00:00:04:12 - 00:00:23:23
Steve
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Building Brand Gravity. We have an exciting episode for you where we're a couple of us. Co-host that are going to talk about our trends and predictions for 2025. So hello and welcome. I'm Steve Halsey, principal and chief growth officer of the Integrated Marketing Communications Group.
00:00:24:01 - 00:00:30:00
Anne
And I'm Anne Greene, the principal and CEO at the NSE Integrated Marketing Communications Group. Hi, Steve.
00:00:30:02 - 00:00:51:04
Steve
Hello. We're going to have fun today. We're going to we're going to get out our magic eight balls. Cauldron. Whatever it is, we're going to look ahead and we're going to talk about the trends and strategies that businesses and brands need to thrive in 2025. So there's just been a little bit of of things going on and in the world and society in business.
00:00:51:06 - 00:01:09:23
Steve
And we're just going to distill those all down and we're going to end up leaving everybody with a quick checklist of what they need to do to be successful in 2025. So what we're going to do today is we're going to talk about a variety of topics leadership, culture, innovation, how we're communicators and the C-suite that they're serving.
00:01:09:23 - 00:01:21:05
Steve
How are they navigating uncertainty and basically leveraging the opportunities. So we call this episode navigating 2025 Essential Trends, Insights and Checklists.
00:01:21:09 - 00:01:43:02
Anne
Yeah, 2025 is going to be pretty pivotal. I think you're right. Steve and I brought my reindeer with me to be festive and also to be resilient emotionally. Resilience. My emotional resilience reindeer because it's a heavy year coming at us. And so I think looking at the role of leadership, the role of communications and and the field that we're in, and how are we adaptable and nimble to whatever's coming at us?
00:01:43:04 - 00:02:02:08
Steve
Yeah. And I think I think that's going to be key. And and I'm really interested. You just got off a, road show, visiting a bunch of clients, coaches and, and their and their CEOs and their executives. And I'm going to be really interested to hear what they're saying about resiliency. Adaptive ability, how you structure your team and then how you win.
00:02:02:08 - 00:02:11:03
Steve
Because it's really interesting, as you say, for 2025 is kind of soft power. Hard power. How do you find that that balance as we get going?
00:02:11:08 - 00:02:37:03
Anne
Yeah. And I mean, nobody has a crystal ball, but we've all been living in this world for quite a while. You know, Steve knows one of my least favorite acronyms is Vuca volatility uncertainty and complexity and ambiguity. It's just such a huge Vuca. It's not the best acronym, but it continues to be persistent. So I don't know that we need, you know, the most perfect crystal ball to understand that we're going to be in a landscape that's still quite tumultuous.
00:02:37:05 - 00:03:00:07
Anne
And now with the US election decided and some of the moves being made there, you know, we have more visibility into what may be coming, but still a lot of questions too. And I think that, I was just with a senior leader and I was doing a high level media training, and we were talking about the CEO agenda, because this is also an entity that advises companies of all sizes, especially fortune 50 and fortune 500.
00:03:00:09 - 00:03:17:09
Anne
And he made a comment to me as part of the mock interview that, you know, CEOs need to be optimists. So I'm going to adopt that mantle, and I tend to be glass half full. I call myself an optimist realist. And I think Steve, you share a lot of that personality with me. But, the other thing is, is that he's stressed.
00:03:17:09 - 00:03:43:14
Anne
Something else I really took away, which is we need to focus on the areas we can control and I think going into it, you know, there are potentially some really rapid changes coming, especially in the regulatory environment. Whenever there's a regime change, you know, an administration change, especially there's some potentially stark differences in what may be looked at from a regulatory perspective, climate, you know, environment, policy, tariff, etc..
00:03:43:16 - 00:04:17:14
Anne
So, you know, from my perspective and I and I'm sure yours too, when I'm speaking to executives and also talking to myself as an organizational leader, I'm thinking about adaptability, about resilience, about creating that culture of readiness, focusing on the things you can do. And also that old adage, don't let a crisis go to waste. You know, there's a chance to make real change when there's big changes afoot around you and, and also to, to avoid getting to, down in the dumps to getting to glass empty because that's not going to help us take the action we need to take.
