Dave Mooney
It seemed that the theme of 2024 was clients asking to see ideas built from the ground up. This was particularly clear in the rise of ‘TikTok up, not TV down’ thinking, which makes complete sense given the current media landscape.
So much of what we consume now lives in fractured environments. Activate’s annual attention clock highlighted that we’re living in a multitasking world. Leaning closer to a 32-hour day for the average person, with 13 hours spent using technology and media in some way.
This narrative of building out an idea ‘TikTok out’ creates the illusion of a new, fresh way of developing brand creative. What it doesn’t do, however, is offer the full picture. The truth is, it’s not about bottom-up thinking. It’s not enough to simply sit down with a blank piece of paper and begin with a TikTok idea to see where that lands, as chances are it will lead to hours of mind-numbing doom-scrolling.
The way to approach ‘bottom-up’ thinking is bringing a traditional formula to a modern platform. This means knowing the audience, understanding the problem, unlocking it with an insight, and developing a compelling proposition to serve as the jumping off point for a great idea.
Having responded to many of these emerging ‘TikTok out’ briefs, I’ve come to realise what is actually being asked isn’t about building the campaign ‘TikTok up’, the ask really is simply producing something that’s made for format.
All too often you see advertising campaigns that come to life as matching luggage. You know the ones, where all the budget has clearly gone into producing a 30sec TVC with no consideration given to how people actually consume media in the modern age. It’s creative that does not and will not translate into the channels it needs to live in. Resulting in one clear result - a creative opportunity wasted.
The problem is exacerbated when it comes time to try and translate the spot into environments that will make a difference. This approach leaves creative and media teams hamstrung, and marketing teams frustrated – so the 30sec TVC gets cut down to two 15sec spots and another two 6sec bumpers.
Do we really expect this outdated approach to sustain engagement, interest and results across multiple campaign bursts? Of course, when it’s found out that it’s not working as well as expected, the solution is ‘we need to produce a different 30sec TVC’. I guess if all you have is a script, then every problem is a 30sec TVC.
To actually cut through, we need to understand how people consume media today. We need to get to the crux of made-for-format thinking. The amount of clutter we’ve got to pave our way through just to attract any attention at all means first, actually acknowledging that the work needs to be as good as, if not better, than the content we’re interrupting.
We need to hone in on considering the environment and build from there to have our media plans strengthen ideas, not restrict them.
We need to spend more time understanding formats and what they can do to drive impact and capture attention, taking into account strengths of each channel and how the audience interacts with it.
Bottom line? We need to get smarter about how we create so we can do more, and do it better.
Sounds simple, right? But how do we get there? It can be as simple as always beginning the way any good brand thinking always was - not by starting with TikTok up, but starting with the idea out.
Dave Mooney is head of strategy and planning at BCM Group.