doing some reading

just a small round-up of "news" from Mediaweek:

Addictinggames.com, which targets males 12-24, is now MTV Networks' largest online property with over 11 million monthly uniques.

Could the next evolution of MTV being a gaming space?

Entertainment brands like movie studios and game publishers seek higher impact ad placements, which casual games can offer better than most content sites.

Is this saying that doing advertising in the form of games is high-impact placement or that placing ads on casual gaming sites is high-impact? not very good writing.

New Character Project by usanetwork.com celebrates interesting, dazzling, and distinctive people from all walks of life, who make this country extraordinary.

Sounds cool, but this sounds like it could be a great TV show - maybe one of the only good TV shows on TV these days (do people seriously watch good TV somewhere? let me know). Anyway, I checked out the website and this also seems like it would be a good project to benefit a nonprofit, but...again, doesn't look like USA is coming through on this. Hmmm. I bet they aren't even on Twitter. OH, I was wrong; check this out! :P

Peter Daboll says: "Smart marketers will use this economic lull as an opportunity to stop, listen and learn how to communicate with consumers instead of spinning their wheels."

You should read this awesome case study about Bank of America and their Twitter account; it's about how brands can be providing exceptionally personal customer-service for FREE using Twitter. Yes, really.

47% of U.S. homes upgraded to HDTVs, up from 34% in 2007 but...why? "TV" isn't getting any better.

>>>>
Ok, done reading now. Thanks for letting me share.

What is Twitter?

I was asked this today by a creative. Instead of acting smugly "in the know," I tried to explain Tweets, Tweeps, and the service in general. Here's what came out:

It's considered a microblogging service, but you don't have to put up a whole post or anything, just a short message with 140 characters or less.

So, it's like a blog?

No, it's more of a feed. You have followers and you follow people, and depending the content of your Tweets and vice versa, it's a news feed more or less of cool stuff you might be into.

So, what do I write about?

Anything you want, it's mostly about what's going to be of most interest to your followers and what you like to read. There are many types of "feeds." Mine is about cool advertising, thinking news because those are the kind of people I follow. But if you wanted to know about mundane time at which someone's getting their coffee in the morning or hitting their afternoon slump, those kinds of Tweets are out there to know about.

I do Facebook, that's about it.

Well, Facebook - and its new "facelift" - is a lot like Twitter, where you see other people's updates in real time...

The conversation changed turns and we were then setting up a context mapping session in which I will reference Twitter and Facebook and review sites. At least he won't be blindsighted when I bring up Tweets, but the issue (and game for planners) will come when we bring to life how social media is changing people's consumption of media in general.

I think it's a matter of asking the right questions so that we include social media in the conversation. This was in fact the very topic of a planner I feel privileged to work with, Planning for conversations by Christopher Owens at the AAAA Planning Conference 2008. Conversations are powerful, conversations can happen anywhere, and brands, products and companies must be conversational. Ok. But how do we make this happen?

The standard questions on a brief don't take into account the interaction that can happen with a brand. Should this piece of paper be changing to include a social space? If we were to answer the question "what's my brand's share factor?" What would we say? If were to "guide" the conversation, where would we take it? What do we want people to talk about? Or rather, what are they talking about and how can we participate?

things to think about.

hats off to Skittles

I am dazzled (If Skittled were an adjective, I'd use it) by the new Skittles site, yesterday and today. Yesterday it was skittles.com - the Twitter page; today it's skittles.com - the Facebook page. The change has been credited to spam/vulgarity (one and the same in my marketing book), and I think this says more about us as humans than it does about the brand.

I think people will take advantage of any chance to publicize themselves; "oh what? Skittles.com is publishing anything related to skittles in real time? Oh shit, I better type something so I get my 5 seconds of fame." - seriously? Oh yeah, it's America, the country of democracy and 15 minutes of fame. What happens when we place control in the hands of media hungry, socially-active consumers? Not decency in this time of good, but foul language and foul play. Gross.

I commend Skittles for going out on a limb, where most clients are scared to not have a TV ad, Skittles said we're doing social media all the way. They took a risk, and we've made them pay. As a young advertiser and social media advocate, I'm not happy with my fellow Twitterers. We abused the medium and teased a brand for having some balls.

Like this post says:

No one knows all the rules apart from the fact that the rules change every time you want to play. Trying to play it safe is the riskiest play of all right now.

So here's to Skittles, my hat's off to you for taking a risk; you've been the bravest, aside from Modernista (but they're an agency so they don't count), in terms of thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing yourself and interacting with your customers. High five!

Not to mention, that Farmers came to our agency the other day and left bags of Skittles on all of the tables, little did they know that just days later, I would be eating them still (they were huge bags) and happy to be part of a very brand-worthy social conversation. pretty cool.

Push vs. Pull

I've heard a lot about these two words in regards to the evolution of marketing and advertising.

In an Ad Age interview with Brad Jakeman, the new marketing manager for Activision (Guitar Hero publisher), he talks about his goals for marketing:

I cam here to make our marketing at least as engaging, innovative and exciting as our games.

That sounds pretty cool when you think about it. A video game is a very interactive experience, just think if advertising was a game you could engage with? And really, he says, that's where the industry should be going:

The step before consumer action, which we all hope to get, is consumer engagement.
We are living in an age of content, and if advertisers and marketers start thinking of themselves as content producers that are tasked with engaging consumers around their brand, that is a much more enlightened view than people who think of themselves as disseminators of the information that the company wants consumers to learn about their brand.
If you're creating amazing content, consumers will find you and they will engage with you.

But then someone has to take that leap, an if we build it, will they come? sort of deal. What Jakeman is talking about is the "pull" of engaging content, content that will draw consumers toward your brand. Tools to use that would pull consumers in; if you make yourself useful, people will naturally engage with you more frequently because you provide a service they need.

...as opposed to crappy content that you push out and impose on broad-scale media.

So, I know we all feel overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of information available - cool websites to check out, applications to download, Facebook groups to join - but the influx of content is not going to stop; it's only going to flow faster, so jump in brands! Here's to learning how to swim.

I.I. with brand management

A couple months ago, I asked a brand manager if I could take them out for coffee and talk to them about brand management; informational interviews have always been a favorite activity of mine to find out about occupations - so even though I'm employed here, I still wanted the I.I. structure.

Specific questions turned into conversation, but here were three answers that stuck out:

Q1. What is your role within the client team?

To represent the client to the agency; handle the majority of communication between the agency and client; determine the appropriate resources; handle billing and time.

Q2. How do you work differently with media, creatives, and planning?

In terms of relative power with the client - creatives, brand planning, media. There's an opportunity for each discipline to have a partnership with each other: Some of the best people in media still bring ideas to the table even though they know the client will ix nay their idea.

Working with senior planners, they're partners in strategy and coming up with marketing communications.

Working with juniors, it's about managing details and helping with the research.

Q3. What are some characteristics I should work on developing to set me up for success?

Be smart but in a humble way; use the Socratic method to lead folks

No whining - "that's not my job" doesn't fly

Be curious, always want to know more, push it further

Verbal brilliance defines a planner - the more interesting you are, the more you will be valued

Make yourself top of mind - stop by to talk to people, remind them you're here

Fight for the resources you need. If you don't have the depth of information you need to write brief, then say so!

