Last Saturday was the first blog post in a series I’m dubbing, “Saturday Matinee” (#SatMat). #SatMats will be educational and inspiring videos from the professional creative world–a curation of videos off the beaten path. The video I posted Saturday was by Wieden+Kennedy co-founder Dan Wieden. (W+K is one of the world’s leading brand and ad agencies with Coke, Levi’s and Nike as clients). In the search for last week’s video, I also came across this little gem. It’s a 6-minute interview with Wieden about the new TV landscape (this particular interview is 3 years old, but despite that, his commentary hold remarkably true).
At the heart of his comments is the importance of engaging in an interactive “conversation” between you and your customers. In the past, traditional TV broadcast provided a one-way communication. Today all of that is changed. As Wieden puts it…
“Customers are not satisfied to just sit there and accept the messaging; they want to be part of the action.”
Even though apps like Meerkat and Periscope didn’t exist at the time of this interview, I think they represent excellent examples of how true this statement is. Now, in real-time, customers can literally be involved in a conversation with businesses.
One comment he makes that I can see some marketers questioning is that he doesn’t like “the eye in the sky” peering in on his online activity (e.g. ads that appear online that are hauntingly related to the kind of material you’re watching or reading). I totally understand that sentiment, but I’m not sure. If an ad is going to be there anyway (which they are), I’d prefer an ad that is offering a product or service I actually want or need. What do you think?
In the end, Wieden concludes that he doesn’t like being too nostalgic or futuristic. He likes to concentrate on the now. I loved how he put it…
“Half the time people who think they know what the future is, they’re just making sh*t up.”
There are a few other profound tidbits in this video, so take 6-minutes out of your day and get some knowledge dropped on you.
