TLDR:

New secularism is a conference at Bucks New University that start three year ago to let marketing, advertising and public relation students take part in industry topics.

The guests this year where as follows;

Jayne Barr – Global digital advertising manager at Shell Corporate

Sorcha Garduce – Digital Insight Director at Havas Media

Jonathan Jordan – ceo/founder at Sermelo

Andrew Baiden – ceo Thirteen

Bob Leaf – former Burson-Marsteller international ceo

Structure if the agency world, it has been more complicated because there are more people in the marketing communications process. ‘The creative would never meet the client’ This way because the process has to be quicker, always reacting to client/consumer demand for relevant messaging.

The approach to digital expertise was bought in house, but now culturally employers are looking for for people with this digital knowledge and understanding.

Younger generations have shower attention spans, would this suggest a shift towards the Vines, Instagram video content and the 140 micro blogging content. The problem is can agencies/brands solve a problems for their clients through these mediums.

Big Challenge for Agencies

To attract audience attention, it’s no longer enough to bombard our way into culture; we must become a part of itBrands are competing for the finite attention of their audience in a ferociously competitive marketWhat we say, how we say it, to whom and where requires radical new thinking

This blog will be exploring these existing models and suggesting qualities for new ones.

Co-funding programmes in close collaboration with broadcasters and production companies. This was an interesting point, as this has been done for many years, but the way in which the content has a branded narrative message within.  If the agencies where part of the production, it could be another revenue stream but also for longer term brand awareness and associations. This may become more prevalent with acceptance of prouduct placement

Agencies can no longer structure themselves in teams of single-discipline ‘experts’, sitting in silos in linear workstreams. They need to be a team of world-class ‘creators’ : writers, producers, bloggers, coders, analysts, researchers, marketers, media investors and strategists. I personally thought this would no happen so much within an agency model, the sharing of resources would be key to a business that is meant to be on the cutting edge of social trends. This effects of this will have to be reviewed within my dissertation study of a media planner.

Their business is about creating emotional engagement between brands and audiences

The buying has changed

Away from telling what people say it’s more of a presenting tool, let the consumer of the media decide, less herding people, more hunting the right people with targeting relevant ads/content. Media needs to buys people not audience/media. Also how can media agencies use earned media in realtime linking to my dissertation.

The modern consumer is ‘Always on’ with the their mobiles phones next to them ready to receive messages.

Havas Media has 50% of income in digital. With the highest % of any integrated agency. Also being Facebook Council

member globally and UK.

The internet has long been hailed as the most measurable medium. So tips from Sorcha is learn the lingo now, PPC, CTRs

(Click through Rates) Conversion Rate CPM (Cost per Thousand) Dwell time Upstream & Downstream Traffic…

But comparing apples with apples has always been difficult. This slide was interesting for Vic Davies, Chris Twinning and I because this topic keeps popping up during our Advertising strategy module and IPA Futures group research study. Here is the slide of comparing transitional data from JICs and new media.

Digital = 31% of a £17.6 billion market *Digital = Online, Mobile and Tablet  SOURCE: IAB / PwC Digital Adspend 2012 & WARC

Future challenges

How do I know what value my display advertising had on purchaseComparing apples with applesWhat is the incremental reach from my TV to online activity?Is my ad being delivered to the right people?How can I find out if my online advertising had an impact on offline sales?Is my ad in view on the screen?Is my ad being shown around appropriate content?

Question I would like to ask, how in which are agencies solving these problems and how they react to clients when they ask these questions, are agencies ready?

In-flight optimization

‘Providing immediate visibility into the branding performance of your digital campaigns’ (Havas 2013)

Both to researhc further, comScore Brand Lift Survey and Nielsen/Vizu Online Brand Effect

Some facts on Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings

Partnership with FacebookTracks online campaign reach, frequency and GRPs on a large scale30 millions privacy protected FB users as opposed to 60,000 panelMeasures people not machinesComparable with other media (GRPs)In-flight optimizationDelivery against target audienceThe challenge is measuring success – join convergence or kpis

After this slide Sorcha showed the audience a spreadsheet that had predictions on how effective the campaign was, and how the communications could be re-focused to hit targets. Question is how in detail can you go with these in-flight models, to show correlations between mediums and their effect on each one. Thinking about this makes me want to develop more knowledge and skills in econometrics as this was mentioned in mu second year to make sure we understand how to interpret the data. In-flight optimisation is very interesting and i cant wait to get my hands on it.

Iab engage event stats

60% email while watching TV37-52% searching for TV related content while watching.Consumers move quicker then measurement

MMX® Multi-Platform

This needs further research relating to my dissertation topic. ComScore defines the service as ‘The Most Comprehensive Digital Audience Measurement and Media Planning Solution. MMX Multi-Platform leverages comScore’s existing digital media planning currency and expands its benefits to provide important multi-platform insights that better reflect the state of digital consumer behaviour today.’

