Last year I wrote a short blog post about how I was heartily over senior execs showing PowerPoints of their kids at conferences, proud that they had based their digital media strategies on observing the habits of their six-year-old children’s habits. As the cute home-baked slides appeared on the big screen, I was the only “aarrggh” among a chorus of “ahhhhs”.
Remembering that this guy was the Australian marketing director of a multinational brand, I couldn’t help wonder why the digital strategy for his company was being formed on the basis of one six-year-old boy.
This year the circle has come round again with the publication of a Morgan Stanley client briefing note on teenage behaviour trends written by a 15-year-old intern. Now I’m the last person to be ageist in any way. But even the most respected Morgan Stanley analyst must have felt worried at having the client note promoted as “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen”. The story doesn’t stop there though, as the intern’s influence spread. The Guardian quotes Morgan Stanley as saying: “We’ve had dozens and dozens and fund managers, and several CEOs, emailing and calling all day”. God forbid that this report forms the basis of anyone’s strategy on the basis that it was published by Morgan Stanley
In an information and digital economy where innovation is at every turn, it is understandable that some mistakes will be made, but there is no need to ignore the foundations of how to build a strategy. In the digital world, as in any other industry, strategies are created by working out where you want to head, why you want to head there, and how to get there. Top 10 tips for brands in social media are re-tweeted as gospel, and yet following their advice to “just dive in” or “forget ROI” is as dumb advice in social media as it would be in any other medium. If a strategy requires customer insight, and assuming your customer base is greater than one, then it is logical to ask more than one person about their views. A base of global trend analysis with a sprinkling of research and a large dash of experience has never done anyone any harm.
I look forward to when good rigour and strategic context is the norm for digital media strategy, and sense has not flown out of the window tweeting. This is what I hope for and believe. But then again, I am merely a sample of one.
Guy Gadney is president of AIMIA.
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