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Tag: Razorfish

  • Brands need to keep the customers at the centre: Ray Velez

    VARCA: At Goafest 2013, Razorfish chief technology officer Ray Velez explained how a company should organise a brand around the consumer by busting silos and applying the principles of agile development across one‘s business.

    “A brand should always keep his customer at the center. One‘s organisation must be structured around the customer that will in a way help in building relationship with him. A marketer should plan his strategy based on the data from the actual customer activity and also understand that customer will give a feedback whether you like it or not,” he said, while talking about the five principles one should embrace in order to evolve their business to deliver new customer experience.

    He also said a marketer should measure the data and see how to maintain the interactivity with the costumer. “Think of your brand as a service,” he emphasised.

    He added that a customer should be serviced well so that he comes back. One needs to fulfill consumer needs which will henceforth enhance customer relationship and deliver happiness. Loyal customers buy 75 per cent more than the others, Velez mentioned.
    Velez also added about how to thrive in our age of disruption. He highlighted on how the lines have blurred with technology, media, and creativity coming together, and how this shift is revolutionising marketing and business strategy.

    “Convergence of technology, media and creativity allow you to imagine, create, and enable customer experience like never before. Media allows a two way communication through a hash tag which is a way for a customer to talk back. Creativity can come from anywhere and everywhere. And these are the provisions that technology provides,” he said.

    Vezel believes that it‘s all about telling a brand story and providing an experience in a whole new way.

    “Simple plug in buttons such as Facebook‘s “Like” and “Share,” Google‘s “+1,” and Twitter‘s “Tweet” and “Follow” dramatically lower the barrier to users sharing content from one‘s site out to their entire social graph,” he added.

    Social cloud services provide digital experiences or web properties with the ability to connect up with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft and other social services.

    These services come in the form of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that a technologist can integrate. Whether a digital experience is a mobile application or a traditional desktop site, these APIs are available.

    According to Velez, one should create a 360 degree view of the consumer with analysing his media exposure, offline consumer data and the website behavior. ‘Data is something which tells you what your customer wants. Also, employ agile methodology and rapid prototype,” Velez said.

    Velez said that one needs to embrace the diversity of culture and other diversities in order to deliver new customer experience. He picked a statement from Frans Johansson‘s book The Medici Effect saying, “When you step into an intersection of field, disciplines of culture, you can combine existing concepts into a large no. of extraordinary new ideas”.

  • Publicis strengthens digital with capabilities merger of LBi and Digitas

    MUMBAI: France-based media communications agency network Publicis Groupe will be merging the newly acquired digital agency LBi with its existing digital network Digitas. The merger is an effort towards forming a fully integrated global digital agency network, with digital marketing and technology capabilities at the core.

    The new network will be named DigitasLBi and be led by LBi chief executive Luke Taylor, who has been appointed DigitasLBi global CEO. He will report directly to Publicis Groupe Digital Technology Division CEO Bob Lord. Colin Kinsella will continue in his role as Digitas North America chief executive while Ewen Sturgeon remains LBi, Europe, Middle East and Asia chief executive.

    Along with sister Publicis Groupe digital brands Razorfish and Rosetta, DigitasLBi cements Publicis Groupe‘s ambitions in the area of digital for its clients and the future of the communications sector. Publicis Groupe‘s share of revenue derived from digital operations is now over 35 per cent, enhancing its ability to deliver innovative and best-in-class services to clients.

    DigitasLBi will be a complete digital agency network leveraging the longstanding dominance of Digitas in the USA – where it is the largest digital agency – with LBi‘s strong position in Europe and the leading position enjoyed by both agencies in Asia Pacific. DigitasLBi will comprise 5,700 best-in-class digital and technology experts in 25 countries around the world. DigitasLBi clients include American Express, Coca-Cola, Delta, eBay, L‘Oréal, Johnson & Johnson, Mondelez P&G, Nissan, Sprint and Starbucks.

    Digitas and LBi share strong grounding in digital, including data, direct, social, search and platform delivery. Pooling these skill sets, DigitasLBi‘s service offering will provide clients with unique depth and breadth of expertise across a wide range of digital disciplines, including strategy and analytics, performance marketing, service design, e-commerce, brand strategy, content development, mobile, market research, CRM, search and social media.

    The new digital network‘s “end-to-end” proprietary technology suite will include LBi‘s Audience Engagement Platform as well as Digitas‘ CRM365 Intelligence Platform and award-winning BrandLIVE. The combination of these technologies and surrounding services will allow DigitasLBi to form a uniquely perceptive view of the customer and distribute creative content efficiently across earned, owned and paid media channels, driving marketing effectiveness and delivering better value to brands.

    Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy said, “Advertisers need a truly integrated and global digital network that can anticipate trends, forecast the ‘next‘, while constantly innovating in our ever-changing world. The combination of Digitas and LBi will create the world‘s leading concentration of digital skills and competencies in the world, capable of delivering solutions to all clients, everywhere. The formation of DigitasLBi is an essential landmark. It will certainly be the most competitive, attractive network in the market for both clients and talent.”

    A team of senior LBi, Digitas and Publicis Groupe executives will oversee the merger process under the leadership of Digitas and Razorfish International CEO Stephan Beringer, ensuring flawless delivery of the newly enhanced service offering to clients in every geography.

    Lord said, “One of the key strategic tenets of the combined DigitasLBi offering is the scalable, flexible technology and product suite that will help meet the full spectrum of marketer needs from audience engagement, to sense-and-respond content development and publishing, to real-time relationship marketing. This is an exciting union between two powerful brands, with complementary strengths in product and service that will redefine the role of an agency.”

    Taylor said, “DigitasLBi represents for the first time that insight, content and distribution has been brought together in one agency, providing clients with a truly integrated, best-in-class, global offering.”

    The creation of DigitasLBi will not affect MRY, which will remain a standalone entity under the leadership of founder and Chief Executive Matt Britton. With an enhanced headcount and service offering, MRY will continue to operate as an integrated agency with a social center of gravity.

  • Razorfish launches Co-Lab to co-create products

    MUMBAI: Razorfish, Publicis Groupe’s digital and technology agency, has launched Razorfish Co-Lab, a new property that will co-create products with media and platform partners on behalf of its clients.

    The co-created products will intersect media, creative and technology aspects and will include operations, branded utility, platform ad experiences and campaign innovation.

    Razorfish’s Margaret Czeisler has been appointed to oversee and drive partnership opportunities for Co-Lab and will report to Jeff Lanctot, the agency’s chief media officer.

    Razorfish global CEO Bob Lord said, “We’ve long worked closely with our clients on next-generation storytelling through APIs, product manufacturing and evolutionary innovation. After experiencing such exponential growth in these areas, we realized we needed to formalize a transferable, scalable process that could span the varying nature of these opportunities, and this required the soup-to-nuts dedication of an entire practice as well as focused partnerships with key technology platform providers.”

    Razorfish has prior experience in co-developing products for clients when it facilitated collaboration between a major airline and the Windows 8 platform. Additional partners include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Foursquare, among others.

    Microsoft Advertising Yarn general manager Stephen Kim said, “We were thrilled to bring on Razorfish so early and work together in a co-ideation process to imagine what might be possible for in-app advertising on Windows 8. The concepts and thinking that Razorfish demonstrated is just the beginning of what is possible when we combine creativity and technology on Windows 8.”

    LinkedIn global head of agency relationships Jon Williams said, “We’re thrilled to be a beta partner for Co-Lab. We are working together to help key clients understand how to really leverage the power of the LinkedIn professional graph. It makes sense for us to partner where we can scale innovative ideas across a broad portfolio of clients. Razorfish can provide access to creative expertise and a definitive process.”

    “Given the tight alignment between media, creative and technology at Razorfish, we‘re an agency that is uniquely qualified to co-develop new products with our partners,” said Lord. “As the lines between these functions continue to converge, we’re thrilled to offer a concentrated team who can expedite and lead this process. While we will of course continue to buy standard ad offerings from our partners, we think Co-Lab provides a chance to create products that really stand out for our client‘s customers.”

  • Publicis Groupe transforms Vivaki into separate biz unit

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe has announced that VivaKi will become a separate business unit now and will be available to all Publicis Groupe agencies and the market.

    VivaKi was launched in 2008 through the combined scale and leadership of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), ZenithOptimedia and later Razorfish. It was created to accelerate the digital transformation of Publicis Groupe and its agencies.

    Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Levy said, “As we seek even more aggressive growth and digital acceleration, the VivaKi leadership-Jack Klues, Laura Desmond (SMG CEO), Steve King (ZenithOptimedia CEO), Bob Lord (Razorfish CEO) and Frank Voris-have developed a plan to open up the VivaKi operations, creating a new impetus for further innovations and more aggressive growth for all Publicis Groupe agencies.”

    According to Levy, Klues is going to help set VivaKi on its new course, and then map his retirement. Klues will retire as CEO at the end of 2012 after 35 years with the organisation, though he will remain with Publicis Groupe through the first half of 2013 to help establish VivaKi as a separate business unit.”

