Advertising in the Digital Future: What’s the Idea?

What’s Up With The Industry?

It’s interesting times in the advertising industry. If ever the industry was having an identity crisis, it’s now. Digital specialists tend to think anyone who can’t write code is an idiot. And creatives who come from traditional agencies think digital folks don’t have ideas – only executions. So where’s the middle ground?

Leading digital shop Razorfish has done traditional paid broadcast – taking digital agencies full circle – all the way back to traditional. Traditional brand agencies with their separately structured digital divisions are facing revolt from the digital folks who tire of executing the brand division’s print and TV campaigns. Then there’s ground-breaking Transmedia, a process/philosophy that uses a narrative idea/structure to bridge campaign ideas across multiple platforms, and could possibly be the closest structure to what I believe is the ideal – and the most inclusive and collaborative structure: The Hybrid Agency.

Even the message has gone cockeyed – agencies are starting to embrace the idea of engagement – not just on social media platforms, but as a way of selling products across multiple platforms. And I say it’s about time. The one-way conversation – is it evolving or is it dead?

The Hybrid Agency

Ten years ago, when briefing ad campaigns, the account manager would take his or her creative brief to an art director and copywriter. They would brainstorm together, coming up with ideas to best solve the communications challenge set out in the brief. Today, it’s not that much different, except that there needs to be more seats at the table. The art director and copywriter are joined by either a broadcast or digital producer, a digital designer, social media writer, web developer, app developer and so on. If you take a closer look at who is sitting at the table, you will see a talented group of people with highly developed skill sets.

What’s The Idea?

So we have all these skill sets, but the one commonality that we all share is the need for an idea. Ideas are our stock in trade. Ideas are central to everything we do. Ideas can come from anywhere – and anyone. Yes, it’s imperative to have people who understand brand, overseeing and herding the group, but my point is that we need to rethink traditional processes to create the perfect hybrid.
Teams have to become integrated. Teams have to learn how to brainstorm together – we do group brainstorms – on big projects at CBC and have had terrific results, despite my initial skepticism around breaking with the traditional art director/copywriter format. Broadcast producers need to jump into digital with both feet if they are to survive. Traditional copywriters had better Facebook and Twitter and be Foursquare savvy because social media is still crying out for great campaign ideas that ENGAGE instead of straight selling. Art directors need to learn Flash and need to keep learing up the digital flagpole. Digital still needs great graphic design work, but print executions need to be tweaked to work within the confines of a digital wireframe … remember the “Golden Section” from art school? Egypt was rockin’ the web page long before the Internet was invented. Creatives without digital are not being hired. And Digitals without brand and marketing ideas will be doomed to become digital wrists.

True integration can only happen when there is respect for each unique skill set brought to the table – but the understanding has to be there around idea being at the core – not how it will execute – at least at first. Come up with a great idea and you’ll see hundreds of executions … not just one.

You can’t hold hard and fast to the old, but the new can’t disrespect the past. If we keep our eyes on the ball (the idea) the process will work itself out.

Kumbaya, kumbaya.

How *Not* to Pitch a Web Series

There are lots of different ways to pitch a web series to a network or production company. I’ve covered the good stuff in “How to Pitch a Web Series”. Now let’s talk about the Cardinal Sins: The things you shouldn’t do if you want to sell your Web Series.

Make sure you have fully developed your concept. Think the whole thing through. Know how many episodes you’d like to produce in your “season” and have an opinion on how you would cast it. Understand your own story arc and narrative – and be able to talk it through the whole season. You’d be surprised at how many people (unsuccessfully) pitch ideas that are only half-baked.

If you are new to the business, don’t assume one call will get you in the door. You might want to pitch a production company – if you really do have a great idea, you will want their clout and expertise behind you. Most successful production companies already have relationships with financiers and network execs – it depends on how collaborative you want to be. You may be one of the small percentage who gets lucky and gets a meeting on your first call. Generally speaking, the best time to try to get an appointment is between 8:30 am and 9:00 am or after 5 pm.

Don’t be defensive about rejection. Most networks are good about giving you feedback if your idea is rejected. Take it as a learning experience. Hey – it’s one persons/groups opinion. If you have that much heart for your idea keep going. The next one just might say yes.

Don’t promise anything related to production that you can’t deliver 100%: that goes for actors, locations, equipment, crew etc. Nothing will make you look more amateur hour – it’s unprofessional.

This seems kind of 101, but you shouldn’t pitch an adult series to a public broadcaster, or a female talk format to testosterone-heavy Spike TV. By the same token, do a little research before you pick up the phone. Don’t pitch your single Dad comedy series to a network that already has a single Dad comedy series unless yours is really different.

Networks know their own business, so don’t go into the pitch telling them what you would do if you were in charge. Believe it or not, they do this for a living. Showing off your superior broadcast or marketing skills is just a bad idea. They will be impressed however by an open, collaborative attitude. That doesn’t mean you become a pushover. This is a first date. Make them LOVE you.

Never, ever diss another network, production company, director or show. It’s bad form and no one loves a loud mouth asshole, no matter how right you may think you might be. The business is much smaller than you’d ever think and you could be dissing someone’s best friend, husband etc.

Don’t assume words are enough to convey your concept. Use visuals where appropriate. Don’t scribble a few presentation images on a cocktail napkin under the mistaken assumption that they’ll think you’re being “creative” – impressions are everything and you want to come across as professional AND creative. There are lots of ways to do this without spending a ton of dough at the local printers. I’m not big on the dressing up thing for pitches – I think it’s better to be comfortable and relaxed. But don’t look like you just crawled out of a dumpster … the execs will assume how you look is how you run a crew.

Nobody is going to expect you to know a ton about production costs, but it’s helpful to have done your research and have a working knowledge of what things cost … it’s reasonable to expect that anyone with their hand out asking for money should be accountable for how that money is going to be spent. By and large the entertainment industry is there to MAKE MONEY … you’re not asking for charity, you are asking for someone to invest in your ideas – and your future money-making potential.

If you are pitching a network it’s really bad form to pitch more than one at a time. Some ask for right of refusals which means you are giving them first dibs by pitching them … be respectful of the process. If you were in their shoes, you’d want to know that you were the only date they were interested in going out with too.

How to Get Your Web Series into Production

You may be a visionary, and a one man crew with a camera. Or you may have something bigger in mind. No matter how “produced” your series is going to be, there’s a certain amount of work – and a process – that needs to happen at the front end to ensure the success of your project. If you’re not a details person, hire someone who is. They will act as your producer. A good one will save your butt – and make the whole process a whole lot easier. For all you do it yourself-ers – here’s a basic “how to” guide to the pre-production process.

Getting Started
A web series is a collection of web episodes that are held together by consistent branding, style, and release schedule. Shows can be fiction, or non-fiction. The depth of production varies – but those one-man production units are rapidly becoming a thing of the past as the quality level for online video production gets better. While online series are very different from television series, the production basics follow the tried and true Hollywood/commercial format, the differences become apparent at the back end – distribution – in the publicity and promotion areas where fan bases and social networking technology are crucial to getting the word out.

The Process

Pre-production is defined as the work that needs to happen before the camera starts rolling – the work you have to do before shooting starts – scripts, rehearsals, raising money, and scouting locations.
Production is the actual shooting of the content.
Post-production takes place after the shoot with the editing, sound work, special effects, and music.

Money Doesn’t Talk Online. Yet.
For web series, there seems to be a budget for every project so it’s hard to get specific for you. The only real difference between a digital budget and a commercial or television network budget is the number of zeros. But that is changing. How long web series can stay low budget is hard to tell. Suffice to say that $30,000 to produce a multi-episode web series on a professional level is pretty good. How those costs break down, and where you’ll be spending that budget is a real trip – one we will go on at a later date.

Pre-production
This article is written on the assumption that you have been chasing your dream of producing a web series, and that you already have a concept and some form of financing in place, and you’re looking for a big picture plan for pre-production. If you’ve pitched your idea to a production company and you’ve got a deal in place and you’re going to be part of a bigger team – congratulations. You probably know all this stuff already.

Production Cycles
Once you have your concept, you’re going to have to think about how many shows you want to commit to. Many web series productions follow a typical TV production schedule using production seasons to allow for crew and development downtime and to allow shows to get ahead of their production schedules. This may or may not be relevant to you, but I wanted to put it out there – you may be ambitious.

Production Timelines & Release Schedules
Before you enthusiastically jump into production you need to really decide how you’re going to carve out production time. Most of us have day jobs and have to juggle the commitment to production against life demands.
How big is your crew? How much equipment are you planning to shoot with? Guerilla shooting is the fastest and easiest, lighting set ups, location changes and complex wardrobe changes will eat up a lot your production time. Remember that once your show is shot, edited and exported you still need to write descriptions and tags, create thumbnails and test your upload.
Most of you have some shooting experience, so figure out your production timeline estimate per show and then multiply it. Things usually take a third longer than you thought possible – and even seasoned pros underestimate shoots and the time needed for post. You may be able to make a show in half a day, but you’re going to need to do it week in and week out – with crew illness, equipment failure and bad weather so better to go big – than go home.
Now think about your audience – once you hook them with your brilliant concept, they are going to want regular, predictable installments. You need to determine a release schedule, and now’s the time to figure out if you are going to release episodes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on how many episodes you plan for your “season.” The worst thing you can do is attract an audience and leave them hanging … they might not come back if they don’t know when you’ll be back.

Who is going to edit your show? Estimate your post-production time and add it to your production timeline. Best guesses if you’re not sure. When you start a work back schedule you’ll be able to make adjustments once you have the details nailed down.

A Word On Scripts
It sounds kind of basic, even if you’re producing a personal video blog, you should still have notes about what you’re going to talk about – things to prompt you during stand-ups etc. If you’re doing interviews, do some research and write down some questions in advance. Documentaries and dramas – even comedies that look improved – are usually scripted.


BTW – most scripts with written dialogue benefit from “reads” – assemble your actors and have them read through the script together – that way, if anything you’ve written sucks, can be fixed before the production is officially on the clock.

Storyboards and Shot Lists
A shot list is a written description of the shots that you have planned.
A storyboard is a visual drawing of each shot so that camera angles and perspectives, and framing for actors can be worked out. The more complex the show, the more you’ll want to storyboard or at least make a shot list. Storyboards are really handy when you’re planning multiple takes, angles or doing stunts. Trust me, if you don’t storyboard your shots, you will think of a dozen shots that you should have done – and you’ll kick yourself if you miss the chance – rarely do you get a second chance to go back. Here’s a cool storyboard app for those who can’t draw.

Even a point and shoot series can benefit from a shot list, including insert shots – commonly called B-roll shots – they’re the extra shots that help add context and help make the editor’s life easier when they need visual transitions, and ways to cover awkward edit points. See the section, “Contemporary Useage” for full useage of B-roll here.

Formats and Equipment
Beg, borrow, steal – If you can afford to rent a video camera that can shoot in HD you should go for it. The world is moving away from the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio to 16 x9 – high definition. And web video is bad enough as it is – so give your product a fighting chance at looking like a million bucks.
Always rent the best equipment that you can afford, as a rule of thumb. And be prepared for anything and everything. Have a list of equipment – and check it before you head out. Make sure batteries are charged. Make sure lighting works.

Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner – It’s an Excuse For a Pre-Production Meeting
There’s nothing wrong with being professional – yet so many would-be producers/directors fail to recognize the importance of a (one or several) structured, formal pre-production meeting(s). Invite all key crew and staff. Have a written agenda – this way you’ll have thought of all the key things that need to be discussed and covered off. Assign someone to take notes – and write a follow up email that will outline what was discussed, what is happening, and who is responsible for next steps etc.
And while you’re at it – go whole hog on the professional front. At your final pre-pro it doesn’t hurt to prepare simple leave behinds that include all the essentials photocopied and neatly placed into a folder so key crew and/or staff are organized and have all the vital info in one place, and at their fingertips. When you’re shooting, time is money so the better organized you are, the better run your shoot will be.

One of the first topics for a pre-production meeting is location scouting. Before you shoot, it’s essential to ‘suss out the location to make sure it’s ideal for your shoot. You can take a video or stills camera, but try to shoot on location around the same time of day as you are planning to shoot. You are familiarizing yourself with a location. You are looking for anything unexpected that might restrict shooting, you’re looking for what the light will look like and what the ambient sound is like. It’s always a wise idea to take your cameraman with you so he starts the framing and imaging process in his head. At the pre-pro, share your location images with the rest of your crew so they have an idea of what the landscape is going to offer from a technical point of view. I’m not going to get into permits here, but understand that if you are shooting with more than a bare bones crew, and you are planning to put equipment down, chances are you will need a permit to do so. If you aren’t doing a point and shoot, you should look into your local bylaws for film production permits.

You’ll go over final script – notes or interview questions with the crew.

You’ll go over your shot list and storyboards. In the final stages of pre-production, your shot list will also encompass a timeline – how long each set up should be before you move on to the next set up.

If you have sets, props and art direction related materials to share with the group, it’s always nice to put together a little presentation. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but colour samples, textures and visual reference or drawings are great to help sketch the vision for everyone involved.

A call sheet will be shared – a list of contact info for the crew, talent and anyone else (like a caterer or the local take out) connected to the shoot. The call sheet should also include starting times for each crew member, so there is no confusion around who should be on set, or on location X and at what time. Nobody cares what it looks like so long as it works, but here’s a good call sheet example from Director/Screenwriter Ty Leisher’s resources that has all the basics.

I’m not going to go into detail about on camera talent in this article, but if you are ambitious enough to cast actors for your web series, bring headshots and or video demos to your pre-pro meeting so everyone can share in the vision and get a sense of who they are going to be working with.

Another essential for your pre-production meeting is a discussion around wardrobe, hair and make-up. Do you need it? What is right for each character? Will talent be bringing their own clothes – will you be supplying them? If you’re supplying them you will need to do a wardrobe fitting – and maybe have someone to act as wardrobe stylist (someone able to manage the clothes!) on your shoot day if changes of clothes are necessary

It helps to have a producer who is a lawyer, but if you’re more of a hand-made web series, you don’t have the luxury so cover your butt by carrying release forms everywhere you go. Release forms need to be signed by anyone who will appear on camera or audio. The signed form is their consent to use their image or voice in your project. And FYI you need a different release form for different media like podcasts. If you Google entertainment release forms, you’ll find lots of basic ones online.

I hope I’ve covered enough of the basics to get a dreamer started, or to offer a refresher course for the production savvy. Remember, pre-production is all about the details, and the more buttoned down you are, the better able you are to handle all the unexpected things that can crop up on your shoot. Enjoy the process. It will all be over far too quickly – and remember to enjoy it. Isn’t that what film/video making is all about?

Transmedia Entertainment: 8 defining characteristics

Transmedia entertainment is quickly becoming the single most powerful way to convey messages and narrative to a mass audience. Some television networks and big movie studios are using it – and if you follow politics, the Obama election machine employed it with the interaction between politics, media and the American people. It’s about building a compelling narrative, and taking advantage of television’s reach, the Web’s interactivity, editorialization of radio, and the intimacy of town halls. Though still in it’s infancy, we’re starting to see more mass media entertainment embracing transmedia entertainment – and it’s working.

It’s not branded entertainment

Transmedia storytelling is not branded entertainment. Branded entertainment drives product awareness by sort of tacking the brand onto something else, like when you watch The Apprentice and they develop strategies around specific companies that have paid to be on the show.

On the other hand, transmedia builds brand mythology, placing the brand front and center and building narrative around it – a good example of that being Coca-Cola’s Happiness Factory campaign. Branded entertainment comes and goes, but transmedia storylines are timeless because they are built on a foundation of classic narrative structure. They’re good stories.

The owner of the brand pays for branded content, but transmedia entertainment is designed to generate revenue because it’s content that the audience wants more of – in the form of videogames and novels, websites and YouTube films.

Isn’t it enough to be #1 for a week?

As mass media entertainment was born, the direct connection between storyteller and audience grew further apart. Popularity through television ratings and box office receipts measured success, but the measurement was one-sided. Studios gave us the entertainment that they wanted on their terms. They read us stories, but didn’t allow us to ask questions, or delve into the parts of the story that fascinated us the most. The Internet provides us with thousands of voices with an instant feedback that brings us full circle, placing us back at the central spotlight. Our entertainment can gauge our response, hear our voices, and the narrative can respond.

Jeff Gomez Case Study

Jeff Gomez, President and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, Inc., a leading creator and producer of highly successful transmedia franchises, often points to the following as examples of successful transmedia projects.

Audiences need to be able to appreciate and enjoy content as it is presented solely on the driving platform of the trans-media production. With Heroes, for example, the driving platform is the television series. Much of the success of the franchise hinges on the audience finding the show exciting, intelligible and complete.

What the producers of Heroes are doing quite well is in providing fans of the show with a far more expansive experience of the fictional universe of the show on the complementary or orbiting platforms of the trans-media production. This additional content is presented in the form of web sites, graphic novels, prose fiction, etc., and this material all takes place within the canon of the Heroes chronology. So fans are provided with the level of depth, verisimilitude, sophistication and complexity that they crave, but casual viewers are not required to seek it out to enjoy the show.

When the two approaches cross over, we have seen the potential for pop culture phenomena. The media’s coverage of “The Lost Experience” for example, conveyed the fact that there was a greater architecture to the fictional universe of the Lost TV series than was originally suspected. The excitement generated by the trans-media components of the show helped to boost broad interest in it. The same can be said of similar approaches for both the Batman: The Darknight and Cloverfield feature films.

Also powerful on the home front, as families gather to watch Heroes, a teen fan of the show might recognize a peripheral character making her first appearance on a given night’s episode as one he originally read about in the online comic. So our fan takes on the role of gatekeeper for the show, filling in family and friends on the backstory of the character, and giving them a greater appreciation of the show with his “exclusive” knowledge, and making the whole experience more entertaining.

In short, depth and complexity are built around the show, rather than weighing it down by presenting it front and center.

Studios and entertainment companies are now learning that fewer and fewer trade-offs are necessary to broaden the appeal of niche or “cult media” properties. Contemporary audiences are now primed for high quality genre entertainment across all media platforms. So long as marketing efforts place focus on a driving platform, the launch platform and complementary content can be used to build anticipation, educate audience “gatekeepers” about the property, and enrich the overall experience.

Transmedia Production

Transmedia production involves multiple steps designed to present a bible, or canon in Jeff Gomez-speak, of an intellectual property in a way that it becomes a fully immersive experience for the consumer. As the experience continues, that immersive experience has the capability to turn consumers into proponents.
It shares some aspects of viral marketing, but there are a few very distinct differences that affect the execution.

Viral marketing is rarely based on a bible. A bible – or canon, or the full exploration and definition of the universe of the intellectual property – lies at the very heart of transmedia production.

Establishing Bibe a.k.a. Canon

Today, among the many mediums available for creating messaging, there exist differences and thus optimal ways of using each. Transmedia production promotes the best use of each medium, once the general rules of the canon (or bible) have been established. In other words, you will not likely see simple repurposing from one medium to the next, such as television to interactive online. Instead, each medium is given latitude to best present the canon in their environment. The best look for opportunities for cross-pollination.

The 8 defining characteristics of a transmedia production:

Content is originated by one or a very few visionaries
Cross-media rollout is planned early in the life of the franchise
Content is distributed to three or more media platforms
Content is unique, adheres to platform-specific strengths, and is not repurposed from one platform to the next
Content is based on a single vision for the story world
Concerted effort is made to avoid fractures and schisms
Effort is vertical across company, third parties and licensees
Rollout features audience participatory elements, including:
- Web portal
- Social networking
- Story-guided user-generated content

Examples of contemporary trans-media properties include: The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, Hot Wheels: World Race / Acceleracers, Bionicle, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, James Cameron’s AVATAR, many Disney projects including High School Musical, Pirates of theCaribbean, Fairies, Hannah Montana.

How To Successfully Pitch A Web Series

There are many opinions and many ways to pitch shows. As a public broadcaster, my network is open to connecting with its audiences – and allowing Canadians the chance to share their stories in the form of entertainment. This is not a “how to” for landing an agent, working the system, or getting a one way ticket to Hollywood. This is a basics 101 for anyone with a great idea for a digital web series … and a dream.

What is a web series?

A web series is a series of visual entertainment episodes released via the internet, but also for play on many other digital media, such as mobile phones, and is part of the newly emerging medium called web television. Web television’s popularity continues to rise, the result of increasing availability of broadband and improved video streaming technology. Major television networks and production companies are using the internet as a means to promote their TV shows as well as developing specific media and shows for an internet audience.
One instance of a web series program is called an episode – whereby a “webisode” is a term now being used to describe the lower budget “reality genre” end of the web series creative development platform.

It’s the Internet – so anything goes, right?

When it comes to concept, stay away from a gimmicky idea. This isn’t just a singular medium – it’s multi-platform. The most saleable properties – those that stand the best chance of being made, are the ones that can be leveraged across multiple platforms – digital, gaming, mobile, graphic novel, TV, film, music, international rights, licensing and merchandising. The web series is seen as the next gold rush – prospectors know there’s gold in them ‘thar hills, they just don’t know when they’re going to strike it big time.

It looks like TV but it’s not TV

Digital content is unique. It shouldn’t look or feel like anything you see on TV or at the movies. While big networks are taking TV shows and broadcasting them on the internet, you are after something much bigger. You want to pioneer the first Massive Digital Super Series. An important thing to keep in mind is that like, but unlike any other medium, digital viewers are a fast click away from boredom. If the writing/entertainment factor isn’t top drawer, they’re gone – and so is your word of mouth on Facebook and Twitter. Remember, too, that the majority of digital screens provide less comfortable viewing environments than those of traditional media. Your show has to be so compelling that it will entice viewership despite being watched on a laptop by a frazzled commuter in a train station, in bed on a laptop, or by a bored husband on an iPhone in a crowded Winners outlet. Concepts that have never flown in traditional media are your best bets – or if you can offer a spin on the traditional – for example, soap stars directed by indie film directors, and you can prove an audience for it online, then you might be on to something. Knowing your digital audience is key to all aspects of web series production – both in the development of the concept, as well in the selling of it.

