do brands reallyneed agencies?face forum, november 2009, london

settingsome of the

context

with a few edited highlights fromour 2009 Tech Tribe report into

attitudes and behaviour of 18-25year olds

18-25 importantnot because

young adults arerepresentative

today… butbecause they

are earlyadopters and do

represent thefuture…

just as we have started to get to grips with the ‘web’ so itchanges 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 butgenuine content creation remains pretty stable

Influence of inner (my friends) andouter circle (the internet) onpurchase continues to grow

online is not just another channel – it represents the world that youngpeople live in

some key themes from ourtech tribe 2009 report

rapid changes in attitudesand behaviour due to

recession

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

76% watched TVonline (up from 45%

in 2008)

…reading newspaper & magazines is first totip from ‘offline’ to digital…. what’s next?

spending more timereading newspapers &

magazines digitallythan on paper

spending an average of30 minutes a day

watching TV online

58% downloaded films towatch online (up from

38% in 2008)

58%* have usedmobile to access the

internet

…and a new generation that will be always on– they don’t go to the web, the web comes tothem

*and handset functionality & cost are the main barriers at the moment

up from 50% in 2008(41% in 2006)

up from 5% in 200825% use mobile internetevery day

67%* social networking66% email60% finding places57% information

…so far mobile internet use mirrors someaspects of ‘traditional’ online behaviour

* of those who have used mobile internet at all

Skype / IM (50% used /

intend next 12 months)Other Apps (45%)Video-Messaging (40%)Geo-Tagging (40%)Twitter (30%)Augmented Reality (20%)

…but there are some interesting newapplications on the horizon

* of those who have used mobile internet at all

…contribution to social media still growing butthe number of true content creators remainsrelatively stable

…around 4 in 5 are actively engaged in somekind of social media

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

…around 3 in 10 will contribute to the internetby commenting, adding to forums, postingratings or reviews

…around 2 in 10 will genuinely build theinternet through blogs, their own websites &uploading their own videos

this has edged upwardsfrom around 15% in 2007

but it is still a case of aminority (albeit substantial)

talking to the majority

…but when it comes to influence on purchase,young people are heavily influenced by theconversations going on in their inner circle

93% are influenced bywhat friends tell them

…but the outer circle is becoming increasinglyinfluential too

85% are influenced bywhat they read or hear

generally online (upfrom 70% in 2008)

…twitter is not being used by everybody(contrary to its media status only around 2 in10 young people have used it)

these young people haveused twitter this year

…compared to the (continuing for now)primacy of facebook

this person isn’t even onfacebook!

66% have made their socialnetwork more private

55% have cut back on theirfriends /become more picky

about who they accept asfriends

32% are using socialnetworks less

…but social media behaviourdoesn’t stand still

80% say the recessionhas changed the way they

think about the future

67% paying special attention topromotions and special offers

56% staying in with friends morerather than going out

52% taking food they have made athome to work, school or college

…behaviour change fast – how quickly canbrands respond?

70% agree that quality ismore important than quantity

in today’s climate

54% started to only buythings I really need now

backlash against 15 minutesof fame culture – only 12%

agree that fame is desirable

attitudes change quickly, how quickly can werespond?

what thismeans in2010 andbeyond?

evolved consumershuge untapped creative potential

empoweredconsumer

quick, easy, cheap waysfor 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 butwhat consumers are doing to and with your brand” Mark Earls

“where the truth lies”

media clutter

not only trust in adshas fallen but also itsstructural capacity ofgenerating influence(reach)

sea ofniches

personalization,diversification,fragmentation,niches culture,

tailoredapproach

always in beta personalization and diversification also

mean that systems are getting flexible andadaptive to incorporate the users input

around me:pull NOT push

fragmentation also means the new andonly potential center is now “me”

rise of the real-timecollective mind

gettinginformation that’s

relevant to who Iam, where I am

and what I’m up to

sharinginformation withthe right people,

at the right time, inthe right way

It’s notinformationoverload.It’s filterfailure (c. shirky)

But filtersare gettingbetter

ambient modelcontinuous

togetherness

and now these conversationsare moving offline

stopcalling it

newmedia

and digitalit’s here

andeverywhere

how is marketing[still]

responding to all this?

ivory tower mentality

consumers don’t reallyknow what they want

still dreamingof raisingthe perfectconsumer

consumersas passive

respondents

campaigns

consumersengage with

brandsevery day

why shouldbrands engage

with themquarterly?

one sizefits all

supposedlyconsistency...

actually,blindness to

organic diversity

command& control

monolithic brands

planning in silos

not invented here syndrome

asynchronous mode

the world has changed

marketing, branding andthe “agency model” haven’t

changed that much...

brand agency

radio

tvbrand

agencies

consumers

channels

print

online

exp

insight

insight

new

new

marketing : social media = tin pan alley : rocknroll

how do we move away fromthis model?

social media is NOTanother channel

is the platform where all media convergeand the glue between brands and

consumers

+insights+idea generation

+testing & validation+distribution

+wom & advocacy

brand don’t own the spaceanymore, consumers own it

strategy should be built around themnot around the brand

It’sjust

peoplenot alien

“consumers”

stop thinking of “the others”

it’s all about immersion

tapping into the richestinsight field, free,

spontaneous,always up-to-date

consumersas partners

the web asworld’s largest

creative department

continuousengagement,

not campaigns

conversations andrelationships, NOT

messages

cross-mediaexperience-driven

not channel-driven

one sizedoesn’t fit all

1000 headsfor

1000 msgs

agile brandingresponding to change over following a plan

[adaptive brand planning]

old vs new model

consumersobservationrespondents

messagescampaigns

one sizechannels

silosmonolithic

peopleimmersionpartners

relationshipsstory

niche tailoredexperiencescollaboration

adaptive

brand agency

radio

tvbrand

agencies

consumers

channels

print

online

exp

insight

insight

From this…

brand agencytv

radio

print

web

exp

social media

ideas

brands

people

ambie

nt

facilitate channels

insights

insig

hts

ideas

To this…

brand

Fast Company predicts"Ad agency executive" to

be among six jobs thatwon't exist in 2016

but is it reallyall about

bottom-up andcrowd engagement?

“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”

some reactions...

let’s take a stepback

+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 you get

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

“the bottom-up mindwill take us much further,

but will never take us to the end goal”(kevin kelly)

bottom upis not enough

Crowd-sourcing needs to be part of a bigger process

let’s take a lookat another approach

co-creation

Is the act of company stakeholderscollaborating directly with selected (usuallysmaller) groups of consumers to work on a

specific brief.

Is about leveraging consumers’ creativitywithout preempting the results of the process

Can take place on-line in communities or/andoffline in workshops

+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 you get

-smaller crowd-local-less diversification-fewer ideas-more expensive than crowd-sourcing

what’s missing[compared to crowdsourcing]

the case for a hybrid model

bottom-up + top-downcrowds + individuals

group thinking + individual thinking

listen plan engage measure

consumer immersion

co-creationcrowd-sourcing

downloadworkshop

the hybrid model

listen plan engage measure

consumer immersion

co-creationcrowd-sourcing

downloadworkshop

top down

bottom-up

listen plan engage measure

consumer immersion

co-creationcrowd-sourcing

downloadworkshop No longer

a linear process but a loop

the hybrid model

a new habitat

requires a new species(RT @samreid420)

in otherwords,shortansweris:maybe

or not