THE GAME

CHANGERS:
WISDOM FROM
A TECH GURU,
ACCLAIMED ACTOR,
& SPORTS LEGEND
FLAVIA BARBAT

We live in a transformative time, one

that has given marketers the power
to disseminate, influence, and guide
through new methods and channels.
In the midst of such exponential growth,
however, it is often wise to pause and
reflect. We continue to move forward
with great speed, but in what manner?
How are agencies, brands, and people
applying their attention and energies
in this always-on world? What are the
qualities the values of the change
were helping drive?
Throughout SapientNitros Idea
Exchange events, provocative answers
to these questions were seen sprouting from the work of game changers
across industries. Weve witnessed the
inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir
Tim Berners-Lee; Academy Award winning actor and content innovator, Kevin
Spacey; and renowned athlete and
social media maverick, LeBron James,
share how this transformational change
continues to impact technology, media,
and sports alike.
Distinct in their professions, these three
game changers are all applauded for
their disruptive work in and understanding of the convergence of technology
and story. They demonstrate both the
digital dexterity and creative innovation
that our contemporary marketing environment demands.
From data and platform to content and
voice, several overarching themes can
be seen connecting the future of our
industry to these innovative thinkers,
their work exemplifying the captivation
of audiences through well-constructed
experiences. When combined, their
insights highlight the symphony of technology, storytelling, and humanity.

Give users freedom by

way of utility
One of the original creators of the
web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed
the hypertext platform to solve a real
technology problem at the European
Organization for Nuclear Research
(known as CERN) in 1989. Hundreds
of scientists each with different
computers, operating systems, and file
formats couldnt easily share their
research and latest thinking with
their peers.1
For Tim Berners-Lee, the focus of the
original http protocol was to build an
open system a system with few rules
and stipulations where there are
few other asks. Unlike contemporary
networks, his didnt necessitate a
particular operating system or software.
Even the underlying Internet network
was completely open, with no knobs
[and] no controls.

The web was designed

using open protocols,
which impose minimal constraints on what can be built
on top of them. The Web is a
platform, which itself sits on
top of the Internet platform.
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Twenty-five years later, his vision for
the web is more relevant than ever as
all marketing experiences are built on
this foundation a foundation whose
original values were open, egalitarian,
and decentralized. Value is not in the
middle (centralized and controlled), but
rather at the edges of the network in
the very diverse and versatile nature of
the content.

W3. Tim Berners-Lee. http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Today, we are still building on this layer,

albeit with a complexity that Sir Tim
Berners-Lee could not have anticipated. Marketers should keep his original
vision in mind marketing platforms,
products, and services are layers of
added value, meeting user needs and/
or wants. Our platforms today should
also be open, giving users the freedom
to integrate these platforms into their
daily lives, to allow the technology to
become a part of their stories their
experiences rather than the other
way around.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Advance data-based
personalization and innovation
The power of data is not in isolation,
but rather occurs when blended and
personalized, matched and combined.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee noted that
machine-readable data is an essential
trend for businesses, governments,
and consumers. Citing personal health
as a particular area of opportunity, he
foresees a strong shift in consumers
desires for data control.

There will be huge

demand from people
to get data from hospitals,
government, from everyone
they deal with. The businessto-consumer relationship will
have a continuous flow
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee

It is hardly surprising that Sir Tim

Berners-Lee recognizes big data as
one of the most significant trends today
on the platform he created. Yet his
emphasis on continuous flow, on the
placing of data into the hands of your
users, is significant.
This perspective suggests that consumers will increasingly dictate the
terms and demand not just personalized, innovative experiences, but
also access to the raw data for major
aspects of their lives. For marketers and
agencies, trying to match the functional
needs of the customer with storytelling
and branding goals all on the same
platform can be an uncomfortable
and, at times, challenging shift.
Adapting to this continuous flow of
information and finding opportunities
to surround it with marketing is,
perhaps, the challenge of the modern
marketing environment.

we must make no
assumptions about
what viewers want or how
they want to experience
things. We must observe,
adapt, try new things in
order to discover appetites
that we didnt even know
were there.