Develop your presentation skills, have a style, seek out opportunities to speak and have an audience

We the people of 2050

In a little over 40 years from now, America will be a minority-majority country where non-Hispanic whites are projected to account for 47% of the population. Knowing this now, how can we prepare for the transition to more multicultural marketing? What are we doing now if we know where we need to be in 40 years? Crazy, I know.

I know Hispanic marketing is gaining a lot of traction and agencies are getting recognition for award-winning work for this consumer segment. But what about African-Americans? Shouldn't their lifestyle and culture be recognized with similarly insightful work and attention? Or even Asian-Americans? There is a lot of room to grow with multicultural marketing, interesting that Hispanics are the first ones to receive significant advertising dollars.

Although when you take into account their large families, affinity for socializing, and the fact that they actually like advertising, they're definitely appealing as a target audience. But they're so diverse!

• 63% are from Mexico
• 10% are from Puerto Rico
• 4% from Cuba
• 3% from the Dominican Republic
• 3% from El Salvador
• etc.

Lots of persona profiles to build. Best get to work now.

the generation to redefine what planning is

Amidst all the new ways to communicate, engage, and connect, could we say that "connections planning" is the evolution of account and/or brand planning?

When I was in Miami Ad School, Catrina McAuliffe opened our session with a class on the History of Account Planning. She talked about everyone from Stanley Pollitt (the father) to Jay Chiat (the first U.S. agency to have it). She put it all in context and then gave our generation a daunting task: you will be ones to redefine how planning works.

Ok. Look at this article from Mediaweek in mid-2008:

Communications planning is a more strategic way of determining key media choices. It's about moving away from the science of delivering messages to audiences and toward the art of understanding how consumers receive and respond to communication. The starting point is the consumer, not the media channel or discipline. When practiced at its best, communications planning not only influences where a marketer's creative will run, but also informs the creative, strategic, and activation processes as well.

Could this possibly be the next phase of planning? If we think about plannng now, we can't solely focus on the brand without taking into account all of the places it can intersect with a "target audience." Perhaps before, it was much more of a brand strategy in so much as what we had to say (the message) had to be strategic enough to resonate with an audience. Now perhaps, it's placement (an engagement) instead of the message that makes a brand most salient. We shouldn't expect brand planning to sit in its place, unchanged, when consumers and communications are changing rapidly around us; it needs to evolve to.

Determining how channels are integrated into the marketing communication effort is a core role of ________ planning.

(I added the _____) Is this media planning? Or connections planning? brand planning? account planning?

To me, we're talking about insights and connectivity - the focus of any "planner." Everyone can be insightful, but it's planning (in whatever category) that is held accountable for its representation at every touchpoint.

For those people who have been in planning for 10, 20, 30 years, can you see its evolution? Or should I bite the bullet and concede to the discipline being fragmented into tiny counterparts that have to do with different spheres of experience?

Or rather is connections planning the new media planning? And how do you brand planners feel about its responsibilities solely lying within another department?

"25 things"

I got tagged the other day for the cyclical "25 things" meme, and you know what? It made me happy. It made me feel included. The rules were you had to get tagged to do it. You weren't supposed to just download the app and post it to your profile but rather wait until you were tagged; then pay it forward. So Mark Lewis paid it forward to me. I thought it was so cool! I felt like I was in; finally!

I had read other people's comments on the exercise. I think one person had written that it was hard to come up with 25 things to describe themselves...I thought I was in for a challenge, but really, 25 things isn't hard. Just sit in one place and look at all the stuff you have around you, each object is a story, each thought a potential one. You can do it. :)

I decided to write a post about this because my friend Paul twittered about "25 things," saying it was the first sign of Facebook's demise, down the path of Myspace, which he thinks is littered with these sorts of quizzes/postings/etc. I would agree that Myspace is a bit more adolescent, but come on, "25 things" has a viral quality about it. I wanted to be a part of it.

Maybe I'm just gullible (which is entirely possible) but I think we'll see more things like this; hopefully not as extensive; but more "viral" social networking fads. Or maybe I'm clueless and they've been happening before my active Twittering or Facebooking lately. If so, disregard this post.

Thanks for stopping by.

in today's "knowledge economy"

For a new breed of professional, life is a blend of work and leisure where you're never in the right place. Always on the go, we feel like we are in the right place at the right time only when in transit, moving from point A to B. Constant motion is a balm to an anxious culture where we are haunted by the feeling that we are frauds, expendable in the workplace because so much of our service work is intangible.

Otherwise known as the "Elsewhere Class," never have so many professionals worked in such abstract industries.

I would place account planning/brand strategy in this new breed, and there have been many blog posts by green and mature planners alike that say something like "I need to think for hours and then come back with a fresh mind to tackle a problem." This thinking time is definitely not the same "labor" as being able to quantify the bottles of beer, milk, or juice you filled and packaged, and are now ready to ship by the crate (which you can also count). We can't look at our thinking time and assess its worth.

The ubiquity of information in today's "knowledge economy" makes each occupation's claim to unique expertise flimsier and flimsier.

Trend-watching services have dubbed this on-all-the-time trend with many names, but not until I read this article did I feel validated in my professional struggle to prove my value. As a Millennial in a workplace with Gen X, Boomers, and Matures; and as a planner, a fairly new discipline unto itself; I'm working constantly to bring to life the abstract. As an active member with many social media, I like to think that the tangible part to evaluate is a conversation, but I know people would disagree with me. What can I take away from a conversation? What value is a conversation? I've been asked this before and my answer is often actionable ideas. But is this good enough?

Time and social media will tell.

For more, read the article "Welcome to Elsewhere" in Newsweek

Newsweek and a Saturday afternoon

Just read Newsweek from January 26, 2009 and learned a lot of really applicable information for clients, trends, etc.

The first feature length article that caught my attention was "Who we are now." I was shocked to learn that Bronx county in NYC is the most diverse in America.

If you choose any two residents at random, there's an 89.7% chance that they'll be of different races or ethnicities.

This is called heterogeneity. We the People of 2009 are not the We the People of 1959, etc....

The article concludes with facts about Millennials - the more assimilated we are, the fact that we're more female, more secular, less socially conservative and more willing to describe ourselves as liberals....

And we're 75 million strong. Watch out world. :)

SuperBowl favs

The ones that got my attention:
Doritos' "Power of the crunch" - love this. I think Pepsi-Co Corporate has got itself a good agency: Pepsi's ready to take on Coca-Cola and Doritos succeeds well with branding.
Bridgestone's "Moonmen"
Careerbuilder's "Punching a Koala" > not the actual spot title
NFL.com/superad
Hulu "Taking over the world"
GE's ecoimagination.com spots
Heineken with John Turturro
Pepsi's "Refresh Anthem"

Runner-ups:
cash4gold.com > I have an image in my head of a guy drinking a glass of cold, thought it was from this spot but my colleague recalls it in the Careerbuilder spot. Interesting confusion.

