Nice words about the Web 2.0 Research
Charlie Hoult sends me an email after I publish the Web 2.0 research
Thanks for this.
The report is a very accomplished piece of work - only lacking a quote from me.
And so here’s what he wrote about it on the Brand Karate blog
But because it’s password protected, I’ll reproduce the whole text below. Shame that some great bloggers are hidden from the world they need to be capturing as an audience by only being hosted on one media site that’ password protected.
Life 2.0
by Charlie Hoult 25-May-07
Despite the deluge on Web 2.0, not enough has been written…
During the dot.com boom, there was a catchphrase: ‘The Internet Changes Everything’. The hype surrounding this did not do anyone any favours. But, after the hangover, it might just be true.
People say to me that packaging is internet-proof because you still need to buy stuff off shelves and the internet won’t change the fact you need groceries in the cupboards.
But, actually, with the rise of online retail, even pack design is changing. If your ready-meal doesn’t look good as a 3cm Ocado thumbnail, then sales may suffer.
Where’s it all going to end?
Well, where’s it all going to start? A study, that I received today, has researched the traction that Web 2.0 has with creative agencies. These guys could be pinpointed as the factory for ideas that will influence the way brands get pushed.
Coming from ‘agency-land’, I try to avoid looking like I’m pumping self-serving agency opinion - to ensure that my blogatorial integrity and thought leadership remains intact.
On this occasion, I think it’s fair comment - particularly as Rebecca Caroe’s survey puts creative agencies behind the general McKinsey trend on Web 2.0
http://caroe.typepad.com/rebecca_caroe/2007/05/how_agencies_ar.html
The report is a great run-down of opinion, only lacking mine because I was too busy to write in the text boxes of her survey.
The only issue I would dispute is the methodology of the survey which has implied that people who weren’t sure of the future are perceived to be dithering behind commiting - at the same time as most being sure the financial model isn’t there.
As a businessman, I think, therefore, that it’s better to follow fast when the model is worked, rather than commit business investment to something more speculative.
And, yes, I think something huge is happening with marketing 2.0. The whole challenge for brands, in a Web 2.0 world, is how to participate in peer-to-peer dialogues, rather than disrupt and interrupt on behalf of your product.
As per my previous blog, it doesn’t surprise me that some agency folk haven’t got here yet. It’s a shifting mirage of future. And, every day brings a new dawn of interesting ideas that crack bits of the jigsaw…
Most ad agencies, if you read the abstracts from the Cannes Festival coming up, are a bit ‘rabbit in the headlights’ about Web 2.0… there’s plenty of melodramatic chatter about ‘oh, gosh, it’s all going to change’.
I think the answer is about keeping to one’s core values, but being able to apply flexibility to how they are played out in the future.
The only certainty is to keep experimenting. Here endeth the blog…
1 Comment
Posted by Rebecca Caroe 25/05/2007
Thanks for the endosement, Charlie
What I think many agencies have failed to grasp is that this is for THEM (not just for clients).
And it applies whether you are a OTL or integrated or PR or digital.
The real change that is coming is to the way we structure and run our agencies. It is a new business model.
I am hosting an event Breakfast Wednesday 30th May at Piccollino, Heddon Street W1 where I’ve booked Adriana Cronin-Lukas to speak on the implications for creative agencies.
She is an A-list blogger and has been in social media from day one. I know she will challenge assumptions, widen horizons and be controvertial. Hey, you might even have some new ideas for developing your business.
Details here
http://caroe.typepad.com/rebecca_caroe/2007/05/save_the_date_c.html
Contact me for an invitation.
rebecca@caroe.com
Best
Rebecca
May 30th, 2007 at 6:13 am
Well done Rebecca on the report. Read through the Campaign 300 and visit each agency website. They are museum pieces from a bygone era. Website are not broadcasts or stages, they are 2.0 meeting places. Much change in approach required. Well done for raising the issue so well. Mark
May 30th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Mark
Thanks for the comment. And your observation is spot on. More, though, is the entrenched attitude supported by the print media for the sector, viz, Campaign. I tried to talk to their journalists about this and was so rudely treated that I rather think I can hear death knells chiming across Soho and Charlotte Street!
Rebecca