I recently spoke at IBR Conferences Future of Social Media Strategy Forum in Sydney on May 31 and again on June 1 for a live podcast with Hot and Delicious.
I looked at the future, and present, of social media strategy and content from a perspective that is often undervalued - the value and role of creativity.
Read more about this talk: https://craigontoast.com/2018/06/13/if-marketing-is-all-art-and-science-is-creativity-the-key-to-connection/
Listen to the Podcast with Hot and Delicious: https://hotndelicious.com/2018/06/05/future-social-media-2018-conference-hot-delicious-rocks-the-planet-live-podcast/
Craig Mack is a social media and content strategist, Head of Social Media at Colloquial @ JWT, blogger, model and Ambassador for suicide prevention charity R U OK. With broad experience in social media, digital and content, from all client, agency and talent sides he has a unique view of and approach to social media. Whether developing strategy, building and engaging communities, creating content, running paid social campaigns, working with influencers or analysing data, thinking creatively and putting the audience first to deliver results, is the lens he looks through.
Cannes 2018: Six Takeaways from the Festival of Creativity
Is Creativity the Key to Connection - Future of Social Media Forum 2018
1. If marketing is all art and
science,
is creativity the key to
connection?
Future of Social Media Strategy 2018
2. Clients, Collabs and Work
HELLO!I’m Craig Mack
Head of Social Media @ Colloquial
( Content and Social @ JWT Sydney)
Social Media and Content Strategist
Blogger / Influencer
Model
R U OK Day Ambassador
Social Media Manager @ TEDxSydney
Social Media Strategy @ The Pinnacle Foundation
@craigontoast
www.craigontoast.com.au
@craig mack
e: craigontoast@gmail.com
e: craig.mack@colloquial.com
4. only on screen for about six minutes
First queen eliminated
Is a bit of a hot mess
2 words and less than 20s,
leaving the runway after elimination
thousands of tweets, gifs, and memes
men and women shouting “Miss
Vanjie!” at gay bars across the
world
Referenced in almost every S10 ep
If you don’t take a risk, think with a bit of creativity, and do
things differently you’ll disappear into the crowd when you want
to stand out
Being booked for more, and lining
higher at gigs, than other queens
Learnt what worked and what resonated
with fans from 9 years of watching RuPauls
Drag Race
Currently on a world tour of her own
Miss Vanjie – (Vanessa Vanjie)
RuPaul’s Drag Race, S10. 2018
5. To stand out from
the crowd (not
disappear into it)
just ask:
What Would Miss
Vanjie Do? #wwmvd
Be bold and
take risks
Think with
creativity
Do things
differently
Be unique
8. Social Media creates multi disciplinary
conversations that connect people, brands
and the world through sharing moments,
stories, ideas, information and products
anywhere, anytime.
At its core, social media is simply a
collection of communication platforms
and channels.
It’s up to us to bring them to life.
Defining Social Media
9. Audience
is King
Bill Gates said Content is King way back in 1996 and while
a LOT of things have changed and evolved since the 90’s,
many advertisers and marketers still use this principle as
the guiding light.
When it comes to social media or any form of
communication and strategy, I believe that the Audience
is King and to really succeed we need to understand
them, their needs and their interests and everything we
do should serve them.
10. The best social media puts the
audience first, has a purpose
or message and achieves one
(or more) of 5 things:
Entertains
Educates
Informs
Unites
Grows
@craigontoast
11. ++
=
Science
( data)
identify and understand
unseen underlying
patterns that bring out
important insights and
relationships to inform
other decisions
Art
( Content, Creative,
Process etc)
Message, method, type
and style of
communications to
influence audience
decisions
Creativity
( Imagination
and bravery)
Uniqueness, surprise,
personalisation,
personality
Connection
( Audience engagement and performance)
Awareness, consideration, action, purchase
loyalty, advocacy
13. “data is very easy to
misinterpret. And
since everyone will
have the same data,
there’s a danger that
everyone will end up
with the same ideas and
the same products.”
