Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
When the Mad Men Model No Longer Works
I love reading Edward Boches posts. Somehow they always manage to spin a new light and fresh perspective on things. This presentation is no different and puts forth the thesis that the 'Mad Men Model' of doing things has long past.
In fact we are living through times that are more challenging than ever making working in our industry not only fun but interesting as well. We have gone from the "Bernbach model" of doing things to the "T shaped" model. From one where size dictates success, to one where agility and nimbleness are key.
To put it in Clay Shirky's words 'we are living through the disorientation that comes from including 2 billion new participants in a landscape previously operated by a small group of professionals": a reality in which consumers can bend multi billion dollar companies to their will but also contribute, participate and influence.
We're talking about a new reality where brands need to create and evolve around communities, create experiences that do not impose themselves onto the consumer but rather invite them in while building on people's interests and passions while allowing them and enabling them to play an active role in evolving the experience even further through collaboration.
Sadly, many people in our business still do not fully grasp the scope of this change transferring old traditional models from the real world sphere to the digital one. But our world has changed forever. Irrevocably....and our business had better take note :
'If you don't like change, you will like irrelevance even less'.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Fun changes the way we behave
Remember the VW Fun Theory campaign? Well it operated under the presumption that fun could incentivize us to change our behavior for the better. Seems like they were right - here is the winning idea put in action. Enjoy
Friday, November 12, 2010
You Don't have to change, ....survival isn't mandatory
This is a short video of Tim Malbon from Made by Many explaining at the IPA how the agency has adopted agile, real time processes to turn out work for their clients. There are lots of little nuggets in here, but what especially struck me was the agency's work processes - the outright definition that the agency does not create online banners but platforms for its clients. A process that means involving the client in the actual development, sketching and brainstorming process. Physically having in the room, contributing to the process which is no less interesting. A process that is iterative and resembles a jazz jamming session rather than an orchestrated music piece. A process that leans on quick sketches of the process and a visualization of it as a journey. I am probably rambling...so guess you'd just better watch the video to get what I am talking about.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
IF YOU ONLY READ TWO ARTICLES THIS WEEK, THESE SHOULD BE THEM
So what exactly might ‘Adaptive Brand Marketing’ be?
16th October 09
Posted in Brands, social media, transformational change
(Jointly authored with Greg Andersen, our MD in BBH New York)
The imminent publication of Forrester’s new report on the challenges facing clients – “Adaptive Brand Marketing: Rethinking Your Approach to Branding in the Digital Age” is a welcome turning of the spotlight toward client organizations. Without question agencies of all sizes, shapes and persuasions need to get their collective acts together and transform into leaner, more agile, more creative, & more technology- and data-fuelled businesses. The best in the business are no doubt all plotting how they can come out of this recession leaner, meaner, quicker, better.
But that’s kind of pointless unless clients adapt too.
We’ve not got hold of the report yet; we’re looking forward to getting stuck in, and are intrigued by the ‘new 4 Ps’ presented in the report: permission, proximity, perception, participation (AdAge covered some more of the detail in this piece from last week). But the idea of adaptive brand marketing is something we’ve been kicking around for a while at BBH.
We believe marketing communications are already being forced to become increasingly agile; particularly for more youth-oriented brands. In such a fast paced and dynamic media environment, relevance is increasingly determined in the moment. Recency matters. Audience and attention are fleeting. Fame spikes … even for the famous. For brands to achieve and maintain fame in this context, it’s our view that communications for certain types of brands must make a dramatic shift from highly polished epic launches to a continuous and diverse stream of messaging and content designed to ride hyper-current cultural trends, consumer attitudes and competitive maneuvering. The performance of this diverse activity continuously monitored and optimized like a portfolio of stocks … kill the under-performers and reinvest in the ones showing returns. However, this ‘continuous beta’ mentality is a big leap from 18-month planning cycles and dogmatic, rigid testing protocols, despite its more real-time and real-world feedback.
Just as this is culturally challenging for many agencies, so it will prove for marketing organizations. As marketing becomes more technology-powered, with learning more real-time, it will be critical to identify who is responsible for leading within marketing organizations … and more importantly, who is empowered to make decisions on the fly. Committee decision making and hierarchical organizational structures, for all their perceived benefits, won’t hold up to the strain of an accelerated process.
So in advance of the full report, here are some of our starters for ten (or seven, actually) on how client structures, skill sets and approaches might adapt to deliver ‘adaptive branding’. We’re learning as we’re going, and as usual we’d value your input, opinions, builds or disagreements.
