Future adds up to being interactive

Sharon Henderson

Step into any funky marketing consultancy in Parnell or Ponsonby. Stop at reception to admire the award-laden trophy cabinet then settle in for a spiel on how integration and convergence are the new black.

Integration is about collaboration between specialist disciplines - including advertising, direct marketing and public relations - to push an ad campaign as effectively as possible.

Convergence is the idea that the cellphone is an increasingly important marketing tool through which to pump pixelated ad messages.

It's no surprise that Sharon Henderson, recently resigned chief executive of direct and interactive specialty agency Aim Proximity, is an integration and convergence cheerleader.

What's interesting is that Henderson has been picked to champion the integration/convergence philosophy in a new job: as group managing director for one of the country's largest ad agencies, DDB.

The DDB group's business units have the integration issue covered with member companies across all the marketing and communication disciplines. Henderson sees her new role as selling the strength of integration to clients.

"We're now in the middle of an era of change. You're still seeing campaigns that are totally traditional, using traditional media only," Henderson says.

"[At the same time there are] campaigns that are 100 per cent multimedia - they're the kind of campaigns that are using every opportunity to have a brand interaction with the consumer. Those kinds of campaigns - that create an interaction with the consumer - are the way of the future."

She says as the use of the internet and other technologies increases, consumers have more power to shut out advertisers unless their messages are tailored to the individual and are relevant.

Henderson's move to DDB after 10 years at Aim Proximity follows the promotion of DDB New Zealand group chief executive Martin O'Halloran to the position of chairman and CEO of DDB New Zealand and Australia.

She said O'Halloran, whose new role will see him based in Sydney, "has a real understanding of and passion for the integrated model DDB has been pioneering in New Zealand".

Henderson is chairwoman of the Marketing Association, an organisation which, in an example of how the industry is evolving, rebranded itself 12 months ago from the Direct Marketing Association.

There was a perception that the old DMA was only about junk mail and it aims to widen its membership base under the new brand. Henderson says the past year has been about educating existing members about the organisation's new focus.

Back at Aim Proximity, Henderson is not being directly replaced. Instead the managing directors of the agency's Auckland and Wellington offices, Mike Cunnington and Darryn Melrose, have stepped up to share CEO responsibilities, working alongside Aim founder and executive chairman Bill Gianotti.

Melrose said the shift to online purchasing and greater use of the internet in general was a challenge to New Zealand organisations that needed to match the clever marketing techniques used by leading global e-tailers like Amazon.

"[New Zealand companies] are going to have to change what they do because when you go to a lot of their websites they don't know who you are, don't remember you and haven't learnt from [your previous visits]. "

Melrose said while traditional advertising agencies and interactive marketers like Aim were increasingly focused on the internet, they were using it in different ways.

"Advertising agencies are tending to use it for online banner ads and to get someone to go to a site that has a lot of creativity around it.

"We're tending to look at digital more with a sense of 'how do we get a response? How do we learn from that response and how do we customise for you next time you visit? And, with your permission, how do we learn who you are, what do you want to see and when do you want to see it?'."

Changin' times

* Advertising is in the middle of an era of change.

* Some campaigns are traditional, using traditional media only.

* Other campaigns are 100 per cent multimedia.

* They use every opportunity to have a brand interaction with the consumer.

* Such campaigns "are the way of the future".