- John Hegarty ,
founder of BBH (UK)
Hegarty said this back in 2014,
so you’d hope his beliefs about
data have changed.
14. Data is the fuel of great performance,
now and in the and future.
Data science is the exploration of multisource data to identify and understand unseen
underlying patterns that bring out important insights and relationships.
Keyword analysis
cluster analysis
Social listening
Customer personas Entity analysis
Research and Reading
Audience and Customer DataPerformance
Interesting Insights
SEO
trends
Gaps and opportunities
Influencers
Stories
Product
Process
Audience behaviourChannels
Develop Objectives Macro environment Micro environmentInspiration
Ideas
15. Data is the fuel of great performance, now and in the and future.
Data Science allows brands to
innovate, communicate and be more
creative to deliver products and
services and meet objectives more
effectively.
Understand Audiences,
Needs and Interests.
Develop unique creative,
content and campaigns that
stand out.
Maintain Relevance
Drive stronger performance.
Be Memorable
19. "Creativity (n): a word people use
when they want to sound smart
talking about a really abstract
subject.
Me? I prefer to avoid
abstractions.”
CEO of Smart Blogger Jon Morrow
THIS IS
SIMPLY NOT
TRUE
( although Jon
Morrow is not alone
in his thinking)
20. A great campaign is only a great
campaign if it’s effective, which is
usually measured in numbers.
The beautiful paradox is that, at
the beating heart of many of the
most truly effective campaigns is
that wonderfully unquantifiable
thing:
creativity.
Dan Brooke,
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer,
Channel 4 ( UK)
21. Creativity isn’t about making things
bigger, louder, brighter and crazier
with more and more ideas.
Creativity isn’t about turning this…
Into this….
22. Creativity involves breaking out of
established patterns in order to look
at things in a different way.
Edward De Bono
23. The capacity to find and connect
relationships between
information, ideas, concepts,
and processes
that, at first glance, lack any
similarity.
Divergent thinking;
The ability to come up with lots of
different answers to the same
question
https://exploringyourmind.com/divergent-thinking-what-it-is/
Often equated with insatiable
curiosity as opposed to original
creative ideas.
24. Fluency:
the ability to produce a large
number of ideas.
Flexibility:
the ability to create a wide variety
of ideas based on different fields of
knowledge.
Originality:
the ability to create innovative
ideas.
Development:
the ability to improve our
ideas, to make them more
sophisticated.
4 Steps
To
Divergent
Thinking
25. “Feeling is the new
thinking”
Tim Leberecht,
TED Speaker, Marketing Strategist
“Feeling is the new
thinking, especially in
this new age of big data
and automation.
Companies that will
thrive will be those
that prioritise
creativity,
individuality
and above all, romance.
Romance is everything
you can’t quantify or
explain – the belief that
there is always a deeper
meaning”
26. Creativity in Planning and
Strategy
Creativity in data analytics and
application
Creativity in creative and
campaigns
CASE STUDIES
28. Shirtless selfies are a problem that
affect all of us.
You can help by commenting on
shirtless selfies with #putashirton
https://www.facebook.com/FruitoftheLoom/videos/10160408610395187/
#putashirton
29. https://www.facebook.com/FruitoftheLoom/videos/10160408610395187/
Fruit of the Loom could have run a traditional, direct response social and digital campaign targeting audiences with
image, link and carousel posts featuring the product and linking back to the website.
But they chose to be bold and think creatively about how to use their data and audience insights to bring the campaign
to life in an entertaining way.
The result stands out from competitors because it is entertaining, relatable for the audience, unique and memorable.
#putashirton
Audience
For the campaign to resonate
with their audience in a
meaningful way - drive site
traffic, store foot traffic and
sales – it has to be relevant to
them.
Basing the campaign on
Instagram, hashtags and selfies
would have been based on
their audiences behaviours.
Campaign
To be memorable and
unique, instead of focusing
on product the campaign
was designed to entertain
the audience. This first adds
value for them in a
surprising way, making them
more open to listening to
the secondary product
messaging.
