by Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) I recently had the privilege of attending Advertising Week Europe 2015 — London (23–27 March 2015). A number of key themes emerged and, as expected, some of these were incredibly controversial, especially what the agency of the future will look like.
Originating in New York in 2004, and building off the incredibly successful platform created by the publication Adweek, this was the third year in Europe, again hosted by the City of London.
A great success
It was a great success and achieved in delivering “a hybrid of inspiring thought leadership featuring the world’s best and brightest, with engaging special events that galvanize targeted constituencies.” It was an experience that I am grateful for and one that I genuinely look forward to attending again next year.
Attended by a broad spectrum of media, advertising, marketing and communications industry folk, the festival name is somewhat misaligned as the content is far from being just advertising-focused. I queried this with a UK colleague and intimated that it should possibly be titled “Marketing Week Europe” or even “Communications Week Europe”.
Little did I know that Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP would also challenge the name during his keynote address on the Wednesday afternoon. Let’s see what transpires next year.
No messy creative masturbation
There was no Riviera sunshine to write home about, no messy creative masturbation to worry about, and no decisions required regarding which champagne-filled yacht deck to stow away on. It was four days of intense listening, networking and tweeting up a storm. A wonderful gesture was having access to the free AWE 2015 branded brollies, scattered around the festival precinct to protect one from the ‘intermittent’ British rain showers, while standing in the long queues waiting to get into the next selected session.
As a single-minded industry festival goes, this was by far the best I have attended, and yes, South Africa did receive a mention or two, particularly the great Coca-Cola Rainbow experience delivered by FCB Johannesburg.
In terms of “single-minded”, I refer to the fact that there were no awards, creative or other, made. The sole purpose of the festival was to present topics relevant to the world of media, advertising and communications; to solicit debate and healthy conversation around those respective topics; and to evoke enough intrigue, interest and emotion to question what the topic actually means to one personally and how it is going to influence the industry that we operate in. It succeeded on all accounts.
Quoting the numbers verbatim
Because numbers are such a key component of our industry — especially the ROI type — I thought it equally appropriate to quote the numbers pertaining to AW Europe verbatim: four days; 209 events; 23 550 attendance; 113 seminars; 70 workshops; 4 059 delegates; 248 press; and 185+ hours of thought-leadership content.
What with close to 30 seminars to choose from each day, it was incredibly difficult to follow a single theme or topic throughout the week as many were delivered simultaneously by different keynote speaker at overlapping times. That said, one could follow many of the seminars via live streaming on digital screens set up in the Google Lounge (with wireless headphones) while waiting between sessions. This was also a great place to network and meet new people from the industry, especially the multitude of journalists and official bloggers covering the event.
A number of key themes emerged and, as expected, some of these were incredibly controversial, especially what the agency of the future will look like. Those that really stood out for me are ones that will fundamentally shape the future of the communications industry — and if we, the collective of advertisers, agencies and media owners alike, have not stopped to take serious note of the global conversation, we are going to be left out to die in the communications wilderness.
Key themes
These are defined as follows:
The big data conversation and what’s more important — big tech or the big idea, or the merging of technology and creativity?
Consumer engagement and the experience journey — the importance of understanding consumer behaviour and the role of consumer-generated content in the conversation
The quest for seamless cross-screen message delivery and brand experience
Programmatic and real-time buying, measurability and the quest for immediacy
Millennials — the biggest influencers upon brands
The agency of the future conversation (the emergence of full service agency again — or not)
This mix goes a long way to addressing aspects across all sectors of our industry and each of the points deserves further explanation and context, with the hope that this stimulates purposeful conversations and leads to an increased awareness of topics that we cannot ignore.
I am only addressing the first point here and will address the remaining ones another time. Please note that the commentary and context provided for each point is a consolidation of views expressed by the various speakers, notes from conversations that I had and some personal view points.
The big data conversation and what’s more important: big tech or the big idea, or the merging of technology and creativity?
The opening point is that data and creative are separate things. Data should be used to drive creative (yes, creative!) and campaign efficacy, but it is only when an industry-wise educational drive has been implemented will we achieve understanding on this point.
The reason I emphasise this is that creative needs to meet the consumer where the conversation is — purposed for device and where in the conversation or purchase decision the consumer is.
Data is the way to find that out and to make sure that the right message is delivered in the right way, at the right time, in the right format and at the moment of truth/moment of engagement location. Creative execution needs to be fluid and purposed to meet the consumer’s expectations and mind-state on the respective device that the consumer may be engaging in at that point in time.
Location one of the most powerful things
A key point to note here is that “location” is already becoming one of the most powerful things in a marketer’s toolkit.
Interestingly, as developed as Europe may be in the collection and understanding of the benefits of big data, only 6% of data is being used in the UK to drive campaign and creative efficacy. Imagine the ROI over achievement that is possible on campaigns when all metrics are understood and creative is purposed to each stage of the experience and conversation flow, and leads to brand engagement or consumption fulfillment!
Data is, however, not just about performance; that’s the easy measure. It’s about how we track brand-perception shift and, in the instance of mobile, how mobile can change a consumer’s purchase intent. Digital, though, is also not just about technology. It’s about how brands reimagine their competitive advantage in the digital world — with data at the centre.
Break down into smaller chunks
Big ideas need to be broken down into smaller chunks — delivered by data, technology and experience. But don’t just think engagement, though: think transactional. Develop an innate understanding of behavior economics to create a real partnership with the consumer.
Unfortunately, over 90% of industry professionals still think that data is a product that you sell to someone for money; data will then always look like a product. When you look at data as a currency to achieve a goal that cannot be achieved by a product or service, and you combine it with consumer understanding and technology, you are able to tell brand stories — something we know that consumers want and, when consumers can’t separate technology and great ideas, we know that this will lead to enhanced consumer experiences.
At the heart of it, data is, however, still fragmented and no universal standards exist for collection, measurement or analysis, especially when it comes to cross-device measurement. Marketing effectiveness will therefore always be questioned until the universal standard has been achieved.
TV and digital measurement integration
This is also the reason that we are seeing such huge investments being made by the likes of WPP on technology platforms such as comScore (Unified Digital Measurement) and Rentrak acquiring Kantar’s US-based television measurement assets. These two events demonstrate the importance of integrating TV and digital measurement, and the impact it will have upon advertising expenditure.
The complexity of this paradigm in our industry is further complicated when applying the same expectations of data collection and interpretation for brands operating on the continent. We still have a long way to go on this journey, but progress is being made every step of the way and the end result will surely be one of benefit for all stakeholders.
In closing, it’s obvious to say that data is currency. The key question is when will there be a universal standard of this currency — like the way that bought media has a price and value, and what role will creative play in meeting the demands of the outcomes derived from this currency?
Faster than ever before
While considering all of this, remember that mobile is speeding up the attack on traditional advertising methodology more than any other medium, device or platform — and at a faster rate than ever before.
Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) is the group managing director of Posterscope South Africa. He has over 21 years of working experience across the disciplines of architecture and retail design/brand communications and marketing management/advertising and media, across 11 pan-European and six pan-African regions. Craig’s monthly column on MarkLives, “Beyond Borders”, focuses on doing business in various African markets. Don’t forget to tune into his #eBizRetail slot on www.ebizradio.com.
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