Strategic Ambiguity
Sometimes An Intentional Lack of Clarity Is Exactly What a Brand Needs.
From Coca-Cola to Dunkin Donuts to the global consulting firm Prophet, many companies from consumer-level to B2B are becoming, well, less specific about what they actually sell or do.
Coca-Cola Company has far more of its sales in the myriad of beverage brands it has purchased over the years than from its core product, Coke. Dunkin Donuts changed its name last year to just Dunkin. These two brands both realized that consumer habits and behavior are moving towards healthier eating so keeping some ambiguity in the brand is actually beneficial.
Building a Communications Strategy that Includes More.
Prophet, once known as a global branding consultancy, has moved toward being a “growth and transformation consulting firm.” Why? Because they can do way more than just rebranding company identities — this new category is large and can include almost anything a client needs.
The communication strategy for this kind of shift is more about being a generalist, seeing a much bigger picture, and bringing in more flexible specifics. This allows brands to stay fresh and agile while responding to change and moving into new markets. What’s the bigger vision and commitment that brings customers to your brand? Think about it. You have an inclusive vision that provides the meaning behind delivering a great product to a wide diversity of clients or customers with very different needs and personas. How do you talk to all of them, with their interests in mind, while building trust in the relationship?
Be Unclear with Purpose.
With a focus on one big commitment, value, need, or asset in a complex world of business and brands you still need to take the high ground with bold, inspirational statements of more inclusive and universal values to build broad visibility and awareness. Tell the big truth. The ambiguity comes in sub meetings and how individuals interpret what you say. This is why it’s so important to avoid over-commitment or too sharp a focus when your brand serves a wide range of consumer and demographic needs.
In the article Strategic Ambiguity, Charlie Munger writes: “You can use ambiguity to increase influence by letting people fill in the gaps. Strategic ambiguity is an important lever of persuasion, which may not only help you be more persuasive, but it actually can improve your own internal decision-making as a consumer when facing multiple goals or perceived meaning.“
According to Scott Adams, strategic ambiguity refers to a deliberate choice of words that allows people to read into the message whatever they want to hear.
Unifying Forces of a Brand.
This is the key. Rally the masses to love your brand, your company, and your achievements so you can gather a wide range of loyalists. Why alienate anyone? Build this community with a sense of the big focus; at the same time, stay away from alienating or unclear words, phrases and details that your core group doesn’t get or doesn’t value. Find the messages that unify, not divide.
From large real estate brands developing multifamily housing for a wide range of potential residents, to Saas-based B2B products serving a wide range of complex marketing solutions, smart brands focus on helping you to shape your own experience and fulfill your own sense of meaning with their offering. This builds loyalty across a very diverse customer base. Walmart is massive and serves the most diverse consumer groups in the world. Who would have thought that they are the largest seller of organic food and have one of the most impactful sustainability policies?
The most powerful thing you can do is bring people, age groups and communities together. And for a brand, this skill is built on a vision for a wider audience.
Build the big picture with insights into where the passion lives, and the loyalty, and keep this focus in constructing your messages using Strategic Ambiguity.
Seemly Contradictory Commitments Can Live Together.
Strategic ambiguity can be essential for brands because it allows for multiple interpretations to exist at the same time. It’s a political necessity to engage in a form of strategic ambiguity so that different constituent groups or personas can apply their own often different interpretations but still be committed to the same brand value. It’s not about the details, personal interests, or separate cultures, but the common interest.