Click on the title of the publication to read full article about the Venice Festival of Media 2007
01/05/2007, exchange4media.com
Madison Media makes way in Venice Festival of Media with Cadbury
Madison Media has been honoured at the recently concluded Venice Festival of Media, which was organised by Publishers of Media and Marketing,
The Venice Festival of Media put together five media works from across the globe for their innovation. The work that Madison Media did for its client used the mobile phone to help Indian youth, by bringing their vital exam results directly to their mobile phones. Cadbury took its message of celebration into that most tense of moments — the moment when students discover how well they did in their exams, and thus the chocolate would be promptly given at a time when Indian 'mithai' would come to their mind.
The other four innovations include Dashboard for Axe in
The basis for selection and entry into the shortlist was all entries that had featured in the last four issues of the Cream, a quarterly magazine devoted exclusively to innovation and creativity in media. From among 145 entries, an eminent jury arrived at a shortlist of 34. This shortlist was presented at the gala dinner and from the shortlisted 34, five were chosen to be awarded.
Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, said, “While I knew that the Cadbury work had been shortlist and ranked among the 34 reported for innovation and creativity from around the world, I could not believe my ears when I heard that we had made it to the top five and had won the award, which appropriately was a piece of well-crafted Murano glass. I am grateful to Reliance Telecom for providing us their unique platform, and to our client Cadbury for pushing us to higher the bar for innovation and creativity in media. With 165 million mobile users expected to go up to 500 million by 2010, mobile is going to play a very important role in a media person's life."
Last year, Madison Media became the first media agency from
Madison Media handles a select number of large and prestigious clients including P&G, Gillette, Coca Cola, Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Sara Lee, Airtel, General Motors, Kinetic, Playwin, TVS, Acer, Asian Paints, Marico, Tata Tea, Tata
http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/newfullstory.asp?news_id=25862§ion_id=1&pict=1&tag=20589
Madison Media gets recognition at the
Madison Media has won an award for its work on Cadbury at the prestigious Venice Festival of Media. Madison Media is among the five media agencies that have won this recognition.
The Venice Festival of Media is organised by Publishers of Media and Marketing, Europe, and 'Cream' magazine. The other agencies that have won recognition are Dashboard, MPG, Agencia Click and Clemenger BBDO.
Madison Media used the mobile medium for Cadbury by helping Indian youth to access their important exam results directly on their mobile phones. In this initiative, the confectionery brand relayed its message of 'celebration' to the most tense instances of a student's life, when he is about to learn how he has fared in a life altering exam. This way, the traditional Indian 'mithai' is shown to be replaced by Cadbury chocolate.
The win came as a surprise for Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World. “While I knew that our work on Cadbury had been short-listed, I was surprised when we made it to the last five among the 34 other entries from across the world, and moreover when we won the award," he says ecstatically. He says that the agency was thankful to the two parties involved in this initiative, Cadbury and Reliance Telecom, which made the innovation possible.
The basis for selection and entry into the short list was ads which had featured in the last four issues of 'Cream', a quarterly magazine catering exclusively to innovation and creativity in media. From about 145 entries, a short list of 34 was drawn up by an eminent jury.
30/04/2007, Business Line
Recognition for Madison Media's Cadbury ad
26/04/2007, Media in
Dashboard's media magic for Axe wins at
Toronto-based Dashboard's creation of the now-famous MINDI desktop avatar for Unilever's Axe brand won the Yahoo Cream of Venice award at last week's inaugural Venice Festival of Media - quite an achievement considering that 34 finalists from 19 countries were judged.
"We're absolutely elated," Dashboard strategic director Barry Hillier tells MiC. "But what's really interesting is that there's now an international opportunity to showcase something like MINDI. We wanted to submit it to a few other shows, but they didn't even have appropriate categories.
"I think one of the reasons our application (appealed to) the jury is that it represents all the things that everybody's talking about - two-way communication, Web 2.0," adds Hillier. "It's a really good embodiment of new media thinking, new marketing thinking, new consumer thinking."
25/04/2007, brandrepublic.com
Raymond Snoddy on media: People-watching moves up a level
Those looking for blood, or at least a decent verbal punch-up, when the global marketing heads of Unilever and Procter & Gamble went toe-to-toe at the Venice Media Festival, were, of course, disappointed.
Alan Rutherford of Unilever and Bernhard Glock of P&G, who between them
control marketing budgets of more than $12bn a year, were
politeness itself. But while they didn't lay a finger on each other,
they didn't pull any punches when it came to the advertising and media
industries.
Glock was the more blunt of the two, warning that the agencies just
didn't get it. 'I need better knowledge of when and where consumers are
receptive of messages and a better understanding of consumers,' he said,
adding that most measurement was still media-centric and conducted in
silos. P&G wanted 'content, context and contact' to enable it to
allocate its marketing budgets to reach its targets.
Rutherford had bad news for ad agencies about who gets invited to the
'top table'. The default mode may still be to make the first contact
with the ad men, but, increasingly, companies such as Unilever may need
a digital or media agency up there instead. 'Communications planning is
about data, and finding content that can engage with the consumer. Once
this is up front, execution is easier,' he argued.
But the inaugural media festival did offer some hope on the quality of
measurement and data. US electronic-measurement group Arbitron is at
work on a system that could integrate all media, including print, with
data on consumer purchases, via Project Apollo, a collaboration between
it, Nielsen and leading advertisers.
Arbitron has already come up with considerable insights into consumers'
media behaviour with the help of its portable people meter (PPM). Thanks
to this, we know that most radio stations almost certainly have bigger
audiences than thought, and that, at least in the US, time-shifting of
television using PVRs is relatively constant at about 10% of
viewing.
The PPM is also good at measuring out-of-home viewing. The assumption
had been that this takes place mainly in bars and restaurants, and that
people pay little attention. In fact, in the US, more than 80% of
out-of-home viewing is in someone else's home or at work, with only 5%
in bars or restaurants.
Moreover, Arbitron's chief researcher, Robert Patchen, believes we are
three years or so away from being able to measure virtually
everything.
The big leap forward will be provided by RFID (radio frequency
identification) tabs - wafer-thin radio circuits that will be attached
to both media and consumer products. Wal-Mart, for example, has already
decreed that all its suppliers have to RFID-tag everything within three
years.
The information emitted by the tags on purchases, which could even cover
the time spent reading a newspaper, would be transmitted automatically
by the mini-circuits over a few feet to the PPMs. As a result, Arbitron
can claim that we are not far away from 'a single-source, multimedia and
purchase-measurement platform'. If it can deliver, it should make
Rutherford and Glock very happy marketers.
These more sophisticated forms of measurements are coming just in the
nick of time. As Bob Meyers, chief executive of consultancy Millward
Brown, put it in Venice, there are now 36 touchpoints whereby consumers
can interact with media, ranging from mobile phones, blogs and chat
rooms to the more conventional newspapers, magazines and TV.
Despite the vast proliferation of media, Meyers still believes firmly
that the changes assaulting us all are evolutionary, rather than
revolutionary.
30 SECONDS ON ... ARBITRON'S PORTABLE PEOPLE METER
- The portable people meter (PPM) is worn like a pager and can detect
what consumers listen to on the radio and watch on TV as well as the
media they stream over the internet and what they hear in stores and
entertainment venues.
- Each time it detects an audio signal within a station or network's
audio stream, it logs it. This makes it more accurate than handwritten
logs and immune to forgetful test subjects.
- Arbitron began its development of the PPM in 1992. It has since
conducted more than 75 studies and field tests in more than 15
countries.
- The results of these tests led Canada, Belgium, Norway, Singapore and
Kenya to select the PPM for commercial ratings or marketing
information.
- Last week, Iceland became the first country to select Arbitron's PPM
The message from Venice was that media agencies are neglecting clients' needs, but that they could have the opportunity to take top place at the client adviser table, reports Alastair Ray.
The usual industry back slapping and self-congratulation were noticeably absent at last week's inaugural Venice Festival of Media. Instead, delegates were treated to thought-provoking insight into why media agencies were failing clients and how they needed to adapt to prosper, or even survive.
An increasingly popular belief is that media agencies can realise an opportunity to move to the very top of the client adviser food chain. Alternatively, their planning and strategy role could be taken from them by media owners, specialist agencies, or even creative houses, which are steadily building their own expertise in these areas.
A not untypical view was expressed by Stephen Norman, global marketing director at Fiat, who felt let down by his media advisers. "I haven't seen much change in the way that media agencies are spending my money," he said. "You're still spending 80% of our budget on TV. Go back to 1986 and we were spending around 80% on TV."
If you complain about service, he added, they set up a strategy meeting and bring out the media planner. "The media planner puts on a tie and comes to the office and they bring out a chart and it's absolute gobbledegook." Only a call to the top, effectively naming and shaming agency bosses, had delivered the best and brightest to work on his business.
Remuneration changes
A turnaround in agency performance had also been engineered through changing the remuneration method. Agencies are now paid 50% on fixed fee and 50% based on sales. "We have obliged them to share their work and share their remuneration," said Norman. "We have seen significant improvement in thought creation and ideas."
Part of the problem in delivering what clients want and the agency service they demand is the dissonance between what the people at the top of the media agencies promised and what was delivered. And clients are also culpable, asserted Janet Fitzpatrick, chief strategic officer at Initiative Worldwide.
