This material is confidential and should not be shared with anyone other than the intended.
Ramping up digital
media during an
economic downturn
Steven Hutson
International Digital Director

Don’t panic!

The good news!
 Despite the recession, there has never been a better
time to start an online business. Niche markets and
a focused website can ensure visibility which can far
exceed that of a traditional bricks and mortar outlet
 Online social networking has encouraged service
providers and retail businesses to use cost-effective
Internet advertising, public relations and Web 2.0
viral marketing to reach huge audiences. By 2013,
we can safely predict that an estimated 52% of
Internet users will be regular social network visitors
 The steady stream of Web 2.0 social networking
updates and digital news is now a weekly, or even
daily habit for many online users

So what are companies doing?
 More and more companies are recognising digital
as the resolution too the credit crunch!
 Everyone is cutting costs, but not cutting on
innovation !
 Embracing present technologies and investing in
new ones
 Woolworths

Talent taking action
 Train, train, train
 More flexibility
 Freelancing methodologies
 Specialisations
 More maturity

Why the biscuit and why is it gone!

Ramping up digital media Barry Geleit
during an economic slowdown Creative Director @ RBI
Creativity in a new landscape

• Seeing the glass half full
• Turning challenges into opportunities
• Take a Creative approach
• Utilise all skills and resources
• Lateral thought process
• Partner with new experts
• Focus on training your team for the future
• Be in pole position for the upturn

Stage 1
Building Internal skills & knowledge experts
Have a flexible approach to problem solving
Ensure communication channels are kept open
Share best practice to avoid duplication of learning
Remain focused on goals – revenue or customer building
Ensure visibility from the widest audience through testing
Research your audience and keep on gaining feedback
Go with your instincts, you didn’t get where you are today...
Keep a watchful eye on the competition

Stage 2
Developing the product or service
Remember the advantage of online is you can adapt as you go
Cutting unnecessary costs – going digital will save on your bottom line
production, mailing, and update costs.
Get your marketing and media centres online
Link, link and link some more
Invest in SEO if you do nothing else!
Email but with multiple messages you need to control the output
Challenge your approach to ownership of information
Balancing the offering - customer needs vs. user needs vs. your needs

Stage 3
Push as much information as you pull and talk their language
Educate the users
Become the hub but not necessarily the source of the communication
Inspire your customers/advertisers
Offer more online bang for their bucks
Build the audience
Retain your brand focus on all you do, they will remember you
Create forums for knowledge sharing – webinars, conference (video)
Introduce Viral advertising – You Tube, targeted guerrilla advertising,
Mobile content through apps, games, social networking
Value your content – THEY DO AND WILL BE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT!

Link, link and link again

Choose the right
platform

Prioritise the content from day
one

Explore new ways of engaging – The 30 sec vs.
5 min stat

Be the connecting point
of your industry

Alert to new avenues
Understand the technology
Dissect the effectiveness
Interpret for your audience, in your language
Align to the market/advertiser needs
Communicate to potential users and research
Generate leads, revenue, fresh branches to the tree
Review continual development
And most importantly have fun and enjoy the ride!

Thank you Barry Geleit
Creative Director @ RBI

Honey, I’ve shrunk the budget!
Margot Dear
User Experience Director, LexisNexis
(Global Solutions Development)
May, 2009
Presentation Title |
25

Background of UX team
The UX team in the UK was first set up in 2002 and has a deep understanding
of products, customers and technical development across the global business
The User Experience team supports all online product development for the
LexisNexis International business units
The team has to be flexible in skills in order to accommodate a variety
of project budgets
We act as an internal agency, so the existence of the department is dependant
on incoming research project and product development
A large part of my role is to communicate the benefits of our team to the senior
managers across the business plus held educate the local development teams
why UX needs to be involved in the early concept stages
Presentation Title |
26

Product design without UX involvement
Companies see product
or web design
as an expensive
luxury item.
Presentation Title |
27

Product design without UX involvement
In reality projects still happen
with or without a design
team.
Engineers are not designers!
Presentation Title |
28

UK Practice Area – case study
Ethnographic research
The basic idea is similar to
traditional ethnography and pretty
simple:
1. Pick some people.
2. Hang out with them for a
while and pay careful attention
to what they do and say.
3. Come back and write it all
up.
4. It is cheap and valuable!
Presentation Title |
29

UK Practice Area – case study
What?
Investigated what lawyers think about, seek, share, manipulate,
manage and reuse information
How?
In-depth interviews and observations with 22 lawyers
Why?
Identify and define new product opportunities
Model typical legal workers and the lifecycle of a matter
Bring LexisNexis team members into contact with users
Research themes
Information Seeking and Use
Information Integration
Knowledge Management
Mobility
Presentation Title |
30

UK Practice Area – case study
Presentation Title |
31

UK Practice Area – case study
These books I will use more
than likely a good few times
a day. Anything that I’m
using a lot is right next to
me. Licensing procedures
and precedents, I use about
three or four times a day.
Stuart, Solicitor
Presentation Title |
32

UK Practice Area – case study
Presentation Title |
33

UK Practice Area – case study
Presentation Title |
34

UK Practice Area – case study
Presentation Title |
35

Conclusion
When you walk a mile in your
customers shoes you can:
Get your designers in front of the
people they are designing for
Highlight the profile of your design
team as an invaluable resource
Communicate valuable customer
information to your sales, training and
marketing teams
It is cheap!!
Presentation Title |
36

This material is confidential and should not be shared with anyone other than the intended.
Wrap up and questions
Steven Hutson
International Digital Director
shutson@aquent.com