The Pitch

Maybe I’m stating the obvious, but write yourself an outline for the meeting – a step-by-step agenda for your presentation. Just like a script, you need a beginning, dramatic middle, denoument and ending. Presentations are no different. If you are presenting as part of a group, I cannot stress enough the importance of everyone practicing their roles in the presentation – or by yourself in front of a mirror. Even seasoned performers get the shakes before an audience, so if the thought of 4 Execs churn your stomach, don’t let it freak you out – knowing your stuff cold is the best remedy.
Prep yourself by reading “How To Successfully Pitch a TV Show”.
Just like a TV show pitch, a digital pitch relies on many of the same elements for success. But here, let’s get into the presentation with a little more depth.

Make the initial telling of your concept into a story. Don’t always be one-sided. The best presentations are just like social media – they engage. Start off with a shared experience “have you ever been standing in line when the guy behind you …” – you want to get all the heads in the room nodding along with you. Now you are in their heads. You have their attention.

Focus on what’s unique about your project, but sell it back to why it’s relatable to your audience. Never forget that this boils down to salesmanship. You are selling a dream. You need to persuade everyone in the room that your concept is a winner. But put yourself in their shoes – those producers and Execs are looking at it from both a creative – and moneymaking point of view, with a greater emphasis on the latter. And you need to sell it to them that way by demonstrating that you’ve thought the whole thing through a full 360 degrees.

While you’re pitching your concept, keep your focus on story and style – don’t get hung up or side-tracked by the technology inherent to the delivery platform. Save that discussion for down the road – if you are lucky enough to get another meeting.

Just like a TV show pitch, use visuals to help get the idea across. You’ll still need an outline, mini-bible, stills, animatics, video … anything that helps sell the finished product that’s in your head. But remember that digital is the great beyond – you may have website ideas, interactive content ideas, social media links. Don’t leave anything to the imagination. All too often projects become derailed long after the meeting is done when the players compare notes, only to realize they’ve all imagined something different. Now’s the time to put it out there, in a polished, professional presentation.

Listen to the feedback in the room. Not everyone knows what’s best for your project. You might hear some really dumb ideas and suggestions and criticisms in the meeting. But keep an open mind and don’t be defensive while you’re in the room. A simple smile, nod and a wise “I didn’t think of it that way” is enough to keep the meeting productive and moving ahead. File the comments away and really think them through in the privacy of your office. If it makes sense, maybe it’s a criticism worth looking at. If not, throw it a mental bird and move on.

End the meeting with a recap – a couple of memorable sentences that will resonate with your audience, as to why YOUR idea is the best thing since digital 3D and if appropriate, hand out your leave-behind.

How To Successfully Pitch A TV Show

You’ve spent the last 10 years locked in your attic, perfecting the best comedy sitcom idea since “Seinfeld” and now you’re ready to pitch your television show. Before you take a meeting, it will help to understand what you will need to sell it. One of the best ways to break into industry is with a strong spec pilot script. A great idea for an original television series and a strong spec pilot script can open doors. Even if nobody ends up buying your pilot idea or script, you could find work as a scriptwriter for someone else’s television series.

In the US you will need to hook up with a good agent to help you get your foot in the door. These folks are connected … and lets face it, their network is most likely better than your network. And they might be owed favours. Favours come in handy when armed with a great script from an unknown writer.

Many TV shows in Canada are produced by independent production companies in cooperation with a network. If you’re new to the business, it might be worth your while to hook up with an independent to sell your idea. Once you’ve been around for a while, you’ll discover that many TV execs prefer to suggest which production company best suits your project.

TV Pre-Production Process
Pre-Development – The project becomes a fleshed out pitch and, where required, includes the following elements:
Logline
Outline
Research
Mini-bible development
Show run down
Development Phase A – Project enters formal development: scripts, bible, additional research, detailed outlines.
Development Phase B – Project continues development and has further drafts of scripts, casting conversations and preliminary financial model and budgets discussed.
Pilot Production – Project moves into production of the pilot or one-off.
Evaluation – Creative evaluation process takes place at this stage. Testing, schedule placement, promotion potential, digital platforms, talent packaging, further creative development if needed.
Green-light for Production – Decision to proceed with production of the series, based on final the final analysis of the project’s budget, financing, digital rights, casting, distribution etc.

Now let’s break down some of the process pieces. After all you’ve got a such a great idea the thing practically writes itself!

What’s a Logline?
This is the one sentence that sells your show, it goes on the top of the outline or treatment, which is the 2-3 pages of pitching material you leave to prospective people. It could be something like, “It’s a show that’s about three muslim families putting down new roots in a small rural town in the prairies, and the hilarity that ensues when two cultures collide.”

What’s an Outline?
Before you begin your pilot script outline, you must have a strong idea of what happens in your pilot script and how many characters will be in it. Decide how many acts will be in your script and whether it will be an hour long or half hour show. Get copies of television scripts that are already on the air so you can compare your structure to theirs.

Step 2
Outlines for hour-long drama scripts can be anywhere from 7 – 10 pages long. Structure the outline into the appropriate number of acts and make sure you’re pacing your main plot story and subplots evenly throughout each act. Be sure to include cliffhanger endings at the end of every act and something compelling at the beginning of every act. The stories shouldn’t get resolved until the very end of your outline.

Step 3
To begin your spec script outline, start with a cold open (also called teaser), which comes at the very beginning of your pilot script – and before the opening credits. This is a great place to introduce your main character(s) and set the tone for the entire series.

Step 4
Every scene in your pilot script outline should have its own paragraph. Start the paragraph with a word or two about where the scene takes place. Then describe who’s in the scene and what happens. Include snippets of dialogue if it helps the reader imagine the scene better. Here’s an example:

The Bridle Path, suburban Toronto. Missy recklessly pulls her Mercedes through the iron gates, into the driveway of her imposing mansion with Baron in the front seat next to her. Baron is dumbstruck at the sight of the huge house and manicured boxwoods that define the gardens. Missy tries to reassure him; “Look – I know all this can be intimidating but this is me – it’s who I am – okay?” She looks at him a little more kindly – the reality that this good-looking man could really be her long lost brother dawns on her: “I thought we lost you.” She lunges to hug Baron but he shoves her away.

Step 5
Once you really love your TV script outline, show it to other writers and get their feedback. Ask them whether the plot lines were clear, whether the characters were interesting, and whether the story kept their attention. Keep rewriting your television script outline until the answers to all these questions is ‘yes.’

If you’re worried about someone stealing your idea, know that networks are in the business of protecting themselves, as well as your intellectual property. You should be asked (and if not, insist) to sign a release form that acknowledges your ownership of the idea that you’re pitching.

What’s a Mini-bible, Bible or Writer’s Guide?
Every TV series has one. But even if your own concept is still to be sold, the process of building a series bible for another series can be a giant step toward your goal of selling your own show. Here’s how to do it:
Write the concept of your series in not more than two paragraphs.
Write where your concept takes place.
Write a short bio of your continuing characters. Who they are and what they want. Define their relationships with the other characters.
Write the challenges that will be faced by your characters each week.
Write some sample stories that will be told in your concept. Do this in only a few sentences and a single paragraph.

The Wind-Up And The Pitch: Independent producer or TV network

Keep it simple
Your initial pitch should be simple and focused: just a presentation of your idea or concept and any additional supporting material that you think is needed – but – don’t just pitch an idea, pitch physical material. If you can’t shoot a pilot, shoot a short teaser to help people see your vision, make posters for the show, or some sort of gimmick. Producers and Execs are more willing to invest in something tangible than an idea on a piece of paper.

You don’t need to develop a complete series “bible” to submit a program proposal. Whatever best illustrates your idea to us is the golden ticket.

Sell it! Tell the producers/Execs why is this show perfect fit for their production company/network. (This is where your research comes in)
For network pitches:
Your proposal should briefly address the question of the business case. Why should your program be aired on their network? At CBC for example, this means that you should know what we’re looking for based on our corporate strategy (i.e. audience potential, supporting successes, distinctiveness, multi-platform potential, regionality, diversity, etc.). CBC’s business is “engaging, informing and entertaining as many Canadians as we can.” and therefore you should keep selling back to that.

Final Advice
Be on time, be brief, be open to change or suggestion, and give the independent producers or TV network reasons why they should buy your show idea. At the very least, you’ve created a new contact to bring projects to directly. At the very best, your project just might make it into production. And next year, when your name is called at the Emmys, don’t forget to thank me.

At what age do you lose your creative mojo?

If you find my creativity can you send it back?

Does creativity have a shelf life? Do those whose jobs depend on creativity for a living have careers that come with a “best before” date? My first real job in advertising was a summer internship that I won through a scholarship while I was at art college. It was at McCann-Erickson. I remember the awe I felt as I was escorted to my claustophobic gray cubicle known as “The Newbicle” as I walked down the creative department corridors. At that time, the Communication Arts Ad Annual was my bible … and the impressive nameplates on the closed office doors read like an advertising hall of fame’s “who’s who.” It was almost a religious experience for someone in their 3rd year of an advertising program. Over the years I have been fortunate to work with many high-awarded, high profile creative people. But as the years have gone by, and the tarnish settles onto the awards trophies, I remember the names but often wonder, “where are they now?”

Thoughout my career, I’ve been told that advertising as a career is only for the young and foolish. It’s an industry that eats its young. And that certainly seems to be the case, as so many of my contemporaries are either no longer in the business, or have managed to morph themselves with Industrial Light & Magic precision, into alternative careers. Of course there are exceptions, like Lee Clow. Plenty of them. But I think their numbers are merely a blip on the radar. I wonder why there are so few working, respected, awarded creative teams whose collective age exceeds 80. Does creativity fade at a certain age, like an over-washed pair of jeans? Do we, as we get older, lose our curiosity and therefore our ideas run dry?

To a certain extent, that advertising’s long hours and lack of respect for the personal contribution that goes into every concept, eventually extinguishes the fire that rages within the creative soul. For some, perhaps they simply run out of ideas in their creativity jar, while others discover that advertising opens doors for alternative explorations and challenges. Perhaps those folks are the smart ones … getting out while they still can. I really believe that as we get older, two things happen. One – we become less curious because experience tells us that we already know all the answers. And two – we become fearful or afraid. Afraid of the blank page. Afraid of lame ideas. Fearful of the future, afraid for careers, family, consequences from decisions – you name it. Creativity is strongly tied to never being afraid to ask the question “why not?”, “how come”, “what if”, “just imagine that”, and “what lies between left and right?.” Call it “boldycurious” and it needs a healthy dose of the “I am right, I am not afraid to be right, and I will stand up to all those who doubt the rightness of my idea” bravery in order to survive the ills that can impact a career. That doesn’t mean they are blindly stubborn … they are simply confident in the decisions they have made that have led them to their particular creative solution. They are brave.

