Peloton's recent trouble with a plot twist in the Sex and the City sequel speaks volumes about the rate of change in our discipline.
The death of a fictional character cycling himself into a heart attack sent the fitness brand's shares into freefall, triggering it to create an ad within hours, before allegations against the actor led it to remove that ad only days later.
We're moving faster than we've ever done, and we're juggling more than ever too. We're balancing brand and performance, long-term and short-term goals, established and new channels and even automation and the human touch.
Yes, it's exhilarating, but being caught in this juggle makes it easier to lose sight of nuance.
Balance, above all, comes from understanding that most factors aren't absolute and zero sum. In an age when so much of what we see and hear is polarised – vaccine supporters versus anti-vaxxers, Leave versus Remain – there's much to be said for acknowledging shades of grey.
For agencies in particular, balance is the cornerstone of success, and for strategy leaders specifically, there are three areas in which factoring balance reaps significant rewards.
Finding balance in client teams
With the war for talent raging and agencies looking for any edge that allows them to avoid "The Great Resignation", investment in people development has to be at the forefront. The ability to offer a balanced judgment is prized, quite rightly.
If we want our staff to futureproof their careers as well as their client relationships, they have to be able to advise clients on how to balance the vast array of options that lie in front of them and answer that most fundamental question: "what is driving my business?".
Rather than remaining siloed, what we've learned is that a holistic, nuanced approach is best delivered by cross-functional, T-shaped teams that incorporate specialist expertise from areas both within and outside adland.
Again, it’s about forging a balance between the best that all skills and expertise have to offer, from creative to analytics and everything in between.
That way they can have broader conversations, learn from each other and help clients work more flexibly across disparate, fast-changing factors ranging from social platforms to media investment to what is happening at the point of purchase. And, yes, their work-life balance must stay top of mind as well.
Finding balance between humans and machines
Automation is another area where greater balance yields greater outcomes. The ability to quickly create better reports is a good thing, but it has to also cover how we set up, plan and activate campaigns before we report on them.
Automation in the media planning process can only be as effective as the people asking the right questions and interpreting the right data. It’s also a question of understanding what the campaign is trying to achieve, as there’s no point automating the wrong process or metrics in the first place.
At UM, we’ve seen first-hand that getting this balance right delivers the richness and nuance that makes for effective and award-winning campaigns. Automation has to be balanced with the human’s role to understand the objectives and build the right tools, to deliver the right solutions.
It is people that talk to clients and create the platforms that generate the work. People understand what’s happening around us and how the intertwined what we refer to as the "Three Cs" that drive success and engagement for enduring brands. How we support clients to win in culture, community and commerce form an integral part of any potential campaign.
Finding balance between econometrics and long-term objectives
Talk of automation leads us to econometrics. Developments in data-driven econometric modelling now allow campaigns to be optimised in line with real-time signals, making the pursuit of short-term results seductive. In the past, it took a while to get responses and that held back effective market mix modelling.
Now, we have robust models that enable strategists to make decisions at speed using predictive analytics. But it’s also up to us to balance this with the longer-term goals of winning in the "Three Cs" that will transform a client’s business over time. Balancing the long-term objectives and health of the brand matter as much as the seemingly exciting tweaks you can now make on the fly to social media or digital OOH campaigns.
Balance and nuance are in danger of getting lost, not just in the debates among politicians but in the relentless world of media strategy. A more balanced approach to everything we do will help us win and retain clients, engage audiences, and retain and continue to offer our teams exciting developments in their careers.
Enyi Nwosu is chief strategy officer at media agency UM