00:04:17:16 - 00:04:40:19
Steve
Absolutely. And I had a conversation with a chief communications officer a few weeks ago. Not us space works for, for, for a large, business out of the Middle East. And he made the comment to me. He said CEOs now want to appear more strategic than ever before, and they want their senior communications councils to help them show up more strategic.
00:04:40:21 - 00:05:02:06
Steve
So, you know, it's it's no longer do you have a seat at the table? It's no longer just a question of, hey, is it about, you know, our reputation and brand now? It's helped me show up more strategic, which means you need to show up to help me manage not just these publics, but how do we move the organization and how do we move the business forward.
00:05:02:06 - 00:05:28:15
Steve
And and I think what's interesting there is, you know, as senior communicators and counselors, we're kind of crossing this nexus of how do you really be a true business advisor and really think ahead with all these challenges? And then how do you make sure that you stay authentic as an enterprise and aligned with the values that you're creating, that you're created about and particularly with, with with what you were talking about?
00:05:28:15 - 00:05:48:10
Steve
I'd be interested in your take with all these changes or kind of I like the term whipsaw effect that somebody says, which basically shows, hey, we've done a rapid move. I think it could get easy to lose sight of your values in that and react in the moment, versus how do you balance that short term, mid-term long term strategy.
00:05:48:10 - 00:05:50:17
Steve
So what are you hearing from leaders about that. Yeah.
00:05:50:17 - 00:06:10:15
Anne
And there's a couple dimensions to that. There's the actual operational strategy. And what is the business model and what are we driving towards. So what are the new growth avenues. What is our core business? How does that change with emerging technology or changing geo political factors or, you know, just just the normal kind of questions that crossing the chasm question that's been out there forever.
00:06:10:17 - 00:06:31:10
Anne
But there's also, an emotional and a cultural and a communication side to it too. So, and that that goes into questions about some of the challenges around things like T&E or even ESG. And what is it employees expect you to speak on? And there's been a lot of intensity and change. Our culture is changing. And that talk about a whipsaw effect.
00:06:31:12 - 00:06:56:16
Anne
So I think this question and you've rooted it, in the values for brand strategy, for operational strategy, for culture strategy. For every point on the compass, you need to ask yourself, why are we here? What is the core value of what we're creating? How are we serving our stakeholders? What is this business meant to do? And then to me, you and I have both been in the business, you know, over 30 years.
00:06:56:16 - 00:07:23:10
Anne
So we've known how undervalued internal communications used to be. So now I think we all understand across this field and across the executive in the C-suite, internal communications is as important as external. And they are almost parallel. And so we need to bring intense strategy, thoughtfulness and precision to how we communicate about why we're doing things and about what the purpose is and how it ties back to our core mission and values.
00:07:23:12 - 00:07:28:15
Anne
So, I mean, there's so much there, but you have to look at it in a holistic way. I think.
00:07:28:17 - 00:07:55:00
Steve
Yeah. And one of my podcast guests, in 2024, is the managing director of the Harris Poll and one of the, one of the interesting findings that they had to the point that you were talking about is where strategy often falls off is the lack of making those internal connections and getting that internal buy in. And really kind of, again, rooting it in, celebrating the culture and the value in terms of where things are at.
00:07:55:01 - 00:08:16:07
Steve
And so when I, when I, from where I sit and, and from where I'm thinking about all the changes that are coming, certainly there's a lot of opportunity. Certainly there's a lot of things that are going to be significant challenges. But but I guess I kind of see, you know, I guess I'll start this isn't my checklist, but but three of my tips are really about setting the context.
00:08:16:07 - 00:08:47:13
Steve
Right. And I think it's important that with the complexities that are involved in all these different regulatory and policy decisions are coming, how do you still distill the complex challenge into relatable stories that relate to your business and the impact you're having on real people, humans, all of that? How do you maintain consistency with past commitments? Because I think we're going to see in the news those companies that pivot with a pivot and kind of forget who they were yesterday, their publics are going to call them out on that.
00:08:47:13 - 00:09:00:18
Steve
They'll probably lose business out of that. And end of the day, how do you continue to think about how do I build trust, not just because something's easier or regulation has been gone? Now, I could do something that I wouldn't do last year.
00:09:00:20 - 00:09:04:23
Anne
Yeah, I like that. I think those are great things to keep top of mind.