The power of data-based innovation

is also depicted by the success of
another game changer, Kevin Spacey,
and his work with Netflix. Joined by
several other brands such as Disney,
Nike, and even some travel and hospitality firms with many more to surely
follow Netflix is exemplary of this
attention to data and consumers exhibited desires. Data-based decisions,
for example, were the reasons as to
why it picked up House of Cards.
After pitching the script to every studio,
Kevin Spacey and his team had significant interest from multiple traditional
studios all of whom said, Shoot a
pilot and well see. Dissimilarly, Netflix
looked at its data (around Spacey and
other factors) and made a decision:
They offered to pick it up, and not
just for the pilot episode, but for two
full seasons.2
As a result, the team was able to deliberately introduce and craft storylines
over a much longer timeline. And this
made all the difference. With a longer
runway, the story took flight. Last year,
House of Cards received thirteen
Emmy nominations and Netflix now has
more subscribers than HBO (prompting the latter to launch its own standalone streaming service this year).

- Kevin Spacey

2
Forbes. The Producer Behind House of Cards On How Netflix Offered Creative Freedom. http://www.forbes.com/
sites/dorothypomerantz/2013/07/18/the-producer-behind-house-of-cards-on-how-netflix-offered-creative-freedom/2/.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Some may call it risky, but the knowledge base supporting it makes the
move more akin to bravery.

Set bravery as an essential

responsibility
During the very early days of TV, it was
all about bravery. TV was the emerging
medium and you could do anything you
wanted it was innovative. As Jack
Lemmon described it, TV was made
with a sense of total abandon.3
Kevin Spacey shows a similar commitment to bravery with many of his recent

projects, from NOW: In the Wings on

a World Stage (a documentary of the
ten-month tour of Richard III) to Call of
Duty: Advanced Warfare (part of the
multibillion dollar franchise). And he
emphasizes the importance of continuing Lemmons sense of total abandon
in all of our work.

As storytellers and
content creators, our
biggest challenge is, in storyscaping, how do we break
through the gridlock? How
do we cut through the noise?
- Kevin Spacey

3
The Telegraph. Kevin Spacey: James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in full. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvand
radio/10260895/Kevin-Spacey-James-MacTaggart-Memorial-Lecture-in-full.html.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

The unification of experience in our

audiences lives is borne out of the
alignment of our innovations and
their stories. By comprehending and
anticipating their stories, we as marketers can use a Storyscaping approach
to imbue our outputs with qualities
that connect us and our audiences in
one, integrated world.
It may sound simple enough, but considering the proliferation of technology
mentioned above, the ease of losing
ones way comes to the foreground.
Forced omnipresence and plug-andplay solutions divert attention away
from storytelling the quality of which
can become lost. For brands to succeed, they must balance metrics with
sensible demonstrations of coherent
stories in order for the audiences experiences to relate harmoniously.

Intrigue the audience with

your storys delivery
A notable influencer in the storytelling realm, Kevin Spacey made (and
continues to make) headway with his
works stories and presentation. And he
has some valuable advice for marketers
pursuing a similar momentum.

Its no longer about

having the biggest
studio or the richest network
or the loudest microphone.
It is and always will be,
and always has been, about
having a great story to tell.

As is true for all content producers,

Kevin Spacey is competing with more
channels, more writers, and more
actors than ever before. And with everyone producing content, the narrative
and skill used to create the stories is
paramount because contemporary
marketers simply have less control over
what an audience sees. Audiences
dont always pay attention to the platform or length, and there might not be
any real difference for them between
film, webisode, or video game.
This supports the marketing trends that
we have seen around generating large
numbers of multiple-formats (across
lengths and platforms) to drive the
brand story. And it goes a long way
to explaining the increasing quality of
storytelling over the past decade: From
the world-building Game of Thrones to
House of Cards, great stories are key
tools for marketers to differentiate.

