>>Evan Davis: Maurice, when did you first think digital is going to be important in
my business? >>Maurice LÈvy: I think in 1985, when we
started to have an electronic graphic palette. 1985.
And we created the studio, we put it in the creative department. And creative people were
turning around and no one was going in. And suddenly, because of a hurry and the client
was looking for something different, late at night, one creative guy entered. He dared
to do that. And he asked for changing the ad. And it has been done overnight, and we
started to have a lot of graphic palettes. And then in 1994, we created the department
which was design for Web. And the first Web ever done in France has been done by our agency.
>>Evan Davis: Right. So you have been way up there, well ahead of the game.
>>Maurice LÈvy: By accident. [ Laughter ]
>>Evan Davis: Very modest. What's the organizational implication for
the advertising agency? You take over a digital marketing specialist. Do you have the digital
bit and the other bit or have you totally integrated now?
>>Maurice LÈvy: The most difficult thing to do in our business is to deal with the
resistance of people to change. That's the most difficult issue.
And you have people that are entrenched in their habits and the way they are used to
do the work, and they resist traditional habits. And to have them changing is very difficult.
So we started to have stand-alone operation which were along the traditional agencies.
And then we contaminated, if I may use this word, the agency by introducing new people,
new breed of people, and what we call digital native. And this has changed progressively.
If we have accelerated the speed at which we have transformed our group compared to
our competitors, it is because we created VivaKi, which is helping shifting the media
investment from the traditional or analog to the new world. And this is something which
has really changed the way we are working. >>Evan Davis: Yeah.
Social media is more recent obviously than the kind of digital innovations that were
occurring back in the 1980s. How much does that change again where you were in the 1990s
with your Web -- your Web outfit? >>Maurice LÈvy: It is changing because people
are sharing. They are sharing information, they are sharing their mood, they are sharing
their problems, they are sharing when they like a brand, they are sharing when they don't
like a brand. And this has accelerated the empowerment of the people and the consumer.
And this has dramatically changed the way we advertise.
>>Evan Davis: Yeah. Expand on that.
I mean, you -- >>Maurice LÈvy: If you look at the '20s,
the '60s, the '70s, the '80s the '90s and beginning of 2000, we were speaking at consumer,
we were speaking to consumer, and there was no dialogue. And we were all looking as the
holy Grail for the feedback. Today we don't have to wait. We get the feedback
just a few minutes after you have posted the ad. They like it, thumb up. They don't like
it, thumb down. And they are pretty quick at doing it.
So what has changed quite dramatically, the fact that you enter into a dialogue. It is
interactive. People are reacting immediately. If, for example, you take the example of Gap,
it has taken -- what? Two weeks after huge investment to have the brand going back to
the old logo. And this simply because people didn't like it.
If you go back to the '80s, it has taken 18 months for Coca-Cola to come back with a classic.
That's difference. Speed at which people are reacting, the speed at which they say yes
or they say no. And the fact that you have to get organized to communicate in their language.
And what has changed also quite dramatically is the language and the tone of voice. You
don't speak the same way when you are on TV and when you are on the Web.