Longtail for marketing

Via Chris Anderson comes a pointer to a paper (link to pdf) from Mohammed Iqbal from Oglivy & Mather, examining the use of longtail principles in branding and advertising. Some superb thinking, discussing how brand messaging evolved in a world of scarcity, with no regard to media fragmentation.

Arguing against Lord Maurice Saatchi’s concept of One Word Equity (warning, huge flash experiential website that makes finding easy definitions hard), Mohammed;s concept is that the increasing bandwidth of media channels, from tv to web allows you to extend your advertising, to test, to play, to try multiple messages that are targeted towards the niches. One size does not fit all, how I perceive a brand is different to you and different to the agency.

A brand is viewed through an individual filter of experiences, of desires and wants. Whilst one person my view Volvo as safety, another my view it as stylish. The single message will not work on both.

Here’s a summary of the key points.

1. Seek help in populating the curve
2. Time elongates brand communication
3. 1&2’s soon add up for an audience. Not all media has to be mass, a lot of media with different audiences add up
4. Employ word of mouth and recommendations
5. Don;t try and predict. Measure and respond.
6. When you have infinite choice, context is more inportant than content
7. Build negative databases of your brand communication
8. Trade control for influence

And to find out what that lot means – go read.