citizenbay

The Media Fad Syndrome: Short Term Thinking in Marketing

The investments committed to marketing are investments contributing to the short, medium and long term health of a business. 

The most common criticism of the marketing function from others within the organisation is what is seen by some as the near cult-like reverence to the long term ‘brand identity’, at the expense of 'present market realities'. In other words, stop the 'fluffy nonsense and let's just get out there and sell!'

All well and good having a fancy brand plan, they say, but if consumers are running away from the business right now, then a long term plan is just wasted energy. In other words, 'stop the fluffy nonsense and let's just get out there and sell!'.

There are many far wiser and far more eloquent than I to counter this prevalant argument.

It is true that a focus on the ‘brand’ can consume companies and the brand teams to the point of being unable to spot consumer shifts happening right under their noses, so a greater level of flexibility and agility is essential in any brand approach now.

However, I would argue that whilst in theory brands may be looking to the long-term, at an executional level there still seems to be a number of brands (and agencies) who are suffering from the short-termist disease that I call Media Fad Syndrome. 

This is simply the addiction to having whatever everyone is having.

I have been around the industry for a long time, and one thing is for sure. Conference companies make good business offering up the next ‘hot topic’. A few years ago, Second Life was going to be the new United Nations/social phenomenon/brand heaven. A little before, you could not move without hearing how the future was going to be in 'branded content'. 

Then came the widget. No self-respecting advertising or media agency could NOT suggest a widget as part of the marketing ideas for clients. then it was very much the rise of the Facebook Page. I was on a coach recently, and the coach company had a sticker on the side, inviting people to be the coach company's friend on Facebook. This might be a great idea, but for the life of me I am trying to work out how.

Then it was the turn of the iPhone apps, and then the iPad apps. (Sidenote: few are asking for Android yet, even with the massive smartphone penetration of Android...another style over substance discussion for another time perhaps)

What next in the MFS? What was the reasoning behind any of the above examples of the last few years? Was this based on rational business analysis, or a desire to 'do something that's hot'? Are we fearful of falling behind if we don't do what everyone else is doing? Is it all the fault of the Conference Organisers or Jounalists, or are they merely reflecting what everyone is talking about?

However, these are merely symptoms of The Media Fad Syndrome, not the root cause. Branded content can be exceptionally effective for brands, while Facebook pages can be extremely efficient in delivering to specific business objectives too.

All channels of connection mentioned in the visual have value (except Second Life).

BUt we are talking about an addiction, a fix for ‘something cool’, 'something on trend' with little clarity on the business objectives for the investment. 

Agencies sadly are particularly prone to MFS.

If the use of the ‘latest thing’ is for Marketing R&D, with proper measures of success locked to it, then great. That works for me.

But when the ‘latest thing’ is done more out of an emotional need for ‘cool’, then the Media Fad Syndrome needs to be treated fast.

As companies suffer from this virus, other companies have managed to steer clear of this, by worrying less about the short term and the long term. They focus on the evolving now, the EVER  PRESENT.

We have moved to a multi-sensory marketing landscape where the people's relationship with brands cannot be measured by 3 week 'campaigns'. The relationships are forever evolving, ever changing, and always happening. We have shifted to marketing that is real-time, always ON. On the one hand, delivery in this world is about as short-term as you can get, but equally it requires a vision that has long-term direction, yet one that has a fluidity not normally structured in company plans...

So time to get serious about MFS and stamp it out. Considering a fluid future, rather than a long-term or short-term one could be the start of the healing process

20th April 2010 launching thereareotherworlds : A debate camp for the marketing communications world

There are many festivals and conferences that occur in the marketing services calendar. Some are huge, some little, but generally most offer little chance for real debate.

Also, even when you want to go, sometimes the financial or workload pressure prevents you from going.

