Always willing to try new things, Russell Davies has finished up as Planner in Residence at Nike, and is concentrating on writing — books, blogs and a bit of freelancing. Piers Fawkes at IF!/PSFK has a great interview with Russell on his time at Nike, what he learned, what he didn’t in his previous 20 years, and some insight into the future challenges of big and small brands alike. It is a great read and provides a series of insights that raise more questions than answers (but I think that is the point).
At one point Russell explains that "… the crucial challenge for brands is working out how to be less controlling and more influential". This, clearly, is not just about the challenges that blogs and other technologies provide to brands — it is to do with the social movement or social networking that is occurring as part of the use of new technologies. Whether brands and brand managers like it or not, these technologies are changing the ways that consumers interact with brands, messages and corporate stories.
These changes will have significant impacts on the way that we all tell our brand and corporate stories. We will need to listen more than we tell, we will need to tell more than we dare and we will need to dare more than we would like. Sound risky?
Sounds like fun!
In the meantime, if you see a "mercenary army of rogue marketing professionals" my guess you will see Russell there leading the troops. Good luck Russell!
S.