Friday 22nd January I attended my first paid NMA live event, Customer Engagement Demistifyed. The majority of those presenting at this half day seminar were from agencies although there was one representative from a media owner. Still, no clients. Unfortunately I felt this led to something of a one sided debate where one of the only real outcomes was a confirmation that this movement is still in its early stages, despite Kurt Edwards claim that FMCG’s had actually been using Cost Per Engagement (CPE) models for some time, and that is was only NMA reporting this back in Sept 2009 that made it topical. Due to its perception as still being in its early stages we’re were presented with a standoffish content and wooly answers to some challenging questions. Quite simply we didn’t see enough real world examples with concrete (or at least indicative figures) numbers on how well this model can work. That said the morning was rather rescued by a great presentation by Antony Mayfield from iCrossing.
Based on the questions I heard from the audience there was also a lot of confusion surrounding this ‘new’ movement. Yes, everyone was interested enough to pay the £85 to attend the seminar and wanted to learn more about how to move this forward and develop further but what conclusions did we really come to? Well, really not much. I felt there was a general agreement that this could present opportunities for clients to further justify an increasingly larger outlay on Digital and of course opportunities for those agencies who have cottoned onto this new trend but what about the media owners? Will they see the opportunity? Will they move from a guaranteed income based on a set of solid metrics that our non-digital/online marketers are now finally accepting as the norm? Or will they move to a rather fluffy approach where their inventory will be filled but for a potential P&L damaging loss should the campaigns not prove a success. The talk of bonuses on top of standard fees for campaigns that surpass their objectives doesn’t sounds strong enough to get the big guys to change the way they do business.
The debate didn’t have the answers when is came to discussing the specifics of how this can work for individuals in the room. I felt there was too much of a diverse audience who as per usual want answers to their particular challenges in this area, regulations in banking sector or the creatives who wanted more clarity on the role creative has to play. The only solid conclusion I could draw, in terms of next actionable steps, is really that everyone will have their own unique approach to developing a CPE model. Defining what that form of ‘engagement’ entails will really need to build on the objectives of your campaign. Engagement could be a video view, a download, an upload or some form of advocacy-led action.
So, despite the one outstanding presentation from Anthony and a lot of questions answered with woolly high level responses I came out of the seminar feeling positive. Positive that this new movement has legs. The reason behind this positivity has nothing to do with opinions of people from media owners, agencies or even brands but more to do with the customer themselves. If engagement delivers better targeted, more engaged campaigns with compelling creative and rewards for those taking part then this is sure the succeed. If there’s one commonality that works well in the digital world it’s something that is done for the benefit of it’s users and Cost Per Engagement has potential to do this.
Moving forward I will be challenging our media agency and media partners to deliver on this new model. Will I change the way we pay for online media on the back of this? No. Probably not. But failing progress in this area just gives me an excuse to look elsewhere. If nothing else the NMA live event showed there is a great will in this area and as they say, where there’s a will….there’s a way.
Read the NMA article about this event:
http://www.nma.co.uk/news/nma-live-cost-per-engagement-is-still-in-early-stages/3009057.article
Filed under: Online Advertising, Social Media, CPE, Customer engagement, Customer engagement demistified, NMA event, NMA Live, Online Advertising
