By Antoinette Siu • August 9, 2024 •
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Speed is of the essence for fashionable businesses in a world the set aside AI and social trends transfer faster than ever.
Digitas these days repositioned itself as a networked ride agency, with one riding insight being the understanding that consumers are “working in a networked fashion,” mentioned Megan Jones, chief media officer at Publicis-owned Digitas. It’s about understanding people’s behavior as they transfer thru loads of experiences and content touch options in the customer scuttle — which is loads more complicated than it aged to be. And from there, guiding clients to procure the factual customers along the procedure.
Jones aged one of the most ubiquitous digital platforms to illustrate of that modified customer scuttle. “Consider the time they use with Amazon, factual?” she mentioned. “You shop on Amazon, you look content on Amazon. Amazon is conscious of everything about you now. Amazon’s in the pharmacy industry. … It’s a fluid funnel. It’s people gripping in every which direction at any given moment.”
Two innovations are serving to Digitas connect the dots and transfer more snappy: launching a generative man made intelligence suite of tools in April, as well as a peculiar social strategy unit final December. The latter — referred to as Part Considerable and Trending, or SWAT — is a dedicated team of social natives and strategists that Jones mentioned focuses on tapping into assorted platforms and trends around them.
“It’s that combination of the two issues taking place together,” Jones mentioned. “It’s a team of people who’re able to assess what’s taking place, name what matters most and then creators who primarily can construct the resources that are goal-constructed for these particular platforms and put up them.”
In the period in-between, with Digitas AI, the agency is checking out AI products for every interior and exterior client use cases — enjoy the utilization of AI to synthesize viewers records or developing an “agent” that can well possibly adopt a brand’s declare, tone and personality.
Jones started her recent function at Digitas in January 2023 — after working her procedure up the media ranks at the firm for 12 years following stints at MEC, MPG and Arnold. Section of Digitas’ executive team now, Jones shared her tips on AI’s modifications over the years, the utilization of records to bridge media and inventive, and the need to transfer faster on cultural trends.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
How has your function developed right here?
I used to be very deliberate about attempting to near to work for Digitas. Once I came right here 12 years in the past, I used to be primarily important about coming to a corpulent-service agency versus working at a media-only agency. The proposition that Digitas has in the market over the final couple years after I’ve been on this function is what clients are procuring for. Of us understand the connectivity between media and inventive — now not true media and now not true inventive, but how it all works together. We’ve been able to procure some immense corporations, enjoy Crocs, that entirely values that procedure of thinking. Sephora entirely values that procedure of thinking, which has took position over the direction of my time on this function, [and] has been primarily thrilling.
You mentioned the possess funnel being fluid these days. Why attain you’re thinking that there is a misconception about it?
I consider people favor to be plucky and controversial and narrate the funnel doesn’t exist anymore. From my level of view, that’s now not the case. It’s true now not as predictive because it aged to be, and provided that folk are discovering and taking a leer in the identical social ride — it nonetheless does exist. It’s true it doesn’t consistently exist in the linear fashion we aged to focus on. So in marketing, we often favor to possess, it’s this or it’s that — versus it would well be a combination of issues. We often dwell in the gray, but I don’t consider that’s as pleasing in the industry because it is far to us.
What does your SWAT team attain?
It used to be born out of two issues: our obsession with understanding culture, and primarily considering how we would well be extremely neat about what’s taking place in culture. The procedure you may possibly well possibly possibly possibly well be responsive to what’s taking place in culture in the factual tone and declare of a brand and for the viewers they’re attempting to reach. Now it’s primarily primarily based in social, but we’re considering how to pipe in search, and we’re considering tons of other issues coming in the future. … It’s veritably people who’re tapped into these platforms. They understand how to attain the social listening, but primarily attain understand the contrast between capital “T” trends, lowercase trends and everything in between — form of what’s taking place culturally and,