Marketing Zone is a busy agency. There’s always another website to develop, a proposal to finish or some freshly designed logos ready to present to a client. But we don’t spend our days in business as usual mode. We like to do that little bit extra. A good way to meet people, talk about what we do and get feedback is to hold an event at The Chartered Institute of Marketing. Mark, our Managing Director, and Dee, our Communications Director, are Chartered Marketers and active members of The Institute. Not only is The Chartered Institute of Marketing a source of qualifications and training in marketing, it offers opportunities for marketers to exchange ideas and develop professionally. They also offer guidance on selecting and briefing an agency.
Our event was called How to brief an agency – the story of Polaroid Eyewear and Marketing Zone. Our goal was to develop a presentation that was interesting, interactive and inspiring. Briefing an agency can be a huge challenge and marketers need to adapt quickly to changing priorities. For us, effective communications and strong relationships are key starting points. They’re the foundation for the strategies behind successful integrated campaigns, and good communications in general. Polaroid Eyewear is a great example of a brand that started from nothing – and with the right integrated campaign, quickly gained momentum among trade partners and consumers.
A great campaign makes you see stop and see the world a little – or a lot – differently. It asks you to change your mindset and make a new and different decision. The goal of any campaign is for people to take action by buying a product, casting a vote or changing a behaviour. The challenge to any campaign is communication. And there’s one feature that every memorable campaign needs to share – integration.
Getting the best mix
Communication happens on so many levels and through so many channels. For example, At Marketing Zone, we communicate with most of our clients through email. It’s fast, efficient, green and inexpensive. We still use the phone and certainly enjoy face-to-face time with our clients, but a lot of day to day work is through email. At the same time, we recognise that email is our preference and not necessarily the best or only way to reach people. We know some people prefer to be contacted through a social networking site. They like to get messages from their Facebook homepage. Twitter a popular microblogging platform is also a great way to reach people in a targeted group. There’s also PR placements and traditional advertising. Our clients value seeing their brands and products in newpapers, magazines and blogs. There’s so many different ways you can reach people with a message – the trick is finding a solution that targets the right people with the right message at the right time.
Obama – a great campaign
President Obama isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. He created impressive television commercials, twittered regularly and ran a busy sms campaign. My.barackobama.com was another channel he used to get his message to the American people. Add to that regular appearances on youtube and it’s clear that his campaign worked because it could and did communicate with people in the ways they wanted to be communicated with. And it sent messages people were ready to hear. A campaign is great only when it reaches the people it targets and changes their behaviour.
