Does one quick campaign = true thought leadership?

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The Dove Real Beauty campaign classic long-term thought leadership - no quick fixes here

There are two types of thought leadership and I’m not sure that the one even deserves the description.

The first is what I term quick-fix or short-term thought leadership and is often confused with true thought leadership. This is the great creative idea or innovation that is relevant only to one campaign or product and it here today gone tomorrow.

It is an idea that has no longevity beyond that particular campaign and while it may set your brand apart from the others for a moment in time it doesn’t necessarily make you a thought leader.

Advertising and short-term PR campaigns are good at achieving this and you see these campaigns all the time.  Some are good and some…well let’s just say that thought leadership is probably way too generous a term to apply to these campaigns.

I stand to be corrected but my view is that true thought leadership should be a far broader, longer-term positioning for a company or its brands.

True thought leadership is about attaching an authentic value to your brand or company which validates the image, preference, influence, reputation or brand-purchasing decision because it links in some way to the issues which are important to your consumers’ everyday lives. These could be as wide ranging as education, social issues, philanthropy, social responsibility, environment, health and infrastructure.

It is about delivering to these customers a value, information or point of view which says to them: “These guys get me, they get the environment and they get the social factors important to my life. I feel good in making this purchase, I feel good about this brand.  I trust this brand.”

If a customer inherently feels these attributes in a brand it not only develops brand loyalty but it also generates excellent word-of-mouth.

To do this I believe takes time. 

Quick fix rules

Unfortunately we live in a corporate world dominated by what I term ‘quarterlyitis’. 

This is a world dominated by quick turnaround projects, quick fix solutions and immediate results.  Not only are listed companies afflicted by this in terms of their reporting and the scrutiny of analysts but marketing teams and PR teams suffer the same pressure.

This often results in what many may claim to be thought leadership campaigns but which in reality are merely one-off, innovative PR tactics that may or may not fall under a broader communications strategy.

I’m sorry but I think thought leadership is a whole heap more.  It’s strategic in its nature and builds the reputation of your organization or your brand as a thought leader over time.

2 Responses to “Does one quick campaign = true thought leadership?”

1. Craig Pearce says:

   November 15, 2009 at 10:18

   I think PR agencies can be some of the worst offenders here. But they are often forced into the situation by the nature of their relationships with clients (i.e. often characterised by working for them on a project rather than a retainer basis - this is a superficial representation of the reality, but it is still a REALITY).

   The agency has to make a big impression to cut through and get the business. The client loves it for the immediate impact.

   But does the client commit to it in the longer term when the media profile of the initial impact cannot be sustained and the value of the initiative is probably deeper, but more subtle….?

   My observation: no.

   You need market research to get long term traction. And what client wants to pay for that?

   Not enough, in my experience…
2. craig says:

   November 16, 2009 at 00:52

   Craig, unfortunately in the main I have to agree with you. It is the quick fix, quick return ethos to which I refer in my post, an ethos that often kills any long-term thought leadership strategy.