We’d particularly like to hear about clients that are exploring new ways of engaging agencies, and new forms of leaner, faster, more iterative & curatorial process. Again, there’s much we can learn from these pioneers.
1. Consumer intelligence at the center
We wholeheartedly agree with Forrester’s points around a more prominent role for research. We all have an increasing number of highly sophisticated, real-time and granular measurement tools at our disposal, especially in interactive environments. Adopting an agile approach to using this data becomes more significant; if one can measure everything, one must decide what really matters to avoid drowning or becoming paralyzed. Less, but better measurement, enabling more responsive data-powered marketing, should be the ambition (what Tim @ Made By Many called ‘Agile Measurement‘). These observations suggest an elevated role for the insight & research functions that can quickly distribute and integrate learning in real time.
2. Marketing as a catalyst for change within the broader company
This points to a potentially larger opportunity. It’s not just the marketing organization that needs to reorient itself given the now normal digital age, but the company itself should consider how it reorients itself around its marketing organization. In most progressive companies, it is the marketing function that has most quickly and deeply engaged with the new interactive toolkit. This expertise can play a role well beyond the traditional confines of marketing communications. For example, a proper understanding of social media tools and the proper employment of resulting insights could impact everything from new product/service innovation to customer service to crisis management.
What some, such as Dachis, are calling ‘social business design‘ is a significant opportunity in which marketing teams could play a leading role in driving efficiencies and creating new models internally. Marketing as a revenue source and a genuine competitive advantage, not just a cost. If marketers want a seat back at the big boys’ table, this is one potential way of getting it.
3. The networked organization
The structural definitions of, and relationships between, agencies and marketing organizations must change if companies are to ensure access to the very highest quality and leading-edge partners delivering at speed. With the emergence of what Forrester call “the federated organization” (we prefer ‘networked’) Global brand leaders and directors need to be able to cast elite teams of people (talent that spans several departments, companies or geographies) to get best results and avoid capacity bottlenecks.
This places special emphasis on an evolved role for ‘lead agency’ partners, both providing the conventionally critical services around quality control and coordination, but also performing a new casting director role for marketing directors; knowing whom to bring into a project, and when, and then managing that engagement. Further, client organizations must foster a culture of generosity and collaboration both within their organizations and across multi-agency teams to get the most out of them. Just as dogs and owners look alike, so do clients and the culture of their agency roster (but let’s stop right there with that analogy).
4. Brand leaders as curators
Without question, global brand leaders do need to become more responsible for evolving marketing assets and them adapting to local markets (in many cases this is already happening, for example with some of the Unilever brands with whom BBH works). However, we believe this evolved role needs to go well beyond adaptation and coordination. We envisage an increasing role for both client and agency organizations as not just creators of content, but as curators as well. In a world awash in content, time can be saved by smart curation and the hacking of existing properties. Not everything needs to be conceived of, crafted and produced from the ground up every time. This is particularly important as brands move beyond the development of the traditional ‘campaign’ and start evolving more ongoing platforms that need growing, managing, sustaining and refreshing.
5. Reframing investment timelines
With campaigns evolving into programs and platforms, the annual planning & budgeting framework currently used to allocate monies needs revamping. This is clearly challenging, but if some marketing activity is designed to build long-term enduring platforms and other marketing is to be more opportunistic, then it seems sensible to begin to think about marketing investment in a parallel fashion. We agree that a more active and fluid approach to marketing investment is the correct approach, but this places even greater emphasis on agile and, as much as possible, live measurement.
6. To fail is to learn
We think client organizations need to find new comfort in failure and place increased value in learning as long as both happen for real, and in close to real time. Embracing more of a continuous beta mentality means getting communications into market more quickly and less expensively … with early real learning as the result. This beta learning can help redirect the program while it’s still being developed instead of after its finished. A marketer can spend 10 months of theoretical testing in artificial environments and a highly polished, highly researched program still has a chance of failure, or in many cases creates no real impact one way or another. What good is the post-program audit? The budget is gone and the market has moved on.
7. The time is now
Historically, recessions have proven to be crucibles of change. The current recession is already turning out to be rather more of a complete reset for the industry than a temporary dip in revenues. Structurally, the smartest agencies and agency groups have been quietly plotting not only their future size, but also rebuilding their capabilities, simplifying their processes and gently retooling their skillsets. The smartest marketing organizations must ensure they are doing the same.
So who’s doing this well?
No doubt the Forrester report will be full of strong cases of where this is already happening. We look forward to that.
But we’re after your examples of clients re-inventing process, resourcing models, cultures in the pursuit of better work, produced more efficiently. Whilst it’s perhaps easier to highlight examples of where this *isn’t* happening, let’s try and stay focused on things we can learn from.
