If nothing else, we’ve (mostly) all heard about the media darling that is the Old Spice Guy.  And we’ve heard countless debate on the effectiveness of this campaign.  There are two camps and they bolster themselves with plenty of data.

One of the first in the camp of “it didn’t work” was MaggieMcGary1 on socialmedia today. Citing an article in BNET, she states that sales were down.  ”Shocking.”  The BNET article actually has corrected itself recently, but they stated:

“But sales of the featured product—Red Zone After Hours Body Wash—aren’t necessarily tracking with that consumer appeal: In the 52 weeks ended June 13, sales of the brand have dropped 7 percent according to SymphonyIRI. (That amount excludes those rung up at Walmart.) P&G execs were not available to comment.”

This was quickly followed up by BL Ochman: “The bottom line: there is no such thing as a social media strategy. There is business strategy incorporating social media. But if that strategy doesn’t include sales, it’s nothing more than a tactic. Tactics don’t move markets.”

On the other side of the debate is PR Week who are reporting:

“The brand’s ad agency Wieden + Kennedy developed and coordinated 186 customized video responses that contributed to a 107% increase in Old Spice Body Wash sales over the last month, according to Nielsen data from Mike Norton, director of external relations for male grooming at P&G.”

So which is it?

Media Bistro asks us to wait and see.

But the interesting thing is to actually look at the numbers.  The “sales slump” was a 52 week number ended June 13,  PRIOR to the social media blitz.  The 107% figure is a monthly figure for the previous 30 days.  (measured by Symphony IRI in June).  This would include early data AFTER the recent blitz.

So we can assume it “worked,” right?  Well, Ad Age also points out that the campaign was bolstered with a high value coupon.  It also notes that the other P&G body wash in the category, Gillette, rose 277% in the same space in the same time.  And they didn’t have Mr. Mustafa pitching them.  (Granted, they are a smaller player in the space).

Back to Media Bistro, we will have to wait and see.

If … we are defining “worked” by sales register data. And that is the rub here.  Is it all about immediate sales data?  Kevin Green of Digital Influence Group said:

“Doesn’t the increase in connected consumers create significant opportunity to market products? Don’t get me wrong… I agree that more direct integration could have been included, but the value of the connection has to be worth a significant amount and the effort. Does engagement always have to include conversion? I would argue that it does not.”

And here is how I tie it back to Elasticity and a few opinions from our side of the debate.  First, let’s go back to the numbers.  Actually, let’s go to a comment on an NPR story they did on the Old Spice campaign.  A follow up to a popular story read that not everyone is comfortable and liking the “Old Spice Guy.”  One listener complained that Old Spice was the “scent of gentlemen,” and represented countless men for generations prior to ours that were true gentlemen.

Perhaps that is why the brand was on a slide (back to the 7% decline).  Today’s consumers thought of the brand as their grandpa’s brand.  One they didn’t want.  So to hold steady or even gain in a period is a good business outcome.  Even better, to appeal to a broader audience and begin to walk away from that perception is even better.  The business objectives may never be public, but they seem apparent.

When asked by our clients about ROI, we always ask what they are trying to achieve.  It may not always be about conversions.  It may be reputation, it may be perception, it may be search results, or numerous others.  Not all of which are measured by sales.  That said, they are measurable and we can prove results on any objective with true data, relevant and timely.

Second, let’s look at Triangulation. The original Old Spice commercial was slapped up to YouTube after it appeared and garnered a modest amount of hits (a few million I think).  After a traditional media blitz (NPR, Good Morning America, etc.) and social media engagement that linked the 3 pillars of the model, views went over 90 million.  True proof in action.

And finally, to sales.  There is a link from social media to conversion.  It often times appears in overlapping data points to draw the connection.  A client of Elasticity often employs several tactics to push sales campaigns and drives to an online channel.  When taking the social media component out of the mix, there is a trend line that can be drawn that shows a boost in traffic and conversions from the norm.  But when you layer in the social media components of the program in a week later, the trend lines spike and map back to spikes in social media activity.  This has played out multiple times in their conversion charts as well as those of other clients.

So at the end of this lengthy analysis, did the Old Spice Guy work?

I would argue that it, indeed, has.

