The Rising Tide of Tribal DDB Asia Pacific

April 24th, 2007

This week our Asia Pacific offices got together to review our recent Interactive creative work. We reviewed client work in the following digital categories;

10 entries for Marketing web sites: Short term/promotion sites built to support or lead a marketing campaign
7 entries for Online advertising: Banner and Rich Media Advertising
4 entries for Viral marketing entries: Digital video spots made for the Internet only, Email advertising, including. e-cards
3 entries for Interactive campaigns: 3 or more different and separate interactive online elements for the same concept (e.g. 1 online ad, 1 e-mail, 1 website)
2 entries for Corporate web sites: Destination sites built as a storefront for a company’s long-term business
1 entry for CD-ROM: Digital marketing material launched or delivered via CD-ROM

We discussed that all communication should be anchored by a great idea and surrounded by several small ideas. We are looking for “What is the idea in one sentence?” With Interactive communication we are asking ‘What is the Value Exchange’ – What pulls me in?

Integrate the idea
Quite often and very frustrating, online work is expected to follow a piece of offline work already created for another channel such as TV or print. The online creative should be an expression or extension of the ‘idea’ and not simply just matching the look and feel of other communications. ‘Matching luggage’ online creative is no more than an opportunity to see more of the same message. We are asking “Have they made the most of the idea and most importantly made it interactive so a consumer will come forward?”

Simplicity
Keep it simple and just when you think it is, make it even more so. When we look at the work we are asking ourselves,“Would everyone get this?”

Collaboration
Bringing ideas to life online in 2007 can rarely be achieved in isolation. Successful campaigns require a mixture of good engagement planning, creative, technical, directors, film companies, animators, research and media thinking. When we look at the work we are asking ourselves, “Does the work fit created media or contributed to any paid media plan”

Consumer insight
The exciting thing about interactive is that a consumer can do something – open it, play with it, watch it, click it, interact with it or at worst ignore it. In order to increase our opportunities of success, we need to be clear on what the audience want and what they are likely to do. This insight will not only drive the idea, but also steer our decision on the levels of interactivity we apply. When looking at the work we ask, “Why would I bother?”

It was a wonderful half day of discussion and below are what we selected as our ten best Tribal pieces of work for Q1, 2007, they are in no particular order. Please note each screen grabs will link to the work.

Tribal DDB India