MediaCom Engage Review - Including Speaker Presentations - #mcomengage

Wow. Just wow.

I had high hopes for the 6th of our MediaCom Engage conferences and boy did the four speakers live up to my expectations. Definitely my favourite event so far.

First up, my lovely London-based colleague Pauline Robson (standing in for the soon to be married Claire McAlpine) showed why she's leading our Real World Insight team with a fantastic introduction to how real people are adopting multiscreen  behaviours.

Pauline Robson MediaCom @ MediaCom Engage 25 4-13 from MediaCom Edinburgh

Using video blog excerpts from our Real World Britain panel, Pauline demonstrated how Mobile has finally come of age (even if it's done that in the home rather than out and about). 50% of tablets never leave the home and we could see how this was facilitating fluid movement between on and offline media. We need to really think about the different ways people use their various screens and design content accordingly to be successful. I also liked the concept of "Scattercushion Computing" even if I've yet to convince my wife to correct the current imbalance we have between soft furnishings and technology in the living room.

Second on stage was the human dynamo that is Derek Scobie. Boy, did his presentation pack a punch and it was delivered at breakneck pace with some great video footage (as you might expect from YouTube's Propositions Manage) and no little humour.

Derek Scobie You Tube @ Mediacom Engage 25 4-13 from MediaCom Edinburgh

I was struck by how YouTube provides a platform for communities organised around interest and at a scale that was unimaginable only a few years ago. There are some really exciting opportunities for brands to collaborate with the creator community and some interesting challenges in the curation of such a vast quantity of content.

After the break, one of my favourite curators, Neil Perkin, ex-IPC and now Only Dead Fish, gave some deep insight into the ways the big tech companies are building world-beating content ecosystems as well as providing some great stimulus for how we need to think about content marketing.

Neil Perkin Only Dead Fish @ Mediacom Engage 25 4-13 from MediaCom Edinburgh

Hearing about the "stack" approach that Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple take prompted me to think about how we could apply that thinking to our clients businesses. It was clear that we need to start planning for conversations, not only by breaking away from a stop-start campaign mentality but also by how we break down silos between agencies and inside clients. And I love the Stock and Flow concept as an explanation of the need for different types of content in different contexts.

Finally, our very own Joe 90 - Digital Strategy Director Jem Lloyd Williams - rounded the morning off with a considered and clear explanation of what connected planning is, and how we can use this thinking to connect our clients brands with their consumers more effectively.

Jem Lloyd Williams MediaCom @ MediaCom Engage 25 4-13 from MediaCom Edinburgh

I loved the idea that all this was just basic human behaviour being played out on a new technological canvas - People First, Better results. The uptake of mobile devices now means that we don't need to, and should never, create media dead ends for consumers. Great clarity of thought.

I felt as if things were just getting going with the Q&A when we ran out of time so happy to continue the discussion in the comments below or on Twitter around #mcomengage. Thanks to everyone who came along and especially to our four guest speakers. See you at the next one.

Making digital real...and real digital - an IPA review of SXSWi

Attended a fascinating presentation from Nigel Gwilliam, Digital Director at the IPA this morning.

It's the third time he's come to Edinburgh to share key insights from Austin's legendary SXSWi festival. Condensing thousands of hours of Alpha Geek future gazing into 90 minutes is no mean feat but Nigel achieved it with aplomb and a dash of humour.

Some of the things that stood out for me this morning:

The Geek really shall inherit the earth. I knew about Elon Musk's SpaceX project but hadn't realised the breadth of his ambition and the way he's attempting to disrupt space travel by removing 90% of the cost base by creating re-usable rocket stages. Watch this and let your inner sci-fi geek rejoice. 

But that was a sideshow really to the meat of the deck which centred on how Alpha Geek culture is pretty much over social and mobile (that's now in the hands of the IPA - more on that next month) and has moved onto blurring the lines between digital and real.

First up, 3D printing. The Invisalign braces that aren't braces show the potential of 3D printing to disrupt, and improve, current practice. While, at the horrifying end of the spectrum, the much talked about 3D printed gun showed how we might not have matured enough for this kind of technology yet.

Wearable computing has taken mighty leaps recently as Google Glass picks up steam and rumours of a haptic watch from Apple build momentum. Probably the most interesting discussion points around both developments relate to what to do with all the data these devices throw off and how privacy issues might be dealt with - how will we know whether someone is filming us with their glasses? There was some lively discussion over this point at the end of the session where the Guardian Witness app came up as another example of how traditional fiefdoms were being challenged by open source networking.

