NEW YORK: Facebook, the social network, is seeking to build stronger links with agencies and advertisers by establishing a "client council" made up of leading executives from outside the company.
At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Carolyn Everson, Facebook's VP, global marketing solutions, argued existing models used by brands on its pages should change.
"Facebook is one of the most incredible platforms for creativity out there - I don't want you to think about it as just a display ad," she said, according to the Financial Times.
"Brands have asked us a lot: 'Is this really about display advertising? Do I just buy ads on Facebook?' When they ask that question I realise we have so much education to do."
"I think that it's fair to say that we all must think about the way we approach creativity, the way we market products and how we create meaningful experiences in a new way."
Facebook doesn't permit homepage takeovers or similar strategies, instead encouraging customers to "tell stories".
Air carrier JetBlue, electronics group Samsung and sportswear giant Nike are among the firms which have achieved this, with the latter firm logging 2.5bn "ad views" for its "Write the Future" video.
Everson suggested prioritising "likes" was insufficient, adding that genuine engagement is an essential tactic here.
"I think some brands are probably over-obsessed with fans and just focus on numbers of fans," she said.
"As an industry we need to move away from that. Fans are totally important, of course they are - you want to know people who love your brand. But there's more - people expect more from a brand, they want to have a conversation."
In a step which could facilitate such a process, Facebook is attempting to prove return on investment, rather than emphasising simplified metrics.
"The measurement has to go beyond the click. That is a very ten-year-old display-ad-oriented model. It is much more than that," said Everson. "We need to be measuring brand affinity, awareness, intent to purchase."
"Comparing myself to myself is fine, but having the context of other advertisers would be great ... I'd like to see Facebook come out with an accepted benchmark."
To enhance its offering for agencies and advertisers, Facebook is developing a "client council", featuring 12 executives, at the behest of Mark Zuckerburg, the site's founder.
"We need a way for the clients to have a formal mechanism to give us input," Everson said. "So we can learn from them and so they can get a glimpse of what we're doing ahead of the general public."
"Mark Zuckerberg has set a very high standard for our team: he wants the advertising to be as useful to the user as getting a comment from a friend."
This rotating panel will be comprised of individuals viewing Facebook as "a way to transform a business", and currently includes Nick Brien, CEO, McCann Worldgroup, and Wendy Clark, Coca-Cola's SVP, integrated marketing.
"That is bigger than American Idol's audience on a good night," said Clark. "We are acquiring fans by roughly 1m every ten days."
Facebook also asserted such an approach did not constitute a move towards creating an entity capable of taking on agencies.
"We are not going to be building an in-house agency. We are not going to compete with you," Everson said. "One of our mantras is to stay small. We want to empower you."
At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Carolyn Everson, Facebook's VP, global marketing solutions, argued existing models used by brands on its pages should change.
"Facebook is one of the most incredible platforms for creativity out there - I don't want you to think about it as just a display ad," she said, according to the Financial Times.
"Brands have asked us a lot: 'Is this really about display advertising? Do I just buy ads on Facebook?' When they ask that question I realise we have so much education to do."
"I think that it's fair to say that we all must think about the way we approach creativity, the way we market products and how we create meaningful experiences in a new way."
Facebook doesn't permit homepage takeovers or similar strategies, instead encouraging customers to "tell stories".
Air carrier JetBlue, electronics group Samsung and sportswear giant Nike are among the firms which have achieved this, with the latter firm logging 2.5bn "ad views" for its "Write the Future" video.
Everson suggested prioritising "likes" was insufficient, adding that genuine engagement is an essential tactic here.
"I think some brands are probably over-obsessed with fans and just focus on numbers of fans," she said.
"As an industry we need to move away from that. Fans are totally important, of course they are - you want to know people who love your brand. But there's more - people expect more from a brand, they want to have a conversation."
In a step which could facilitate such a process, Facebook is attempting to prove return on investment, rather than emphasising simplified metrics.
"The measurement has to go beyond the click. That is a very ten-year-old display-ad-oriented model. It is much more than that," said Everson. "We need to be measuring brand affinity, awareness, intent to purchase."
"Comparing myself to myself is fine, but having the context of other advertisers would be great ... I'd like to see Facebook come out with an accepted benchmark."
To enhance its offering for agencies and advertisers, Facebook is developing a "client council", featuring 12 executives, at the behest of Mark Zuckerburg, the site's founder.
"We need a way for the clients to have a formal mechanism to give us input," Everson said. "So we can learn from them and so they can get a glimpse of what we're doing ahead of the general public."
"Mark Zuckerberg has set a very high standard for our team: he wants the advertising to be as useful to the user as getting a comment from a friend."
This rotating panel will be comprised of individuals viewing Facebook as "a way to transform a business", and currently includes Nick Brien, CEO, McCann Worldgroup, and Wendy Clark, Coca-Cola's SVP, integrated marketing.
"That is bigger than American Idol's audience on a good night," said Clark. "We are acquiring fans by roughly 1m every ten days."
Facebook also asserted such an approach did not constitute a move towards creating an entity capable of taking on agencies.
"We are not going to be building an in-house agency. We are not going to compete with you," Everson said. "One of our mantras is to stay small. We want to empower you."
Data sourced from Financial Times, Guardian, AdAge; additional content by Warc staff