Sobe's "Lizard Lake" > everyone at our party said this was nothing out of the ordinary, but I liked it, thought it was hilarious; except for the lizard face morph at the end. again, wtf?

Pepsi's "Pepsuber" > pretty hilarious

Teleflora's "Talking Flowers"

Conan's Bud-light "Glam" spot

For a full list of official winners & losers check out the article at Ad Age, and I'm sure there are various others around the web.

Happy Monday.

stay forever young

I really like Pepsi's "every generation" spot that played during the SuperBowl. I think it puts them in the same playing field that Coke has dominated for so long but has lost...I'm sorry but their spots did nothing for me. CGI does not = ROI in branding.

For those who missed it, here's just one of Pepsi's smart moves:



I forecast that Pepsi gains big ground in the soft-drink category in 2009. I can't remember the last time that we actually believed there was better advertising then Coco-Cola. Because just like Pepsi says, "every generation refreshes the world."

I think Pepsi's refreshing the category. Go branding.

likemind was in the news

Just reminded of this article that the NYTimes wrote last year. And you might recognize the name in the first line...

For the sake of getting people interested in coming to the next one, likemind made the news in October of 2008: That Business Card Won't Fly Here covers what this once monthly, social (networking) group is all about:

Participants exchange ideas, job tips and useful contacts, while also batting around ideas about technology, art, business and culture.

It's a great way to get a Friday started. Check out the website to find one happening near you.

a comfortable calm

Just a week in the Oval office, and Obama's feeling at home - a changing one, that is.



I love the example he sets. If someone asked me right now, who's a person in history with whom you want to have a conversation? I would say Barack Obama. Damn.

to social media or not

I know there’s a debate about whether or not brands need a social media strategist; or what social media can really do for your brand... And in the case that any of you are involved in one such debate and want more information regarding the micro-blogging platform, check this article out: 40 of the best Twitter brands and people.

Brands mentioned: The HomeDepot, Best Buy, Wachovia, Portland TrailBlazers, Burger King, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc.

Some top reasons they Tweet are:

• build awareness
• create a community
• enhance/diversify customer-service
• be interesting

Enjoy!
http://twitter.com/erinmiddleton

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Gareth! :)

my bio

I have to write one for work, so I thought I'd take try a test one here. Let's see, when did it all start...

I discovered advertising as I was re-writing papers at the University of Oregon in hopes of becoming a magazine journalist and working for Rolling Stone. During the introductory course, I continuoully heard the words "insights" and "ideas" and thought, this sounds like fun! So I enrolled in an advertising strategy course the next term and found my passion: planning. From there on out, I got straight As (except for one B in management, :P) - a collegiate feat achieved solely in my advertising major; I thought wow, I get it AND I'm good at it: score!

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, I went to Alicante, Spain to immerse myself in Spanish culture and learn another language. Hacia un ano muy buenisimo y tenia gracias por todo. It was in Madrid, that I met an account planner who told me about Miami Ad School's Account Planning Bootcamp: "It's a good place to hone your skills," he said. I never forgot the suggestion...almost three years later - after working for Vitamin World, J.Crew, The National Psoriasis Foundation, Clear Channel Radio, and Starbucks in Portland, Oregon - I applied. And got in.

It was at Bootcamp that I encountered my mentor and my future job connection to The Richards Group - Christopher Owens. I wanted to be an electric planning firecracker just like him, but I thought "Dallas? Really?" It took a stint as a Freelance strategist in Portland working on a brand strategy for the Bridgeport Brewing Company and a hot summer in New York blogging for PSFK to finally settle me in the LoneStar State. And here I am, a happy planner.

When I'm not briefing for the next pre-order incentive at GameStop, researching trends to house in the Trend Lab, or helping out with a new business pitch, I'm riding my bike as one of the only cyclist commuters you'll see in Dallas or drinking a Shiner at a local music show. Sure I miss my green, tree-filled Pacific Northwest; but heck, Oregon ain't got nothin on ya'll's BBQ.

this makes me happy

because "Life's for sharing"



The fact that they used dance to reach people, in addition to the popularity of Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, (and isn't there another one premiering soon?) - I'm wondering what's with the trend of dancing? I know it's been around forever (Fred & Ginger), but is there something bigger going on?

Best strategic work of 09?

Last year about this time, I put together a short reel for our creative department here that included some of the best strategic work of 07. I mostly compiled them from blogs I'd read and maybe an AdAge Top 10 list, but I wanted to ask those of you who read this blog what you considered to be some of the best (planning) work of 08.

Looking forward to your input.
Thanks!

a digital mindset

Just saw this from Mark Earls on Twitter:

absolutely convinced that there's a digital mindset; one of sharing and altruism.. staggered by how few people have it

The capabilities of the web enable us to share a lot more; and one the one hand, it puts us all on the same page, while on the other: it helps us to see who's not. Or maybe it comes back to the simple awesomeness of the phrase two heads are better than one and the individuals in the group collective know that the possibilities are endless. Or we could look at Mark's more scientific reasoning behind social media:

it connects people to each other and that allows us to see each other (which you will hopefully remember allows us to emulate and thus drives the spread of behaviours and ideas)

what do you think? And how will we see this "digital mindset" evolve in 2009?

at likemind this AM, we discussed the topic of transparency and social media/networking with these conclusions: there needs to be a parallel category of "virtual life management" tools that become available, helping people translate their offline behaviors into an online on-all-the-time identity. I don't know if Mark's point of being "good" is inherent moreso than it's a by-product of transparency.

Hmmm...

changing the rules

It just occurred to me that the trend of transparency is upon us all on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn (somewhat), among others. Two weeks ago I separated my "personal" from my "professional" on Facebook, thinking this separation would allow me to use the service a bit better. Plannersphere always wanted to be like a Facebook/LinkedIn child...and so I thought that I could make a Facebook account act like the Plannersphere only with the updates like Twitter - I'm thinking all-in-one baby!

But now that I think about the trend of transparency hitting the social sphere, maybe I shouldn't have done this. Maybe my professional network wants to see my personal life...wait, no, that doesn't sound right. Right? So how are we supposed to function on Facebook when my Director at work can see that I'm "recovering from a hard night out" or that my relationship status went from "in a relationship" to "single?"

This all seems to be about protecting the sancitity of our workplace, but maybe Gen Y is redefining the rules. Everything feels like it's in a state of flux: we're all figuring out how to co-exist with so much information available all the time and we're hitting bumps in the road, trying new things, working it out - but it's thrown us into a completely new area of communication. When I was at MAS, Catrina McAuliffe said that our generation was going to be the one that redefines how we use communication. Wow. She should get a noble prize for forecasting the future....

Here's to hoping that we know what we're doing; and that there's a little bit of strategy and planning along the way to guide us in solving the problems.

Get out the vote!

Just popped on Twitter and saw a tweet from Mark Earls that plugged this post from Neil at Only Dead Fish. I don't know how long he's been doing this, but just seeing it motivates me to read more blogs. Thanks for the inspiration!

And if you're a planner (and read blogs), go vote!

planning - the new year

Just read Ed Cotton's post about old vs. new school planning at Influx. He makes a great point about the discipline evolving, learn from the past, but be forward-looking.

