An insane story of isolation, humanity and brands

Now everything's f***ed, what's next?

It's the question that's on everyone's lips. We map out the role for brands and brand experience in building a brave new world. In this episode: We wrap up Season 1 of the Total Experience Podcast a.k.a. 'Brand Experience in the Age of Corona' by looking at what brands can do to shape our uncertain future in a positive way. With Richard Cable. A frame of reference * The hero's journey * The region of supernatural wonder * The Spanish Flu of 1918, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the global protests of 1968 all rolled into one * A world facing economic catastrophe, global pandemic, racial injustice and inequality Planning for total victory * Why it's not ridiculous to talk about brand experience at a time like this. * Constructive thinking * Seismic change * History's horrible precedents * Shaping the world for good The bandwagon is the place to be * Brands and social progress * Courageous individuals and grassroots movements - George Floyd and the humiliation of Donald Trump * The purpose of a brand * Embracing, normalising and amplify positive change. * Brand purpose is still bollocks * Creating bandwagons of our own * Branded cynicism * Aligning what you do and what you say Revenge spending and the slump to come * Lockdown easing and rising optimism * "Revenge spending" * Government debt and small to medium business meltdown Where brands add value * Enterprise value and powerful brands * Recklessness of neglecting your brand Why brand experience is so important: brand, people, touchpoints and creative Brand * Digital transformation and innovation * The inherent dangers of short-termism and neglecting your brand * Adidas as one to watch People * Radically altered customer demographics - new skills, asymmetrical effects, the positive effects of lockdown Touchpoints * Reweighting your brand ecosystem * The rise of social commerce * The re-rise of AR and VR * Only as strong as your weakest touchpoint Creative * Crises and creativity * Creative red herrings * Glitz and glamour vs grit and grime * The birth of the anti-hero * Smashing shibboleths Summary * The positive role for brands in unfucking the world * Being on the right side of history * The engine of recovery

McDonald's versus Coronavirus

Every day, McDonald's makes 40+ million Big Macs worldwide. How does the brand stay coherent in the face of a global pandemic and other enormous challenges? In this episode: We're joined by George Strakhov, Head of strategy EMEA for DDB, and Steve Griffiths, Chief Digital Officer for DDB Europe, both of whom work with McDonald's across 40+ markets. The scale of the McDonald's business * A dynamic and complex business * Product and experience * Diversity of touchpoints * Geographical diversity * Menu diversity * Segment diversity * Guest counts and sales * Speed of the feedback loop DDB and McDonald's * From advertising to strategic planning and tactical activation * Market to market activation * Digital transformation * Focus on convenience - experience, accuracy and efficiency * Optimising process in a process driven company * Changing consumer tastes and experience * Artificial intelligence * Creating interconnected, intelligent touchpoints * Preference and transactional data * Loyalty and longitudinal data * Data driven marketing, analytics and experience design * Creating a coherent brand experience Maximising the interaction * The balance between delivering the most value for customer and business * Short term (activation) vs long term drivers (brand) * Constantly adapting to circumstance - a very responsive business McDonald's and the Coronavirus crisis * Restaurant closures * Cautious reopening * Focus on crew * The perils of getting it wrong * A return to the foundational elements of the business * People needing the basics more than ever - Quality, Service, Cleanliness * The 'bubble of happy' * Producing 40 million Big Macs all the same * Switch to drive thru, changes to menu, delivery changes, dark kitchens * The benefits of being a 'known quantity' Creating intergenerational connections * Happy Meals and birthday parties * No longer a family mealtime * Screen distractions * Matching the brand with the next generation Innovation and brand experience * Entrepreneurship vs innovation * Bazaars vs cathedrals * The difficulties of tech mediated brand experience * A gap that needs closing * Giving franchisees and restaurant managers the capacity

A positive from the pandemic

We talk to Leonard Cheshire's 'Change 100' about enabling more people with disabilities to find careers in marketing, and ask if the lockdown can have a positive long-term impact on the way we work. In this episode: Verity Ayling-Smith, training and consultancy advisor with Leonard Cheshire and the 'Change 100' programme, and Priyanca Desouza, user researcher and former Change 100 intern. What disability is * Protected characteristics, diversity and inclusion * Disability as a normal and common thing * Bringing down the barriers in recruitment and the work environment * A wide range of accessibility needs The visibility of disability * Disability more prevalent than we realise * The duty of employers to remove barriers * Choosing whether or not to disclose your disability * Employers missing out on fantastic talent * The inexplicable employment gap for disabled people Change 100 and Leonard Cheshire * Leonard Cheshire's mission to support disabled people * Change 100's mission to close the employment gap for disabled graduates and students * Matching skills to roles * A highly competitive programme * The popularity of marketing and communications * The challenging language of job descriptions The value of different life experiences * Resilience, creativity and difference by default * The danger of the agency bubble and cookie-cutter thinking * Actively welcoming and valuing a difference life experience * Championing inclusive experience design The 'amplified self' * The problem with traditional recruitment * Jim Carroll and the amplified self * Excellence vs mediocrity The positives of the lockdown (for us all) * How remoteness has brought colleagues closer * A more personalised way of working * It's not where you work but how - challenging office culture * Business investment in agile, remote working and management * A more autonomous, liberated and creative workforce

An insane story of isolation, humanity and brands

What can one man’s horrendous ordeal at the hands of a Japanese game show teach us about the need for more empathetic brand experiences? In this episode: January 1998: casting for a new show * The luck of the draw * Meet Nasubi * A secret destination 'A life out of prizes' * Naked and alone with only a phone * The million yen target * Eggplants and modesty The physical impact of isolation * A starvation diet * The first roll of toilet paper * What you own but can't use The mental impact of isolation * Curtailed stimulus * Compensating for lack of emotional feedback * Anthropomorphising * Radical deterioration and mental suffering Doubling down on the cruelty * An unwitting megastar * Victory - suspended * Nasubi in Korea * Nasubi flies home * The brutal show finale We are all Nasubi * Parallel experiences * The impact of isolation An analogy for brand experience * More anxious, more cautious, more socially isolated and lonelier * The practicalities of a post-Covid economy * Not making isolation worse * Be more 'Great British Bake Off" * Enhancing what makes us human * Brands not just claiming human qualities but exhibiting them

What we can learn from America

The US has always had a special relationship with brands. We ask if we should be looking to the US for leadership, or vice versa? In this episode: Leigh Baker, founder of New York creative brand consultancy we@leighbaker, talks to us about the different approaches US and UK brands have taken to the Coronavirus crisis and what we can learn from both. How the US does brands differently * Marketing at scale * Immediate impact * The hard sell * Wearing your heart on your sleeve The US special relationship with brands * The Super Bowl * Clint Eastwood and "It's half time for America" Brands stepping into the breach * Weak institutions leaving a vacuum The 3 different approaches of American brands * Branding the moment - Nike * Do something, but what? - American banks * Good, honest promotional utility - Burger King The US reaction to the crisis * Why American brands don't stop * Creative perils of group think * Lockdown fatigue and reactive marketing Green shoots of a new US brand behaviour * A shift in tone - the new optimism * It's OK to be funny - Geico * Hard times and escapism What the US can learn from the UK * Brand experience beyond the advertising * Getting your digital act together * A unified response from strong institutions