Digital: It's a Platform, Not a Strategy (1 of 3).

The Objective: Create a meaningful bond that convinces broad C moms/homemakers aged 20-45 to choose our brand, currently a far third in its category, over the market leader, thereby catapulting us into the number one spot.

The Strategy: Use digital.

True story.

The advent of the digital landscape a decade ago has led to an entirely new form of advertising. After all, to the marketing and advertising industries so used to months of tedious, back-breaking work before releasing a 30-second ad (and its 15-second baby brother) worth millions of pesos, getting access to a platform that allows for instantaneous advertising that do not necessarily need to be high-budget, high-quality, or even particularly well thought out might seem like a godsend.

But like all good things, digital has been so pervasive, so successful, so convincing that many marketers and ad agencies have started to lose sight of what it is and what it isn't.

What it is: A 24-7, utterly pervasive, utterly disruptive platform that gives brands unprecedented reach and power.

What it isn't: A strategy on how to effectively connect with your audience.

In many countries (and especially in the Philippines), digital is now the number one platform for advertising. It has long left TV in its dust, what with most people spending more and more of their time on their social media. In fact, studies show that on an average, Filipinos spend about 10 hours a day online, something no other publishing platform can claim.

Add to that the cost-effectiveness of advertising on digital platforms (a single 30-second primetime TV spot on a major network can cost more than 6 months on boosting on social media), its flexibility on the length of your material (no more cutting down on the story or, heavens forbid, on the product freight just to keep the material to 30-seconds), and its much, much broader, richer range for communication (digital billboards potentially provide a more eye-catching material, AR and VR allow for a more impactful messaging, via simulated experiences) and you basically get all the elements that should make brands and advertising agencies salivate.

But despite all that, the fact remains that being pervasive or omnipresent has nothing to do with being effective. At the end of the day, what will still resonate with your audience is your story that carries your insight about them.

Just like any other platform, digital will simply serve to amplify what is already there, albeit more effectively than ever. It will amplify a brand's ignorance or false knowledge about its audience just as effectively as it would a brand's super-ultra-cool-and-undeniably-true-insight wrapped in a heart-rending narrative.

That a look at these two recent moment marketing snafus from Grab and Angkas.

In a bid to ride on a romantic controversy between real/reel life celebrity sweethearts, Grab decided to promote their six-seater with a post featuring the different ladies said actor had dalliances with. Said post immediately received condemnation for allegedly normalizing cheating.

Not a week later, just when people were saying Grab's controversial post could not be topped, Angkas said "Here, hold my beer".

Angkas, in a bid to encourage first time users, decided to go with a post that took the sex route (sex sells, right?). Instead, what followed was an even more heated discussion on brand values and where the line was, with regards to online content.

And yes, we've all heard about how "Bad publicity is still publicity" but the fact of the matter is, brands simply cannot afford to make a mistake this massive, especially on a platform that amplifies such mistakes to epic proportions.

So, go back to the top of the page and read that anecdote again. Hopefully, we don't fall into that trap of thinking that seeing is connecting.