Change we have to believe in

July 20th, 2010 | Michael Randall

As marketers, we often litter the pavement with buzzwords in an attempt to convince our clients that we have ‘innovative’ ideas that will ‘connect,’ ‘motivate’ and ‘convert.’ Our days (and often, nights) are spent observing, interpreting, analyzing, listening and interacting to arrive at that one great core message, delivered at precisely the right time in precisely the right way to address how consumers engage.

With the assets and behavioral insight available to us, not to mention the talent roaming the hallways of countless marketing agencies out there, more often than not, we get it right. After all, we are recognized as idea people hired for our abilities to be as plugged in to what’s going on as just about anyone on earth.

How is it then that we’re being outsmarted at our own game?

When I started writing this post I didn’t think I had the answer and I was actually going to take this in a different direction (hey, it’s an on-the-fly business), but I just re-read a previous paragraph and a light bulb went off about an issue:

We’re recognized as idea people hired for our abilities to be as plugged in to what’s going on.

We’re doing too much looking back for our answers, putting communication and engagement plans together based on what’s been done, making use of what’s out there already. Of course, leveraging best practices and making adjustments based on measured results is essential to brand adherence, as is delivering a message to places where our targets congregate. But it doesn’t mean we should restrict ourselves, or avoid improving upon what exists if it means a better solution for our clients.

We shouldn’t be on the trail. We should be blazing the trail.

Knowing what we know, and trying to solve the problems on our plate, it should have been a digital agency that created Facebook. Twitter should have been the brainchild of a time-starved Madison Avenue planner. LinkedIn should have come from an account guy thumbing through his rolodex. Hell, Apple has become one of the biggest companies in the world by addressing needs people didn’t even know they had until the brand thought about an existing consumer experience in new ways. Forget insight, we need more foresight.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying every presentation to a client needs to unveil an invention of some sort, but agencies have to bring value by not only using what’s out there but by creating what’s out there. If at the end of a meeting a client doesn’t say, ‘I never thought of it that way’ about something brought to the table, we’re not doing our jobs. I would have loved to seen the look on the client’s face when this was presented. (Those of you that have done monotonous annual reports just kicked yourself, didn’t you?).

In pharma (and Consumer Relationship Marketing in general) we are often accused of being a few steps behind marketers of more traditional goods and services, but at MicroMass, I prefer to think of it as being several leaps ahead. Having been on both sides, we’re fortunate with what we do because there’s such a blank slate, and very little precedent. Sure there’s all kind of red tape stuck to that slate, but there’s truly an opportunity for us to use our brainpower in ways that literally have never been done before, and achieve results previously unthinkable. It’s ours for the taking. That’s why we approach every brief, plan and assignment from the perspective each problem not only demands a unique solution, but requires one. It’s certainly not revolutionary to say, but it sure is to practice.

I guess you can say our goal is to be recognized as idea people hired for our abilities to be as plugged in to what’s possible. Imagine that.