Everyone (especially the creative and gamer types) got very excited by the concept of the fantastic LeapMotion. 200 times more sensitive than Microsoft Kinect for XBox this signals the death knell for Minority Report references in presentations (finally!). See for yourself here:



Here's designer Golden Krishna (yes, really) talking about how the best interface is no interface (not quite convinced by this yet tbh).

T

The Internet of Things raised itself from the dead again and it seems like we might finally be reaching a tipping point here as Nigel pointed out practical application of it in surgery wards in US hospitals where they implant chips in surgical sponges to make sure they don't leave them inside patients. Or the way that Leicester Tigers Rugby Club are working with IBM to anticipate player injury by linking them up - Robo-Rugby! Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch this:



The session closed with some discussion of how innovation is more about how we change behaviours than how we change technologies. Which reminded me of this:

It really was an awesome and inspiring jaunt through the minds of some of the smartest people on the planet. more from the IPA on SXSWi here.

Thanks to the IPA and Nigel for putting on such a good show. If you get the chance to see him on the rest of  his tour I suggest you grab it with both hands. Dates are here.

It really is becoming the year of mobile

Guest post by my colleague Jane Wilson, Account Director.


On the 40th Anniversary of the first mobile phone call, mobile ad spend has helped UK digital spend reach £5billion for the first time.
IAB's digital advertising figures for 2012 recently published the on-going momentum behind mobile as a media platform, fuelled by the proliferation of smartphones and tablets and an increasing number of clients ready to experiment with new ad formats.

Mobile ad spend in the UK almost tripled (up 148%) year-on-year in 2012 to £526m on the back of 157% growth the year before. The sustained take-up helped propel total UK digital spend to £5 billion for the first time and growth continued to accelerate in the second half of last year.
Mobile now accounts for a 9.7% share of all digital advertising spend, compared to just 1.1% in 2009. This increase could be primarily based upon the fact that, according to comScore, nearly two thirds of the UK population owned an internet enabled mobile phone in December 2012.

Our approach to digital planning is that mobile is no longer an afterthought but becoming much more integrated in digital activity.

Do you think that when, Marty Cooper, who made the first mobile phone call 40 years ago last week on the 3rd of April 1973 (to a senior engineer at Motorola), to rival a colleague at another telecoms company and announced he was speaking from "a 'real cellular telephone" they would have any idea that we would be in this situation in 2013?

Given the initial cost of the devices, (in 1983 the first models cost £2,300) this would probably be seen as prohibitive to the mobile phone becoming a mass-market product. However, from a 2lb and 1 foot long device 40 years ago to today’s razor thin handset, the mobile phone has gone from clunky, expensive and limited to affordable, small with nearly limitless possibilities.

What comes next? Who knows but we’ll probably see a much wider range of devices which will be wearable.

MediaCom Engage - Connected Planning - 25th April - Edinburgh

The next in our popular series of Engage conferences takes place on the morning of 25th April 2013. Our topic this time is Connected Planning with speakers discussing how best to exploit emerging cross-channel communications opportunities. Confirmed speakers are:

 

Neil Perkin – Founder of Only Dead Fish, Curator of Google UK Firestarters and ex Head of Marketing & Strategy at IPC Media. Neil is a renowned blogger and writer and founded a digital and media consultancy that specialises in applying strategic understanding of social and emerging media technologies to help businesses innovate and optimise their effectiveness within the new, networked communications environment. Neil is a regular keynote speaker across Europe on content strategy, emerging media, digital innovation and social technologies, and writes regularly for FutureLab, Marketing Week, The Marketing Society, and Mediatel amongst others. He has over 20 years media owner experience and was latterly the Director of Marketing, Strategy and Digital for IPC Media, the largest consumer publisher in the UK and publisher of multimedia brands including Wallpaper, Marie Claire and the NME. In this capacity he ran award-winning strategy, planning and consumer insight functions and was at the centre of defining and implementing the digital strategy for one of the largest media owners in the UK.

 

  Derek Scobie - Head of YouTube Propositions, North & Central Europe. Derek runs YouTube's Brand Propositions team for the colder and beer-drinking parts of Europe. Prior to Google, Derek cut his marketing teeth at P&G, helping launch a dubious orange drink, rejuvenate an ageing skincare brand and revitalise a sickly healthcare business. Having done much harm, he made amends by making volunteering cool for kids at Project Scotland. He also spent some time as a strategic marketing consultant, however this was a serious role he struggles to be pithy about.