The advertising environment has changed so dramatically, that unless Planners have an understanding of both content and context, they will be hopelessly lost.

As always, the idea for content, or the creative proposition can come from anywhere, even sales reports, but we now have access to a lot more material these days, beyond the focus group, to find these ideas.

The challenge for planners is to come up with platforms for ideas that have power in today's communication environment, they have to understand the context in which communication now works, without that, all the discipline in the world counts for nothing.

I hope to see more teamwork between planners of all disciplines: media/connections/brand in 2009.

Merry Holidays

I'm sure most of you are of the generation that saw MTV at its best and then...at its most confusing brand state; so you've found other music channels to follow: pitchfork, lastfm (my latest fav), maybe Fuse. I found the following "artists wish you a merry christmas" video on Fuse today, it's nothing super special, but it reminds me that artists are brands too. Why don't ad agencies or huge holding companies produce something similar for their clients? I think it might be neat and wholesome (?) to see a video of advertisers (brands) wishing consumers Merry Christmas. Just an idea. Enjoy.

the next wave

What we're doing these days is sharing...our lives, our personalities, our profiles, our birthdays, our relationships, our likes/dislikes, our music, our hobbies, etc. We are building identities and sharing them with others at the same time, (not an easy task if you're in your 20s and still trying to figure out who you are), a task that Obama did perfectly with one of the most successful social media campaigns to date. Why? Because he used an integrated campaign to communicate one message: who I am and what I stand for. If only I could so intelligibly juggle Facebook, Myspace, my blog, Plannersphere, Amazon, and LinkedIn.

Brands now need to think about how to aide us in finding an identity and sharing it with others, a little weird to think about i know...

Why should you blog? Sensibility.

At the agency, we have had an influx of The Atlantic, tons of them are lying around, (mostly in boxes on 11, FYI). I picked one up this morning for the article titles "Why I Blog" by Andrew Sullivan.

For anybody curious about the benefits of blogging or even what a blog is, you should definitely pick up a magazine and read the article. For the quick-tip minded, here are the excerpts I most enjoyed:

• Blogging enables writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. It is to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud.
• The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.
• The key to understanding a blog is to realize that it's a broadcast, not a publication. It if stops moving, it dies.
• The blogger is a node among other nodes, connected but unfinished without the links and the comments and the trackbacks that make the blogosphere, at its best, a conversation, rather than a production.
• A blogger is like a host at a dinner party. He can provoke discussion or take a position, even passionately, but he also must create an atmosphere in which others want to participate.
• People have a voice for radio and a face for television. For blogging, they have a sensibility.

The Culture Snack should be a dumping place for insights, ideas, and arguments so that we each can make our individual planning brands stronger. With an influx of the same information, we are forced to be creative, to put our own spin on things, and come up with our own opinions, validating them with links and comments, and then taking this content offline into a meeting with conviction from your likeminded community.

You can find this post and others at the Culture Snack.

if i only knew...

But sometimes I don't. I need to be ok with that. I need to remain humble and cognizant of the people in the room with me. Sometimes I need to shut my mouth and LISTEN.

Listening is one of the greatest skills planners can have. I think I struggle with this fact because I want to make my voice heard (?). I think that's what people expect of me. Did they hire me to be quiet? But when I say something hurriedly, it always comes out wrong. I seem hasty and immature and unpolished. Gross.

This is totally free-thought writing. MIND MAP!!!!! One of the best things you can do to CONNECT IDEAS and TELL A STORY. See, I know what I'm doing, or at least what I need to be doing, I'm just not doing it.

Just do it. Nike had it right. Long live INSIGHT.

moving to a new blog

I have been pulled in many new directions lately and have neglected to give JPIA the love and time it needs to be the robust resource I so want it to be. I have struggled with this for many reasons, namely:

• a blog helps me think through ideas and link them to new stimuli
• a blog keeps me in touch with the World Wide Web and all of the new cool websites that people are having fun with
• JPIA has been invaluable as a networking tool, a network I received much inspiration from and feel sad to have not been able to return the favor to in a long time

With that said, I have decided to consolidate my resources and time on a new blog to serve the functions above. My new blog will also provide me a comfortable link to my full-time job which I felt I couldn't do with JPIA because it was much more "me-centric" in nature. Culture Snack will be a collaborative effort with my colleagues to discuss the thoughts and questions we have about our experiences in advertising. I'm going to pair this blog with my twitterfeed. I think a blog for thought development and a Twitter for connecting will serve me well in my newly-busy bee world.

For JPIA, thank you for all you've done for developing me as the planner I am today. The support and advice I have received has been vital for my sanity and growth as an effective part of the the advertising industry, helping it to be better and stronger for a future of healthy consumerism and creativity.

Plan on.

pedestrian vs. car

What if urban spaces were planned more for people than for cars? Park(ing) Day has made it its mission to find out, started by the art collective ReBar from San Francisco, this "art" seeks to advertise.

let them design

This trend caught my attention with the 1800 Tequila "Essential Artists" campaign. Now I'm watching it continue with Mountain Dew.

1800 Tequila is launching the second part of their campaign with a "Design your bottle" campaign; the winner will be featured in the 2009 campaign.

Not only does this highlight the artist in all of us, it lets us "in" a brand's world, letting us feel a part of the advertising, thus making us more receptive to it in general. I would say that campaigns like this raise consumer morale for the industry as a whole. With that in mind, we should be promoting these more. :)

Plan on.

planners caught in the middle

Let me know if you've experienced something similar:

your super smart insights help win the agency new business.
your strategic prowess helps position the brand within a dead category.
you excite the creative teams: they are creating Nike.
production begins.
then nothing...
some management conversations happen here and there, you hear tidbits about this and that, you "plan" for more work, etc. etc.
no "work" comes from management.
you call a meeting to "get everyone on the same page"
come to find out management has made decisions on strategy's behalf but rest assured if it's the wrong decision, strategy will be called in to save the day or we lose the business.

Agencies count on us (planning) to bring in new business with our vibrant talks of the possibilities and insights which drive them. The agency also counts on us to diagnose problems and remedy situations with a strategic sounding board when business falters along the way. But when we're not involved along the way, how can our strategy be the best?

Strategy exists for the betterment of the work. We are here to ensure results. In order to win and RETAIN business, please include us along the way. Caught between management and creative, I understand we're easily forgotten with no tangible piece of proof that we exist. Just like the brands we create every day, planning is a sense of something more - it's there to be engaged with, a smart personality with which smart agencies become associated with.

Mac attack!

Life without walls is pretty brilliant.



Not only is PC global, it's multi-faceted, colorful, and vibrant. Mac attack initiated.

Vote: it's a verb

To express one's choice or opinion. (i know you all have one, do you?)

what are Bill & Jerry doing for Vista?

There's been a lot of talk about this new campaign from CP+B and what it's doing for Windows Vista...I personally don't find anything engaging about the spots: I'm not pulled in, I'm not intrigued to find out more, I don't want to talk about them - it's just another commercial in the commercial pod in-between programming.

but...