00:09:05:01 - 00:09:28:15
Steve
So how about we switch topics a little bit and talk about, get out of the regulatory policy world and talk a little bit about what are some of the key trends to watch in 2025. And, and as our, and none of these should probably be surprise to our listeners, but as we kind of think about where we're at, there's a lot of things out there hybrid work, culture, resiliency, AI.
00:09:28:17 - 00:09:35:18
Steve
Just those are just three to start. I mean, what's kind of your take on what are the key trends for us to watch in 2025?
00:09:35:23 - 00:10:08:08
Anne
Yeah, and both of us could expound on a lot of these. I think, one is just continuing to understand business model reinvention, constant business model reinvention, constantly interrogating how you're operating and being really open to making changes and to not be afraid to shift, but do it with great purpose and thoughtfulness and make sure you're communicating it very well, because everyone's workforce is completely overwhelmed with the amount of change and uncertainty that surrounds us.
00:10:08:10 - 00:10:29:08
Anne
You know? And it's funny, there's a lot of psychological noise. So the weather patterns and the concerns around climate change, you know, you have no water in the northeast for half of the fall, or you have a category four hurricane in the mountains of North Carolina. This stuff is anxiety producing for human beings, and there's a constant hum of that.
00:10:29:08 - 00:10:46:20
Anne
So the more that we can be clear about, we're going to change and force business reinvention, and we're going to look to the future, but we're going to do it. There's a reason why we're going to communicate with you that's critical. I don't feel the future of work is settled yet. This navigating the hybrid work thing, I mean, all of us, us included, are looking at it.
00:10:46:22 - 00:11:05:03
Anne
I think that's going to continue to change. And one thing we know is that there's going to still be more choice for workforce, and we have to figure out how to work through that and still create cultures that are meaningful. While allowing that level of autonomy and independence and understand like that. It's just not settled yet. It's it hasn't settled down still.
00:11:05:03 - 00:11:28:17
Anne
And we have to be very engaged with it. And then that question of resilience, how do we cultivate resilience in ourselves individually, as leaders or as employees? Wherever you're situated in the organization, how do you cultivate leaders, resilience as an organization as a whole? And then how do we, as professional services firm, help our clients tap into and cultivate that resilience, combined with nimbleness and creativity?
00:11:28:22 - 00:11:32:09
Anne
So those are those are some of mine. What are the ones on your list?
00:11:32:15 - 00:11:49:09
Steve
You know, for, for for me, a lot of a lot of discussions I'm having you hit on it with like this business model evolution and reinvention. And I think we're going to see a lot of that. I, I'm at least based on what I'm reading and from what I'm hearing and from what I'm seeing, I think we're going to see a lot more M&A is coming.
00:11:49:09 - 00:12:16:22
Steve
And with M&A comes a lot of change, a lot of evolution, a lot of business model things. But but I'm also seeing that business model evolution and reinvention within the communications function itself. I mean, we've certainly certainly seeing that on, the agency front. We're certainly seeing that even with, with in-house teams and that desire of I want it all, but how do I have it all without a lot of budget?
00:12:16:22 - 00:12:35:17
Steve
I want really, really senior counsel, but I don't want the senior counselors grinding things out on a daily basis. I want to have access to specialists, but I don't want to pay for those specialists to be on the tap all the time. And then on the flip side, on the agency side, it's okay. How do we provide that senior level counsel?
00:12:35:17 - 00:13:01:06
Steve
And then how do we create nimble, flexible models that that really make sense? That's that's creating value for everybody. So that's where it's interesting to me. The whole topic of reinvention has been driven pretty heavily by AI and you may see the same things, but with my conversations, just thinking back to January 2024, it was about, okay, this is going to be a reality.
00:13:01:06 - 00:13:21:15
Steve
What are the guardrails? What are the rules? What are the ethics? How do we make sure that, you know, we're doing copyright and doing everything great. And then somewhere around September or October, there is this massive shift which it was no longer about if but how are you using it for efficiency? How are you using it to create value?
00:13:21:15 - 00:13:39:23
Steve
How are you creating it for innovation and the expectation on both the client and agency side that you're using it to be better, to be better counsel, to deliver better product? And I think for me, 2025 is going to hopefully it's going to be a settling of that into business models.
