Goodbye Agency, Hello Agency

A recent video that did the rounds of the blogs and Twitter got me thinking. Firstly, watch the video:

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.

Titled The Last Advertising Agency on Earth, it takes a satirical look at what might happen to the industry if we don’t get to grip with a much more active consumer (ironically, according to industry blog mUmbrella, the video was actually created by advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi). Though well made and rather funny if you know anything about the media industry, it has also come under fire for being condescending and all too quick to throw the advertising agency out on its head.

The advertising industry isn’t dead, not by a long shot. Yes the consumer is now a lot more active (as explored in the first post on inqbase’s blog), but that’s definitely not to say that the old mediums will be going anywhere any time soon. What few companies seem to realise is that it is in the integration of new and old mediums that the industry will find its feet.

To start off, lets discuss the TVC (TV Commercial for those not in the ad industry). The above video suggests that in a few years it will be obsolete, but take a second to really consider this. There are exciting new steps being made to deliver the traditional TVC to nontraditional mediums, and in a way that ensures that the audience is engaging with the ad. Apple recently submitted a patent application for technology that would make viewers directly engage with an ad – the action would then unlock more of the show. As The Unofficial Apple Blog said, this would be “…something of a Holy Grail for advertisers who fear that their messaging is getting lost in the TiVo/DVR ‘just skip it’ timeshifting era.”

And then there is YouTube. This social phenomenon just hit over 24 hours of footage being uploaded every minute (via Mashable). While including ‘viral video’ in your strategy would be a mistake (you don’t create viral, it happens), it does help to consider what kind of ads would be popular in this medium because then you are really considering the audience. Social media then gives them a way to respond and share their experience with your brand, and suddenly you have what was mentioned earlier – integration of the new and the old.

It is hugely important to carefully evaluate before stepping into social media. It’s not just a matter of telling everyone that they need to be on Twitter (as suggested in the video) or Facebook – it’s looking at whether these mediums are appropriate for you or your client.

This video has been great for kicking off a conversation, but don’t throw the industry in the trash just yet.

(This was originally posted to the inqbase blog, where I currently work. You can view the original post here)

Inching down that horrible ‘Unread’ number

I’m now sitting down in the evenings and dedicating an hour to slowly inching down the ‘unread’ number that always mounts so quickly on Google Reader. Mashable is the biggest offender, and when I started reading blogs using Google Reader, I would always avoid reading Mashable because the number was so daunting! I’ve realised now that this was a huge mistake, as the majority of the posts that I find interesting come from the amazing dedicated team at Mashable, who consistently bring an intelligent mix of social media news and humour. A perfect example is the Top 10 Kanye West Interruption Parodies – of which my absolute favourite has to be the video embedded below. Update – the video has since been made private – go to the Mashable link above to find other genius versions).

On a more serious note, David Meerman Scott (who I was lucky enough to hear speak at the last Social Media Club in Sydney) has posted a very interesting blog – Social Media and the Cotton On baby T-Shirt Crisis – about how essential it is for companies to maintain an active as well as interactive presence on social media sites. The outrage about inappropriate baby T-Shirts started off on social media sites like Twitter, but quickly made traditional media papers such as the Sydney Morning Herald. In situations like this, I have always believed that it is important for the companies involved to respond to the criticisms in the same medium, and to do this effectively you need to have an existing and ongoing communication in these mediums. While Cotton On does have a Twitter account (@CottonOn), as David pointed out it is mainly used to convey marketing and advertising messages. I made this point myself a few months ago in a presentation about Online PR, using the example of Domino’s pizza’s crisis ‘Disgusting Domino’s People’. While they had the right idea, and responded using YouTube, the same medium that the the original video was posted in, they didn’t have an existing presence and conversation on social networking sites, and it took a long time for their responding message to get through and calm the crisis down.

Finally, I was drawn to a conversation/debate on Twitter this afternoon between two people that I follow and respect, @trib & @sammutimer, centered around the video embedded below.

If you work in digital, or just even have an interest in social media, you have probably seen that video. When I watched it, my thoughts were “Wow! That is an amazing video that I will show to anyone who believes my passion for social media is silly.” Truth be told I haven’t shown it to anyone yet (because I forgot about it… oops) but now I’ve had it brought to my attention again I can definitely think of a few people who have said “Ohhh Tash, you’re not on Twitter are you?” in a very condescending tone 😛 they’d definitely benefit from watching it – I think. That is the issue that was the core of the discussion on Twitter today, and @trib brought to my attention some very interesting points. Firstly, in his blog post Right Revolution, Wrong Revolutionary he points out that the focus of the video is very much about how much money all these mediums can be worth to companies – and I agree with him that the focus should be more about who we can connect with using these mediums, and the relationships that we can create, rather than just the profit. Yes there are opportunities to make some hard, fast cash, but I fully believe that social media should, and eventually will, be about long term goals and relationships (even in instant mediums like Twitter). Secondly, he points out that the video is very much geared towards people who are already interested in social media – see his Tweet. So maybe I won’t be showing it to those doubting friends after all!

Phew, that took me a while to put together. Meanwhile, an essay about the Federal Lobbying Register is still unwritten – why oh why can’t I be this passionate about Lobbying!

Social Media

Today we had a great lecture by the ex CSU student, Paull Young. Beyond interesting, Paul did a great job of overviewing social media, and his case studies grabbed the classes interest. It’s even more impressive when a lecturer can keep students’ riveted when not even there in person!

Have a look at the link below (update: the embed code doesn’t seem to work now that I’ve moved this post to WordPress)

Paull Young on Social Media from Paull Young on Vimeo.

Thanks so much to Paull for such an inspiring presentation, and it also makes me hopeful for my future as a graduate of Charles Sturt in a few months time! Uni at this point is rushing by at top speed, it’s hard to believe we get a break at the end of next week! Oh, and in exciting news, I managed to pick up an opportunity to help out at the Bluesfest up in Byron Bay over the Easter weekend, helping organise media and interviews with the artists! I thought there was no chance there would be anything left this close to the festival, but on a whim emailed the publicity director. Just goes to show that you should always take a chance and try! You never know.

I’ve also started to contact PR agencies in Melbourne and Sydney, enquiring about longer internships. Just a bit nerve racking, but lets hope all goes well. At least my course is preparing me well, with mock interviews and applications last week. My course coordinator Donald and tutor Sharon had nothing bad to say about my interview, which is a huge confidence boost, since they’re both very experienced in the public relations industry. We’re also heading out to Sydney on Thursday for a two day tour of public relations companies in the city, including Cox Inall , Ogilvy and Burson-Marsteller . Should be really interesting!