"There's an incredible disconnect between the head and the body of both clients and agencies. They know what they want, but their organisation behaviour often belies that," she added.
While clients might say they wanted integrated communications, they weren't always set up for it. "Clients are very much siloed - there are very few marketing professionals who have their finger on all the operational touchpoints."
This was one of the factors that left the door open for media agencies to take on the coordination role, according to Steve Harrison, international media director at Henkel.
"What we want is consistent multichannel brand communication. Ad agencies that can do big ideas are not prepared to do the other work - the less glamorous work, such as below the line and sales promotion," he said.
The failure to find a creative agency that could take on both roles left a gap in the market. "We need someone to take strategic guardianship of the brand and that could move from the creative agency to the media agency," he added.
One change that was predicted for the future is the arrival of creatives in the hallowed halls of media. "We are going to see some media agencies having creative staff in there," predicted Joanne Davis, chief executive of Joanne Davis Consulting.
On this merging of creative and media disciplines, Fitzpatrick said clients would have to get used to multiple agency models, with the precise array of talent working on a business depending on the task in hand.
"Holding companies are going to have to do a much better job of bringing estates together," she said. "We are going through a re-evaluation and will have to learn to live with ambiguity - multiple models."
More progress
Meanwhile, Mainardo de Nardis, global chief executive of Aegis Media, told delegates that however fast the business was changing, it was not fast enough. "The world has already changed fundamentally and irrevocably, clients are forcing us to change," he warned. "They are not that happy with our current rate of progress."
"One of the biggest challenges is how to make sure we are integrating, while maintaining a high level of specialisation," he added.
And he argued that the current split between agency types was already on its way out: "I don't think media agencies will exist in three years. We are all communications agencies. Some will tackle it from one side and others from another."
VOICES FROM VENICE
- Dominic Proctor, chief executive of MindShare Worldwide - "We are competing on so many fronts, you'd better watch out. The only way you can sustain that kind of competition is to be good at all these things (buying, planning communications planning, research, content, video-on-demand and mobile)"
- Chris Ingram, chief executive, Ingram Partnership - "Profit figures of the big groups keep going up and up. Even recently during IPG's troubles, its revenues hardly moved. There's a massive amount of stability"
- John Billett, chairman, Billetts - "Agencies will be able to charge more provided they get on the front foot and get rid of the procurement focus"
- Daryl Simm, chairman and chief executive, Omnicom Media Group - "Ads are content and the brand is the experience, not just a message. Every message that consumers receive is in some way competition for the hearts and minds of the consumer"
- Esther Lee, senior vice-president and chief creative officer, The Coca-Cola Company - "Be our business partner not just our media partner. Keep us educated - not just the media people, it's the marketing people, it's the creative people".
23/04/2007, The Guardian
Buyers storm the creatives' citadel
"Creativity has spread out from its traditional citadel, and not just because the media people grew tired of being second-class citizens" Simon Marquis
People who work on the media-buying side of the advertising business used to be regarded by everyone else as the underdogs. Thirty years ago they probably deserved it. But any lingering doubts that the situation has changed were laid to rest at last week's inaugural Venice Festival of Media.
I was there as an observer - an interested one, admittedly, having just become a non-executive director of the event's organiser, CSquared - and was struck by the confidence, inventiveness and leadership shown by the media practitioners. There was a time when media people gathered only to discuss abstruse matters of buying and selling airtime, of the finer points of research, or how to improve planning. At
Creativity in advertising, let's be honest, can never be a mere "nice-to-have". But it used to be the exclusive preserve of copywriters and art directors, people with plenty of talent, originality and inspiration. To some extent, what are now called "creative agencies" - because they make the ads rather than place them - are still elaborate support systems for these special people. The genius required to turn a blank sheet of paper into the Cadbury's Smash Martians, for example, is a rare commodity and deserves undiluted respect.
But creativity has spread out from its traditional citadel, and not just because the media people grew tired of being second-class citizens. Talent, originality and inspiration are also vital to making effective contact with consumers in a media world that is now in perpetual, exciting turmoil.
It goes further than that. It starts with the sophisticated business with which brand-owners must now contend. The keynote speaker in
Then there are the ethical issues a company like Coca-Cola must consider such as water usage and environmental behaviour, not to mention sector-specific challenges, in Coca-Cola's case obesity. In this maelstrom, smart media thinking can make a real difference to the effectiveness of marketing. Media agencies, Lee said, need to become genuine business partners, really know their clients' brands, be part of the client team, educating them and forging new alliances. Creativity, she added, is "the crucial variable", a sentiment echoed by other advertisers at the festival such as Fedex, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.
The question, of course, is what exactly creativity means in this context. When we consider campaigns that, for instance, use a racehorse to get across a drink/drive message, or put a giant pink condom on a monument in
The boss of WPP's media network, MindShare, put it most succinctly. Dominic Proctor believes that media agencies need to become skilled across a wide range of disciplines to make sense of the chaos of media for their clients. They are not all up to the mark yet, he said, but he, and the other network chiefs on the platform, all agreed that the media agency was best placed to orchestrate a brand's communications efforts.
This version of creativity was echoed by Lee. She defined marketing companies' needs as: a genuinely big idea; proper, integrated communications; a clear strategy for engaging consumers; the building of an overall consumer experience of brands; and the creation of a brand culture, not just a communications programme.
Almost inevitably, given that there were almost no creative agency heads at the festival, there were few who disagreed. Even if the creatives had been there, perhaps they would have agreed anyway. Copywriters and art directors no longer have a good enough understanding of media to lead advertising problem-solving. They need an interpreter to mark out the patterns for them, to animate and bring them to life.
The "creativity in media" point was emphasised in the final, previously inconceivable, session when the media bosses of arch rivals Unilever and Procter & Gamble showed how their respective companies were pioneering bold new uses of media. This symbolised, perhaps more than anything, how far the media people in advertising have come in only a few years. The
Simon Marquis is an advertising industry consultant and a former chairman of Zenith Optimedia
24/04/2007, Citizenbay blog
Kimberley Kadlec of Johnson & Johnson demanded that creative and media agencies get closer, without needing to return to old models. Not the first person to demand it, but clearly spoken from the heart. However, I did not agree with her view that there are certain core elements of communications planning that will always rest with the creative agency. Why should this be so? It is in the interest of the ad agency that this is so, but why is it in the interests of the client? Should it not rest with the agency who is best placed to provide a holistic approach to communications?
Meanwhile she made a hugely practical and effective suggestion to the audience at the Venice Festival of Media.
At J&J they run a cross-training project, inviting people in from agencies and media owners to work at J&J for a set period to improve their understanding of their business.
I am sure that such strategies have paid dividends for all involved. Not just in terms of better understanding but also increased trust between all parties. Excellent idea. Simple too. Another example of a Brave Brand. Maybe more should try it.
The Big Idea. Who owns it? Where do you find one? What does one look like?
A number of speakers shared their thoughts on the Big Idea. Clients talked about the need to find it; agencies shared examples of Big Ideas from their portfolio, whilst auditors and consultants agreed that the Big Idea can be found in places other than the ad agency…
However, defining what it is seems to be a slight problem.
The phrase is used with such frequency, that it is losing its focus and importance.
Kimberley Kadlec, Chief Media Officer Johnson And Johnson, encouraged the media industry in her opening speech to be more creative. Fair enough so far, but then she offered up an example of what she sees as the Big Idea - A tall statue covered by a huge condom. This is clearly a Big Stunt, but is not necessarily a Big Idea.
As discussed in my previous post (Steve King has the answers), such a narrow scope of what the media industry can deliver is disappointing. Surely Ms Kadlec has higher hopes for innovative communications solutions from her media agency than Big Stunts? Or is this what clients desire for their brands?
A Big Idea is not a Big Stunt. Big Ideas effecting change in consumer habits, effect change in society. So, it was so refreshing to have heard from Esther Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Coca Cola Global.
In a hugely impressive speech, Esther referenced democracy or fast food as a Big Idea, rather than massive spinning Coke Can in a shopping mall.
In the citizensound session on music marketing, I also gave my view on Big Ideas. Included were the Sony Walkman which made music mobile, the car radio which liberated kids, the Chart Show had everyone waiting to find out what was number one, the iPod has changed people's lives.
There is a place for media creativity at an executional level. We should celebrate it. Yet the media industry should be careful not to see such work as anything more than icing on the cake. Daryl Simm rightly stated that real creativity is the cake not the icing.
A celebration of more cake and less icing would help keep the momentum going forward for media agencies into the higher echelons of the client companies…Darryl's words were wise and we should ignore them at our peril…
Steve King of Zenith Optimedia has the answers...
I enjoyed a good chat with Steve King, CEO of Zenith Optimedia on the flight over to
Steve gave us a wonderful quote at the Venice Festival of Media.
Marketing is no longer the chassis of the car, it is now the sunroof
. Lovely one Steve. However, not sure whether many boardrooms would agree that marketing has ever been the chassis.
In his speech, Steve warned the industry that a focus on executional creativity would be a dangerous path to tread. Just showing a nice stunt does not hit long term business targets for brands. He is absolutely right.
The Venice Festival of Media is a great opportunity for the media industry to provide a forward thinking alternative to Cannes Lions. Rather than a celebration of mere creative executional excellence, in itself not a bad thing,
I saw too few examples of great strategic insight and creative flair at the conference. I saw a fair few stunts and a number of poor case studies that left me numb. I am still trying to work out why Alfonso Rodes Vila, CEO of Havas Media, would show such poor examples of Havas creativity, when clearly the agency delivers some great work for their clients.
