1. 20510556 Vic Davies
Author: Tim Harvey
ID Number: 20510556
Tutor: Vic Davies
Business School
Buckinghamshire New University
Advertising and Promotions Management BA (Hons)
What does the advertising industry mean by the term ‘engagement’ and have job skills
and agency models changed in an age of engagement?
Word Count: 13,890
Date: 24/04/2008
Please note that this paper does not include the transcripts from the primary
research conducted for confidentiality purposes.
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Abstract
This paper is a response to the recent hype amongst advocates in the communications
industry surrounding the topic of engagement. Engagement is a term that has developed
as a successor to ‘interruption’, an age of speaking to mass audiences, through mass
media. The IPA have labelled this change as a paradigm shift, and Green (2007) states
‘We are told that success in the modern era hinges on our ability to engage rather than
interrupt.’ This paper discusses the topic of engagement through answering the following
question:
What does the advertising industry mean by the term ‘engagement’ and have job skills
and agency models changed in an age of engagement?
An argument has been put forward as a response to the proposed question through the use
of both secondary and primary research, which explores how the industry views the term
‘engagement’ and how the industry has reacted to its very nature. The aims and
objectives of this report have been used to structure this argument and consequently the
following chapters have been specified throughout both the primary and secondary
research process:
- What is Engagement?
- The Change in Agency Model
- Change in the Knowledge Economy
- The Impact of Technology and ‘Digital’
- What is the Industry doing?
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The literature review set the scene for the findings of this paper, and also contributed
heavily to methodology of the primary research. The key findings of this paper are as
follows:
- In an era of the sophisticated consumer, the term engagement should incorporate
both effective content and context elements, speaking to a consumer in a way that
they want to be targeted, at a time and place when they want to be spoken to.
- The planning discipline is now more highly regarded within the creative process
than it has been in the past, and consequently agencies are changing their model to
encourage the collaboration of all disciplines.
- There is a clear link between media fragmentation and the development of the
knowledge economy, encouraging advertisers not only to engage with consumers on
new platforms (context) but engage with consumers through delivering effective
messages on traditional platforms (content).
- The growth of the digital sector means that advertisers can engage with
consumers far more successfully than they have been able to do through the use of
passive media. However, the consumer must be put at the heart of communications,
not necessarily the channel on which they receive a brand message.
- The advertising industry has often tried to resist change and as a consequence this
has led to an influx in start up agencies who accept change as part of evolution, these
agencies will survive for longer.
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The advertising industry is constantly changing; however this should not be for change
sake but as a reflection of society. The age of engagement is an emphasis on the current
state of industry; however engagement has always been part of the communications
process. The industry should accept engagement as an evolutionary process and rather
than capitalise on its new business qualities, focus on the consumer and the future,
viewing change as a positive process, not a threat.
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Contents
1.0 – Introduction Pg. 7-8
2.0 – Aims and Objectives Pg. 8
Literature Review
3.0 – What is Engagement? Pg. 9-14
4.0 – The Change in Agency Model Pg. 15-19
5.0 – Change in the Knowledge Economy Pg. 20-23
6.0 – The Impact of Technology and ‘Digital’ Pg. 24-27
7.0 – What is the Industry doing? Pg. 28-30
8.0 – Summary of Literature Review Pg. 30
9.0 – Research Methodology Pg. 31-37
9.1 – Critique of Methodology Pg. 38-39
Primary Research
10.0 – What is Engagement? Pg. 40-44
11.0 – The Change in Agency Model Pg. 45-48
12.0 – Change in the Knowledge Economy Pg. 49-52
13.0 – The Impact of Technology and ‘Digital’ Pg. 53-56
14.0 – What is the Industry doing? Pg. 57-61
15.0 – Conclusion Pg. 62-65
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16.0 – References Pg. 66-71
17.0 – Extensive Bibliography Pg. 72
18.0 – Appendices
Appendix 1 Pg. 73-74
Appendix 2 Pg. 75
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1.0 – Introduction
The advertising industry has traditionally aimed to communicate to consumers through
disrupting and interrupting their lifestyles. Interruption worked as a process in an era of
speaking to mass audiences, through mass media. However, Green (2007) states ‘We are
told that success in the modern era hinges on our ability to engage rather than interrupt.’
The advertising industry has created a lot of hype surrounding the topic of engagement,
Gordon (2008) states ‘As for the Age of Engagement I talked at an ADMAP conference at
which the four key speakers in the first 2 hours used the word in different ways - there is
no universally accepted definition and in fact one speaker suggested it was last year's
buzz word.’ This paper intends to discuss the area of engagement through answering the
following question:
What does the advertising industry mean by the term ‘engagement’ and have job skills
and agency models changed in an age of engagement?
Models of Advertising to Illustrate Engagement
Awareness Interest Desire Action
A traditional advertising hierarchy model, AIDA adapted from McDonald (1992)
Engagement Interest Action
An adaptation of AIDA, to reflect the Age of Engagement.
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This paper explores the subject of engagement through both secondary and primary
research. The literature review initially sets the scene for the argument regarding a
paradigm shift from an age of interruption to an age of engagement, which is then applied
to the primary research process in which industry professionals have been questioned on
their personal and professional opinions. The chapters for both the literature review and
the primary research of this paper have been labelled as a response to the aims and
objectives specified in order to ensure that a coherent argument is made which is relevant
to the thesis of this paper.
2.0 - Aims and Objectives
• Explore and define what is meant by the term ‘engagement’ within the Advertising
Industry.
• Critically analyse the traditional Advertising Agency Model and discuss how it has
evolved.
• Assess the change in the knowledge economy and its effect on the consumer,
commercial marketing communications and marketing and its relationship to
business.
• Discuss the change in economy and the impact of technology and growth of ‘digital’
on defining the term ‘engagement’.
• Discuss what the industry is doing as a result of these changes and examine the
effectiveness of the changing agency model.
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Literature Review
3.0 :- What is engagement?
Traditionally advertising agencies have used the terms ‘disruption’ and ‘interruption’ to
describe the desired effects of its communications, disruption being a term that TBWA
Worldwide still preach about and practice. Berger (2005) states ‘The world is difficult,
uncomfortable. But the first thing to understand is that “Disruption” is not destructive. It
is creation.’ TBWA Worldwide is probably the most obvious network that has
philosophised around the area of disruption, applying a simple model to each of its most
successful advertising campaigns in a book entitled ‘Disruption Stories’. The basic model
of disruption identified by the agency has been illustrated below.
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The diagram illustrates disruption as part of a communications process, TBWA suggest
that ‘Disruption is a means of creating something dynamic to replace something that has
become static.’ As a traditional model of advertising communications, disruption reflects
the USP theory dictated by Reeves (1961) who states ‘Each advertisement must make a
proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-
window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: 'Buy this product and
you will get this specific benefit.’ However, in an era of technologically savvy consumers,
and indeed sophisticated consumers, even a dynamic communication with a USP still
might not provoke engagement with a brand and therefore not be as effective as it should
or could be.
Ephron (2006) suggests that ‘Engagement exists only as an abstraction’ and therefore it
is difficult to define and clarify one distinctive meaning for the term. This suggestion of
engagement existing as an abstraction and advertising moving away from the USP era to
an era of branding can be related to the work of Maslow (1943). Maslow created a
hierarchy of needs model that suggests what people are motivated by and what they
aspire to, supporting brand added value that improves esteem and not just security and
physiological factors (which basic products improve). The initial inference that Ephron
makes in an attempt to distinguish the meaning of engagement, is that ‘It's sloppy to talk
about engagement without being specific. Media engagement and advertising
engagement are different things.’ Although the thesis for this paper clearly states the
nature of this report lies within the advertising industry, it is important to take into
account the difference in media and advertising engagement to avoid confusion and
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clarify one specific meaning for the focus of this paper. Ephron argues ‘Media are often
engaging, but that's it. They don't usually pass that engagement through to the ads they
carry.’ In contrast to a media perspective on engagement and in relation to the area of
advertising, Murray (2007) states ‘Engagement requires the involvement and
participation of your consumer in a dialogue rather than talking at them (as with the age
of interruption).’ The term dialogue indicates a means by which engagement takes place,
possible through interactive technology. Brooks (2005) states ‘Over the last few decades,
we have witnessed an evolution of the advertising model from stimulusresponse to
dialoguebase…with the rise of the Internet, dialogue became an even more basic
expectation of the savvy consumer.’ However, it is fair to state that owing to the need for
both advertising and media agencies to understand the change in consumers, the
definition of the term ‘engagement’ should not necessarily differentiate.
