As many will know, the reason we launched the Hive over 6 months ago was because we firmly believed that Social Media should not sit in a silo and should be integrated throughout the agency. It was therefore really refreshing to see an article by Jonah Boom, the Editor of Adage stating exactly that (I have replicated the article below simply because some people will not have a log in.
However I do think the piece probably misses are some of the challenges that exist in the space for agencies. For a start many marketers view social media as cheap and quick, which it isn’t and shouldn’t be. It takes time to deliver meaningful results and time as we all know means money. Delivering through the existing agency framework and making it cost effective just isn’t working. There is definitely an education job to be done here, and some of the more entrenched agencies are going to find it hard to adapt quickly.
Secondly digital natives behaviour has fundamentally changed. It’s changed so much that it now requires a certain re-wiring of the brain for many people within agencies. For some this is proving to be painful.
I have no doubt that for those that get it right, there are amazing opportunities to be had here. Matching basic human motivations with the evolving online behaviours allows us to play in a far wider marketing sphere (although that role in many cases will be that of guidance as clients will need to internalise social comms). In the short term though, it is clear that some agencies will struggle to cope with this shifting landscape and some specialised outfits will continue to make hay whilst the social sun is shining. We will obviously continue to integrate social media across our whole business while investing in new skills set and services to meet the changing needs (e.g. our investment in ‘online PR’).
Anyway here is the original article:
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What words are worth
I read Rory Sutherland’s engaging blog post in Campaign today validating the continuing need for great copy in advertising. The only thing it was missing was a purposeful discussion on the subject within the digital world, so that’s what I’ll attempt here.
In our digital industry, we are seduced by the ever-expanding list of things technology allows us to do. With the emergence of technologies like Natal, Android and ARG, we exist in a wonderland of visual excitement and pioneering knowledge. It’s a great place to be. Even glancing back for a moment, our industry has been one that has up till now been sustained by audiovisual excitement of subservient poultry, wayward balloons and smartphone apps that really do make it look as if you are drinking that beer. We have been the Willy Wonka to the Cadbury factory of the good old traditional ads.
But social media has brought about one fundamental change and dusted down a discipline that I was worried had almost expired within the so-called ‘new media’ agency.
I doubt very much that readers can point to a piece of digital work whose awards were garnered by its masterful use of copy; the Ogilvys, Bernbachs and Abbotts would have little to detain them if they were to be brought into a judging panel for digital work. Yet, when I flick through my social media accounts, there is one thing that exerts a stopping power so great, I feel like a galloping, excited greyhound that’s just forgotten that it was tethered to a concrete wall.
You can see great copy coming. As you flick down the endless retweets and automatic blog posts, it’s almost like your eye sees the great words before your brain has had time to start reading. Beautiful writing never goes out of fashion, and it’s just about to become very important indeed.
On Twitter, there are certain people whose avatars are a prompt to stop scrolling out of pure habit. Charlie Brooker, Richard Herring and Paul Carr are all people who have the power to captivate you with no more than 140 keystrokes. They make you smile, think, flinch or disappear into a fit of giggles. On the other hand, there are people who should hold far more sway in the digital world who are truly undermined by the high volume and low readability of what they put out there. Please take a bow Robert Scoble, Piers Fawkes and Guy Kawasaki. Don’t get me wrong – once I connect with what these people are on about, they are as compelling as anyone, but words aren’t their forte.
I have seen precious few brands that have invested in a truly arresting voice. Typically, their social media efforts are a mixture of platitudes, harmless observations and @answers dripping with well-intentioned banality. Granted, Brooker, Herring and Carr all push the boundaries to certain limits, and brands have reputations to manage. But these same brands manage to approve the creation of advertising campaigns that are just as provocative and arresting as their social media voice should be. They need to develop a voice that is invested with the same brilliance and power as an ad campaign. Only this time, you add spontaneity. If that terrifies you, then it’s good confirmation of how things have changed. In terms of great examples lighting the way, it’s all a bit limited. Aleksandr_Orlov from Compare The Meerkat is only one I can think of, but I’d love to have some more voices to listen to.
So the recommendation is simple. Talking isn’t enough. Brands should actually pluck up the courage to write something involving, human and compelling. And for heaven’s sake, write it well.