Fishburn Hedges

10.01.2011

Well, Happy New Year.  If you managed to grab two weeks of uninterrupted rest recently (we predictably didn’t), then good for you as I think we’re going to need it.  For anyone who thought 2010 was fast and disorderly enough, then 2011’s about to get even faster and more challenging.

That was the message coming across loud and clear from an Omnicom event I got along to in the closing stages of 2010, where we heard a take on the coming year from senior bods at Twitter, Facebook and Google, not to mention ever-wise words from The Economist.

Talk of more change and new developments impacting directly on our communications world were in abundance.  Some of it was geographic (focusing on N-11 emerging markets beyond BRICs), others environmental (growing interest/concern around non-carbon resources), but many related to changes in technology and communication -although, to be fair, that was the point of the exercise.

So, if near-field communication is your thing (think phones as Oyster cards) or game dynamics in social media (think FourSquare), then you’ll be in the right place.  A number of common themes emerged, centring around an imperative on linking the digital world with the offline world – ideas and campaigns that work across all media, not just “social” or just “traditional”.  Media is just media in 2011.  And where old marketing and communication sometimes relied on just being loud, rewards in the new world are less about being loud and more about being good.  So, ideas that engage rather than just broadcast, as we’ve been saying for the best part of 2010 and before.  Then, critically, there is the need to be honest.  Always true but never more so than today.

The sit up and take notice moment, as ever, came from the clients, mainly global marketing directors in this case.  Pretty much every one of them talked about the drumbeat of integration having got louder and clients becoming more agnostic about who owns which core skill.  Fewer people want separate plans or even to hear about differences in “owned, earned and bought media”.  Clients are simply looking for “engagement plans”.  In one place, not all over the place.  That argues for greater integration and collaboration.  Critically, they also want them measured, and devising sensible metrics for this new world is a real priority.

So what about agencies like us?  Well, according to the clients, those who win will change and adapt their core offers (not simply add on new profit centres).  And agencies need to get to grips with this new world faster than their clients.  But we also need to explore, try new things and, yes, get a few things wrong but move on to the right ones pretty quickly.

Those who know us well will know we’ve been talking about this stuff for a while, here, here and here.  But it’s the emphasis on experimentation which has led us to launch FH Beta recently, our new innovation unit where we experiment, challenge and ultimately pass or fail new ideas in reputation management and communication.  We’re currently looking at areas such as hyperlocal media, location-based services, the “friend layer” and new approaches in measurement, evaluation and research in a world where Facebook claims polling capabilities comparable to major research houses.  We’ll keep you updated but you can take a look here.

Have a great 2011 and, above all, enjoy the ride.