BLINK 08
08
MEDIA,TRENDS
& CONSUMERS
QUIZ:
Emojiads
PUBLISHED BY
Do you recognize the most popular video ads of the past 12 months?
If you're struggling, it might be because we’ve translated them into today’s
version of hieroglyphics: emojis. Emojis or emoticons are increasingly being used
by younger consumers as a new system for communications.
THE SYSTEMS THINKING ISSUE
We've printed a list of the 10 most shared video ads of the last year.
All of them have been viewed millions of times, but.... can you recognize them?
Can you work out which video ad is which?
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THE SYSTEMS
THINKING ISSUE
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Find the answers at mediacomblink.com
MIND YOUR
LANGUAGE
Use the right lingo to
understand and optimize
your communications system
SMARTER
METRICS
Avoid siloed measures
that can distort your
investment strategy
WHAT’S HAPPENING
IN YOUR SYSTEM?
Answer 12 questions that
can uncover connection
opportunities
CLEAR CONNECTION
STRATEGIES
Check out what marketers at
GSK, SEAT, Shell and SONY Mobile
see as their biggest opportunities
Words: Stephen Allan,
MediaCom Worldwide Chaiman & CEO
INTRO
Welcome to the new issue of BLINK!
BLINK
Our focus this time is on Systems Thinking.
no 8 2014/2015
It’s an issue that’s top-of-mind here at MediaCom, because we’ve spent a lot
of time over the past 18 months working out exactly how to apply Systems
Thinking to the task of optimizing our clients’ marketing communications.
MediaCom Global
124 Theobalds Road
London
WC1X 8RX
UK
The result is our new planning process, 20|20 Connections (see p. 36) , and
our determination that our job is always to optimize the entire system of
communications – not just the channel silos.
Tel.:
+44 (0)20 7158 5500
Email:blink.magazine@mediacom.com
Web: mediacom.com / mediacomblink.com
So what is a System and why is Systems Thinking so important?
For a detailed answer, take a look at Putting Systems Thinking into
Communications Practice p. 16 and Language of Systems Thinking p. 06.
Editor-in-Chief:
Signe Wandler, MediaCom
signe.wandler@mediacom.com
For a quicker answer, I like the analogy of “family”, favoured by Peter Senge,
who teaches Systems Thinking at MIT Sloan School of Management.
Design & Layout:
Art Director, Martin Dahlbeck
Propellant, propellant.dk
Senge says: “Whenever I’m trying to help people understand what this
word ‘system’ means, I usually start by asking: ‘Are you a part of a family?’
Everybody is a part of a family. ‘Have you ever seen in a family, how people
can produce consequences - how people act, how people feel - that aren’t
what anybody intends?’ ”
Cover:
Sam Falconer
As Senge explains, this analogy takes us away from the jargon of Systems
and Systems Thinking, and makes more vivid the undeniable fact that we all
live in webs of interdependence. And that, if you’re not extremely careful, you
can generate problems in these interdependent webs or systems that you
really didn’t mean to.
12
Vice Media:
The Revolution
Will Not Be Televised
Q&A with Vice’s Matt O’Hara on how to engage the younger
generations in millions and create groundbreaking content.
06
ISSN: 1903-5373
The Language of
Systems Thinking
26
The opinions expressed in the
articles are those of the authors.
Minor textual contents may be
republished as long as the original
author and publication are cited.
Get introduced to the vocabulary of
systems to fully understand how they work.
By Jon Gittings, Global Business Development
Strategy Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
All brands need three kinds of content and
effective distribution strategies to appeal
to the millennial mind-set.
By Nick Palmer, Head of Content Strategy,
MediaCom Beyond Advertising EMEA
So Systems Thinking isn’t some abstract buzz-phrase. Being good at Systems
Thinking is about foreseeing and preventing problems, and about maximizing
the health and happiness of the family – or, in our case, maximizing the
effectiveness of a communications system.
20
34
Regards,
Stephen Allan
Steps to Successful
Omnichannel Retailing
5 Questions for Marketing
Leader Chris Hayek
Identify your customers’ key decision
points along the purchase path and be
ruthless about removing friction.
By Stephen Mader, Digital Retail Insights
Director, Kantar Retail
The challenges of marketing, taking
calculated risks and driving innovation.
Q&A with Director of Global Brand
Marketing for Shell Lubricants
2
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Printed By:
Vilhelm Jensen & Partnere
Content, Connections
and Millennials
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
3
CONTENTS
FE ATURE S
06
The Language of Systems Thinking
16
Putting Systems Thinking into Communications Practice
24
Wearing our Hearts on our Sleeves
26
Content, Connections and Millennials
30
Understanding Systems, Designing Behavior Change
36 Systems Thinking: A World in which an Audit is a Good Thing
42
Measuring the System for Correct Attribution
44
How to Connect your Brand with the Connected Consumer
48
New Opportunities to get Connected on Facebook
M:FILE S
22
Three Valuable Insights from TED
39
Etihad Maps the Future for Business Travelers
INTERLUDE S
32
The Blind Men and the Matter of the Elephant
50
Habits of a Systems Thinker
Q&As
09
The Current State of Marketing from Those Who Know
12
Vice Media: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
34
5 Questions for Marketing Leader Chris Hayek
POVs
4
20
Steps to Successful Omnichannel Retailing
40
Connected Video for the Connected Consumer
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
16
09
Putting Systems Thinking
into Communications
Practice
The Current State of
Marketing from Those
Who Know
Adding systems thinking to communication
creates great value, and provides new solutions
and opportunities.
By Jon Gittings, Global Business Development
Strategy Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
Seasoned senior marketers from Sony Mobile,
Seat and GSK answer questions on the current
state of marketing.
44
24
How to Connect
your Brand with the
Connected Consumer
Wearing our
Hearts on our
Sleeves
Meet the Connected Consumer. A group of people
less defined by age and class than by their interests
and attitudes.
By Phil Jones, Global Agency Business Leader, Google
How new systems will make intimacy scalable.
By Neil Redding, Senior Partner, Senior Director of
Innovation, MediaCom USA
48
42
New Opportunities
to get Connected
on Facebook
Measuring the
System for Correct
Attribution
Systems thinking offers new opportunities for
brands on the world’s biggest social network.
By Nick Burcher, Head of Social, MediaCom EMEA
Measuring a system fairly is as important
as understanding how it works.
By Jeremy Griffiths, Chief Business Science
Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
5
Words: Jon Gittings, Global Business Development
Strategy Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
FE ATURE
The Language
of Systems
Thinking
To really understand how systems work, you
need the right vocabulary. Jon Gittings explains.
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BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Understanding the language of systems helps
people make the right decisions and create change.
This is critical for any enterprise and organization,
along with the executives in charge. The first
step is to understand that a system isn’t just a
collection of things, but rather an interconnected
set of elements organized to achieve a function or
purpose. You also need to understand that there
are implications to changing any of the elements
or interconnections and, most importantly, the
purpose. Although systems sound complicated,
the beauty of systems thinking is actually how
it can make the complex simple. And the more
you understand and speak its language, the more
straightforward it can become.
kicking a ball. Change the interconnections,
however, and the impact is much more dramatic.
Create a new set of rules – allow players to handle
the ball, for example – and you have a whole
new ballgame. If you change the purpose of the
team from winning to just having fun, you have
also made a profound shift in what you are likely
to see on the field (and where the team ends up
in the league standings). Purpose is one of the
most powerful ways to influence the behavior
of a system. Why? Because it sets the direction
for the system. For businesses and marketers, a
poorly-defined purpose is often at the core of
one’s inability to direct or move the system in a
desirable direction.
Take, for example, a football team, whose purpose
is to win games. The players and the coach
constitute the elements of this system, and they can
be changed at will. The interconnections form the
framework in which the game is played, and play is
defined by physics, the rules of the game as well as
how the coaches train the team to play.
The importance of time
These terms, however, broadly define the system
at a single moment in time. The true power
of a system is only revealed over a period of
months, years or even decades. Words that add
the dimension of time to our appraisal of systems
include stock, flows and feedback loops.
So what happens if you change the system’s
various components? Alter the elements and you
would still have a football team. It may or may not
perform better, but it would still be eleven players
Stock is the collective noun for all the measurable
elements in the system. To continue our football
analogy, it represents the skill of the players and
their understanding of the opposition’s skill. It is
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
7
the store of resource that builds up in a system
over time, whether that be tangible material or
intangible knowledge. The stock will increase
or decrease when there is a flow. Flows can be
growth or decay, purchases or sales, deposits or
withdrawal, and successes or failures.
Football players’ skills can grow or decay as they
train or get injured, while a team’s skill level can
improve or decrease as players’ contracts are
bought and sold. If a player’s propensity for injury
increases and he is no longer able to train as hard,
that would impact the stock. But what happens if a
young player joins the team, becomes an element
of the system over time and improves his play?
That would clearly be a positive flow.
Perhaps the best way to view a system is as a rather
crazy set of plumbing. Every pipe has its own
tap that can be turned on or off, but the decision
to reduce the flow in one section of the system
will automatically boost it elsewhere. It’s these
feedback processes that make it so essential for a
company to operate its whole system, not just each
element in isolation. After all, if attempts to reduce
or increase the flow in one part results in the
opposite impact in another of equal importance,
then a system has not progressed toward its
purpose. Moreover if the system or the pipes aren’t
properly connected, the result is leakage or wastage
in the flow. Not only is it important to ensure that
the taps are correctly positioned but your pipes
need to be seamlessly linked in order to have a
healthy or optimized system.
The impact of feedback
Understanding feedback loops is critical to systems
thinking. Some scenarios that look like they are
boosting in-flows to stocks could trigger other
events that have the opposite effect. For example,
if working hard earns you more money, you create
a positive flow to your bank account. The longerterm feedback could be a decline in motivation
to work as your bank balance rises, or you may
become more relaxed about spending money.
These are two potential negative feedback loops.
Feedback loops come in a variety of different
forms. Balancing loops – those that are ultimately
self-regulating – might oscillate around a chosen
level of stock, but eventually return to the same
level. The other kind of feedback loop encourages
more input to the stock that’s already there.
8
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
In our banking example, a reinforcing loop is one
where an account is paid interest according to
the terms of the account. The more money in the
bank, the more interest earned. As the old saying
goes, the rich get richer. And as Sir Isaac Newton
might have said, every action creates a reaction in
a system.
Gaining leverage
The final key term when describing a system is
leverage points. Leverage points are the moments or
places in the system where chosen actions will (or
won’t) propel the system toward its purpose. Insight
tells us where these points are and how power
should be applied.
In a communications system, marketers and
strategists will understand these as the right content,
right time and right place to deliver their messages.
Identifying a leverage point and applying the
correct change elsewhere in the system might not
result in immediate action, as often systems will be
buffered in some way. But over time – depending on
the size of the buffer in the system – the system will
move in the desired direction.
A classic example of a buffered system is the mobile
phone market. Let’s say Company X brings out
the most technologically-advanced new handset.
Although the product is competitively superior, it
takes time for the company’s market share to reflect
the breakthrough.
This is because there are significant buffers in the
system, namely the length of phone contracts and
consumers’ inability to change carriers without
incurring massive charges. Another buffer is the
company’s ability to manufacture enough handsets
to meet demand. In many ways, this is the scenario
facing smartphone maker HTC; while the company
may have started out with better technology and
reviews, it continues to struggle due to a legacy of
manufacturing and distribution buffers.
Find your inner systems thinker
The best way to observe and understand how your
system operates is to sit back and watch. Access
your inner naturalist. Observe how the system
behaves while identifying its flows, elements and the
interconnections. Systems are complex. You might
think you have tamed yours, but be assured that it
will evolve and continue to create new challenges
to be observed and met. That, after all, is one of the
key pleasures of systems thinking.
