Digital Prowess of Traditional Firms Unimpressive

In Monday’s Adweek Andy McMains cites results from our latest study that key marketing decision makers aren’t terribly impressed with the digital/social skills of traditional agencies.

Based on previous studies we’ve conducted and based on insights gleaned from talking directly with marketers on the Agency Search side of our business, I believe the problem is less about agencies’ ability to “do” digital and social and more about their ability to “activate” these new mediums.  Any agency can claim to know how to take creative and build a nice banner ad or help a client start a blog or Facebook page.  What clients aren’t seeing enough of is agencies activating digital: planning digital in the context of a broader traditional program.  I just left Napa Valley where a number of agencies selected by RSW/US, presented to a major wine marketer.  One of the agencies built an entire program around digital/social and one of the questions asked by the marketer was “so how are you going to drive people to all of this activity?”.  They frankly didn’t have a really good answer.  The creative looked nice, the ideas were unique, but in the end, there was little meat on the bone relative to strategy and how this program was going to suddenly get consumers (some of whom were older) to embrace a digital/social program.

Another agency took kind of an interesting approach.  They built their campaign concepts using digital as the initial platform, then adapted it to more traditional mediums.  They recognized the need for simplicity and directness in digital, so rather than force fitting campaigns into a medium that isn’t well suited for lots of explaining, they worked it the other way around.  In doing so, they showed the client that they were thinking about both mediums – how they could work best together – and how to effectively integrate them from a messaging, activity, and equity standpoint.

Digital/social is one piece of a much bigger pie, so agencies need to think about it strategically and not just tactically.  Are there targets that are tougher to reach within the context of a clien’ts consumer pool that digital/social lends itself well to?  Does digital offer the ability to add reach to a program that might otherwise be limited from a budget standpoint?  How can we use digital so it motivates consumers to take the kind of action the brand needs and deserves?  There are many more questions that need to be answered when thinking about how to best use digital/social in the context of a larger plan.  I think spelling these out prior to presenting your digital/social program is one way to show the client you’re thinking about the issues, thinking about how to best use digital/social – both in terms of the opportunities it offers and the limitations inherent in the mediums.

Simply put, don’t just “do” it…”activate” it to the benefit of your client and their brand.