“The top transformational problem in marketing is no longer ‘how to be digital’…the top problem [now] is about how to coordinate and integrate fragmented activities into a coherent customer experience. In short, the new goal is orchestration.” One North’s Managing Director, Strategy Kalev Peekna discusses what we as digital marketers, managing a plethora of tactics, can learn from the idea of classical orchestration. From the 2015 Experience Lab: Digital Working in Concert. To watch the recording of this presentation, visit: https://youtu.be/iWSP_76Grag

1. Orchestrate
Digital Working in Concert

2. Kalev Peekna
@kpeekna

3. Let’s Listen to Some Music

4. What Kind of Song Is This?

5. Là ci darem la mano – Mozart, Don Giovanni
(Don Giovanni) Là ci darem la mano,
Là mi dirai di sì:
Vedi, non è lontano,
Partiam, ben mio, da qui.
(Zerlina) Vorrei e non vorrei,
Mi trema un poco il cor,
Felice, è ver, sarei,
Ma può burlarmi ancor!
(Don Giovanni) Vieni, mio bel diletto!
(Zerlina) Mi fa pietà Masetto.
(Don Giovanni) Io cangierò tua sorte.
(Zerlina) Presto... non son più forte.
(Don Giovanni) Andiam!
(Zerlina) Andiam!
(Duet) Andiam, andiam, mio bene,
a ristorar le pene
D’un innocente amor.
(Don Giovanni) There I’ll give you my hand
There you’ll say yes:
See, it is not far,
my love, let’s leave from here
(Zerlina) Should I or shouldn’t I,
my heart trembles at the thought,
it’s true, I would be happy,
I can still have fun!
(Don Giovanni) Come, my beloved beautiful!
(Zerlina) It makes me pity Masetto
(Don Giovanni) I will change your fate.
(Zerlina) Soon… I am no longer strong enough
to resist
(Don Giovanni) Let’s go!
(Zerlina) Let’s go!
(Duet) Come, come, my darling,
to restore our pleasure
of an innocent love.

6. Let’s Try That Again

7. What Kind of Song Is This?

8. Cheerleader, OMI
[Verse 1:]
When I need motivation
My one solution is my queen
'Cause she stays strong
Yeah, yeah
She is always in my corner
Right there when I want her
All these other girls are tempting
But I'm empty when you're gone
And they say
[Pre-hook:]
Do you need me?
Do you think I'm pretty?
Do I make you feel like cheating?
I'm like no, not really 'cause
[Hook:]
Oh, I think that I've found myself a
cheerleader
She is always right there when I need her
Oh, I think that I've found myself a
cheerleader
She is always right there when I need her
[Verse 2:]
She walks like a model
She grants my wishes
Like a genie in a bottle
Yeah, yeah
'Cause I'm the wizard of love
And I got the magic wand
All these other girls are tempting
But I'm empty when you're gone
And they say

9. Comparing Mozart & OMI
OMI, Cheerleader
§ Catchy, danceable
§ Consistent dynamics
§ Common “pop” structure:
– Verse, Hook (“chorus”) X 2
– Instrumental -> Bridge
– Hook
§ Meaning is in the lyrics -
The rest is just fun
Mozart, Là ci darem la mano
§ Full instrumentation
§ Modulated dynamics & melody
§ Lyrical structure tied to dramatic
moment
– Call-response duet grows closer and
tighter
– Finishes in unison
§ Meaning is orchestrated
across the entire performance

10. What Does This Have to Do
With Digital Marketing?

11. Digital Strategy in “We need to start using…”
1995
2001
2003
2004
2007
2008
2010
2011
2013
The Web
Video
Email/CRM
Blogs
Mobile App/Web
Social Media
SEO (begrudgingly)
Responsive Design
Native Advertising