Let us know.
Reblogged from: http://bbh-labs.com/so-what-exactly-might-adaptive-brand-marketing-be
Brand communication to the masses used to be an expensive proposition. It involved painstakingly producing assets, buying media, and long leads times.
Campaigns will always be with us, but now most brands have their own media channels as well, many with millions of opt-in subscribers. We can access all those people at a touch of a button.
This is an amazing, and unprecedented thing. But with that power comes changed expectations. Social is an immediate, and human medium. The expectation is a conversation, which means immediate reaction, real-time discourse, and timely topic starters. It means being of the moment.
Gatorade has a created a dedicated control center where they can listen to their audience, see trends and conversation spikes, and respond in real-time.
It might seem like PR, but it works. Comcast’s pioneering twitter customer service uses a custom Radian6 setup, allowing them to respond within minutes to customer gripes or questions.
McLaren have automated their real-time communication. The F1 constructor live streams data to the website during F1 races and tests, including live stats and real-time commentary between the car and the pit.
BakerTweet allows Albion Bakery to send out immediate updates to fans when their breads are fresh out of the oven, just by a flick of a switch.
The real-time extension of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign delivered on-the-fly episodic content, scripting, producing and distributing 87 short videos in 11 hours, all in response to live commentary on Twitter.
Cultural relevance and relevance to the consumer’s needs is increasingly defined in minutes and days, not weeks or months. Increasingly brands need to be participating in 24/7, 365 conversation, and campaigns themselves need to become more agile and responsive. This is giving birth to the “real-time brand”, which is a fundamentally different way of thinking about and delivering marketing conversations.
Here’s a few initial guidelines for the Real-Time Brand:
- Create your listening post
The internet is filled with millions if not billions of conversations daily. You need a way of honing in on what is most relevant in order to be able to meaningfully participate. Technology solutions such as Radian6 and Visible Technologies are a good place to start. - Find your voice
Be ready to react in the moment with your brand’s POV. This includes ensuring the people who are charged with manning the listening posts and social presence are able to and authorized to respond in real time, and can do so in a voice that represents the brand. - Shift from campaigns to content streams
Real-time brands have a steady stream of original content humming out on their social channels. Start by creating a conversational calendar and leave room for experimentation. The cost of creative failure is much lower, so try things, weed out the weak performers and amplify the rest. - Treat campaigns as living things
Rather than fire and forget, ensure your campaign budget allows for responses and reactivity, and leave room for your audience to get involved with them. - Automate to reduce information latency
As McLaren’s live commentary stream and BakerTweet show, real-time communication from brands doesn’t always need to come from people. Relevant and true real-time messaging can also come from connected products or automated triggers, cutting the information latency down to next to nil. - Invest
The resources required to support an ongoing conversation should be allocated separately to the traditional campaign budget, as the depth and on-going support required is a completely different model. Best Buy have tried empowering their entire workforce (to mixed results), while Dell’s success is built around a dedicated 45 person team. This isn’t somebody’s part time job, it’s a whole new way of bringing the brand to life.Also worth considering is taking a page out of Red Bull’s book. They have inverted the traditional media model, investing as much as 90% in execution vs 10% in media. They produce great events and content, and then leverage earned media and PR get it in front of millions of people.
The shift we’re seeing is just beginning, even if it’s fast becoming an imperative. If you have any other principles or great examples of the real-time brand I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Reblogged from: http://geoffnorthcott.com/blog/2010/11/the-real-time-brand/
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
(R)evolution of a Worker
This is what the future is made of and it's happening now.
Reblogged from the Social Business Feed
Friday, October 29, 2010
Digital Blogista - SERVING UP A SMÖRGÅSBORD OF DIGITAL BITS & BYTES
This is a talk, Faith Popcorn - the world's best known trendspotter gave a short while ago at a conference called "Idea City". While I came upon it serendipitously, some of the issues she spoke about in her talk really hit home.
I think the most important one was the fact that with attention being scarce and the consumer being in control, brands can no longer bank on capturing eyeballs or forcing consumers' attention. They have to grow into the lives of the consumers - kind of like a grassroots movement.
Culture has become the new media. Culture is no longer about just going to museums and dining at fine restaurants. Culture is what people are passionate about. So if you want to get a message out there, you have to weave it into the culture. The new future of marketing is going 'inculture'.
The talk is 17 minutes long - but time so well spent. If you have a moment...watch listen and learn. It's worth it.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
IKEA - Slide that door!
