“Brands Still Need To Anchor Themselves In One Platform”: Noma COO

We’re in an era where content for every brand and business is spread across a myriad of channels, and it’s hardly about to slow down. But amidst the race to dive into every single platform available, Noma chief operating officer and co-founder and CEO of Overture Management Ben Liebmann said it’s essential to plant your flag in one base camp before exploring new territory.

“I do think you still need to anchor yourself in one platform,” he told B&T recently after his speaking session at REMIX Summit.

“It’s true, audiences want to engage with the brand and content across all the various platforms. They don’t necessarily just want a ‘lean back’, passive experience anymore. So it gives them another chance to participate or engage.

“And that could just be watching highlights, it could be talking along with other viewers of the show, it could be interacting with voting shows and things like that.

“It’s about giving audiences the chance to have another layer of engagement. But I don’t think making those extra levels of engagement mandatory works. You don’t have one viewer anymore.

“You may have one viewer who just wants to sit back and watch, but then you may have a viewer who wants to sit back and watch but also then lean forward and participate. I think the art now is coming up with concepts that allow those two different types of experiences.

“So, a brand is still a television show with secondary experiences wrapped around it, or it’s a digital experience primarily with secondary experience. I still think you need to plant your flag somewhere, but I think audiences, and then in turn advertisers, are looking to follow that thread across as many platforms as they can.

Liebmann conceded that there is definitely an expectation of consumers that brands would simply be available on all possible platforms. But, he stressed, “not every platform is right for a brand”.

“And platforms don’t necessarily just have to be mobile or social or online,” he added. “There’s still money to be made in print, things like that, but it’s finding different ways of doing that.

“I do think you have to follow your audience. You have to give audiences opportunities for them to put a hook into your brand, but at the same time for you to put a hook into them to create that connection between the two.

“But, as one of the people I used to work with at Shine would say, you never want to overstay your welcome. You want to leave your audience, your viewer, your customer, wanting more.

“You never want them to take you for granted, and you can be taken for granted if you’re always there. I think it’s important to find that balance.”

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