8/18/2010Posted by Josh Dysart, Manager, Corporate Communications
McGraw-Hill last week released the 7th edition of Advertising Media Planning, the world’s largest selling text on media planning — a subject increasingly more complex as the media landscape continues to evolve. Draftfcb’s Roger Baron, svp and director of media research, based in Chicago, is co-author of this 30-year industry classic, which is viewed by many as the “media bible.” The new book, now available at online sources and in book stores, includes all the basics of traditional media plus updates from Roger to include the latest industry challenges and practices.
To find out more about how the media planner’s world has changed and how this new edition will help students and practitioners alike navigate the exploding media world, check out Roger’s comments in the video below.
Roger Baron on Media 8/17/2010
Posted by Rich Gagnon, Chief Media Officer, Draftfcb New York
It’s usually better to lead a trend than to follow one.
Case in point: In the Aug. 9 issue of Advertising Age, there’s a big story on how a major global agency is rumored to be considering a move to re-bundle media in order to offer a more holistic approach to clients. We can’t argue with that -- we have always believed that media and creative should work in tandem, with both being equally important.
As a fully integrated agency, Draftfcb was one of the only global players to resist the unbundling trend – and we have stuck to our guns. In fact, we seamlessly combined digital (which drives content and creative expression), media (with search capabilities), and CRM to create our thriving Real-Time practice in New York. While other agency models have adopted a more siloed approach, with each discipline functioning separately, our offering has benefited integrated accounts such as Census and ONDCP. At the same time, adopting a collaborative culture in which we work closely with our creative and wheel teams has helped us better manage media-specific accounts like Merck – and our ability to partner with their agencies.
Why does this model work so well for us? Everything starts with the Wheel: strategic planning, media, creative, digital, CRM, and account management all aligning to form a rich, strategic, cohesive offering for our clients. We believe in the idea of a simultaneous vs. sequential approach -- working together with common goals and rallying around a common purpose. We understand the importance of co-creation: Everyone must be responsible for the creation of ideas – creative, strategy, media, account management, data, and channel experts. We apply context planning to impact the consumer decision journey. It’s not just about how you engage, but when and where you engage consumers. And we have established marketing based on real-time, data-driven feedback.
Let others follow the trend – we’re happy to take the lead. 6/24/2010
Posted by Soraya Eltomey, Corporate Communications Associate, Draftfcb
There is no denying it. The video content available via television, the web and mobile devices engages, informs and entertains consumers alike. But what does this all mean for advertisers?
To best answer this question, I sat down with Draftfcb New York VP, Group Media Director Bhavana Smith.
Bhavana 6/1/2010
Posted by Soraya Eltomey, Associate, Corporate Communications
Having formerly worked on the media side of broadcast TV, I am always intrigued by upfront week and how the networks will convince you to buy time during their programming. Given that the web and social media have certainly changed the way in which consumers are entertained and informed, I turned to Draftfcb New York SVP/Group Media Director Ted Ellet for his thoughts on the evolution of TV viewership.
Ted Ellet Upfront 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)
12/9/2009Posted by Steve Schildwachter, SVP, Group Management Director, Draftfcb Chicago
Measurement and accountability are favorite topics of mine because they are the keys to the future of our business. Technology now permits us to know a lot more about the results of what we do.
Even so, it seems many executives don’t want to know the results. Perhaps they don’t trust the mysterious black box marketing mix analyses that impugned their efforts in the past. Perhaps the idea of understanding an algorithm (or even spelling the word) is intimidating or boring. Or maybe it’s just a lack of familiarity with the methods old and new we can all use to figure out what worked and what didn’t.
We’d all better get familiar fast. Even if we provide the smartest strategy and the greatest creative, it won’t mean much without analytics. As described in the short history of advertising, there are plenty of consultants who are willing to fill the void.
Fortunately the Draftfcb Model includes Customer Intelligence – the data analysts, or, as their leader says, the marketing geeks. On my business we are using them more and more – with great results.
The rest of the industry has caught on to these topics. Open any trade publication or business website and you’ll see a lot of interesting news and discussion. Here are just three examples plucked from the news last week alone.
