Here is an attempt at identifying the pitfalls I’ve seen in the last years, working as a Digital Strategy Director with multiple traditional agencies.
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Enjoy!
In search of the new Bernbach
Let’s face it, EVERY single book on advertising refers to Bernbach and his work at DDB for the Beetle back in errr… 1959! Fact is the “Think Small” ad remains the best advertising campaign ever, certainly the one that marked the beginnings of the Golden Age of Advertising, 50 years ago…. Wait, 50!
I think it’s time to wonder who the new Bernbach is today? Our industry is going through a revolution and I’m looking for this guy/gal because I’d love to be on board with him! In my search to trace this person down, I’m looking at the ingredients that made “Think small” THE ad, and what would that mean if we were to reproduce such an impact in 2012.
Here are some of the major innovations this ad offered back then:
- Strategy: instead of the usual USP the angle here is to position the car as SMALL in days where everything was about being BIG. The game plan was to disrupt the category by promoting the new entrant as a completely new way of doing cars.
- Art direction: from painting, handwritten fonts to B&W picture and Futura as well as major innovations in the layout (the car isn’t centered for example).
- Message: the line “think small” combined with the visual assumes that the audience is smart and is part of the message resolution. There is a moment when you get it. The magic happens just here.
I think there is room today to recreate an ad that will change the face of advertising for the next 50 years. In the late 50s, the revolution was mostly contained in the message ; the 2012 revolutionary piece will come by challenging the concept of “media”, hence “ad”, itself.
The Anomaly, Naked, Sid Lee, Frog, WK… One of these might host the next Bernbach, here are some interesting similarities they share:
- The need to disrupt. By being independent. By embracing chaos in the way ideas are born and produced. By being media agnostic, not being attached to a media company as most networked agencies are. By being product agnostic, they don’t necessarily answer with a TV campaign, they are ready to answer without a campaign.
- The focus on GREAT story telling. Inspired from the world of video games and cinema, their ideas are stories. Not a one-line for a spot but stories that are easy to understand, to remember and to share (in any form of media from social to TV and retail).
- The need for change. They know advertising is changing and they want to lead the pack. They are very entrepreneurial and they want to master this change as soon as possible. So they don’t fear doing it, and experiencing new things with conviction. They select clients willing to embrace innovation as well as risk taking.
Who knows where the new Bernbach is… Names to share anyone?
Social is not a question of media! Unleashing the human potential through brands.
What if brands could help us be more human? I just read an inspiring article by Umair Haque @umairh.
I love the idea of reimagining prosperity and how to live a greater life. An idea that has caught my attention in different places these days.
Is there an opportunity here that brands should consider in their efforts to advertise differently (read getting more earned media)?
“ In an era where the prosperity we once took for granted appears to be crumbling around us, when the plight of the present seems to be somewhere between facepalm, headdesk, and epic fail, when the great challenges of today are nothing less than rebuilding economy, polity, and society — here’s what I believe you’re going to have to get lethally serious about: your own human potential, and how deeply, authentically, and powerfully, over the course of your life, you’re going to fulfill it.“ - Umair Haque
Let’s look at facebook.
As Mark Zuckerberg says it, the mission of his company is ‘to make the world more opened and connected.” He wants to help people discover more through their friends. He had a vision for fulfilling inherent human needs in order to make “our world richer”. Knowing that he reached out to almost a billion people now, he probably gave people something that made their lives better.
If we look at the new timeline feature on facebook, we can see that the individual is at the forefront. What she likes, as well as what she watches, reads, what she likes… At the end, it is a celebration of what makes her unique and interesting.
Smart is the new cool.
If we consider the “mass intelligent” audience (Slide 27) - those interested in ideas, receptive to new concepts and catalysts for change – as key influencers for a brand, there is probably something to do with it to get more out of your communications dollars.
What if a brand could connect with them by helping them achieving more of their human potential? Well, if we are to change the advertising industry to make the world a better place, this one does it for me!
What if your brand started to (really) care for human beings?
Looking at the HBR article, the solution could be in one of those areas:
> Helping people cultivate their better self, share content that will educate on arts, wisdom, humility, grace… There is maybe a direction here for the media & news industries. Spotify is a great example as well as Nike.
> Helping people find and pursue their passion, help them be an active builder (PressPausePlay http://www.presspauseplay.com/ is a must-seen).
> Helping people experiment, understand and forgive their failures (indulge your brand for the same attitude, as facebook did also when Beacon was first launched).
Social is not a question of media, it’s the way your brand is acting with people. A facebook page cannot achieve it for you, your brand must embrace a social attitude in its overall plan. An attitude that places people at the heart of what you do so you don’t make sense if it doesn’t make sense for them.
Finding this purposeful connection will help you create an authentic and valuable connection with real people.
Paid-Owned-Earned: Recipe for a perfect mix
The perfect mix
Well, obviously, there is no cookie-cutter template in our industry, so no one size fits all recipe I’m sorry…
However, owned and earned media are now understood and integrated by leading agencies as key pillars to launch and to sustain a brand when the mass media (read paid media) is shut down.
