Just a thought, if you run a global brand, shouldn't the first media priority be how to maximize your investment in the one and only truly global media network - the world wide web? Not how does each country maximize as part of their overall plan - which they should - but how do I multi billion dollar a year marketer create singular ideas or repositories of compelling content that anyone in almost every country can touch and engage in. If I was engaged in the same media and material that someone in India does, that makes my Coke experience feel really big. Really really big. I like what they as a company have done with the Coke Side of Life, and the localizations are great, but wouldn't that be an awesome brief - develop an idea around the Coke Side of Life that unites the world. Doesn't talk about uniting the world, or teaching us to sing, but is a single idea that me on my computer in Canada that soemone on their 3g phone in Idea can enjoy.
One of the more phenomenal retail experiences of late was the Uniqlo store in SOHO the other week. The delight of shopping in another world and retail theater is taken to a whole new level. The the designs of the products themselves are stunning.
What is stunning about such retail experiences is how great they are doing in terms of sales.
They haven't just spent huge on environment but have delivered with good design and good service. Apple stores are another example. The products aren't always flawless but one's tolerance for a bit of imperfection is much higher when the entire experience is fun.
And the fun doesn't stop in store. The online experience though different carries the same light hearted sensibility. Was delighted to see it take best of show last night at the One Show Interactive awards for their website. Great example of global thinking both in terms of markets/consumers and in terms of extensions - see the little localize widgety doodad below for my own Vancouver version of the site.
On one hand looking at the work it doesn't drip with over thought meaning but when you read the brief it still had a strategy (aka plan.) It tips the questions, when it comes to fashion does it have to have meaning? Can it not just have a sensibility and style that can evolve with it's target and culture.
As a counter comparison, look at the Gap. There was a time when they could do no wrong and were the best designed and most delightful shopping environment in the local dreary mall. But they had deep meaning, more than just clothes they were a new way of looking at life. They were the beacon of corporate casual, having a little bit of personal style. To the point of conformity and they never had a chance to evolve out of their angle and stores while better today still aren't much different than in 1993.
Even though I didn't buy anything, I hope one comes to my town soon. H&M is dull as bricks by comparision.
"Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to
work and the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself
and that you will, through work, bump into other possibilities and kick
open other doors that you would never dream up if you were just sitting
around looking for a great art idea. And that a belief in that the
process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent
the wheel everyday.
A nice comedic depiction of how Facebook isn't a reflection of the real world but is a world of it's own with it's own code of interaction, albeit not the most gentile.
It's back, and bigger and better than before, The Age of Converstation 2.0 and your's truly is currently working on crafting a chapter under the category of 'Conversation to Action.' An especially exciting one as these days they simply seems to be way to much talking going on and not enough getting on with it. Hopefully witting a chapter will illuminate some insight into how to talk less and do more.
And with the new edition comes a new Widget. Grab it, post it, blog it and if you haven't buy the buy.
Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is in a more integrated world, where all aspects of business from product design to sales channels and marketing gets ever more complex to a higher degree of technical difficulty do we manage the teams that must produce the work. But not just get it done, but get it done right and great.
One of the biggest challenges at agencies is quite simply operational when it comes to developing creative. Just as in innovative companies how to innovate is as much an operational challenge as it is innovation itself.
Having specialists and deep creative thinkers are essentials to success in any creative/innovative field. But when in comes to pulling together not just the ideation but the production of ideas there are increasing numbers of hands touching an initiative. Just as there are increasing numbers of opportunities either due to new production techniques, sales platforms and places to reach consumers.
What if the most important emerging new role in industry is the person who connects all the moving parts. They must be good at dealing with people naturally, have an appreciation for creative/innovative processes and attracted by the idea of creating links between all the moving parts. And they are empowered and recognized to do so. They are not managers. Or account handlers. But connectors.
