Social Media Week presentation now available on SlideShare

Convergence in technology is all around us—whether it's our mobile phones that serve many purposes (phone, camera, address book, GPS, etc...) or the continued evolution of platforms like Facebook (who announced this week that they were entering the movie distribution business). It's a topic we explored during Social Media Week and one that we will continue to keep our eyes on in the future.

As the expression goes, "You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been." We hope that our event, "Convergence: How Social Commerce and Mobile Change the Way We Make Decisions and Shop," shed some light on the current state of convergence, and are happy to make the presentation available on SlideShare. Enjoy!

Saatchi Wellness - Social Media Week 2011

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Creativity in Digital Advertising

Technology has changed the game for advertisers, giving them new media, formats, and means of making their brand known to a desired audience. Next Wednesday (February 23rd), our Managing Director, Ned Russell will join a panel of other advertising professionals to discuss what's working (and what isn't) at the DIGIDAY: On Media conference in Los Angeles.

While we have a few ideas in mind, we want to know what you think: what digital advertising ideas really caught your attention this year? Which campaigns really broke through and delivered against the bottom line? Anything that failed miserably but has a few key take-aways that we can learn from?

Please use the comments below to share your ideas, or you can send suggestions via twitter at @saatchiwellness

For more information about Ned's panel, you can visit the DIGIDAY conference website at: http://www.digidayonmedia.com/Agenda/

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Boiling Frogs

There's an old anecdote that if you drop a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out because of the intense heat. But if you put the frog in lukewarm water and slowly dial up the heat, it will gladly be boiled to death.

What does boiling frogs have to do with digital marketing, you say? Well, I had the pleasure of listening to David Kirkpatrick discuss his new book, The Facebook Effect, the other night and was reminded of this old anecdote. Particularly as he described Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook and its current CEO, you get the sense that Zuckerberg is the master chef, boiling up his tasty concoctions and we, the 500 million of us that use Facebook, are the frogs.

It's obvious that Zuckerberg has a distinct vision for Facebook, and that is to be, in the most pure sense of the word, ubiquitous. Besides amassing shear numbers of people (nearly half of all Americans and one third of the world's online population are users), the desire is to weave Facebook so deeply into our lives that it almost goes away because it's everywhere (kind of like the Internet itself). To forever change what we say, share and do with our friends.

To achieve something so lofty takes ambition and also the resolve to deliver what your users want and need, even if they don't know it yet themselves (as Henry Ford once said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses"). As we have seen when the news feed was first introduced, Beacon was enabled, the homepage changed, or recently with privacy settings, abrupt changes upset people.

They protest (in the irony of ironies, on Facebook), forming groups and Fan pages asking for things to go back to the way they used to be. And sometimes they are successful in getting features rolled back or removed. But sooner or later, we end up there anyway--it just takes longer and with a more gradual adjustment of the proverbial heat. As Kirkpartick mentioned in a blog post about a year ago, "Facebook has no choice but to keep updating the service as user behavior and the Web evolves rapidly." Evolve or die, yes, but tread lightly when you bring it to the masses.

The lesson here for the rest of us? Oftentimes, we as marketers know what our people want (we've seen the data, mined the insights, sized the market, etc...) but need to deliver it to them in a way that they will embrace, not revolt against. If Facebook has shown us anything, it's that if you turn the heat up too high, the frogs jump out, but warm it slowly and we'll happily stay in the water.

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Webby Awards

I attended the Webby Awards this week.

Wow. Whoa. Wawee.

Let me tell you, it was impressive.

We’ve all been hearing about convergence for as long as the Webby Awards have been around—14 long years. That concept feels so much more tangible right now.

Being there felt like I was online, only with real people. I watched the Andrey Ternovskiy, the founder of ChatRoulette, chatting to Ben Huh, the guy behind I Can Has Cheeseburger. I renewed my crush on Isabella Rossellini as she accepted an award for Sundance Channel’s brilliant Green Porno. And I got a wee bit teary as the boys and girls from the PS22 chorus sang, lead by their teacher. Buzz Aldrin was there, and so was Roger Ebert. And so were Jason Bateman, Zach Galifianakis and Amy Poehler. Vinton Cerf ‘the father of the internet’ bounced on stage to receive a lifetime achievement award for his work on the protocol that still, 40 years on, allows data to be transmitted across the internet.

The beauty of all this is the wide spectrum of talent being celebrated. From the brilliance of Pandora to the absurdist humor of Selleck Waterfall Sandwich. From the financially practical Mint.com to the hilarity of The Onion. ‘Old’ media got a pat on the back—The New York Times, NPR and BBC. And so did ‘new’ media—Twitter, Hulu and HuffingtonPost.

