Interactive advertising as a relationship business
Berens: I think it is also fair to say that as any industry matures it becomes a relationship business. And, now we have a real relationship business where, the value of who you know, and how well you work with people, is more important than it was five years ago.
Finnegan: Yes, that has always been one of my lynchpins. And, if there is anything that I am proud of it is the relationships that I keep, and that I am able to develop and maintain. I learned that from an early age, growing up on the south side of Chicago, that no matter what the predicament, or even positive experience, relationships were the core of everything.
Berens: We are going to get back to relationships, because that is the theme of your keynote. But, I do want to jump on that Chicago reference for a moment, because you grew up in Chicago. When I met you, you were living in Chicago with your wife and your children.
Finnegan: Right.
Berens: And then, I heard that you had moved to Connecticut, I believe, and are working out of the New York office. So, what is it like to transplant from the windy city -- as an adult -- to the Big Apple? How has that been for you and for your family?
Finnegan: I actually started my career here on the East Coast. When I graduated college, I started at BBDO back in 1994; so, I was here through 2001.
I was able to spend five years in Chicago, from 2001 to 2006. Back then, when I was given the U.S. Director role, I was heavily encouraged to come to the worldwide headquarters here in New York City. But, we had a wonderful time in Chicago. It was certainly nice to be closer to our family; and, being Irish, as we are, there are not just a few of them out there. And, there are not a few of us either. Melody and I have six children. We are enjoying Connecticut, and it is a nice combination of living in the country, and then I get to work in the jungle of the city everyday, so it is a nice balance.
Berens: I am still just so daunted by the number of children that you have. I have two, and I am overwhelmed, so, I stand in awe of you and your wife, Melody.
Let me ask you, though, to expand on what we were talking about a moment ago. We were talking about how, working within the industry, relationships are key; particularly as the industry matures. And, that is a wonderful segue because the title of your Summit keynote presentation is "The Art of a Relationship." There, we are taking this relationship theme and expanding it out to how brands are going to have relationships with their customers. And so, I would love to know what you are chatting about.
Finnegan: I am thankful to do this keynote, and quite honored to be asked. It really does have a deep connection to my learnings on relationships growing up, and the people that I surround myself with, or do not surround myself with. The power of a connection, and the power of the manner in which you relate to somebody, is now the currency of success in anything you do. It is extremely interesting.
Technology is arguably allowing us as humans to understand a little bit more than we probably want to know or should know about one another. But, it is also expanding the dialogue, and being able to get down to a micro level about people's interests and behaviors.
I personally do not derive a lot of benefit through case studies in marketing, or any sort of media theory. I certainly scan all of these things. But, a lot of the strategy, and a lot of the success that our brands have in connecting with their customers, and anything that I may contribute, come more from human relationships than it does any sort of business direction.
For example, I read many books and articles in three principal areas: history, science and religion, finding anecdotes, analogies, allegories, and the like that show how much has been the same through the ages, particularly in terms of personal nature and convictions. But, at the same time, and with the power of digital, things are changing.
The art of a brand relationship is much like the one you and I could have as friends: it is the same dynamic that should be translated by brands. And, right now it has to be. You, as a brand, cannot get away with a one-way dialogue.
Not only that, but when you do engage with someone, you cannot continue to speak to them in a manner that says the same thing at an eight times rate.
As technology allows us to get down to the household level and creatively and dynamically deliver ad assets based on the behaviors exhibited by different people within a household, marketers must possess the assets to have that conversation. Logistically and structurally, with an agency's help, they must be able to deliver on the content.
Berens: There is a term for somebody who every time they see you says exactly the same thing to you that they said the first time. And, the term is autism. This is what you were just describing: the banner ad, or the email that says the same thing each time is like autism.
If you, like me, have had experience working with people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder, one key element is an inability to change the message based on nuance, based on the situation, based on context. And so, what you are describing as the thing that you are working to conquer we might call "brand autism."
Finnegan: That is an interesting way to put it. Through technology, we now have the vehicles and the abilities to capitalize on our brand relationships. Moreover, it is glaringly apparent to the user whether you are willing to engage with them and evolve the conversation, versus just continuing to repeat yourself.
We all have people in our lives, and you know that the conversation with them is one-way. They just talk and are not necessarily good listeners. And, to frustrate the conversation, they continue to repeat themselves and tell you the same story they just told you yesterday. As marketers, we need to move on from this. We need to be genuine. We need to anticipate needs. We need to be relevant, and like-minded. And, we need to make sure that we are not conveying any sort of sense that we are using people; and, to do that we need to know a name and a face.
I should point out that this is all within the construct of personally identifiable information. I am a gigantic believer that you should never engage in a dialogue with anyone unless there is mutual consent, and even the perception and knowledge of mutual consent, as we have all triple opted into things and later forgotten that we did.
Lastly, I like to use a social analogy: you and I are friends, sitting and having a conversation. Then somebody comes over to talk to us. Certainly, we will be civil; but, at the same time, we do not want him to interrupt our conversation. And frankly, if we want to involve him in the conversation, we would probably prefer that he has something interesting to add to the conversation. That is where we need to be in our marketing campaigns.
Berens: I think that is certainly a great way of conceptualizing things, because the last thing people want is anything that is going to interrupt what they are trying to do, particularly in the part of the internet that is still very much a lean forward utility where interruptive advertising, like pop-ups, and that sort of thing can become very disheartening for the user, and therefore bad for the brand.
You were saying that you do not necessarily read and get a lot out of case studies; and yet, I hope that you are going to be, in your keynote, presenting a couple of them, because Omnicom has had some pretty big successes in relationship marketing. I am thinking of the Doritos campaign. Can you give us a sneak peek at the different examples of what you might be talking about?
Finnegan: I certainly will talk about Doritos and the evolution of where we have come since "Crash the Super Bowl" and its impact. There is another case study in State Farm and a MySpace execution: it is an unbelievably powerful example of tactical integration within one of the most powerful social network sites out there. But it happens in a manner that engages and converses with relevant customers and friends in a manner that derives mutual benefit, and then also extends -- and hopefully continues to extend -- the conversation down the line.
I will be showing some of those integratable assets and some of the success metrics on that. And then, what our plan is to be able to capitalize on that to make sure that we just do not let one big hit fall flat, and that it continues to be one element and aspect of the conversation.
Berens: And the relationship that evolves over the course of time.
Finnegan: Exactly.