Dave Birss on Digital (Part 2.)

To follow on from part 1 earlier in the month, I asked Dave Birss a few more questions on the evolution of Digital media and the difference between the work created by Traditional Vs. pure play Digital agencies. Thanks again to Dave, for taking the time out to put his thoughts across.

How do you think the evolution of all things digital media has affected the agency model in general terms?

I’ve spoken to quite a number of traditional agencies over the past year and I’ve seen some changes in attitude towards digital. But they seem to be pretty half-arsed. They know they have to incorporate it into what they do but they think they can address it by hiring some digital people to ‘integrate’ their work online. That’s never going to work.
It all comes back to this red herring of the word ‘digital’. It’s not about hiring a couple of people to help them fill a new kind of media space. That’s concentrating on entirely the wrong thing. The big change we need to address is consumer behaviour. The influence of advertising in the buying process is continuing to drop. Online retail is continuing to grow. The spread of the mobile web is giving more people access to impartial reviews at the point of purchase. These are the things we need to be addressing.
And I think to do that properly, agencies need to take a more radical look at their model, their structure and their purpose.

Do you think there is a big difference between traditional ad agencies’ digital work compared to pure play digital agencies?

Generally yes. But the difference is a lot less than it used to be.
However, I see each kind of agency tending to fall into different traps. Please excuse these obnoxiously sweeping generalizations. And please understand that the comments that follow are based on my experience in quite a number of agencies rather than in my current position!
‘Pure Play’ Digital Agencies have tended to suffer from a lack of integration. This is not entirely their fault. They are usually given a brief that only applies within the boundaries of pixel-ville, along with a TV ad and a poster campaign that’s not designed for participation or engagement. To get anything that will attract any kind of involvement, they either have to go off-message or use borrowed interest. The result is a disjointed consumer journey.
On the other hand, traditional ad agencies often come up with digital work that ‘integrates’ with their TV ad or poster campaign. By integrating, I mean that they come up with stuff that uses the same visual assets or hangs on the same line. It’s as if the digital stuff is the less important bit that gets added on after the more ‘glamorous’ work has been done. And the job of the digital work seems to be to advertise the advertising.
I’ve been scathing to both camps, I know. Basically, I think the entire industry needs a fresh approach. One with an engaging idea at the centre of it that integrates seamlessly from the first time the audience encounters it to the moment they hand over their credit card. I live in a utopian world!

Part 2 - Interview with Dave Birss

Dave Birss on Digital (Part 1.)

A while back I read a blog post that really got me thinking. Written way back in 2007, by Dave Birss. The post explained Dave’s thinking on the evolving Agency model and generally what he thought on the Traditional Agency V Digital Agency debate. To save time you can read the original post in full here, but in a nutshell, Dave’s forward thinking on what he thought the future held led me to ask him a few more questions.

For those of you who don’t know, Dave is Head of Digital Creative at OgilvyOne and Creative Head of the Ogilvy Digital Lab (an innovation division within the agency). He’s been agency side for over 15 years with a long list of top agencies – Poke and MRM to name just two.  Listen hard and listen well.

Every agency under the sun seems to claim to ‘get digital’ at the moment – what are your thoughts on this?

I think that ‘getting digital’ is a bit of a red herring. What surprises me is how many agencies don’t ‘get people’. The old way of doing advertising was simply about finding an interesting way of communicating a client’s message. That worked in a broadcast culture. But things aren’t like that now. It’s not about digital technology – it’s how digital technology has changed people’s behaviour and expectations.
It’s easier for consumers to have their voice heard. It’s easier to find out the opinions of people who’ve used a product.  It’s easier to share information with your friends.  The agencies that truly ‘get people’ will be coming up with the most effective ideas. Bad ones will be creating work that gets ignored.

The post you wrote back in 2007 described three distinct approaches a digital agency could take in order to survive the future – do you still agree with this now?

