Agencies take note: Hispanic Cutting Edge Creative
Best way to kick off a discussion about cutting edge creative? Play YouTube’s “dramatic chipmunk” clip--which is exactly what Luis Miguel Messianu, Chief Creative Officer with Alma DDB did to prove his point that content is everything and the modern audience is like nothing we’ve seen (or been part of?) before.
There’s huge focus in all of the workshops at ad:tech Miami on convincing agencies and clients that digital media is the way to go. Of course, the Cutting Edge Creative: Hispanic seminar was no exception. After playing the chipmunk clip, Luis explained its popularity with a consumer term I haven’t heard before but was thrilled to learn about: Swarm Behaviour.
Forget herd mentality--the idea that viewers are passively ingesting content we force in front of their eyeballs. Swarm is the new behaviour of consumption, with consumers flocking to the places where brands engage them. If you want your brand to be successful, it’s got to be influential and interactive. Otherwise no one is going to swarm over to you.
At the same time, it’s all about a never-ending dialogue. Gustavo Garc√≠a, Executive Creative Director at Media 8 Digital Marketing emphasized that this 24-hour media landscape means it’s the end of an era for 30-second spots with a beginning, middle and end narrative. Keep the lines of communication open by creating creative that gives consumers some control. Because when it comes down to it, no matter what you do consumers are going to control your brand--so at least give them something they’ll like.
So what’s the agency to do? Consider the new model proposed by Gustavo for the Creative Department of the digital era.
Creative Strategist - coming up with ideas, the big picture
Online Copywriter - must be bilingual!
Visual Designer - making it aesthetically pleasing
Implementation Designer - making sure your big ideas, copy and visuals come together
Technologist - working the backend of your big ideas
Content Producer - developing video and online content
The Consumer - that’s right, they’re included as they now control how others see your brand
Andr√©s Fernandez, Creative Supervisor, Integrated Marketing with Zubi Advertising had some great tips about what is and isn’t cutting edge creative.
But first thing first--before you assume that the audience isn’t listening, it’s important to note: they’re just getting better at tuning out anything that doesn’t interest them. Keep that in mind when planning your next big strategy.
Cutting edge creative should be fun to work on, and get the whole agency excited. At the same time, if you’ve done something cutting edge, try it again but don’t expect it to have the same impact. Best line of the workshop: “If your account executive wants you to do it again, it’s not cutting edge, it’s ‘learning from and improving on past executions’.”
And what about cutting edge creative metrics? Isn’t that what every suit really wants to know anyway? Andr√©s suggested that your metrics can be as creative as the creative itself (whew, that’s a mouthful!) as long as you get the client on board before the project really gets under way and explain the limitations of the new project.
