Strategy & The Agency Model

Adapt, evolve or else Laura McFarlane, VP SapientNitro

We can no longer look at change as a transition. Rather, we need to permanently embrace it as a catalyst for growth.

Agencies need an “un-model”

What’s Changed?

Rethinking strategic planning

FROM TO

Fundamental Changes in How We Go About our Business

“Your remit now includes being a data jockey, a brand leader, and an innovator.”

- David Cooperstein, Forrester

In fact the whole Shape of our work has changed

Rapid cycle testing and ongoing interpretation – analysis fuels optimization and adaptation

PLAN EXPERIENCE MEASURE

Intelligence Experience Evolvability

We Make Strategies Organize Around Three Principles:

Intelligence

Every two days now, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.

- Eric Schmidt

One billion pieces of content are shared via Facebook’s Open Graph daily.

The volume of data created by US companies alone is enough to fill 10,000 Libraries of Congress.

A retailer using big data to the fullest could increase its operating margins by more than 60%.

-McKinsey

Data Evolution of Data. Where we’re going and when.

More than just data: Intelligence

Breadth of Inquiry, Skills, Methods

BUSINESS VALUE

COMPLEXITY OF ANALYSIS

DATA   INFORMATION   INSIGHT   RECOMMENDED  ACTIONS  

TACTICAL ANALYSIS

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

“What  has  happened”  

Standard  Metrics  ‘Historical’  analyCcs  (sales  data,  etc)  User  profiles  

 

“Why  has  it  happened?”  AJtudinal  segmentaCons  Behavioral  segmentaCons  Life  stage  segmentaCons  Process  descripCons  &  

models  Modes  of  behavior  

Modes  of  use  

“What  do  you  want  to  have  happen?”  

Agent-­‐based  modeling  

Strategic  planning  acCviCes  

Inventory  planning  MarkeCng  mix  

 

Macro-trends longitudinal forces influencing societal or platform shifts

Human-intelligence blended qualitative and quantitative understanding of why trends and behavior are what they are

Micro-behavioral the actual behavior of people captured through analytics across digital touch points

Machine-driven real-time responsiveness driven by both immediate behavior and regressed behavioral frames

Res

earc

h A

ctiv

ity &

Insi

ght D

epth

Strategy / Operations

Operations /Optimization

Touch-point Optimization

Purpose Time scale Type

Strategy

Weekly – quarterly

Daily – monthly

Real-time

Monthly – quarterly

Deep Analysis

Consumer Intelligence Process

Mission Control

What it Means for Strategists Evolve and organize around new notions of intelligence

Getting good with data

Designing experiences that not only generate data but can continuously be improved by it.

Experience

Connected Consumers, High Expectations

Challenge: Putting consumers into context

How consumers live their lives.

Connection with the category and marketplace.

Connection (if at all) with the brand.

Identify and model the opportunities.

Identify connections and nature of the experience.

Assign role and function and metrics to each connection.

Determine Return on Experience.

View Product on

a PC

View Banner Ad

Download An App

“Like” a Product on Facebook

Out of Home Poster

Watch Video on Tablet

TV Ad

Check Twitter

Seek Opinions on Social

Read Blogs

Join Loyalty

Program

Share Link on

Facebook

Add to Cart

Read Ratings

and Reviews

Interact With A Kiosk

Text Picture to a

Friend

Website

Go to Retail Store

Interaction With A Sales

Associate

BUY

Build Worlds not Ads VALUE + MEANING STORIES =

CONTEXT + ACTION SYSTEMS =

“STORYSCAPING”

Purpose, People and Product are all we need.

Building “Worlds” that Don’t Need Marketing

•  Nike's spending on TV and print advertising in the US has dropped by 40% in just three years, even as its total marketing budget has steadily climbed upward to hit a record $2.4 billion last year

•  Where is the money moving? To connected product development, digital and social service platforms where communities can engage more deeply with the brand.

Vail Epic Mix

What did Vail get?

Return on Media & Channels: 300,000+ members, and counting

38,000+ using the app. growing

Over 300M social impressions, growing

Traditional ROI Benefits: 2013 revenue up 13.1% sequentially

Overall, 30% growth in revenue from 2009

Skier visits up 5.5% in 2013

Millions of USD Total Mountain Net Revenue  

$638  $752   $766  

2010   2011   2012  

What’s Different?

•  The role of content in the story – social, location, context

•  Allows hero in the story to craft the narrative

•  Enables connection between people, places & brands

•  Always-on, joined at any time or place

•  Has an underlying connections platform

•  Real-time data and analytics

•  Aggregating data over time yields massive advantages

New tools for understanding and measuring experience

•  Sensors and instruments

•  Qualitative as well as quantitative data sources

•  Always on, dynamic models of behaviors

•  Analytic tools

PEOPLE

PLACES THINGS

Interactions

Perceptions

New dimensions for assessing…

And new models for measuring

ROX

BRAND & MARKETING

ROI

RETURN ON MEDIA &

CHANNELS

EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZATION

FIT ACCESS SENSE CONTINUITY CONTROL

Build  slide  in  2  stages  (top  and  boZom)  

What it Means for Strategists “Crowdsourcing” the Strategy

MEDIA

CONTENT

CREATIVITY

ANALYTICS SOCIAL

TECHNOLOGY

STRATEGY

UX

INSIGHTS

Evolvability

1. the capacity of a system for adaptive evolution.

HACKER PLAN MORE LIKE A

Driving Growth

Creating a system for incremental innovation

Agility to continually adapt to the changing landscape of consumer and technology

Designing growth into service and product

Having a “Growth Hacking” department

Rapid cycles between Intelligence, Marketing and Product.

Leverage data and insights to generate hypotheses, put in market and test on an ongoing basis.

Refine, course correct.

What it Means for Strategists Speed & Agility

To Sum Up…

The Un-Model; New Skills and New Processes Required to Work in Concert

4 RULES:

Strategy is drawn from a wider range of disciplines; Intelligence, Experience and “Growth Hacking”.

Technology is now table-stakes. Deep and continuous investment in consumer intelligence and data will define us.

Massively distributed skills and deep, constant, agile collaboration. From disciplines to ‘pods’.

From waterfall to agile or scrum. A nimbler approach: continuously iterate technology and experience based on findings.

THANK  YOU