I see the business world right now as a place that’s frantically looking for disruption. The “old school” disruptive brands such as Amazon and Facebook has managed the digital transition very well, but at some point they went from being idealistically based to being stakeholder and money based. I know they are not the companies that are the least disruptive (some companies are not even looking at disruptive brand practices yet).
A while back I wrote a comment for the Danish magazine Berlingske about living in a world with 800 million cover girls. Everyone can take a selfie. Is It very glitzy and glam, right? And at the same time so exponentially hollow and not grounded. I can’t tell you how many times I have met people who want to talk about using social media to promote a not-relatable, guru-like brand. Mainly because the brands themselves, think they are better than the people to whom they are relating. I can’t begin to describe how many business plans and yearly reports I have seen the word “connect” and “relationship. Then when it comes to disrupting a brand by connection and creating relationships, businesses chicken out because they are afraid of losing value by being “among the crowd” and not sitting on their high horse.
Want to build a truly disruptive brand these days? Turn to the relatable and the nearness. See people eye to eye. The small things. The daily execution. It might not look innovative on a day to day basis, but keep that course, put it in your communication and marketing plans, and you will be disruptive entire industries.
