Hello everyone!
Long time, no see! I have been busy with uni and visiting my best friend at Warwick Business School, so didn't have a chance to catch up.
However, something interesting is coming your way, as an important marketing executive proclaimed digital marketing as dead. WHAT?!?
Brand building officer at P&G, Marc Pritchard spoke at Dmexpo in Cologne and decided that digital marketing is available for building brand (duh) and offering creative content to customers that they will love to share (again, duh). He added that thinking about the platforms, the tools, the apps, the QR codes, the holograms, mobiles etc, as separate, independent entities is not an option anymore.
I am not an expert, but when was it ever a strategy to separate the digital platforms from the great content? I would go further and ask, when was it ever ok to separate digital platforms, content and offline activities? From my point of view, these are the main characteristics of a marketing strategy: having great content to share with your customers and users, then delivering them through the best possible channels, online or offline.
Therefore, I will be bold here and say that his affirmation [digital marketing is dead, so let's celebrate its end by focusing on great ideas/content] is kind of empty. Never was there in recent years a successful marketing campaign that didn't comprise great content, offline and online excellence; so the fact that we do have to create great stuff that people like and get it to them (be it though Facebook or billboards) is not news.
I am inclined to think that what Pritchard tried to say in a bold, eye-catching statement is that digital marketing has become a norm nowadays (aka, just marketing), as all brands engage in online activities. Therefore, more need to focus now on creating the content for the campaigns that will make them and their brands stand out.
However, I need to make this clear, marketing is not dead...It is more alive than ever and still challenging the norm, so much that executives want it dead. Not going to happen!
As always, let me know what you think!
Love,
Sonia
