As people become the creators, owners and distributors of content, and new media zooms past traditional media, the trick is to be a part of this sharing process. After all, there exists only six degrees of separation! That?s what Lucy Jameson, executive strategy director of DDB UK, believes will be the key to successful communication in the long run. She chairs DDB?s global planning futures group and is the youngest ever member of the agency?s global executive committee. Jameson, who has been with DDB for a decade and a half, was in India recently. She spoke to FE?s Rahul Sharma on the trends in the international ad industry and changing client expectations. Edited excerpts.
How has the relationship with Mudra Communications evolved?
At DDB, we are certainly learning a lot from Mudra, and Mudra is learning a lot from DDB?s international experience. We have more shared global clients and more contact than before. My visit to share the new global positioning for DDB?social creativity and our new planning tool-kit ?is another example of how we can build a stronger relationship.
Mudra has been developing as a ?total communications? agency rather than just an advertising agency and that?s very much our approach all around the world, so there?s real synergy in terms of our vision and plans for growth. I think we can probably learn from Mudra in the way it operates its face-to-face network, Mudra Max?s experiential approach and how it copes with the diversity and scale of the Indian market. We are very happy with our relationship with Mudra and have no plans to set up an independent agency here.
What are the changes in client behaviour and expectations that the financial crisis has initiated?
Most of our clients are looking to get more for less. That means finding more efficient ways of working? for example, outsourcing our production to our new company Gutenberg Networks to provide better value for our clients. I think we can expect to see this trend towards outsourced production (digital and print) accelerating over the next few years. We are also talking about the need for a shift from 360-degree communications to one of 6-degree communications. It?s no longer cost-effective trying to surround consumers with advertising. It?s not only expensive, it?s pretty irritating. Instead, if people are the most important medium, then it?s far more effective to give people content they really want and let them spread it through their 6 degrees (i.e., through their social networks on and offline). So, we are talking to our clients about spending a little bit more on creating really compelling content with ?share value? and spending less on paid for media, because we will generate more in free or ?earned? media.
Finally, we think clients will continue to put a greater focus on accountability. Perhaps, we will see an increase in investment in things like data and econometrics.
What are the new trends in advertising, media and marketing globally?
First, some of the key trends over the next few years are going to be the growth of mobile internet, the growth of real time, the growth of geo-utility driven by GPS (so we?ll start seeing far more location based services ? such as Foursquare or brands/retailers tailoring content, offers, etc., by location), and the growth of behavioural targeting. There will inevitably be issues around privacy too.
Second, with the explosion of digital, also comes an explosion of data. ?Data exhaust? ? the trail of clicks that internet users leave behind from which value can be extracted ? is becoming a mainstay of the internet economy and will become increasingly important to marketers around the world.
In addition, I believe there needs to be a shift from traditional ?account planning? to what we call ?behaviour planning?. There should be a move towards adopting new learning from behavioural economics, neuroscience and network science in order to help us and our clients inspire people to change their behaviour (rather than just their attitudes). There?s a huge opportunity for agencies to regain a sense of expertise and authority amongst clients, by demonstrating that we really do understand why people behave how they do. That?s why, in September, we are launching something called DDB Brain Lab. It?s an innovative partnership with the neuroscience and psychology department of Goldsmiths University (recently voted the coolest university in the UK) where we will be employing a ?scientist in residence? to help us understand people and their behaviour better.
What are the trends you see emerging in the Indian advertising industry?
I?m sure that we?ll see a greater expansion in digital, mobile, social and data as we have across the rest of the world. It will be interesting to see how agencies in India react to that and whether the big agency networks are forward looking enough to capitalise on that rather than allowing a rash of specialist agencies to develop at any scale. I find it interesting that start-ups in India don?t seem to be able to compete with the big agencies like JWT, Ogilvy or Mudra in the same way as start-ups in the UK or US do.
Do you see a lot of interactive work in digital marketing being outsourced to India in the near future?
Digital marketing is going from strength to strength all around the world. I think that will happen in India too. However, increasingly, clients expect their agency to produce work that is digital centric, not just using digital channels as an add-on. I can see more digital production work being outsourced to India.
Looking at India?s performance at Cannes this year, do you see a disconnect between the work done internationally and that in India?
I think that the biggest area of interest at Cannes is now the cyber and titanium lions. So, that probably does play against India at the moment. Over the last few years we?ve also seen the growth of really visual campaigns (such as Sony Bravia balls) triumphing at international awards like Cannes, as they can travel across borders and cultures more easily. More verbal and culturally specific campaigns (from any country) tend to do less well at international awards shows, no matter how effective they are locally.