On Great Interactive Work (Or The Lack Thereof)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Ben Malbon, at BBH-Labs, has written a great pair of posts (Part 1 and Part 2) hashing out the debate over the alleged lack of "great work in the interactive space." (Clearly we're talking about the interactive marketing space, not the interactive space in general. :-)
To the extent that this charge is true (and it's easy to believe when you see the blank stare you get when you ask anyone in the industry for an example), I would add this to the Ben's list of reasons: our goals are either poorly articulated or simply the wrong goals for digital communications.
Too often campaigns are guided by outdated metrics like impressions, clicks, and time on site.
The opportunities of interactive, however, have moved on. Digital experiences have become effective tools for listening to a group of people with shared desires, connecting with that group, and creating products and services that they want.
The goals should evolve from earning attention to cultivating meaningful relationships.
Great interactive work in 2009, doesn't look like it did 2, 3, 5 years ago. The success of the micro-site was easy to recognize and even easier to quantify, but micro-sites are only useful now to the extent that they connect visitors to the brand in other spaces across the web.
Great interactive work in 2009 will be measured in conversations generated and relationships fostered.
Here are a couple examples that have impressed me for their ability to spark dialogue and build relationships.
Dell: Social Media For Small Business Facebook Fan Page - a comprehensive how-to resource, with downloadable guides, instructional videos, and a vibrant discussion board. Since launch last October, it has brought together 33,469 people who are all interested in how social media tools can be used effectively for small business.
Zappos on Twitter - every day hundreds of Zappos employees are having unmediated conversations with thousands of returning and potential customers, cultivating loyalty and advocacy among those individuals, and creating awareness among each of their groups of followers. This is killer interactive, but it's not glossy, and it's not easy to identify; it's broken up into millions of conversations across thousands of micro-networks.
Writer Diablo Cody Live-Tweeting Episodes of The United States of Tara - each week this author spoke directly to her most interested fans on a back-channel of sorts. Now that the season is over, the question is what will Showtime do with the 853 super-fans that the account earned? How will they keep them engaged between now and Season 2, and mobilize them for the debut?
To the extent that this charge is true (and it's easy to believe when you see the blank stare you get when you ask anyone in the industry for an example), I would add this to the Ben's list of reasons: our goals are either poorly articulated or simply the wrong goals for digital communications.
Too often campaigns are guided by outdated metrics like impressions, clicks, and time on site.
The opportunities of interactive, however, have moved on. Digital experiences have become effective tools for listening to a group of people with shared desires, connecting with that group, and creating products and services that they want.
The goals should evolve from earning attention to cultivating meaningful relationships.
Great interactive work in 2009, doesn't look like it did 2, 3, 5 years ago. The success of the micro-site was easy to recognize and even easier to quantify, but micro-sites are only useful now to the extent that they connect visitors to the brand in other spaces across the web.
Great interactive work in 2009 will be measured in conversations generated and relationships fostered.
Here are a couple examples that have impressed me for their ability to spark dialogue and build relationships.
Dell: Social Media For Small Business Facebook Fan Page - a comprehensive how-to resource, with downloadable guides, instructional videos, and a vibrant discussion board. Since launch last October, it has brought together 33,469 people who are all interested in how social media tools can be used effectively for small business.
Zappos on Twitter - every day hundreds of Zappos employees are having unmediated conversations with thousands of returning and potential customers, cultivating loyalty and advocacy among those individuals, and creating awareness among each of their groups of followers. This is killer interactive, but it's not glossy, and it's not easy to identify; it's broken up into millions of conversations across thousands of micro-networks.
Writer Diablo Cody Live-Tweeting Episodes of The United States of Tara - each week this author spoke directly to her most interested fans on a back-channel of sorts. Now that the season is over, the question is what will Showtime do with the 853 super-fans that the account earned? How will they keep them engaged between now and Season 2, and mobilize them for the debut?
1 Comments:
Mike, thanks for the specific creative examples- always good to make it tangible.
I'll repeat some of my comment that I left on BBH's blog as well, for posterity and argument's sake. This mainly reinforces your post above, but would be interested to hear your thoughts.
While I think there has been great creative work in the interactive space, largely the examples people site are elegantly executed or concepted campaign microsites- a breed that while not dead, is certainly not the main piece of the puzzle anymore. More difficult to measure is the connective social fabric that is so crucial to great creative in digital.
In addition to all of the factors above (RISK being the most weighty, I believe, with very few clients willing to embrace great, but risky, ideas) is that the very power of great advertising work as we’ve known it to date is in SIMPLICITY. Single-minded ideas that resonate without a ton of bells and whistles.
The inherent challenge with interactive is to not be distracted by all the amazing executional possibilities that exist to the point where it no longer comes from a single fountainhead– a big idea that resonates. Granted, today that idea will subsequently be chopped up into a thousand pieces, edited, and re-mixed by consumers, but without a single-minded concept, we’ll never really stand a chance.
The great creative work I’m anxious to see in digital will start from a single insight and action statement, be informed by but not lured by the “shiny new objects” du jour, and most importantly, LEAVE ROOM FOR CONSUMERS to own the idea themselves. Giving the consumer credit and a leading role is crucial to this.
To use an analogy I’ve used of late quite often- for the music folks out there- think of it as syncopation. Only when you leave spaces in the rhythm is there a groove, and only then do the audience members move into it. And that’s called dance.
I’d like to see consumers dance.
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