Our Vision | Carat

The world is transforming

We're experiencing a world of change:

Communications are transforming
Consumers are transforming
Marketing is under pressure

The next five years will see technology ubiquitously integrated into our everyday lives, as the new national broadband network transforms access to information, entertainment and media beyond anything consumers have ever experienced. Everything is going to change... The challenge will be that unless your brand communication is useful, interesting, or entertaining, it will be passed over.

A world of change is also a world of opportunity

The transforming world creates the opportunity to move from:

Broad (wasteful) targeting to precise targeting
Shallow, interruptive messages to engaging experiences
Talking to consumers to having consumers talk on brands' behalf
Occasional communication to continuous presence
Measuring the cost of advertising to improving the cost of response

Our mission is to Transform Communications into a Force for Business Results

As the world's first independent media agency, Carat have always been leaders rather than followers. This commitment to innovation sees us at our best in these exciting times of change. We're committed to transforming communications into a force for business results.

Everything we do is Consumer Led and Digitally Ahead

In order to transform communications, we have to put the consumer at the heart of our thinking. We need to be clear about what we want people to see, know, feel, share and do. And because consumers' lives are inextricably linked with the digital world, our approach is always digitally-ahead.

To illustrate the digital nature of consumer culture, just take a look at the millions of consumer conversations that are happening right now online.

130 million blogs have been tracked by Technorati since 2002.
If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated the world, according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (7 January 2009)
23% of online Australians interacted with a company via a social networking site in 2008, while one quarter participated in an organisation's website by uploading photos, video content, or placing photos
41% of online Australians published opinions specifically about products, services and brands and 86% read through content of others (Consumer generated media goes mainstream - marketingmag.com.au)

Brands need to share consumers' emotions and lives, participating in conversations and facilitating their interests, otherwise brands will be passed over. This means that the old media model of one-way, interruptive messaging just won't cut it. A new approach is needed.

We have developed a breakthrough framework for identifying and managing media - Bought, Owned, Earned

In these times of change, it no longer makes sense to talk about 'above the line' or 'below the line'. The entire communications landscape can now be understood in terms of Bought, Owned and Earned media.

Bought
These are distribution driven media. They're media that you buy in the usual ways. They include traditional media, traditional online.

Owned
These are brand driven properties. They include brand websites, retail environments, merchandise, brand-owned TV programmes and other branded content, such as custom publishing or branded applications.

Earned
Earned media are consumer driven. They include all word of mouth communications, social media, viral, organic search, fan sites and shared content. To some extent, these communications are Earned through doing Bought and Owned well, but they reflect on the brand's entire behaviour.