Friday, January 22, 2010

Selling Creativity As Data

It used to be that creative was king.

This was in the day of Mr. Bernbach and others. And, it still is, to some extent, with the better agencies of today. Goodby in San Francisco. Wieden in Portland. Droga in New York.

But today creative has also become something else. Creative has become data.

Connor Brady, chief creative officer at Organic, touches on it in a nice piece he wrote for Ad Age called “The Era Of Creative Empowerment.” In his article, Mr. Brady goes on to explain how agencies should use data to make them better at creative.

I don’t think Mr. Connor went quite far enough.

After all, today creative is data. Run a commercial on the digital platform and second by second data will tell you how well your commercial succeed in keeping the viewer’s attention.

If viewers have control over the commercial, i.e. the ability to opt-in and out when they want, then you will also know how well you have succeeded in actually engaging them.

And, if you’re in the camp of those that believe that viewer engagement is somewhat dependent on the creativity of the spot itself, then what this means is that your creativity can now be measured as data.

The more time viewers spend with the spot, the more creative you are. (Unfortunately, for most agencies out there, the opposite also holds true.)

Mr. Connor infers that data drives creative success and creative relevance. It doesn’t just drive it. It reports it.

And then, it goes even further. It honors it.

Advertisers don’t, for the most part, appreciate creativity. Agencies have tried to push their creative prowess for decades, but with little success. What advertisers do appreciate though, is data.

What this means is that instead of selling a commercial based on its creativity, agencies can sell it based on its data.

Literally.

The proposition is fairly simple. Tie agency compensation into view duration.

If viewers start watching a commercial but opt-out quickly, well obviously the agency didn’t do its job. On the other hand, if viewers watch the whole damn thing, well, happy client. Happy agency.

For years, media has been sold based on data. Advertisers willing pay for data.

It’s creativity they have a problem with. Selling creativity as data changes that.

Hopefully, for the better.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Intrusive Versus Non-Intrusive Advertising

According to marketers, there are many different types of advertising – radio, TV, print, banner ads, outdoor, etc.

But in the eyes of consumers, there are only two types of advertising – intrusive and non-intrusive.

Intrusive advertising is that which interrupts something that we are currently enjoying or are about to enjoy. TV commercials qualify as intrusive advertising. As does pre-roll advertising.

Intrusive advertising also attempts to take the element of control out of the hands of the viewer. For example, you can’t fast-forward through a pre-roll commercial.

Intrusive advertising’s attitude is that our product is so damn interesting, I’m going to interrupt what you’re doing and make you watch this commercial.

Non-intrusive advertising lets the viewer/reader/listener decide if they want to find out more about a product by clicking in to the ad and/or commercial.

Currently, both intrusive and non-intrusive advertising is sold the same way, through impressions. The difference is that we can tell when someone is paying attention to a non-intrusive advertisement. After all, they have to click-in to access it.

The reason that there remains more intrusive advertising then non-intrusive advertising is because the numbers are larger. Exposures will always be easier to buy then engagement. But that is a spacious argument. Why? Simply because the “worth” of the two forms are measured in very different ways.

Intrusive advertising is about how many. Non-intrusive advertising is about how long. When a marketer begins to add up the amount of viewers’ time captured with non-intrusive advertising, they begin to see a new sort of "scale" start to develop.

Getting a hundred thousand viewers to each spend 60 seconds with their 60-second spot, adds up to 6 million seconds of time spent with the brand. Six million seconds translates to 69 days of time spent with the brand.

When a marketer buys a $5 million, intrusive TV buy, they will know exactly how many impressions that buy will deliver. But they will have no idea how much time was actually spent with the brand.

When a marketer buys a $5 million, non-intrusive video buy, they will not only know the number of impressions, but they will also know how much time spent with the brand that $5 million actually bought them.

Once they have the data for both impressions and time-spent, which figure do you think will be more important to the marketer? Which figure do you think will more directly correlate to sales?

Twenty million impressions versus 69 days of time spent with the brand?

Intrusive versus non-intrusive?

How many versus how long?

Decisions, decisions.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Diapers. Where The Shit Hits The Fan

For anyone who thinks people don’t care about brands, take a look at the stink P&G is in.

The most amazing comment was from VP-North American baby care at P&G. “All the data that we have to date, in particular from our consumer 1-800 line, is that the complaints are well within what we were expecting and considerably lower than we’ve seen with some of our previous innovations.”

It’s like a general saying that the loss of soldiers was well within expectations. Which, I guess, in the Army's mind, makes it fine. But try explaining that to the parents of one of the soldiers lost.

Brand managers need to start understanding that it’s not your expectations that you have to live up to.

It’s the consumer's.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Social Influence Marketing

I’m puzzled by the term “social influence marketing.”

