Mike Mathieson, chief executive of Cake, which began life focused on the PR side of marketing, Tove Okunniwa, managing partner of MEC Access, formerly MEC Sponsorship and Anna Watkins, director of branded content firm Hubbub presented to a room full of delegates, all armed with IML interactive handsets and ready to text opinions and questions provoked by what they were about to hear. After the three presentations, the questions and comments were organised during a short break in proceedings. When delegates had returned to their seats the texts formed the basis for the discussion. Here are some of the highlights from each speaker followed by soundbites from the debate.
Cake, chief executive Mike Mathieson
“I view this industry in terms of its seat at the table of an early 20th Century dinner party. The client sits at the head of the table and on each side are his advertising agency and his media agency. Then down the table sits the other marketing services agencies including experiential. After dinner, the client turns to the media and advertising agency and says: “Shall we go for port and cigars in the other room and leave the girls to chat?” My mission has always been to manoeuvre myself up that table. Through the demise of advertising agency control, those dinner seats are all now up for grabs. The old model of the live events industry saw silos around the discipline, each with their defined role to play. With the onset of experiential, disciplines such as field marketing and roadshow marketing can propel themselves into this new world. The danger is that the term experiential becomes meaningless. So I’ve decided to set the rules of what is experiential. First, it has to be creative and not just follow the advertising campaign. It then has to be attractive and create real brand conversation. Third, it should be immersive as consumers are becoming harder to reach so immersing them in the brand and its values is key. It should also be content rich and finally be accompanied by both amplification and measurement. Not everyone may go but everyone should know about a good piece of activity. When we nail down the justification of experiential marketing, only then will we move up the table.”
MEC Access, managing partner, Tove Okunniwa
“Our sponsorship offer is split between consultancy and strategy. Where it overlaps with experiential is in the implementation and leverage. There is a need for a deeper engagement with client campaigns and it’s the good innovative ideas that are driving the content. Sponsorship is no longer about properties charging for logo stamping. Now it’s all about activation and making the investment work harder by leveraging greater value from that sponsorship. Activation is being taken to a new level as the technology improves and marketers are tapping into the passion of the audience but the sponsorship arena has the same problems as the experiential sector – we need to crack the measurement and evaluation. We are part of a media agency and yet we can’t stack up sponsorship ROI with media ROI. Maybe both experiential and sponsorship could work together on this.”
Hubbub, managing director Anna Watkins
The future of branded conversations is to create enough noise and at Hubbub we mix live with other forms of branded content. Interruptive marketing is about delivering unwanted messages that often get ignored by media savvy consumers. Branded content is about drawing the consumer in and giving them an offer that they actively chose to engage with. This may be in the form of an event but it’s also digital content, mobile content and brand content. The average consumer is now bombarded by more than 4,000 messages a day. We have a bored, bamboozled consumer who is getting busier and needs to be engaged with more exciting offers. It is an exciting time for us all but the marketing roles are no longer defined so who will gain the ear of the client?
My four territories where whoever raises their game will prosper are: Insight – anyone can come up with a plan but not everyone can do the strategic long-term marketing objectives. The integrated planning has been wrestled away from the ad agency and now needs to come from us. Ideas – creativity and innovation will win through. The ideas need to reflect the integrated nature of the landscape. Integration – If you only specialise in one area, it needs to have amplification. Only then can you justify the investment and explode the idea across other channels. Accountability – We need to collaborate together to find a series of accepted measurement models. There are analysts such as Hall and Partners that have produced a branded content evaluation model and we need to use models such as this to justify brand investment.
Discussion Soundbites
Julian Mack, Sony Ericsson: “Experiential is a horrible word. Most people can’t even pronounce it. I challenge the industry to come up with a new piece of terminology.”
Hugh Robertson, RPM: “The term experiential has become a bit of a dumping ground and lacks clarity. I think clients are savvy enough to understand what each of us do without the need for one term.”
Simon Lethbridge, Jack Morton Worldwide: “It is necessary to have a big word to describe what we do, especially when competing against advertising terminology. Experiential is a big word.”
Tim Bourne, Exposure: “The client should be looking at creating networks of agencies that specialise in brand engagement across all forms. As agencies we are converging so how will we collaborate to all our advantage?”
Anna Watkins, Hubbub: “Recent work for P&G was won pitching against the media agency, the PR agency and the advertising agency. Briefs are being handed out to a wider remit of agencies and we are competing against each other.”
Ian Irving, Sledge: “It is criminal that a brand’s activation investment is not the same as the initial sponsorship outlay.”
David Hornby, Visit London: “When it comes to measurement you have to have the feel good factor and the accountability together.”
Anna Watkins, Hubbub: “If you want to be at the top table you have to evaluate and stop being seen as the fluffy side of marketing.”
Ian Irving, Sledge: “How can you make an experience better year on year unless you discover the consumer’s thoughts and are able to prove the value of our marketing force?”
Julian Mack, Sony Ericsson: “If you don’t measure you will miss consumer insights and current consumer thinking.”
David Boreham, D3: “For agencies looking to offer a fully internal solution, do you think they are turning a full circle and becoming what they once rejected, a full-service agency? Collaboration with specialists is the way forward.”
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