Nicolas Bordas

Vice President at TBWA/EUROPE & President of BEING Worldwide

Do you speak e-Go?

What do the “Romney Style” parody video, Instagram, and yelp reviews have in common? They are all the hallmarks of “e-Gos” today’s generation of mobile, connected citizens. Don’t be surprised if this term sounds foreign to you: the concept was created by Nicolas Chemla, the International Head of Strategy for BEING and TBWA\Luxury Arts. Although Nicolas refined this idea about a decade ago, it is only today, when mobile has become ubiquitous and personal online branding has reached new heights that we are beginning to see the advent of e-Gos as something like the next stage in our evolution – a whole new “species” of consumers, with a whole new way of interacting themselves, other people and the world around them. Brands need to understand how to respond to them.
I was quite taken with Nicolas’ e-Go theory and I see this post as something of a companion piece to my November article on Liquid Marketing. Indeed, a brand’s imperative to create compelling, easy-to-digest, and viral content stems directly from the expectations and proclivities of e-Gos. I think that the more brands understand about e-gos, the better they will be able to serve consumers, critics, and employees. I think that Chemla says it best, when summing up the nature of e-Gos: “information is their oxygen, social their way of being, creativity their religion, influence their motivation.”
Who are the e-Gos?
The term “e-Go” is a play on the egocentric nature of these consumers coupled with their access to mobile technology and collective, social platforms. Nicolas tells me that the term was inspired by the phrase “digital identities on the go”. Similar to Baby Boomers, or Gen-Xers, e-Gos can be seen as members of the Y generation or even younger. However, the way that e-Gos consume and construct their identities has influenced other generations, past and those to come. Indeed, all of us are becoming e-Gos.
Over the past decade, consumers have gained increasing clout: thanks to the megaphone nature of social networks and the wealth of information provided by the Internet. Today’s consumer has an unprecedented amount of access to any number of corporations and brands. As a result, brands can no longer speak to their consumers in a top-down fashion. They must also listen, and when necessary converse with their fans, critics, and consumers. I still think that Microsoft said it best in 2007 with their spot-on film “Bring the Love Back”. In a way, this film is the perfect example of how communication must go from being a monologue to a dialogue when companies deal with e-Gos.

One of the main traits of e-Gos is their self-presentation: they are constantly creating, building and sharing their multiple identities. This extends to the type of photos they share on Instagram, the articles they recommend on Facebook, the videos they like on YouTube, and the accounts they follow on Twitter. e-Gos construct themselves as the sum of a series of posts, comments, feeds, and creations. What’s more, their digital identity is in flux, constantly reacting to events and influenced by trends. Clever campaigns that incite people to change their Facebook avatar in the name of a cause— such as one very successful operation by HRC last month—is a very smart way of reaching out to e-Gos.
In addition to constantly sharing via social networks, e-Gos compare constantly. From sites like Yelp, to price comparison apps, e-Gos use Internet’s wealth of information to their advantage. Indeed, in the US alone, 40% of smartphone users use their telephones to check prices while shopping in a store.
Of course, e-Gos presence on social media makes them powerful influencers. Considering that according to some statistics the average millennial has 696 friends on Facebook, the clout of one recommendation (or condemnation) can be considerable. Of course, some very influential e-Gos have been able to become media themselves. Indeed, these past few years we’ve seen major brands and media outlets embrace bloggers – be it the street style chronicler Scott Schuman, who is regularly spotted front-row at fashion week, to the young TV news blogger Brian Stetler getting hired by the New York Times to write about media.
Conversing with e-Gos
Going from 360° to 365 days a year

The 360° communication model is not dead—but it needs to be expanded. Brands need to think like media and to rapidly create timely, shareable content. For example, Pepsi produced a spot-on parody of Coca-Cola’s “Coke Chase” Super Bowl ad, 48 hours after the Coke ad aired. Similarly, an initiative like Old Spice’s “Responses” campaign had Isaiah Mustafa responding to over 186 people who asked him questions on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit. Brands need to allocate resources to produce these fast-turn around, conversational communications campaigns.

Cultivate an Internal Creative Culture
Likewise, brands that want to effectively speak with e-Gos must adapt their internal culture to be less risk-averse and more creative. For example, IBM’s Innovation Jams have since 2006 brought together employees to find solutions to various problems through collaboration. At Nike, an entire class of employees, known as “Ekins” (“Nike” spelled backwards) work as tech reps for the brand and are responsible for sharing Nike’s unique brand story. The Ekins even receive a special nine-day training regimen at the brand’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon where they learn the history of the brand through several iconic moments. Out-of-the box initiatives like the Nike Fuelband speak to the brand’s creative and disruptive identity and their ability to understand e-Gos. Instead of simply selling basketball shoes they're selling a sports program tailored to the needs of a social, on-the-go, egocentric, "gamified" generation.
Take inspiration from celebrities
For as long as celebrities have been around, brands have used them to help sell their products. However, I think that it would behoove most major companies to look to certain celebrities—in particular, musicians—as inspiration for speaking with e-Gos. Today many popular musicians are themselves e-Gos and have constructed their identity in ways that resonate with their peers. A star like Lady Gaga is more than just her musical output: her identity is constructed in her Twitter account, her artistic collaborations, and everything else she produces and posts. From Rihanna’s Instagram account, to Beyonce’s Beyhive lifestyle blog, to Justin Bieber’s twitter, celebrities have found smart ways to position themselves to an audience of mobile, conversational, and individualistic consumers.
Remember that actions speak louder than words

I have said here before that brands need to not only establish a strong brand belief—by defining what values they stand for—but the also must act according to their values. This can range from Pedigree moving their Japanese headquarters to a building that allows employees to bring dogs, or American Express promoting US small businesses via Small Business Saturday.
Of course, brand behavior cannot simply be a means to hide corporate sins. It must come from a genuine place. In an age where hacktivism has replaced muckraking as the means of bringing down powerful people and organizations, brands must be extremely vigilant about their own corporate practices. As we all saw this autumn with Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” video that went viral, nothing is truly “off the record”. The best way to avoid such a crisis is for a brand to incorporate strong brand beliefs and to show them by behaving in an exemplary manner.
The power of e-Gos is beginning to emerge in a significant manner and I don’t think it’s merely a passing fad. Mobile technology and social networks will continue to influence the way people interact with each other, “brand” themselves, and relate to corporations. Watching today’s e-Gos mature will be fascinating. Being able to understand how to speak with e-Gos by creating brand experiences that allow for dialogue, implicate consumers in the creation process, and provide tailored, sharable content will only benefit brands.

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