Relevance
A short introduction to the Relevance Methodology.
In todays world brands primarily have to develop a relevant relationship with people - independent of online or offline channels and short-lived marketing messages and trends.
Other topics in Relevance:
Deutsches Video "Was ist eigentlich ... die Relevanzmethode?" auf Youtube
my book Beyond Digital - A Brand Approach For More Relevance
online tutorial videos to learn the methodology
downloads for everyone
Marketing Beyond Digital Trends
With the Relevance Methodology, Kai Platschke offers a proven method for developing sustainable relationships with your customers. This makes your brand and its message digital-ready - without requiring you to take to Twitter or Snapchat yourself. The presented methodology is explained with numerous exercises and cases.
The World Has Changed
The marketing landscape has been overrun by channels and will continue to be overrun by more and more of them. But instead of getting lost in understanding the snapchats of this world, companies need to invest more time in getting their strategy right, not to endanger their brands to get lost in the first place!
And People Have Changed, Too
They still hang out with their friends - maybe more online than before. But brands have to work harder to get into that inner circle. They need a great door opener to that living room ("Playground") and then an idea of what they want from these people, other than selling their product!
The RM Framework
It helps brands to not only define the brand strategy in a way that allows relevance in the first place, but also tackles the steps from strategy to creative in a way, that the newly found relevance doesn’t get lost on the way!
The underlying idea is sometimes known as "human brand". Brands have more and more to behave like human beings - but they have never learned to do that. Brands can shout messages, but not really take part in conversations or even find new friends.
It is a framework application. It has been developed to put a vision into practice, to pose the right questions and to offer a guideline for thinking in a new way. It works like a set of questions and for each question there is a set of tools, which I use in the workshop to find possible answers.
The framework consists of the following eight elements:
Brand Essence
Brand Belief
People
Playground
Role
Behaviour
Project
Landscape (Activation)
End Game
When you succeed in building relevance and occupy that part in the lives of your people, they will turn to you automatically, and this will save you media budget.
The end game of the relevance methodology is to gain relevance in order to being able to decrease frequency and hence raise the ROI of your ad spendings.
It is finally easier to be someones friend, instead of shouting messages into ears of strangers all the time ;)
Quickie To Try
There is a 2 pages canvas that allows you to try out the thinking behind the Relevance Methodology. Take 1 or 2 colleagues, and a couple of hours of time and just go through it.
You can download the canvas here and you'll find guidelines how to work through it in the book itself.
Have fun and let me know if you need help!
Examples
What can the Relevance Methodology do?
How can (a clothes manufacturer) give young girls the possibility to try out different lifestyles and help them to find out who they want to be? E.g. through an event series with different styles of music, clothes, makeup and people representing different “tribes”.
How can (a climbing equipment company) help mountain climbers to reach beyond the 4000m mark? By selling them the right equipment plus opening a school that helps them to get better and learn the necessary skills.
How can (a deodorant brand) help women, that left old friends behind to cope with their new family and job, to re-connect? E.g. by bringing the “old team” together to help their struggling school or home town.
How can (a sports equipment dealership) help Spanish families to move more for a better health by making it all seem like fun? E.g. by beach and park installations with games and entertainment program around the 99 different sports their stores represent.
How can (a female hygiene brand) reposition their very performance driven brand so that power women learn that a burn out can be avoided, and health and happiness are valuable goals, too? E.g., by tricking them into an academy that seems to be all about performance but is actually about much more.
How can (a pharmaceutical company) be a moral guideline for young cardiologists, who want to become a successful influencer in their field? E.g., by offering them a platform with usable content, behind the scenes appearances, contact to VIPs and more.
How can (a vegetarian food brand) help young Berliners to learn more about a sustainable lifestyle and integrate in into their lives? E.g., through an Instagram channel that offers help and tips and invites to take part in community events.
How can (a medical lab equipment producer) help their African distributors to overcome the difficult financial situation in their country? E.g., by offering them financial support and seminars as well as legal company.
How can (a local energy provider) help families with an own house but financial problems? E.g., by paying them rent for the right to use their house for public solar charging stations for electrical cars.
How can (a local dairy brand) become more sustainable and help local families to connect to other to reach the same goal? E.g. by opening a travel agency for sustainable tourism in the region, run by local families.