My opinion hasn’t changed too much. But if I was to write that piece again today, I’m sure it would be pretty different. I’ve got a whole new swarm of bees in my bonnet!
To be honest, ad agencies haven’t adopted digital quite as well as I thought they would. I suppose the economic downturn is one reason for that as they’ve been concentrating on just staying afloat. But I still think a lot of them continue to suffer from ostrich syndrome, thinking the world will at some point start loving TV ads again like they did in the 80s. Good luck to them!

- I’ll post more on this interview later in the month.

Part 1 - Interview with Dave Birss

Tips From The Top (No.1)

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to listen to a true pro, Andrew Robertson, talk about his time in the advertising industry. As well as some first-class tips on account handling and career planning, his advice to anyone working agency-side is worth sharing. This guy knows his stuff.

• On gaining clients respect…You can only expect your client to respect you and your agency if you ensure you know more than them. It’s a bit blunt – but 100% true. This point really proves why we need to have our fingers firmly on the pulse of emerging technologies.

• On client relationships…Love your client – they are real people after all, and they will respond to you better if they feel you are genuinely passionate about their business. Is this obvious? Too many times I have heard ‘I’m doing a boring project for a public sector client’. Being excited about your work will only shine through if there is a real spark for wanting to produce something great.

• On Innovation…The most difficult thing is to find ‘something’ that is genuinely useful to people. On demand TV, Facebook, the iphone – all things that are genuinely useful and improve our daily lives in some way – keeping this top of mind when producing digital output is paramount. Always ask the question ‘Why am I doing this and what value will it add?’.

• On developing a successful career path…Always try and take the opportunity to change your perspective. Whether that be working in a different country, a different agency or even working client side for a while.

• On Consumer behaviour…Despite the changing environment and introduction of everything ‘digital’, consumers still operate in the same way. Understand this in relation to your clients industry or sector and you will be able to apply these principles to every aspect of your strategic thinking.

• More on Innovation…Identify new trends and react to them fast. More applicable than ever to the digital industry; if you’re not first, your competition will be.

Tips From the Top

10 things I’ve learnt in the world of Digital and Agencies recently…

Last time I did this it proved quite popular. I had people emailing me saying they agreed or disagreed with what I had learnt which made me laugh  - a guy in Belgium even took my list last time and wrote his own thoughts on it. So here is my latest 10…

1.  Some brands are still struggling with the power of social media. It’s not a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate – watch this video and tell me you don’t agree.

2.  You can spend a fortune driving users to a website, have the best content in the world, but if it’s not architected in a simple, easy to digest manner, you’ll lose them instantly. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

3. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Mobile advertising is about to kick off. Just ask Google.

4.  Agencies should stop trying to define an idealistic agency model and concentrate on just creating great digital work that pushes boundaries.

5.  Using digital channels to reinvent traditional marketing and advertising is the only way forward. Digital should now be a given, not a USP.

6.  A great idea can come from anywhere – whether that is the most experienced creative or the most junior graduate – Or even an end consumer? Collaboration is the key.

7.  Google Wave wasn’t all I expected it to be.  But I’ve been told to be patient.

8.  Every agency should abide by AKQA’s mantra – Don’t let any work go out of the door if it if it doesn’t hold up to these two requirements: It needs to Capture the imagination and People should want to share it.

9.  There is a hell of a lot more to digital than building websites. (I knew this one already,  I’m just appreciating it a bit more now).

10.  If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail – Preparation is key to everything you do in agency life. It’s our job to do the leg work and make life as simple as possible for our clients.

10 things I have learnt in the world of Digital and Agencies recently…

Revolution’s top ten tweeters #10

OK, I’m no Stephen Fry, and I certainly don’t have as many followers as Ashton Kutcher to warrant a verified account – but nevertheless, it was a nice virtual pat on the back to be named alongside some industry heavy weights in  Revolution Magazine’s, Top Ten Tweeters (10th Edition).