1. It’s possible to measure TV advertising’s effect.
Let’s start with some fuzzy math. Or, in the words of Lucas Donat, “fuzzy analytics”. Donat wrote about a method of measuring TV advertising’s effect on sales. It’s very simple from a mathematical standpoint: establish a baseline that estimates what sales would be if you did not advertise for the time period in question. What’s the baseline? This is the fuzzy part. You are making a 21st Century dart throw, a guesstimate. But why not? You have to start somewhere. As Donat explains, you must attend to this model over time and learn its rhythms, constantly measuring your actual sales curve to understand the marketplace effect. Does this sound daunting? Ask Customer Intelligence for some perspective.
Years ago when I worked on McDonald’s we used this model to understand whether a promotion like Two Big Macs for $2 was driving a sufficient lift in transactions to justify the lower average check we expected from the discount. Step one was to establish a baseline. We treated these monthly case studies very seriously, and referred back to them for the planning of each new program. You’ve never known accountability, by the way, until you’ve explained store sales and profit to a committee of QSR franchisees.
2. The “secret weapon” should now be standard equipment.
Draftfcb resulted from the merger of an ad agency and the world’s premier direct marketing agency. I love the way my direct marketing colleagues think about measurement; it’s a product of decades measuring their work in direct marketing. Before the merger, direct marketing was something I only read about. For example, “Ogilvy on Advertising”, David Oglivy’s 1983 book, included a chapter titled “Direct mail, my first love and secret weapon”. It’s either quaint or prophetic that in just the third paragraph he mentions “computers” as a major advancement in the discipline.
3. Isn’t digital supposed to be measurable?
Recently, there was also an article about IRI, Dynamic Logic, ComScore and X+1 teaming up to offer a platform to analyze consumer purchase data and plan more effective online campaigns. Part of the news here is that they seek to tie purchase data to consumer segments such as loyalists and switchers. An intriguing example was the diagnosis of a packaged-goods brand campaign that attributed sales lift to incremental purchases by existing customers, as opposed to bringing in new buyers.
These are just three examples from one week in business journalism. There are thousands more.
Amidst all this activity, we offer something truly unique. We were the first major agency to elevate accountability to the same level as creativity. Customer Intelligence is critical to this effort.
7/29/2009Posted by Bob Bernstein, Managing Director, MC Media and Chief Media Officer, Draftfcb Chicago
With the announcement of the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership earlier today, a lot has been said with regards to the overall potential and impact of the deal. While we have more clarity this afternoon, there are still several questions that remained unanswered. While I’m sure we’ll have more to share in the next couple of days, the following are some of our initial thoughts for advertisers:
The partnership makes a strong number two player in search advertising which should prove positive due to an alternative to Google that has scale. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo will have about 28% of search traffic in the U.S. with Google holding about 65% of the market
Consolidation and redeployment of funds and refocus on core competencies amongst the two companies should lead to a better user experience, ultimately stronger Search campaign performance, and innovation longer term
Advertisers using agencies that have built their own software management systems may need to re-tool, which could be a big issue for agencies that don’t have maintain their own committed technology staff
Since Microsoft and Yahoo will have their own display advertisers and sales staffs (and display is not part of the deal) there will need to be clarity on who “owns” client relationships. 6/24/2009Posted by Bob Bernstein, Managing Director, MC Media and Chief Media Officer, Draftfcb Chicago
I participated on a panel last night titled “The State of the Economy & How it Impacts the Sports Industry” with marketing representatives of companies like Accenture, McDonald’s, the Chicago Bears, WGN-TV, United Airlines, and the Big Ten Network.
The panel was put together by the National Sports Marketing Network (NSMN) where I serve on the Chicago Steering Committee, and for the most part, the mood was generally positive here in the Midwest.
Since many are suffering from recession fatigue, I tried to focus on the following bright spots:
- A move to greater justification of our efforts in a world where aspects of sports marketing are a PR liability
- While segments like autos, banks, home improvement centers, and casual dining are down, several categories like QSR, beer, packaged goods, and discount retail are holding steady and plugged several Draftfcb clients including Taco Bell, KFC, Kraft, SCJ, Kmart and MillerCoors.
- From a media standpoint, this is not entirely a buyer’s market. Yes, certain media like print, network/local TV are struggling a bit, Spanish language television, national cable, and the internet are in good demand.
