Digital Agency Structure

I was watching the Gruen Transfer on ABC tonight and as usual, was suitably impressed, entertained and intellectually stimulated all at once. It is a great show. In saying that, I thought I would have a look at the website itself and was drawn to their section titled Adworkers. It lists out the different roles within your typical ad agency -

Ad Agency

• Production Manager, Flash Developer, Copy Writer, Art Director, Creative Director, Strategic Planner, Account Executive, Account Director, Personal Assistant, Managing Director, Finance Director & The Founder.

More pertinent are the summaries attached to each – succinct, accurate and precise. Working within a digital services agency as I do at Areeba, it has become more apparent that digital as a career is so young and immature relative to the more traditional realms of sales, operations, accounting, law, medicine, engineering and the arts that we have a bit of a task in explaining ourselves to a client about how we work and why. Ad agencies have been around since the 1850′s and if you tell someone off the street that you work for one, most people have a reasonable idea of the field of endeavour. They might not understand exactly what you do, but they get the context.

Digital is different. There are dozens of niche areas of endeavour, expertise and excellence in this burgeoning realm. To name a few: ad serving, portal management (think working for Yahoo!, Google, Ebay, Amazon, Sensis, Bigpond), social networks, data mining, data planning, customer relationship management (CRM), media buying, analytics, search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) strategy, design, development, campaigns, brand relaunch & alignment, stakeholder engagement… The list goes on.

From a digital agency perspective, structurally, there are similarities, but due to intent, there are differences to your classical ad agency. Web sites by their very nature, are a technical discipline, because if you build a website, it’s not just the visual that gets taken into consideration from a brand perspective, it goes deeper into the usabilty and the enticements that keep people engaged with your site that start to play a part. Websites are a derivation of software development, which has to take into account human interface aspects like usability, accessibility, ease of understanding, communications and audience assessment. Kick in there technical considerations. Think on this as one: Internet Explorer 8 was released last week. But consider that there are still 25%+ using IE 7 and 17%+ using IE6 (as at 26th March 2009). Then take into consideration this: if a website works on IE6, then it’s highly unlikely it will work properly on IE8. Introduce Safari on Mac. Firefox. Chrome. Opera….. That is ONE technical consideration. Next: Flash. Version 8, 9 or 10? Next: Javascript. Next: Form’s validation. Next: Data interoperability between website capture database and legacy environment like SAP, Oracle or Siebel. Each of these systems cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to deploy.  So back to the digital agency structure.

Many liken web studios to a software development house.

Yes & No.

• Yes: technical rigour, testing, rollbacks, disaster recovery, code standards, compliance and then the digital hallmarks of usability, accessibility and legibility, which had their underlying foundations in software development.
• No: Brand preservation. Brand extension. Brand enhancement. Brand iconisation. Campaigns. Engagement. Loyalty. Retention.

Software dev houses don’t give a toss (generally) about brand – a logo in the top left corner will suffice. People in Marketing, Corporate Comms, Public Relations and Sales WINCE at this approach because it detracts from the overall cohesive message of a unified, cohesive and consistant company.

So. To the digital agency structure. In my experience, they are structured, one of two ways, depending on the skew of their origins – technical or creative:

Software Development Agency foundation and underpinnings

• Executive – Managing Director, Operations Director, General Manager, Commercial Director; Alternatively CEO, COO, CTO/CIO, CFO, CSO
• Production Technical – Solution Architect, Senior Developer, Developer, Analyst Programmer, Programmer, Delivery/Release Manager
• Production Creative – Design Manager, Senior Designer, Mid Weight Designer, Designer, Junior Designer
• Production Compliance – Strategy Manager, Project Manager,  Senior Business Analyst, Usability Engineer
• Sales/Account Management – Business Development Manager, Inside Sales, Pre-Sales, Account Manager, Account Executive

Creative Services agency foundation and underpinnings

• Executive – Managing Partner,  Creative Director, Strategy Director, Planning Director, Group Account Director, Client Services Director,
• Production – Executive Producer, Senior Producers, Producers, Senior Data Planner, Data Planner,  Flash Developer, Database developer, Senior Art Director, Art Director, Senior Designer, Designer, Junior Designer

Digital Agencies can be either of the above or a hybrid of the above. In addition, you can count as additional roles that pop up by the uniqueness of web: User Experience Architect, Digital Strategist, Engagement Manager, Digital Planner, CRM Strategist, eDM Strategist….. Areeba is unique in that we don’t really have an account layer, preferring to get those senior individuals in the industry who actually enjoy dealing with the clients directly. If you are a developer, you deal with the client. If you are a creative, you deal with the client. If you are a business analyst, you deal with the client. if you are a digital strategist, you deal with the client.  If you are part of the executive team, you deal with the client. No hidden mushrooms or low level juniors hiding in the background working in the sweat shop. Works for us.

