The social network invented by a computer science drop-out may look like the same white-and-blue product to all of its two billion users. After all, Facebook is a platform.
But that doesn’t mean Facebook cannot also be the place where creative messaging can thrive.
Whilst the company operates as a self-service ad platform, it is also highly hands-on with some of its big ad agency partners, helping them to craft messages that may resonate best.
“Creativity is such a core part of everything that we do – from how we think about products, to designing,” says Kay Hsu, the Instagram lead for Facebook’s 200-person global creative shop, the main program through which Facebook works with agencies, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“It isn’t limited to just the creative shop. It actually is imbued and infused in engineering, and our product teams all the way to sales. It’s just something that we really believe in as part of the success of our products.”
In June, Facebook’s Q2 advertising revenue grew 47% year-on-year to $9.1 billion. Such is its size and scale, the company frequently faces public statements from commentators about its gravity in the advertising world.
But, in the background, it seems like Facebook is trying hard to work with advertisers. Speaking with Beet.TV, Hsu lists the ways Facebook is working with agencies:
- High-touch: Working from briefs at the start of a campaign, working with a brand’s creative agency, helping direct the brief, helping with production and optimising production.
- Consulting: Optimising a campaign mid-flight as a “sounding board”.
- Hackathons: Giving agencies new products, encouraging real-time hacking on briefs to “ship” work quickly, in engineering parlance.
- Young talent: Working with Cannes Lion’s winning Young Lion, giving the person a glimpse of Facebook’s new products for advertising.
“I think creativity isn’t limited to just advertising and brand storytelling. It’s infused throughout every single phase of our product development process, and even how we iterate. So it’s definitely a core part of how we think.
“We know that, without creativity, we can’t really help brands unlock the full potential of our platform. So we’ve made it a part of our core tenet.
This Beet.TV series, presented by Facebook and WPP, is titled Creativity in a Mobile First World. Please find more videos from the series here.
