I heard for the first time the term rogue by going through a post titled Rogue Is The New Mainstream, written by my long-time friend at Twitter Wendy Blackburn @WendyBackburn. She used that expression to put in value a new generation of marketers and agencies that are performing a relevant role at the new scenario of digital marketing.
As a curious Spaniard, I went to get to know the etymology of this – for me – rare word. Going through the online Cambridge dictionary I found out, among others, two meanings that led me understand the true and in depth meaning of the Blackburn post headline:
- To behave in an unexpected way, even sometimes causing damage
- A person that behaves in a bad way, but nevertheless…you like them!
I love this concept applied to our sector: the branding industry is living a tumultuous period. An unexpected change that, in general terms, has run out of time to those traditional agencies integrated in public-traded communication groups. A new generation of brave clients expect from these agencies being challenged rather than obeyed; they even welcome the idea of escaping out of the comfort zone and assume scaring risks. Kind of sense of being at the edge…but enjoying with it at the same time. Isn´t it crazy and exciting?
Most of Rogue Agencies are independent and enjoy the freedom of thinking and acting differently. They are capable to understand how to manage the markets of online conversations with the idea of create and sustain a new category of human kind brands. Agencies that stand for building bonds and engagement through collaboration and advocacy at the online ecosystem.
Welcome to this generation of agencies to a market which, in my view, has lost a big part of its original attractive: the real essence of advertising and branding as a result of the crazy orientation and focus of everyone at the organization around the EBITDA…Are they communication groups or pure financial groups? I confess a healthy envy for not having had the chance to live the MadMen charming times.
What´s interesting to see is that this phenomenon of new agencies is matching an existing and demanded need of today´s marketers: the way of building brands in a way that provides real value to their audiences through dialogue, and interaction with the product or service. Is the new era of The Relationship Renaissance between Brands and Advocates.
Now audiences are no longer passive, but technology empowered; they are reluctant to be interrupted with pushy and intrusive branding messages: overwhelming GRPs coming from 1.0 media, banners, interstitials and other disturbing tools that only cause ignore and annoyance.
These new consumers want to build first-hand experiences of those brands they relate with in their life. They face a kind of hybrid profile, because they play two roles: the one of the target audience and the one of being active agents in building a brand. They elaborate their own creative messages and broadcast them through their own media. An impatient consumer that demands responses on the spot and who are always on.
Chris Jones, managing partner at the independent agency Forever Beta, with offices in London and NYC, affirms in an article published by Advertising Age titled How Agencies Must Transform For a New Generation of Clients: the client of the future will face challenges around speed and agility, not scale and uniformity, and will demand an agency to be custom-built for today’s world — a leaner, more agile strategic and creative consultancy with a collective of multi-skilled experts to support it in solving brand and business challenges.
The reality is that this exciting vision, rather than being a pipe dream, is now an absolute reality: agencies such as WeAreSocial, Mother New York, Hello Society or Droga5, among others, are providing great value to their clients fueled by this mindset.
As you can remember, Droga5 was the agency winning the Cyber Grand Prix in the 2015 edition of the Cannes Lions with a stunning social integrated advertising campaign created and executed for their client Under Armour. Driven by the essential message I will what I Want, two great protagonists made this branding action into an outstanding and winning one: the first was Gisele Bündchen…the second was the wisdom of the crowds participating and co-creating the brand in a collaborative format as one unit.
Summarizing: we are living a passionate time of change. It is what Brian Solis calls the Digital Darwinism, that has created a market of Digital Narcissists. This creative destruction stage has transformed other big industries such as music, information, accommodation, transportation photography, etc.
What will happen with the Advertising sector? Perhaps is time for all us to contribute to redefine it, being active agents to foster and model this change rather than mere observers. As Chris Jones says closing his article: doing things the way you’ve always done them could be the highest-risk strategy of all.
Being rogue really rocks!