we fear change November 16, 2011
Posted by nicholas gill in advertising, brand experience, digital, integration, marketing, social brand, social business, social media, technology, Technology Digital.add a comment
Change is the only constant factor in life and in the world of Technology; the businesses which realize this sooner, can only gain from it. Article by me in Technology Digital.
brands need to take the risk while embracing technology November 14, 2011
Posted by nicholas gill in advertising, analytics, brand experience, data, digital, integration, mobile, Technology Digital.add a comment
Article in Technology Digital by me on why brands need to blend with other channels of interaction to create a bigger impact among their audiences.
Image also from Technology Digital
connecting and kinecting October 20, 2011
Posted by nicholas gill in advertising, brand experience, integration, microsoft.add a comment
When CP+B picked up the Microsoft advertising account, we all wondered what would happen. The “I’m a PC” ads weren’t as bad as the original haters suggested. The product elements and the use of interesting characters started to change perceptions of Microsoft. I quite liked them but I didn’t identify with being a PC still. And then just as some momentum was happening, the Launch Party “thing” happened. Finding the video now, the comments have been disabled on the version I am linking to. Unsurprising given it was truly horrific. I also thought the “Windows 7 was my idea” campaign was an interesting concept but felt hollow in execution. There’s been some advertising for the Windows Phone but in a market that is dominated by Apple, HTC and Samsung in the kudos and media space, it’s not really stood out. And then there’s X-Box. The golden child. And it’s shinier child, Kinect. Which aped the successful Wii advertising but without a controller. X-Box is a great product and the Kinect addition has made it even better.
But it’s never been leveraged as part of a wider brand and product effort. The reason I, and countless others, buy into Apple is that their stuff together just works. iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iMac, AppleTV and so on. Seamless, easy, great. The best brand experience by far. You can even take this into the retail environment.
You don’t get the same feeling from Microsoft. It feels disparate and hard. My own experience of Apple’s “plug it in and it will work” is in stark contrast to “plug it in and load the accompanying CD, load up the drivers, reboot, etc.” of Microsoft. Now I know this perception is now several years old but it’s stuck. And that’s why we are an Apple household.
But this new ad challenges people like me. And it makes use of the integrated Microsoft brand experience which has never been done before. I like it. It shows Microsoft in a new, family setting than rather the individuals it has targeted before. It has humour. It’s not trying to copy Apple or Nintendo either. It also looks easy, creative and fun to have Microsoft products in your home. It’s a shame then that the good work of the commercial is let down by a bland website that does nothing to re-enforce the message of connectivity and togetherness by immediately splitting the products again. Perhaps CP+B can get their hands on the digital side of things too?
I don’t always need a TwitFace to get an emotional response February 10, 2011
Posted by nicholas gill in advertising, brand, Brand Bowl, brand experience, integration, social media, Super Bowl.1 comment so far
I don’t like American football, I don’t even know who won the SuperBowl this year. But I have seen some of the advertising. Because it is a cultural phenomenon that stretches beyond the 110 million fervent Americans watching in their dens and into a global audience.
I have also seen a lot of the post SuperBowl bitching that this year was supposed to be the SocialBowl. Because y’know social is the new world order innit? And Pepsi shipped their SuperBowl budget into the Refresh social cause project last year. And because Old Spice guy did some personalised video responses to Twitter people. Which was, of course, brilliant. So this year we should all be exploiting the FaceSpace in a go big kick ass way. Whoop!
But SuperBowl has 110 million fervent fans watching. Live. Which is a prime opportunity to build your brand and be entertaining in an entertainment medium in the ultimate (if you’re American) sports entertainment date.
Which is what telly does brilliantly.
But still we whine that they missed an opportunity to be social. We even helpfully provide “they could have done this”. Well, some did use social…
Audi – they used a hashtag. So you could “participate”.
VW – they used social media to seed the Vader/Passat ad before the event to raise awareness and ohmygod create BUZZ.
Chrysler – they just did an amazeballs brilliant ad that left you with goosebumps. Oh and most Americans know it’s Chrsyler.com which has the campaign front and centre. It also has a social hub. And it’s as prominent as on facebook.com/Chrysler.
So they did do social after all – they just didn’t shout about it. Because it’s so second nature that we’ll find it if we want more.
If advertising is designed to elicit an emotional response and plant that brand front and centre in your brain then some of the Superbowl ads did it in spades.
Some of them didn’t. But still we yakked about it afterwards.
If advertising is just meant to be a vehicle to send people to Facebook then a brand ad on SuperBowl Sunday won’t be the answer. Brand awareness and emotional response doesn’t always have to have a social element.
The ads above delivered emotional response in spades and also had a lot of talkability/buzz factor we crave in marketing.