Q&A with Anton van de Putte,
Vice President, Area General Manager
North & West Europe, GSK
Q&A
The Current State of Marketing
from Those Who Know
MediaCom posed five questions to three seasoned senior marketers
from around the world asking them about the current state of
marketing, including their most important challenges and
opportunities. Here’s what they had to say.
1.Where do you look for inspiration into what’s next for
your customers and your business?
to everyone in our office, so we can all access the
results and interact.
I actively follow the media, read newsletters and use
GSK’s clippings service. GSK also has a reverse
mentoring program in place (where senior managers
are paired with more junior staff) to ensure senior
management is exposed to trends in digital. We
also reach out to small companies like Smartclip
4. How do you ensure the integration and
collaboration between marketing disciplines and
specialists within your organization?
All our people work side by side, and we bolster this
by having a digital specialist on every marketing
GSK also has a reverse mentoring program to
ensure senior management is exposed to trends.
(smartclip.com) on a regular basis; they help us
understand what “the next big thing” might be.
2. How are you leveraging content and data to engineer
the success of your marketing programs?
Much of our content is created globally and then
adapted for local markets. We back this up with clear
ROI measurements for most activities to ensure we
are making the most effective investment choices.
team. We also have quarterly cross-functional
workshops to ensure that everyone is exposed to
the latest and most important ideas and tools, and
can apply what they’ve learned.
5. What does our marketing future look like? What
organizational changes do you believe the industry
needs to make to succeed?
3. How are you listening to and prioritizing your
customers within your communications system and
ensuring they stay loyal?
For us, the marketing future is about three things:
(1) striking the right balance between global and
local teams; (2) continuing to shift investment to
digital (and having the right digital KPIs in place);
and (3) constantly upgrading our digital expertise.
We track all the social media mentions of our
brands in the GSK Social Listening Lab. It’s open
Alongside us, our agencies must also evolve to
continue to add value.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
9
Q&A with Jacob Sten, Vice President,
Product Marketing, SONY Mobile
1. Where do you look for inspiration as to what’s next
for your customers and your business?
Our inspiration is to empower and enrich the life
of the consumer, providing offerings to enable
new and richer experiences. We talk to consumers
constantly and generally find two end-states:
either a consumer has a need but doesn’t know
how it can be fulfilled or, sometimes, we can
create a demand for new products and services.
2. How are you leveraging content and data to
engineer the success of your marketing programs?
Data and content is fundamental to our success,
and direct consumer interaction gives us further
leverage.
Q&A
in an increasingly crowded landscape, we need to
be very targeted, thoughtful and consistent in how
we communicate. Saying no and being selective is
increasingly fundamental to our success.
4. How do you ensure integration and collaboration
between marketing disciplines and specialists within
your organization?
Organizational structure alone will not ensure
integration and collaboration; a vibrant culture is
also key. SONY Mobile has a collaborative, open
culture in which everyone can speak freely. It’s
about understanding each other’s expectations
and objectives, and recognizing that we all have
the same ultimate goal. You also sometimes need
strong governance during execution phases when
tight coordination is vital.
The pinnacle will no longer be one single
purchase moment, but rather a more distributed
level of attention on the entire cycle.
I think we can do more with data in three key areas:
data from digital and direct consumer interaction
can help us better understand consumer needs
and cultural differences; data can help us plan our
media mix and optimize ROI; and data can inform
the consumer journey and help us tailor our activity
by target audience. As part of the SONY family,
we have access to a wide range of content that can
be used to inform both product development and
marketing communications. This is an important
advantage, but – in a world where content is
everywhere – we must strive to create unique and
powerful offerings that only Sony can provide.
3. How are you listening to and prioritizing your
customers within your communications system?
We’ve worked very hard to identify the target
audience for both our brand and our product
offerings but, of course, we know that consumers
are constantly evolving. If we are going to stand out
10 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
We also make sure that our marketing activities
are closely tied to overall corporate goals. This
reinforces the importance of marketing and gives
everyone a shared context.
5. What does our marketing future look like? What
organizational changes do you believe the industry
must make to succeed?
Two thoughts… one is that marketing will become
much more focused on the consumer journey.
This will necessitate deeper, more direct
engagement with the consumer, and marketing
organizations may need to be reshaped to facilitate
these conversations more quickly and more easily.
Q&A with Juan Pablo Gómez Macfarland,
Head of Marketing, SEAT, Mexico
1. Where do you look for inspiration into what’s next
for your customers and your business?
Digital platforms are an important way to discover
innovative ideas and new ways of doing business.
Social networks are a big focus group for learning,
and we believe that the closer we are to our
customers, the more chances we have for success.
2. How are you leveraging content and data to
engineer the success of your marketing programs?
Clear strategic vision, along with KPIs to measure
success, give us the power to focus any marketing
Q&A
Moving in one direction together also provides
a more efficient and less costly way to track and
maintain customer loyalty.
4. How do you ensure the integration and
collaboration between marketing disciplines and
specialists within your organization?
Never stop reminding the team what the goals
are, how they will be achieved and the role that
each and every person plays and achieving our
objectives. We hold quarterly marketing check-ins
on and align our strategy with our KPIs.
Information is power, so the quicker it comes
to you – both from within and outside the
company – the faster you can move ahead.
program and create relevant content for our target
markets.
5. What do organizations need to do to succeed
in the future?
3. How are you listening to and prioritizing your
customers within your communications system and
ensuring they stay loyal?
Three things: First, organizations must have
strong, clear brand values and communicate them
across the right channels; second, targeting your
message will increase the likelihood of capturing
the highest-quality prospects possible; and lastly,
information is power, so the quicker it comes to
you – both from within and outside the company
– the faster you can move ahead.
One team, one voice: Having two agencies in
one – CRM and Digital – is the best way to build
a 360° communication system with the proper
focus, relevant information and targeted messages.
To read more insights from senior marketing executives go to
p. 34 or visit mediacom.com
Marketing and consumer engagement will also
be much more “always on,” as the pinnacle will
no longer be one single purchase moment, but
rather a more distributed level of attention on the
entire cycle up to purchase and then repurchase
and recommendation.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
11
Q&A with Matt O'Mara,
Vice’s UK Managing Director.
Photography: Vice Magazine
Q&A
Vice Media:
The Revolution
Will Not Be Televised
Founded in 1994, Vice Media has become an expert in
making and distributing exciting, provocative content
for the millennial generation.
Initially a magazine business, Vice is
now a $2.5 billion business reaching 150
million people each month across every
conceivable platform in 36 countries.
The power of Vice’s content – along with
the company’s strong bond with young
trendsetters – has been rewarded with
investments from A+E Networks, 21st
Century Fox and WPP, among others.
Vice: We have editorial and video
teams in each territory generating
ideas and – although they operate
James Morris, Global Head of
MediaCom Beyond Advertising, gets
the answers to these questions and more
from Vice’s UK managing director, Matt
O’Mara.
We intend to be the biggest premium
content creator on the planet, so we’ll
keep producing formats as long as
there are new places to present them.
Matt O’Mara [Vice]: Vice is the most
relevant media company for young
people in the world. We create and
distribute content that people genuinely
want to consume, and brands can be
a big part of that. If you want to reach
Gen X/Y and you’re not working with
Vice, we need to talk.
MediaCom: Shane Smith (Vice CEO)
has said that you create content that
you yourselves think is cool. But how do
40+-year-old managers interpret “cool”
for younger audiences and remain an
evolving and iconic brand?
12 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Vice: Shane had the foresight to
recognize that – in the mid-90s, when
the YouTubes and Hulus of this world
were building the infrastructure for
video distribution – people would
eventually crave high-quality content.
Our model is pretty simple: make the
best content for as many people as
we can through as many distribution
points as possible. We intend to be the
biggest premium content creator on
the planet, so we’ll keep producing
formats as long as there are new
places to present them.
So what makes the Vice system so
effective and powerful among its target
audience? How does it create such
engaging content and what can brands
learn from its distribution strategy?
James Morris [MediaCom]: Matt,
tell us your elevator pitch for Vice?
VICE News,
Ukraine Burning.
MediaCom: You’re creating a wide
range of content, from “Some Genius in
LA is Selling Weed Pizzas” to “'We Are
Laying Down Like Dogs: The Long Wait
for Ebola Treatment in Liberia”. Can
you describe your creative and editorial
process for creating content? For example,
how do you decide whether the format
of a story should be short-form video or
written editorial?
Vice: Shane is very hands-on and drives
a lot of what Vice is. However, he’s the
first person to say that what makes
Vice great it that the brand is for and
by young people. The vast majority
of our staff is below the age of 30 and
they are incredibly switched-on, smart
people. They know first-hand what
their generation wants, and it’s not the
sanitized view of the world that many
media outlets promote.
independently – their conclusions are
often complementary, and there is
crossover in terms of talent. For example,
Clive Martin, one of Vice UK’s most
celebrated writers, is also a rising star in
video. Like any media company, there are
editorial meetings and a vetting process
for every story.
MediaCom: Please tell us how you develop
key formats, verticals and channels?
Vice: We produce formats that fit
a particular medium or content
environment. Online, we create a huge
variety of programming franchises
across the various verticals, and we’re
completely unrestricted in terms of length
and design. On the other hand, our HBO
show is 45 minutes long and is produced
in a more standard television format.
MediaCom: Investing in high quality
content appears to be your single-minded
strategy. How has this system evolved,
and has it been an intended evolution or
something that has happened organically?
Where does Vice go from here?
MediaCom: You have created new news
formats for the younger generation, and
challenged the perception that they’re
uninterested in current affairs. Can you
describe how this came about?
Vice: With huge numbers of young
people spending less time watching
traditional TV and more and more
time viewing our documentaries on
YouTube, we knew that young people
were interested in the world… they
were just changing the way they
got their information. Vice News is
only six months old, but has already
become the fastest-growing news
channel on YouTube. The reaction to
our video dispatches covering Ukraine
and the Islamic State, to name just two
of many global stories we cover on the
ground, have resulted in traditional
news outlets taking us very seriously.
MediaCom: You have a host of digital
channels, from the new “Munchies,” with
a focus on food, to “Motherboard” on
tech and “Noisey” on music.Why does it
make sense to keep them under separate
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
13
brands or names rather than have them
all under Vice?
Vice: Vice is a network, and we wanted
to create digital destinations around the
cultural areas most interesting to young
people. “Young people,” though is a
very broad category, and to suppose that
everyone under, say 30 years old, is into
everything would be naïve. That said,
Vice.com is essentially the mothership: an
aggregation of the very best content from
all our verticals. A site re-launch later this
year will make this even more apparent.
magazine. Coupling this level of
distribution with sought-after content
makes us hard to beat.
MediaCom: Describe your success on
YouTube.
Vice: We have debunked the myth
that content needs to be bite-sized.
Audiences are watching our content
from beginning to end, even though
our shows can be more than 30 minutes
long, and millions are subscribing to our
YouTube channels.
We have debunked the myth that
content needs to be bite-sized.
MediaCom: Condé Nast says it is
spending as much on distribution as
content creation. How much does Vice
invest to promote its content?
Vice: We spend money on content
activation, both for ourselves and
for our brand partners, but there is
less reliance on paid distribution for
premium content. Our engagement rates
on YouTube, where we have the best
ratio of likes vs. dislikes, and Facebook
where Vice has 55% higher engagement
rates than average, prove that social
advocacy is still at the root of what we
do. Technology is critical, but – at the
end of the day – being creative is still the
most important thing we do.
MediaCom: Vice isn’t the biggest when
measured by views or monthly unique
visitors, but the company still engages
audiences at a very high valuation.What
is unique about your offer to advertisers?
