Katie O’Dell
“The last thing a client has time for is to hold the hand of their agency through the creative process.”
Katie O’Dell | Principal, Chief Client Officer
Katie brings 15 years of strategic experiences, a clear understanding of branding practices, and an amazing amount of energy to Infuz. She’s worked with top global consumer goods companies, helping them to position their corporate, product, and services brands to consumers and businesses.
At Infuz, Katie is responsible for the agency’s brand strategy practice and helps our clients solve their complex brand challenges. She operates under the mantra that a strong web presence should be an extension of a brand’s overall marketing communications, aligning digital strategies with traditional channels.
Katie has been a leader on both the agency and the client side, giving her a keen understanding of the dynamics of building a great relationship team.
Katie used to be a carnival barker.
As a client and for an agency, you’ve worked on both sides of the fence. What have you learned seeing both perspectives, and how has it helped shape your current role with Infuz?
I’ve been fortunate to serve, as you say, on both sides of the fence. Having exposure to both worlds, I’ve learned lessons that have given myself, and Infuz, an advantage when relating to brands, marketers, and consumers in general.
Understanding brand marketing goals and success metrics helps me often work not just for clients, but also with our clients. Marketers need an agency, a true partner who anticipates their needs and exceeds their expectations. The last thing a client has time for is to hold the hand of their agency through the creative process. Our clients rely on us to guide their vision and deliver greater than what they had in mind.
My client experience has also helped Infuz as an agency think more like a marketer. We’ve been encouraged to make more effective decisions knowing the lens placed on the work we produce – both from an agency and client lens.
Ultimately, what has helped most is the fact that essentially, I’ve been in their shoes. I know that while great harmony often exists between the client and agency, sometimes it’s hard to relate to the other side. Of course, there will always be moments of minor miscommunications or misinterpretations. What I excel most at is seeing both sides of story, and fusing them together, rather than driving them apart.
You’ve spent nearly two decades helping position and creating experiences for some of the world’s largest brands. From your experience, how has interactive changed the way consumers relate to brands?
The biggest change I’ve seen thus far has been the shift of power from brand to consumer. Consumers, more knowledgeable than ever before, are now dictating what they want to focus on, how they want to be engaged, and most importantly, interactively speaking, where they want to be targeted. Consumers are looking to experience a brand, rather than be told about it. They want to hear what others have to say about a brand rather than rely on the traditional advertising model: print, radio, TV, billboard, et cetera.
Brands must be willing to be flexible, available, and ready to adapt and change just as quickly as the consumers they are targeting. A brand’s website, as great as it may be, is simply no longer enough. Consumers are living inside of social networking mediums; you must be adaptable and prepared to bring your message to them in their environment, as most often, they aren’t looking to search for your brand outside of their world. They’re not stubborn per se, they have just been able to take control and now have everyone coming to them, in ways like never before.
Of course, once you’re “there”, that’s just half of the battle. The next challenge entails actually engaging them and gaining their interest in your message, product, or brand. At Infuz, that’s the foundation of our business: making these experiences memorable, and also relevant. We recognize it’s not just about being there, but also about making sense.
What inevitable changes and opportunities for improvement do you see in the future for brands in the digital realm?
In the future, brands have to understand they will continue to have less and less control of their message and brand itself. The challenge lies within whether or not they will embrace this, or begin a never-ending power struggle against it. The brands that will see the most success moving forward are those willing to relinquish control to their consumers. They recognize if they provide a great product and experience for their consumers, they really have nothing to fear. An ecstatic consumer who is spreading your product or message via a YouTube upload or blog entry is the most humbling, organic level of promotion you can ask for.
Also, when speaking with consumers, brands have to do just that: speak with them. Allow a level of free flowing communication between your brand, consumers, and marketers. It’s no longer an “us vs. them” mentality as much as it is “we’re all in this together moving forward”. Your consumers are more than your buyers, they are also the voice of your brand, your biggest supporters, and active voices than can ultimately make or break your message and brand. Ask their opinions, find their interests, engage them more than ever before – it could be the future of your brand in jeopardy if you don’t. The biggest pitfall comes with ignoring your consumers online. To let their voice fall on deaf ears is no different than sending the message – “We don’t care”.
