Head in the sand

Too often companies are sacrificing their brand equity by putting their creative and media responsibilities in the hands of people that actually do not care.

The in house marketing team are ‘too busy’ about the real world because they are focusing on their insular world and rarely devising the strategy anyway so why would they care how it gets implemented.

So some companies outsource to agencies...

Most agencies operate on a retainer or a perecentage of transactional media, some are performance based (all should be performance based) and some even ask for a fee from the brands on top of the percentage kick backs the suppliers are offering.

Let’s face it, the suppliers write revenue and they don’t overly care about the agencies because they are not the brand, they only hold the responsibility for a period of time. These Account execs, managers, directors receive a nominal wage per year (few get commissions on top of that) and their time is broken up between the accounts they hold. They didn’t build the brand, the empire of which the hold the budgets for. They just spend it. Sound like a spoilt little rich kid doesn’t it?

So when the agency for company ‘x’ says that they are not interested what do you think they are really saying? When they don’t reply to emails, or even entertain a thought, how do you think the brand would feel? Isn’t this their job, to care about the brand?

But then again how often do you meet a discerning little rich kid?

The modern tour guide

Over the next 6 months we will see a very different media landscape. Over the next 3 years there will be a very different thought process being applied to all media action. Of course there will be the age old, archaic and traditional theories that will be strewn out against any brand not willing to think outside the square. What square?

I implore you to think about your objectives under a night light of seemingly endless possibilities.

e.g I am your new Tour Guide...

In 2010, I’ll be co-coordinating virtual tours via Skype on your mobile phones. I will be taking you on a journey through Google maps to the Seven Wonders of the World, all in 4 hours. I will be selling ''screen shots' as e-postcards in the Facebook marketplace.

You can book your tours by sending me an email or find me on foursquared.

Im happy to discuss, if you don’t scare me.

Both in business and personal life it can be difficult having efficient and productive conversations. Conversations that create action and update the current status quo (deliver desired results.)

Because of this (or in spite of this) most businesses and people operate within a comfort zone. They employ a way of thinking and actioning that is comfortable and ‘just’ works- The comfort formula. It happens across many industries and infiltrates into nearly all departments.

‘We already use a similar service at the moment’ upon further analyses, they do use a similar service that is more expensive and delivers minimal results and maximum comfort.

Making people aware that they could possibly be doing their jobs better, using better services or even better people can be a scary thing. It means they have to open their mind, challenge what they know, make a hard decision and be ready to be scared.

Planaholics and Goalism

Plans are important as they give us a certain discipline, a procedure and a line of attack. More often than not the plan becomes the goal- “everything went according to plan.” This is not the objective, nor the goal nor the outcome. You do not want a plan to be put together and the objective/goal been to fulfil that plan.

Plans take you in a direction, any direction. Some plans succeed, some fail. They also do not give the actual goal enough credit, as when plans are finalised they do not allow for much scope- scope can achieve a goal more efficiently.

The key here is the Goal, the objective, the pot of gold, the outcome and the re-evaluation stage. The time when the goal has been achieved and then we can sit down and re-evaluate if that goal has put us in the position that we intended to be in?

Then we start over.

Focus on the goal. What exactly is it that I want to happen? Increase sales by 12%, grow my data base by 12,000, save 15,000 dollars this year.

Put simply; Plan: To drink more water.

Goal: drink 6 glasses a day. (3 before 3pm and 3 after 3pm)

"your just two eyes in a box,

and a fairly small box at that!"

Are we all getting the point?

The papers print old news.

With the speed of modern media channels and the rate at which we are absorbing news, information, social interaction and entertainment increasing so dramatically It comes to no surprise that the traditional media channels, press/magazines/TV are now broadcasting (more than likely narrowcasting by now) old news.

This is not to say they can still have a play at the market for a decade or so longer, but as the younger generation, sitting around 8-15 y.o are inhabiting the world wide web so frequently it will nearly be impossible for the Traditionals to keep up.

Things progress and things digress. The web is progressing, the traditionals are in need of digression- traditional media need to take a path of interest, or specialty, they can no longer be the source of breaking news, the go-to platform for all things relevant, the current affair broadcaster-as the Web has this covered.

They need to digress, publish creative content. There are no surprises the most popular issues of the local rag are the ones containing memorabilia, or the ratings boom when a TV show pays tributes to a particular individual or event.

Most of us are getting our news, info and entertainment 2-5 times a day 5 days a week with 2 clicks- we are no longer waiting for the old news in the paper the next morning.