I know it’s just an award show, but I also think it’s a reflection of where we are at right now. With artwork by Shepard Fairey, videos by The Wade Brothers and B.J. Novak, from The Office, MCing, the experience was exactly what it should have been—an event celebrating the achievements in a hugely influential medium.

Now let’s see if we can get our hands on one of them slinky-like awards and give a mandatory five word speech.

I wanna hang with astronauts.

Check out the winners.
http://www.webbyawards.com/

Sergio Flores
ACD

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Can Brands Unlock The "Value" Badge?

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining Jim Dayton, Doug Levy, and Stephanie Noble in a panel discussion at the "Social Media for Pharma" conference in Princeton, NJ, and one question that we were asked to answer has been rattling around in my brain since then: can pharmaceutical and healthcare brands participate within foursquare?

Foursquare—a social network where people "check-in" to physical locations, earn points based on their activity, and "unlock badges" based on the type and frequency of their check-in—is surging in popularity, with nearly 1.5 million users. While it may have a fraction of the users of larger networks like facebook (400 million+ users) or twitter (100 million+ users), foursquare has shown that people are willing to engage when you add geo-location to social networks. That Twitter has added and Facebook is adding location-based services only emphasizes the trend.

Naturally, marketers and brands see this growth and want to capitalize on the opportunity. But it heightens an issue that many still struggle with—how can I, as a brand, participate and engage within social environments?

We know that banner ads are not particularly effective within social networks, even with more sophisticated targeting and relevance capabilities, because of the nature of the environment (to use an often-used analogy, if social networks are like a cocktail party, imagine someone wearing a sandwich board, jumping up and down, trying to get your attention, while you were chatting with a friend at a cocktail party....is this going to be interesting or relevant to you?). Engagement is possible when brands are able to provide something of value to people, whether it's customer service, helpful tips, cost savings, or a Whopper.

Which brings us back to foursquare and whether or not healthcare brands could ever play in this space.


As I mentioned during the panel discussion, like most digital examples within our industry, we can look to other verticals like packaged goods and "pure" consumer brands for inspiration and guidance. Starbucks is probably the most obvious example of a brand that has seamlessly integrated themselves into the foursquare experience, both with their Barista badge (which I have proudly unlocked) and the special it offers to the mayor of each store ($1 off a new however-you-want-it Frappuccino), but many other examples exist on both a national and local level:

• Pinkberry offers points towards exclusive events, and 10% off your order in NY and TX


• The state of Pennsylvania has partnered with foursquare to create new badges and "inspire people to take road trips, traverse the state, and uncover the best eateries, shopping spots and historical venues."¹


• Here in NY, Tasti-D-Lite offers points and rewards towards your "TastiRewards" loyalty program, plus discounts at certain locations

Will we ever see an "I have Erectile Disorder" badge for 3 refills of your Viagra at the same pharmacy? Um, probably not. Using foursquare's leaderboard to add a little healthy competition to making better lifestyle choices like exercising and making better food choices? Why not. OTC brands offering coupons for the mayor of the local CVS or Walgreens? Probably.

The bottom line is that brands, regardless of the category, can play here if they respect the environment that they're in (unique places for social interaction, not advertising), get creative with their approach, and bring value to the people they are trying to reach.

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iPad, Health, and Wellness

Unless you were living under a rock on Wednesday, chances are you saw coverage of Apple's new iPad—a half-inch thick slab of aluminum and glass that, in Apple's words, fills a niche between small mobile devices (like an iPhone) and a full-sized notebook. With built in wireless (via WiFi or, in some models, 3G) and thousands of apps ready to install (thanks to it's ability to run iPhone and iPod Touch applications from the App Store), the device has the potential to transform—or create new—markets and industries.

Like any new technology, it's our responsibility as an agency to assess the impact that it may have on our clients' business and to think about business-relevant ways to leverage it. iPad, though only about 48 hours old and not available for at least 60 days, is already having quite an impact on the health and wellness sector, with several ideas for its use emerging across the web and blogosphere.

Obvious potential exists with the sales force (at least, while there are still sales reps out in the field). Most pharma companies have shifted to digital promotion via Tablet PC, and detailing on Apple's new device seems like a logical (although potentially expensive) extension. Features like location awareness, always-on connectivity, long battery life and a light-weight form factor surpass most hardware that is deployed today, but it's missing key pieces on the software side of the equation, like CRM integration, interaction measurement, and fulfillment.

Digitizing the physician's office and hospitals is another huge market. Companies like Phreesia have focused on waiting rooms, using their devices for patient intake, triage and payment collection, but compared to the rich video playback capabilities of iPad and it's ability to run other applications (for example, symptom assessment tools, patient education content, etc...), this area seems ripe for new ideas. Then there are electronic health records and the potential to transform how patient data is captured and displayed (look at how the New York Times was able to replicate the essence of flipping through the paper version of the news...now imagine the manilla folder your doctor uses to keep your patient record).