For example, take Russel's post on pre-experience design and the point on the VW night driving campaign. This campaign was a fantastic marketing initiative that was produced in fairly tight timelines amongst a couple other concepts tested. If the marketing campaign could quickly have been part of the product development 'campaign' there could have been some amazing product integration. Imagine a special night driving mode - instead of sport mode, and custom night driving soundtracks, headlamps configured for driving empty city roads and naturally an updated VW version of the film C'Etait une Rendez Vous.
I am a Nike guy but really admire what Adidas has done with the Impossible is Nothing meme. The line itself is meaningless but the way it has been brought to life is very meaningful. This quote was painted on the wall in the SOHO Adidas store in NY. This unto itself would be an amazing creative brief to hand off to a team. Would love to know whether it was a one off or if it started as an internal brand statement or campaign articulation.
By achieving their own version of Just Do It Adidas themselves is proving impossible is nothing in branding as in athletics.
Yesterday, in Portland where we are doing some work with the fantastic folks at Bent Image Labs, I exited with a freshly trimmed head of hair from my second favorite brand of the moment Rudy's Barbershop (the other being Stumptown Coffee and a close contender with the h) which happens to be on the retail street front level of the Wieden Kennedy mothership.
Walking out of Rudy's a man crossed my path, I looked up, he looked over. I didn't recognize him, he didn't recognize me... but then once he was three steps past I recognized him. It was Dan Wieden. Who was on his way to pick up his own lunch from Whole Foods.
I didn't think much of it at first but then on the flight home realized I crossed paths with the man who inspired me to be in advertising. He is the reason why I do what I do and love what I do. Specifically because of the Nike work his hand crafted that I grew up with. It is a brand I've always related to and enjoyed trying to figure out their strategy even before I knew there was such a thing as strategy in advertising.
It is interesting using hindsight to understand why you did what you did, or do what you do. Coming from sport continual analysis is as important as breathing but when it comes to careers it's easily overlooked. Seeing Dan poignantly affirmed how I got into what I'm into and also made me appreciate why I didn't just get into advertising anywhere, but specifically got into advertising in Canada at a place at the time called Palmer Jarvis which matched well with my personal values and took a similar creative standard as WK to be a challenger agency from a small corner of the advertising planet, in Palmer Jarvis' case from Vancouver BC.
If I happen to cross paths again I might just thank him, but then again that will be awkward for both of us.
This is a very interesting piece of film for Phillips out of DDB London. It makes me think of the Secret Antiperspirant campaing that ran for many many years under the "strong enough for a man, made for a woman" line. This Phillips spot is a very smart and relevant leverage of gender perceptions.
"Adaptability is a fundamental trait of human nature, but today's instant variations in rhythm call for something stronger: elasticity, the ability to grasp progress and make it one's own."
I really don't like the idea of Yahoo serving Google's ads just to ward off the Microsoft take over. And as an advertiser, nor should you.
Because then not only would Google control a near monopoly on all search they will control a near monoply on ads delivered via search and therefore the auctions controlling search terms. The search terms are sold in auctions and basic auction theory states that the more people participating in an auction, the higher the price. And by eliminating Yahooo auctions, there becomes only one auction in town, Google.
In Canada as the radio stations were bought by conglomerates, the choices for advertisers limited. As such the same pool of money chased a smaller list of station groups. So as actual listenership numbers declined, costs increased simply by the fact there were fewer choices and the auctions/negotiations for a lower quality product drove up the costs.
This same scenario will pan out with a Yahoo Google pact, you will be paying more for the same number of clicks. I don't like that because it means less money to make great content that these links drive you too.
Sometimes all this new media whiz kid company chatter overlooks the fact they are using the same practices that worked for so called old school media. What's that saying, a wolf in sheeps clothing? Don't be evil Google, don't be evil...
Remember Rebirth? Of course you do, who doesn't fondly recall the exquisite portability of this 1998 software package allowing you to take a suite of legendary Roland synthesizers and a drum machine everywhere you, your crew and computer went. Nothing like fresh dance beats thrown down on the fly.
The Tony-b Machine is a stripped down version that's just as much of a time suck and capable of making equally sweet beats for your next house party.