Vice: Vice reaches more than 150
million people per month across
all platforms. This reflects not only
our scale, but also the diversity of
our business: a network of 10 online
channels, 10 global YouTube channels,
multiple linear shows and franchises
(like our Emmy Award-winning show
on HBO), mobile, a record label,
book publishing and, of course, our
14 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
The engagement rates are off the charts,
we have the fastest-growing subscriber
channels, and our content has the best
ratio of likes to dislikes. This is what we
bring that others don’t: truly premium
content and real engagement. We help
brands shift consumer opinion, which
ultimately translates into sales.
MediaCom: What do you think about
advertiser content at the moment?
Vice: Some of it is pretty depressing.
Everyone is having a go at it, but it’s
tricky to do well and much of it is
throwaway, with clients having to pay
massive amounts to get it seen. That’s
not good for anyone. Clients need to
learn that you can explain what your
brand is or showcase a product benefit
without artificially forcing it into the
narrative.
MediaCom: What do advertisers need
to remember about creating engaging
content?
Vice: Make your content entertaining,
thought-provoking and authentic.
Whatever you deliver has to be
something audiences love and want to
share with others.
Clients need to learn that you can
explain what your brand is or showcase
a product benefit without artificially
forcing it into the narrative.
VICE News,
Ambushed in South Sudan
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
15
Words: Jon Gittings, Global Business Development
Strategy Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
FE ATURE
SYSTEM GLOSSARY
Description
Football
Communications
Purpose
What the system is trying to
Become #1 in the league by
Deliver against the specified
achieve. Its function.
winning more games than the
outcomes, e.g., increase
competition.
drinking occasions.
The players and the coaches.
The paid, owned and earned
Elements
Interconnections
Putting Systems
Thinking into
Communications
Practice
Systems thinking can feel a bit
overwhelming, especially to a newcomer.
While we’ve always had systems, and
the discipline of systems thinking has
been around since the middle of the last
century, it isn’t often explicitly applied to
the world of communications. It’s there;
we just haven’t really spoken about it.
For us it’s a new language – a fresh way
of looking at the world and a new way
of doing things. We’ve learned that the
more time you spend with it, the richer
and more interesting it becomes. There
16 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Changing football’s interconnections
can completely change the behavior of a
Flows
of the system. Often physical,
content and channels that
but may also be intangible.
make up the system.
The relationships or
The rules of the game, the
The relationships between the
connections (along with
coaches’ instructions and the
different content and channels,
the structure of those
referees’ activities.
and any organizing frameworks
relationships) that hold
or behaviors that determine
the elements of the system
what those relationships should
together.
be, e.g., “no dead ends”
The measurable elements in
The skill of the players and their
The equities and assets that
the system. An accumulation
knowledge of their opponents’
exist within the system:
of material or information that
skills.
intangibles such as brand
has built up in a system over
perception and tangibles such
time.
as fan communities.
Material or information that
A series of injuries that reduces
Changes in consumer beliefs
leaves or joins a stock over a
the ability of players and the
and attitudes that influence
period of time.
team to perform.
their perspectives and actions.
A new coach with new ideas
Changes in the target
that improves skills.
consumers’ relationship with
the system’s content and
channels.
Feedback Loops
Enhancing communications with systems thinking creates
value and generates new solutions and opportunities. Let’s
look at the world of football and the challenge of childhood
obesity to bring it to life.
is no doubt that systems thinking
provides myriad opportunities to create
rewarding and effective solutions to a
wide range of problems, both big and
small. To help us unlock the wonderful
world of systems thinking, we have
compiled a glossary of key terms and
components. And to bring it to life,
we’ve included examples from not
only communications, but the world of
football as well.
Stocks
The specialist component parts
The mechanism (a rule, an
The addition of new players
Changes in how the system is
information flow or a signal)
to help achieve the system's
optimized produces changes
that allows a change in stock
purpose (positive feedback
in the interrelationships and
to affect a flow in or out of
loop).
interdependencies of the
system. e.g., the introduction
that same stock.
system. The moment Webb Ellis handled
a ball rather than just kicking it – i.e.,
he changed the relationships between
the elements of the system – football
(or soccer) started to become rugby (a
whole new system). The moment players
in the US decided it was better to pass
the ball forward the system changed
again, eventually becoming American
football. This is a good demonstration
of why we should always plan for
outcomes not inputs: it’s the outcome
that truly shapes the system.
Not qualifying for the
or removal of any given
Champion’s League so that
content or channel; more or
money isn’t available to bring
less money in the system;
in new players to help qualify
higher or lower effective
next year (negative feedback
frequency targets;
loop).
use of audience data;
adjustments in audience
targeting.
Leverage Points
Moments and places in the
The appointment of a new
A change in content or
system where specific actions
coach, or more revenue for
channel; a cash injection as
will make it more likely that the
the players' budget (e.g., via
a particularly acute moment
system will achieve its purpose.
more stadium capacity, more
or point in the system; a
favorable contract terms with
rebalancing of paid, owned,
sponsors).
earned; a new connections
High leverage points create
exponential effects in the
truth and platform.
system; low leverage points
create incremental effects.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
17
SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
BODY
IMAGE
FOOD
ECONOMICS
PEER
PRESSURE
SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY
OF FATNESS
SELF ESTEEM
PASSIVE MEDIA
CONSUMPTION
FOOD
ADVERTISING
OFFLINE VIDEO
INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
TV
WATCHING
FOOD LITERACY
OOH
SOCIAL OUTREACH
ONLINE VIDEO
SOCIAL INTERACTION
STRESS
INDIVIDUALISM
USE OF MEDICINES
SOCIAL REPONSE
INDIVIDUAL
ACTIVITY
RETARGETING
NEWSPRINT
DEMAND FOR
HEALTH
NUTRITIONAL
QUALITY
FEMALE
EMPLOYMENT
COST OF
INGREDIENTS
DEMAND FOR
CONVENIENCE
FOODS
MARKET
PRICING
ENERGY
ENERGY IN
ENERGY AVAILABLE
ENERGY OUT
SOCIOCULTURAL
VALUE
PARENTING
MODEL
FUNCTIONAL
FITNESS
LEVEL OF
TRANSPORT
ACTIVITY
RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITY
OCCUPATIONAL
ACTIVITY
SEO
WEBSITE
BLOGS & FORUMS
AUDIO
SMS
FOOD
CONSUMPTION
TENDENCY
TO GRAZE
SOCIAL PRESSURE
TO CONSUME
AVAILABILITY
OF CONVENIENCE
FOODS
PORTION
SIZE
DESIRE TO
MAXIMIZE
VOLUME
ACTIVITY
ENVIRONMENT
BALANCE
INDIVIDUAL
PHYSIOLOGY
LEVEL OF
SATIETY
RATE OF
EATING
LEVEL OF
THERMOGENICS
LEVEL OF
FAT FREE MASS
BRICKS & MORTAR
PHYSIOLOGY
RESTING
METABOLIC
HEARTRATE
RELIANCE ON
SURGICAL
INTERVENTION
GENETIC
PREDISPOSITION
PREDISPOSITION
TO ACTIVITY
DEGREE
OF APPETITE
CONTROL
RELIANCE ON
PHARMA
REMEDIES
LEVEL OF
EMBRYONIC
CARE
BREASTFEEDING
CULTURE
A systems case study:
Tackling obesity
right balance of energy within people
(energy in vs. energy out).
Systems stories are abundant and
fascinating, from parachuting cats
(Google it) to elephants and Persian
poets. But as content and connections
people, we are ultimately in the
business of behavior or perception
change.
Mapped around the purpose are all
the elements of the obesity system,
clustered by the main macro forces that
shape it.
To dig a bit deeper into how we can
apply systems thinking, consider the
possibility of reversing the rise of
childhood obesity.
The thorny problem of obesity (and the
prospect of creating behavior change to
reverse it) is a rich and highly engaging
template for thinking about systems,
how they work and how they can help us
solve problems. If we can understand and
apply systems thinking to obesity, it will
be easier to apply our learning to similar
or even simpler problems.
Within the system, positive
relationships between elements and
outcome (as well as between elements
and elements) are indicated by a
straight line, and negative relationships
by a dotted line. To make reading
easier, only food economics and food
consumption are shown here.
Above is a high-level look at an
obesity system.
Also within the system are elements
that we can and cannot influence
through communications. For example,
within “Physiology” we could create
a campaign promoting optimum
breastfeeding behaviors, but we can’t
influence genetic predisposition.
Within “Individual Activity” we could
encourage people to be more active, but
we can’t significantly make their jobs
more active.
At the center is the desired outcome, or
the purpose of the system: create the
Of the elements we can influence,
some can be directly targeted;
18 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
SEDENTARY
EMPLOYMENT
ACCESS TO
OPPURTUNITIES
COST OF
PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY
RELIANCE ON
LABOR SAVING
DEVICES
UNMOTORIZED
TRANSPORT
OPPURTUNITY
PERCEIVED
DANGER
communicating to consumers about
portion size, for example. Others would
need to be indirectly, such as initiatives
encouraging food producers to reduce
salt and sugar levels.
It’s also clear that some elements
– either because they are highly
connected to others (e.g., nutritional
quality) or have a high long-term
impact (e.g., breastfeeding culture)
– should be prioritized over others.
For example, drastically altering the
demand for convenience foods would
be too costly and difficult to change.
So what do we do with this high-level
system? First and foremost, we should
think about it as a non-linear journey.
Contained in the system are component
elements that all work together on the
path to reversing obesity trends. A
simple way of translating this journey
into communications is to quantify the
importance of the different elements
and convert them into a series of
programs or campaigns that will take
place within a specific timeframe.
STREET
COMMITMENT
TO CHANGE
EVENTS
CRM
PERCEPTION
CHANGE
SIGN
UPS
For example:
• “Level of Unmotorized Transport
Activity” becomes a social and
experiential program that motivates
children to become more active (walk
vs. ride to school)
• All of the “Food Consumption”
elements combine in media
partnerships that use celebrities and
content to urge families to eat better
(e.g., Jamie Oliver’s quest)
• “Recreational Activity” becomes a
media partnership designed to get
families to move more (e.g., Dancing
with the Stars)
• “Social Acceptability of Fatness”
becomes a campaign that brings
together a coalition of heart, liver and
diabetes charities to make the longterm consequences of obesity feel
more urgent and relevant
• “TV Watching” and “Food
Literacy” become a children’s TV
channel creating a bespoke spin-off
educational content program (e.g.,
Nicktrition).
These are just a few examples of
possible communication elements within
the obesity system, all connected to
an overall anti-obesity purpose. Some
elements deliver direct effects, some
have indirect impact, while others drive
short-term or long-term change.
Most importantly, all parts of the
system are connected and designed
to be delivered harmoniously. In the
UK, this overarching connectivity is
delivered by one main brand platform
run by the National Health Service,
called Change4Life (http://www.nhs.uk/
change4life). At a more detailed level,
of course, each of these campaigns/
programs/partnerships operates as its
own content and connections system.
The example above is representative of
a campaign from a coalition of charities
whose areas of specialty are dramatically
impacted by obesity: heart disease, liver
disease, cancer and diabetes.
While the purpose of the high-level
system is to restore “Energy Balance,”
the function of this particular system is
to heighten urgency around the obesity
epidemic and its shocking impact on
health and life span. Another goal is to
generate “sign ups” for a healthier living
program that enables people to commit
to changing their behavior. Ultimately,
then, the obesity system is not just
one but many interconnected systems.
Each has a specific function, whether
it be getting kids to walk to school or
persuading food manufacturers to put
nutrition labels on their products. In
the end, though, all of them line up to
deliver one macro purpose: restoring
energy balance.