Starting this Sunday is the Valencia Festival of Media, a well established event run by a good friend. This year it has a big list of names speaking, and an even longer list of brands, agencies and media owners attending. They will aim to tackle an agenda shaped around 're-writing the rule book' of consumer engagement.

Now I cannot be there, and neither can a number of other folk. But many would love to get in on the debates. You might be going to Valencia, but a colleague might not be, but would love to share their views too.

So I thought it would be fun to invite a few opinionated people to debate some of the hop topics of the industry, inspired by the Festival of Media agenda.

Topics include:

 - What is the point of a media agency?

 - What are the new rules of 'consumer engagement'

 - What to people really think about brand 'engagement strategies'

It will happen between 1330 and 1700 on Tuesday 20th April in London. You can sign up here at eventbrite for a ticket. Each ticket is £18.95. They are limited.

This is the first of such gatherings, which I call thereareotherworlds, because at times our industry is prone to secluding itself and justifying the status quo, rather than opening up to real debate.

People attend on the basis of these 'rules'

1    There is Open Debate

2    There are no 'Speakers'

3    There are no 'Experts'

4    Everyone contributes

5    No-one will be a wallflower

6    No business pitches

7    The group chooses the topics

8    The group tries to shape an output to each discussion

9    The discussion will be recorded and podcasted

10    err...that's it

Let me know if you would like to come, or just sign up...but remember come with your opinions...

Nick Vale hates Big Ideas

(Photographer: David Banks)

Ah the promise of the BIG IDEA. Don't we just seduced by the promise of one. Our mouths water, the hairs at the back of our neck get ready in anticipation, our palms start to sweat...and then the BIG IDEA is announced to us with great fanfare...

And the Big IDEA is...having our product stuck to a poster whilst people walk by and 'engage' with it. Stunning...brilliant...fabulous...what a let down...

Well, all of us in media and marketing have been involved in ideas that are talked up as BIG IDEAS but are ultimately effective (one hopes) tactical ideas.

Clients demand BIG IDEAS from their agencies...agencies demand BIG IDEAS from media owners or other third parties...often without clearly understanding themselves what a BIG IDEA is.

citizenbay truly detests the words BIG IDEA, as it has become a wall to hide behind for many so that the real work of idea development is not dealt with. Words that have encouraged throwaway ideas for the short term, not ideas that effect positive change for businesses.

So when Nick Vale, planning director at MediaedgeCIA London, stood up and said he hated BIG IDEAS, I was cheering from the sidelines...

Drawing in part upon the book written by his colleague Jim Taylor (called Rigorous Magic) Nick put forward the case for the search for Ideas that work for a brand. Not BIG ones, but the right ones.

Nick beautifully laid out the differing types of IDEAS in the form of a periodic table. Check out the book and find out more. Great stuff. Thanks Nick.

IMM08: Steve King seeks a new breed of media professional

(Photographer: David Banks)

As always, a great contribution to IMM08 from Steve King, CEO of ZenithOptimedia. In a room full of media agency and media owner professionals plus a smattering of brand representatives, he called his presentation ‘ Everything changes but you’. It was a challenge to all present to face up to the fact that the media agency and media owner has to evolve if they want to continue to be relevant to brands in the future.
Steve gave a great summary of how simple life was for the media agency and creative agency in the past.. Show a great TV ad in great programming, watch the ad recall measures go through the roof. Even simpler was the role of the international department which acted as a central resource of ‘Best Practice’ and monitor of local agency performance. Steve stated that central clients wanted info on the local markets, so agencies created central departments to provide it.

Consumers now have more choice, more ways to make their choice, more media, more brands and more information, and we have seen the simple relationship between advertising and ad recall is declining rapidly. Agencies can no longer depend on GRPs.

Steve is absolutely right. The communications model of buying heavy weights of media space, based on people needing significant exposure to a message to remember it, is flawed.

His demand for a more holistic view on communications planning is not new, but it is still urgently needed.

