Agencies Model Newsrooms for Real-Time Marketing

Madison Avenue has long been home to creative gurus who had months to produce an advertising campaign. But an explosion of social media has pushed ad firms to work at faster paces and to even hire folks who are used to working on tight deadlines: reporters.

Take Caitlin Francke, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and the Philadelphia Inquirer. After a stint in marketing at Conde Nast and work at various agencies, she’s now senior vice president and director of social strategy at Publicis Kaplan Thaler.

“We know as journalists that we can teach to the advertising agencies the need to move that much faster,” Francke said. Her job includes running Publicis’s so called “Newsdesk” operations, a department of 50 people that includes social strategists, creative staffers and others.

The newsdesk, formed two years ago, monitors social media for eight clients and looks for opportunities for a marketer to jump in on a conversation in real-time. A morning meeting for the newsdesk may include a rundown of the important news of the day, a discussion of what major events to prepare for and a review of the conversations that are unfolding on social media. For big events, like the Olympics, Publicis will set up a pop-up 24/7 newsdesk for its client.

If they spot an opportunity, they post something quickly on social media channels like Facebook or Twitter that links the brand to what’s going on. Finding the right opportunity isn’t easy – a brand doesn’t want to tie itself to bad news.