David Hernandez
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
David Hernandez, Chief Creative Officer, Allstate
With a career spanning digital start-ups, major traditional agencies, and creative boutiques, David Hernandez is a cross-media creative, a branding expert, and the Chief Creative Officer at Allstate Corp.
Trade journals and award shows, such as the Cannes Lions, The One Show, I.D., D&AD, LIA, The DMA International Echo Awards, The San Francisco Show, The Wall Street Journal, The New York and Chicago International Film Festivals, and many others have recognized his work in digital, film, print, radio, outdoor, and direct.
David is an outspoken supporter of using creativity, design, and experience design to establish brands and expand commercial enterprises. His start-up expertise has enabled him to infuse conventional firms with an entrepreneurial spirit and more agile working methods.
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“But all things being equal, if we're the same price as one of our competitors, we need tiebreakers. Trust is a tiebreaker.”
— DAVID HERNANDEZ, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ALLSTATE
Uli Reese: Can you talk a little bit about your role at Allstate?
David Hernandez: I'm responsible for how the master brand Allstate and our other brands show up in the world. It could be anything from tentpole events like the Super Bowl to the tiniest micro interaction such as something on the app or website and pretty much everything else in between. I bring with me my agency background as a creative, a designer, and somebody who's spent a lot of time in the user experience and digital worlds.
Reese: What are your thoughts on sonically future-proofing brands?
David: Marketers shouldn’t overlook the relative sophistication of the consumer in the digital age. They’ve had more exposure to a higher quantity and quality of media, content, and enhanced audio experiences than ever before. All this was barely imaginable just 10 years ago – and who knows how many emerging platforms are in the pipeline that will further revolutionize the world of content? The quantity and quality of content we have at our fingertips are mind-boggling. Consumers are probably further along on the journey than many marketers are, and that’s something we have to take to heart.
Reese: On-hold music could now be more important than the glitzy 30-second TV commercial. They’re not interested in the cool, licensed version of a brand. Or are they?
David: When you’re standing next to the cool kid, they’re also standing next to five other brands who all stand for something completely different to yours. I’m not saying the old models no longer work, but if you lean too heavily on them, it’s not enough. We need to think about the broader ecosystem. On-hold music is a good example; every single touchpoint we have between brands and consumers is an opportunity to create and strengthen relationships. We tend to put too much emphasis on high-value film productions and neglect the little things that can also mean a lot. If you think about where a consumer’s mind is when they’re on hold, they could be in the middle of an airport or trying to do something they can’t do via self-service – they’re calling our call center in a unique moment of need. So not just in the context of Allstate, but in marketing as a whole, we really have to do a better job of rethinking how we prioritize the ways our brands show up in the world.
Reese: What advice would you give your colleagues about bridging that gap?
David: Often, marketers don’t have a plan for how their sonic ecosystem will fit within the broader brand framework. Most brands still have a lot of work to do in terms of having a sonic strategy and guidelines as to how all these things fit together. We’ve got to be able to create content in tiny bite-sized chunks as well as things that might be in longer form. Together, they can add up to something bigger and better, rather than just being one-offs. Science tells us that the power of sound can transcend language, so with sonic branding, we have the power to connect with people on a more visceral and emotional level.
Reese: We have to think of brands as humans. First and foremost, this is a trust-building business, would you agree?
David: We think of trust as a potential tiebreaker in our category; everybody in the insurance industry is trumpeting the idea of being more affordable. At the end of the day, you're not going to switch to someone who's more expensive; you're going to switch because you've found a better deal.
But all things being equal, if we’re the same price as one of our competitors’ we need tiebreakers. Trust is a tiebreaker.
Reese: Cool kid licensing is just a sugar high. At Allstate, you probably own your visual identity outright, which is normal for any brand. But you can now own digital assets, which before was difficult. Is this a consideration?
David: If you're doing a six-month or one-year license and want to renew it, you're going to do that at a penalty. It's a short-term sugar buzz. Maybe with licensing, you can shortcut some of the emotions or nostalgia that somebody might have with a piece of music, or maybe you create the excitement of "music discovery" with a new market, but if that's the only part of the sonic strategy, it's not sustainable. The trick for marketers is to find the appropriate mix. Finding the right balance between those two things can be a powerful and sustainable combination.
Reese: How do you tackle the issue of measurability?
David: We do a lot of analytics and tracking studies. But there are challenges because you can't deconstruct all of the elements of a single creative asset. We've even experimented with emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, and facial recognition technology. We just need to find the right balance of measuring things we think are going to be actionable. So if something's working, we try to understand what about it is working, and if something's not working, we try to learn from our mistakes.
Reese: Tech is changing so fast; what do we need to do in the future?
David: If there's anything we've learned in the last couple of years of COVID, political strife, and social change, it's that our crystal ball is not quite as crystal as we'd like it to be. We have to be comfortable with change. I think the worst thing any brand could do is impose their brand playbook on an emerging platform, channel, or format – you can't show up there like an interloper. TikTok is a great example of that. It's a little bit of the Wild West in terms of the subject matter and the execution value of the content, but that's what's authentic to the platform. Brands can't show up like a middle-aged, doughy dad wearing ill-fitting skinny jeans picking up his kid from high school. That's the mistake that some brands make: they have these really rigid playbooks and then try to impose that playbook on emerging platforms. It proves instantly that they just don't get it. Of course, brands need to remain authentic to themselves, but they need to find appropriate ways to do so in emerging channels.
Reese: You have to keep the native to the medium. I became a big fan of TikTok and the way people don't take themselves seriously. You need to understand what people are looking for compared to LinkedIn, Instagram, or all of these others…
David: You talk about thinking of brands as humans, and I agree. We have lots of outfits: you've got a casual outfit, workout clothes, and a formal outfit, but no matter what you wear, you still show up as you. You're still the same person, but you're smart enough to know that you need to have a different outfit if you're going to the gym versus a formal affair. You have to be willing to shape shift as a brand, but that doesn't mean the brand is not going to remain true to itself.
Note: The interview took place in Chicago, USA on the 5th of May 2022.
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