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Digital Innovations and the future for agencies: Interview with Peak Seven CEO Darren Seys

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Darren Seys is the founder and CEO of Peak Seven Advertising, an award-winning advertising, and marketing agency in Boca Raton. With over two decades of experience in the industry, Darren leads a talented team of results-driven marketers and creative designers to achieve great results and help their clients’ business grow.

I had a chance to talk with Darren about his work in advertising and how the digital and technological transformation has impacted the way agencies work today.

 

Thank you for your time today Darren. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself and your company, Peak Seven?

I grew up on a farm, moved to South Florida, and got my start as an illustrator for Nascar. Ultimately ended up in Boca Raton. Had an agency and sold it and started Peak Seven in 1999. Peak Seven is a full-service Ad Agency, that started of really with a branding and design background and morphed into a more of a high-level technology digital marketing agency, with branding as well, but the digital took over the branding as far as our main services.

 

How do you think the role of the Agency has evolved through the years?

Agencies typically would actually manage the media at a high level, some ad agencies made most their money in media commission. But it has evolved now, where the transparency out there, that the media outlets have basically stepped around agencies and sell direct. So agencies had to make themselves more valuable in other ways.

Fortunately for the agency world, technology has evolved so much that it basically gave the agency a ton of value in the strategy side of the business. It allowed us to have a skill set that a lot of people couldn’t find. You would have, not just an artist and creative people in-house, but now you also have roles like digital strategists, and of course, media still being a big part of it.

 

What are your greatest concerns as the CEO of a digital agency?

That technology gets so advanced that you can do the bulk of what we are doing now, yourself (the client). The metrics and the platforms will basically do so much testing for you, even if you aren’t doing it well, it can actually funnel it through to where it allows you to get high performance, even without heavy strategy or agencies behind it, trying to create the best opportunity for you to gain ROI on your money.

You already have platforms like Facebook and Google that kinda tell you, you should be doing this, consider that. With Facebook now you can upload five headlines, five subheaders, ten images and it rotates to a hundred different scenarios and combination of an ad, something you could never do before, you can run a Facebook campaign yourself.

 

What are the biggest challenges for digital agencies in today’s digital environment?

Staying ahead of it and finding what actually works best for the client. Obviously, we have our verticals that we deal with, but it’s forever changing. Right now, the best thing for agencies is a lot of new technology that will continue to come out, it makes us stay ahead of the game.

Also, talent, high-level talent. That literally makes a difference in the performance. You are always going to have the marketing strategy side of everything, forgetting the technology for a second, someone that has to put together the plans, ideas, the vision, the target audience and what the client is trying to go for. The technology comes in the implementation and in reaching those goals.

It used to be you bought tv, you bought radio, you ran print ads, newspaper ads, and that’s how you reached your market. Now, there are thousands of different channels to reach them, then what metrics you use for KPI’s, so data analysis and data crunching is the space that’s gonna be hugely valuable in the future, already is now.

There are agencies out there already hiring data scientist, and they are starting out at $200,000 out of college, based on their degree and what they did, just to crunch the data. You know why? It’s all trackable, and then you just have to do actionable items out of it.

 

What are your thoughts on the digital and technological transformation affecting this industry? We hear about AI, chatbots, programmatic advertising, voice search and so on. How do you think all of this is impacting ad agencies and clients?

AI is going to be everything. I was in Hong Kong and I saw some demonstrations of what they are doing now with it and it’s literally going to be everything in my opinion. You can feed it so much information and it’s so smart that it can learn from it. On your day to day communication, the first point of contact in your company a lot of the times is a person, that is getting eliminated, now with bots and AI, we are even going to be able to get faces that are computer generated, and they will talk and everything.

You’ll be interacting with avatars all the time, and not even realize it, they are going to be so educated that people are going to accept it. Fifteen years ago you never thought you would buy a car online, and years from now people are going to be communicating with these avatars like it’s no big deal, my rep is Johnny and he is not even real. To me artificial intelligence is huge.

 

In your opinion, what’s the biggest trend in the near future that marketers should not ignore?

On the digital marketing side, I’ve heard that with these privacy laws, what you were able to do, you were able to target people with geo-fencing, geo-targeting, income, gender and all those types of things. The reality is the more the privacy laws expand, the less that stays relevant. So, ironically, the organic results are gonna come back into play, the whole world of SEO, that was kinda pushed with paid, SEO may come back to play because you’re not going to be able to target as much.

