Speed, transparency & courage: global advertisers answer the naysayers
In this guest post, IAB Australia CEO Vijay Solanki shares his highlights from last week's IAB MIXX conference in New York
I’m on the plane heading back from New York after an intense few days of the IAB MIXX conference, IAB MIXX Awards and then the IAB summit where 30+ IABs from around the world shared knowledge and best practise.
The events, just like the city of New York, were full-on and brimming with energy.
There’s so much I could share but I’ll start with some select headlines.
First up the USA CMO of McDonalds, Deborah Wahl, who started her session by exclaiming: “The old way doesn’t work. We need marketing at the speed of now”.
She shared some choice highlights on how the machine that is McDonald’s had been rebuilt around a fresh set of values: people obsessed, behaviour based, unified voice, fast, fluid, effective.
Wahl: “The old way doesn’t work. We need marketing at the speed of now”
Deborah also defined ‘digital’ for McDonalds as ‘the tools, technologies & techniques enabling distribution, interaction and observation’. I think that’s a useful summary.
One thing I particularly loved was McDonald’s definition of social as ‘the spiritual centre of modern marketing communications’.
I think it is both bold and meaningful particularly given some of naysayers when it comes to social in Australia right now.
For me, it rings true – great marketing communication is shared, spread and discussed by the community.
Bain: Fact-checking on Twitter is something that will haunt Trump
Another great moment on stage was Twitter’s COO, given the speculation on the company’s acquisition. Adam Bain kicked off by pointing out that the recent Presidential debate was the biggest night in Twitter’s history.
There was a great discussion on Trump’s talent for leveraging Twitter with Bain noting Trump has a great talent for framing the conversation and that helps drive Twitter engagement. That’s a lesson for all marketers looking to leverage the medium.
However, he also pointed out that fact-checking on Twitter is something that will haunt Trump.
The topic of measurement came up a few times during the conference and Bain covered this too, pointing out that Twitter works with Moat and has open data. In terms of strategy, Bain was clear that the focus for Twitter was news and sport.
Bosworth: ‘A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for”
One of the standout presentations came from Andrew ‘the Boz’ Bosworth, the VP of Ads and Business Platforms at Facebook. An accomplished software engineer who’s been at Facebook since 2006.
He told an epic story about the history of ice that used to be shipped to New York from north of the Hudson River. He told a twisted and enthralling tale of ice automation with an underlying message that transformation and evolution is inevitable. His view was that as an industry we need to help make it happen and not stand in its way, because change is a force of nature. But it takes real courage.
His cornerstone quote was the classic: “A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for”.
But I was also taken by his follow up that “sometimes the riskiest thing is not to risk everything”.
He also talked through Facebook’s pivot when it came to mobile, noting that when Zuckerberg saw the true potential of mobile, he made it the number one priority. He stopped other projects and he didn’t just throw in a few mobile people into projects teams and functions, he rebuilt the team around mobile.
You can see that this has paid off as Facebook is a mobile business and that has opened up new opportunities like video.
Naturally Boz did get thrown the thorny questions about measurement at the end of his presentation. He apologised and suggested it was a simple but fundamental mistake, saying: ‘it doesn’t affect what folk pay but yes, it does affect the average time spent viewing.’
Lanzone: CBS is no longer simply just a TV network
Next up in my highlights reel was Jim Lanzone, Chief Digital Officer at CBS, who shared a telling statement from his CEO, Les Moonves: ‘We are no longer just a TV network. CBS is a next generation content company that develops premium content and delivers it to every platform”.
That’s a great mantra for companies in that game here in Australia. He also reminded us all of the importance of premium content, sharing data on how CBS premium content helps deliver 179% more effective brand lift. In a world, obsessed by viewability, it’s clear that content and context are key.
Kopit Levien: “Change requires belief in the possibility of your own oblivion”
My final highlight came during the session led by Meredith Kopit Levien and Sebastian Tomich from The New York Times. Meredith opened with a line that resonated with me: “Change requires belief in the possibility of your own oblivion”.
Tomich: companies that believe they could go out of business are the best at digital transformation
The pair talked about the idea that companies that truly believe that they could go out of business are the best at digital transformation and talked about the fundamental change of staffing in their business – more folk creating content and less folk in sales.
But Meredith didn’t stop there, following up with another belter: ‘transformation isn’t a moment in time, it’s an operating model.’ Those of us who have worked in digital transformation know it’s a relentless journey and it’s tough.
All up my five days in New York left me with a sense that the best traditional companies are pushing hard to transform, whilst the big digital pure-play companies are still leading the pack. And the key to digital advertising’s new world order?
Maverick: recognised the need for speed in adapting to changing circumstances
Transparency, courage and the need for speed (always good to finish with a Top Gun quote).
Vijay Solanki is CEO of the IAB Australia
Bosworth is clearly a fan of NAB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hglDE2yY_GA
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That was my first thought as well. You can’t go using that phrase in Australia as it’s become cliched.
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