'Bridging the gap' is another one of those catch phrases which i normally hate along with others such as 'jump in', 'get involved' and 'start the conversation'.
They have been misunderstood, over exposed & generally corrupted over time hence they now form part of one of my favourite games - Bullshit Bingo (see below & feel free to use!)
So i was pleasantly surprised in a meeting earlier on today when the term 'Bridging the Gap' was used in conjunction with a real understanding of what it meant.
We'd been throwing around different explanations & iterations of how social engagement and personalisation helped Brands connect with customers until we came up with a simple but succint way to show it (see below):
We start off with a great divide between Brands & Customers. There is no common ground, no understanding & no accessibility...
In the past we have utilised traditional media to speak to these customers but that only gets us so far...
This gives us what we can call an 'Indirect Brand Experience' where we are exposed to advertising messages but it doesn't neccessarily connect with us, whether that's due to lack of relevance, personalisation, resonance etc
So what we are aiming to do is connect with people on an individual level to create the much desired 'Direct Experience' which can drive increased purchase consideration, brand advocacy, repeat business etc which is where social engagement comes in to 'Bridge the Gap'...

Therefore what we end up with is Indirect & Direct experience:

The other key thing to note is Critical Mass. The Indirect Experience, as expensive & unconnected as it can be, does play an essential role in building mass awareness & exposure and cannot be ignored.

Therefore the Social Engagement side, whilst being at the core of any strategy and being key to 'Bridge the Gap' and build Direct Experience, can rarely be the summation of a campaign execution.
This, for me, simply & effectively outlines the challenge we are all facing in the ever-changing communications landscape.
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