1.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Branding in
A Digital Age
In this presentation we examine the pitfalls of digital
marketing and how it’s easy to forget that essentially
marketing communication is about how people interact
with products emotionally. In the race to tick a list of
required channels and create ‘sharable content’, many
brands are still forgetting that the principles of branding
still apply
@kingstograms
in/marshallkingston
Marsh.Kingston@gmail.com
Presentation By Marshall Kingston

2.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
TIMELINE
1990
First commercial
dial up
connection
1984
Internet was
founded
2016
NOW
1993
First web
browser
1999
First mobile
internet
1998
Google
established
2004
Facebook
Launched
2013
First 4G
mobile
Slide Notes:
• A brief timeline of the
origins of the internet
until now. (roughly 30
years).
• The past 30 years the
internet has upended
how consumers engage
with brands. What was
only imaginable became
feasible. Suddenly
brands could talk to
consumers directly,
small consumer
segments could be
targeting and we could
measure response with
incredible accuracy.
• This new type of
engagement changed
the very economics of
marketing, making many
functions and traditional
marketing strategies
completely redundant.

3.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
HOLY GRAIL
Slide Notes:
• It appears that digital
marketing was and is a
holy grail. Something
that has not only
changed marketing
forever but also our
lives.
• Media buying and share
of voice has become
significantly more
democratised.
• Brands are able to
engage consumers with
more intimate and
powerful ways then ever
be

4.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
TIMELINE
1990
First commercial
dial up
connection
1984
Internet was
founded
2016
NOW
1993
First web
browser
1999
First mobile
internet
1998
Google
established
2004
Facebook
Launched
2013
First 4G
mobile
Slide Notes:
• Every year Intrabrand
release a list of the 100
top most valuable
brands in the world.
How many brands would
you think are in the top
100 from this time
line….. Just 6.
• Over the past 30 years
we have revelled in the
changing landscape of
marketing but there
appears there is a
disparity, a chasm
between the new age of
digital and creating great
brands….

5.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
CHANGE IS
NEITHER GOOD
NOR BAD, IT
SIMPLY IS
Don Draper
QUOTE
Slide Notes:
• So while many would
like to leave the
marketing age of Don
draper and in 1950’s, I
believe that in reality,
despite all of this
changes we have gone
through over the past 30
years,…. marketing and
people are essentially
the same.
• We are creatures
creatures of habit,
emotions and values.

6.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
MAKE AMERICA
GREAT AGAIN
#NEVERTRUMP
Slide Notes:
• I'm hoping to show you
through somewhat of an
unlikely example,
Donald Trump has
shown this to be true.
• He has been able to
create a presidential
campaign that has won
the hearts of millions of
republicans and
changed the very
premise of a presidential
campaign, not based on
merit, or polices but
based on marketing.
• He does this in so many
ways, but I going to give
you 3 important
elements that he uses:

7.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• Firstly Simplicity….
• Donald Trump does not
try to convince people
through elaborate
arguments, and details.
He leaves an impact by
keeping his message
simple and
understandable.

8.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
word incompetent.
Now I just call
them
Donald Trump
QUOTE
Slide Notes:
• If you think that’s his
natural vocabulary
you’re wrong, Trump
uses repetition, short
sentences, he repeats
himself constantly ad
uses the most basic
form of a word instead
of nuances.
• Our tendency is to think
that consumers are
becoming more verse,
well read and want the
cold hard facts. But
simplicity is actually
more memorable, more
comprehendible and
more compelling to the
decision processing part
of our brain.

9.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
VERY NOISY
WORLD, AND WERE NOT
GOING TO GET A CHANCE
FOR PEOPLE TO
REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT
US, NO COMPANY IS.
Steve Jobs
QUOTE
Slide Notes:
• This has not changed, in
fact its got worse - there
are more brands vying
for our attention, through
more channels and
touch points.
• In a recent survey of
7000 consumers by
Harvard they looked at
the decision making
path to purchase. 60%
of respondents made
little to no diligence in
their decision making
process with 30% going
straight for one brand
without consideration.
• See:
https://hbr.org/2012/05/
what-do-consumer-
really-want-s

10.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
MYTH 1
Slide Notes:
• And here inlys myth
number one.
Consumers aren’t
getting more
complicated and savvy
as they have more
access to information
and brands.
• We have what is called
cognitive overload….
cognitive overload is
why adults have trends
like adult colour books.
• We are overloaded by
choice and information.
Brands relentless efforts
to engage us with
complicated messages
and information means
that all we want is to
make life easier, make
decisions easier and
anchor to the simplest
information available.