The ultimate challenge in Steve’s mind is the people who work in the communications business. To be able to grapple with the new consumer realities, the industry needs a new breed of people who think holistically, can construct strategies that do not carry the weight of old ways of working and be trenspotters.

So is your company finding these kind of people? They are out there, but it might be just that you are not looking in the right place…More on this in a future post…

Esther lays out the challenges for the media industry

Here are the communications challenges as seen by Esther Lee of Coca Cola...

We need a new kind of communications leadership

Here is Esther Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Coca Cola Global at the Venice Media Festival, making her call to action...

An excellent idea from J&J

Kimberley Kadlec of Johnson & Johnson demanded that creative and media agencies get closer, without needing to return to old models. Not the first person to demand it, but clearly spoken from the heart. However, I did not agree with her view that there are certain core elements of communications planning that will always rest with the creative agency. Why should this be so? It is in the interest of the ad agency that this is so, but why is it in the interests of the client? Should it not rest with the agency who is best placed to provide a holistic approach to communications?

Meanwhile she made a hugely practical and effective suggestion to the audience at the Venice Festival of Media.

At J&J they run a cross-training project, inviting people in from agencies and media owners to work at J&J for a set period to improve their understanding of their business.

I am sure that such strategies have paid dividends for all involved. Not just in terms of better understanding but also increased trust between all parties. Excellent idea. Simple too. Another example of a Brave Brand. Maybe more should try it.

Searching for the Big Idea

The Big Idea. Who owns it? Where do you find one? What does one look like?

A number of speakers shared their thoughts on the Big Idea. Clients talked about the need to find it; agencies shared examples of Big Ideas from their portfolio, whilst auditors and consultants agreed that the Big Idea can be found in places other than the ad agency…

However, defining what it is seems to be a slight problem.

The phrase is used with such frequency, that it is losing its focus and importance.

Kimberley Kadlec, Chief Media Officer Johnson And Johnson, encouraged the media industry in her opening speech to be more creative. Fair enough so far, but then she offered up an example of what she sees as the Big Idea - A tall statue covered by a huge condom. This is clearly a Big Stunt, but is not necessarily a Big Idea.

As discussed in my previous post (Steve King has the answers), such a narrow scope of what the media industry can deliver is disappointing. Surely Ms Kadlec has higher hopes for innovative communications solutions from her media agency than Big Stunts? Or is this what clients desire for their brands?

A Big Idea is not a Big Stunt. Big Ideas effecting change in consumer habits, effect change in society. So, it was so refreshing to have heard from Esther Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Coca Cola Global.

In a hugely impressive speech, Esther referenced democracy or fast food as a Big Idea, rather than massive spinning Coke Can in a shopping mall.

In the citizensound session on music marketing (See here), I also gave my view on Big Ideas. Included were the Sony Walkman which made music mobile, the car radio which liberated kids, the Chart Show had everyone waiting to find out what was number one, the iPod has changed people's lives.

There is a place for media creativity at an executional level. We should celebrate it. Yet the media industry should be careful not to see such work as anything more than icing on the cake. Daryl Simm rightly stated that real creativity is the cake not the icing.

A celebration of more cake and less icing would help keep the momentum going forward for media agencies into the higher echelons of the client companies…Darryl’s words were wise and we should ignore them at our peril…

HSBC throws down the gauntlet to the media agencies

Chris Clark, Head of Brand Strategy and Marketing at HSBC, gave everyone at IMM07 a treat. He provided an engrossing insight into the development and management of the HSBC brand. He put the importance of the customer in brand development succinctly:

The best managed brands let customers decide what they think and feel about the brand, rather than dictating values to them

He took the attendees through a voyage of HSBC brand communications, from creative media solutions through to the power of sports sponsorship. Ultimately, he stressed that brands need to do more than position themselves, but take up a position, much as HSBC did. Drawing upon their global reach and local insights, a creative platform was formed:

In a world of increasing sameness it's important to value different points of view

Out of this grew the now famous creative work for HSBC, along with a great site www.yourpointofview.com that asked people to share their points of view on various topics. One is 'Are we too busy to have kids', another being 'Blackberries - good, essential, evil or complicated?'.