Perhaps the key schools of thought that should be examined on the term ‘engagement’
should view the term from an agency perspective and also a research perspective. Janet
Hull of the IPA discusses the term as a ‘two way process’, opposing ‘interruption’ which
is viewed as a ‘display process’, suggesting one-way communication. Much research has
been conducted on the area of engagement and the future of advertising, by the IPA and
the Future Foundation (2007) and a paradigm shift has been identified, outlined below.
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The diagram illustrates a distinctive shift from the age of interruption to the age of
engagement, further diagrams to support this shift can be found in Appendix 1.
Plummer (2006), Chief Research Officer of the ARF, defines engagement as the ‘turning
on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context.’ Engagement from a
research perspective has been examined and discussed by Elms (2006) who has quite
clearly illustrated a link between the effectiveness of an advertisement being higher when
consumers have seen supporting work, suggesting engagement:
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The diagram above indicates that engagement is enhanced through integrated advertising,
whereby consumers are exposed to multiple models of communication. The charts
highlight that positive attitudes towards a brand were increased when a consumer was
exposed to TV and Print communications, rather than just TV. This area of research
infers that engagement is a process heavily influenced through exposure to
advertisements, also supported by the work of Cox (2007) who states ‘Total Recall has
significantly enhanced our understanding of how longer exposure to advertising results
in significantly greater levels of engagement.’
Clearly a developing subject at the time, Sue Elms developed her theory on engagement
in 2007 and wrote a paper on the ‘long tail’, traditionally a term used in statistics to
describe certain kinds of distributions, in relation to media. Elms states ‘The Media Long
Tail presents advertisers with an abundance of novel ways to engage their consumers.’ In
a paper which distinctly addresses the role of media, Elms profoundly suggests ‘The old,
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passive, interruptive medium of TV can still do a lot for a brand…so let’s kill off the
interruption versus engagement paradigm. It is just silly; advertising that it classifies as
interruptive can be highly engaging, and media it classifies as engaging can be a waste
of money.’ However, Elms appears to view interruption as a medium (TV), whereas it can
be suggested it is a process (as illustrated by the TBWA model, one which shouts and
does not encourage further response). A TV campaign can effectively drive people online
or encourage them to establish a relationship with the brand, therefore it is engaging.
Rather than conforming to the general consensus that a paradigm shift is occurring, Elms
encourages people to ‘look at media engagement in a bigger way’ suggesting the success
of brand communications rests on the appropriate selection of media types. Zyman
(2002) discussed ‘the end of advertising as we know it’ giving a marketer’s perspective
on the advertising industry and stating ‘We know that different customers require
different media approaches. But traditionally advertisers took the shotgun approach –
hitting as many people as possible regardless of whether they were potential customers.’
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4.0 :- The Change in Agency Model
The ‘traditional’ agency model has long been under threat due to its inability to combine
agency disciplines to improve the level of communication between brand and consumer.
The standard agency model originates from the era of Stephen King at JWT and Stanley
Pollitt at Boase Massimi Pollitt, both of whom have been accredited as the founders of
planning. Although a dated source, much of King’s work is still used today as a means of
assessing the change in the industry, and his work provides a basic grounding for the
fundamentals of agency structure. King (1969) wrote a paper entitled ‘Inter-media
decisions: implications for agency structure.’ The first and most relevant objective set by
King within his paper reads ‘What are the criteria for deciding on any organisation and
working methods?’ King argues throughout this paper, and indeed his many works, that
planning is an important and fundamental part of the process in developing advertising
and outlines a standard agency structure that consists of 3 main disciplines, illustrated in
the table below:
Account Representative Creative Account Planning
• Co-ordination of the • Contacts with • Knowledge of capability
planning group. communication skills and meaning of research
• Contacts with the client and and techniques. • Contacts with media
the client's marketing plan. • Defining precise role of buyers, research
• Advisor to the client on his advertising within companies
marketing plan – especially advertising objectives. • Using research skills,
on roles of advertising and • Creating campaign green-fingeredly, to set
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merchandising/promotions ideas from advertising campaign and media
in the marketing mix. objectives. objectives, theorising on
• Effect of the marketing plan • Knowledge of precise role of
on advertising objectives, capability and meaning advertising
strategical and tactical. of media (i.e. medium- • Devising and managing
• Effect of marketing plan as-medium and continuous programme of
direct on inter-media medium-as-message). research (e.g. using it to
decisions. evaluate advertising
against objectives).
Source: Stephen King 1969
The agency structure outlined by King has long been implemented by agencies on a
global scale; however, Meskauskas (2007) argues ‘the advertising agency business is in
pretty big trouble.’ Meskauskas discusses the area of agency compensation and suggests
that ‘Clients are demanding more sophisticated services, but they are doing it while
insisting on lower rates of compensation.’ The industry clearly needs to adapt to the
development of the client and improve measures of effectiveness and levels of
engagement to guarantee custom for the foreseeable future. Cappo (2003) argues against
such a motive that clients pay too much for too little and states ‘I am a proponent of fee-
based incentive bonus systems that reward the agency handsomely for a big idea that gets
results.’ Agency compensation is just one of many areas to be continuously debated
amongst industry professionals, however it signifies that opinion formers such as
Meskauskas are behind the argument for change that has seen agencies such as BBH
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restructure for the future. Another propeller for change is growth of media and the
transition from media planning to communications planning. Sirkin (2004) states ‘An
evolution is changing the way clients plan communications for their brands. Some
marketers continue to employ the traditional model, while some are embracing a new
model for success.’ Although the basis of this report is formed around advertising
agencies, the change in media agencies also reflects an age of engagement, Sirkin
continues in her paper on communications planning to argue ‘for most target consumer
groups now, the traditional model is simply not effective. The explosion of contact
choices and the competitive nature of the branding environment demand a more strategic
approach to building connections between consumers and brand messages.’ The Account
Planning Group (2007) has clearly indicated the change in the role of the planner through
the diverse definition of the role in contrast to the definition it gave in 1986. In 1986 an
APG report stated ‘the planner is a fully integrated member of the account team working
on a continuously involved basis; bringing a consumer perspective to strategy
development, creative development, pre-testing of ads. and tracking of the brand's
progress.’ A revised version of the APG ‘What is Account Planning?’ report states ‘We
need a process that enhances an agency’s ability to produce outstanding creative
solutions for our brands that will be effective in the marketplace. It is the planner’s job to
guide or facilitate this process via the astute application of knowledge, otherwise known
as consumer and market understanding.’ This change has become noticeable throughout
the advertising industry, as the planner’s role has diversified to accommodate the
changing needs of the consumer.
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A simple interpretation of the revised BBH Agency Model
The area of change in organisational structure as a result of ‘engagement’ has been
examined by O’Reilly and Nightingale (2007) who discuss the topic with regards to the
NFL and ‘Building an engagement-focused organisation’. The work of O’Reilly and
Nightingale does not directly refer to the advertising industry; it does however examine
engagement as a driver for changing the marketing structure of an organisation in order to
prepare for the future and to reflect the change in consumers. O’Reilly and Nightingale
(2007) state ‘The NFL has shifted the emphasis of its market research strategy from
measuring fan-base growth to measuring fan-base depth, and has boosted its investment
in developing a suite of analytic tools to enable the simultaneous quantification of fan
engagement with both the NFL and its business partners.’ The paper suggests that
engagement is a key area of market research and a focus has been shifted towards
understanding consumers and measuring depth and away from measuring growth. This
change in market research strategy may be a result of the change in consumer and the
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growing need to improve levels of customer retention and not necessarily pull in new
consumers. O’Reilly and Nightingale praise the success of the NFL as a brand and
suggest that it has ‘a customer base to whom the brand is as life-sustaining as oxygen.’
Not only does this signify the importance of improving engagement structure within an
organisation, it also indicates that through the relevant changes in structure, the brand
benefits significantly through the ability to engage more effectively with consumers.
