Even the Navy's changing

One of my all time favorite quotes is from Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and visionary. “Why join the navy when you can be a pirate?” It’s been a mantra around here, one I have used over the years to challenge our staff, inspire them about the possibilities of ‘digital’, and to have that one last awesome slide in winning pitches.

Pirates are quick, nimble bounty hunters. They go get loot, and lots of it. They’re romantic, they get movies made about them – and they’re pretty much an emblem for the ‘digital’ savvy, nerd, geek, entreprenuerally minded, i-Phone clutching new age guys. The new agencies. The guys who change the world. Guys who have 500 million friends. And a few enemies. You get the drift.

The navy is about big ships. Navies are about huge, widescreen, big scale, big corporate offices in ivory towers. They’re about large turning circles, routine, doing-it-by-the-book, mega budgets, massive media buys, sixteen departments, and an armada of suits. Navies are about big agencies. Big names, logos you’d recognize, people who are AdAge cover stories.

But not any more. The navy as we know it – the big advertising agency is about to change. Or has already, and you’ve blinked. In our industry (now is that advertising or engagement?) digital is no longer just a specialization. Digital is becoming core. No surprise there, because the very definition of mainstream media is changing. If people are spending more time and engaging in digitally driven activities, being social, searching, googling, texting, well, that’s going to redefine what’s mainstream. Does your target spend more time on facebook than watching tv? If so, is your agency properly equipped to communicate with and engage with that target? Or are they still turning around in big circles, not in high octane powered digital skiffs?

While there will always be specialists, always be catalysts who inspire and lead the others in the digital race, everybody today needs to grasp what digital is all about. The writer, the art director, account head, media planner – every one. And, vice versa. Those geeks, those digital savvy folk also need to understand how ‘traditional’ advertising works. Web content writers should understand copy writing for an ad. Digital planners need to understand GRP. And flash programmers need to understand consumer insight before making wow apps. Which means they need to work in one flow. One integrated solutions offering. One navy.

The big agencies that aren’t doing this are caught between the devil and deep blue sea. They’re themselves afraid of change, and they are standing back and watching the new ones, the nifty, nimble, new age engagement specialists steal valuable yardage. Yet, their inaction is what is the bigger fear.

Not that some of the agencies are not throwing digital into the mix. Digital is usually always on the agenda. In many cases it’s the last 20 minutes and 15 winning slides in a pitch. It’s there, but it’s a dummy. Unless digital is part of an integrated campaign, a real outcome, unless it’s driven through in the execution stage, what’s the point?

And the other big debate is what is digital? What are we really supposed to embrace? An iPhone app? A ‘like’ driver on facebook? A microsite? A blog? A tweet? Some of us seem confused. Let’s face it. In stark reality, it’s about using leading edge technologies and platforms to engage and interact with the consumer. And, in most cases, the more invisible the technology, and the more prominent the message and dialog, the better. Digital not as crutch or dependency, but as power, as catalyst.

Advertising is being redefined as we speak. The whole communications business model is shifting rapidly from mass media to micromedia for the masses. It’s moving from communications to engagement. From monologue and shouting to listening and dialogue. With user behavior tracking, deep insights available to us on individual likes and dislikes, it’s becoming more about individuality than about group behavior. More about you and me than about us as a demographic in general.

This means we need to understand the shift in how consumers are absorbing (or not) media. Trends like ‘snacking’ and ‘time-shifting’ are going to have a huge effect on media planning. The website as brochure and the banner as display are being seen as so 90s because today, it’s about how the consumer is controlling where, when and how they interact with a brand message – and how they’re reshaping that message, viralizing it, socializing it, or ignoring it.

We’re still in the ideas business, and we cannot forget that our business has always been about innovation. Decades ago, the VW Beetle Lemon ad was innovative. So is Jimmy Choo’s location based campaign today. The world’s second oldest profession isn’t going to be completely taken over by a Silicon Valley vc chasing a dotcom gold rush. The navy is still going to be around. But it’ll need to adapt.

Before I get blackburied by colleagues asking me to put my money where my mouse is, I’ll put my neck on the line. Yes, our agencies, are up for the challenge. We’re hiring pirates. We’re crowdsourcing. We’re turning vision into (augmented) reality. We’re recontextualizing at MCN. Yes. Even the navy’s changing.