12. You Don’t Need Any More Tactics
In the past ten years,
“digital strategy” meant
assembling an ever-
expanding range of tactics.
B2B marketers now
average active use of 13
tactics, of which 12 are
inherently digital.
Source: B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America.
92%
83%
81%
80%
77%
77%
76%
69%
68%
65%
62%
61%
48%
47%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Social Media
eNewsletters
Articles (website)
Blogs
In-person Events
Case Studies
Videos
Illustrations / Photos
White Papers
Online Presentations
Infographics
Webinars/Webcasts
Research Reports
Microsites

13. Even As Our Confidence (and Spend) Rises…
Early skepticism is being
rapidly erased as digital
channels measurably prove
their contributions.
Among CMOs surveyed by
Accenture, 37% believe that digital
will account for over 75% of their
marketing budget in the next five
years.
48%
44%
53%
52%
62%
56%
58%
60%
61%
63%
Social
Email
Branded Content
Search
Website
Increase in channel effectiveness from 2012 to 2014
2014
2012
Source: CMOS: Time for digital transformation, 2014
• % of survey respondent who find each channel
“effective” or “very effective”

14. …We Are Less Confident in Overall Experience
In the same Accenture survey, CMOs reported that their ability to use
multiple channels strategically and in an integrated way fell seven
points, from 53% in 2012 to 46% in 2014.
39% 29%
How important is delivering an effective
customer experience to your company?
Important Essential
44% 12%
How successful is your company at delivering
an effective customer experience?
Very Successful Extremely Successful
68% 56%
Source: CMOS: Time for digital transformation, 2014
Among B2B CMOs surveyed:

15. Marketing Orchestration Is a Top Challenge
The top transformational
problem in marketing is no
longer “how to be digital.”
According to Forrester Research,
the top problem is about how to
coordinate and integrate
fragmented activities into a
coherent customer experience.
In short, the new goal is
orchestration.
18% 18%
17% 14%
13%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Long-term Relationships Cross-channel
Experience
Which are your marketing organization’s top three
goals?
First Second Third
Source: Commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf
of Responsys, 2013

16. Marketing Orchestration
An approach that focuses not on delivering
standalone campaigns, but instead on
optimizing a set of related cross-channel
interactions that, when added together, make
up a personalized customer experience.

17. So, How Do We Do That?
A typical consultant would break it
down into set of best practices
using a model like the 3 P’s.
Or is it 4 P’s?
Or is it 7 P’s?
Or is it 3 P’s?
Best practices lead to
competence, not innovation.
LOL NOPE

18. Let’s Start by Exploring Orchestration
When the goal is truly innovative, or otherwise not completely clear, a
different approach often works better. Design-oriented thinkers typically
start by creating a clear vision of the future state, and then back into
analysis of what it takes to get there.
Score
Which melody
Instrumentation
What plays
Dynamics
How loud
Cadence
What beat
Audience
For whom

19. Score

20. Score is your Brand
For a digital marketer, brand represents the core of
what you do – the score you intend to play. In both
music and marketing, the score is both the guide and
the unifying force pulling every action into a coherent
experience.

21. Music Has Changed… but Scoring Hasn’t Much
ca. 1400 ca. 1790 ca. 2010

22. …But How We Execute Has Changed
Digital hasn’t changed how we define brands, or even
the end goal of brand. But it has changed almost
everything about how we execute.
Brand Idea:
Brand Persona:
Brand Strategy:
Communications Strategy:
Tactics:
Overall Customer Experience:
Essence
and Purpose
Voice,
Brand DNA, and Actions
Activating the persona
in order to achieve an outcome
What we will say and when
Logistics of executing the strategy
The foundation of everything; the only thing that really matters

23. How Digital Has Changed Brand Activation
Digital has changed completely the contexts in which we experience
brands. New channels, platforms, and content types have all disrupted
traditional tactics by which marketers create brand experiences.
Digital is now the first, and often the most important, experience our
clients and customers have of our brand.
There are two more fundamental challenges that digital has posed to
traditional brand planning:
§ Natively digital visual expression
§ Brand-integrated content

24. Natively Digital Brand Expression
We know the usual visual brand
architecture of logos, colors, and
typefaces.
Digital brand expression extends that
framework to include:
§ UI patterns
§ Motion & animation
§ Transitions
§ Video
§ Interactive content

25. Digital Brand Languages
Forward-leaning brands
develop expressions systems
that place digital at the center
of the design language:
§ BBC Global Experience
Language
§ Google Material Design
These systems are critical to
ensuring visual/UI consistency
across multiple contexts, both
digital and analog.

