Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works

A generation has to die

Thursday, April 15, 2010

This presentation has five parts to it, all with the hope of sharing some lessons about how an agency can start to migrate from being traditional to digital. But it makes sense to start with why so many of us are where we are.


For me it begins here. In the 60s, the golden age of television and media. Look what happened.


The Ed Sullivan show brings the Beatles to america


Life Magazine tells us about the civil rights movement


Walter Cronkite brings the VN war into our living rooms every night of the week.


Nasa takes pix of the first man on the moon.


And Madison Avenue gets us to pay attention to its ads.

ManufacturerPublisher

BroadcasterAdvertiser

Programmer

ConsumerReaderViewerAudienceUser


It was the decade that gave us two classes. Those who created the content and messages and those who received it. What’s happened in recent years is that social media and digital technology have changed the right hand side of this equation far more rapidly than the left hand side has gone along. That in a nutshell is what we are all struggling with, what we have inherited. Unless you are starting from scratch. Youtube. A digital agency. A new social platform. You are stuck with the legacy systems, to some degree, of what’s on the left. It’s a mindset, embedded deep in your muscle memory. I don’t care if you are an agency, a client, even an educational institution, this is how many still think. As if there are two classes. This is Rupert Murdoch believing people will still pay for newspaper content. Ad agencies thinking you can still market with interruptive messages.


Many media companies still operate as if this is the way things work. I remember this. I used to listen to albums in the order the artist intended. Who was I to change that order. I was a listener. The band were the creators.


Not anymore. Now I, we, they create, thanks to all things digital. Open source, APIs, miniaturization, whatever.


And it’s everywhere, perhaps mostly with the digital natives, but also with the digital immigrants.


Know one sits back anymore and receives. Not only that, the tools of the marketer and creator are available to anyone.


Like Kogi BBQ, which launched a brand with a Twitter handle


Or consider Gary Vaynerchuk. A folding table, a video camera and a belief in the democratization of wine. He builds his own audience on YouTube and along with it an $80 million dollar business.


So, no arguments that the right side of the equation has changed. But here’s some evidence that the left side had better. You know much of this, but it’s worth dramatizing.


The ad agency that used to be known for fast food marketing went out of business.


As did this great magazine


As did 105 city newspapers in 2009.


Ken Auletta, Clay Shirky, Jaron Lanier, Chris Anderson. Learn from their messages.

Digital isn’t about technology


Part 2. It’s all about digital, but it’s not about technology.


It’s about the people who use it. I’ve noticed eight key trends.


Consumers want to create and with the platforms and tools, they can


Our relationships with media are complex. Even if we’re watching we’re not really watching.


We have new sources of content. Most brands haven’t even caught on.


We want to do business with people not companies and we expect new kinds of connections as a results


We have more control than ever and we’re not afraid to use it


More importantly you have less of it.


There is no such thing as perfect. We are all individuals.


Fast, portable, accessible. That’s the new definition of quality.


Attention is the new scarcity

If you canʼt be a digital native, be a digital immigrant



Everyone has to evolve. It’s about what comes next.

A generation has to die

Conceive ideas that generate content


So, that paints a picture of what we’re dealing with. So what does it mean we have to do.


get other people to tell stories for you


invite them to co-create those stories with you


allow them to actually become part of the story

Create experiences that earn attention by inviting participation


Invite participation


Have an idea first, then advertise it.


Earn attention: create experiences that the user gets involved with, learning, exploring, feeling


Learn to crowdsource;

Be media specific with your content



You don’t do the same thing on Facebook as you do in advertising


Perfect example from Este Lauder: turn customer into a medium


Stay on your feet: It’s an advertising idea


But also an app, utility and service to Timberland’s community


With this job finding WAP


...a platform that helps workers find jobs.

Master conversation strategy


1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

March 2010


I’ve written and spoken about this, but in social media, you can’t simply sell, you have to share, engage, create little gifts of content and then sell.


try things, there is so much there to play with

Embrace agility, constant presence, frequent experimentation



Build things, play with platforms, use the APIS


Foursquare, Plancast, Sticky bits are all worth exploring and leveraging

Expect some pain



re-think your strategy: about consumer relationship to content and media


make your briefs active, not passive


re-organize how you work


move from multi disciplinary to interdisciplinary

Check list manifesto


Make sure everyone in the room knows each other. Avoid mistakes like this one.

analytics

copywriter

art director

web designer

IA/UX

programmer

video producer

content strategist

connection planner

PR/social media

media


Lots of disciplines

analytics

copywriter

art director

web designer

IA/UX

programmer

video producer

content strategist

connection planner

PR/social media

media


You need to be a T person

TV WEB MEDIA PR> > >


The old sequence. WTF?

PR MEDIA WEB TV> > >


Be more iterative


become a learning organization

community

experience

engage

interest plan

collaborate

audience

message

target

media plan

penetrate


Re-think how you think

Smart people can be really stupid


sell scope staff deliver reward


Sharing some mistakes

how we delivered collapsed all project

management into one group, allowing key online

pm to leave assumed a “brand” creative brief

was enough despite lack of details to do effective

digital work allowed traditional creative teams to

present ideas before including UX and technology

failed to unite different groups physically

delayed integrating digital media, creative,

Technical Support neglected to invest in

collaborative technology, depending too much on

IT instead of developers

how we rewarded assumed digital people would

put learning on hold while they spent time cleaning

up after offline colleagues under invested in

training (formal and informal) didn’t mandate

digital skill expansion as part of performance

evaluation for all

how we scoped refused to acknowledge true

costs of digital gave team leftover money

squeezed from offline budgets failed to train

clients on actual value brought message rather

than experience mentality to the space gave

digital work away to “get” the business

perpetuated the diminished worth of digital

how we sold encouraging offline ae’s to think and

sell digital with no training or supervision

neglected to put digital-savvy person in new

business role arrogant enough to think we knew

what we were talking about

how we staffed continued to hire legacy talent

focused on usage rather than future when

downsizing assumed traditional talent could

lead digital efforts believed project management

could compensate for digitally naïve account

people defined integration as offline people

could try digital (but not the other way around)


thank you


Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works

Business

Transcript of Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works