1. It reached new audiences
2. It brought awareness to a brand that was beginning to slip into obscurity
3. It stopped and began to reverse a negative sales slide
4. It has shown signs (along with coupons) of turning sales into a profitable trend
5. It has shown the value of the oft-misunderstood social media “channel” (for those that think it a channel)
6. And it showed that slapping a video on YouTube won’t cut it.  You need the additional “topspin” of a well-thought out campaign with multiple parts that feed on each other.  It’s Triangulation and the highest visible example of its power yet.

Indeed, that is why we hired noted social media panda bear Peter Panda – who invented the phrase “social media” in 2004 — as Elasticity’s director of social media strategy and wildlife relations.

Today, we upped the ante, bringing in leading social media chicken Christopher P. “Crispy” Chicken. While it was a productive meeting, and Crispy’s credentials are immensely impressive with work examples like this, we certainly could have done without him bringing, and drinking from, the bottle of Corazon Tequila.

Must See baby!

But seriously, there was one item discussed at the meeting, held in Boston May 27-30, that was of interest to me. It was a University of Michigan study that shows today’s college students are not as empathetic as college students of the 1980s and ’90s. The study analyzed data on empathy among almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years.

It wasn’t as much that a lack of empathy caught my eye — I mean, who the hell cares (get it?)? More so, it was the factors behind the apparent reduction in empathy found in the study. They included increased selfishness amongst “Generation Me,” increased exposure to violent media content which creates a numbing effect, and the use of social media tools.

“The ease of having ‘friends’ online might make people more likely to just tune out when they don’t feel like responding to others’ problems, a behavior that could carry over offline,” Science Daily quoted U-M graduate student Edward O’Brien, who along with U-M researcher Sara Konrath and undergraduate student Courtney Hsing conducted the meta-analysis, combining the results of 72 different studies of American college students conducted between 1979 and 2009.

The study found college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as, “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective,” and, “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.”

“College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait,” Konrath also told Science Daily.

So with the study in mind, I considered some typical social media usage trends — and not just college students but the broader spectrum of upright mammals.

Assuming that conversation as a medium creates a more likely platform for empathetic reaction, increased use of social media tools has unquestionably led to less conversation. And many of us tend to now use tools like instant message instead of face-to-face discussion, email rather than call, 140 characters on Twitter — all the while, our communication styles go from long-form to shorter and shorter.

Maybe you buy it, maybe you don’t. Maybe you aren’t empathizing with my point and don’t care (there I go again). But if you’re an active social media user, it should at least should give use pause the next time someone calls your cell phone and you consider forgoing picking it up in favor of sending a response via text.

Oh, the hell with it. I don’t really care.

Click here to test your level of empathy and compare how you scored to the average empathy level of college students.

My wife and I have had the good fortune of moving around quite a bit during our 17-year relationship. I say good fortune because it’s enabled me to meet a lot of wonderful people, experience different cultures, eat different food, drink many local beers, and poop in public restrooms of varying cleanliness.

Much of our time has been spent along the U.S. Gulf Coast. We lived in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast from 1995-99, and in St. Petersburg, Fla., from 2002-05. And while living there, we lounged on beaches from St. Pete to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Ala.; visited the famed FloraBama bar on the beachfront border of Fla. and Ala.; I played in basketball tournaments in Birmingham; went to barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi; and fished off Destin, Fla.

Indeed, while I now live in the absolute center of the country, some 12 hours from the closest beach, the Gulf Coast is very much a part of who I’ve become, and who I will always be.

That’s why I find it so frustrating to see day-after-day media coverage of oil spewing into the ocean that I have so enjoyed and connected with during these past 17 years. And while I am not a sentimental mammal — and often rather callus — the current state of my Gulf Coast just breaks my heart.

When the explosion and subsequent oil leak first occurred, I immediately understood the magnitude, even if the flow of oil had been stemmed that day or week. But I don’t think that most people living away from the Gulf Coast can truly comprehend the damage that continues to be done. We’ve heard estimates that oil will continue to spew into the Gulf until at least September. Thousands upon thousands of gallons daily for five months killing wildlife, ruining marine habitat, destroying tourism, wrecking property values, and crippling the fishing industry for decades to come.

A friend from my New Orleans days — we’ll call him Fletch F. Fletch — told me, “for us down here who lived through Katrina there is the same slowly building anxiety over this that is beginning to permeate our daily lives.  It may sound silly but it really is becoming a challenge to stay focused on our jobs and our futures when we know the New Orleans / Gulf Coast area will likely never be the same again.  It is much the same upset stomach we all had in late 2005 when faced with the dilemma of moving back to a questionable New Orleans or relocating to more secure areas.  The magnitude of this, in the end, will be far more devastating than Katrina.  Katrina was a broken arm and leg.  The spill is a cancer death sentence.”

