Why our obsession with digital is leading to some dangerous behaviours and what it takes to be a post digital marketer. I delivered a version of this presentation at DMX Dublin (hosted by The Marketing Institute of Ireland) on 14th March 2018.

1. 1
Are you a post
digital marketer?
Martin Thomas
@Crowdsurfing

2. 2
@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
• Opened-up creative possibilities.
• Provided new ways to target and deliver tailored
messages to discrete audiences.
• Transformed how we measure ROI, promising
to make marketing more accountable.
DIGITAL IS GREAT FOR MARKETERS

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
of marketing executives are dissatisfied
with state of digital marketing
DIGITAL – YOU BLEW IT!
70%

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
1. Smart targeting has become hyper-targeting.
2. Creativity has been democratised and devalued.
3. Power of organic social has been exaggerated.
4. Planning has become seen as irrelevant.
5. Real-time optimisation has encouraged constant tinkering.
6. Personalisation risks becoming creepy.
7. Machines are putting ads in inappropriate places.
8. Google has become the crack cocaine of e-commerce.
9. The currency of digital has become debased.
ENCOURAGED POOR BEHAVIOUR

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The digital tail is wagging
the marketing dog.

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Smart targeting has become
hyper targeting

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We targeted too much and we
went too narrow.’
P&G’s chief brand officer, Mark Pritchard

8. 8
We are in danger of optimising
ourselves to extinction

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Creativity has become
democratised and devalued

10. 10
‘There’s an assumption that just
because everybody has got a
camera and access to a YouTube
channel, suddenly everybody is a
creative director. That’s why most
advertising is terrible and most films
are not very good. [Creativity] is a
precious skill.’
Dan Izbicki, creative excellence director at Unilever

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‘the age of online advertising has
brought with it an exponential
increase in crap’
Marc Pritchard, P&G chief brand officer

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Power of organic social has been
exaggerated

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‘we thought we didn’t need TV and
that we could just make content that
would go viral and make us famous.
That didn’t happen at all. We were
wrong.’
Abi Pearl, head of advertising, GiffGaff

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
• Fail fast, fail often
• Real time
• Instant algorithmic decision-making
• Constant tinkering – rarely for the better
PLANNING HAS BECOME SEEN AS
IRRELEVANT

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‘Plans are inconsistent with
improvisation.. Unless you’re a
fortune-teller, long-term
business planning is a fantasy.
in control of things you can’t
actually control.’
Rework: Change the way you work forever’,

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Personalisation
risks becoming
creepy
70%
say that facial
recognition
technology, which
identifies age and
gender to display
recommendations, is
creepy
RichRelevance

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Machines are putting ads in
inappropriate places

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Google has become the crack
cocaine of e-commerce

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
THE CURRENCY OF DIGITAL HAS
BECOME DEBASED
37%
of online
impressions
are fake 7.8m
5.7m
18-24s (UK)
ONS

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‘We cannot continue to prop up
a digital supply chain … which at
times is little better than a
swamp’
Keith Weed, Chief Marketing Officer, Unilever

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POST DIGITAL
MARKETING

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Respectful of
fundamental
principles of
effective
marketing
… many of
which were
codified in an
analogue age

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Recognise value of ‘sophisticated
mass marketing’

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Majority of a brand’s sales
come from infrequent
users, rather than a
hardcore of loyalists that
can be targeted easily
through digital channels
Byron Sharp, Why Brands grow
 Less worried
about waste
 Less
evangelical
about
optimisation

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‘We are going to significantly
increase our TV ad spend and
decrease our digital marketing
expenditures - which will result
in more sales of higher quality.’
Stephen Kaufer, CEO Tripadvisor

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
RECOGNISES VALUE OF FAME
Fame-driving campaigns are
4x as efficient as average campaign,
driving 4x the market share growth.
BBH Labs

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‘Fame is a magic ingredient that
can massively enhance the
performance of your
campaigns.’
BBH Labs

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@Crowdsurfing@Crowdsurfing
Machines and algorithms are
still no match for human
creativity and ingenuity

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‘As we all chased the Holy Grail
of digital, self-included, we were
relinquishing too much control
— blinded by shiny objects,
overwhelmed by big data, and
ceding power to algorithms.’
Marc Pritchard, P&G chief brand officer

30. 30
Are you a post digital
marketer?
Martin Thomas
@Crowdsurfing