Setting the DIGIAL bar

Digital creative is still new for most people in Marketing and Advertising.
Here are some ideas which may help better prepare for the present future.

1. The Creative Idea in Interactive Form
Digital creative ideas aren't as easy to express in a simple single-minded proposition. Online campaigns and programs can follow similar constructs as offline campaign ideas and hold true to the same " big idea " . Technology isn't an idea unto itself. Websites should be informed by an insight that drives their purpose and role in the mix. Of course, the expression of the idea does not have to be derivative of an advertising tagline, but it must map to the brand or business platform.

2. See the Idea in it's true form
Digital is detailed and experiential and a lot of the magic is still expressed in its execution. The good news is you're talking to the director and the concept creator at once. So it often helps to have something more than a storyboard or key style frames, called an interactive prototype. With Print design and concepts, WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET, WITH DIGITAL YOU GET SO MUCH MORE. It may take us an extra day or so to put it together, or a few extra dollars to build you a quick prototype to illustrate some nuance, but MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, that is what you need to absorb it and decide whether it works clients.

3. Be clear about your priorities.
Most digital work, especially online advertising, is inherently direct response but if attention-grabbing awareness is a huge priority, this needs to be expressed because the work may come out quite differently.

5. Believe in brand expression.
Brands now are more than identity assets created 10 years ago. If you're seeking integration across channels and across multiple agencies, brand expression -- how a brand behaves -- is a crucial ingredient to add to the mix. Most brand guidelines need an update; in addition to classic topics such as logo, color, grid, type and imagery, brand guidelines now need tone, motion, principles and media usage. Plus, even classic identity elements need to be expanded; we need an extended color palette on the web, and we need more flexible guidelines that still differentiate a brand but are updated to the modern media environment.

6. Don't assume advertising equals brand.There's big competition right now for who stewards the brand. In many cases, and rightly so, it's the advertising agency whose legacy includes brand planning and whose retainers and rigor puts them in the driver's seat. But it's also true that digital agencies -- whose work crosses lines, who understand collaboration and who are closer to the consumer and all the marketing touch points -- can help steer a brand. Because things change fast we just may find ourselves changing our minds fairly quickly about who's leading.