By Flo Heiss
Creative Partner Dare UK and Microsoft MOUSE Advertising Awards Chair 2008
Twelve months ago online you could insert a video or animation into a banner ad and people would take notice, but now that’s not enough… Across today’s global, 24/7 media landscape, consumers are being bombarded with more commercial messages than ever before, and because of this it’s become even harder to grab their attention. Every advert now needs to tell a story to the right person at the right time – the idea is King and its Queen is context – only together can they reach the kingdom of the consumer.
As a result, the day job of a digital creative has evolved - and believe me, this isn’t just happening to me as I’m sure my peers will agree, their job descriptions have changed as rapidly as we move from Web 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0! Because the digital world moves and changes at such a rapid pace, whilst we are digital creatives first and foremost, our total immersion in the digital world means that, like in no other media to quite the same degree, we are deeply involved in the design, technology and even planning of a digital ad from start to finish – the holistic creation of the campaign.
The New Client
How to reach the consumer in this fast paced environment is not simply dictated by brands and media buyers anymore; it is also influenced directly by the media itself. Creative briefs aren’t just about the creative idea, but also about the creative execution - what will work best where online and how - this is dictated by where consumers are online and what they are doing at any given time.
For many of our clients this is a new and daunting media concept and we are being frequently called upon to explain and simplify the process of online and encourage clients to see the benefits of digital. So the role of the digital creative has changed again –we are champions and planners of the media, we create the big brand idea to translate digitally - we are graphical artists, we create games, we film videos, we animate, whatever it takes - and finally we execute it in a way that is relevant and engaging for the consumer whilst delivering results for the advertiser.
And, there are so many formats in which this might work - from a simple “click here buy that” banner to a complicated brand campaign that challenges and changes consumer perception. Digital can be DM, POS, ATL, ZZ-Top, BMX – everything.
More than an Ad
A common misconception is that digital is just about advertising. But it’s not about creating a metaphor that shows an audience a product; it’s about creating something useful that allows people to experience and own a product, making the consumer a participant. Getting this right isn’t easy, but if it’s done well a campaign can fly around the globe in a matter of a few hours with incredibly powerful results.
Digital creatives also have to consider that people are connected. If you create something engaging and entertaining people will talk about it, blog about it, copy it, experiment with it, get involved and create the ‘buzz factor’. This creates ‘open’ content which lets consumers participate and have a conversation with a brand, as opposed to being marketed to. I like to explain this by saying that all great digital work is unfinished to a certain extent and is open to evolution through interactivity.
To be good at this you really need to be part of this world and understand how it works. Be plugged in. Digital is still about big ideas, but they need to be the right kind of ideas. I truly believe that all successful marketing will have a digital thought at its heart. We need ideas that can be advertised as opposed to advertising ideas.
Context Matters
The evolution of social media and the rapidly developing ‘cloud’, along with the explosion of video content on the web have once again changed the user experience online and it’s key that advertisers ‘keep up’ delivering cutting edge campaigns across the ever-changing contexts that make up the consumer network.
In the digital medium the context that ads are being presented in is in itself a powerful tool. We know to a certain extent what people are doing, how they are interacting, how they are feeling and where they are. This means that adverts can be made relevant and above all useful.
As Microsoft’s ‘Context Matters’ consumer research into online context and consumer moods revealed last year, there is definitely a ‘creative science’ involved in targeting consumers online. Brands need to let go to a certain extent, give up a certain amount of control and embrace consumers to stay relevant. This means being honest about their products as brands will be found out if they are not being honest and real. The internet is a risky place for brands if they get it wrong and they need to know who they talk to and have a conversation with them in the right way – on their terms. If this is done right it can be very, very powerful. Involve consumers, listen, make them into participants. The marketing world has changed. Digital is mainstream. Fact.
Leading the Way
What we are seeing is a digitisation of the real world. The cloud (wireless broadband, currently only in big cities around the world) will eventually cover the whole planet allowing us to dip into a multitude of alternative worlds in a universe where everything is clickable and updateable.
So brands can’t avoid digital – and I believe don’t want to – but how do digital creatives reassure advertisers and lead them into the brave new world? Examples of best practice are key to demonstrating success and encouraging brands to branch out with their online campaigns.
Awards like Microsoft’s MOUSE Advertising Awards, which I am proud to be chairing this year, aim to do just this. They celebrate cutting edge campaigns that excel through both the creative concept and the digital execution and in today’s digital world this can involve multiple platforms, multiple forms of execution and multiple contexts.
The exciting truth is, we don’t know what tomorrow’s digital campaign will look like – but I for one am looking forward to finding out – even if my job changes once again, I am sure that what counts as success will remain the same – engagement, entertainment, relevancy and honesty in all conversations and interaction with the consumer.