00:13:40:01 - 00:14:08:20
Anne
Oh my gosh, that I couldn't agree more. You and I talk all the time and we have our feelers out everywhere. You know I love circulating and connecting with people. I'm reading voraciously, especially, you know, having been through some major tech shifts before, from the internet to the advent of social media web2 Web3. For me that it's a constant education process and curiosity and just gathering data everywhere, like a light bulb coming on in the fall.
00:14:08:20 - 00:14:25:19
Anne
And it's not that there's a lot being done prior to that. I mean, we've been in a experimentation and implementation mode for a while, but, you know, the rapid increase in that and I think, we still have to be thoughtful and measured about it. And that's what clients need from us, is really being counselors about what's hype and what's reality.
00:14:25:19 - 00:14:45:13
Anne
And usually it's a mix of both, but it's it's been a dramatic change. And this question you ask about, especially the sort of needing it all, but how do you put budget against it? I think that's true for all operations now client side, agency side, figuring out where you invest and then where you cut and where you are smart about it.
00:14:45:15 - 00:14:54:11
Anne
There's a lot of dynamic tensions out there in the marketplace, and that's going to persist. And that's where for ourselves and for our clients, we need to really lean into figuring out how to thread that needle.
00:14:54:12 - 00:15:22:20
Steve
Yeah, in a couple of areas I think are going to be interesting to see how they play out. And and it's no surprise. I mean, we've talked about it at nauseum in the industry and even on some of, some of our building brand gravity's of the negative around the acronym DSG, all of that. But what's interesting is when you look at the research and you peel back the label, people still want and expect purpose driven branding from companies.
00:15:22:22 - 00:15:49:13
Steve
People still expect and want what you're doing to be more sustainable as you move forward. So I think it's going to be really interesting to see how some of those core undercurrents continue to play out, maybe sans acronym or not, but but I still believe when you look at the research public still have high expectations of brand and corporations and purpose and sustainability.
00:15:49:15 - 00:16:05:12
Steve
And it will be interesting to see just the maturity of that in the conversation and in 2025. And I don't know, based on your executive conversations, are you are you hearing the same thing, which is I yeah, I may not like the label, but I'm no less committed to what we're doing.
00:16:05:13 - 00:16:24:23
Anne
Yeah. I'm glad. I'd love to comment on that, because I'm about to give a talk to one of our clients and all the comms folks across one client, across different brands within an entity on AI. And one of the first slides I'm going to have, we'll have three acronyms ESG, DTI, and I. On the screen. I'm going to ask everyone to say, hey, we're smart communicators.
00:16:24:23 - 00:16:55:22
Anne
What is the relationship between these three? And there's maybe many answers, but my answer is that all of these are acronyms that contain a universe and have been very ill defined, and a lot of the issues that we're facing, I think, regarding the pushback, I mean, not entirely. There's ideology here too, right? But the pushback against some of these issues is that we've crammed together massively distinct worlds within environmental, social governance, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging.
00:16:56:03 - 00:17:19:23
Anne
And now I, I in what context? Cognitive predictive generative. You know the lack of precision in the terms. And this is where my plea to communications professionals this is our world. This is our ball to run down the field, help bring more precision to these terms. Because the fact is, I agree with you. Executives around the globe are still pursuing climate goals.
00:17:20:01 - 00:17:58:17
Anne
They still understand the business disruption of climate, for example, to supply chain and to their their existence to their people. They still need good governance in the boardroom and in the corporation. We know, I'd say the vast majority of executives I speak to understand that greater representation within our companies, more diverse points of view across all points. I just talked with this business executive on Monday during the training is a superpower and is required in a more diverse world, and that bringing more sense of belonging and psychological safety removes friction and lets you fly so what I want to see for AI and all of these areas is more precision around the strategy and the
00:17:58:17 - 00:18:11:09
Anne
language, and I think that that's that's a big, as you can tell, a soapbox for me, I'm up on the soapbox talking about this to everybody. And when I talk about this people are like, yes. Nodding quite emphatically.