Data and Insights
The “ 1 shirtless pic posted
every 7.3s” insight is, on its
own, fairly odd and
meaningless. Applied to
clothing brand, it begins to
have relevance.
Social Listening identified
hashtags that were relevant
to both the insight,
audience and campaign
message.
30. https://www.adforum.com/agency/4821/creative-work/34527357/liveinthemovies/airbnb
Because Airbnb was not an
official sponsor of the 2016
Academy Awards themselves, it
was not allowed to advertise or
even mention the Oscars
directly.
So, how do you create a
campaign that connects with the
audience of an event that you
can’t participate in?
The company’s answer was to
create its own conversation
around the Oscar awards
with #LiveInTheMovies
31. Case Study 3
R U OK travelled
14,000 km, visited
30 communities and
showed countless
Australians that
they have what it
takes to Ask –
R U OK?
Conversation Convoy:
Audience
All Australians, however a specific
focus on:
- Men living in regional and
remote Australia aged 45-60
-Women aged 34 - 54
- 3 - 8 year olds
- 18 - 24 year olds
Campaign
Content was developed to:
- Deliver messages to different audiences on
different channels in relevant and meaningful
ways. A one size fits all is not appropriate for the
varying groups.
- Bring the conversation convoy to life and
amplify the campaign activity on social
32. Regional and remote video
series: (Targeting me in regional
and remote Australia aged 45-60)
Conversation
Heroes
You've got what it takes videos:
(Women aged 34 - 54)
Children's music video:
(3-8 year olds)
Thanks for Asking
podcast
(Women aged 25 -34):
33. National awareness results:
Post-campaign recognition grew significantly from 71% in 2016 to 78% in 2017
Total social media results:
Audience increased by 12 million to 76,597,231
Website:
How to Ask page visits increased to 141K (up from 38K in 2016) *our focus for this campaign
SnapChat filter and video ads:
Overall one of Australia’s best performing Geofilters!
7,066,698 Views.
More than 1 in 2 Snapchatters in Australia were exposed to
the filter
Users chose to turn their personal moments into an R U
OK? moment:
the filter was used 204K times, generating 5k hours of
playtime
Smashed estimate with 2.3M swipes (Snapchat estimated
1M - 1.6M)
National video ads (11-18 Sept):
1.6M impressions
10K swipe ups (optimised)
124K video views (2 secs, 11% completion rate)
Facebook:
957,000 interactions on R U OK?Day
1,631,400 over campaign period (1 August - 17 September)
1,209,500 unique users interacted with campaign
ALEC ( Facebook Messenger Bot):
6000 uses
6.5 minutes average interaction
11.5K Messages sent by ALEC on R U OK?Day
20% users completed the default flow
YouTube:
92K views up from 38K
121K mins watch time up from 60K mins
Podcast:
20,000 downloads, peaking at 6,500 on R U OK?Day
34. To promote the movie
DeadPool 2 20th Century
Fox and Ryan Reynolds
learned from the hugely
successful campaign for
the first movie, leaning
into what worked and
expanding ever so
slightly into newer,
less familiar areas.
Excite fans:
• Self referential content, building on
moments from the first movie and
DeadPool’s history and character.
• Movie trailers
Audiences:
• Large focus on video as YouTube is a
platform of choice for younger audiences
and Millennials.
• Unique, surprising and strange
partnerships to tap into a broad range of
diverse audiences
Content and Tone of Voice:
• All content was in the unique DeadPool TOV.
• The unmistakable tone makes the content
memorable and stand out, love or hate it
• Unique content for varying audiences and
channels
37. Based on the insight that everyone hates
You Tube pre-roll ads, Burger King
created a campaign that integrated the
ads into the viewers experience.
Instead of interrupting viewers,
the ads used the insight to
Integrate with and add
to the experience
with humor,
making them
much more dynamic,
relevant and engaging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7iTl4JzQFU
64 unique pre roll videos,
each one based on what the
viewer was about to watch.
38. Spotify Data Campaign
Spotify used rich data about
users listening habits to tell
unique, funny stories and
inspire optimistic goal setting
for 2018.