Objectives for owned and earned being:
- To extend the reach of the mass media,
- To engage with consumers in the digital sphere (data base/knowledge building),
- To raise loyalty among existing fans-clients (owned).
Inevitably, achieving those objectives mean that the mass media, aka “the campaign”, cannot live on its own in paid media anymore. It has to be part of a broader idea, a conversational idea.
The campaign should be treated a the spark in your annual marketing activities. The moment where you gather the reach you will work from the rest of the year. That’s a fact, we cannot pay massive mass media all year long and even if we could, we all know it wouldn’t deliver the expected results anyway.
So here are some (humble, feel free to comment) conclusions I’ve come up with in the last year by working on multiple POE communication mixes:
- The communication idea is the start, not the media. It must be true to your audience’s behaviours as much as it needs to be true to your brand DNA. It is the element of connection between people and brands that will survive the paid media exposure. The #makeitcount campaign Nike released last week is a perfect example. Finding out this idea requires deep dive into existing conversations about your brands as much as your audiences. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel, if you can find something that already is a conversation, then go for it, this is your gold mine.
- The raise of creative strategy. This idea cannot be purely creative anymore; an amazing story told in TV is not enough anymore. It has to embed a media potential in it. What is a media potential? This idea must be the start of an interaction whether it be sharing (The Force) or engaging consumers with the brand (Old Spice). This can be nurtured by inviting people to create something with the brand and its ambassadors (please read my last post on this topic where I mention pop-culture as the new insight).
- From frequency to a call-to-action. I’m under the impression that frequency is evolving to a new era where it is not only the role of the media buy to provide frequency. But instead the creative idea must embed a capacity for building frequency on its own. How? By embedding a clear call-to-action for example that will generate reach and frequency in social media (ie: Write the future).
Hence, the evolution of paid media which becomes a mean to capture attention, to touch the heart of the people you need to engage with to support your brand/your product. The messaging here being focused on sparking emotions more than building a traditional USP-USL messaging. It is not to say the full story any more, if you do a great job they will keep up with you in digital.
This is where the advertising industry as a lot to learn from the video game and Hollywood industries. Those two being at the leading edge of the culture of transmedia.
Who ever said a great creative idea should be contained and expressed in one distinct media support? Isn’t this fantastic that our industry has yet to reinvent itself?
Happy daring & innovative 2012 to all!
Is pop culture the new insight?
I was looking at the Time’s selection for the top 10 TV ads of 2011, and realized that there is certainly a shift happening in the secular insight advertisers have worked with since the early days of advertising.
In fact, the insight is now completed with a new spin that gives it more emotional traction. What strikes me is how icons and celebs made popular through TV are becoming a new element of the messaging. 4 out of the 10 top spots by Times are in fact leveraging those TV/pop culture icons:
- 2. The Force — Volkswagen x Darth Vader
- 6. Imported from Detroit — Chrysler x Eminem
- 7. All In — Adidas x Katy Perry x Messi (…)
- 8. Best Fans Ever — NFL x Simpsons x Dallas x 90210 (…)
When looking at the other messages, we can see that they refer to “digital” experiences we all share:
- 1. Dear Sophie — Google
- 3. Reply All — Bridgestone
- 4. The 4G “Spider” — Samsung
- 9. Dog.ppt
Leveraging one or the other allows the brand to connect with people outside of the pure product functional or emotional benefit. Using pop culture or digital behaviors as a new layer to the brand story certainly adds depth to the brand messaing making it more authentic and true to people.
It says “I am also part of your world and I know you have a life outside of my product’s usage”. Well, that was about time, this sounds really inspiring for our future 
Looking at that list, the outsiders are clearly 5. Bold Choice — Jim Beam (by StrawberryFrog) and 10. Parking Garage — Citizens Bank (by Ogilvy & Mather) that are using the “same old same old” way of doing advertising…
And yes, I’m very proud of seeing the spot Montreal-based SID LEE created for adidas in that list!
What do I think of gamification?
Credits: Seb sensei, FlickR
Aside from being a very trendy thing, I think it’s a solution among many others and before deciding if it’s a good one or not, you need to ask yourselves a few things.
Step 1. Questions
- Business. How do you want to make more money? How much? By when?
- Audiences. How, when, why… Does your audience navigate in the digital world?
- Connection. Where is your brand relevant to earn their time and influence the new thing you want them to do, think or say about your business.
With a good understanding of the situation this is time for you to define your strategy: what is the main problem you can solve in the next 12-mths that will truly impact your business’ performance?
Now you can ask yourself: is a game relevant to serve that purpose? Yes? So you can move to step 2.
Step 2. Gaming Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| It’s a great way to create new time opportunity with your consumers- using commuting time for example. It’s a less cluttered space where you can borrow high-quality time with a focused consumer that is likely to become loyal (eg: the success of Angry Birds). | Huge initial investment is required to develop a strong game play etc. |
| Entertainment is a great way to capture consumers’ attention as they feel you give them a rewarding experience for he time spent with your brand. | A maintenance budget is required (eg. updates for new sequel). |
| A great way to stimulate reach out in the social media environments (eg: Farmville). | Must be part of a long-term (12mths+) plan in order to prove a positive ROI. |
Step 3. The basics.
