Do Brands Need Agencies? | Face Forum, Nov 09

do brands really need agencies? face forum, november 2009, london

setting some of the context with a few edited highlights from our 2009 Tech Tribe report into attitudes and behaviour of 18-25 year olds

18-25 important not because young adults are representative today… but because they are early adopters and do represent the future…

some key themes from our tech tribe 2009 report online is not just another channel – it represents the world that young people live in just as we have started to get to grips with the ‘web’ so it changes from being a place that people go to a place that is all around us all of the time contribution to social media still growing but genuine content creation remains pretty stable Influence of inner (my friends) and rapid changes in attitudes outer circle (the internet) on and behaviour due to purchase continues to grow recession

…‘online’ starting to catch up with ‘offline’ across all types of content consumption

…reading newspaper & magazines is first to tip from ‘offline’ to digital…. what’s next? 76% watched TV spending more time reading newspapers & online (up from 45% magazines digitally in 2008) than on paper spending an average of 58% downloaded films to 30 minutes a day watch online (up from watching TV online 38% in 2008)

…and a new generation that will be always on – they don’t go to the web, the web comes to them 58%* have used up from 50% in 2008 (41% in 2006) mobile to access the internet 25% use mobile internet up from 5% in 2008 every day *and handset functionality & cost are the main barriers at the moment

…so far mobile internet use mirrors some aspects of ‘traditional’ online behaviour 67%* social networking 66% email 60% finding places 57% information * of those who have used mobile internet at all

…but there are some interesting new applications on the horizon Skype / IM (50% used / intend next 12 months) Other Apps (45%) Video-Messaging (40%) Geo-Tagging (40%) Twitter (30%) Augmented Reality (20%) * of those who have used mobile internet at all

…contribution to social media still growing but the number of true content creators remains relatively stable

…around 4 in 5 are actively engaged in some kind of social media

…around 3 in 5 will actively read other people’s blogs, forum posts and reviews

…around 3 in 10 will contribute to the internet by commenting, adding to forums, posting ratings or reviews

…around 2 in 10 will genuinely build the internet through blogs, their own websites & uploading their own videos this has edged upwards from around 15% in 2007 but it is still a case of a minority (albeit substantial) talking to the majority

…but when it comes to influence on purchase, young people are heavily influenced by the conversations going on in their inner circle 93% are influenced by what friends tell them

…but the outer circle is becoming increasingly influential too 85% are influenced by what they read or hear generally online (up from 70% in 2008)

…twitter is not being used by everybody (contrary to its media status only around 2 in 10 young people have used it) these young people have used twitter this year

…compared to the (continuing for now) primacy of facebook this person isn’t even on facebook!

…but social media behaviour doesn’t stand still 66% have made their social network more private 55% have cut back on their friends /become more picky about who they accept as friends 32% are using social networks less

…behaviour change fast – how quickly can brands respond? 80% say the recession has changed the way they think about the future 67% paying special attention to promotions and special offers 56% staying in with friends more rather than going out 52% taking food they have made at home to work, school or college

attitudes change quickly, how quickly can we respond? 70% agree that quality is more important than quantity in today’s climate 54% started to only buy things I really need now backlash against 15 minutes of fame culture – only 12% agree that fame is desirable

what this means in 2010 and beyond?

evolved consumers huge untapped creative potential

empowered consumer quick, easy, cheap ways for voicing your opinion, super connected, always on

participatory culture ...way beyond media and consumption

post-consumer era “this is not a question of scale. It is a different way of existing” J.Murdoch

omnivorous remix/review “it is no longer about what your brand does to the consumer but what consumers are doing to and with your brand” Mark Earls

“where the truth lies”

not only trust in ads has fallen but also its structural capacity of generating influence (reach) media clutter

sea of niches personalization, diversification, fragmentation, niches culture, tailored approach

always in beta personalization and diversification also mean that systems are getting flexible and adaptive to incorporate the users input

around me: pull NOT push fragmentation also means the new and only potential center is now “me”

rise of the real-time collective mind getting information that’s relevant to who I am, where I am and what I’m up to sharing information with the right people, at the right time, in the right way

It’s not information overload. It’s filter failure (c. shirky) But filters are getting better

ambient model continuous togetherness

and now these conversations are moving offline

stop calling it new media and digital it’s here and everywhere

how is marketing [still] responding to all this?

ivory tower mentality

consumers don’t really know what they want

still dreaming of raising the perfect consumer

consumers as passive respondents

campaigns consumers engage with brands every day why should brands engage with them quarterly?

one size fits all supposedly consistency... actually, blindness to organic diversity

command & control

monolithic brands

planning in silos

not invented here syndrome

asynchronous mode

the world has changed marketing, branding and the “agency model” haven’t changed that much...

