[ paul isakson ]

Feeding The Lions

Seems that the snubbing of Big Spaceship by BBDO in regard to the gold Cyber Lion for the HBO Voyeur site is causing a bit of a stir. After reading the above two quotes by Mr. Rosenshine (from earlier this year) it starts to make a little sense. When you read the response of BBDO's current chairman and CCO, David Lubars, it becomes even more clear:

"Ideas are timeless. Ideas are what inspire people. Ideas are the root of all execution. On 'Voyeur,' BBDO thought of the idea, shot the idea, then brought in Big Spaceship to do what they do. They did a great job (and we've made every effort to acknowledge them). What's the issue? Maybe Cannes should consider the idea of a Palme d'Or for digital production."

While on the surface this appears to be an argument about who should have received credit for an award, I think it's really a bit more than that. In fact, it just might not be about the award at all. It's not even just about BBDO and Big Spaceship. Instead, what it's really about is money and control and a big network agency not wanting to lose any bit of either with any of their clients.

BBDO wants to retain control over as much of their client relationships and budgets as they can. By painting Big Spaceship as just a vendor/production house who executed BBDO's idea, BBDO positions themselves as the power-player with the ideas and strategic leadership. They're essentially saying, "Without our idea, Big Spaceship never would have pulled this off."

It also works to present Big Spaceship as the equivalent of a talented photographer or director that BBDO might use on a print or TV ad campaign. Yes they bring value to the overall work, but the clients wouldn't ever just go to the (TV) director or (print) photographer directly. They need BBDO to come up with the strategy and ideas first. Then the director or photographer get involved.

In saying Big Spaceship was just the digital producer, they're saying that the clients still very much need BBDO first and foremost.

The bigger behind the scenes issue here is that BBDO and the other major agency networks are often sitting on significant contracts from big clients to be their lead brand agencies. The BBDOs of the world want to keep things as they are. Meanwhile, smaller agencies working on small- to medium-sized projects here and there for bigger clients are wanting a bigger piece of the pie and can't get to it because of these contracts.

If it becomes clear to the clients that other agencies can and are pitching-in great ideas on the work being done for them, it doesn't bode well for the enormous retainers the network agencies have grown to love. So, if BBDO admits that Big Spaceship played a larger role in this, it begs the question of why wouldn't HBO just start to work with Big Spaceship directly on some future projects.

Not only that, but it could additionally raise eyebrows around the globe as to whether or not the traditionally air-tight contracts between large agencies and their clients need some re-tooling to allow for more flexibility in the modern age of marketing. (The answer is yes, they could and should.)

All of this is symptomatic of the biggest issue facing the ad industry right now - massive change. Any time you're dealing with large-scale change, there are bound to be conflicts, frustrations and turf wars. Both BBDO and Big Spaceship are doing what's best for their respective companies here and you really can't fault either of them.

What's tough for BBDO is that by pushing down Big Spaceship and fighting to claim they deserve all the credit, they're making themselves look like the big bully who doesn't get today's culture of openness and collaboration and instead showing that they're stuck in the era of control and possessiveness. As Clay Shirky points out, that might not work out so well...

And if that doesn't say it clearly enough, I don't know what will.

Helge Tennø on Content Marketing

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Helge was kind enough to contact me a couple weeks back to get some thoughts on this presentation. I meant to share it then but was traveling and let it fall down the Gmail inbox rabbit hole a bit. Thankfully, Damiano reminded me today.

Some things I especially liked were:

Slide 3: The thought of not focusing on one idea, but creating a range of ideas that engage people and bring them closer to the brand - something that the research of Duncan Watts is leading people to and something that Faris and Noah have been on to for quite a while, as have a few others.

Slide 33: If you're producing applications for brands/clients, always remember that the application is a means to an end, not the end itself.

Slides 47-59 on Emotional Research - it's time to start looking at things differently, don't you think?

Anyway, give it a read and be sure to let Helge know what you think over on his post of it or on Slideshare.

Planning Conference Cocktails & Connections

Kelly and I were discussing plans for heading down to the AAAA's Account Planning Conference yesterday and came up with a couple of ideas we thought would be good to help people connect and socialize a bit more...

First, we have created a Facebook group so we can all see who will be attending and better connect/make plans beforehand. We can also use this as a place to discuss expectations, recap thoughts/takeaways afterward, etc. If you're not going, by all means feel free to join anyway and use it to track what's happening/being discussed.

