers are spending over 85% of their time on their smartphones using native applications, but the majority of their time – 84% – is spent using just five non-native apps they’ve installed from the App Store.”

·      TechCrunch also reports that for social apps, Facebook in particular takes up a large chunk of mobile usage time. “As a category, social networks claim 14% of all smartphone usage – or more than 25 minutes per day. Facebook is the leader here, with 1.25 billion mobile monthly active users.”

·      Mobile usage occurs on the go in most cases and is often used to compare prices while physically shopping at a store or showroom. A Placed Inc. and Cars.com study reported, 63% of automotive shoppers researched and shopped online while physically at a dealership using their mobile device.

·      In 2013, ComScore reported, “Consumers are spending 1-out-of-3 minutes of all online browsing time on mobile devices and that activity is only expected to increase." - And that was 2 years ago (which is like a decade in digital time). 

5. Do Not Underestimate the Untouchable Power of Your Logo. Your logo is the essential core, the foundation, the attributable starting point for the launch of your brand’s absolute, complete identity. In a word, your logo is everything, and it should be everywhere it can possibly be. Furthermore, there is something about simplicity that is a common denominator amongst the most powerful and successful brands ever created. Interbrand compiled a list of the top 100 brands across the world based on the their overall value and yearly revenue. The list included obvious game changers like Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, and Google.

The Logo Factory then conducted a study analyzing the logo designs of each company to determine what they had in common. They revealed, “93% of the top 100 brands had a logo design that was relatively simple in form, and this is not a result of coincidence.” According to DesignBuddy.com, “Simple logos are unquestionably more versatile than their more intricate and detailed counterparts.” If your brand is just starting out, first devote your energy entirely into your logo in order to choose one single, simple, solitary symbol that defines who you are and what you represent.

…And that’s how you brand like a boss!

What Can Neuroscience Teach us About Branding?

By Lindsay Kwaselow

Neuroscience is defined as the study of the nervous system or the study of our subconscious reactions within the brain. How can this possibly relate to improving the way we market on mobile? There’s surprisingly a lot to consider when it comes to how the human brain processes data and visual stimulation from one screen or device to the next. By studying the activities that happen within our subconscious minds when shown an ad, we can thus derive data and make justified conclusions that will ultimately enhance the way we visually market our ads to make them more impactful.

Sharethrough, an advertising software company for publishers, commissioned Nielsen to conduct a study in hopes of determining how consumers visually react to, and process mobile ads. The problem with so many survey-based conducted mobile studies is that they only tap into the consumer’s conscious responses. By leveraging neuroscience in conjunction with EEG data and eye tracking, Nielsen was able to quantify where and how the participants’ focus was directed when viewing various mobile ads. Sharethrough reported how important it is to incorporate the subconscious behaviors of consumers, as “the subconscious is the motivating force behind many of our actions, including which brands we buy from.”

Eye tracking specifically evaluates how people visually interact with text or online banner ads. Companies who leverage eye tracking can use it to evaluate the impact of their visual products. According to EyeTracking.com, “The fields of advertising, entertainment, packaging and web design have all benefited significantly from studying the visual brain behavior of the consumer.”

Key Findings:

1.      Native ads, or ads that are coherent with the other media displayed on a device or webpage (such as a feed-based design) were shown to receive twice the visual focus than standard banner ads. The study concluded, “Across native ads and banners, eye gaze appeared to be consistently more concentrated on the native, even though both formats were placed in-feed.” 100% of the top ten most successful mobile sites use a feed-based design. 

2.      Native ad headlines can be enhanced to trigger associations within the brain. Words displayed on an associative network that are similar to words included in the headline of an article resulted in a lift in message resonance and was also shown to subconsciously influence brand perception.

3.      Marketers should always include key branding assets such as logos, keywords and consistent messaging, as Nielsen found that including these assets will facilitate the formation of brand associations within the human brain, and heighten your brand’s lift and influence.

4.    Native, feed-based ads provide markers with an increased rate of capturing audience attention – with the visual focus more so on the text of the ad than on the corresponding image. This heightened focus helps advertisers to create a network of branding assets and related words in the conscious and subconscious minds of their potential customers – ultimately strengthening overall brand perceptions.

“Each adjective or noun in a headline—including the brand name—is stored in an associative network of related concepts. Activating one concept automatically triggers the others, strengthening those connections over time,” says Sharethrough. As mobile adoption evolves and consumers continue shopping and learning on their mobile devices in real time, at exponential rates - remember that native ads effectively demand the focus and attention of the brain.

Mobile users are, for lack of a better word, distracted. According to NativeAdvertising.com, “In the last 15 years, the human attention span dropped a third, to about eight seconds (now a second shorter than a goldfish)! In a lot of ways, this is a response to the increase in stimuli we are bombarded by on a daily basis, from email and social media to smartphone notifications and of course: ads.”

Steps must be taken to ensure your ad stays afloat in the wake of an overpopulated, overstimulated mobile storm. Last year, Nielsen found exposure to mobile ads produces a 45% lift in intent – a significant factor when it comes to winning over mobile customers and prospects and increasing the efficiency of your branding structure.

Click here to view the complete infographic featuring the results from the study.