Granted, I’m not sure what it means, but I am sure that all marketers will be asking for it from their agencies very shortly.

From what I could discover, “social influence marketing” is about the role that consumer-generated media plays in purchase decisions. In other words, it’s that thing that happens when people talk about a product, brand or service on Facebook and Twitter.

You know, just conversation-like.

Or, in other words, electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM).

The big thing now, at least according to the so-called social media agencies, is for marketers to develop their “social media voices.” In other words, to be more engaging, humble and authentic.

You know, whatever is the opposite of so-called “traditional advertising.”

Obviously, to these newbie agencies, traditional advertising is loud, obnoxious and inauthentic.

And they’re right. Some is. Hell, you could say most of it is.

But good “traditional advertising” is not. Good “traditional advertising” is engaging, humble and authentic. After all, that’s what makes it good.

And, guess what? Good traditional advertising leads to wonderful word-of-mouth as well. It could be person-to-person word of mouth. Or, it could be electronic.

Good traditional advertising becomes social because people notice it and want to talk about it. Or, at least talk about the brands and products that the advertising is supporting.

Good advertising isn’t “good” just because it’s social. Nor is it bad just because it’s traditional. Good advertising is good because somebody has understood how to talk to people. Whether through their TV. Or, through their computer.

We need to start separating the content—the advertising—from the delivery system. When most industry experts talk about social versus traditional advertising, they’re referring to the delivery system.

Delivery systems change and evolve.

But good advertising is good advertising.

No matter how it’s delivered.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Watching TV Commercials Will Shorten Your Life

An Australian study recently reported that every hour spent sitting idle in front of the television raises the risk of premature death by 18 percent.

Since an hour of TV programming usually includes around 20 minutes of advertising, it’s hard not to assume that advertising is accountable for a portion of these deaths.

Those who spent four hours in front of the tube had an 80% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who watched the box for less than two hours.

In the U.S., average television viewing time is as much as eight hours a day.

Of course, if you watch TV on a DVR, you probably fast-forward through the commercials. Which means an hour of programming is consumed in forty minutes. Eight hours of TV can be watched in five and a half hours.

Does this mean that using a DVR will not only allow you to time-shift programming, but also death?

How long before TiVo asks the Surgeon General to become their spokesperson?

Monday, January 11, 2010

96% Of All Ads Served Through The 1st Nine Months of 2009 Were Pre-Roll

Most pre-roll ads cannot be controlled by the viewer. Which means, viewers can’t fast-forward the commercial. If they want to get to the content they actually want to see, they have to sit through the commercial.

To lessen this inconvenience, 65% of all pre-roll spots were fifteen seconds in length. Thirty-second spots made up the balance.

The 15-second spots had a 77% completion rate. Which means 23% of viewers said, “Screw it,” and left without seeing the content they came to see.

The 30-second spots had a 64% completion rate.

So here’s the question. Of those 36% who left before seeing the content they came to see, how many said, “F#@$” Off” Ford, Charmin, AT&T (put advertiser’s name here) as they were leaving?

Advertisers will argue that that’s the price they have to pay to advertise online. But is it?

It’s one thing to live in denial with broadcast advertising and make believe that everyone who is exposed to the commercial sticks around to watch it. There is no concrete data that says otherwise. The fact is, marketers don’t want data that says how poorly their ads are being received in the marketplace.

Absence of data means they can’t get fired.

Is a 36% abandonment rate cause for firing?

Is a strategy that says let’s upset 36% of our customers into buying our product, really a good strategy?

When told by their agencies that it’s the best they can do, CMOs need to start telling their agencies otherwise.

Or better yet, cut the agency off before they finish.

It seems only fair.

Friday, January 08, 2010

The Year Of Viewer Procurement

If you haven’t yet read Alan Schulman’s article on procurement – “Beware the Bottom-Feeders: When Procurement Turns Thinkers Into Executors,” do so now.

Alan is a creative sort. And, as you’ve probably already derived from his description of procurement practitioners as "bottom-feeders," a bit fed up.

Alan challenges the industry to have someone come forward, someone as he puts it, “Brave enough to stand up and clarify that we are ultimately in the IDEA business.

Alan’s right about that. But, unfortunately, marketers are in the data business.

I know, good ideas lead to good data. But most CMOs don’t have the cajones to let a good idea play out so that the data will have them looking like the star they want to be.

So, instead, they bring in the procurement experts to control costs on the input end of the equation. Even though it’s the output that will make them famous.

It’s a battle that I’m afraid won’t be won through words. If creatives want to win back their rightful place as idea merchants, then they will have to earn it. And, ironically, the way they’ll need to earn it is through data.

Currently agencies are paid based on hourly time sheets. The more the idea cost to come up with, regardless of its effect in the marketplace, the more the agency makes. Even agencies have to admit that this model is somewhat skewed to their advantage.