Mind you, Steve King did also show the monstrous Toyota Aygo with it's DJ booth (Paul Oakenfold involved no less), so Zenith Optimedia are not immune to a little window dressing too...
Best brand communications deliver a service
The concept of the best marketing ideas being those that deliver a service was, for me, one of the most interesting things discussed at the big Venice Festival of Media conference earlier this week.
It came up in passing a few times but the most in-depth mention was in a presentation by the
This notion of thinking of communications as being a service ties in with the broader concept of marketers having two businesses to run - “the revenue business and the citizenship business" - as Esther Lee put it at the Venice conference (she's chief creative officer from Coke, and her presentation was the clear highlight of the conference). In fact the concept of giving something back, being genuinely socially responsible, came up in several instances which was a really pleasant surprise. I especially liked the JC Decaux presentation that talked about how they're installing free bikes in urban cities in
I took heaps of notes & photos at the conference, which you can read here to get a flavour of what was discussed: docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgd2dnj_21ck3nrj
The conference has taken up a lot of my time recently as not only did I attend, I'm thrilled to say that a selection of these “interesting snippet" slides were worked up into a sort of slideshow, and displayed in the foyer. :-) More on this soon.
http://blog.futurelab.net/2007/04/best_brand_communications_deli.html
20/04/2007, Adlatina
Los mercados emergentes en el Festival de Venecia
El futuro ya llegó, y algunos no se enteraron
(In Spanish)
Mauricio Sabogal, ceo de OMD Latinoamérica: “La inversión publicitaria en la región muestra un alto potencial, con crecimiento de dos dígitos anuales".
(Por Verónica Rímuli, jefa de redacción de Adlatina Magazine, enviada especial a Venecia) - América Latina, Asia Pacífico, la India y Rusia integraron un panel que tuvo que conformarse con un pequeño salón paralelo en espacio y tiempo a las actividades centrales del festival. Fue una verdadera pena porque, pese a lo escaso del tiempo otorgado, pintaron los escenarios donde probablemente se desarrolle la película del porvenir en lo que respecta a inversión publicitaria y su distribución en los medios.
En el programa del festival, los así llamados “mercados emergentes" tuvieron, si no los 15 minutos de fama que auguraba Andy Warhol, al menos su panel de hora y media de duración. En una sala con capacidad para 30 personas, los representantes de las regiones o países que albergan a más de dos tercios de la población mundial resumieron apretadamente –valga la figura- el cuadro de situación en que se desarrolla la industria por esos lares.
Mauricio Sabogal, ceo de OMD Latinoamérica, señaló que “la región vive actualmente un período de estabilidad y crecimiento, y no se esperan grandes crisis en los próximos años". En cuanto a la inversión publicitaria, si bien representa sólo 8 por ciento del total mundial, “muestra un alto potencial, con crecimiento de dos dígitos anuales". Puntualizó también el incremento de formatos como el advertainment, los medios alternativos, outdoor, internet y cable, y expuso varios ejemplos de innovación, como el trabajo de OMD Chile para cerveza Cristal -que obtuvo el Grand Prix en Cannes en 2003-, el de FiRe para Kosiuko, en la Argentina, o el de OMD Colombia, para condones Dúo.
Luego fue el turno del ruso Sergey Vasiliev, ceo de Video Internacional, quien comenzó diciendo que “cuando escuchaba ayer a los ceos de las redes de medios me sentía como en un mundo paralelo. En mi día a día, yo sólo escucho hablar de precios, precios y precios". Su empresa emplea a 3.000 personas en 50 ciudades, con base en Moscú. Respecto de la segmentación de los medios, mostró que en 2006 la tv se llevó 49 por ciento de la inversión, la prensa 25, outdoor 17, radio 6 e internet 2. “La tv -dijo- crece más rápido y en mayor proporción que la inversión publicitaria total. Así, para 2011 se estima que se incrementará su participación en la torta a 56 por ciento, con una reducción de la prensa a 19, y un aumento de internet a 5 por ciento".
De prisa, de prisa
Urgidos todos los ponentes a apurar el paso (por el presentador), le tocó a Sam Balsara, presidente de Madison Communications, tratar de sintetizar la realidad de la India: “Somos un país muy grande, con 1.100 millones de habitantes, 31 por ciento de ellos por debajo de los 14 años. Tenemos 15 idiomas oficiales y cientos de dialectos, enormes contrastes, y sólo 200 millones de personas con poder de compra".
Así, la participación en el total de la inversión mundial en publicidad es de apenas 1 por ciento. Ese monto se distribuyó, el año pasado, en 48 por ciento para prensa –hecho que probablemente sea único en el mundo-, 41 para la tv, 8 para outdoor y 1 para internet.
“Las empresas multinacionales son las grandes anunciantes, -continuó Samsara-, con 48 por ciento de la inversión. Y todos lo nuevos avisadores entran por la prensa, mientras que 75 por ciento de las marcas utiliza un solo medio".
King Lai, coo de Initiative Asia Pacific, ya sobre el final de tiempo programado para el panel, planteó que la inversión publicitaria en esa región es de 100 mil millones de dólares. “En términos de economía general -afirmó-, un dato clave es que los salarios crecen a un ritmo mayor que en otras latitudes. Así como los '80 fueron la década de Japón, y los '90 de Corea, el siglo 21 se inaugura como la era de la India y China".
Fue una verdadera pena que los escucharan tan pocos delegados.
P&G and Unilever to focus on digital
FMCG giants Procter & Gamble and Unilever are moving digital to the core of their media planning by getting digital agencies in at ground level on planning strategies.
Speaking at the Venice Festival of Media, Alan Rutherford, VP of global media at Unilever, and Bernhard Glock, VP of global media & communication at P&G - who between them control a media budget of over $12bn - both stressed the importance of digital agencies being involved from the outset of planning.
"In most P&G businesses, the default thinking is that the ad agency is the first to be contacted," said Glock. "But you might need a digital agency at the table for digital work, and if that is the case you should talk to them first. I hope we get more targeted about who sits at the table."
The pair also issued a rallying cry for better talent in the industry, people who understand the new media environment and how it can be exploited to connect brands with consumers in a relevant and engaging way.
"We know the interruption model is gone and we need to engage with our consumers," said Rutherford. "We need planners who understand the fundamentals of 21st century media planning as online moves from an information channel to an entertainment one. We need talent that understands how to use technology in an engaging and relevant manner, and for our agency partners to take this up."
Rutherford also stressed that the battle for consumers was not about a channel approach, but a consumer approach based on providing entertainment, communities and ideas that change the way people behave.
"The question is about screen-based creativity," he said. "It's not about mass versus digital, it's about putting together the most relevant mix to reach your target audience. Integrated offerings have improved and you need a framework that nurtures collaboration between agencies."
E' al via la prima edizione del Venice Festival of Media, appuntamento interamente dedicato ai mezzi, alla comunicazione, ai suoi protagonisti. Sono attesi alla kermesse veneziana oltre 400 delegati provenienti da tutto il mondo, in rappresentanza delle maggiori aziende impegnate nella communication industry. Aziende utenti di pubblicitа, mezzi, centri media, agenzie, concessionarie.
19/04/2007, M&M Europe
VFM: a forum to discuss much-needed change
Agencies are not giving clients what they want, clients do not know what they want, and neither communicate well with the other, said a strong line-up of speakers at the Venice Festival of Media (VFM).
In a debate between the FMCG giants Alan Rutherford, vice-president global media, Unilever, and Bernard Glock, P&G's VP global media & communication, Glock said that agencies “didn't get it", which was a barrier to effective communications.
More provocatively, Stephen Norman, global marketing director at Fiat, blamed agencies in part for the near demise of the brand five years ago. He criticised the agencies for not really advising him, and for leaving junior people to do the job. Esther Lee, Coca Cola's chief creative officer, also urged agencies to step into her shoes, and understand the issues clients face in running their businesses.
A panel discussion dealing with whether the agency model was broken, and moderated by Chris Ingram, argued that it is not, but agreed there are fractures and levels of trust between agencies and their clients have been reduced considerably. Change is needed, they said, and remuneration, and tied to that metrics, were the key issues that needed addressing to help mend the gaps, they argued.
The inaugural VFM attracted over 420 delegates to its conference, exhibition and networking events, and was hailed as a success by the attendees.
http://www.mandmeurope.com/home.asp
19/04/2007, Adlatina
Los VP Globales de medios de Unilver y Procter se juntaron en el escenario del Festival de Venecia.
Más que duelo de titanes, un dúo bien afinado
(In Spanish)
Glock, de P&G: “El peligro de la concentración de agencias de medios es que nuestro negocio quede demasiado cerca del de nuestros competidores."
El plato fuerte del festival, sobre el que había machacado buena parte de la promoción, era la presentación de Alan Rutheford, vp global de medios de Unilever, y su par de Procter & Gamble, Bernhard Glock. Como era de esperar, no hubo afirmaciones que salieran demasiado de los lugares comunes, y ambos pidieron, básicamente, que todos trabajen en equipo para bien de sus marcas.