 

  Jem Lloyd Williams – Managing Partner, Head of Digital Strategy, MediaCom UK. Jem helps his clients connect their businesses, brands and communications more meaningfully to people via digital media and technologies. His background comprises a mix of sales (Thames TV), journalism (BBC) and content (Sticky Content Ltd). He moved to MediaCom in 2008 to help set up its content division, MBA. From there he moved to the agency’s central strategy team where he now focuses on challenging and inspiring planning teams to develop integrated media strategies for clients such as Volkswagen, GSK, E.ON, Universal Music and Cancer Research.

 

  Claire McAlpine – Associate Director, Real World Insight, MediaCom UK. Claire collates, records and narrates the world we live in to help clients understand the role their brand or initiative can play within it. Specialising in qualitative research and media strategy, she uses the latest research methodologies to distil these insights. Last year she set up MediaCom’s Real World Britain research tool, a large team of non professional bloggers across the UK who provide a window into their world through mobile ethnography. Her particular specialism and interests lie in changing behaviour, with her previous roles including work with research agencies (TNS-BMRB), MediaCom’s specialist insight team (RWI) and most recently MediaCom’s central strategy team where she works with clients such as The Met Police, The Home Office, Time to Change and Eon.

 As always, our event will take place at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre within the National Galleries Complex at The Mound in Edinburgh, with speakers taking to the stage from 9am. The event will conclude at 1pm with a Q&A session giving everyone the opportunity to quiz the panel. Tickets are priced at £25 (£10 for Marketing Society and IPA members).

Numbers are strictly limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. Buy Tickets Here.

MediaCom - Connected TV

TV is changing. It's no longer simply about what's broadcast at consumers - whether that's via aerial, cable or satellite dish - but increasingly it's about the content they select.

Sometimes dubbed Connected TV or Smart TV, the new world of TV allows viewers to plug - literally or wirelessly - their new set into the internet. This gives them access to more content than ever before. This includes traditional linear TV, but also catch-up services such as the BBC's iPlayer as well as subscription services like Hulu and Netflix.

The rise of the connected TV could radically change the way consumers use their TVs by enabling them to connect to their social networks with their remote, or order a pizza before renting a movie via a streaming service.

The number of connected TVs is growing fast. In the UK, a recent YouGov study found that more than half of British consumers have connected their TV to the internet and that 11% planned to buy a Smart TV in the next year.

Globally, sales of connected TVs are predicted to account for 20% of all screens by 2016, according to a forecast by Digital TV Research. That's more than 550 million connected sets in 40 key countries.

The rise of connected TV brings a range of new opportunities for advertisers. It's a new way to distribute branded content and enables more targeted advertising.

While traditional TV advertising will remain important, connected TV will require brands to rethink what TV means and how they can utilise this important communication channel.

First published at: http://www.mediacom.com/en/news-insights/media-simplified.aspx

HMV - Stuck in the Middle

"Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right" could be the motto for the British High Street right now as one after another retail business hurtles towards bankruptcy.

When the economy squeezes, the middle ground is not a pleasant place to be. HMV and Blockbuster (admit it, you too were surprised they were still in business), the most recent casualties, both made the fatal error of being neither streamlined enough to compete with their internet competition on efficiency, nor service-oriented enough to compete with small, independent specialist stores occupying less expensive real estate.

It's not all bad news though, perhaps the demise of another stack-em-high music retailer (see Tower, Virgin et al) will leave more room for the independent record store to flourish. If you're at all interested in this kind of thing you could do much worse than collaborate on making this map of independent record stores a comprehensive and well-known resource.

Battle of the high street....

Interesting article from MediaCom Real World Insight.  YouGov's BrandIndex highlights the battle between M&S and John Lewis.

http://rwinsight.posterous.com/battle-of-the-high-street

The Wrong Direction - lessons from a Twitter misadventure

This article first appeared here in WIRED.CO.UK

I am not Eleanor’s dad. I’d like to make that perfectly clear before we begin. Just to make sure there is no possible misunderstanding, I repeat, I am NOT Eleanor’s dad.

I am a father but my daughter is only two years old and it's a bit early to be having the "inappropriate boyfriend" chat. Still with me? Just in case you are still in any way confused – I am not Eleanor’s dad.

What I am is a 40-something media executive. I help brands understand their target audiences, work out how to target them and help them get great rates on the right media platforms. I work for MediaCom, part of WPP – trust me, this is not a plug, it will become relevant later on – and I’m also chairman of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in Scotland.

If you want to know why I am so keen to deny all involvement in Eleanor’s paternity, then you’ll need to delve into the tweenage poposphere. Eleanor Calder – who shares my surname but none of my genes – is, apparently, the girlfriend of One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. Who knew? Not me.

