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[/responsive]“We are no longer creative people. We are inventors!”
These words, uttered by the cyber jury president at the Cannes Lion festival a few years ago, are bunk, according to Tom Doctoroff, author of “Twitter is Not a Strategy.”
Doctoroff expanded on his assertions in a post last week in AdWeek, debunking five commonly-believed “myths” that he sees perpetuated by digital marketers.
“Today’s digital era calls for change—but not to bow to the algorithmic salvation of big data, or to the gee-whiz draw of viral video,” writes Doctoroff. “Our mandate now is to achieve harmony between timeless brand-building truths and new digital technology opportunities.”
To do this, we must rediscover the art of brand marketing and put these five ideas to rest:
Myth 1: Traditional media is dying
With marketers spending more than a quarter of a trillion dollars a year on broadcast advertising, this is just clearly wrong. According to Doctoroff, “When digital and traditional creative are conceived separately, brands lose focus, which confuses people.”
And confused people don’t buy.
Myth 2: The “brand idea” is an anachronism
No, it’s not anachronistic; rather it remains a “commercial life source — a product’s soul, invisible but omnipresent. It forges order from chaos as new media burgeon. The brand idea is long-term, a relationship between consumer and brands that remains consistent over time,” according to Doctoroff.“If there is no brand idea, engagement devolves into transactional carpet-bombing.”
Myth 3: Copywriters are dinosaurs
No, but they are evolving to remain relevant.
“The old-fashioned partnership between copywriter and art director is indeed approaching its sell-by date. But in a world transformed by digital, today’s marketing needs a similarly cohesive partnership between creatives and experts on today’s broader range of media platforms,” says Doctoroff.
Good marketing, no matter the channel, still relies in messaging. If not from copywriters, from where does the messaging come?
Myth 4: Big Data will save us
It’s important for targeting and relevance yet according to Doctoroff, it’s not enough.
“Compelling creative is about ideas that motivate people to change behavior. Marketers can’t reach consumers if they lose sight of how to inspire them,” he notes, and while Big Data may help us find them, it won’t help us inspire them to act.
Myth 5: We are all inventors now
“New forms of technological engagement are not, in and of themselves, creative ideas,” warns Doctoroff. “Technology must be harnessed to make ideas more powerful,” without losing site of the fact that digital is a platform, not an end in itself.
As Doctoroff notes, marketers have roles as idea masters and consumer advocates, regardless of the platform. This commitment to the craft comes before platform every single time.