Following the ground breaking work that he has been doing in the States we’re delighted that Bonin Bough, Global Director of Digital and Social Media, PepsiCo will be presenting the opening Keynote at ad:tech Melbourne in 2011.

Bonin is recognised as driving the digital changes and award winning initiatives at PepsiCo and recently he has also been working with our iMedia colleagues on some new digital research. His hands on experience and specific focus on the digital arena will be of high value to the industry here in Australia. Bonin will be speaking about the need to put digital at the centre of the organisation and the difference that the approach can make to your whole marketing and product management. What will you be able to apply to your business? How can you emmulate some of PepsiCo’s remarkable success?

All Keynote presentations are free to attend when you book an EXHIBITION pass for ad:tech Melbourne. See full event details here.

ad:tech Melbourne
30-31 March 2011
Hilton on the Park
Register for ad:tech Melbourne here.

The Digital Strategy advisory council for ad:tech Sydney 2011 met to discuss the issues that are affecting the market and the content that should be on the ad:tech programme. Here is a summary of the key areas discussed:

Demonstrating digital efficacy
- The digital industry is founded on the understanding that it can show figures, results etc
- We know the audience is moving online, but the dollars are not
- There isn’t a link between effectiveness and results – digital is still based on ‘gut’
- We need to say whether things work: the digital effectiveness of multiple channels, really ‘last click’ doesn’t work. There is a willingness to try ‘new’ channels – mobile, social media etc. but how does it all work together. User attribution modelling will make all the difference here.
- There is no consistency in return, data, analytics
- Have we ever been able to measure offline? Can we now? What about participation metrics?

External structure
- How do we work together – collaboration, processes, relationships
- Content vs. connection: current models don’t work, there should be a network not a linear approach to agencies, budgets, structure
- Should the agency lead the client or the other way around? This currently operates as a supplier relationship not a partnership. Strategy is difficult when agencies are only brought on for one project, on website etc. how can you partner, add value, strategise, look at long term technology implications etc on a project basis. Do you need a budget for strategy? Does that work in retainers?

Internal structure
- Content vs. connection: current models don’t work, there should be a network not a linear approach to agencies, budgets, structure
- The industry isn’t using tools, new ways of working, collaboration, to strategise in the way that consumers are actually behaving. We still operate in a linear way
- Why is the strategy still ‘digital’ when you need offline to drive there as well
- There is a digital component to all parts of the organisation – sales, marketing, technology, product etc it’s not just marketing
- You should cast the net wider in the organisation to get the best strategy e.g. include IT
- Finance, legal, accounting vs. social, communication, brands
- Digital communications, business, relationship, individual strategy – this is how we should be looking at it
- Digital strategy is moving to a combined communication strategy but marketing and web teams are structured the same which doesn’t work
- If you look at utility first (not content) it can be the wrong first step. Content over utility.
- Implementing transformational marketing internally, people want templates but we need networked ideas, intuition, innovation.
- Who’s responsible for marketing? Where do marketing report in to?

The role of technology
- The growth of the technology role – ‘technology’ isn’t IT anymore. How do you manage that internally?
- Marketing management have no excuse not to be ‘up ‘on technology any more, it isn’t an option
- Understanding that if you don’t test, don’t learn, you’re not in the industry
- What about willingness to fail.
- The plan to ‘use it when it’s ready to use’ means that organisations miss out on the strategy piece because they wait and then they’re too late and have to react. They need to stay on top of technology. Staying on top of technology is the strategy.
- There is not enough research around consumer changes, consumer behaviour and technology

Unifying the digital market place
- We have a very fragmented market place. What is digital, it is split into many things
- And how do you manage the diverse digital channels? Where do you spend your time?
- Challenge of getting agencies to work together

The new pace of consumption/ business
- Everyone needs to know that time frame is different
- Who can keep up with the pace of change
- An organisation’s strategy can’t keep up with consumers
- Old model’ is too slow, you can’t respond. Need to change to ‘always on’.
- ‘No plan survives contact with the enemy’. After contact with the enemy how do you change your plan without looking like you’ve given up on your original intent?
- Planned spontaneity – you need contingency, reactive resource and ability
- Continuous marketing is a new mind set too
- How much testing do you do before something goes out?
- The plan to ‘use it when it’s ready to use’ means that organisations miss out on the strategy piece because they wait and then they’re too late and have to react. They need to stay on top of technology. Staying on top of technology is the strategy.

