BC Business
While Twitter skeptics sit on the sidelines, made-in-Vancouver advertising agency DDB Canada is betting there’s a future in digital social media. The firm launched its social networking division, Radar DDB, in August 2007 and is now expanding to Toronto.
The firm launched its social networking division, Radar DDB, in August 2007 and is now expanding to Toronto.
Many CEOs unsure of how to navigate through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other digital forums are turning to Radar DDB to help them out. The first step is to assess goals, according to Radar DDB managing director Justin Young. “A lot of people are like, ‘We want to be on Twitter,’ but it’s always the why,” he notes.
Radar DDB researches the client’s social-media needs and tailors a strategy to their business. A staff of about a dozen – which Young calls “digital cultivators” – constantly monitor online news and social networking sites looking for opportunities to get clients’ names noticed on the web.
According to Young, it’s not all about Twittering. One way to get the client’s name out there is by joining relevant online conversations where there is an interest in the product or company – and stealth is not part of the plan. “Our approach is always very upfront and honest,” he notes. “We always say we are the agency and we think you might be interested.”
SFU marketing professor Lindsay Meredith agrees that joining online conversations is a key marketing strategy: “What do you want to do? You want to go where the fish are; that is where you are going to catch them.”
A major success for Radar DDB came on the “Obamamania” bandwagon. U.S. President Barack Obama’s first visit to Canada in February presented Radar DDB with an opportunity to generate some attention for its client the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC). “Canadians were so disappointed that [Obama] wouldn’t have much time to spend in Ottawa,” explains Young. So Radar DDB deployed a film crew to Ottawa and asked Canadians to welcome Obama and share what they thought he should see on his visit.
“We picked up a whole bunch of content and started posting that on various websites,” Young says. “It was picked up and was aired on CNN, mybar rackobama.com, Huffington Post, Colbert Nation and public news.” According to Young, within 48 hours the content Radar DDB had compiled had over 200,000 views, 350 comments and 600 hours of brand attention for the CTC.
Skeptics who sit on the sidelines will lose out, says SFU’s Meredith: “This medium of communication is not going to go away anytime quick. If anything, with the advent of the BlackBerry and iPhone, it’s expanding. You are going to see a lot more of this informal electronic grazing.”