11.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
EMOTION
“What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The
Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted
people into the United States. They are, in many cases,
criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.”
Donald Trump
Slide Notes:
• Donald Trump never
responds to a factual
question with a rational
argument. No, he
rationalises his views
with antidotes and
stories. When someone
ask about how he's
going to build a wall, he
responds with what he
has seen at the Mexican
boarded,
• He uses fear, he uses
straight, but most of all
he communicates
hope…. “make America
great again”…. hope of
something greater to
come.
• Although lots of brands
are trusted or liked
many fail to align
themselves with
emotions that drive
consumer behaviour,
especially online.

12.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• Nike don’t sell shoes
they sell self
empowerment, one of
our deepest and
powerful emotional
beliefs.

13.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
WHY:
Inspire everyone to be great athletes
HOW:
Create products that make people feel
motivated
WHAT:
Sells products that are trendy, stylish,
affordable and performance enhancing
Our why : Inspire Greatness
Slide Notes:
• This is a why, how, what
wheel, this is like the
basics of brand
development. But what
so many people get
wrong is that they just fill
in each part… coming
up with a what and a
how and a why.
• Donald trump created a
why…. A reason for
believing, he aligned his
whole campaign
consumers emotional
and the how ad the what
fell out of that.
• In the same way Nike
did the same. They
created a why and the
how and the what fell
out of that.

14.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• If Nike had started with
the how or the what,
they may have come up
with content like this…

15.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• But they produce
content like this….
• If you cant figure out the
why of your brand its
unlikely consumers will.

16.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
MYTH 2
Slide Notes:
• Myth number 2.
• Interaction does not equal
engagement. So much of
the time we create content
that leads to lots of
interaction but so much of
the time we are never
building an emotional
engagement with that
person.
• In a study by Harvard, they
measured the emotional
engagement of consumers
with 40 of the worlds top
brands and Facebook
came out bottom of that
list.
• You can be ubiquitous, you
can be famous, you can be
liked, you can be shared
but that doesn’t mean you
have emotionally engaged
with your consumers.
• See:
https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-
new-science-of-customer-
emotions

17.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
BRAND
CONFIDENCE
“We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get
bored with winning.”
Donald Trump
Slide Notes:
• When Trump says he is
going to build a wall and
Mexico and he is going
to pay for it, he says it
with such conviction that
it seems plausible.
• Although confidence is
rarely talked about when
it comes to marketing, it
is one of the most
attractive attributes a
brand can have.
• When someone is
confident it makes us
believe that there is an
underlying foundation
for that confidence.
• Confidence is insatiable
to human nature. We
always want to be on
the winning team.

18.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• Confidence is what
allows brands like
tommy hilfger to make a
billboard like this.

19.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
UNAPOLOGETICALLY
Jony Ive’s
QUOTE
Slide Notes:
• Or allows Apple to say
this in their keynote
speech for IPhone 5c

20.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
Slide Notes:
• Or brands like
Patagonia to create ads
like this about its own
jackets.

21.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
MYTH 3
Slide Notes:
• Myth No.3
• We believe that digital
marketing has created a
democratised version of
branding - that brands
are no longer controlled
by brand owners, they
are shared with
consumer who interact
with them, talk about
them and have an
opinion on them.

22.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
"ACCORDING TO
ME" IS THE ONLY
"ACCORDING TO"
THAT MATTERS.
Harvey Spector
QUOTE
Slide Notes:
• For example, If we as an
individual were wavering
in our behaviour, habits
or values because of
what other people
though about us we
would probably be seen
as week, fake or
shallow.
• So although consumers
have perceptions of your
brand and have the
ability to change your
popular image, It should
never change your
underlying believes,
values or personality.
• If you let others shape
your brand personality
you will eventually
become bland.
• Donald trump does not
set out to please
everyone.

23.
Marshall Kingston Presentation ©
MAKE BRANDS
GREAT AGAIN
Slide Notes:
• Donald trump has not
ran a great digital
campaign, but what he
has done is tapped Into
something deeper.
• Digital Marketing is a a
leap forward but we
must be careful not to
get caught in the allure
of direct response
results and immediate
return on investment
measures
• Value consumers values
and your brand will
create better content,
more engagement and
better loyalty. Build
better brand equity and
you will build a brand for
the Future.