Is The Digital Agency Dead?

After taking part in several 2009 interactive planning sessions for various clients over the past few weeks a common question between the sessions was asked repeatedly. What are you going to do for us online? The question seems quite simple and benign on the surface, but it has almost infinite intangibles, influencers, dependencies and possibilities. And because of all those things that basic question becomes very difficult to answer and requires a very complex response. Clients are asking for their digital and online agencies to provide more than just a strategy for building a website. We have moved into a new era with the digital agency landscape and the agencies that prosper will need to respond with an evolved view of online marketing and how to integrate with other marketing mediums.

I generally break the evolution of interactive marketing strategy development into four eras;

1) The ‘hot sh*t’ era, other wise knows as the first bubble. This is when every .com start up was an IPO away from glorious riches. Accountability, for both budget and strategies, took a back seat to industry buzz and popularity. The money and BS flowed freely and everyone was trying to be the next one to cash in/out.

2) The ‘we are a serious business, seriously’ era. This is the void between the first bubble and then now ubiquitous Web 2.0 establishment where interactive agencies and ideas had to fight for credibility, and budget, to prove that online marketing was more than putting .com at the end of your name or asking for something ‘viral’ in the campaign.

3) The ‘seat at the table’ era. The bubble burst, we proved that interactive marketing could work, we had the metrics to prove it, and now we want to participate (even lead) the creation of marketing strategies and not just be the production shop building a cool website.

4) The ‘what are you going to do for me online’ era. This is the next big step for digital agencies. We’ve gotten our seat at the strategy table and now we are expected to do something that pure play digital agencies haven’t been equipped to do…think like traditional marketers.

This last era is where the simple questions start to get complicated.

Higher value clients with larger cross channel campaigns and complex business drivers are demanding a different kind of thinking from a digital agency. The go-to solution of ‘hey, lets do a website redesign’ has become antiquated and narrow…a site redesign is not an interactive strategy. Clients are asking for a true online marketing plan similar to what traditional agencies deliver for offline campaigns or brand development – a holistic solution that is more than the sum of its parts.

This is the real growth opportunity for digital, the opportunity to move upstream to the point where the overall marketing strategy is defined, it’s the ability to get ahead of the solution (and production request) and establish value as key business partner. The problem is that most digital agencies don’t have a process or resources to support that upstream mobility. Typically the digital shop has been a downstream vendor executing on an already formed marketing campaign and translating pieces of it into some sort of a web property/presence. And most digital shops have gotten very good at that role and can pull out their proprietary process, tools, strategies and technology for building you the best darn website you’ve ever seen. But what were once differentiators for digital shops have now been codified and are becoming more and more commoditized as generic production vendor services.

I have also seen the antithessis of this within the larger traditional or interactive creative agencies. They are being driven to provide more integrated solutions that go beyond the big idea which require them to own the entire interactive delivery model. Online development is very messy and requires a rigorous process that not as easy as just plugging in a production vendor and saying go. We’ve all see the traditional agency try to bolt on their ‘interactive services’ department and more often than not it is a failure. Why? Because interactive needs to be an integrated component of a strategy or campaign and not just a after thought tossed to a downstream vendor.

It will be this critical ability for agencies to demonstrate and excel at full cross-channel integration that will separate the new breed of agencies. Interactive is the future, I’ll argue that with anyone, and because of that I envision a couple of paths that digital shops can go down. The standard development/production orientated digital shops can bring in true marketing strategy services, the big idea, game changer creative types to elevate them to a lead spot at the table and drive a companies overall marketing strategy. Or these digital shops will get absorbed into larger more established creative shops to serve as integrated in-house strategy and production teams.

Either way the key is integration. To evolve pure play digital shops need to start thinking in terms of campaigns and not projects – i.e. if we are planning a Microsite for a product we can’t just focus on the creative concept and execution, but go to the clients with everything from how we drive traffic (PPC, banner, social) to what the conversions are on the site, to how we track and report to how we extend the conversations and bring them back. So it’s less about individual projects and shifts to blending communication messages across all available online media channels into a continuous brand experience. The next evolution once we move to campaign planning is to look at Integrated Marketing Campaigns were we blend all media channels, not just online. The easiest example of this is HP’s “The Computer is Personal Again” campaign. They utilized a wide range media with great consistency, and capitalized on each of the media’s individual strengths. Business Week has a great article on it here: “The goal: to do away with HP’s fragmented marketing strategy of the past and build a cohesive campaign that will work across many product lines, in all regions of the world, using print, online, and broadcast media.”

Evolve Media Launches The New & Improved Shimano Coasting Site

We’re pleased to announce the re-launch of the new Coasting site that features bikes that sport the new technology and where to buy them. This was a fun and collaborative project with the Shimano team and we’re proud of the outcome.

Shimano Coasting

Cycling is a great form of exercise, but many of us often get intimidated when it comes to rolling hills - especially when it comes to the ascension. Seasoned veterans will be able to use the gears to their advantage, but newbies will probably fumble trying to get the right mix and end up getting frustrated. Giant, Raleigh, Trek and others have all jumped on the Shimano “Coasting” bandwagon by installing chip-controlled gear shift systems on some of their bikes. This means you get the best ratio at all times without even lifting the finger as your legs continue to work.

