2/6/2010Posted by Matt Meadow, Search Associate Media Director
New Search advertising formats integrate images into PPC ads :
There used to be a time when you went to a restaurant and sat down to look at a menu. The menu contained a brief description of the food item, and either that triggered your decision to order it, or you moved on to the next description.
Much like a conventional paid search ad.
Then along came IHOP, Waffle Houses and Denny’s chain restaurants. They replaced most of that elegant descriptive text with glorious, glossy pictures showing incredibly sexy images of various meals, positioned in prime menu real estate. With that one simple tactic, this helped to guide consumer decisions with just a glance, leaving the text portions looking less. . . appetizing.
There are several new Search ad formats on the horizon, but here are the two newest ones.
First to market: Rich Ad in Search (RAIS) from Yahoo:
This ad type combines paid search with rich media, engaging consumers in Yahoo! search results, currently available for branded advertising for a significant minimum monthly spend. These ads can contain a logo or a short video attachment that will open below the ad. Search teams marketing Pharma brands are also very interested in the ability to add fair-balance information right in the ad:
Next up, Google prepares to launch with PYI (Promote your Image), which will show up in the “images” search requests. If successful, it is speculated that they may compete with regular paid search ads. No minimum spend or ad parameters have been approved to share yet, but this ad format is expected to roll out Q1 2010.
Bing is rumored to be working new ad format that may also integrate an image, but no further details are known at this time. We can at least hope for a sexier acronym than “RAIS” and “PYI.”
Opinion on what these changes mean varies by industry expert, but most agree it further blurs the line between display and search advertising, and no tangible metrics on early results are available. Expectations are that these ad types will perform very well, adding more relevance, credibility and eye-catching real estate to entice consumers to click through.
As for measurable results, much remains to be seen.
Posted by Michael Fassnacht, Global Chief Strategy Officer
Over the last weeks I traveled to South Africa and a few European countries to meet with colleagues and some local industry experts, all with the goal to better understand how marketing agencies are dealing with the accelerating influence of digital marketing. Independent of how brands are spending their marketing investments, from less than 2% in South Africa to over 30% in the UK on digital and mobile activities, a lot of the marketers on the service side of our discipline are asking the question of how they can truly make a decent margin on digital work. The question has moved from how much they should invest in the build out of their digital capabilities into the challenge of how to make money with it.
The large agency holding companies (IPG, WPP, Omnicom, Publicis) report EBITA numbers of between 6% on the low end and 15% on the high end. It’s very difficult to find out the profit margins of the various pure digital agencies within the holding companies, so one has to rely on estimates and insights derived from industry experts. There definitely seems to be a challenge for larger traditional agencies to make decent margins on their digital work. After discussing this with a few knowledgeable marketers some explanations rise to the top:
- Scale: Even most pure digital players had a difficult time to create a decent margin until they reached a sufficient size to not just recoup initial investments but have the expertise and size to monetize on their offering. Size does matter. Interestingly enough smaller very specialized boutique agencies can make good money, too, due to low overhead cost and flexible delivery mechanisms. But most small digital departments within a large marketing offering have huge trouble to generate a positive short or medium term ROI on their personnel and infrastructure expenses.
- Premium versus Discount pricing: A lot of the large marketing service firms know that they have to expand their digital offering. Therefore they are willing to discount their digital work to enter this fast growing discipline. After winning the work (by buying it through cut throat prices) they often realize that they can not deliver the work with sufficient quality while simultaneously loosing money. It takes take them much longer than ever envisioned to build a profitable digital practice, and quite a few of them still have not achieved it.
- Lack of paid search capability: A lot of the marketing service firms have either still not realized that paid search is almost 2/3 of all digital spend, or they lack the internal media planning expertise to build it out in a smart manner. They are victims of the separation of creative and media offerings in the 80ies and 90ies. For a lot of these companies it might be too late to ever regain the lost territory.
- Resource allocation: The haste of hiring digital talent leaves quite a few large marketing service players with too much unbillable or incorrectly hired expertise that drags down any profitability. It’s very challenging for traditional marketers to identify and attract the right digital personnel that can build a well oiled delivery machine while creating brilliantly engaging and business building digital programs.