I love the idea that passersby actually have to interact with the billboards and the actual product (closets with sliding doors by Ikea) to get the full message. The message goes something like "Ikea has a solution for every situation). Smart, playful and effective.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
THE CREATIVE INTERNET
Every year, the guys at Google Creative Labs put out this really great compilation of some of the world's most creaive and innovative ideas. It covers art, advertising, mapping, infographics and the internet of things just to name a few and is definitely worth a browse.
Give it a spin...
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=df7rw7vz_338cz6ngnd6
Thursday, October 7, 2010
THE SHARING ECONOMY
This s a must read report.
Report courtesy of Latitude Research and Shareable Magazine.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Presentations from Planningness 2010 - Propagation Planning
Thumbs up to Mark Lewis and the wonderful team of speakers he lined up for this year's Planningness conference! Hope I'll be able to make next year's conference. By the looks of it - this is going to grow exponentially.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Nokia Push Project: Sensors Track Board Tricks
Could this change the way we compete in the olympics?
Grading competitors for great stunts vs coming first?
Interesting and thought provoking...
via - Chris' Freshly Peeled
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Experimenting Trends - Nokia N8 Hacks
Wiedens hacks up Nokia N8
Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 16 September 2010, 11:22 Permalink Comments (1)
For the launch campaign for the Nokia N8 phone, Wieden + Kennedy has created a suite of films documenting various 'hacks' using Nokia technology, including a hamster-wheel-powered phone charger and Dot, a film featuring a 9mm main character
The theme of the campaign is to showcase 'a number of real-life examples of innovative hacks and modifications folks have devised using Nokia tech,' Wiedens say. These are featured in the launch ad:
So, we have Dot, a stop motion film by Aardman directors Sumo Science, shot on the N8 phone. It features a miniature world shot using the CellScope, a Nokia device with a microscope attachment.
And here's the film on the hamster-powered phone charger, a device invented by Peter Ash in 2005
And here's the story behind Ji-Dong Yim's N82 powered robots
And the skateboarding game
The campaign carries the strapline "It's not the technology. It's what you do with it" which no doubt is meant to be 'empowering' for Nokia customers, encouraging them to be creative and help Nokia get some of its mojo back, the manufacturer having lost ground to Apple and Blackberry in the smartphone stakes.
One quibble though, if it's "not about the technology' then why do I need a Nokia phone to do it? Maybe this is a sly dig at Apple's 'walled garden' approach, but it does rather suggest that, if you have the technical smarts, you can have fun with any old phone, not just a brand new Nokia N8.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
UNIQLO TWEET FOR TREATS
Uniqlo have launched a new campaign "Lucky Counter'.
For the launch of their new UK store they are asking people to tweet about any item on their page - the more people tweet, the more the prices goes down and the more people will get treats on September 9th.
If you ask me, this campaign rocks, big time!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The tippexperience: Subservient Chicken goes to YouTube
OK so it's the upgraded version of the 'Subservient chicken' but I still think taking this to YouTube is a smart evolution of an existing concept and a definite 'pass-this on' to your friends for a couple of minutes of fooling around. Check it out!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Primo New Zealand - choose your experience
I really don't want to spoil the fun so all I am gonna say is you've got to watch both videos.
Calvin Klein's QR Billboard
This past weekend, Calvin Klein Jeans replaced three of its billboards — two in downtown New York and one on Sunset Boulevard in LA — not with another racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code under the words “Get It Uncensored.”
Passersby can use their smartphones to snap a picture, which will pull up an exclusive, 40-second commercial featuring models Lara Stone, “A.J.,” Sid Ellisdon, Grayson Vaughan and Eric Anderson. After the spot plays, viewers can then share the code with their Facebook and Twitter networks. The billboard marks the official premiere of Calvin Klein Jeans’s Fall 2010 advertising campaign. Previous campaigns have debuted on more traditional venues, the company explained, such as broadcast and dedicated online sites.
QR codes are increasingly appearing in advertisements as a way to increase engagement with consumers. Although already common in Japan (where they were originally invented), they do not appear in many advertisements — much less take up an entire billboard. Most U.S. citizens still do not own smartphones, and even those that do don’t necessarily know what a QR code is or have the necessary scanning software to read it.
The billboards are clearly a test run for Calvin Klein Jeans, given that they will be up for only a little more than a week. If the videos get enough views, however, we can expect similar billboards in the future — both from Calvin Klein Jeans and from other brands. It’s often difficult to measure engagement with billboards, and QR codes help advertisers better measure their impact.
What do you think of the billboard? Have you ever scanned a QR code in an advertisement?
Eva Hasson| Trendspotting Director
13, Rozanis St. Tel Aviv, 69018 Israel.
