Notes On A Revolution

Deriving value from an activity, product or service is entirely contextual. If I purchase an iPod, Apple don’t get to deliver value, they get to deliver a product for a price point they hope is compelling. I, by thinking about what the product does and how it does or does not enrich my life decide if it is valuable.

Money doesn’t have to be exchanged for value though, time is just as capable of being the currency. When we look at brand interactions, we’re looking at the time someone is asked to invest and what they get out of it. Value here can go both ways, depending on your perspective.

If you’re the consumer, you might watch a 5 minute video and derive a tremendous amount of value from the content. Nobody on the brand side is going to argue that isn’t a valuable interaction for the brand. But if the person watches the video and then goes off to do something else, there’s limited value for the brand as the message fails to spread.

Conversely, a site visitor simply choosing to “like” something on Facebook doesn’t engage on nearly as deep a level, but that interaction potentially offers a lot more awareness value for the brand as the “like” is broadcast to that person’s network.

In the same way Apple don’t get to decide if a product delivers value or not, consumers don’t get to dictate what a brand values. We’ve gotten so caught up in engagement, we’ve lost sight of simple mechanics and how they help a message to spread. Creating more value than you capture should always be the aim, but not every campaign can be a home run.

Sometimes, just a little bit of “like” goes a long, long way.