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/29/spotify-wraps-up-2017-making-humorous-goals-2018-using-its-data-and-artists
39. Spotify Data CampaignUsing data in this unique
and creative way:
o Uncovers unexpected,
funny, relatable stories –
because all data is rich with
stories.
o Highlights Spotify’s artists
and music catalogue
o Showcases Spotify’s data
and insights capabilities to
attract advertisers
40. http://bacardiinstantdj-entry.com/
Insights:
o Instagrammers
spend 30 percent
more time
listening to music
weekly.
o They also spend
two times more
on music tickets
and merchandise
when compared
to the rest of the
population.
o Everyone hates
ads and skips
them.
Brand:
Bacardi is a brand
with a long history of
and commitment to
supporting and
developing music
experiences and
festivals.
Campaign:
Bacardi used
Instagram Stories to
bring their passion
for music to life, with
an audience that
shares it, in a unique,
relevant,
entertaining, fresh
way.
Bacardi
Instagram
Stories DIY DJ
41. http://bacardiinstantdj-entry.com/
o The Interactive
DJ allows users to
play DJ decks by
leveraging the
skip ad feature of
Instagram
Stories.
o DJ Campaign was
only live on
Stories for 24
hours, leveraging
the trend of
ephemeral
content to create
exclusivity.
200K+ Interactions
with the DJ Decks.
383% increase in
followers on
Instagram.
11M+ Media
Impressions
First Instagram
Hack to repurpose
native ad and
platform features
and functionality.
Bacardi
Instagram
Stories DIY DJ
43. 'The Cadbury
Live Egg Hunt’.
A live,
interactive, 360
Facebook video
one hour live
post on
Thursday 15
March 7-8pm
The first person
to spot an egg
and comment
was rewarded
with real
Cadbury
chocolates for
Easter
220,000 hunters
around Australia.
over 70,000
comments
http://www.campaignbrief.com/2018/03/cadbury-
launches-the-cadbury-l.html
44. Case Study 2
Divergent Thinking and creative
approaches can be applied in all
areas of a business
Medical Republic is one example:
A group of like minded doctors, journos
and ‘old world’
publishers who are modernising
communications for doctors.
http://medicalrepublic.com.au/
Creativity doesn’t have to be expensive, or
only considered in terms of campaigns or
large scale brand and marketing activities.
They understand doctors are people first and use humour,
a more casual tone and unexpected,
quirky but relevant images to humanise and
personalise their content and engage their audiences.
Medical Republic are a unique voice in the medical
industry, and their creative rule breaking approach
makes it easy for them to stand out and be recognised
46. Community
Management
Creativity isn’t just for content and strategy.
64% of
consumers are
more likely to
trust a brand if
it interacts
positively on
social media
More and more
brands are stepping
out of the traditional
careful corporate,
voices
to be braver and
more creative with
their approach to
Community
Management.
47. As new boundaries in personality and boldness are tested and adopted it’s
no longer enough to sound like a branded script on social media. Brands
need to sound human and real.
In this example Virgin Trains (UK) demonstrate a
boldness that only a few years ago brands
would have been too fearful of negative impact
and PR to clapback to consumers in this way.
Many brands still are, although consumers
expect more now.
48. US Burger Chain Wendy’s
could have easily ignored
the tweet from Carter
Wilson, but they chose to
respond in the same
cheeky tone as the
question.
Wilson saw a challenge and
when he reached Wendy’s
tongue in cheek 18M RT
goal, Wendy’s graciously
stuck to their word and
gave him a year of free
nuggets.
There was no need for
Wendy’s to respond to
Wilson, but they have a
unique approach to social
that often rewards them in
unusual ways like this.
50. Diversity and Inclusion
Representation is a growing issue for
brands and advertisers.
It’s more of a basic need than a trend
Diversity and Inclusion isn’t:
o showing off how well we can do representation
o proudly promoting when we do it or
o getting in or showing up for a trending moment.
