Aki Spicer, Fallon's Director of Digital Strategy conducted a workshop at VCU Brandcenter's Executive Training Program for account planners. "The Engagement Opportunity" outlines the evolving role and function of strategic planning in this age of digital and social technologies and proposes a methodology for integrated creative ideation.

2. “The Engagement Opportunity"
@VCU Brandcenter
Executive Training Program 2010 “Planning in a Digital Age”

3. Hi. I am Aki Spicer.
Veteran Planning Director at Fallon
Now leading Digital Strategy
Blogger
Author
User
Co-Founding "Officer of Good" for Planning For Good
Forging standards and practices for social media
analytics here at Fallon
Want to help bring planning into the age of participation

4. Not another doomsday prophecy presentation.
I promise.

5. A close look at the problems opportunities now
facing strategists.

6. Toolkit of actionable (field-tested) frameworks.

7. Building on the roots of planning…

9. So, why "Digital Strategy?"

10. Shift happened.
You can’t outspend your way across the network.
You can’t outshout your way across the network.
You have to outsmart your way across.
Your ad is here.
Matthew Hurst/Nielsen, “Mapping the Blogosphere”, 2007, http://datamining.typepad.com/gallery/blog-map-gallery.html,

11. Shift Happens.

12. Shift Happens.

13. Shift Happens.
"Our traditional agencies have always been built
around an old production model (websites,
films)...nothing against production, but production
has been commoditized - strategy isn't...we are
aggressively trying to build (agency) relationships
around strategy and analytics going forward."
Jim Cuene, Director of Interactive, General Mills
Speaking on panel: “How Digital Has Changed the CMO Role”
@ Forrester Consumer Forum, October 2009

14. Shift Happens.

15. But…agencies aren't necessarily getting it right.
And clients are getting impatient. Tick. Tick.

16. A reboot is in order for the "digital discipline".

17. Someday, this debate won't matter…we'll all be
"digital". Someday. -ish. Right?

18. Until then…there is the Digital Strategist.
Boldly going.

19. Digital Strategy seeks to bridge the gaps betwixt
technology, the creative idea, the target as user, the
business objectives and the brand.
Computer Artistes Code Monkeys
Clients understand neither.
Clients trust neither.
• Innovation-led
• Tech-led
• Not ROI-minded • Math-minded
• Uncompromising/Unapproachable • Agreeable/Complacent
• Disconnected from customer • Disconnected from brand (values
(values and capabilities) and big ideas)
• Expensive • Expensive
Ideas, not solutions Efficiency, not ideas

20. Digital Strategists are bringing grounded creativity
to technology.
Computer Artistes Code Monkeys
User Insights
Big Picture Integration
Social
Content Strategy
Web Entertainment Transactions
(ideas, not solutions) Mobile and Everyware(efficiency, not ideas)
Tools and Apps
Data Analytics
Innovation Pipeline

21. The problem(s)/opportunity of our digital age.

22. “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror.
We march backwards into the future.”
Marshall McLuhan
22

23. Liminal Space
23

24. “Nicholas Negroponte declared the digital revolution over in
1998, but it took adland 12 more years to rework its basic
creative, technological, philosophical and procedural
assumptions.”
Teressa Iezzi
Advertising Age, May 23
“Post-Digital Era Brings Traits of Web to Real World”

25. “Now that we can do anything, what will we do?”
Bruce Mau, Massive Change

26. Insights in. Insights out.
Whatever the device or channel, it is always about leveraging
the human motivation.
*ie, Less about the model phone this monkey is using -
and more understanding about what is the monkey doing/seeking?

27. Some rules of (digital) planning in the new age:

28. Everyone participates.
28

29. "The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I
designed it for a social effect - to help people work together
- and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is
to support and improve our weblike existence in the world.”
Tim Berners-Lee - inventor of the internet

30. “What new technology does is create new
opportunities to do a job that customers want
done.”
Tim O’Reilly-writer, activist, futurist, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media

31. Successful brands have embraced “people powered
ideas” and "back pocket solutions" by offering true
benefit in their marketing.

32. Technology is converting viewers to users, and users
(ideally) to advocates.
Viewing. Participation. Advocacy.
But advocacy isn’t free:
It comes when value compels evangelism.

33. The Fallon process is built to enable participation
and utility to consumers, in order to unlock their
value for brands.
If you invest in your consumers,
they'll invest in you.

34. The way we define it:
We make Generous Interactions™ for your brands.

35. Insights we've gleaned about Generous Interactions
amidst this liminal space.

36. “…Most of our campaigns utilize digital media as an
enabler medium, having both on and offline components,
because the truth is most of our lives and emotions we
share take place in the real world.”
Johannes Leonardo
ECD Leo Premutico
Ad Age May 23
“Post-Digital Era Brings Traits of Web to Real World”

37. From "above-the-line" and "below-the-line" towards
just blurred lines…

38. The implications Blurred Lines have on planning
• Become a generalist
• Widen your skillsets
• Learn to speak fluent(ish) geek
• Platform ideas, not channel tactics
• Conducting brand strategy across design thinking, usability and
UX (user experience), IA (information architecture),
functionality, data flow and web/social chatter analytics, media
and connections planning.