Se había planteado, de alguna manera, como el gran match del festival. Algo así como –salvando las distancias y la inconsistencia temporal- el enfrentamiento de Muhamad Ali y Mike Tyson. En un rincón, Bernhard Glock, vp, global media y comunicaciones de Procter & Gamble; en el otro, Alan Rutheford, vp de global media de Unilever. Como moderadora, Liz Workman, de The Workman Partnership. Pero, a fuer de sinceros, el hecho más importante fue precisamente su presencia, juntos, en ese escenario. Para ser un combate de pesos pesados, no se vieron golpes contundentes. Ni suaves. Fue un amable discurrir por lugares comunes (en cuanto a que los compartían y también en el sentido vulgar de la expresión), matizado aquí y allá por algunas viñetas picantes.
Glock arrancó con la enumeración de una serie de ítems que su organización considera fundamentales para la comunicación, tales como la capacidad de sus actores, entender al consumidor, saber dónde y cuándo conectar con él, y, sobre todo, las mediciones. De los medios, claro, y también del tan mentado compromiso que se debe lograr por parte del consumidor. Y concluyó su primer round mostrando un spot televisivo de Pampers con Unicef.
Rutherford salió al ring con el mantra Unilever: el mundo empieza y termina en el consumidor. Y señaló que éste está cambiando, y, por tanto, “nosotros debemos seguirlo". En ese punto, amagó un par de golpes; pero no a su competidor, sino a los otros actores del proceso. “Nuestro negocio entero debe ser repensado", dijo; “hay casos en que las agencias creativas no están respondiendo tan rápido como debieran, y muchas veces las de medios no aciertan con el perfil cambiante del consumidor. Queremos a los creativos y a la gente de medios trabajando juntos, en un equipo innovador que genere ideas transformadoras, tenga en cuenta la necesidad de incorporar el entretenimiento y pueda crear comunidades que enlacen a las marcas con los consumidores". Y mostró en la pantalla la campaña de Dove “por la belleza real".
Respuestas previsibles
Después comenzaron las preguntas de la moderadora. “¿Quiénes se sientan a la mesa?" (del anunciante, para decidir estrategias). Según Glock, “debemos ser más flexibles en este punto"; para Rutheford, “los que la marca necesite que estén". “¿Hace falta realmente una nueva estructura?" Glock: “Nosotros estamos experimentando; tomamos un negocio específico, como hicimos con una marca en los Estados Unidos, que se la dimos a Wieden & Kennedy para que maneje todo, incluso los medios. En otros, lo hacemos distinto, y vamos viendo los resultados". Rutheford: “Lo importante es que nuestros equipos de marketing lideren los procesos; eso no lo puede hacer ninguna clase de agencia".
“¿La televisión no se va?" Glock: “No, claro que no. Pero hay creatividad más allá de la televisión." Rutheford: “La cuestión es que hay una comunicación screenbased, y nosotros vamos siguiendo al consumidor para ver qué pantallas usa, y cómo. Hay grandes cambios en esto, y nuestros teams de marketing están trabajando con nuestras agencias para ver cómo los aprovechamos". “¿La creciente consolidación global de las agencias de medios es útil?" Mientras Rutheford esquivó el upper cut, Glock respondió con un “uno-dos": “Es bueno y malo. El peligro radica, si se concentra tanto, en que nuestro negocio quede demasiado cerca del de nuestros competidores".
En ese punto, la moderadora cedió el micrófono a la audiencia, y fue entonces que una directiva de Nokia hizo una pregunta rebosante de sentido común: “Tanto se habla del engagement, pero ¿con cuántas marcas se puede comprometer el consumidor? ¿Es un planteo realista?" Glock acusó el jab, y contestó que hay que saber muy bien a qué target se dirige la acción, quiénes pueden querer comprometerse, e hizo alusión al trabajo que hicieron para Herbal Essence en Israel, que ganó en Cannes hace dos años, y se orientaba a un público adolescente. Rutheford arremetió planteando que, más allá del compromiso, la gente compra Dove por su brand equity.
Para finalizar, ambos pidieron “que se junten todos los actores del negocio para el beneficio de nuestras marcas".
19/04/2007, Advertising Age
Obesity Fear Frenzy Grips Food Industry
Why Coke's Creative Chief Esther Lee Isn't Alone in Fearing FTC, Critics
"Our Achilles heel is the discussion about obesity," Coca-Cola Co. Chief Creative Officer Esther Lee confessed to attendees at the Venice Festival of Media last week. "It's gone from a small, manageable U.S. issue to a huge global issue. It dilutes our marketing and works against it. It's a huge, huge issue."
Coca-Cola Co. Chief Creative Officer Esther Lee is one of many food industry leaders to express fear about a global push to combat obesity.
And it's getting even bigger as the Federal Trade Commission takes the extreme step of issuing compulsory requests for information from 44 food, beverage and quick-service restaurant chains this summer. The goal is to get a "more complete picture" of their kid-marketing practices, especially in the unplumbed arenas of in-store promotions, events, packaging, internet marketing and product placement in video games, movies and TV programs.
Industry observers note McDonald's is also likely to be running scared, whether or not there is a smoking gun. "It's clearly a witch hunt," said one industry executive, and if anyone is to be picked as the scapegoat it's likely to be the fast feeder which, he said, buys as much media for the 6-to-11-year-old set as other marketers spend on their entire annual budget.
More pressure on marketers
Going after companies individually cranks up the heat on marketers like McDonald's and Coke who have already been feeling plenty. Though the food industry has scrambled to rein in efforts targeted at young children and dedicate at least half of advertising to older kids toward more healthful offerings, politicians and pundits aren't pleased enough with the industry's collective effort.
It's "a wake-up call that time is running out," said Tim Stock, managing director at ScenarioDNA. Marketers are "all worried at some level. They know something has to change. And it's not about advertising. It's about going back to the product drawing board and creating a sustainable brand."
The problem, though, is whose definition of sustainable you're using -- that of consumers or that of the government -- as better-for-you brands are not necessarily what consumers are looking for. "In marketing, usually, you follow what consumers want and figure out how to give it to them, but in this instance, people aren't looking for these healthier products and the ones who are probably are not the ones whose children are overweight," said a top executive of a marketing agency
Broad, worrisome probe
Ron Urbach, partner at law firm Davis & Gilbert, said there is certainly cause for concern because the "food sector continues to get probed and prodded even after taking significant action." The new probe is particularly worrisome because it covers such a broad scope, looking at all media and marketing activities to kids under 18. "The more you probe, the more you find."
Association of National Advertisers Exec VP-Government Relations Dan Jaffe balked at the fact that despite "already enormous and well-developed" changes to marketing and new-product portfolios, "still people are saying more, more, more."
He doesn't believe the new FTC demand will drive marketers to make more significant changes to their marketing and new-product initiatives aimed at kids, as they have "already stepped forward and spent multiple billions of dollars to create healthier options, advertise them heavily" and have pledged to do even more as part of the Children's Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative.
Sharing the blame
The industry also lays blame on the government. Mr. Jaffe cited the cancellation of the Center for Disease Control's activity-driving VERB campaign aimed at kids and said the CDC's nutrition and physical-activity programs are in place in only 22 of the 50 states. "This is a multifaceted issue," he said. "Advertising alone cannot be implicated."
Even critic Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, acknowledges that changes to advertising won't solve the obesity problem. But he told a recent Kaiser Family Foundation panel "advertising is a target ... one I think that we can address and move forward with quickly." Contributing: Ira Teinowitz
http://adage.com
19/04/2007, Advertising Age
The Key to Great Branded Content? Collaboration
At Venice Festival of Media, Experts Discuss Survival in 'Upside Down' World
"We in an age of maximum paranoia and minimum clarity," declared consultant Michael Kassan at the Venice Festival of Media today, where he chaired a panel of six experts who discussed the role of media agencies in branded content, the significance of user-generated content and the constant struggle to find and implement great branded-content ideas.
Different expectations
"The world has turned upside down," said Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer of Yahoo. "We need collaboration with the agencies to take consumer insight and apply it -- expectations and behavior are very different on the internet from TV and print."
And how to collaborate is key. Mitch Kanner, CEO of 2 Degrees Ventures, said, "The key aspect is advertising, which has developed a large infrastructure around the consumer. If only you could blend a strategic planner with a writer from advertising and a writer or producer from the studio side, but it's never happened. There's a wall between them."
"Branded entertainment became part of the solution early on. It wasn't a guess, it came out of analytics," said Peter Tortorici, chairman-CEO of Group M Entertainment. "An idea on its own is just an idea, it needs to be put together with information about target behavior and developed into a narrative."
Dove effort was winner
One narrative done well, according to the panelists, was Dove's "calming night" campaign, which created an online community around iconic housewives. The effort was repeatedly cited by the panelists as an outstanding example of branded content. "It is one of the great marketing stories of the decade and has made Dove into a cultural phenomena," Mr. Kassan said.
David Sable, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Wunderman, said, "Relevancy is critical. So much work is done that's not relevant; it's just done for the sake of a channel or a technology or just because we are able to do it. You need to start with the data, look at the end result you want to achieve, and then find interesting, relevant ways to get to that result."
Asked about the potential for disintermediation (the latest parlance for "cutting out") of agencies, Ms. Harris Millard said, "Agencies have the ability to reach and connect with an audience and be passionate about the brand. Any sophisticated media company understands why a client pays an agency. It's for insight. I don't see us as competitive but as co-dependent. I am more passionate about the advertising business than ever. I am not a 'frenemy.' I'm a real friend."