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5.0 :- Change in the Knowledge Economy
The change in the knowledge economy reflects the development of the consumer and
their ability to decode communications and therefore switch off to marketing messages.
Grant (2003) indicates a key development in society through ‘The work, leisure and
learning mix’ as illustrated below:
Grant’s interpretation of the knowledge economy suggests that whereas traditionally
consumers have only had time for work and then leisure also, a shift towards learning has
been initiated. This shift in social change can be put down to a number of variables, such
as social policy reform, and a change in government policies. The Labour Party’s 1997
General Election Manifesto suggested an improvement and increase in ‘Lifelong
Learning’, stating ‘We must learn throughout life, to retain employment through new and
improved skills. We will promote adult learning both at work and in the critical sector of
further education.’ Under the Blair regime, much discussion has evolved from this
manifesto and the changes needed. The BBC (2002) clarified the manifesto targets and
stated ‘The target for 50% participation was announced by the Prime Minister Tony
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Blair before the general election and has remained a flagship education policy.’ This
target and government action has stimulated people to invest more in education, thus
improving the knowledge economy.
The LSC (Learning and Skills Council) has invested many resources into researching the
change in the knowledge economy. Many trends and points of relevance have been
identified through many of its publications, including its Annual Report. The 2005 -06
Annual Report states ‘There are more 16-to 18-year olds in learning than ever before -
1.5 million. And they are achieving more than ever.’ This statistic is a reflection of the
change in government stance on education, and on the public emphasis on a need to be
receiving higher education in order to succeed. The report continues to support the
development in the learning economy, through the following statement; ‘For adults, we
also have a good story to tell. We have beaten our Skills for Life target, improving the
basic skills of 1.25 million people.’ Although these findings do not directly indicate that
the general public are learning to dismiss marketing communications, the development in
the knowledge economy encourages a notion that the population are becoming more
technologically aware and more sophisticated and therefore consuming media in more
advanced ways than ever before. Supporting evidence to the statements made by the LSC
(2006) has been extracted from a report carried out by a similar organisation, the CCSC
(Creative & Cultural Skills Council). In 2007 the CCSC proposed a project entitled
‘Creative Knowledge Lab’, an initiative investing money in improving the learning of
industry skills. The proposal supported an increase in the knowledge economy, however
focusing on the learning of vocational topics and skills. The proposal states ‘People
increasingly have higher expectations of personalised services that are tailored to their
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needs.’ This statement suggests that the public have a greater expectation to be
communicated to on a personal level and have their concerns addressed, as a response to
the development sophistication.
Gordon and Valentine (2000) also address the area of the sophisticated consumer, in their
discussion of the 21st Century Consumer, addressing definitions, types of consumer, and
key changes. The paper focuses on models of thinking and therefore emphasises the need
to change with the times and illustrate fundamental shifts. The paper states ‘The model of
thinking about the consumer as a sophisticated and aware consumer of brands,
communications and experiences has elevated the consumer to the position of final
arbiter and judge of marketing activities.’ In an analysis of the ‘traditional consumer’ it is
suggested that a consumer, not only consumes physical objects, but also consumes
advertising. The findings illustrated by Gordon and Valentine indicate ‘a number of
fundamental shifts in the way business professionals need to think and act.’ This notion
encourages marketers and advertisers to improve their understanding of the consumer,
and take into consideration the development of intellect and sophistication. Models of
thinking are not set in concrete and therefore will always need to be re-assessed,
contextualised and modernised, the work of Gordon and Valentine (2000) has therefore
illustrated that advertisers ‘must seek ways to be proactive in creating products, services
and experiences for tomorrows customers.’ Valentine has reiterated her support of
stimulating the consumer, through her many works on the role of semiotics within
marketing communications, another key tool to improving engagement within brand
messages.
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The idea of focusing on tomorrow’s customers has been examined by Namiranian (2006)
who has carried out research into the area of brand and media engagement amongst
teenagers and ‘demonstrates how market researchers empower companies to shape future
strategies for innovation and growth.’ Although Namiranian does not directly focus on
the knowledge economy, the research indicates the significance of future, and emerging
markets – identifying trends which signify ‘societal changes in brand consumption.’ The
context of the study (focusing on emerging markets) used the U.K as a comparison to
major cities in China, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, which allows for a greater
understanding of engagement on a global basis to be applied to the topic of this paper.
Perhaps the most relevant finding from the research (reflecting a development in the
knowledge economy) derives from the sub-heading ‘The “connected computer” is the
new TV’. It has become quite apparent that media is becoming more and more
fragmented and as a result people are changing the way they consume media. From the
study in emerging markets, Namiranian states ‘Computers are supplanting the time spent
watching TV and other activities. Most of the teenagers, across all countries, spend
between 3–12 hours a day on their computers, particularly when connected to the
Internet via broadband.’ This increase and change in media consumption encourages a
potential for an increase in teenagers (and therefore the future consumer) to become more
technologically savvy and less vulnerable to mass marketing communications.
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6.0 :- The Impact of Technology and ‘Digital’
Elms (2007) states ‘In today’s world, modern technology has enabled a wide array of
new options for entertainment, information, self expression and connecting with others.’
This development has been capitalised on effectively to date by advertisers, who have
successfully created new platforms to further engage with consumers and establish strong
relationships, and therefore greater insight. Phillipson (2007) states ‘The first six months
of 2006 saw UK internet advertising grow by 40% year on year, reaching a total of
£917.2m. Confidence is so high that the medium is expected to surpass £2 billion for the
full year, and joint research by the IAB and Carat Insight (in the small car market) found
that the internet had a greater impact on brand engagement than any other medium.’
One key area of growth and indeed success is that of blogging, a phenomenon that many
modern day planners have become fans of. Cooke (2006) discusses the growth of
blogging which may not instantaneously be associated with engagement or even the
advertising industry, but has changed the way that planners’ work in agencies and acts as
a valuable tool for insight. Crumpton (2007) writes ‘The future of planning lies in its
ability to do what it has always done, and that is to find interesting and engaging ways of
connecting with consumers.’ The irony of this statement is that it derives from a blog
initiated by Campaign Magazine for industry experts to discuss the future of the planning
discipline. In Cooke’s discussion on the importance of blogging, he first and foremost
makes reference to the statement ‘So you know that blogs are the fastest-growing media
on the planet.’ In an era of increasing discussions regarding media fragmentation,
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blogging has evidently excelled above other media formats, however it should be taken
into account that blogs can also have short lives.
The last two years have seen certain members of the advertising industry heavily debate
the future of the industry and the impact of ‘digital’. Godin (1999) states ‘Technology is
changing the world’s approach to advertising. The Direct Marketing Association no
longer ignores the Web-in fact, they devote whole conferences to it.’ The term ‘digital’
which incorporates far more than websites and online banners has encouraged many
efforts of entrepreneurialism whereby start-ups such as Dare Digital and Glue London,
and even Rivers Run Red (a virtual worlds agency) have developed over the last five
years, dealing solely in digital media. The benefit of the digital age is that it is a cost-
effective medium (no exceedingly high production costs, or media rates) and it can be
measured more effectively than more traditional mediums such as TV or press (through
econometrics software and tracking tools). Young (2007) states ‘the world's got digital
fever and the industry is clamouring to understand and employ digital in its central
marketing efforts.’ Young is a supporter of the statement ‘Traditional Marketing isn’t
working’ and therefore a supporter of Cooke’s view on the importance of blogging.
However, an argument should be put across as to the significance and relevance of
traditional marketing, after all this had led to the development of digital tools and
platforms. Traditional marketing does work; however there is now a need to
communicate through a range of mediums, and therefore use traditional marketing to
drive people online and towards the digital age (improving effectiveness measurements).
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Digital means that marketers can measure who turns on and who turns off, whereas
traditional media only allows measurement of opportunity.
