| Marketing |
| Written by Marjorie Teresa R. Perez / AdMix / joyetteperez@yahoo.com |
| Monday, 21 December 2009 19:20 |
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Advertising will require new, dynamic engagement strategies to encourage participant involvement, moving beyond the traditional metrics of reach and frequency. This requires better planning and clear proposition. “Our work has proven to be among the most effective and most awarded in the country, because it embraces a new reality about how brands develop relationships with consumers in a connected world,” said David Guerrero, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines, during an interview with a select group of media people. Both Guerrero and president and CEO Paul Roebuck echoed Jim Stengel, former global chief marketing officer of Procter & Gamble, who said: “Today’s marketing model is broken. We’re allying antiquated thinking and work systems to a new world of possibilities.” Guerrero furthered, “If the marketing model is broken, then that means that the old agency is dead. Agencies must change the way they develop their communication campaigns for their clients.”
Of course, creativity is the profession’s stock in trade. Too often, we still look at it in the context of the pneumatic tubes of our day: the 30-second spot, the full-page print ad, the online banner. These are not going away any time soon, but today we are in the throes of a paradigm shift that is opening up an entirely different way of thinking. This columnist does not like hearing digital communities described in terms like “marketing to social networks,” or “targeting points of influence,” or “viral marketing.” These are all worldviews that date themselves in the first decade of the new millennium. More important, they are only pieces of evolution in a human behavior that will survive long before these become stale buzzwords. These communities are a phenomenon that has moved beyond technology itself, even though they are fueled by the digital age. They can flock toward something with no social network, no clear third-party influencer and no one talking to anyone else. For example, look at what happens when something rises to the top of the search engine ranking, and everyone starts finding it as they do their searches. But all of these other things can amplify this collaborative nature. Marketing needs to change its thinking around this paradigm shift toward digital communities. Today’s most effective advertising isn’t advertising. The agency has embraced this new reality so fully that “we have completely reengineered the way our agency structures itself, integrating communication disciplines such as digital and CRM into the heart of our organization,” Roebuck added. Thus, clients are benefiting fully from the agency’s expertise to develop campaigns that engage consumers across multiple platforms. An online channel is never off, it generates discussion among consumers about an idea like “Lola Techie,” according to Roebuck, evidence of how a campaign should integrate online and offline channels. Another campaign Guerrero and Roebuck referenced was their work for Pizza Hut’s “Hate Late” campaign, showing how campaigns need to be continuous and not short-term “message based.” The agency has succeeded in taking integration to deeper levels. When marketing is unified, customer information is collected continuously, and the aggregated customer knowledge is redistributed immediately, informing all the digital touch points. Addressable channels enable customer preferences to be automatically present in every customer interaction. Consequently, marketers should be able to get much closer to each individual’s needs, serving more tailored offers and messages to each individual. Many companies, this columnist observes, talked about integrated marketing, but in truth their integration efforts amount to little more than coordination of visuals across multiple touchpoints. Even achieving consistent use of visuals is difficult for some marketers as distributors or sales departments run off in different directions. Unfortunately, some marketers still address their digital and their physical marketing separately. During the early hype of the Internet, pundits said the Internet was “completely different.” This slowed integration of digital into marketing plans. Many would even say that some companies still have their IT department managing their digital marketing, rather than their marketing department. Commented many, “What insanity!” Why? Sometimes companies take the view that digital marketing is still primarily an IT function, and expect the IT department to “fix the website.” They simply don’t understand the wider applications of integrating communication disciplines, so they don’t apply many of the points of learning. Unfortunately, the culture in many companies doesn’t encourage managers to identify where they can improve. So, marketers prefer to talk about the positive numbers rather than drilling down to find potential optimization points. The reason why BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines has adopted a new way of working, thus reflecting the agency’s continued success in developing some of the most memorable, engaging and effective campaigns for their clients. The top two ad honchos also discussed other benchmark effective campaigns from around the world, referring to the Obama election campaign as the most outstanding example of a campaign working across all channels and platforms to engage consumers. “At a time when people’s attentions are turning to the political process, a lot can be learned from the example of the Obama campaign. It shows us how we can take a simple, powerful and highly motivating idea and make it resonate in the most appropriate channels,” Guerrero pointed out. “The way people communicate with each other has changed, [the way] people engage with brand messages has changed,” Roebuck noted. What’s required, he added, is better alignment of people who are tasked and the incentivized to act upon insights in order to make efficiency improvements and thereby drive better return on investment. “ “Agencies need to change,” Guerrero stressed. In the final analysis, the payoff is improved marketing effectiveness. The key is to build value. “If they don’t, they won’t deliver the best value to clients.” This is not a result of a failure in planning; rather, it’s the way things should be done in multiple platforms. And the results will be what all marketers seek: faster, better and continued success. “The increased focus on effectiveness demonstrated what we have always known: the best work delivers the best results.” The industry’s profession once viewed success as launching an advertisement and attracting a very dim percentage of the eyeballs that saw it. From here, we start thinking about building customer communities who seek us out. Guerrero personally feels that their craft is becoming much more powerful and effective—and in the process it is going to become a lot more fun. He works on the principle that having a lot of ideas is the secret to having a few good ones. And is constantly working on improving that ratio. Part of his method is running long distances in time with the music (rather than the pictures) of Chariots of Fire. |
Marketing tonnage—outspending the competition in media—is no longer a viable route to success. Simply comparing your spending levels to others is not an accurate gauge of brand impact. New media is often not measured, or even paid for, on a cost-per-thousand (cpm) basis. What’s more, given the viral nature of new media, the actual reach of digital marketing can far exceed its spending. For example, the award-winning evolution viral video for Bayan’s “Lola Techie,” created by BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines, has generated free media impressions worth six times the value of paid ad. Speaker after speaker during the recent Philippine Advertising Congress stressed that integrated campaigns are the future. An integrated campaign like “Lola Techie” puts that thinking into practice.
Guerrero believes the best work can come from anywhere. Her founded BBDO Guerrero in Manila with the intention of proving it. Since it started in October 1998, the agency has picked up more Cannes Lions than any other local shop, as well as the first ones for TV, radio, press and outdoor. BBDO Guerrero has also won Advertiser of the Year awards for clients in both regional and local shows. And, significantly, multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze Effies for clients in New York Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness awards and Media’s Effectiveness awards in Asia. He has also won the country’s only Grand Prix (at London International), Golds at Cannes and Clio, and Silvers, Bronzes and in-book work at One Show and D&AD.