Why agencies need a dedicated Digital Strategy Team

Everyone’s raving about digital media. Oh this is the future of advertising. This is where our audiences are spending most of their time. Gone are the days of mass media like print, radio, TV.

Let me ask you this, how many agencies you know actually have a dedicated team to drive agency level Digital education, opportunities and innovation mining?

The answer is probably none. These responsibilities often fall on the shoulders of digital leads across agencies who are often prioritize day to day client / campaign management and new business projects.
(If your answer is yes, GREAT! Good for you!)

Well to be honest its difficult to justify any specialist group that’s not revenue generating isn’t it? Takes a ballsy agency to take on the challenge. But the potential future benefits should outweigh the present’s cost.

So anyway, that was a long set up…!

The ballsy agency I’m talking about is Havas Chicago! Their team is merely 2 strong, Jason Pope and Nathan Joslin, but together they champion the following initiatives for Havas Chicago.

1.Internal Digital Literacy

The world’s digital landscape is ever changing, and I don’t just mean digital advertising. Understanding new technologies and global digital trends will help account servicing teams better understand or even predict client’s / category’s needs. Trends such as AR (content), Block Chain (RTB)and the rise of competitive gaming (sponsorships) have implications on businesses and advertising opportunities. Its the job of Jason and Nathan to spread that knowledge.

The team also helps aggregate beta opportunities across the digital specialist groups, and then they publish the information, creating opportunities for media teams to share with clients.

2.Client Retention

Ever been in a relationship for a long time and felt like…hm…I wish things could be as exciting as before?
(FYI, I don’t know how that feels, I’m interesting AF)

That’s how clients feel as well if you don’t consistently engage them and stimulate their brains!

On a regularly basis, the Digital Strategy team organizes purposeful educational sessions for clients as well. Purposeful is a big word isn’t it? Hear me out. The topics they cover vary from session to session, but they often focus on helping cover gaps in clients’ knowledge, sometimes its to help expand on existing initiatives that the team is recommending, or its to give clients first in market digital trend updates. All these helps position Havas as a leader in digital innovation among clients.

Beyond just education and engagement, the team also serves as a resource for the media planning team to leverage on when there are existing business challenges that clients need help solving. For example, how can a brand attribute OOH exposure to increase in restaurant traffic?
(This is easy, I won’t explain too much)

3. Strategic support for new business

On top of everything they do, the Digital Strategy team also supports ALL Havas Chicago new business pitches with digital consumption habits, market landscape, innovations and case studies.

Want to stay ahead of the competitors? Well you literally need a team in charge of that especially when there’s something new coming up every other week.

Ok nothing exciting here dear readers but I just need to give the Digital Strategy team a shout out because they do all these with just a team of 2!

4. Media innovations

Here are some of the cool things I learned from the Digital Strategy team that I never knew existed. If I shared these with my team or clients it would blow them away!

a. Programmatic Digital Audio — The team compiled a review of the digital audio landscape, outlining the various vendors broken down by content distribution (streaming, broadcast, podcast), and what are the media implications for each.

In Singapore we are familiar with buying ads on Spotify or buying ad on streaming platforms of terrestrial radio (banners…they suck). Interestingly in the US, there are 3rd party vendors who allow you to programmatically buy audio ads on live streams from terrestrial radio stations. Another interesting execution is being able to push Live Read with digital podcasts. Traditional radio is certainly not dead, its merely gone digital!
(There’s a whole new world to explore here)

b. Advanced TV landscape

Programmatic TV — Automatic buying of TV spots, powered by data to improve cost efficiency and contextual relevance. (Pushing ads only to people that are relevant to you brand, product or message)

Addressable TV — Delivering targeted TV messaging at the household level to reach highest value consumers, show different ads to different households while they are watching the same program. (Almost like dynamic creatives through TV)

As you can see there are so many things that a dedicated Digital Strategy team can bring to the table. In a world where everything is becoming digital, can agencies really afford NOT to invest?

Thanks for reading, more fun and serious stuff coming up!
- Chintheman