Although it’s becoming common practice, integrating large campaigns across multiple platforms and agencies can hamper creativity. Don Smith, Creative Director at Realise Digital argues why agencies should shy away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach and play to their strengths…
Anyone that has ever worked in an agency will recognise the following scenario. You are one of a roster of agencies working for a brand and one of the agencies (not you) has been assigned the lead agency role. It is tasked with putting together the big creative concept for a campaign and this is then passed down to other specialist agencies to implement across different channels.
It’s a very common setup and has many advantages. It allows a level of integration, ensures there is uniformity and focus across the board. It can also reduce costs.
But, agency integration can also stifle creativity and risks diminishing potential results. When considered from this angle, the focus on integration is perhaps dangerous and means that campaigns may fail to resonate on certain channels. In my opinion, more and more brands should instead be looking at a more siloed approach.
One size doesn’t fit all
Why is this a good idea? Communication theorist Marshall McLuhan may have given us the first clue as early as 1960 when he said: “the medium is the message.”
What I’m advocating is a move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach that drives the marketing of many brands these days. Rather than putting together creative concepts that could broadly work across a multitude of different channels, you instead create campaigns to suit individual ones.
The key for brands is to turn all agencies into lead agencies and get them to deliver your message to an audience they understand, in a medium they are experts in and with creative work that is fit for purpose.
Digital forces the issue
I know what you’re thinking; of course he is going to say that, every agency wants to be the lead and every agency that doesn’t find themselves in this situation will object vehemently.
But this isn’t just about ego and self-importance (though you’ll find there is a potential for agencies that are relegated to lowlier positions to be less motivated on a particular campaign). This is more about getting the best results possible from specific channels. And the move towards digital has accelerated this need for change.
In the days of yore, advertising agencies dominated creative direction. They mastered the development of creative for print mediums and then, with the growth of TV, developed production departments so they could still provide an integrated service to their clients. But digital moved the goalposts and fragmented the agency landscape.
For brands, this clearly presented a problem and it is a problem that isn’t solved by the ‘lead agency’ process. While the message is the same, the execution (from different agencies) is now worlds apart requiring different techniques and specialist knowledge.
Knowing what works best for these channels and how the target audiences use certain channels in specific ways is a key benefit of a disintegrated process. This allows brands to cover all bases, yet push out a consistent message to all.
Getting the most out of every channel
This approach doesn’t mean a lack of focus on unifying messages. Instead, it means brands and the agencies they employ need to work smarter to deliver the right ‘version’ of the message or campaign across each channel.
It’s not an approach that will work for every brand or every marketeer. But it’s a philosophy, that if used effectively, will deliver better results.
By Don Smith
Creative Director
Realise Digital
http://www.realise.com/digital/
