There is a lot of guessing going on about where advertising is headed. Consumer-created content, online branded entertainment, and the demise of conventional media are just some of the subjects we ad pros ponder to help our clients market more effectively. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the relevance of telling a story.

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	''We're in a world of oversaturation with too much Paris, too much Britney, too much of a lot of nothing,'' said Bart Cleveland.

I remember several years ago reading an article in Fast Company written by Seth Godin. It was about a baker in France who used 300-year-old recipes for French bread. Not those long loaves we think of, but the original French bread. It is big and round and dark. And it had a market around the world. I actually bought a loaf of this bread and had it FedExed from France to our office for a meeting we had with a client. Why? That bread was about something I knew my client needed. It had a story that was as important as its taste. I wanted my client to experience that firsthand. I wanted them to understand how important it was for them to have a story of their own.

How we convey these stories is important, but the content is what we must be most committed to. I just read that after a $30 million investment, Bud.TV is being overhauled because no one is participating in Bud's branded entertainment content. The experts are saying that this is mainly because of the way the site was designed. It didn't allow the type of experience that has made YouTube and My Space such phenomena. If the branded content were right, nothing would stop people from visiting, lapping it up, and telling their friends. Not even the expensive, high-quality delivery system that Bud invested so much in to deliver the message. Perhaps people just didn't like the stories.

Ad makers should not get so caught up in the latest ways to communicate that we lose sight of what we're communicating. Delivery can be done by anyone. It's technical, not creative. What we do that is unique is create the story of what is relevant about a brand. When we do it well, it can actually be adopted by culture. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often. I think it is happening less frequently partly because we're thinking too much about "what's next" and focusing too much on how it is delivered.

I'm not suggesting we ignore what's going on around us. We should embrace it without leaving out what is most important about what we do. Creating a brand's story will always be our most important and most valuable capability. In fact, it is more important than ever.

We're in a world of oversaturation with too much Paris, too much Britney, too much of a lot of nothing. Remember that brands are valuable. People care about brands for a reason. They're not always hype. Sometimes they're real. I love Apple's brand. I have since January 1984 when Apple introduced the Macintosh. When Chiat Day reestablished Apple's brand with "Think Different," I cheered from the sidelines. Apple was representing how I feel about what I do. I want to be different, so their brand matters to me. Being able to do that for my clients makes what I do worthwhile.

The more of us there are in the ad business who feel this way, the more assured we can be that what we do is not worthless and trivial. We simply must choose to care about the art of advertising first. The method of communication delivery is constantly evolving and growing. It offers us incredible new ways to connect with a consumer.

Delivering consistent brand messages is more challenging because of these new methods. There is a temptation for agencies to lose focus regarding what is instrumental to successfully marketing a brand because we focus too much on delivering the message. The brand story must remain the thing we do best and protect most. If we lose focus, we will not only do a poor job of branding, but we will also miss the opportunity to do what is most rewarding about our job: creating a brand's soul.

About the Author:

Bart Cleveland is creative director and partner at McKee Wallwork Cleveland, an award-winning advertising agency in Albuquerque, NM. His work is recognized in the advertising industry year after year for creating unique brand identities that communicate across all media. Email him at bcleveland@mwcmail.com.

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