That’s why we need integrated approaches. Different parts of the communications mix do different jobs. You don’t need to tick every single box every single campaign.
Why consumer behaviour is driving a change in thinking about integration – published in Figaro Digital September 24, 2010
Posted by nicholas gill in DCH, figaro, integration, social media.1 comment so far
I’m thrilled to be published in Figaro this month with the DCH current focus on the new integration. We’ve already had some great feedback direct from readers of the magazine and we’d love to know your thoughts. The online version is here and you can also read a longer version in our downloadable PDF.
the new integration August 10, 2010
Posted by nicholas gill in integration, social media, thought leadership.Tags: advertising, new integration, PDF
3 comments
Right now, there’s a lot of talk out there about integration being dead. Almost as much talk as there is about social media, the death of the ad agency – and the Old Spice viral.
But I think it’s all nonsense. Find out why and discover some simple truths by reading this ‘New Integration’ thought leadership piece. It’s the first in a probably highly irregular series of thought stuff from us at DCH.
Like or dislike?
we are people, not just consumers of social media July 6, 2010
Posted by nicholas gill in integration, social media.add a comment
Yes, there’s a lot of noise about social media and yes, it is very exciting and yes, the social specialists are forcing other agencies to up their game in the space. But it’s rare that a social media campaign works extraordinarily well in isolation.
Social media should only really become relevant if viewed as part of an integrated plan.
Integration is the way to achieve better results from your total marketing expenditure and efforts. Embed it with your brand, broadcast, direct response, interaction and operations objectives and you’ll get far better results and far better customer experiences than toiling in one silo channel.
Consumers don’t separate their consumption; why do we continue to separate our marketing responses?
stuff and things 22.10.07 October 22, 2007
Posted by nicholas gill in blog, brand, content, digital advertising, facebook, integration, my stuff, presentations, social networks, star wars, stats, though leadership, thoughts, user generated content, web 2.0, word of mouth.add a comment
Facebook brand tie-ins that are bad get a lot of press. But here are two good examples. Herbal Essences which I found via Advergirl & O2 win a MASSIVE university big party thing. Leigh sums up why they both work very eloquently even though her comments are attributed to the shampoo stuff:
Set up as a group, not a personal account. You’re not a person, why pretend to be one?
Creative focuses on the ‘passion’ elements of the brand
Targeted approach to deliver visit > engage > share behavior (stuff to do when you’re there + a reason to come back)
And, the team invested in solid seeding behavior
Download a Forrester study of business decision makers use of social media in B2B world from the American Business Media.
Kids bored this half-term? Get them to draw Yoda (source: showmescifi)
There are now more than 1 million UK members of Linked In. And I can download a badge to add to my profile as I joined before it hit this landmark. So I did. But I’m not so sure why. A million is hardly exclusive. Does it help in anyway? Will it improve my life?
I walked back to Waterloo after a meeting in London Bridge on Friday. It was mighty cold. But took these two shots of London Bridge itself & the big spider thing outside the Tate. Thought you might like them.
google mother August 31, 2007
Posted by nicholas gill in account planning, advertising, blog, integration, presentations, stats, strategy, thoughts, website.add a comment
Mums. Bless them. We love them. And they love the web. Can’t get enough. And you thought it was all the young dudes who made the news. New research from eMarketer tells us 89% use it twice a day. Wow. Search is by far the biggest weapon of choice (Google being the goddess of choice in mother search world) with a HUGE 86% of respondents using search as their most efficient way of searching for info. The interwoven nature of offline and online is demonstrated by nearly two thirds using search to find more info after seeing an ad.
But although usage is high, their behaviour fits into their hectic worlds. We like to call this “snacking”, an apt description when nearly two thirds of visit duration are less than 30 mins. In an out. Onto the next thing.
Here’s a video I pulled together for a pitch last year trying to depict this in more visual impact terms than the graphs here which are from eMarketer in July & August 2007. What do you think (apart from the reduction in quality to make it web usable rather than you having to go to lunch during download time)?
Iconoculture tell us some more mum/mom stuff in the form of a new magazine called Hybrid Mom for multi-tasking (is there any other type?) mums/moms who are, as they describe:
Hybrid Mom (hy brid mom, n.): An adult female who has discarded outdated and unrealistic conceptions of motherhood. She is parent, wife, volunteer, and sometimes entrepreneur, all in one. Known for her strength, sense of humor, and flexibility, a hybrid mom is actually a fusion of roles that suit her own individuality.
I’m not particularly target audience but content wise it’s a little light to say the least (on the site), an example of which is the sparsely populated blog: three entries since December which makes you think that someone thought “hey, we need a blog cos like everyone does” and then failed at seeing it through. Hopefully the magazine has more exciting content – about half of mums/moms spend about an hour a day with the mags so maybe it has a better role there?