This was the fourth in a series of discussions held throughout the country by the NSMN, and we were all thankful not to be in Detroit or New York where the autos and financial institutions and their marketing partners are taking a beating.
3/18/2009
Posted by Oliver T. Hellriegel, Director Digital Media, Draftfcb
E-mail has long been amongst the most popular activities online, together with searching information on the net. But according to Nielsen there is a new killer application around: social networking.
A study shows, that people in the US and other countries worldwide are using social networks and blogs more often than e-mail. While searching the net remains the most popular online activity, social network and blog use exceeded that of e-mail, increasing their reach by 5.4 percentage points. As a result social network and blogging sites are now the fourth most popular activity on the Internet.
Large growth has occurred in Europe with Germany being the country with the strongest growth, coming from 39% usage rising 12 percentage points to currently 51%. But also in the UK, Spain, Italy and Switzerland is this sector reaching 10% percentage points more of the online population than it did a year ago.
In addition, time spent on social networks and blogging sites is growing at over three times the rate of overall Internet growth. In total online users spent globally 18% more time in December 2008 compared to December 2007. Nonetheless, the amount of time spent on ‘Member Community’ sites rose by 63% in the same period of time. And on Facebook we have seen a massive growth of 566% – from 3.1 billion minutes to 20.5 billion! Facebook’s average using time per person (three hours 10 minutes) is the highest amongst the 75 most popular brands online worldwide.
Because time spent on social networks is growing at such a dramatically faster rate than the Internet average, it is obvious that social networks are gaining a larger share of all Internet time. In most countries monitored, the share of time for usage in ‘Member Communities’ has more than doubled.
What can advertisers and their agencies do?
The social networking phenomenon is dramatically changing the way people behave and, consequently, offers new challenges and opportunities to the global media and advertising industry alike, despite the risks this new consumer medium creates. Success in social media advertising means overcoming obstacles such as complexity, creativity and relevance.
One of the problems though is the acceptance of advertising. If you check blogs and conversations about social media, “false” is the term most closely associated with advertising. And the challenge could be getting more difficult, as a Nielsen Online survey in Australia showed, because consumers are actually growing less tolerant to advertising on social media. In December 2008, 38% of Australians online considered advertising on social networking sites to be an intrusion compared to 29% the year before!
The media and advertising industry has to watch very carefully how consumers can be targeted and which strategies can be used to successfully in attract advertising revenue in 2009. The whole process will involve a substantial trial and error process (as with many other online media types) and is only achievable if social networks, advertisers and agencies work closely together.
You can get the study and more background information on Nielsen’s Online Blog. 3/5/2009
Posted by Rich Gagnon, Chief Media Officer, Draftfcb
"The consumer is creating, sharing, browsing, clicking, mashing, etc. is the theme of this year's AAAA media conference. Or in other words... Is the consumer stupid?"
I just had the chance to be part of panel that made observations of three live consumer panels crossing three generations of life (young consumer, women and baby boomer).
Here are the headlines....
The technology tidal wave:
It is so obvious that we are on the cusp of a major sea change in how people use and experience media. The web is now second nature to the masses and even the older panel is adapting. Young consumers may be the catalysts for change but everyone is on the wave.
Participation versus push or pull:
Sure the consumer is in control, but more importantly, they are participating in ways never before possible. Brands that ignite participation will ultimately have greater lifeshare. But the challenge is doing it in a way that is authentic, not a promo gimmick.
New cultural norms:
In just a few years technology has redefined how we communicate, text, share and shop. Where we used to have a shoe box full of Polaroids, we now have global photo sharing. Where we once settled in for a night of TV viewing, we now snack on 5 minute videos on YouTube. Brands have to adapt to these new norms or run the risk of being watched from the sidelines. This means thinking about "content", not merely advertising, that is most valuable to consumers at the right moment in their life.
Make Small Big:
As screens get smaller and media units become button size, we have to pour as much creativity into tiny spaces as we do for Superbowl spots.
But ultimately it’s not about the jargon of 360 degree marketing or cross-platform media strategies. We've got to create more meaningful experiences between brands and consumers in ways that are not just relevant but inspiring.
The trick is how? |
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