Digital Recruiting

The rational and emotional factors when looking for a job …

I am going to try and remove my head from my own arse with this posting … but it is a difficult one to do it with. Why? Well some people think that emotion and rational thought are separate – well it is not true. Emotion surrounds rational thought and is thus rather important when advertising.

Emotion is key to advertising because … emotion creates attention – AIDA as a model does not work. The emotional connection is needed to create the attention in the first place. Without it you will not generate any response.

So why do we pay so little attention to emotion when planning? I have a few answers but I feel there are more.

Firstly, it is not something that has ever really been part of our mental models and we don’t change mental models unless there is a problem. I think there is a problem with the quality of planning in the industry but I am not sure that is the opinion of clients or agency heads.

Secondly, it is really difficult. As with most things in life the best way is not the easiest way. We are all busy, stressed, tired and maybe a little bit hung over. BUT we are paid to think – so think.

Finally, the lack of integration across and accounts - creative and media are still planned and delivered in vacuums. It is only by working together we achieve the best results – it is the clients and Account Directors who need to push this. Make it happen.

Wow, I am amazed that I have done a whole post without mentioning a book or research paper. There are plenty that go behind my thinking – if you want to know what they are email me and I will send a list (see trying to mot be up my own arse).

Five things to watch in 2008

I have been inspired to try and predict a few trends for 2008 – I have it down to five that I see for 2008.

1. The growth of virtual advertising. More and more ads are created that are not focused on our client; candidates or those we even bother to run in the media. Still, they look nice and win awards.
2. Media and creative continue to be planned with little thought for the other. Just because they are consumed together it does not mean we need to think about how they work with each other. The gamble makes it a little bit more exciting.
3. A number becomes CEO of an agency. With all the CTR, ROI and benchmarks flying around people forget that numbers do not think and people do. All original thought is lost.
4. Bonus schemes are cut. Even thought 2008 ends up a bumper year for profit and turnover we all earn less. Shareholders love a good recession.
5. Digital media planner wages cause inflation. Gordon Brown steps in and ends up giving up his job as prime minister to move into media planning. Everyone has a price.

Who knows what will happen in the year ahead – but I am feeling confident about the above.

This Is Cracking

Carrying on the corporate video theme from last year ...

La la la ... happy i did not go to small circle

I am a very happy man today.

Firstly, because of last Wednesday, I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself and fellow bloggers were out having a party. It is not that which made me happy but the fact Tim, Dom, Michelle and the guys from JGP came out.

I had already made up with Dave from TMP … but it also made me reflect on Tim (NORAS has had a lot of stick at times) and the wholes idea of this blog … to talk, discuss and rant (I think I do that a lot).

But having Tim out for beers with us and Al quoting us is what I have always wanted.

No bad intentions are there. This is to create an open forum for the industry that has never really been around before … talking is what makes the difference. Just look at the RADS this year.

So talk, discuss and remember we are open.

Build on what we have.

Keep the faith …

John

Everyone is welcome … here is to a great 2008

25m personal records lost by HMRC

I can not quite believe this on the BBC but HMRC posted a couple of disks with over 25mil personal records to the NAO.

They did not send it recorded delivery and the data has been lost.

Words just fail me ...

When you look at all of the legislation dumped on this industry about the nature of information collected and used - they can not even keep their own house in order.

From surfers to tea fans, Britain's blogging army is now 4m strong

We are not alone - very interesting bit taken from the media guardian

It really shows how interaction has become the key ...

This text is taken from The Guardian

The survey was commissioned by the online company Garlik, which aims to give citizens more power over how their personal information is used digitally. It asked a representative sample of 2,000 internet users about their online habits. Of Britain's web population of 26 million it found that 15% kept a blog. Of those running a personal website, almost one in five were blogging at least once a day - the high water mark for an internet phenomenon that is transforming the way people voice their opinions.

The rise of the weblog began 10 years ago as the pioneers started publishing lists of websites they had found. Over time the subjects bloggers wrote about broadened out to politics and culture.

"The line between a blog and a website has finally blurred enough it's often hard to tell if you're a blogger or not," said Jon Silk, of the PR firm Lewis. "Users of sites such as Facebook and MySpace are all bloggers."

Get the tone right

Students are often a good indicator of things to come - especially in recruitment advertising

"Students appear to want their cake and eat it," says Phipps. "They appear to want to keep their online persona private but when you ask them whether they'd like instant communication with tutors or feedback on essays (via Skype or Facebook) the answer is always yes." - mediaguardian

Often you see that it is the tone of the interuption that is wrong ... not being interupted.

Anyway have a read about the research - it is interesting ...

In-game advertising first - er no!

It seems like the GCHQ in-game advertising first is not actually a first - this is dated March 2007.

Royal Navy in-game advertising

Actually, I knew it was not a first as I had seen this campaign earlier this year ... it just shows how the media will publish a story without any research at all.

I am quite sure i am going to have pissed off a few people here - but sorry it just has to be said and i wanted to see if any of the media picked this up without having to write this post.

but nothing ... so i thought i would let the cat out of the bag.

Bank of America Video

now this is wonderful ...

maybe we should have a digital recruiting song

Search Engine Marketing - Google Ad Revenue

Google is poised to outstrip the quarterly revenues of the UK's leading commercial TV channel, ITV1. The search giant recorded a total of $661m (£320m) in revenues from the UK between July and September.

See the full story on the Guardian

They own over 80% of the UK search market, the vast majority of journeys online start with search, search is also been proven to be essential to the job hunting process, it is also normally the most cost effective media (i say normally as you have to manage it).

So why why why are clients still not investing enough cash in search, why are the search propositions of most agencies lean and why do people still waste money doing new things when they are still not doing the basics?

New is fun but search actually works