I think what bothers me so much is that it appears little is being done, Kevin Costner “Waterworld” remake be damned. It’s like a shaving cut that won’t stop bleeding. The oil just keeps on flowing into some of the most beautiful waters I’ve ever seen.

I’d like to blame someone. It’s easiest to point a finger at BP, of course. But I’m not certain what that would get me. We hear varying sides of the story from environmentalists, BP, Gary Coleman’s widow, and local, state and federal government officials — and we must assume the truth lies somewhere in between what they are all saying.

All I know is that I’m frustrated, and I’d like someone to act, so that before I die in 40 or 50 years, I can go back to my Gulf and see it as it remains in my memories.

Carry on.

We hope you’ve been enjoying our series on hiring an agency partner, social media and everything that could be categorized as rich and compelling stuff.  The questions for this three part Q&A with Brian Cross, Dan Callahan and Aaron Perlut came from SocialTrackr and Marketing Charts posts on hiring an agency and social media experience.

I bribed the final partner in the Elasticity Triumvirate with 10 pounds of bacon in order to go last in the series.  Being a man of great humility and a baconologist, he acquiesced.  Hold onto your bathrobes, an interview on Friday is never predictable.

How much of a campaign budget should go to digital?

Aaron Perlut, Chief Nuclear Mustache Grooming Specialist: Much of it depends on the specific target audience and their consumption of media.  A campaign for the Metamucil brand might be heavy on traditional media.  A campaign on Hispanic men might be purely mobile.  A campaign for 22-year-old women might target more social channels.  But there always needs to be balance between the varying mediums and the message must be consistent.

Has any of your digital work been leveraged for use in any medium such as print or broadcast?

Aaron: Yes. Generally when we develop a program, we build the creative backdrop first. Then we take that creative backdrop and lay out the channels, as well as the applications in those channels, for that creative approach. People’s attention spans are limited so we need to surround them with the same messages in multiple channels.

What is your philosophy on matching the appropriate technology to a campaign idea?

Aaron: Clearly you cannot create cookie cutter campaigns. They must be specific to the target demographic and the media consumption habits they demonstrate.

What has been your biggest viral marketing success story?

Aaron: Herpes……Oh, you said viRAL and not viRUS.  (Author note:  Yes, he really did say that.  It’s ok, he’s a creative genius.) Let me see here. The American Mustache Institute would have to be the one, especially when we used it as a medium for Quicken Online in 2009.

Who will create content? Can you share some samples of content creativity you have shown in the past?

Aaron:  My favorite one is an idea that got left on the cutting room floor. A pool manufacturer wanted to reach end-consumers, as opposed to pool and home builders, as a down economy meant fewer new pools and more upgrades. So we developed a “Pity the Pool” campaign around Mr. T who would show up in people’s back yards and verbally dress homeowners down for not having up-to-date pools.

Will you be able to transcend the messages on social media to connect to my brand?

Aaron: I am transcending to you now. Buy my product.

Fin.

^*Main Entry: ¹elas·tic
Pronunciation: \i-ˈlas-tik\
Function: adjective
a : capable of ready change or easy expansion or contraction : not rigid or constricted <an elastic concept> b : receptive to new ideas : adaptable <an elastic mind>

Recently, I published a few questions from SocialTrackr and Marketing Charts and responses from Brian Cross, managing partner of Elasticity.

Furious about my obvious disregard for their mustached excellence, the other partners demanded equal time on the blog which they produce.  Of course, I could not refuse.  I tracked down the most elusive of our partners who has never met an email thread-of-nonsense to which he did not unsubscribe.

So begins Part Deux of the series:

If you found yourself having to unilaterally make a decision on behalf of your client, would you execute work that builds the brand or makes the sale?

Dan Callahan, Director of Robot Strategies:  You can do both but, in this economic environment, I think you have to go for the sale with an eye toward using sales to build brand.  So much of social media seems to be aimlessly promoting brands that consumers, I think, are growing weary of a promotion without strategy.  Facebook, clearly, has become a ghetto of promotions gone wrong.   I believe consumers are looking for value and an efficient sales channel is one of the means to prove the value of the brand.

