We are not living a crisis but a digital transformation full of opportunities

Brice le Blévennec, CEO of Emakina says our economy is not in a crisis…
it is in the middle of a digital mutation phase.

What are the challenges of this transition period?
How can this be a source of opportunity for companies and agencies?

Shaking the foundations of our economy

Just as the invention of printing and the advent of television precipitated an evolution of our society and was the source of entire new sectors of economic activity, the digital transformation we are going through is a revolution.

The manifold transmutations from atoms to bits are changing the very foundations of our economy. These products, essentially leisure products, music, movies, games, magazines, comics, are transmitted at the speed of light. They have rendered physical distribution ​​obsolete and destroyed the need for intermediaries.

Virtual goods are infinitely replicable. So much so that the meaning of the word “share” has changed from “split” to “multiply”. In short, we are in the “economy of abundance.”

Relevance is value (not scarcity)

In this new economy leisure products multiply infinitely at a phenomenal rate, while humans still have only around ten hours a day to devote to consumption, the price of these products is fast falling to zero. Of course, humans reproduce, but at a rate significantly lower than the copying of movies via Bittorrent.

It will  no longer be the scarcity of products that determine their value, but their relevance.

So, the secret of a Spotify or Netflix success will not be the size of their catalogue, but the editorial selection, the relevance of their recommendations.

Power to the People

This digitization has also changed profoundly the nature of interactions between individuals and businesses, the power relationship between brands and their customers, and between states and citizens. Individuals have a greater power of influence: they are now connected non-stop and have effective ways to make their voices heard.

The once powerful brand communication is now drowning in an ocean of opportunities for media consumption, beyond the reach of advertising messages.

For organisations, its no longer about imposing products and services on the market, but about focus on what the market wants, to develop relevant branded content, which is truly meaningful or useful to consumers. Organisation must find a way to get into the consumers’ world.

Adapt to new rules

Mobile, social media, the internet of things… they create countless opportunities to produce or improve products, services, tools, solutions, etc.

To survive organizations must adapt to the new rules,  question everything,  provide coherent, integrated and qualitative user experiences, including on digital platforms. And above all they need to innovate.

Organisations who manage a successful digital transformation, improve three aspects of their bottom-line: they get better “engagement” from their clients (increasing existing income), they improve their productivity (reduce costs) and generate new sources of income.

New times require a new agency culture

To achieve this, businesses can rely on a new type of agency, which help their customers become more efficient by proposing new tools, designing integrated marketing strategies, which can be media neutral but use the most relevant channels, and follow consumers throughout their life cycle. But more importantly, they are agencies who dare to leave the traditional communications comfort zone and venture into the treacherous terrain of innovation!

Whether pushing the limits of the user experience, or assist companies in creating new business models, it now requires agencies of the “pure player” breed, to bring these recommendations to the bricks and mortars businesses.

These agencies themselves must develop a new culture. They must combine technical skills to offer their customers the state-of-the-art implementation (e-commerce, CMS, Applications, Analytics , … ).

They also need the essential creative skills (strategy, conceptual, design, …) and the ability to understand the business of their clients, just as of their own managers. They have to understand the issues of their industry, just as a consultant from one of the ‘big 4’, to demonstrate economic intelligence and the inventiveness of the creator of a startup … well, just like Emakina .