The New Brand of Creativity

“TODAY’S CONSUMERS ARE NO LONGER PASSIVE RECIPIENTS OF BRAND MESSAGES,” I say. “They’ve become active participants in co-creating the brands they love.” That’s been one of my mantras as I’ve traveled coast-to-coast with my colleague Alan Rambam the past few weeks. We’ve been representing our agency, Fleishman-Hillard, in meetings with some of the largest advertising agencies in the world and other marketing services firms owned by our parent company, Omnicom, to showcase various agency capabilities. The observation that brands have to shift from a “Command and Control” mentality to a “Cultivate and Create” mentality sets the stage for my case studies on developing PR programs that “do something real” by involving consumers (meaning programs that bring value beyond simply delivering a message). And it also supports Alan’s discussion of youth marketing and the intensely interactive nature of personal networks.

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