TRENDSETTERS: Laura Lang, Worldwide CEO of Digitas, tells how to create Brand Alchemy
According to Laura Lang, who has now been at the global helm of Digitas, the world's largest digital agency and part of the Publicis Groupe, for just 2 years, "Nothing changes behavior and influences people more than experiences that move them as human beings."
Speaking last week at the company's Third Annual Digital Content NewFront which coincides with Internet Week in New York, Ms. Lang made comments about how content and community are becoming inseparable.
She said, "Give a man or a woman something they can believe in... something that makes a real connection with their heart and with their mind -- make them laugh, make them think, remind them that they are unique, help them through their day, show them something new.... When you do that, then your brand becomes part of that alchemy where brand objectives and creative insight and the cultural zeitgeist all come together."
The NewFront event, which is a digital redefinition of the US television "Upfront" or the concentrated spring period when new shows are unveiled to advertisers who purchase ad schedules upfront or in advance of the show launches, hosted content creators, distributors, talent and brands to harness digital creative media opportunities. Keynote speakers included Arianna Huffington and Martha Stewart, while celebrities like Lisa Kudrow, known best for her role in the TV series, Friends, were in attendance. (Ms. Kudrow talked about her web series, soon to air on US Premium cable network, Showtime.)
Laura Lang also described a new word, "Fandomonium"—created as the theme of this year's NewFront to explain the relationship between content and the network of people that it seeks to engage.
" 'Fandomonium' captures exactly what's going on: It's about building community around content, and content around community... with such vitality and such cultural awareness that content and community become inseparable.
All this is not simply a call to action. It is a call to survival in the marketplace. This new, integrated environment replaces traditional advertising, the mass market, the linear purchase cycle, and any message that’s crafted without customer conversation.
In a post-advertising world, there is no other way to reach brand objectives than to unite extraordinary talent -- to unite that talent with communities that matter to our brands, and to do so with enthusiasm and imagination and action."
