The People Are The Network: Electrify Them

Written by Fabio Gratton, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) of Ignite Health.

Creating an unforgettable experience today requires both a big idea and the seamless delivery of that idea across numerous customer-chosen channels. These "channels" are, in many respects, the modern day "network" – much the way marketers used to look at television or radio as channels that had to carry a brand's message to the masses. But unlike those mass media vehicles, today's networks are at once both real and virtual, wired and wireless, people- and software-powered, fueled as much by the money spent to secure the "media" as by the dreams inspired by the ideas they carry.

This new landscape is both wonderful and frightening – requiring today's strategists to be able to perform, think, and mobilize like Lennon, Newton, and King all at once. If done well, brands can be set to buzz through these virtual wires -- wires built on the backbone of, and electrified by, the very people they are trying to engage. It's within this context that today's communications agency operates; therefore, to be successful it must be able to not only give birth to big ideas, but also know how to insert them at the right time on the right network – one that is supercharged with the right people capable of electrifying the brand, without electrocuting it.