What I think is happening is the spots are encouraging those people who do have Windows Vista to talk about it. The spots are totally targeted at them, to incite them to think about WHY in fact Vista works, what they like about it, what the whole "shtick" is about. The spots incite them to think about the product and most likely they feel like they're part of an inside club which is inherently the point of any product and/or brand. To support my hypothesis: after using his laptop last night (with Vista), my boyfriend said: "I don't know what the negative hype is all about, I really like it. It's sweet."

look what we've done

If you're in advertising, see this movie: America the Beautiful. With all of the Planning for Good and brand utility that gets furthered by smart agencies every day, let's not forget where our industry has come from and what the social ramifications are; the ones we must address and tackle before we can get consumers to really believe (buy into) our newly "good-hearted" and honest attempts at reflecting society rather than shaping it (no pun intended).

go to www.thisad.com

In the age of information, it seems we always want to communicate as much as we can. The client wants to get their message, contact information, website, and any other support points ALL in one ad ALL the time. I think it's silly to clutter a space with all of this information at once and believe it doesn't make any sense message-wise. If a consumer sees a billboard (or a bus ad), think about where they are: in their car. They're NOT going to be able to check out your website and most likely won't remember it when they do get to a computer, even if they repeat it 3x in their head (I've tried it, it doesn't work). Instead, a website might work better in a text message or in a TV commercial; a lot of people are combining laptop time with TV watching these days: This makes more sense.

Anyway, I don't have the answer yet. My podmate said it's a problem of media saturation which I'd agree with to an extent. It's also a problem of one-sided communication. We think that just because we give people information they'll use it or know what to do with it. WRONG! We need to do a bit more work these days and come up with ways in which we can help/remind people to use this information.

I hear a new Google app in the making...only if they read this post. :p

more to come...

the new consumer

doesn't consume material goods: new jeans, the latest razor, new Nikes, Mr. JoeBob's insurance policy that can get the best discount around, or even the dinner for only $9.99 at TGIF's. The new consumer consumes content: podcasts, blogs, flickr photo albums, social media conversations, text messages, YouTube videos.

Content is what we all need to be producing now. Ripe from the AP Conference, content is the new creativity. What does our audience want to consume in terms of content? In this Internet and connectivity driven world, content is "the goods." What can you produce that people will want to share? What can you produce that people will want to add to, mess with, and get their fingers in?

And that's just it, and also maybe why many companies haven't gotten on the content bandwagon, is because content can also be created by consumers, so we're all competing in the same pool. AHHHH, no control, says the stodgy, traditional company, let's just talk to them (not with).

Everyone is creating content. It will be the brands and products and companies that facilitate the creation and sharing of content that will be rewarded with loyalty, love, and customers. CUSTOMERS of content. CREATORS of content. Maybe we'll finally replace the age-old consumers with talking to the creators. That sounds nice. :)

I just read an article, i can't remember the source, that said in this post-broadcast age, retail will reign. Well just think about it: a retail environment is filled with content! A retail environment provides a context to enjoy the content within, which is even better and more conducive to retention. So what can we call customers of content? Think about it. Plan for it. It's here, the age of content.

FREE FREE FREE = DUMB DUMB DUMB

I heard a radio commercial today that went something like this:

Call now to get a free laptop! At BlueHippo we won't look at your credit score, no questions asked. Call now XXX-XXX-XXXX, and we'll give you a free flatscreen today. No credit checks, no questions. Have you been wanting a laptop? Get one today! And if you call right now we'll give you a flatscreen tv AND a printer. Call now.

Um...ok. I LOL because this is a)too much free stuff in one offer b)to free to be real c)very scam-worthy and d)down right ridiculous.

I can't believe this ad passed through all the checkoff points. This is DUMB, BAD advertising. I really hope people don't give this company the satisfaction of a call or a customer. Advertising like this should write you off the planet in terms of being socially acceptable. Boo.

Yo Momma

Postcardsfromyomomma is kind of like Postsecret for moms but in a reverse way: readers submit emails from their mothers, thus displaying secrets of moms.

Great insight for any mother/daughter brand.

Here's one post titled "My husband lives like a pauper"

Did I tell you that I called the producer at Millionaire to re-schedule my air date? I told them I relocated to Reno and that I couldn’t make the July date. They said,”No problem…we’ll call you and send a letter after we look at the schedule”. I really think I can do well on that show. If I make some big bucks I will NOT give it to my husband. I will split it up between you and your sister. My husband doesn’t need money. He’s got his squirreled away and lives like a pauper so I’ll dispense any award money where it will be put to good use.

oh data

Part of me wants to launch into a fictitious rant about Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, a childhood favorite in the late 80s, early 90s, but I'll save us both the nostalgic embarrassment.

If you haven't seen it yet at Contagious, read this now: Ways of Seeing, The art of data by digital ninjas Faris Yakob and Noah Brier. These two smart guys put data visualization into inspirational laymen's terms. What exactly is data visualization? Words are simply visual representations of information - pictures of sounds. I thought this was beautiful when I read it. An inspiring way to think about what they refer to as the art of eroding the gap between how something looks and what it means.

Basically, they give it to us straight: we are a generation drowning in data. Here, Here! Oy Oy! How many of you are currently struggling with balancing your professional network with your social one; aggregating newsfeeds but never finding the time to read them all; trying to figure out how to Twitter but...can't; wishing you could email everyone back at once but know that mass emails aren't the personalization you know people deserve these days. AHHHH, what are we supposed to do? The Internet has made us all stir-crazy, psycho-paths who need the latest "fix" of information and we can't focus until we get it, and even then, focusing (and being productive) is difficult.

The problem identified by Faris & Noah is that data, like many things, is worthless without the tools to interpret it. Ok, now I've got to get on my soapbox: Attention agencies without planning departments, planners ARE your tools to decipher the data, the information, the culture, the research, etc. :)

Down now. Check out some of these super cool sites to get your data visualization fix now:

www.labs.digg.com/bigspy
http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm
http://wefeelfine.org
http://www.visualthesaurus.com
http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/
http://twittervision.com/
http://www.fidgt.com/
http://walk2web.com/

and there are more here at Mashable. Enjoy!

Definition of smart?

I have a homework project to answer the question: what is your definition of smart? The task paper says "throughout life we have all used the word smart to describe a multitude of people, places, things, and ideas. In the world of advertising, this word followed by a brand name or campaign title has become the epitome of success for agencies and brands across the globe, yet it remains largely undefined."

When I think of smart, these brands come to mind: Google, Nike, Macintosh, and Barack Obama (Starbucks would be on this list, but I feel the brand's situation is sort of hush-hush these days, do we really want to talk about how bad it's doing? :( ). These four brands represent simplistic function, authentic intentions, forward-thinking activism, consistent personalities, and are both a mirror to society and change-makers. I think this is my definition of smart, now that I laid it out.

Does smart have value? To answer this, I ask you is brand loyalty worth something? And your answer should be damn right, I want cheezy poofs!

