Digital Advertising Strategy Countdown
StumbleUponIn his overview of the forthcoming Ten Commandments Of Digital Advertising Strategy series of articles, AKQA's Saher Sidhom runs down the complete list. Agree, have a bone to pick or your own commandments to add? Then blog it or comment on the NMK site...
Feel free to start or join the debate around digital
advertising strategy in this dedicated blog:
http://10commandmentsofdigitalstrategy.blogspot.com/
By Saher Sidhom, AKQA
[Register and post
your own comments on this article below...]
1. Focus on results
At present, the case for investing in digital marketing is
largely disjointed. Few go beyond comparisons with TV
advertising, arguing that digital provides superior reach and is
more measurable. This view is too simplistic.
The digital world needs to look beyond the din of
self-congratulation and consider the role it can play in
enhancing a senior marketers plan. The issue here is not about
digital as a medium, it is about the changing nature of brands,
consumers power and ultimately effectiveness is not about
whether digital should be considered but why and how it should
be used strategically, going beyond mere media arguments.
2. Respect the audience
Marketing and advertising have always used military terminology
when talking to audiences. Terms such as campaigns, targeting,
hits, impact, penetration, segmentation, firepower and bang for
your buck all sadly still exist amongst todays marketers. This
cannot go on. Consumers are increasingly media and advertising
savvy particularly in the digital domain.
Time and again online audiences tell us that they find online
advertising annoying, disruptive and irrelevant and yet we
continue to create ads that do just that. We need to respect our
audience in the digital domain. The challenge is to ask
ourselves how we can be more relevant, more engaging and more
entertaining so that we have a new value exchange between the
advertiser and the audience.
3. Digital is more than online
In the mid nineties everyone wanted to have a website without
knowing why. Today the paradigm has shifted. Now it is digital
media that we should be considering. Digital is more than a
website, its a film trailer on your 3G mobile, its an
interactive transvision screen in a train station. Digital as
media is everywhere. Digital content such as digital films,
music, etc is everywhere.
The opportunity is in understanding what the rapid convergence
of devices such as iPODS and increasing prevalence of digital
content such as video gives us. We focus on key characteristics
that makes digital a great opportunity: the fact that it allows
instant interaction, closing the distance between thought and
action in a single click.
4. Ideas dictate implementation
Integration is not about matching luggage. Media power is not
about confusing the buy with the why. The quagmire that
surrounds media neutrality has stopped us from exploring the
reasons why we should always execute integrated ideas in
exceptional ways. We should put our thoughts into a big,
compelling and neutral idea and focus the execution with bias
to the virtues of the medium. In fact it is not media neutrality
that we should explore, it is media bias.
5. Work in a core team
Integration starts with the client. For marketing and
advertising to deliver value it must be fully integrated into
the clients organisation all the way to the boardroom. On a
tactical level the client must have a helicopter or birds
eye view of all marketing activity, ideally, a core team or
steering group should be assembled and tasked with collectively
contributing to the big idea. This steering group should be
neutral in their thinking, true to the brand, but utterly
focused when they put ideas to action.
6. Stop advertising and start engaging
This is especially true online. In the beginning there were
commodities, then trademarks, then brands, then commodities
again. Branded content, reputation and behaviour have become the
new definitions of the brand. Digital is central to this new way
of thinking. It offers interaction, relevance, advocacy,
engagement and involvement.
Today, brands are defined by content as much as they are by
their advertising. Develop and distribute content that is
relevant, wanted and indispensable to people. Be innovative in
how the brand and the idea are experienced by your customer
online. Creativity is crucial.
7. Measure everything (against the first
commandment)
Online is by far the most measurable medium. Treat statistics as
input and never lose sight of the original objective. Always
remember that effectiveness and value can be demonstrated in
many more ways than just increased awareness.
For example, you can measure the time somebody spends
interacting with a viral film. This has been shown to be as much
as 9 minutes a long time for a consumer to spend choosing to
have fun interacting with your brand. There are new ways to
measure and evaluate digital brand activity.
8. Pioneer the way technology is used
There is always an innovation or a format that hasnt been tried
yet. The sad truth is that advertisers online are behind when it
comes to how people are using the medium.
Digital audiences are ahead of the game when it comes to
innovation. Napster, blogging, podcasting and tagging are just a
few of the innovations made by the users of the Internet, not
advertisers or service providers. There are ways to spot the
best technologies and exploit them competitively.
9. Tell the truth
People go online for the truth. The Internet is the number one
source of information for most people. Not just because people
find information there, but because the information delivered by
the Internet is close to what economists call 'perfect
information'. In other words, a comprehensive search online
delivers everything you could possibly need to make an informed
decision.
This calls for digital advertising that lives and dies on
genuine human insights, and truths that go beyond a USP to
deliver real trust.
10. Take courage
You dont stand a chance if you are doing what everybody else is
doing, saying what everybody else is saying, and advertising
where everyone else is advertising. Courage will take your
audiences places they havent been, it will be valued in its own
right, and most importantly it will inspire action. This is
about taking things head on it is about making your conversation
with the user truly personal. Any brand should aim to
differentiate itself. To do so its guardians need to make brave
decisions that enable it to break the tedium of rubbish
advertising that populates media today without adding to it.
Truly creative campaigns and agencies were built on the courage
of those involved as well as their creativity.
The Ten Commandments are written as a series of ten articles
that are easily digestable, collectable and useable. Each
article deals with a fundamental principle in the formulation
and development of digital strategy from Objective setting to
evaluation. The articles are full of examples and case studies
from both our work at AKQA and within the digital industry in
general. We hope you find them as useful and as valuable as we
have.
Blog
Feel free to start and join a debate around digital advertising
strategy in this dedicated blog:
http://10commandmentsofdigitalstrategy.blogspot.com/
About AKQA:
www.akqa.comAKQA is a global interactive
agency that uses innovative ideas and technology to deliver
results for the world's leading brands. They were named
Creativity Magazine's first ever Interative Agency of the
Year in 2006 and have been twice recognised as 'most
respected agency' by New Media Age. Their global staff of
over 350 people is based in five offices across San Francisco,
New York, Washington DC, London and Singapore.
Comments
You must be logged in to comment.