The fight against obesity isn’t even close
to being won, but – now that it is being
tackled in a systemic way – there are
signs of improvement. Federal health
authorities in the US, for example,
recently reported a 43% drop in the
obesity rate over the past decade among
children 2-5 years old. This is the first
evidence of a broad decline in obesity in
the US and, hopefully, a strong indicator
of a positive future not just in America,
but around the world. By creating and
monitoring a communications system
with the same level of rigor, we can
ensure that each component has a
carefully-defined role in reaching the
stated purpose and that all elements are
working perfectly together.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
19
Words: Stephen Mader,
Digital Retail Insights Director, Kantar Retail
Illustration: Dan Matutina
POV
Steps to
Successful
Omnichannel
Retailing
the interaction between shopper and
retail outlet, thereby turning shopping
impulse into action or improving loyalty
via enhanced customer experience.
Delivering an omnichannel experience means identifying
key decision points along the purchase path, and being
ruthless about removing friction to motivate purchase.
There will always be buzzwords to
describe the future, and nothing is
more jargon-laden than the future of
retail. Let’s take a look at one of these
buzzwords, “omnichannel”, which
should not be used interchangeably
with multichannel. Omnichannel means
delivering a perfectly seamless brand
experience across all touch points that
the consumer uses to engage with your
brand. Simply put, it’s a shopper-centric
view of the world. Sounds great, but this
shopper-centric view cannot be realized
without relying on smart retail partners
that can execute well across all channels
– proper multichannel is execution-led
and process-driven…and this is where
the omnichannel experience often fails.
Getting it right
Two brands currently delivering an
omnichannel experience are clothing
retailers Bonobos and Me and the Met.
20 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
US-based Bonobos recently moved
from being a pure-play online men’s
fashion retailer to opening physical
shops in New York and Boston.
Shoppers make appointments at
these “guide shops,” which carry the
company’s full range of styles, sizes and
colors. Bonobos identifies shoppers
through a CRM system that is accessed
by in-store employees via iPads. Once
consumers make a product selection,
the staff orders the items for free twoday delivery.
Me and the Met, an online fashion shop
based in Denmark, offers a try-on-athome-while-the-courier-waits service in
Copenhagen. A courier delivers ordered
items within an hour, and customers
try the items on while the courier waits.
Shoppers can send back the clothes
that don’t fit or look good. That’s
convenience at its best.
Both these examples show what can
be accomplished by new players with
a ground-up approach to execution.
Strong backend IT systems and unique
economics allow for shopper-first
operating models. For established
retailers, however – those that must
balance quarterly reporting with the
organizational shifts required to satisfy
this future shopper – a more iterative
approach is necessary. There are many
small, incremental steps that can take
friction out of the retail system and
help transfom a business to be more
agile. Such steps will be different for
every brand, but all will touch on four
key areas: technology, delivery logistics,
CRM and more integrated media
planning.
Using technology and mobile
For many brands, technology means
using mobile devices to speed up
A good example is Walgreens’ mobile
app, which allows customers to scan a
pill bottle to order a refill for pick-up
at a local branch. App users can also
send photos from a child’s birthday
party or school play to the store closest
to grandparents (whether that’s 30 or
3,000 miles away). The app is popular
because Walgreens first identified the
primary reasons that people go into
their stores, and then built the app
around these drivers. Harris + Hoole,
the UK coffee retailer backed by Tesco,
has an app that speeds up the purchase
process. Once an individual “checks
in” to the coffee shop, the cashier can
view the customer’s profile, photo,
loyalty data and regular order. This
allows employees to address customers
by name and take payments via a precharged account.
The urge to find new ways to leverage
technology is sending brands to trade
shows like CES in the US and Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona, and
forward-looking firms like Unilever have
run hackathons to create innovative
ways to connect shoppers to brands.
Big differences with logistics
The second area where little changes
are making a big difference is in
logistics. For many consumers,
convenience has moved from being
able to take purchases with them from
the store to having items delivered in a
one-hour slot the next day. As a result,
retailers are becoming very aggressive
in developing new solutions. Consider
Amazon as a prime example. Amazon
offers same-day delivery in twenty US
cities, and is partnering with Royal Mail
to do the same in the UK. The company
has started Sunday delivery in Milan
and is expanding Amazon Locker, a
self-service parcel delivery system,
throughout the US and UK. During the
past three years, Amazon has doubled
its fulfillment capacity as it tries to close
the distance between the sale and its
shoppers as quickly as possible.
The UK supermarket chain Waitrose
offers a “click and collect” service for
free, but customers can spend more to
have groceries delivered to a locker or
by courier during a one-hour window.
Needless to say, shoppers want as
many fulfillment options as possible,
and many retailers are counting on
their willingness to pay more for the
added convenience.
Loyalty schemes and CRM
Another way to drive omnichannel
success is through investments in CRM
and loyalty programs, and there’s an
opportunity to open up (and personalize)
these loyalty schemes. Taking a page from
the video gaming community, retailers
are gamifying their loyalty schemes by
allowing users to “win” vouchers and
money-off coupons. “Players” can also
see how far they are from their next
voucher or reward tier, which motivates
additional spending.
US-based Meijer, for example, creates
transparency around its supermarket
rewards program by showing
consumers who shop in the baby and
beauty categories how close they are to
receiving the next awards voucher (and
who doesn’t want that next precious
baby product or lipstick?).
Integrated media and
operations planning
Finally, in a world where a brand’s
largest commercial partners are also
quickly becoming massive media
platforms, brands must change the way
they align operating functions across
digital marketing and commercial teams.
Amazon, Google and Alibaba are all
trying to control the customer journey,
starting at search and continuing
through fulfillment. The first stop
for many US and Western European
shoppers researching potential
purchases is Amazon, but brands need
to be sure they are tending to all their
partner relationships as sources of not
only additional shopping revenue, but
for added brand equity, as well.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
21
Foto: Sebastian Gabsch
www.sega-foto.de
Words: Sven Wollner, Managing Partner &
Director of Freshness, MediaCom Germany
M:FILE S
Three Valuable
Insights from
TED
Hoping to be inspired? Attend a TED or TEDx event.
Here are three insights into how the achievements of some
of the world’s most remarkable people can help advertisers.
The common theme behind the stories of most
TED speakers is their ability to turn information
first into insights and then into transformative
behaviors. Similarly, agencies and advertisers
need to create and foster an active path from
a consumer’s interest in a brand through to
purchase and advocacy. In order to do so, we need
to cross the borders of traditional dialogue and
communication, think around a few corners and
build on creative thoughts.
Three recent TEDx events in Germany offer
fascinating examples of how speakers in a variety of
fields have done just that (and if they can do it, why
can’t we?). Dutch product developer Bart Weetjens
was fascinated by the continent of Africa. He also
happened to have a seemingly unrelated passion
for rodents. He found a way to marry the two by
thinking about the thousands of people who still die
every year from landmines in Mozambique… and
wondering if he could train rats to sniff out these
hidden bombs. A fascinating side benefit was that
these practiced rats could also sniff out tuberculosis
Laurence Kemball-Cook @ TEDx Berlin "Future 3.0"
at an early stage in hospital patients, allowing them
to get treatment before the disease advanced too far.
more accessible, and has the potential to make
cities more sustainable.
Observation #1: Don’t stop looking for
an answer. Think in broad “what ifs”. An
expected solution can sometimes turn a
"good" into a "wow".
Observation #2: Sometimes the solution
lies directly at your feet and communities
want to get involved in socially important
initiatives. This is a great blueprint for
thinking about social movements, which can
also be directly translated to and used in
brand communications.
Laurence Kemball-Cook, an industrial design
engineer, was determined to create an off-grid
kinetic power source. Recognizing that millions
of people around the world take billions of
steps every day, he developed a paving tile
made of recycled car tires that converts the
kinetic energy of footsteps into electrical power.
Such “footfall harvesting” can leverage 10,000
people in a football stadium to power a city of
20,000 inhabitants during a single soccer match.
MediaCom's global client Shell partnered with
Kemball-Cook to create the first-ever peoplepowered football pitch, opened in Rio de Janeiro
just last month by international football legend
Pelé. The “Pavegen” project has made power
Daniel Kraft is a trained physician-scientist,
inventor, entrepreneur and innovator. He believes
that combining technology and communication
can foster a radical change in the way we deal
with illnesses, preventive care and the call to
action coming from our bodies when something
is wrong. In his 2014 TED Talk, Daniel spoke of
a future wave of products, including diagnostic
apps and “wearables”, that will empower us to
act in real time when it comes to our health.
As a result, we won’t need to rely solely on our
doctors to live healthier lifestyles, and society can
gain new insights into a wide range of medical
issues. Personal responsibility will make way for a
personal optimization process. Kraft believes that
if humanity were to share its health data in a cloud,
we would be one step closer to a healthier world.
Observation #3: Whether it’s Uber instead
of taxis, Airbnb in place of hotels or data
transfers via wearables instead of doctor
visits, being connected to our community
in new and innovative ways is more relevant
than ever.
Our task, then, is to pave the way from thought
to positive action, while balancing the benefits
of information sharing with the need to protect
personal privacy. Brands and businesses that take
on this delicate responsibility will create added
value both for themselves and for consumers.
Ultimately, the most respected and highly-regarded
marketers help facilitate easy, rewarding and lasting
relationships between their brands and consumers.
Visit ted.com or TEDxBerlin.de for more Insights.
22 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
23
Words: Neil Redding, Senior Partner,
Senior Director of Innovation, MediaCom USA
Illustration: Sam Learmonth
FE ATURE
Wearing
our Hearts
on our Sleeves
three new factors that contribute to
your companion’s experience. Then
think about how to optimize these
factors so that you create conditions for
maximum enjoyment and value during
your time together. For starters, try to
read as much body language as you
can and respond in ways that generate
measurable results. Is your companion
happier and more relaxed when you are
talking about your workplace, or less so?
Have fun with this exercise, which will
not only improve the way you work, but
also deepen your human relationships
and increase your conversational
prowess.
How new systems will make intimacy scalable.
We’re on the cusp of a revolution
in computing as big as the Web,
the personal computer and social
networking. Maybe bigger. This
revolution will be driven by wearable
technology, but the reason it will be
revolutionary is that it will redefine
something that has always been at the
heart of being human.
That something is conversation.
And since successful markets and
marketing are conversations, this
revolution will radically change what
marketers and their agencies do and
how we do it.
Content + Connections
= Conversation
For nearly our entire existence as a
species, most conversation has happened
between people in the same physical
space. Before there was spoken language,
conversation consisted of body language
– the gestures, facial expressions and
stances that make conversation richer,
more natural and more effective. Those
of us who delivered these skills, and paid
24 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
attention to them in others, have always
had an advantage.
The problem is that, for some time
now, we’ve traded away this knowledge
in favor of communications systems
built on reach. From the time we
first discovered amplification – via
public squares and cathedrals, then
microphones and public address
systems, then via radio and TV – we’ve
allowed our attentiveness to personal
communication to be drowned out by
the power of scale. In the social media
era, this applies not just to orators,
broadcasters and advertisers, but to those
of us who, obsessed with our phones and
gadgets, prioritize our at-scale digital
presence over the people physically
surrounding us and the environments
we inhabit. It's a numbers game, we say.
But of course, our maneuverings bear
little resemblance to conversation, since
almost no one is listening.
What if we could actually combine the
power of scale with the effectiveness of
holistic, full-featured human interaction?
This is the ultimate promise of wearable
technology: to replicate our instinctive,
expressive behaviors at scale and at a
distance, and – beyond this – to bring
previously inaccessible personal states
and modes of expression into the
conversation.
What if I know that your energy level is
low and that you've been sitting for three
hours straight when I approach you to
chat? How would that change what I say
and how I say it? What if I know your
heart is racing? That you've spent the
last several evenings on your own? That
you’re in a car stuck in traffic? That
you’ve just completed the longest run of
your life? That you’ve caught the flu and
aren’t showing symptoms yet? Or simply
that you’re sad or happy?