Engagement is quite relevant in the collaboration of traditional marketing tools and new,
digital marketing tools. Young claims ‘It was only a few years ago that the internet was
being written off as an advertising medium as agencies tried desperately to fit old-media
logic into the new-media environment.’ The advertising industry clearly worked on the
basis ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, applying this ethos to media logic that had been
highly successful for years and would continue to be so in the years to come. Perhaps this
approach reflected an age of disruption, whereby agencies were simply trying to speak to
consumers and not establish an engaging communication with consumers. The old media
logic should simply have been capitalised on, shouting at consumers about this new
medium (the internet). Only once consumers then went online, should new media logic
be adopted, encouraging engagement.
Young (2007) does not take into account the idea that traditional marketing was the
grounding for the digital era, which has now led to agencies and marketers investing
capital. Cooke argues ‘This new world is defined by the concept of 'engagement' but this
has not been the strength of market researchers in the past. In the future we had better
learn to engage with the population, and begin to co-create data, so that we can add the
consumer insights that our clients want, or we may become 'blogging irrelevant'.’ The
impact of technology and ‘digital’ has been overwhelming on the age of engagement,
however it is still only one part of a marketing communications development that has
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encouraged change, and therefore it should be used effectively and still approached as a
potential medium, and not a compulsory medium.
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7.0 :- What is the Industry doing?
Peppers (1999) wrote the foreword for Seth Godin’s book entitled ‘Permission
Marketing’ and starts by making one prediction for the future; ‘Sales and marketing
people everywhere will soon be talking about the very commonsense principles of
“Permission Marketing” and how best to put these principles to work for their own
businesses.’ This prediction has quite evidently come into reality within the last five
years, in terms of advertisers investing time and money in SEO. Strauss et al. (2003) state
‘one communication technique unique to the online environment is Search Engine
Optimisation (SEO)… many firms use SEO to be sure their sight is high on the list’.
However, more appropriately the foregrounding principles of permission marketing have
reflected the age of engagement whereby consumers are now more in control of media
than ever before. This prediction was never made by David Ogilvy (1983) in his short
chapter entitled ‘I predict 13 changes’, perhaps because at the time of writing, the
internet was unheard of, let alone known as an advertising tool. It is fair to state that
owing to the current rate of media fragmentation, the future of advertising is hard to
foresee and therefore prepare for.
A more detailed idea on the future of advertising has been developed by Cappo (2003),
who discusses ‘New Media, New Clients, and New Consumers in the Post-Television
Age’. This chapter is an examination of what the industry is currently doing, but it has
become quite apparent that all future predictions are based on the current state of the
industry and therefore are a strong indication as to how the industry is adapting to the age
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of engagement. The most relevant material on what the industry is doing will derive from
primary research which will involve all areas of this paper, but for now a brief synopsis
of the industry at present needs to be established, significant from clear evidence. The
term ‘engagement’ has been used by many authoritative sources within the industry for
years; however the first person to evidently act on the notion of engagement was Jim
Carroll, Chairman of BBH London. Carroll is a leading expert on the area of engagement
owing to his creation of a fourth agency discipline within BBH London, engagement
planning. The new agency model that has been adopted by BBH, illustrated in section 4.0
of this report, incorporates media planning with creative planning and allows for media to
be taken into consideration when devising brand strategy, supporting the work of Elms
(2007). Carroll (2005) identifies 10 principles for the age of engagement, in which he
discusses the key to creating engaging communications. Perhaps one of the most
significant principles that Carroll identifies is to extend across media platforms, stating ‘it
would be foolhardy to suggest that the future has no place for TV. TV is the most
powerful medium invented by man. But certainly TV needs increasingly to be part of an
integrated media strategy that extends across platforms. And not all ideas need start in a
30-second TV script.’ This idea has been acted upon in the overall agency model at BBH,
which in recent years has seen the creation of a ‘ZAG’ a branded content division, and
an in-house digital agency.
Cappo (2005) discusses the need for integration within agencies, which has seen the
return of media planning within larger creative agencies, and the introduction of
communications planning, allowing for integrated solutions to come from under roof.
Cappo states ‘agencies must demonstrate that “Media-Neutral” is more than a pious
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platitude.’ This topic of discussion has arisen throughout this report, through the work of
Elms (2007), the IPA, and the argument for a new model of advertising; however it will
become more apparent through the primary research conducted as to how agencies are
adapting within an era of rapid media fragmentation and desired engagement.
8.0 :- Summary of Literature Review
The Literature Review has initiated a response to the thesis of this paper, and established
a trend of key findings, focusing around the area of media selection. The argument for
change has been evidently supported by many authoritative voices from the
communications industry, perhaps most relevantly from research conducted into both the
growth of digital/technology and the development of the knowledge economy. The
literature indicates that consumers are becoming more sophisticated and therefore
engagement is the key to building successful brand relationships. However, the most
relevant and significant evidence and findings are yet to be established, and so primary
research is the next stage in establishing the advertising industry’s attitude towards the
age of engagement. Although this may now be considered as a dated source, Prue (1998)
discusses models of advertising and illustrates how important it is that the ‘advertiser,
agency, and researcher…are all using the same language and can agree on common
objectives’ a statement which the review has supported. The Literature Review has
allowed for grounding on the topic of engagement to be outlined, therefore acting as a
guideline for the research methodology and next stage of this paper.
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9.0:- Research Methodology
Owing to the nature of the thesis for this paper and the objectives set out, it is evident that
an inductive approach has been adopted in relation to the primary research that will be
conducted. Gill and Johnson (1997) suggest that ‘induction involves moving from the
‘plane’ of observation of the empirical world to the construction of explanations and
theories about what has been observed.’ The right hand side of the experiential learning
cycle developed by Kolb et al. (1979) relates to the area of inductive research, and can be
found below:
This can be supported through the fact that much of the research conducted has been
based on subjective knowledge, whereby interviewees have expressed their views in the
form of a personal understanding of the matters discussed. Sutton (2001) discusses the
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area of ‘Subjective Knowledge’ and states ‘The approach that I am advocating might be
termed the subjective viewpoint. In it, all knowledge and understanding arises out of an
individual's experience, and in that sense is inherently in terms that are private, personal,
and subjective.’ In order to ensure that this report is of an authoritative and respectable
nature, it is important that professional and expert voices were used as means of primary
research. They have a greater understanding of the topics discussed than the general
public; therefore selection is a key factor.
Another key factor of this report that differentiates it from many other academic papers is
that the assistance of questionnaires and focus groups have not been used, as the paper is
a focus on the change in agency structure and not a topic of discussion that the ‘general’
public will have much of an understanding of. Considering that these two research
methods have not been used, it would not be prudent to assess their qualities; however it
would be more beneficial to focus on interview techniques which are more relevant to
this study.
In order to establish a significant idea of what interview technique was most suitable for
the collection of valuable insight for the completion of this report, a pilot study was
conducted. The pilot study took place in August 2007 and therefore was only based on
some information drawn from the literature review. It was put across to two industry
professionals in the form of a face to face interview and a phone interview to assess
which method would be more practical for the main research stage of this paper. In light
of the pilot study conducted, triangulation was used to establish a difference in
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perspective from two professionals sharing similar roles. Jankowicz (2000) states ‘The
rationale for triangulation is expressed well by Kane, who represents archival review,
questionnaires, interviews, and participant observation as potentially overlapping.’
Owing to the diversity of topics within this study, it would not have been practical to
conduct a pilot study involving experts in all of the areas discussed. Jankowicz (2000)
states ‘You’ll need to allow time for the arranging of visits to various information
centres, commercial and academic libraries, and interviews with key informants.’ The
pilot study is not the main focus of this paper and therefore authoritative voices on the
areas discussed should only be approached when a thorough understanding of their topic
is developed. Having stated the difficulty in sourcing authoritative voices, the pilot study
simply acts as a guide to the best interview technique to use, and as a determiner to what
key areas of thought should be examined. The initial pilot study resulted in the face to
face interview technique being chosen for further research, however owing to the nature
and the topic of discussion within the literature review, a blog and Facebook group was
also used to obtain information from certain experts in the industry. The pilot study and
literature review both suggest that blogging is a strong new media tool, and therefore
should be capitalised on throughout the research process of this dissertation. The
transcripts and more information regarding the pilot study can be found in Appendix 2.
