Categories: Articles

When Everybody Gets It Wrong

Individuals get it wrong. Brands get it wrong. What happens when everybody gets it wrong?

Let’s start here: this is not a show about politics. Let’s be honest: this is a show about politics. There has been nothing more polarizing than Brexit and the Trump Campaign, when it comes to our world this past year. If you can put politics aside (which is not easy), what happened here? The data, the analytics, the analysts, the pundits, the media and more. Like many, the armchair quarterbacks are abound. Those who were pro-Trump are now inflating their own tires, many who never expressed an opinion are now saying that they nailed it. Still, the vast majority of people, brands, analysts and media did get these two events wrong. Very wrong.

What does this mean?

Without a doubt, branding, marketing and communications in our digital age played a vital role in this outcome. How the presidential candidates were positioned, leveraged their own platforms and worked with agencies that brought us to this surprising conclusion. On this week’s Beancast, I joined host Bob Knorpp and guests Farrah Bostic (founder of The Difference Engine) and Sloane Kelley (Senior Director of Content at the PGA Tour) to discuss how everything went in the polar opposite direction of what we were told, what the marketing lessons were, what they mean for brands going forward and what we can all learn about building, scaling and proving your brand value in our complicated marketplace. We tried (desperately) to not get too political.

Take a listen: Beancast – #424 – We Got It Wrong.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.