Interview by: Jarrett Kertesz
Can you both tell me the biggest reason that you
became involved in online media?
Rachael: My career in interactive began at OgilvyInteractive where we worked on the IBM account.
IBM was one of the leading spenders in online media, so it was a great opportunity to explore new ideas.
Gavin: I’m here for the future. Many years ago, during the release of html v1, I spent a solitary Christmas learning
how to program. I have a failed relationship to thank for the time well spent immersed in open and close tags. It was during this time that I realized
that this would be a medium that was here to stay. My background is with traditional print and advertising and it was obvious to me that I had to move
with technology and immerse myself in this new medium.
Why is the interactive creative space different from the traditional creative space as far advertising is concerned?
Rachael: Brand awareness has now extended to brand experience. Traditional advertising is presented
to the user, but online advertising is an invitation to interact with your brand. This shift in control must do one thing if it will succeed — surrender.
Surrender to the fact that the consumer is now in control. They must CHOOSE to visit our website, either through typing in a URL or clicking on our banners.
That said, rich media is a great way to take relevant content on a “road show” from your website and deliver it to the right audience. Dealer
locators, registration and offers, calculators and games are all examples of content that can be delivered through online ad units.
Gavin: Advertising in the interactive space allows for a two-way communication with the customer, traditional does not.
Giving your customer the ability to interact and respond instantly to your message obviously gives you a benefit over traditional. It’s how you use
that information in your next message to that particular individual or groups of, which gives you measurable ROI.
Can you tell us how the creative process begins for you and your teams? What team members are involved with brainstorming for
concepts?
Rachael: During the creative process, there are a few steps that we go through to arrive at a concept.
- What is the client’s key objective?
- Brand awareness? Lead generation? Conversion/purchase?
- The most important part of the creative process is to work closely with media. Relevancy increases response! It is so important to understand
your audience and the environment of your ad.
- What are the key benefits of the product offering? Different messaging and offers can be tested and actually help inform offline campaigns.
Gavin: We start the old fashioned way; we all sit around and chew the fat. We have brainstorm etiquette – no idea is a
bad idea etc. Those involved are the Creatives and often the Account Management team and the Producers. If you have an opinion, you get heard.
Do you feel that online advertising, as it matures will begin to take on more of the aspects of traditional offline campaigns? I
don’t believe it’s very common, as yet to have large budgets for photo shoots strictly for an online campaign.
Rachael: Respectively, as different channels converge, so will offline and online advertising campaigns. Bandwidth and internet
connections are still a reality that restricts what can be accomplished online. However, as the speed and connections increase, so will budgets and opportunities
for “online” campaigns.
Gavin: As clients learn to see the ROI in moving their dollars to the interactive space I think we will naturally move more
toward the methodology of producing traditional campaigns. The double-edged sword here is that the clients will still demand the super-fast turnaround time
and currently things like photo shoots will have to be completed in record time. Many of our projects here stem from traditional pieces and I have been very
fortunate to get involved earlier enough to have my say and get the assets I need for the interactive pieces. Much of this is guesswork but I have been pretty
successful in getting what I need. For now, with miniscule budgets, I guess we’ll continue to see the same old royalty-free faces in different projects.
The unfortunate thing that I see most often is the same royalty-free face in some of our clients competitors work.
Do you agree with recent industry reports that advertising online is moving more towards building brand-awareness than higher
click-through rates? Is this a good thing?
Rachael: Absolutely. Online is just another extension of the overall campaign. It is dangerous to simply look at click-through
rates as a measurement of success. Even if click-rates are not high, online ad units still have a “billboard” effect, especially the skyscraper and
larger ad units. Consistency and integration with the offline messaging is most important. The web simply offers another brand impression.
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