I’m headed to the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) Conference in Dana Point, CA this week, where I’ll be posting some periodic updates. So be on the lookout for thoughts on how seriously they’ll be taking digital this year…

For more information on the conference, click here.

And definitely follow my updates on Twitter. They won’t be too frequent, but will certainly let you know what’s being discussed…

Share on Facebook

As you may have read in today’s Advertising Age, Deep Focus is the sole beta partner in MySpace’s new ’self-serve’ platform.

According to the article:

A few months after opening its platform to outside application developers, the company plans to announce today that it will let advertisers directly manage, through a self-service tool, their branded profiles on MySpace.

This is a vast change from the tightly controlled, often laborious process brands previously had to endure to have a presence on the social network. It’s also a reaction, MySpace said, to advertisers’ desire to use the community more as a standing customer-relationship tool rather than a three-months-and-split campaign tool.

The move “is a fundamental shift in the way we view this business,” said Bryce Emo, senior VP-head of sales at MySpace. “We want advertisers and clients to have control so they can have a more active relationship with clients.”

Here’s the part of the article that had me scratching my head, though:

When asked about the importance of such a move, several interactive-agency execs suggested it was a good one in theory but questioned MySpace’s relevance. The social network’s growth has started to flatline, and the buzz around social nets has migrated to Facebook and other properties and tools.

Questioning MySpace’s relevance? How can you question MySpace’s relevance right now? They got 73 million unique visitors in March (according to ComScore). I’d say that any property that gets 73 million users in a month is pretty darn relevant. This is a classic case of people starting to think about ‘what’s next’ before they’ve figured out ‘what’s now‘.

MySpace is very relevant. And I think this move is a great one in terms of improving their product — for advertisers at least. If you didn’t read my AdAge DigitalNext blog post about what social networks need to do to be more relevant for advertisers (written before Deep Focus’ participation in the beta, BTW), now would be a good time.

Deep Focus will be using this tool to enhance our position as the leader in using social networks to successfully help brands build relationships with their customers (and find and grow new ones). In order for these tools to be effective, you need to have agencies that know what they are doing using them. As the sole beta partner in this program, we’re acquiring all of our intelligence now, and helping to shape this product into what we feel is the best possible conversational marketing solution for brands that are (and have yet to be) managing communities on MySpace.

Historically, brands have been forced to run ‘campaigns’ on MySpace. With this tool, we’ll be able to build better relationships for those brands.

This is what I meant when I said we need need to move from “impressions to lasting impressions.”

Want to know more? Email me at ian(at)deep-focus(dot)net, or just ask in the comments below.

Share on Facebook

As each week passes, it seems another large agency (read: holding company-owned, >1000 people) is announcing their plans for ‘integration’. This week, it’s MindShare, as MediaPost reports.

As MindShare’s North American CEO Scott Neslund declared, “We’re making a very clear statement that the time has come to break down the silos.”

Intentions? Good. But will it blend?

Various other efforts from the large agencies have been announced in the past few weeks and months, with some announcing digital’s move to the forefront. Some, like MindShare, have taken the ‘media-neutral’ stance.

It seems that the rationale for all of this is positioning — positioning of the media agency as something that is more than reach + frequency buyers of volume. Positioning is one thing. Being able to back that up with legitimate creativity is another.

The problem with all this is that creativity was not a building block of any of these agencies. They were established to plan and buy tons of media (traditional media) back when the fragmentation of television from broadcast to cable made everyone freak out. It was no longer so easy to buy television, print, and outdoor, and more hands needed to be brought on-deck to scale.

To scale.

Scalability has been the foundation for all these agencies’ success. When you look at any of the holding companies’ balance sheets, the media businesses are the segments driving those profits and revenues.

And then came the web. And infinite fragmentation. As much as big new media tried to lead us down a ‘portal’ (broadcast) model, the web has mega-fragmented. And that fragmentation is practically infinite.

Ironically,infinite fragmentation has become the undoing of the very agencies that were born out of the ‘original’ fragmentation of media. What infinite fragmentation should do is force us to re-think the role that agencies play when it comes to scale. And while the uber-large agencies are re-thinking and transforming, it’s imperative that they understand their role.

It’s very, very difficult (dare I say, impossible) to scale in terms of breadth (of reach) and depth (of experiences) simultaneously.

As the social media explosion continues, we know just how important experiences can be (although not how we can apply metrics — but I’m working on that). But scaling reach and experiences at the same time is usually an exercise in futility for brands, not to mention their agencies.

So the question is, can big media agencies built upon breadth, deliver depth? Creativity needs to course through the veins of an agency of any size to apply it consistently to both strategy and tangible output.

In the opinion of this blogger and CEO, there’s no precedent of retrofitting something that large into what the industry is calling for. Brands need smaller, more nimble, more innovative agencies built as integrated problem solvers from the ground-up — with creativity as its religion and the ability to deliver experiences (with the results to back it up) as its practice.

The web can still be a reach medium. But as it continues to fragment, it’s costing more and more money to deliver that reach. And maybe that’s the role of the larger media agencies. If I’m a brand, I’ve already got my reach through television. I want to use the web to deliver the depth of an experience that brings consumers closer to me.