Cookies are going to get removed, from browsers and everything like that. I think even this week, Chrome is going to be losing those cookies, right, so when you look at retargeting, remarketing, as they say, a cookie may be active for 24h hours. That changes everything on paid advertising.

I also think there’s a trend where most verticals, if they are performance-based campaigns, are going to end up in a few channels, based on the verticals you’re in. We work with Real State so we have some channels that just perform, you’re not really going to do anything else. It used to be back in the day, with magazines, you would run 10 magazines because you weren’t sure which one was going to be working, now you’ll just know.

To me, it really affects brand awareness, because businesses don’t really look at it as a KPI or ROI. I spend a thousand dollars and had 100,000 impressions, that doesn’t work. You want to spend a thousand dollars and get leads. So brand awareness is getting much more difficult to actually sell and perform, to clients, because they have a budget, it’s super tight, everyone’s budgets are getting tighter, so if you can’t produce leads and or tangible assets that they can translate back to sales, you’re toast.

For some, it’s not like you’re Coke or Pepsi, where you can just put up billboards to keep people reminded of you. At least in the space that we deal in.

 

What would be the best recommendation you could give to businesses starting with digital advertising?

Take small budgets and test, test all the channels to see which one is performing the best for you. Define what your metrics are for performance, what does well, what doesn’t. If you do want to have some branding and exposure, try to work with two separate budgets, one that will be allocated to brand awareness and the other that is dedicated to performance. If you muddle the two together is going to skew the numbers on your ROI performance and not really be fair.

But yes, just test multiple channels, whether it is Pandora radio or Twitch, Snapchat, all these different channels, you don’t know which one is going to work best for you, maybe some of them will be a little more obvious, don’t be afraid to mix it up. You can’t just go with what’s working today, you will be surprised because there are so many niches online with all these different components.

The New Digital Consumer and the Evolution of Luxury Retail

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The luxury retail industry has been in constant change over the past decade, in part, thanks to social media and the digital world. This industry is turning into a whole new sector, that combines both traditional retail with the latest innovations, creating a unique and rich experience for the consumers. The new digital consumer has changed the way he socializes, communicates and consumes, this is precisely why many luxury retailers have started to opt for omnichannel strategies that connect with their customers both inside and outside the stores.

How is it that the industry leaders are taking advantage of this and what can we learn from them to devise our own strategies?

 

Understanding your consumers

To start crafting any marketing strategy we always have to start with one of the most important elements, and that is the consumer. Today, consumers are informed, social and digital, and this means that brands have to adapt to stay on top of the game.

The luxury goods market is facing great changes in consumer habits, while the generation of baby boomers prefers to invest in material goods, new generations, such as millennials or generation Z, seek shopping experiences where the product It is not necessarily the most important thing.

A recent study by Bain & Co indicates that by 2025, millennials and generation Z will represent more than 40% of the luxury goods industry.

Unlike the others, the new generations are much more connected and seek to interact with brands on different channels. While digital and e-commerce play a big role here, that doesn’t mean that we have to shift all our focus online, physical stores as just as important, as consumers look for the whole shopping experience, they are moving between online and offline constantly, and retailers should aim to provide a seamless shopping experience.

 

Focusing on Experiences

Luxury is no longer just about the product, now it relies on integrating experiences as part of the purchasing process. Hospitality, gastronomy, and tourism are some of the industries that specialize in providing experiences to consumers, but more recently, luxury retail has begun to adapt to these trends and to a large extent, thanks to new technologies and the digital world.

The synergy between the offline and online worlds is changing the retail environment, today’s consumer is always connected and looking for an integrated shopping experience, which allows them to interact with the brands in multiple channels and at the same time.

Although the growth of e-commerce is undeniable, impulse purchases, the desire to see and touch something is still an important factor in most of the purchases of the retail sector. This is where the integration of the digital and in-store experience plays an important role and many brands are already adapting to these new trends.

 

One of the pioneers, is the British fashion brand, Burberry. Thanks to data collected through loyalty programs, the company obtains information on the purchasing habits and preferences of its consumers, that when they arrive at the stores, the sales consultants use tablets to give them personal recommendations based on their purchasing history. and activity in social media. Taking advantage of this to create a better shopping experience.

 

The power of Social Media

Much of the marketing strategies of luxury lies in storytelling, it’s not only about selling a product, but selling a lifestyle. A great number of brands have a long history of tradition and status and feared that participating in social media could make them lose their image of exclusivity. But this is already changing, as many of the most famous luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Chanel, to name a few, are taking advantage of the power of social media.

