We spend more time on screens than we do sleeping. Or talking to our family. Or doing literally anything else in our lives. It’s kinda scary. Especially when you think that every little click, hover, and emoji is meticulously tracked by algorithms to ultimately be used against you.
So, on that note, what’s our approach to digital advertising?
WE LET THE ROBOTS DO THE WORK
If you’ve seen the Social Dillemma, you’ll know how advertisers use the enormous amounts of data they have on us to pinpoint pitch-perfect ads.
Facebook, Google, Reddit, Twitter, Youtube, they all have these intricate formulas to best reach your target, by understanding our circuitry better than their own. They’ll say that they know which image you’ll click on before you do.
THESE THINGS RUN THEMSELVES
The future is here. With a few clicks, a Facebook Business Manager-Machine will spit out reams of hard data and slick reports showing increased clicks, impressions, and engagement achieved through their algorithms. It’s a marketer’s dream.
Not only that, digital is the most measurable form of advertising out there. Number crunchers in suits love stats. Shareholders love stats. Stats are safe.
KNOW YOUR PLACE, ROBOT
These algorithms have become so sophisticated that they have even started doing the creative as well. At some point in the campaign, THEY start telling YOU which stock photo would work best, or how the headline should be written to garner the best results. Imagine that, robots playing art director and copywriter like they’re people! It would be adorable if it wasn’t so ominous.
LOW BAR TO ENTRY
There are a zillion little “icon and logo” digital advertising agencies in Vancouver out there right now, listening to their robot masters and treating advertising like a paint-by-numbers exercise.
As a result, I see a lot of stock photos and dry headlines. I see a lot of dead boring advertising. And I don’t see anything that gets anyone excited anymore in any way.
There needs to be interesting, creative and memorable branded messaging or you’re looking at a sea of bleh which isn’t doing you any favours in this never-ending war of attrition.
IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM…
So, all that saiid, do WE do digital advertising? Of course we do. We’d be crazy not to offer it to our clients.
The question is, how do we offer what everyone else is offering—but better?
One (and it’s a big one): We keep our digital costs lower than anyone else. After all, it’s the robots doing the heavy lifting. So No Hourly Billing: just a 15% markup on the media. That’s it. Industry standard. No surprise bills. No headaches. Just simple, lean and clean accounting.
Anyone can punch numbers into a machine and dance to the robot’s tune. So why not go to the best-priced operator? I’ll take a loss on digital if it means saving the rest of your campaign, and our world, from more garbage.
Two, we’re a natural fit to build the rest of your materials. Outdoor, print, radio and TV complement digital nicely. Why not go with a one-stop agency that can do it all? What does the real-world portfolio of your digital shop next door look like? Ooh, yeah, I thought so.
The robots may be boring, that doesn’t mean they don’t have pearls of insight. We use those pearls to make your message and presence in the real world more precise.
As the Father of Advertising (Not a Robot) once said:
Some individuals use statistics as a drunk man uses lamp-posts—for support rather than for illumination.
(David Ogilvy was a fanatic about research by the way.)
Let’s face it. You come to Immersion for ideas and production. That’s our thing. We’re as good as the next guy when it comes to digital. The robots see to that. But we’re cheap in that department. Why? It gives us a chance to take what we learn and make anything but ordinary campaigns that will give your brand a shimmering razor-sharp edge in a sea of dull grey duds.