If you’re finding it difficult to believe
that we’d willingly share such intimate
personal states, consider this: passive
sharing of your music preferences,
how hard you exercised this morning,
how many steps you took yesterday,
and where you started and ended are
all currently being shared by large
contingents of Internet users, despite
our initial resistance. The first Apple
Watch, after all, is about to turn heart
rate and stairs climbed into mainstream
metrics. There is no doubt that the
surfacing and sharing of additional
intimate signals will be similarly thrilling
and scary, with the thrill (or just weary
acceptance) ultimately winning out.
Leaning In
There are certainly challenges ahead for
brands that want in on this conversation.
Unlike humans, brands have found
it difficult to develop a coherent and
complete picture of the actual person
with whom they are trying to connect. In
the case of retargeting, for example, we
don’t yet understand whether our target
has already purchased what’s being
presented or is in a different part of the
customer journey (where our message
is less relevant). And even as we start to
stitch together a view of each individual,
we must still capture aspects of the
conversation in algorithms so that we
can achieve scale.
From Here to There
While these are early days, there is work
we can do now to help make these atscale conversations a reality. Number
one on this list is transitioning to systems
thinking in every area of our work (and
even our own personal) lives. That may
sound excessive, but it’s really just about
paying more attention to everything
that makes up the experiences we have
with other people. Try it out. The next
time you’re having coffee or dinner with
someone, challenge yourself to consider
The Tipping Point
Will there be a clear tipping point with
wearable conversational technology, the
way Facebook was for social networks
and the iPhone was for smartphones? If
these examples are any indication, the
tipping point will come when adoption
reaches sufficient scale, and this only
happens when a “killer app” comes
along: some product or service that’s
irresistible to a massive number of
people. We don’t seem to be there yet.
Still, we can see how all the pieces will
ultimately be integrated into new, more
personal communication systems in
the near future. When that happens,
brands will have the opportunity
to enjoy richer, more personally
meaningful conversations with every
willing participant. Who knows? Maybe
we’ll see a world in which interruptive
advertising is a thing of the past. After all
– when we know when someone is open
and receptive to our message – why
would we waste our time and money on
someone who isn’t?
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
25
Words: Nick Palmer, Head of Content Strategy,
MediaCom Beyond Advertising EMEA
Illustration: Martin Nicolausson / NU Agency
FE ATURE
Content,
Connections
& Millennials
Millennials get a huge amount of their information from newsfeeds,
which suits their extremely finite attention spans. This requires a
fundamentally different approach to communications planning.
Brands need three kinds of content to appeals to the millennial
mind-set at any given point in time, and effective distribution
strategies to ensure that content is seen.
Eight seconds. That’s what research1
suggests is the average human attention
span. It’s also one second less than the
average attention span of a goldfish.
While goldfish have always been known
for their paucity of concentration,
human attention has been compromised
by a number of factors, including
always-on social platforms, a
proliferation of screens and the broader
availability of Wi-Fi and 3G/4G access.
Nowhere is this attention deficit more
acutely felt than with millennials, the
primary adopters of technology and the
media platforms that have accelerated
these changes. Millennials are also the
most marketed-to and message-savvy
generation on earth. It’s convenient
media shorthand to describe millennials
as hard to reach, but what this actually
means is that previous approaches didn’t
work. What we need is a fundamental
26 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
rethinking of our approach to
communications planning.
First, we need to recognize that the
mobile screen is paramount to this
audience. Checking smartphones
before going to bed and first thing in
the morning – and hundreds of times
in-between – is the norm: in fact, four
out of five smartphone users check
their phones within 15 minutes of
waking up2, and typical mobile users
check their phones more than 150
times per day3.
Next, we have to understand what
millennials are consuming on this
screen. Yes, we have phone calls and
messaging services (and these account
for a portion of mobile usage) but, for
the most part, smartphones are used
for social networking applications. To
illustrate this, just look at the number
of daily Facebook users on mobile:
at last count, up to 556 million (or
73% of the 757 million active daily
Facebook users)4. The words “social”
and “mobile” have become inexorably
intertwined.
As such, understanding how to engage
millennials means understanding social
media. The easiest way to describe
social media in 2014 is as a carefully
curated and distributed online list of the
individuals and media most influential to
the user. Consider your own newsfeeds
for a moment; aren’t they crafted to
serve up the stories most important to
you from the voices you trust the most?
Becoming embedded in these lists is
difficult for brands, and not just because
of the aforementioned human attention
span deficit. The problem is also one
of competition. Brands are no longer
vying for people’s attention during a
four-minute television ad break; in the
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
27
newsfeed, they are competing against
the latest music releases, breaking news
and celebrity scandals. In other words,
we’re competing against culture itself
for our audience’s limited attention.
This means we need to start planning
campaigns with the newsfeed in mind
updates from friends, etc. As a result,
what is delivered needs to be great, not
just good. "Inspire" content must speak
to an audience’s passion points and, at
the same time, reinforce brand equity.
Striking this delicate balance is often
very difficult for brands, and the reality
What we need is a fundamental
rethinking of our approach to
communications planning.
– developing content that is the most
appropriate for the audience at any
given point in time, with a distribution
strategy that ensures such content gets
seen (often focused on paid media).
As an aside, note that this is not about
disruption; it’s about creating content
that people choose to consume. As a
starting point, brands and their agencies
need to understand a consumer’s state of
mind when encountering online content.
“Inspire” content
The first and most common mind-set
is “grazing.” This refers to a consumer
turning to a screen for entertainment.
The opportunity here is for brands to
create “inspire” content designed to
grab people’s attention.
"Inspire" content competes with
celebrity stories, breaking news,
28 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
is that such polished content may come
with a high cost.
The millennial audience, more so than
any other, can sense contrived stories
from a mile away. This requires brands
to maintain a tightrope act balancing
authenticity with an honest and relevant
brand message. Being ignored by
millennials is bad. Being ridiculed is
worse.
“Involve” content
To satisfy the grazing mind-set while
consumers surf always-on platforms, we
need “involve” content to complement
“inspire” campaigns. It’s “involve”
content that will deliver effective
frequency around a campaign message
or theme (because in an “opt in”
content world, the old rules of reach and
frequency will no longer work; rarely
will someone opt to watch the same
the brand story? While the “voice of the
brand” is one alternative, the voices of
bloggers, vloggers, millennial celebrities
or go-to media may be more impactful.
Who better to tell a story about
headphones than a technology blogger?
Who better to develop content for
YouTube than a vlogger who has grown
her reputation on the platform? These
individuals and outlets have organic
followings… and they already have a
place on the millennial newsfeed.
piece of branded content twice). This
is not about producing new original
content at a huge cost – instead, it’s
about developing numerous iterations,
formats and facets to a story during
“inspire” content. Photos, GIFs, teaser
video, infographics… all of these can
work to draw a consumer more deeply
into an “inspire” story. As with “inspire”
content, paid distribution here is critical.
A great idea deserves a great audience
and the only way to deliver this, at least
to start, is via paid media. The long-term
goal is to become synonymous with the
development of great content and own
an audience by having them subscribe to
what you create.
for information on great sound. This
may seem obvious, but the truth is that
very few brands are taking advantage
of producing content that clearly
demonstrates their expertise.
“Inform” content
Millennials have a unique ability
to self-teach, primarily by viewing
videos on YouTube and elsewhere.
This suggests another opportunity for
branded content: to be informative. For
many brands, there is a huge untapped
opportunity to create content that
answers consumers’ questions.
Brands and their agencies need to
understand a consumer’s state of
mind when encountering
online content.
The key is determining what a brand
has the “right” (i.e., the expertise) to
expound on and explain. And, of course,
it helps if consumers are actively looking
for this information. For example, a
camera brand has the right to be the first
search result when someone is seeking
advice on how to take great pictures.
A headphone brand could be the first
logical result when someone is looking
trends. One of the most recent involves
millennials screen grabbing tweets and
posting them as images. Ultimately, the
key message is that there is no one-sizefits-all solution. Adapting the message to
its surroundings is an absolute necessity.
Creative style
Mind-set, however, is not the only factor
to take into account when developing
content that earns its place in the
newsfeed. Brands also have to fit in with
the creative norms of the platform they
are targeting.
Want to stand out on Tumblr? Use more
GIFs, or look at the latest user-generated
Narration
The final area regards narration. What
is the most effective mouthpiece to tell
The best approach may be to blend
the voice of the brand with these other
voices: carefully creating and curating
content to develop a “body of work”
that effectively tells the brand story.
Ultimately, brands need an integrated
content and distribution strategy that
acknowledges the shift in millennial
platform preferences and consumption
habits. Such a strategy must also
acknowledge the different consumer
content mind-sets and adhere to
the norms associated with different
platforms. Such a strategy will provide
brands with the opportunity to earn
a place on the newsfeed via the three
types of content (inspire, involve,
inform) with which the target chooses
to engage on an always-on basis. And it
will enable brands to effectively reach
and engage millennials.
Getting it right
Just remember that getting it right
for millennials is only the first step.
Right behind them comes the newest
consumers – Generation Z. Born in
the 21st century, this is a generation
that “swipes” flat screen televisions,
expecting them to behave like tablets
and iPhones.
Gen Z’s media consumption habits are
likely to be even more radically different.
This will lead to new and exciting brand
challenges as we all seek to attract these
consumers.
References:
1. http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-
span-statistics/
2. https://fb-public.app.box.com/
s/3iq5x6uwnqtq7ki4q8wk
3. http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/
kpcb-internet-trends-2013
4. http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/29/face
books-mobile-moment-nearly-a-billion-
mobile-users-majority-of-revenue-from-
mobile/
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
29
Words: Cameron D. Norman PhD MDes, Principal, CENSE Research + Design,
Senior Researcher, Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation,
Ivey Business School, Western University. Illustration: Sam Island
FE ATURE
Understanding
Systems,
Designing
Behavior Change
When you understand a system, you will be able to transform it, explains
expert on systems thinking, Cameron D. Norman. This also applies to
human systems that are rarely straightforward and predictable.
Social psychologist Kurt Lewin once
said, “There is nothing so practical as
a good theory.” It is certainly true that
theories help explain why we do things
and shape the way we envision behavior
change. A look at the literature on
behavior change reveals thousands
of case studies and experiments on
motivation, persuasion and the art of
the “nudge”, reflecting the science of
how individuals change.
But for brands hoping to drive behavior
change at scale, systems thinking
provides a more potent set of not only
theories, but also models and tools
that help us understand how collective
human behavior is shaped by what’s
happening around it.
That’s because our individual actions
are, to some degree, guided and
constrained by the systems in which
30 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
we find ourselves embedded. Such
systems might involve job roles and
organizational structures, social norms,
technological interfaces and physical
architecture.
to contemplate the relationships and
structures that shape behavior and
experiences within a system. Only then
can we design ways to truly make them
more useful.
So if one wishes to motivate change, the
best way to see the power of systems at
play is to change one key aspect of that
otherwise-stable environment. Take the
modern school classroom. What happens
if you remove desks and straight-back
chairs and replace them with beanbag
chairs? Or just sit on the floor? Or have
the instructor sit on the floor?
Achieving purpose
Every system has a purpose, and
the first step in systems thinking is
uncovering what that purpose is.
Sometimes the purpose is unclear, or
there may be more than one. What
we know for sure is that knowing
what a system is all about is key to
understanding what happens within
it. One way to uncover and articulate
purpose is to have people visualize
their systems. What’s included and
emphasized in the visualization (and
the relationships that are represented) is
instructive and can offer insight into the
many ways systems are experienced.