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Maps and teeth

We ate too much. We drank too much. We laughed too much. And, naturally, we will do this again. This was my tweet on a party I attended at Ajay Juneja's house last weekend. To celebrate Diwali (the Indian festival of lights) and in general, shining happy people. Ajay is a friend, but he's also a Specialist Prosthodontist, and a very good one. I met him over a very casual root canal, and now we're friends doing Diwali. So, you know he's good. Normally, the guy who does a root canal on you isn't quite on a 'make friends with' list. But Juneja was fab. And, no I'm not plugging him either (he does practise at the Dental Studio in Jumeirah, and since I am not plugging him, you'll just have to google it).

We arrived late that evening because Ajay decided he'd send us a map. Not one he printed off google maps, but one he had drawn, scribbled, corrected, sent a wrong one first, then a right one, and by then we didn't quite know right from wrong and left from right. He's very very good at making your teeth look very very Hollywood, but at maps? Challenged.

But that's what makes it all fun. He's good at teeth. And he's particularly good at what one of my favorite writers Jeremy Clarkson calls 'American teeth'. Clarkson once famously wrote "There are four different types of teeth. There are canines which are used for tearing of lumps of meat. There are incisors which are used for cutting it. There are premolars for crushing it. And there are American teeth which are used for appearing in Hello! Magazine" and while I I'm 100% that Dr Juneja is good at all four, I'm told he's an award winning dentist at American or Hello teeth. But not maps. So, I offered to do him one.

However, I know he already has one at home. All his wife's friends showed up on time, because she simply used a google map. But men don't do maps, don't do directions – give or take – and the Ajay set were all lost and late. But stylishly, and Hello-ishly to say the least. Cheers Ajay.

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The Gemas Effies 2010

This year’s entries were fairly balanced. Some of the categories had very strong, result driven entries which harnessed solid strategy unfolded via creative executions. On the other hand some categories were hugely disappointing – and we were reluctant to honor the entries in those.

The successful and awarded entries were clearly the ones which had relevant insights, specially local insights – something special that the brand and the agencies picked up and worked with – and reaped the results in the market place. Today’s informed consumer recognizes a good product and resonates to a good campaign built around solid consumer insight. The winning entries reflected this.

Overall, this year, we saw a huge paradigm shift in consumer engagement. The most successful entries were (not surprisingly) ones that used the power of 360° engagement – and most often digital engagement played a key role in those campaigns. With today’s consumer ever increasingly being engaged, entertained and empowered by brands in the digital and social domains, it wasn’t at all surprising to see some of the winning entries being pivoted around where today’s consumer is playing – in the digital and social fields. (Clever) Local insight combined with 360° engagement – with an emphasis and a nod to digital – that’s what 2010 has been about.

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Changes at MCN

Iain Akerman, editor of Campaign Middle East, in his op-ed 'perspective' piece in the 10.10.10 issue wrote about the changes at MCN – the Middle East Communications Network – where I spend my days. Tongue firmly in cheek he writes about how he nearly had his head kicked in by someone because he had written something that 'involved' FP7. Fortune Promoseven (or FP7, as it's known in the industry) is the flagship at MCN – the IPG operating company that manages other brands like Lowe, UM, Initiative, Magna, Weber Shandwick, MRM, Innovations etc. Long list of agency brand. Huge possibilities for drawing fire. But, Iain writes, changes are being made, he seems to see some light.

There's been some restructuring, some recognizing that perhaps a new generation were ready to take on the challenge, and they seem to have been empowered. How it all works out remains to be seen, but at least, someone's been working on ushering in change. MCN President & CEO Fadi Salameh was very open about it. After much introspection and in depth reviewing, the MCN leadership recognized the need for change. And Fadi hit the button. Right time too.

Every one was saying Fadi's on his way out, but he's still very much around, still piloting the agencies, driving forward. Fresh at the wheel, with him is Luca Lindner, president of McCann Worldgroup, Latin America, Africa and Middle East. And, phew, Luca is a breath of fresh Mediterranean air. With a bit of Brazil thrown in for good measure.

