Anyone in the creative field … advertising copywriters, promo writers, scriptwriters and conceptual thinkers should watch this. The power of the metaphor goes beyond just the condensing of information … it allows for emotional weight to be embedded into meaning. And brings your words to life.
How to Successfully Pitch A Radio Show
I’ve written about how to successfully pitch TV shows now it’s time to listen to something a little different since there aren’t any pictures involved. But just because the concept is sound-driven doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read this because many of the concepts in this blog article are going to be applicable to television pitches too (it’s all common sense really).
Public radio, such as CBC Radio, here in Canada, is unique in that they actively encourage pitches for radio ideas. Personally, there isn’t enough drama programming these days, and I would love to see a change in this area. But regardless of format, this program development pitch guide should help get you on your way … or at least get you a shot at pitching a radio show to CBC Radio.
What do program development groups look for?
New radio shows; limited run series; segments for ongoing programs. They also look for potential – not only in ideas, but also in people. They want to find the writers, hosts and producers of tomorrow. They want to develop a contingent of creative people, from all regions of the country, who have the confidence and ability to create new shows.
Before you send CBC your pitch, here are a few things to remember:
-CBC is committed to developing predominantly Canadian shows, producers and hosts.
-CBC Radio receives hundreds of proposals every year and only a very few are selected for development.
-Submissions are usually processed within three (3) months.
The Idea
Your proposal doesn’t need to be long and complicated, but it should be well thought out. Make sure you’ve taken the time to dream it, debate it, mull it and polish it before you send it to CBC.
To help you get your idea down on paper, here are some questions you should ask yourself.
1. When you tell others about your dream radio show, what excites them the most? This is often a good way to start your pitch
2. How would you describe your show’s attitude toward its content? Will it be light-hearted or more serious? Cheeky or respectful? Entertaining or informative? Probing or reflective? Is there anything new or different about how your show will sound?
3. Who is the host? Do you have someone in mind? If not, what qualities would your ideal host possess? What should they sound like? What’s his or her role on the show? Does he or she have a strong point of view?
4. What will we hear on a typical program? A list of segment ideas or interview guests is a good start, but it’s not enough. Help us
imagine what we’ll hear coming out of the radio. How will your show’s tone and attitude affect the content?
5. What is the online component? What opportunities do you imagine for the web and social networking? Does it make sense for your concept be expanded for multiple platforms? At CBC our shows drive people to our website … can you tell us how your show will do that?
6. What makes your show perfect for CBC rather than another broadcaster? Why should it air now? Does it take CBC Radio somewhere new? Does it do something that we aren’t already doing? Does it fit our values as a public broadcaster (high quality, distinctive programming that’s intelligent, insightful and entertaining)?
7. What format do you see your idea taking? Is it a one-shot deal, a limited series, a feature within another show, a summer replacement series, a full run show? Is it a half hour or an hour?
The Checklist
Once you’ve worked through your idea, here’s a quick checklist of other things you should include in your proposal:
1. Who You Are: Tell us why you’re the best person to do this show. If you’ve hosted, produced or written for radio before, let us know. Also: what led you to your idea? Give us a sense of your background, your passions.
2. Who is Who: If you’ve got people you want to work with, tell us who they are. Who’s producing? Who’s hosting? Assume we don’t know these people. Give us an idea why they’re the best people for those roles.
3. The Proposal: Do the tone and style of the writing in your proposal reflect the tone of show that you’re proposing?
4. Reach Beyond CBC: Do you have plans for using social media or other tools to attract audiences to your site, beyond those who already come to CBC Radio or cbc.ca?
5. Support: What kind of support do you need? Mentoring? Coaching on your performance? In-studio training? Digital audio editing? Don’t be embarrassed – we’re here to help and the more we know upfront the better.
6. Online Support: Radio production teams are expected to maintain the websites for their shows. Do you or any of your team members have digital production experience? Does your idea require a resource with specialized / advanced web skills?
7. Timing: Is your proposal time-sensitive? Are there times when you can work on this, times when you cannot?
8. How to Get Hold of You: Don’t forget to include your e-mail, home phone, cell phone, etc.
Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria:
1. How original is the concept? If your show brings something new to CBC Radio, and if it is creative or innovative in its approach and treatment, then you’ve cleared an important hurdle.
2. Does the show have a personality? If your program has a distinct personality and tone – and if it has a host with a distinct and engaging personality – the pitch might move to the top of the pile. On the topic of hosts, you need to show a clear connection between the host and the content.
3. Is the proposal coherent? Is your pitch grammatical? Does it make sense? Read it over before you send it in. Remember: you want the program development committee to be able to “hear” your show. And your program should come across as more than a bunch of segments strung together.
4. Will it connect with a broad audience? How is your concept relevant to a target audience? What’s in it for that audience – why will they bother to listen?
5. Does the show have a strong identity? Ask yourself, why would a particular item be heard on this show? What can the audience expect to hear from this show?
6. Does the show contain diversity? Can’t put a fine enough point on this one. Reflecting Canada’s diversity is hugely important for the CBC. Diversity of region, opinion, ethnicity, economic class, age and gender. Show proposals that are diverse and regionally reflective are a priority.
7. Will your show help develop people? We want to discover great talent and put it to work. If you can introduce the CBC to new people and ideas, then that’s a point in your favour.
8. Does this show have the potential for “magic”? Will your show cause delight, ignite laughter, or inspire deep thought? Will it hold listeners captive in their cars in the Canadian Tire parking lot? With radio, that’s always the goal.
If you want a job in commercial editing, become an assistant
Below is a blog I wrote for a client a few weeks back. I have been so busy this summer blogging for others that I realize that I am neglecting my own blog … a state of affairs that I will have to remedy.
A few days ago it was announced that celebrated creative cheerleaders/co-chief creative officers Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin would be stepping down from their long-time post at Ogilvy & Mather Toronto. Their new venture, Swim, is dedicated to helping solve the widely acknowledged lack of creative leadership in their own industry – and, they hope, other sectors as well. Mentoring – a role that Nancy & Janet have excelled at over the years, will likely play a big role at Swim. Reading the article the other day made us remember the importance of mentoring in the commercial editorial industry.
Rooster and Track & Field Assistants
In return, editorial assistants get the chance of a lifetime … to learn their craft from some of the best editors in the business. They get to meet those agency clients who will one day, hopefully, become their clients. They get a front row seat to watch the good-natured theatrics of presentation, and learn the diplomacy needed to navigate differing creative points of view. And if they are really dedicated and work hard … one day they get to join the ranks and become editors themselves. Very few industries promote this way anymore.
At Rooster and our VFX sister shop, Track & Field, our assistants are an important, but unsung part of our team. In the spirit of Nancy & Janet’s legacy, we’d like to say thanks to our Rooster VIP assistants … Candice Bowers, Deb Gurofsky, Nick Martin and Jesse Unruh, Rooster Exec. Assistant Yumi Suyama, and to our Track & Field assistants, Lauren Rempel and Greg Benedetto.
From Tragedy Comes Comedy … and Creativity
Celebrity Loot-A-Likes
Fragile Bird: City and Colour Music Video
Those who know me know that I’ve been doing a lot of blogging for clients these past few months. It’s been fun, but it’s coming to an end. And my poor blog has been ignored as of late. It’s time for an update. Here’s one that I wrote for a postproduction client of mine. The director, Michael Maxxis is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. He’s going places.
Fragile Bird: City and Colour/Shantal VanSantan Music Video Released Today
After releasing ‘Fragile Bird’ in April, City and Colour, aka singer-songwriter Dallas Green, along with director Michael Maxxis and Rooster Post Production editor Dave De Carlo, have just finished the video for the lead single off Green’s third album, “Little Hell”.
The video takes viewers to a dark brothel, similar to one that was once visited by Maxxis (by then a bar in Memphis). Green’s brief to Maxxis was “sexy & sultry” allowing Maxxis to recreate the brothel/bar, a location Maxxis calls “the coolest building ever.” The video, shot by DP and perennial Maxxis collaborator Adam Marsden, emulates an emotionally tormented woman as she flashes back through her past.
The video stars Shantal VanSantan of “One Tree Hill” fame. A longtime Dallas Green fan, VanSantan became friendly with Green and his wife. When VanSantan was suggested for the role, Maxxis jumped at it. “I wanted to shoot her in a timeless, Hollywood 30′s or 40′s way” said Maxxis, “She added a lot to the video. I didn’t realize how gorgeous she is. She has that X-Factor … that thing that she can turn on in front of the camera. It was a pleasant surprise.”
Editor Dave De Carlo cut the video in a very lean 3 or 4 days, working mostly in the evenings and at night owing to his busy schedule. In addition to cutting the video, De Carlo also did all the visual FX work on over 50 shots. Says Maxxis, “The edit was really intense but Dave lives for editing. I think sleep deprivation took Dave into another state of mind … a really interesting place. It’s almost like the less sleep he got the better the video got. Everyone was thrilled with it when he was done.”
Props to Pirate Radio
Radio doesn’t hog the spotlight the way film, television and viral does. It’s not as glossy as print. Or as awkward as digital is with its growing pains on display. Radio is a horse of a different colour. And on radio, you can have a horse of as many colours as you like … without the expense of visual effects. Years ago, I saw an ad that had been made into a poster. It was an illustration of a banana with feet. The headline read simply “I saw it on the radio.” I still remember that ad going on 25 years later. That’s really something. I can’t remember who it was for, but it could easily have been describing the great radio work that Pirate Radio and Television has been producing for many years. Owner Terry O’Reilly is himself a legend in the ad business. He started out as a copywriter and quickly found his true love – writing radio commercials. He’s received just about every award and accolade there is in the business. And yet Pirate Radio is still producing award-winning radio spots. Just like they did for me when I was agency-side. This spot, for Phillips Body Groom called “Gardening Tips” was done a few years back, but it’s oh-so-good. Credits go to Tribal DDB New York. Enjoy
Oscar Contenders: Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall, Editors for The Social Network
This is an article I wrote a few weeks back for a client. Enjoy!
Oscar hopeful The Social Network
One collaborative team whose work surpasses the mark are Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall ACE, co-editors and hot favourites for an Oscar nomination for the Film Editing category for director David Fincher’s “The Social Network”.
Angus Wall
Kirk Baxter
The Social Network screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, wrote a dense 160-page draft, which would normally translate into 160 minutes of screen time. With this much content in script stage, a big challenge for Baxter & Wall was the fear of over-extending the finished cut. The fear was very real when the production delivered 268 hours of raw footage. Known as a meticulous craftsman, David Fincher’s attention to detail, and Aaron Sorkin’s script structure, meant that they would both be intensely involved in the editing process.