One of my favorite commercials / short films / music videos right now is something currently airing on MTV is Canada. It takes one of the main VJ's/hosts and mashes his love of running with an animator, fresh band and brand - Nike and their Nike+ system.
This is really smart firstly as it captures the essence of running emotively (and I know since I'm doing so bloody much of it these days) but in a way that presumably reaches to a new audience from the keener runner who's probably already on board.
Paired up with a nifty little microsite too embedded in the MTV.ca site. Very nice folks, very nice..
And, the same studio did this little film for Blackberry which is a very good solution to the "we have to tell people everything this thing can do" brief. An imperfect brief but a strong execution, surprising actually for Blackberry as they seem reliant on dull testimonial print ads these days.
Post concert shot of the womanfriend on our way to a post concert drink down a dingy alley it the Alibi Room hidden around the corner from Pike Place market in Seattle.
No longer is it enough to just launch a campaign, and have a plan to sustain interested over the duration. Now you also have to have the campaign that launches the campaign. Or at least so seems to be the thinking at Sony. From balls, to paint, to clay and now to foam the eyegasms continue on May 1 when the full campaign releases.
I wonder if anyone other than advertising people pay attention to any of this.
You've taken some heat lately. But not the good perfectly brewed kind of heat but flack. And lots of it.
It's ashame because you for so long were a simple brand standing for quality and experience around coffee. Strong branding and attention to detail, not manipulation and fluffery built your once impenetrable brand. But then like the weak Tall Americano you became it got watered down.
But that's where you got it right. You did a Full Montey and called yourselves out for dropping the quality and muddling the experience. To rebuild yourselves you first shut down for some coffee making 101 (after pulling the delicious tasting but horrendous smelling breakfast sandwiches) and are now working on the experience itself.
The other day, when in a Starbucks which has become a rare event, I got a little tab of paper printed with "MyStarbucksIdea.com" . I was intrigued, visited the site, and found something that could be called social marketing, crowdsourcings, consumer research, CRM, Leveraging your fan base, starting a dialog, mining you net promoters or any one of a number of other terms spewed out at a conference near you. I simply thought it was smart. Ask the people who care about you how to make the experience better, in a way they will really care about.
Kudos for not talking about how great your experience is and spending those resources to simply make it better.
I look forward to a stiff Americano in the near future and hearing about the great things you've done. And for the record I'd prefer it not to involve Cranium, but that's another story.
An interesting window into linguistics and persuasiveness is impressionists. Frank Caliendo is one of the best modern impressionists. This clip from him on Letterman features some great bits on John Madden, Al Paccino, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
It would be fun to do a focus group with impressionists and they can only convey opinions in the character they think best demonstrates their point. That would be interesting, very very interesting.
The Gorilla follow up is out. And I'll go on record saying I like it. Undoubtedly there will be much debate about whether it's as good as the first one, too incoherent and so on. However, with the target being people who like chocolate, not navel gazing opinionated marketing folks, I would be surprised if it doesn't build on the success of the first film. The Cadbury folks have been very good about what it is, just a piece of film to make you smile, and that it does.
Also of note is the evolution of the digital home for Glass Half Full Productions. A nice intuitive site with more to come and I cannot wait to trick out my truck.
Oh, and hardly 24 hours later the first remixes are out. Kind of expected they would latch onto the new Terminal 5, but maybe that was the point:
Advertising brings those days where you swim through the blood soaked halls of dead ideas and formulaic requests spouted down from high up mount executive. Sadly, they have broken some of the best people I've ever worked with.
Then there are those days where the infinite power of a great original idea that cast new molds and reset world orders bounce in front of you each step through mighty halls that iconic ad legends past and present strode themselves before you. Wonderfully, this magnetic force of energy is what fuels us and continually draws new batches of neophytes to our world. Today was one of these days.
