So for brands with diverse marketing objectives and a baffling array of options, it can be tough to find a context or framework for making decisions about what goes where.
Guess what guys? It’s finally here. Since 2006, every speaker at every conference I’ve attended proclaimed that it had arrived, but they were all jumping the gun. Wishing. Willing it to be. As we approach the middle of 2011, I’m pleased to announce that it’s finally here. Ladies and gentlemen, ‘the year of the mobile’!
After so many false starts, what makes me so sure? Three things have tipped it for me.
As an industry, us Digital guys have a tough time explaining exactly what it is we do. And I, for one, see this as a significant factor holding our industry back from meaningful, mainstream adoption in Australia.
If we’re not adding numbers to the end of things that already exist (web 4.0, mobile 3.0, social 6.0) we’re compiling lists of things we can make. You know; websites, banner ads, eDMs, social media stuff, iPhone apps, online videos. The list goes on and on.
And then, just when you think you’ve covered everything, someone calls up and asks why you don’t do augmented reality, or expandable banners or any one of the thousand other things you now realise you’ve left off your list. To make matters worse, even if you did manage to get everything on there today, it’s pretty much guaranteed that something will be missing by the time you wake up tomorrow.
Clearly, this is no way to build an industry.
For many marketing professionals, ‘doing digital’ is kind of like getting in shape.
At the back of your head is an annoying little voice that keeps telling you that you really should be doing something about it. The voice urges you to step out of your comfort zone and take the plunge, promising that doing so will make you better at what you do, raise your profile with peers and make you a more appealing candidate for prospective employers. Heck, it might even make you better looking.
Unfortunately, all too often we try to placate the nagging voice with token gestures and quick fixes. In the fitness world it’s the late night work out DVDs, promising instant six packs and buns of steel. On the digital front, it’s the online banner campaign that we must be weary of.
Stretching a TV or print campaign to a bunch of banner ads and calling it ‘digital’, ‘interactive’ or ‘integrated’ is not only wrong but also damaging to the industry.