While a lot of marketers at service firms talk about the urgent need to expand the digital side of their business, they are flying blind in how to make it happen without eroding their good margin from their more traditional core business. It will be interesting to observe of who is able to make this transition to not only great but profitable digital work.
2/5/2010Posted by Steve Schildwachter, SVP, Group Management Director, Draftfcb Chicago
My first-hand lesson about how social media messages depend on content and relevance, posted on 11 January, reminded me of a successful client I worked with in the late 1990s.
This client had his own formula for marketing: Message, Media, Creative. The idea was to start by figuring out what you wanted to say (Message), where is the place to say it (Media), and how to say it in a way memorable, convincing, and relevant to the medium (Creative).
This formula works as well today as it did way back in the 20th Century. The greatest channel-neutral plan or the most entertaining creative don't mean bubkes if the message isn't appealing.
A modern example of this principle is the above Google diagram* describing how your SEM copy is everything when inviting consumers to your cause. It's actual advice is: "A successful link bait can increase inbound links, traffic and brand awareness."
In English: If you have a strong message, suitable for SEM and write it well, you can meet your objective.
* Hat tip: the blogress Little Miss Jen.
(This post originally appeared on Ad Majorem)
1/28/2010Janet Barker-Evans, SVP, Group Creative Director, Draftfcb Chicago
I remember being in college and being so moved by the words of advertising writers. Inspired! Encouraged! Challenged, even! Some of my favorite quotes were typed up and posted on my desk so I would see them daily.
“There is no such thing as a Mass Mind. The Mass Audience is made up of individuals, and good advertising is written always from one person to another. When it is aimed at millions it rarely moves anyone.” - Fairfax Cone
“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.” — David Ogilvy
“I have learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.” - Leo Burnett
“You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You've got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. because if they don't feel it, nothing will happen.” - Bill Bernbach
These four are just a few - but they all present or reinforce the fundamental truth about copywriting - our job is not to simply tell, but to sell. We need to engage, entice, incite, persuade and inspire.
A lot of the copywriting I see today is blech. Common. Uninspired. Boring. From banner ads to bus ads to tv spots, there is so much bad writing. Even worse is when you see a really great idea with really bad copy.
It seems as if too many writers have forgotten the back half of their job. First - the idea, yes. But then, the execution. I used to write a hundred headline iterations before I found the perfect one. And even then I would play with it until I got it right, or ran out of time.
Much of what I see out in the world today seems as though it is the first thing that came to the writer's mind. First out of the printer. I've even wondered if I were able to track down the writer of a bad piece of communication, could that writer show me a pile of previous drafts? Probably not.
In today's world of immediacy, 'good enough' seems to be accepted as... good enough. 'There's no time to be great,' seems to be the implication. And everything seems to be disposable, as well. If a banner ad only runs for 2 weeks, why care how well the copy reads?
And yet every now and then, I come across something so well written, so beautifully crafted, that I become giddy at the reminder of why I got into this business in the first place. Just knowing those gems are still out there gives me hope. Like diamonds, they're hard to find, but beautiful to uncover.
And so this year, my goal is to seek out the very best examples of copywriting in our industry - and to celebrate them. In doing so, I hope to improve my own skills, and inspire other writers to do the same.
Watch this space for updates on my crusade - and examples of what I find. And if you run into anything brilliant out there? Please send it my way.
The quest begins. Posted by Michael Fassnacht, Global Chief Strategy Officer
Clive Thomson has once again a brilliant article in the current edition of WIRED. He argues that there are only really two right sizes for a social network, either one has a few hundred followers with an intimate felling of closeness and real conversation, or one has a few hundred thousand followers where no real dialog is occurring but where the owner of the social network uses it as a broadcast medium to spread his or her wisdom. The (usual) death zone is in the middle where one does not have the scale of a true broad cast medium but where the social circle is too large to have a real dialog between people who think of themselves as a circle of friends.
A lot of marketers think that social networks are the Holy Grail for relevant and targeted marketing but they fail to realize that social networks are “just” another communication channel with its own dynamic, its own advantages and disadvantages. Thomson’s POV is an extremely important insight for brand managers who try to use social networks for non-broadcast marketing purposes. One can either use a large number of social network owners to proliferate a certain message in a more dialog oriented manner or one can utilize one big social network apostle with a large following in a much more one-to-many based approach that resample much more a traditional TV commercial.
