On this planet there are millions of animals that we, as humans, could have chosen to be our pet of choice.
The smart nature and loyalty of dogs trumped all rivals, they are the most popular pet with around 24% of households in the UK owning dogs. Animals like the pig never got a look, they’ve perennially been seen as a dinner choice crossed with a garbage disposal unit; an animal with some use here and there but regarded as unfit for permanent companionship and as unclean and unsafe by many cultures.
Well times change and the pig’s place in our world is being reassessed. Although one might argue that you can’t compare the intelligence of different species directly, many consider the pig more gifted than the dog and therefore perhaps our choice of the optimum companion has been wrong all along.
What’s this got to do with digital marketing?
Well, like a dog is to its owner, large agencies might be seen as a more reliable and safe option for businesses compared to the alternative independent start-up agency, but this conventional thinking can cause clients to miss out on the fantastic opportunities that working with a ‘ferociously independent’ agency can bring, no matter what its size.
Of course it’s hard to compare the qualities of the dog and the pig and it’s honestly no easier to compare a large established marketing agency to an entrepreneurial independent.
Yes, larger agencies have specialist, but substantial, and well-resourced, multi-discipline departments. Yet these departments are often segregated and can view their speciality with tunnel vision. So you can find your gun dog, rescue dog, or sheep dog, your ratter, guard dog or racer, but might you be better off with the all-rounded social, omnivorous, clever and resourceful pig? ROAST deliver successful strategies by understanding how every department relates to clients wider advertising and marketing activity to provide a complete 360º view of how to acquire, convert and maximise the Life Time Value of customers.
Just as a well-trained dog performs as its owner has taught it to, larger agencies can sometimes be suspected of going through the motions to give a client what they think they want. Size and specialisation can lead larger agencies to have rigid protocols in place and an inflexible process throughout.
This isn’t for the pig. Anyone who’s kept them will tell you that they will break down any borders you put in front of them (including mains electric fences I can tell you from bitter experience). It’s time for the pig to trot alongside the dog and confound expectations. Agencies like ROAST are always looking towards the future, thinking ahead and are happy to change strategy and partners in order to innovate and break away from standard procedure.
It is key that we deliver and strategize on data, numbers, conversions and clicks but we do this using our own individual processing and evolving methods. ROAST believes what’s needed is a new view and a deeper understanding of the consumer’s attitudes and psychologies behind the data driving campaigns in order that we can build on our knowledge and continue to gain a deeper understanding of consumer psychology so that next time we don’t just hit our clients targets, we smash them. The proof of this can be seen with the results of our Maria Casino campaign in which by ‘leveraging insights into people’s luck and superstitions for its own gain’ ROAST’s campaign ‘was successful in driving 52 per cent of the gambling brand’s traffic on the day it ran, while it also increased brand searches by 51 per cent.’
Whilst you might not be able to compare directly whether a larger agency or an independent agency is better it is certainly clear that independent agencies cannot be discriminated against. Whilst a dog sits patiently waiting to be fed and instructed, the independent ROAST pig is digging constantly, consuming and processing whatever we can find so we can grow, not just in size but in talent and delivery.
