The Web Smart Blog
The Web Smart Blog exists to extend the information provided in our monthly Web Smart Newsletters. Web information changes so quickly that a monthly publication can't cover enough ground. Also, additional information to past topics can't wait for future publication so we add related newsletter information here.
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Forrester Takes Aim at the Dis-Connected Agency
February 20, 2008 at 9:30 am by Eric
Last week Forrester Research released "The Connected Agency" report by Mary Beth Kemp and Peter Kim. In it they discuss how advertising agencies need to evolve from pushing messages to facilitating connections, from push to pull interactions, and from campaigns to conversations.When I read this kind of report I always keep in mind the kind of agency (and the kind of client) that these changes effect the most. In this regard, I found the report a bit overstated in how they characterize the traditional marketing agency. The report tended to overstate the importance social media trends and used easy targets like consumers' dislike for interruptive advertising to make its case. To be fair, report co-author Mary Beth Kemp did admit that they were directing their declarations and predictions to the top "A" list consumer brand agencies. The drama of the report plays best against these front lines, consumer-oriented brand agencies. But, the typical B2B client or mid-sized advertising agency isn't impacted nearly as much as the large consumer brand agency. Most mid-sized B2B companies barely register in social media "conversations." A few weeks ago, I sat through a demo of Radian6, a very impressive social media monitoring system. My main question for the rep giving me the demo was how the average mid-sized B2B client would benefit from the tool. We ran a few sample reports to see how much attention some our clients were getting. They got very few hits in blog posts, comments, and other social media conversations. The disruption and changes effecting national and global brands with regard to consumer conversation, engagement, and social media activity is very dramatic. The Forrester report does a fantastic job of quantifying these changes and forecasting their impact on the future model for the connected advertising agency. However, the practical realities of low attention volume for the typical mid-sized B2B in the social media universe decreases the urgency for social media engagement. But wait, that does not mean mid-sized agencies and clients can afford to fall asleep here! There is still crucial impact for all companies, even when they rarely get pinged in the blogosphere. Harry Beckwith points out in my favorite marketing book, Selling the Invisible, "More people every day have experienced extraordinary service. Many have seen Disney World; they know how clean, friendly, and creative service can be. They have seen world-class service, and now every service has to accept it." Even small local services who aren't Disney World still get evaluated on a scale that has Disney World on the "best" end of the scale. If I'm a small coffee shop, I still have to compete against Starbucks whether I like it or not. So while the typical mid-sized technology company, whose brand is hardly known outside their specialized industry, and who rarely get blogged about, are still going to be evaluated against a social media backdrop. Mid-sized B2B branding efforts will be seen and judged by the same people who, as general consumers, are being changed by the forces of social media. As social media, conversational engagement, peer-review, open commenting, sharing, collaboration, and all other other dynamics of social media change how consumers relate to brands, all companies will be judged, in some measure, by their responsiveness to these changes. One practical area of change for the typical mid-sized agency with their typical mid-sized B2B client is in their marketing vocabulary. Social media is having the effect of forcing consumer brands to get more real. Hyperbolic advertising slogans, and outrageous and unsubstantiated claims are failing on deaf ears. Marketing language has to change its tone or else risk seeming out of touch and embarrassing themselves. "Marketing speak" has to give way to human conversation. What brands claim about themselves using fairy tale language must come down to earth with real, open and honest talk. As brands are forced to be more real, because they are facing the rapidly changing marketing landscape, the change in tone, and language in marketing as a whole must change. And as consumers adapt to these changes, come to expect them, and even demand them, these same adjustments will be expected of all the marketing they receive. Even small companies will be judged on the basis larger brands are feeling now. After all, we're all consumers, and the service we receive at Starbucks carries over to Open Eye Cafe (Mark's favorite coffee shop). And the same branding language we begin to expect from Dove and Doritos we'll expect from Dover Rugs, and Dominion Technologies. So while the criticism leveled at the traditional advertising agency in the Forrester report may need some context and though it is not as dramatic a report when applied to most mid-sized agencies, it none-the-less underscores some important changes in the dynamics of all marketing that all agencies should stand up and take notice of. Update: Peter Kim just posted an update of all the reactions to the Forrester report--he highlights many of the comments from post. |
Tags: socialmedia blogging web20 agencies copywriting advertising advertising20
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Information R/evolution - Video by Michael Wesch
December 3, 2007 at 3:43 pm by Eric| Michael Wesch, who produced the viral Web 2.0 video "The Machine is Us/ing Us" has posted a part two called Information R/evolution. He really has a knack for concretely demonstrating the dramatic way technology is changing how we interact with information. He contrasts the old ways of categorization with the new ways of search, blogging, tagging, RSS and global collaboration. By the way, the social annotation tool he's using in the video is Diigo--one of my favorite tools for tagging and bookmarking. |
Tags: collaboration video tagging socialmedia web20
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Social Bookmarking video by The Common Craft Show
August 7, 2007 at 10:57 am by Eric| Lee LeFever at the Common Craft Show did it again with an excellent short video that explains the use and benefits of social bookmarking. Lee has created a paper and whiteboard approach to explaining these tools and concepts and it's very effective. For more information about social bookmarking and del.icio.us see our Web Smart newsletters Wikis and Swickis and Blogs, Part 2, and Social Media - Madness? |
Tags: socialbookmarking video commoncraftshow socialmedia delicious web20 collaboration
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Web 2.0 Conceptual Video... The Machine is Us/ing Us
March 23, 2007 at 11:03 am by Eric|
Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us is a fantastic piece that illustrates the web 2.0 movement toward information collaboration, organization and magnification. For a longer explanation of web 2.0 and all the attention being given to collaborative tagging and community sites like del.icio.us, Flickr, and MySpace read my Web Smart newsletter Wikis, Swikis and Blogs, Oh My! (part one | part two) |
Tags: conversationalmedia video socialmarketing advertising20 socialmedia web20
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