00:18:11:11 - 00:18:31:12
Steve
Yeah. And it it kind of leads us to, to the like the next topic I would like to talk about, you know we've talked about the big pivot. We've, we've talked about the key trends to watch which is. So how can businesses really navigate this landscape and what what are what are they need to do. And and you know I always like looking over the horizon.
00:18:31:14 - 00:18:56:14
Steve
And as I look over the horizon, I'm kind of seeing that as we get into 2025, it's as you talk about the reinvention, the evolution, whatever term you want to do. I think brands and communicators and marketers and their executives really need to focus on innovation driven strategies for their brand in kind of like three areas that we've been talking about.
00:18:56:16 - 00:19:27:10
Steve
How do you leverage AI responsibly to drive engagement, not just as an efficiency tool, but really leverage it responsibly and define what that means? How do you align your purpose driven measures with our messaging, with measurable business outcomes? So it's not just purpose for purpose sake, but it's really yes, this delivers tangible goals, tangible values. These are the metrics we find are important, and simplifying complex topics in a way that we can really build trust through storytelling.
00:19:27:10 - 00:19:50:22
Steve
So kind of like what you said, rather than throwing everything in a lump sum box and say, we've got it covered, we've got to think about what are those topics, how do we talk about how it's relevant to our customers, to our communities, to our employees and that old fashioned thing? Like I've always joked, you know, the first infographic was on the cave wall, which is Bear Bad River.
00:19:50:22 - 00:20:04:17
Steve
Good. You know, but but how do how do we simplify really complex topics through storytelling is going to be key. So as you look ahead, what advice do you have for how businesses can navigate through this uncertainty?
00:20:04:22 - 00:20:21:12
Anne
And by the way, I love that last one you have, because that's really core to what we're trying to do here every day. We've got some very complex industries and clients we serve. But you got to make it clear. Yeah, I would add. So the stuff, that I'm thinking about in terms of navigating this landscape, how do businesses do that and including ours?
00:20:21:12 - 00:20:44:14
Anne
I mean, we have a double consciousness. We have to lead our own business to how do you empower teams to innovate? And this is really in the pocket with AI and other many emerging things. How do you empower folks to innovate while staying aligned with what they need to deliver today? You know, as well as the organizational values and that also how do you invest but also know where you're generating your revenue?
00:20:44:14 - 00:21:07:06
Anne
These things are intention sometimes. So that's the first one. Another one is that culture of agility, embracing the fact that it will stay uncertain. I think during Covid, ourselves and many other organizations came to the conclusion that what you do is you plan, plan, plan, plan, plan, scenario, plan and then use, oh well, I'm going to hold less tightly and see what happens.
00:21:07:06 - 00:21:34:07
Anne
But I've got ideas. I've got a portfolio. It's like a fan. It opens up. I got a portfolio of options because I planned and that, that scenario planning is, is really that sort of cultural agility. But then that scenario planning, how do you make sure that adaptability is an option? It's a given. And that you do a lot of proactive communication to help internal and external stakeholders understand that you are both planning, but you are also nimble and flexible.
00:21:34:09 - 00:21:53:22
Steve
So so that that requires us to be on all the time. So how do you how do you how do you coach executives, clients even just just, our own agency members on this resiliency and agility and, not getting burned out in the process?
00:21:54:00 - 00:22:14:20
Anne
Well, and it's hard, you know, maybe, like, you could come to my sessions with my therapist on this. Like, all joking aside, you need a strategy and a team as a leader. And I think even within there's so much more talk about mental health now, which I think is really healthy, because we can understand more of the totality of our lives and flow that in and out of work.
00:22:14:20 - 00:22:34:08
Anne
I don't believe in the old sort of work life balance because it implies like a perfect it's just it's just doesn't exist. Right. So in terms of what I'm counseling to myself and others is how are you intentional about what is worth your time to be doing? How do you ask yourself every day, am I spinning and directions I don't need to be?
00:22:34:10 - 00:22:56:01
Anne
Am I making mountain, you know, a mountain out of a molehill? Am I? Am I heightened in my approach? Everything. How do I take a breath, calm down, get another point of view and say, hey, little by little, focus on what's important because you can get pulled in so many directions. You know, every week I have to ask myself, did I spend my time in a really helpful way, whether for clients or our own agency?
