Head of Mindshare shares his thoughts

Monday, Nov 14, 2005, Page 11

Andreas Vogiatzakis, CEO of MindShare's Taiwan branch: "What Taiwan really needs when it comes to the economy is a stable environment politically." PHOTO: JACKIE LIN

Taipei Times: As your company's mission is to come up with creative solutions to create publicity for clients, how do you define "creative media?"

Andreas Vogiatzakis: Creative media has to show that it helps meet the objective -- it could be sales, awareness, maximum delivery or anything. It shows the "wow" experience -- making the audience experience something that is different. And to show innovation in the market, is [the media] an execution that was not done before? When we talk to our clients about creative media, it's not only something that looks cool, crazy or different. It could be a very well-done integrated campaign, using different media in the most efficient ways and bringing them all together in the best ways possible, synergistically.

For example, years ago, we put a Ford car [body] on the top of a building [in Taipei], which was a cooperative venture between us and J. Walter Thompson. We wanted to convey the idea that there are no boundaries and no limits for the Ford Escape, and the whole campaign was based on this idea. Although it was pulled off after two or three days [as the government expressed concerns about public safety], it generated so much publicity. Because of the entire campaign, the Ford Escape has become the most popular SUV in Taiwan.

The Nike `Speed' campaign outside a building in Taipei. Vogiatzakis says this is a very creative example of how speed can be conveyed via stationary media. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MINDSHARE

We have also done a Nike "speed" campaign with a print execution that's simply creative. Also, the toothbrush-shaped bus stop sign for Gillette is a good example. It's using the same medium in a different way.

TT: Traditionally media buyers only focused on budgets and figures. Why do you believe that creative media will be a future trend?

Vogiatzakis: Because I believe that if we focus only on the price, we're going to completely lose touch with the customers. Do we think that consumers know how much a spot costs on TV, or how much we pay for a page in the newspapers? They don't know, and probably they don't care. What they care about is that they have less time to read the newspapers, and they get tired of commercials. They want to avoid them. So it's our job to understand [consumers] better, and to try to touch their minds in a way that we don't upset them, but we create an impact for them. That's why I believe that traditional buying is not going to be the ticket for success in the future. We need to understand consumers differently. That's why we invest a lot in research. But we need to be careful, because just to be creative is not good; If it links with strategies and brings results, it's perfect.

TT: MindShare has been in business for 10 years. As an industry veteran, what changes have you seen in the Taiwanese market in terms of the advertising industry?

Vogiatzakis: I've been here for only three years, but I can tell you that I've seen changes that are incredibly different from five years ago. First of all, cable TV -- that really changed the media scene a lot: the channel choices for consumers, the intense competition among the channels, the different price structures between the cable channels, and also in conjunction with terrestrial television. How the market has developed -- cable TV from nothing, to a lion's share.

The second change is the market entry of [the Chinese-language newspaper] the Apple Daily, which has created a lot of challenges. It proved that there's room to play, because the consumers are up to it.

Another change is the consumer themself. The consumers in Taiwan are more sophisticated, more exposed to products and services from other countries, and therefore they have become much more demanding and media savvy. They demand the highest quality at the most competitive price. That affects the way we do business.

Challenges for us are that we have to do things in a more complex way. We have to do more research because consumers now don't have time, and everything for them becomes smaller and faster. Ads need to be more creative to get people's attentions.

TT: Have these changes occurred at the same pace as those in other countries over the past five years?

Vogiatzakis: I have direct experience in Japan, as I'd been there five years before I came to Taiwan. Taiwan has developed faster than other markets. Taiwan is a mature market in media, that nevertheless still has room for developments. For example, I believe that research shows a lot of areas to be developed for different buying practices. Taiwan has been well ahead of Japan in what options are available to the consumers, and how much the market is regulated or controlled by different agencies and media.

In Taiwan, my impression is that if this market has decided to change, you have to really run fast, because it's gonna happen overnight. They might deliberate on what to do for a while -- like one morning I got a cup of coffee over there; the next day, the coffee shop completely disappeared. And the third day, it's back on with a completely new face. And I wonder how they did this. I think that has to do with society and social values, because that's how people operate here.

TT: With so many mediums available, which is the most popular and effective?

Vogiatzakis: It depends on how you slice the pie. Cable TV has the biggest share, but is it the most popular? Different strokes for different folks. Younger people don't read newspapers that much, and older people do. It really depends on the targets. However, the Internet is coming very fast. When you look at the telecommunications area, the technology area and 3G, Internet is going to be "the" platform that we really need to explore in the future. Having seen this, MindShare has set up an Internet digital unit which we will try this year and next year to make bigger and better.

TT: Since the market has become so much more challenging and competitive, has ad spending bounced back from the slump during the SARS period three years ago to pre-2000 levels?

Vogiatzakis: I was expecting this year that expenditures would surpass last year's, but actually it's much lower than I thought it would be. Last year media spending was NT$61.9 billion (US$1.8 billion) and this year it is estimated to be around NT$61 billion. Our forecast for next year is similar.

It's been a very interesting year this year, where the forecasts for industries in general until mid-summer were quite positive, and something happened toward the end of summer and clients were cutting budgets, reserving funds for later, not investing, being more cautious. I think the oil prices and what's going on in the world all have an impact.

I'm a member of the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT), and also on the board of supervisors at the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham). I follow their discussions closely and the papers submitted to the government. Our consensus is that what Taiwan really needs when it comes to the economy is a stable environment politically. Not good or bad, just stable, therefore you can make some safe predictions and adjust your investments in such a way that they can bring in results.

So instability is a problem. Blue, red, green, yellow, purple -- it doesn't really matter. The ECCT and AmCham always try to lobby the government to create an environment that can really help businesses to invest more.