Says Wall, “A lot of movies you do re-sequencing of scenes. I think we lifted three or four lines out of the movie. With Aaron and with David directing, our job becomes about making something as perfect as it can be. It’s not finding the through lines of the movie, unless you’re talking about performances, because just editorially, we have to make sure we have the best and most genuine performances in. But the construction of the movie really all came out of the script.”
Says Baxter, “It was performance and timing. It was a delicate thing. One sort of wrong beat of the eyes can show a look of guilt or holding on something a little bit too long. The movie was trying to be extremely sure-footed with everyone believing they were right.”
“One of the things David really wanted to stress was to just be propulsive in terms of the editing and make sure we were slightly ahead of the audience, but not too far ahead,” Wall says. “So it was trying to find the right balance where you had little micro-pauses to let things land where they needed to land.
David Fincher
In this clip from The Social Network, watch the way Baxter & Wall cut together the Henley Race at Harvard. Rooster Post managing partner/editor Bob Kennedy, makes this observation about the following sequence …
“What I really love about the Henley sequence is the way they play with screen direction and composition between shots. The camera axis is not just ignored, but deliberately crossed to maximize the energy of the finish. Check where your eye is going from shot to shot: your eyeball is being choreographed. Most of the time, they lead your eye directly to the perfect placement for the next scene, but towards the end, they start working your eye back and forth across the frame to add to the sense of frenzy.”
But it’s not just the editing that makes this movie an Academy Award contender. According to Kirk Baxter, “What gives editing a helping hand comes from within the script. If something is moving along quite rapidly and taking you to different places, then the editing gets pushed to the forefront. Technique tends to stand out, but the task really is to make everything land and deliver a message at full understanding. It’s a much bigger picture – the whole movie is your real job. It just begins with that technique part.”
Angus Wall goes on to say, “When it feels like it’s a new experience, when you’re sucked into the movie and you’re not aware that you’re in a theater. You’re experiencing things like the characters, living vicariously through them. It feels like you’re part of the movie. To me that is a signal that everything is working on 16 cylinders.”
Rooster Post editor Dave De Carlo offers up this Pro Video Coalition ProBlog article for anyone wanting more about the The Social Network editorial process with lots of insider details from Angus Wall. De Carlo also mentions a great article worth a read about the film’s VFX from FXGuide and the VFX Blog.
Nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards 2011 will be announced on January 25th. The awards ceremony happens February 27th with producer-director Francis Ford Coppola receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Award.
McEditing: Why Ad Agencies Are Killing The Business
Happy New Year.
I heard recently that an editor who was once with one of Toronto’s top post houses had left the business … only to return later as the in-house editor at one of the city’s bigger agencies. That left me scratching my head. How can an ad agency that has long blown it’s horn about creativity, stick it to their creatives and clients in favour of their own bottom line? While the world moves forward into a shiny new 2011, I’m looking backwards. I found this article that ran in Boards a few years back. Sadly it’s even more relevant now. Nancy Vonk is the highly-awarded, co-CCO at Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto and a role model for many, many creatives worldwide. What do you think?
And now…McEditing
by Nancy Vonk
A few weeks ago as we finished a job at a favorite editing house, I noticed business was
surprisingly slow. Our editor chalked it up to a trend: editing moving in-house at agencies.
At first glance it sounds smart: in the wake of agencies losing huge amounts of revenue,
particularly post- 9/11 (marketing budgets slashed; services shifted to lesser, cheaper
vendors; cost consultants proliferating; compensation dwindling), new sources of income
are the order of the day. With equipment costs plunging and technology making it possible
for anyone to take a lunge at it, why not offer editing – certainly for the day-to-day jobs.
Can you say cha-ching?
Here’s why every art director, writer and CD should link arms against this model: the top
editors we all prefer won’t exist anymore. Their employers will be out of business. All those bread and butter jobs are crucial to the financial viability of a School, Rooster, Panic & Bob et al.
We won’t see great editors join the agency alternative. As Griff Henderson, editor at
Toronto’s School puts it, “You can’t grow or be happy on a limited diet of accounts and
creatives, however great they may be. And the honeymoon will be over when the creatives tire of working with one flavor.”
Our favorite editors learned from the best. Tomorrow’s talent is potentially looking at a
model of learning from good but not great, in an environment lacking the diversity of an
editing house. And they’ll probably be working on equipment likely to be chronically out of
date. Editing houses typically invest huge amounts of capital in state of the art equipment
every three years. The agency is unlikely to have that agenda. Nor would they prioritize
being on top of every development in the editing world.
Producers under pressure to get the best for a price as low as in-house say, “I’ve got
$12,000, take it or leave it.” The $35,000 job of 10 years ago is $22,000 today at School.
Cost consultants preach that good is good enough to clients that aren’t sensitized to the
value of the best. And lately one leading CD is encouraging his staff to use in-house for
even some of the best jobs.
Burke Moody, executive director of the Association of Independent Creative Editors, reports markets like New York, Detroit, San Francisco and Toronto are feeling the pain and are filled with alarm.
Our best editors can migrate to features, docs, television and other opportunities. It’s the
agency’s product that stands to dim as we head down the slippery slope. As our stories are told with less actual skill, the kind built on years of experience working on countless brands with countless creative partners and using the best facilities, we can expect the agency’s value to continue to erode.
Agencies should have many areas of excellence under the roof and offer clients expertise
and innovation that’s being lost to others. But editing isn’t a craft that’s wisely moved
wholesale under the agency banner. The cost of McEditing will be too great. To quote
ex-Roosterite, Mary Beth Odell: “Use it or lose it.”
Creative Professionals: Where is your career headed?
At the start of every year, everyone comes out with a bunch of predictions. If I had a crystal ball I’d probably jump on the bandwagon too. Luckily, I’m as mystified as many of you are as to the future for those toiling in creative ventures. This article is a Scott Belsky mash-up … a collection of thoughts and opinions on the future for creative professionals. Scott is the CEO and founder of the Behance Network – a online creative showcase that works to bring commerce, creativity and community together for those in the creative field so his opinion is one that I value. What are your thoughts?
Over to you, Scott.
At the start of every year, it’s fun to think about what’s next. However, for the creative professional community, considering the future is not just a casual exercise. It’s a necessity. The creative industries are rapidly changing, as is the way we manage our own creative careers.
Do you rely on the web for inspiration, feedback, or any other part of your creative process? Do you rely on online networks or websites as a source of new customers, clients, or collaborations? Are you involved in the worlds of advertising, design, fine art, or any other industry that ultimately relies on matching the right creative talent with the best opportunities?
If you answered yes, get ready.
Thoughts on the Road Ahead for Creative Professionals
In recent years, I believe that technology has been a little reckless with creative professionals. In many ways, technology has (shockingly) been obstructing productive creative careers. Crowdsourcing spec contests, the lack of proper attribution for most creative talent displayed online, and inefficient services for career management – just to name a few.
We believe that technology and the latest shifts in creative industries will ultimately empower creative professionals.
Here are some of our predictions (and hopes) for the creative professional community in the near future [and full disclaimer: our inherent bias is that we think about this full-time and are developing Behance with these thoughts in mind!]:
The Era of “Distributed Creative Production” Is Upon Us
The advertising agency of the future will consist of account managers, administrative staff, and a tiny leadership team that provides creative direction. The creative production itself will be distributed to individuals and small teams around the globe who are at the top of their game. The same applies to corporate marketing departments and other creative firms.
In the past, resources for finding and managing top talent were extremely limited. Now, the rise of online networks, as well as project management and collaboration tools is empowering creative professionals and ushering in a new era of independence.
In the past, resources for finding and managing top talent were extremely limited.
Recently, I sat on a panel for NY Advertising Week called “The Shortage of Digital Talent.” My fellow panelists – all senior folks from large agencies – sought to explain what they saw as a “shortage of creative talent” in the digital space. I was the only one with the opposite perspective. There is remarkable talent emerging from all corners of the globe. But, I explained, “the only problem is that this talent doesn’t need to work for you anymore.”
In the new era of “distributed creative production,” top talent will be able to work on their own terms. The companies (and clients) that welcome this future will benefit from better creative output.
The opportunity to tap the power of the crowd has spawned a whole regime of companies that promise to break down barriers and unlock the potential of the masses. But beneath this recent trend lie major fundamental flaws.
Don’t get me wrong. This is not another whining diatribe against the perils of crowdsourcing. But without new business models and core principles that leverage these forces in a way that empowers its participants, the opportunity is likely to implode. Those involved need to innovate and start harnessing the crowd in more mutually beneficial (and thus sustainable) ways.
The Problem With The Crowd
Crowdsourcing is driven by powerful online communities and an increased willingness from companies to engage talent from beyond the confines of their own offices. For creative talent in remote regions of the world, the prospect of a flat world full of opportunities is invigorating. Simply by joining an online community, it is easy to be found and engaged in projects. For the large companies that to date employed vast departments of highly paid, talented experts, the option to reduce overhead and still engage top talent wherever it may be can improve output and the bottom line.
So what’s the problem?
The forces that enable crowdsourcing are being used to get thousands of people to do work for free, with a chance of getting paid only if their work is selected for use. This is fine for hobbyists or friendly competitions offering a token prize. But in a business context, it doesn’t pay for either party.
In our research at Behance, we’ve found that many creative professionals avoid these types of contests because they’re too busy with commissioned work. When they do engage, they feel unfulfilled (if not exploited) afterwards—and they seldom participate again. Likewise, companies have also reported mixed sentiments. Inundated with options—mostly unprofessional in quality —they were ultimately left unsure of the worth of the exercise.
Build A Better Way
The crowd should be used in more controlled and informed ways. I firmly believe that the forces powering this phenomenon will revolutionize many industries, and I see a day when creative agencies and Fortune 500 marketing departments extend their entire creative production and idea generation to the crowd. But they need to do so in a way that empowers the participants and yields a satisfactory outcome for all.
In the future, Crowdsourcing (As We Know It) Will Be Rendered Obsolete
The good news is that people are starting to catch on. Top talent now avoids these crowdsourcing programs. New, more sustainable models are beginning to take hold. Quirky has revolutionized crowdsourced product design by ensuring that every contributor gets paid. Our team at Behance is also experimenting with new models for “sourcing” groups of top talent and guaranteeing payment for contributions. Regardless of what new models emerge, the old and destructive form of crowdsourcing will become obsolete as we have more options and develop better judgment.
The “Credible Mass” Will Determine Quality
The future of “distributed creative production” starts with finding great talent wherever it may be. Relying on personal networks and headhunters won’t cut it. We will need a way for the best talent to rise to the top based on merit.
The future of ‘distributed creative production’ starts with finding great talent wherever it may be.