in s ig ht ra d io agencies in t pr brand agency brand tv insight new exp on lin e channels new consumers

marketing : social media = tin pan alley : rocknroll

how do we move away from this model?

social media is NOT another channel is the platform where all media converge and the glue between brands and consumers +insights +idea generation +testing & validation +distribution +wom & advocacy

brand don’t own the space anymore, consumers own it strategy should be built around them not around the brand

It’s just people not alien “consumers”

stop thinking of “the others”

it’s all about immersion

tapping into the richest insight field, free, spontaneous, always up-to-date

consumers as partners

the web as world’s largest creative department

continuous engagement, not campaigns

conversations and relationships, NOT messages

cross-media experience-driven not channel-driven

one size doesn’t fit all 1000 heads for 1000 msgs

agile branding responding to change over following a plan [adaptive brand planning]

old vs new model consumers people observation immersion respondents partners messages relationships campaigns story one size niche tailored channels experiences silos collaboration monolithic adaptive

From this… in s ig ht ra d io agencies in t pr brand agency brand tv insight exp on lin e channels consumers

To this… ra di social media we b o ide as ts igh people ins tv brand brand agency print id ea s ts gh si in p ex n ie facilitate channels t mb a brands

Fast Company predicts "Ad agency executive" to be among six jobs that won't exist in 2016

but is it really all about bottom-up and crowd engagement?

some reactions... “only works with a simple and well-defined brand” “I don’t want 1000 ideas, I want one really good one” “you won’t get a collaborative process” “you need to have arguments” “crowd-sourcing doesn’t lend itself to the big idea” “no access to strategy or insight” “all you get is a bunch of one-off ads”

let’s take a step back

what you get +bottom-up richness +global crowd +diversified crowd +wider range of talent +cost-effective +lots of ideas +rich insight +consumer-brand relationship +peer-rating +buzz

what’s missing -it’s many-to-one -not very targeted -it’s bottom-up but still vertical -access to insight and strategy (confidentiality) -collaboration -editing, building on, refining -funneling process -face-to-face -strategic thinking

bottom up is not enough “the bottom-up mind will take us much further, but will never take us to the end goal” (kevin kelly) Crowd-sourcing needs to be part of a bigger process

let’s take a look at another approach

co-creation Is the act of company stakeholders collaborating directly with selected (usually smaller) groups of consumers to work on a specific brief. Is about leveraging consumers’ creativity without preempting the results of the process Can take place on-line in communities or/and offline in workshops

what you get +few-to-few-to-one +more targeted +bottom-up and top-down +collaboration, editing, building on +refinement and funneling +online & face-to-face +access to insight and strategy (confidentiality) +strategic thinking +faster process +immersive +robust and tailored concepts

what’s missing [compared to crowdsourcing] -smaller crowd -local -less diversification -fewer ideas -more expensive than crowd-sourcing

the case for a hybrid model bottom-up + top-down crowds + individuals group thinking + individual thinking

the hybrid model consumer crowd-sourcing co-creation immersion listen plan engage measure download workshop

bottom-up consumer crowd-sourcing co-creation immersion listen plan engage measure download workshop top down

the hybrid model consumer crowd-sourcing co-creation immersion listen plan engage measure download workshop No longer a linear process but a loop

a new habitat requires a new species (RT @samreid420)

in other words, short answer is: maybe

or not

http://woorkup.com	724
http://imgranados.wordpress.com	309
http://thecuriousbrain.com	240
http://www.facegroup.com	135
http://ldn.co-creationhub.com	127
http://www.facegroup.co.uk	124
http://www.slideshare.net	50
http://www.aghenorblog.com	36
http://magwep.com	25
http://planningnotizen.tumblr.com	11
http://colectivoplanner.tumblr.com	10
http://theinternetisjustafad.posterous.com	8
http://www.mercadobinario.com.br	8
http://watchingism.blogspot.com	7
http://jordanwillms.ca	5
url_unknown	5
http://carrotandapple.com	3
http://www.mercadobinario.blogspot.com	2
http://magwep.wordpress.com	2
http://www.misjournal.com	2
http://www.techgig.com	2
http://posterous.com	2
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1
http://a0.twimg.com	1
http://a0.twimg.com	1
http://24c.eu	1
http://www.e-presentations.us	1
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://www.mefeedia.com	1
http://mercadobinario.blogspot.com	1
http://209.85.129.132	1
http://ideen.posterous.com	1
http://mantey.typepad.com	1

Do Brands Need Agencies? | Face Forum, Nov 09

by Face, Social Intelligence for Brands

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

33 Embeds 1,848

Statistics