Today, agencies and client organizations all over the world are having the same conversation. How do we prepare ourselves to deliver on the never-ending deluge of digital options? How do we grow our existing team to get there? Is that even feasible, or do we need to find new digital talent? But, if we do that, then are we prepared to lose good people with other skills that are important to us?
Certainly this is not a new phenomenon, but there does seem to be an urgency that wasn’t there even a year ago. To be quite candid, our effort to get our organization up to snuff has been a struggle for many years—even with a successful digital practice that has been critical to our growth for more than 15 years now.
A very senior-level colleague of mine, who grew up in the traditional agency world as a creative, recently said, “I’ve come to the realization that it’s time to evolve or die.” Essentially he’s applying the “Digital Darwinism” principle to our talent. The statement struck me—no longer is training enough. No longer is hiring new digitally savvy talent enough. And, no longer is it enough to talk about evolving your culture... Read more
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The Digital Hunger Games
Tags: advertising, agencies, agency training, Digital Marketing, marketing, online marketing, social marketing, Strategy
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Social Media | No Comments »
"All Politics Is Digital" — Metrics Matter More Than Ever
Tip O’Neil once said, "all politics is local." Let me rephrase that for the ought-decade. All politics is digital. And to go one step further, all politics is branding.
I don't think I need to make a case for politics being digital, so I won't bore you with that. But politics is branding. And just like a brand, political campaigns and political issue initiatives need to know where their customers come from. In politics the customers are different. They’re called voters, donors, influencers, or volunteers. By identifying the media patterns of those “constituents” and ensuring that ads you run to support a campaign are relevant and visible, campaigns can act like the most successful brands.
Political Campaigns Are Brands
This ability to advertise to constituents like the most successful brands becomes eminently more urgent because of two trends. The first is the SuperPAC. SuperPACs are the Super Bowl of political spending. They are the force to dominate the battle of the airwaves with big impact. But as any battle tested brand knows, eventually you need to reach constituents on a micro level, giving way to the second most important trend in a political race: micro-donations. Here's what I mean. Four years and three... Read more
Tags: advertising, attribution, marketing metrics, politics
Posted in Emerging Platforms, Media Planning & Buying, Web Analytics | No Comments »
Digital RFP Does Not = “Real Frustrating Process”
Digital has become an important element for agencies to include during advertising campaigns. For the past four years, STRATA has been conducting surveys with media buying executives on important issues affecting the industry, one of which has always been Digital and how to get clients on board. Our stats show that the industry has mostly moved past education and adoption issues, to now agree on the fact that the current Digital RFP process has become a nightmare.
Definitely worth a read on some of the major issues, Namely’s CEO, Matt Straz pointed out in a bold MediaPost article, “People who work at agencies are frustrated because RFPs are still largely managed through email. A single RFP sent to a dozen publishers can result in hundreds of emails going back and forth among the parties.” Clearly, the process is tedious and lets be honest – it can be maddening.
A special poll recently conducted by STRATA (with agencies of varying sizes that are on a wide spectrum of buying systems) turned up some alarming information, mainly that many people have thrown their hands in the air when it comes to the Digital RFP process. While 27% say they plan to purchase a platform... Read more
Tags: advertising, digital, rfp
Posted in Ad Networks, Ad Serving, Media Planning & Buying, Social Media, Websites | No Comments »
The Ever-Changing Landscape of Ads
Continuing the conversation around optimization and the need for combining both art and science, today’s blog focuses on the effects of content (environment) on your campaign’s results.
Instead of discussing well-worn topics, such as the value of contextual placements and contextual targeting, I’d like to touch briefly on another effect of content dynamics. You see, the content of a website changes. It changes all the time.
Dynamic content implies that the environment in which your ad displays is constantly shifting. In turn, that means that the level of distraction around your ad is constantly in flux. Does this detract from the delivery of your message? What about a poorly written article? What is the affect on your advertising of a highly engaging writer? Does this lead the consumer to be more likely wooed by your message?
I am not touting the presence of unique technology to solve for this problem. I am speaking to the fact that algorithmic optimization, “silicon”-based optimization, so to speak, is a far-off notion. There are just too many variables. Once you think you have the answer, something in the environment changes, and all your calculations for content go awry.
Making a display campaign work in today’s environment is still... Read more
Tags: advertising, campaigns, content, content marketing, content strategy, contextual targeting, online advertising, Optimization, technology
Posted in Ad Serving, Creative Best Practices, Targeting | 1 Comment »
Pinspiration
If there is one word to describe me, it’s obsessive. Give me a lemon; I will make lemonade, lemon cookies, and lemon cake! So when a friend told me about Pinterest, I immediately became consumed. The plethora of visual stimuli became a realization of all things I love. If you have not discovered the amusingness of Pinterest, I highly suggest you browse.
Pinterest is a social media community to share collections of things you love. It has become a mix of Twitter, Facebook, and blog sites with its ability to follow fellow Pinterest owners, its connect ability, and the capacity to share what you like with others. What makes Pinterest different than Facebook and Twitter is that it is all via visual dialogue. There aren’t any personal pictures of you and your friends, or a written update of what you did today, but rather organized pictures using a scrapbook approach.
For those crafty individuals, Pinterest is THE place. All of the DIY craft ideas and recipes options, just to name a few, makes sharing ideas easy. It is like creating one big scrapbook and having the ability to share your interests with others. Pinterest is a way of feeding off other’s ideas,... Read more
Tags: advertising, creative, Digital Marketing, online advertising, pinterest, Social Media, social media marketing, technology, trends
Posted in Social Media, Websites | 2 Comments »