I’m a massive advocate of the micro-blogging phenomenon that is, despite what some critics say, still gathering pace. If nothing else, it’s given me a kick up the backside to start blogging a bit more. You’ve been warned.

Revolution Top 10 Tweeters

Progress is impossible without change

Don’t be afraid of losing the good, in search of the great. A saying that can be applied to many situations in life, but also notably to working with the ‘right’ agency.  Back in the day, a digital agency only had to do a couple of things well – build websites and create banner ad campaigns. Chuck in a few semi-successful HTML email broadcasts and that was enough to keep the clients happy.  But Digital has moved on so quickly in the past couple of years, it’s becoming hard (at least for the nonsense agencies) to keep up.  Mention the words ‘strategy’ or ‘engagement’ and see what they come back with.

So how do you know if your agency is any good? – How do you benchmark one against the next? – Is it through their ideas? Their service? Their process to deliver consistently? Or does it simply come down to cost?

It’s tough to keep a handle on how good one agency is over the next, just from peering over the fence at their work.  If the most amazing project was 8 weeks late and shockingly over budget – how does that compare to an agency who delivers to the letter, exactly as promised, every time.

I’ve been exposed to some really great agencies, some good ones and plenty of bad ones- but although this may sound backwards for an Account Handler, whose purpose it is to aid the creation of the best possible output for their client; I urge all client-side decision makers to take a look around – explore the chemistry and creativity of other agencies and see how good your guys really are. Progress is impossible without change.

Progress is impossible without change

Creative, Strategic and Technical

Wild yet purposeful creativity that grabs attention, strategic thinking that develops innovative and unique visions and technical proficiency that flawlessly makes ideas reality…. 3 things which make great digital output.

Creative, Strategic and Technical

Digital Agencies: Being ‘Digital’ is not enough

Being ‘Digital’ just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. It’s not a unique selling point for agencies. It’s becoming a threshold capability that every man and his dog are jumping all over in an attempt to get hold of their client’s growing online spends. But doing it well? – that’s another blog post in itself.

While critics are calling time on the digital revolution, there’s a new level playing field opening where specialists (digital agencies) are being faced with the opposition of traditional agencies who now know their desktop widget from their i-phone App. It was inevitably going to happen at some point – but it has been widely documented that the catalyst for this wake-up call was the 2009 Cyber Lions Awards – of which only a lowly 12 went to pure digital specialists such as AKQA and Agency Republic. There’s the proof.

Now is the time to be ideas driven. Now is the time to innovate, invent and experiment. Pure play digital shops need to be pushing new concepts at clients through new technologies – things such as augmented reality as an example. They need to also be thinking more about the strategic lead-in rather than just the solution (a website, a banner, an App) – they need to explore the bigger picture and the wider effects of how their digital solution can add value to the clients business model. But at the same time, they still need to be able to deliver. On time and on budget. Depressingly a trade-off only the best can master.

Is being Digital enough?

New Beginnings

For not wanting to waste too much of my reader’s time on my self-promotion; I’ll keep this brief. When opportunity knocks, you need to get up and answer the door. So with this said, I’m making the move from Redweb to a new agency.

From now on I’ll be turning the value wheel (Dan Hills Quote of the day!) at Albion in Shoreditch. Albion is a super-creative, independent advertising agency with digital at its core. New beginnings, new clients to work with and new things to learn. But don’t worry; I’m not selling out on my Digital Agency roots – it’ll be service as normal on digitalagencyblog.com covering all things digital and agency as well as all things digital agency if you catch my drift.

To all the guys at Redweb, It’s been an absolute pleasure. I’ve worked on some great projects with some amazing clients. Thank you.

New Beginnings

Digital Agencies: Account Speak Bingo!

I love this, and unfortunately all “Suits” are guilty of at least one or two of these buzz words (you may even spot a few here on digitalagencyblog.com !!) Brought to my attention by good friend and colleague Carl Martin, Courtesy of Mediabistro.