THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

Perhaps that should be the question on every national advertiser’s mind right now.

Is it better to produce a standard 30-second spot for $250K, or is it better to invest a bit more and produce a feature-length film, using the plethora of up-and-coming talent that’s out there on YouTube and beyond?

Yeah. I know. I’m crazy. People told me that in 1994, when I said the Internet would eat every other form of media. They don’t tell me that anymore.

“But nobody is going to watch a film that’s nothing but a 100-minute long commercial,” you say. And you’re right. Nobody would. But if the film was any of the hundreds or thousands of worthy productions looking for a small budget, lots of people would. Or at least you’d have a chance.

Because the talent is there. A quick trip to Hollywood quickly illuminates the fact that there are more good scripts out there than could ever be produced, more talent than could ever be employed, and more behind-the-scenes production support standing idle than you’d care to believe.

And the channels are there. With the opening of YouTube, anyone can host shorts. With Revver, you can even make money on them. Segment your blockbuster and get it out. Or, if you really want to be noticed, put the entire thing on BitTorrent for download–in resolutions from full 1080p to iPod-friendly sizes. Don’t like that? Fine. Deliver the blockbuster as episodes to cellphones, each tagged with prominent mention of your organization in the opening credits–and tagged with a one-frame ad at the end.
And the need is there. People aren’t just watching on the living room TV anymore, they’re watching on the go, and they’re looking for high definition content. You can only watch the same reruns, Mentos videos, and face-plants so many times before they get old, even if it is on your cellphone. The need for content is huge, and it’s only going to get better.

So next time you’re about to sign that production contract for $250K (or more) for a 30-second spot, put down the pen and ask yourself, “What else could I do? What’s the value of having 100 minutes of content, plus behind-the-scenes interviews and making-of featurettes? What’s the PR value of sponsoring up-and-coming actors, directors, and productions? What’s the buzz value of distributing this free, on freely available networks?”

Because we think that this is a golden opportunity. Don’t let it get away.

I just happened to be in our office this weekend when a prominent writer and marketing strategist just happened to stop by. So I was happy to spend some time and tell her about our company.

This happened in Second Life.

During the course of our conversation, Ms. Znetlady Isbell remarked that she was stunned by the depth of thought she finds in Second Life on a vast variety of subjects, ranging from marketing to law to intellectual property. And she’s right. I haven’t met a many brilliant people per square meter in my life, not even in some very rarefied conferences (the commercialization of space comes to mind).

Now, I’m not a nightclubber, and I could go on about how Second Life’s user interface is a self-selector for people with above-average, well . . . patience, but in the last two weeks, we’ve had almost a dozen serious business meetings in Second Life, three of which were initated from contacts in-world. Topics have ranged from nanotechnology education to entertainment law to in-world entrepreneurship to big brand icons to sponsorship of worthy in-world initiatives to SL technology development.

And the level of conversation has been much, much higher than average. There’s no painful explanation needed about how the world has already changed, and how the rules will change even more. The people here not only grasp the possibilities, they’re all working on their own angles to develop them. We’ve already brought one exceptional in-world content creator onto our team.

It’s like 1994 all over again. Standing on the brink of the first web explosion. And yes, there will be mistakes, and there will be problems.

But I haven’t been this excited in a long, long time.

Here’s a link to our profile on the Business Communicators of Second Life blog.
http://freshtakes.typepad.com/sl_communicators/2006/11/agencies_centri.html

I’ve been spending a lot of time in SL lately, but let’s go back to RL for a moment.

Lately, Centric was asked to comment on a couple of online advertising and keyword campaigns produced by other agencies. In both cases, it took our online strategists about 60 seconds to find a glaring flaw in the campaigns.

This isn’t self-congratulatory. Any marketer should have been able to see the same thing, in the same amount of time.

The flaw? The strategy.

In one case, there was a keyword campaign pulling great numbers for clickthrough and cost per click—but it was targeted at the wrong audience. For this B2B company, the campaign was sending lots of people to the site. Unfortunately, they were the wrong people. This was painfully evident from the site engagement numbers, and from the site traffic patterns. But anyone who looked at what the business did, and the keywords selected, would have said, “Hey, wait a minute.”

In another case, it was online advertising. Again, great clickthrough rates and cost per click numbers. The problem was, this wasn’t for an online retailer. This was for a B2C company with a site that was all about branding. So delivering 50,000 eyeballs, even at a great CPC, isn’t really going to move the needle. The planner, in this case, simply blew it. They should have been looking at more impressions or even a viral contest to drive 100x the number of visits to the site.

Again, this doesn’t mean that Centric is infallible. We’ve learned some valuable lessons from applying knowledge gained in online campaigns for large brands to small brands. They simply don’t work for lesser-known brands. Of course, we noticed this in one week, at our first (human) review of the numbers.

What it does mean is that the strategy matters. Not just the numbers. Wrong strategy and great numbers won’t get you the results you need. Right strategy, right numbers–that’s where it’s at.

So, what are we saying? Forget the rush to online for a moment. Sit back and relax. And take a few moments to think. Who are you trying to reach? Why? What other audiences might be in conflict with that same audience? What are you trying to get them to do? How? What metrics are significant?

Then plan the campaign. Then measure it. And optimize it.

So, what’s your strategy?