On the other hand, I think about the incredible complexity of the digital strategy world and the trend towards specialization and wonder if merging the Planner and Digital Strategist is feasible? For instance, with the rise of unique digital areas of specialty / expertise such as information architecture, user experience planning, analytics and social media, the role of digital strategist appears to to be too much of a simplification and generalist position out of sync with the rapid changes in digital communications?

What do you think?

Check it out here: http://www.thinkmulticultural.com/2009/11/05/twitter-land-grab/

David interviewed agency principal Jim Copacino, and one of his quotes was brilliant:

“The Burger King ‘Subservient Chicken’ phenomenon opened my eyes to the possibility and power of interactive digital communications. For me, it snapped everything into focus—technology, community, experience, engagement. The fact that it was a brilliant digital interpretation of the 30-year-old ‘Have It Your Way’ positioning vividly illustrated the difference between 20^th and 21^st century communications.”

As an agency that is always working with offline, traditional “lead” agencies that usually drive the positioning for our clients’ brands, we have consistently struggled to get those partners to understand how to interpret the brand positioning digitally – how to interpret and express the brand positioning leveraging technology, community, and experience with the goal of achieving that elusive goal of engagement.

Jim Copacino has simply and elegantly articulated the challenge and opportunity of digital communications, something that is organic to digital agencies, but unfortunately still very foreign to most traditional agencies.

The “difference between 20^th and 21^st century communications” – sage!

Jose Villa

The Sensis Take: We have been arguing that Digital shops will be the lead agencies in the future.  While this exclusively digital media plan is this is certainly the most extreme example so far of ad dollars shifting to digital, it won’t be the last.

The keys to managing your Twitter talent

Key findings:

• Your Twitter team needs a firm grasp on corporate brand guides, social media strategy, and the ability to promote interesting content
• Try using your team’s initials when they post, to humanize your brand
• Develop a plan that makes it easy to change management of the account

MTV Networks: Which video ads work best

Key findings:

“The MTV survey, found that a five-second-long “pre-roll” ad in advance of the clip, combined with ten seconds of a semi-transparent ad unit that takes up the lower third of the video (and starts about ten seconds in), makes up “both the most effective and the most audience-friendly ad product for short-form online video,” according to a release.”

10 Stunning (and useful) Stats about Twitter

The Sensis Take: While Twitter seems to be the hottest thing around, it is still in its infancy.  Other social media platforms are still dominant for eyeballs.  We are not suggesting that you neglect Twitter, but know where your real returns are going to come from.

Key findings:

• 21% of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders
• Half of all Twitter users are not active, with active meaning having posted a tweet within the last 7 days.
• English still dominates Twitter
• Tuesday is the most active Twitter day, followed by Wednesday and Friday.

The Power and Value of a Fan

The Sensis Take: If content creation and social media are a part of your promotional strategy, this article gives offers some helpful benchmarks for how to calculate the value of your followers.  There is only so much you can extrapolate with a sample size of one, but it is still a worthwhile exercise.

Key Findings:

• One active fan is worth the equivalent of 445 people.
• You need to reach 14,000 people to acquire one active fan

~Blair Goldberg, Associate Digital Strategist