Long view of change

Undoubtedly, the media landscape has changed . “It’s Really, Really Bad,” read the headline of a BNET article .

While dramatic, and perhaps tragic, the changing media landscape hasn’t occurred suddenly: It’s been a process that started with the advent of the Web and has accelerated exponentially with each evolution of new technology.

While social media is cited as a catalyst, and that analysis is accurate, it’s arguably more precise to define social media as the tipping point, when considering a longer view. Online bulletin boards, even e-mail have existed for many years and all entail elements of social media.

These mediums were, and still are, a way to develop, exchange and publish information through a network.

Anyone with Internet access can search, send or create content. Online press releases – press releases designed for distribution on the Web, are a good example. Originally, a press release was mailed, faxed or otherwise delivered over a proprietary network to the media. As such, the press release was designed, structured and written exclusively for a media audience. By contrast, once published to the Web, anyone could have access to that information and this broadened (or perhaps redefined) the target audience to include customers.

This has transformed what was once a vehicle purely used for PR purposes, into one for communicating directly with prospects and customers. In turn, the press release has become important not just for news announcements, but as part of an overall marketing program where search engine optimization (SEO) is pivotal.

The flip side of this has also been true. Some pundits say an effect of social media is that marketers are losing, or have lost, control of their brands. There is certainly merit to that debate, but the notion is not new. Examples such as the Flaming Ford, proved long before Facebook or Twitter, that users have the ability to develop and publish information about a brand, an organization or a company.

So what has been the effect of social media? Web 2.0 and the rise of social media has been an accelerating factor for this slowly emerging trend. The ease-of-use has made developing and publishing user-generated content simple – and more importantly, provided the ability to quickly share that information. As such, social media has an extraordinarily efficient viral effect that moves at speeds unlike any other. This has ushered the PR professional, with a history and background in working with editorial contacts, into an increasingly central role in marketing.

There is no doubt that the advertising/marketing industry has an identity crisis resulting in brand advertisers trying to figure out who does what.

However, trying to figure out your brand marketing mix is a lot more complicated than it was 20 years ago.

The original concept behind Advertising and Marketing has to change because change throughout all marketing endeavours is now driven by consumer behaviour which has resulted in Clients now opting for digital agencies to lead communications. Advertising must develop a strong multi media position together with a strong digital/interactive element.

Additionally acquisitive interest has shifted from traditional to digital, buyers will pay top dollar only for technical platforms and intellectual property – ideas that make money overnight – which maybe the current positioning of Advertising & Marketing is the direct opposite of! - your value currently lies in fragile client relationships?

Traditionally defined roles are changing and Marketing has to be part of this change as lines continue to blur.

I wonder whether our industry puts too much stock in “Experience”. Is experience overrated in media when the ground is shifting so quickly?

WPP's Martin Sorrell, a few years back said brands weren’t moving quickly to digital because the people running agencies 'tend to be of an older vintage', which he felt were more inclined 'to be resistant to change'.

Clients to-day are so often looking for new ideas and new thinking. Should Marketing continue the same old concept year after year?

Perhaps in your case having little direct experience in your sector might be an advantage.

You should spend less time remembering the past, when, after all, you work in a change industry. So perhaps you should start acting like it instead of being to afraid of losing what you have left to risk it all, for something better, regardless of whether it's from a lack of belief – or apathy or laziness – you are squandering a great opportunity to lead!

To-day the marketing landscape is more confusing for Clients than ever. The toolbox is filled with new gadgets that are being misused more than ever. Marketing should be showing the right way, and that necessitates knowing the way.

Innovate integration.
Perhaps a lack of conviction is why clients are showing less loyalty than ever. Integration is the new buzzword, but its implementation is a contradiction in most cases. Many agencies refer to it as the "jungle." A tangled mess of tactics that in most cases, work against one another to create a consistent brand story. Integration is an evolving method. There's room for innovation in how to use it to get the best results. Those that do so early are going to lead our industry for the foreseeable future.

A little over-the-horizon looking should come as second nature to an industry that prides itself on having the pulse of "what's next." Instead, we seem to cling to "remember when." Take a look at what you're offering your clients.

For too long, marketing functions have been vertically organised by media type. This approach is mirrored on the agency side, with rewards based on discipline-specific P&L models. These must be torn down.

On the client-side Marketing and Brand Managers must involve and lead a team of colleagues who have the responsibility, vision, understanding and commitment to engage in a media-agnostic planning process. And this team of enlightened marketers must be willing to let strategic goals -- not historic patterns -- drive budget allocations.

Engaging in conversations with relevant markets (Interacting) will become an important source of knowledge and innovation, the quality of this market intelligence has already (and will do so more in the future) proven to be more accurate than research and will determine market share.

Without interactive communication your efforts to create new products and markets will be taking place in a vacuum.

As Advertising comes to reflect the information provided by the genuine conversations of interactive communication, instead of the ballyhoo and adversarial marketing tactics that poses as marketing today, Advertising will be far better served, and so to will their customers.

My recently published book "Television killed advertising" is now available @ Amazon Books UK. In the book I detail just how much more effective interactive communication is when compared to conventional advertising and details the results of a research investment in excess of £5 m. It also discusses where we went wrong in the past and where we are going to go wrong in the future unless we learn the real meaning of the word "communication."