Publicis

Digital Transformation

Businesses everywhere have been undergoing a digital transformation for a long time now. And it’s the same for large agencies. They need to be able to adjust to new technologies and keep offering even better services to clients. 

“With Meltwater, we’re leading a huge transformation in agencies - the way people work and their approach to strategic planning. Since 2014, we increasingly rely on social data to fuel creativity by better understanding consumer behaviors and trends. Social listening helps us stay one step ahead in the industry and win clients with creative, data-backed campaigns.” 

Despite some resistance, Publicis teams are quickly understanding the need to modernize their work.

“Some people react badly to that transformation, maybe based on the fear of not understanding. Our way to fight against this is to show everyone that data is not about being a data analyst. If you’re an account manager, a creative, you don’t need to understand big tools. You just need to understand the methodology, and to ask the right questions, to make the most of this data. Once they have that first experience with the data team, they start to understand that they now have more value to sell, and they can create great campaigns.”

Better Strategic Planning

For major advertising and marketing agencies, the best campaigns rely on quality planning. That means really understanding who an advertisement is aimed at, and what the best ways to reach them are. And social listening provides deeper insights than have ever been available. “Traditionally, strategic planning was based mainly on sociological studies. The difference between these metrics and what we have today with data is the precision. We can localize data now, and we just have more data.”

This easy access to buyer information lets Publicis bring more authority to its campaigns. It can show clients that it really knows what it’s talking about. “We're trying to make people understand the value of data for creativity. We can do deep studies that take more than 7 or 8 weeks of listening to better understand consumer behavior or new trends. And this kind of depth lets us build far better campaigns for clients.”

Campaigns Fueled by Social Data

So what does one of these data-driven campaigns look like? And what can you really learn from a few social media conversations?

"We did a campaign for sleeping pills. All the creative was based on the fact that we listened to people unable to sleep at night and expressing their despair live on Twitter.” 

By collecting stories and voices from social media - stories that otherwise nobody would see - Publicis was able to build a campaign that spoke directly to the right audience. “It was clear that all these people between 12am-5am were desperately looking for support. So we created a social media campaign for our sleeping pill brand, simply around giving them comfort and advice to help them sleep better.”

Responsive social media marketing like this helps to humanize brands, and ensure that they’re delivering what the customer really needs. In this case, just a little support in the middle of the night.