Two roles at once
The "frenemy" term was a reference to a speech yesterday by Dominic Proctor, CEO of MindShare Worldwide, who talked about the tension of collaboration and competition between media, marketers, agencies, consultants and other suppliers, who play the role of friends and enemies at the same time.
Talking about the disintermediation issue, Wunderman's Mr. Sable said, "We understand that it's not just about what you can do, but about what the consumer wants."
Mr. Kassan, the consultant, pulled the discussion around to user-generated content. "The elephant in the room is the consumer," he said. "The toothpaste is out of the tube in the world of user-generated content." He noted that "99% of user-generated content is trash."
But Mr. Sable insisted that there has always been user-generated content, in that the consumer has always spoken. "You gotta go with the flow," he said, "but the Wild West is getting corralled. You have to have standards and practices; it will have to be more controlled. You need to give consumers the tools to manage the right way to be relevant to them, and not be afraid to say you're there to sell."
http://adage.com
19/04/2007, Marketing Week
Media agency chiefs and clients must utilise a whole host of channel formats to meet the needs of the next generation of consumers
Agencies must think big to fully service the iGeneration
This week sees the first Venice Media Festival and global media agency chiefs will show how they're facing the brave new world of communications and clients will be saying what they want from their agencies and, doubtless, why aren't they getting it.
Executives won't be going there just because it's a glamorous venue: from all sides executives are wrestling with some fundamental issues. Clients and agencies are asking “How will we need to communicate with our market in future?" and “How do we need to organise ourselves to handle it?", whereas the media is asking “How do we hang on to our audience and maintain our profits?"
Let's start with consumers. They've never been faced with so much choice, particularly in the area of communications. They are spending a huge, growing amount on communications, computer games, pay- TV, and iPod. Every month hundreds of millions of pounds are moving out of other product and service sectors to pay for it.
This money is not going into conventional media that welcome paid-for advertising and we shouldn't expect that situation to change. When a group of teenagers were asked which they would least like to give up: their TV, their PC or mobile – the mobile came romping home.
Nearly all of these developments involve a different frame of mind: “online communities" means helping, listening, collaborating and working in partnership. A significant minority of clients, agencies and media now get this, but understanding the concept is one thing, changing structures and ways of working is quite another.
It is old news that consumers can avoid or screen out your message, but what has changed is that many now expect to create their own messages and media. And they're created entirely collaboratively, as with Wikipedia. As Charles Leadbetter says: “It's the era of 'we-media'." The other side of “collaboration" is if this community decides they don't like your product or company, they can destroy your reputation in a matter of days. Word of mouth is now the most powerful medium. This does not mean that conventional media are dead, but overall they are diminished.
This brings huge hallenges to all sides of our industry. For clients, those harassed and under-staffed marketing departments have to either ignore all these opportunities or appoint a further raft of specialist agencies to advise them. Who has sufficient knowledge, time and objectivity to pull it all together properly? The implications of “we-media"; the digital revolution; “community" and transparency run through every function of a company and its board.
Marketing directors could play a huge role in it (advising and co-ordinating, but not “directing"), but do they have the clout any longer, particularly as they typically stay in their jobs for less than two years?
For agencies, messages need to be particularly compelling and often not presented as a “message" at all, but as “content". So addiction to producing 30- second commercials is very dangerous. However, all good agencies contain highly innovative people and if they are committed to “the big idea" rather than “the TV idea" then they're on the right track. The trouble is that this idea needs to work in a whole host of channel formats – adapted, sliced and diced in a variety of ways.
And the opportunities are changing all the time – it sounds like this open-minded creative guy needs to work closely with really on-the-ball media/communications strategists.
But the majority of creative people have never been more separate from their media practitioners, even though most of them are in common ownership.
Hence the debate about “the return of the full-service agency", but the idea of creative and media agency monoliths mating together is difficult to imagine. There is no question that media and creative must now be close together, but it's easier to see that working with new agencies, without baggage. For the others, “full service" needs to be a matter of attitude and not location – back to that word “collaboration".
Media agencies have a different set of issues, coming from a reactionary culture that bought onlywhat was tried and tested, they are expected to take a raft of bets on which of all these new channels are going to work and then choose the right means of using them.
Many clients are pushing their media agencies to be creative and fearless, yet the agencies I meet are forced to spend more and more of their time with procurement departments and auditors. A bit of a contradiction there.
Finally, the classic media is having to manage decline of its core product be it a newspaper or a terrestrial TV channel. At the same time they are seeking to create formats from them that can be migrated to other channels in the newer media. A growing minority of media owners are learning the new skills associated with this – their challenge is not so much one of loss of audience, as loss of ad revenue because they can't charge as much for the same audience when it's delivered digitally. We are going to see a lot more conferences, but aworking model for “the big agency of the future" remains some way off yet.
Chris Ingram is founding partner of Ingram Understanding the concept is one thing, changing structures and ways of working is quite another
www.marketingweek.co.uk
P&G and Unilever to focus on digital
FMCG giants Procter & Gamble and Unilever are moving digital to the core of their media planning by getting digital agencies in at ground level on planning strategies. Speaking at the Venice Festival of Media, Alan Rutherford, VP of global media at Unilever, and Bernhard Glock, VP of global media & communication at P&G - who between them control a media budget of over $12bn - both stressed the importance of digital agencies being involved from the outset of planning. ...
"In most P&G businesses, the default thinking is that the ad agency is the first to be contacted," said Glock. "But you might need a digital agency at the table for digital work, and if that is the case you should talk to them first. I hope we get more targeted about who sits at the table."
The pair also issued a rallying cry for better talent in the industry, people who understand the new media environment and how it can be exploited to connect brands with consumers in a relevant and engaging way.
"We know the interruption model is gone and we need to engage with our consumers," said
"The question is about screen-based creativity," he said. "It's not about mass versus digital, it's about putting together the most relevant mix to reach your target audience. Integrated offerings have improved and you need a framework that nurtures collaboration between agencies."
19/04/2007, Advertising Age
What We Saw and Heard in Venice
Reporter's Notebook from C Squared's Festival of Media
The first ever Venice Festival of Media from C Squared Communications took place earlier this week. The two-day conference drew 420 media specialists who were there to explore media innovation and creativity and listen to marketing executives from the likes of Coca Cola, Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Ad Age reporter Emma Hall was in Italy, and summed up the highs and lows for us.
Buzzword of the Festival: "Frenemies." MindShare boss Dominic Proctor was the first to throw out this phrase. Agree or disagree, he created a talking point about client/agency/media owner relationships.
Most Uncomfortable Moment: Mr. Proctor (again) began his presentation with the words "I've worked for Martin Sorrell for 20 years. In the light of the recent court case, I feel uncomfortable in a room full of Italians. Please be gentle with me." Marco Tinelli, one of Mr. Sorrell's foes in court, was in the audience
Most Over-exposed Example of Creative Media: Doritos. At times it seemed as though the Super Bowl success story was the only convincingly innovative and effective case study that the media industry could come up with.
Things We Learned: Esther Lee has no less than five iPods. She is a self-confessed "newness seeker" -- a pattern of consumer behaviour that she agrees makes her own job as chief creative officer of Coca Cola very difficult.
Telling It Like It Is: Malcolm Hunter, head of strategy at Carat Global Management: "I've heard a lot of talk about engagement over the last two days, and a lot of talk about the consumer as a target. You don't engage a target, it's something you shoot at."
Advice for Future Delegates: Stay on the Lido. Venice is divided in to the Lido and Venice proper. The festival takes place on the Lido. If you stay in Venice, you see a lot of gondolas and tourists, but you'll waste half your time waiting for and traveling in water taxis.
Advice for Future Speakers: Leave out the hard sell. Too many agency and media bosses presented little more than a sales pitch and a showreel. If it was Cannes, there would have been booing. As one delegate said, "They might as well have put up billings and rankings charts."
Not-So Grand Finale 1: Billed as "FMCG giants in the ring," the festival's Procter & Gamble vs. Unilever final session packed out the Palazzo del Cinema. But the two heavyweight media directors from the packaged goods giants, Bernhard Glock and Alan Rutherford, pulled their punches and totally failed to live up to the hype. Rumour has it that corporate lawyers warned Mr. Glock against saying anything interesting.
Not-So Grand Finale 2: The gala dinner was set up to be a great party -- beautiful setting, delicious food and drink, and an inviting dance floor -- but too many people stayed away. There were a lot of empty spaces, and many party-goers resorted to moving tables in search of warmth and company.
http://adage.com
18/04/2007, Daily Media
Bernhard Glock (P&G) e Alan Rutherford (Unilever): vogliamo talenti, coraggio e voglia di sperimentare. Ma il marketing deve giocare un ruolo da leader
(In Italian)
Si и conclusa con due pesi massimi la prima edizione del Venice Festival of Media: Bernhard Glock, vice president, global media and communication Procter & Gamble, e Alan Rutherford, vice president of global media di Unilver, due uomini che insieme controllano oltre 12 miliardi di dollari di budget media si sono rivelati entusiasti partecipanti e hanno annunciato senza
mezzi termini le loro attese. «Cosa vogliamo? Vogliamo ricerca centrata sul consumatore - ha esordito Glock -, perchй da una migliore conoscenza delle persone deriva una migliore declinazione delle tre variabili fondamentali: contenuto, contesto e contatto». Rutherford
ha evidenziato il bisogno di competenze: «Vogliamo talenti non solo negli headquarter, ma nei mercati in grado di gestire le relazioni, di pensare in maniera strategica. La diffusione dei cambiamenti tecnologici и guidata dai benefici dei consumatori. I nostri consumatori stanno cambiando e se non li seguiamo, falliremo nel nostro scopo. A oggi, infatti, abbiamo
un modello datato, basato sull'operativitа ». Il modello, hanno insistito i relatori,
deve essere ridisegnato. Innovare, insomma, и la strada per raggiungere il coinvolgimento:
«Bisogna applicare i principi della pop culture - ha proposto Rutherford -, cambiamenti
che che influenzano il modo in cui le persone pensano e si comparto». Iconico
a questo proposito il caso di Dove, presto trasformato in un caso di social networking.