Although much of the research and discussion of this report derives from the corporate
strategy in effect at BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) London, this is not a case study on a
specific advertising agency. The introduction of engagement planning at BBH has been
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referred to throughout, however the thesis of this report indicates no specific agency, and
therefore a variety of advertising agencies have been mentioned throughout this report,
and engagement related strategies identified from each. The concept of ‘lateral thinking’
has been applied to this study, Edward de Bono (1971) states that ‘it is not possible to dig
a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper…vertical thinking is digging
the same hole deeper; lateral thinking is trying again elsewhere.’ A selection of agencies
and individuals has been approached for interviews as a means of reducing a vertical
approach and widening the research process.
Brown (2006) suggests ‘There must be a clear logical path from the aims of the research,
to the original concept or model, to the evidence which has been gathered, to the analysis
of that evidence, to the findings.’ In order to provide coherence throughout this
investigation, the original research objectives have been shortened to form chapter
headings and each topic of discussion will be further examined through primary research.
A list of contributors to different chapters has been included below, as a guide to
identifying authoritative voices on all subject areas. The list covers the topics outlined
within the literature review and the proposed chapter headings for primary research (see
Appendix 3), some candidates covering more than one chapter in their information
provided:
Contributors to: What is Engagement?
Tom Morton, Executive Planning Director – TBWA London
Martin Porter, Head of Voice – CBS Outdoor
Andy Cairns, Head of Account Management – TBWA London
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John Wright, Managing Director Toyota and Lexus Europe - Saatchi & Saatchi
Contributors to: Change in Agency Model
David Pattison, CEO – ILG Digital
Charles Faircloth, Head of Account Management – McCann Erickson
John Wright, Managing Director Toyota and Lexus Europe - Saatchi & Saatchi
Contributors to: Change in the Knowledge Economy
Tom Morton, Executive Planning Director – TBWA London
Paul Feldwick, Ex-Worldwide Planning Director – DDB
Andres Claudio, Vice President – Universal McCann Puerto Rico
Contributors to: The Impact of Technology and ‘Digital’
MT Rainey, Founder – Horsesmouth.co.uk, Chairman – TH_NK
Simon Kershaw, Executive Creative Director - TDA
Charles Faircloth, Head of Account Management – McCann Erickson
Jorian Murray – Founder - Dye Holloway Murray
David Pattison, CEO – ILG Digital
Contributors to: The Future of the Industry
Jorian Murray – Founder - Dye Holloway Murray
Andy Cairns, Head of Account Management – TBWA London
David Pattison, CEO – ILG Digital
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The Pilot Study conducted at Saatchi & Saatchi London led to a number of observations
that influenced the design pattern for the primary research stage of this paper. The
interview firstly identified stronger areas of interest from an agency perspective in
relation to engagement, deeming some original areas as irrelevant to the topic and
therefore not worth pursuing in the literature stage of this report. Secondly, it became
apparent throughout the interview that as the questions were quite interlinked, a
discussion occurred more than an answer to the questions, provoking detailed responses
and general thought on the area of engagement. This observation has indicated that it
might be more productive to initiate a general discussion based on the findings from the
literature review rather than asking leading questions. Carson et al. (2001) examines the
role of individuals in focus groups, however many of the observations regarding
‘discussion viewpoints’ can be applied to interview situations also. Carson et al. state
‘Questioning knowledge is better focused on positive critique and reflection through
vigorous and penetrative discussion of core aspects of programmed knowledge
inputs…participants bring their own experiential knowledge to the discussion and it is
important that this is utilized positively.’ The role of discussion is vital in allowing
interviewees to talk about what they deem relevant, and not respond to what might appear
to be a leading question.
Other observations from the study included demand characteristics and confidentiality,
not suggesting that the interviewee was trying to be perceived as different to how they
are, but the answers given and discussion reflected how the agency represented would
tackle the engagement solution. Leary (2004) states 'Demand characteristics are aspects
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of a study that indicate to participants how they should behave. Because many people
want to be good participants who do what the experimenter wishes, their behaviour is
affected by demand characteristics rather than by the independent variable itself.'
Brown (2006) advises that interviewers should ‘Offer confidentiality and anonymity, and
mean it. Do not disclose who your participants are without specific permission to do so.
If they have provided you with information that is personal and/or private, they must be
given genuine assurance that the information will be protected and they will not be
identified as the provider of that information.’ This ethical matter became quite apparent
throughout the pilot study, in that many statements were told ‘off the record’ to protect
clients and therefore it would definitely be considered as important to offer
confidentiality and anonymity. This will be offered to participants once the publication
has been examined and before its distribution to third parties, outside of
Buckinghamshire New University.
The interviews conducted and Facebook Group discussions for the primary research stage
of this paper took place between February and 29th 2008 and April 16th 2008, this deems
all information obtained highly valid in terms of date at the time of submission. All
transcripts and responses however have been removed from the appendices for
confidentiality purposes.
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9.1: - Critique of Methodology
The main methodological approach adopted for this paper worked relatively well and
encouraged in-depth qualitative information. It had been identified in the pilot study that
face to face interviews were the most effective means of collecting information and thus
should be used throughout the primary research process. However, after much
consideration it was decided that research conducted on chapters regarding ‘The
Knowledge Economy’ and ‘The Impact of Technology and Digital’ would benefit
significantly from using online resources.
Considering that one key emergence (identified within the literature review) in an age of
engagement was that of blogging, it was deemed significant and relevant to create a
platform in the form of a blog for authoritative participants to respond to questions
posted. The method acted as a benefit to participants as it meant they could answer
questions at their own convenience and an online discussion could be generated.
However, this method also lacked provocation and the ability to prompt a response from
participants. The blog received no responses, and one participant (Andy Berlin) stated ‘I
tried to answer your questions on your blog site, but after giving an answer to Q 1 I had
to verify a "word" (which wasn't a word but a scramble of letters) then give a "user
name" then assign a password, and that password had to have an html suffix.’ Therefore,
a Facebook group was set up which did in fact receive qualitative responses from 3
participants. One interview of a face to face nature was conducted with MT Rainey for
the chapter regarding ‘The Impact of Digital’, however it was found that much of the
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information obtained for this chapter and ‘The Knowledge Economy’ derived from
interviews on the other chapters within this paper.
The initial methodological approach was successful in practice, with information
collected of an in-depth and authoritative nature. The risk in then changing the research
techniques for the chapters regarding ‘The Impact of Digital’ and ‘The Knowledge
Economy’ proved relatively unsuccessful, however was overcome owing to the success
of the other interviews conducted, and the information obtained from the Facebook
group, which contributed to providing a coherent argument for the thesis of this paper. If
a similar paper was to be written again, or hypothetically speaking if this paper was to be
re-written then it would be most probably be decided that face to face interviews are the
best possible means of obtaining in depth qualitative information. Face to Face interviews
can be a timely process; however they demand an immediate response and encourage a
sense of informality which can lead to interesting points being made. The use of online
resources have great potential if executed effectively and efficiently, however lack
provocation for response and therefore can be timely and ultimately costly to the final
outcome of a research paper.
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Primary Research
10.0: - What is Engagement?
The literature review at the beginning of this paper identifies the difficulty in defining the
term ‘engagement’. It has become quite apparent that ‘engagement’ is a term that has
multiple meanings; dependent on the context in which it has been used. To ensure that a
well-rounded view on the term has therefore been put across throughout the findings of
this paper, both a media and an advertising expert were interviewed to distinguish the key
differences of the term in its meaning within their respective sectors of the
communications industry. One key observation that has been made throughout the
process of this study is that of the heritage of the term ‘engagement’ a process deriving
from an ‘age of interruption’. However, it has become apparent that a naivety exists
amongst certain members of the communications industry that ‘interruption’ and
‘disruption’ are one in the same. This would act as a problem for the likes of TBWA who
preach and philosophise ‘disruption’ on a daily basis. Therefore, it would not be prudent
to continue this paper in a manner that accepts interruption and disruption as the same
process. In fact, Cairns (2008) states “Disruption is actually not a process or a model, in
the broader sense it is a philosophy and it is an ethos.” Cairns then continues to explain
that disruption is not about disrupting people’s lifestyles, but creating change.
In order to identify and pinpoint what engagement is, there is most evidently a need to
distinguish a clear difference between interruption and engagement. Porter (2008) claims
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“Advertising by its very nature is interruptive.” However, this does not necessarily mean
that some advertising is not engaging, due to its very nature reflecting a ‘dated’ process.