From dawn to dusk, great ideas flowed. Here's some of the detrius that rose to the top of the pile:
Even though it's a completely normal and expected part of the 500 channel universe we live in I am still fascinated by the fact I can watch live from my living room a big game on the other side of the planet. Watching the big match up between Chelsea and Arsenal on Sunday was just this and I always love a good soccer match for the fervent crowds and players. But the electric atmosphere in the stadium is the one thing that TV sports just cannot recreate. You get a sense but even the formulaic crowd and manager shots don't pass on all the energy.
But with more and more people hauling their digital recording devices to live events it would be a neat addition to the broadcast experience if they could harness the fan in the stands experiences - a kind of man on the street angle. After a big concert or sporting event I often pop on youtube and flickr the next day to see what the event was like from other angles in the stadium. Just as teams are employing bloggers it would be great to start affixing some wifi enabled instant replay the broadcast partners could use. Imagine if the game feed from Sunday's match added this replay to their mix for example.
Just noticed Likemind Vancouver is happening again this Friday. Think I'll go again and see if anyone actually shows up. Drop me an e if you are planning to check it out otherwise I might again be there all alone enjoying an fantastically great coffee.
Antoine de Saint Exupery is one of my favorite men. An author, designer, illustrator, pilot, explorer, postman and iconoclast. One of the great renaissance men of the last century.
The only tragedy in my mind of France switching to Euro is the demise of the 50 franc note featuring Exupery's character from his most famous work, a children's book for adults, The Little Prince.
I found the above quote on a wall in Portland. The same goes for most creative endeavors beyond design, except for Michael Bay movies.
As I've posted earlier there is something very interesting, intellectually at least - practically at best, of looking at a brand as a media property. You can also look at campaigns themselves as media properties. An interesting case study is the Geico Caveman of whom much has been written on the character's move from Commercial-land to TV-land. Last week he made the jump to real-world-land at SxSW. This video from uber blogger Justine shows Caveman in action:
One of the tests of a truly big or generous idea in our modern media landscape is the ease of envisioning other places it can live. And when you look at an idea not through the filter of is it a great ad but through the filter of could it be a great broad reaching media property you tap into a whole different kind of idea.
BK's the King and have it your way have tapped into this. And a fresh example launched this week - the new Got Milk? teen focused campaign. In a nutshell it's Got Milk? meets Spinal Tap featuring a guitar of bottomless milk given by angels to an ordinary man empowering abnormally awesome rock god abilities.
A music property (aka band or singer) is a media property, in particular if you approach if from the new business model of a Live Nation or Nettwerk records where the albums themselves are the loss leader but the music itself is a media property monetized by concerts, t-shirts, ringtones, and even a multi day vacation such as the Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dips.
What if the ads themselves are the loss leader and the extensions of real world engagements or useful idea extensions like games, widgets, user generated content, spoofs and other delights leading to active engagement are the real currency of branding rather than sheer exposure and GRPs.
If I put my consumer hat on that sounds a lot more interesting than shouting at me.
Is you brand good enough to sacrifice you mug let along a respected widespread reputation of composure and stoicism? Well, if your brand is Apple and you are Charlie Rose the answer is yes! I will save that Macbook Air and continue to haul around an unblemished brushed aluminum badge of membership in the creative class. Full details and image courtesy of Michael Arrington.
This little bit of unexpected whimsy in The Ace Hotel deserved its own post. In the second floor library sits a giant filing cabinet of sorts from many moons ago. Maybe an agricultural seed company or a local bank. Some kind of utilitarian company. It makes for a wall of drawers. Using the house notepads and pencils, all very 1922 elementary school in design, past guests have filled the drawers with quotes, comments, statements, confessions and drawings.
We could have spent hours going through them. Hotels have an inherent bit of mystery, a kind of "if only these walls could talk" air about them that in many hotels you are glad they don't talk, but when you are in a unique and interesting space you wonder what kind of a person trod before you.
In the end the drawers did not contains the answers to life's mystery but it made of an enjoyable 30 minutes of rifling through drawers. And we left some mysteries of our own for guests of the future.
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