To subscribe or advertise in Business in Vancouver call 604-688-2398
|
To subscribe or advertise in Business in Vancouver call 604-688-2398 |
|
|
|
 |
|
LOG IN Subscribers can log in for enhanced content
The Vancouver Board of Trade Members' Business Directory BUSINESS NEWS BIV EVENTS OTHER EVENTS LEADS/RESOURCES OTHER PUBLICATIONS READER SERVICES ADVERTISE CAREERS ph: 604-688-2398 fx: 604-688-6058 |
BIV Magazines: Adpages 2008 Are social networks the Holy Grail for marketers? While many of today’s campaigns start on the Internet, you can over-estimate consumer buy-in By J.K. Malmgren What’s hot in marketing for 2008 looks, at first glance, a lot like what was hot in 2007. The environment, the Internet, the advent of social networks and mobile media and the opportunities they present are all still at the top of most marketers’ lists. But drill a little deeper and you’ll spot a definite shift, not only in the trends themselves but in the way they’re being addressed as part of the overall brand building process. It’s not surprising that the best place to find brand information is on the web, because the movement to new media is continuing at lightning pace. Where the trend a few years ago was to bolster traditional media with online presence – through a corporate web page or actual advertising strategies – the trend that has taken hold today is the reverse. Campaigns are beginning in the virtual world, with support campaigns coming soon afterward to print and television. “In the next year, it’s estimated that spending on interactive media will make up 33% of total marketing and advertising budgets – that’s up from 27% the year before,” said Ullrich Schade, president and creative director at NextPhase Strategy, a Vancouver branding and marketing company that puts its expertise to work for Labatt, Care Point Medical and GardenWorks, among others. “You may hear first about a company through public relations, then you’ll go to their website to find out their information – or story.” Big companies still spend plenty on Super Bowl ads and other national media campaigns, but they’re shifting dollars to emerging channels. And smaller organizations, with less money and sometimes necessarily more imagination, are hitting the Internet first. “I have a client who used to focus on print and trade shows to market his research data,” says Schade. “He switched to Google ads, he does no print advertising and very few trade shows. He’s busier than ever.” What has to be a holy grail for marketers is the social network stratosphere. All of these people, talking to one another, all the time – leaving messages, using audio, video, making groups – it’s a dream come true. But marketers are learning that it’s also a great place to run people off if you go about it the wrong way. “It’s the story, the meat in the sandwich, that keeps you interested. You need to put content first and foremost,” said Bruce Sinclair, creative director for Burnkit, a Vancouver based ‘ideas studio’ that applies its imagination for a varied client base that includes Kasian Architects, Nomis Snowboard Apparel and Future Shop. The next generation is hardwired into wireless media, and marketers are still high on finding a way to make the most of text messaging, e-mail or whatever other wireless avenue pops up on the screen. But Sinclair says that the medium isn’t really the question. “When you segment your creative for specific media, what you end up with is disjointed advertising – you have links, but no stories between the mediums,” he says. “Agencies are getting better at allowing their teams to work agnostically.” And in order to do that, some, like Burnkit, are developing a more integrated approach to the creative process, bringing the web folks, the video people, the digital producers, even the clients in at the start of the conversation, instead of when they’re ‘needed’ to translate the idea to a specific medium or approved a finished concept. It’s a growing trend, one that smaller agencies and creative houses can embrace. “The best way to push and create better work is to push and create better processes,” said Sinclair. “We’re kind of all or nothing – a lot of shops are talking about collaboration, but we live it.” The lines between media continue to blur as people talk on their watches, play games on their TVs and watch television on their cellphones. Green as a concept is no longer novel; if a product, an idea or a service doesn’t demonstrate sustainable practices it won’t survive. So the trend to integration at every level of branding and marketing is maybe the hottest of them all. • |
|
Comments about this site should be sent to: | |
