The benefits of offshoring aren't just limited to the IT world. See if sending your ad production overseas might work for your cost-containment initiatives.
Capitalizing on lower cost resources overseas is certainly not a new phenomenon; but what may surprise you is that offshore outsourcing is rapidly moving from experimental to mainstream in the marketing world.
Forward-thinking businesses and agencies can lower ad production costs by 40 percent or more by moving components of the process offshore. Though this capability has existed for a number of years, a few recent trends are making it a mainstream reality.
With the shift of dollars from traditional to new media, the production spend in support of online advertising is now at a scale where companies can save significantly. Furthermore, the current recessionary economy is mandating that businesses reduce sales and marketing costs. While the $283.9 billion U.S. advertising market is only projected to increase 3 percent in 2008, online media spend is expected to grow 23 percent to $25.9 billion. Online advertising will comprise 10 percent of total media spend by 2009 and reach 15 percent by 2012. As a result, Gartner is forecasting a growth rate of 8.1 percent in the global outsourcing market.
It was not long ago when "made in Taiwan" conjured up images of cheap products and plastic Godzillas. Today it equates to semiconductors and laptops, and Taiwanese companies themselves outsource to China and Southeast Asian countries to take advantage of cheaper labor. Similar to the maturing and expansion of capabilities in the world of manufacturing, offshore outsourcing in the services industries is growing well beyond information technology, call centers and back office administrative functions. R&D and marketing services are just a few examples of strategic business functions where offshoring is establishing a firm foothold.
A viable and affordable option
As advertising dollars shift from traditional to new media, offshore becomes a more attractive and viable option. Take banner ads for example -- the numerous sizes and variations times the number of campaign concepts translates to a mind-boggling number of permutations. Throw in the increased usage of Flash and rich media, multiple rounds of creative revisions, as well as the unique tagging needed for performance tracking across venues, and the level of effort becomes very substantial. What makes banner ad production a good candidate for offshoring is it requires less oversight from the creative director than certain forms of advertisements, like TV commercials. An offshore team with the requisite creative and technical talent that understands the brand can produce the banner ads with a high degree of accuracy. In addition, files from these off-site locations can be transmitted instantly to facilitate faster reviews and delivery.
Youl probably be surprised to learn the companies leading the charge. For example, Ogilvy & Mather recently opened a 24-hour creative support studio in Bangalore for its global accounts such as Lenovo. Wieden + Kennedy opened an office in Delhi to serve local and global accounts, merging with A Creative Agency to form W + K India. And they're not all new ventures. My company, Sapient, opened an office in Delhi in 2000 and currently has over 3,000 people across three offices in India alone. Sapient integrates U.S.- and Europe-based studios near the client geography with creative and technology teams in India to produce banner ads, microsites and web/mobile applications.
India has a natural advantage in an English-speaking workforce and scale. However, while agencies vary in their scale and maturity with respect to offshore ad production, the phenomenon isn't isolated to India. Indeed, the talent is abundant globally, and advertising executives can choose from agencies with services based across India, China, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Now, before you slash budgets and reduce your staff, understand what it takes to be successful in offshoring ad production.
When considering an offshore ad production strategy, there are several considerations that can help you make a more seamless transition to a multinational creative workforce -- and save you from a world of unexpected costs and inefficiencies.
First, all outsourcing should be done in a measured way. Reducing your production costs is only worthwhile if the ads are in-brand and on-message. While many production activities can take place offshore, the lead creative and concepting exercises should still reside with your on-site creative director.
Second, choose your outsourced partner carefully. Agencies with both a strong onshore and offshore presence can literally help you sleep better at night by serving as the communication and management bridge between you and the offshore team (i.e., fewer early morning/late night calls). While they tend to be slightly more expensive than pure offshore players, these agencies have a built-in insurance policy with their onshore team. In addition, they can actually reduce timelines and increase responsiveness by establishing 24-hour onshore/offshore production cycles.
For global brands, it's also important to choose an agency that not only executes well in a distributed fashion but also has a strong understanding of the cultural sensitivities in your target geographies.
Finally, involve the offshore team early and often, just as you would an in-house production department. In addition to the creative concept, they need to understand your marketing strategy and brand execution to be successful and to add the most value. You will be pleasantly surprised at how collaboratively and efficiently an onshore/offshore team can work together once the communication processes and relationships have been established.
Anyone with offshore outsourcing experience will tell you it's not easy. But the risk is fairly minimal, the cost savings are immediate and it is an opportunity to create a competitive advantage. If your company grows money on trees, or has no pressure from investors/owners to improve profit margins, then you can afford to wait. Otherwise, take a leadership position and think seriously about doing it now rather than waiting for your competitive and financial situation to force you into it later.