The greatest challenge we will face is how to measure the quality of talent. The solution will be community curation. Aided by tools like Digg, Facebook’s “Like” button, and the “Appreciate” feature on Behance.net, communities are starting to curate themselves. Anything from articles to pieces of art can now be sorted based on consensus.
But the insights of the critical mass aren’t enough. For example, when evaluating the quality of a photograph, the opinions of 1,000 photographers should matter more than that of 1,000,000 random people. This is the difference between a “critical mass” and a “credible mass.” The “credible mass” will enable creative professionals around the globe to get new opportunities based on the quality of their work.
A New Genre of Advertising Will Educate Us
With brands in the hands of the people, a new genre of advertising will arise that is more authentic and borderline educational. Companies will tap their expertise as a way to win over the “credible mass.” For example, GE knows a lot about the future of energy and jet engines, Pepsi knows a lot about marketing and beverages, the New York Times knows a lot about journalism.
While you would likely skip over any commercials from these brands, you might be interested in their perspectives in areas where your interests intersect. Maybe you want to learn about GE’s smart grid from the scientists behind it? Perhaps you would enjoy a behind-the-scenes perspective on how a newspaper is assembled every single day from the New York Times? Great things happen when companies leverage their expertise for public interest. It also makes for powerful advertising.
The corporate marketing departments are not going to make the leap, but the creative minds in advertising agencies – and more likely the production companies that actually do the work – will start to experiment with a new form of advertising that will serve its viewer in profound ways. With the rise of online video and the role your friends play in curating the content you consume, advertising needs to step it up a notch.
The Static Portfolio Will Be Replaced by the Connected Portfolio
Not too long ago, creative professionals across industries relied solely on their “book” – a physical portfolio that was sent around to headhunters and prospective clients whenever an opportunity presented itself. These books were expensive, heavy, and instantly outdated from the moment they were sent. They also accumulated a lot of dust.
Over the last decade, most creative professionals transformed their portfolio book into a website. These static websites could be updated at any time and seemed much more efficient than the book approach. Personal portfolio websites proved effective, but only for those that visit them. Like the old-school portfolio books, you still need to invite people to view your site – whether by email or a link on your business card. Now, with the rise of social networks and professional networks, it is easier to spread the links to your portfolio and hope that the right person clicks.
Not too long ago, creative professionals across industries relied solely on their ‘book.’
I believe that the next step in this evolution will be the “connected portfolio,” a set of projects that live not only within your own personal portfolio site but also on other galleries and networks around the web. Your “connected portfolio” will act as both a personal portfolio website as well as a powerful dissemination tool that showcases your work wherever you want it – always keeping your work properly attributed and under your control. Such a system would boost efficiency and transform the portfolio from a static website into a tool for self-promotion and new leads.
Some of these predictions are more lofty than others. Some focus on smaller, technical details, while others contemplate broader, industry-wide changes. Regardless, they are all in our hands. We make ideas materialize on our screens and with our hands, and then we are the first adopters. As creative professionals, we are extremely fortunate to have such a direct influence over our own future.
Wishing you an imaginative and productive 2011.
–
What Do You Think?
What key changes – big or small – do you see on the horizon for creative professionals?
Is the Big Ad Idea A Thing Of The Past?
I found this article interesting because the message “The Big Advertising Idea Is Dead” comes from a Digital Agency. There’s nothing wrong with having another opinion, and perhaps the iterative model works in the digital space. Tim Malbon of “Made By Many” also seems to be on the iterative bandwagon. I’m on the fence. But watching with interest. Form your own opinion.
Razorfish Disses the Big Idea, Pushes Iterative Model
Zachary Rodgers
Razorfish has created a new design practice with the premise that marketing execs should give up on big ideas that produce mostly one-off campaigns. Instead, it’s asking clients to embrace an iterative test-and-learn mindset that gradually refines a website or marketing effort over time. And that goes not only for direct marketers, but big brands as well.
Called Agile, the program is geared mainly toward online projects that require complex application development. It brings together 50 creatives and technologists who engage clients first in a training process before moving into a design phase. Razorfish has practiced the approach since at least last year, but it hasn’t been formalized till now.
The Agile design approach generates repeated rough drafts of a campaign, website, or application, breaking long product cycles into smaller increments. Each of those increments results in working software. Thus a nine-month site development process might see four or more successive versions – each complete, yet in varying stages of refinement.
“Creative people were always willing to let the direct response end of the business be subject to optimization,” said Joe Crump, Razorfish’s group VP of strategy and planning. “That process is moving farther up the food chain, not necessarily in the same way that it operates for direct response advertisers.”
Crump added, “Marketers are getting smarter and more demanding about the effectiveness of the work.”
It’s hard to argue with that. The most recent big campaign to spark a heated debate about ad effectiveness is Old Spice’s “I’m on a Horse” TV and online effort starring Isaiah Mustafa. Time, BNET, Ad Age, and other publications have tried to scrutinize its sales impact, despite the fact that the brand’s celebrated social media blitz happened mere weeks ago.
Razorfish is hoping to capitalize on the new ROI fetish by talking a new generation of CMOs into, in Crump’s words, “not launching a big behemoth of a site, or even a behemoth of a campaign, at the beginning. We try to encourage marketers and our sister agencies to put the consumer at the center of the equation rather than a television spot.”
Among clients to put the Agile principles to work is Bundle.com, a personal finance site that launched early this year. The Bundle and Razorfish teams worked together late last year to quickly develop a beta version in time for a January 2010 launch.
“Without question agile was an important reason why Bundle.com is now flourishing and innovating,” said Jaidev Shergill. “And we continue to take customer feedback in order to constantly improve Bundle.com.”
Selling the approach hasn’t been easy. Some clients have balked at the process, insisting that their contracts specify delivery dates for specific capabilities – for instance, the ability to let users post to Twitter straight from a website.
That fixed approach goes against the whole Agile outlook, said Crump.
“To take an iterative approach you have to believe that list of things that go along with your big idea or your campaign, much of that is wrong and it’s going to change,” he said. “The reality still is there’s a lot of inertia.”
What he said …
If you still have your head buried in the sand, it’s time for you to come up for air. Take a look around you. Ideas are still where it’s at, but the business has CHANGED. Read on.
BDW NY Making Digital Work NYC: Day One
3 DECEMBER, 2010 | WRITTEN BY EDWARD BOCHES
A look at the Twitter stream tells you it was a day of awesomeness. Great presentations, lots of dialogue, hands-on workshops, and an end of the day session where the 70-plus participants actually invented new products or services, designed prototype websites for quick online testing, bought their keywords and prepared to put their content online — thanks to some Modernista digital elves willing to work through part of the night to make it happen.
Coming just a week after Fast Company suggested that there will be carnage if the advertising industry doesn’t adapt quickly enough, followed by an alternative view from Bloomberg Businessweek suggesting that’s a bunch of BS, Making Digital Work offered a little bit of reality.
The facts are this. Change is coming fast and furious, even accelerating beyond what we’ve seen so far. It’s not just about making digital experiences it’s also about understanding consumers’ new relationships to media, technology and community. It’s about mastering UX and engagement instead of the age-old art and copy definition of creativity. It’s about changing every organization to learn new ways of collaboration.
Perhaps most importantly it’s about being far more agile and lean when it comes to inventing work, prototyping it, getting it to market, and as Tim Malbon of Made by Many tells us “Learning fast.” Challenging the fail fast mantra of recent years, Tim instead argues we need to speed up the learning process. Nail it and scale it as he says.
So what does it take? If you were here at BDW’s NY workshop yesterday you may have concluded the following.
1. The consumer is at the center of everything
And the most important thing to remember is that he is a participant, a doer, a sharer, a creator. How do you create an experience that engages and motivates participation and action? Awareness and attitude do not lead to changed behavior. Action and behavior lead to changed attitude.
2. New teams and process are essential
You can’t make experiences with the same people and processes you used to make ads. Not everyone has to write code, but if they don’t enthusiastically embrace all that’s new bid them adieu.
3. Put aside your fears and anxieties and make something
You need to just jump in and do it. Get over thinking that ideas and creativity are the exclusive domain of one department. Get your ideas on paper. Build a prototype, get it in front of people (you can easily hide things on the web so you get enough feedback without going big time public), learn and proceed.
More to come as we begin to post the decks and presentations. So keep your eyes open.
Read more: http://edwardboches.com/bdw-ny-making-digital-work-nyc-day-one#ixzz175xwGwXe
A great quote
No one remembers boring ads. But they never forget how boring your brand is.
Credit: Lee Clow’s beard
Why is this a great quote?
There are far too many clients out there who want advertising and digital interaction that is safe, familiar and predictable. What they are missing is the big picture: the impact it will have on their overall brand. The best argument for creativity lies in it’s ability to get noticed and attract attention. You don’t get hundreds or thousands of Social Media “shares” for boring content. And you don’t motivate consumers to make the effort to buy your product if they don’t remember you. Once a consumer makes a positive or negative decision about what your brand stands for, undoing that opinion can be darned next to impossible … and you’ll find yourself hiring a creative agency known for it’s breakthrough work to save your failing brand anyway.
Banner Ads: Why Creative Ideas Will Save Them, Not Google.
During the final keynote at the 2010 IAB Mixx conference held in NYC Google Executives predicted that by 2011, online display market will be a $50 billion dollar business with half of online ads featuring video, and 75 percent containing some sort of social element.
This morning, I found an article at MediaWeek.com. The article is a discussion on Google’s predictions under a headline that states “Google Sees “Smart and Sexy” Future for Banner Ads.”
That’s great. Those “You’re The Millionth Visitor Click Now To Win” embarrassments to advertising are long overdue for an overhaul. But in reading the MediaWeek article, I realized that people are still making the mistake of believing that technology is the device that will save the Online Display Ad industry.
Nuts to that. I’m sure the Google Execs were speaking only about the delivery device for the creative concept, but creative ideas are needed to make for a smart and sexy future for banner ads, not technology alone. (Cigarettes are a delivery device for tobacco – get it?) Technology will support those great ideas – but technology devoid of an advertising concept is still a lame-ass “Click Now To Win” banner ad. I know the point of what they were saying at IAB was that rich media with the ability to hold more content and imagery – more like a website will make static banners (thank god) a thing of the past. But without a great concept, those same display ad players will still be there with their bad ideas … only now they will be animated and will contain video (the horror).
Great ideas don’t rely on money, production values or file sizes to be great. At least not all the time. One of Canada’s most highly-awarded Creative Directors once told me that one test of a great TV ad concept was to mentally execute it for 25 grand. If the idea held up, then it was a great concept. I get what he was saying. Obviously “Star Wars” needed those special effects to be a great movie. But the story at the heart of the film had a classic damaged father-son relationship, good vs evil structure that might have worked in a parallel universe with cowboys and indians for example. Maybe.