Does smart depend solely on its audience? I would say no. A smart brand, to me, is a brand whose smartness stands independently of its said actions which have an intended audience. A smart brand is holistically smart: smart intentions, smart mission, smart moves, thereby summoning a smart audience. :)

And there we have it. My opinion on what smart means in the world of branding.

my problem with advertising

is I'm not consuming; "bogged" down with 40+ hours of work and trying to balance my health/fitness/social goals in around work, I haven't blocked off "time to be a consumer," which is completely necessary to be at the top of my advertising game. I am out of touch with how people are shopping these days. It's the little nuances when they're in the store or talking with a store employee that capture a brand's "experience" and to which we are drawing people's attention with advertising.

Don't forget to be a consumer yourself.
Buy stuff now.

Tom Carroll or TBWA Worldwide had this to say at the 4As Planning Conference this year "There is no substitute for being out in the marketplace. Get back out there and talk to people. The good data is not in your office and it's not online."

getting things done

I'm not sure how many of you have heard of David Allen's book Getting Things Done, but my podmate turned me on to GTD (i swear he gave me a link but I can't find it right now, stay tuned)...and the book looms in my mind as if it were the Holy Grail. Lately (per my previous post), I've been struggling with procrastination; it's a bitch. What the F*** do you do? And can you even put your finger on why you're procrastinating OR what procrastination exactly means? I think Type A personalities struggle with "whatever procrastination is" moreso than Type Bs. This link takes you to a Wikipedia page clearly written by a Type B persona (Type As aren't complete tightwads!) which illustrates the Type A personality traits that I struggle most with: multi-tasking takes an ineffective turn where focusing becomes random instant-gratification seeking; time-conscientiousness becomes debilitating to creativity; and stress hinders any sense of productivity. Ugh.

So back to GTD: I checked out the book on Amazon, and I'm posting highlights from a comment I feel is the most motivating (and perhaps directional, in fact negating the purchase of the book altogether). Here they are:

This book is for all those who are overwhelmed with too many things to do, too little time to do them, and a general sense of unease that something important is being missed. (THAT'S ME!)

Every task, promise, or assignment has a place and a time. Rapid progress occurs when you take large, unformed tasks, and break them down and organize them into smaller, sequential steps for exactly what to do and when.

The essence of the process is that you write down a note about everything when you take on a new responsibility, make a new commitment, or have a useful thought. All of this ends up in some kind of "in" box. You then go through your "in" box and decide what needs to be done next for each item. For simple issues, this includes identifying the action you should take first and when to take it. For tougher issues, you schedule an appropriate time to work the problem in more detail.

For the tougher problems, you start with identifying your purpose and principles so you know why you care how it all turns out. Then you imagine the potential good outcomes that you would like. Following that, you brainstorm with others the best way to get those outcomes. Then you organize the best pathway. (WHO DOESN'T LIKE BRAINSTORMS?)

The critical part is the discipline because that is what focuses your attention where it will do the most good. Many people allow a lot of time to pass without taking any useful steps because they cannot imagine what to do next. If you simplify the questions and make them into familiar ones, everyone soon finds powerful alternatives drawn from a lifetime of experiences and memories. Keep things broad, abstract, and vague, and peoples' eyes glaze over while they struggle for a place to begin. (I THINK THIS PARTICULARLY APPLIES TO PLANNING: WE'VE GOT TO BE ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS AND WE NEED TO ARTICULATE AND SIMPLIFY)

THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE COMMENTER: "By helping [other people] gain relaxed control of their activities, you will also be able to enjoy the benefits of their increased effectiveness in supporting your own efforts.May you always get the tools you need, understand what to do next, and move swiftly through timely actions!" SOUNDS NICE. :)

"Seeing things differently"

The above spot is a Cannes 2008 Bronze Award winner. yay!

On "subject," it's probably something I need to make a goal to achieve: see things differently. The humdrum of the largest independent agency has made me a machine part, and now I need a bit of oil. I'm still turning over, doing my part, but I'm not shiny anymore. I miss being shiny.

Problem to be solved: Feeling confined, limited, and uninspired within an "agency structure."

Who are we talking to: My-Myspacing, instant gratification seeking and therefore procrastinating, project-based, timesheet filling, seemingly pressed for time-Self.

What do they think now: I can't find the time to think beyond problem-solution tasks, or rather, maybe I'm not thinking anymore because I rely on "the system" to help me come up with the solution because isn't that what a system exists for? I find it hard to be myself in "the system." (is this generational or is it like this with all forms of artistic expression?)

What would we like them to think: You can incorporate the same passion for planning and idea-generating discipline that you had a year ago into the day-to-day and project-world you live in now.

What insight will help us get there: creative passion does not run well on business time or in a typical business environment.

Thoughts:

• How can I dilute the sense of "being run by the clock?"
• What more can I add to my environment to inspire random creativity?
• I need to build in idea-generating activities & made them feel like playtime in a work-world.

I have a long ways to go as a planner, still a lot to learn, and a lot of ideas to have and act upon. I need to re-visit why I am where I am and make sure I'm still drinking my own koolaid so that I remain true to the brand I've established and the brand I want to become known for. I wrote this in May 2007 after evaluating my time at the Miami Ad School: It gave me the tools to change a tired, traditional WILL DO industry into a provocatively, creative WANT TO one. Of course, a revolution is easier to do with people but...if it's just me right now, ok. Be bold.

Plan on.

Round up of cool

In the name of sharing information and fostering a creative community that gives/receives inspiration, these are some things I've found to be motivating lately:

Data Visualization a la Moodstream, designed by The Barbarian Group, Moodstream is a visual brainstorming tool, sort of like a mindmap only with images, but then it's got a GPS-like navigation tool with which the user determines where he or she will head to next. Pretty cool. And FYI, one of the smartest kids around, Noah, has become a Barbarian, so expect to see lots of smart strategic solutions happening there.

Twittervision - the local version. Because I am relatively new to my city, I'd like to see what other people are up to in real time. This seems like a much more indirect way of meeting cool people and finding out about new things vs. messaging a complete stranger on Myspace or reading the poorly laid out local alternative weekly. Tweet away!

Buzz feeds - literally you can go to buzzfeed.com and see what's popular OR Yahoo! has user-friendly version called Yahoo! Buzz. And at the Likemind this month, someone mentioned MetaSpy but...I'm not getting anything when I click through on the MetaCrawler website...anyone else?

Enjoy some tools!

Concept Statements

what makes a good one?

Dancing

A viral Internet sensation with four million web fans says The New York Times:

In many ways “Dancing” is an almost perfect piece of Internet art: it’s short, pleasingly weird and so minimal in its content that it’s open to a multitude of interpretations. It could be a little commercial for one-world feel-goodism. It could be an allegory of American foreign policy: a bumptious foreigner turning up all over the world and answering just to his own inner music. Or it could be about nothing at all — just a guy dancing.