Skills and training
- How can strategy really include everything you need it to? There isn’t the talent available
- What do marketers who ‘take on’ digital really go through? Internally, structure, systems, resource? What did the marketers go through personally?
- Learn as you go vs. training
- How does the agency skill up? It’s not magic, they just do it
- Strategists: lots of training, working with agencies to know where they need to be, have an ecosystem that allows the strategy to evolve
- Need an ideation / innovation role / department

Have your say

This is a summary of the points that were made in the meeting. We’ll be working on this and integrating these topics and themes into the ad:tech Sydney 2011 conference programme. If you have feedback on these points or want to make suggestions about additional topics or speakers for the programme then please leave comments or get in touch with me here.

Notes from the other advisory council meetings

Social Media Strategy
Data & Analytics
e-Commerce / Online Retail advisory
Monetising Digital
Unwired Media
Creative & Brand
Entertainment & Experience
Core Digital Media

Who’s on the other advisory councils:

Data & Analytics
Unwired Media
Social Media Strategy
e-Commerce / Online Retail advisory
Monetising Digital
Brand & Creative
Core Digital Media
Entertainment & Experience
ad:tech Sydney advisory council groups named

The Core Digital Media advisory council for ad:tech Sydney 2011 met to discuss the issues that are affecting the market and the content that should be on the ad:tech programme. Here is a summary of the key areas discussed:

Skills and structure
• Who – on the client side – can write the briefs and manage and implement? One person with those skills is hard to find.
• Can’t find best of breed in ‘these’ solutions, especially integrated skills. And, when things are new how do you know what is best of breed?
• How do you get skill sets for things that aren’t even out yet? Where does the responsibility sit?
• The CTO role is growing and technology is more and more sitting in digital, and technology is being positioned at the front of business rather than the back.
• There can be a challenge between marketing and IT on the client side. IT have different rules, regulations, ideas etc on what can be done. How to align the company infrastructure – what’s outward serving, inward serving etc.
• And for multinationals you come up against what’s been built out of HQ – which is a challenge for local market like Australia
• Clients are working with a growing number of agencies / outsourcers and they are keen to see who’s integrated.
• One business (agency or outsourcer) can’t serve all requirements. Fragmentation and expansion of digital has made this a challenge, integration is absolutely key
• Everyone wants best in class digital agencies
• Inefficiencies exist (when there are too many agencies) as does not getting skills (when there are too few agencies)

Creative
• In digital creative hasn’t had the focus it’s needed or ‘meant’ to have to work. There is a challenge to creative community to raise the bar but also the briefing process is flawed because where digital fits the overall creative process isn’t clear.
• Silos kill ideas and creativity but there is a lot of protectionism, confusion over jargon and a limited talent pool in digital.
• Ideally, you’re all the team, not above / below the line and brilliant ideas should be supported regardless of channels. There should be no delineation between ideas –who cares where it came from, or how it rolls out, a great idea should be supported
• All structure and skill issues are less of a challenge for companies who have ROI that can be measured on line, for those who currently can’t measure effectively (e.g. FMCG) user attribution modelling will help with this.
• There needs to be better collaboration across the board: agencies – agencies, agencies – providers, PR – social media, all platforms need lots of disciplines
• Data visualisation can be useful to educate internally because we have tonnes of metrics and information and it’s easier to show people
• This is an opportunity to demystify the landscape, educate, remove complexity, make the organisation digitally literate
• Digital gets scrutinised because the numbers are there but the numbers aren’t compared like for like. And there won’t be like for like comparisons because digital sold itself as the great data source.
• Attribution modelling is the key moving forwards. Understanding about how consumers operate now.