The definition debate has been fought strongly by both Martin Porter who has argued for
the media agency and owner, and Tom Morton who has just as significantly represented
the advertising agency. Porter firstly suggests that “There is a fine line between
advertising engagement and media engagement because a lot of the stuff that is
considered engaging: is it just because it is creatively engaging?” This statement
supports the work of Ephron (2006) who claims ‘Media engagement and advertising
engagement are different things.’ In relation to advertising and the creative idea, Porter
says “engagement tends to be entertaining; we don’t want to be bored by stuff.” Morton
states “The engagement model is basically are you interesting enough to catch people’s
attention, rather than are you loud enough to buy yourself into people’s lifestyles.” In
terms of advertising engagement, Porter and Morton have a similar view of what
engagement is; a process that requires entertainment and interesting ideas, however this
does not necessarily mean that their perception of engagement as a communications
process is the same. This debate has somewhat stimulated an altogether bigger issue; is
media more important than creative, or bigger still; whether or not context outweighs
content in terms of engagement?
Porter and Morton both agree that a paradigm shift has occurred, however Morton states
“I think engagement at the moment in our industry is more of a principle; it’s almost
something we try and do practically and distinctively rather than try to re-define the rules
of how brands communicate.” This notion of engagement being a principle that is carried
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out practically and distinctively almost suggests that it has come about through an
evolutionary process, and not just as a ‘new business’ tool or a topic which has purely
been used to signify some sort of development in the communications industry. Morton
understands the need to evolve and for agencies to approach change in a hands on
manner. “It’s that marvellous quote from William Gibson he said ‘the future is already
here - it is just unevenly distributed.’ The classic advertising model was developed for a
past generation of people quite new to being consumers; it comes out of Madison
Avenue.” Morton appreciates engagement and change in the industry as a derivation
from the evolution of the consumer and the impact of new age media. One key
observation made by Porter refers back to the discussion of how Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs has progressed within society, spurring a shift for engagement to be taken into
consideration as part of the communications process. Porter claims “Messages are
becoming more emotive which is partly from the advertising side but has to match the
media. Advertising used to be purely about product claims, whereas now it is about
emotive messages, we are too savvy.” This shift encourages advertisers to focus more on
intangible ideals to allow for consumers to achieve periods of self-actualisation when
making purchase decisions, whereas in a loud and intrusive era of interruption, product
claims were made merely to encourage a sense of security amongst consumers.
Throughout the shift from engagement to interruption, as previously identified, the
conflict between media and advertising agencies has been quite apparent creating a
virtuous circle around the subject of communications planning and what is best for
clients. In preference of the advertising agency in terms of planning and the current state
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of the communications industry as a reflection of media fragmentation, Morton identifies
the drawbacks of the media agency model. Morton says “Media agencies are in a very
difficult situation because we can make suggestions and ideas that live outside paid
media. Even the progressive people such as PHD, they are in a bit of a pickle because
what do you sell if your audiences are spending most of their lives outside of TV.” The
‘growth of digital = death of TV’ mentality amongst certain members of the
communications industry (not that Morton expresses himself) has also encouraged the
creative versus media debate to expand, once more perhaps as a reflection of the
emphasis on engagement in recent years.
Porter expresses “I think we have had to move into an age of engagement, where people
are thinking of easier or better or cleverer ways of targeting people.” Once more, this
statement encourages the notion of engagement being relevant to the topic of media
selection, in the suggestion of targeting people, which gives media agencies great
credibility. Porter claims “Media agencies are not brokering space anymore, they’re
selling an audience.” However, this audience needs to be interested and involved with
communications messages. Morton supports the change in media agencies, and says
“Engagement is about wanting a great quality of viewpoint as opposed to a great
quantity of eyeballs.” Perhaps the work of Elms, who discusses the importance of media
selection as part of her views on ‘the media long tail’, is most significant to the current
state of the industry in relation to engagement. Porter states “I’d like to say that the power
is shifting more towards the media side because media is all about understanding the
audience, consumer insight is king.” The debate on what engagement is will clearly never
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end, nor will it stop producing endless possibilities on how the industry should view the
term. There is clearly a need to take into consideration both media and advertising
perspectives in the process of defining the term, and after much research both of a
secondary and primary research it is quite ironic that the best definition that sums up
engagement as a whole, was identified in the pilot study for this paper with John Wright.
Wright simply said “engagement is speaking to people in a way that they want to be
spoken to at a time that they want to be spoken to.” This definition eliminates the battle
between media and advertising agencies in defining engagement, and illustrates the
importance of both processes.
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11.0: - Change in Agency Model
One fundamental change in the agency model over the last ten years, which was firstly
identified in the pilot study at Saatchi & Saatchi and throughout both interviews at ILG
Digital and McCann Erickson is that of the eradication of sitting in disciplines and the
initiation of sitting in client teams. Wright (2007) said “I think what is fair to say is that
the role of planning and creative need to work much more closely together than they have
done historically and where possible account handling, planning and creative should
work together and that means sit together, work together.” This initial thesis was briefly
explored throughout the literature review, but perhaps overlooked through the emphasis
on the fourth discipline at BBH, engagement planning. When discussing the agency
model in its simplest terms at McCann Erickson, Charles Faircloth states “It is a
conventional model in terms of ‘by department’ but the difference is there is an intention
to bring the people that lead pieces of businesses, the account handling managing
partner, the planning partner, and the creative partner closer together.” This shift has
become quite apparent across the industry as a whole; as agencies are starting to
appreciate that teams no longer work best on different floors, but in client teams where
the collaboration of ideas and strategy benefits the creative process. Cassidy (2008)
identifies discusses this change and how MindShare are restructuring to accommodate the
needs of clients. Cassidy reports ‘The restructure merges 12 agency units into four: a
client leadership group; a content creation unit, and a group created to handle online
and offline trading.’ In terms of the digital space (and media space, given the nature of i-
level’s business) David Pattison states “in terms of the model that we have here, it means
that instead of having lots of separate compartments we have our planner/buyers, our
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search executives and our affiliate executives all sitting in teams working on specific
clients.”
One fundamental area that clearly needs to be addressed within the industry, in order to
encourage stronger agency models is that of talent management. This means ensuring that
talent in agencies is nurtured from an early stage and that employees are exposed to the
creative process as a whole; not just one specific discipline. Pattison identified a key
problem and perhaps a naivety addressing the issue of the creative process, stating “There
was a whole debate in one of the trade’s recently about should creatives be presenting to
clients, of course they should be presenting to clients because how on earth can you
possibly get involved with the engagement process if you are not even engaging in with
the client that you are talking to.” The need for collaboration of agency disciplines is
once more highlighted in the argument put across by Pattison and a shift from rigid
structures and discipline hierarchies should be encouraged if engagement is to be
improved. Faircloth states “I’m a big believer in creatives being involved with every
decision with the client, that’s how Chris MacDonald (CEO) operates.” This statement
opposes the work of King (1969) in his illustration of the evolution of the traditional
agency. King’s description of the three main disciplines (see Chapter 4.0) shows a clear
divide between Account Representatives, Creative, and Account Planning and no
reference has been made to any discipline having contact clients other than Account
Representatives.
Perhaps it would be prudent to create a revised version of the three main disciplines
which would take the form of a Venn diagram, illustrating the overlap of the three
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disciplines as the industry currently stands. One noticeable change within the industry
that addresses the overlap of disciplines now is that of the way agencies now recruit
graduates. Faircloth, in his role as Head of Account Management says “What we have
started to do is to bring in graduates, not to be hired by discipline, but to bring them in
and kind of work out whether they are better aligned to account management or better
aligned to planning.” This supports the work of Sirkin who discusses communications
planning and argues that the traditional model is no longer effective, through training
staff in such a manner that their personalities are almost matched to an appropriate
discipline. It is evident that graduates are able to develop a greater appreciation for the
agency business and how it has changed to allow for greater synergy and integration
amongst disciplines. Throughout the research conducted it has become more and more
obvious that change in the industry has been heavily influenced by risk-takers, and the
agencies that are not prepared to experiment and learn from their mistakes are often those
that miss out on new business. Pattison and ILG Digital signify change for the better and
not just for change’s sake; and illustrate that it is not just agencies that have got to take
risks but also clients. Pattison states “I don’t believe as an industry we lead anything,
what we do is we follow our clients and I think the agencies that do best are the ones that
are listening and then react the quickest.” This had led to the recent boom in start-up
agencies such as Adam and Eve and Dye Holloway Murray who in a sense are defined by
their client’s business.