39. “…these are not life goals, but rather interaction goals…
because the task a person is attempting to complete at any
given moment is the most important task to that person, at
that moment.”
Robert Hoekman, Jr
Designing the Moment

40. From "target insights" towards "user insights"…

41. In redesigning a bank rewards site, we realized that
user engagement demands more than mere
alignment of pantones and logotypes.

42. The implications User Insights have on planning
• Widen your insight resources beyond the survey and the
focus group
• Get granular about the moment, grease the wheels of
micro actions
• Know more about our targets in the digital context
(usage data, lifestyle needstates, device penetration, personas,
usability and multivariate testing)

43. “In 1997, the average click thru rate on online ads was
2.1%. In 2001 it was 0.5%. In 2008 it was 0.1%.”
IABStats, @IAB

44. From 00:30:00 towards 00:03:02…
.”

45. The implications 00:03:02 have on planning
• Prioritize messaging heirarchy
• Speed the action desired – what the hell do we want people
to do?
• Champion relentless reductionism

46. “We assume guaranteed failure when we simply cut+paste
our traditional creative into digital environments.”
Tomas Emmers
Consumer+Market Insights Director
Unilever
@Digital Media Measurement Summit 2010

47. From "360º execution" towards "brand molecule"...
.”

48. Extending our creative TV execution really didn't pay off
for us when trying to tell/sell customers on the web about
the new Country Chicken at Boston Market.

49. The implications Brand Molecule has on planning
• Sourcing a macro "core idea" (not necessarily the creative
execution) and guiding its adaptation throughout an explosion
of media contexts and user insights
• Strategizing the right dress for each occasion
• Beyond entertainment and "likeability" plus information –
utilities and facilitating transactions

50. From paid media towards people-powered ideas…

51. @WhiteRabbitInc invited people to play along and
participate with our advertising across a wide range
of touchpoints.

52. The implications People-Powered Ideas have on
planning
• Now that people are media, we need to outline 'what is the
role for people to participate with our idea?'
• Integrating a new metric for what people are saying
about our brand, Overheard™

53. “The next great media company won’t have a website, it
will be all spokes and no hub. It will exist as a
constellation of connected apps and widgets that live
inside other sites and offer a full experience plus access
to your social graph and robust community features.”
Steve Rubel
Media Magazine, Sep 2009

54. From hubs toward spokes…

55. The implications Hub and Spokes have on planning
• Microsites and websites are not the center of your
users' world
• Fish where the fish are biting
• One idea is no longer enough, you need lots of small ideas
swimming out in the vast www and social sea

56. “In this era defined by the personal Newsfeed, ‘fans’
expect their ‘friends’ to do more, not less.”
56

57. From campaigns towards commitments…

58. The implications Commitment has on planning
• Launch is simply the beginning…learn, iterate, reboot.
Rinse and repeat.
• You're on the hook, what value do you bring users
everyday?

59. “The winner will be the one that figures out how to
bring elegant organization to the disorganized
social network that the internet already is.”
Jeff Jarvis
What Would Google Do?

60. From Art Direction towards UX…
.”

61. From Art Direction towards UX…
.”

62. From Art Direction towards UX…
.”

63. .”

64. The implications UX has on planning
• Love the user
• Less "impact" and "disruption", more "usage" and
"experience"
• Informs messaging maps, metadata framework, SEO,
taxonomy, technical copywriting, folksonomy, quality
assurance, licensing evaluations

65. And from Copywriter towards Content Manager…

66. The implications Content Strategy has on planning
• Operate like a magazine publisher or talk show
producer – conversation calendars and content development
• Get granular…what are we planning to offer our newfound
"fans" and "friends" next Thursday?
• Real-time readiness – plan for responsiveness
• Informs messaging maps, metadata framework, SEO,
taxonomy, technical copywriting, folksonomy, quality
assurance, licensing evaluations

67. Digital is putting hybrid disciplines onto the work
and demanding "T-shaped" talent to pilot success.

68. The implications T-shaped People have on planning
• Widen your source of good ideas and creativity
• Planners as doers, not just watchers

69. "Creative agencies should get nervous. We're acquiring a
lot of (good quality) content and ideas beyond our
agencies (from publishers, PR agencies, hybrid models,
UGC). We're increasingly cutting out the middle man.”
Stephen Strong
Global Director of Interactive
Alberto-Culver

70. From creation towards curation…

71. The implications Curation has on planning
• Production is commoditized across a wider array of partners
(beyond partner agencies, partner media and users, too!) –
strategic guidance is vital now more than ever
• Now that people are media outlets, too, must outline a role
for the users' content
• A brief that informs more disciplines (incl Media
Connection and Interactive)

72. “Traditional survey research is dead.”
Kim Dedeker
VP, Global Consumer and Market Knowledge
Proctor & Gamble
72