Additionally, we've proposed a cocktail gathering on Tuesday night at Shore Club's Skybar for people to meet, connect and unwind on the last night of the conference. The details and RSVP can be found here.

Hope you can join us in both of the above and please pass along the links/info to others who might be interested.

UPDATE: Planning For Good will be sponsoring the cocktail gathering. More news to come...

 

Required Reading: Conversation Agent

Conversation Agent - Connecting ideas and people – how talk can change our lives, by Valeria Maltoni

If you haven't been reading the excellent writing and thinking of Valeria Maltoni, now is a good time to start. Valeria is a client-side marketer who "gets it" and her blog, Conversation Agent, is full of sage advice for anyone in the field of marketing interested in smart ways to think about and approach the social media space.

Her posts are well thought out, expertly researched, and highly thought-provoking. The best part of it all - she truly does all of this to help others connect and inspire more interesting conversations - both in the digital realm and in person. Go there now, or just subscribe to her RSS here so you can keep track of her writing regularly.

Never. Stop. Learning.

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"A-Rod is not a know-it-all by any stretch of the imagination. He wants... Even though he's 32 years old and he's gonna be the home run king, he still wants to learn." - Pete Rose

Alex Rodriguez is arguably the best player in the game of baseball today. Many believe he'll own the all-time home run record before he's through. How has he come this far and why is he likely to continue? He never stops trying to learn and improve.

I know it goes without saying, but it's another reminder that to be the best at something, you have to be tirelessly committed to it. Always looking to improve, learn and grow.

A couple favorite quotes from this:

"In many ways what I've learned from him [Pete Rose] is that greatness is simple. You don't always try to over complicate it. See it, and hit it hard somewhere. Just take every at-bat as if it's your last one." - Alex Rodriguez

"He's the world's all-time leading hitter. I mean, it's kind of like, if you're a writer, why wouldn't you want to talk to Ernest Hemingway? You know? If you're a painter, Picasso. Baseball ... Pete Rose. That's just what it comes down to." - Alex Rodriguez

This last one, I especially like. Whatever industry you're in, there is a ton of opportunity to learn from current and past greats. Through social media, you can access the minds of many of today's top thinkers and doers in their respective fields almost instantly. You can also pick up books, articles and interviews from many who don't participate in social media or are no longer with us to participate.

Anyway, like I said above, I probably didn't need to say all of this, but since I typed it up already... go learn something.

For those interested in reading more on A-Rod & Pete's relationship, the ESPN eTicket article is here.

Opportunity Is Everywhere

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"Don't look for the next opportunity. The one you have in hand is the opportunity."
Paul Arden, It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be.

Where most people see a dirty wall (or more likely, don't even notice the wall at all), Paul "Moose" Curtis sees an opportunity to make something better. He sees an opportunity to create art that takes something dingy and turns it into something delightful.

Green Works, or somebody working with them, noticed the reverse graffiti movement and saw an opportunity to bring this great idea forward, along with highlighting some people behind it, by creating the Reverse Graffiti Project.

As a planner, it is part of our job to find opportunity where others see none. For our creatives. For our clients. For our account handlers. For ourselves. For the people we're hoping to connect to our clients' brands.

Always look for opportunity. Always inspire.

Heineken Light vs. Coors Light

The Battle of the Facebook (FREE) Beer Gifts

Noticed today that Heineken Light had sponsored the "Gift of the Day" on Facebook and remembered that Coors Light did so a couple weeks back.

I found it interesting that in just one day, Heineken Light nearly sold out - with people giving away almost 275,000 of their beer gifts (25,000 more than Coors Light had available in total). Meanwhile, Coors Light still has 96,130 to yet give away after being available for two full weeks.

The question is, does any of this matter? Regardless of that, does it say anything about either brand? Is it simply a matter of the execution? I've got my thoughts, but first, I'd love to hear yours.

Please, let us know what you think in the comments...

Required Reading: Adliterate

Adliterate: radical thinking for the brand advice business, by Richard Huntington

If you have been reading my blatherings here for long, you've probably seen a link or two go out to Adliterate. In addition to being another one of the planners on my short list of blogs to emulate, Richard is by far one of my favorites to read.

He's not afraid to push boundaries and buttons. He's willing to challenge the status quo and call people out when they deserve it. Because of all this, many of his posts create a great conversation in the comments.

If you're a planner, Adliterate is absolutely required reading. If you're not, it's still very worth a spot in your RSS. You won't regret it.

