I know, I know, you’ve probably seen a lot of communication from us recently about creating a FRENZY. In fact, FRENZY is at the heart of our divergent and strategic thinking to make sure all client brand campaigns create actual value and market impact. Which is why it’s extremely validating when a client tells me, during campaign-execution-mode, that they are “feeling the frenzy.” It’s a beautiful sound, validating the fact that our brand purpose is real and working. 

What is a FRENZY?

So a FRENZY is not something we’ve just made up; intangible and full of fluff! Over my 16 years of running the agency, we have created and witnessed our clients experience a FRENZY many times, and we believe that it trumps any other marketing approach. A FRENZY is when a combination of messages are shared within an ecosystem that creates a reaction, a feeling, which then leads someone to take action. It starts small but with purpose, built on an emotive message aligned to current social factors, laser focused on different audiences so that the FRENZY snowballs. The snowball grows bigger, giant in fact, with new messages being created, shared, referenced, intertwined with each other, where the message is no longer owned by the brand but by the ecosystem within which the brand lives. It’s marketing at its very best and the impact results in new customers, new markets, partners, acquisitions and change. 

Can you handle the FRENZY?

A FRENZY is for brands who are prepared to take risks, meaning that they know sometimes it’s not about the brand itself being front and center — but for the emotive idea to be the piece that catches fire. My favorite example of all time  is the Conference Call by Tripp & Tyler. These clever comedians were asked to create a funny piece of content for a B2B brand that had no association to conference calls or telecommunication, but regardless, the purpose was to create content that would cut through the digital exhaust. And it worked with over 100 million views and a gazillion leads. 

Creating FRENZY takes a smart and tenacious CMO with a vision for brand growth. Some of their characteristics could be the following:

Trusting. Put it this way, would you ever walk into Gucci to tell them how to design clothes or The Ritz-Carlton and lecture them on customer service? Hopefully not, because you trust in their expertise and ability, respectively, to create phenomenal objects of beauty and make the customer king. That’s the same kind of trust you need to have in your agency. Smart CMOs don’t hire an agency and then tell them what to do, but instead allow them to be creative (within some boundaries if necessary) and give them the space to create.  

Visionary. Great marketing leaders have a vision for their brand. They can see the potential, but they might not necessarily know how to get there or have the resources. This vision, however, is vital as it creates the passion that drives the journey and the outcomes. That vision also brings brand knowledge and customer insight that shapes the creative campaign. Agencies want to take all of this and pack it into their process to create an ingenious brand outcome. 

Distinct. Mediocre brands are everywhere — we don’t even notice them, let alone recall them. That doesn’t mean those brands are unsuccessful companies, but they are not reaching their full creative potential. When you go against the grain and choose to align the brand to something different, you create the opportunity to build an emotional connection, to be loved or hated — and I promise you, both are great as they distinguish your brand. It takes guts, but the payoff is substantial.