How have you spread awareness organically via social channels (or otherwise) as opposed to any paid media initiatives and how has that saved money for your clients?

Dan: We do this every day through all the social channels, creating communities for our clients who are willing to talk to customers directly and honestly. It’s turning into a new form of advertising that is more about information than hyperbole.

What’s your best example of integrating online and offline marketing?

Dan: My favorite was the digital treasure hunt we ran during the All-Star Game last summer. It combined both elements in as visual a means as possible – the contestants were literally running around downtown St. Louis looking for the tickets and answering questions at locations around the area.

Do you think small project teams have the ability to produce large scale digital assignments and if so how?

Dan: There are tools available to any agency that have pretty much erased the advantage larger organization have had. Beyond that, smaller organizations are proving to be more agile and less invested in traditional ideas. The key is the capabilities the company’s assets have and the projects they have worked on. The future is going to be written by those who learn from the past, not live in it.  (Author note:  Dan is a writer, don’t mess with him or you may end up in his book… about the future… which Elasticity is currently writing… because we’re elastic.  Sometimes I just can’t stop.)

^*Main Entry: ¹elas·tic
Pronunciation: \i-ˈlas-tik\
Function: adjective
a : capable of ready change or easy expansion or contraction : not rigid or constricted <an elastic concept> b : receptive to new ideas : adaptable <an elastic mind>

You have undoubtedly read the collection of blog posts and articles about choosing an agency.  For at least two years, posts from We Are Social and Digital Marketer to Unique Frequency and PR101 have outlined suggestions on how to cull the best from the herd.

In his post of the top 15 companies that “focus on social media” Jason Keath writes “Since almost every company would almost be it’s (SIC) own category, I am avoiding the categories for now.”  I don’t blame him.

In a marketing genre where the rules are being written (and broken) on a daily basis, it is no surprise that discerning an agency’s capabilities in the space is tricky.

Nevertheless, Social Media is the Shiny-Shiny.  It’s Hot and sometimes it’s a Hot Mess.  You need it, you know it, and you need help with it.

Don’t let fear or intimidation lead you to the wrong partnership.  There are some qualities to look for in an agency and secrecy and bravado are not among them.

Also, this just in:  Smoke and mirrors are out.

Since I’m really just here to raise the good-look factor and, of course, represent my gender, I posed a few of the questions from SocialTrackr and Marketing Charts to one of Elasticity’s managing partners:

How do you handle specialty work like mobile, social, eCRM, media, viral, digital OOH and other emerging channels?

Brian Cross, Director of Rocket Science: We are a specialty shop, so we fit some of these ‘specialty’ categories (hint: they won’t be specialty in the near future).  But to the core of what they are getting at – I believe that you should do what you do best and let the other experts do the rest.  A “Jack of all trades” doesn’t cut it anymore.  At Omnicom, I built the group by outsourcing the work we didn’t hold to our core.  We grew 10x in 2 years that way.  Look at digital shops that do their own CMS systems.  How do they expect to keep up with the open source community, or companies that specialize in CMS systems for their core?  And then wordpress comes along and wipes them all out.  Without a doubt, best-of-breed partnerships.

but that leads to another question (Author note: Brian is really smart and he likes to talk) which is “how do you handle best-of-breed partnerships?”  multi-agency collaboration and hand offs are difficult.  There is a special skill in that that comes with experience and building teams that know how to work together.  Throwing companies together to have a great partnership logo slide ain’t going to cut it.  Nor does a multi-office approach at the bigger agencies.  Too often, those city-specific PandL’s compete and even flying under the same banner doesn’t mean they can handle your work or that it will go as smoothly as promised at the new biz pitch.

Is there a particular design aesthetic your agency is known for and if not what is your approach to translating brands in the digital space?

Brian: Being a designer at heart, I’d like to say that we stand for a strong aesthetic, but the reality is that we are all about highlighting the personalities of our clients.  So our aesthetic is actually subdued with pops of creative color and personality.  That personality represents our clients.  So how do we translate a brand in the digital space?  Very easy.  We find out what the brand is about, who the people are.  We deconstruct the corporate speak.  The approved messaging that corp comm and the marketing science boys came up with.  We tear it all apart—disassemble the robot.  Then we reconstruct a human.  A personality.  A voice.  The cool thing is that the tools to express that voice are already there.  Digital media in the social sphere is made to amplify your voice.  Our voice just happens to carry further when it is more human.  Can I go back and describe our aesthetic as “human?”

