Make Digital Marketing Work

There is a campaign that has recently launched that I think highlights many of the issues surrounding marketing at the moment.  It was developed by London Agency Rufus Leonard for Macmillan the cancer charity and features a viral campaign where celebrities talk about their most embarrassing experiences.

The aim is to bring out into the open the embarrassment that men feel about breaking their silence concerning cancer.

These sound bites have been edited and placed on Youtube.  The best one is provided by Ray Winstone who relates a wonderful story of getting drunk with a group of British soldiers during which he agrees to go to Afghanistan.  As someone who has had the pleasure of a drink with his dad (and if the ability to consume alcohol runs in the family) this story conjures up a truly impressive picture of drunkenness, and one which is brought round at the end to an on brand message that facing up to an embarrassment can change your life in a good way.

I don’t know if Ray Winstone was just better briefed or cared more than the other contributors or if they ignored the brief but the other celebrities didn’t manage to relate anything like the same level of interest or a brand message.  Ricky Gervais only manages to say that he has never regretted anything he has said or done which whilst I am sure he is telling the truth is hardly on brand at all (and some might say is completely off brand).  The opportunity was there for all of the others to add to the message but all of them fail.

That leads me to wonder where the viral element for this campaign actually is.  We rely so heavily on celebrity endorsement for much of our media communications now but simply placing a celebrity in front of the camera isn’t enough.  A campaign needs a concept which is delivered, and all good communications include a fundamental truth about the product.  In this case, one part (Mr Winstone’s communication) accomplishes, this whilst the others do not.

Having said that of course we certainly hope that the campaign is a success and the cause is certainly a deserving one.  We just think that with a little bit more thought it could have achieved a greater level of cut through and led to a viral campaign that would have had more life, and more relevance.

We have been approached a lot of times by potential clients who do not have very much budget and our policy is to help wherever we can, and to be honest about where we can’t.  One of the biggest misconceptions that seems to come up is that you can perform parts of the overall mix and expect it to work.  You can’t, or at least you shouldn’t.  The interactive Mix works because it deals with a cause and effect basis that engages with consumers may not be aware of your products and services but are open to finding out more about them.  It does so using techniques that have been proven to work but which are never quite the same for each client but which rely on careful measurement and analysis throughout each stage to ensure that the results are kept optimum.  We can work across a number of budgets but the ROI we deliver is in terms of actual sales and revenue which we create demand for through the process

It isn’t enough to simply build up the database, it is what you then do with the database that makes our techniques deliver.  We build up trust and begin to test offers whilst segmenting the data based on a series of criteria.  Its all about building relationships between clients and customers, and to build on this through to first sale, repeat and regular sale and then referral.

When we have created the process you will then be able to see it working for you as an overall marketing process, so that for an agreed spend you will already have an idea of how much money you are going to make.

We do pride ourselves in being different and offering up a joined up digital marketing solution because we don’t actually see too many other agencies doing that.  At the same time there is an argument raging about whether digital agencies are grown up enough to act as lead agency for clients.  We think that the reason many digital agencies are not able to offer this is because they are still focused on providing tactical solutions rather than looking at the strategic marketing process that is needed for each client and offering a joined up solution to meet it.  I’ve been having a lot of discussions online about this very subject and the longer the conversations go on the more I am convinced that the solution is to look at all digital media as a strategic toolbox, and not focus on providing individual disciplines.

A lot of this isn’t necessarily the fault of the industry because most agencies started out as tactical suppliers of the shiny new thing, whether it was web design fifteen years ago, or display advertising twelve years ago, or search ten years ago, or email eight years ago, or analytics seven years ago  or social media five years ago.

