Is it time to give your digital agency the lead creative role?
The internet is stuffed with statistical proof that offline budgets are moving to online. That’s great for an agency like us, but it takes a brave brand to take significant TV budgets and throw them at an online idea.
They would probably be greeted with strange looks in the board room if they decided to turn left with their marketing budgets and move away from what’s tried and tested.
The boys and girls at VCCP did something quite special for Compare the Market based on a simple creative idea.
And that’s where it starts.
But there’s a bravery to presenting an idea like that in the first place, and more bravery in taking it on from the brand team — I would love to have been a fly on the wall in that pitch!
But at a time when online usage continues to climb, and in the year where the mobile device may actually deliver its promise and become pretty ubiquitous – surely there’s a need for online creativity as standard with all marketing activity?
For smaller brands this might mean online test budgets to set the creative juices flowing against an otherwise ‘offline’ brief. For larger brands this has to mean putting your digital agency around the table as a strategic partner rather than an ‘offline–to-online’ production house.
This means not shooting your TV before understanding how the time on set could be maximised online, or how the idea with just a bit of tweaking could work much harder. Better still, give the online boys the TV brief and see what they can make of it!
The idea should drive the media (actually they should work together) but often in the case that lead-times for media bookings and ‘business as usual’ planning routines stifles creative flexibility and media-neutrality.
Take Google.
Google Chrome is doing interesting things online with these 2 campaign ideas that have had little offline support. At its heart is a simple idea — how can we demonstrate speed?
Google Chrome Speed Tests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCgQDjiotG0
Google Chrome FastBall – A race across the Internet
http://www.youtube.com/chromefastball
These campaigns have had nearly 3.5m interactions and counting.
Not 3.5m Opportunities To See.
3.5m actual people interacting with your brand because they want to.
Cadbury
Cadbury Australia is launching a new ‘roll pack’.
Hip Hamster works out in his wheel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cadburyaurollpack
Take a look — it’s not particularly mind-blowing — but it’s simple and viral and ‘worth sharing‘ — and 250,000 interactions to date.
Perrier
Perrier is creating a sexy online brand with activity like this. Boys — I dare you not to watch this all the way through:
And not a 60 second TV spot in sight.
So — a time for bravery; for testing new things? Try asking your digital agency what they think.
—Steve