 

Much of the retail sector sales are influenced by digital channels. New consumers investigate and are always connected. It is not just the information we receive from brands anymore, but also the opinions and experiences of other users. Opinion leaders or influencers have become the new digital word of mouth and an extremely influential factor in the decision-making process.

Dolce & Gabbana Millenials

 

Recently, the Italian fashion firm Dolce & Gabbana is betting on the millennials. Not only with the unique style of their clothes, but including celebrities from social networks, singers, footballers and youth icons as part of their parades and online brand image.
Thanks to the combination of its online activity, events and new products focused on the new generations, D & G has been able to generate not only improvements in its sales but more personal relationships with its new audience.

 

The future of Luxury

So what does all this mean for brands and retailers? To be ahead of the change, companies must adapt, and the implementation of an omnichannel strategy is not an easy task.

Part of the success of retailers will also fall on how they can take advantage of new technologies to learn more about their audiences. Connectivity, e-commerce, and social media are now very influential factors in the customer’s buyers journey, and it’s now a big challenge for brands to integrate them in a way that allows them to engage with their audience and offer them a much more personalized and unique shopping experience.

What other strategies would you consider implementing? Are you already using an omnichannel approach in your business? Tell me about your experience!

The future of shopping. Benefits of Virtual Reality in Luxury Retail

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In the highly digital world in which we live today, where mobile and e-commerce are the big favorites, it is a big challenge for many luxury retailers to attract consumers to the stores. But interestingly enough, new technologies can become great allies of brands, allowing them to attract their audiences and provide them with a unique shopping experience. One of the technologies that are increasing its presence in the retail sector is virtual reality. Becoming more relevant again in recent years, this technology represents a great opportunity for the sector, since it generates a new and exciting way for consumers to interact with products at the point of sale.

Some of the key benefits retailers can get from virtual reality include:

 

Strengthening brand image

VR technology allows brands to get closer, in a much more personal way with their audience. YSL, one of the biggest luxury brands, launched a  campaign for their perfume incorporating VR technology that allows viewers to enter the world of the brand, get behind the scenes and discover all the shooting locations.

 

 

Increasing sales

Not only is virtual reality a unique way to get potential new buyers to the stores, but it can also have a big role in the buying desition process. For example, Jaguar added the virtual reality element to their dealerships by allowing potential buyers to see the interiors of vehicles and play around with personalization options helping them make desitions.

 

Enhancing the shopping experience

One of the primary benefits is this technology is the ability to improve the shopping experience. Virtual reality offers retailers new ways to interact with their consumers. Dior used VR lenses at several points of sale to showcase their new collections at the store, and while consumers shopped they could also get a front row seat to enjoy their latest fashion show.

 

In the end, incorporating these new technologies can help brands connect with their consumers in a unique and innovative way that will allow them not only to generate sales but to create brand loyalty.

Luxury Retail: Benefits of an omnichannel consumer experience

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The luxury retail industry, traditionally centered in physical stores, has dramatically changed these last few years. Making a switch for new technologies, social media, and e-commerce, luxury brands are adapting to new shopping behaviors where consumers are jumping from offline to online, merging analog and digital worlds to create an integrated, multi-channel experience.

Omnichannel marketing strategies start with understanding customers, getting to know what they need and how they shop so that retailers can provide a much more personalized experience. New technologies are making this much easier for brands to get data on their consumers’ shopping behavior, on and offline, allowing them to get valuable insights on how to reach their audience.

The role of the physical store has also evolved with the omnichannel approach, many luxury retail brands like Gucci or Burberry for example, not only keep the high-end experience with personal shopping assistants or offering champagne to their customers, but they also incorporate technology, where you can find big screens showcasing the latest collections or Ipads with your shopping history, which allows them to engage with their customers and offer them a far more rich and unique shopping experience.

Mobile Everywhere

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Smartphones have become the way user consume information today, and the faster we adapt our strategies and focused on creating a user experience for today’s consumer, the easier it will be to reach our goals.

Consumers will try to reach products and services from all types of devices and channels, and that is why concepts like multi-platform apps or omnichannel experiences are starting to get more attention. Companies are starting to understand that it’s not only about being mobile-friendly but that consumers will jump in between channels and devices and require the experience to be easy and fluid.

It’s easy to focus that quality content will be enough to satisfy the needs of consumers, but we tend to forget that the way users will consume the content can affect the success of our marketing efforts. We want to make our content easy to access and create designs that engage with users and gives them an enjoyable experience in any platform.