Take the Higher Ground

Great idea, poor execution. Mixing kid actors and CGI will only end up in a bad commercial. Audi aligning itself with electricity is very smart though.

Great idea, poor execution. Mixing kid actors and CGI will only end up in a bad commercial. Audi aligning itself with electricity is very smart though.

Great idea, poor execution. Mixing kid actors and CGI will only end up in a bad commercial. Audi aligning itself with electricity is very smart though.

Great idea, poor execution. Mixing kid actors and CGI will only end up in a bad commercial. Audi aligning itself with electricity is very smart though.

I think the biggest issue is the wording/philosophy.

Change "control" to "shape" and suddenly you have a far better understanding of social concepts.

Point taken. Far be it for me to devalue the creative element. It's my bread and butter.

I've gotten in the habit of playing devil's advocate though. I don't want to remain complacent, and assume the traditional power of static messaging will never fade. In the age of social media, creative content developers like me had better be prepared to adapt to a landscape in which brands no longer control the message..

I think from a creative standpoint the high ground is still HUGELY important.

Social media still relies on ideas and dialogues to push the conversation. Those concepts come from creative ideas and experiential content.

Can customers talk about you whenever? Absolutely. They will be far MORE likely to talk to you if you position yourself in a unique way though.

Stories amplify the message. People amplify that message more. The seed starts with the concept though.

I agree with your underlying premise. In fact, you could argue that winning the higher ground doesn't merely help to win battles, it's what signals the battle is over. Rather than out-Google Google, Bing had to fight a different battle.

At the same time, the notion of brand positioning sounds out of place on a blog about social media. Now that customers can openly discuss a brand, there is no higher ground to control. Social media is the great flattener, and positioning is no longer a matter of finding the highest rooftop from which to shout your message.

Case in point, Audi can position itself as the leader in electrical drivetrains. But when electric cars hit the market, customers will be thinking with their wallets and the conversations will start.

I'm guessing hey won't be talking about which electric drivetrain is the best, but rather how long it will take for the fuel savings to amortize the higher upfront cost of these cars. In other words, Audi may have positioned itself as the leader of a market for which consumers aren't ready yet - and, depending on the price of oil, may not be ready for another 15 years.

I'm not suggesting that brands should lead from behind, but simply that the strategy of positioning has changed. It's becoming less about claiming higher ground, than finding the common ground between your business objectives and stated customer expectations.