When you’re standing on the awards show podium with shaking hands, take a moment to thank yourself – for believing in YOU. Thank yourself for your curiosity and your questioning nature. Take stock of your confidence tank. Keep it full. There are way too many people out there who are going to try to siphon off some of what you got … but don’t let them. Because allowing fear to creep in puts one creative foot into an early grave.

How to stay creative at any age

1. Be curious
2. Be brave – eat fear for breakfast
3. Think confidently and you will BE confident
4. Don’t give up – don’t let time dictate when the creative solution is done
5. Be a student of your industry … there is always something new to learn
6. Explore creativity outside your area of expertise … again you may learn something new that you can apply to what you do
7. Have fun. If you aren’t having fun what the heck are you doing here?
8. Challenge yourself at least once a week. Do something outside your comfort zone
9. Don’t let others keep you down – but keep an open mind when listening to feedback. Great ideas can come from anywhere
10. Be open. Just ’cause you’ve been there and done that doesn’t mean it’s still being done the same way.

Guest Post: Finding the Time to Write by Sahag Gureghian

Since I am so busy cranking out ads (our year end is March 31st) I should take Sahag’s great advice. The best I can do is bring you some great advice for your own writing …

Finding the Time to Write

Sahag Gureghian is a writer and teacher from Los Angeles, Ca. For writing prompts and inspiration, visit his blog at http://bloggersville.wordpress.com/ or follow his twitter @Bloggersville.

Being a writer requires time, patience, determination and skill. While the determination and skill are usually easy to come by, the time and patience can be the downfall of most writers. There are rarely enough hours in the day to get our responsibilities taken care of, let alone to make extra time for writing. For most of us, that will always be a struggle. With friends and family, work and a social life all vying for our attention, it takes willpower to make a writing schedule and stick to it. While there is no easy fix, a writer can do plenty of little things to find the time and get those words on the page.

1. Make a Writing Schedule

Planning a schedule and sticking to it is essential for all writers. If you work full-time, it may actually be easier to establish a regular time each day in which to write. Find a time that fits into your schedule, perhaps early in the morning or right before bed. Make sure to write during this time, and avoid disturbances like email, phone or Internet. This schedule may evolve as your life changes, but make that time count, as you would with any job. Don’t let your busy schedule stop you, because a lot of quality writing can be done in a short amount of time, if you stay focused and motivated.

2. Set Goals

I can’t stress the importance of this. Having goals is key. I’ve found writing my goals down really helps me stay focused. Whenever I get distracted, I read my goals and am reminded of what I am trying to do and why.

3. Carry a small notebook everywhere

Having a small notebook or notepad with you wherever you go ensures that when inspiration strikes, you’ll be able to take advantage of it. Jotting down a title, word, sentence or phrase that pops up at the most unlikely place can motivate you to revisit the idea later, and turn a simple thought into a complete piece of work.

4. Let “no” become your favorite word

A social life is important, but sometimes, we can let ‘fun’ get in the way of our writing. Time is limited, and we should take advantage of it when we can. While your writing time should not be the most important thing in your life, it should be sacrificed only for the most crucial things. Meeting a group of friends at the bar, for example, should not take away from your writing, especially if it is a frequent thing. A family birthday or gathering, however, can be an exception. You might disappoint some people, but they’ll get over it. In fact, it might influence them to spend time doing what they love too.

5. Take a writing class or join a writer’s group

Taking a writing class or joining a writer’s group is a good way to help you stick to a schedule and keep writing. A group or a class can force writers to submit their writing on a regular basis and receive feedback. Plus, there is the added benefit of forming a writing community, connecting with other writers and discussing ideas.

You can either start a writer’s group with friends, or advertise for one in the local paper or at the nearby community college. This group can act as support when you get stuck.

There are also online writing courses available through the extended learning programs of many universities.

UCLA Extension has a great writer’s program (uclaextension.com) – but for a cheaper and more fast-paced alternative, try the writing classes through National University extension (nu.edu).

Mediabistro also has a list of classes that can help motivate writers (www.mediabistro.com/courses).

6. Create a Writer’s Space

Every writer needs their own personal space to get motivated and start writing. Choose a writing space that is as far from the noise of family life as possible because they’ll do nothing but distract. Make the space your own, and feel comfortable in it. Keep it as messy or clean as you want, as noisy or dark as you want. All you really need is that desk and writing chair, and the ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the door. Having a space to write in will make your productivity skyrocket.

7. Treat Yourself

When you meet your goals, give yourself a reward. A movie from Blockbuster, a new CD from Amazon, a Starbucks latte or Baskin Robbins sundae can help you feel good about getting your writing done. Give yourself an incentive to write and you will write more.

So, what are you waiting for? Write on!

- The Accidental Blogger

Guest Post: Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb

Five Grammatical Errors that
Make You Look Dumb
by Brian Clark

One thing blogging and good copywriting share is a conversational style, and that means it’s fine to fracture the occasional rule of proper grammar in order to communicate effectively. Both bloggers and copywriters routinely end sentences with prepositions, dangle a modifier in a purely technical sense, or make liberal use of the ellipsis when an EM dash is the correct choice—all in order to write in the way people actually speak.

But there are other mistakes that can detract from your credibility. While we all hope what we have to say is more important than some silly grammatical error, the truth is some people will not subscribe or link to your blog if you make dumb mistakes when you write, and buying from you will be out of the question.

Here are five mistakes to avoid when blogging and writing web copy.

1. Your vs. You’re

This one drives me insane, and it’s become extremely common among bloggers. All it takes to avoid this error is to take a second and think about what you’re trying to say.

“Your” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your blog.” “You’re” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re screwing up your writing by using your when you really mean you are.”

2. It’s vs. Its

This is another common mistake. It’s also easily avoided by thinking through what you’re trying to say.

“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “Its” is a possessive pronoun, as in “this blog has lost its mojo.” Here’s an easy rule of thumb—repeat your sentence out loud using “it is” instead. If that sounds goofy, “its” is likely the correct choice.

3. There vs. Their

This one seems to trip up everyone occasionally, often as a pure typo. Make sure to watch for it when you proofread.

“There” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Always do the “that’s ours!” test—are you talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “their” will get you there.

4. Affect vs. Effect

To this day I have to pause and mentally sort this one out in order to get it right. As with any of the other common mistakes people make when writing, it’s taking that moment to get it right that makes the difference.

“Affect” is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” “Effect” is a noun, as in “The effect of a parent’s low income on a child’s future is well documented.” By thinking in terms of “the effect,” you can usually sort out which is which, because you can’t stick a “the” in front of a verb. While some people do use “effect” as a verb (“a strategy to effect a settlement”), they are usually lawyers, and you should therefore ignore them if you want to write like a human.

5. The Dangling Participle

The dangling participle may be the most egregious of the most common writing mistakes. Not only will this error damage the flow of your writing, it can also make it impossible for someone to understand what you’re trying to say.

Check out these two examples from Tom Sant’s book Persuasive Business Proposals:

After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.

Uhh… keep your decomposing brother away from me!

Featuring plug-in circuit boards, we can strongly endorse this server’s flexibility and growth potential.

Hmmm… robotic copy written by people embedded with circuit boards. Makes sense.

The problem with both of the above is that the participial phrase that begins the sentence is not intended to modify what follows next in the sentence. However, readers mentally expect it to work that way, so your opening phrase should always modify what immediately follows. If it doesn’t, you’ve left the participle dangling, as well as your readers.

P.S. You may find it amusing to know that I, like David Ogilvy, have never learned the formal rules of grammar. I learned to write by reading obsessively at an early age, but when it came time to learn the “rules,” I tuned out. If you show me an incorrect sentence, I can fix it, but if I need to know the technical reason why it was wrong in the first place, I go ask my wife.

George Bush Leaves A Lasting Impression

This is the lasting impression Minnesotians are left with is courtesy of a group of anonymous advertisers. Bev Master, office manager with Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising, said the billboard — which the firm owns — was rented out by a “group of small business owners and individuals who just felt like Washington was against them.”

Guest Post: How to Use Heroic Language to Battle Boring Copy

Does anyone read ad copy besides the writer? … We all hope they do. So just in case … read on.

by Ali Hale

Ever found your eyes glazing over when you read through your own copy or blog posts?

I hate to break it to you, but a lot of the products, services, or niches that we write about just aren’t that thrilling. Although the finer points of search engine optimization might keep you glued to your screen, most of your clients or blog readers aren’t feeling the excitement.

So what can you do?

You bring in a register which deals with excitement: the heroic. We’ve all read advertisements encouraging us to “win the battle” with our email, or our paperwork, or our tendency to procrastinate. They grab our interest by making a frankly unexciting activity sound like a heroic quest.

The use of heroic language in decidedly non-heroic contexts isn’t anything new. Poets have been doing it for centuries, though generally in a satirical context (if you’re interested, Alexander Pope is a great example of the mock-heroic with The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad).

You can definitely still use heroic language for comic effect. (It’s possible to do this unintentionally, too, by going over the top in your copy.) But the heroic is a powerful way to tap into our need for drama, for excitement, for a story, a quest . . . and a hero your reader can identify with.

So how do you do it?

Heroic Words Work

Certain words can turn dry topics – like writing, personal finance, small business and marketing – into something that makes you feel a frisson of excitement. You can almost hear the rallying notes of a battle horn, and see the sun glinting from swords. A few favorite heroic words are:

“Battle”

(Writers seem especially fond of this one: I think we just like to make our struggles sound more exciting than they really are…)

“I have had my battles with writer’s block.” from Writer’s Block … A Thing of the Past
Also see Battling Blogger’s Block on Problogger
“Dragon”

“You can think of each project like being sent on a big quest to slay a dragon. Your client is the king of the realm. The project is the dragon threatening his kingdom. You go out and slay that dragon, and the client will give you a nifty monetary reward. You fail, and so does his kingdom, and he is justifiably pissed” from The Dragons of Writing and How to Fight Them on Men with Pens
“Enemy” / “Nemesis”

“Blogger’s block is the arch nemesis of productivity” in 10 Simple Productivity Tips for Bloggers on Daily Blog Tips
“When it comes to taking payment from international clients, your number one enemy is processing fees” from Taking Payment with PayPal, Escrow and Other Online Options on Freelance Switch
“Fight”

See Grow Up, Green Up: How to Fight the Impulse Purchase on Dumb Little Man
“When you feel as if your head’s underwater, don’t wait to drown. Kick and thrash like a motherf*cker. Fight like your life depended on it.” from Johnny Talks about Motivation on IttyBiz
“Quest”

“Has your quest for project efficiency ever led you to rely on outdated tools and methods?” in Why Every Freelancer Should Slow Down and Brainstorm on Freelance Folder
“Treasure”

“Your library website and departmental webpages should help you find the treasure,” in Research via Google alone: Are you crazy or just lazy? on The University Blog
“War”

“Having one day can give you the space to zoom outside of the war zone” in 10 Lesser Known Ways to Increase Productivity on Pick the Brain
Metaphor, Hyperbole, and Overkill

Heroic language can become a running metaphor when you theme the entire post around it – see Taylor’s The Dragons of Writing and How to Fight Them series on Men With Pens. Like using pop culture references, this gives you a hook to hang your post (or series) on, and potentially a structure.