I think display advertising has been populated by zero creativity marketers – and it’s my hope that the new hopped-up banners will provide agency creatives with paradigm-shifting opportunities … or at least the chance to show up the current users of display marketing. Simply put, it’s a category that will be ripe for the taking come creative award show time.
Writing in Twitter’s Shrinking World
In my corner of the world, it seems that everyone is on Twitter. All of my friends are Tweeting. Somedays, it feels like almost everyone in the ad/digital/marketing industry worldwide are Tweeting. And all this activity is contained within my little old 17″ screen. It’s an incredible shrunken world … all at my finger tips. But that’s not the only thing that started off small and then got big. As Twitter itself has taken off growing in a few short years, having over 105 million Tweeple chirping away on the service according the The Huffington Post, one thing hasn’t changed: Twitter is (and likely will always be) 140 characters of communication. And yet, as anyone who has ever written for a living knows, it takes a special kind of writer to be able to make every single word count in a sentence. And that’s basically what Twitter is. It’s a baked, low fat potato chip sentence.
Writing in such a skinny format is hard. It takes work. But it’s not much different from other writing formats – like poetry, copywriting, headline writing … or even greeting card writing.
I’m an awful writer – a fact that I blame on my grade 9 English teacher. A child of the 60′s, she destained creative writing and grammar lessons in favour of spending an extra few months of the class reading William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” But maybe she was way ahead of her time. If you google some Willy Shakespeare quotes from that play, you realize that if he were alive today, Wills would have had more followers than Ashton Kutcher. His brilliance and spare use of language are simply incredible. In one scene 2 characters (Quince and Flute) are discussing casting for a play. Flute is asked is asked to play Thisby, a female. Shakespeare could have written, “No yee lads, ’tis not a good idea for me to play a woman. Being a man of dark hair my 5 o’clock shadow will show and there’s no way I’ll be able to pull that off.” Instead he wrote, “Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.” That’s 58 characters of tight prose … with plenty of space left over for ReTweeting.
Good writing can be long or short. But good writing is less about how you put it together, and more about the ideas contained within it. What do I mean? Most of this article is literal. I’m saying what needs to be said. But for this article to be well written, it needs to contain new concepts – new ideas – that are different ways of saying the same old things. That’s where the true brilliance lies. “I have a beard coming” is a clever concept. “I can’t pull it off because I’m a guy” is not. Rather than worry about numbers of characters, great writers worry about filling the blank “What’s Happening?” box with language that is not cliche, boring or devoid of concept or personality.
But once you have that creative nugget of genius it all comes back to good editing. And that’s the secret. Having a luxury of space to express yourself in is great. Make no mistake. But many will tell you the true skill lies in the edit. And editing takes a certain amount of detachment. And practice. You have to kill your baby over and over again until it can be born. I have been lucky to have worked with some really great copywriters in the ad industry. Great writers with equally great, surprising ideas and points of view. But one thing many of them shared was the inability to edit their own work. Brilliance is great, but if the headline is going to run to 4 lines and the art director is ready to kill because the layout wasn’t designed to hold it, then you have no choice but to stay up all night re-crafting and editing that headline. It has to fit and it has to be genius.
On Twitter, there are also standards to uphold. For example, Internet ebonics are to be avoided (gr8!) if you want to maintain your status as a serious writer. Contractions are okay (what’s up?) but your content and meaning is your first priority. Most writers will write for intent first, say going to 215 characters, and then start hacking, chopping off language here and there until they’re close to to 140 characters. From that point you contract, squeeze and generally go into labour to squeeze out your 140 characters of tight, well-written brilliance.
Adverbs are another sapling to thin out of your woody forest of words. The definition of an adverb is words and phrases that describe or limit the meaning of a verb, an adjective,or a whole sentence. In other words, The horse ran Swiftly. Most words ending in “ly” can be chopped for Tweets. For that matter, an adjective is a word that describes a noun. A “fluffy” cat is an adjective. Without it the word cat is generic.
I think Twitter’s Shrinking World is great for good writing. I find I use more nouns and verbs, instead of adjectives and adverbs. When every word matters in my 140 characters I really look at my intent and my construction. Twitter keeps me from getting lazy. It won’t turn me into a writer of great prose, but it keeps me thinking about my writing. Not a bad thing at all.
Will The New Twitter Save Our Engagement? #fail #TheNewTwitter
Dear Twitter
Ever since we announced our engagement, I’ve had a sad feeling in my heart. I’ve been thinking a lot about you and I lately. All the good times and laughs we used to share. When we first started out things were different. We were more open with each other. We used to stay up late, just talking and hanging out. Now things are different. You’re too busy for me. You’ve become successful and with that success you’ve become distant … cold. We don’t talk like we used to. We aren’t relating to each other anymore. You’ve changed.
You say The New Twitter is going change how we spend time together. You say it’s going to bring us closer together … it’s going to strengthen our relationship – increase our quality time. I sure hope so. Because it feels like this relationship has become pretty one-sided. We don’t talk, we don’t relate to each other. We just broadcast our thoughts, feelings and share information. Without discussion or engaging … or even a thank you for the RT.
I’m trying really hard to save our relationship. I follow the people you say I should. I respect your code of ethics and try to always have something meaningful to tweet – to put out into the world. But you’re so busy broadcasting your content you’ve forgotten about me. About my thoughts, opinions … and feelings. Hello #FAIL it’s Jill talking. If The New Twitter doesn’t change our relationship, I’m worried that we’re doomed to a life of information broadcasting, breaking news reports and YouTube links.
Maybe it’s me but this relationship isn’t going to work out unless you spend more time with me. Talking, engaging, and RTing like we used to. It’s not too late Twitter. There’s still time. We can save this thing if we both try a little harder. Forget therapy. You’ve been down that road. You’ve forgotten the vows that @aplusk and @mrskutcher took before one million followers became the norm for celebrity couples. I’m not rich. I’m not famous. But we’re in this thing together – for richer, and for poorer. Let’s save what we had … together.
xxxooo
Jill
Brand New Pencils, Brand New Books … and a Brand New Theme
I’ve always been a fan of the fall. The season of death if you want to be morbid about it. I love the hard sunlight this time of year. And the snap of crisp air. It’s jeans and sweater season. On television and online there’s a slew of new and returning shows.
Mrs. Honeycutt and Mrs. Nesbitt come to tea
I hope you like the new layout. I think it’s easier to read. I wish I was more adept at CSS … I’d love to make the type a bit bigger, to make the site easier to read. If anyone can tell me how to – I’d love to hear from you.
Happy Fall Everyone!
Online Advertising Has To Change
If you are a fan of advertising and social media you should follow Edward Boches. If you don’t know Edward, get to know him. He’s a marketer, Blogger, and Chief Creative and Chief Social Media Officer, at Mullen in Boston. Plus he’s smart. I read this and wanted to both share it and keep it someplace safe. A year from now it may be interesting to go back and read. Online advertising is long overdue for an overhaul. I think he’s bang on the money with this article.
By Edward Boches
Digital can be fun, entertaining, interactive and worth our attention. Is it possible to get all of this into standard online ads?
My last post suggested that maybe (not definitely) Apple’s iAds could be good for digital advertising, making them a bit more useful and a little less interruptive. Only time will tell, of course.
In the meantime, the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) has also come to realize it hasn’t done enough to make paid online advertising appealing or effective enough to attract spending commensurate with the amount of time people spend online. Click rates remain pitiful and no one has yet cracked the code on how to do display advertising or brand building executions in the online space.
While marketers spend $30 billion a year on OLA, $25 billion of that goes directly to search. According to Peter Minnium, who’s helping the IAB develop new standards, the big problem has been too much emphasis on response and too much dependence on the lowest common denominator units – typically the 2” by 3” ads that can be served by anyone from Google and MSN to your local blog.
According to Peter, as a result of standards that have to work for every website out there (in an effort to save advertisers having to create an excess of custom versions) creators face restrictions that drive them toward mediocrity and consumers live with tired, boring ads that fail to capture their imaginations.
The industry knows this. As search starts to slow, all the big portals are looking for ways to beef up revenue. That means Google, AOL, MSN and others will all try to figure it out on their own, but that approach could lead to confusion and fragmentation. Imagine if advertisers had to create totally different units, experiences and executions for every site where they ran ads?
Can the IAB change this? Well they’re trying. They’ve asked a number of creative folks from the advertising industry to help develop new standards. The objective is to come up with something that excites marketers, agencies and media planners.
IAB thinks that the solution, not unlike Apple’s approach, just might be to combine the sight, sound and motion of video with the web’s power of engagement and sharing, then somehow develop new formats that everyone buys into in order that brands can create fewer units and have the option of running them anywhere.
The big question of course is what is the role of branded display advertising on the Internet? In an ideal format, it will allow consumers to get the information they want, learn something meaningful, search directly from the ad, share if they wish to, and experience entertaining content in the process. Oh right, and it can’t interrupt.
Can this ever be achieved? Is there a model that works for both advertiser and consumer? How about the role of tablets to influence new formats?
Right now, advertisers need to move money out of TV and align budgets with consumer behavior. (Relying on memory here, but I believe the web accounts for 30 percent of consumers’ media time but only 10 percent of marketing dollars. Someone correct me if I’m off with these numbers.)
Running TV spots on the web doesn’t work. We’re online in order to discover what we want. Ads that interrupt us find little welcome. In fact, they’re disdained. And finally, as we turn to our social networks directly for the content we want, traditional search becomes less necessary and OLA close to useless.
Put that way it seems an insurmountable challenge.
The promise of digital advertising, of course, is that it serves us as much as the advertiser. It knows what we’re interested in without violating our privacy. It lets us opt in on our own terms. It includes all the best features of social media – sharing, ratings, recommendations from friends. And it’s exciting.
We seem to get more of the above in great social media executions and compelling viral ideas but not in paid digital ads, despite the few exceptions.
So, will we ever see standard units that are actually conducive to more inspiring advertising? Can the IAB win consensus from both big portals and smaller sites? Will iAds raise the bar for what consumers expect? Can paid digital advertising that lives on a website actually earn our attention? Lots of questions. But at least we have acknowledgment of the problem and a set of criteria that seem to make sense.
What do you think? Any chance we’ll ever learn to love online advertising
RIP King Richard: Is the CBC doomed?
