Howard Luck Gossage said “I think a successful ad man has to have something missing in his character, just like a successful actor does.”
I have a very strong need to please. I have a rather strong tendency to please through the strategy of appreciation. My compulsive curiosity is an aid here. To appreciate, one must first understand. I am driven to do the work of understanding. It isn’t work to me at all.
This need to please is, perhaps, my hole. This, in itself, isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s been the hot poker spurring me on to ad success.
The problem is, I’m spending too much time with partners and employees, followed by clients – I’m understanding, appreciating, and pleasing the wrong people.
What is needed is to repeatedly get me in the room with the target audience. I need to spend most of my time with the people I must please to succeed for the client. I need to orchestrate the same for my people.
I am driven to connect with an audience. The target audience is the missing ingredient. That’s really all there is.
I reject award show judges as my audience. Much as I respect my enlightened competitors, clients and colleagues, I also reject them as my audience.
I require a process of discovering my audience in order to do what I do. It can’t be second hand. I can’t just read someone else’s research. I need to see, hear, touch, feel, converse with them. I need to get to know them. I need to try out my material on them, play a lot of rooms, die out there, and evolve a routine, like a stand-up. Except that my routine is a campaign. That is and always has been the answer for me.
I have no other genius than that. It is the only path for me.
Last night, accepting his Oscar, Forrest Whittaker said that he does what he does to connect with...everybody. I identify with that motivation, with that need. And I know that the way to make it work is to connect with somebody. And so, I think, does he.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
B2B or Not2B
I didn't sleep well last night, which is strange. I always sleep well. But, yesterday I was a guest judge at the CEBA Awards, the American Business Media Association's Award Show for B2B Advertising.
The experience was disturbing, provocative, inspiring; in short, the sort of thing that might keep you up at night. Note: I said "the experience" not "the ads."
We judges unanimously agreed that the overwhelming majority of submitted ads had none of these powerful qualities. In fact, most executions had none of the virtues one usually expects of advertising. Virtues like clear communication, distinctive branding, human insight, stopping power, strong writing and design, or anything even as remotely engaging as an idea.
Yes, there was some good work - a few bronze, silver, and gold needles in a tower of moldy hay. The voting completed, all of the judges gathered around ABM's conference room table to ponder the ugly step-sister status of B2B and ask ourselves, "Why?"
Later, I tossed and turned through my rare night of insomnia. There was only one thought that wouldn't let my eyes roll back:
WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!!!
B2B Advertising can be HEROIC, MOVING, INSPIRING, BUZZY, BRANDED, SMART, IMPACTFUL, ASPIRATIONAL, INVENTIVE, STYLISH, HUMAN, CREATIVE.
The experience was disturbing, provocative, inspiring; in short, the sort of thing that might keep you up at night. Note: I said "the experience" not "the ads."
We judges unanimously agreed that the overwhelming majority of submitted ads had none of these powerful qualities. In fact, most executions had none of the virtues one usually expects of advertising. Virtues like clear communication, distinctive branding, human insight, stopping power, strong writing and design, or anything even as remotely engaging as an idea.
Yes, there was some good work - a few bronze, silver, and gold needles in a tower of moldy hay. The voting completed, all of the judges gathered around ABM's conference room table to ponder the ugly step-sister status of B2B and ask ourselves, "Why?"
Later, I tossed and turned through my rare night of insomnia. There was only one thought that wouldn't let my eyes roll back:
WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!!!
B2B Advertising can be HEROIC, MOVING, INSPIRING, BUZZY, BRANDED, SMART, IMPACTFUL, ASPIRATIONAL, INVENTIVE, STYLISH, HUMAN, CREATIVE.
Learn From Challenger Brands
Apple. Virgin. Southwest. JetBlue. Crunch. Snapple. Washington Mutual. What do these brands have in common? They're challengers, and successful ones at that.
They've mastered the art of zagging where others have zigged. They've taken on the goliaths of their industries and come out on top. The truth is, it's a challenging world out there, and every marketer these days needs to be a successful challenger or go down.
Market leaders can be challenger brands, too. Look at Citibank and IBM. By becoming their own best competition and continuously reinventing themselves they've continued to innovate and grow.
Here's what challengers do differently:
- The top dog is involved. Intimately. (Bring in your boss as a collaborator and ally. It's the challenger "way.")
- The advertising conversation and the business conversation are the same conversation.
- The work is seen as the ultimate weapon for conquering the competition.
- The brand is seen as a precious asset and the ultimate defensive fortification against copycats and commoditisers.
- The vision of the top dog drives the advertising.
- The vision of the agency and the vision of the client are complimentary and synergistic.
- Decisions get made in meetings, not just in between.
They've mastered the art of zagging where others have zigged. They've taken on the goliaths of their industries and come out on top. The truth is, it's a challenging world out there, and every marketer these days needs to be a successful challenger or go down.
Market leaders can be challenger brands, too. Look at Citibank and IBM. By becoming their own best competition and continuously reinventing themselves they've continued to innovate and grow.
Here's what challengers do differently:
- The top dog is involved. Intimately. (Bring in your boss as a collaborator and ally. It's the challenger "way.")