Heroic language can also be used as hyperbole, to set a powerful tone. Some writers can pull this off well, but for others, it’s too aggressive. Dave Navarro uses it to great effect in How To Kick That Habit’s Ass (When It’s Been Beating Yours) on Rock Your Day – just look at these excerpts:

“You get knocked down, punched out, kicked to the curb, beaten to a pulp … hell, pardon my French, but you get your frigging ass kicked emotionally and psychologically, big time.”

“It All Starts With Declaring One Word: War.”

“Finally, build your battle plan…”

But for some bloggers, that’s too much, and would be jarring for readers. (Can you imagine gentle, pink-haired Sonia Simone writing like that?) If in doubt, go sparingly. Try using heroic language for a punchy introduction and conclusion to your post, and ease up in the middle.

Take Up Your Sword Pen

Heroic language combines exaggeration with metaphor – both powerful tools for grabbing attention. If you have sales copy which seems a little bland, why not add a touch of the heroic?

“Solve Email Problems” becomes “Battle Your Email Overload”
“Stop Procrastinating” becomes “Defeat Procrastination”
“Advice to Help You Do Better” becomes “Advice to Help You Win”
“Ditch Your Bad Habits” becomes “Conquer Your Bad Habits”
If you’ve got a blog on a topic that’s not inherently gripping (productivity, personal finance, writing, small business marketing, habit-breaking), introduce some of the heroic words. Make it a quest, not a project. Look for treasure, not results.

Let your readers, prospects, and customers be the heroes while you help them solve their problems.

About the Author: Conqueror of the keyboard, battler with the blank screen, Ali is a hired wordsmith for several blogs, as well as writing for her own Aliventures

How Celebrity is Sold

CBC’s The Hour is Canada’s late night talk show. Hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, it’s unlike any program on television. The Hour is a hybrid of news and celebrity, reflected through in-depth conversations, covering topics such as politics, the arts, entertainment, the environment, human rights, and sports etc. It’s even won seven Gemini Awards (Canada’s equivalent to an Emmy Award). Like any talk show, the “get” – the big celebrity interview is what keeps the show producers hopping because famous guests mean higher ratings. Yesterday, Hollywood heavy-hitter Harrison Ford was scheduled to arrive for a 4:30 taping. Usually the celebs show up in advance – to meet George, get into make-up and prep for their interview. Oftentimes the bigger the star, the more they are trying to pack into their day. I was curious to see Harrison Ford in person for some reason. I’m not usually ga-ga over celebs, but this was Han Solo from the StarWars franchise, so I made an exception. I accompanied half of my department (ostensiously on a cigarette break tho I never touch the things) downstairs and outside the building to hang around the John Street entrance, where the celebs are whisked into our building. Mr. Ford was fashionably late ‘natch so my team celebrated with a second smoke. While we were waiting I noticed a neatly dressed guy – perhaps in his mid-thirties clutching a roll of posters. He was pacing the perimeter, occasionally speaking to the small handful of folks chatting casually perhaps 100 feet from the building entrance. I wondered if he was with The Hour, but I didn’t recognize him from the crew so I didn’t give it much thought. I did notice however, when he walked over to an expensive-looking BMW to extract some hard-backed photos from his car. One of my art directors nodded towards the guy and wondered aloud how the autograph hounds knew that Harrison Ford was going to be at the CBC today. It’s not exactly top secret information, but you gotta wonder. And it wasn’t just him. As we watched, we realized that he seemed to be the leader of a well-organized contingent of professional-looking autograph seekers. At first there were just 3 of them. Then one or two SUVs pulled up and another 2 men joined the group. I realized that these guys must get autographs and sell them … on eBay? Privately? Are they really worth that much? Hmmmmm. Interesting. It was very hard to tell, but every time a dark Town Car or black SUV drove up John Street the leader’s body language tensed, and while not leaving his conversation, you could tell he was sussing out the odds of Harrison being in one of the vehicles. At one point he asked Matt, my AD if he wanted something signed. I thought that was very nice of him. When Matt said no thanks, he laughed and commented, “I guess it’s beneath you right?” Matt laughed and said no, but yeah, I guess if you aren’t into autographs, you don’t see what the big deal is. But the whole thing sure made for some very interesting people watching. Who were those guys? Do they do this full time? Do they actually make a living at it? How do the celebs handle the fact that these guys make money off them … that they’re not “fans” – that for them it’s a business? And how’d they get so organized? Eventually I came to realize that these guys were more fascinating than the prospect of seeing Harrison Ford live, in the flesh. Looking south on John Street, towards the Front Street corner we noticed another group of guys carrying rolled up posters. Suddenly they gave a shout and we saw a big black Yukon followed by another black SUV turn the corner and head north. “That’s him” I heard the leader say to the collected group.
We watched as the SUVs pulled up in front of the entrance, where 2 CBC security guards were waiting. All the autograph hounds ran to the entrance. We heard the leader say “Orderly line guys” and watched in amazement as the 8 men neatly and orderly formed a line – like a choreographed dance routine. Mr. Ford and his publicist got out of the car and he walked, much like royalty, towards the line where he stopped and signed the first poster held out, and then the second. As he did so a photographer suddenly appeared and started shooting. This seemed to annoy the assembled group, because seconds later the object of their income was whisked into the building amid shouts of “Mr. Ford – just one more!” Seconds later they were gone … leaving me to wonder about this side of the celebrity game.

Will Social Sites Kill Digital Campaign Sites?

I was reading this morning about how Coca-Cola is moving it’s campaigns to social media sites like Facebook and for the first time (I’m slow – I’m sure that most of you have figured this out already) I realized that social media communities have joined the ranks of traditional media with huge audiences for advertisers to access. Obviously it’s a bit different than traditional paid media – but not so different if you compare magazine to television for example. Only in this case, Coca-Cola is comparing their own traditonal digital campaign websites (with it’s high cost to create and maintain) with their branded sites on YouTube and Facebook, and coming up in favour of the latter. Community sites – where huge audiences already exist might actually be a more cost efficient and effective place to dangle your consumer commercial messaging hook. Remember, engagement is king in these communities, so those rushing to drop content-needy advertising web sites are still doomed to fail. But the long-term implications for digital online certainly is the pause that will refresh or kill that side of the digital coin. Is it the real thing? Only time will tell.

The Kindle: Give Me My Life Back!

I know there are many who wouldn’t agree with me, but I love my Kindle, the e-reader available from Amazon. It has only just recently become available in Canada, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. Little did I realize that for someone with a slight leaning towards the obsessive compulsive, The Kindle would become akin to a social death sentence. I can’t put the darned thing down. I can’t blog. I can’t phone people. I can’t go out. I can’t even say hello to the usual gang who sit opposite me on my daily GO train commute to work. I. Can’t. Stop. Reading. And with over 385,000 books available on what I consider to be. on the cheap, I figure I could easily quit my job, quit my life and give in to this needy impulse. But to prove that I am made of stronger stuff, I have vowed to put down my Kindle and blog. My first blog of 2010. My hands are shaking and I feel a headache coming on, but I think I will survive. Will I need a Kindle support group? Is there such a thing? Now if only my “Kindle thumb” would stop aching every time I hit the space bar while I type … god help me when Apple finally releases it’s long-awaited iTable or iSlate – that’s when iGiveup on ever having a life again.

How Would You Sell A TV Show?

When you work agency-side you know that arguably, the most important part of the creative brief – it’s living and beating heart – is the key message. (I say arguably because “Insights that drive the brief” – the hot buttons that drive consumers, are pretty important too) Written by strategists, planners or account people, the key message is the focus of the advertising – it’s the tune that all the elements sing along to. The success of any marketing effort is dependant on a clear, singe-focused key message. Writing it well is an art in itself. The key message is usually reflective of the benefit – the proposition that the advertising sets up for the consumer. It can be based upon the “What’s in it for me?” factor if there is a benefit to be communicated. If it’s news or information that you wish to impart about your product it become the “What do you want me to believe?” factor. Either way, you are trying to make some kind of emotional connection with your consumer, while presenting a compelling reason why they should buy your brand.

But take a look at entertainment advertising for a moment. Crack open a People Magazine sometime. All the TV show ads and movie posters look the same. And most of them say the same things – the key message is purely descriptive. Huh? Did I miss something? Did a memo go out that says there is only one way to sell entertainment?

There are a couple of reasons that I can think of for this oddity – and feel free to leave your own hypothesis – but I believe that the entertainment industry doesn’t embrace the whole notion of emotional connection communicated via a key message. I’ve been in meetings and heard the “We paid a million bucks for that actor – I want his/her face in the ads” argument and I buy it in some cases. I do believe that some comedies and dramas are best sold based upon telling people what they are – and allowing the actor/cast to do the emotional connection thing leveraging their own fame/brand (Think the Twilight Saga). But in television, and after that crucial first season is over, wouldn’t it make sense to try to tell people WHY they should watch – or WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM if they watch, rather than simply telling them what’s in the bag and hoping they see something they like?

I call this the “tell-ivison” strategy. In promo land it makes sense. On TV or in trailers, the strategy is one of program sampling. Try it on for 30 seconds and see if you like it. But in print or online you can’t sample. And you have roughly half a second to engage your audience. In my humble opinion, this is the time to be brave, not weak. That’s my theory. What do you think? How would you sell an existing TV show or movie based on the benefit theory? Would it bring audiences? Would it be effective?

Are You Taking Enough Risks?

I work in the business. My husband works in the business. Many of my friends work in the business. Even my stepson wants in the business. Every day I’m exposed to a lot of conversations about advertising … positive and negative. I’ve noticed in the last year or so (maybe a coincidence but in tandem with the recession) a lot of people talking about the dismal state of creativity in Canada. Dismal? That seems a bit harsh … but I was riding the subway the other day, and I was shocked at how many “infomercial-type” of print ads were running in the overhead backlit areas of the subway cars. And equally shocked at how many empty ad spaces there were. I read blogs, visit ad websites, crack open some Awards Annuals and yes … there are lots of creative ideas waiting to be found is you care to seek them, outside of paid media, but how come I don’t see more of this fine work when I am passive, when I treat myself like a consumer? It’s not like I’m living in a cave. I don’t see it on TV. I don’t see it on the GO train. In the newspapers … once in a while in a magazine … nothing online. Well, I saw a cool domination once but it was based out of Australia. I work in the business – and at a network for pete’s sake – we sell ad space and run other people’s creative as well as our own. But where is the really great stuff – the breakthrough, never before seen work that’s in those Advertising Annuals and ad websites?
Maybe it’s out there. But maybe it’s only reflective of 1% of the total ad content produced in this country. Considering how many people work in the industry, how come it’s only a handful who are producing good work? The different, the never-before-seen, can only happen if creative people can break out of the sameness mold that the risk-adverse try to keep us in. Do we blame it on a lack of imagination, or fear? Are we risk adverse or are our clients? Are we working in an industry completely devoid of brand and consumer insights? With all the research available to us, how come we know so little about the people buying/watching/using our brands? Are we taking risks, but failing to close the sale? Is more great work pinned to our walls and not being produced for our books?
I think much of it comes down to fear of failure – on many levels. Our culture treats failure as something to be ashamed of. Instead, failure should be celebrated. Learning is based on trial and failure. Without those two we do not learn. I remember spending two full days learning how to windsurf and being tipped into the water more times than you would believe. And with each failure, I became even more determined to master the board and sail. On my third morning I experienced a breakthrough … and my body, timing, balance and board and sail all suddenly started to work together. It was exhilarating. Creativity works the same way. But for some reason, many creative teams think if they haven’t nailed the idea by lunch, the idea isn’t coming. And they settle. Or, they work hard, come up with lots of good ideas, but stop short of that elusive great idea.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Who said that? Michael Jordan. And he was someone who had a lot to lose. He could have played it safe but he didn’t. He know that without risk – failure, there would be no reward, no success. We need to embrace failure and celebrate it as we celebrate success. Until we do, we remain too afraid to pass into that magical zone where the really great work lives.