Share on Facebook

There’s been so much talk about Modernista!’s new ultra-web 2.0 website (or lack of a site at all). It’s taken me a while to get around to discussing it, but here goes…

Take a moment to visit Modernista!’s new site.

So basically, what the site is doing is using all the tools that exist at the web’s disposal to turn people on to the agency.

Honestly, most of it works like a charm. I really do like it, even though the problem with using search results to provide information is that so many people have been commenting on Modernista!’s new site, that most results are talking their own site launch rather than the work they do for their clients (which is a narcissism problem that plagues many creative agencies out there, and search results only shine a light on that).

Max Kalehoff provides a really good overview of the site today over at MediaPost.

The thing with this site though, is that while it does a great job of talking about press and showing off stills and bookmarks, it doesn’t tell me about strategy. Or case studies (everyone always asks me for those). Maybe it’s because we’re also a media agency, but there’s got to be a way to tell the agency’s story with personality, without going completely ethereal or puking Flash.

We’re working on a new official site for Deep Focus, and are going to be doing some interesting things with it. Believe it our not, we’ve had the same site design for about 4 years. Hey — it’s been really busy around here.

Stay tuned for an official launch announcement, but hats off to Modernista! for getting us thinking about official agency websites again.

In the meantime, if you’ve got ideas for us to use for our website, just let me know. I’m listening.

Share on Facebook

Sure. Online advertising spending is going up, up, up. But I want to ensure that if we’re going to continue to ascend, that we excel as well.

I’ll no longer be writing for ClickZ — hey, I’m a busy guy — but I will ALWAYS be passionately blogging right here, and chances are, you’ll be hearing from me occasionally in some other publications here and there. Taking my spot at ClickZ will be someone I know and love, so stay tuned for his musings…

In the meantime, here’s an excerpt and a link to my final column on ClickZ:

This is my last column for ClickZ, and it’s been a great couple of years.

A lot has happened since my first column in June 2005. Video advertising continues to blossom, and rich media is a standard part of nearly every media plan. Online advertising spending continues its ascent, with nary a sign of letting up. Consumer habits are evolving, and social media is a daily part of their lives.

A rosy picture, isn’t it?

Not so fast.

This industry, including publishers, agencies, and marketers, is stunting its growth and limiting its potential. You wouldn’t know it by all the M&A activity surrounding these captains of industry, but, trust me, it’s a big problem. It’s like the interactive industry is an advanced second grader the school doesn’t know how to handle, so he’s placed in third grade for half the day. The student may be recognized as intelligent, but he’ll have a difficult time being socially accepted.

If we are to advance on our own merits, we must make some fundamental changes to the way we strategize, sell, buy, and provide online advertising. The following are but a few items we must address before we can be officially labeled “mature”…

Click here for the rest!

Share on Facebook

This post summarizes an ongoing conversation I’ve had over the past couple years with Brendan Light, SVP Research and Development at Buzzback Market Research: a super smart guy at a super smart company.

The Internet. It happened fast. One day, I was a high school, checking out images of college campuses on CD-ROM, the next, I was emailing from a “terminal” in my college library. The transition from analog to optical media-based digital content to Web-based content happened in a heartbeat and big business (and subsequently, big advertising agencies) had to adapt…fast.

So what happened? Everyone reacted instinctively and created an advertising convergence culture…and I don’t mean this in the good, Henry Jenkins way. This was more a convergence of media aesthetics–the creative executions that populated the Web evoked familiar print and TV advertising styles. Even digital DM and CRM programs were really just ports of their offline brethren–not systems reconfigured to take advantage of interactivity. At the time, it was more important that clients and consumers wrap their heads around the medium in a way that was familiar. There’s a silly phrase: “we only use 10% of our brains.” Well, we marketers (and our clients and consumers) have only been using about 2% of the Internet. It’s nobody fault, really; no clients (or consumers) were really prepared for the power of this fully operational battle station. What’s sad is, since the advent of online channel, nothing much has changed. Online Advertising still rarely equates to Interactive Marketing. Digital, it turns out really just means not analog.

But, as the search for engagement valuation continues, there could be a way for agencies and brands to work together to create a different kind of value system redefining, or at least taking some of the pressure off of the idea of “engagement”. To do it, we have to up the ante: it’s time to define and differentiate Interactive Marketing from Online Advertising.

How? When? Where? Whaaaaa?

The onset of the Semantic Web means more powerful targeting. Targeting that could get very close to simulating an online, controlled research panel. Tools like Buzzback’s suite of creative research applications (or ones like them) could provide back-end qualitative and quantitative analysis, as well as a flexible creative platform that will allow individual advertising executions to double as learning labs for valuable market research.

A new form of compelling interactive units would be more dynamic, always morphing and relating to user interaction on a collective and individual basis. Because the creative is more responsive, interaction rates would increase and clients would receive new types of valuable data that’s far more actionable than what they’re getting today (think about it: in addition to today’s conventional tactics, these high-powered units could inform product designs…or anything else a client would usually get from a focus group).