Love him or hate him, Richard Stursberg, CBC’s recently axed head, understood the writing on the wall: the CBC cannot afford to continue with an umblllical dependence on funding from the government. Richard’s passionate vision was for a public broadcaster who was financially self-sufficient. To that end ratings mattered, simply from the point of view that eyeballs bring advertising revenue. And more revenue means more money that can be channelled back into programming. When Richard appointed Scott Moore as the new leader of CBC’s Sales & Marketing, Scott took a department that was nothing short of an industry joke, and turned it into a respected, money-making venture. CBC has never, in it’s history, seen the kind of advertising sponsorship that it has right now, nor has it ever been taken as seriously in the industry as it is now. But with Richard’s departure, all that could easily change – and the CBC could, once again, become totally dependent on the government for funding.
Richard believed that in order to survive, the CBC had to produce entertainment that was on par with what the US produced. He believed it was possible. He was committed to entertainment as one of the keys to achieve a certain financial independence. He viewed CBCNews as an extension of this entertainment strategy. He believed the CNN version as the future. This didn’t sit well with the old-school news department who still, almost a year after relaunching CBCNews, have not embraced the new CBCNews strategy – a strategy that could have allowed the news department to change the news paradigm. Instead many of them bury their heads in the sand, wishing for the clock to go back to a time pre-Richard.
CBC Radio is far from suffering. Under the little-appreciated tenure of Chris Boyce, CBC Radio One has revitalized programming, and the highest ratings in its history. Richard (and a host of other senior team leaders) realized that CBC Radio 2′s classical audience wasa DYING. It’s an audience that is not replacing itself. As numbers dwindle, year after year, they believed it is a public broadcaster’s responsibility to change and adapt, and in the process, re-invent the classical music service, while trying to find a new audience for its musical offering. Many people inside the CBC were against this move. And many still believe it was a mistake. But any broadcaster who ignores audience research studies and the feedback from hours of focus groups is behaving irresponsibly. The writing was on the wall there too. I don’t believe they are “there” yet, but Radio 2 is the ONLY Canadian radio station (excl. CBC Radio 3) that is FULLY committed to airplay for Canadian singers and songwriters. Isn’t that the mandate?
It’s not surprising to see Richard’s critics hovering over his dying legacy. Hubert’s commitment to the CBC is a populist one. But I wonder which segment of the population is now driving the future strategy of the CBC? CBC itself will not be objective enough. Under Richard’s watch, the CBC was slowly growing a much needed younger demographic – don’t forget, the internet may end up being the future of all broadcasting. And that 18 – 39 demographic is not watching traditional television. And they are not watching nature documentaries. I respect the opinions of his critics. Richard ruled the CBC like a petulant king. His senior management team was described as a “wheel-less spoke”, with each spoke a division that was deliberately not connected to the others. His management style was brutal. His demeanor cold. But still, I hope time is kind to his legacy, because I worry that one day, the reign of King Richard will go down in history as the CBC’s last shining moment – the final days of broadcasting camelot.
“King Richard” Stursberg leaves CBC
Richard Stursberg, head of CBC’s English services, is leaving after six years in the position.
CBC president Hubert T. Lacroix announced his departure Friday in a statement to employees.
Lacroix gave no reason for Stursberg’s departure, which is effective Friday.
“When Richard was appointed executive vice-president of CBC Television six years ago, he brought with him a revolution that shook the foundation of the organization and eventually of the whole of our English services,” Lacroix said in his statement.
“He challenged every premise, attacked conventional wisdom, and uprooted whole parts of the internal culture. Six years later, the institution is better off than it was. I want to acknowledge his success in turning CBC Television around and thank him for his contribution.”
Kirstine Stewart, currently general manager of CBC Television, is to take his job as executive vice-president of English services on an interim basis.
Under Stursberg’s leadership, the CBC integrated its English-language services — radio, TV and internet, in an attempt, he said, to make content more broadly available across more platforms.
He was executive vice-president of CBC Television during the eight-week lockout of CBC employees in the fall of 2005. In his most recent position, he oversaw a downsizing of the CBC workforce in 2009 at a time when the public broadcaster faced a $171-million shortfall.
Stursberg also was controversial for his more commercial approach to TV programming, including the introduction of factual entertainment TV and the addition of American shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to the CBC schedule.
He also fought for more flexible and generous financial terms for the public broadcaster from the federal government.
Bill Chambers, CBC vice-president of communications, said CBC is a very different corporation than it was five years ago, largely because of Stursberg.
Chambers declined to say whether Stursberg had been fired, saying the change is “not about where we are” but “all about the future and the way we are going forward.”
He referred to Lacroix’s statement that said CBC and Radio-Canada are developing a new strategic plan over the next five years.
“This is the opportune time to bring new leadership to English services and to ensure alignment of the senior team on the future of the public broadcaster,” Lacroix said.
Creatives: Check out behance.net for portfolio display – now + to LinkedIn
I use Behance.net as my main TV, print, online, digital design, interactive and radio portfolio. I have to say that as a service it rocks!
Simple design.
Easy to use.
Stuff looks pretty good.
http://www.behance.net Check it out.
Now some GREAT news: Creative Professionals can now display their Behance portfolios on LinkedIn. For more info go to: http://bit.ly/9NSTLp
I just did it. The app works GREAT. How’s that for a full endorsement?
How To Be a Successful Social Media Writer
The internet has dramatically changed the way people get information. I can remember research searches lasting weeks, with countless trips to the library, and endless hours spent hunting down topic experts. As more and more people have gained access to the Internet and started to use it on a daily basis as an information source – a huge opportunity has been created for copywriters. Today, hundreds of millions around the globe use the Internet to access information. Without being aware, they depend on the work of copywriters to provide them with the information that they need.
I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve told traditional agency copywriters (who feel they are getting too old for the ad game) to learn how to write for social media. It’s the same horse. But it’s got way more ways to ride it.
Sites that rely on others to create their content (they call them Web 2.0 but I really don’t get why) – sites like Wikipedia.org, YouTube.com, IMDb.com, Digg.com, Facebook.com, and Twitter mean people are getting information from other Internet users through social media sites and forums. Conversely, fewer people are getting information from traditional articles posted on informational sites.
But whether or not I fully understand the whole 2.0 thing, I recognize the opportunity that exists for copywriters. Regardless if people are mining full length articles, or perusing social media, clients need help engaging with consumers – having two-way conversations with consumers to ensure that people find out about their products and services. It’s important that you understand this distinction. Before you didn’t get credit for your work. You wrote it, the agency paid you … end of story, unless you were lucky enough to win awards for it. But now, with social media sites requiring user registration, agencies and clients can no longer separate the copywriter from the work that you have done for them. You gain a following on Web 2.0 sites that makes you more valuable. Look at the influence some bloggers have. Most everyone knows Copyblogger by name.
Active users with masses of followers are extremely influential in social media and discussion forums. On the largest sites, they sometimes have millions of followers. On Twitter for example, there are users like @briansolis and @chrisbrogan that specialize in sharing information about PR, Web 2.0 and social media. When a user has thousands of followers, they are like gold to companies and businesses that want to get information out to potential customers. To repeat: these guys are hugely influential.
We all know that in recent years, slick multi-million dollar ad campaigns have been met with a shrugging of the shoulders and squinting of the eyes by consumers. But add a Web 2.0 aspect to the campaign, and those same skeptical consumers become brand advocates. And when ideas, information and opinions come from individuals, rather than corporations … well that’s the new art of persuasion in adland.
So what do you have to do?
Build a name for yourself. The more followers you have, the more people you talk to in discussion forums, the more influence you have. They read what you’ve written and potentially share it with others. This increases your value as a copywriter, and it gives you a soapbox to do it from.
Become an expert. Focus on one area. Be active in it online. Focus your career and you will be respected as an authority on it. You’ll be in demand – and you’ll make more money in less time because you’ll be in demand as a known expert.
Develop a network. A network of dedicated followers and peers who respect you can result in friendships as well as business opportunities.
How do you get your act together?
What area do you think you would enjoy spending time learning about? You can visit websites like http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/web-2.0-websites or http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0 for some ideas. Visit a site each day for a couple of weeks to become familiar with the type and quality of content being posted before you begin participating yourself.
Engage and post regularly. You can become influential on social media sites by being responsive to questions posted by other users, and by posting original, informative content on a regular basis.
Be friendly. People develop followers by being well-liked. Go out of your way to help people with any problems that they are posting about.
Share links. It’s nice way to promote someone else (it’s not all about you, this social media thing) while providing valuable content.
Ask questions, it’s a good way to meet people with similar interests and to begin developing your network.
Engage in conversations. Make friends and you will attract followers. You don’t have to have all the answers … but you can still have something to say. Seek out others who have similar interests.
Find other users who have similar interests and become friends with them. Don’t be a “headhunter” – the person who is in a frenzy to collect the most “friends”. Seek out users who are posting on a similar topic or subject. Follow them. Request friendship. Engage.
The End Result?
Advertising, marketing and PR experts can’t control the images of their client’s companies as well as they have in the past. Instead of being a one-way message, marketing is an ongoing online conversation between consumers and potential consumers. Bada bing!, an opinion can be broadcast to thousands of people, all of whom can respond and continue to relay the opinion. No one can control this reaction, but they can have an impact on it by participating in the conversation. This can also be done by hiring copywriters who are experts and leaders in forums related to the company’s product or service. As such a copywriter, you can help your Web 2.0 friends and followers to find products and services that they will like while simultaneously making money. Your followers can become the online fans of the companies that hire you because of your influence.
People want high-quality information from experts—not random opinions and misguided information. If you can position yourself as an expert who provides high-quality content, you can benefit from the new Web 2.0 environment and expand your copywriting career, simply by positioning yourself as a expert on popular social media sites.
2010 Cannes Lions: Was this year a game-changer?
I read this article this morning on adage.com and found myself nodding my head to many of the point made. Rather than just a summing up of the 2010 Lions, there were some significant points made that we creative can use as a wake up call. Advertising is changing … and it’s just a matter of time before it’s not called “advertising” any more.
Hope you enjoy it – article courtesy of the excellent writers at adage.com
Cannes Grows Up as Clients, Creatives Collaborate
Must-Attend Event Draws Big Names, Packed Seminars, Consensus That Clever Marketing Can Also Achieve ROI
By Laurel Wentz
Published: June 28, 2010
CANNES, France (AdAge.com) — The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is rebounding from the global recession and emerging as an even more client-centric gathering focused more broadly on creativity and return on investment and less on narrow ad categories. So much so, in fact, that the event’s organizers plotted the introduction of Cannes Lions effectiveness awards next year and floated the idea of changing the festival’s name, likely dropping the word “advertising” to reflect the transition the festival, its attendees and the industry are going through.
Clients made up almost 15% of a total of around 8,000 attendees, as the number of marketer companies — about 400 this year — and the size of their delegations mushroomed. Most clients send between one and five executives, but Kraft was up to 20 people from five just three years ago, and there were newbies ranging from MasterCard to Russia’s biggest bank, Sper Bank.
