The constant focus on new technological breakthroughs leads us to question whether anyone remains interested in human insight. Have we forgotten that our main objective is to give the consumer what they want?
Every couple of months there seems to be a new digital “craze”, a must-do digital platform that every brand wants to be a part of: In 2005 brands wanted a MySpace profile, in 2006, they wanted a Second Life island built, and then came Facebook widgets, now everyone wants an iPhone app. It can all sometimes feel a little bit like being a lemming – rushing off blindly without really thinking about the human insight. What do people want, why would they engage with this piece of digital creativity, what’s the value exchange?
An era of revolutionary technologies has seen digital and technology-driven agencies start to adapt the way they approach their marketing campaigns. A new trend sees agencies starting with the consumer as opposed to starting with the technology and working backwards. The technology is important but people are more so. The integration of digital and creative advertising leads to a different, fresher and more effective type of creative sensibility.
Campaign Strategy
By focusing on the strategy and consumer insights that go into digital campaigns you can pick up a great deal about how brands behave in this ever changing digital environment. VCCP, for example, are seeing a growing trend of grassroots resentment about the way in which brands are behaving in the digital space. This may emphasise why you should start with human insight. After all, if motivation is rooted in the focus of ideas rather than the technology that assists them, your campaign is always going to provide the customer with what they want. If you skip this step then maybe, at best your digital campaign will fall on deaf ears, at worst it may result in negative word of mouth.
So always tread carefully when planning digitally. This does not mean you cannot also be at the technological leading edge. Being aware of and excited by new advances in interactive digital technologies remains at the core of what digital agencies do. Consumer intuition may help initiate a successful digital campaign, but does not offer a solid platform for which one could solely establish a successful campaign with. By collaborating the thoughts, feedback and ideas of consumers whilst also taking into account the advanced, ever changing technologies of today’s society you should be more than capable of achieving optimum results. By integrating digital with creative, a whole new concept surrounding what digital agencies actually do emerges.
Social Media Platforms
It is therefore a balance. On one hand you can be totally immersed in the exciting Web 2.0 world of platforms like Twitter, Ning, Netvibes, Flickr and Bebo, but at the same time you don’t necessarily believe that these are the right digital options for each and every client. The brand, their audience and the business needs are carefully weighed up at the start of each engagement. New digital technologies and ideas may be the forefront of your objective but you should not fundamentally believe that an agency full of employees, who are like Digital Lemmings leaping blindly into the unknown, does clients or the work any good. Root the work in insight and the work should ignite.
The digital industry has to become less focused on creating online advertising units and more focused on developing content, games, widgets and applications. In his seminal book “Here Comes Everyone” Web 2.0 thought-leader Clay Shirky notes, “the desire to be a part of a group that shares, co-operates and acts in concert is a basic human instinct.” Web 2.0 is founded on co-operation, sharing and participation. This is currently apparent in the Social Media phenomenon that is exploding all around us. Social Media, sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, are in effect a lot of people having a lot of conversations in a lot of digital spaces. By putting people and their brand relationships at the heart of your projects, a basic human need of connecting is established.
“Word of Mouse”
Digital agencies are constantly looking at harnessing technology in order to enable brands to communicate, share and connect in new and credible ways. For example, VCCP’s “Celebrate” viral that was released around the handover weekend for London 2012 opened up dialogue in ways that no Olympics had previously done before and their Blogger Engagement work for O2 and the COI around the area of binge drinking sparked surprisingly mature and engaged conversations. Think of creative work as conversation catalysts, prompting positive word of mouth. This is important because as we all know, people trust people more than advertising. So let’s get people talking. The only thing that changes in the digital world versus the physical is that technology enables the amplification and acceleration of Word of Mouth, or “Word of Mouse”, in a fast and fluid way that can sometimes take brands and brand-managers by surprise.
Public Relationships Agencies
In this hyper-connected, post-Cluetrain world in which “all markets are conversations”, Word of Mouth and advocacy is critical. This is not something that should be owned by a Public Relations agency. Digital creative agencies should really be thinking of themselves as Public Relationships agencies rather than digital advertising agencies. We argue that the strongest Public Relationships are created by developing content that is remarkable and digital products and services that are worth talking about and sharing.
There’s a famous cartoonist-Blogger called Hugh McLeod who blogs at www.gapingvoid.com. Hugh casts a satirical eye over the advertising and digital world. One of his most well astute cartoons is of a little person who simply says “technology changes, people stay the same.” That pretty much sums up what VCCP thinks makes them a different kind of digital agency – a digital agency that has people at the heart of everything they create.
Author: Amelia Torode, VCCP, Managing Partner, Head of Digital Strategy