How many of your online promotions have hit the million-person participation mark?

Brian: This is a crazy question.  I see the logic in that they are looking for successes, but shear numbers don’t always equate to success.  This shows a lack of understanding of the space.  Sure, if you want to define “participation” I can make an argument that we’ve done more than I can count on my fingers.  In things ranging from mustaches to TV content, to rental cars, and financial recruitment.  But were they successful in terms of the business goals?  Some were, some weren’t.  I think we’ve had more success reaching 5,000 influencers that participate heavily and recruit thousands more to our cause.  It’s the new math.  You no longer reach out to 1,000,000 in hopes of influencing 500.  You reach 500 and start to build advocates that can touch and reach 1,000,000.

How will you measure ROI? With what tools? What targets will you set and how will we benchmark these targets?

Brian: This is specific to each client.  But you need to define the “R” in ROI.  What are you trying to achieve?  If it’s a reputation management project, we may be monitoring online sentiment.  If it’s a search project, it may be how much 1st SERP real estate we take up.  If it’s an awareness campaign to drive trial of a new product, it’s the product trial numbers.  And so on and so forth.  This could be a blog post in and of itself, as I’ve been asked to calculate ROI several times.  It’s a financial equation that tracks money spent and money made.  It’s a very easy equation.  But what’s the ROI of the telephone?  What’s the ROI of a game of golf?  It’s important to draw digital marketing outcomes to bottom line business goals.  But blindly using ROI as a rallying cry isn’t the best way to judge an agency… (imho)

“H”, indeed, Mr. Cross.

^*Main Entry: ¹elas·tic
Pronunciation: \i-ˈlas-tik\
Function: adjective
a : capable of ready change or easy expansion or contraction : not rigid or constricted <an elastic concept> b : receptive to new ideas : adaptable <an elastic mind>

In Ken Auletta’s latest book, Zuckerberg is quoted saying, “Facebook is like a telephone conversation with all your friends on the same call. But on this call, your friends can share photographs, text, political summons to action, video, and music, or can click to make purchases… what [Social Networks] really are is a completely different paradigm for people sharing information.”

The critical piece of information here is the paradigm of sharing.  Within our social networks, it can be argued that our authentic selves have room to stretch.  Micro-blogging allows us pithy one-liners to communicate our deepest thoughts be they “TGIF” or a personal rant against whatever injustice has irked us that day.  Link uploads and ReTweets share the news that we find valuable, interesting or just plain hilarious and thereby defines us or further defines us to and within our circle.

The social environment is about showing our underbellies – the soft/gooey, the sarcastic or witty, the fiercely opinionated sides we don’t (always) show in our homogenized, politically correct, over-scheduled, constant-state-of-fear lives.  That’s why people are addicted to status updates – its personality voyeurism.

And while our country gets fat by eating our feelings, we are actually starving for personality – ours and others.  The social networking that occurs in digital environments like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked In, and Bebo satisfies a primal need to know and be known.   

When a company enters this revelation environment with nothing more to contribute than “Buy My Product,” the disconnect is jarring.  Rather than ingratiating themselves, companies risk discomfiting their audience of consumers and would-be consumers alike. 

Companies need a personality, not just a sales pitch.  This goes beyond a brand voice or a marketing message.  Advertising as usual will not ‘play in Peoria’ so to speak.  Whether a company gives a body to its personality as in “I’m a Mac,” borrows a famous body for endorsement, or just lets its humor loose on the world, showing some ‘flava’ in the social environment should be the lowest common denominator.

Sadly, it is not.

Too many companies confuse the social environment with a chance to push commerce.  Keep your business card; tell me about yourself.  Better yet, ask me about myself.  I’m an expert at something (even it that something is just consuming your products). 

Find out what I care about, what I worry about, what I laugh at, what irritates me.  Within community, there is a great opportunity to relate, bond, befriend, inspire, share, educate, and learn.  To do this, companies will need to show some personality.

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.

Now, that’s not to say that any individual web site or Facebook page, or video, or flash game or iPhone app, etc.  is necessarily mediocre.  There are many award winning pieces out there I’m sure.  But when you look at the effectiveness of a balanced campaign on the whole–where online and offline compliment each other and work with each other–there are few examples that are really worth the $250-$450/hr price rates you are paying at those agencies.  Hell, I’d venture to say there are few campaigns out there worth $150/hr.

