DIGITAS PERSPECTIVE

The Real Value of Brand Newsrooms

Real-Time Marketing Should Drive Brand Growth, Not Just Chase Sharknados
You can use this when you have an Oreo moment, the software vendor on the other end of the phone said. Its become an adjective, I thought to myself. The concept of brands jumping into cultural conversations with real-time content has exploded since Oreo, Tide, Audi, VW and others capitalized on the infamous post-Beyonc blackout during the Super Bowl. Though instructive, and perhaps inspiring, the Super Bowl moment easily leads us astray. Why? Because, in our excitement about real-timeabout, say, the next royal baby or Sharknadowe as marketers often forget that content must be approached under the same rubric as David Ogilvy applied to each of his own advertisements: a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image. Thats why, during a recent phone conversation, I was excited to hear Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement for Mondelz International, stress the need for a holistic approach to the enterprise of brands acting as newsrooms. To Bough, who created one of the first physical prototypes of a brand newsroomGatorades Mission Controlreal-time brand-building (he doesnt call it real-time marketing) is about improving overall marketing effectiveness, across all channels, and not simply creating a few one-off social-media wins. Take a hot-off-the-presses example: for Nilla Wafers, Mondelzs Darlene Litam and social media agency VaynerMedia built a targeted community on Facebook, tested different content types in real-time, and doubled down on the one that resonated most with their audience. Same-store sales were up 14% in June, the month they heavied up on their social strategy, and 8.8% for the same six-month period over 2012with no significant coupon or in-store display promotions. As we think about the future of real-time brand-building, and the project of brand newsrooms, lets not allow ourselves to become blinded by shiny objects. Instead, lets approach real-time as part of a much larger process, one that centers on creating relevance and value at the intersection of brand purpose and consumer interest. Lets test, iterate, and employ all of our assetsour social listening tools, our market research, our traditional media buysto build an integrated brand platform, one that can adapt in real-time but never undermines the ultimate measure of a marketers success: driving brand and business growth.

Contact for More Information

Sam Rosen, VP/Director, Social Content, DigitasLBi Twitter: @SamRosen Email: Samuel.rosen@digitas.com This piece originally appeared on The Economists Lean Back Blog

August2013