00:22:56:01 - 00:23:16:14
Anne
So I think being mindful about your time, being mindful about what is happening in your body and your mind. So like, how are you reacting to things, how are you triggered by things and how do you de-escalate? Like what are the things in with colleagues or personally, can you do to get yourself in a place where you have that sense of resilience because it's not a perfect linear thing.
00:23:16:14 - 00:23:26:20
Anne
You don't get there and stay there. You know, this is a triggering time. You're going to go up and down a lot, but if you're mindful about it, I think you have a chance to be much more effective and feel more in control. Right?
00:23:26:22 - 00:23:45:14
Steve
Yeah. Well, it's interesting that that you hit on the work life balance. I think a think about some conversation. I remember the first time, K3 with Sue's, fellow principal and our Chro, she said, Steve, it's not work life balance, it's work life integrations. And at first I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's just like H.R. speak. What a shocker.
00:23:45:16 - 00:24:04:16
Steve
But then the more I got to think about it, it is it is true. It really is about work life integration and I think one of the things about this profession, that I've always said is that it's not a job, it's a lifestyle. Yeah, right. And if you really want to be good at it, you've got to embrace.
00:24:04:16 - 00:24:29:09
Steve
And like you said, learn how to turn on and turn off. When to be mindful. When tonight, when when things are breaking, particularly in crisis. When to take certain parts of your your world and have them sit in the corner for a little bit so that you can focus and compartmentalize, I think are are some interesting things. But but I also think, you know, that should be a source of pride that this is a lifestyle, not a job.
00:24:29:09 - 00:24:53:08
Steve
You know, as we think about our fellow agency leaders here at Ganz and elsewhere, as we think about, you know, all our professional contacts in, large multinationals or academic settings, or not for profits. I mean, people do this profession because they love it. And I also think I, I'm a big fan, say every once in a while we need some spot celebration.
00:24:53:08 - 00:24:59:08
Steve
I think we need to celebrate. What an awesome, dynamic, not boring industry and career.
00:24:59:08 - 00:25:20:06
Anne
This is where you talk about resilience and I look at our client sectors. And again, every sector has its ups and downs, right. There's a number of them under tremendous pressure. But you look at the integrated marketing communications field, even agency types beyond what we do. I'm amazed at our resilience over the past years. I'm amazed at the resilience of our society.
00:25:20:06 - 00:25:42:18
Anne
So again, how do we take that opportunity as leaders to I love this part, celebration. You know, I do to say, well, we can do remarkable things when under pressure and we can be remarkably creative. And how do we say that's not just something that comes up in a crisis when you're like, oh my gosh, we have to do something because we're being sent home with lockdown or something like that during Covid.
00:25:42:20 - 00:26:04:12
Anne
But more of that. How do we harness that confidence that comes from looking back and saying, look what we managed through, and business reinvention. Look at what our field was 30 years ago when you and I both started, and look what it is today and look at how leaders of all ages, all generations, we have four generations now in our agencies and in our companies.
00:26:04:14 - 00:26:16:02
Anne
How much I see everybody keeping up and changing and evolving. Not every single person, but for the vast majority. Everyone's like, bring it on. I want to learn this, I want to, I want to know how we're going to operate in the future.
00:26:16:04 - 00:26:27:21
Steve
So I'd like to go off that. The point that you're just just talking about is the at the individuals, and maybe you can talk a little bit about the opportunities and challenges for leaders, leaders and brands.
00:26:28:00 - 00:26:48:21
Anne
Despite how hard the business environment comes, I think we still have seen the benefit of leadership that is more transparent, is a bit more empathetic, and creates an environment that's a bit more inclusive where people do feel not not these old size. I bring your whole self to work, which I believe in, but I think they fall short.
00:26:48:21 - 00:27:19:03
Anne
For folks. It's more about this question of when people feel more empowered, when you create an environment that is more inclusive, where people really feel they can speak and are valued for speaking, then you can innovate more, then people feel safer to do so. And it's not that everything's perfect all the time, but more empathy, more transparency and more sense of inclusivity within all of our organizations can fuel human potential and human flourishing and can fuel the flourishing of our organizations.
00:27:19:05 - 00:27:40:08
Anne
And then I think a challenge that we're going to have to face is maintaining that team engagement and resilience amid a lot of turmoil and amid an environment that will never be back to five days a week in person. We are distributed. We are remote, we are hybrid. So how do we create cultures and engagement and meaningful engagement?
