An Honest Agency Blog

Clark Kokich, the chairman of Razorfish, recently launched a blog called Something to Think About and I have to say it's one of the most honest blogs from an experienced CEO / Chairman that I've ever seen. It contains stories and perspectives from a career in digital and communications in general and the advice is extremely valuable - for anyone.

So valuable that I think everyone should read this post on the true value of experience - entitled "Experience Don't Mean S**T":

The headline above is a direct quote from basketball great Bill Russell. I used to have a boss who displayed that quote prominently on his desk. I was young then, so I agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment. Then I got older, and I started to believe that experience mattered (now that I had some).

In the old days of advertising, when you needed a surefire solution, you called in the graybeards. When the chips were down, you needed a battle-hardened veteran who could reach down into their bag of tricks and somehow pull out the answer. It was comforting to know that such people existed.

But now, everything those gurus learned over their long careers is hopelessly out of date. In fact, today, the best ideas often come from the youngest members of the team – those who are immersed in the digital world, and have been a part of it since they could reach the keyboard.

So what should us old folks do now? First, we need to listen more than we talk. We may still be smart, but we need to be humble as well. We’re looking for solutions wherever we can find them. It’s our job to surface the best ideas and to separate the winners from the losers. Then we need to sell those ideas and keep them sold. Turns out that’s where experience actually does come in handy.

Telling and insightful stuff. There are no silver bullets anymore. Just hard work that leads to good ideas. Bigger teams, more diverse perspectives and people who are just passionate about ideas and making things better.

Winner: Best use of a Karate kick in a commercial

Thanks to Ms. Jacky P for the heads up.

Porsche. Yes Please.

Porsche is my dream car. It has adorned my walls for the better part of my life, it has filled my dreams with horsepower and unbelievable aspirations and I cannot wait to own one. For that reason I hold their ads, products, designs and brand to a very high level of standards.

This spot showcases the cars that made me fall in love, inspires and recalls those emotions and moments that I experienced the first time I set eyes on a 911, touched a 944 or drove a Boxster. It brings me in emotionally and positively pre-disposes to me love whatever they show me next... even if it is a sedan (did you see that backseat interior?).

For that reason I think this spot accomplishes its goal of creating desire for a new and different Porsche product line extension.

Looking to buy a mobile home? Buy from this guy.

There is something great about the brutal honesty of this spot. That and the fact the guy is one hell of a tough mofo.

Yes it happened this quick

Google Maps GPS: Wicked Sick

It was only about 4 weeks ago I was commenting to a colleague about how cool it would be if your cars navigations showed you street views so you could see what your destination looked like.

Guess what? Google was way ahead of me.

Another good spot from accross the pond...

From the latest Shots Reel. Well shot and right in line with - arguably - the best global banking campaign around.

Words

I'm in the UK this week and, as a result, have had the privilege of being exposed to some great advertising (don't worry, there is still the usual amount of crap here as well). Here's a spot from Orange that I'm really into:



Good message although I'd be interested to see how the brand truly plans on redefining the "internet". It seems to me like this is a pretty big promise to be making.

But hey, at least I remember the brand and would stop the PVR if this spot came on again. That's got to count for something right?

Thanks to Jackie and So Sticky!

How can you tell a real social media guru from a fake one?

A recent post from Jeremiah Owyang got me thinking about how you actually define someone who has social media capabilities vs. someone who just spends a lot of time in the space. Everyone seems to be talking about how social media platforms can change your business and there is no shortage of advice. But who can you actually trust and what qualities should you look for?

Here are some quick thoughts:

1. Do they have a presence in the space?
I think that conventional wisdom starts with, as David Armano put it, looking at their digital footprint. Do they have different profiles? Do they create content that’s meaningful to the industry? Do they come up first when you Google them? Although I find this a basic qualification step, it’s still a valid one. If I can’t find you in five seconds and understand a bit about who you are and what you’ve done, we’ve got an issue.

Now that you’ve found a bit about them, really look at what it is they do. One of the telltale signs for me of a classic “I’m a social media expert but I don’t really do anything” is the amount of conferences that they go to in a year. I’m astounded by the people who go to a different conference every week just to talk about the space or re-quote their other social media friends who are all after the same thing. While I’m a huge advocate of learning, I’m not a fan of using conferences as an example of how savvy you are in the space. Anyone can pay to go to a conference and talk about how brands have used social media. Few can actually advise those companies and set them in the right direction.