It is simply including and considering different groups
of people in our everyday decision making – whether
we’re pitching, briefing or hiring.
http://www.bandt.com.au/technology/stem-education-way-future-changing-ratio
51. “If you do not intentionally, deliberately &
proactively include; you will
unintentionally exclude”
Sally-Ann Williams;
Engineering Community & Outreach
Manager, Google Australia
From pitching to planning, briefing, designing,
casting, defining audiences, media buying and
hiring,
including everyone should be the norm.
Able bodied, disabled, straight, gay,
trans, men, women, young, old,
families, singles, culturally diverse,
indigenous Australian and so much
more
http://www.bandt.com.au/technology/stem
-education-way-future-changing-ratio
52. Voice
30% of browsing sessions
will be done without a screen
by 2020
Voice is already gaining traction
and sooner than we know it will
have huge implications for brands
and marketers.
Search
Need to create identities for when
consumers can't see the products or
services
Brand
Develop a unique "voice"
audio signature that makes their
brands instantly recognizable.
Shoppable Voice is essentially
already live through some brands.
53. Domino’s UK – Voice Ordering with Alexa
Only two months after launching voice
ordering through Amazon Alexa in the UK, one
in five customers who can order a pizza with
one click through the pizza chain’s online
Easy Orders option has asked Amazon Alexa
instead.
Nick Dutch,
Head of digital for Domino’s UK.
54. “Consumers caneasily skip, mute or
blockTV and digital ads, but
attendinganevent or absorbingan
experience is a decision. Inmany
cases, it also constitutes a purchase
—evenif the currency istime or the
sort of behavioral and demographic
data marketers crave.”
The immersive brand
Events aren’t just for trade
The line between traditional and experiential is
best when it is blurred.
With traditional experiential marketing the
experience is limited to those who attend.Now
technology is both enabling a level of
immersion and storytelling that’s never before
seen and it’s enabling people to spread their
experiences through shareable highly
personalised content that drives the reach and
impact of that experience.
56. New models are emerging to bring Virtual
Reality content to a mass audience.
Subscription programming (David
Attenborough with SkyTVin the UK) is a path
opening up for educational content.
Movie Trailers - such as the VRversion for “Isle
of Dogs” are entertaining enough to make you
reach for your VRGoggles are deep content
experiences that engage.
Mini documentaries,such as “Space Explorers”
made for VRare impressive,because they
literally immerse you in another world and
create meaningful moments with consumers.
Virtual Reality
Made for an audience of one,accessible to the masses
57. GEN Z - THEY’RE MOBILE-
MINDED, YOUTUBE OBSESSED,
AND PROBABLY CONFUSED BY
YOUR CD COLLECTION:
GENERATION Z IS NOT TO BE
TAKEN LIGHTLY AS THE NEXT
WAVE OF DIGITAL CONSUMERS
59. Fake Melbourne Campaign ReworkBriefDivergent Thinking
Brand:
Wayne Estate Wines
Product:
New Product Launch –
Pre mix White Sangria
Objectives:
Awareness,
Product Sampling
Audience:
Aspirational Lifestyle Women 20 -
35
Interests:
Music & Festivals ( Dance, Pop, Commercial, R&B),
Outdoor Events, Entertaining @ Home, Fashion,
Races, Active Social Life, Experiences not things,
parties ( hosting and attending), Travel, Getaway.
Insights:
Likely to have purchased similar products in the past,
Likes to be seen to be in the know / ahead of the game
( status), See’s themselves as the trend watcher and
setter in her social groups, Party planner
60. Response:
Social Media Channels:
Facebook, Instagram,
Instagram Stories
Product, Lifestyle and
aspirational video first
content published and
amplified across
Facebook, Instagram and
Instagram Stories
Influencer Marketing:
Storytelling: Sponsored
Content piece with 1
popular lifestyle blogger (
80K Subscribers or 100K
monthly visits)
Amplification: Up to 20
relevant Instagram
Influencers to spread the
word
Sampling:
Partner with local
outdoor cinema for
sampling activation
during the product
launch phase.
