Consumer insight
"The very definition of advertising is changing," said Rei Inamoto, AKQA's co-chief creative officer. "Even as recent as three to five years ago, it was a cookie-cutter approach."
What is certain, Mr. Inamoto said, is that AKQA does its best work when it's anchored to consumer insight.
Data for consumers
When the agency realized the engineers at client Fiat didn't know what to do with diagnostics data its vehicles' computers collected, AKQA came up with the idea of the data to appeal to consumers' growing consciousness of environmental sustainability. The result was a device drivers can plug into the vehicles' onboard USB port that stores driving habits such as acceleration. They can take those data to their PCs for analysis and tips on how to improve fuel efficiency.
Almost one in three visitors to the Fiat microsite has downloaded the application, and more than 6,000 unique users visit the site daily, thanks word-of-mouth and PR; there has been no media spending to drive people there.
Mr. Bedecarre said AKQA's agency-of-record duties for Flip Video, maker of pocket-sized camcorders, could be a harbinger of things to come. A few other clients have "toyed with the idea but haven't pulled the trigger," he said, then asked: "As more and more media becomes digital, at what point does the digital agency assume the lead agency role?"
AKQA recruited Flip's demographic target of young adults to create content using cameras it gave away, and the content was repurposed to showcase new bands on MTV. The campaign reached 17 million viewers, resulting in a 14-point boost in Flip's brand awareness and a six-point boost in purchase intent among the target audience.
Simon Fleming-Wood, VP-marketing at Flip's parent, Pure Digital, said the brand is not interested in marketing its products in traditional ways, and AKQA gets that.
"They have been instrumental is helping us craft our media and marketing partnerships to not only deliver the brand message but to do it in a way that represents the authenticity of the brand," Mr. Fleming-Wood said. "We don't spend big media dollars, and we never want people to feel like they are being directly advertised to."
Slowing 2009
For all its success, AKQA's growth should slow this year amid the economic recession. It also sees a quiet year ahead on the acquisition front, although Mr. Bedecarre said the agency wouldn't rule out good opportunities if they came along. "We'd certainly have the resources," he said.
There's also, of course, the question of what comes next for a growing, digitally savvy independent shop -- and Mr. Bedecarre wouldn't rule out anything from an acquisition to a public offering.
"In this business, there's always [companies] reaching out to us," he said. Of an IPO, he said only that the agency is "a strong candidate ... in terms of being a growing company in a growing area."