I was in there, in front of all the brand new heavies, discussing, presenting the digital way ahead for MCN. And if I may, digital is going to be the way ahead at MCN. As per the gospel of Luca. He, of course, has been there done that, having pushed digital to the front burner across Lat Am. And now, he's challenging us here in the Middle East to get with it. For the very first time, since we were acquired by IPG, we've seen someone who's going to be around these hallways knee deep in what we do. No helicopter piloting for Luca. He's hands on. He gets it. He gets digital. He understands social media, knows the future of interruptive advertising (as opposed to participatory dialog) is short sighted, and believes that we've got around five years to embrace the zeros and ones. Or fail.

Part of this big change is the change at the top at Promoseven. Tarek Miknas, is 2G Miknas. Father Akram Miknas founded Promoseven 42 years ago. Today, McCann New York long stint under his belt, an amazing couple of years as Chief Growth Offiver at Lowe also part of CV, Tarek steps up to the plate, ready. Ready when the crowd wants a homer. Ready, when every possible curve ball will be hurled at him.

I've known Tarek ever since he came back from New York, complete with dreads and a twang. He's passionate but balanced. Right brained but left brained too. He's a techie, and a people guy. And best of all, he's got intuition. Not just finger on pulse kind of intuition, but the uncanny knack of calling the cards right that slight second ahead of time. He'll do good.

MCN is a giant. FP7 is a big ship. The turning circle is large, and it won't happen by Christmas. No surprises from Santa there. But I've got this feeling, this is genuine. Because the effort's there, and the desire to change is from the heart. About time we embraced it. Or #fail.

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Paying for Earned Media. How to get the Buzz going

I've been reading a lot recently about the buzz around 'earned media'. A lot of digital agency heads now write about developing beautiful social campaigns that replace 'paid media' with their organic social media efforts – which in essence uses the power of earned media. What I don't read as frequently however is their position on how they get the buzz going on these 'earned' campaigns. Do these auto-viralize? Are they so inherently powerful that there is zero effort outside the social campaign? Is it as simple as 'if you build it, they will come'?

While we all seem to recognize the power of social media, we haven't quite comfortably delved into the area about how to get those campaigns going. When a certain campaign runs around a powerful social platform – and this power can come from any part of it that gives it viral turbo charging – I can understand how it takes off. But when we agency folks have the responsibility of delivering campaigns that have to work with brands, and sell their products, we cannot simply fall back on auto-viral. Unless the campaigns have some incredibly funny elements that people feel compelled and proud to share (or they see a pot of rewards), it's not easy. If it has a social and moral push to it, even the funny bits are not needed. But brand campaigns that rely purely on earned media? Who knows then that you've built it? How will they come?

I feel it has to be a combo deal. Yes, we can rely on the power of social or earned pushes, but in most cases (yes, there are exceptions), a paid push is needed. If we have an idea that has viral potential, and we know in the gut that it will take off, and even early metrics show that it is on upwardly mobile mode, it's probably time to kick in with a bit of a paid spend. Take P&G's mega successful Old Spice social campaign built around the beefy Old Spice Man. P&G used a hefty $11 million+ to push the campaign. That's what helped create the buzz around the Man. Sure they used data in real time to make ads more sharable and interesting, but they put real dollars behind it. The result? Neilsen says they had a double digit increase in sales.

In the end, I come back to my favorite buzz word – integration. Consumers react better to campaigns that surround them across media. What they see on tv, hear on radio, see in magazines and newspapers – but which have the central pivot perhaps in the online domain – becomes an immersive experience. And they'll flow with it. As digital agencies, it is our responsibility to be true to the brands we service and go to them with real solutions that have genuine ROI. And the I in ROI is important. And the I in the ROI has often to be in paid media.

So, yes, we ought to work with our brands and develop creative social campaigns that have social viral power, but we have to recognize the importance of well thought out media planning and touch point strategies to enhance and multiply the power of a viral campaign. The more people who see it, the more the chances of them sharing it. It's simple really. This way, those of us in this business of advertising, no longer have to be held responsible for coming up pure earned ideas, because to earn something you have to work at it. And sometimes, working at it means planting the seed. And someone's got to pay for those seeds. There are no free lunches, and the last time I looked at the gardening section of my local hypermarket, there aren't free seeds either.

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Is social media marketing overrated?

Today, I found a twitter link to a rather interesting post by Nagi Salloum on his blog titled "Is social media marketing overrated?" http://nagi.loomni.com/2010/08/26/is-social-media-marketing-overrated/. He makes some very solid points, and I couldn't disagree with his position or his opening gambit. He's left the forum open for comments, so I did. But so check out his blog as well. Here's my response...

