AMMAN — As most communication-sector professionals will tell
you, siloed communication practices are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
That’s not to say that dedicated marketing and public relations and social
media companies will suddenly cease to exist — it’s simply that the borders and
limitations of these practices are blurring, expanding, and overlapping. Your
marketing agency is likely engaged in everything from social media to digital
communication, and your PR provider may very well seem to have a similar scope
of work.
اضافة اعلان
In fact, “scope of work” might be an increasingly irrelevant
term.
“Scope of work doesn’t really exist anymore,” explains the managing
director of
VMLY&R Amman, Ivan Milovanovic.
“Agencies need to be flexible
and agile enough to handle all aspects of communication, and to be able to
adapt to new trends.” Milovanovic understands this better than most: with the
recent merger of VML and Y&R, his agency has undergone a rapid
transformation in terms of how it operates. Today, VMLY&R exemplifies the
idea of “integrated communication” — which isn’t what most practitioners seem
to think it is.
Redefining integration
“Integrated communication doesn’t mean 360-degree
integration — it’s more specific than that,” says Milovanovic. “It’s about
integrating data and digital insights into communication, so that you can meet
customers where they are, tailor messages to their expectations, and fit their
mood in a truly intelligent, seamless manner.” With this kind of integration,
brands can connect with their audiences more subtly, more meaningfully, and
more often.
This is where the merger between VML — a pioneer in digital
insights — and creative giant Y&R has truly changed the game in terms of
digital integration. Tapping into the digital data and resources of VML,
VMLY&R Amman is able to offer its clients unrivalled opportunities to
connect meaningfully with their target audiences. As Milovanovic says, “With
these kinds of insights, we can tell you what your customer is doing at any given
time of day, and we can tailor communication tools and messages to their mood,
their desires, and their expectations.”
With this novel approach to data and integration, VMLY&R
understands consumer behavior better than anyone else in the market, and has
revolutionized the way it connects with clients’ target audiences — in large
part by transforming the way it operates internally. “Our client servicing
professionals are involved in every aspect of a client’s communications — from branding
to online and out-of-home advertising, to social media and influencer
marketing,” Milovanovic explains. Essentially, the team is structured in a way
that ensures they have a finger on the pulse of absolutely every way customers
are engaging with their clients’ brands.
Global insights and global ambitions
As part of this strategic focus on integrating meaningful
consumer insights into its work, the agency also chose to invest in the Global
Web Index, a worldwide database of digital consumer data that offers an extraordinary
depth and breadth of market research insights. With this kind of information at
VMLY&R Amman’s fingertips, the agency is pushing its ambitions beyond
Jordan’s borders: recently, Milovanovic and his team acquired several large,
regional clients — a series of wins that is all but unprecedented for the local
communication sector.
In addition to elevating its international profile, business
growth like this is allowing VMLY&R Amman to invest even further in its own
resources and talent: in particular, the agency has been building up its
content creation department. “For example,” Milovanovic says, “we’ve recently
hired a dedicated TikTok creator, who is able to use our robust resources and
insights to create really innovative, impactful content for our clients.”
Bringing innovation back home
As part of the Kingdom’s leading communications group,
MENACOM Jordan, VMLY&R Amman has always benefitted from access to a wide
range of 360-degree insights. Now the agency is returning the favor, so to
speak. With all of its newly acquired data and resources, VMLY&R Amman is
working to elevate the insights available to all six agencies under the MENACOM
umbrella.
This is especially great news for the group’s clients, and
the payoff has already been well-observed: some of MENACOM Jordan’s largest
clients are witnessing their best business results in the last decade, even in
the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And VMLY&R’s capabilities are allowing
it to offer services that are still largely untapped in the Kingdom, such as
Google Maps advertising, streaming partnerships with platforms like Netflix and
OSN, and product placements within local and regional consumer content.
And although VMLY&R Amman has a reputation for working
with larger, more established businesses, the agency is always eager to invest
in small brands it believes in. “When we work with smaller brands, it’s all
about long-term thinking,” explains Milovanovic. “We are always willing to
invest in small businesses when we see potential for sustainable growth and
success.
And with the integrated resources and data we have at our fingertips,
it’s easier than ever to build up brands using limited platforms and smaller
budgets.”
Above all, the agency’s unique approach to integrated
communication is demonstrating that the local communication sector is capable
of considerably more creativity, intelligence, and insight than most in the industry
are currently tapping into — and VMLY&R Amman is quickly pushing itself,
and the rest of MENACOM Jordan, well out into the forefront.
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