Exude humanity by acting

with purpose
Expectations continue to rise in terms
of the human element. Four-time NBA
MVP LeBron James, perhaps the
most followed U.S. athlete on social
media, recognizes the importance of
communicating honestly with his fans
and delivers to them a consistent
stream of sincere content portraying
his qualities and experiences.4

- Kevin Spacey

Wikipedia. LeBron James. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

I believe the people

the consumer know
whats real and whats fake.
You cant cheat, cant [take]
short-cuts, cant do anything
to make something thats
false to the consumer.
- LeBron James

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

For brands, authenticity has long been

a core element. And with increasing
transparency and consumers calls for
social responsibility, brands must now
integrate their actions as much as they
do their campaigns. Marketers, in turn,
are presented with the task of delivering content (across platforms, media,
and borders) that not only speaks for
the brand, but also acts in coherence
with its purpose. This is how brands
just like LeBron build and adhere to
a personality.

[Im not afraid to weigh

in on] things that I feel
passionate about, things that
I feel my power and my voice
could get some attention...
but I wont speak unless
I know whats going on,
Im knowledgeable about it.
- LeBron James
Along with his extreme openness to
fans, LeBron offers a commitment to
himself, his marketing team, and his
fans by only commenting on matters
that he has fully digested. For example,
LeBron publicly responded (see Figure
1) to the racist comments of Donald
Sterling (former owner of the NBA
team Clippers), as well as supporting
Trayvon Martins family after his shooting.5
For brands, the ability and even expectation to have a human voice that
comments on world events represents
both an opportunity and a challenge.
To be accepted into their audiences
stories, brands must not only exhibit
personality, but also act and react with
purpose. LeBron James, with his wealth
of fan experiences, believes deeply in
this notion and the advantages of thinking of brands as people. He believes in
the authenticity of his (personal) brand.
The layers of personal branding
focused upon the communication of
human traits are those that grant it
authenticity. And marketers can apply
similar principles to their strategies,
thereby elevating their combinations of
technology and storytelling by directing
them with ambition with purpose.

This leads to increased audience participation as people associate their own

journeys with brands they perceive to
be heading in the same direction.

Conclusion
For marketers, such consumer-centric
approaches allow for the targeted
introduction of brands into audiences
moments without disturbing them.
Technology may provide an infrastructure, but storytelling is what paints
the context. And, similar to an artist,
a brands story must remain consistent
and recognizable throughout variations
in form and depiction. Together, these
model a personality, a voice that is
innately human. Consumers do
desire humanity.
Whether its LeBron James with fans,
Kevin Spacey with audiences, or Sir
Tim Berners-Lee with users, all three
game changers showcase the importance of these relationships of brand
partnerships based on quality as much
as (or even more than) quantity, based
on a long-term commitment and vision
more than short-term returns. These are
the compounds that build worlds by
linking together to generate comprehensive and captivating experiences.
Technology lays the groundwork,
storytelling colors it with identity, and
humanity accords it value. This triad
creates worlds of experiences that
surpass simple moments of interaction,
establishing enduring connections
between brand and customer.

5
CBS Sports. LeBron James: No room for Sterling in NBA if comments accurate. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/
eye-on-basketball/24540625/lebron-james-no-room-for-sterling-in-nba-if-comments-accurate.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

FIGURE01
LeBron James tweets in support of
Commisioner Silvers action toward
Donald Sterlings racist comments.

Commisioner Silver
thank you for protecting
our beautiful and powerful league! Great leader!
#BiggerThanBasketball
#StriveForGreatness
- LeBron James
@KingJames

Flavia Barbat
Contributing Editor
flavia@brandingmagazine.com
Flavia, a contributing editor of Insights 2015, is a
professional writer merging branding and content
perspectives with strategic digital architecture.
She is also Editor-in-Chief at Branding Magazine.

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