Chris pointed out that HSBC strive to be perceptive, progressive, responsive, fair and respectful. They don't accept streotypes. He rightly stressed that so much of the success of the activity has come from individuals living these values in their day to day dealings with customers. True integration indeed. Clear signs of another Brave Brand.

So a powerful case study in how it is done.

Whilst talking about the roles that various communications channels play in building the brand (branch networks, the web, advertising et al), he placed the media agency contribution firmly in an executional role.

He urged the attendees not to

underestimate the value of the media measures such as reach and frequency that you guys deliver

. A sign that his view of media folk as little more than valued number crunchers?

He also urged media agencies not to think just about the basic consumer measures based on age and social class, but to deal with behaviours. Interesting comment, given that media agencies believe themselves to be more advanced in behavioural targeting than many advertising agencies.

As for understanding the core brief, Chris urges media agencies to get a copy of the creative brief from the advertising agency. Interesting. Do I sense that the media agency is not the lead agency on the HSBC business?

It seems that he does not believe that a media agency is able to contribute to the strategic development of the HSBC brand. The media agency for HSBC must be somewhat deflated by such a view of their potential contribution on this business.

At the conference I asked him if he felt that the media industry might need some decent PR to get their message over better to clients. His response was that he would rather see the proof that they can deliver big strategic thinking and integrated communications rather than a nice bit of PR. Fair point.

So there is the challenge to media agencies. HSBC (who are not alone) want proof that the media agency world can help the brands at a more strategic level.

However, his strength of argument faltered when at the end of the questions, he admitted that he doesn't

shop the category

, in that he doesn't meet with the media agency world and see what is on offer. Whilst he might be right that the media agency world might need to deliver proof to the brands of the capabilities, he might also be pleasantly surprised at what is actually on offer from media agencies these days, with proof to back their claims up. As he said, HSBC don't accept stereotypes. They look for value in everyone. It just might be that there is a little more value from the media agencies that Mr Clark believes. However, the task rests firmly with media agencies to pursuade Mr Clark and other marketers, as many still do not seem convinced.

IMM07: So what was the Case Study this year?

I have heard a lot about the death of print these last twelve months. Also been working with various media brands to help them in their transition into digital spaces (structurally and emotionally).

I have also seen media brands struggle, like many other companies, in dealing with their customers wanting to get involved more.

I therefore chose to create a Case Study with a troubled print brand at the heart of it. The Phoenix, was a weekly magazine that aimed to provide an intelligent read that was accessible, whilst covering politics, economics, business and cultural trends. After some disastrous moves over the last ten years, circulation had plummeted. Added to that, a failed move online has hit the confidence of the magazine. A fresh start was planned for end of 2007. The challenge for the groups was to develop a 3 year communications strategy, an approach to the re-launch, and work out whether and how digital should play a role in the future fortunes of this magazine.

So a print title that cries out for a digital component? A print title that has asked for a digital strategy? How can the groups NOT focus on this element? Well, that is what many of the groups did. We heard many thoughtful ideas around the digital component, some more compelling than others. However, what did feel left out of the communications plan equation was the magazine itself. Few groups in their response to the brief, actually gave life to the magazine itself.

Why did I write the brief with such a slant towards digital? Because often clients write briefs asking for guidance in areas they don't feel comfortable with, areas that they feel they should be involved with but don't know really whether it makes sense for their business or not. Sometimes we have to read between the lines.

We have a tendency to jump on the latest fad without fully contemplating what the business/marketing/communications challenge really warrants as a solution.

Whatever the question is, the answer is a podcast

or so it seems these days. (Last year replace 'podcast' with 'branded content'!).

For the magazine The Phoenix, I created a front cover. Hope you like it.