Modern Marketing - Blog by Collaborate PR & Marketing

Do You Boil Down Or Boil Up?

Boiling ideas down in advertising planning is a very popular pastime - aka reductive thinking.  However, in networked media, the opposite is true.  The aim is for an idea to boil up - and preferably - over.  Both approaches have their attractions and are largely determined by their natural media.  TV and billboards are about the big punch.   The web is about seeding and weeding.  These different outlooks make a huge difference when it comes to preparation.  If you've only got one shot at getting your message across, then taking a lot of time to finnesse your plan is a must.  You want a bold flavour and it may take time to blend the ingredients, with plenty of mistakes made behind the scenes.  However, networked media is about many intimate fragments that on their own can be meaningless, but in time will build into something complex and alluring.  To succeed you must get chopping, chuck the ingredients around a bit, throw in a few random spices and maybe let other people make some suggestions along the way.  Indeed, the preparation may never end because the rich process is often the desired outcome - not the tasty dish itself.  Bringing these two styles into the same kitchen (or studio) is tricky.  While one chef is focusing on adding the final slither of vanilla truffle to their perfect white dish, the other will be energetically throwing spaghetti at the wall and asking passers-by for opinions on the sauce.  But now paymaster Big Brands want the sociability of Tapas mixed with the fine experiences of Haute Cusine.  So inevitably change is coming.  Although not without some pain.  Such a major redesign of the planning processes to mix styles is going to leave many eggs - and egos - on the floor.

The Digital Divide Is Now Closed

I went to the Cannes mega-bash this week and noticed something quite new.  Everyone was in agreement.  For some years there has been a deep divide in the marketing world between digital early-adopters and those who 'don't get it'.  But that divide is now closing fast.  In my view, the stalemate broke last year when MySpace TV started commissioning original drama with the involvement of Big Brands like Ford.  And, for the most part, it was well received.  Then Bebo followed suit offering Kate Modern to its huge following and creating a bidding war among brands looking to be featured in the popular plot.  The media world had turned full circle it seemed.  Even if the technical kit underlying it all would be unrecognisable to an engineer from the Eric & Ernie era - it's still commercial entertainment on a grand scale.  Since then, the launch of the BBC's  iPlayer (P2P!) has gone some way to giving people what they had been accessing illegally via Limewire or footy feeds.  And, Hulu, the iPlayer's US cousin run by NBC and Fox gained momentum by mixing a very groovy Ruby + Flash set up with a *shock horror* legal business model.  Meanwhile, iTV slowly builds its partnership with Microsoft to broadcast its content over the MS mega-web-structures.  And as 2008 is the year that the UK analogue signal begins to run down, the choices of viewing platforms is set to explode.  Hey, even Napster is back in its original form - but this time it's legal!  Clearly, the nature of new entertainment is different when it comes to levels of participation.  However, no one expects all TV viewing to become a participative experience.  And as Shirky points out, it only takes a small shift in the vast oceans of time spent glued to global re-runs of Friends for people to be freed up for the raising of experimental new global barns like Wikipedia.  So, is there really any point in talking traditional vs digital any more?  Even the purists are on board.  As the ever articulate Adliterate points out: "Never before has the primary determinant of consumer reach been consumer engagement rather than simply ratings. Only a few weeks into the launch of the Gorilla ad, the number of people that had seen the film was almost double the number that Cadbury’s had actually paid to see it."  Yes, the digital divide is now closed.  And this is where the story begins.

Think Pebbles Not Boulders

Networked media is all about small things.  A group of college buddies staying in touch via Facebook.  A lively community chat in the comments section of a blog.  The sharing of a family recipe in a forum.  Podcasted thoughts on the best musicians of a loved genre.  Documented gripes that other mis-sold souls can appreciate.  A trail of links displaying the interests of a hobbyist.  A stream of photos documenting a trip through foreign lands.  All personalised passions around which simple human discussion and connections can grow.  Sometimes these small gestures can become elevated and snowball into permanent specialised communities - or even going concerns.  However, they almost always start small and usually stay that way.  Which is fine.  Unless, of course, you're only interested in big.  And increasingly that's what brands and marketing want from the networked media space.  They want big built-in from the get-go.  Which is a problem.  Because the only way to get to big is to start small.  But most big companies aren't very good at small.  They are very good at big.  They have big teams operating big ideas on big platforms to reach big audiences.  All so that they can 'move the needle' on massive market shares where 'small' is actually gazillions of packets, dollars, sales or assets.  And if your primary view is through a big telescope pointing at the horizon you will probably ignore the small steps in front of you and start firing off howitzers into the distance.  So what to do?  In short, think pebbles - not boulders.  Resist the temptation to gather several hundred weight of concrete into a single block - and launch it at one networked media ocean or another.  Let go of the desire for a ROI mushroom cloud.  Instead, choose a pebble and skim it across a nearby pond.  Then do it again - making sure you watch the ripples that result. That way you can begin to understand the local waters and how the tides flow.  Of course, the really great thing is that this approach is 100 per cent scalable.  Just keep throwing pebbles.