Joseph Jaffe: Real-time marketing is bullshit

Real-time marketing is bullshit, according to Joseph Jaffe, CEO and co-founder of Evol8tion at the launch of Australia’s Mobile Futures last night.

Instead of brands insisting they are doing real-time marketing, he suggests brands should just try to move faster.

“Just move quicker,” Jaffe said. “For brands, just move from 12 months to 11 months. And if you get to real-time, God bless, operating in milliseconds, but just move quicker.”

Referencing the famous ‘Oreo Tweet’ during a power failure at the Superbowl in the US, Jaffe outlines how brands went crazy for that kind of real-time marketing.

“Every brand wanted to figure out their ‘Oreo Tweet’. I said ‘guys trust me, there will never be another power failure at a Superbowl again’.”

Launching Mobile Futures Australia, Mondelēz International will pair five brands, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Marvellous Creations, Cadbury Favourites, Philadelphia cream cheese and belVita breakfast biscuits, with five start-up companies to accelerate and scale existing mobile innovations in 90 days.

“Around half of Australian consumers’ online activity occurs via mobile or tablet devices, but there’s a big gap between that mobile usage and where companies are investing their ad budgets,” Bonin Bough, vice president of global media and consumer engagement at Mondelēz International, said.

“Digitally savvy markets like Australia will play a lead role in our plan to invest 10% of our global marketing budget in clever and engaging mobile activations that span the entire consumer journey.

“Our goal is to become one of the top mobile marketers in the world, and Mobile Futures is one very exciting program that will help us get there.”

Outlining the event and reasoning behind it last night in a panel discussion that included Bonin, Jaffe as well as Phil Morle, Pollenizer CEO and Bosco Tan, co-founder and COO of Australian start-up, Pocketbook, the four discussed what brands can learn from start-up companies and vice versa.

Jaffe believes pain points can be a key place for ideas.

Noting the success of Uber, he outlines how these guys were just two human beings with a pain point.

“I say this when I’m talking to start-ups and when I’m talking to brands, we all have pain points. Just open your eyes and open your ears. Every day we have frustrations from customer services. Why are we not thinking about the power of what we can create?

“Start-ups have the ideas but no money. Brands have got the money but no ideas.”

Tan also outlined how due to lack of money, start-ups often have to resort to desperate measures to get their brand or product out there.

Knocking on the door of your neighbour’s to get them to test out your product or selling a couch on Gumtree with your brand stuck all over it are just some of the measures Tan mentioned.

Morle believes this desperation can work in a start-up’s favour.

“You can be as talented, skilled, connected and networked as you like, but unless you’re desperate and obsessed you’re not going to get it over the line,” he said.

The Mobile Futures network comprises of a number of organisations in the tech start-up arena, such as Evol8tion, Pollenizer, LBMA, Hub Australia, MMA and BlueChilli.

“The world is changing fast and start-ups have learned how to make businesses that can keep up,” Morle said.

“The disruptive nature of these businesses enables brands to adapt faster, meeting the needs of their consumers while giving start-ups access to a large consumer bases which is normally unreachable.”

Image via Memeburn.

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