Innovation the ticket to multiplatform level

10 December 2009 | By Steve Hemsley

Mock charity donation boxes in solicitors’ offices that spit money back out and IKEA getting people to “tag” furniture in Facebook photos are just two examples of how integrated marketing campaigns are innovating into new areas. While many companies have claimed for years to be using multimedia techniques, marketers now appear to have become more proactive and sophisticated about integrating their media initiatives.

When Remember a Charity was asking agencies to pitch for its £4m account that centred around a recent campaign asking people to leave money to charity when they die, the not-for-profit organisation set its sights on taking an innovative approach with its types of media to ensure it reached enough people.

With TNS figures suggesting that just 7% of people leave money to charity in their wills, the agency Touch DDB decided to use a campaign centred on the universal concept of comedy to take the idea across a variety of platforms.

The Remember a Charity campaign ended up using press, online and radio advertising that aimed to bring humour to that sombre occasion of the reading of the will. Yet it was the ambient element that was particularly innovative, with branded mock donation boxes placed in solicitors’ offices. When money was inserted, the box spewed it back out with the message: “We don’t want your money now, we want you to make a legacy donation instead.”

Stephen George, development director at the NSPCC, says the campaign had to be innovative to create social change. “We are trying to alter
people’s behaviour and you cannot rely on any one medium to achieve that,” he says.

IKEA also took a new approach to integrating its media when it used a Facebook campaign to support its usual TV spots. The initiative involved
creating a profile for a Swedish IKEA manager, Gordon Gustavsson. Photos of furniture showrooms were then added to his profile.

Consumers were then asked to “tag” themselves (the Facebook method of indicating your appearance in a photo) on items of furniture. To encourage consumers to take part in the initiative, IKEA gave away each item to the first person who tagged it. The demand grew with consumers requesting more photos and actively promoting the competition to their friends.

As a result of the public’s appetite for Facebook, people also signed up for other IKEA marketing materials, such as online catalogues. Charlie Mawer, executive creative director at Red Bee Media, which recently put together the UKTV campaign to promote the new series of Red Dwarf, says that he is happy to see integrated marketing being innovative. He is glad to see the back of what he calls the “matching-luggage approach” to integrated marketing.

“The old method - where everything looks the same in whatever channel - has allowed some brand managers to tick the ‘integrated’ box,” says Mawer. “The trend now is to come up with creative ideas that can extend and that feel appropriate and forceful in each channel.”

The Red Dwarf campaign centred on digital word of mouth and included blog entries, but there were also columns and listings in the national press alongside a launch-day event.

Mawer adds that campaigns like this only work if brands know how to build partnerships not only with ad agencies but a wide selection of potential partners, including production companies, rights negotiators and metadata experts.

Not that the relationship between a client and its main ad agency should be on the backburner in creating integrated campaigns. A close relationship between the two can help to spark innovation. For example, the CEO of agency Adrenalin, Claire Nicholson, has taken on a two-day-a-week role as marketing director of GIVe, George Davies’ new high-street fashion venture.

This arrangement has led to the development of some creative concepts for GIVe. These include in-store tailors and style advisers alongside interactive kiosks in which customers can see the sizes available in stock to select and buy items.

While Nicholson is introducing innovations across multiple channels for GIVe, many marketers are still struggling with some of the newer socialoutlets where brands can play a part.

Abi Clowes, marketing manager at email marketing company Pure360, says marketers need the confidence to add a “share” button so people are prompted to upload brand-related content onto social sites.

“People will post parts of content they like and elements that interest them so clients should not post information that needs to be tightly controlled,” says Clowes. “By sharing your messages or recommending you, recipients are personally referring your offer or social group to
multiple contacts.”

Camera brand Nikon has been innovating in this area. Last month, it launched the Nikon Festival, asking amateur filmmakers to upload 140-second short-form videos with the theme “a day through your lens” to Nikonfestival.com. The competition allows consumers to follow the activity on Twitter as well as the official website and win up to $100,000 (£60,000) as well as Nikon equipment.

But Mike Cavers, executive creative director at The Marketing Store, warns that the digital innovations now possible as part of integrated campaigns may make it harder for brands to stand out, especially those not fully up to speed with how consumers are acting these days.

He says: “Consumers are in charge and an integrated campaign must take this on board. Many consumers visit an online store before going to the high street and many do not actually see a TV ad but find a brand through search.”

Paul Simons, chairman at full-service agency Truly London, adds that it is important to ensure any integrated innovations are fit for purpose.

“When this is clear, the role for each channel becomes more precise,” he says. “If the sales point is a website then the role of TV might shift from building brand values and awareness to driving people online, where the website takes on the traditional job of the TV ad.”

Truly London worked on a £2m brand awareness campaign for business-to-business ecommerce site Alibaba.com in August 2009. The activity included TV, posters, national and business press, microsites and advertising to support various PR initiatives.

Alibaba digital marketing manager James Newman says the objective was to make sure everything drove traffic to the website. “A sizeable amount of the marketing budget was spent achieving this,” he says. “TV, press and outdoor raised awareness and the digital activity converted this into business.”

Ian Millner, chief executive of integrated agency Iris Worldwide, says that one of the biggest innovations in integrated marketing is the level of credibility it now receives with brands.

“Integration has been around for a long time but has lacked credibility with some clients because it can be hard to demonstrate the added value,” says Millner. “Campaigns that are valuable in the real world to real people are talked about the most and have a momentum of their own. These campaigns are deeper and integrated into the audience’s lifestyle.”

He cites the example of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ integrated campaign, which has used digital, PR, experiential and retail activity. Anna Ling, communications manager for VW Commercial Vehicles, says the link between old and new media must be seamless as well as innovative.

“A brand has specific objectives and because technology moves so quickly, we are always looking at new ideas,” she says.

“We are currently exploring how important texting is to our audience and what value it will have as a response mechanism. We could
certainly use SMS in future integrated campaigns as long as the messages sent are not seen as intrusive.”

But whether integrated marketing innovation means a whole new style of campaign, such as the IKEA Facebook initiative, or simply innovating on how you market better across multiple channels, it is clear that brands must become more proactive about how to make their operations truly integrated. Paying lipservice to the concept will no longer do.