26. Avoiding Brand Fade
Digital has not only changed the look and feel of our brands; it has also
undermined our ability to rely solely on visuals to create brand associations.
Cross-channel “success” for digital content leads it farther away from marketing-
controlled contexts. Brand associations must be inside the content itself.

27. Brand-Integrated (Not Edited) Content
Integrating brand associations into
content requires more than sharp editing.
Tone and style are important, but so too
are the themes, formats, narrative
approach, and even target audiences –
aspects decided without marketing
guidance.
TED@BCG: Though there is no “traditional”
visual brand framework, the brand
associations are clear – and apparent even as
the content is shared throughout other digital
networks.

28. But:
Score Is Only the Start
Valerie
by Amy Winehouse
Valerie
by Amy Winehouse

29. Instrumentation

30. Your Tactics Are Your Instruments
The same notes can be played by many different
instruments. Similarly, the same content can be
deployed across a range of channels. Good
orchestrators know the voice of each instrument, and
choose which ones, and how many, to assemble.

31. New Choices Aren’t Always Good Choices
The Classical and Romantic periods
saw a rapid expansion in orchestral
instrumentation, especially in areas like
brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
But not every maestro used every new
instrument in their work. Most took the
opportunity to choose selectively
depending on the mood and intended
setting.
(Except maybe Wagner)

32. Digital Marketing “Explosion”
Choice paralysis is still one
of the biggest issues for
digital marketers who are
evaluating their tactics.
We are littered with
“helpful” infographics that
illustrate the problem.

33. Choice Expansion Continues For Digital
But real guidance is thin on
the ground.
Not even respected
thought leaders like Gartner
always succeed in clarifying
the situation.

34. Stable Patterns Are Emerging
In areas like social media, we now have a better understanding of which
tactics are effective for different kinds of content.

35. New Tactics Require Strategic Evaluation
Digital marketing innovation isn’t slowing down. When new tactics
emerge, they should be evaluated not just for potential reach, but also
for brand alignment and authenticity.
For example, native
advertising is an attractive paid
option for many B2B content
marketers.
But overall effectiveness
depends on more than
engagement and exposure.

36. Dynamics

37. Variety Gives You Dyanmics
Dynamics refers to how musicians use loudness and
softness. Too loud or too soft leads to audience fatigue.
Good marketing orchestrators don’t “amplify” everything
– they use modulation and variety to retain interest.

38. Amplification Is Good. Sometimes.
Marketing amplification means different things
to different “experts” (often based on what
they’re trying to sell you).
At the core, it refers to the simple desire to
ensure that your marketing efforts are heard
widely and loudly.
Musicians often feel the same way.
Enter the cannonball.

39. What’s Your Cannonball?
In B2B marketing, the “cannonball” is the Big Campaign, centered around a key
piece of thought leadership created and distributed as a “publication.”

40. Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That.
Key campaigns can be “natively
digital” and often represent the best
of our cross-channel marketing.
Sometimes you need a cannonball
to get someone’s attention.
But they require work – work to
produce, work to promote, and
work to consume. And they can’t be
relevant to all users at the same
time.

41. Arranging “Loud” and “Soft” Pieces Together
Most of us have the variety we need – longer articles, shorter updates, social,
infographics, etc. – but most still arrange and publish our content separately
according to type.
Arranging content according
to user-relevant topics, not by
type or format, builds
engagement for the long
term.
The “cannonballs” are still
there to help get attention,
but variety of length and
format fills in the gaps and
develops more interest.

