BrandPalace

Hebben adverteerders nog bureau's nodig ?

In de online editie van Advertising Age staat er vandaag weer een artikeltje dat de toenadering tussen mediabedrijven en adverteerders mooi illustreert. Unilever werkte voor een nieuwe range haarproducten van Axe nauw samen met Viacom (de eigenaar van o.a. MTV). BBH stond wat aan zijlijn, maar mocht er toch nog een spotje over maken.

"MTV Networks crafted all of the promotional pieces, another sign that media outlets are working more closely with their clients on tasks that normally an ad agency might handle. While Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Axe's agency, worked on the traditional 30-second spots that accompany the effort, MTV Networks created the new-fangled promotions. ...
As the tough economy continues, media outlets may see opportunity to get additional ad revenue and secure relationships with advertisers by helping them craft promotions."

In hetzelfde bericht wordt verwezen naar de rechtstreekse samenwerking tussen Pepsi en NBC's Saturday Night Life. Ook nu is er blijkbaar sprake van een win-win-situatie, zowel voor het mediabedrijf als voor de adverteerder :

" "We definitely feel like it's not a one-off," said Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman Nicole Bradley, who suggested Pepsi would be interested in working with both "Saturday Night Live" and other TV programs in the future. "It's a very determined step to connect with consumers in a new, contemporary way." ...
Hit hard by the sagging economy and mindful of the need to keep ad-zapping couch potatoes watching during ad breaks, TV executives are now open to ideas about mixing ads and programs they would likely have spurned just five years ago. Programmers are stepping up as marketers show more interest in crafting promotions tied directly to the content in which they appear. That gives a media outlet running the show more power -- no matter how many years an agency and a client have spent joined at the hip"

Bij Unilever mocht BBH nog wat meespelen, bij Pepsi was TBWA/Chiat Day blijkbaar gewoonweg niét betrokken.

In het BrandPalace programma zullen een aantal sprekers in de buurt van dit onderwerp komen. De deelnemers van het cursusprogramma zullen bijgevolg met elkaar - en de docenten - kunnen debateren over het onderwerp. Maar u kan alvast de messen wetten door nu, op de blog, te reageren.

- Gaan de media hier hun boekje te buiten ? Of is het net een goeie zaak ?
- Hoe moeten (of kunnen) de reclamebureau's hier op reageren ?
- Wat zijn de voor- en nadelen van zo'n intieme samenwerking tussen media en merken ?
- Wat kunnen de bureau's, dat de media niet kunnen overnemen ? Wat kunnen de media, dat de bureau's hun merken niet kunnen aanbieden ?

Laat u gaan ! ...

(ps. Tip : Deze blog is nog maar net gestart en dus nog niet genoeg bekend. We werken er wel aan, maar u kan meehelpen. Stuur de link naar dit bericht (http://tinyurl.com/cdcv5j) door naar anderen, zodat ze mee kunnen discussiëren over dit onderwerp !)

How to become a better partner for your client

In order to prepare the BrandPalace course, we conducted a series of expert interviews with some of Belgium’s most important advertisers. We wanted to know what these Marketing or Communications Managers saw as the biggest contribution a course could bring to a better collaboration between advertisers and their agencies.

These were the main recommendations :

1. It’s all about building value
-    Be a partner in building value – not only for the consumer, but also for the company (and it’s shareholders …) Brands are one of the company's main levers to build value.
-    Know the place of advertising in a broader business context.  Advertising can only be successful if it’s in sync with the whole business process.

2. Hard Facts
-    Be more open to the hard data that underlie a communications strategy
-    Better understand the facts and figures behind a briefing
-    Be more involved in defining the critical success factors of a campaign
-    Be more accountable.

3. Reality Check
-    Be sure to really know and understand the target audience,
-    Don’t get lost in your own small and privileged microcosm
-    Real interest for real people, the real world and real shopping behaviour
-    Pay more attention to the actual feasibility and the practical consequences of your proposals
-    Better understand the business processes within the clients’ organisation, such as logistics, production-, channel - and pipeline management.

4. Partnership
-    Be a partner in the briefing process : a brief takes a lot of hard work, to be done together by advertiser and agency.
-    Be a partner to all the stakeholders of your client’s organisation.
-    Be open to take your part of the brand-guardianship, by managing the knowledge acquired by each campaign.

With these recommendations in mind, we invited the speakers who can help us to become a better (sparring) partner in the branding and marketing processes.
But maybe, as a reader, you have additional recommendations or suggestions. Please feel free to post them !