Warc, 15 May 2014
NEW YORK: Marketers must effectively manage various
"dualisms" – such as balancing intuition with a focus on return on
investment – to succeed in the digital world, according to a leading executive.
Pete Blackshaw, Nestlé's global head/digital and social
media, discussed this idea while speaking at the Advertising Age Digital
Conference 2014, an event held in New York.
"One of the things I really emphasise a lot is this
concept of 'digital dualisms'. Dualisms are tension points or ostensible
opposites," he said. (For more, including details of how the Swiss company
has made in-roads in Silicon Valley, read Warc's exclusive report: Nestlé's
three pillars of digital success.)
"And what I impress upon our leaders is that success in
brand-building today is not necessarily about resolving tension; it's about
managing tension. And the same thing applies to digital."
He went on to outline several "classic digital
dualisms" which marketers are now required to address as they attempt to
progress in the new-media ecosystem.
"Innovation, in particular, is a tango between those
two tensions," he said. "It's disruptive, it's uncomfortable, it's
certainly uncertain. But that's where the breakthrough occurs, and that's what
we're trying to accomplish."
Alongside innovation and balancing a focus on measurement
with trusting their instinct and experience, marketers need to find the
appropriate mix of becoming an enabler and acting as a gatekeeper.
Recognising formal and informal power is also important,
both on sites like Facebook and on in-house social networks. "That's
something that social networks bring to the table, especially in large
organisations."
Perhaps the most pressing dualisms, however, come with
assessing the precise role digital tools ought to play in building brands,
argued Blackshaw, who was chairman of the judges for the Warc Prize for Social
Strategy.
"Probably the biggest one that we grapple with all the
time is this notion of integration versus stimulation. Should digital be
standalone? Should it be integrated into everything?" he said.
"It's not one or the other; it's both. And I think to
be effective in today's environment we have to manage that tension."
Data sourced from Warc
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