Glock ha tenuto a precisare anche il valore della sperimentazione che l'azienda implementa
in ogni settore, perchй «ogni piccola lezione che impariamo ci proietta nel futuro ». Complessa, ma affascinante la formula che ne derivaм, fatta di talento, coraggio e
voglia di sperimentare, ma anche del bisogno del marketing di giocare un ruolo di leader
per agenzie e centrali.
JCDecaux: sensibile ai tempi, coglie le sfide del momento
Quanto puт essere creativo il media? La risposta, questa volta, non arriva da una
centrale, bensм da una concessionaria. Jean-Franзois Decaux, ceo JCDecaux, ha
presentato una serie di case history globali che ben illustrano la capacitа di uno dei
mezzi piщ storici di accogliere le opportunitа della digitalizzazione. Facendo scuola
con marchi come Lynx, Nike Air, Yell.com e Xbox, solo per citarne alcuni. La concessionaria
dimostra una straordinaria dinamicitа sul fronte dell'innovazione, ma
anche nella capacitа di cogliere le sensibilitа dei tempi e dei consumatori, come dimostrano
il coinvolgimento di famosi designer nella realizzazione delle palette e i
progetti “verdi" che dotano le cittа di biciclette a disposizione dei cittadini, finanziate
dalle pubblicitа. A margine dell'incontro, Jean-Sйbastien Decaux, direttore
commmerciale e consigliere delegato per l'arredo urbano di Igp Decaux e ad JCDecaux
Belgio, ha annunciato: «Dopo l'esperienza maturata in Gran Bretagna, anche
in Italia и attivo Innovate, un reparto dedicato allo sviluppo di brief ad hoc di arredo
urbano e comunicazioni. Oltre a una grande attenzione all'arredo urbano, anche
nelle nostre cittа l'esterna porta un valore aggiunto in termini di creativitа e innovazione,
come dimostrano - ha concluso Jean-Sйbastien Decaux - i recenti casi di
schermi touchscreen».
Centrali: il nuovo modello и fatto di creativitа, strategia, ma anche di molta sostanza e risultati
Cresce in complessitа l'evento veneziano dedicato ai media. Nella seconda e ultima giornata dei lavori, un ricco parterre di relatori ha approfondito le implicazioni e i riverberi di uno scenario in evoluzione sul mondo del media. E' stato Chris Ingram, ceo Ingram, a moderare una tavola rotonda dal titolo che lascia poco spazio alle illusioni: “Cliente - agenzia: il modello si и rotto?". Da un lato del tavolo, Steve Harrison, international marketing director Henkel, dall'altro Janet Fitzpatrick, chief strategic officer di Initiative Worldwide, in mezzo, diverse declinazioni delle professionalitа della comunicazione: Joanne Davis, ceo Joanne Davis
Consulting, specializzata in agency optimization; John Billett, chairman Billett, societа di consulenza sull'efficienza del marketing e Nick Smith, group marketing director di Accenture Marketing Sciences. «Sono molte le questioni in sospeso - ha dichiarato Ingram -: dal bisogno di trasparenza nella comunicazione alla crescita delle scelte, al social networking, alla necessitа di ricatturare le audience attraverso soluzioni multipiattaforma. Da una parte, i direttori marketing sono nel mezzo di tutte queste sfide, dall'altra il modello della agenzie и messo in discussione. Incrinato, credo, ma non rotto». Harrison non ha mezzi termini: «Il fatto che le agenzie non ci diano quello di cui, come clienti, abbiamo bisogno non и una novitа, perchй non lo hanno mai fatto». Sul fronte dei media, Fitzpatrick a sua volta non fa sconti e ribatte: «Siamo consapevoli del fatto che i clienti non vogliano semplicemente brand experience, ma piattaforme in grado di mettere in contatto persone e brand. I marchi giocano un ruolo anche nelle imprese, perchи servono ad allineare le attivitа interne. Ma va detto che c'и anche una dissonanza fra la testa e il cuore delle organizzazioni aziendali, che si traduce
in uno sfasamento fra la voce e la lingua». Dal punto di vista della consulenza, Davis - che Advertising Age ha definito una delle 25 donne da tenere d'occhio - aggiunge: «La veritа и che le agenzie e i clienti hanno problemi a comunicare fra di loro». Billett, forte della
propria esperienza, va oltre: «Bisogna ritornare a parlare della salute dei marchi. Devono ritornare di moda parole come vendita, profitti e prezzi. Bisogna tornare a nutrire il valore dei brand, mettendo in secondo piano le attivitа tattiche di breve periodo». In un incontro
in cui molto и stato messo in discussione s'и parlato anche di remunerazione: «Bisogna introdurre modalitа focalizzate sull'effettiva capacitа di creare valore», ha proposto Davis, incontrando il consenso degli altri relatori, che hanno parlato di modalitа di remunerazione
alternative come modelli basati su una valutazione periodica molto breve dei risultati oppure sistemi che remunerano l'effettiva collaborazione fra le realtа che curano la comunicazione del cliente. Quanto al futuro, i relatori si sono detti d'accordo: la centrale di domani non potrа piщ prescindere dalla creativitа, tanto che non и escluso, bensм auspicato l'ingresso di direttori creativi, con un'attitudine al pensiero strategico entro il perimetro del media. «La questione
и la big idea – conclude Ingram – non la big advertising idea».
18/04/2007, Adlatina
Los ceos de todas la redes de medios en el Festival De Venecia
Entre la guerra y las alianzas
(In Spanish)
Mainardo de Nardis, ceo global de Aegis Media: “Todos los que tienen que ver con la comunicaciуn compiten por el 25 por ciento del presupuesto que va a los medios."
Las cabezas mundiales de todas las redes de medios ocuparon buena parte de la jornada y se llevaron toda la atenciуn. Mбs allб de los casos de innovaciуn y el racconto de sus logros, sus diversas miradas respecto del paisaje del futuro, y especialmente su rol en ese escenario, donde hay hoy otros jugadores establecidos, fueron el plato fuerte.
En poco mбs de una dйcada devinieron actores protagуnicos en el escenario de la comunicaciуn. No podнa ser de otra manera: por sus manos pasan los presupuestos multimillonarios de los anunciantes de todo el planeta. Y, a despecho de sus seguramente complicadas agendas, allн estaban todos. Los ceos globales de todas las redes de medios. En un maratуn de mбs de cuatro horas, exhibieron sus logros y plantearon su visiуn del futuro.
Mainardo de Nardis, ceo global de Aegis Media, comenzу con una afirmaciуn indiscutible: la publicidad nunca volverб a ser lo mismo. “El auge digital permite que los consumidores tengan un mayor y diferente control de los medios", dijo; “vivimos en tiempo de cambios y eso me pone contento, porque desde hace un par de dйcadas el negocio estaba un poco aburrido".
Sin pelos en la lengua, sostuvo que “las agencias de publicidad todavнa se creen propietarias de la comunicaciуn; a mн me parece interesante el concepto de full responsability agency, todos juntos trabajando con la misma agenda". A modo de ejemplo, mostrу el caso del lanzamiento del nuevo modelo Twingo, de Renault, en Francia, campaсa concebida y ejecutada нntegramente por Carat.
En diбlogo con adlatina.com, afirmу: “No me cabe duda alguna de que nuestra agencia es el modelo de agencia de comunicacion del futuro".
Daryl Simm, chairman y ceo de Omnicom Media Group, puso el eje en cуmo unir publicidad y entretenimiento. “Estamos frente a una nueva era del entertainment", sostuvo, y puso como ejemplo el famoso Numa numa de YouTube. “їCуmo pueden las marcas ganar en este mundo? Con creatividad original y memorable, conectбndose con el consumidor de un modo lleno de sentido y fortaleciendo la posicion del branding". їEl prуximo paso? “Las marcas como vehнculo, los avisos como contenido, hasta que las marcas sean la experiencia misma".
Por su parte, el ceo de ZenithOptimedia Worldwide, Steve King, presentу a su empresa como la “ROI company". Mostrу el caso del lanzamiento del Toyota Aygo en el Reino Unido, que Zenith armу sobre una plataforma musical en razуn del target al que apuntaban, y donde la tv no formу parte del core. En sus palabras, “compromiso y experiencia son el nuevo spot de 30 segundos".
