Latest musings

January 2016

Viewing posts from January , 2016

05 Jan 2016

Advertising – the revolution will involve some television

By Marco

The creative revolution is happening NOW!

From the classic agency model of art/copy teams liaising with media departments and client services, we are now entering the world of art/copy/code interacting with audiences and working in cohesion with clients as part of a business strategy.

We already see Madison Avenue, the global epicentre of the advertising world, doing away with media departments and directors and opening up audience departments and audience directors. Why?

Several reasons really, but the disruption that digital has created in the industry is set to snowball. If the business model of television advertising – so much the staple of any campaign can be diced into microscopic audience profiles and trackable programmatic media then theres going to be a huge shift in marketing.

You see it all began with the Internet. The internet was ushering in a new and disruptive information age, and failure to quickly evolve would result in the global annihilation of the media world as we know it. On the other hand, rapid evolution would allow these media businesses to feel fine.

Well, we know how that turned out. Lots of destruction. Lots of innovation. And an industry turned upside down.

Now it’s marketing’s turn.

While marketers and agencies did a better job than their media counterparts of adjusting to the new digital world order, marketing today is being disrupted down to its roots.

Reconciling marketing technology with human relevancy. Transforming into truly data-driven businesses. Brand touchpoints are now across mediums, devices and technology.

And along with all of this daunting complexity, greater and greater scrutiny.

Naturally enough, these expectations extend to marketers’ agency partners. And agencies’ challenge is to develop better, more relevant models that deliver against a new and still forming set of expectations.

Orchestrated digital interactions on a local and global basis are underpinned by advanced marketing automation and underscored by multitouch analytics and attribution all the way to ROI.

To be sure, every agency falls in love with its process. But what’s clear is that marketing as we knew it is giving way to marketing as it needs to be. Sophisticated marketing technology must be the backbone that supports the brilliant strategy and creative that great agencies are known for. Big data used effectively.

It’s the only way to find your footing in a world turned upside down… and the only way to win.

You need to out-think not necessarily outspend on mass-media.

Contact the League of Extraordinary Advertising today & find out how we can deliver effective marketing for your business.

04 Jan 2016

Beyond 2016 – Retail brands become “Media brands”

By Marco

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It’s already happening, right from under your nose.

Does that mean brands are going to shift focus into a new industry? Of course not!

What I mean from the opening headline, is that every retail brand, and business will become media savvy and ultimately generate video, social and media content because that’s what the customers will engage with.

It’s not that they will become the next star on MTV, but media will become part of their story, it will be in their DNA.

Take social for example, that’s a medium. Retailers have finally realised the power of this medium to market to customers. Granted, a lot of businesses put the onerous task of social media marketing to junior members of their team – this is wrong, social needs clever handling and if using it for ecommerce – there’s an important sales cycle to be looked after. But these businesses would never have been engaged with this media unless consumer need demanded it.

The consumer is driving the desire for consuming media content and businesses are now reacting. Devices and technology are facilitating this drive.

Ecommerce

Over the next ten years, those same technologies that are driving discount advertising will be giving marketers and business leaders a more sophisticated understanding of their customers. They will be able to parse vast volumes of customer data, and monitor and hold significant social media-based relationships. The knowledge and insights thus generated will turn marketers into key agents in the delivery of innovation and the creation of new layers of brand value.

Yes, the whole retail marketing world will have its clock set back to zero. We will see major areas of brand building innovation take over the role that advertising plays today.

Brand advertising will be a deep-dive experience. Imagine, watching a TV ad on your Smart TV, a real-time trigger lands on your tablet or mobile device from the ad, offering a rewarding, deeper experience. You then view more content about the brand, you tweet, post and share it with your friends and you are led, almost stealth-like to the purchase button.

Before you know it, you have bought it, reviewed your experience and shared it with your friends on a social network.

That digital eco-system will have been planned by the brand from the very beginning.

And it doesn’t end there, the brand now has your details, you’re an advocate and they can create additional layers of value and utility that can ‘lock’ you into their brand rather than have you switch to a competitor in the future.

The simple reality is that every brand will be a media brand. In tandem with brand experience and marketing products, brands will be focused on the overlap between content that informs a customer about products, services or propositions, content that educates them in its use or in the things they can do, and content that entertains them around the core proposition of the brand.

Are you ready for this brave new world?

02 Jan 2016

The guru

By Marco

There are not many people in the modern marcomms industry who are worthy of the moniker “Guru”. In fact, there’s a rampancy of this term within the digital realm as we desperately rush to give credence to anyone who appears an “expert” in the wonderfully divergent digital marketing industry. Alas, many are more akin to selling snake oil than offering any kind of digital or business advice.

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