73. “We may have no choice but to move away from
survey research.”
Donna Goldfarb
Consumer and Market Insights
Unilever
73

74. "...it’s as if a universe of focus groups is forming
online. Tens of millions of people participate. Many
write copiously. And, from a marketer’s point of
view, many are gloriously indiscreet about
practically everything."
Stephen Baker, Author
the Numerati

75. From "ask research" towards "listen research"…
Real Voices in Real Time.
Overheard™ is Fallon's proprietary analytics tool for wiretapping social
web chatter for insights and ideas – Real Voices in Real Time.
Overheard™ listens for real time conversations about your brand
throughout Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogs and plays back the
key trends and insights hidden within (sentiment, viral reach and
influence) to inspire winning creative ideas.

76. From "because we can" towards "because they
asked us to"

77. The implications Overheard has on planning
• The social web’s impact demands that a brand is less what we
say it is, and more what they say it is.
• Your brand may be uniquely permitted (or not) to join the
conversation at The Social.
• Let fans’ points-of-passion guide your entry into the
conversation.
• Already-existent advocacy may deserve to be amplified.
Consider how to put a spotlight on this passion.
• Give people what they want. Watch and listen for what they
already do to learn what they want.

78. “The shock that the Internet caused [to the industry] is still
not finished. We need to be ahead of the curve; otherwise
we will not be able to accompany the client of tomorrow.”
Maurice Levy
CEO Publicis Groupe
78

79. From "mastery" to "invention"

80. Skimmer generously gives users some elegant
organization of all your social touchpoints.

81. Caprica's Open Mic App on Facebook invites fans
to talk back to the show's cast and producers.

82. The implications Invention has on planning
• Question: why have no agencies invented the groundbreaking
inventions of our age? YouTube? Facebook? Twitter?
• Embrace experimentation and failure
• Jump in and invent something

83. “A good engagement brief/idea uses action verbs
– it asks people to do something.”
83

84. Media that is driven by the language of actions
demands clear input on what we want people to do
with our ideas.

85. Banners…how would you like people to participate?

86. Websites…how would you like people to participate?

87. Social…how would you like people to participate?

88. Mobile…how would you like people to participate?

89. From "simply said" towards the "engagement
opportunity"
Syfy's Alice
Simply Said: Beloved Classic, Imagined Greater.
Engagement Opportunity: Return to wonderland. Give people immersive personal experiences with a
mythology they've left behind.
Totinos
Simply Said: Totino's is kids' favorite favorite thing.
Engagement Opportunity: Demonstrate how Totino’s is Mom's co-conspirator in enabling kid smiles.
Simply Said: For Back-to-School, Totino's gives Moms+kids (double box tops) more to smile about.
Engagement Opportunity: Turn Moms' offline advocacy into online evangelism, with just a click.
Syfy's Eureka
Simply Said: Meet the people, behind the genius, behind the town of Eureka
Engagement Opportunity: Talk with your favorite Eureka character. Really.
ADCBTouchpoints.com
Simply Said: Re-skin the site with the updated logotypes and pantones
Engagement Opportunity: Demonstrate how users are rewarded for everything they do with the bank.

90. Step 1: Understand the business issue that digital
can help solve.
From: “We need banners.”
Define
the Biz
Problem.
To: “Here’s what we’re trying to solve.”

91. Step 2: Use proprietary Fallon tools to listen to
consumers in the wild who talk about, and use, our
brands.
Overheard
Define
the Biz Listen In.
Problem.

92. Step 3A: Identify unmet consumer need surrounding
the category or brand.
Define Define the
the Biz Listen In. “User”
Problem. Problem.
Differentiating Step: How can we add value for consumers by delivering
utilitarian benefit?

93. Step 3B: Define the role we want people to play in
our ideas, and role of digital within the mix.
Define the
“User”
Define Problem.
the Biz Listen In.
Problem.
Role for
Participation.
Differentiating Step: Outlining a clear role that the groundswell may play in
achieving objectives.

94. Step 4: Invent solutions to the business problem,
focusing on end user value and participation.
Define the
“User”
Define Problem.
the Biz Listen In. Invent.
Problem.
Role for
Participation.
Differentiating Step: Ideas live within a larger plan, and include a perspective on
traditional media.

95. Step 5: Listen to consumer reaction, and analyze
(previously defined) participation metrics.
Overheard
Define the
“User”
Define Problem.
the Biz Listen In. Invent. Listen
Problem. Out.
Role for
Participation.

96. Step 6: Less popular ideas go away, and those with
promise are fueled.
Define the
“User”
Define Problem.
the Biz Listen In. Invent. Listen Adjust
Problem. Out. Approach.
Role for
Participation.

97. Thanks.

98. Let's continue the conversation.
This and other Fallon Brainfood presentations may be found at
http://www.slideshare.net/group/we-are-fallon
@akispicer
#MNAMA
http://www.linkedin.com/in/akispicer
http://www.fallon.com