At this stage you also need to know that One Direction came third on X Factor in 2010 (picking up the obligatory record contract with Simon Cowell’s Syco). They have since broken America and are officially massive. Or so I've been reliably informed. In the interests of full disclosure, I have been known to play the odd DJ set but I can’t recall ever playing any One Direction tracks.

So, back to the story: One day last week, into my Twitter pops a curious message – “Are you Eleanor’s Dad?”. It’s a bit random and I’m travelling on business so I leave it.

https://twitter.com/radicalkansk/status/265630685333708800

Next day my feed is crawling with similar questions but they’ve taken a conspiratorial turn. The tweenage detectives have discovered my Twitter profile – @MediaCom_Murray – and they now know that I work for MediaCom Edinburgh.

Further deductions – all faithfully recorded on Tumblr – include that the fact that MediaCom have deals with Viacom – not that surprising as we are the UK’s largest media agency – that Viacom owns MTV and that 1D (See, I’m getting the hang of this now) get a lot of airplay on MTV.

Finally they discover a corporate link between Viacom and Syco via Sony Music. The only possible conclusion: “it is highly likely, that Mediacom (sic) do have business with the band.”

http://bullshippingstylinson.tumblr.com/post/35048267911

And there’s more. It says my wife Kim Hickman works for Next Model Management and Eleanor is often referred to as a model. Clearly our connections and power have pushed Eleanor into the path of Louis and created the opportunity for love.

Except that my wife is called Emma, is a self-employed graphic designer and would rather lock our daughter in a tower than let her even listen to a boyband. These posts have been reblogged and liked hundreds of times. I think they are all a bit mental (if that’s politically correct).

By this time my Twitter feed is getting pretty clogged up and I have become part of an online meme #eleanorfacts. It’s gone global. Some of the messages are now in Italian but fortunately most of these never reach me.

On the plus side, it’s doing wonders for my followers, which have risen by dozens in just a couple of days.

Everyone in the office thinks it’s hysterical except for me. I use Twitter to communicate with colleagues and clients in other offices and learn from the interesting people I follow and it’s becoming harder and harder to sift the wheat from the very considerable 1D chaff.

Eventually I crack and tweet: “Who the hell is Eleanor? Getting asked 15 times a day if I'm her Dad. I can assure everyone that I'm not. Now please piss off. Thanks.”

https://twitter.com/MediaCom_Murray/status/265946280549834753

And the circus starts again. I get retweeted. And favourited. Fortunately I also finally gain some supporters. @Eleanorfacts with his/her 53,000 followers comes to my rescue with a message that’s plain as can be: “Eleanor's dad doesn't work for Mediacom, Viacom or Syco. #EleanorFacts Stop the conspirancies.” (sic).

https://twitter.com/EleanorFacts/status/265961313535156225

I even get the odd apology for the inconvenience. Which is nice.

So finally (I think) it’s over…

Then I get asked if I know Tina (Eleanor's sister as far as I can gather). Then if I know Louis himself. I deny both allegations strenuously. And am instantly bombarded with 1D spam telling me I've won tickets to see them live. Whoopee.

So, what did I learn from my three days as an object of 1D attention?

Obviously I found out that tweenage pop fans are even more obsessive than I could have imagined and that the internet helps you connect two and two and make eight. No blinding insight there though really.

But I also learnt that in the age of Twitter, rapid and categorical response is the best weapon you have. If I’d replied to that first message definitively then none of this might have happened.

I also found it pretty exhausting and it only lasted three days. God knows how Justin Bieber or Lady GaGa cope.

One more thing… If you are my Secret Santa at this year’s office party, please, please, please don’t buy me a 1D album. Not even as a joke.

*UPDATE* - Bianca, the One Direction fan who wrote the post that kicked all this off has apologised to me for putting me through "all this crap". Restores your faith in the youth of today, doesn't it?

IPA in Scotland response to Public Sector Procurement Reform Bill consultation

The IPA in Scotland welcomes the opportunity to submit views on the above.

A         About the IPA

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in Scotland is the trade body and professional institute for Scottish advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. 

Our 21 corporate members, who represent the Scottish agencies within the UK-wide IPA, handle the majority of Scotland's advertising agency business, of which government and semi-government bodies form a critically important part.

As such, we are vitally concerned with – and heartily applaud – any measures which are designed to improve the processes by which our members can be appointed to this activity.

B         How we have approached this consultation
           

In addition to completing the specific questions raised with regard to this consultation (separate document attached), we have surveyed our membership in Scotland to obtain their views on the current position vis-à-vis public procurement in Scotland.