Several cited Procter & Gamble’s decision to send “hundreds” of people to Cannes a few years ago as a real wake-up call that inspired them to make the trek. In fact, P&G hasn’t sent more than about 50 people (and about 20 this year) but that perception shows the impact of the first big, high-level client delegation to Cannes. Last year’s economic disaster derailed or downsized those plans for some marketers and this is the first year they’re putting them into practice.
Marketers even ask the festival for seminar spots, further justifying their trips to Cannes. This year’s seminars — pairing speakers such as Ben Stiller and Jeff Goodby, and director Spike Jonze with Kraft — so packed the 1,100-seat Debussy auditorium that some were transmitted to an overflow auditorium.
Martin Riley, the chief marketing officer of Pernod Ricard, made the trip with two of his colleagues and plans to send a larger Pernod team next year, a signal to agencies that creativity is valued and expected. “If you’re going to be a good partner to your agency, and push your agency, you have to have a sense of what’s possible and happening creatively, not just in your own category,” he said.
David Jones, global CEO of Havas Worldwide, who counts Mr. Riley as a client, said it’s a reflection of the importance of creativity in advertising. As marketers have moved from a world where messages were pushed through mass channels such as TV to one in which consumers pull in the messages that interest them, the bar for content is higher. “Being creative has become critical and essential to getting your message heard,” he said.
Throughout the week Cannes-goers scouted for talent to hire and big-screen TVs to watch World Cup matches, and proved that clients and creatives can coexist, whether at a 9 a.m. seminar at the Palais des Festivals or at the late-night Gutter Bar, where everyone from senior marketers to the founder of cause-driven retailer Toms Shoes, Blake Mycoskie, to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg were seen.
“It’s good to embrace the client culture,” said David Lubars, chairman-chief creative officer of BBDO North America, who was at Cannes with a whole alphabet of clients including AT&T, HP and J&J. Even Mars came. “Lots of old-guard creatives said, ‘Oh, the clients took the show away from us,’ but I like that clients come here and get the bug, and want to win.”
The U.S. ended the week on a high note by winning three of Saturday’s four Grand Prix awards, in the Film, Integrated, and Titanium categories, all for campaigns that have been big favorites. Wieden & Kennedy, Portland won both the Film and Integrated Grand Prix, for Nike’s “Livestrong” and Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (Film). And Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Boulder, took the Titanium Grand Prix for Best Buy’s “Twelpforce.”
The jury awarded only one other Titanium Lion, for Ikea’s Facebook showroom, by Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg, Sweden. Gatorade’s “Replay” by TBWA Chiat Day, already a big winner throughout the week, picked up an Integrated Gold.
In this year’s new category, Film Craft, the Grand Prix went to DDB, London, for Philips’ “The Gift,” in which five directors shot short films from the same script.
Due to the blurring of lines, many entries won in multiple categories. JWT Italia’s “Auditorium” effort for Heineken, in which soccer fans fear they’ll have to sacrifice watching a big match to attend a classical music concert with their girlfriends, won prizes in five of the week’s first six contests judged — media, PR, promo, direct marketing and outdoor.
And at the Palais, a SapientNitro exec who was operating a vending machine with face-recognition software that offered free Unilever ice cream in return for a smile to be posted on Facebook, said proudly that his fancy machine scored a bronze Lion at the festival — but couldn’t remember in which category. They had entered it in five.
For next year, Festival Chairman Terry Savage said it’s about “90% sure” that Cannes Lions for effectiveness will be introduced and that “clients will play some sort of role,” possibly on the jury. To set the creative bar high, only work that was shortlisted or won at this year’s festival will be eligible to compete for an effectiveness award in 2011. This year the festival shortlisted about 2,325 entries, or about 10% of total work entered.
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Contributing: Abbey Klaassen and Jack Neff
In its 57th year, the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival has successfully managed to evolve from a boozy boondoggle into a must-attend event chock-full of top client executives and quality content, but it’s also got plenty of room to improve.
Five reasons Cannes was better than ever
Diversity of attendees
It’s not just creatives talking to other creatives anymore. The event has attracted more people from more countries — and not just from agencies, but from clients and technology companies such as Foursquare, Facebook and the Big Four web players. One group that still seemed curiously absent? Big media and publishing companies.
The seminars were better this year than they’ve been in the past, conceded many longtime Cannes-goers, with a lineup that included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and major holding-company executives such as Martin Sorrell, Maurice Levy and Michael Roth engaging in a vibrant dialogue with blue-chip clients like Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. The sessions also starred famous creative minds Spike Jonze and Yoko Ono.
Social but sensible
The falloff in bass-thumping parties spun by world-famous DJs didn’t seem to detract from the festival. Instead, attendees praised the more intimate gatherings. Smaller events allowed for more informal conversation and debate about the ad business. Even the comparatively glitzy bashes—like Y&R’s beach party with a live indie band—were said to have maintained a strict invite list.
The World Cup
Where better to watch the World Cup than at an international gathering of executives from soccer-loving countries? Not surprisingly, there were a number of Cannes activities planned around games, such Brazilian trade publication Meio & Mensagem’s gathering to watch the Brazil-Portugal match. Even U.S. interest grew as the American team performed well.
Sufficient connectivity
One common gripe at industry events is lack of Wi-Fi or spotty cellphone coverage, but that is really no issue in Cannes at this point. Mobile-phone coverage was consistent for most carriers and for those unable to use their home phones, mobile-phone rental is now very easy. Internet access—paid or not—was abundant and allowed people who didn’t attend to follow the action through a constant stream of attendee Twittering.
Five things for the festival to address
Access for all
The good news: The improved seminar content meant fewer attendees blew them off to hang on the beach. The bad news: the rooms were crowded, and some delegates were miffed they shelled out several thousand dollars only to find there wasn’t sitting room, or at times even standing room, to hear speakers. It seems the festival either needs to find a way to accommodate all who want to attend the daytime sessions, or put a cap on attendance.
Continued controversy
It’s disappointing to still see agencies brazenly try to bend festival rules. This year, the Press Grand Prix was meant to be given to Ogilvy Mexico, but once officials found out the winning Scrabble campaign it had created for its Matel client had been entered two years ago, it was stripped in favor of an Almap BBDO billboard campaign. In addition to the ethics issues it raised, it was also a reminder of just how arbitrary the judging process can be.
The over-sponsorship of Cannes
In a quest to reach Cannes-goers’ pockets, some sponsors latched onto previously ad-free venues — which had a few folks complaining about the commercial saturation (at an ad festival — rich). While we could see their point, we bet they weren’t refusing the free drinks those benefactors were underwriting.
Automation
You can board a flight with the swipe of a credit card, yet festival attendees were still made to wait in line for an hour or more to pick up their badges permitting entry into the Palais conference hall and bright blue delegate bag. It’s absurd, and Cannes should seriously consider making registration less of a zoo and more efficient by using automated-ticketing machines.
Speaking of conference bags…
At an industry celebrating design, can we get a bag that we’d might possibly want to use again? We know ad people can design something better looking and more useful. C’mon, ad people, 2011 is right around the corner. At the design press conference, someone suggested next year’s bag should be designed by a previous Cannes winner: Uniqlo.
– Rupal Parekh
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Contributing: Laurel Wentz
Is Content Promotion and Promotion Content? Where’s the line in the sand?
One of the most difficult debates that creative people face involves the combining of traditional advertising and digital media. In the entertainment industry, advertising creative people are in the business of creating promotion, while web designers/producers are in the business of creating content. At CBC, much of our digital output revolves around create sites that are digital “homes” for each of our entertainment/informational programs. Each show page features an interesting mix of promotional and original content. The original content is a kind of “value ad” for fans of the show – things like webisodes, video blogs, wallpapers, links and games, actor bios, past season episodes, blogs etc. While on the 7th floor at the Broadcasting Centre, the art directors and copywriters are finding creative marketing solutions to attract audiences to both the digital and broadcast content. But how do you define what is content and what is promotion? Where is that line in the sand? As a creative director, I come up against this constantly. Isn’t all original content that is value-added material, outside of the original show or series promotion? Or … like the digital folks debate, shouldn’t the definition of promotion lie only in the areas of “packaging” and paid media? It’s an interesting debate. The web producer says, ” I’m building a web page, I have my branding area on the page and that’s my promotional space for the brand – or the packaging. And that’s it. Blogs aren’t promotion – they’re content. Those video “prequel webisodes” that my department created are content. That video game we created is content…” But is it? What do you think?
Which Will Be Bigger? Social TV or 3DTV?
We North Americans witnessed the birth of Social Television via Big Network Events such as the Oscars and MTV Music Video Awards Shows last year. Social TV’s birth happened in the form of live Twitter and Facebook feeds that crawled across the bottom of our TV screens, allowing viewers to chat, comment and react to what they were watching live.
The BBC has confirmed they are working on a new beta version of their popular on-demand television service, the iPlayer. As a public broadcaster, the BBC relies on tax dollars to an extent, to stay in business. They seem to be taking Social TV quite seriously – investing and setting new trends with social viewing. The Beeb has partnered with Microsoft to develop an iPlayer that allows users to communicate with each other using Windows Live Messenger while watching on-demand programmes. With over 450 million worldwide Windows Live Messenger users, it seems to make sll kinds of sense for the broadcaster to use the Messenger network. This partnership is interesting in that the BBC has chosen to not leverage social sites Facebook or Twitter – meaning BBC doesn’t want to “create” their own social network … rather they have left the door open to harness third party social sites in the future. I don’t know how well the Windows Live Messenger can be shared on all social sites, but one would think that down the road this avenue will pay off big time for the BBC. iPlayer is not just available on the web, but across all desktop operating systems, dozens of mobile phones and in download and streaming form – even across some 3G networks – and BBC’s on-demand service received 123 MILLION requests in April 2010. Those are massive numbers for an on-demand service in the broadcast industry.
An important note: Students are becoming a popular user of the iPlayer and similar services – because there is no need to have cable service to watch on-demand broadcasts. The student presumably, on a tight budget, will chose Internet service over cable. In the UK, the younger generation is being engaged on a far more substantial level and Social TV could be the next big step in the broadcast industry’s evolution.
So what of 3DTV? I thought it was the next BIG THING? Even at CBC, 3DTV is discussed as the latest trend worth embracing. But is it just a trend? Could the BBC charge into Social TV be more significant than 3DTV?
On-demand allows users to build our own television schedules. And with the inclination of social media to be a sharing media, there is a built-in, natural want to share with TV shows – sharing our likes and dislikes, plus there’s an infrastructure in the web already in place to allow this to happen.