I’d also like to extend an olive branch out to the digital groups of those agencies: it’s not your fault.  From the colleagues I’ve met in the various groups, you are immensely talented.  And when I meet you at the next industry event, let me buy you a drink.  Because the tension and frustration of what you deal with on a daily basis, being relegated to the last few slides of the presentation, or the last 10% of the budget (only to be the first cut when there are ‘write offs’ to be dealt out for ‘client satisfaction’ and ‘over-servicing.’) and countless other battles you endure take their toll.

But the problem is that the ‘leaders’ haven’t figured it out yet, so the talent is mostly wasted.

Let’s look at it this way.  Have you had a Kolache?  They are fantastic for breakfast.  They are also a big trend (if you can call a breakfast food a trend after bacon has so dominated the foodscape pre-noon).  So imagine you are at the fancy hotel itching to order your $25 eggs benedict and $15 hash brown patty.  But you heard about this Kolache and you want to try it.  Now, there is this fantastic Czech bakery right across the street that has the best, authentic Kolaches in the city.  And they are $5.  But the hotel doesn’t want to see you and your 3 business partners leave to try one.  That’s lost revenue.  So they decide to make you one.  That way, they can still sell their $45 oatmeal bowls to your friends and keep all that revenue ‘in house.’  The hotel is a big name hotel with critically-acclaimed chefs, so you decide to stay and try their version of the Kolache and pay $25.  This is a win-win.  You don’t have to leave the comfort of the familiar name hotel, and the hotel gets to try and figure out how to make a Kolache on your dime.

Was it good?  I’m betting not.  I’m betting that it was mediocre at best.

But that is how digital is done at the big name agencies.  Don’t just take my word for it. B.L. Ochman just wrote about it in Advertising Age. It’s a very scary and accurate look into the sausage factory.  And it’s true.  I still remember being in very similar scenarios.  The pitch is tomorrow and somebody ‘upstairs’ wants ’some digital’ in the presentation.  “Can you knock out a couple of slides we can ’stick’ in the presentation?”

Better yet, in competing with the incumbent for one particular project, a compromise needed to be struck on who was going to do what part of the project.  My agency’s response?  “Our focus isn’t really digital, so why don’t you guys take that part?”

Let’s play a quick guessing game here.  What do you think happened when our digital team took the deck we were supposed to ’stick in a couple of slides’ and actually put a bullet or two on EVERY other tactic to tie in digital across the entire campaign and make it look more integrated?

But enough about the process.

You may be saying that in today’s economy, no one has the room to take a chance.  I think the phrase is “nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM?”  So to protect your job, why not pay for mediocre.  And middle of the road is not necessarily a “waste of money,” as my blog post title here suggests.

Well, let’s look at why it is a waste of money.  If I were to add one more thing to B.L. Ochman’s post, it would be that when a client does buy off on slide 29, typically the work on that slide is relegated to junior agency folk who may be experienced in social media, but not as it pertains to actual PR, reputation or other business goals.  And what happens?  Well, look at Jennifer Leggio’s post last year on social media failures.  (there are plenty more of these–just Google ’social media failure’).

Or, how about at a recent example: Nestle.

Now there is plenty already out there on Nestle.  But I will link you to this blog that interviewed Porter Novelli.  One of the takeaways from the Facebook debacle?  “One of the things Nestle did wrong was to use a junior position to respond to the comments, but they should have used a more experienced senior position to deal with the online attacks. ”

This is not all that uncommon, though.  The same arrogance or misunderstanding of the medium that causes Slide 29 to happen are the same people that don’t think highly enough of the medium to put skilled people on the project.  And as much as I disagree with a few points in this next blog (will be another post I’m sure), it still gives a great viewpoint of how agencies still think of the medium: 10 Ways digital agencies F up social media

So, I come back to my thesis statement.  The large traditional agencies do mediocre digital work at best, and overcharge you for it.  Perhaps it’s time to break out of your comfort zone and go try that Czech bakery across the street?  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  And at $5, what does it hurt?

If you are looking to try something new, here are some tips on how to choose an agency.

For further reading on Small Agencies vs. The Big Guys:
http://elasticthought.com/2008/09/a-case-for-small-agencies-part-1.html
http://elasticthought.com/2008/09/the-case-for-small-agencies—the-people.html
http://elasticthought.com/2008/09/the-case-for-small-agencies-part-3.html