A Brilliant Resignation Letter

Urban legend has it the designer left this on his computer screen and then walked out.

Celebrity Brand Photoshoot 101

This was written as a tongue-in-cheek companion piece to “What Celebrities Have Taught Me About Branding” – the longer article can be found below this one. Hope you enjoy. Just have a read of this handy “Working With Celebrity Brands 101″ and you’ll be ready for your next in-studio celebrity photo shoot.

1. When working with celebrities to market television or feature film programming, it’s important to remember that celebrities are way funnier, way more dramatic, and much better writers that YOU ever will be. Expect lots of revisions and plenty of complete rewrites. Headline, copy, script … the works. And if you happen to think you’ve captured the celebrity brand “voice” – guess again. No one, and I repeat no one is funnier, or more clever than the celeb that you are writing for. They know their own brand and buster you ain’t going to monkey with it.

2. Concepts get in the way of the brand. And the brand has to look good. So forget the ad concept my friends. See above. You will never be allowed to be more clever than the brand.

3. Never presume that what you think looks good to the naked eye will look good to the celebrity eye. That perfect, beautifully retouched, every wrinkle removed and 20 pounds exorcised by Photoshop glossy will NEVER be good enough. And remember this – talent gets 50% right of refusal on the stills. So you only have a 50% chance of getting your photoshoot right in the first place. The brand image is not to be tinkered with by the likes of you.

4. Don’t come to work without eyeglasses – even if your vision is 20/20. See above and be prepared to receive copious notes, written in teeny tiny hand-written script on several post-it notes – all relating to the “hero” shot. Your celeb will have consulted his or her brand posse and everyone from their hair and make-up person, to their personal trainer to their dog walker will have weighed in on the brand. Brand image is everything.

5. When scheduling photo shoots, never begin your talent’s day before 11 am. Puffy, puffy, puffy. Pul-ease! There simply aren’t enough Post-it notes in this world to capture the indignity done to the under-eye area. The brand needs its beauty sleep.

6. Never presume that you know, understand, or can imagine your talent’s character with wardrobe. No matter what you image the celeb would wear in your shoot, it will never be right so just don’t bother. They know the character. They know what the character would/wouldn’t wear. It’s a no win situation. For you. The brand always wins. Game. Set. Match.

7. Many make the mistake of worrying about craft services at shoots. For those not familiar with the lingo, craft services is the Roman banquet set up for cast and crew to satisfy their every craving for food and beverage. Even a “substantial snack” is provided for. If not a groaning tableau of candy, salty snacks, muffins and danish, donuts, breakfast burritos, nuts, cheeses and crackers plus fresh fruits isn’t enough to satiate … guess again. The celebrity will not touch the repast. All that grub is there for the agent, the publicist, hair and make-up and the personal assistant. A delicate sip of water may be witnessed. The brand doesn’t eat in public.

8. Asking for an autograph is akin to flatulence in public. It’s unseemly and you will be escorted from the set. This brand doesn’t really like to interact with its public unless there is a photo op scheduled.

9. Expect to be ignored on set.

10. If the television ratings/opening box office is disappointing, you can bet your bottom dollar that the finger of blame will not be aimed at the talent, crappy script, or badly edited body of work, that finger of blame will swing around in a complete 180, and will point directly at you, your perviously award-winning ad campaign. The brand is blameless. And the brand is fickle. But the brand is always right.

What Celebrities Have Taught Me About Branding

A brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or with the company that makes the product. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy and haven even been modified to encompass people and personalities. In Hollywood it’s no longer a culture of celebrity that drives ticket-goers, it’s the celebrity brands.

In my old ad agency life, brands were things or corporate entities, co-managed by the agency strategists, account managers and creatives. Pepsi was a brand. Hostess Frito-Lay was a brand. Chrysler was a brand. These brands didn’t talk. Didn’t have good hair days or bad hair days, and they certainly didn’t have complicated ryders in their contracts, specifiying that only organic foods could be served at photo shoots.

But brands are now personified by people. And working with celebrity brands to market entertainment has been both an eye-opening experience, and an educational one. In my agency world, the creative brief pretty much covered off all the do’s and don’ts for brands … but having grown up with many of the established brands, and being very familiar with them, you almost understood what the brand represented through osmosis. You inherently understood the difference between the Coke and Pepsi brands – you understood their brand personalities, the impact brand had on their respective marketing campaigns, and you understood the differences between Pepsi and Coke drinkers.

That said, think of the brand of Ashton Kutcher. Or Demi Moore. Or Robert Pattison. What are their brand personalities? What makes them different from other brands? Does their brand impact their publicity communication plans? Are their any differences between fans of Ashton, Demi and Robert … and what are those inherent differences? It’s a little more difficult because so much of it is in the mind of the talent, and their handlers.

Robert Pattinson's brand: Robert or Edward?

Whether you’re marketing a television show or a major motion picture, the brand is split equally between the talent and the vehicle they are starring in. Essentially, you are working with 2 distinct and usually different brands. Imagine in your agency world, having to wrangle Coke and Pepsi (plus their handlers) together into a Skittles candy storyline. Luckily for us in content land, the celebrity brands have to put their own brands on the shelf so to speak, and adopt the brand of the content they are appearing in. That’s all fine and dandy while their shooting and editing, but just wait until marketing time rolls around. All of a sudden, for example, your Robert Pattinson handlers are trying to sell the brand of Robert Pattinson, rather than the brand content. This can make for an interesting tug-of-war.

Celebrities hire publicists and agents to protect and serve their brands. It’s the publicist’s job to understand their brand demographics, and to ensure that their client is being exposed via the right media. For example, it’s not likely you will ever see The Pattz’s photo in a magazine for the over-50 set. Brands like Coke don’t need a publicist, they usually employ public relations to help them manage the branding frontline – the part of the brand that lives closest to the consumer. But some brands use publicists – with multiple content platforms the norm these days, it’s nice to employ someone to pitch stories and content on behalf of their brand. There is no hard and fast rule.

So how come you like a particular celebrity, and how does that relate to the brand?

People like brands because they like making decisions.

I find this part fascinating in a Psychology 101 kind of way. When considering how people make decisions, your mind employs two criteria to manoeuvre the complexities of life: moral and aesthetic choice. In almost every case, your conscience decision is based on the delicate balance of the rational and the irrational.

When choosing a bottle of wine, for example, the matter of expressing cultural refinement and personal pleasure is weighed against price and availability. Who you choose to root for in sports has as much to do with peer acceptance and social differentiation (or bonding) as it has with fitness and recreation. And the same analysis can be made with your choice of celebrity endorsement.

How does this relate to brand value?

Brands are increasingly becoming the currency of business. They link customers with enterprises. In this sense, smart business people now bestow virtual custody of brands upon consumers, while keeping management in the hands of companies. In other words, in the entertainment industry, it’s all about the packaging. In today’s world, entertainment brands define markets as much as they do products, services and organisations.

If branding is the sum total of all the parts, what brings brands to life?

This one is easy. For celebrities nothing gets attention like commercial success. Who was Robert Pattinson before Twilight? (In reality, Robert would probably be much happier without the downside of fame and fortune.) Robert IS the package. So all that is Robert … is the brand. But how much does “Edward” – the character Robert plays in Twilight, a part of the packaging is anyone’s guess. For Agency folks, and in the case of a packaged good brand for example, commercial success is also part of the brand ID. Design is used to package the brand, thus giving it a visual identity.
In the ad world, confidence is the brand’s promise to the consumer – it provides brand Integrity. The consumer who believes in the brand feels pride in being a customer, and carries a passion for the brand. It’s an emotional attachment. Celebrities have long tapped into this thinking because their fans expect and demand it. If you are a fan of George Clooney for example, you expect him to behave a certain way … to be a certain kind of person because his brand dictates that he really is the carefully-crafted persona that his handlers have put forth to the world.

The defining moment for Tom Cruise's brand ...

But what happens when a brand implodes? Witness the near-fatal brand destruction of Tom Cruise. Way back when, Tom had one of Hollywood’s best publicists on this team. As is wont to happen, they parted ways at a crucial time in Tom’s career. With his sister sitting in the publicity hot seat, perhaps not expecting the land mine that was lying ahead, Tom meet Katy Holmes and before you could say “where’s Penelope?” Tom was jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch like a lunatic. Couple that with some disasterous press conferences, where Tom and Katy’s antics took the spotlight away from Steven Speilberg and the film they were promoting. The press had a field day and Tom’s career took a hit that a lesser star would never have recovered from. What happened? Tom cracked the emotional code when his behaviour was demonstrated outside the carefully-crafted Tom Cruise brand. He broke the sacred trust – the confidence that he had with his fans. His behaviour was inconsistent with his brand. He invoked embarassment. Pity. Anger. Disbelief. And people started believing what the press were writing about this new Tom Cruise brand. Tom the crackpot. Tom the wierdo. The brand was many things. But a couch jumping fool wasn’t one the fans were willing to consider.

In short, be it packaged good or celebrity brand, when they don’t deliver the brand promise, it can be the kiss of death. Don’t believe the brand as celebrity angle? Visit a hotel review web site like TripAdvisor.com. Check out the travelers’ comments section and you’ll likely come across more than a few who cite poor customer service for their negative hotel reviews. On the other hand, employees who represent the brand flawlessly and consistently can propel a business to stardom. The brand is the sum of all its parts and brand consistency is vital. Without it, like Tom Cruise’s actions, you erode your brand equity and create misperceptions about your company in the market, that in turn could lead prospective customers, employees and even fans, to take a pass on your product.

Clever Social Media Campaign from Ikea, Sweden

This is a neat promotion dreamed up for a new Ikea store opening in Sweden. Using Facebook and a giveaway, they accomplished two things: increased brand awareness, and tactical awareness, driving traffic to the new store.
Click here:

Ikea – Facebook Tag – (2009) 1:35 (Sweden)

@Shitmydadsays is @funny

It starts with a great idea. And great subject matter. Then it takes a bit of time to spread the word. But when the content is great, just try to stop it. @ShitMyDadSays is one of the most popular stops on Twitter. The account creator is named Justin and according to his Bio he’s 29 and he lives with his 73-year-old dad who Justin thinks is awesome. According to Justin, “I just write down shit that he says”.
@ShitMyDadSays is hands down, one of the best things on Twitter. And now CBS has signed a deal to bring ShitMyDadSays to the rest of the world.