What's Next In Advertising - Uwe Gutschow's Take

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If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that I'm a fan of mash-ups and remixes. Never in a million years though, did I expect something I created to become part of a remix/mash-up of sorts. I'm honored, flattered and impressed all at once.

What am I talking about? Well, Uwe Gutschow and Don Longfellow have picked up the "What's Next In Marketing & Advertising" presentation I shared a couple months back and taken it further with their "What's Next In Advertising - Moving from Advertising to Marketing."

As you can guess from the title, their main point is that advertising needs to go from where it is and has been (interruption and now, annoyance) to adding value. They say we need to "create marketing solutions, not ads" and "stop pitching people with messages," and "start providing useful content." I wholeheartedly agree.

Please give it a look and let them know what you think over on Uwe's post.

To download the slide show or view it full screen, jump over here.

How Brands Can Get Ahead In A Recession

First, if you haven't read either of the above, I highly recommend them. (Clicking on either of the quotes above will take you to their respective pages on Amazon.com.) Now then...

Every day, I'm convinced these statements are increasingly true. Especially today in our open-source, collaborative, conversation culture. The more good things you do for people, the more of your thinking and ideas that you share, and the more you help people out, the more good things will come back to you.

I've personally experienced this throughout my life, but none more so than in sharing things here. (Just as I'm sure many of you have.) Now we're in a situation where this mantra could create significant returns for brands if they are willing to take heed.

With growing talks of a global recession and reports of consumer confidence sinking around the globe, people are looking for ways to make their dollars go further. Brands that truly try to help people get through this period solely for the purpose of wanting to help make peoples' lives a little bit easier will come out significantly ahead of the pack when things turn around.

Almost everyone has natural tendencies that kick in when money starts getting short which tell them to hang on to as much as possible. This is just as true for businesses as it is for people. But if a business is willing to take a little less profit now in order to create greater savings for people and help them get what they want, it will come back to them when people have more money to spend.

It's not an easy decision to make. Especially when there are outside demands from stockholders and parent companies. But I have no doubts that those who approach this the right way - by doing what's best for the people who buy their products or services - will end up far better off than if they just try to ride it out by cutting costs that do not get passed through to consumers/customers.

On a related note, David Armano has turned a smart post titled "10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive In A Recession" into an easy to view slide show. You can view it below, on Logic + Emotion, or in glorious full-screen mode through SlideShare.

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I'm certain there are several great examples out there that show this and I know I've heard or read them several times before. Right now, I'm simply too tired to look them up. Ha. Sorry, but just being honest. So, if you know of any off-hand, please share them in the comments...

A Few Worthwhile Reads

Some interesting things I came across yesterday and would like to post more on, but probably won't be able to for a day or two if at all, so for now, here are the links...

First, Dave Trott Live Chat via Scamp - Dave shares some great advice and thinking on how to get a job in this business and what he thinks makes for great advertising today. I also really liked Scamp's approach to this for two reason. First, Scamp wrote a post arguing that much of what Dave wrote 30 years ago on getting a job in advertising was irrelevant today and followed it up by allowing Dave to have a conversation with Scamp's readers to defend/explain himself on the Scamp blog. Second, I think using the comments section of a blog post to host an audience driven interview was a fantastic idea. Thanks to Alan (a.k.a. Tangerine Toad) for pointing it out via Twitter.

Second, Scholz & Friends has posted an interesting presentation titled Brands and Communication in the Era of Media Democracy that is well worth a look. For those browsing here, following is the slide show. For those reading this where it won't come through, here's a link.

Lastly, BMW has revealed some inspiring thinking on the future of car design that caught the attention of quite a few. I love that they ignored conventions and took a fresh look at things. A bit from the WInding Road post:

Chris Bangle, head of BMW Group Design, describes the philosophy behind this wildly innovative GINA Light Visionary Model as “Being flexible. Thinking flexible, acting flexible – context over dogma.”

The Curse of Great Expectations

Great expectations are always a dangerous thing. The unveiling of iPhone 2.0 on Monday reminded us of this age-old lesson.

We've all been waiting, some of us for nearly a year now, for the second generation of this device that changed the way we think about mobile communications and web browsing.

Expectations were already high, based on what happened last time. Rumors kept circulating, gaining more and more momentum to the point that they became what several people believed would be announced. Then when it was finally made public, many were underwhelmed. iPhone 2.0 wasn't as fully loaded as they were hoping and speculating.