Meskauskas (2007) illustrates the issue of agency compensation in the communications
industry which provokes change but at a great cost to agencies, he argues ‘Clients are
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demanding more sophisticated services, but they are doing it while insisting on lower
rates of compensation.’ This problem has led to many agencies facing huge problems,
whether to change at a cost and change the traditional model or to remain faithful to the
successful years and work harder to justify cost to clients. Pattison says “Some clients are
terrific in that they are willing to learn from their mistakes, and other clients are pretty
risk averse…clients are prepare to learn with us.” The change in agency model has been
more of an evolutionary process over the last 40 years and the agencies that have done it
successfully have been the ones that have been willing to take risks and break the mould,
which has led to the decline in billings for more traditional agencies with rigid structures
which have struggled to adapt. In relation to what BBH have done as a reflection of
engagement and if whether more agencies will adopt a similar approach, Pattison says “I
mean the creative agencies have been very, very slow to embrace these things and its
maybe because they are structured in a way that it is hard for them to embrace these
things.”
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12.0: - The Change in the Knowledge Economy
John Grant’s observation and discussion of the work/learning/leisure mix may only be
one topic that has influenced an influx of discussion regarding engagement over the last
few years. However the development of the knowledge economy has certainly been a
large factor, and one that questions the effectiveness of other contributors, such as media
fragmentation. When questioning Tom Morton on what he deemed more forceful on
creating hype around engagement between media fragmentation and the development of
the knowledge economy, he suggested that they both come together. Morton states “I
think it’s a really good observation. John Grant talks about the Flynn Effect and the fact
that we are getting cleverer and basically shouting at people is a way of dealing with the
masses. If you look at the psychology of interruption campaigns it is based on Freudian
behavioural psychology.” Morton argues that because of the influx in new media and the
development of the knowledge economy, consumers want more of a story than they have
typically wanted in the past in a quest for strong brands. One key author who Morton
identifies as bringing the two entities together is Steven Johnson, author of ‘Everything
bad is good for you.’ Morton claims “His version of media fragmentation is slightly
different, this is where your point about knowledge economy and media fragmentation
comes together, and he said that in the past entertainment was designed to be consumed
in mass audiences probably once and without thinking about it too much.” Because of the
state of the media landscape thirty years ago, when there were very few commercial
stations, television used to have to have a wide appeal and not be too difficult, and one
key example of this is that of Dallas (the television programme). However, as the media
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landscape has expanded and new channels have developed, there is now a need to reduce
appeal but increase depth. Morton argues “Actually what is happening now is not only is
there fragmentation, but what fragmentation throws up is smaller, more intense
audiences.” Ultimately Morton identifies fragmentation as just another word for diversity
and evolution; this cannot be prevented and should not be challenged.
Claudio (2008) supports the views of Morton in that he recognises the distinct
relationship between media fragmentation and the knowledge economy, suggesting that
the knowledge economy is challenged through media fragmentation. Claudio states
‘Today's society lives under millions of fragmented messages in all kind of media vehicles
or connection points. Therefore we could say that the knowledge economy is in constant
challenge.’ Claudio offers a culturally alternative perspective, from his position as Vice
President at Universal McCann Puerto Rico, encouraging the notion that the need to
engage with consumers and appreciate the development of the knowledge economy and
the impact of media fragmentation should be taken into consideration on a global basis,
not just in the UK. This finding also reflects the work of Namiranian (2006) discussed
within the literature review. Namiranian focused on brand and media engagement
amongst teenagers in emerging markets, a report which ‘demonstrates how market
researchers empower companies to shape future strategies for innovation and growth.’
The paper indicated a change in media consumption amongst teenagers in China, Russia,
Brazil and Mexico and suggested a high influx in engaging media. Not only does
Namiranian’s work support the growth of the knowledge economy but also identifies the
apparent link between this growth and media fragmentation.
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Perhaps as a result of the nature of his ex-global role at DDB, Paul Feldwick also gives a
culturally neutral perspective on the changing media landscape. Feldwick (2008) states
‘There's a common fallacy that the growth of new media (principally meaning the
internet) has changed the amount and the way people use existing media. There's no
evidence I know of that this is true, except in very functional ways like they probably
don't read Exchange and Mart so much any more.’ This comment identifies a naivety
that exists amongst the communications industry relating to the impact of media
fragmentation on traditional media. It has become quite apparent that a minority of
industry professionals discuss the growth of digital and new media in a way that creates a
seesaw effect, creating a decline in traditional media. Media fragmentation simply allows
people to change their media diet, and consume media in different ways; this may mean
for example that although someone is messaging a friend online they may also be
watching television at the same time. The development of the knowledge economy
allows people to use new media and alter their media diets; it does not however disregard
traditional media in an era of engagement.
As a consequence of media fragmentation, traditional media (although in context will
remain the same) has to develop and engage more in terms of content. The over-hanging
context versus content debate slightly favours the latter in relation to the knowledge
economy, encouraging content providers to improve levels of intensity. The increasing
discussions surrounding communications tools such as semiotics also exist as a potential
reflection of the impact of the knowledge economy on the communications industry. In
relation to the work of Valentine and Gordon, discussed in the Literature Review of this
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paper, semiotics is a development in the marketing communications industry that can
encourages consumers to relate to brand values through basic symbols. Feldwick (2008)
suggests ‘On the plus side, 'semiotics' has been one strategy for legitimising discussion of
symbolism, metaphor, and non-verbal communication generally in an organisational
environment increasingly dominated by verbal, rational discourse.’ Feldwick’s
perception of semiotics encourages the notion that it allows brands to communicate
effectively and almost instantaneously in an era of mass media messages. However,
Feldwick also argues that semiotics misses the point of advertising stating ‘analog
communication is fundamentally not about meanings, but relationships.’ It can therefore
be suggested that although the development of the knowledge economy has provoked
advertisers to stimulate the minds of consumers, relationships also need to be established.
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13.0: - The impact of Technology and ‘Digital’
Perhaps the foremost example of the impact that digital has had on the ‘age of
engagement’ is reflected through the nature of some of the research conducted for this
chapter and the previous one, through the form of a blog and through a group created on
Facebook. The literature review clearly identified the growth of the World Wide Web as
having a huge impact on the advertising industry; however it would be more prudent to
explore this growth from the perspective of the industry. Much of this topic has been
discussed with MT Rainey, who is a strong case to indicate which direction the industry
is heading. Rainey, who founded a top 10 UK Advertising Agency in the 1990’s, is now
CEO of a social networking site and Chairman of a fast growing digital advertising
agency. Rainey states “I think now we have a different balance of engagement and
interruption. Engagement has always been important in the interruption world, in a
world of passive media consumption (which we are not in anymore). But now
engagement is probably more important than it has ever been.” As stated in the literature
review, the growth of digital and the World Wide Web has had a huge impact on the
economy, and more recently on the television industry. Phillipson (2007) indicated year
on year growth of around 40% for UK internet advertising, and in one recent article on
the BBC news website it became quite evident how online services are generating greater
advertising revenues than television stations. Cellan-Jones (2008) states ‘Last year, ITV's
net advertising revenue was £1.5 billion. So, even if you just multiply Google's earnings
by four and assume no further growth this year, Britain's biggest commercial television
business - the original "licence to print money" - is about to be overtaken by an American
upstart which only arrived in the UK in 2001.’ Rainey supports the growth of digital,
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considering that televisions are even becoming digitalised now, stating “I think the
boundaries are definitely blurring. Ultimately it will all soon be digital.”