So in saying all that, what is my point? Ad agencys are turning to digital, because its the new “it” thing. It’s also where the money is shifting too, driven by the clients who want a tangible measure on their dollars spent verses the result gained. From a marketing and PR perspective, the internet is able to empower clients so much more from an analytics, peer permission and social network context, that the dollars being spent are miniscule and a raindrop compared to where we will be in the next 5 to 10 years. It is only the start of the evolution that is igniting our industry and the first step in this is to get our clients to better understand the value that the industries staff and the digital agencies themselves are able to offer.

Regardless of the structure of your agency, or the agency you are engaging, I see it very firmly that it is our job  and obligation  to communicate the value and worth of each and every staff member across the business, so that the old fashioned values of trust, value, friendship, loyalty and understanding are met. Simple.

IE6: Internet Explorer 6

Microsoft has released IE8 yesterday (March 19th 2009), which ostensibly means the slow (and long overdue) demise of IE6, which still, by anyones measure is on WAY to many computers out in the WWW. You can download it at Microsoft’s Internet Explorer page.

So. What novel ways to coax your site visitors to upgrade?  This was spotted by my colleague Simon Julian this afternoon.

Hugs for Monsters goes straight for the jugular – I almost spilt my Friday afternoon beer on my desk after reading some of these in his entry Overly Judgmental IE6 Splash Pages

In Simon’s estimation: Funny. I concur.

http://hugsformonsters.com/

Facebook – one step closer to real life

Kiwi judge follows Australian Facebook precedent It seems our progressive Australian Court System isn’t the only one in the world wading into the virtual reality of Facebook and its 170 million plus inhabitants with virtual writ in virtual hand. A New Zealand court – the High Court no less -  also deciding it was possible – and legal – to serve court documents to an individual who failed to turn up to face the music at their appointed hour. This case is following on from a landmark case which occured late 2008 in Australia as reported here in the December 12th 2008 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald – Australian court serves documents via Facebook

The old fashioned means of writing a letter, stamping the envelope and Australia Post being subpoenaed to disclose the address and contents of the recipient and sender under court order has just moved into the digital world. Emails have long been held as legally enforceable in court, it seems Facebooks ‘closed garden‘ bulletin board status is crumbling that little bit more and ‘privacy’ as most people perceive it is just that little bit less. Look out Facebook residents, your world just got more real again, as opposed to an escape.

The personal side of a Web Project & Relationship

Website building is an endlessly fascinating endeavour because it marries up the functional with the aesthetic, site owners goals and hopes with professional opinion, conjecture and many paths to resolution and understanding & learning. Simplistically one of the biggest problems our industry faces is a lack of care and understanding from both sides of the fence – client & agency – about what one is asking and what the other is expecting.

There are 2 viewpoints which are greeted by any variation of the above:

Client has a problem, desire, goal or requirement to get a web system up and running
Agency has to interpret this input

Agency has a problem, desire, goal or requirement to get a web system up and running
Client has to interpret this output

As a consequence, aspects of how web agencies get chosen from the clients side reasonably fall loosely into the experience, expertise, metric/capacity or fiscal spheres of assessment:

• Experience: How many projects have you done of a similar nature? What technology spread do you support (JSP, ASP, Java, PHP, Unix etc), What is the spread and makeup of your staff – junior, mid range, senior? How and where did you gain your experience?
• Metric/Capacity: Do you have enough staff? Do you have different office locations to both defer risk and service national/international engagements? How many similar clients do you have in the industry (think FMCG, Manufacturing, Banking & Finance, Government etc)
• Fiscal: Do you offer value for money? Are you too expensive? Are you too cheap? (not representing value and experience), How financially stable are you to maintain liquidity and viability in tough times?

However, I think the one that gets absolutely and totally underrated, misjudged and overlooked time and time again is the very basic question: Do they get along with you? Broken out this can include:

• Personal: Do they like you? Do you get along with them? Are you their type of person?

The cold hard facts are thus: If they don’t like you, they most certainly don’t want to spend their companies money with you, because it is likely the decision in web agency that is being considered will be scrutineered at the highest levels of the business read: board, C-level, head of division etc. Liking you can encompass any number of measures: Appearance, mode of speaking, body language, race (even though they will never imply this),  social upbringing & background, what sort of clothes you wear,  what sort of car you drive, whether you are a Mac or PC user…. Unfortunately, it can even extend to your character and way you present things – it is such a personal and intangible aspect of new business engagements, it needs to be considered closely and kept in mind at all times.

