In the recently concluded Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) 2009 Conference, the Boomerang Awards—which showcases the best in digital marketing campaigns—was also held with moderate fanfare. No, not because digital advertising isn’t important in the country (believe me, it’s already very much alive), but mainly because there aren’t that many players, and the nominations and end results aren’t as publicized yet.
In short, as much as we would have wanted more digital campaigns to be highlighted, we are left with only a handful of valid yet still deserving entries. That being said, kudos to Proximity for bringing home the bacon, and netting itself four out of the nine total awards, including the Gold Boomerangs for Mobile and Cyber.
I would like however, to give a deeper insight on the selection of the finalists. To elaborate, the nominees under their respective categories should also include metrics for success, i.e. above average CTRs, substantial increase in traffic, etc. True, the entries this year provided more than enough metrics, however, a number of online marketing specialists, including myself, believe that there should have been more to the selection than that.
For example, one finalist and winner was able to take home the award simply because it had the biggest ATL budget—a budget that happened to include an Electronic Direct Marketing (EDM) in its communication strategy. Of course, if the objective of the campaign entails an EDM, then, by all means, include it—but to have a whole campaign be labelled as “fully digital” simply because they used email as a communication tool is a gross misunderstanding of the functions and capabilities of the digital medium.
Let me give an example, and frankly, I won’t get tired of using this case for future reference.
“Lola Techie”, who first enjoyed celebrity status via her TVCs, continued her dominance of the youth market by injecting herself visibly in the social media tools in use today. Not only was she visible via the different websites (i.e. Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, Plurk and Twitter), she was also highly interactive—she actually spoke to her readers, commented on her and other people’s Plurks and Facebook statuses, and even made sure her episodes on YouTube would be “viralled out”. She even made sure—with her now enormous audience—that follow-up campaigns and viral videos (i.e. Teachlola.com) would benefit from her traffic by constantly promoting those offshoots as well.
Of course, we all know that Lola Techie is just the face behind the strategic genius BayanDSL propaganda, but putting a face to a campaign so your audience can relate is the stroke of genius that this whole thing needed. And because of her online persona and multitude of “social media outposts” you have more than enough metrics to keep client happy—everything from your standard views and hits to the more important activity and interaction metrics, immersion with your brand, etc. Sure, video views are important, but what’s more important is how long they stay to watch your viral videos, how many times they watch it, how often they forward and share it, and more.
My colleagues and I colleagues are not bashing the selection process of the Boomerang awards, nor are we discounting or belittling the finalists and winners themselves. What we are harping upon is a better understanding of what a fully digital campaign should be, complete with its package of success metrics.
Using the digital medium is not an afterthought—it should be a well-executed, thoroughly planned out and intrinsic part of the overall strategy. Your digital executions bring your campaign together in a more intricate, yet complete and integrated design. Remember, digital is through-the-line advertising.
BOOMERANG 2009 Winners
Cyber Boomerang
Gold, Proximity Phils. /BBDO Guerrero
Nescafe "Palistuhan"
Silver, Arc Worldwide, Marlboro Campaign
Bronze, DentsuINDIO, Honda Jazz
Mobile Boomerang
Gold, Proximity Phils. /BBDO Guerrero
Quaker Oats Eat Well and Win Promo
Silver, Proximity Phils. /BBDO Guerrero
Pampers Hearts Club
Integrated Boomerang
Gold, Tribal DDB, Sandbox
Silver, EGG, Madonna Mania
Bronze, Proximity Phils. /BBDO Guerrero
Pepsi Kada Can
Best Innovation
Gold, Media Contacts, Awesome Philippines
Iggy Javellana is the head of Advergaming at Level Up! Inc. Email him at iggy.javellana@gmail.com. Incidentally, that is also his Friendster, Multiply, Twitter, Plurk, Linked In and Facebook account.
