Agency Man vs Development Man
Chris Tomlinson, of WebXpress, has written a lovely little article on the differences between digital agencies types. The first has its roots in the advertising world, have grown contemptuous about traditional marketing but are still marketeers at heart. The second have their roots in technology companies, are web developers and are still trying to develop the language to speak to the average marketing department. Two nice comparisons are:
Agency man will say the web is just one ‘brand touch point’ in what needs to be a cross platform above and below-the-line, integrated, media neutral brand experience.
Most importantly he’ll be able to keep a straight face while saying so.
Developer man will however understand that if your website annoys visitors they won’t buy your products and that in the online world, usability determines the brand experience.
and also:
Developer man will actually engage in online social networking. Agency man will talk about it, while engaging in offline social networking – also known as drinking after work.
Anyone else have any other differences? For myself, I tend to meet somewhere in the middle. At times, a flash website is the right thing to do to present the content and the campaign message. At other times, there’s far too much information than can be presented comfortably in an experiential site; it needs to do more than just impress it needs to be usable and accessible. A rule of thumb for me would always be short term, campaign led then you can look at the flashy stuff. Longer term, strategic information driven, then look at other methods. Some recent developments may change that (I like the NBA Silverlight demo) but it’s not that easy in most cases. As Chris says, you need to find partners who can think in both ways, who can address correctly what your online presence needs to do and build the right site. Finding creative teams who can do that is pretty difficult.
Found via Birmingham Post
Tags: christomlinson, digitalagency, experiential, Marketing in GeneralRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Advertising Agencies, Engaging the Customer, Integrated and Transmedia Marketing
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