Could on-demand television replace ordinary broadcasts? I don’t have a crystal ball … no one does. But one could easily see on-demand become more popular than ordinary broadcasts with the younger generations who are not be raised in a 50-channel universe.
3DTV still feels like a trend to me. Like HD. While HD is quietly becoming a broadcast standard, it’s more revolutionary as a technology, rather than a way the masses consume media. It’s a technology, much as 3D is a technology. It’s cool and fun … but audiences expect their networks to be in the game. It’s not something I really want to share … like television programming. And with 500 MILLION Facebook users according to Time Magazine, there are a lot of audiences out there with favourite shows they will want to share with all their friends.
I find the idea of Social TV a little odd … will it replace hanging out in your friend’s basement while you and the gang watch and debate the final episode of “Lost”? Likely not. But it could open another virtual avenue for the broadcast industry … and I’m going to be watching BBC’s iPlayer closely in the future.
An Ad Age Field Guide for Navigating Manhattan During Upfront Week 2010
An Ad Age Field Guide for Navigating Manhattan During Upfront Week 2010
From Fox on the Upper West Side to CW in the Garden, a Map to The TV Networks’ Presentations
Broadcast’s Youth Market Starts at 44
Why Advertisers This Upfront Will Pour Billions Into Network TV Prime Time to Reach Increasingly Aging Demo
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — While advertisers get ready to plunk down billions on prime-time broadcast TV during this upfront, consider this statistic: The median age of viewers of regular prime-time fare is nearing 51 (Fox, the youngest, is 44). All of which leads to a burning question: Why are advertisers expected to rush to pick up some $9 billion in inventory in a medium that seems to be passing by younger viewers?
What TV Advertisers Want From the Upfront
Media Buyers’ Takes on the Network Pitches: Starcom USA’s Chris Boothe
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The TV networks are busy putting their best face forward at this week’s upfront presentations, trying to convince advertisers that their new schedules are stacked with programs only a fool wouldn’t buy. But before the presentations began, Ad Age made the rounds among some prominent media buyers for their takes on the networks’ pitches, most interesting shows, the appeal of online video and “event TV.” Chris Boothe, president-COO at Publicis Groupe’s Starcom USA, argued that networks shouldn’t insist on “unreasonable” price increases.
Why CBS Needed Charlie Sheen
‘Two and a Half Men’ Actor Was Indirectly Integral for Network’s Aggressive Thursday-Night Foray
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — CBS is truly happy that negotiations with actor Charlie Sheen, which have been the subject of public debate for weeks, didn’t turn its popular sitcom “Two and a Half Men” into “One and a Half Men.” Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS Corp., told a version of that joke at least twice Wednesday. But if the network had not cemented Mr. Sheen’s participation in “Men,” it might not have been able to challenge NBC so directly and broadly next fall.
What TV Advertisers Want From the Upfront
Media Buyers’ Takes on the Network Pitches: Initiative’s Kristian Magel
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The TV networks are busy putting their best face forward at this week’s upfront presentations, trying to convince advertisers that their new schedules are stacked with programs only a fool wouldn’t buy. But before the presentations began, Ad Age made the rounds among some prominent media buyers for their takes on the networks’ pitches, most interesting shows, the appeal of online video and “event TV.”
CBS Expected to Launch New ‘Hawaii Five-O’
‘Criminal Minds’ Spinoff Also on Tap as Network Seeks Reliable Performers
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — CBS, the TV network that has little room for error in picking new programs, is expected to launch a new version of the popular police classic “Hawaii Five-O” and a spinoff of its series “Criminal Minds,” according to people familiar with the network’s decision-making process.
What TV Advertisers Want From the Upfront
Media Buyers’ Takes on the Network Pitches: OMD’s Chris Geraci
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The TV networks are busy putting their best face forward at this week’s upfront presentations, trying to convince advertisers that their new schedules are stacked with programs only a fool wouldn’t buy. But before the presentations began, Ad Age made the rounds among some prominent media buyers for their takes on the networks’ pitches, most interesting shows, the appeal of online video and “event TV.” Chris Geraci, managing director of national TV investment at Omnicom Group’s OMD, talks about what he’s looking for from networks.
After ‘Lost,’ ABC Finds New Comedies
Disney Network Readies 10 New Shows to Flank Aging Veterans ‘Grey’s,’ ‘Housewives’
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Faced with the aging of some of its marquee shows and the departure of its long-running mystery drama “Lost,” Walt Disney’s ABC said it would add seven new series to its fall lineup, reworking four weeknights on the prime-time grid.
Football Already Winning Upfront Deals, Networks Say
Live Sports Benefit From DVR Effect on Scripted Shows
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Advertisers are focusing on buying time in football broadcasts, according to networks, even before the networks have much of their prime-time lineups on the grid for consideration.
Fox to Focus on New Comedies, Ambitious Dramas
As ’24′ Departs and ‘Idol’ Matures, Spielberg and Chernin’s ‘Terra Nova’ a ‘Big Bet’
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — News Corp.’s Fox network, faced with the loss of fan-favorite drama “24″ and a softening in the appeal of its biggest hit, “American Idol, said it would try to use its popular musical drama “Glee” to launch new comedies on Tuesdays and also introduce some ambitious dramas in the fall and spring.
NBC Revamps Prime-Time Lineup With Emphasis on Scripted Programming
Thursday Remains Focused on Comedy; Wednesday Drama Block Includes J.J. Abrams’ ‘Undercovers’
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — NBC unveiled a new prime-time schedule for its coming fall season that reworks a significant portion of its programming and aims to get the network on proper footing following its decision last year to put an ill-fated talk show featuring comedian Jay Leno on five nights a week.
Keeping Score of the Upfront
Our Guide for What to Expect From Broadcast in 2010
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — You can’t tell how the players are doing without a scorecard, so even though most analysts, TV executives and even ad buyers acknowledge this year’s upfront market will be robust, we’re giving you a thumbnail sketch.
For TV Networks, Every Thing Old Is New Again
From ‘Hawaii Five-O’ to ‘Rockford Files,’ Risk-Averse Execs Seek Built-in Audience
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Flick on the TV set, and chances are you’ll come across a doctor, lawyer or cop pretty quickly. This fall, you might see the exact same doctors, lawyers and cops from seasons past.
Why Broadcast and Cable Are Starting to Look the Same
Turner President Steve Koonin on Conan O’Brien, New Economics of TV, Why Networks Must Take Risks
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Steve Koonin, president of Time Warner’s Turner Entertainment Networks, on the new models that have begun to emerge, the shape of Mr. O’Brien’s new show and why aggressive marketing can sometimes help bolster a TV network’s cause.
Can Hub Rally Rivals to Play With Hasbro?
Joint Cable Venture With Discovery Faces Challenge of Attracting Advertisers, Possible Government Scrutiny
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Will we see Barbie on “My Little Pony”? When the Hub launches Oct. 10, the kids’ cable network will have more than just increased competition from the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network to contend with. The joint venture between Discovery and Hasbro, the world’s second-largest toy company, will also have to sell itself to fellow toy marketers such as Mattel.
The New Ad-Buying Measures That May Be on Tap This Fall
Marketers Look to Expand Reach in Negotiations With Network Advertising Sellers
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — As marketers prepare to negotiate with network ad sellers for the upfront, which metrics are ready for prime time and which ones still need to be tweaked? Ad Age checked in with key players and researchers to see what new ideas might be on tap for next season.
Despite Positive Signs for the TV Upfront, We Should Be Realistic
Optimedia’s Antony Young on Why Advertisers Will Be Looking Elsewhere If They Can’t Find Lower Prices
There are some fundamental shifts taking place that make this a much more challenging upfront than many are predicting. Consider major consumer-package-goods companies along the likes of Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, L’Oreal and Masterfoods, which all went through high-profile media-agency pitches in the past 12 months. It’s hard to believe that media pricing wasn’t a fairly significant factor in those reviews.
No Matter How You Spin It, Upfront Has Marketers Paying More for Less
If Les Moonves Isn’t Running a Protection Racket, He’s at Least Price Gouging
Every year at this time, Les Moonves of CBS shows up at a Wall Street investor conference to boast about how he’s going to stick it to the advertisers.
Why Fall-TV Hype Starts Now
Ahead of Upfront, NBC Buys Ads Across Microsoft Digital Properties in ‘Early and Often’ Marketing Platform
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — TV’s fall season won’t start, as you might suspect, until September and October. But ads for those shows are likely to surface in May and June.
Viewer-Engagement Rankings Signal Change for TV Industry
So Many Viewing Options Make Determining Which Shows Drive Fans’ Interest More Important
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — As TV audiences start to splinter around any number of new viewing opportunities, there’s increased interest in finding those programs that command the most attention from the viewers who tune in — no matter how large their number may be.
Before Upfront, NBC Boasts of Its Upscale Viewership
With Green Light to J.J. Abrams’ ‘Undercovers,’ Renewal of ‘Marriage Ref,’ Focus on Big Earners Marks Shift
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — NBC is acting like its 1999. The Peacock network has been quietly offering advertisers and viewers a peek at a small part of next fall’s programming lineup with announcements that liken its slate to the days when “Frasier” and “Friends” dotted its airwaves and it was an easy place for marketers to target high-income consumers.
Big Four Broadcast Networks Set for 20% Gain in Upfront Market
Still Short of 2008 as Ad Buyers Temper Enthusiasm Over Economic Recovery
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The four big broadcast networks could take in as much as 20% more in this year’s upfront market than they did in 2009 — but it still won’t be enough to get them back to the high-water mark they enjoyed in 2008, according to a new analyst report from Barclays Capital.
NBC Looks to Woo Marketers With Nontraditional Sales Pitch
Network Touts Tailored Ad Packages Ahead of Coming Upfronts
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — NBC Universal is again trying to whet marketers’ appetite for the coming upfront negotiations, in which huge amounts of commercial time will be bought months ahead of time, partly by touting tailored advertising packages that aren’t just bulk buys.
P&G’s Decision to Spend $100 Million on Oprah Bigger Than It Seems
Company’s Seal of Approval Could Attract Other Marketers to Yet-to-Be-Launched OWN
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — On the face of it, $100 million is nothing to Procter & Gamble. The consumer-products giant spent $2.7 billion last year on traditional media and web-based banner ads, according to Kantar Media. So why should anyone care if Oprah Winfrey’s fledgling cable network got a taste of a couple of Tide, Crest and Pampers-created pennies?
Why CBS Will Share March Madness With Time Warner’s TBS
Broadcast Again Gives Ground to Cable in $10.8 Billion 14-Year Deal
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Starting in 2011, CBS and Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System will share multimedia coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament games — and the ad dollars that flow to them. It’s another instance of cable making inroads on marquee properties that once belonged to broadcast networks.
