Risk-Taking Brands Benefit from Relentless Pace of Visual Life, Says CBX Brand Advisor

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onsumers are more accepting of change than ever before -and brands stand to benefit by pushing into uncharted territory, advises Satoru Wakeshima, Chief Engagement Officer at brand strategy and design agency CBX, in an opinion piece for Marketing Dive.

For brands trying to get noticed, deliver key messages and differentiate themselves, there's never been a better time for change—precisely because consumers have become accustomed to it, writes Wakeshima, whose experience in brand consulting spans more than 25 years and iconic brands like M&M's, Dr. Pepper, Milk-Bone, Gillette, Coca-Cola, Coach and Moet & Chandon, to name a few.

In the Feb. 11 column (The world spins faster. Does your brand?) Wakeshima cites research from the Technical University of Denmark showing that with each passing year, users of platforms like Reddit and Twitter are focusing less time on trending topics before moving on to the next shiny object. It's exactly what you would expect in an environment in which 500 hours of YouTube video and 2.1 million Snapchat 'snaps' are uploaded every minute of every day, he writes.

As Wakeshima sees it, brands trying to get noticed, deliver key messages and differentiate themselves have more latitude than ever to experiment—a sharp contrast from earlier eras in which top names in CPG evolved slowly if at all.

The likes of Facebook, Starbucks, Snickers, Mastercard, Instagram and Chobani have all made significant changes that consumers took in stride within weeks, Wakeshima notes. Nonetheless, marketers often feel uneasy about change.

The best marketers embrace discomfort if it means driving new opportunities and opening up possibilities, Wakeshima maintains. Fearlessness is even more critical now that fast-paced flux is baked into our neuroarchitecture.

But there's a fine line between breaking new ground and making irresponsible changes, Wakeshima cautions, noting that no CPG brand should ever haphazardly throw away decades of equity. He encourages marketers to use research to gain perspective about how to proceed, even as they question their assumptions about what is acceptable.

As one of my clients once put it, he concludes, 'Make me uncomfortable, but not queasy.'

✔️ Risk-Taking Brands Benefit from Relentless Pace of Visual Life, Says CBX Brand Advisor

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