De acuerdo al cristal con que se mire
Dominic Proctor, ceo de MindShare Worldwide, planteу la necesidad de hacer una reingenierнa del negocio, para obtener bases mбs sustentables. “Estamos combatiendo en demasiados frentes y, como sabemos, eso nunca es bueno. Competimos con los dueсos de los medios, las consultoras, las agencias de publicidad… Tendrнamos que trabajar con los especialistas con los que batallamos y articular integraciуn. Nuestra posiciуn hoy, en el centro del escenario, nos habilita a facilitar esa integraciуn".
El presidente y responsable de marcas globales de Mediaedge:
Por fin, Alfonso Rodes Vila, ceo de Havas Media, seсalу que la explosiуn de los medios es un hecho y que “la historia reciйn empieza". Tambiйn que, de acuerdo a un estudio de McKinsey, la tendencia apunta a una dramбtica aceleraciуn de los cambios. Frente a eso, afirmу: “Cuando hay un tiburуn en el mar, no tienes que nadar mбs rбpido que йl, sino ser el mбs rбpido de todos los nadadores que estбn en el agua".
Con todos los disertantes reunidos en el escenario, Crowe ofreciу al auditorio la posibilidad de formular preguntas. Adlatina.com quiso saber que opinaba el resto de los ponentes sobre la afirmaciуn de De Nardis en el sentido de que la agencia de medios es el modelo de la agencia de comunicaciуn del futuro, habida cuenta de que Aegis no posee ninguna agencia creativa, y todos los demбs forman parte de holdings que sн las tienen, y muchas muy exitosas. Para Proctor, “es necesaria una sociedad en lo que hacemos. Para el cliente, formamos un equipo de comunicaciуn". Segъn McLean, “tenemos que trabajar en nuestro rol, pero en definitva es el anunciante quien nos permite hacer otras cosas". Goldhersz apuntу a una “colaboraciуn igualitaria".
Pero De Nardis insistiу: “El 25 por ciento del presupuesto de publicidad va a los medios. Asн que competimos con todos los tienen algo que ver con la comunicaciуn. Y se verб quiйn tiene la mejor idea".
18/04/2007, Advertising Age
P&G, Unilever Square Off at the Venice Media Fest
Glock, Rutherford: Metrics, Creativity, Talent Are Basis for Communications
The closing session of the Venice Media Festival yesterday lived up to its billing -- "The FMCG giants in the ring" -- as fast-moving consumer goods (that's packaged goods to you) powerhouse Bernhard Glock, Procter & Gamble Co.'s VP-global media and communication, was pitted against his equally formidable counterpart at Unilever, Alan Rutherford, VP-global media.
Atop Mr. Glock's agenda: relevant and meaningful communications. "The agencies don't get it," he continued. "I need better knowledge of when and where consumers are receptive of messages, and a better understanding of consumers." He said difficulties in measurement prevent P&G and its agencies from moving faster, and that he wants consumer-centric measurement, but most measurement is still "media centric" and "made in silos with little integration."
'Content, context and contact'
"We need to know how to allocate our budget to reach our target," he said. "We want content, context and contact."
At atop of Mr. Rutherford's agenda: "To become as famous as Bernhard." Mr. Rutherford said he had been ushered into the auditorium by one of the festival staff with the enticing promise that Mr. Glock was speaking. When Mr. Rutherford asked if anyone else was on stage, he was told "No, just the P&G man."
Joking aside, Mr. Rutherford's agenda is to find and keep talent. "The world begins and ends with the consumer," he said, "and we need creative thinkers who understand the changing dynamics of the consumer and can help us get to know them."
Mr. Glock underlined the importance of talent. "We need real talent not only in our headquarters but everywhere the action happens in the market. We always want the right people in the right job in the right place."
Unilever's three principles
Unilever has three principles: Brands should transform lives or at least the way people think about themselves; they should entertain and engage; and they should collaborate with consumers to create social networks or communities. He cited the work behind Unilever's Dove and Axe brands as examples of these three principles in action.
As part of a discussion about "who sits at the top table," Mr. Glock said the default thinking is that the ad agency is the first contact, but in fact "you may need a digital or media agency instead. We need to get more flexible and targeted about who sits at the table."
Mr. Rutherford, however, said that Unilever has a set way of working, with the planning-channel agency always sitting in from the start of the process. "Communications planning is about data, and finding content that can engage with the consumer. Once this is up front, execution is easier."
Experimentation
P&G, Mr. Glock revealed, tries to experiment with every brand, whether in use of media, internal structures or agency relationships. "Our business managers have a dilemma. They have to deliver quarter by quarter, so they look backwards at what has worked in the past, but if you always look back you never change."
Mr. Rutherford agreed: "You've got to be brave, take risks and experiment."
http://adage.com
17/04/2007, Media Week
Proctor tells agencies to invest and diversify
Addressing the Venice Festival of Media yesterday (Monday), MindShare's global boss, Dominic Proctor, warned that media agencies need to invest in diversifying their business offer if they are to compete with an ever-widening range of competitors, from creative and specialist agencies to media owners.
Describing himself as the "unelected shop steward for media agencies", MindShare Worldwide's chief executive said media agencies faced a time of unprecedented change.
Proctor said: "Competing on so many fronts, you'd better watch out. The only way you can sustain that kind of competition is to be good at all these things [buying, planning, communications planning, research, content, video-on-demand and mobile]."
He advocated forming alliances with competitors who would now become "frenemies". These included specialist agencies, management consultants, ad agencies looking to re-import media expertise and even media owners. He added: "We have to become more and more ambidextrous, we have to work with people who we compete with in other spheres. If we do not, then clients like Johnson & Johnson will look at other spheres.
"The big global media owners do have an ability to disintermediate, so we have to be careful to protect our ground on that."
Proctor pointed out that while MindShare was a powerful player in the traditional media world, it had less leverage over new media owners such as Google. "We are their biggest customer, but we represent less than 1% of their income," he said.
Proctor was coy on whether the required investment could be made without hitting profits, noting that we "can't make less profit because we all work for people who won't accept that".
Proctor's warning followed a similar call for change from Mainardo de Nardis, the global boss of Aegis Media, who warned that the old media model was dying. He said clients were not happy with media agencies' rate of progress and that they still "focus too much on cost rather than value".
Esther Lee, senior vice-president and chief creative officer at Coca- Cola, said agencies needed to educate clients as to the possibilities of media. "We need to sometimes do
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/650804/Proctor-tells-agencies-invest-diversify/
18/04/2007, Advertising Age
Media Agencies Bask in Sun -- and Solo Attention
At Venice Festival of Media: C-Squared Already Planning Next Year's
Venice relinquished its claim to be "La Republica Serinissima" during C-Squared's inaugural Festival of Media, as the furious networking of the media fraternity rapidly robbed this Italian city of its historic serenity. The two-day festival has been a small but slick operation, blessed by beautiful weather and enhanced by great food and drink served in settings to rival Cannes. C-Squared is already planning next year's festival, with ambitions to double the number of delegates and then double it again in the third year.
For this first event, 420 media specialists from around the world were persuaded to make the trip here. Fifty-five were guest speakers and a similar number were marketers. The rest were mostly from media agencies and media owners, the bulk from Europe and the U.S., with those countries accounting for around 378 delegates. There were 25 from South America, two from Africa and 15 from Asia.
Coke's Lee steals the show
Attendees proved enthusiastic about the concept of a "festival of media creativity and innovation," as C-Squared calls it, and most were pretty pleased with the reality. The lineup of speakers was impressive, starting with Coca Cola Co.'s chief creative officer, Esther Lee, and finishing with the global media directors of Procter & Gamble Co. (Bernhard Glock) and Unilever (Alan Rutherford) on the same stage. The package-goods powerhouses were pleased with the festival, despite their P&G vs. Unilever debate proving to not be the highlight of the festival. That accolade went to Ms. Lee, whose honesty and intellect won over the entire audience.
"This is a very important event," Mr. Rutherford said. "The media industry has to get together to show leadership in the development of brand communications and how we move the game on together. It's in all our interests to put together a plan to develop the industry to manage the future landscape."
"It's a forum to meet and engage and have a dialogue so that we can take the whole thing forward," Mr. Glock said.
While the discussion panels were mostly stimulating and interesting, delegates agreed that they could have benefited from a more diverse lineup to generate genuine debate.
Less sales pitch, more sharing
The main criticism was reserved for the many speakers who used the event as a sales pitch. One media agency delegate said, "We could have done with a lot less selling, especially from media agencies -- they were almost putting up billings and rankings charts. Our captains of industry should have taken the opportunity to be more personal. It's very difficult to get these people to show up, but when they do they have an obligation to be big enough to share their viewpoint on the state of the industry."
Dominic Proctor, CEO of MindShare Worldwide and probably the only conference speaker not to mention his company's name, said, "It was a good start. It will get better next time. We need more clients here to join the debate. It was very U.S. and U.K. Next year we need to encourage Asia and Latin America to come. Cannes has not really caught on as a media event, so it's nice to have our own event. Despite our place in the sun, the media industry still lacks confidence."
Although the conference was well-attended, delegates from both the agency and media-owner worlds hope for more clients next year.
"It has established a good platform to move forward," said Nigel Morris, CEO of Isobar and one of the conference panelists. "There was a level of consensus about the need for change, and clients made a good contribution. It would be good to see more of the creative sector here next year."
