“The answer is omnichannel”
We share the full interview conducted by The World y Expansion to David Galán, Chief Executive Officer of MIG, the agency's owner company MIG-Prisma, on Advertising Day. David spoke about the challenges of digital marketing, the effectiveness of strategies, the use of data, and the impact of the pandemic on Spain's digital transformation process, among other aspects.
Además de ser más barato y requerir menos tiempo para su producción, ¿qué otras ventajas ofrecen el marketing y la publicidad digital a los anunciantes?
Answer: I don't think it's a question of price or production time. In the creation of some environments or experiences, the cost and production time can even be equivalent to conventional models. The truly essential thing is that they are the unavoidable response that brands must give to their relationship with people, because that is where we are right now, co-creating, exchanging experiences, buying... Or all at once.
In terms of consumer response, is digital advertising as effective as radio spots or television commercials were in their day?
R: Effectiveness depends on many factors. Creativity, innovation, precise segmentation, brand positioning, the value proposition of the product or service, etc., decisively influence it, especially in a competitive environment where it is increasingly difficult to differentiate. Digital marketing is indeed as effective as traditional media and formats were, with the added value component of broader, more precise, and immediate data that allows us to perfect campaign effectiveness and optimise our clients' investment. But the answer to a consumer who has moved to other environments is omnichannel.
Podcasts, live social media advertising, programmatic advertising… Which formats have experienced the most growth in recent years, and which are advertisers investing in the most?
R: Omnichannel content - with a particular prevalence of that intended for social media and digital platforms -, cross-platform, programmatic interactive experiences and paid digital media are, in our case, those that have experienced the most growth.
Social media, at an investment level, seems to be getting closer and closer to screen and from the search. Could these be the things that take the place television had in the world of advertising in the 20th century?
I'm not that visionary. What seems evident is that the main social networks are trying to create a perfect and absolutely integrated ecosystem where we can centralise all our life and consumption experiences, and what's more, in a personalised way. However, as long as social networks don't resolve the problem of privacy and user authentication, that “perfect” ecosystem is still far from being one.
How important is advertising in general to your customers and in the world Brand Safe and knowing that your brand won't appear linked to negative elements?
Absolutely. The boom programmatic advertising revealed a fundamental problem of this digital disruption, which has harmed all players in the advertising industry, including the “institutionalised” media themselves. The association of brands with inappropriate content and pages, the Click fraudulent and manipulated data must be eradicated. The famous “security perimeter” is an essential principle for digital marketing teams in the agency.
What has the arrival of platforms like Google Ads or Amazon Advertising meant for advertisers and agencies? Does it make agencies' work easier or could it end up replacing them when it comes to certain tasks?
R: Like any dynamic sector, agencies have always been under threat, and we’d be in trouble if that wasn't the case. These platforms help the agency, of course, and they also allow us to be replaced. But that’s not the problem; our main challenge is proving to brands that we add genuine, added value in all areas, not just in terms of managing these platforms.
Has the use of Big Data been one of the keys to the growth experienced by digital media advertising in recent times?
R. In my opinion, it has been assuming that the consumer is at the centre of everything. Their knowledge, derived from data, allows us to understand who they are, what motivates them, where they consume information or content, and so on, and to personalise the message, automate it, perfect the experience, and therefore, connect. We tend to believe that everything is a product of technology. It's a means, not an end. The end is to know your consumer.
P: Moving on to what this complicated year of 2020 has meant for advertising and in the absence of official studies to corroborate it, might the pandemic have boosted digital marketing even further? How has the ecommerce boom influenced things in these months?
R: The pandemic has driven Spain's digital transformation more than any active policy would have done in 10 years, 20 if we consider the intellectual level and the vision of national priorities of current politicians of all stripes. Digital advertising or boom e-commerce is a tiny part of this radical change. Nothing will ever be the same again.