00:27:40:08 - 00:27:48:06
Anne
Not I'm sitting somewhere on a screen, all the time and not, you know, finding those moments for in-person engagement, too.
00:27:48:08 - 00:28:09:17
Steve
Okay. So I think I think from my, my standpoint as we think about opportunities and challenge, you know, one of the big opportunities is really how do we integrate technology seamlessly into our strategies while staying authentic. And I think that authentic piece is key. And I'd mentioned to you that I was talking to somebody and it was the most straightforward statement, but it's just like, hit me like a sledgehammer.
00:28:09:17 - 00:28:38:22
Steve
And boom, they said, well, but whatever you do with technology, you can't lose focus on what do you do best, where are you best? And as straightforward, as simple as that is, I think we forget that sometimes we get so focused in trying to solve or which tool or the application or the implication that I think it's important for us as, as brands, as leaders to stay authentic to who are we and what do we do best?
00:28:38:22 - 00:29:07:05
Steve
And to the point that you said, always know where that like North Star is. So that that we're really driving towards that I think is an opportunity. The challenges, I think then become, how do you balance the rapid innovation and the rapid innovation needed to stay competitive while still maintaining that that trust of relevance? Right. So as you shift, as you create new models, how do you instill that trust and relevance?
00:29:07:07 - 00:29:10:12
Steve
For the mid-term and for the long term? So those are big challenges.
00:29:10:15 - 00:29:39:12
Anne
I think that's a great pairing, that opportunity and challenge. And I think with the rapid pace of tech and like if we take AI as the apotheosis of that right now, right, in all of its forms, change was rapid before. Change is insanely rapid now. There's no person that can keep up with every advancement that's happening across the broad spectrum of what's going on with AI right now, where it's being baked into enterprise tools, how not new things through the large language models.
00:29:39:12 - 00:30:07:02
Anne
It's absolutely insane. And it I can see how overwhelmed everyone is. I can feel it myself. So part of it is, in one of my earlier podcast interviews from this year, I interviewed Natalie Nixon, who's an author and a speaker and a consultant about creativity and unlocking that. But she has a rubric called Wonder and Rigor. How do you have the wonder of exploration, the newness of a child, the beginner's mind, and the idea of play.
00:30:07:04 - 00:30:33:15
Anne
But then how do you bring the rigor to it in the discipline of figuring out, what do I pursue or what is valuable to my goals, my business schools, my, you know, the strategic value I bring not getting caught up in, oh, this tool can do this today and tomorrow. Another tool can do that. And so I'm trying to reroute myself in this idea of wonder and rigor because we have to have play, but we also have to have tremendous discipline and how we're going to start to ingest more of these technologies.
00:30:33:15 - 00:30:37:09
Anne
Otherwise ourselves and our people will be completely overwhelmed at all times.
00:30:37:11 - 00:31:05:22
Steve
I like that, I like that and wonder, wonder and rigor. And when you said that, it reminded me of another, I don't know if it's binary or duality or what you want to call it, but of magic and logic, right? You go you go back to that question of where are you best? You know, the magic is that deep expertise, that understanding, that insight that that that magic little spark that's within the DNA of a leader of an organization that is uniquely them.
00:31:06:00 - 00:31:30:10
Steve
And how do you protect them? And how do you use technology to make that magic even more powerful? And then what is that logic element? So again, if you think about, you know, you were talking about the large language model, you know, talking to other senior agency leaders and how they're trying to capture their own IP and their expertise so that they can make that magic better, cooler, neater at scale.
00:31:30:12 - 00:31:46:18
Steve
But but then where is that logic? Because come up with a cool idea. You still got to execute it. So how do you really lay in technology, AI, whatever that is, to really execute that in a very logical way. That's sufficient, that's that's powerful. So I like that.
00:31:46:20 - 00:31:54:06
Anne
And that and that's the promise of augmented intelligence. That's really the promise of augmenting humans, not replacing us, because that's our magic to.
