Cheeseburgers are pretty damn awesome. Picture courtesy of roboppy via Flickr.
I started writing this post 6 weeks or so ago when the IAB joyfully announced than internet adspend had overtaken TV adspend for the first time in history, and am only happy with it now. So much for the immediacy of the interwebs.
Anyway, now that the self-appointed and anointed digerati have had their parties and patted themselves on the back, maybe we can come crashing back down to reality.
And the reality is the majority of this adspend online is on search, which leads to another interesting point - people who work in the digital space have been crowing for some time how online isn't just 1 channel (it's a brazillion), yet when it suits them in the epic battle against the evil forces of above-the-line they fly the 1 channel banner while sticking their tongues out with all the grace of the 4 year old version of the guy typing these words throwing a tantrum in aisle 7 of a Toys-R-Us when he didn't get a He-Man sword.
This announcement, and the subsequent fanfare from parts of the advertising fraternity, seemed to be completely missing the point: The way we look at media and channels is totally broke.
If I went solely by my experiences with media agencies (particularly those who talk about people first and better results ), I'd be able to confidently say that they're primarily staffed by robots for whom analytical thought is impossible.
I don't say that lightly. I'm sure you'll all agree that seeing media 'plan' (in the loosest sense of the word) after media plan wheeled out with the same channels, the same 'strategy' and the same sense of enthusiasm gradually wears any benefit of the doubt down to finely ground dust. As an example, the aforementioned media agency this year has, for 5 different clients shown me the exact same media plan. For toothpaste, car insurance, shower gel, the same. Great planning.
Of course, I know that not all media agencies are the same. But I think the way we look at media doesn't reflect the way the people we try to connect with do. And that's the biggest indictment of the model that I can think of. I could add how every media plan I've seen basically is about buying the lowest cost media with the highest margin for the purchasing company, but I won't.
How do regular people divvy up media? Does the man on the street think "I need to check the Premier League scores, let me interact with the mobile channel" as he walks down the street? Does he find himself in front of a store window with the TVs showing Sky Sports and think "Oh, let me now direct my attention to the television medium"? Of course not. He, like pretty much every other person just wants to be able to get to whatever content he wants quickly, and preferably without being interrupted by banal mutterings about products he may or may not need.
Which leads to what I call my Cheeseburger theory of media (patent pending of course). When you sit down to eat a cheeseburger, everything that makes that burger (the bread, the cheese, the lettuce, the condiments, the meat and so on) is crucial in making the experience of eating that cheeseburger awesome. If the cheese is off, you could peel it off and throw it out, but then it's not a cheeseburger. If the condiments aren't to your taste, then you lose flava. And so on...
Rather than looking at media channels in isolation, we should consider what the cheeseburger for each brand should 'taste' like. And I believe that means ditching the way we consider channels and media for something that fits better.
For example, I might watch Heroes on TV, on NBC.com, on my iPhone or on another streaming service like Hulu. It's still Heroes for me and it's in video. No matter where or when I watch it, it's video. I might listen to Radio 4 in the car, on an iPod Nano (or similar portable player) or as a podcast on my laptop, or on my phone. It's still whatever program I was listening to (let's call it File on 4, cause that's awesome). It's audio, whichever way you slice it. See where I'm going with this?
I think it's time we slice our channels the way we take them in, it makes life a LOT easier.
So we have:
- Video
- Pictures
- Sound
Simples right? I thought so too initially but then Eaon raised a valuable point about where we digest media - that and Charlie's "Context is King" thinking got me thinking again. We've got the what we process, but what about where?
When it comes to where content/media is digested (I refuse to use the word consumed in this post) there is a company's website, perhaps they have in-house media like a magazine, their social media presences and other media they own. So that's owned media.
Then there's the media that's purchased, be it time on TV, the radio, or real estate online and so on. Paid media then.
Finally, there's the form of media that makes marketing managers and communication folk the most nervous, but the type that people trust the most, other people. What people are saying about your product in reviews, on their own blogs, on YouTube, in forums and the litany of other personal places where people can express their feelings about a product, company or service. This is earned media.
When I think of media, those 3 slices are the way I cut the pie up:
- Paid
- Owned
- Earned
So to make that a little bit easier for me to understand, I've very quickly mucked around and put all that into a picture
(At this point, I totally realize I've talked about Cheeseburgers and then come up with a weird picture that's definitely NOT a cheeseburger. I'm going to say that I'm under duress and leave it at that)
People who work in communications love to play lip service to 'integration' and the like, but in reality they're too busy trying to hoard their slice of the 'channel pie' to give a damn about how their idea fits with anyone else's.
I can name employees of 5 so called creative agencies in London who in the past 12 months have looked at an idea from another agency (be it a PR, ambient, interactive or in-store concept) and said something like "That won't work with the TV". I'm considering naming and shaming, but hope that at some point, these organizations and employees cotton on that if they truly give a damn about their clients' businesses (rather than giving a damn about the fact that their invoices are paid up), they'll change the way they approach 'integration'. And maybe, they'll start taking the cheeseburger approach. Stranger things have happened, barely.
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