This approach could help close the gap between what’s measurable and what’s actionable for our clients, increasing the value of the creative and the placements.

Some people might scream, “you’ve got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” but the combination of creative advertising and market research could be the most powerful and most valuable convergence we’ll see.

What would it take?

1) A Reality check. Focus groups and surveys are dying. Research companies need to upgrade their approach and enroll their clients in this shift. I expect it would also take independent research companies and creative shops buddying up. If either expect to be successful without the other, they’re mistaken (unless they can spend lots of time and money building a best-class department).

2) Pliability. Clients and agencies need to develop more flexible strategic plans…or develop them more frequently. Part of what makes this model so interesting is how actionable it is…but agencies can’t do anything if they’re constricted by a plan that’s 6 months old. There’s really no way to predict where a conversation with consumers will go…and the most valuable reactions will be in response to the most current consumer activity. So the way most plans and spending forecasts are developed today, they probably couldn’t support this system well enough to extract the value.

3) A Breakout Hit. Money is money is money. How many times did clients ask for Subservient Chicken (without any idea how many chicken sandwiches it sold). Even though this new hybrid model would be more efficient for clients, engaging for consumers and flexible for agencies, it better not taste like medicine. A great execution for a popular brand that yields amazing results (anecdotally as well as statistically) will help this become reality. How do we increase the chances of that happening? Simple. Make sure that all your online advertising ideas are embedded with interactive marketing smarts.

Share on Facebook

Catharine Taylor over at Adverganza has posted her takeaways from an interview with the new CEOs of the 4As, Nancy Hill.

I know Nancy, and I’m confident that she will bring a breath of fresh air to an organization that sorely needs it. As digital moves more and more towards the forefront of overall strategy, and as more agencies put digital execs in as leaders of their organizations, the 4As need to refocus their own leadership on helping its member organizations innovate, and on bringing in new organizations that can help take this industry where it needs to go.

And we’re still so far away. But hopefully we’re about to get a step closer.

Share on Facebook

At Adweek’s Adfreak, Brian Morrissey points to a poll over at the homepage of Adweek.com asking “which agency will have a breakout year in ‘08″.

The choices are:

AKQA
Amalgamated
Anomaly
Butler, Shine
Deep Focus
EVB
Mother
Nitro
R/GA
StrawberryFrog

Share on Facebook

Do you read AgencySpy?

Well, you should. If sardonic wit, biting sarcasm, no-holds-barred looks at the ad industry are your thing, then make AS part of your daily fix. The blog humors. It humbles. And AgencySpy? Well she’s wonderful.

AgencySpy decided to take the time out of her busy day to spend a little bit of time interviewing me about digital agencies and the advertising business, and I even got the chance to freestyle rap.

Check out the exclusive interview by clicking here.

Here’s a taste:

Digital implies cutting edge. In fact, some of the best indie
digital shops seem to us like trend units. Do you feel as though
that’s true - that digital agencies are required to be up on all
things “happening” in culture online and off? Do you clients expect that of you?

Digital agencies take many forms, and many play different roles. The vast majority of roles do not require an agency to be ‘hip’ or ‘cutting edge’ or even aware of what’s next. The average agency is a role player, and winds up being average in the process. And many times, ‘average’ is ‘good enough’ (like the Cyndi Lauper song from The Goonies).

But the best agencies are up on all things ‘happening’ in culture online and off. And for the record, an agency is not up on all things ‘happening’ just because they have a ‘lab’. Or someone in charge of ‘innovation’. A true awareness of emerging trends, technologies, and behaviors requires an agency to make that awareness part of its culture — part of everyone that works there — to have it come through in every piece of work. The best digital agencies (creative, media, PR, or full service) know what is emerging, and what will ultimately emerge (sometimes two different things).

Finish reading the interview here.

Share on Facebook

In the spirit of the NCAA Football Bowl Championship Series, I’m going to make an analogy here. Digital agencies are like college football players. The vast majority are role players. They are there to catch the spending that has migrated towards the medium. Some are big, some are small, but there is also a tremendous amount of mediocrity. These are the kinds of players that either accept their mediocrity and prepare for a ‘normal’ career after their last game, or are just blissfully unaware. They might make a big play or two, but they are there to fill a role, whether it’s blocking, tackling, or catching a short pass. They serve a purpose and nothing more is expected from them. And the industry needs role players like that to operate.

But the standouts, the best players on the field, they can anticipate. They seem to know what is going to happen before it does.

Some are purebred elite receivers (digital media agencies) that can catch that spending and be nimble enough to change their routes on-the-fly.

Some are pure elite running backs (digital creative agencies) that can make something out of nothing. They see nothing but an open field in front of them and can make magic happen, but don’t count on them to catch a pass.

Some are quarterbacks (digital strategy agencies) that are capable of calling their own plays, and not waiting for a call from the sidelines. They know when to pass, when to spend, and when to call an audible and change a play.

The best of the best though, the MVPs, are the players that can catch, run, and pass. Maybe they are three players that are part of the same package. But they can not only be on the receiving end of plays but call them as well.

What kind of player would you want on your team? What kind of player would you want to be?

Share on Facebook