How Does Your Brand Fit Into the Zeitgeist? The Role of Culture in Your Brief
Introduction
A brief is a document created by an agency or client that outlines the goals, strategy, and potential solutions for their marketing. When done right, briefs are extremely helpful; they allow writers and designers to move forward confidently and purposefully. However, when done poorly, briefs can cause frustration and confusion—and everyone involved wastes time spinning their wheels. But regardless of how a brief is written or how organized it may be, there's one element that makes a great brief truly exceptional: It has a firm grasp on the culture in which it exists. We call this having cultural fluency.
The Cultural Value Proposition (CVP) measures the cultural fit between a brand's purpose and societal anxieties.
The Cultural Value Proposition (CVP) measures the cultural fit between a brand's purpose and societal anxieties.
It works like this: you take your product, service, or business model and compare it to your audience's needs, frustrations, desires, and fears. You then measure how the two interact with one another to create satisfaction. If the result is less than optimal, you have work to do!
CVP isn't new—psychologist Abraham Maslow pioneered it in 1943—but it's been gaining popularity over recent years as more businesses realize they can no longer rely on traditional marketing strategies alone when connecting with customers. In fact, many marketers say they now use CVP as an integral part of their design process at every step from ideation to execution."
Consequences:
Consequences are the results of a brand's actions. They can be positive or negative, tangible or intangible, short-term or long-term, immediate or delayed. It's essential to consider both the positive and negative consequences of your branding strategy before moving forward. For example:
A positive consequence might be increased sales; a negative result might be decreased trust in your products.
A tangible consequence might be increased cash flow; an intangible result might include improved employee morale after implementing new policies at work (which can lead to increased productivity).
Proximity:
But proximity is much more than just being relevant to the cultural zeitgeist. It's also about how you relate to that culture and the brand purpose you bring to it.
Take a look at some examples of brands that are culturally proximate:
KFC—the global fast-food giant, has been associated with fried chicken since its founding in the 1930s. The Southern hospitality it offers customers is both culturally relevant and true-to-form for the brand; its callbacks to Americana are part of its DNA, making it difficult for competitors like McDonald's or Burger King (both from Chicago) to compete on this front.
Coca-Cola—the classic soda has become synonymous with summertime fun due mainly to their famous commercials featuring Santa Claus or polar bears floating on ice floes, among others. These ads help reinforce Coke's identity as an ice-cold treat that can quench any thirst on even the hottest day of summer—and they're still relevant today despite their age!
Apple—this tech giant has long been known as one of America's most innovative companies; its products have changed entire generations' perceptions about what computers should look like and how they should work (e-mail was once unthinkable!). Its early adoption rate is so high because consumers trust Apple when it is time for them to get new devices too!
Human Interest:
Human interest is the ability to connect with people at a human level. It's all about stories and the experiences they can create. Human interest creates an emotional connection between a brand and its audience, which allows that audience to feel something for your brand that goes beyond just liking it or buying it.
The best way to leverage this is through storytelling—but not just any kind of storytelling! You need to tell stories that have value beyond just being entertaining; stories that bring about change or inspire people in some way are ideal for human interest branding.
To do this well, you need three things: A great storyteller (the person who will tell your story), someone who understands cultural trends (the person who will ensure that your account fits into the zeitgeist), and an audience with whom you share cultural interests or values (the people who will listen).
Prominence:
It is a good thing, then, that there are ways to quantify the prominence of your brand:
How well known is your company or product?
What role does it play in people's lives?
For example, do they see it as an essential part of their day-to-day lives or a luxury item that adds to their life experience?
Value Impact:
You need to get out of your head and into the real world to find out. Ask yourself: what is the value of your brand? Does it have the value that people want? How does your brand add value to people's lives? What does your brand do for people? What does your brand mean to people? These questions all come down to one thing: how do we provide a solution or an answer to something that was previously unsolvable or uncared about by society.
Timeliness:
This is the question you should be asking yourself. It's not enough to simply build a brand that resonates with people—this must be a brand that people can connect with emotionally, and it must fit perfectly into the cultural zeitgeist.
When you're in tune with pop culture, your brand will always be relevant and timely, regardless of its longevity or popularity. This means it's important to understand what drives consumers' motivations and behaviors at any given moment in time; when you do this well, you'll know exactly what type of content needs to go into making your audience fall in love with your product or service so much that they'll never want anything else again (or at least until next season).
Conflict:
A conflict is a powerful tool. It can be used to create a sense of urgency or importance, as well as emotional tension and suspense. And if you're going to use conflict in your brief, you need to know exactly how it will fit into the zeitgeist (the spirit of the times). If your brand is in harmony with current trends and movements, then introducing a conflict might seem out of place.
However, if your brand is at odds with what's being talked about right now—or even just slightly different—then incorporating some conflict may be the perfect way for it to stand out from other products or services.
Brands must fit into the culture to resonate with potential customers.
The brand must fit into the culture.
Your brand needs to connect with consumers.
It must be relevant.
It must be authentic.
It must have meaning and stand for something beyond just selling a product or service, like giving back to your community or helping others somehow (think TOMS Shoes). It should also feel consistent with who you are as a company and what you stand for, which can mean different things depending on your target audience (for example, if you're targeting millennials, then it might involve using social media platforms like Instagram as part of your marketing strategy). And finally: The brand must have a memorable name that people will remember when they think about what it stands for!"
Conclusion
The real challenge is making the right decisions: what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. We hope that this article has given you some food for thought on your CVP efforts. Sometimes the best option is not apparent at first glance—sometimes, it's not even an option! But by weighing up these factors with our checklist, we've ensured that you won't just make an informed decision but one that fits into your brand vision too.