- The advertising conversation and the business conversation are the same conversation.
- The work is seen as the ultimate weapon for conquering the competition.
- The brand is seen as a precious asset and the ultimate defensive fortification against copycats and commoditisers.
- The vision of the top dog drives the advertising.
- The vision of the agency and the vision of the client are complimentary and synergistic.
- Decisions get made in meetings, not just in between.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Our Creative Brief
Those of you who have worked with us know how much effort goes into our creative briefing documents. So I thought I’d share our own brand brief here, and invite your comments. It’s a work in progress, as are we all. I love the questions of the creative brief because they seem to me to be the big questions of life. “Why are we advertising? (i.e. Why are we here?) Who are we talking to? What do we know about them that will help? What’s the main thought...” The creative brief is where the rubber meets the road. It’s the end product of everything that comes before and the platform for all that comes after. It so simple, yet potentially so powerful. You don’t ordinarily share a creative brief with the world. But we asked ourselves another of those big questions, “Why not?” And, this time, we couldn’t come with anything that outweighed the value we expect to received.
So, here it is...
Creative Brief
Date: 2/7/07 8:50 PM
Project: DiMassimoGoldstein Brand Campaign, beginning with Credentials.
Brand Mgrs: Mark DiMassimo
Creative Team: TBD
Why are we advertising?
Simple answer: We want clients to choose us.
Big picture answer: We need to stand out from the hundreds of other brand consultancies, design firms and advertising agencies and attract clients to us by demonstrating that we can do for ourselves what they hope we will do for them.
Who are we talking to?
In a word, Clients. Prospects. Consultants. Hires. The press. Our mothers.
What do we know about them that can help?
They are afraid of failure. This fear is realistic. The average tenure of a CMO is 18 months and has been declining for years. They would be smart to go into operations or general management, and many have tried…but what can they do? They’re built to be marketing people. In their own minds, they’re too creative for regular business jobs, but not creative enough join a creative department. They’re extremely social and get a lot of gratification from being part of something. They want to be part of the creative process, they want to inspire it and they want to be inspired by it. That’s fun and feels like being alive. They want to get it right. They know how precarious this can be. They are under unrealistic pressure to show results fast. Everyone seems to have an opinion about what they do. And everyone’s spouse does too. Often the people they work for don’t really understand what they do. People who don’t know what reasonable expectations are. The best of them are translators, from the language of humanity and emotions to the metrics of business and back again. Most look for an agency that can do the same. Chances are, they’ve been burned by a combative relationship with an agency in the past. Their most common complaint: my agency isn’t PROACTIVE in bringing me them ideas and solutions. They’ve been disappointed. They’ve come up empty handed. So, they dot their I’s and cross their T’s. But they can’t help being dreamers.
They admire the Richard Bransons, Ian Schragers, Steven Jobs, Martha Stewarts, Anita Roddicks and Phillipe Starcks; the creative mavericks that make good art good business and make it look so fun. Sometimes when they’re with their agency, brainstorming, noodling creative work or out at a shoot, that’s exactly what they feel.
Turn offs: failure, invisibility, embarrassments. Turn ons: confidence, competence.
What’s the main thought we want them to know and to repeat?
EMERGE!
Most brands fail. Others stagnate. A few emerge as leaders. Emerge!
What are some ways in?
BRAVE MARKETERS – these are the marketers who emerge victorious.
BRAVE has a particular meaning to us. It means they are able to
“Be Real And Visionary Everywhere.” Every time. This makes every single dollar work harder, by making every necessity build both brand and business at once.
Starter creative ideas:
In our conference room, we have mugs. When hot stuff is poured into them a message in heat sensitive ink appears on the lip. It says, “Emerge!” We use a similar technique on our business cards – when held our message appears.
There’s no logo outside our front door, or at least it looks that way from the turn in the hall. Only when you get close to the door does the logo and message emerge, etched in the metal façade.
Our decks use gels to let important information emerge. Our website uses card tricks and levitations. Our mailings use pop-ups and other techniques to represent our promise of brand emergence.
What are some support points?
We’ve worked with more than our fair share of BRAVE MARKETERS. Doug Levine of Crunch. Steven Jobs of Apple. Howard Schultz of Starbucks. Ted Waitt of Gateway. JetBlue. GoSMILE. McKinsey. Island. Citibank. Snapple.
The list is long. We’ve been in a rare position to study this sort of client and we’ve learned a few things…
The striking thing about heroically successful visionary entrepreneurs – the Steve Jobs, Howard Schultzs, Richard Bransons, Ted Waitts, Doug Levines, Martha Stewarts and David Neehlemans of the world – is their ability to combine utter realism with full-strength vision in everything they do. They’re able to “Be Real And Visionary Everywhere.” Every time
Realism and bold vision aren’t’ opposites. Brave marketers see the bigger picture.
BRAVE MARKETERS create an environment in which realism and vision can creatively coexist. Howard Shultz has said, “I spend next to nothing on advertising. I spend my money on training.” Steven Jobs builds innovation teams with their own fierce identities.