Yahoo's presence
Yahoo was the main sponsor of the festival, with a substantial presence both days. Wenda Harris Millard, the company's chief sales officer, said she would definitely sponsor it again next year. "Yahoo is very passionate about the advertising business and associated issues," she said. "You might think it's risky first time, but our instinct is to jump in and get involved. We take the high ground -- we write checks and show up and participate. It's important to understand the global point of view."
Will the Venice Festival rival Cannes? For media people, who are lost in the midweek scrum at Cannes, Venice offers a promising alternative. The main difference between the two events, however, was identified by Mr. Morris. "Did you see how many people were in suits?" he asked. "If the Venice festival and the media industry can lighten up just a little, then it could be a winning combination."
http://adage.com
Ha preso il via, la prima edizione assoluta di "The Venice Festival of Media", una quattro giorni di conferenze e incontri con i maggiori protagonisti dell'industria, per parlare di creativitа, media e innovazione.
Patrono del Festival
Il parterre degli speaker и ricchissimo e di particolare rilievo professionale, da Simon Assaad, co-fondatore e ceo di Heavy.com a Sam Balsara, president e managing director di Madison Communications, da Arthur Bastings, general manager di Discovery Networks Europe a Gregory Coleman, executive vice president for global advertising sales di Yahoo! e moltissimi altri.
www.iab.it
In questi giorni a Venezia (dal 15 al 18 aprile) sta avendo luogo il Venice Festival of Media, The first Global Festival of Media Creativity and Innovation: conferenze, workshop e discussioni inerenti i nuovi media, la pubblicità e soprattutto le nuove frontiere del web advertising.
Molti i nomi coinvolti, presenti alcuni dei top spender mondiali in fatto di advertising (uno fra tutti Procter&Gamble, ma anche Coca Cola, AT&T, Unilever..), e ovviamente gli addetti ai lavori (le agenzie, le concessionarie, i centri media, gli editori) molti dei quali appartenenti al mondo “virtuale" (Yahoo,
Le parole chiave di questo evento sembrano essere creatività e integrazione con il consumatore.
Nel blog del sito ufficiale del Venice Festival of Media è possibile leggere in tempo reale alcune osservazioni su cosa viene detto.
Nel post intitolato Marketing in the 21st Century - the real Thing uno dei giornalisti del blog parla dell'intervento di Esther Lee, SVP & Chief Creative Officer del gruppo Coca Cola, che sottolinea l'importanza del contatto e della relazione con il consumatore.
Coca Cola Company spoke this morning about the challenges of trying to drive top line growth in a market where there is proliferation of products and media c
Outlining her key points for communication with the consumer she highlighted the need to achieve integrated communications and amplify the brand rather than repeat the message. She also said that engagement was key and that communication should be a meeting point between brands and consumers – creating a culture.
Ma nel blog è riportato anche che persino Coca Cola all'inizio non avesse colto le potenzialità virali del video della Diet Coke e Mentos (che da Youtube ha fatto il giro del mondo), arrivando a vederlo come un'opportunità e non come una minaccia solo in un secondo momento.
Nel pomeriggio di ieri c'è stato un grande dibattito sul search marketing e i social media. In particolare si è discusso dell'impatto di questi ultimi (quali ad esempio i social network e i blog) sulla ricerca. Ovviamente c'è stato interesse sulla recente acquisizione di DoubleClick da parte di Google.
Fra i social media è stato nominato Mixi, un network sociale su invito, che ha letteralmente spopolato in Giappone (e non solo). Mentre Second Life non convince ancora. Si è discusso anche di come sia possibile per gli investitori sfruttare la capacità interattiva e di coinvolgimento dei nuovi media sociali.
Stamani il programma prevede a selection of top speakers and a panel of experts to cover how branded content will develop in the coming year. Ancora contenuti ma stavolta sponsorizzati.. Il pomeriggio invece prosegue con discussioni su adertising e entertainment, sul contrasto fra global e local media, sulle novità tecnologiche nella ricerca e tanto altro. Previsto anche un bell'intervento di due colossi dell'investimento pubblicitario: Unilever e Procter&Gamble.
Chissà cosa ne verrà fuori..
16/04/2007, Advertising Age
Talk of Change at Heart of Inaugural Venice Media Fest
Top Marketers and Agency Heads Wrestle With Uncertainty
In sunny Italy today, two top marketers kicked off the inaugural Venice Festival of Media with passionate discussion about the changing nature of media and agency relationships.
Esther Lee, Coke's chief creative officer, wants media agencies to force the beverage giant 'to do things differently.'
Kimberly Kadlec, chief marketing officer, Johnson & Johnson, made a plea for convergence. "We live with a divide, but the reality is convergence," she said. "Consumers have no awareness of the divide and nor do they care. So why do we still chase the big idea in silos? Media and creative need to be closer."
C Squared Communications, the consultancy and publisher of international media industry magazine Cream, is behind the festival, which is being held at the Palazzo del Cinema on Venice Lido. The festival aims to be the media world's answer to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival while offering a global forum where advertisers could meet media owners or agencies.
Doing things differently
Attendees listened closely as Esther Lee, chief creative officer, Coca-Cola Co., gave out a checklist of seven things she wants from a media agency. No. 5: "Force us to do things differently. You need to create new things and to push us. We are stuck in our ways boy, oh boy."
Ms. Lee called the now much-talked about and oft-viewed consumer-created video "Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment" an example of Coke being stuck in its ways. "We had a risk-aversion response," she said. "Our initial reaction was 'Oh my God', we didn't go with the flow and give up the brand. But then we invited the guys in to do the experiment."
Expanding on the theme of user-generated content, Ms Lee said that it doesn't have to represent a choice between risk and control, and that marketers can find a way to do both. She used the Doritos Super Bowl commercial as a standout example of this principle.
"Amplification" was another of Ms Lee's themes. The old model is 360-degrees, which is just about replication. Amplification, she said, "means every place an idea goes it is amplified and gets bigger. It's about power, not about matching language."
She also spoke frankly about her company's challenges. "Our Achilles heel is the discussion about obesity. It's gone from a small, manageable U.S. issue to a huge global issue. It dilutes our marketing and works against it. It's a huge, huge issue."
The wrong focus at agencies
Of the media agency heads, Mainardo de Nardis, CEO of Aegis Media, was given the first spot in the session. "It's the first time being Italian has been an advantage in this business" he joked, but then quickly became serious. "Clients are not that happy with [media agencies'] current rate of progress. We are scared, and we focus on cost and not value." He stressed the need to maintain specialists in agencies in order to drive innovation for the future.
The Doritos Super Bowl story, used continually throughout the day as a reference point, allowed Daryl Simm, chairman-CEO of Omnicom Media Group, to bask in some glory. "[Doritos] has changed the perception of consumer-generated content forever," he said.
Steve King, worldwide CEO of ZenithOptimedia, discussed whether return on investment and creativity can ever sit together. "Very comfortably," was his reply. "One cannot be done without the other." His main message was that marketers need to "forget consumers and target customers" and do away with demographic models.
Last on stage was Dominic Proctor, CEO of MindShare Worldwide. He had been asked to speak on the subject of "Stop moaning about margins. Why agencies should make less," but he rejected the brief. "We can't make less profit. Of course we can't. We all work for people who won't accept less profit."
Mr. Proctor's 'frenemies'
Mr. Proctor perked up the audience with talk of "frenemies." "We compete with management consultants, specialists, auditors, procurement people, and media owners. We have to become ambidextrous and work with people who we compete with in other spheres," he said. "We are competing on so many fronts we need to be substantially good at everything we do."
Looking to the future, he said, "In the apparent contradiction between specialists vs. integration, the media agency sits at center stage. We are in the best position to be the integrator. It's a challenge and it will be just as easy to fail as to succeed."
The day finished with a contentious but good-humored presentation from Stephen Norman, global marketing director, Fiat. He said the automaker is spending 80% of its marketing budget on TV in 2007 -- the same percentage as in 1996. "And you tell me everything's changing?" he challenged.
"We have no idea what we're talking about," he continued. "We pay you to tell us. Fiat very nearly died three years ago, undoubtedly due to mismanagement on our part, but your people did nothing to change the course of events. At no time did you as the bosses of media empires come to our house to tell us things were going wrong."
http://adage.com
14/04/2007, Mediaweek
Proctor tells agencies to invest and diversify
Addressing the Venice Festival of Media yesterday (Monday), MindShare's global boss, Dominic Proctor, warned that media agencies need to invest in diversifying their business offer if they are to compete with an ever-widening range of competitors, from creative and specialist agencies to media owners.
Describing himself as the "unelected shop steward for media agencies",
MindShare's Worldwide chief executive said media agencies faced a time
of unprecedented change.
Proctor said: "Competing on so many fronts, you'd better watch out. The
only way you can sustain that kind of competition is to be good at all
these things (buying, planning, communications planning, research,
content, video-on-demand and mobile)."
He advocated forming alliances with competitors who would now become
"frenemies". These included specialist agencies, management consultants,
ad agencies looking to re-import media expertise and even media owners.
He added: "We have to become more and more ambidextrous, we have to work
with people who we compete with in other spheres. If we do not, then
clients like Johnson & Johnson will look at other spheres.
"The big global media owners do have an ability to disintermediate, so
we have to be careful to protect our ground on that."
Proctor pointed out that while MindShare was a powerful player in the
traditional media world, it had less leverage over new media owners such
as Google. "We are their biggest customer, but we represent less than 1%
of their income," he said.
Proctor was coy on whether the required investment could