2. Do they work for a reputable company?
And if they do, does the firm they work with have their last name in it? It’s OK if it does, as long as they have a client or two that you’ve heard of. I’m shocked by the number of [Insert Last Name Here] Social Media Consultant companies out there.

Remember, it’s really easy to create a blog and write a couple of posts. It’s easy to create a “beta” site that is going to launch in a few years but is currently only available to a special few to see. Don’t take these to be credentials. They are nice things to discuss, but not to bet your business on.

3. Case Studies: Theirs or someone else’s?
You’re comfortable with their digital footprint and the company they work for. So you pick up the phone and arrange a meeting to go over their capabilities. They tell you a bit about themselves – the number of followers they have on Twitter, the conferences that they’ve spoken, the latest eBook they’ve published and the huge mailing list that they’ve amassed over the years. All excellent points and you are impressed.

You ask them about their cases. And instead of telling you about how they have helped brands achieve their communications objectives, they tell you a ton of great stories of other brands that have used social media to help them. They sound knowledgeable and they know what to say, but they don’t have their own examples. Their own projects. And really, their own clients.

This is a big red flag. It’s the difference between someone who has lived it – writing a strategy, getting it approved by a client, implementing it, managing it and learning from it vs. just talking about it after it’s been successful.

4. What is their revenue model?
Are you paying for their expertise or for them to manage a program for you? Or to create a short-term promotion or building a long-term community? Prior to engaging anyone, consider what the objective of your brand is. And remember, if you’re brand isn’t something people are dying to be a part of, building a community around it is going to take a lot more than launching a Fan page on Facebook.

Be wary of people who will “put a strategy” together without implementing it or standing behind it. Get someone who wants to help you for the long term and who recognizes that the first challenge with social media is helping your organization re-align to handle it.

5. How would they define the success of your program?
I’m constantly amazed at the number of times metrics get left out of any digital discussion. They seem to be an afterthought but they should be anything but. When you are briefing your expert on your goals, let them give you a few thoughts on how they would define success (hint: it goes beyond how many clicks your link received or how many followers your Twitter account has).

Do they have experience with CRM programs? With evaluating the actual revenues generated from a program? With identifying High Value Tasks to work the entire program against?

The best studies have clear success goals and benchmarks. Set yours and agree to them prior to signing on.

And always remember:

The web is less than two decades old and social media in its current form is less than five. Nobody is an expert. Nobody knows exactly how something should work. And there is no magic formula.

Pick a person who is curious, experienced and driven to help your brand succeed. And don’t worry - if you find someone but realize they’re just smoke and mirrors, you’ve just given them some more time to go to another conference and Tweet to the world about it.

A Beer Campaign Unlike Any Other

While watching the latest Shots reel last night (yes, that is what Crowe and I do on Friday nights), I came across this great VB campaign from Droga5 Sydney. The campaign, called Raise A Glass Appeal, features five people who tell stories of their friends and family that they've lost as a result of war. Featuring 5 spots and a microsite, VB created a fund with the goal of raising $1 million dollars for the Returned and Service League of Australia. To date, they have already raised $1.1 million.

The second I watched the 2 minute spot on the microsite, I was impressed. Not simply because they are extremely emotional, superbly edited and real, but because VB stands for something. It has a point of view. It wants to help and raise awareness for the lost soldiers of Australia. And it does so without telling the viewer that they are the only brand that cares. Just take a look at the ending supers:

Wherever you are. Whatever you're drinking,
Raise a glass. For our fallen mates.

These spots mean something - not just to the people who have lost someone, but to everyone who supports a common cause. As someone with a good friend in the Army, VB instantly resonated with me. And Droga5 did it again.

The microsite experience is simple and straightforward. It lets anyone share their stories (or memories) and aside from the inability to embed the spots, it's a nice site.

As a whole, the campaign makes me think of people who matter to me. And the next time I'm in Australia, I guarantee that I'll think of VB the next time I order a pint. The marriage of a true insight with a brand is often fumbled. VB hits the mark.

Watch the full length spot.

Alexander Keith's Augmented Reality card

See the actual augmented reality card on keiths.ca

Levi's care tag for our planet

SAN FRANCISCO (October 21, 2009) – Levi Strauss & Co. and Goodwill^® today announced “A Care Tag for our Planet,” a new initiative that aims to put billions of pounds of unwanted clothing to good use instead of into landfill. Beginning in January 2010, the Levi's^® brand will be the first major retailer to include messaging on product care tags that encourages people to donate unwanted clothing.