This is an on-going debate, and I think the jury will stay out for a while. Good points made regarding twitter in the UAE. However, there are quite a few rather active tweeps who are very, very open to businesses/corporates reaching them. In fact, they almost feel compelled to help the cause. But, agree that we are not reaching a huge %age of the population. There are a few businesses who are doing ok, wildpeeta, thedubaimall, rakbank etc among them.

Facebook? Well, I've seen/heard different numbers and different claims. Globally, increasingly, corporates are engaging via facebook – because they feel that while the facebook audience is already in a fairly 'communicative' and 'receptive' mode, it wouldn't be such a bad idea trying to have a conversation with them.

Blogging? Not much there unless you're talking to niche and special interest groups. But overall, to dismiss social media as a possible and future-feasible marketing tool would be premature. I recall some pundits who had predicted that the internet would never take off in this country (too much of a mall culture, and people are not really online savvy. Wrong.). So, it is a wait and see game.

And who's the SM expert? You're right about the whole genre being so young, so unchartered. Yet, those who are shining, those who seem to possess some grasp of what's hot, what's not, are the early adopters. Those who've jumped in shallow end and kept swimming. Social media after all is about communicating and engaging in dialog. Those that are pushing marketing slogans down the consumers throats aren't experts. They're just exploiting the genre(or trying to). But those who really get it, are the ones who don't have huge expectations, who know the advantage of being first-to-market, and clearly, those who've realized that social media is about listening first, speaking after.

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Social hibernation or rejuvenation.

Around four weeks ago (though it does seem like much, much longer) I did a ziplip, or a self imposed embargo on all social fronts, or at least on all fronts except on twitter. Truth be told, I went off it. Not sick of it, or tired of social, but just kind of decided to creep back behind a rock. I went off on holiday, and except for the odd tweet and a couple of foursquare updates, I laid low. And, frankly, it was a much needed hiatus. A sabbatical of sorts, where my only social activity was hanging out at clubs in Calcutta, India. Not night clubs. But clubs. The way old clubs used to be. Where you get facetime, not facebook. Where the only tweet you hear is of real birds on the moist green rain soaked 18th hole. Or the only uploads that happen are when elbows are raised and pints are downed. That kind of social. And I loved it.

Calcutta is very much there as far as tech's concerned. It's by no means behind any city here in the Middle East. There's plenty of bandwidth, more than a dozen service providers, and connections are cheap as chips. But, yes, while the online set do facebook, and twitter and foursquare and youtube, they also are truly social. They meet at the club. They do tennis. They golf. They laze around and have a tall scotch and water or a rum. They enjoy life. Outside the virtual. In the real. And, I fell into that pattern.

I met old friends, family, acquaintances, and made new ones. Even though I was nursing a pretty bad back problem, I found the trip down to the clubs so relaxing, so real. Real people, with handshakes and hugs, not updates and uploads. The club was the Wall, and everybody was on it.

Club culture is a social thing that we here in Dubai just don't have. And many a die-hard has told me that in India, Calcutta is surely the last bastion of the 'old Club way'. All are meant for members only, and most of them have been around for decades if not centuries. My club, where I grew up, the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club is more than 220 years old. It is the oldest cricket club outside the British Isles. But there's much more than cricket there, although the gorgeous and grand cricket ground is the centre piece of it all. Sourav Ganguly, ex Indian captain is member. As is multiple Grand Slam doubles title winner Leander Paes. That's where Leander learnt to serve and volley. And more. Other clubs I dropped into for a drink or a meal were the absolutely grand Bengal Club (very posh, very puccah and proper koi hai style), and the famous Tollygunge Club, where the greens stretch for miles and the lazy afternoon disappears amidst darjeeling tea, early shots of gin and tonic into a dusk that's just the beginning of hard partying.

I digress. So, the question I ponder of course, is whether I did go into 'social' hibernation, or was it really a rebirth of my social being, where I had human contact, where I met real people and not avatars. I love staying in touch with my friends across the world on facebook, I like tweeting, I love connecting via youtube. But give me a rugby game to watch, give me a table full of friends, a round of drinks, and I'll take that anytime. That's social. And I'm missing it.

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