Would you buy a car direct from the manufacturer rather than going to the retailer?

It's no secret that many brands are looking to nurture and grow a more direct relationship with you and me, which is also a shift from the traditional distribution model they have worked with for many years.

Historically the supply chain has been made up of a number of layers, all in order to get you and me to part with our cash, and over the last few years that funnel has been getting shorter.

Which could be great news for you and me, but disruptive to those companies and businesses that have set themselves up as a reseller of someone else's product. 

My journey into marketing started in retail operations, and then into general management. Back in the day I moved up the corporate ladder because I was told I was seen as someone who 'made things happen'.

I was one of those irritating guys who didn't just see a brick wall and stare at it, I looked at all the possibilities available for me and my team to go around it, and along the way we helped to 'transform' the companies we worked with, and for.

Without getting to deep into what growth marketing is all about the above really summarises how we do what what we do, and why we do it. 

We are the people who look to see how others can disrupt what we do, way ahead of that disruption taking place, and seek to align the business in that progressive thinking. 

The reason we fall in love with a brand is its brand story. 

The story triggers a signal, and when we perceive that signal, we see ourselves in a different and better light. 

Most retailers no longer tell a “brand story.” Instead, they define themselves by their category what I call a “category story.” 

They say something like, “we are a luxury car brand that makes people dream” or “we are a luxury skincare brand based on science that provides visible results.”

The problem? Those are not brand stories. We can’t even identify which brand is which from these.

Even worse, when all brands in a category tell a similar story, there is no story, no differentiation, and, frankly, no brand value created. 

Here is where companies must watch out as the combination of Gen Z and the metaverse will change retail expressions far beyond anything we have ever seen.

Gen Z. Theirs is a fully digitally-native generation that grew up with a presence on social media. 

That means Gen Zers are extremely brand conscious because they had to build their own public brand persona on their curated social media feeds from an early age. 

Brand associations are dramatically more important for Gen Zers than any prior generation. And because of this, ESG, diversity and inclusion, and, most importantly, a brand’s story and values matter. 

Yet most brands have significant brand positioning and story weaknesses.

'Generation Z', are the guys and gals who are in their early teens, still at School, College, or University and as the saying goes 'if you want to find something for free go and ask Gen Z'. 

This is the generation who are growing up with much faster daily developments in (free) technology than any time in history, for most of them FaceBook, Google, Instagram, and other tech platforms are old hat, they're all totally open to new ideas every single day.

When they enter the workplace instead of tapping into all that digital savvy thinking, we see so many retail businesses try and get them to adopt existing processes and asking them to 'improve what we are already doing' - try asking them what they would do if they could set up a business to compete with you.

As brands compete for time and attention to create desirability, this increased immersion will require much more sophisticated content. 

Therefore, the overall quality of brand storytelling must dramatically improve for brands to remain relevant.

So, you might just find the transformative innovation you're looking for is fresh out of college, definitely not geeky (well, some maybe), they don't all sport a beard and tattoos, but they all understand how the world of content, communication, social networks, and technology works far better than you.

These are the folks with immense 'Superpowers' that you need to help unlock for the sake of your company's future storytelling, because they are also the customer of today, and tomorrow.