Razorfish Looks into a Splintery Crystal Ball
Microsoft-owned Razorfish, one of the largest digital ad buyers in the world, has a new virtual book out, the 2009 Digital Outlook Report. These reports are very much documents of their moment--as Forbes points out, two years ago Razorfish was announcing that portals were back from the dead; this year portals have an icy gray hand clutching their ankles again.
We spoke with Jim Watson, VP at the Seattle tentacle of worldwide Razorfish, about what the future holds, and he admitted that "Broadly speaking, there's not a lot of good news from an economic standpoint." Yet business goes on, and goes on online, and five years after Facebook's arrival on the planet, social networking and fragmenting media channels represent the latest challenge-tunity for marketers.
"What we're hearing loud and clear is the explosion of everything social. It's not a fad, it's here for good. In the report our emphasis is on social networking becoming the norm for online activity and communication."
This is the year, the report predicts, that "your CEO joins Facebook." Our eyes widened at that. "Correct us if we're wrong, but wouldn't that kill Facebook?" we asked. Here's the less soundbite-y version: Razorfish thinks that taking advantage of "social influence" is the next wave of marketing, and that its effects and implications will reach the CEO suite.
"I try to put myself in the consumer's shoes," said Watson. "There's a difference between what we can do and what we ought to do. You only try to influence bloggers if your product is in their sweet spot--if you're trying to push something and it's not a core concern, people will see that react negatively. It's about being there with your audience."
As an example, Watson mentioned Nike's presence on Facebook. We had no idea, but that only underscores Razorfish's theme of targeted, niche marketing. Nike created a community on Facebook around women's soccer, and the community "really exploded--in fact the members took it over after Nike campaign was finished."
So if you're a woman who likes soccer on Facebook, there's a good chance you've run into Nike. Us, not so much. That led to Watson's next point: "There are more and more ways to reach a specific audience, but it's becoming harder and harder to scale."
Distribution-vs.-destination thinking, Watson claims, is the new digital movement: "The old 'If we build it they will come' strategy is being replaced by reliance on consumer ambassadors, and finding opportunities to augment dialogue. If you have a good product and good service, even negative comments add to your credibility because they prompt other people jump to your defense." He points locally to Amazon and Expedia success in adopting user reviews as a way of adding value.
Bottom line: "The conventional way of controlling or stewarding a brand is going away. There's an increased focus on quality of products and service, and then leveraging social networks to create awareness."