00:31:54:12 - 00:32:17:09
Steve
Wonder and rigor and magic and logic. So, so, so I guess I guess that that's kind of setting us up for, you know, what what what our listeners are probably waiting to hear, which is. So what is that what does that checklist and, and Steve look like as you think about about 2025. So I'll let you go. First you have to have a checklist for five priorities.
00:32:17:11 - 00:32:47:03
Anne
I did my homework. Okay. So three leadership priorities for success in 2025. Number one, the culture of agility and inclusivity. Number two, equip teams with tools and the knowledge to adapt to this new environment, including technology. Learn, learn, learn. And the last one is just try to lead with empathy, but also clarity of vision and how you communicate that vision inside your walls and outside your walls.
00:32:47:03 - 00:32:48:01
Anne
So those are my three.
00:32:48:05 - 00:33:16:16
Steve
Those are your three. Okay. Well, you you said a high bar. So I'm going to have three branding strategies. My three actionable branding strategies are as follows. How do we use AI and data analytics to power really personalized, meaningful customer experiences. So again tying that back to that magic, how do you make that be actionable at scale? How do we really prioritize those value driven stories and build long term trust?
00:33:16:16 - 00:33:43:22
Steve
I think we cannot forget that foundation of the importance of simplify the complex into easy to understand stories that have emotion and relate. And then finally, how do we focus on using emerging technologies and integrating them seamlessly into our branding efforts? So. So those are my three actionable branding strategies for for for 2025. And, and I would say, you know, with this podcast, it's available.
00:33:43:22 - 00:33:59:06
Steve
It's on our channels. I would really love to hear from our listeners. You know what what they're seeing, you know what their top three are. So I really encourage you to, to go to our chat and put in your three top, checklist items for 2025.
00:33:59:08 - 00:34:16:01
Anne
Yeah, I just did a mailbag episode. That's sort of a roundup of questions that we've gotten both internally and from externally from some of our different episodes. And that was very fun, and I'd love to have more of that kind of interaction, more questions for us for sure.
00:34:16:03 - 00:34:46:21
Steve
Yeah. And and I would also say for those of those listeners out here, if you would like to engage us as part of being on building brand gravity, don't be shy to reach out to Ann or myself. We would would love to have a dialog. Talk about what you're facing in 2025. The challenges, the opportunities, the inspiration. I think would be great because I, I do think going back to where we started, I definitely think there's going to be a lot of challenges for companies, brands and individuals to navigate in 2025.
00:34:46:21 - 00:34:56:00
Steve
But but for your optimist realist, I do think there could be tremendous opportunity. And it can be really exciting to think about how we shape the future.
00:34:56:02 - 00:35:28:03
Anne
Yeah, there's so many big, challenges to solve, you know, individually as an organization, but also for companies like ours in connection with our clients. And so that's where for me and as you said, it's Steve. You have to the work we do here, there's a lot of passion and love in it. And one of the things that keeps it fresh for me is continual learning is applying, you know, that lens of what we know to new challenges is creating those tailored solutions and figuring out what does this business challenge require.
00:35:28:05 - 00:35:48:22
Anne
And as communications has become more obviously important, more than 30 years ago, more than 20 years ago, to the C-suite of all organizations. More chance to apply that skillset where it's really needed. So I'm I'm very optimistic about the future. I don't think anyone has to fact check us about uncertainty coming next year. I think we're going to get that one right.
00:35:48:22 - 00:35:56:06
Anne
But I think if we focus on the upside, you know, there's there's a lot of, exciting work ahead for us, frankly.
00:35:56:08 - 00:36:23:08
Steve
I agree. Exciting, exciting times, exciting lifestyle. Certainly not. Certainly not a boring time. So so again, we invite you, if you have thoughts, please reach out. Share with us. We're looking forward to another exciting year, building brand gravity. As we go into 2025, we'll have some exciting guests and conversations. And anything else for us as we kick off 2025.
00:36:23:13 - 00:36:36:13
Anne
No, just happy end of year and happy holidays to, for me and the reindeer. And, you know, Steve and I look forward to hosting a lot more conversations, and we look forward to continuing to listen in 2025.
00:36:36:15 - 00:36:44:03
Steve
Well, great, great conversation. And and thank you all for listening and tune in soon for our next episode of Building Brand Gravity.
00:36:44:07 - 00:36:45:02
Anne
Bye, everybody.