If you don’t follow Justin you should. Here’s a sample:

“Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.”

If you want to know more about Justin and @ShitMyDadSays click this link to read the Maxim interview.

Ad Creatives Should Work in the Entertainment Industry

The broadcast industry and ad industry have long driven down parallel roads in the marketing world. To the uninitiated, the two might seem like kissing cousins. But having worked on both sides of the fence, I can tell you they remain distinctly different. Ad agencies work from a base where research and psychographic/demographic information rules. No self-respecting planner would bless a creative brief or Comm Plan without a fistfull of “insights that drive the brand” – consumer “hot buttons” truths about behaviour or belief that are sure to help the creative team’s creative solutions get the audience engaged and onboard. It’s like an engagement insurance policy. And yet in broadcast, research exists as a back-end tool … providing basic demographic information that informs which consumers the uber-network would like to attract, not necessarily who will be predisposed to watch that particular show. I’ve always found this incredibly odd. Very cart before the horse. Our network is very big on testing creative … to avert disaster, based on feedback from maybe 50 people if the research is rushed. Great for the network, bad for creative. Imagine a committee of 50 people, being paid to give an opinion – judging something never before seen? Disaster. But that’s the way we roll and you quickly develop a thick skin and various ways to say “we’ll look it” – the creative’s non-committal way of not agreeing to change a damn thing.

Whole different animal #2 – Agencies would NEVER work without a creative brief – the marketing contract between yourself and your client. Network-side, the creative brief is a relative newcomer to the game, and is often badly written by people who don’t really understand why creatives need one in the first place. Without a brief, subjective feedback will drive every project, so briefs are a part of our daily lives thank god. The flipside of course, because the glass is always half full, or else creatives would be driven mad, is that no one can really tell if creative is on strategy, and sometimes you can drive your creative truck right on through without anyone raising a red flag.

These are just two of the bigger examples of how processes differ between agencies and network marketing creative departments. And there are plenty of other examples, but I don’t want to bore you here because I want to get to the point of this blog post.

So why should ad creatives work in the entertainment industry?
A: Creating content is a collaboration.

When was the last time you groaned with disappointment at a :30 TV spot budget that was under $250K? When was the last time you threw your hands in the air with frustration at a 1 week deadline? When was the last time you demanded a face-to-face creative briefing? Or thought of yourself as a writer, art director or digital programmer/producer? The amazing thing about working in the entertainment industry – at a broadcast network, is the inherent diversity, collaboration and rule breaking that it encourages. While the downside are processes that are enough to make an agency person shudder with horror, the flipside is an open barn door … with green pastures beckoning. Wanna be a TV writer? Think you can write something suitable creepy for “Dexter”? Or a rant for “The Rick Mercer Report”? Yes, very often the budgets are small for TV “promo” shoots. But you have an arsenal of in-house crew available to make your big idea come to life … and very often celebrity talent attached – with an established brand – allowing you to creatively dabble, while selling, with access to content that at an agency would cost big bucks to secure. And guess what? You might be asked to turn your script around in a day … actually a wonderfully liberating experience – if you’re willing to let go of your preconcieved ideas of a real timeline. You will quickly put away your mantra “do you want it good – or do you want it fast” when you realize that pressure actually forces you to avoid the creative roads that include dead ends and circles. You get to the creative point much faster when there’s a gun to you head. Not always, but once in a while it’s a good way to evaluate your creative chops. Thinking fast on your feet these days is something we all need to encourage more of. While I advocate “enough” time for a project, I can remember a standard 3-week timeline for a TV spot agency-side. And I remember equally that the first 2 weeks work were usually a waste.

In an agency, you are what you were hired to do. At the network, you are what you can do – and sometimes can’t. There are so many creative outlets for advertising folks outside of the standard paid media. Several times a year, the networks hold “upfronts” – usually a big media and client event featuring the new shows for that networks upcoming season. It’s part presentation, part award ceremony, part live TV special, part Broadway extravaganza. At our network, we do most of the work in-house. Everyone rolls up their sleeves and pitches in – taking their skill sets and pushing them to a higher level. A copywriter for example, might be asked to write a speech, or write on-camera dialogue for a presenter. What to get back at all those lame jokes you suffered through watching an Academy Awards presentation? Now’s your chance to pitch your own witty banter for the celebs introducing the next show for the assembled press. An art director might get a chance to pitch ideas for sets. Or may be asked to come up with the overall concept for the event. The list goes on and on. Again – not the place for people caught up in process. This is collaboration central. But if you enjoy thinking on your feet and stretching your creative boundaries, it’s a great way to do so.

These are just a few examples, but I’ve saved the best for last. Ever noticed how networks advertising pretty much all looks the same? Other than a few bright lights out there doing really creative stuff, very few actually do. The challenge is to overcome the network exec. who says, “I’m paying millions of bucks for Mr. Famous So-And-So. I wanna see his face in the advertising.” Here is your chance to REALLY prove yourself creatively. It’s one area of marketing that is crying out for a saviour. For someone to change the paradigm. For someone to knock it out of the park. Who knows – that someone could be you.

Why The Entertainment Industry Needs To Embrace Digital Marketing

Once upon a time, and not that long ago, say a couple of years, the entertainment industry considered “drive to sample” – movie trailers, TV promos and movie posters with the catchy, punny line, the standard website with free wallpapers and games, and lots of publicity and PR – enough marketing necessary to drive audiences to create a hit. Of course we all know it takes a bit more than that – a good script for starters – but in entertainment marketing departments, those tried and true staples of the communications & marketing plan were enough. Today, savvy studios are becoming hip to the notion of using social marketing as a new platform, a new way to engage audiences in an effort to have them do the heavy lifting – using word of mouth to spread the word.

A few years ago it would have been unheard of to have a feature film director, such as Rob Luketic, the director of “Legally Blonde”, tweeting from the set of his latest production, not to mention the tweets and pics from actor Ashton Kutcher with well over 2 million followers on Twitter. Now we have the massive social marketing success behind Paramount Picture’s “Paranormal Activity”, a super low budget film that wasn’t going to get a mass release – and had virtually no money behind it to get the word out. So Paramount (with very little to risk financially) went the social media route, rather than the traditional advertising route – and came up with a great idea – let people tell Paramount where the film should open. They created a place to vote online, and created a grassroots movement, all through word-of-mouth, using crowdsourcing to help sell the film. By the time the smoke had cleared, the film was going into a much wider-than-anticipted release, and the buzz on the film was so hot that Paramount ended up getting a huge campaign for next to nothing.

“Paranormal Activity” is a great example of a studio creating something new and innovative in the social marketing arena. But I wondered to myself (with great disappointment), why their movie trailers and posters were so darned traditional and expected? Why did they breakthough in one area, and yet fall back on the safe and secure in the other? Weren’t the same smart, passionate and savvy marketers working on the whole marketing plan?
What is good work is debatable. But you’ve gotta admit, the entertainment industry, for such a creative-driven industry, likes to fall back on the formulaic, the tried and true. How many truly memorable movie or television ad campaigns can you remember?

Clients, and studio heads, and division heads all want brilliant marketing. But they want their brilliant marketing to look familiar. To look like what the suits over at ABC are doing. Or what the studio heads over at Paramount are doing and so on. If it’s what everyone else is doing then it must be good. Or, are we as creative people, not fighting the good fight, not finding ways around this group-think? Not finding the right ways to sell our outlandish ideas. Our radical campaigns? Some days it really feels like we’re engaged in a no win situation. Creative teams in marketing departments around the world are judged by their creativity, by their marketing innovation, and yet, very few are buying into it. To prove my point click here to see what is considered to be the worst movie poster headline in recent history.
That’s why I say hats off to BBDONYC. BBDO works on HBO. While HBO’s creative brilliance is debatable execution to execution, they are pushing the rock up the hill. They find the cracks and sell through work that’s never been bought by the entertainment industry before. Forget the excuses the rest of us in the industry can come up with – the money, the level of creative talent – production, research, and the account teams working on their stuff. They’re coming up with it. And they’re selling it. Are they there yet? Have they yet to come up with an out of the box hit in social media? A movie poster that could compete with the best the world has to offer in the ad industry? > (YES). But success in digital should yield results in traditional. But it seems the two areas are still siloed in most marketing departments. Digital desperately needs to be embraced by the entertainment industry – treated like a new platform for marketing and not just as a here today gone tomorrow trend. And traditional needs the creative infusion that digital marketing offers – the opportunities to create concepts that are innovative, never done before, to keep traditional media viable and fresh. Until these two creative disciplines work together as one unit, we’ll continue to scratch our heads and wonder why the two halves of the marketing department seem to be operating in their own worlds.

It’s more about creating an industry culture. And a lot less about the individual pieces.

When Do Creative People Give Up?

Alex Bogusky said that to be a creative director, you must be crazy – insane-like crazy. I agree. Why on earth would you want to take on the pressures, paranoia and sociopathy of an entire team of creatives? And yet we do. We embrace them. Encourage them. Occasionally heckle, provoke and hopefully inspire them. And we never give up. Ever. Not for a coupon ad. Not for a retail price point ad. Not for a service, packaged good or TV listing ad. Then why is it we creative directors find ourselves in the very uncreative position of managing the middle? On the one side you have your corporate masters … and on the other, those fresh young faces, looking to you – that’s right, YOU mate, to lead, inspire and guide them. I really do believe that a great creative idea is the tennis ball we dogs chase. It’s a part of our DNA. It’s what we do. It’s what gets ME out of bed in the mornings. I believe with all my heart that great creative breaks through. It gets noticed. It sells. And … it makes careers in any industry that relies on great work to spread the word. And yet, as a creative director, I’m surrounded by people who don’t care. People who just want to make deadline. People who think a literal approach IS great creative. Don’t get me wrong – these are nice, well-meaning people. But they are too busy counting the support points and worrying about what the client is going to say. Or which concept provides an easy route towards a fast approval to really care about a big idea. As far as they’re concerned, all that creative rubbish is getting in the way of their next promotion. And that’s too bad. But it’s my job to manage the middle. That nasty place between the creative solution and the sold ad. It’s a place that can best be described as Soul Destroying, population: 1. Every day, as a creative director you have to fight the good fight. You stick up for those innocent, unformed ideas that one day just might grow up to be something great. You do battle against the ignorant. Cross swords with the idea killers. But you know that you’re not going to win every battle, and you can’t possibly fall on your sword over every idea. And those ideas that you lose … are painful. And sad. And soul destroying. And like Bogusky said – you have to be insane to do this job. To fight the good fight every day. To continue to believe in great ideas – to believe in the very goodness and rightness of them. And to never give up. No matter what. Because great creative directors are great because they’re stubborn. They don’t give an inch. They say that even a coupon ad has to be great – it has to be like no other coupon on the world has ever seen. Or maybe they’re just great politicians. Or great salespeople. And they tell us what we want to hear. Maybe there is no secret ingredient … just like Po finds out at the end of Kung Fu Panda. Maybe there’s just you, doing the best you can … avoiding the landmines, celebrating the ones that get past the goalie.

