Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works

A generation
has to die
Thursday, April 15, 2010

This presentation has ﬁve parts to it, all with the hope of sharing some lessons about how an agency can start to
migrate from being traditional to digital. But it makes sense to start with why so many of us are where we are.


For me it begins here. In the 60s, the golden age of television and media. Look what
happened.


The Ed Sullivan show brings the Beatles to america


Life Magazine tells us about the civil rights movement


Walter Cronkite brings the VN war into our living rooms every night of the week.


Nasa takes pix of the ﬁrst man on the moon.


And Madison Avenue gets us to pay attention to its ads.

Manufacturer Consumer
Publisher Reader
Broadcaster Viewer
Advertiser Audience
Programmer User


It was the decade that gave us two classes. Those who created the content and messages
and those who received it. What’s happened in recent years is that social media and digital
technology have changed the right hand side of this equation far more rapidly than the left
hand side has gone along. That in a nutshell is what we are all struggling with, what we have
inherited. Unless you are starting from scratch. Youtube. A digital agency. A new social
platform. You are stuck with the legacy systems, to some degree, of what’s on the left. It’s a
mindset, embedded deep in your muscle memory. I don’t care if you are an agency, a client,
even an educational institution, this is how many still think. As if there are two classes. This
is Rupert Murdoch believing people will still pay for newspaper content. Ad agencies thinking
you can still market with interruptive messages.


Many media companies still operate as if this is the way things work. I remember this. I used
to listen to albums in the order the artist intended. Who was I to change that order. I was a
listener. The band were the creators.


Not anymore. Now I, we, they create, thanks to all things digital. Open source, APIs,
miniaturization, whatever.


And it’s everywhere, perhaps mostly with the digital natives, but also with the digital
immigrants.


Know one sits back anymore and receives. Not only that, the tools of the marketer and
creator are available to anyone.


Like Kogi BBQ, which launched a brand with a Twitter handle


Or consider Gary Vaynerchuk. A folding table, a video camera and a belief in the
democratization of wine. He builds his own audience on YouTube and along with it an $80
million dollar business.


So, no arguments that the right side of the equation has changed. But here’s some evidence
that the left side had better. You know much of this, but it’s worth dramatizing.


The ad agency that used to be known for fast food marketing went out of business.


As did this great
magazine


As did 105 city newspapers in 2009.


Ken Auletta, Clay Shirky, Jaron Lanier, Chris Anderson. Learn from their messages.

Digital isn’t
about
technology

Part 2. It’s all about digital, but it’s not about technology.


It’s about the people who use it. I’ve noticed eight key trends.


Consumers want to create and with the platforms and tools, they can


Our relationships with media are complex. Even if we’re watching we’re not really watching.


We have new sources of content. Most brands haven’t even caught on.


We want to do business with people not companies and we expect new kinds of connections
as a results


We have more control than ever and we’re not afraid to use it


More importantly you have less of it.


There is no such thing as perfect. We are all individuals.


Fast, portable, accessible. That’s the new deﬁnition of quality.


Attention is the new scarcity

If you canʼt be a
digital native,
be a digital
immigrant


Everyone has to evolve. It’s about what comes next.

A generation Conceive ideas that generate content

has to die

So, that paints a picture of what we’re dealing with. So what does it mean we have to do.


get other people to tell stories for you


invite them to co-create those stories with you


allow them to actually become part of the story

Create experiences that earn attention
by inviting participation


Invite participation


Have an idea ﬁrst, then advertise it.


Earn attention: create experiences that the user gets involved with, learning, exploring,
feeling


Learn to crowdsource;

Be media speciﬁc with your content



You don’t do the same thing on Facebook as you do in advertising


Perfect example from Este Lauder: turn customer into a medium


Stay on your feet: It’s an advertising idea


But also an app, utility and service to Timberland’s community


With this job ﬁnding WAP


...a platform that helps workers ﬁnd jobs.

Master conversation strategy


March 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31


I’ve written and spoken about this, but in social media, you can’t simply sell, you have to share,
engage, create little gifts of content and then sell.


try things, there is so much there to play with

Embrace agility, constant presence,
frequent experimentation



Build things, play with platforms, use the APIS


Foursquare, Plancast, Sticky bits are all worth exploring and leveraging

Expect some
pain


re-think your strategy: about consumer relationship to content and media


make your briefs active, not passive


re-organize how you work


move from multi disciplinary to interdisciplinary

Check list manifesto


Make sure everyone in the room knows each other. Avoid mistakes like this one.

copywriter

art director

web designer

IA/UX

programmer

video producer

content strategist

connection planner

PR/social media

media

analytics


Lots of disciplines

copywriter

art director

web designer

IA/UX

programmer

video producer

content strategist

connection planner

PR/social media

media

analytics


You need to be a T person

TV > WEB > MEDIA > PR


The old sequence. WTF?

PR > MEDIA > WEB > TV


Be more iterative


become a learning organization

audience community
message experience
target engage
media plan interest plan
penetrate collaborate


Re-think how you think

Smart
people can
be really
stupid

sell scope staff deliver reward


Sharing some mistakes

how we sold  encouraging offline ae’s to think and how we delivered  collapsed all project
sell digital with no training or supervision  management into one group, allowing key online
neglected to put digital-savvy person in new pm to leave  assumed a “brand” creative brief
business role  arrogant enough to think we knew was enough despite lack of details to do effective
what we were talking about digital work  allowed traditional creative teams to

present ideas before including UX and technology
how we scoped  refused to acknowledge true
 failed to unite different groups physically 
costs of digital  gave team leftover money
delayed integrating digital media, creative,
squeezed from offline budgets  failed to train
Technical Support  neglected to invest in
clients on actual value  brought message rather
collaborative technology, depending too much on
than experience mentality to the space  gave
IT instead of developers
digital work away to “get” the business 

perpetuated the diminished worth of digital how we rewarded  assumed digital people would

put learning on hold while they spent time cleaning
how we staffed  continued to hire legacy talent 
up after offline colleagues  under invested in
focused on usage rather than future when
training (formal and informal)  didn’t mandate
downsizing  assumed traditional talent could
digital skill expansion as part of performance
lead digital efforts  believed project management
evaluation for all
could compensate for digitally naïve account

people  defined integration as offline people

could try digital (but not the other way around)


thank you


Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works

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Digital Transformation: Talk at Boulder Digital Works