A Conversation With Turo’s Matt Kerbel On Branding Being The Mechanism Not The Message, Unlocking Gen Z + The Future Of Creator Marketing

The definition of brand is quickly changing. No longer is the notion of brand solely about visual identity and creative. Rather it must now be a powerful delivery mechanism that connects consumers to culture and community in ways that demonstrate empathy and insight around the things that they most value.

This watershed moment has instigated shifts within leading organizations making way for a Chief Brand Officer who must work hand in glove with the CMO to use finely honed brand expressions and executions with an eye toward delivering competitive advantage. Today those in charge of brand innovation must trigger action and as a result the three “Cs”: creation, collaboration and community, are increasingly being relied upon to do so. This type of thinking will unlock consumer confidence, loyalty and spend in general, but also, more importantly, open the floodgates for relationships with Gen Z, who will have the most buying power of all consumers within the next five years.

For my most recent column, I wanted to speak to someone at the forefront of all of these trends, which culminate in what I like to call the rise of performance marketing’s critical counterpart, performance branding. Matt Kerbel currently heads brand strategy globally for Turo. He is an industry veteran who has previously held senior roles at leading organizations such as Lyft, Activision, and General Mills.

Following is a recap of our conversation.

Billee Howard: You are Turo’s Global Brand Strategy Director. I find this interesting as I am very focused on the changing definition of brand. Can you tell me your thoughts and how you approach your role at Turo?

Matt Kerbel: To me, the role of a brand is to become a trigger for something. If I need to work efficiently, I might think of Google. If I want breakfast on the go in the morning, maybe it’s McDonald’s. If I’m going on a trip abroad and want to learn a language before I go, but actually have fun and commit to doing it, I may download Duolingo.

If you are looking for the most convenient way to get a rental car that you’ll actually enjoy driving, we want you to think of Turo, first and every time. What goes into achieving this is an intense amount of cross-company partnership and alignment, as well as research, listening, creative testing, coordination, and calculated risk-taking.

Our group must be able to convey our positioning, values, insights, standing in consumers’ minds and hearts, the spaces we should be playing to reach them, and how our partnerships, creativity, and messaging will build value for, and trust with, our intended audience. In other words, it starts 110 percent internally. From there, it’s about execution, whether that looks like partnering with the Jonas Brothers or Netflix’s Wednesday or Michelin Guide, or inspiring creators around the world to pitch their dream trip for a chance at sponsorship, or convincing travelgoers to skip the rental counter altogether, or co-creating powerful features and filters that support Turo guests in finding the exact best rental car for that moment.

To be the best, our team’s mandate is to stay ahead of the curve – to find unexpected, scroll-stopping ways to authentically show up, inspire, and be helpful to our community – with permission to act boldly and move quickly. The upfront strategy, to do this consistently on a global stage, is the foundation that supports it all.

Howard: You mentioned branding should be the mechanism not the messenger in the age of community marketing. What does that mean and what does that look like?

Kerbel: People trust people. Perhaps during the Madmen years, it was all about what the brand thought we should all do, and consumers genuinely trusting that recommendation.

Today, the power equation has fundamentally shifted: it’s how can the brand better inform or enable conversations and shifts that are already happening, or better enable an individual to add value for their audience, not the brand’s. The brand should be thought of as the mechanism and the catalyst or motivation, not the messenger. And the product is the real value.

Older, more traditional — and often larger, more bloated — companies have had a hard time with this. Smaller, nimble, digitally-native ones are finding success through empathy and in identifying insights, spaces, communities, partners, and changing cultural codes to act as a galvanizing force behind. The game has changed, so the brands must change accordingly to stay relevant.

Howard: A lot of people talk about marketing to Gen Z, but not many are delivering on doing so effectively. What are your thoughts on best practices to consider?

Kerbel: It has to begin with speaking with those who are actually Gen Z — the experts, the creators, the activists, the consumers, and so on; however, in my opinion, fundamentally, Gen Z has been far too largely ignored.

This is a generation that by 2030 will have $12T in purchasing power. That’s a T, not a B. This is a generation that has had real, important issues dropped into their laps, and they want to be heard. This is a generation of unprecedented individuality and self-expression, and one in which has been raised on smart phones and social media, and will champion AI.

Few brands have been doing an amazing job of really understanding, representing, and co-creating with Gen Z, examples being e.l.f. Beauty, American Eagle, and Crocs. My advice is to stop kicking the can on this group, and get ahead of the curve. Get out of the spreadsheets and pivot tables, and immersively learn everything you can. It may very well pay off in both the short- and, especially, long-term.

Howard: Creator marketing is exploding right now. What are your thoughts on the best rules of engagement in this area?

Kerbel: A few things come to mind:

Firstly, do not micromanage creators. Their job is literally to create; let the cooks cook, so to speak. They will dish out some incredible content.

Next is to give them what they need, nothing more and nothing less. Enough detail so they can nail what you’re looking for, but keep the brief simple enough so that they can really make it their own. This is core to how we’ve approached creator partnerships at Turo.

Thirdly, consider taking a broad approach to influencer marketing and do not confine yourselves to only micro, or only celeb, or only athletes — you get the picture. Unleash an army of creators incremental to one another who all have a common goal or deeply-rooted pain point. Think in terms of triggers and creativity as a means to motivate the audience.

Lastly, consider both organic and paid in your creator strategy. Contemplate the distribution strategy and ensure the content lines up with where someone may be along their customer journey. Right creator, right audience, right message, right moment.

Oh, and be bold. No one cares for boring.