The Power of Adaptability in Branding and Marketing

Brands that can’t adapt are left in the past.

Adaptable brands are the future. While most agencies focus on doing great work and meeting their clients’ demands, we take an adaptive approach. We understand that brands have historically been considered unmovable monoliths, but they don’t have to be.

In case you didn’t notice, the world is changing.

In traditional advertising, brands had to be all things to all people. In today’s polarized world, brands can have a target on their backs. That’s why making your brand a moving target that can adapt to a changing world is essential.

Adaptable marketing is key to achieving this goal. This includes naming, adaptable headlines, open-source storytelling, and more – all customized for each brand we work with.

The right message tailored to the right person can literally change the game – combine that with a framework that can adjust to new variables, and you’ve created a very powerful tool that can allow even the most established brands to speak directly to consumers. Why stop there?!! If you add an open-source component to the messaging, you can funnel a consumer’s own experiences through this framework, and BAM! You’ve now given this consumer something to connect with and own – I call this the “ownership transfer.”

For example, we were honored to collaborate with the city of Valparaiso, developing and implementing strategies that elevated their branded messaging and fostered increased engagement among stakeholders such as schools, parks, and various businesses. “The perfect place to:”

(To read more about our work with Valparaiso check out the case study.)

The ownership transfer allows brands to build a community and create an atmosphere of collaboration. By enabling customers to contribute to a brand’s story, you can make messaging so targeted and relevant to the consumer set that it cultivates a sense of belonging that drives loyalty and advocacy.

For Indiana, we didn’t create a brand.

We built an adaptable, open-source movement.

“The Frameworks,” “Open-Source,” & the “Ownership Transfers” Oh my! That’s a lot to absorb in one little blog! Sometimes it’s easier to show than tell, so here is a successful case study to show you how it can all work together.

For Indiana, we had the deck stacked against us. For something as non-political as tourism, it sure seemed 50% of people were prepared to dislike anything we came up with. This challenge, however, led us to create the first and only open-source and fully inclusive messaging platform built to unify the state around a single identifier: IN Indiana.

IN Indiana amplifies authentic voices (Open-Source) and stories from real Hoosiers and destinations around the state (Ownership Transfer). Rather than marketing under a single tagline, We took an unprecedented approach, creating a universally adaptable headline with the state of Indiana at its center (The Framework). IN Indiana is an identifier for the state that functions as an open and inclusive messaging platform where voices from all over the state can come together and tell a bigger story than has ever been told. A tool where Indiana can function as a state united. When you can see yourself in a brand campaign, and your voice is heard – it’s hard to hate it. And if you do hate it or it’s no longer working – we can change (adapt) it at any time.

Check out the headline generator for Indiana and tell your Indiana story!

You’ll need to sign up and agree to the terms of service here, BUT it’s free and there are no obligations.

That’s so simple, I could have thought of that!

People seem to forget that simple is hard. We have complicated minds full of complicated problems, and sometimes it takes an outside expert to cut through the chaos you deal with every day and find the simplest solution. Any good agency needs the bravery of a 6-year-old to see simple truths and speak simple truths.

One simple truth is that most brands are inflexible and depend on campaigns piggybacking on the brand to speak directly to consumers where they are now. By making your brand itself adaptable and campaign-able, you invite consumers to interact with it and participate with messaging that speaks directly to them because it is channeling them. This is how you can eliminate the learning curve associated with attaching campaigns to your brand.

Adaptable Brands are Living Brands

To achieve this level of adaptability in your branding strategy, it’s essential to have a marketing action plan that stays up-to-date with industry trends, monitors competitors’ strategies, and experiments with new ideas to help your brand behave like a living, breathing organism alive in the consumer space.

In our ongoing pursuit of helping Indiana feel alive, we consistently explore innovative avenues to enliven the brand experience. Our latest endeavor includes a diverse library of captivating animated GIFs and stickers, designed to enrich your messaging and social media presence with a touch of Indiana’s unique flair!

Participation Creates Ownership

When you tell your story, you’re becoming a voice for the brand. You start speaking to others just like yourself with an authenticity a brand can only hope to muster on its own. And real stories reach real people. One voice becomes a chorus, and a chorus becomes a movement, and a movement is unstoppable. Be unstoppable!

Adapt your Brand with WeCreate

If you want help to create an adaptable brand strategy for your business, give us a call, an email, or send up some smoke signals. With our expertise in adaptable marketing and messaging architecture, we can help take your business to new heights in today’s ever-evolving world.