Have a look at Tess Alps' "Plouffe of effectiveness” on Brand Republic. Maybe it’s the heat, she begins, “but some recent commentary has got a bit carried away when interpreting what certain wins at Cannes portend for TV. The successes of the fantastic Obama campaign and Tribal DDB’s brilliant ‘Carousel’ - an online film for Philips TVs – have got some a little over-excited. There is a small but noisy contingent desperate to prolong a TV versus internet polemic; so when what is effectively an online TV ad wins at Cannes they absurdly pronounce the death of TV advertising, much as they announced that online advertising can’t be working when Google started using TV to promote Chrome.”

In the UK, Alps, the CEO of Thinkbox, is in the business of marketing the TV industry regardless of the screen it inhabits, be it large or tiny, internet or cable and she frames the TV vs Internet discussion dead on, dispensing with polemics and agreeing with what Barack Obama campaign strategist David Plouffe said in Cannes: In terms of media, this is not a case of “either or.” There‘s a need for both in any successful campaign. Just as there is a need for authenticity and innovation on the part of any brand if it’s to succeed.

Personally, I am looking forward to the day when everything is all in one box and we can dispense with this discussion for good. When, who knows, maybe even film and cyber blend into one awards category.


Pat Sloan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Director of Public Affairs

Posted on July 2, 2009 8:14 PM | Permalink

A brand represents the relationship between a company and a consumer. And any solid relationship requires trust to allow it to begin, mature and grow. Of course, this is nothing new. Hollow brands or those that over promise and under-deliver are found out and will suffer economic consequences. The difference now is the speed in which this is happening. Social media, technology, proliferation of sources and other factors mean we have more information than ever before. And this brings a certain risk, as T.S. Eliot pointed out when she said, “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

At one point in the last couple of years, blogs were materializing at an incredible rate. Now they have slowed and readers are favoring blogs that are credible and valuable. The same will happen with Twitter. This brings to mind Facebook – how many friends does the average person have? Or more importantly, how many do we actually follow with interest and regularity. The fact is, we humans treasure belonging to different groups but at the end of the day we only really trust a small group of friends and influencers. Why? Because we really know them. We have come to rely on them and they on us. They are authentic, believable, reliable and share our values.

This is certainly supported by recent research by Nielsen based on a survey of 25,000 people online. “Recommendations from people known” is by far the most trusted form of advertising. Decades ago Bill Bernbach said, “Word of mouth is the best medium of all”. True then, truer it seems today.

Jeff Swystun, Chief Communications Officer, DDB Worldwide

Posted on July 9, 2009 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

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