The problem with integration is the concept

I'm sitting on a panel at the Future Marketing Summit on Monday.  This year's theme is integration.  And as I thought about things to say, I began to question the very word itself. 

I think integration is a false concept, or at the very least (like the idea of brand that Mark attacked in his first book Welcome To The Creative Age ) misused.  Do we do the integration or do people do it?  And is integration the right concept?  Isn't it really all about interaction of different elements creating a new idea rather than the integration of the same idea or execution across every channel?  (I think Faris' and Jason's thinking on transmedia planning supports this)

And this leads me to the ongoing futile debate about measuring 'integrated' campaigns.  And this, I believe, is what is causing the futility. 

As Mark talks about quite brilliantly in Herd there is a big difference between things that are complicated and things that are complex. As he explains, an airplane is complicated - you can break it down into its parts and then build it up again - whereas mayonnaise is complex - it's ingredients become something interwoven and quite different through their interaction and cannot be separated to its initial ingredients. 

Most (if not all) of our measurement of 'integrated' ideas assume they are complicated - we can measure the individual channels and their contribution to the net result (and therefore optimize the mix). But isn't this wrong?  If these ideas are interactive in nature then aren't we talking about a complex entity, not a complicated one. And, if we are, shouldn't we just be looking at the overall impact on the brand rather than trying to crack the nut into bits? 
 

Comments

[Casper Willer]

Hi Gareth,

Good points. It’s really about how different channels can be used to solve your problems, not about consistency and unnecessary big idea stretches into all media. In connection to the measurement issue, I think your fellow Brits in the IPA have a very interesting experiment with their “TouchPoints Integrated Planning” initiative.

http://www.ipa.co.uk/touchpoints/Pressrelease051006.cfm

[alex w.]

i hate the term as well. for one it reminds me of the old departments of marketing integration, really a second tier staff position for folks who did not cut it in marketing (i say that facetiously). and integration misses the point: integration is about translating an idea (lets be honest: an ad idea) into subservient media.
'the future of marketing' (as the seminar is called) is imho all about involvement (=tjg's enthusiasm).
it is about layers of involvement, depth of invovlement, and sequencing of involvement.
and as an industry, i don't think we are ready for it.
hey g: lets have some fun on monday!

[Todd W.]

An excellent issue and one that routinely goes unexamined by both agencies and clients. (It's not in their interest, honestly.) The answer has a direct impact on how work is created. Right now the emphasis on "complexity" leads to some very bad structures for creating work. It's probably not a good idea to make mayonnaise the same way you make an airplane.

[Mark Earls]

hiya Mr. K

tried to post a comment on this over the weekend.

Think you're on the right track. But try this, too...

What about thinking about integration from the consumer's point of view - not just what makes them recognise integration (one test), nor just what makes them buy (another test) but to what extent do they want or even appreciate integration...and what might they think if they heard us wittering on about it?

("What you mean marketing is done piecemeal and then sewn together?????")

have fun, sure you'll do great

[Rob @ Cynic]

Intergration is abit like communism - great in theory but tough in practice ... mainly because there's always some bugger who wants to bugger it up or break away from the masses and do their own thing.

[rukallstar]

complicated= linear; complex=non-linear. this is the eternal struggle.

the reason that this will always be an uphill battle and the reason that clients will fall in love with measuring (or having the belief that they're measuring)an integrated campaign because it fits with their linear sensibilities, it meets with their absurdist belief that there actually may be a single answer (it's what also keeps us in business). complex is messy, it's not finite enough, it doesn't fit into a nicely defined checklist. complex is what life is and how we know it as adults. are we really ready for polyphonic brands, they have different chords, different moods, different personalities, that compose one single character. just like any person we like or want to hang out with. just a thought