John Anderson, CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. said, “As a company built on values, we have long worked to promote sustainability in how we make our products and run our operations. This initiative uses our global voice to empower hundreds of millions of consumers around the world to join us by providing simple and actionable ways to help care for our planet.”

Well done Mrs. Elana Shea Firestone and the team at BBDO San Francisco

Did You Know 4.0

A new "Did you know" video speaking about convergence. At the speed convergence is moving they will need to update this every 2 weeks.



If you are a marketer, advertiser or business owner that doesn't know digital or doesn't understand how it applies to your business model and your communications it is time you did.

Thanks for the link Jammer.

NABS Prom Party: See you there Toronto

I hope to see you on October 29th at This is London in support of NABS.

My suit will be sick.

Purchase tickets HERE.

The National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS) is the only charitable organization in Canada that provides assistance to communications and related industry professionals, who may need help due to illness, injury, unemployment or financial difficulties. NABS services include a national toll-free HELPLINE (1-888-355-5548), financial assistance, as well as emotional, personal and career counseling services. Founded in 1983, and supported 100% by the industry, NABS has contributed more than $8.0 Million to thousands of industry colleagues and their families.

Find More Friends...If you want them...

As the web continues to get older, more and more data is being stored across millions of different sources. Brands like Amazon and iTunes have been using this data to help create personalized recommendations for years. The classic "people who bought this also bought..." has become a staple of many sites - mainly because proper recommendation tools can generate a dramatic lift in sales and add value to the users themselves. It's quite a simple idea but one that takes a powerful algorithm to get it right. Netflix, as another example, has spent millions trying to perfect their recommendation engine because they know the powerful results associated with it.

What interests me isn't just the data and common-links that can be associated with different products, but they way that we can begin to connect with people we've never met via their data trail (and Social Graphs).

I recently posted about how eHarmony and other dating sites are using recommendation tools for people - fill out an extensive profile and they will provide you with your matches. While this process is has worked for some people, I find it very rigorous and demanding for a user (even if they are a bit desperate to find a partner). I do think, though, that with tools like Facebook connect being implemented across thousands of sites, friend recommendation engines could start to become more and more popular.

What will truly be interesting, though, is how you go about contacting someone who has been recommended to you by a system. It's not like your at a bar and you strike up a conversation, you've got to send a message to your recommended friend and hope that they respond.

What do you think? Do you use the engine on Facebook right now to add new friends or do you feel like you have way to many as it is?

Google Ripples: Enhanced Email

Bits and pieces of Wave functionality have started to arrive to keep the Google stock skyrocketing and feed the insatiable curiousity of the Digerati.

This enhanced email feature allows branded and up-to-date content to be included in the gmail. Users will be able to interact with content linked to the site directly from the email. Saving clicks, reducing load times, eliminating bounce rates and delivering the user directly to... well the point of the email is pretty exciting for those of us in the business of delivering effective digital experiences.

This is why you hire an ad agency

This campaign is ridiculous. Not only is it horrible, demeaning to women and the opposite of creative, but it is also highly illegal.

The ad itself is illegal as they feature George Laraque who sadly IS seen as a role model as well as the website has no legal drinking age qualifier.

In Canada we cannot use athletes or anyone who can be seen as a "role model" in alcohol related ads. I call this the Don Cherry rule, as it was after Don Cherry a famous Canadian hockey player, coach and broadcaster/commentator was featured in a Molson Canadian ad that all sports related role models were banned from appearing in alcohol ads. I have no idea how or why George Laraque's agent allowed this and I imagine that both the brand as well as him will be fined.

I warn you - if you have an ounce of intelligence this commercial will insult bit go on readers and press play.

The Fun Theory

Volkswagen it appears has followed up the staircase project with a second one, the worlds deepest trash bin.

I love the idea behind The Fun Theory , and I also love how the idea can ladder back to the brand. The extensions of showing that Volkswagen can make everyday activities, actions or items more exciting through experience and creativity is endless. I can see how they can take this brand positioning and extend it to their car launches, dealership experience, features, product innovation, sponsorships, partnerships and hopefully their digital experiences as well.