Systems are neither “good” nor “bad”
Regardless of motivation, skills and
abilities, these changes will influence
the collective experience in ways
that could be profound or subtle,
irrespective of a student’s motivation
to learn. The change itself produces
a change. Systems thinking allows us
– they are just more or less likely to
achieve their purpose.
Visualizing a system highlights another
key systems concept: boundaries.
Boundaries define a system’s limits,
along with the space in which human
activity takes shape and new behaviors
emerge. To draw on our classroom
example, the boundaries might include
questions about who gets to be in that
classroom (and who doesn’t). Where
does learning take place? What roles
determine how people interact with
one another?
For example, school janitors use
the classroom when cleaning and
maintaining it, but do they influence
the experience of student learning
enough to include them in the system?
Probably not.
Designing systems through
emergence
As one would expect, human systems are
rarely straightforward and predictable,
and all complex systems have numerous
channels of information and activity
interacting at multiple levels, with
competing demands in a specific context.
Our families, workplaces and
marketplaces often reflect these
qualities but while we can’t control
complex systems, we can influence
them. Dinner parties provide great
examples of complexity in action.
We may have no precise idea what
will happen at a particular party, but
we can create the conditions through
which people are more likely to enjoy
themselves. We might conclude that
food and drink is important, and that a
space conducive to conversation would
make sense.
But what about the exact mix of food
(spicy? vegetarian? small bites?), space
(patio? pub? ballroom?) and people
(co-workers? family? strangers?) will
produce is uncertain. These elements
are all called attractors, or artifacts
in the system that stimulate activity
that organizes behavior. Good hosts
pay attention to these attractors and
modulate them (adding more food,
turning down the music) in a way that
makes for good parties.
The same approach can be taken
with any system. By mapping it out,
determining its purpose, setting the
boundaries and stimulating positive
attractors, you’ll begin to transform it.
This is true whether they are lessons
learned in a classroom, conversations
at a dinner party or product choices in
the marketplace.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
31
This excerpt is from Thinking in Systems:
A Primer by Donella H. Meadows
INTERLUDE
The Blind Men
and the Matter
of the Elephant
Beyond Ghor, there was a city.
All its inhabitants were blind.
A king with his entourage arrived nearby; he
brought his army and camped in the desert. He had
a mighty elephant, which he used to increase the
people’s awe.
The populace became anxious to see the elephant,
and some sightless from among this blind
community ran like fools to find it.
As they did not even know the form or shape of
the elephant, they groped sightlessly, gathering
information by touching some part of it.
Each thought that he knew something, because he
could feel a part. . . .
The man whose hand had reached an ear. . . said:
“It is a large, rough thing, wide and broad, like
a rug.”
And the one who had felt the trunk said: “I have
the real facts about it. It is like a straight and hollow
pipe, awful and destructive.”
32 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
The one who had felt its feet and legs said: “It is
mighty and firm, like a pillar.”
Each thought that
he knew something,
because he could feel
a part.
Each had felt one part out of many. Each had
perceived it wrongly. . . .1
This ancient Sufi story was told to teach a simple
lesson but one that we often ignore: The behavior
of a system cannot be known just by knowing the
elements of which the system is made.
1
Idries Shah, Tales of the Dervishes
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1970), 25.
Reprinted here with the permission of
Chelsea Green Publishing. For more information,
visit www.chelseagreen.com
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
33
Q&A with Chris Hayek,Director of Global
Brand Marketing for Shell Lubricants
Illustration: Chris Kuzma
Q&A
5 Questions for
Marketing Leader
Chris Hayek
Since joining Pennzoil-Quaker State in 1999, Chris Hayek has risen
through the ranks. Today, he is Director of Global Brand Marketing for
Shell Lubricants, responsible for the entire consumer value proposition
for Pennzoil, Quaker State and Formula Shell, which includes taking
calculated risks and driving innovation.
Just this year, Chris collaborated with MediaCom
to produce “Breaking Barriers,” an award-winning
full-length documentary that premiered this past
summer in a programming (not advertising) block
on the National Geographic Channel.
1. Where do you look for inspiration as to what’s next
for your customers and your business?
As a motor oil company, we are generally in a
low-involvement, low-frequency category; people
only think about motor oil right before they get it
changed and right after. In between, we are relatively
invisible to the consumer. This means that loyalty
and relevance at the moment of purchase are key.
For this reason, I tend to study consumer brands
like Red Bull, Nike or BMW, where shoppers and
buyers have a clear passion for the product. Service
can also be a differentiator in the “Do It For Me”
side of our business, so we think a lot about the
Disney experience and how can we tailor our service
to be more “Disney like”.
34 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
2. How are you leveraging content and data to
engineer the success of your marketing programs?
Data and content bring you two things:
immediacy of information on whether a campaign
is working, and the ability to change content in
reaction to the data. In the past, we looked at
data as a point in time that was just about how
communication was absorbed by the consumer:
do they remember (awareness), did the message
make an impact (consideration), etc. Today, we
go well beyond traditional metrics into social
measures, such as: did they like it enough to
share it with others, are they amplifying a brand’s
efforts via recommendation, will they push
others to interact with your brand. We know that
recommendation by family and friends has a
huge impact, so we can now look at data such
as likes or, more importantly, shareability and
time viewed. In other words, we’re able to go
much deeper into whether the message is actually
resonating with the consumer.
3. How are you listening to and prioritizing your
customers within your communications system?
MediaCom provides some great social listening
tools for us to understand how effective our
messaging is within our larger brand ecosystem.
For a brand like Pennzoil, we have to balance
breadth and depth. Because we are the #1 brand
in our category and want to stay there, we look
for ways that we can carry the message through
reach. Like many companies, though, our sweet
spot is driven by a small number of knowledgeable
heavy users, so some of our listening and
communications target this base of influencers,
with an eye toward getting them to recommend
our products to others.
4. How do you ensure integration and collaboration
between marketing disciplines and specialists within
your organization?
With new content and channel opportunities
popping up all the time, a relatively small
organization like ours is almost always stretched,
and even specialists have to work hard to keep up.
The right level of integration across the company
is the hardest part of the brand planning process.
And with so many specialties and sub-specialties,
in fact, we have to remain vigilant to ensure that
individual KPIs aren’t drilled down so deep that
we lose the connective tissue of the brands. For us,
the brand manager is responsible for making sure
that plans are optimally connected at the highest
level and that the connective tissue remains
vibrant. Our agency partners play a key role here
as well, and we use a lead strategic agency to work
hand and hand with the brand manager.
5. What does our marketing future look like? What
organizational changes do you believe the industry
must make to succeed?
The hardest challenge that I see both today and
in the future is that messaging to and between
consumers is “always on.” No matter where a
consumer is or what he’s doing, some sort of
company message is there. As we go forward, we
are beginning to think of share of voice not only
vs. our own competition, but also in terms of all
the content with which a consumer interacts. For
us, consumers are making choices long before
they get into the store, so it is not just about the
“Zero Moment of Truth” in front of the shelf; it’s
also about the “Negative Moment of Truth” when
the consumer is about to pull out of his driveway
on the way to the store or station. Has he already
decided to buy Pennzoil, or not?
While we’ve stayed very focused on the in-store
experience, which is important, we’ve also had
to expand our efforts across the entire purchase
cycle, from trigger to purchase to experience and
back to (re)trigger again. How do we drive more
loyalty when consumers have so many options?
One of the answers is to optimize your agency
structure, as it’s no longer the case that just one
agency does media planning, for example, while
another is doing only creative. Social, content and
programmatic, in particular, have created a lot of
overlap. As companies reshape their marketing
departments, so too will agencies be restacking
their offerings in order to maximize revenue.
Together, brands and their external partners will
have to work hard to rationalize this joint system
in order to ensure that advertisers are getting the
best possible output for the dollars invested.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
35
Words: Rob Stevens, Strategy Director,
MediaCom Worldwide
FE ATURE
Systems Thinking:
A World in which an
Audit is a Good Thing
Systems are complex, but systems thinking doesn’t have to be. MediaCom’s
Connected System Audit is an elegant tool that makes applying systems
thinking to brands simple and accessible, says Rob Stevens, Strategy Director.
We’ve discussed the importance of
the elements, interconnections, flows
and feedback loops that make up your
marketing communications system, but
have we armed you with the tools you
need to really understand them and
take action?
Allow me to introduce you to the
Connected System Audit (CSA).
When MediaCom developed the CSA
our thinking was that marketing is
already hard enough; how could we
clarify the systems thinking process
rather than add layers of complexity?
The answer, we believe, is the CSA,
which breaks the system down into its
basic components: not by individual
media silos, but by the system’s core
principles and the elements that make
up its DNA.
The CSA provides a holistic assessment
of a brand’s communications system
and identifies any gaps across paid,
36 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
owned and earned media across in four
key areas:
Channel How media is selected and utilized
to reach audiences and deliver against
objectives
Content What and how messaging is produced
and deployed across the system
Connection How system components are linked
together to guide consumers toward
intended destinations
Consistency How consistently communications are
delivered across the system and over time
The CSA was developed specifically
to assess how well a brand’s
communications system is functioning
and where the most significant
opportunities for improvement lie.
It involves scoring system performance
against a series of questions, each of
which correspond to a colored “wedge”
on the CSA wheel.
The result is a highly visual summary
of system performance that provides
a framework able to quickly highlight
areas of weakness and identify areas
for improvement.
Did you read how you can put Systems Thinking into Communications
Practice? If not, please go to p. 16. If you want to make sure that your
metrics are accurately assessing all channels, please go to p. 42.
To give you an idea of how we build a
CSA, here are 12 broad level areas of
interest we explore when working with
a client:
Channel Mix
1. Is the channel mix effectively
reaching the target audience and
delivering against the client’s business
goals?
Channel Selection
2. Is the station/title/site selection
within the channel mix appropriate?
Mobile Strategy
3. Is there an effective use of mobile
touchpoints?
Consumer Engagement
4. Is the content engaging and relevant
for the target audience?
Content Accessibility
5. Is the content seeded and promoted
in a way that ensures it will reach its
target?
Links and Destinations
8. Do all touchpoints link logically to
facilitate the consumer journey?
Social Connections
9. Are the right social channels being
used and do they connect effectively
with consumers?
Single Minded
10.Are all on- and offline touchpoints
working toward an overall strategic
goal?
Always On
11.Do the touchpoints sustain a
continuous brand presence across paid,
owned and earned channels?
Campaign Commitment
12.Do the touchpoints maintain a
long-term campaign message or do they
frequently change direction?
Platform and Touchpoint
Relevance
6. Is the content being effectively
adapted across touchpoints, platforms
and screens?
When we conduct the full and complete
CSA evaluation for a brand, we actually
adopt a deeper forensic methodology
that enables us to audit every single
element of the system, asking many
more detailed questions and drawing
from a myriad of data points and
sources that can help inform and
support the scoring system.
Calls to Action
7. Does every channel have an
appropriate call to action?
But even on your own, the above
questions provide an excellent start.
Obviously, they can’t provide the kind
of comprehensive overview that we can
achieve when using the tool properly,
but your answers may point you toward
insights that a full CSA could tease out
in more detail.
Try answering them now.
To help, we’ve printed two blank CSA
forms on the next page.
On the first form, we suggest you score
your own brand across the 12 CSA
questions. Then, if you like, you can
repeat this exercise for your major
competitor in the second one.
Then compare and contrast.
This exercise is likely to provide you
with plenty of food for thought, and
it may cause one area or another to
pop in a way you’d not previously
considered.
If you find the process rewarding
and would like to find out what a real
CSA can tell you about your brand’s
communications system, please get
in touch.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
37
Channel
Connection
Channel mix
Is the channel mix effectively reaching the target audience and
delivering their business goals?
Calls to action
Does every channel have an appropriate call to action?