Not only the medium is the message but the largeness (or smallness) of the medium and its distribution is the message, too.
1/22/2010
Posted by Steve Schildwachter, SVP, Group Management Director, Draftfcb Chicago
Diversity is critical to embracing the changes and challenges of modern marketing.
This past Monday was a good chance to think about diversity since we celebrate a U.S. holiday in remembrance of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist pastor and civil rights leader who personifies our country's struggle to establish equality for everyone in a very diverse society. You can read all about Rev. King on Wikipedia. Click here to see his most famous speech, "I Have A Dream."
The importance of diversity in society requires no explanation. Why is diversity important in marketing, then?
Marketing has an influence on society
Marketing and advertising have an influence on society: our messages, images, words and music set the trends rather than follow them. This is often lamentable but it is almost always powerful and we dare not misunderstand it. Hence we should consider diversity when we prepare something for public consumption. A very tangible action, for example, is to hire diverse on-camera talent.
Diversity is also important behind the camera and in the office. We are more likely to present diversity in our work if we have it in our workforce. Much has been written about the need for our employee roster to match the diversity in our society, and I share the commitment to making it happen.
Modern marketing demands diversity
Diversity in the workplace is even more important when one considers that marketing plans and tools themselves are more diverse than ever. In Ye Olde Marketing the planning process was relatively straightforward because we had only three TV networks and limited other media available. Today, of course, there are hundreds of tools and millions of ways to combine them. If you appreciate the diversity of it all, your mind will be open to new creative possibilities.
The same applies to human diversity, be it racial , social or economic. If you appreciate the diversity of the people around you, your mind will be open to new creative possibilities. Diversity is not only a moral imperative; it's an ingredient in business success.
Modern marketers value diversity
How do we achieve a more diverse workforce? There are numerous corporate, government and other programs available, which I won't try to catalog here. I only suggest that whenever the agency offers a course or workshop, take it -- and take it seriously. Many of these are high-quality, and it's never a waste of time to stop and challenge the way we think about our relationships with others.
This is akin to developing yourself as a Renaissance Practitioner -- someone who recognizes their own unique perspective but works hard to appreciate the perspective of others. Shouldn't we work just as hard to understand a colleague's life experience as we do their professional specialty?
My answer would be "Yes" -- and we must try to make a little bit of progress each day.
Posted by Michael Fassnacht, Global Chief Strategy Officer
Last week’s Sunday’s New York Times had a long article about the redesign of business school’s curriculum over the last years by incorporating critical theory into is obligatory learning study plan. It’s not a surprise that executive managers have realized that teaching pure business theory and practice is not sufficient to develop great managers. Critical thinking, either taught in the legal or the humanities field, is becoming a more and more essential element of any management executive’s mental skill set. Whoever learned to read and understand literary theorist like Derrida or Foucault or the legal intricacies of some critical landmark decisions will not be easily intimidated by complex business and marketing problems.
Additionally the ten year anniversary of the Time Warner/AOL merger demonstrates once more that human beings behave just too often as pure followers who don’t stop and question the basic assumptions, processes, and behaviors that seem normal in all organizations. Understanding critical theory can help anyone to be more conscious and reflective within any discussion.
On the other hand critical thinking in its extreme form can be an impediment of thriving in any organizations. Young managers in the US (the famous Millennials ) seem to have more challenges to merge the necessary critical thinking with a team player behavior that can require following decisions by a superior that contradict the critical thought process of the young manager. But most profit oriented organization can not function as a democratic structure with equal voting rights, they rely and require a certain hierarchical structure and command chain. The dilemma arrives when young managers don’t know when to apply their critical thinking skills and fight for the related thought results, and when to follow the directions of a more experienced and senior manager.
This growing dilemma in most marketing organizations with a higher percentage of millennial managers requires a few explorations:
- Every significant decision requires the application of critical thinking. The critical thinking should be consciously utilized within the rules and confines of the particular business discourse and outside of the discourse. It seems challenging for a lot of young managers to realize when one argues within and when outside the terminology, rules, and logic of a particular discourse and organization.
- Critical thinking is not a genetic disposition but the result of continuous studying and learning. It is rooted in information and insight based curiosity and skepticism that behaves like a never ending stress test of any available options.
