The WIRED global conversation panel, including DCM’s own Simon Rees, Sir John Hegarty, the H of BBH, and moderated by Rupert Turnbull, Publisher, WIRED, took place on The Agenda Stage in the Princess Anne Theatre at BAFTA this morning.
The conversation covered mobile advertising, creativity in education, “STEM v’s STEAM”, the importance of data, the role of the editor and transparency.
WIRED GLOBAL CONVERSATION by advertisingweek
Mobile
The consensus of the panel is that mobile advertising while still in its infancy, is the way forward. Bob Greenberg stated “”… desktops and laptops are falling behind”. Sir John Hegarty said “the UK consumer feels that the quality of product from the advertising sector is falling behind, specifically in the way we market via mobile. He attributed this to what he called “a creative deficit”, stating “we are obsessed with the technology itself and not what it can do. We have to understand to create better content”.
Jon Kamen of Radical Media, observed that “our phones are getting bigger and our tablets are getting smaller”. Steve King of ZenithOptimedia pointed out the growing trend for multiscreening.
Simon Rees summarised by saying; “The reality is mobile is here, it’s real and it’s an enormous opportunity”.
Creativity in education
This particular topic resonated heavily with the panel, provoking passionate responses from all involved. Sir John declared: “The UK educational secretary is a complete disaster, creative education is important to make you think outside of the box, giving you the ability to confront the future in an interesting and distinctive way”.
Jon Kamen added that creative education can be applied to other areas. Referring to the US education system in the current economic climate, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) are overly revered by governments, while he believes we should add an A for Art to this acronym.
Bob Greenberg informed the assembled crowd that his company had just opened a new office in Austin, Texas, (home of the South by South West festival) due to the creative talent pool in the local area rather than the clients available.
The importance of data
The panel moved on to talk about data, including topics such as “do consumers expect relevant ads” and “does this kill serendipity and discovery”?
Steve King of ZenithOptimedia opened the debate with the statement that “data is not a golden bullet”, explaining that data is not a catch-all for marketers. The panel agreed that data alone is not the final word in marketing, “creative analysis of data” is a much better approach.
Simon Rees said: “A data led approach cannot replace creative risk”, a sentiment that was well received by the panel and audience alike. Sir John added to this by saying “data can blind us, a combination of broadcast and target are required to succeed”. Moderator Rupert Turnbull of WIRED asked the question: “Would data alone have given us Gangnam Style”?
There was some backlash to the concept of data from Sir John, “I don’t want to be known by everyone, it’s Orwellian. When a brand says they know me, I think, f**k off, I don’t even know myself most days!”
The role of the editor
Jon Kamen kicked off this portion of the discussion, iterating that the need for editors is greater than ever, adding that the beauty of an editor is direction and intelligent filtering. Steve King stated that editors will always have a role to play, algorithms cannot reach us all.
Transparency
The final section of the discussion was opened with a quote from Arianna Huffington: “Authenticity is like pornography, you know it when you see it”.
Sir John stated that “advertisers should tell the truth, the task is to make it interesting”. Jon Kamen supported this assertion, with an example from American clothes retailer JCrew, which commissioned a series of short films from Kamen’s Radical Media, showing how its merchandise was created all over the world, leading to the statement from the panel that “trust is a currency”.
The session was closed out with some key comments from the panel, including: “There is no true measure of creativity in marketing, our clients see creativity as a differentiator” from Bob Greenberg and Sir John saying “we should engage and entertain”. Simon Rees pointed out that cinema fulfills both of these criteria.