The digital landscape is shifting, the online habits of the modern consumer are forcing a change in the way agencies do business. It’s goodbye to highly persuasive ‘shouty’ campaign ideas and “hello” to outreach and conversation. The new, net-savvy, social consumer is already talking about brands whether we like it or not, and guess what? In many cases, they really don’t want to visit your website, thank you.
So, how do we get invited to the social party, their party? How can we use digital to help consumers make the smart decisions that deliver on our clients objectives? What technology, channels and content are appropriate, what tools should we be using in our new toolbox?
In the past agencies have focused squarely and exclusively on creating killer campaign ideas and then shouting that message out repeatedly across as many channels as possible, with the sole objective of dragging consumers kicking and screaming to brand’s digital home, where we hope to immerse compel, inform and inspire, crossing our fingers that the brand messages we promote end up, front-of-mind amongst the clutter of other competing messages.
It’s a strategy that has evolved from the early days of digital advertising, it was sometimes expensive and unpredictable but it served clients well. The tide is turning however.
New consumers do not accept this naive perspective any longer, they no longer trust what what brands say about themselves, preferring instead to create dialogue with their immediate social circle. ‘Top down’ campaigns are being replaced by bottom up groundswell where consumers become the voice and ambassadors of brands,
They dictate the agenda.
This is a scary new world for brands to exist and some struggle to adapt. Our carefully considered and cleverly defined brand personality is at the mercy of this so-called ‘former audience’. This shift in power of newly connected consumers is creating a huge amount of upheavel and change within the digital arena; it has divided opinion within the world of brands.
With the rise of social media our clients are increasingly requesting us to ‘do some Facebook’ or ‘set a Twitter feed up for us’ somehow believing that social media is some kind of silver bullet. As agencies have a responsibility and duty to understand the fundamentals of social media, resist the urge to jump on whatever platform we can because we see the pound signs and properly consider the audience, where they are and what they’re doing and the implications they can have for a brand.
In the words of Clay Shirky “this is a new world where media is less and less often about crafting a single message to be consumed by individuals. It’s more about creating an environment for convening and supporting groups”
Upon us is change and since the early 50’s when the advent of television took over PR, now Social media and Digital is finally threatening and changing the way in which we engage with our consumers and it all starts with something unthinkable for brands, they have to relinquish power and watch what transpires…
…a frightening but inevitable thought for many and one in which brands are struggling to understand or engage with,
the reality is that it is already happening right underneath our eyes and we are powerless to prevent it, The general election is one example where political parties have wanted to take control of the agenda & media but yet still market within traditional tactics and channels. As there is so much opinion and debate, consumers have grasped the opportunity and the manipulation of campaigns by consumers has completely changed how politicians get their messages across to voters, groundswell has changed political marketing for ever.
Fuel and reignite
In 2010, clients increasingly require solutions that will transform their business. Digital and social media in particular has the potential to re-ignite and fuel a deeper consumer connection with a brand, it can even reinvent a new business model. Conversely, done wrong it can be the slippiest slope to a brand graveyard. There are lists as long as your arm of consumer touchpoints, channels and technologies, full of wild and whacky ideas that get people talking, but it can only start, when we listen to what consumer are saying, once we listen, then we learn, with learning comes valuable insight to drive more pertinent creative that works. Starting with outreach, approach consumers and opinion leaders in forums and blogs, understand what they are saying and why they are saying it. Use this insight to test the water with lots of micro ideas, then analyse, measure and constantly refine how we’re perceived in this evolving conversation
With this knowledge and constantly expanding digital landscape, this should enable us and give us no excuses when building experiences for brands, The experiences we build should have the ability to add value, surprise, delight, serve, simplify, entertain and tell a story in an entirely new form.
Consumers and brands need clever, honest collaborative and open agencies to help them within this scary new world and bring a no-nonsense, fresh thinking approach, not to bamboozle with technobabble.
They need us to present this new way of digital thinking in a language which they can understand.
They need us to be great thinkers and problem solvers, they need us to understand their business and their markets but most important of all, understand their consumers. Finally, they need us to turn research into knowledge, knowledge into insight and insight into transformational digital.
Traditional, one-way advertising won’t be enough. We need to make the things we say real by building small experiences that simply (the proof is in the pudding so to speak) —by being agile, by listening, talking and energizing, Amaze can establish a concrete and direct connection between the consumer and the brand. It’s a new role, one that will challenge the status quo.