- It is important to respect the chain of command in a particular organization. At the same time any organization should provide sufficient space that any young manager can voice his or her thought process, observations, and objections. But as long as the decision does not call for illegal actions, is unethical, or discriminates anyone, the ultimate decision (after hopefully a sufficient long period of discussion and potential disagreement) should be supported by the involved team members. This seems to be a given but it is a bigger challenge than expected.
The balance between the appropriate application and articulation of critical thinking and team player behavior is more fragile than most of us believe. It will be interesting to see how the young generation will cope with the simultaneous development of stronger and smarter critical thinking while developing a team behavior that makes any organization stronger.
1/15/2010Posted by Steve Schildwachter, SVP, Group Management Director, Draftfcb Chicago
Big agencies have always been faulted for moving too slowly, especially when it comes to embracing fundamental changes such as the advent of TV in the 1950s and digital in modern times.
We can all learn from small agencies, including ones outside the U.S., because they move more nimbly and adapt with the times much more easily.
Posted by Jeff Tarakajian, EVP, Group Management Director, Draftfcb New York and Leader of Team Census
It’s hard to believe that the paid media campaign that we’ve been working on for so long for Census 2010 is about to break on The Golden Globes on Jan. 17. Without a doubt, the development and execution of the entire campaign – one that truly targets everyone in the U.S. – results from more than two years of close collaboration between 14 partner agencies, including IW Group, GlobalHue, GlobalHue Latino, d'exposito, G&G, Allied, Plum, Jack Morton, Weber Shandwick, Initiative, Scholastic, MarCom Group, Draftfcb New York and Draftfcb Puerto Rico.
In the weeks and months ahead, this group will deliver the Census message – in 28 languages -- through paid media, public relations, Census in Schools, a website, a national road tour, partnerships and more. As the lead agency, we at Draftfcb worked on the "diverse mass" campaign that targets the 84 percent of the country who consume media in English, as well as the website. In fact, some of our partner agencies whose responsibilities include English-speaking in-culture advertising---such as G&G for American Indian and GlobalHue for the Black audience---have also contributed advertising that reaches audience segments within this 84 percent. So there is absolutely no way we could have done it alone. We worked hand in hand with our client and the above agencies every step of the way.
There’s still much to do, but we’re committed to making this the most successful Census in history. Stay tuned.
1/11/2010
Posted by Michael Fassnacht, Global Chief Strategy Officer
Like every year over the last five years, marketers predict 2010 as the breakthrough year for mobile marketing. Honestly I don’t care if 2010 is the year of mobile marketing or not, more important are the long term trends that definitely will increase the importance of the mobile device in any smart marketing solution.
A few observations seem relevant to me:
- Most researchers predict a roughly four fold increase of spend in mobile marketing in North America by 2015 whereas the overall marketing spend will increase by 10-20%, depending on research source. The overall mobile spend will be still only be around 5% of TV spend but it is getting significant. Now it’s the time for marketer to get their brains and hearts around the importance of mobile marketing.
- Currently most of the mobile marketing spend is put against display media, SMS, and application build, only less than 20% against search. This will change dramatically with the decline of SMS marketing and a strong push into mobile search. Some researchers are predicting that more than 70% of overall mobile marketing investment will move in this Google dominated investment area. This will force marketers to be even smarter in regards to organic and paid search.
- The definition of the mobile device will change dramatically. It’s currently limited to cell- and smart phones, but one could envision that a fully connected Apple tablet is more a mobile device than a laptop. The changing definition of a “mobile device” will put mobile marketing even further into the ongoing marketing planning discourse between agency and brand manager.
- Location based intelligence and marketing will increase rapidly over the next years. This will fundamentally improve search results, display advertising, and outbound direct marketing, all centered on the mobile device. One can envision the day when a consumer prefers to search for something on his or her mobile device due to the highly improved results versus using his or her computer.
- Most North American marketers know that the US is one of the less sophisticated cell- and smart phone markets in the world (despite the iPhone). But most of them have not yet established the right learning mechanisms to mine new trends and insights from Asia, Latam, or even Europe. Whoever does this right will have a competitive advantage in how to successfully leverage mobile marketing.
It does not really matter if 2010 is the year of mobile marketing, it does matter that we all take it seriously, try to better understand it, experiment with it, and integrate it with a real purpose into any marketing solution.
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