Coming up… Facebook and Datalogix partership

Advertisers looking to know how social fits into their entire media mix it’s and impact on offline sales.How does social media work with TV and how does Facebook deliver on the core measurementsWill offer marketers a way to measure how their ads on Facebook drive sales for their products in storeMeasures how often Facebook users see a product advertised on the social network and then complete a purchase in store using customer loyalty card data.Long been a method used in the offline world e.g. Kantar World Panel, Dunnhumby.. but has been challenging for digital measurementThis partnership has potential to unpick the online impact on offline sales relationshipChallenge is to be able to do this outside the FMCG sector

This all backups my theory that Facebook wants to drive more value within the media industry, to be able to show how their model directly effects the decision process. The problem is by Facebook having control of the data, looking for that added value. If its ‘raw’ data then it should be real figures.

Havas ‘Listen to’ all the following and more, so I will over christmas research into them all and if possible get trails or work experience to have some basic knowledge on most of them. I personally believe that I will need to know how they work, what they can do, so I can make decisions of the data and make sure I can prove my actions. What I want to know is you can compare or use data from previous campaigns to evaluate a range of variables that would effect a campaign.

End comments for her talk mentioned that the insight team will be the start of all strategy for departments including a media planner. This information will be good for my dissertation.

Digital is a change of DNA  – We generally want more answers and expect greater transparency and consistency.

Media description, pressure on publishers because of reduced spend. ‘No Golden hour anymore’ The medium is the message, The different type of trust consumers will have with different types of media, from a news article to a tweet.

“2/3 of messaging we receive we don’t believe”

“90% journists look on twitter for story material”

“Departments need to work together for resonance. It’s about the engaged the workforce”

Businesses are moving towards a new model of dealing with issues. The below models demonstrate this. The only problem is that companies till don’t understand digital, they see it as a channel not as a mind set. The problem with the old model, there are no comparable aims and objectives as each issue is different to the next. The way this relates to advertising or content marketing is that the landscape is ever changing, how can one realtime event post be compared to another when they relate differently to consumers contextually at different times.

Paid – refers to all forms of paid content that exists on third-party channels or venues. This includes banner or display advertisements, pay-per-click programs, sponsorships and advertorials.

Earned – includes traditional media outreach as well as blogger relations/outreach where we attempt to influence and encourage third-party content providers to write about our clients and their products and services.

Shared – refers to social networks and technologies controlled by consumers along with online and offline WOM

Owned – includes all websites and web properties controlled by a company or brand including company or product websites, micro-sites, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter channels.

When developing your own business you must have ‘fire in your belly’. The business must also reflect your personal values. When partnering up you must work with….

People you trustPeople who don’t interferePeople who add to your skillsetPeople who you have checked out

Jonathan strengths and weaknesses of Ads vs PR (The digital battle)

PR’s strength – A soft, indirect sell (if you can convince media, you can convince consumers)PR’s weakness – Junior partners in the mix for too long – low self-confidenceAdvertising’s strength – Message control; measurable; major budget confidenceAdvertising’s weakness – Synthetic conversations can jar with the digital consumer

Things you may see in the next 2 years

Integration & partnership is the futureBiz analysts/software engineers in PR firmsAnalytics sorting PR’s Achilles heel: measurability More disintegration within major groups/small is beautifulMore flexibility of workforceThe decline of 10 major firms who failed to adapt

What kind of people we look for

People who just ‘get it’

Involved with media/storylines/popular culture – I need to read everything.Suggest rather than wait – Know whats going on and how to react.Think around problems, find solutions – Resourceful and creative.Don’t just wait for answers – Ask them and find a way to answer them.Write bloody well – Become less DyslexicKnow how analytics work – Can use google analytics, but aim to understand the above services.Are social (both meanings!) – Well University has helped.Have got experience in agencies/in-house – BBH, marketing internship but need way more.

“The more I practise, the luckier I get” Gary Player

Nerves are goodTake a bottle of waterHave a quiet one the night beforeBe earlyCarry the laptopDuring a pitchLearn your scriptDeliver each tactic in 30 secondsAdapt if the clients changes the goal postsLook at your bosses eyes for cluesSmile

The more you do for the team, the quicker you’ll get on a pitch

75% students in pr are womenEstate training, not media training.. For intergrated messagingCEO 47% responsible for company representationWork for a company visionCSR corporate social responsibilityAnyone had do PR if they have a phone.

The Art of Perception: Memoirs of a Life in PR [Hardcover] Now waiting for this book in the post £15 off and signed.

Overall the conference was good, but like every conference there is great number of changes going on within both Ads and comms industries. The up and coming blog posts will explore these issues further.