What Can Social Learn from Mad Men?
Sept [email protected]
@RogerWarner
(Aside from smoking, drinking and treating women badly)
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Big Brand Ideas: Hardwired for Social
• Part of Box Network Europe
• Formed 2009
• 18 staff, and growing
• 20 active clients
• 25+ active programs and campaigns
• All revenue is digital and majority is retained
• One focus: SOCIAL Communications
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“We drink because it’s what men do...”
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About Mad Men
• 1960+
• Madison Avenue (get it?)
• Not much happens
• Characters...
• Drink
• Womanise
• Drink
• Smoke
• Drink and smoke
• What can we learn?
(Pls Click)
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Our Advertising Man, 1982
• John Hegarty
• Co-Founder of Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty
• Author of Hegarty on Advertising
• Pioneers of modern advertising (esp TV)
• Founded 1982
• Levis, Audi, Lynx (Axe)
buy!
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Me, 1988• Charlton YTS Trainee apprentice
• Key points:
• Dashing
• Slow
• Career limiting hair do for a bone crunching centre half
• Joined Margate FC 1990
• MargateFCHistory.com: ‘my interest in the game was dwindling by then...”
• More interested in advertising than football
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Advertising, 1980-ish
• Nick Kamen’s butt in boxers and Levis (BBH, 1985)
• Sales up 800% for 501s
• British Airways (Saatchi & Saatchi, 1984)
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Social Media, 2010
• (Sir) Brian Solis, Engage, 2010
• Houston, we have a problem...
Act #1: “The boffins had taken over...”
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“Social media is complex”
• Issue: most brands are ill equipped to communicate effectively on Social Media
• Teams, processes, communications, content, campaigns and strategies all need re-wiring
• This is a technical and a process challenge, not a creative challenge
• Technology (and technology skills) are quickly learned, built and commoditised
• i.e. a short term opportunity
• Once the plumbing is done, then what? Maintenance contracts?
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Plumbing and Wiring
•To the left are some classic consultant charts
•First goal is enablement (training, seminars, workshops, etc) to enable a higher call of duty
•This is a training and consultancy exercise
•Most brand comms people are smart - they get it. Brands are adapting fast with new roles, missions, etc to bake Social into the enterprise (comms, support, product development)
•Where’s our value tomorrow...?
It’s Not About the Plumbing
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[On the introduction of TV advertising]
The boffins had taken over - they could bamboozle clients with all the technical jargon of this mind boggling new media. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed producer proved to be king. And these one-eyed men - and they were all men - were the kings of advertising. Until, that is, someone said ‘we need an idea.‘ And then the one eyed producers were found to be somewhat wanting...
Hegarty
Act #2: “Never stop thinking like your audience...”
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“Social Media is a conversation”
• Goal: deliver consistent stream of comms
• Success determined by how compelling, rewarding and relevant the brand is - as long term engagement, dialogue and support programs
• Problem: competition not other nearby brands, but every other online activity between breakfast and bedtime - friends, family, and other smart engaging brands on Facebook
• We can’t ALL be friends on Facebook!
• Brands want conversations / ‘engagement’. People want.... what?
• ...be careful not to lose the plot
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Tactics•To the left is a classic consultant chart (an old one of ours)
•Brands want to plot the audience on a neat map
•A trap: real people don’t behave like this
•What if the real world just doesn’t want to talk to you on Facebook?
•Engage with that...
People Aren’t Dumb. You Are One. Think Like You
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The key to great marketing is never to stop thinking like your audience... Understanding the role your brand plays in people’s lives and knowing how to make it more relevant is crucial...
Hegarty
Act #3: “Ideas are everything...”
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Chanel: WTF?
(Pls Click)
“Authenticity is key”
• Goal: be transparent, human, real, true
• But people buy brands: diamonds, Audi, Levis, etc
• Facebook: “Hey guys, what did you do this weekend?”
• Problem: lack of charisma is fatal / we can all play that game
• Problem: what magic is there to aspire to?
• What makes a brand in this environment?
• Brands are different now. 24x7, always on, support as marketing, marketing as support. How do we turn that into magic?
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A Great Display Ad
It’s About the Ideas
Ideas and stories are everything, otherwise advertising is just information.
The trick is to make advertising interesting and relevant... Ultimately, it’s just common sense and a desire to excite people...
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Hegarty
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Do I Entertain You?
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Do I Relate to You?
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Do You Like Me?
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Would You Buy Me?
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Would You Buy Me Now?
Act #4: “The opportunity has changed...”
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The Opportunity...?
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• Messages that sell are great ideas, stories
• But the playbook is static - TV, display, etc
• Traditional advertising wins by attrition, repetition
• Those with the best ideas and the deepest pockets win
• Social doesn’t work that way - it’s a relationship, a dialogue
• How do you deliver a great creative idea, via dialogue, 24x7, one to many?
• Houston, we need re-wiring
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Average Days
The Real Change
The value of a great idea hasn’t changed, but the opportunity to exploit it has...
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Hegarty
Act #5: “This device is not a spaceship...”
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Stories Sell
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(Pls Click)
Social Media = Earned Media
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EXPERTS! ADVICE! FREE!!!!
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Excuse Me Mr Social, You’re On...
Stories sell
Technology doesn’t
Ideas are everything
How to sustain creative value?
We need to find some answers
Before our x2 Martini lunch gets eaten
...by Mad Men (?)
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The Next Google Update? IDEAS!
The Timothy Dalton update - It'll just make everything more stylish and attractive. (@BobbyBeansprout)
The Badling update - will burn to the ground anyone who doesn't know the difference between SEO's (belonging to the SEO) and SEOs (more than one SEO). (CrackAddictSEO)
The Nortel update - it will only show search results for web sites which praise Android phones. (@ChrisDepper)
The Pigeon update - after joking about PigeonRank in 2002, Google realises that Pigeons are actually quite good at determining page quality. (@MarkRocky)
Thanks...
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@RogerWarner
creative?
hiring!
buy!