Words: MediaCom MENA
M:FILE S
Links & destinations
Do all touchpoints link logically to facilitate the consumer
journey?
Channel selection
Is the station/title/site selection within the channel mix
appropriate?
Social connections
Are the right social channels being used and do they connect
effectively with consumers?
Mobile strategy
Is there an effective use of mobile touchpoints?
Etihad maps
the future for
business travelers
Business travelers are often loyal to one airline. How did
Etihad connect them across the world with a systems
thinking approach?
A new name for business travelers
Business travelers are a tricky bunch.
Once they find an airline that caters
to their needs, they tend to stick with
it. There’s also the power of loyalty
programs.
0 – no evidence of any activity
1 – poor
2 – basic
3 – good
4 – sophisticated
5 – best in class
Content
Consistency
Consumer engagement
Is the content engaging and relevant for the target audience?
Single minded
Are all touchpoints (online + offline) working toward an overall
strategic goal?
Content findability
Is the content appropriately seeded, promoted and signposted to
reach the right target audience?
Platform & touchpoint relevance
Is the content being effectively adapted across touchpoints,
platforms and screens?
38 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Always on
Do the touchpoints sustain a contious brand presence across
Paid, Owned and Earned channels?
Campaign commitment
Do the touchpoints maintain a long-term campaign message or
do they frequently change direction?
Etihad needed to fill its highly profitable
business seats on new routes. That
meant generating brand awareness
(a key factor in airline selection), as
Etihad was not as well-known as many
of its rivals, including Lufthansa,
American Airlines and Emirates.
In addition to spreading the word
about Etihad, we decided to show road
warriors how the airline could make
their business trips more valuable by
helping them set up meetings on the fly.
Who’s in town while you’re traveling
MediaCom’s solution was “Mapped
Out,” an app built into LinkedIn, the
world’s largest network of globe-trotting
professionals. It allows our target
audience to turn future travel plans into
business opportunities by leveraging
existing contacts and easily arranging
meetings. Users can sift through their
contacts by sector and location, highlight
their executive travel to their peers and
book their business flight with Etihad, all
through the application.
We started by promoting Mapped Out
to LinkedIn members most likely to be
interested in Etihad’s newest routes to
Abu Dhabi, India and Washington DC.
Then we tracked app users, enabling us
to create behavioral profiles and identify
lookalike consumers for retargeting.
These new prospects were mirror
images of travelers who had
actually booked on Etihad or who
had researched the airline’s target
destinations.
airline is starting to take seats from its
competitors. We put Etihad in front of a
hard-to-reach, time-starved audience for
a fifth of the cost of traditional business
media. And business travelers who are
planning to book flights have a 10%
more favorable impression of Etihad and
are 9% more likely to fly with the airline
compared to a control group.
Another indication of our success is
that we’ve reached more than 100,000
business travelers and created a cookie
pool for 30,000 LinkedIn business
travelers. In addition, we’ve identified
100,000 relevant prospects via
behavioral profiling, all of whom can be
engaged in future campaigns.
Finally, LinkedIn members have
mapped out more than 205 million miles
worth of connections – enough to fly
round the world 32,000 times.
Etihad is really flying
With help from Mapped Out, Etihad’s
brand awareness is now sky-high and the
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
39
Words: Jacqueline Corbelli, Co-founder,
CEO and Chairman of BrightLine
POV
Connected Video
for the Connected
Consumer
There are huge opportunities for brands in using the connected
devices consumers already use to access video content.
Connected TV expert, Jacqueline Corbelli explains.
Technology and digital have transformed
consumers’ expectations when it comes to the
premium video experience.
Thanks to the rapid adoption of connected
devices and smart TVs, the popularity and usage
of mobile apps and the sheer amount of video
watched across multiple screens, and screen
sizes, the ways we connect with the messages
and content we care most about has been
revolutionized. Yet many in media companies,
advertising agencies and corporate marketing
areas have not kept a full pace with these changes.
Connecting with video
There is a massive opportunity to leverage these
trends and remake the connection between brands
and consumers across the digital spectrum, and
especially on what used to be called TV. The bottom
line is that consumers have taken greater and
greater control over how, when and where they will
engage in messaging and content. Additionally,
they have never been more empowered or
motivated to seek out great video content.
The internet is feeding TV consumption in an
increasingly seamless way – 34% of US homes
40 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
already own a smart TV, 20% own a streaming
device and a whopping 62% own a gaming
console, all of which are being used, in part, to
stream TV from the internet. In addition, 60% of
connected TV homes are watching TV programs
via the Internet, and a report from eMarketer this
spring states that, in 2015, the majority of US
Internet users will be using a connected TV. It
bears out, according to Adobe’s recently published
Video Benchmark Report, “the increased mass
availability of new TV-capable platforms…has
had a profound effect on TV consumption in
the last year”. Through June 30, 2014 online TV
consumption rocketed 388% year over year.
The same technologies that have changed the way
consumers access video content can also empower
brands and marketers to connect with them across
connected devices. We can now see clear evidence
of a gradual yet steady march in the ad world
to a full link up of digital rich video advertising
with the new premium content ad opportunity
that connected TVs now represents. The trend is
both logical and real, now that “the connected TV
universe can offer marketers a unique blend of
digital interactivity and TV’s big-screen power”.
Viewers no longer just watch
At the heart of the new landscape of connected
viewers is also a new language. These are
consumers who don’t just watch, they "opt
in," they "engage," they "interact," they "like,"
they "share," they "buy now," and they repeat
experiences they enjoy across all the devices they
own. Brands clearly need to become part of these
currencies and to do that they need to embark
on a deliberate path of adaptive change that
acknowledges this reality.
It won’t be an easy path, as the change required
means a fundamental shift in the design of
core processes, practices, systems, and business
Data too is at the heart of the changing face
of video. It enables brands to become smarter
and shape content to the preferences of
target consumers within the TV medium. The
opportunity exists to make the medium work
harder through a virtuous circle that leverages
data to determine how to form converged TV
strategies; generates new data that proves whether
they work; thereby progressively enriching the
data set that enables brands to continually refine
the approach and create more flexible, dynamic
systems. This is a route that position marketers to
optimize the TV medium in the most valuable way
for the consumer.
The same technologies that have changed the
way consumers access video content can also
empower brands and marketers to connect
with them across connected devices.
approaches. It’s a time to activate and empower
agencies to ensure they are in position to
systematically incorporate connected elements
into their media and creative strategies; it’s time
to ensure brand managers are fully skilled on how
development in converged - TV, mobile, social platforms can optimize brand relationships with
consumers; and it’s time to weave the marketing
and information management departments
together to best leverage the power of interactivity,
information flow and analytics to improve strategy
development and decision making.
In sum, the advertising industry must begin to
reap the vast potential of a focused and deliberate
reengineering of the on-line video ad strategy, and
the critical processes that deliver it. Get it right
and the industry can lay claim on the full power of
a TV connection between brands and people in a
fully connected world.
Jacqueline Corbelli’s new book Revealed is
available on Amazon.
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
41
Words: Jeremy Griffiths, Chief Business
Science Officer, MediaCom Worldwide
Diagram: Piotrek Chuchla
FE ATURE
Channel Attribution from System vs Silo Measurement
200
160
120
Measuring a system fairly is as important as understanding
how it works. Jeremy Griffiths explains why fair attribution
is a pre-condition to making the right connections.
For more than 15 years, the MediaCom
Business Science team has worked
hard to identify the key drivers of real
business performance. Initially, we
focused on measuring direct response
metrics. Today, our work has evolved
into a much more holistic approach
that covers brand response as well as
communication and engagement goals:
anything, in other words, that may elicit
a meaningful consumer response across
a client’s communications system.
We believe that, in a world in which one
element of the system can have a major
impact across an increasingly far-flung
system, truly connected measurement
is now mandatory. Brands that fail to
attribute accurate credit for achieving
their KPIs risk making the wrong
investment decisions.
Measuring interdependent activities
Too many marketers measure the
42 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
performance of each of their marketing
activities as if they work independently
of each other. The reality is that what
happens in one part of the system has an
impact on all the others.
Take, for example, brand search,
retargeted display and affiliates.
Last-click analysis would credit
these channels with driving a large
proportion of success. In the majority
of cases, however, these channels
harvest the benefits of other, more
upstream activities. This is not to say
that investment in these channels is
not profitable, but a fair allocation of
reward could reduce their contribution.
Our analyses shows that around 50%
of sales directly attributed to retargeted
display would have converted anyway;
if this is the case, might it change your
investment mix? Maybe. What we know
for sure is that connected knowledge
is power.
40
Category Example for Channel ROI Hierarchy
Source: MediaCom Business Science
The graph on the opposite page
illustrates the power of what is measured
in individual silos vs. the same elements
measured across a connected system.
Note that this graph is a live example of
an average ROI hierarchy in a specific
category at an efficient spend level.
While there will always be a wide spread
on actual ROI performances for each
channel, what’s notable is the ROI
difference not between channels, but
between channels based on how they’re
measured. A fully connected system
audit can make a huge difference,
potentially turning the “worst” channel
into the “best”.
Three changes to measurement
Adapting to this reality requires three
key changes to the way we look at
measurement.
The first is recognizing just how
complex the journey through the
purchase funnel has become. It’s
crucial to discover all the steps along
the way, along with how they interact
with one another. This will enable
brands to build a connected system
of communication that puts the right
messages in the right places.
they want to achieve. Then we use those
signals to enable optimization across the
system as the communication happens.
These rapid metrics could be search
numbers, social buzz or website visits.
What’s important is that they have
a proven, causal correlation with the
desired outcome metric. We also need
an intelligent attribution model. If we
simply look at footfall you may be
tempted to only advertise on Friday, as
Saturday is the busiest shopping day.
Inserts
DM
Video
System measurement
What we know for sure is that
connected knowledge is power.
The second key change is being
able to increase the speed at which
measurement occurs. Securing a
comprehensive econometric analysis
report nine months after messaging
begins won’t help manage a campaign.
We work with our clients to identify the
lead indicators (signals) that match as
closely as possible to the business KPIs
Direct Press
Display retargeting
Affilities
DRTV
Display Prospecting
Generic Search
E-mail
0
Brand Search
Measuring the
System for
Correct Attribution
80
Silo measurement
but there’s no point tracking whether
a message is performing if there isn’t
a contingency plan. Smart advertisers
will have messaging alternatives
to automatically slot in if what’s in
place appears to be failing. Television
production costs are problematic,
obviously, but there are fewer obstacles
in the areas of online display and other
digital channels.
At MediaCom, we have found that by
simply encouraging people to think about
measurement and the interdependences
in any communications system leads
to better planning and improved
campaign results.
The third key change that connected
measurement requires is the power to
respond to the real-time data. This may
not be an obvious measurement issue,
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
43
Words: Phil Jones,
Global Agency Business Leader at Google
Illustration: Sam Green
FE ATURE
How to Connect
Your Brand with
the Connected
Consumer
Ready for another Generation Something?
Meet Gen C: a group that’s connected, outspoken
…and perhaps will be your most important
brand advocates sooner than you may think.
The era of the connected consumer – known as
Generation C – is upon us. These are people less
defined by age and class than by their interests
and attitudes. It’s true that 65% of them are under
the age of 35, but that means that an astounding
35% are not. 35% are 40, 45, 50 years old or even
older. What unites them is that – if they’re awake
– they’re online.
Gen C's primary motivation for content selection
and channel choice is their need for constant
connection. They consume, curate and create
content to stay connected, and they watch YouTube
videos so that they can talk about them with their
co-workers and friends (11). This is far different than
the TV-watching couch potato of yore.
Not surprisingly, most of Gen C’s content
consumption takes place on smartphones. For
example, 41% tune in to YouTube on their phones
while waiting for something/someone, 18% percent
while commuting from work or school, and 15%
check out YouTube while commercials are airing on
television.
