As we march steadily forward into the digital age, the brands that are destined to survive are the ones that can embrace digital and use it to connect with consumers emotionally, says James Fuller of intergrated marketing agency, whynot!.

The popular path for digital at the moment seems to lie in experiential marketing, that is to say creating a memorable experience for consumers through interactive activities that ring an emotional chord. For Pringles, the latest adopter of this strategy, it’s about the fun and humorous connection with fans and with this new campaign- and we must admit they’re doing it rather well.

Making good use of digital yet again with their latest campaign ‘Last Can Standing’, the Pringles marketing team have had come up with giving their consumers the chance to create the world’s tallest virtual stack of Pringles.

Ask any digital marketer or marketing agency bod which discipline is first on the budget sheet, they're bound to answer 'search'. It stands to reason - although companies spend time, effort and money trying to tightly define their target audiences and deliver relevant messages at relevant times, a search audience is self-selecting.

Your ad is only served to those interested in your product or service as identified by the search phrase they enter into Google or Bing. By definition you've served the ad to the right audience at the right time.

Integrated Vs specialist: its the marketing agency debate that colours FindGood towers many an afternoon – but what should you base your marketing agency search and selection on and what do you need to consider?

There are many pros and cons for each side and naturally, the scales are constantly swaying.

Just about every day, someone asks us how we judge a marketing agency's relative quality and appropriateness to client briefs.

This blog was penned by the team at Gutenberg, an international advertising production business specialising in decoupling advertising production

Is decoupling advertising production right for you?

There are a number of factors which influence whether decoupling production is right for your business. Before you embark on decoupling advertising production there are a number of factors to take into account. If you fall into one of the following structures you can almost certainly benefit.

Did you miss Marketing Week Live 2013? We've asked one resident of this year's 'Ask the Experts' Zone, Brett Sammels to give us the inside scoop.

Brett is Client Services Director at full service advertising and marketing agency, LAW Creative.

We were digging around the back catalogues the other day and found this arther provacative article, which made our eyebrows, and we're sure those of marketing agencies everywhere, raise a few inches. Kevin Roberts of Advertising Agency Saatchi & Saatchi makes four big claims in his article entitled ‘Marketing is dead’. These are:

1. Strategy is dead
2. Management is dead
3. The big idea is dead
4. Marketing as we know [it] is dead

It's quite a statement, but reading further, we find ourseves agreeing with Roberts’ support points. Cynically, however, we suppose, in true Saatchi style, his headline points were meant to provoke. The social movement has changed the face of marketing and of the marketing agency. As did the internet. TV. Radio. Moveable type, etc.

If Roberts’ goal was to shock and generate discussion around the change that the industry is experiencing; he succeeded.

But, it’s our view that brands will continue to engage with audiences in order to drive sales and as the industry fragments further, moving from one to many communications toward one to one interactions, the role of the marketing agency and advertising agency will become more important. While the current marketing landscape and social tools allow the top 10% of brands and products to generate organic awareness and interest, this won’t be the case for the majority of firms and products. Most will still look to specialist firms to save themselves the learning curve of implementing full marketing programmes internally.

What do you think? Is marketing dead? How do you think the role of the marketing agency change in the years to come?

Keith Sammels is the Executive Creative Director of LAW Creative, a full service Advertising and Marketing Agency.

Read what CEO UK and Ireland of Branding Agency, The Brand Union, Toby Southgate has to say about 'Experience' and how a holistic marketing approach could fix your brand-consumer comms.

Daniel Bradley is an Account Manager at Monitor, a full service marketing agency based in Manchester.

The reports are clear. Mobile internet traffic is set to overtake desktop traffic by 2014. Are you ready? Here are 5 good reasons why you need to develop a mobile strategy so you don’t get left behind.

1. Mobile internet use is rising dramatically
   The world has gone mobile. Mobile and tablet device sales are incredibly strong and as a result mobile Internet usage is increasing rapidly. Websites are seeing a dramatic increase in mobile traffic. If forecasts are to be believed, by the end of 2013 and start of 2014, we’ll all be accessing the internet on the move rather than from our desks.
   
   
2. Social media is driving mobile expectations
   Along with email, social media is the most popular activity on mobile devices. The major social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are all optimised for mobile. When you develop your mobile strategy by sure to bear in mind that users of social media networks now expect this from social media sites as a standard and it’s only a matter of time before they expect it from every website.
   
   
3. Most website mobile traffic grew by over 50% in 2012
   The increase in smartphone and tablet sales means many more mobile Internet users. This number is likely to grow even more in 2013 as smartphones and tablets continue to saturate the market. We’re seeing the figures reflecting the change. A number of websites we currently manage have seen their mobile traffic increase over 500% since 2011 after developing a mobile strategy.
   
   
4. Your competitors are going mobile
   Going mobile is a hot topic of conversation at the moment whether it’s about creating mobile websites or dedicated mobile apps. Even if you’re not planning to focus on mobile soon, or develop a mobile strategy, chances are your competitors will be.
   
   
5. There are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on Earth.
   An astonishing statistic that says it all. And it’s going in one direction given the influx of smartphones, tablet devices and the increasingly popular Smart TV.

Key Steps to Starting Your Mobile Strategy

Know your audience

What are your customers looking for on their mobile devices? You need to find out so you can create features they find valuable – features they can’t live without. Review your analytics, filter the mobile traffic and see what sort of content mobile users are looking for on your site.

Know your starting point

Take a look at your current online presence on a mobile and tablet device. How does it look? Is your web experience fully optimised across all devices?

Know your competition

Take a look at your competition online. Do they have a mobile strategy with mobile-optimised messages and apps? Set clear goals Once you understand where you are now and what your customers are looking for from their mobile devices, the next step is to focus on your core goals. Don’t make the mistake of changing your business to become mobile. Mould a mobile strategy to fit your goals and make the move to mobile work for you.