Here, for your viewing pleasure (see if it doesn't make you a bit happier):

advice for getting an entry-level job in account planning

First off, every planner's story is different; there's no one way to get into planning. This is largely due to the fact that not every agency has a planning department, not all planning departments are created equal, and it's still a fairly new profession to apply for. With that said, here's what I tried and what I found to be the most beneficial to finally getting a job:

Informational interviews - Talk to anyone that will talk to you! Start a list today of all the agencies in your immediate town. Call up the main number, ask if they have a planning t; if they do, get the Planning Director's number or email, if they don't, move on. Once you have a list of 5-10 contacts, start calling/emailing with a brief introduction of "hey, I'd love to talk to you about planning. Could we arrange a time next week, only 15-30 minutes, so I could pick your brain and hear your story?" There aren't many smart people who don't like to talk about themselves or help a young, passionate person out. And each person you talk to is a business card for networking purposes later. After you do your town/immediate area, call people long-distance in cities you'd be interested to live in and do an I.I. over the phone. Yes, it's a bit like cold-calling but get over it, and see it as an opportunity to learn. Bite the bullet, you want this!

Agency Internships - Yeah yeah, maybe you've already tried this route and think you're "better than that now." The truth is, it's much easier to transition from intern to job than it is to go from "nobody" to job. Get an internship! Being an intern is a highly visible position: you get a feel for the agency and the agency gets a feel for you. Agencies are in the personality-industry when it comes to hiring; if it's not a good match, they won't hire you and you shouldn't want to be hired, you won't be happy. And if it's only 3 months, at least that's an agency name you can put on your resume and get references from. Most ad agencies like to see that you've been in the industry and have a feel for how it works.

Freelance - If you feel strong in your planner skills and have a good sense of the value you can add to the creative-problem solving that happens in agencies, sell yourself to an agency that doesn't have planning. You should be familiar with their clients and maybe do an I.I. beforehand with the president or creative head. Ask smart questions, intrigue them, start a relationship, and see if they don't offer you up a temporary gig to see what you can do. In any case, it's one more thing to add to your resume, and more names to drop for networking purposes.

Miami Ad School/VCU Ad Center - If you're not as confident in your planner abilities as you'd like to be AND you have the money to further your education, apply to one of these accredited programs. VCU is a 2 year, masters program, that puts out some really smart thinkers. MAS is a 3 month Boot Camp in any of 3 locations, and it's a fast-paced information dump on all things planning with a huge dose of creative influence. Email them at info(at) miamiadschool(dot)com for more.

Explore other interests - I personally feel there's not a job out there that you couldn't apply to planning in some way. Maybe there's not a job available right now at entry-level and maybe you don't have the money for a grad program; think about what planning is: a strategic way to position a business/brand in culture to a specific type of consumer. There are lot of different job categories to benefit from: work on the client-side, learn how a business works and if they have any idea of what a brand is; work for company that is constantly updating itself on culture, a research company, a trend newsletter or blog, or a magazine come to mind; or work in retail and get face-to-face interaction with consumers every day, talk to them, get insights to use later when you're a planner.

Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Social Networks - Really, even after you've done all of the above, you still need to market yourself: what's your brand? Define it and sell it like crazy.

Getting in is as much about planning as it is about luck, and there's a great quote: Luck is when Preparation meets Opportunity. The ideas here are about preparing yourself for the opportunities you need to find.

Good luck.

Be brave

Scott had the privilege to judge planning entries for the Jay Chiat awards a few weeks back. He had this to say:

Good planning needed to help create and inform the development of ideas beyond the basic creative idea, identifying details that create and guide executional possibilities.

But, he said that few if any entries really achieved this planning objective.

The core of an original idea either failed to develop beyond the strategy or ended up in a conventional execution.

I love this. It inspires me to be more courageous in meetings where brand management argues against an idea because it's unconventional and "not what the client asked for."

I think his definition of good planning is what the new generation of planners seeks to achieve but we're running into a system that doesn't like to be shaken. I'd like to think that my courageousness could inspire a client to risk and be different, to standout, but...the ideas we can come up with beyond basic creativity, I find, need to be shelved for a later day or another client.

Can brave wait?

Next generation brands have bigger shoes to fill

Just read another thought-provoking presentation over at Change This.

Their latest manifesto talks about the Invisible Badge: Moving past conspicuous consumption. I find it fascinating. Upfront Rob Walker says, "What the Joneses might think is, really, beside the point. Because what you are really doing is telling that story to yourself" - a greater sense of self-fulfillment with support from consumption of goods.

Rob says "Really getting who the audience is you're trying to impress and tell your [brand] story to is freeing." I think he hits strategy on the head with this: Really what we are trying to do is get the product's selling point to fit seamlessly within people's lives, and if we truly understand WHO they are and what drives them, this should be easy, freeing, and attainable.

But what the real challenge is, he says, is "perhaps the fundamental tension of modern life: the challenge of feeling like both an individual and a part of something bigger than ourselves."

Yikes. How do we link a brand's relevance to attaining a sense of self while at the same time, linking people to the greater good? This is what a lot of brands are struggling with now: how to serve the greater good, a brand conscious that serves the individual while serving the world. Rob defines this new marketplace as finding material ways to express a connection instead of extracting a belief system from the mere fact that a lot of people purchase product X.

And this is rather revolutionary for the industry. Brands have figured out how to be brands, how to rally around an insight, and shine their uniqueness in an emotional way and drive sales. What brands need to do NOW is link people to a greater sense of something good for the world. And this will be successful because, as Rob says, "participation is its own reward."

The new marketing era of "Going green" does not only mean you should recycle more, it means think about others, think about the future, make conscious decisions to be a better person within society. And so, brands now need to "go green" and think about the greater good and not just themselves or their ROI. The world has made a cultural, life-serving investment for a long time and now it's analyzing its ROI. It's time now to give back. The Invisible Badge asks us to really reflect on who we are and what our life will mean in the great scheme of things.
Here here.

Planning stuff

As I start the blogging roll again (yay!), I want to get some more tools here at PlanningNewbie for all the juniors looking for guidance.

Russell addressed his digression from the discipline on his blog, but offers a set of books, websites, and academic opportunities here. I would like to add Miami Ad School to his list. And if you read this and have questions about MAS, feel free to write to me at the address to the right.

Dallas Likeminds

Likemind will be held every third Friday of the month at Buzzbrews from 8:30-10:30am. Anyone who reads this is welcome to come!

making the world a better place

In the past, I used to blog...a lot. :) I miss those days, but I also can't let my mind be consumed by the desire to blog more, because frankly, I just don't have the time. I will cultivate it in time, if I don't then it wasn't meant to be.

Anyway, I have reason and time to post now, and it's to draw your attention to All Day Buffet. I was reading a magazine this weekend that I picked up in Austin, TX at Whole Foods central headquarters. It's called L & G style. It's a flip format where one side caters to women (ladies) and the other focuses on men (gents). So far the three articles I've read have covered homeopathy, yoga, and doing something GOOD for the world.

I wrote a blog post at All Day Buffet here about a spa owner who sees it as her mission to make people feel more comfortable, more beautiful, and less stressed. Sounds pretty good to me.

tips to write strategy

Richard has written 17, but here are the first fabulous five:

1. Time is not the problem in creating strategy, ideas are. If you can find an idea the time will find itself.

2. Ideas first, facts second. Facts only make sense in the light of an idea.

3. There are only two criteria for judging your creative strategies - are they simple and are they interesting.

4. It is vital to be interesting, it is merely important to be right.

5. If you look in the same place as everyone else you will never find something interesting, no matter how clever you are.

