A thought on the next conversation about digital in agencies

(Albeit with ridiculously broad brushstrokes and from the limited lens of comms and marketing)

First, digital was about a new channel - the interweb, mobile, etc. - and the notion of participation.

Next, it was about relationships and faciliatation - all that social network stuff. 

Now, a lot of the talk is about the physical talking with the digital - Bakertweet, Botanicalls, a lot of the stuff the brilliant Kevin Slavin does at Area/Code

Next, will the talk be about how we can use digital to re-invent and freshen up 'old' marketing formats eg the TV ad?  I think it may be after Fox's 'tweet-peats' of Glee and Fringe last Friday.  It may not sound so exciting, but it might be the most pervasive impact we see digital have in the ad world this year.

I hope things are going to be bigger than this - digital as a mindset and not a channel - but this thought of baking digital into old communications formats is going to be something we see a lot of in the next few months I think.  This IBM patent suggests some others think so too.

Comments

[Glyn Britton]

Good call Gareth. I think this is exactly what we as agencies should be doing.

We tried, with our TV spots for eBay with a live feed from the website: http://bit.ly/1MB1QB. But it was hard. Hard to get the TV companies antiquated technology to do what we wanted, and hard to get the regulator to approve the idea.

So should we as agencies also be lobbying media owners to innovate more? Stop moaning about disappearing revenues from old models, and pioneer some new ones? I can't believe a TV company hasn't yet built a platform to offer what we did to all its advertisers.

[Gareth]

Glyn

That's great work. And thanks for sharing.

I think you raise an interesting point. Agencies have been at the brunt of being accused of a lack of innovation by clients and media owners for some time. And much of this has been deserved. But I sense it's time for agencies to begin to lobby others to help drive innovation. Often, innovation is hampered by antiquated delivery mechanisms (media) or indeed the silos that exist in client companies.

[avin]

been thinking about this lately too. caught a smart presentation via @faris recently around post digital marketing and what it means for us, filled with lots of great thoughts and ideas about what the next might look like. long but worth a flip through if you haven't seen it yet

http://www.slideshare.net/helgetenno/post-digital-marketing-2009

[erin]

digital as a mindset definitely needs to be realized but I fear that too many agencies are in the mindset of media - which right now is TV, print, and radio. If digital was seen as a media (channel, as you say) then at least we'd be further along the spectrum of advertising's evolution.

The eBay work is smart stuff, and to your point, I think if agencies can work toward integrating digital with the currently "accepted" forms of media, then clients will bite, and the advertising industry will take a baby step forward. Until digital is presented in a bite-sized bit, clients, without a strategic sell from the agency (which should be easy to do with digital tactics that are all inherently measurement-oriented) will find it hard to bite.

You know, it's always been true that advertising and branding are very much about an emotional connection with consumers - emotions that often ere on the side of happiness. What if instead of a wonderfully creative campaign connecting with consumers due to happy creative, digital creative (strategy) creates an emotional connection through being extremely pragmatic. It's advertising that makes sense, which I think we've needed for some time now.

my immediate thought flow.

[faris]

hello mate. yes indeed - so many of the problems we face come from treating 'digital' as a delivery channel for advertising, rather than THE DRIVING FORCE CHANGING THE WORLD>

lord a mercy. but we try.

also - yes - i think it is

http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2008/12/socialisation-of-media.html

mainstream media gets social.

love
Faris

[Buy Online Rx]

One of the reasons I admire Thatcher is because she was clever, curious and well-informed. I think you need to get over your class analysis of this situation. I also think the idea of a conservative who has no time for the concept of the 'better' is a contradiction of terms.