Google firestarters 8 - agency innovation
-
Upload
graeme-wood -
Category
Business
-
view
4.349 -
download
2
description
Transcript of Google firestarters 8 - agency innovation
My contribution to the Agency Innovation Debate at Google Firestarters 8, including some notes and voiceover
mapping media innovation
Unlike some of today’s speakers, I’m not responsible for changing the agency model or process. I’m a planner, so I wanted to think about how a planner’s role as the person
responsible for keeping abreast of culture, technology and change can apply inspire practical innovation in what an
agency makes. My job involves a lot of making media, and I wondered how the process of making things overlaps with the challenges we’ve heard about for innovation folk in agencies
hypothesisthe role of innovation in
agencies is to keep up with research and technology going
on outside them
Translating learning from outside our industry to make it useful inside.
But not just useful, also to make it commercially valuable.
This means two things: externally, it means pretending to be the smartest person in the room so that clients pay for your time, and internally, it’s trying to
bring people along with you so that your insight changes something
innovation in agencies
So the role of innovation in agencies is contradictory. It means using lots of conceptual thinking from other categories, and simplifying it so that it can be
used by people who don’t have the time to read itThis is natural ground for media agencies, where innovation is powered by
tech and media companies rather than by their own process
innovation in media
FEW MANY
Media has changed a bit. You might of noticed……
And rather than focusing on all the ever increasing pace of change, I wanted to think a
little bit about what the nature of media teaches us about navigating change, and how to bring
people along on a journey
what are media?
”Media: Oil on Canvas"
The nature of media?Not the stuff we obsess over,
but what does it mean to intermediate something? Look at the wall of an art
gallery. There’s a little sign telling you that the media used are oil and canvas.
And by looking at what is left when you remove the oil and
the canvas, you can see what they were intermediating
In this case, nothing physicalThey are intermediating a person's view of the world
and place in a culture
but why stop there…….
media: Faraday’s knowledge on metal
So how does this help us?
Michael Faraday discovered link between electricity and
magnetismHis discovery was of little practical
use at the time, as it was just a theory
He gave it practical application by building the first electric motor
He intermediated his knowledgeThis gave people access to his
work, without having to understand his theory
The electric motor is a medium for his knowledge
intermediating our knowledge
navigating through research and technology requires a map
So as the people whose job it is to keep up with changing technologies and theories, how can we do what Faraday did, and intermediate our knowledge, so that people can access it
whether or not they understand it? How can we navigate through cultural and technological change to bring clients solutions rather than theories?
I’ve been trying to intermediate the knowledge that I think best helps us set direction for brands
We’re in the business of changing behaviour. Too often, ‘innovation’ focuses on the ‘opportunity’ side of the equation. Opportunity moves at the speed of technology.
Human motivation is unchanged since evolutionary times. So intermediating motivational insight from other places will likely have more long term value
we’re in the business of changing behaviour
behaviour = motivation x opportunity
Moore’s LawDarwin’s Law
making a map to innovate by
So in this case, the knowledge we are intermediating is that of Mark Earls and Daniel Kahnemann, on human decision making. Some of the most insightful
stuff you’ll find on motivation, but also counter intuitive to many marketers, and to the way our industry works
media latitude & longitude
System 1
(subconscious)
System 2
(conscious)
Individual Learning
Social Learning
So first, we need to grossly over-simplify some serious researchAnd since those books are about copying and remixing, with apologies to Mark I’ve
not just socially learnt his quadrants but I’ve also remixed them
how networks of people make decisions
Is IsDoes Does
Human(adult)
Behavioural Economics
Neo-Classical
Economics
Human (Infant)
People I knowPeople like me
Individual choice
architectureAIDA Marketing
People I want to be like
System 1
(subconscious)
System 2
(conscious)
Individual Learning
Social Learning
Which gives some simple guiding principles about how people make decisions
Highly visible social cues
So no need for rational thought
Highly visible social cues
So no need for rational thought
Category purchases define how an
individual portrays themselves to the
world – their personal brand
Category purchases define how an
individual portrays themselves to the
world – their personal brand
No social cuesBegrudging rational
thought
No social cuesBegrudging rational
thought
Few social cues, so advertising offers a substitute for actual
popularity
Few social cues, so advertising offers a substitute for actual
popularity
how people make category decisions
System 1 System 2
Individual Learning
Social Learning
And then we can start to build in the potential for commercial value, in thinking about the norms for brands within those sectors
CoffeeCoffee
NewspaperNewspaper
MusicMusic
FashionFashion
Shoes Shoes
CosmeticsCosmetics
FlightsFlights
HolidayHoliday
MobileMobile
PCPC
JewelryJewelry
CarCarHouseHouse
InsuranceInsurance
MortgageMortgage
Bank AcctBank Acct
SoftwareSoftware
DeodorantDeodorant
MilkMilk
CerealCereal
DetergentDetergent
SupermarketSupermarket
BeerBeerWineWine
mixed media: Kahnemann & Earls on data & agency process
SpiritsSpirits
CharitiesCharities
And by intermediating some data too, we can map categories and brands onto the grid.
Which, going back to Faraday, is Mixed Media: Serious Research on category data and agency process
navigating by the map to make media for brands
Media CreationMedia
Distribution
Media Optimisation
Media Partnership
The brand is a part of the cultural category it operates in, so product
news is inherently spreadable. Peers are the key source of inspiration
High value purchases that define how a user portrays herself to the world. Media
dramatises the brand lifestyle, and product fans are a media channel.
Low frequency purchase, but in market for short time: hence begrudging rational thought. Low product differentiation. Experts are a key source of influence, therefore are the media
that should be optimised.
High frequency, low value, habitual purchases. Few category cues to copy, so advertising is a proxy for actual popularity. Low product interest/high category interest
means media should be made in partnership with the things people do care about.
Which leaves some directions for brand behaviour – where you are, where you want to get to, who can help, and in this example, for when we want to use the media we have
made to help guide what media we should make for our clientsBut more importantly, which can be used by people whether or not they’ve read the
books they are intermediating.
Thanks
@graemewoodwww.planningfornetworks.com