- Must be on brand DNA and aligned with your ATL messages.
- Must be relevant to your business objectives
- Shouldn’t be category base – you need to find that one thing that your competitor couldn’t duplicate.
- Execution must be perfect, because you won’t have many chances to convince your consumer – you should consider embedding talents from the gaming industry.
- Product integration shouldn’t be intrusive but should be made possible through the game environment.
Step 4. Data (=value)
Before going any further in your production plan, you need to attribute a value to the investment made and measure accordingly. In a Ted Talk this week, a researcher said “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.” I think it’s a pretty good way of considering how to define your vision for measurement.
Valuable data insights could be: learning on consumers’ behaviours as geo localisation, time spent, hours. This can help you link it back to where buying your offline media in order to raise your frequency for example, or where to position a pop-out store.
A game is also a great way to start building a qualified database (of mobile users) that then can be leveraged for your marketing efforts.
Tomorrow.
All this investment won’t deliver the expected results if you don’t integrate it with media that will give you a powerful reach, that means TV, radio, in-store, PR, outdoor or else. But if you don’t build a communication mix with true assets and invest to promote your platform, its efficiency is seriously compromised.
One thing that I believe in, especially after reading the Art of Immersion, is that advertising + movie + gaming industries will keep overlapping each other.
At the end of the day, we all strive to capture the same time and to connect with the same people in order to drive a business. This is why asking the right question and aligning your efforts with a strong strategy is key to make a true difference.
Bob Greenberg said it all: functional integration
Yes, I was like a kid, goose bumps and everything when I saw him on stage, well… The presentation RGA gave was a great way to confirm intuitions I had on how to approach digital planning for this year.
As he put it very well, can we say that Apple is still in the Computer industry? As they are now the #1 music store? Reality is that agencies became commoditized where actually the next step is to offer solutions that go above the traditional solutions.
We need to build an ecosystem of values that consumers can share with the brand, and that can live through a functional integration. Great examples being Google, Apple, Amazon.
For example, BMW is adapting its products to digital offer making it more valuable for a consumer to be a BMW consumer.
This seems to be a great step in putting digital at the heart of consumer relations-communications.
Don’t expect brave execution without brave strategy
Last week I was one of the lucky one to be in Cannes and outside of the parties – (which ARE truly awesome!), there are the smartest advertising people sharing their knowledge and expertise.
The W+K Workshop on planning was one of those inspiring moment swhere after listening to this military guy planning war in Afghanistan you feel like you don’t know anything about planning.
Anyhow, I wanted to share with you some of the key takeaways that I couldn’t agree more with:
- Don’t expect a brave creative execution without a brave strategy to start of with; if the planner isn’t bold the creativity cannot bring it.
- Planning is a mean to make stuff happen, it needs to be practical.
- A planner is an architect of choices and behaviours; at the end of the day we want people to do things differently (pay more, come back more often…),
- Let go: planning is there to create the conditions and then you need to let people to take it to somewhere else and go with it.
- You can never have all information; trust your intuition, your own judgement is important.
- Your enthusiasm needs to be communicated, if nobody understands the plan it will never work.
- Did it work? Come back and learn from what was implemented so next time you can do better.
Case Study: the Burberry brand
With the launch of The Art of the trench, Burberry certainly became the first truly digital luxury brand. The first luxury brand to really understand and adopt digital behaviours to conceive and support its brand online communications. There are many reasons why it became a clear success and digital is certainly one piece of a bigger picture.
However, I’d like to share some thoughts with you on what they’ve done rights and where they might go. All comments are welcomed!
View the presentation on Slideshare:
Burberry
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Digital highness
This is an historical moment we’re living and a truly inspirational moment for all of us preaching for digital. As The King Speech demonstrated so perfectly, the British Monarchy as always been leading the adoption of technologies.
What’s impressive is how well they’ve understood how to use technology in order to federate a Nation, in order to help people to gather and live moments of history. Yes, Barack Obama did great for the last election but with today’s Royal Wedding, the bar just been raised.
One of the greatest lesson as us working in the communication industry is that you CAN control the message online, you CAN influence what’s being said and shared online, you CAN have a strong branding online. How is this possible in this area where millions are creating content? By OVERLOADING people with content, by being genuinely GENEROUS and CONNECTED.
For the last couple of days, the British Monarchy has kept the string of information and content high and intense so they became the #1 destination for Royal Wedding information. And it delivered. The D day, all searches would lead you to their own sources and in the a day where media don’t have budget they are plugging into the content provided by the “brand”.
- Facebook page: very well executed, recurrent posting, rich content, engaging… There are not so many brands that have achieved the basics of facebook so well!
- The facebook event!
- The Youtube channel
- The Live stream
- Flickr
- Official website
- Official program: launched 24hrs before to raise up attention
- Main website update
- FundRaising (ecom) component
… Inspiring isn’t it? Congrats to newly married couple, shame we won’t have cameras to see the dancing part of the day 
———– Update——-
Oh! And they clearly get what it takes to create a “viral”: http://twitpic.com/4r3mes
Oh… And of course, the iTunes list
