Can IT Do The Trick?

IT has
permeated to all levels of processes and delivery-backend, services,
development, and after sales services. A CIO/CTO has to work closely with
marketing to leverage on knowledge management. Intellectual capital is the
single biggest asset for the industry. And for the knowledge to be kept flowing
through the organization-IT is the backbone.

Most leading agencies
have an ERP in place to optimize their resource allocation, streamline billing,
and payouts. Through the ERP, apart form resource management, detailed MIS is
also inferred to make business decisions. For the advertising industry, the time
to go to market is so little and critical that partnering with IT is the only
solution.

Take a look at the
trends for the industry with the burgeoning telecommunications market. Mobile
technology offers the best opportunity for reaching out to a large number of
people in the most direct and personal way. It is one of the leading advertising
media and that's here to stay. And ad agencies that do not learn to use it,
are doing themselves and their clients, a huge disservice.

The 'influential'
from the industry competing in Cannes are soon realizing that jaded jokes told
in expensive funny ways again and again are just not cutting it any more. The
way forward for agencies, is to get to know mobile technology.

The larger
organizations have been hiring many creative people with technical know how.
They will also become their own aggregators, where they can host their own 3G
portals and handle the backend of all WAP pushes, premium MS, 3G streaming, and
content clearing for handsets.

Mobisodes (episodes on
mobiles) are changing the way films and videos are being shot and edited. Length
has become important, as will the angles and music. Dialogue will need to be
reduced. Editing houses are getting tuned in converting and sizing down to a
small format. File sizes will be smaller and rendering will become faster.

Most leading agencies
are very aggressive on the digital media and the content that goes on it. Most
campaigns generated are also targeted at the digital world. Under digital media,
third party ad reviewing, tracking, measuring RoI, and feedback on user pattern
are enabled through IT.

This time the consumer
is carrying the Internet in his pocket. Now he is always online and there is
high traction in online business. The advertising industry still has a role in
all of this. The key is still really in the execution of the concept.

The promise of digital
technology is to make business processes 'better, faster, cheaper'. Some
advertisers are using new online technology to directly produce advertising
designs rather than work through their agencies, at a fraction of the cost.

Agencies have come to
realize that their biggest resource is their abilities to solve conventional
business and marketing problems with creative solutions. It's just how they
evaluate and implement is what needs to change. A new medium is vying for space
in the CEO's thoughts; they just need to embrace it further for a greater
impact.

Minu Sirsalewala 

minuvs@cybermedia.co.in