That made a lot of sense then because the accepted sensible way to do things was get in bed with an offline brand or advertising agency and become the digital guys for them whilst getting introduced to a great client list and charging whatever the market would pay.   Digital Agencies were the remora fish to a bunch of sharks, cleaning off whatever needed to be done and some have grown extremely large doing it.  That symbiotic relationship now though is challenged because clients have heard that this digital media lark is cheaper and works better than the offline stuff.  Of course Ad and brand agencies are still telling the world not to panic and that they are still the top of the food chain.  More over they are still looking at the world in terms of the way that they have always done things, and therein lays the problem.  The world isn’t like that that anymore and it won’t work.

Clients want it and digital agencies have to stop thinking tactically if they are going to provide it.  Its taking the strategic approach that will give digital the showcase it deserves and deliver the benefits to clients.

It used to be said that ‘the big idea’ that permeated agency output was all important and that the channel was secondary.  What was meant was that a good idea would translate to any media (although they usually meant TV) and so it was just a case of adapting it.  I’ve sat in meetings in rooms painted with blue skies (see what they did there?) whilst the great and the good of the creative team argued about the difference between pantone colours 2592 and 2602.  (As an aside if anyone can tell me the intrinsic difference between the two and why it’s worth two hours of two highly paid individual’s life arguing about it then I’ll buy the drinks).

I felt at the time that this was all a bit ridiculous and far too up its own arse and I am even more convinced of it now.

Then along came digital, and everyone proclaimed that it was just another channel.  I’ve been guilty myself of towing this party line to make sure that the delicate sensibilities of the creative department were not offended and they didn’t suddenly erupt in a re-enactment of mount Vesuvius as it destroyed Pompeii.  I know better now than to play that game, and would much rather be the little boy asking why the emperor has no clothes on.

Here is an analogy to explain what I mean.

There was a hierarchy of things, with brand and mass advertising occupying the high seats of power on the client’s right hand.  From there came PR and direct and a multitude of below the line suppliers.  Then there were the dogs of digital who padded around on all fours sniffing the distinguished guests and looking for the scraps, whilst everyone complimented them on their intelligence and fine breeding.  All was well in the universe and everyone knew their place whilst the people were told to admire the fine clothes of the emperor.

Then came the knock on the gates and the people of the kingdom rose up to create havoc in the order of things.

The very definitions that denoted an agency’s place in the hierarchy is vanishing quicker than the new receptionist and account manager at an agency Christmas party.  Consumers don’t care if the media they interact with is called Brand building, advertising, direct response, PR, experiential or anything else.  What they care about is whether it engages with them and facilitates a relationship with two way communication.

Does this emperor truly care about and listen to his people? The megaphone of power marketing is being ignored, and the royal decrees that it issued are now rejected as twaddle.  Moreover, there are mutterings that are spreading throughout the kingdom that the emperor is wearing no clothes.

Now the people are demanding that their needs and experiences are taken into account because they know best what they want to wear.   Consumers have overtaken agencies in knowing what they want to achieve and what they want to get out of the media they consume.

So where does this leave us?  The high table is in confusion and in the general melee the dogs are having a wonderful feast whilst the people cheer.

The actual point is that we will still need creative and creative ideas but instead of thinking of it in a simplex manner the creative will now be conceived with the added ability for customers to interact with it as they want to, and consumers will surprise everyone by how they choose to interact with it.  This is what we term as ‘duplex creative’.  If something is duplex it is two way and it flows.  Simplex is the advertising of the 80s, semi duplex assumed that the advertiser could choose the direction that it was led, but only when you reach full duplex communication is the customer’s needs actually served.  It can go either way and be led by either party.  Communication is the secret to all relationships and is definitely the key to customer relationships, because the focal point is the customer.

This is why I believe that the old ways are gone forever.  Naturally I think that the digital dogs will inherit the places at the top table but I also think that old media itself will morph into new and exciting forms of media.  What I hope I have seen the last of is someone looking at me and saying “but what is the big idea?”, and be under any illusion that what they are saying is intelligent.  The big idea is that we are going to be brave enough to interact on a personal level with customers.

That big enough for you?