This seems to be a growing problem for brands. In addition to Apple, we can also look at what happened when Cadbury released their follow-up spot to Gorilla.

We build up grandiose visions of what will come based on a previous experience that surpassed our expectations or completely surprised us. Then the big moment comes and we don't get what we were hoping for. We're let down in some way. We wanted to be blown away again.

But is that fair? Cadbury didn't promise us anything implicitly. They simply made a commitment to creating videos that brought people joy. They didn't say that each time they made a video it would be better than the last one. They just said it would make us smile.

And in this case, Apple didn't make any promises or even give away too many clues as to what was coming with the new iPhone. They just said some new software was coming in June/July and then did what they always do - keep very, very quiet.

Maybe therein lies the problem.

In the "Age of Conversation," keeping quiet and being secretive can be just as dangerous as, if not maybe worse than, saying too much. Especially when you have a bunch of passionate, forward-thinking, creative fans who are highly active online - sharing their visions and hopes for a new product or service - building unrealistic expectations among a larger portion of the general public.

If you are fortunate enough to be a brand that has a community of amorous fans, such as Apple, maybe now your job isn't to create anticipation and excitement for your products or services as much as it is to properly manage expectations.

Had Apple (or better yet, Steve Jobs himself) come out several weeks ago and done something to properly set expectations, we wouldn't be disappointed we didn't get video chat or a bigger hard drive. In fact, if they had done a good enough job, we would have expected less than what we got and we'd be more excited about what was announced yesterday.

Just as we don't always know what we want or know what is possible, we don't always know what is not yet possible. If one of your brand's core principles is to surprise and delight people, then in an age when anyone can generate an idea and spread it quickly and broadly to the point that it becomes accepted as truth, keeping expectations in check should be a top priority.

I'm not advocating that brands should try to control the message. Not at all. I'm simply saying that when these things happen, they better join the conversation rather than sit back and watch. It might seem like a great thing - getting all this "free" publicity talking up your brand and imagining you can do more/better than you really are going to - but it's not. It's irresponsible.

Not managing expectations is gong to become, if it hasn't already, a bigger problem for brands with passionate fans. Not speaking-up when you can see that people are setting themselves up to be disappointed is just as bad as over-promising things yourself.

Brands have more access now than ever before to understanding peoples' expectations. I suggest they start paying attention and getting involved when it's called for.

In an age of collaboration, open source and idea sharing, you don't want to let people down too often or they'll just go find someone to help them make their expectations become a reality on their own.

Back to Basics: Creative Problem Solving, Part 2

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Whitney Hess left a very thoughtful comment on the previous post bearing this title and it reminded me of another comment she left on a Logic + Emotion post a while back that I really liked. The first bit of it really stood out to me and reads:

I think we forget sometimes that "design" means "to develop a plan." Design really isn't about execution, but about accurately defining the problem in order to allow for the most successful, effective and valuable solution -- given the objectives and constraints of the system -- to emerge.

Very well said.

It's not about sitting down right away and sketching out the brief to create an ad, a Web site, or whatever the client requested. It's not about trying to figure out what the main idea is immediately or what the "one thing" is we need to communicate (and as the research by Duncan Watts shows, it's likely that we'll need more than one thing or one idea anyway).

No, none of those things are the right way to start off, if they ever really were. We have to start by digging deeper into the issues facing our clients' brand(s). It might not be that they need what they are asking for. We need to do as Whitney outlines.

Start by accurately define the problem(s), taking into account all of the objectives and challenges, and then begin looking for the most successful, effective and valuable solution(s).

I know it's easier said than done. Especially given some of the circumstances we're up against at times. But following the same map that has been used for the past several decades won't lead us to interesting new places. That map leads to a ghost town now.

I don't know about you, but none of my clients are marketing their products to ghosts.

A Must Read: What's Next In Media

Neil Perkin has posted an excellent presentation on where media is today and where he sees it heading. Take a few minutes to click through the slides, ponder it a bit, and then pass it along to others you know who are trying to sort it all out.

And by all means, share your thoughts with him in the comments to his post...

Required Reading: Brand New

Brand New - Thoughts on brands and communications (and some occasional random stuff), by Gareth Kay

When I first started writing here, I made a very short list of planners I hope to emulate in this space. Gareth  is one of them. He shares insightful, concise thoughts on building brands, creating meaningful advertising, and doing smarter planning along with the occasional book or band review. Odds are, you probably already read it. If not, I highly recommend it.