GroupM’s Norman: Advertisers Must Embrace the “Stream” With Quick Content

CANNES — Advertising group GroupM’s chief digital officer thinks the top challenge for marketers is to insert themselves in new platforms like Twitter and Facebook that are all about chronologically-ordered, stream-based real-time media consumption.

“Every time the distribution channels change – and the stream is a new distribution channel –  typically the manufacturing problem changes as well,” Rob Norman told Beet.TV during this fascinating discussion at the Cannes Lions advertiser conflab

“If the … six-second commercial in Vine is going to be the short-form video … the manufacturing side of the business has to think very carefully about what does creativity look like in a light-touch way, as opposed to the heavier touch of the 60- or 30-second ad.

“There is this absolute tsunami of content about simple arresting quick-to-consume, quick-to-understand visual imagery that is running all over people’s Facebook page posts…

“If you set the bar of ‘What am I going to do that engages people in a second and persuade them to made them an engagement-related reaction to it?’, that’s a terrific creative challenge.”

We interviewed Norman on Friday at the Cannes Lions festival.