Since the majority of these companies are SMEs, which the Government would like to encourage and see actively involved as its suppliers, we believe their opinions are important in any future procurement process which might be adopted with specific reference to marketing communications.

We have noted below a series of concerns around current procurement practices which, together, underline the critical need for reform in this area.

C         How our members currently view public sector procurement

Our responses are broken down into four sub-sections. Specifically:

1.     Process vs. outcomes

Members expressed considerable concern that the current procurement process is ill-suited to the selection of the most appropriate agency to deliver effective communications to Government. There is a widespread belief that, due to the mechanistic and quantitative measures assessed, the process is designed to arrive at the lowest cost, rather than the most effective outcome.

This tendency to commoditise creative marketing services forces agencies to offer a significantly lower rate to Government than would be proposed to commercial clients to win initial ITTs, only to be asked to discount again to win mini-competitions.

Although this might seem, on the surface, to deliver value for money for the tax-payer, in reality it makes un-commercial demands on agencies, who find themselves struggling not just to produce effective work, but in some cases, even to survive.

With no apparent quality/qualitative checks of tendering agencies’ ability to fulfil contracts, tender submissions may currently ensure the Government pays the absolute minimum for the work it receives, but they offer no guarantee of its likely effectiveness.

2.     Understanding marketing services

While procurement may strive to standardise procedures, buying advertising and marketing services is very different to buying concrete items or services that have a more physical outcome.

Creativity thrives on personal contact. The absence of opportunities to meet prospective clients face-to-face during the tender/pitch process inhibits understanding and prevents the formation of personal relationships. While this may be deliberate in order to preserve impartiality, in reality, it acts against the development of the most effective creative work.

At a time when commercial companies are increasing their efforts to ensure the right ‘chemistry’ between themselves and their marketing services suppliers, it is significant that government/semi-government bodies rarely, if ever, visit agencies. This leads to concerns amongst our membership of not only a lack of understanding of agency business models, but also of sufficient knowledge and experience to judge the quality and potential effectiveness of the work being produced.

3.     Bureaucratic Process Burdens

ITTs are universally felt to be over-complex, difficult to complete and frequently expressed in a language which the world outside procurement finds difficult to understand.

While our members are held rigidly to their timetables to submit, it is

pointed out that procurement have in the past frequently moved their own deadlines two to three times – apparently with little regard to the suppliers involved.

Moreover, mini-competitions repeatedly request the same information in slightly different formats, such that agencies can spend more time on submitting proposals than they do working on the creative solutions the tenders are designed to deliver.

In addition to this, there is a marked inconsistency and lack of clarity on the criteria on which projects are or are not taken to mini-competitions, how these are briefed and subsequently judged.

All the above imposes an enormous burden on small companies whose expertise lies in developing creative solutions to address public behaviour, not wading through bureaucratic and, what is seen to be, inappropriate and unnecessary paperwork.

4.     Unrealistic demands on tiny budgets

While, superficially, it may seem fair that public tenders are thrown open to the market-place as a whole, it is frequently the case in Scotland that this approach is massively wasteful not only in terms of the competing suppliers, but also of the time required by procurement to judge the resulting submissions.

The IPA/ISBA/CIPS/MMA Best Practice Guidelines suggest a maximum of four agencies should be involved in a pitch.

In Scotland, however, it is not uncommon for up to 20 companies to compete for public service projects of only £15-£20,000.

This is not an example of the market working well - enabling Government to select from the widest possible field – it is a waste of national resources and sets a poor example to the commercial sector from a body which should be acting responsibly and as an exemplar.

D         Our hopes for the future

It is against this backdrop that we applaud the Scottish Government's initiative to simplify and render more user-friendly its procurement activities.

Scotland has always had some of the finest creative minds in the world, but if these are to be harnessed most effectively to the nation's good, the processes by which they are employed must not be bogged down in needless paperwork.

On this basis, we have great hopes for – and thoroughly endorse – the proposed Reform Bill.

Presentations from MediaCom Engage: Better Connected Conference

Last week we ran a conference here in Edinburgh under the banner of Better Connected: How social and mobile are changing marketing communications.

It was our best one yet. Great turnout from the marketing community in Scotland and some great presentations from the heavy hitters in this field, most of which are shown below (come on Twitter!). Hope you get something out of them.

Nick Cohen - MediaCom from MediaCom Edinburgh

Stephany Van Willigenburg - Google from MediaCom Edinburgh

Lee Carrotte - SecondSync from MediaCom Edinburgh

Claire O'connell Facebook from MediaCom Edinburgh