Click here to check it out

Printing Parts of the Web

HP Browser Tool Saves Web Content In One Document

There’s no denying the Web’s value as a resource, but the temptation to quickly navigate from one site to the next makes it challenging to remember where the content was found.

A query on hotels in Italy might lead you to select a link about Florence, then two links about Michelangelo and four links to Italian Renaissance art. Suddenly, the home page for a carefully researched hotel is forgotten. It’s especially tough to backtrack through research using new sites with rich Web 2.0 features that display extra data directly within a Web page.

Some people try to organize Web research by opening Microsoft Word documents alongside their browsers. They copy and paste data from sites into the documents, but this is usually a messy process that traps users into wasting time fixing formats and deleting ads. Others press Print whenever a helpful site appears, resulting in wasted paper and ink. Savvier users create folders within their Web browsers that hold multiple URLs about a research topic, but these data can’t easily be shared or printed for use away from the PC.

pj-al002_mossbe_20070925204606.jpgThere’s a better way, and I took it for a spin. I tested the HP Smart Web Printing Software, a free program from Hewlett-Packard Co. that aims to help users compile a virtual clip book of content from Web sites while they’re browsing, within the same window. Using a tool in the browser, users highlight and copy images and text from a Web page and add them to the clip book. These clips can be edited, enhanced, saved as a PDF or printed out, without excess banner ads or sidebars.

HP Smart Web Printing Software isn’t without its quirks: It only works on Windows computers, not Macs, and only with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0. Not everything copies over to the clip book perfectly. Also, typed-in text has its limits: changing the font type, size or color of one word changes all words in the text box.

But all in all, I found this smart program to be a real boon. It’s unobtrusive enough to stay hidden until used, and you’ll remember how it works even if you only use the program once in a while. It functions as a printing assistant, helping to send certain sections of a Web site to the printer, and it will also save whatever you’re working on as a PDF — the universal format for sharing with others.

HP likes to tout its HP Smart Web Printing Software’s environmentally friendly qualities, namely its ability to print just what you want, without wasting ink or paper on extra pages that would otherwise print. But make no mistake about it: This product, while helping users not to print extra items from Web sites, still encourages users to print, thus helping HP sell more of its high-margin ink and paper.

I used the program to trim content from Web sites, printing more of what I wanted to read in fewer pages. I focused on this program’s clip-book functionality, which works as a bare-bones virtual scrapbook to organize research.

I downloaded and used the newest version of this free program on my machine running Windows Vista. I came across a few items that, when highlighted and moved over to the clip book, didn’t actually move, but most of the text and image clips moved without a problem.

A small HP Smart Select icon appears in the Internet Explorer command bar after this program is downloaded; selecting it toggles its highlighting capability on or off. By default, the clip book is hidden from view, but a quick change in settings opens this on the right edge of the Internet Explorer window.

The more I used this program, the more I wished it offered the ability to work with two clip books at once. For instance, if I was planning a trip and was researching hotels and tourist attractions at the same time, I could clip the hotel data into one book and store the touristy information in the other.

Maybe HP will release a version of this program for Mozilla’s Firefox browser, and god forbid they introduce a version that is compatible with Apple’s Safari browser.

The HP Smart Web Printing program is a useful free solution that organizes online research right in your browser. Its ability to modify and preview documents before printing is also a help.

Evolve Media to move to new office!

By the end of summer, our new office in Claremont, Ca will be ready to move in! It is a brand new office building and will double our current office space. We’re very excited about the move and have lots of plans for the new office layout. Surrounding us will be several restaurants, a day spa, a boutique hotel, a movie theater, many retail shops, a courtyard, and much more.

Our office is next to the historic Claremont Packing House (more history), a citrus distribution plant that has been renovated and now houses restaurants, a coffee shop, art galleries, a wine cellar, and many more small shops to keep you shopping for hours.

Click here to view pictures of our new office!

Our New Address
Evolve Media
175 N. Indian Hill Blvd Ste B 200-202
Claremont, CA 91711
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Google launches Pay Per Action (PPA) advertising

Today, Google launched their Pay-Per-Action service. Although PPA is not new, Google’s PPA version will probably make other lead generation networks (CJ, Clickbank, ShareASale, LinkShare, etc.) very nervous. Basically, with this beta launch, Google has officially entered the affiliate market.

http://services.google.com/payperaction

What does this mean to advertisers? It should decrease your costs and increase conversions. Why pay someone to send a visitor to your website (PPC) and hope they do something (buy a product, fill out a form, complete a poll, etc.), when you can pay them only for a completed action?

I would much rather pay an affiliate to send me a lead that is actually interested in what I offer than to pay that same affiliate for every click over to my website in hopes they’ll convert. This is why PPA works. I can offer a higher cost per action to affiliates, because I know that 1) I’ll only pay for a conversion that I set (form, sale, poll, etc.) and 2) I’ll get more affiliates wanting to promote my products or services because they’ll get paid more.

I’ve signed us up so hopefully we’ll get an invite soon.