Social Media and Traditional Marketing neck and neck

Wow!  Don’t things change fast.  Not so long ago, no serious marketer would’ve let senior executives talk off the cuff on a video and slap it up on the internet for all to see.  But after reading this article in US Advertising Age, that’s just what’s happening at MasterCard no less.

Quoting from the article, Andrew Foote, senior VP in the digital media practice at WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe, MasterCard’s PR agency, said unlike three to five years ago when web content had to be polished and professionally produced, MasterCard has gone the low-production route. It’s taping its executives using Flip video camcorders, editing the video on laptops and uploading them to YouTube.

“They’re realizing they can comment on issues and get the points of view of their experts out there and on the record,” Mr. Foote said. Once the videos are up, the company will often tweet the links and follow up with reporters letting them know MasterCard commented on the topic.

“Sometimes those videos end up on the blogs of those publications and [it] leads to building online relationships with reporters, analysts and industry influencers,” Mr. Foote said. He said MasterCard isn’t “necessarily becoming less reliant” on mainstream media; the company just realizes it’s not the only game in town, and, when speed is of the essence, creating its own content or relying on digital channels is the best approach.

“Sometimes mainstream [media] can’t keep up with the needs of the company to get stuff out,” Mr. Foote said.

Precisely.  We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.  Here are The Funky Agency we are all experienced ‘traditional’ marketing and PR folk, but also experts in the new shiny digital and social media.  Things have moved so rapidly that traditional and digital are of equal importance now – the days of letting a student or somebody junior with some spare time to ‘do a bit of Twittering and Facebook’ are well past.

We’re encouraging clients to take digital cameras and flip camcorders with them to meetings, so that they can capture material to use in their SM campaigns.  Of course, we are on hand to ensure that their corporate messaging stays true and that they are communicating the right information to their target audience. But the days of the uber polished corporate video and the ‘planned months in advance’ photo shoot, are diminishing.

Social Media is fast, furious but a deadly serious business now – you have been warned!