By Yann Lombard-Platet
In China, the interactive marketing industry is moving very fast. Over the coming years it will mature and consolidate, producing the 1 or 3 or even 5 agencies that can fairly represent the different media channels in the clients' communication mix.

Until then, the clients have a more important role than they think. Right now everybody claims they can do everything and they want to take the lead. Unfortunately such an agency does not exist, whatever the claims. It is not possible. So until then, the client has to take the lead and the initiative to put together at the same table the Advertising agency, PR agency, BTL agency and Interactive agency to turn every single piece of communication into an interactive opportunity. Often it's the client's decision not to bring the different parties to the table.

Let us sit at the same table
We, as an interactive agency, do not claim to have mastered advertising or public relations, we simply claim we have mastered interactivity and what triggers an interaction from an audience. Therefore we know what should be featured in a TVC or print ad, to leverage the budget, to add success to the interactive initiatives with the audience and it doesn't cost more. The client can ask us where we think the TVC should bear a specific message or a specific mention of the website or a specific campaign to drive traffic to these additional channels. Or the client can take that decision and brief us and we will deliver.

If the client gives us the opportunity to be the leader then they will see that we will not bring a revolution to the table and give an advertising agency or PR agency a lesson on how to do their business. We will talk to them and understand what they are doing and find opportunities to integrate some call for action, messages, incentives to interact in their channels of communications in a way that would not damage the quality, content and expected outcome of their communication. Or if the client does not want us to take that lead in guiding the other to integrate and to turn some of their campaigns into interactive campaigns then it is their job to be the integrator. And this is their responsibility to decide whether they should trust us to integrate and work with the advertising and PR agency or whether they think they can do it on their own.

VW-FAW did. For the past 3 years, we were always at the table with their advertising agencies the minute they decide on the branding strategy for the brand or product. The agencies would go about their creative work on TVC, POS, in magazines etc and we would come up with ways to integrate that strategy with interactive developments and components. And that has worked fantastically well for the benefit of our client. One year we took the lead over the advertising and PR agency in a joint promotion campaign between Bora and Kodak called "Lifestyle Bora". We came up with the whole interactive concept that was communicated in magazines, in PR and of course online. The campaign was executed consistently on all different channels with very good results.

Instead of doing a website around Bora, it was more related to lifestyle rather than the car. The audience was invited to log on and discover each other's concept and ideas of what urban lifestyle meant to them. This website did not showcase at all the specifications of the car, its price or the dealerships. We were offering the audience different videos, sounds, image elements, some representing the car but mostly different videos to depict visually and with music, the urban lifestyle. The people were invited to mix these various types of content to create a video clip ? flash animation, adding sound, adding their comments to the whole thing. The whole campaign was around the idea "Let's discover, let's create and let's share with one another what a great Urban Lifestyle can be!" There were prizes to be won, a Bora car, Kodak cameras, free prints and others. It was a great success. There were millions of people visiting the site in the first two months and thousands of registrations per day.

So here VW-FAW played it very smartly because they decided that they did not have enough experience to be the perfect judge of what should happen and how, so they let the agencies talk, agree and report to them together sitting at the same table , presenting what was going to happen on TV, in print and online with interactivity. It was a very smooth relationship.

We also had the example of Colgate on one campaign when the client had to make a decision on who should take the lead, the advertising agency or us. We came with the same proposal that we made to VW-FAW, which was to let us work with them. It ended up having the need for the client to be the judge. The TVC was slightly modified in its format at the end so that something was mentioned about what was going on online and what was driving it. Otherwise there would have been no integration. It would have just been a commercial saying you can be the next ambassador or next Colgate star but it would not have engaged the audience to participate which could have been disastrous for the campaign.

At no extra cost
So in more and more cases, the client is giving us the opportunity to sit at the table with the other agencies at the very beginning of the initiation of strategies or at the very beginning of the ideation process, in defining what the main creative strategy is. In many cases we bring a lot of value to the table and I consider it a collaborative process. What is very important for clients to realize is that interactive agencies deserve a place at the same table as the other agencies at the same time. But they very often forget. They also forget that without increasing the budget they invest in offline media and PR, they can use them as additional drivers to increase the success of the interactive and digital channel.

Even back in 2001 when we were the first agency in China to launch an integrated campaign with Ruder Finn Public Relations for the re-launch of the Audi A6, the one thing we did was to make sure Ruder Finn mentioned in the press releases that the people who went online, registered and qualified will have a very special treatment if they show up at the road show with an exclusive chance to test drive the car on the spot. That drove 10 thousand registrations in less than a month and got 100 cars sold! They got so much coverage about the event from their PR agency plus the thousands of names registered and they even managed to sell the cars to the people who had registered. They didn't have to spend one cent more.

At the end of the day if you have a website, what is the extra cost and is it a bad thing for your brand to mention the fact that you have a website on every single one of your communication? And certainly in the TVC. If they want to know more, get additional benefits, rewards or whatever, go online! It cost nothing. Instead of spending just 30 seconds looking at your TVC, some of the audience will consciously choose to go online and spend 10 minutes or 15 minutes on your brand.

Yes of course the agencies do not like to have another agency coming on to their turf because everybody is fighting for the same cake. The advertising agencies don't want to loose the edge. There seem to be a misunderstanding. The internet will never kill TVC. It cannot kill TVC. TVC, especially in such a market like China is definitely still the key driver of awareness, a key driver to incremental purchase opportunities.

We are always trying to influence the client to put their brand's website on every print or at the end of the TVC. The audience can find out more or win something or discover something or experience more. Bring the interactive agency to the table in the beginning for discussion. It cost nothing extra. As I said earlier if integration is not happening, the only person responsible is the client. Nobody else.

About the author:
Yann Lombard-Platet is Nurun's President, Asia. Yann was previously CEO of the Shanghai-based interactive marketing agency he co-founded in 1998. During his years as head of China Interactive, Yann engaged in many leading interactive marketing campaigns for international clients established in China, such as L'Oréal, Fiat, Pepsi, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank and Siemens.

Nurun China is part of the global Nurun Inc. with offices in Canada, US, France, Italy, Spain, and now China. Nurun Inc., founded in 1985 is the world's second independent Interactive Agency with 11 offices in 6 countries. It is also well established as No.1 in Canada, No. 2 in Europe and in the top 15 in the US, with over 750 employees worldwide. Nurun is 58% owned by the Canadian media giant, Quebecor Media and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Website: www.nurun.com

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One Response to “Client Needs To Lead For Chinese Interactive Marketing”

1. By Chance Liu – December 25th, 2007 at 2:13 am

   A good explanation of dealing with clients — in Hong Kong we have the same types of issues and the turf wars are really a big headache when dealing with advertising and media issues.

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