SMART THINKING. WORTH THINKING ABOUT.
It is certainly true that marketing agencies and marketing services are fragmenting and that some clients are moving towards a more project-led stance.
The fragmentation is partly caused by massive amounts of new suppliers entering a crowded market with different ‘content’ offers that are their ‘specialist subjects’. Maybe Martin Sorrell’s new S4 Capital is a good example of ‘a new kind of agency or marketing services company’!
At LAW we are agile, responsive and cost-effective. We have clients that we produce social content for, or make films for, or create a one-off advertising campaign for. But at heart we believe in strategic thinking, integration and the power of the single message.
The so-called ‘new ways of working’ (single projects) are leaving some pretty interesting facts in their wake. According to research by Altimeter, only 10% of clients integrate their content into processes such as customer-relationship management, business intelligence, and inbound marketing platforms. So clients are in danger of ending up with several different approaches/campaigns instead of one that drives a single, simple, engaging and effective message that can make a real difference to their brand and ROI.
Having a single strategy in place that controls all content in a world where brands need to ‘nail their colours to the mast’ and say what they stand for is of central importance. And talking of nailing your colours to the mast, the Nike Colin Kaepernick work increased sales by 31% over the same period in the previous year.
Without proper strategy and integrated marketing, clients can potentially get lost in the confusion of a million different supplier voices, not to mention the time it takes to manage it all.
We still believe in communications integration and we still believe that, although the marketing landscape has become a more data, analytics and content-led place, we must be able to determine not only channels but strategy, too.
Meanwhile, the explosion in channels and platforms available for messaging increases and, cumulatively, is now outstripping traditional media spend for the first time in 2019 (UK).
But Marketing Week tells us that main media advertising was up by 5.6% last year, one of only three categories in the marketing mix to grow significantly.
Could that have anything to do with the fact that internet apps, search engines, smart phones, AI home gadgets and other online businesses are now amongst the biggest spenders on TV? Try watching an ad break without seeing a dating app, a betting app, an estate agent service or an ad for building your own web site.
In the UK, online businesses invested £639 million in TV during 2016, an 8% increase year on year*
In the same year, there were 837 new or returning online businesses advertising on TV.
In fact, TV viewing accounts for 71% of all video viewing for the average UK adult.
But whatever channels you choose to help build your brand – and they are ‘just’ channels – Smart Thinking and Integration can still provide you with the Silver Bullet for brand success.
LAW Creative is a Drum recommended Indie Agency with numerous and recent case histories illustrating successful marketing campaigns based on sound thinking, great creative and intelligent integration. For more information please contact brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk
*Thinkbox 2019NHBC