Legal
• There are consistent legal implications in digital. How do they ‘fit’ with real time, dynamic, organic nature of digital? And should this be managed internally / externally?
• This will be a bigger issue as brands are evolving to be publishers
• Companies and brands are handing over more of their own assets to customers – especially through social media. But legally ownership still sits with the brand. Consumer behaviour is ahead of the law.

Privacy
• Privacy is fast tracking now
• Education piece is planned for consumers. Behavioural advertising in US now has a lot of explanation – making clear what they’ve signed up for – what’s involved.
• The government haven’t considered the positives of targeting behavioural advertising

Email
• EDM is still effective for existing consumers: repeat business / intelligence. But it’s not good for acquisition.
• You can’t personalise email enough
• How many companies are wasting their money on ineffective email
• How much transparency is there between marketing and other departments about the efficacy of emails?
• Quality of the data, strategy, execution is important; having a lot of data doesn’t mean you have a good email strategy.
• The prospect of social media is a more exciting relationship environment than email

Video
• Pre-roll is it the solution we want – is it effective. Demand issue. Are we measuring it well?
• Hulu is coming soon.
• Tivo is sitting between the two worlds, what services do they offer- do they offer value to consumers?
• Debate on providers and the impact on consumers and brands and marketing.
• Crowd sourcing – applied to TV – using principals to make real time decisions vs. search dissection. What do you base your decision on?

Have your say

This is a summary of the points that were made in the meeting. We’ll be working on this and integrating these topics and themes into the ad:tech Sydney 2011 conference programme. If you have feedback on these points or want to make suggestions about additional topics or speakers for the programme then please leave comments or get in touch with me here.

Notes from the other advisory council meetings

Social Media Strategy
Data & Analytics
Digital Strategy
e-Commerce / Online Retail advisory
Monetising Digital
Unwired Media
Creative & Brand
Entertainment & Experience

Who’s on the other advisory councils:

Social Media Strategy
Data & Analytics
Digital Strategy
e-Commerce / Online Retail advisory
Monetising Digital
Unwired Media
Creative & Brand
Entertainment & Experience
ad:tech Sydney advisory council groups named

Once again we have an ad:tech advisory council for Digital Strategy. In some ways we’re all waiting for the day when we won’t need to talk about this area, when digital strategy will be truly integrated to marketing, media or communication strategy, when off or on line won’t matter. We’re definitely getting closer but we’re not there yet.

The ad:tech 2011 CONFERENCE program will feature presentations on Digital Strategy, issues such as resourcing, structure, agency/ client relationships, the role of technology and the ever-changing consumer. We’re delighted to be working with this group of local industry executives to shape and guide the content:

Heather Albrecht, Digital Connections
Alex Crompton, Senior Manager, Web Marketing, Aussie
Michele Havas, Communications Manager – Digital, Diageo
Sudeep Gohil, Strategic Planning Director/Partner, Droga5
Harry Lowes, Executive Manager – Digital Marketing, Commonwealth Bank

Have your say on the ad:tech program. Use the comments box to suggest topics and speakers that you think would add value to the program. We look forward to hearing from you.

Read about the other advisory councils:

Social Media Strategy
Monetising Digital
Unwired Media
e-Commerce / Online Retail advisory
Data & Analytics
Brand & Creative
Core Digital Media
Entertainment & Experience
ad:tech Sydney advisory council groups named

I spoke with Yvette Mayer, National Digital Director, Starcom about the role of digital strategy. Here’s a video of our chat:

Yvette is speaking on the ad:tech panel discussion about the role of digital strategy (Tuesday 16th March, 9.45am). I wrote a post sharing my thoughts on this a few weeks back, you can read that here.