44 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Thinking about Gen C
These habits require a shift in the way brand
marketers think.
As consumers connect across an array of devices
in different situations, marketers must figure out
how to offer information that people value in those
moments. Being relevant isn’t a new idea, but doing
so in the moment, across various use cases is where
the magic now lies.
There is hope in the fact that not only is Gen C
not anti-brand or anti-advertising; in fact, they
can actually be valuable fans. Two-thirds of Gen
C consumers worldwide state that “if there is a
brand I love, I tend to tell everyone about it”.
The Gen C audience is 1.8x more likely to be
influential opinion formers, claiming that “people
come to me for advice before making a purchase”.
(4)
They are also big spenders: Gen C consumers
are up to 3.6x more likely to purchase a product
or service that interests them than their non-Gen
C counterparts. (4)
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
45
Insight-based advertising
Fortunately, marketers now have more ways than
ever to understand this audience and identify
the moments that matter. CRM, web analytics,
advanced digital media metrics and reporting –
these are all helpful tools.
Gen C's primary
motivation for content
selection and channel
choice is their need for
constant connection.
(a colouring effect where the bottom of the hair
looks lighter than the top), the company identified
a considerable increase in search terms relating
to the style. It also discovered that consumers
had no effective way to achieve the look at home.
L'Oréal Paris nimbly responded by developing and
launching the world's first do-it-yourself ombré
solution. Smart!
Similarly, Turkish Airlines spotted the growing
popularity of “selfie” as a search term and quickly
created its "Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout"
campaign (http://goo.gl/OXCDlf). The ad had
77 million views on YouTube in just one week,
and went on to become one of the most popular
commercials in 2013.
with Google Analytics and found one variation
that increased online orders by 7.1%. (9).
More complex attribution solutions, of course,
can go far deeper. A recent project conducted by
Adometry produced optimization recommendations
that yielded a 30-42% increase in converted visitors
for a top global automobile manufacturer without
any net increase in ad spend (10).
In February 2013, when the “Harlem Shake”
video launched, Google Trends showed how
quickly it caught on (check this out here: http://
goo.gl/vd4oQH). Within two weeks, more than
12,000 "Harlem Shake" videos had been posted on
YouTube, and they were watched over 44 million
times.
Brands that were able to move quickly were able to
leap on the phenomenon in a way that connected
with consumers. Pepsi, for example, was one of the
first brands to move, generating more than seven
million views of its Jeff Gordon “Harlem Shake”
video (http://goo.gl/flnkbe).
Another example of a company that harnessed
data to successfully drive its content is L'Oréal
Paris. When celebrities started flaunting ombré hair
46 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Data, insight and agility
To connect with Gen C, brands must also focus on
data, insight and agility.
Data helps brands understand the wider
ecosystem and how and what each channel
produces for their business. This becomes all the
more critical when tackling Gen C, given that 90%
of users turn to multiple screens to accomplish
a task according to Google, Ipsos and Sterling
(12)
and about 50% who conduct research on
a smartphone go a physical store to purchase
(rather than buying online). To do something
about it, we must first know about it.
Business performance tools can then be used to
produce insight that can yield important next
steps, and small changes can produce big results.
Puma recently tested alternative website headers
Marketers now have
more ways than ever
to understand this
audience and identify
the moments that
matter.
The agility to leverage insights into the consumer
journey and consumer behavior revealed by data is
where the rubber hits the road.
Data is the fuel
Of course, the first step is to get the right data in
place; only then can you capture insights, respond
with agility, measure the outcome and “rinse
and repeat.” The breadth of available data will
fuel your brand content strategy, highlight the
interrelationships between media activities and,
ultimately, drive conversions.
Regardless of industry or business type, constant
connectivity gives all marketers the chance to
connect with people in specific, real-life moments
that matter.
But as challenging as this moment is, it’s only the
start. There will only be more screens in the future,
more interoperability between them and, therefore,
more opportunities for brands to be present and
relevant. Data, insight and agility will ensure you
can catch that wave.
Sources/Research:
1. www.11mark.com/IT-in-the-Toilet
2. www.piperjaffray.com/private/pdf/TSWT%20Info
graphics.pdf
3. www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/business/less-prep-
more-plugs-teenagers-favor-tech-over-clothes.html
4. www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/introduc
ing-gen-c-the-youtube-generation.html
5. youtube-trends.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-harlem-
shake-has-exploded.html
6. www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/youtube-
insights-stats-data-trends-vol5.html
7. www.thinkwithgoogle.com/case-studies/loreal-paris-
builds-brand-love-with-search.html
8. www.thinkwithgoogle.com/case-studies/how-turkish-
airlines-found-success-through-selfies.html
9. static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.
com/en/us/analytics/customers/pdfs/puma.pdf
10. www.adometry.com/media/Success-Story-Auto.pdf
11. www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/meet-gen-c-you
tube-generation-in-own-words.html
12. The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-
Platform Consumer Behavior
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
47
Words: By Nick Burcher,
Head of Social, MediaCom EMEA
Illustration: Esther Aarts
FE ATURE
New Opportunities
to get Connected
on Facebook
Content overload has forced changes to the way Facebook delivers
organic reach, but systems thinking offers new opportunities for
brands on the world’s biggest social network.
Facebook is built on the promise of
“making the world more open and
connected,” but – in a world in which
there is more content being created than
there is time for consumers to consume
– Facebook can’t connect everyone to
everything.
One side effect of these changes is
that organic reach for brands has been
consistently declining. Research from
Social@Ogilvy showed that, by 1Q14,
organic reach had dropped to 6%. In
other words, only 6 out of 100 fans
would ever see a post.
Videos (such as the 17 million created
during the ALS ice bucket challenge),
friend posts, brand posts, photos, checkins, games, apps and advertising are all
fighting for our attention. On average,
there are now 1,500 stories that could
appear in a person’s news feed at log-in.
No one could possibly consume them all!
Thinking in systems
While this might appear to be a crisis
for brands that have invested heavily to
recruit and develop fan communities,
Facebook’s response to this challenge
has been to filter the news feed in order
to prioritize quality and relevance.
Facebook has also tried to reduce what it
sees as news feed spam (“Like this post
if you’re happy it’s Friday…”), requiring
brands to be even more thoughtful about
what they produce.
48 Blink · AW '14 · Systems Thinking Issue
about the whole system, not just the
silo of organic reach. New advertising
formats coupled with innovative ways of
building out audiences, such as objectivebased targeting, custom audiences and
lookalike targeting, give brands access
to paid advertising options they’ve
never had before. Combine this with
Facebook’s recent announcements on the
potential of Atlas and the opportunities
for brands are considerably enhanced.
Additionally – as Internet-enabled
Organic reach for brands has been
consistently declining.
other changes on the platform have
actually created more opportunities for
bold and imaginative marketers.
This is because successful promotion
on Facebook now comes from thinking
devices proliferate and the importance
of cookie-based marketing starts to
wane – the ability to use Facebook-type,
first-person log-in data to target users
across devices will become increasingly
important.
A people-centered approach
All this puts Facebook at the forefront
of personal identity targeting. This is
especially true as we enter an era in
which fast content and programmatic
buying enable brands to operate “in
the moment”, using content and
connections to instantly canvas one’s
entire communications ecosystem to
determine what message to place where
and when. Working with a content
approach such as MediaCom’s “Inspire
Inform Involve” framework can help
brands focus and maximize the potential
for attention and engagement.
how could VW participate in the
conversation at a level that would both
be credible and visible across a threemonth period?
Our answer was ‘”Das Fan Auto 2014",
a campaign that featured three social
media stars competing to create the
ultimate fan car, which MediaCom
manufactured and displayed at
dealerships across the country. The
campaign was fuelled by supporting
YouTube video and Facebook activity
(both paid and organic), which also
encouraged voting and participation.
Successful promotion on Facebook
now comes from thinking about the
whole system.
A great example of this is what
MediaCom Beyond Advertising
produced with Volkswagen in Germany
around the FIFA World Cup. VW
has football sponsorship assets in
Germany, but it wasn’t a FIFA World
Cup sponsor. The question became,
“Das Fan Auto 2014” was created using
a system that centered on “Inspire”
content, which was then amplified
through the involvement of the
Facebook community. The resulting 89%
campaign awareness, 25% engagement
rates and high brand preference scores
all came from taking a systems view
that pulled everything together into
a huge integrated campaign that
included including traditional
sponsorship properties, social media
and dealer marketing.
“Systems thinking allowed VW in
Germany to cut through the FIFA
World Cup clutter and enhance
positivity towards their brands,” says
Bernd Hoffmann, CDO of MediaCom
Germany. The German footballer
Thomas Mueller even featured the
Fan Auto Tiguan on his personal
Facebook Page.
Changes to the feed experience are
only the latest moves in Facebook’s
produce roadmap, but one brand truth
will always remain: marketers need to
think about content and connections,
embracing the bigger picture and a
systems thinking approach.
Blink · AW '14 · Systems Thinking Issue
49
Words: The Waters Foundation
Illustration: Jacob Stead
INTERLUDE
Habits of a
Systems Thinker
The Habits of a Systems Thinker describes ways of thinking about how systems
work and how actions taken can impact results over time. People who practice
systems thinking often report that it sharpens and clarifies their understanding
of interrelationships within systems, helping them find the opportunities or
“leverage points” that can take the performance of the entire system to a
higher level. Though “habit” is defined as a usual way of doing things, the
Habits of a Systems Thinker do not suggest that systems thinkers are limited
by routine ways of thinking. Rather, the Habits encourage flexible thinking
and appreciation of new, emerging insights and multiple perspectives.
To behave more like a Systems Thinker, take a look at these 9 habits…
The Waters Foundation’s Systems Thinking in Schools work is recognized worldwide for making systems thinking accessible and
practical, both for children in classrooms as well as executives in boardrooms. With its mission to build systems thinking capacity
in schools across the country and around the world, the Waters Foundation focuses on developing generations of systems thinkers
who apply 21st century skills in classrooms, schools, communities and future workplaces. Systems thinkers function as local and
global community members who use the concepts, habits and tools of systems thinking to understand the complexities of systems
and to face school, work and life challenges with an informed capacity to identify leverage action and achieve desired results.
To learn more habits and to purchase Habits of a Systems Thinker cards, go to the Waters Foundation website:
watersfoundation.ord/shop-online/
© 2010 Systems Thinking in Schools, Waters Foundation
www.watersfoundation.org
50 BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
Seeks to understand
the big picture
Ask yourself: How can
I maintain balance
between the big picture
and important details?
Identifies the circular
nature of complex cause
and effect relationships
Ask yourself: “Where does
circular causality/feedback
emerge?”
Considers an issue fully
and resists the urge to
come to a quick conclusion
Ask yourself: “How can I
manage the tension that exists
when issues are not resolved
immediately?”
Observes how elements within
systems change over time,
generating patterns and trends
Ask yourself: “What changing
elements represent amounts
and how quickly/slowly are they
increasing or decreasing?”
Changes perspectives to
increase understanding
Ask yourself: “As I learn
about new perspectives,
am I willing to change
my mind?"
Considers how mental
models affect current
reality and the future
Ask yourself: “How am
I helping others see the
influence that mental
models have on our
decision-making?"
Recognizes that a system's
structure generates its behavior
Ask yourself: “When things go
wrong, how can I focus on internal
causes rather than dwell on external
blame?"
Surfaces and
tests assumptions
Ask yourself: “When
considering a possible action,
do I and those I work with ask
‘What if’ questions?”
Uses understanding of
system structure to identify
possible leverage actions
Ask yourself: “Where might a
small change – even those not
yet considered – have a longlasting, desired effect?”
BLINK 08 · Systems Thinking Issue
51