Stay informed and plan for time to think.

Hal Curtis: Creative Director

"Brand Heroism: Advertising As a Force For Good" was the topic of the evening. Beforehand, I made some notes about what immediately came to mind with the topic: Planning For Good, Likemind, Do the Green Thing, (RED), Egg. The nights' introduction talked about how ethical issues can be interwoven through the creative (and strategic) work. For most of advertising's career, this "good" work has been pro-bono, but a new era is emerging where this work is done first-hand with intention and (financial) pay-off. It's kind of like Google doing everything it does for "free" > providing a service beyond rational benefits, but inherently being a good brand that we trust, love, and are loyal too in return.

Google is deeply, radically purposive: they won't compromise much, if anything, to achieve the goal of changing the world for the better. - writes Umair Haque of the Havas Media Lab (check out more of his writing)

Anyway, Hal Curtis, who has worked on Nike and Coca-Cola at Wieden & Kennedy since 1997, took "heroism" in a different direction. He got me to think outside-the-box. He made me fall in love with advertising (again).

The spot below was not done by WK, instead, Curtis showed it after a spot they'd done for CareerBuilder.com. He compared the spots and said we should strive to do more work like the one below. Check out the incredible spot:



It's this sort of healthy-advertising that Curtis says, we should have out there. In this sense, advertising is heroic > it lifts us up, it makes us feel, it transforms an ordinary day into an extraordinary experience. Not only does this level of work do a great job of inserting itself into the minds of customers, but it does a great job of inspiring better work from the industry it comes from.

Do good work. Strive to make it great.

Making ideas come to life

"Brands as shared objects," by Mark, gave me a thought > if we give users the tools they need to customize and make the product their own (not consumer-generated but actually building on a base product provided by a brand) then, not only are we letting them become "part of the process" but we are facilitating the manifestation of a unique idea.

A good example would be blogger.com (Google-owned). We have a platform to work from but if we have an idea to change the appearance or add something, we have the tools to make it happen. We have creative control. Part of what makes the new idea of co-creation so awesome is the aspect of ownership. Google has given us the tools to make our own ideas come to life.

And in the business of advertising, we all know how hard it is sometimes to get an idea realized. Smart brands have not only figured out how to do it for themselves but for their customers. Pretty cool.

Leading With Insight

| View | Upload your own

Got this from Think Tank Treasury (great planner thinking). If you're not sure what an insight is or how you can go about finding one, look this through.

Slide 21: "You shouldn't be afraid to reframe the problem."

Slide 58: "Insights help uncover and reframe the true nature of the problem."

Presentation by Matthew Milan of Critical Mass (site in beta).

Modernista's new website

"You are viewing Modernista! through the eyes of the web" is how the agency has positioned its new digital self. Pretty cool.

From an Adage article on the change:

"The thing about the web these days is there's all these great tools out there, you're just not going to be able to come up with a better way to share photos than Flickr or a better way to build community than Facebook," so it's wise to tap into what's already out there rather than build from scratch, said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards, which each year honors excellence on the Internet.

And Gareth's post about it received good feedback as well. "Ballsy" is the word on everyone's lips. It takes some, in addition to a push-the-envelope spirit and some planning thinking. It's perfect for this day in which Google is the #1 brand without advertising and Wired touts "free" is the new bling.

Modernista! has given the control to the user (awesome) and is using elements already in existence in a new way (fabulous). To quote their Facebook page: "Modernista! is making the web a little cuter." :)

The Recession (?)

Just a quick set of links for inquiring minds:

Wired News says, "It won't repeat the dot-com bust."

The American analyzes the recession debate.

U.S. News & World Report lists 4 signs that the U.S. is not in a recession.

The New York Times says Wall Street Earning have sent stock prices soaring.

Nowpublic asks if the U.S. economic suffering will result in a global economic crisis?

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen says she won't get paid in dollars here.

And get a synopsis of how each of the presidential candidates feel here.

Opinion piece to follow...

Continued information:

Just found this on Popmatters:

Gallup reported at the end of March that three in five Americans worry “a great deal” about the economy, and that a majority call economic issues the most important problem facing the country.

2008 Planning Survey

If you are a planner somewhere, go here and give the discipline some feedback. It's about 30 questions and won't take you more than 2 minutes.

Plan on.

Reading Rainbow - things to read for planners

A group of us came together to share good reads and what sucks; and as a service to my digital community, I'm sharing them with you:

"One Great Insight is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas"

• One important sentence in the whole thing: An insight states a truth that alters how you see the world. Something to keep in mind when we think we've got "it."

"What Sticks" - sucks, don't waste your money

"Made to Stick" - awesome, go ahead and spend

"Whoever Tells The Best Story Wins"

• Explains different stories and situations. It explores the topic of "who am I?" and "the qualities I have that give me the right to influence you." Our objective should be to tell a story, not give a lecture.
  

"Culture and Consumption II" by Grant McCracken - pure awesomeness!

"Lovemarks"

• Explores and explains the power of brands: Once you're loved, you're ingrained in someone and are very hard to shake. It also does a good job of inadvertently touches on the role of planning.

"Convergence Culture"

• It explores old media and new media coming together and how much consumer control is a part of the conversation now. This book was quoted as "fantastic and challenging."

"The Perfect Pitch" - Jon Steel, highly suggested all around

"Everything Bad is Good For You" - Steven Johnson

"Confederates in the Attic"

"Private Label Strategy"

• Talks about how private labels are brands' arch enemies; is very consumer packaged goods' centric; and dispels the myth that we think private labels are cheap and generic.

"Any Wednesdays" - good coffee table book, by guys at DDB, isn't on Amazon (???)

Now go find yourself a cozy place and dedicate yourself to the first chapter and see what happens...maybe you'll end up reading the whole thing. Reading takes discipline. High five, you can do it. :)

Digital Curators

a term you should know a bit about. :)

offline W/ online Together

Currently I am going through the process of combining offline with online, because I believe the two spaces should co-exist as complements. The people I tell this too in the "digital group" act as if it's the first time they've heard the idea. Really?

wouldn't it be great if everything had an interactive component? don't get me wrong, I think it's where we're going but it's SLOW, no?

Clients are asking now for website upgrades, great! But does the experience online match the experience offline, and what would it be like if you launched both at the same time?

Would we call this a marketing issue? Or rather, as a planner, If I have an idea like this who should I be selling it to? Hmmm...

______ is the new _______

Urban is the New Mainstream is a great first person perspective on what the ad world is largely missing out on: multi-cultural targeting.

"What's most tragic -- beyond the racial implications -- is how out of touch it is with the consumer reality. We are in a business where professionals are paid to be in touch with the target -- unless that runs counter to their usual comfort zone. Brands and agencies have got to get clued in or get left behind."

We're all too comfortable sticking with what we know. I agree that we can be more intuitive about what we personally have experience with, but...coming up with a target that's "mostly" white is mostly old-school thinking. Wake up and smell the urban coffee.