Article

'Video Everywhere' has agencies shaken and stirred

Unlike 007's martini, digital signage and digital place-based media have brands and agencies both shaken *and* stirred, says DPB media expert Lyle Bunn.

November 23, 2015

By Lyle Bunn, Principal, BUNN Co.

While the "Video Everywhere" Summit put on earlier this month by the Digital Place-based Advertising Association had many references to the days of "Mad Men" (and Women), everyone in the industry is looking forward. The annual event of 800 brand, agency and network executives took place just as the latest 007 movie was hitting the screens, with the vilain being an all-observing, all-aggregating digital network.

True to the movie, Albert Einstein's prediction that "what man's mind can create, his character can control" is a confidence expressed by marketers. Agencies want to be that force of business transformation that is at theintersection of technology and creative. "The future does not lie in the containers of the past," noted Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategist for Publicis Groupe (image, right). It was clear in his comments that agencies are being shaken and stirred by digital media as:

• Marketing is being outsourced to end-users as consumers play a greater role in shaping and amplifying the brand identity.
• The world will be less about advertising and more about services and utility that allow engagement with the brand to occur at natural points of brand interaction.
• Video will be "from the slime" not the "heavens" as big budgets and timelines give way to shoestring and consumer production.
• Owning data is obsolete, but accessing it is critical.
• Storytelling and creativity are essential.
• Where you are (i.e. place-based) is as important as who you are (i.e. audience targeting).

Havas North America CEO Lori Hiltz declared that "agencies have to create must-see media. Activation is more important than insertion."

The ability of digital place-based media to deliver messages and audience engagement that are in context to the location and viewing experience to the target audience is the ultimate opportunity and threat to the media agency.

Media columnist Stuart Elliott advised agencies to focus equally on IQ, EQ and TQ, linking intellectual and emotional intelligence while strengthening their technology intelligence because digital technology is changing so rapidly.

"Every screen has its own role," Elliott said, adding that "the capabilities of each, in particular place-based media, are evolving faster than any media we have seen in history."

"The entire advertising industry is having rouble making sense of what is really taking place," noted Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, which has 680 member companies with 10,000 brands that collectively spend more than $250 billion in marketing and advertising annually. "We at the ANA are trying hard to get the facts."

"Learn fast and cheap," advised Sandy Kolkey, CMO of Turtle Wax Inc. (image, left), before adding: "Experiment and then build or shift based on what you learn." Brands must move beyond helping consumers answer the question "Why should I buy this?" to answering "What can I achieve through this brand?" she said. The shift is a new plateau of messaging that is based on the convergence of media and creative.

While digital has been shaking the brand-building world it is also stirring media agencies to action. The creative work that can be delivered by digital place-based media have the potential to breathe new life into creative capabilities and to shift revenues from ad buying to creative, which is the foundation of must-see marketing.

As the grip of broadcast gives way to the marketing clout of place-based engagement, all stakeholders are in line to be well served. The adaptive capabilities of Madison Avenue are being tested while the inventiveness of the digital technologies sector is being fully turned to that next area of organizational efficiency, marketing.

As this collaboration unfolds, watch for these things:

• More developments in the efficiencies of media planning and placement that take advantage of location and message viewing context to activate engagement.
• "Customer experience" as a marketing discipline. This group acts as the advocate for the customer and can inform marketing strategy through insights provided by the customer and interpreted through the brand "lens."
• The growing contribution of digital and customer experience design agencies. WPP The Store under CEO David Roth is seizing the digital day through close partnerships with technology innovators such as Intel, while firms such as Shikatani Lacroix Design are inventing new levels of brand engagement by knitting digital and design into brand experience.
• The (possible) December 2015 release of  "Fusion" by Nielsen.
• Reports by the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DP-AA.org).

The transition from audience-of-many to the audience-of-one as consumers move from the place-based screen to their mobile device has been an area of digital media development. Inherent in this is geo-awareness, leaning toward increasing profile or identity awareness. QR, NFC, BLE Beacons, Wi-Fi, Geofencing and SMS have all tried to serve this interface while respecting consumer privacy and being dependent on opt-in for value and online information. Watch for some new mobile interface approaches that will leapfrog these mobile engagement approaches. Bulzi Media for example uses real-time targeting criteria that extend from cellphone subscriber information to better target the mobile consumer. Also, recently patented innovations from Europe offer flat screen/hard goods to mobile information/mobile commerce access without middleware or geo-locating. Be on the watch for more.

Lyle Bunn is an analyst, advisor and educator in the digital media industry focused on owned media and its convergence with paid and earned in the media model for patron, shopper, traveler, staff and student communications. Find him at www.LyleBunn.com.

(All images courtesy of the DPAA.)