Ten days ’til ad:tech so book your tickets now.

ad:tech EXHIBITION, free to attend, includes international keynote presentations, expo seminar theatre and After Party
ad:tech CONFERENCE, the most thoroughly researched program and more brand speakers than any other event in Australia

Marketing is ultimately about connecting with a group of people and communicating a message to them. Simple in essence; enormously challenging in execution. The myriad of information, options and opportunities at hand mean that you can approach the connection/communication task from a variety of angles.
When we think about marketing, even digital marketing specifically, all marketers have the same tools available to them, websites, social media, email, mobile etc. In addition, the average consumer is subjected to hundreds of advertising messages a day in one form or another. So in this environment, how can a marketer make sure that their message rises above the clutter?
In the old days, advertising was driven by a traditional art director/copywriter team coming up with a “big idea”…the creative. Now, with a more complex list of potential channels, the focus has shifted to less emotive and more analytical considerations such as behavioural insights, channel insights, technology insights and experience insights that enable a brand to connect and engage with the audience… the strategy. But even this is not enough and can lead to widespread wastage if it is directed to the wrong people. The real key comes in how these factors work in combination with targeting the right message at the right person at the right time … in other words, the data.
The debate remains however, what is the most important component of the mix: Creative, strategy or data?
Drayton Bird from Ogilvy once said that the success of marketing activity is 60% targeting (data), 25% offer (strategy) and 15% execution (creative). Is this still true? Is this true in the context of every campaign? Who should be driving the solution given that these three elements are typically managed by three different people within an agency?
This year we have assembled a panel of people from different perspectives to hash out the real question of who or what should be driving the bus in our future marketing landscape. In this session, you can hear from:
Session Leader:
Tom Hutton, Managing Partner, Ideagarden

Panellists:
David Whittle, Managing Director, Mark
Jason Davey, Managing Director, Bullseye
Brent Annells, Head of Radar DDB, DDB

Jenny Williams spoke to Harry Lowes, Executive Manager – Digital Marketing, Commonwealth Bank about the campaigns that he’s admired most this year and why he thinks the financial services industry are often ‘first’ with digital media:

The financial services industry is known for testing new and innovative ideas and campaigns in the digital space. But what have they really achieved? Has there been long term effect, benefit, on the interactive media industry as a whole? And can they prove it??!

At ad:tech Harry and other marketing executives from financial services will be addressing just this and discussing more about the areas of risk, and how to manage them; and the areas of opportunity, and how to capitalise on them.

Read details of the panel discussion here. The other panellists with Harry are:

Michael Weeding, Head of Website & Online Acquisition, Citi
Monty Hamilton, Head of Online, UBank
Murray Howe, Executive Manager – Digital Marketing, Suncorp

Lots of organisations talk about delivering a “customer centric experience” but how can you do this if you don’t really know who your customer is? By this, I am not talking about broad demographic segmentation models but quite personalised, specific information on the individual customer.

Data is at the heart of delivering this kind of experience. If you know who they are, what they buy, what content they are interested in, what their preferences are and how often they want to interact to you, it is possible to tailor the experience they have with your brand to meet these needs, deliver offers that are most relevant and increase your chances of conversion.

But how achievable is this nirvana of a singular customer view? CRM companies have been promising this for years and businesses have invested millions of dollars and thousands of head hours attempting to achieve it. Still, few companies can, hand on heart say they have a holistic data solution in place as part of their digital strategy.

The challenges that most companies face in developing a single customer view seems to be driven by the volume of legacy data systems that need to be integrated and whether or not this integration needs to be in real time or not.

But having the systems that enable data to be consolidated in one place is only the first step in a holistic data strategy. No matter how much information you have on an individual is useless unless you have the business logic in place to connect the data elements together, understanding of relationships between these elements and determine outcomes in terms of the customer experience.

Because data is often collected from a wide range of areas within an organisation, including the digital and interactive mediums, and the return on the knowledge may be recognised in a different part of the organisation to where the data collection needs to take place, motivating people to maintain good data practices and managing the expectations of ROI can sometimes be difficult. If the call centre is measured by how many calls they can process and the CRM system slows them down, were is the incentive to use it properly?

