My contribution to the Agency Innovation Debate at Google Firestarters 8, including some notes and voiceover

mapping media innovation

Unlike some of today’s speakers, I’m not responsible for changing the agency model or process. I’m a planner, so I wanted to think about how a planner’s role as the person

responsible for keeping abreast of culture, technology and change can apply inspire practical innovation in what an

agency makes. My job involves a lot of making media, and I wondered how the process of making things overlaps with the challenges we’ve heard about for innovation folk in agencies

hypothesisthe role of innovation in

agencies is to keep up with research and technology going

on outside them

Translating learning from outside our industry to make it useful inside.

But not just useful, also to make it commercially valuable.

This means two things: externally, it means pretending to be the smartest person in the room so that clients pay for your time, and internally, it’s trying to

bring people along with you so that your insight changes something

innovation in agencies

So the role of innovation in agencies is contradictory. It means using lots of conceptual thinking from other categories, and simplifying it so that it can be

used by people who don’t have the time to read itThis is natural ground for media agencies, where innovation is powered by

tech and media companies rather than by their own process

innovation in media

FEW MANY

Media has changed a bit. You might of noticed……

And rather than focusing on all the ever increasing pace of change, I wanted to think a

little bit about what the nature of media teaches us about navigating change, and how to bring

people along on a journey

what are media?

”Media: Oil on Canvas"

The nature of media?Not the stuff we obsess over,

but what does it mean to intermediate something? Look at the wall of an art

gallery. There’s a little sign telling you that the media used are oil and canvas. 

And by looking at what is left when you remove the oil and

the canvas, you can see what they were intermediating

In this case, nothing physicalThey are intermediating a person's view of the world

and place in a culture

but why stop there…….

media: Faraday’s knowledge on metal

So how does this help us?

Michael Faraday discovered link between electricity and

magnetismHis discovery was of little practical

use at the time, as it was just a theory

He gave it practical application by building the first electric motor

He intermediated his knowledgeThis gave people access to his

work, without having to understand his theory

The electric motor is a medium for his knowledge

intermediating our knowledge

navigating through research and technology requires a map

So as the people whose job it is to keep up with changing technologies and theories, how can we do what Faraday did, and intermediate our knowledge, so that people can access it

whether or not they understand it? How can we navigate through cultural and technological change to bring clients solutions rather than theories?

I’ve been trying to intermediate the knowledge that I think best helps us set direction for brands

We’re in the business of changing behaviour. Too often, ‘innovation’ focuses on the ‘opportunity’ side of the equation. Opportunity moves at the speed of technology.

Human motivation is unchanged since evolutionary times. So intermediating motivational insight from other places will likely have more long term value

we’re in the business of changing behaviour

behaviour = motivation x opportunity

Moore’s LawDarwin’s Law

making a map to innovate by

So in this case, the knowledge we are intermediating is that of Mark Earls and Daniel Kahnemann, on human decision making. Some of the most insightful

stuff you’ll find on motivation, but also counter intuitive to many marketers, and to the way our industry works

media latitude & longitude

System 1

(subconscious)

System 2

(conscious)

Individual Learning

Social Learning

So first, we need to grossly over-simplify some serious researchAnd since those books are about copying and remixing, with apologies to Mark I’ve

not just socially learnt his quadrants but I’ve also remixed them

how networks of people make decisions

Is IsDoes Does

Human(adult)

Behavioural Economics

Neo-Classical

Economics

Human (Infant)

People I knowPeople like me

Individual choice

architectureAIDA Marketing

People I want to be like

System 1

(subconscious)

System 2

(conscious)

Individual Learning

Social Learning

Which gives some simple guiding principles about how people make decisions

Highly visible social cues

So no need for rational thought

Highly visible social cues

So no need for rational thought

Category purchases define how an

individual portrays themselves to the

world – their personal brand

Category purchases define how an

individual portrays themselves to the

world – their personal brand

No social cuesBegrudging rational

thought

No social cuesBegrudging rational

thought

Few social cues, so advertising offers a substitute for actual

popularity

Few social cues, so advertising offers a substitute for actual

popularity

how people make category decisions

System 1 System 2

Individual Learning

Social Learning

And then we can start to build in the potential for commercial value, in thinking about the norms for brands within those sectors

CoffeeCoffee

NewspaperNewspaper

MusicMusic

FashionFashion

Shoes Shoes

CosmeticsCosmetics

FlightsFlights

HolidayHoliday

MobileMobile

PCPC

JewelryJewelry

CarCarHouseHouse

InsuranceInsurance

MortgageMortgage

Bank AcctBank Acct

SoftwareSoftware

DeodorantDeodorant

MilkMilk

CerealCereal

DetergentDetergent

SupermarketSupermarket

BeerBeerWineWine

mixed media: Kahnemann & Earls on data & agency process

SpiritsSpirits

CharitiesCharities

And by intermediating some data too, we can map categories and brands onto the grid.

Which, going back to Faraday, is Mixed Media: Serious Research on category data and agency process

navigating by the map to make media for brands

Media CreationMedia

Distribution

Media Optimisation

Media Partnership

The brand is a part of the cultural category it operates in, so product

news is inherently spreadable. Peers are the key source of inspiration

High value purchases that define how a user portrays herself to the world. Media

dramatises the brand lifestyle, and product fans are a media channel.

Low frequency purchase, but in market for short time: hence begrudging rational thought. Low product differentiation. Experts are a key source of influence, therefore are the media

that should be optimised.

High frequency, low value, habitual purchases. Few category cues to copy, so advertising is a proxy for actual popularity. Low product interest/high category interest

means media should be made in partnership with the things people do care about.

Which leaves some directions for brand behaviour – where you are, where you want to get to, who can help, and in this example, for when we want to use the media we have

made to help guide what media we should make for our clientsBut more importantly, which can be used by people whether or not they’ve read the

books they are intermediating.

Thanks

@graemewoodwww.planningfornetworks.com