I liked this panel because it deals with something that I’m directly impacted by – the agencies are using Social Media tools and building consultancies around messaging data – while Content is being or has become, a “Commodity”.
To be honest with you – this subject is not new – and I wrote about it a few years ago when I attended OMMA (here’s the posts then – to get a perspective)
OMMA day 2 – Marketer’s Dilemma: finding and managing digital resources
OMMA day 2, Disintermedia panel
Blogging is Cool according to Madison Avenue
Also, the Facebook – Nielsen deal announced this morning – has brought up an interesting point – if you can get research directly from Facebook – via Nielsen, what do you need with the services of all the people and companies the represent – on the panel taking place before me right now?
Here’s what I was hearing .. Thought Leadership – tied to results – that’s what these companies can offer – but I’m not seeing much of it – honestly, from the panel.
And what I think about – is that the Social Monitoring platforms, which different agencies are creating their own, are all pulling data, more or less, from the same place … it’s the value you add to this information – that often, is what sells that information …. the information, itself – is almost meaningless.
I think back to my trip to Aix in Provence a few years ago to visit Paul Cezzane’s studio and his motifs (see my post on Paul Cezzane’s Sous Bous and my video annotation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ) that the data of Mount St. Victoire didn’t matter – it’s what Cezanne brought to it, he created and re-invented the mountain – and when to the mountain – I saw Cezanne, the motif itself, via what I knew and had seen, before.
I see it as a data creativity issue – most of the these brands and holding companies aren’t delivering much more value to the data they are all freely pulling from – and the this year, at OMMA, we’re seeing the ripples of what has been discussed from the last two OMMA Conferences I attended, being realized.
Social Media is actually disrupting the business models and value of the agencies ..themselves … and creating thought leadership, along with delivering results – is the only future where they continue to exist, as they are.
Also, the consolidations that have made the holding companies – where all the Digital agencies is pretty much owned by a few holding companies – was commented upon.
The basic contention is that Social Media should be at the core, DNA, and integrated in their thinking, being able to sit at the table – thinking needs to be aligned. Specialists who can execute and Strategists who can creatively think about solutions need to be integrated.
PANEL: The New Socialism – Marketing Industry Growth Engine?Location: Westside Ballroom- South What do US Airways Flight 1549, the crisis in Iran, and the death of Michael Jackson have in common? They reached public consciousness via Twitter before mainstream media could report them. Indeed, traditional media outlets, including old-line online news sites, are losing sway with consumers, who are increasingly turning to their network of friends as their primary source of news and opinion. This raises big questions—not just for the media companies who find their audiences eroding — but also for the marketers, ad agencies and PR firms trying to reach consumers behind their social walls. At the same time, the social media companies themselves have their own questions. Amid the worst advertising recession in decades, they are facing pressure from wary investors demanding proof of monetization, notwithstanding their impressive audience growth. For better or worse, The New Socialism is here to stay. Will social media be the next powerful driver of the global advertising and marketing industry, or will all the free media ultimately prove to be the industry’s undoing?