Conan Makes Return to Late Night on TBS
Move Another Signal of Cable’s Increasingly Prominent Biz Model
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Conan O’Brien’s move to bring his late-night talents to TBS surprised many TV-watchers Monday, but the decision is just another signal that cable’s business model is increasingly preferable to that of broadcast TV as the economics of the TV business continue to shift.
How a ‘Fringe’ Rerun Could Suddenly Become a TV Event
Networks Try to Wring More Ad Dollars From Series by Trumping Up Finales and Dreaming Up Hooks
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — As new technology forces changes in viewership patterns, advertisers seem ready to pay big money for special programming that draws fewer viewers than in the past — so long as those viewers are believed to be more ardent and interested than the teeming throngs who were once the boob-tube norm. In other words, as audiences get smaller, the definition of what qualifies as an “event” gets broader.
With Scatter Market Booming, Media Cos. Bullish on Upfront
A Slowly Awakening Economy May Encourage Advertisers to Spend More, Lock in Lower Prices
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — An emerging economy and a healthy scatter market have cable executives licking their chops at the idea of being able to turn in a better performance in the upfront marketplace than they did during last year’s brutal ad-selling session.
How QR Code Technology is Getting Better
QR or Quick Response code technology has really taken the digital world by storm, thanks to leaps in both apps and smart phone technology. Anyone with a smartphone can scan and read QR codes with the click of a camera, and anyone with access to a computer can generate QR codes themselves. In the entertainment world, the possibilities are astounding for print and poster advertising. Imagine being able to link people to digital program schedules, trailers, TV promos, podcasts, news and weather just by snapping a photo. Or imbedding QR codes around the city that link back to our radio station.
To find out more about this amazing technology, click here
Retailers are also discovering new ways to harness QR codes. How better to drive traffic to your website to push sales and promotions than by displaying a QR code in our shop window?
And in the future, QR codes will even have social media functions, like the proposed Facebook mobile app with it’s predicted geo-targetting and foursquare connectivity.
The digital space is so vast, I’m finding it virtually impossible to keep up with the latest, coolest uses for QR codes. What’s been your experience? Please share any campaigns, ideas or future thinking with me.
Were Their Good Old Days Better Than Yours?
Everyone in advertising has at least one entertaining story to tell about the good old days. If Mad Men is your only reference point, then you’re likely asking yourself, when exactly were those good old days?. When I first got into the business, the good old days had already come and gone, according to one senior copywriter that I worked with. I had missed it. And boy oh boy had I ever missed the golden years according to this guy. He used to tell tales of exotic month-long commercial television shoots in New Zealand. Extended hotel stays at LA’s ritzy infamous hotel bungalows and driving Ferrari’s on the Autobahn, racing clients at top speed while in Italy at press approvals. Another senior writer I worked with had the small compact body of a boxer complete with cauliflower nose and a pummelled Brooklin accent. His name was Chuck. He was a real character. You never knew what to believe with that guy. One day he’d tell you he used to be the only Canadian writer ever on the original Saturday Night Live. The next day he’d tell you he was living in Canada because he was a draft dodger. He was also a drinker. I don’t think I ever saw him sober in the afternoons in all the time I worked with him. Hell, none of the male, senior copywriters were ever sober as far as I could tell. One time I came in early to prepare for pitch and when the elevator doors opened there was Mr. Good Old Days copywriter, slumped on the floor in the corner, passed out from the night before. I stepped over his long legs, pushed the button for the 31st floor and left him there when the doors slid open. Nothing those guys did surprised me.
I used to hate pitches. As a young creative, I found the pressure to be physically disabling. My hands would shake and mouth would go as dry as the Sahara. No matter how much I rehearsed, my little memorized speech would vanish from my brain at the moment the agency president would turn during the presentation to introduce me. I was not a natural. Our agency boardroom had the unusual distinction of having the most enormous, round boardroom table I’ve ever seen. It was a fair-sized room, but when you sat at that table it was so big you’d need a bullhorn to communicate to anyone sitting on the opposite side. Anyway, we were there one day, pitching some new business thing. Dan, our agency president, was standing up, doing his bar-graph thing with the slide projector when suddenly the doors flew open with a bang. All eyes turned and there before us was a drunken staggering Chuck, dressed in a yellow and black bee costume, complete with gold “deely-boppers” on his balding head. Chuck glared around the room with red blood-shot eyes and lurched into a drunken rendition of “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” Around the table, mouths dropped open. You could have heard a pin drop – if Chuck hadn’t been in the room that is. Chuck’s “Eh-eh-eh-EH-EH!” got louder and louder as he tried to propel his body forward, zig-zagging with arms outstretched. He had made almost one full rotation around the boardroom table when his toe must have caught the wheel of a chair and Chuck literally flew, as if rehearsed, head-first out the door. All eyes in the room turned to Dan. Not missing a beat, Dan walked to the doors and calmly pulled them shut, turned and picked up from exactly where he was before Chuck burst into the room. All eyes turned back to Dan and within seconds, he had everyone’s full attention … Chuck’s stunt forgotten. Or was it? We won that business pitch and I learned 2 things. The first thing was to really study Dan’s presentation style … and in doing so I learned to be a much less nervous, more unflappable presenter. The second thing I learned when I found out we’d won the new business pitch. The client whom we’d presented to that day said our presentation was one of the most creative ones he’d ever seen. Now I don’t know about the creative part – I actually didn’t think it was that good – but substitute memorable for creative, and I think you get the picture. Back then clients actually liked and expected us to act zany. And that client certainly got his money’s worth that day.
For much better stories about the good old days of advertising, I recommend that you read Howie Cohen’s blog “MadMensch – memoirs of an ad guy who was there“. Great stories by a great writer.
How To Come Up With Better Ideas
Whether or not you’re a digital creative, ad creative, graphic designer, industrial designer, package designer or accountant, ideas and concepts are a necessary part of taking your work to the next level. So how come some people have lots of them and others struggle to come up with just one or two?
It’s all about the process.
Whether we are aware of it or not, our thinking patterns follow a logical sequence to arrive at a conclusion. But if you can become more in tune with the process, you can open doors to creativity that you never thought possible.
Understand – you really have to have a clear understanding of what you need to achieve. That can be an end result, a message that needs to be communicated, or a look and feel. If your thinking at the beginning isn’t clear, chances are your idea won’t be either. Do some research, do some reading but get your brain rev’ed.
Keep it simple and percolate it. If the project is complex, break it down into manageable chunks and tackle them one at a time. Your brain is a sponge. Absorb all the info and allow it to percolate. Don’t feel you have to get started right away. Let your subconscious do some of the heavy lifting.
Allow yourself time to download. Great ideas and concept are not dwelling on the surface. Great ideas have to be mined. You have to drill down to find them. You have layers of clichés, obvious thoughts, undrawn conclusions and idea stereotypes to get through before you reach the area of golden ideas. Sweep out the expected crap but don’t feel badly for doing so.
Great ideas are often the most unexpected. Once the crap is gone, you’re in a better headspace to challenge yourself to think in terms of opposites. Great comedy is built upon the element of surprise – you didn’t see the punch line coming. So are great ideas. No offense, but if 10 people in a room all think of the same thing – it ain’t great. Nor is it surprising.
Another technique: ask yourself “why not?” Ask it a lot! “Why not” is another way to get into the opposite headspace. Conventional wisdom tells us things are done a certain way. If a certain way was so great, you wouldn’t need that killer idea to make your thing better. So question everything and look at it in a full 360 degrees.
Never close your eyes. Ideas and inspiration are all around us. I often find ideas where I least expect them – like looking out the window of a cab.
To use a tired cliché, the more times you step up to bat, the greater your chances of hitting one out of the park. There is such a thing as trying too hard. But remember this: great ideas don’t come when you want them – they come when they’re ready. A legendary, much-awarded creative team I knew, would work on dozens of campaigns, just to hit one out of the park. They taught me that luck and timing play a part in it. To improve your odds do more.
Mobile Advertising is Hot and Getting Hotter
The future is calling. Mobile’s day in the sun is coming … for both consumers and advertisers clever enough to harness it. 3G is soon to become a thing of the past when 4G (call it LTE or WiMax it’s all the same) becomes available. And yes, it’s blazing fast compared to 3G. I hear it’s going to bring significant changes to mobile – an exciting proposition. Faster mobile broadband access means less waiting time, more video, gaming, and more apps … well let’s just say that when the technology meets the smartphone, mobile is really going to come into it’s own.
The smartphone designers have learned a thing from the iPhone, so we can expect slicker design, better functionality and lots of touch screen technology … meaning more apps than you can shake a stick at. Will it fragment the market? Probably short term. But competition is usually a good thing.
Mobile challenges everything we thought we knew about advertising. People need brands and brands need people. Advertising traditionally is an interruptus message, and that goes against the personal nature of the mobile experience. Looking thru someone’s mobile is almost like peeking into someone’s medicine cabinet. As one survey put it, lost wallets take an average of 26 hours to be reported. But lost mobile phones – a mere 68 minutes.
Once upon a time we accepted the one way conversation – the brand message. But people started to realize they could say no. And marketers lost control of the message. But with the coming of 4G, we have this fantastic opportunity. But we have to do it right. We can’t think in terms of how we used to advertise. Mobile is a unique platform. And it won’t tolerate a one-way conversation. It also won’t tolerate old school direct marketing thinking. Texting, when used in conjunction with voting say, leaves a digital trail, but woe betide you if you, as the marketer, uses that digital trail to send junk mail back to a mobile user (the mobile equivalent of the email blast). The more personal you can make the experience, the better. Personal is relevant. It’s wrong to send random advertising messages, it’s wrong for marketers to try to force their way onto mobile. What’s right are ideas. Personally relevant ideas that allow the mobile user to interact with your brand. Ideas that are cool and unexpected. Ideas that are targeted and respect the user and the user experience. That’s our in. And I find that pretty exciting … and scary.
The mobile Web is complicated with so many different operating systems, screen sizes, browsers, etc. And now the application landscape seems to be adding complexity rather than making it simple. But this 4G thing is huge. And there are all kinds of mobile developments from technology giants like Apple to social media upstarts.
If you’re a creative thinker in the ad business, now’s the time to really get to know mobile. If you’re like me … my phone is not my lifeline, it’s a business tool and isn’t really personal, so you’re going to have to work harder to really understand the user experience. But I have sons who live and die by their mobile devices – so at least I have an “in” into that world.
But I’m sure that most of you are super users of mobile technology and are completely on the bandwagon … hopefully it will be easier for you to “get”. But get it now. Because mobile’s time is coming. And I hear it’s going to be a revolution.
