Editor’s note: Jeff Brooks, co-CEO of Euro RSCG New York, had an 11th hour change in his schedule, causing SHOOT to miss connections with him for an interview for our 50th Anniversary Issue. But rather than lose the chance to gain his feedback on an evolving marketplace and its impact on advertising agencies, SHOOT and its readership thankfully benefit from Brooks consenting to put pen to paper–figuratively speaking–to reflect on how Euro RSCG has adapted thus far and the challenges that lie ahead. Here are his observations:
At Euro RSCG New York, we are no longer thinking about traditional or digital marketing, but rather the idea of marketing in a digital age and what that means in terms of our agency’s evolution.
We are very good as an industry at marveling at consumer behavior change (and taking credit, when due, for affecting such change!). The technology advances of the past five to 10 years alone have so dramatically changed our culture and lifestyle that it will probably take at least another five to 10 years to understand the magnitude of that change. Add to that some people are forecasting more change in the next five years than the past 50, and you’ve got quite an exciting storm brewing.
One of the things that we as agencies have to get more focused on is how we–as organizations–need to change our behavior in order to keep on pace with, and even get ahead of, our consumers. It’s not enough to have digital capabilities, social media prowess, new content offerings, production innovations–or any combination of those practices–if the conditions aren’t present to make them sing. By “conditions,” I mean everything from the right culture, environment, talent, operational model, go-to-market strategy, etc.–all the big stuff. So that’s where we’re spending a lot of our time right now, invigorating our agency model and building towards the future.
One of the first important steps we took several years ago was fully integrating our digital division into the main agency and consolidating under one P&L [Profit & Loss]. This ensured that we would no longer have silos defined by discipline, and that financial motivation from such silos would not stand in the way of our clients’ best interests. Following that we co-located all of our digital talent with the rest of the agency so they are physically sitting and working together every day–to the point where in a given office of four people you could likely find a brand planner, a digital copywriter, a user experience designer and a broadcast producer. Then we started developing new processes of how we need to change the way we work, with all of these unique and different talents under one roof with one shared vision. This brought things like new ways of briefing in assignments, developing shared strategic tools that span different channels, making sure that technology evangelists are present in the creative development process, etc.
Recently, we’ve embarked on an exciting new training and development initiative, with the goal that in 12 to 18 months there will no longer be a need for anybody in our agency to carry the “digital” qualifier alongside their title. Sure, there will always be a need for specialists, but in large part as a culture we are migrating away from that. If digital is part of everything, why would agencies feel the need to single it out, right? One of our next big things to tackle is our production model and assess what we truly want to build in house vs. outsource. I think a lot of agencies get caught up in the ‘messy middle’ here and try to take on more than they are capable of servicing with excellence. And that’s just the beginning–there are also new products and services we are developing that one might not expect to come from their advertising agency.
Agencies that want to succeed in a digital age need to take the same passion they invest in marveling about consumer behavior change and hold a nice big mirror up to it! Speaking of behavior change, from my point of view there are three major trends taking shape which I think should inform how agencies evolve their thinking and actions. And in each case, these are very much the direct result of new consumer mind-sets and behaviors spurred by the digital age. (I could talk at length about each of these but will keep them succinct for now).
1) “Buying vs. Buying Into”
Historically the role of advertising has been to persuade people that your product or service was worthy of consideration or trial. That is of course still the case. But that’s only one part of the equation (and for our purposes, the “Buying” part). There’s another increasingly important part which I call “Buying Into.” And it is necessary in large part because today’s digital consumer is more informed than ever, and more concerned about what companies stand for, what the purpose is behind their profit, how they fabricate their product or service, how their employees rate their workplace, etc. They’ll be vocal about those companies they admire, as well as those they shun. So communications in the digital age increasingly need to factor this in.
From a practical standpoint for agencies, this could inform everything from developing communications that speak to a client’s mission or philosophy in addition to their goods and services, creating new CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] initiatives that illuminate those philosophies and commitments, and developing more useful tools and applications that seek to improve the everyday lives of their customers (a phrase our agency dubs ‘Advertility” as fans of wordplay). The point being, if consumers are increasingly judging companies based on their beliefs and actions, then it is incumbent upon us to deliver that proof in the form of brand actions, with the main goal not to sell, but rather to inform, inspire or improve some aspect of their experience.
2) The Collaboration Imperative
The idea of collaboration being critical to business success is nothing new. In fact, it is often cited by CEO’s of corporate America (along with Innovation) as the key driver of enterprise growth. With the rise of all forms of collaborative web-based platforms, cloud computing, crowd-sourcing, video and content sharing, etc., it is easy to understand why so many brands are trying to tap into this phenomenon. And we see evidence of their “open-sourced” efforts everywhere, including advertising, site experience, new product development, and even philanthropy.
So let’s apply that mirror to our own industry again. We are very good at evangelizing the consumer sharing behavior in the world of social media, yet we tend to often think we are immune to such principles ourselves. Let’s face it. For all of our industry’s many virtues, if we are being very honest, partnering is not at the top of the list. And that’s not unexpected. We like creative control. We make more money doing everything ourselves than we do from outsourcing to others. If clients hire us as their agencies of record, with that appointment comes a responsibility to deliver best-in-class services. But because the digital age has spawned so many specialists–so many experts in the fields of design, content development, social activation, technology production and analytics–we are left to answer a different question. How do we deliver best-in-class if we can’t credibly do it ourselves? Hence the new collaboration imperative. With the belief, of course, that transparency and trust are what clients most value in their agency relationships, and that a rising tide lifts all boats.
3) The Virtual Meets the Physical
Life before the web was simple. There was only offline. Then we watched as everything migrated online–email, chat, commerce, news consumption, video distribution, social networking, the list goes on. And, as a result, digital experiences evolved from highly functional and transactional, to more immersive, engaging and connected. It’s almost as if the offline and online worlds were in direct competition for share of the consumer’s time in each channel. I think we are at a really interesting inflection point now that the web has matured, and with the emergence of location-based technologies and services. It’s a moment in time that is forcing an important reappraisal of the role of digital to enhance the customer experience. And it all makes perfect sense, right?
Our industry rightly says that digital is not a discipline, it’s part of everything. Consumers no longer make a distinction between their online and offline worlds (if they ever did to begin with). I think we will see an emergence of marketers applying digital technologies to enhance physical experiences, and it excites me. In fact, I wonder if it’s any coincidence that the two big digital winners at Cannes this past summer (Nike’s “Chalkbot” and VW’s “The Fun Theory”) both tapped into this behavior! I’m particularly intrigued by this trend and its potential to make agencies and our clients think more broadly and generously about the single, beautifully cluttered, hyper connected world in which we live.