61. Response:
Divergent Thinking
Insights:
music, entertainment, trend
watcher, experiences not things
Strategy ( Awareness):
Partner with Listen Up Music
Australia to write and release
track with a relevant musician in
their community.
Fund an award in the Listen Up
Songwriters Festival.
Create a powerful story to
amplify on all other channels
Establish authentic connection
that aligns to audience interests
to demonstrate relevance and
credibility and extend reach.
Insights:
music, entertainment, trend
watcher
Strategy ( Awareness):
Curate a branded sponsored
playlist or session with Spotify.
Providing new music to love
demonstrates an understanding
of, and interest in, the
audience.
Through the art of association
the brand will be linked to the
tracks long into the future,
which can create longer term
awareness or preference
Insights:
travel and getaway, experiences
not things, active social life,
product affiliation.
Strategy (Sampling)
Partner with AirBnB and home
owners to place product in the
fridge before the arrival of guests
at a property. Thank you note with
social links and hashtags to be
included
This surprise and delight strategy
places the product directly in the
hands of the desired audience at a
time when they are likely to drink it
most, a weekend getaway or
holiday.
Align booking audiences with
target audiences to ensure
relevance
Insights:
experiences not things, active social
life, entertainment product affiliation.
Strategy (Sampling)
Partner with AirTasker to have
Taskers give relevant job bookers
product on arrival. Thank you note
with social links and hashtags to be
included
This surprise and delight strategy
places the product directly in the
hands of the desired audience at a
time when they are likely to drink it
most, a weekend getaway or
holiday.
Example Relevant Taskers:
DJ;s, singers, helpers etc booked for
house parties, Movers booked to
move house or furniture,
62. Fake Melbourne Campaign ReworkBrief
Divergent
Thinking
In action:
brief
response
The two example
brief responses
provided here
highlight two very
different ways to
approach audiences,
ideation, strategy,
planning, content
and media.
The campaign,
audience and
objectives are
themselves reasonably
standard, but how we
think about and bring
them to life doesn’t
have to be.
Response 1
an easily recognisable
content and social led
campaign.
Audiences are targeted by
age and interests, content
is repurposed across
channels, events and
influencers engaged
DIVERGENT THINKING
A little divergent thinking
changes and opens up
what we see, which
changes what we believe
we’re capable of doing and
achieving.
go rogue, challenge
thinking habits, break
patterns, find bravery, take
risks,
stand out.
Response 2 –
is however more
divergent and
unexpected.
Interests, insights, life
moments, business
objectives (sampling),
risk, opportunity,
learning, surprise, and
challenge fuel creativity
and inform decisions.
There is nothing
wrong with this
campaign, it’s a
solid approach
and would like
deliver some
good results.
It is just missing
some deeper
creative thinking.
Thinking that
could drive great
results by
standing out
from the crowd
with uniquness..
65. Find and connect
relationships between
information, ideas, concepts,
and processes
that, at first glance,
lack any similarity.
Divergent thinking
Come up with lots of different
answers to the same question
66. 1.Do we have a tight grip on who we are selling
to, what they are worth and the business
opportunity?
Ben Rhodes,
Group
Marketing
Director,
Royal Mail
( UK)
When I think about great marketing,
I think about five things:
5. Are we able to link acquisition to repurchase activity and
ensure customer behaviour becomes embedded?
2. Do we have a media plan that reaches as
many of these customers as we can with
impact, and at a frequency that will ensure
recognition?
3. Will we surprise, delight and engage
customers in unexpected, fresh and desirable
ways and are we leveraging a sense of the
familiar to help us achieve this?
4. Does our message work from the top of the
funnel right down to trial and purchase –
deploying hard working performance media
alongside awareness building activity?
67. THANK YOU!
I’m Craig Mack
Head of Social Media @ Colloquial
Social Media and Content Strategist
Blogger / Influencer
Model
R U OK Day Ambassador
Social Media Manager @ TEDxSydney
Social Media Strategy @ The Pinnacle Foundation
@craigontoast
www.craigontoast.com.au
e: craigontoast@gmail.com
e: craig.mack@colloquial.com
@craig mack