When truly invested, nearly everyone wants their organization to emerge as extraordinary, successful, worthy and winning,
Yet, most brands, companies, people, policies and ideas don’t emerge. Instead, they disappear into the clutter. A rare few make it to the next level, then stagnate or decline. Most literally disappear. But some brands consistently outperform. They emerge, from start-up to challenger to thought-leader to icon.
What’s the tone?
Inspiring. Intelligent. Sophisticated. Visionary. Realistic.
What is mandatory?
What’s the shortest path to making a difference with this campaign?
1) The credentials and agency identity elements.
2) The Website
3) The Space
4) The Emergence campaign
So, here it is...
Creative BriefDate: 2/7/07 8:50 PM
Project: DiMassimoGoldstein Brand Campaign, beginning with Credentials.
Brand Mgrs: Mark DiMassimo
Creative Team: TBD
Why are we advertising?
Simple answer: We want clients to choose us.
Big picture answer: We need to stand out from the hundreds of other brand consultancies, design firms and advertising agencies and attract clients to us by demonstrating that we can do for ourselves what they hope we will do for them.
Who are we talking to?
In a word, Clients. Prospects. Consultants. Hires. The press. Our mothers.
What do we know about them that can help?
They are afraid of failure. This fear is realistic. The average tenure of a CMO is 18 months and has been declining for years. They would be smart to go into operations or general management, and many have tried…but what can they do? They’re built to be marketing people. In their own minds, they’re too creative for regular business jobs, but not creative enough join a creative department. They’re extremely social and get a lot of gratification from being part of something. They want to be part of the creative process, they want to inspire it and they want to be inspired by it. That’s fun and feels like being alive. They want to get it right. They know how precarious this can be. They are under unrealistic pressure to show results fast. Everyone seems to have an opinion about what they do. And everyone’s spouse does too. Often the people they work for don’t really understand what they do. People who don’t know what reasonable expectations are. The best of them are translators, from the language of humanity and emotions to the metrics of business and back again. Most look for an agency that can do the same. Chances are, they’ve been burned by a combative relationship with an agency in the past. Their most common complaint: my agency isn’t PROACTIVE in bringing me them ideas and solutions. They’ve been disappointed. They’ve come up empty handed. So, they dot their I’s and cross their T’s. But they can’t help being dreamers.
They admire the Richard Bransons, Ian Schragers, Steven Jobs, Martha Stewarts, Anita Roddicks and Phillipe Starcks; the creative mavericks that make good art good business and make it look so fun. Sometimes when they’re with their agency, brainstorming, noodling creative work or out at a shoot, that’s exactly what they feel.
Turn offs: failure, invisibility, embarrassments. Turn ons: confidence, competence.
What’s the main thought we want them to know and to repeat?
EMERGE!
Most brands fail. Others stagnate. A few emerge as leaders. Emerge!
What are some ways in?
BRAVE MARKETERS – these are the marketers who emerge victorious.
BRAVE has a particular meaning to us. It means they are able to
“Be Real And Visionary Everywhere.” Every time. This makes every single dollar work harder, by making every necessity build both brand and business at once.
Starter creative ideas:
In our conference room, we have mugs. When hot stuff is poured into them a message in heat sensitive ink appears on the lip. It says, “Emerge!” We use a similar technique on our business cards – when held our message appears.
There’s no logo outside our front door, or at least it looks that way from the turn in the hall. Only when you get close to the door does the logo and message emerge, etched in the metal façade.
Our decks use gels to let important information emerge. Our website uses card tricks and levitations. Our mailings use pop-ups and other techniques to represent our promise of brand emergence.
What are some support points?
We’ve worked with more than our fair share of BRAVE MARKETERS. Doug Levine of Crunch. Steven Jobs of Apple. Howard Schultz of Starbucks. Ted Waitt of Gateway. JetBlue. GoSMILE. McKinsey. Island. Citibank. Snapple.
The list is long. We’ve been in a rare position to study this sort of client and we’ve learned a few things…
The striking thing about heroically successful visionary entrepreneurs – the Steve Jobs, Howard Schultzs, Richard Bransons, Ted Waitts, Doug Levines, Martha Stewarts and David Neehlemans of the world – is their ability to combine utter realism with full-strength vision in everything they do. They’re able to “Be Real And Visionary Everywhere.” Every time
Realism and bold vision aren’t’ opposites. Brave marketers see the bigger picture.
BRAVE MARKETERS create an environment in which realism and vision can creatively coexist. Howard Shultz has said, “I spend next to nothing on advertising. I spend my money on training.” Steven Jobs builds innovation teams with their own fierce identities.
When truly invested, nearly everyone wants their organization to emerge as extraordinary, successful, worthy and winning,
Yet, most brands, companies, people, policies and ideas don’t emerge. Instead, they disappear into the clutter. A rare few make it to the next level, then stagnate or decline. Most literally disappear. But some brands consistently outperform. They emerge, from start-up to challenger to thought-leader to icon.
What’s the tone?
Inspiring. Intelligent. Sophisticated. Visionary. Realistic.
What is mandatory?
What’s the shortest path to making a difference with this campaign?
1) The credentials and agency identity elements.
2) The Website
3) The Space
4) The Emergence campaign
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