As an agency, in order to remain relevant you have to constantly make an effort to dedicate some time and some effort to continuous learning and exploration of new technologies.
In this episode of Velocitize Talks, we sit down with Chris Crammond, Director at the award-winning digital communications agency Deepend Group, to discuss how to stay relevant, innovative business models and working together.
On Deepend being a pioneer in the digital space [3:31]
Twenty years ago the notion of digital marketing, digital advertising was a novelty but the level of knowledge within clients was low and therefore perhaps the reliance on the agency or the capabilities of the agency was far greater… With digital becoming far more ubiquitous, there’s a much higher degree of knowledge.
On collaborative workplaces [6:24]
If everyone feels that they have ownership of the process, it’s not such a linear process in which strategy is done in isolation from user experience, which is done in isolation from design, which is done in isolation from technology, which delays or prolongs the development process and leads to inconsistencies, and perhaps inefficiencies.
On Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots and voice [8:49]
People absolutely warm to the product when it is given a tone of voice. Like a chatbot repeating the user’s name and question back to them and thanking them at the end. We found that people were breaking the chatbot by thanking it back and responding to it in a human way. It is that tone of voice [that] gives you an opportunity to insert the values of a brand into a form of artificial intelligence.
On personality and messaging [9:53]
The marketing challenge remains the same. You need to create an experience that people warm to, but that not wrap every experience in a branded piece. Digital gives you the opportunity through data to analyze when is the right time to do that.
On keeping up with tomorrow’s technologies [12:35]
Those [agencies] that are not experimenting in new technologies and looking at whether they resonate with their customers will fall behind pretty quickly.
On the agency-client relationship [13:37]
The most successful collaborations we have with clients are ones where they are completely involved in the process; nothing is done in isolation. Agencies are moving far more to a kind of consultancy role… I suppose it’s a shared journey. People don’t share in the experience then they’re not along for the ride.
To learn more about Deepened, go to their website. Follow Deepend on Twitter at @Deepend.
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