One interesting observation made by Kershaw (2008) is that depending on the line of
business people are in, perceptions will change surrounding the growth of digital and
development of new technologies. Kershaw states ‘throughout the history of advertising,
a new medium or new social trend or new technology tends to provoke one of two
responses: (a) A sceptical "this won't really change anything” or (b) “OMG, this
changes everything!”’. These two opposing views quite apparently exist within the
advertising industry, and as Kershaw so confidently points out “Clearly, the nature of the
response is often determined by the vested interest of the individual and/or company
involved.” Rainey (perhaps from a vested interest) argues “how we are able to consume
content, interact with brands, consume news; all of that has been transformed by digital
and therefore we have a different model of receiving commercial information.” This
suggests that perhaps Kershaw’s reference to a new medium/social trend/ or new
technology cannot be applied to the growth of digital. In support of Rainey, Pattison
would argue (again perhaps from having a vested interest) “online is 2 or 3 things, yes it
is a medium, but it is also commerce, and its about peoples day to day lives and I don’t
think that you could say that about any other media.” Online cannot therefore be ignored
or be taken for granted, and agencies must understand that the digital space is key to
improving levels of engagement and should accommodate change.
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One key change and trend that has occurred within the advertising industry, but not as an
act of agencies specifically, is that of blogging, identified within the literature review.
Cooke (2006) identifies the importance of blogging, and it has most certainly been a tool
which planners have used obsessively in a period of required engagement. Rainey
discusses the growth of the planning blogosphere but also re-iterates the benefit of using
online as an alternative research tool. Rainey states “Online allows the planner to be
more invisible in the process, but it is observational research it is not the type of research
that is constructed to be highly valid.” With regards to agency attitudes towards the
growth of digital and change in agency models Charles Faircloth identified digital as a
discipline that has grown as a reflection of engagement, stating “obviously digital is an
area that is the main provider of that sort of thing and certainly people short-hand
‘digital’ as the solution, but I don’t think it is the ultimate solution, I think it is one
solution.” The mindset of Faircloth is shared by many in the communications industry,
but as previously mentioned with regards to media fragmentation, a naivety exists that
digital is the ‘only’ option for certain brands and forward facing strategy. Murray says
“So the new media zealots are saying passive media is dead, so TV is dead, and they are
saying that you have got to use interactive media. I think all that is a load of bull, I think
what agencies need to do to engage is about the thinking, rather than being obsessed by
one channel over another channel.” Murray’s media neutral approach to communications
eradicates the ‘digital-bias’ attitude adopted by some of the industry’s professionals, and
once more supports media fragmentation as creating a change in the mix of media
consumption and not a decline in traditional mediums. Rainey says “I think digital
consumption of information is fact of life, I don’t think it is a technique.” It has become
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quite apparent that the impact of digital has been highly significant to the current and
future state of the economy and advertising industry, however this does not mean that
traditional media should not be considered and as Rainey emphasises “the smarter
agencies are putting the consumer (or what digital agencies call the user) at the heart of
their offering.”
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14.0: - What is the industry doing?
Murray (2008) gives a strong indication as to what way he expects the industry is going,
in relation to the nature and age of his business. Murray spent most of his working life at
DDB London; therefore the structure of his start-up agency would surely be a reflection
of how he views the industry and what is required from a new agency. In contrast to the
perspective Murray offers this paper, Andy Cairns prior to returning to TBWA London
spent a significant number of years working at Taxi in New York, encouraging a
culturally influenced opinion of what the industry is doing in the UK, almost as a
comparison to the models which exist in America. Murray and Cairns share a similar
viewpoint on the industry’s response to engagement, both of whom suggest that the
industry tries too hard to fight change and adapt. Cairns says “I think what’s needed from
the industry is for the most part; they need to stop trying to fight that shift.” Cairns
explains that although it is easier said than done this has actually been the case in the
industry; too many agencies talk about change but find it difficult to enforce it, this
encourages clients to seek specialists such as PR and digital agencies over traditional
advertising agencies. Murray shares a similar view in that he feels agencies need to
change the way they approach media and strategy, stating “My beef is that the industry
talks too often about channel and how they are going to force messages through different
channels and how they are going to force people to engage with different channel.” Both
of the views shared by Murray and Cairns almost suggest that large agencies are under
threat with the industry as they are not as open to change as small, independent agencies.
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As a past IPA President, David Pattison was often exposed to the problem of change
within the UK advertising industry, and understands the need for agencies to evolve and
adapt according to client’s needs, should they wish to survive. Pattison states “One of the
things that I found when I was at the IPA was that there is a world outside of the top 15
creative agencies and the top 10 media companies and there are some really smart
businesses out there that are doing really good business. So I read in the trade press
every week that our industry isn’t moving fast enough, it is but it’s not in the top 15
creative agencies or the top 10 media agencies.” As previously mentioned the recent
boom in start-ups has given clients an alternative option to traditional advertising
solutions, which seems to have taken credibility away from large agencies. Wright (2007)
states “If you look back over the last 5 to 7 years there has been a definite trend towards
smaller, independent agencies and I think that is exactly what it is – I think it is a trend.
All clients like to feel as though they have a group of people in an agency who are all
over their business and from that point of view I guess smaller agencies are better.” It
appears that not only are smaller agencies more reliant on clients’ business and therefore
closer and more involved than larger agencies may appear to be, but also they are in a
position to challenge the conventional models and disciplines executed by traditional
agencies and physically illustrate change.
DHM (Dye Holloway Murray) discuss the term ‘organising ideas’ as opposed to the ‘big
idea’ philosophy practiced by many of the advertising industry’s largest agencies. Murray
says “the reason we call them ‘organising ideas’ as opposed to the ‘big idea’ is that we
feel that we should deliver to clients communications platforms/ideas/messages that they
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can use in all parts of their business as opposed to developing an ad idea that works in
advertising.” Murray justifies the new model in practice at DHM through his experience
of the old model whereby advertisers ask consumers what they want from a brand and
then present the brand in a certain manner, Murray suggests “we don’t think that is
relevant anymore because consumers are too sophisticated.” DHM identify truths behind
brands and then celebrate that truth through a variety of platforms (non-bias) to ensure
that consumers are not simply overloaded with unwelcome messages but are challenged
to appreciate brand character. Cairns is also big on agency philosophy and believes that
the best agencies are the ones that apply their way of thinking at the beginning of the
creative process and not just in the case study following a campaign. In relation to the
disruption philosophy at TBWA as opposed to the philosophy in practice at Taxi (his
former agency), Cairns says “I think that in terms of delivering engagement it can always
be more effective. I think it’s wonderful as a new business tool but I’d like to see it used
more effectively across every corner.” Although the research conducted suggests that
larger agencies struggle to change, TBWA appears to defy this law; principally through
the very nature of the philosophy at the core of the agency. The disruption model
embraces change and encourages engagement, however it also acts a clear indication that
agencies need to follow a specified way of thinking that allows for change in order to
survive.
In response to the engagement planning discipline at BBH, Murray does not think that
engagement planning should be viewed as a fourth discipline; “what we need to be doing
from day one is ensuring that everything we do engages. You do it automatically.” There
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has been much hype around the term ‘engagement’ and perhaps that is why BBH have
chosen to capitalise on the term in an attempt to create added value, however it appears
that most agencies view it is as a natural element of successful strategy. Cairns states
“The discussion of the age of engagement vs. the age of interruption has been around for
a while. So, engagement I think should be in all the work I do, I think the battleground
has shifted to the how.” Another key instance of change in the advertising industry is that
of media fragmentation (as discussed with relation to the impact of digital). Murray “I
think media neutrality is important but you’ve got to have an idea that permeates through
all of the company’s behaviour not just one channel.” Many agencies have struggled to
adopt a media neutral reputation, based on their loyalty to in-house media production
units and media planning facilities. However, media neutrality is clearly an issue that the
industry is trying to address and encourage. Cairns says “I think it should have always
been important because otherwise you are always getting to the solution before the
problem.”
The industry is experimenting in many ways to find ‘the new model agency’ however it
appears this model changes on a weekly basis, and to find a perfect model will be
difficult in an industry of quick change and rapid fragmentation. Many agencies are
adapting the old model to try and attract clients and illustrate greater ROI; however the
stronger agencies seem to be those who embrace change on a daily basis as part of their
philosophy. Cairns states “I think at the moment in marketing and communications to
stand still is to die, so many people are changing and doing clever things.” The industry
is clearly approaching issues such as recruitment and agency models as a means to
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