We find wellness beyond the doctor's office—in real places like retail environments, gyms, and museums, and virtual ones like social networks—and iPad can, and will, find a home in these environments too. Will it be revolutionary? Or just a lot of experimentation in search of a purpose? Time will tell.

Innovation happens when there are unmet (or unknown) needs in the marketplace and someone has the willingness, time, money, and creativity to fill those needs. For all the features and services that iPad doesn't have, it DOES provide a new platform for marketers to innovate. For those who are adept at identifying new opportunities, seizing them before competitors, and delivering beyond the expectations of their people, this is the device they've been waiting for.

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They're Just People

I was in a meeting the other day and caught myself doing something that, in hindsight, really made me stop and think. In the course of presenting ideas on how to engage a particular audience, I kept using terms like "patients," "customers," "consumers," and "targets" almost interchangeably, as if the label didn't matter and that one way of describing these groups was just as good as the other. I realized how limiting and narrow minded all of these labels are in describing anyone and tried to think of a better descriptor.

The answer that hit me was the obvious one: our job is to communicate with PEOPLE. Human, individual, unique people.

Of course we have to recognize that at different times throughout their days and lives, yes, people are our "customers" or our "consumers" (just look at the way goods were consumed on Black Friday), or any other label we want to apply. But these are just glimpses of a much more broad and interesting view. We need to take off the blinders and look at the whole picture.

Looking at this bigger picture makes our jobs as marketers a bit more challenging. Greater differences between people are revealed and the neat little groupings that we assemble for ourselves are now less meaningful than they used to be. Our "segmentation strategies" aren't the only things that are losing effectiveness—so too are the mass media channels that we rely upon to reach people, like TV and print. To succeed in this world, we need to make personalized content available within targeted channels to truly engage effectively.

Why have the rules of the game suddenly changed? I would argue that they haven't—people have always wanted to be treated like individuals, not as segments or targets or by attributes (which marketers make up) that lump them together with a bunch of other strangers. The game is different now because we have the means to do something about it. Whether it's the environments where we can interact better or data that helps us understand better, we have an unprecedented ability to treat people as the unique individuals that they are.

Yes, it's harder to engage and connect with people as people. But by dropping labels which narrow our focus, and looking at how we can relate to them within a larger context, our approach evolves and so does our ability to create things that truly resonate. Gone are the days where we launch messages at targets. Now, we must think about how to create and share unique experiences, in whatever form they may be.

I'm taking the first step. From now on no more labels like patients, customers, or consumers. They're just people.

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The Eternal Debate

Mac vs. PC

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Boxers vs. briefs

Outside of the agency world, bring up any of the above and it's sure to spark a heated debate over a cold pint.

Inside the agency world, however, the fastest way to pick a fight is to pick a side in the "traditional" vs "digital" agency debate. Case in point: the recent AdAge blog post by Ana Andjelic, titled "Why Digital Agencies Aren't Ready to Lead," which is setting off a firestorm of debate from both sides of the aisle.

There is a natural tendency to over-simplify and stereotype each kind of agency—labeling the digital agency as innovative, fresh, and nimble but not very strategic; characterizing traditional agencies as having creative and strategic strength but lacking in terms of experimentation, technology and speed—and these stereotypes are usually the first things people challenge. A quick scan of the article's comments will show you exactly what I'm talking about.

But arguing over the accuracy of a stereotype or debating the merits of one agency type over another overlooks an interesting concept that the article introduces, which is a theory of "exploration vs exploitation". As described by James March, organizations, in an effort to evolve and grow, must balance the "exploration of new possibilities" against "the exploitation of old certainties." Do they invest in an unknown future at the expense of current profit? Or do they play to current strengths and reap immediate benefit while sacrificing in the long term? As someone who has helped an agency change over the past several years, I know all too well how challenging it is to find the right balance between these two opposable forces.

Whether you agree with the overall sentiment of the post (that digital agencies just don't get it) or not, it's clear that the rapidly changing needs of our clients are the driving force behind this evolution. They need agencies that are capable of generating innovative ideas while mastering execution, and ones that can demonstrate success in both mass channels and more precise and measurable ones. Regardless of how they are labeled, agencies that "get" this will succeed; those that don't will struggle.

Time will tell if it's the digital agencies or traditional ones that ultimately "win" this battle to balance exploration and exploitation, but everyone stands to benefit as a result. Continued evolution, and therefore competition, leads to a stronger marketplace, where ideas are better, the solutions more innovative, and our clients are more successful in achieving their goals.

When that happens, not only will agencies and clients win, but our consumers do too.

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