Much has rained since David Segura created the first digital agency back in 1994. This “engineer reconverted to optimistic publicist”, as he calls himself is one of the proper names of digital communication internationally. His trajectory includes his passage through the direction of portals like Eresmas, Orange or Wanadoo, until arriving at the Management Committee of WPP.
He is currently General Director of Doubleyou, a leading global communications company, with offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico. An activity that combines with the association that represents the advertising sector in digital media in our country.
To begin with, what role does online advertising play on the internet today and as a means to reach mass audiences?
Should we stop talking about? Online advertising? Right now what exists is communication, which has a means to unfold? With very different characteristics. I speak of “digital advertising”, online is already another channel; Now there is a new channel called “digital” Where all strategies that are not conventional advertising are developed.
Do you see a willingness to change from off to online? Are advertising agencies ready for the new digital era?
There is a serious structural problem in the sector. An industry is established, with clearly defined dependencies, Totally out of demand in the advertising and communication market. This system has become obsolete, so it prevents a correct adaptation to the new communication.
On the other hand, there is the issue of hearings, which is a fallacy. The dictatorship of the audiences, which involves the hiring of media in large volumes, the measurement of impacts and share, has died. Before, everything was measured and reached through millions of empty hits that did not go anywhere. Now the hearings have qualified very much.
TV does not help so much to sell. When things do not work, what you should do is bet on something different. The digital world has a high power of attraction, users understand it in another way, and achieve a high rate of participation. Things that right now is impossible to achieve with other conventional means.
Therefore, we all want to be digital, but it is very difficult to change the structure of industry, agencies. Currently the digital medium is the second in volume of investment, but this has to be greater. 40% of advertising investment should go to digital communication.
On television advertising What is the present and the nearest future? Do you think that the increasing increase in consumption of online content will end up affecting the market for television ads? Maybe connected TV will be an alternative or escape route?
Television has lost its value, strategically speaking. TV advertising has become a landscape where the audience does not follow the advertising messages, So their impact is lost.
It is necessary to change, but the changes are scary, especially it is difficult to take that step, break with everything and face the unknown. It is a change that must be made from the outside, since the rigid structure prevents changing things from the inside. The collaborative spirit must be transferred from the digital point of view.
It is the time to do specialized things in digital marketing, to bet on a new way of communicating. Innovation does not guarantee success, but it can be very different, and with it, you stand out with your message and achieve impact.
What about brands and companies? The vast majority gets on the trolley of online and social media but are achieving their goals? It is said that “social networks are not to sell? Is the ROI and its impact real or do we still need time to analyze the efforts made?
It is not that social networks do not sell, what does not sell is to advertise these channels with the conventional format, applying the same mods operand that in traditional media. Advertising can be done well, or badly, and the advertising that is currently done in Social Media is done poorly. You do not get all the juice out of this medium, you are not required to have a real ROI, you do not need a professional measurement from the point of view of communication.
About the professionals Where do your creative advisers now have their place? Do they also have to evolve alongside the media and adapt to the online or is there space for new professional profiles?
The creatives are evolving, they should be flexible and adapt to the new medium. There are some who are more reluctant to change, but also have to face this challenge, be willing to forget television as an end in itself and bet on communication.
The future trend of advertising today is working for project teams. Brands will work with agencies per project. For each of them, a multidisciplinary, specialized team will be chosen, composed of professionals of diverse profiles, both internal and independent. This creates a hybrid group with great professional potential, adapted to the specific needs of the client.
For this, the training has to play an essential role. It’s not just to say that you are in the digital world, but you have to train. There is a lot of intrusiveness in the profession, lack of training. You have to get them out and get people in training.
Users are annoyed with social media advertising, what other promotional formulas or strategies should be used to conquer users? How are the messages being transmitted now to impact the audience?
Large companies move the traditional advertising model to this new medium, without taking into account the characteristics of the medium and its potential to reach the public. You have to know the medium, Know how you can encourage user participation, know limits, and adopt appropriate language. You have to approach the user and get him to feel identified with the message and want to participate: do not yell at him, do not force him to do something he does not like … Social networks are flooded with brands telling people what they have to Do, a fact that has the opposite effect. Social networks are a personal space, intimate, unique to each user … where you have to ask permission to enter, and the common practice is to use imperatives and tell the user what to do.
As for mobile advertising, what is its evolution? Is it really working?
The mobile is a carrier with a penetration of 94%. There is no means of communication with such high penetration rate in the world. There is a penetration of 40% smartphone. However, it is a completely wasted means, where advertising becomes a nuisance, people lose interest. Users reject it because it bothers them.
The solution is to create personalized applications, messages addressed to a specific recipient, as well as harness the power of geolocation. Always in a natural way, ensuring that the message is integrated into the day to day of the recipient, that does not interrupt the activity is doing, do not bother you when you are consuming content. There lies the key to effectiveness, to offer something that interests you, appropriate to your needs at that time, in a non-intrusive way, without shouting, asking for permission, Never with imperatives.
It is so easy to communicate, not pure and hard advertising, without interrupting the life of the user, accompanying people in the things they do …
Finally, what is your opinion on the advertising landscape in the next year?
I think 2013 will be a turning point in the advertising world. The industry is going to feed back from the industry itself. The media agencies will be the producers, the brands will be the media and the messages will be distributed by the consumers. The communication will be imposed on advertising as we understand it today.