    Vivaki CEO Jack Klues said, “The agencies have shaped and perfected our offerings, worked together to create valuable new solutions, and embraced a transformational philosophy of building, borrowing and sharing to the benefit of our clients. Digitas, Razorfish, SMG and ZenithOptimedia will continue to inform our roadmap even as they continue to enhance their own, unique propositions.”

    With this transformation, the VivaKi agencies will gain greater autonomy to differentiate and collaborate with this evolution. Yet they will remain tightly linked to the progress and offering of VivaKi, and as a result, they will report directly to Maurice Levy.

    VivaKi Exchange (VX) operations that currently exist in more than 12 global markets will continue with oversight from VivaKi Country Chairs (VCC) who will align with the media agencies to oversee VX operations and whose duties will include deployment and adoption of VivaKi offerings in local markets.

    VivaKi will also continue to advance its product development and Partnership Practice-a team that works with companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft, to create first-mover opportunities, new products and preferred pricing.

    Additionally, Frank Voris will serve as CEO of the strategically focused VivaKi, partnering with Rishad Tobaccowala, who remains VivaKi‘s chief innovation and strategy officer.

    SMG has accelerated its digital offering by reinventing its core product around human experience, leveraging VivaKi products and expanding strategic partnerships with key technology companies.

    Razorfish and Digitas have benefited from the massive media clout and centralised ability of VivaKi to build tools and solutions that enhance the eCommerce offering of Razorfish, and the Social CRM capabilities of Digitas. As a result, the digital agencies have evolved and differentiated rapidly.

    Voris, who has served as VivaKi CFO since its inception, has been responsible for all VivaKi operations, including technology, product development and the integration of acquisition targets, since the entity was launched in 2008. Tobaccowala is a 30-year industry thought leader who has pioneered several industry firsts, including VivaKi Ventures, Denuo and other future-focused operational units that have delivered gaming, mobile and internet expertise to marketers.

    An executive board consisting of Desmond, King, Lord and Voris will collaborate on VivaKi product strategies, priorities and transactional tools and services.

  • Publicis beats Omnicom in race for LBi

    MUMBAI: Paris-based global media communications network, the Publicis Groupe and independent digital communications agency LBi International have reached an agreement where the former will acquire LBi for €416m (?333m).

    This is Publicis‘ fourth major acquisition in the digital playground this year following Digitas, Razorfish and Rosetta.

    It was reported earlier in June this year that another global giant Omnicom was the forerunner in the race to acquire the agency following WPP‘s acquisition of AKQA, but the French communications player has finally sealed the deal.

    With a global footprint, LBi is headquartered and listed in Amsterdam. LBi currently employs approximately 2,200 people in 16 countries (of which 630 are based in the UK) and has 32 offices around the world. The agency is active in digital marketing and has expanded its offering to a wide suite of digital media services, ranging from communication, e-commerce services to brand strategy, content, social media and mobile. Some of LBi‘s clients include Lloyds TSB, Volvo, Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, Carlsberg and Ikea.

    Led by CEO Luke Taylor, the agency has implemented successive strategic transformations with the acquisitions of Bigmouthmedia and Mr. Youth in 2010 and 2011 respectively and the creation of hubs in key markets to strengthen the company‘s worldwide presence. In 2011, LBi reported net revenue of €196.6 million, up 12 per cent from 2010. In the first half of 2012, LBi reported net revenue of €119.4 million, up 18.2 per cent from the equivalent period in 2011.

    The proposed acquisition of LBi will enable Publicis Groupe to increase its share of revenue derived from digital operations to over 35%, in line with its strategic goals, and to capitalise on the complementarity with its existing global digital businesses.

    Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy said, “The acquisition of LBi is another step forward in further strengthening our digital operations. Within the global advertising landscape, LBi is a well known partner for extraordinary digital customer experiences, based on a blend of creativity and expertise in technology, strategy and social media. The integration of LBi will further enhance our capabilities and, through a wider pool of resources and talent, help deliver innovative and best-in-class services to our clients, which is our relentless focus. Furthermore, this acquisition has a positive impact on our EPS in the first year post acquisition.”

    Taylor said, “We are convinced that this transaction not only provides highly attractive value to our shareholders, but equally to our clients, staff and partners. Publicis Groupe has consistently demonstrated a clear and emphatic belief in the importance of digital media and is recognised for grooming and managing its talent worldwide. Our entire strategy to date is built on a commitment to relentlessly drive and optimise value for our clients. There is now a unique opportunity to pace set the market and collaborate across new geographies and marketing services so that we can accelerate our strategic plans aimed at providing clients with a globally integrated offering.”