Even if the idea that eventually gets produced was concocted in the first five minutes of creative brainstorming, the agency is going to present a plethora of ideas, if for no other reason than to justify their fee.

Alan wants the brave creative agencies to come forward. And, they should. But perhaps what they should come forward with is a new idea. Not to suggest that marketers eliminate procurement. But rather, have the viewer be the procurement agent rather than the marketer.

Digital data now tells us how long someone who opted-in to watch a commercial actually watches it for. Is this not a measure of how well the commercial worked? Not in the marketplace, no. But a measure of how well the commercial worked versus dollars spent to create the commercial. The one thing that we do know is that the longer a commercial is watched, the greater the chance of a sale occurring.

So what if agencies put their money where their mouth is and have some of their fee be contingent on how well their idea actually involves the viewer? The longer they engage viewers in the commercial, the more the agency and production company will make. The less time they engage the viewer for, the less the agency and production company will make.

In this way, procurement will be based on outputs rather than inputs.

Rather than limiting the impact of the idea up front, viewer procurement will instead impact how much money the agency makes.

Bravery is indeed needed in this New Year that’s upon us. But instead of agencies bitching about how procurement officers are weakening their ideas, maybe they need to try a different tact when it comes to making money.

Actually earn it.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Will Advertising Go The Route Of Network Programming?

The 4A’s recently released their annual summary of commercial production costs for 2008. Nineteen agencies participated, including most of the top 20 U.S. agencies.

Not surprisingly, the average cost of producing a commercial dropped from 2007 to 2008. What is surprising is that it dropped only 5%, from $318,000 in 2007 to $302,000 in 2008. Over half of the national commercials, in fact, 62%, cost on average $342,000 to produce. This does not include the agency fees to come up with the commercial.

When viewing audiences for TV programs were greater, it was easier to justify the cost of creating great advertising. After all, it’s much easier to swallow a half a million dollar price tag for a thirty-second commercial when you know it’s going to be seen by 20 million viewers.

It’s a tad more difficult when the viewing audience is two million.

As viewing audience numbers have dropped, so too, have advertising dollars. As advertising dollars have diminished, so has the money to create great programming content to bring in more viewers. Instead, we have reality shows.

Inexpensive to produce. Tedious to watch.

Which puts the ability to create great advertising between a rock and a hard place. As TV viewing audience numbers continue to drop, CMOs will be hard pressed to sign off on large budgets for TV commercials. Which means the quality of those commercials will also decline.

And, if TV is any example, declining viewership of commercials will soon follow.

Basing the cost to produce advertising on the number of potential viewers has never made much sense. But, it was the best we could do.

Today the digital platform allows advertisers to measure not just how many see a commercial, but also how long they decide to engage with that commercial. And isn’t that last measurement really the only one that matters?

Advertisers should simply pay for the amount of time that a commercial is viewed. This isn’t a media issue. Media is about exposure to the message. This is a creative issue. Creative is about engagement in the message.

Instead of basing the costs of production on possibility, how many will be exposed and then might in fact, watch, why not base it on actuality? Of those that started to watch, how long did the creative actually engage them for?

The longer the engagement rate, the more the agency and the production company will make.

Will it make agencies more accountable? You bet.

But it’s perhaps the only way that agencies will be able to continue to create great advertising as viewing audiences continue to get smaller.

The naysayers, of course, proclaim that agencies and production companies will never work this way.

And they’re right. The mediocre ones won’t.

But the good ones are another story. After all, they don’t see this as an accountability model. They see this as a model that allows them to stop being a commodity.

All any one with any talent ever wants is the ability to be paid based on how good they are. That time is here.

Happy New Year.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Time For A Change

It’s now 2010.

Which means it’s time.

Or, maybe I should say that it’s about time that we consider time to be a viable metric for the digital platform.

Why?

Two reasons.

First, because time on the digital platform is measurable. And, to an advertiser, what is measurable is pleasurable.

Second, when it comes to viewer-initiated video, the amount of time spent with the commercial directly correlates to how effectively an advertiser spent his or her money to produce said commercial.

If they paid for thirty seconds to be produced and only ten seconds were watched, what was their ROI on production dollars spent?

33%.

Wouldn’t an advertiser rather have 100% ROI on their production dollars? Sure they would.

If an agency delivers a 100% ROI on production dollars, should said agency get paid more? I would think so, wouldn't you?

But only if they agree to be paid less if they deliver less.

In fact, why not tie part of the agency fee into length of view. It can even be a direct correlation. If the ROI on production dollars spent is 30%, the agency gets 30% of the agreed to fee.

Doable?

You bet.

It’s a new year with new possibilities.

Advertisers want accountability. All we can say is that it’s about time.

Literally.