Additionally, perhaps the most important thing that a data strategy has to include is the ability to learn and evolve. People change, trends evolve and consumer demand shifts. Analytics need to not only measure the effectiveness of communications, content or offers but also identify changes that are occurring and how an organisation might need to adapt and evolve to meet these shifts.

Data is the key to truly understanding your customers. It is easy to become overwhelmed with the data that is available and lazy about how you collect and look at it but the future of our industry will no doubt begin to rely more and more heavily on the insights it delivers to improve our businesses and the relationships we have with our customers.

There’ll be some good debate around this in the panel session at ad:tech: What Are The Possibilities That An Holistic Data Strategy Brings To Your Business? The panellists for that session are:

Kevin Mackin, General Manager, Coremetrics
Sean Smith, Head of Brand and Communications, HotelClub.com, Orbitz Worldwide
Leila Seith Hassan, Senior Marketing Analyst, Datalicious
Michael Kustreba, VP Australia and New Zealand, Epsilon International

They’ll be sharing their points of view. You can pose some questions or share your thoughts here.

The program for ad:tech Sydney is almost 100% complete and we’re working closely with the panellists to finalise content. I will be blogging about the topics again so that we can get a broader view of the key issues that you, the industry would like to discuss.  To kick off my blogging effort this year, I chose to focus on a subject close to my heart…digital strategy.

2 or 3 years ago, many digital agencies gave strategy away with a pitch in order to win the production business. Now, the field is varied.  Some companies still consider their web presence a channel and relegate it to a project manager to … well, manage.  At the other end of the spectrum however, we are seeing more and more companies pitching strategy out separately and involving many people in their organisation who previously had no insight into marketing activities or their rational.

The question for this panel is, does a company need an overarching digital strategy or is the strategy digital?  Here are a few things to consider:
• Digital is like a retail location.  Even if customers are not wanting to buy right now, if they’re looking at your web presence, they are an opportunity.
• Customers’ expectations are to be able to transact online but delivering this often requires new products and services to be developed.
• Digital initiatives often interface and depend on large scale CRM systems and data warehouses.  Responsibility for these areas crosses many different departments and might require complex political negotiations to get working together.
• When companies start investing big budgets, they also expect ROI. 

Since this is what I do for a living, I have to say that yes, companies do need a digital strategy, but how far should we go? 

Some initiatives in digital marketing are no more complex that promoting something or gathering email addresses … over thinking a simple campaign microsite makes what used to be a cheap and effective use of the internet, prohibitively expensive.  It is interesting to debate just how necessary a digital strategy is.

Strategy also implies something fixed.  However, the ‘always live’, instantaneous digital experience affects how strategies need to evolve, like a living, breathing thing based on feedback and results. How many companies budget for and organise themselves around this kind of effort and how many are still revamping their website every few years and then leaving it alone?

So what makes a good strategy today?  One that the board can understand and ‘buy in’ to, or one that constantly evolves?  Can these be the same thing?  My view is that it is more dependent on organisational culture and less on the PowerPoint but there are times when I have wondered. 

This panel should be really interesting (Tuesday 16th March, 9.45am, Track 3).  Anthony Goldman, Citrus; Ben Dux, theirspace digital; Yvette Mayer, SMV Group Australia; and Mac Walker, Hyro would love to hear what you guys think and any other burning questions you think are worth debate on this topic.
What is the role of a strategist today?
    * What’s the right skill set for a strategist today?
    * Does digital have a role in strategic planning in 2010?

This was raised by a few people along the way as an area that we should focus on. The idea here is that we have a mix of clients and agency who have recently gone through the process of developing a more strategic approach to their digital marketing efforts (rather than just banging out websites to support the TVC’s.)
What are the most important aspects to get the panel to discuss in relation to this though?

Here are some initial ideas:

• The approach that companies take (internal vs agency driven)
• The barriers that they must overcome (people, money, buy-in)
• Whether this should be centralised or spread across a whole organisation
• How ready are your average company to take on a full blown digital strategy?

Just some initial thoughts but keen to hear what challenges you think companies face in developing digital strategies and what info you think is most worth getting the panel to discuss.