digital, data, advertising and the future
This is a work related post. I am a closeted planner (sort of). It is one of those career choice you can easily feel ashamed about because you're not really making things (more on that in another post). It is all about the gift of the gab, the quick thinking and being analytical (but nowadays pretty much everyone wants to be a doer)
I did try the "do-ing" thing and I am not as good at it.
Anyway, enough about me. The case study that drove me into planning in the first place was Sainsbury's "Try something new today". If you haven't read the IPA paper please do so (here), it is the one of the best piece of planning thinking ever.
I was never really interested in planning in a traditional agency for some reason, digital was what I wanted to do. However I quickly realised the role of the different platforms. Digital in the purchase funnel was often limited to purchase with ATL being the main driver for awareness. In most presentation the media planner would recommend a page takeover (hello yahoo media buy) as a digital version of a TVC. I always found it pretty frustrating.
Digital is either campaign or product site (you come to the site because you want to buy, you're driven to the site because you looked at our microsite/campaign/social feed etc)
It feels like we are often reproducing the traditional agency model with digital as a nice add on, but not mature enough yet as a stand alone medium.
There is a disconnect between the potential of digital and the way we use the ecosystem of channel. Data might be the solution.
I first became obsessed with data reading OKtrends, a blog showing the dating research by OKCupid. Some of the things they talk about are fascinating from the time when people are more likely to respond to a message to the effect of no picture on possible conversations.
They analyse every single interactions and put them out there. It is a goldmine for insights on people's behaviour. So when you are given all of those data how can you use them in a meaningful way. OkCupid doesn't need to but it can be done.
A most recent case study made me think about how the use of data can make the creative work works harder (in the same way Sainsbury's did a few years ago).
All Things Hair - a partnership between Unilever and Google, masterminded by digital agency, Razorfish. Using data mined from 7 billion searches for "hair" every year, Google was able to help the company predict hair trends up to three months in advance and then employ popular YouTube bloggers to create relevant content hosted on a dedicated channel. Multiple Unilever hair care brands are featured, with viewers able to one-click-purchase specific products as they are pleased. All Things Hair has received 1,000 new subscriptions every day since its launch and is now the biggest dedicated hair care channel in the world.
We should make better use of the data available.
Trends come and go Nike + and digital products were all the rage a few years ago. Otherwise, we tend to try and reproduce successful digital models for brands: from creating social networks for margarine and milk to building short lived micro-sites you can access by clicking on a banner. The overwhelming amount of brand sweepstakes, quizzes and competitions is extremely frustrating. But data speak about behaviour and intentions.
There is a space to create digital experiences that could be in-between campaign and website making the most of the channels and pushing digital marketing forward. It will mean re-evaluating what is considered creative.