They have started the project by focusing on creating fun experiences that can make the world a better place, such as taking the stairs vs. escalator and increasing garbage collection and coming soon, they will show us how we can make recycling more fun. I am curious to see what other "making the world a better place" experiences they create.

Sony Soundville

Sony has released a new spot in Europe that shifts the focus from "Color Like No Other" to Sound. Created by Juan Cabrel (the guy who created the Cadbury Gorilla), the spot takes over a a small island town and installs speakers that play multiple types of music for a week straight.

The shots and tracks are nice and I think the piece creates cool impact. To be honest though, the brand message at the end seems a bit out of place. This would have been a great short film (brought to you by Sony) without forcing it into an ad at the last minute. Still pretty nice stuff though.

What do you think?

Stairs or Esclator?

Even though I can't understand the supers on this clip, my guess is that a small group wanted to see if they would make people at a tube station take the stair up vs. ride up an escalator. A nice thought (inspired by Big, I think).

What a story...

Thanks to Scott for the link!

The Perfect Presentation

I'll admit it, I've been late to jump on the Mad Men train. I watched a few episodes when it first came out on AMC but, to be honest, got a bit bored and went back to my HBO roots (The Wire, mostly). After hearing about the show from a number of colleagues for the past three years, I thought I'd give it a shot and recently just finished Season 1.

It's growing on me. But a scene from one of the last episode's resonated me more than anything today. It makes me think about what it truly is creative people do. Come up with great ideas and present them like they mean everything.

You can't do this with every product. But if you push enough for good work and make presentations like this (with all the AMC lighting, cool clothes and drama), it can make a huge impact.

I haven't been in the business that long but I hope that I can be in a presentation like this one day. Passionate. Well written. Over-the-top and dead on brief. Good strategy. Good stuff.

Can't embed due to AMC copyright but click here to watch it. You won't regret it.

Alexander Keith's Birthday

For our International readers information Alexander Keith's is one of the most beloved and revered beers in Canada. Every year Keith's launches an integrated campaign to honour the man who brought us the delicious Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale 214 years ago.

To be full transparent I am on the team that worked on this campaign but an overview of campaign includes:

1. Mobile - SMS contest executed on-premise (in bars that serve Keith's) for a chance to win a trip to Halifax (Alexander's hometown) for the biggest birthday party in Canada.
2. Social Media - A Facebook based contest where you can create and/or sign a card for your chance to win a $5000 Keith's Birthday party or a trip to Halifax for his Birthday. With almost 50,000 fans on the Facebook page, over 1500 cards created and thousands of signatures, Alexander may be old but he loves Facebook.
   
3. TV - Driving awareness of the Birthday and driving to contest.
4. External online - Some pretty sweet creative including rich media video banners
5. On-premise - Pubs across Canada are taken over by Keith's creative.
6. Retail - pin-in-pack contest where one pin is provided with each purchased case on Keith's. Consumers are driven to keiths.ca to enter into another contest to win a trip to Halifax for the party.
7. The Birthday site
8. And we will be sharing even more in the coming weeks.

Buy a case, hit a pub and celebrate Alexander Keith's birthday on Oct.4th.

User generated billboards delivering happiness

Original? No. Unique? Not really? Good? Yes.

In the words of Marcel Proust, "The real voyage of discovery exists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes".

J -hova is back with the blueprint for music ads

Insights and brands. Why do they matter?

I think that this TV spot created by Droga 5 answers the question. Most agencies would have approached this opportunity with a very different lens and most clients would have expected a very different result.



What is different? Insights, true insights that allows the creative to resonate with the consumer and an ad that delivers on a brand. Compare this to the average CD release spot that is 20 seconds of the first singles video followed by a shot of the CD, the name of the single, some logos that mean nothing to the consumer and a voice over that repeats everything we already know.

This spot is almost like an inside joke where only enthusiasts and loyalists would understand that the spot is a homage to the legend of Jay-Z. It also subtlety nods to his retirement and showcases that they man that made this album is the same legend that created multiple iconic and successful ads.

But more importantly to this strategy, music today can be downloaded for free by everyone, so one of the biggest challenges of a ad for a new album is getting people to buy it. How can you do that? Well, look to showcase the legend, share the album covers of all the CD's that the enthusiasts own. In short, make the new album a required piece of the collection.

Nice work Droga 5. Even more congratulations to the clients that understood.