42. Cadence

43. Cadence
The Cadence of a song can lend it a specific mood, or
mark it for a specific purpose (like dancing). But it also is
what allows multiple performers and instruments to stay
synchronized. Knowing your cadence is the key to
staying on-beat.

44. Know This Beat?

45. Pop Music Knows the Importance of a Beat
Top producers can charge, before royalties, anywhere from $50K to
$300K for just the baseline of a new hit song – without lyrics, melody, or
studio production.
This is Timbaland…
…after earning $250K for one
Aaliyah song...
This is Justin…
…after paying the bill for
“SexyBack”

46. Keeping the Beat With a Documented Calendar
Editorial calendars – tools that plan out the what, when, and where of
content distribution – are widely recognized as an important tool. Yet
few B2B marketers document any part of their strategy.
Yes,
documented
35%
Yes, not
documented
48%
No
14%
Unsure
3%
Do you have a content strategy?
Source: B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America.
54%
Of B2B marketers who rate themselves
as “highly effective” have a documented
content strategy.

47. Editorial Calendars Are Your Baseline
There are many examples of
editorial calendars to follow. Most
are matrices that simply give you a
plan for arranging:
§ Channels
§ Topics
§ Formats
§ Workflow
§ Timing

48. Specific Timing Is an Important Part
Understanding timing begins
with knowing when to meet
users on their own terms.
This is especially important
when communicating
globally.
User research shows that
constructing the proper
context drives engagement.
Ignorance of context can hurt
you.
Source: Pure 360
Source: Hubspot

49. Arrange Timing to Create a Cadence
Developing a true cadence is about more than just timing individual
pieces. It’s about arranging pieces to carry key themes across time and
get the most ROI from each content investment.
PwC Annual Global CEO Survey
Pre-launch Launch Post-launch

50. Audience

51. From Audiences to Users
Digital strategists tend to talk about users, not
audiences, even when focused on marketing. This is
because digital is inherently participatory; unlike the
“audiences” of traditional marketing, digital demands
you offer your users a specific role to play.

52. Audiences Love to Sing-Along If You Let Them
Whether listening to a concert or looking at our advertisements, the
traditional “audiences” are increasingly irrelevant in digital media. Digital
users want to sing too.
In December 2015, Chicago will celebrate
its 40th annual “Do It Yourself Messiah.”
All choral parts are sung by the audience,
not professional singers. Each trains on
the music and sings an assigned part.
https://youtu.be/aWruieoZcF0
▶

53. User Participation Shouldn’t Make You Nervous
When someone mentions “user
participation,” marketers get
anxious.
10 years ago, user participation
usually meant some kind of user-
generated content, or at least
comments and/or ratings.
And we all know comments
attract the most dreaded of all
digital monsters, the troll.

54. There’s a Reason Comments Don’t Work
There’s reason people call comments
the “bottom half of the internet.” Many
media outlets (and B2B marketers)
have shut them down altogether.
So why do comments elicit either trolls
or complete silence?
Because when you ask for a
“comment” you aren’t asking for
participation.
You’re asking for a critique.

55. New Models for User Participation
As in the “Do It Yourself Messiah,” true participation depends on shared
goals and purpose. Newer models for digital user participation are more
structured, guided, and ultimately useful for both user and brand.
Medium.com Kindle iOS app

56. User Participation Can Guide More Than Output
Good marketers research their audiences. Great marketers research
their users. Extraordinary marketers invite users to help design their
efforts.
Participatory Design Methods
Card Sorting
Affinity Mapping
Prototype Walkthroughs/Testing
Focus/Ideation Groups

57. Coda

58. Three things you should know about Estonia
It’s natively digital
The language is…
weird
Estos are nuts
about singing
Jäääär
Kuuuurija
Töööö / Öötöö
Häid Jõule
NO GENDER NO FUTURE
27 VOWEL SOUNDS
14 CASES 3 LENGTHS

59. Welcome to the Singing Revolution
https://youtu.be/bm4EC01u0-4
▶

60. Orchestrate
Digital Working in Concert