A very basic metric I always put in front of someone when I first meet them and am considering working with them – “Would I have a beer with them outside of work?” If it’s a no, then I find, perhaps through pre-programmed predujice, we tend not to win the job. I adopt the position that if I don’t get along with them, then it isn’t very likely the team I represent will likely get along with them either. I consider my work colleagues with a deep level of respect and admiration for the work they do and subsequently I count them as friends because, I always have a position where I admire my friends and their achievments and value systems.

Why on earth then, would I want to afflict my work colleagues/friends with a client who I assess as someone I wouldn’t want to have a beer with?

Facebook & the Implications of Privacy

A number of articles published in today’s ‘The Age’ online have equally disturbed and intrigued me on a number of levels.

The first was the identification of the arsonist in the Victorian Bush Fires in the article ‘Vigilantes publish alleged arsonist’s image online‘ , and the subsequent Flash speed with which their identify has been disclosed on Facebook, now numbering some 150+ million active users.  Some of the commentary as reported in the above article, is disturbing in its explicit anger and intent, all the more so, because what was once a ‘closed garden‘ environment has now become public by virtue of the introduction of ‘Pages’, ‘Groups’ & ‘Causes’. This speaks volumes about the ‘power of the people’ and the strength such social networks have on influencing real life from its virtual footprint. I logged in this evening and found no less than 10 groups devoted to this topic.

The second aspect that caught my attention is the comments of the presiding judge who quashed suppression of the alleged person’s identify in ‘Churchill arson accused fails to face court‘

“Any prison system has its jungle drums…how is the suppression going to protect the anonymity,” Magistrate Klestadt said. He said murderers and pedophiles appeared in court every day and their names were not suppressed.

The above comment shows the judges limited understanding and social context with which Facebook’s influence extends too. Putting aside the guilt or innocence of the alleged for a moment, and assessing in an entirely dispassionate light, the inherant problem with this statement by the judge is that, even with television and radio coverage, such types within our society are not likely to face the sheer volume of recrimination and potential vigilante action that is brewing on Facebook’s Wall’s, News Feeds’ and Status Updates. What was once the realm of small town gossip, maybe a phone call, at worst, televised coverage has now breached the divide of a worldwide, instantaneous communication network where the information source is vetted by any reasonable persons measure – the information source is one you trust – your network of friends. By its very nature of being a ‘closed garden’ network, Facebook itself is inadvertently endorsing the publication of such activities. Where communications over television, radio or in print would fade as the natural path of time charts its course, the Facebook group and subsequent alerting of your friends and acquaintances of your wall will potentially last for weeks, if not months.

The 3rd area which sounded alarm bells was the following as quoted in ‘Churchill arson accused fails to face court‘

Dr Matthew Rimmer, senior lecturer in law at the Australian National University, said Facebook is in much the same position as any other media organisation. “Much like a newspaper, Facebook needs to be careful what it publishes because it’s not just the author who is liable. Sometimes the publisher is liable ,” he said.

Here is a learned academic passing comment that Facebook is a media organisation like a newspaper. This troubles me greatly in that Facebook does little to police nor vet the activities of its users from a day to day personal perspective. Newspapers on the other hand vet everything that goes to print, and operate in much this similar fashion when moderating their own blogs and article comment feeds. Facebook is different as the ‘closed garden’ premise is that you only invite your friends to be a part of your network, and as a consequence, you are subsequently responsible for your actions and activities on your wall. I liken Facebook to be like a Hotel – you hire the room, once you have the keys, what you do with the room for the period of your stay is up to you, so long as you abide by the basic ground rules of don’t trash the place, pay for the mini bar and be civil to other guests whilst enjoying your stay. The very appeal of such networks is you can control who sees what, you get presented information that your friends have already vetted and endorsed and your privacy is maintained.

Overall, Facebook’s principle of offering a ‘closed garden’ is widely acclaimed and endorsed. Their creation of ‘Beacon‘ to data mine and ad serve your preferences, offering targeted advertising by way of user preference profiles and in recent years Facebook ‘Pages’, ‘Groups’ and ‘Causes’ all started life as different ways for the business to make money. However what is going to challenge their supremacy and high patronised usage is Privacy. Privacy and the implications of Facebook’s responsibilities as a publisher are only going to become more and more challenging as time goes on, as they will potentially be held responsible for the activities of its vast sea of users, generating millions of words, actions and images each day.