译文:
广告项目外包海外有意义吗？
外包服务的好处不应该仅为IT界享用。在海外进行你的广告制造是不是一个有效节约开支的方法？一起来看看吧。
于你来说，注资海外相对廉价的资源已经不是什么新鲜事了。但是你会惊讶于这个事实：营销世界里，把项目外包至海外的形式已经不再处于实验性阶段，而是快速地成为主流了。
通过把制作过程的某些环节移至海外，前卫的企业单位可以减低40%以上的广告制作费用。外包服务已经生效多年，一些新趋势更促使其成为主流。
随着广告投资从传统媒体转向新媒体，公司制作网络广告成本的可节省幅度相当大。此外，如今衰退的经济要求企业减低营销费用。有关预测显示，数目为283.900.000.000美元的广告市场消费在2008年增幅仅为3%；互联网广告费用增幅为23%，达到25.900.000.000美元。在2009年互联网广告将会占整体媒体费用的10%；在2012年则增至15%。根据这些数据，Gartner预测全球外包市场的增幅为8.1%。
不久前，“台湾制造”的商品大多数都是一些诸如塑胶哥斯拉玩具的廉价商品。今天的“台湾制造”已经是半导体和电脑产品了。台湾公司通过把项目外包给中国和东南亚的国家，很好地利用了外包目的地相对廉价的劳动力。和世界制造业日渐成熟和扩展的能力相似，服务业在实现外包国外方面已经不仅限于信息技术领域，客服中心和后勤办公室管理功能了。通过外包建设海外根据地实现的商业策略已经日渐流行，譬如把研究与发展以及营销服务部门设在国外。
一个可行的、便宜的选择。
由于广告费用由传统媒体流转向新媒体，外包的选择变得越发吸引人了。以横幅广告为例：鉴于众多的尺寸，广告概念被诠释为不同排列组合的多得令人惊讶的次数，在考虑下一个问题的时候把Falsh和多媒体的使用增加，多轮创造性修改，用于广告场地功效追踪的独特的标签，付出的努力都是实际性的这四个因素考虑进去吧。是什么让横幅广告制作成为外包项目的候选者呢？因为比起电视广告，横幅广告需要较少来自创作总监的监管。只要具备创造力和技术才能的海外队伍很好地理解品牌，便可以制作出高精度的横幅广告。此外，这些外地的“作品”也能被及时传递以实现快速检阅和配送。
你和我都很可能会对以下这些出头鸟表示惊讶。譬如，Ogilvy & Mather为自己的全球顾客（如联想）在班加罗尔开办了二十四小时运作的创意支持影视工作室。Wieden + Kennedy也在德里创立了全球顾客服务办公室，并和一个创意机构合并成Wieden + Kennedy(印度区)。2000年，我的公司Sapient在德里创立办公室，到目前为止公司在印度区已经拥有3个办公室和超过3，000名员工。通过雇用印度的创意和技术队伍制作横幅广告、微型网站和网络/移动应用程序，Sapient在顾客所处的地理位置附近成功整合了基于美国和欧洲的影视工作室。
印度的天然优势在于其能用英语交流的劳动力规模。但是，既然代理行的规模大小不一，行内人士对制作外包的认识也日渐成熟，这种现象会蔓延至印度以外的地区。实际上，巨大的人才库无处不在。广告执行官可以选择建立于印度、中国、拉丁美洲、东欧和东南亚的服务机构。
现在，在你削减费用和裁减员工之前，先想想广告制作的外包如何才能获得成功吧。
考虑广告制作外包策略的时候，如何更好地实现利用多国创造性劳动力的无缝过度，避免意外损耗和无用功？以下几点会是不错的建议。
首先，外包项目必先慎重考虑。仅仅对于关于品牌的、基于信息的广告，才能考虑外包以减少制作费用。虽说很多制作活动都可以在海外进行，但是创造的主导和概念活动应该留给本地的现场创作总监。
第二，谨慎选取你外包项目的海外合作对象。与在国内外都有强大实力的机构合作吧，有他们扮演你和你的海外队伍沟通管理桥梁的角色，你才能在晚上安睡（少些午夜凶铃和超早的叫醒服务的确是不错的享受）。这样的开支虽然会稍微比单纯雇用海外工作人员昂贵些，但是考虑到这些机构内有本地的队伍作为保障，而且通过建立全日制海内外制作档期，的确能减少工作时限、增加机构响应性。
对于全球品牌，选择一个这样的机构是很重要的：①对某个流行事物有很好的执行力；②对你目标地区的文化敏感性有深刻洞悉。
最后，尽早融入海外队伍，并经常和他们交流。只管把他们看作你内部的制作部门好了。除了创造性概念，他们还需要清楚你的市场策略和品牌执行，这样才能很好地完成工作，实现价值的最大化。一旦交流机制创立并良好运作，你会很开心地发现：海内外队伍共同工作的效率达到了令人惊讶的程度。
有过项目外包国外经验的人都会和你说：这不是一件容易的事；但是其风险是极少的，节省费用立竿见影，是建设竞争优势的机会。如果你的公司是摇钱树，或者你没有来自投资商/公司所有人要求增加利润率的压力，那么你就继续等着吧。否则，不妨扮演下领头羊的角色，认真考虑一下这项举措。不要等到你的竞争对手捷足先登后你有压力了，或者财政紧张了才有所行动。