In the NFL in the 1990s, Michael Irvin earned his self-proclaimed nickname, “The Playmaker,” by scoring big touchdowns and backing up his talk with actions. I love playmakers, people who achieve big things and don’t back away from pressure. But Irvin’s best asset was that fact that underneath the bravado he was the consummate team player. He, along with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, was a member of “The Triplets” who lead the Dallas Cowboys offense, but he never put himself above the team.
Photo by Flickr user RMTip21, licensed under Creative Commons: http://bit.ly/urIN5C
Looking at the digital field today, it’s crowded with agencies looking to make plays. But too often the ad agencies, media buying agencies, digital shops and my PR brethren are only looking at one section of the playbook and not seeing how it fits into the overall game plan. The fact is, most agencies are making plays, but, unlike The Triplets they’re not always on the same page.
In today’s digital marketing, your strategy must be informed by Google Analytics, Insights and Trends. Google has developed all of its products from Gmail to Google+ to provide advertisers more and better customer targeting.
Unfortunately, far too frequently the basic tools and insights rest only in the hands of the media planners who write the checks to Google. In football, that would be like sharing the playbook only with the special team’s players.
The winners in digital will have an integrated team to fully leverage data and everyone will be in the huddle with Google’s team. Digital teams will be developing platforms that analyze user data in real-time and will serve up a customized, optimized site experience. Media agencies will adjust buys based on the individual and advertising, and PR AORs will provide creative content and conversations to engage users on brands’ .com and social sites.
The playbook that all organizations should drive toward is one where all marcom agencies – digital, PR, marketing, and advertising – are working in unison to make plays. That game plan earned each of The Triplets a spot in the Hall of Fame and three Super Bowl Championships.