5 Minutes With… Justin Bairamian
2012 was big business for Britain and its little ol’ Broadcasting Corporation. Among the annual calendar stalwarts like Wimbledon there were the small matters of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee and an Olympic Games staged in London. Cue the BBC to do what it does best and unite a nation. And that it did. LBB’s Laura Swinton spoke to the BBC’s Director of Creative Marketing, Justin Bairamian, about a hectic last year and ‘quiet’ one forthcoming.
LBB> Many viewers, especially those in the UK, have a sort of emotional connection the BBC as a brand – what type of pressure or benefit does it create working for a brand like that?
JB> I think it really creates opportunities. When we get it right, we unlock the emotional relationship that people have with the BBC. It goes right back through childhood because people have grown up with it and it’s very much part of the fabric of the UK. If we can unlock that through what we do, I believe we can access something.
LBB> Last year particularly there were a lot of big events, such as the Olympics and the Jubilee...
JB> Again, I think the BBC has an incredibly powerful role. These events are a great example of the BBC’s power to really bring the nation together to celebrate events like that. You might ask how can the BBC cut through all of the commercial clutter and find a really clear role?” But actually, our role is to unite the nation, bring it together to celebrate the Olympics. If you focus on that and find a powerful way of articulating that, you’ve got something incredibly unique. It’s a privileged place to be, really.
LBB> You mention that the BBC is a place that brings people together, but the current media landscape is becoming more fragmented. How has that influenced the BBC’s approach to marketing?
JB> We obviously work very hard to make sure the content experience operates across all of our screens. For example, the Olympics worked through the interactive video player, red button technology, Facebook, apps. A lot of it is about getting the content out there, rather than pure marketing. Then what marketing can do is capture that and find a way of expressing it.
What’s interesting is that those technologies are not necessarily a replacement for the TV experience; they’re often an enhancement. At different times of the day, different platforms are used – during the day, people are at work and using desktops, whereas late at night, people often catch up on tablets. At peak time, it’s the still the big screen in the living room that people want to experience it on. Some people see multi-screening as a threat to traditional broadcasting, but I think that if you use it right, it’s an enhancement.
LBB> From a more creative point of view, unlike a lot of other sectors, the BBC already has its creative content. How do you work with the programme developers and content creators to make sure that the stories carry across through the marketing?
JB> You have to work incredibly closely. At its worst, marketing can be seen as something that has the divine right to turn content into what we think is right. At best, we’re sitting in the edit suite with the programme makers. They know their programme better than anyone else and we have a skillset that we bring to it. When it’s done well it’s a very porous relationship between programme makers and us – it has to be, particularly in the digital space.
LBB> And how early on in the programme development process do marketing get involved?
JB> Increasingly early. I think everyone recognises that, in a sense, the marketing of a programme starts at the point of commission. Within the BBC, marketing is also influencing commissioning strategies and bringing brand understanding and insight into that world. But once programmes start being commissioned, we’ll be sitting down with the programme teams to discuss how we can work together. Social teams will also be doing the same. It is becoming increasingly complex and there’s a demand for people to work together further upstream. It’s a challenge because the time and resources required to do it well are much greater than when all we had to do was a 30 second trailer.
LBB> Since you’ve you've been involved at the BBC, how has the marketing strategy evolved?
JB> The recognition that there should be a marketing strategy has been accepted, for a start!
I think in the old days, marketing was seen as the trail factory. The programme makers would do their job and we’d just promote it. That is obviously still a very important part of what we do, but increasingly marketing and other sectors are working directly with the programme makers to help them develop content.
My only caveat on that is that we need to engage programme makers in a way that both respects their expertise, but also doesn't bewilder them with jargon. You can end up wanting the same thing but talking different languages. We’re getting better and better in finding ways of engaging each other. However in the creative business there should always be that challenge; that’s what makes it exciting. Some of the brilliance really comes from that ‘tension’.
LBB> Do you think there is anything the advertising industry and its creatives could learn from a company like the BBC and its processes?
JB> We’re already hearing quite a lot about storytelling – and at the BBC you’ve got some of the best storytellers in the world. I think people in marketing at the BBC and beyond can learn a lot about how to create brilliant stories. Fundamentally, despite the fact that we’ve got different screens, social networking technologies and face recognition on the way, it is the art of storytelling that will engage people. That’s definitely one thing that people can learn.
Having come from the advertising industry and having worked at the BBC for a while now, I think the other thing to learn is the speed at which the BBC create content. The art of live television and always being ‘on’ are things people in marketing increasingly have to learn about. The old days of campaigns landing in a very ordered and controlled way are gone. The speed at which the BBC creates content, while retaining absolute quality, is amazing.
LBB> I was reading an article about the BBC and marketing, which said that there was a marketer embedded within the news teams at the company…
JB> We do lots of different things in terms of working with programme teams. There was a big initiative around the 10pm news, where we helped them produce what were effectively trails for the show. They’re very topical and done to a style that we’ve agreed with them, but they produce it. Often we are working incredibly closely, and that does require marketing people to be embedded in programme teams. Marketing, technology and content; those are the three areas that need to increasingly come together.
LBB> With budgets being cut in the last few years, how have you adapted the strategy to cope with it?
JB> I don't think we’ve adapted the strategy, we just ensured that we were doing it in the most efficient way and that nobody noticed anything on screen. We worked incredibly hard to make sure that the teams were working efficiently and that there was no wastage. We really tried to protect the audience experience, to which I think we were largely successful – but not without some pain!
LBB> The BBC has some great relationships with agencies – what do agencies bring to the process at the BBC and how have the relationships evolved?
JB> I’ve actually tried to get the agencies working together as much as possible, and have taken any sense of competition out. We try to make sure that they all get a fair crack of the whip and that they’re all playing to their strengths.
We have Red Bee, who obviously have BBC experience going back for decades, RKCR Y&R who have been working with us for a fair few years, and newer to the roster is Karmarama – it’s a really nice mix of experience and skillsets. Likewise for branding, we use Red Bee, Devilfish and Interbrand, and just try to work to their strengths and get them working together to discuss creative problems. I’m really pleased with the roster at the moment – they’re all on form and delivering great work.
LBB> What are the big things that we should be looking forward to in the coming year from the BBC?
JB> This year is a funny one. 2012 was so crowded and there was just so much to do – it was very exciting but also pretty daunting! This year is much quieter, so we’re thinking about the stories we can tell about the BBC. I think you’ll see us acting like the BBC does normally, but in ways that elevate the story.
The other thing to look out for is us really taking advantage of the properties that we do have. Glastonbury is one thing that we’re focusing on and it could be our Olympic moment of the year. We’re looking at using the tools and techniques from last year to really bring that event to life. Even in a quiet year we have events like Wimbledon, so it’s really just a case of taking advantage of those things, but at the same time packaging what we do day in day out and trying to tell a story about the BBC.
LBB> Thinking back to the Olympics, there were so many dimensions and technologies to the coverage, were there any lessons or experiences for you during that time that are really going to shape what you do at the BBC going forward?
JB> More than anyone, I think the BBC can create stuff that is really simple and useful. The danger with new technology is that it can all become so complicated. If you’re talking second, third, or fourth screens or connected televisions, I think consumers are bewildered; I even find myself bewildered by all of the things I’m supposed to be doing and all of the social networks I’m supposed to be a part of. I think that for large swathes of the country, that isn’t their life. The BBC can take some of that technology, cut through some of the clutter, and make it really simple and useful. We’ve got the expertise to take quite niche and complicated things and adapt them to a mainstream audience. That’s what we did for the Olympics. It was a big lesson for us.