T: +972-3-7468000 | F: +972-3-7468001 | C: +972-544-666283
blog : www.yr.co.il/blog
Cannes 2008
Winner of 5 Lions: 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze, 16 Shortlists
Cannes 2009
Winner of 4 Lions: 1 Silver, 3 Bronze, 11 Shortlists
Awarded 2nd Media Agency of the Year
Cannes 2010
Winner of 4 Lions: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze, 10 Shortlists
Levi's Goes Mechanical With Houston Street Billboard
I t would seem Levi's is testing a new mechanical billboard in New York. Adrants reader Floyd Hayes sent us this video of the board which he guesses will ultimately spell out "We're All in This Together."
It's an interesting execution. Nothing stunningly new but if the mechanics end up spelling out different phrases with the same mechanical wheels, that would be kinda cool. Video after the jump.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cannes 2010 Winners for Press/Cyber/Design
<div><div style="width:420px;text-align:left;">Open publication - Free publishing - More cannes lions</div></div>
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Old Spice - @Everyone - signing off
@iaintait and his W&K team hope you get some well deserved rest after a truly awesome campaign!
I was on a horse!
Old Spice - @Everyone - signing off internet friends.
@iantaint and his crew have got style!
I'm on a horse.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Cannes Lions Initiative "Unlocking The Power of Mobile"
FROM CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE:
The mobile phone is set to overtake the computer as the most common device to access the internet.
Speaking at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, Bader cited new research from the Interpublic Group network, which surveyed 8,000 active smartphone users in the UK, the US, Sweden, China, India and South Korea.
He went on to say that when given the choice between having only mobile internet and having only computer-based internet, one third of consumers currently opted for mobile internet, noting this rose to nearly half among the most technically advanced users, whom he termed "innovators".
There were differences from market to market – in India for example, where internet access is limited, nearly half (49%) said they would choose mobile – but underlying trends were said to be "striking".
Mobile was identified as being used more in-home than out-of-home, with 60% of smartphone usage now taking place at home.
Bader said this highlighted just how much the mobile market had developed since its inception, when the main reason for owning a mobile used to be about making or accepting calls.
He said: "The truth is that laptops might become extinct inside the home fairly soon."
The number one activity for mobile internet was social communications (27%), followed closely by email (26%).
The agency has now released the survey called 'Unlocking the power of mobile’, which also demonstrated that mobile internet was not only about the youth and business consumer.
Smartphone users were said to be well spread across all age groups around the world, and were considered to be always on.
Across both weekdays and weekends, 30% of all smartphone users were said to start their day with mobile internet and 45% end their day with it.
Aegis Media Start in a Different Place
Here's one more presentation from Cannes: Aegis Media "Start In A Different Place"
Too often the default solution to a communications challenge is to start with an ad. Yet when looking at the brands that have garnered the most attention and respect in the last decade, it becomes clear that many of them have started in a different place.
Malcolm Hunter looks at those brands that have successfully started in a different place, identifies the different types of places that are now available, and suggests a process for finding them
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Old Spice ‘On A Horse’ Guy Replies to Tweets On Youtube
The Old Spice "I'm on a horse" campaign just got smokin' hot: Answering tweets with wacky vids on YouTube.
Many of my friends have adopted the "I;m a a horse" motto...to describe a wide range of situaions and while I liked the commercial, it didn't go much further than that.
Now I think it's brilliant. The commercial which started out as very likeable has just become very remarkable and very sharable. Old Spice with the help of W&K have turned a very “sharable” campaign and made it “social.”
They are now tweeting in the voice of the commercials and with the actor from the commercial as the avatar. This is great integration.
And to take it a step further, they are now shooting personalized Youtube responses to messages on Twitter. Check it out and tweet something to @OldSpice.
My friend shot a message out on Twitter the other day about how he loved the new Old Spice commercials. and it was pretty cool when he got a reply message on Twitter in character from the @OldSpice account.
Doing a commercial style Youtube reply? That takes things to a whole other level. THIS is remarkable stuff.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Live Twitter, YouTube and Facebook-Based Murals
Live Twitter, YouTube and Facebook-Based Murals
Real time tourism campaign - love it
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Google Reader (1000+)
YouTubePlay
YouTube Play is a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum to unearth and showcase the very best creative video from around the world. To have your work considered, simply post it on YouTube, and then submit it at youtube.com/play. A jury will decide which works will be presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York on October 21, 2010 with simultaneous presentations at the Guggenheim museums in Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice. The videos will be on view to the public from October 22 through 24 in New York and on the YouTube Play channel – here.
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