Alex Bogusky Guest Post

I’ve copied and pasted a blog entry done by Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It stuck a chord because as I’m sure if you’re a creative field, you have had those days that feel like you’re working at McDonald’s – those “would you like ketchup, mustard and a pickle?” days. Alex’s blog, Posterous can be found at http://alexbogusky.posterous.com and it beats the shit out of mine. He’s an all-round great ad guy.

THIS IS AN EDITORIAL PIECE I DID A FEW YEARS AGO FOR ONE OF THE TRADE PUBS. I TWEAKED IT A BIT HERE AND THERE.

I was recently reminded of my first Adweek seminar more than 18 years ago. It was there that I first discovered something astounding. I found out that I worked in a service industry.

What a freaking bummer.

Over the next 18 years, I on a personal level and we as an agency dismissed the notion that we were part of the service industry and began to build our model and our philosophies around the idea that we were in manufacturing instead. A philosophy that suggested that our ultimate job was to produce great marketing products. Notice I say ultimate job, because along the way there are certainly elements of service to what we do.

And I’m not the kind of revolutionary who wants to do away with account service people. Without our brilliant account people there is only chaos. And many of the best ad people I know work in that department. And at CP+B we all, account people included, happen to believe that if it’s possible to succeed at the service yet ultimately fail to deliver the marketing that can do the job. If this is true, then we can’t be in the service industry. Great account people, media people, planners and production people deserve and take as much ownership of the marketing product as any person in the creative department does.

At a more recent seminar somebody at Adweek had somehow decided that I deserved an award for innovation. Well, as usual, I had won an award for something that I didn’t really see myself as an expert in. So, the first thing I did was to look up the definition of innovation.

Def. The act of introducing something new.

The word “new” exploded off the page for me. Because new is not something you want or expect from a member of the service industry. What you want from your travel agent is to have him or her book the destination you want and the hotels you want and that’s it.

Don’t screw it up.

For years, because we were able to just push our message on a consumer that had few options and even less control, we got by with this erroneous idea that we were in the service industry. It wasn’t important to create new and innovative products if you could simply force people to see them.

So if you agreed that the products really didn’t matter then what did?

Service. A good meeting. A good golf game. A nice limo and dinner.

What is good work is debatable. But the process for making something new and innovative is not. It is done by people who are smart, passionate and educated in their field. They work long enough and hard enough to find a path that is new and fresh.

It is not done by giving up in the name of good service.
“Hey, it’s not going to work but we did a good job because this is what our client wanted.” Bullshit. Our clients want brilliant marketing. And by surrendering our expertise over the years the industry created an advertising culture that doesn’t know how to operate when the end goal is to make something new.

Well, we’re in a bit of a pickle now. Because the product matters more than ever, and believe it or not, it will probably become even more important in the future.

This isn’t about creative. This is about every aspect of what we do. It’s about creating an industry culture that is capable of introducing new ideas into the marketplace.

So if we aren’t in the service industry (because we can’t be if we expect to succeed), then which industry are we in?

The Manufacturing Industry?

Although pretending to be in manufacturing here at CP&B was a handy exercise for us to change our own behavior, that can’t really be it. Too much, in fact, pretty much all of what we do is custom made. We don’t have assembly lines. And we aren’t expected to do something new and different every few years. We are expected to do it every day on every project that goes out the door. We create thousands of new products a year. We attempt to tap into and perhaps even change pop culture hundreds of times a year. And we create and stimulate and maintain dozens of brands a year. Still every day that goes by I’m happier that the manufacturing model has been our focus. Today so much of what we do is a more literal translation of factory. We build sites and apps and e-commerce and bike kiosks and rental platforms, etc, etc.

Unless you’ve been living under a copy of Ogilvy on Advertising lately you’ve noticed with a combination of curiosity, and perhaps dread, that every day what we do becomes more like the movie and television business. For some of you the lines may have blurred between what you do and the publishing business. And if you are on the cutting edge you find yourself spending time harnessing games, industrial design, architecture and interactive apps to help build our clients’ businesses.

It’s no coincidence that we find ourselves spending more and more time in these disciplines. These are our sister professions. All of us sharing a common industry. Advertising, movies, music, television, publishing, architecture, industrial design and graphic design.

We are all part of the Creation Industries. And it really isn’t limited to the list of industries above. The above do it full time but no matter what business you’re in today, you’re being expected to create a way of doing business that your consumers build them into their lives.

The market forces created by the rapid demise of mass media and traditional media models have made the real business we’re in clearer than ever. We’re in the business of leading our clients in creating new ideas and even mediums so compelling and entertaining that the consumer searches them out. These ideas can’t be familiar. These ideas won’t be comfortable. These ideas won’t be obvious. And they probably wont feel or look much like advertising.

Brilliance will be more powerful than ever, and yet everything from above average on down will become invisible. Produce ordinary ideas and nobody will even see them. Great clients will expect from great marketing partners the same things we all expect from the other creation industries: Create something so funny, charming, or useful that I don’t want to live without it. So more and more we will find ourselves working with and without question competing with our sister creation professions to introduce ideas new enough to grab even a few moments of our audiences finite attention. And only the very best will be rewarded.

It’s actually quaint to merely think about brands or marketing today. The marketing and the product are colliding and pretty much every web2.0 offer illustrates this. The media is the message has gone into a digital blender and come out: The media, the company and the community are the message.

The service model worked when basically anything we did created awareness because mass media was able to deliver huge audiences. And so wine cellars, golf club memberships and nights out on the town were the differentiators between good and mediocre agencies.

Good news for the next generation of disrupters. That golf stuff won’t cut it anymore.

My Neighbour Jerks My Chicken

I feel like a jerk that I live in a city with a BIA that would waste valuable production and paid media dollars on an ad campaign with creative that looks like this.

My neighbour is an idiot?

According to the Toronto Association of Business Owners, “As world leading economists have stated, the backbone of this economy is small business. To lead our way out of this recession we need to support the local business person throughout Toronto …”
And sadly there’s more. Apparently my neighbour is also involved in other embarrassing activities such as “Trimming My Fat” and “Selling My Homegrown”.
Yeah, it got my attention. But it’s not good attention. And it isn’t making me feel very good about the brand called Toronto. And yet, this truly provocative but hilarious new Bud Light spot from DDB gets pulled because “I got it in the can.”
Go figure.

Why Digital Creative Needs A Big Idea Part 2

I’m not the most technical of people sadly. I still remember spending hours in my ad agency’s studio moving type that was created by a stat camera, line by line while hand-kerning type with an Exacto knife. My layout was a large piece of illustration board covered with blue pencil lines to represent the margins and type safe areas.
So please forgive me for thinking I had embedded links into my “Big Idea” blog post. I hadn’t done it correctly. But now that I get how to do it … here are some recent example of what I consider to be Big Ideas from the world of Digital Creative … Great ideas set these two examples apart. Hope you enjoy them.

This link will take you to an excellent example of a Big Idea for online advertising using rich media

This viral video is a documentary of how a big idea is executed and shared. And once the supers are added it’s a wonderful long format commercial. Love it.

What do you think?

Critiquing Creative Without Bruising Egos: Part 1-Design

For anyone who has chosen a creative path in life, criticism starts at an early age. I remember being told to colour inside the lines by my well-intentioned Kindergarten teacher when I presented her with my sloppily-rendered purple and green Bambi drawing. At the Ontario College of Art & Design where I majored in advertising design, criticism was introduced in the form of the student critique. You put your work up on the wall and your well-intentioned classmates tore it to shreds. But it was okay because I, and my fellow students knew that everyone would get a turn at being both the defensive, close-minded protector of the precious creation, and the vicious art critic. And in a strange way it seemed fair. At least we all were speaking the same language and belonged to the same creative tribe. It was supportive in its own way – it was meant to make us better artists and concept developers – and it was meant to teach us how the critique process worked.
But it would have been a lot more useful if it had been accompanied by a lecture about how to offer criticism that is constructive.

Before I get into that, a story: I once worked for a creative director who threw his hairbrush if he didn’t like your concept. And if he didn’t have his hairbrush handy (he DID have a great head of hair) he would verbally savage you until you were left a blubbering puddle of reasons why the layout wasn’t up to snuff. Some CDs rule by fear and others realize that one size fits all ham-fisted approach just doesn’t roll anymore. He obviously fell into the latter. Another CD believed that making you cry (guys too!) was the only way to get his feedback through your thick skull. And those were the good old days of advertising. Creatives invest so much of themselves into the process they can’t help but feel it’s personal. And so, criticism should be sensitive to that. It should be constructive, not destructive. No matter how much we writers, developers, designers etc protest, it is personal at some level. If it isn’t, I would challenge that you haven’t invested enough of yourself in the work.

When a creative team brings me their project, the first thing I try to do is find all the positives. Regardless if it’s an award-winning idea or a piece of merde, I think it’s important to talk about the things that are working. This is fairly easy when you’re looking at a piece of artwork or a layout. When it comes to design principals there are a very loose set of rules and guidelines that contribute to an overall harmony and effectiveness in design. Gentle probing … “did you think of” and “what if you” questions are a respectful way of injecting your point of view regarding elements that you believe aren’t working – or as a way to suggest alternative approaches. Yours are the fresh set of eyes that haven’t been sitting in front of the computer monitor for the past 72 hours … chances are you’ll see things the designer stopped seeing hours ago. But design isn’t a science. It’s subjective. And at a certain point it’s best to make your suggestions and leave the solutions up to the creative person. One thing I aways disliked as a writer and art director was being given a solution as my feedback. I always questioned the imperiality of the creative direction. It felt disrespectful and distrusting of my own ability to solve the problem. So I try very hard not to do it with my own creative department. They’re all smart people. They will figure it out if my feedback is clear. And yes, design and layout is also a conceptual exercise … but this post is getting long, so Part 2 will address concept criticism, even though the two really go hand-in-hand.

Do
1. Praise the overall approach and find the positives
2. Find out what the thinking was behind the design solution
3. Ask what other approaches were taken and why they were rejected
4. Add your own suggestions gently – in the form of questions if necessary
5. If project timelines are short, suggest solutions – but do it such a way as to make it clear that your suggestions are not the only path to take

Don’t
1. Don’t focus on what’s wrong with it right off the bat
2. Don’t give vague feedback without explanation … saying things like “you’re all around it” doesn’t help the creative person understand why the layout/design isn’t working
3. Snide remarks and bullying aren’t respectful, and they won’t get you the kind of work that furthers anyone’s career
4. Don’t provide solutions unless it’s warranted. Give enough constructive feedback to point them in the right direction, but let them get there by themselves
5. Allow room for failure. No one knocks it out of the park on every project. Some ideas and executions are award-winners, and some are learning experiences – stepping stones to the podium if you will

Why Digital Creative Needs A Big Idea

Artists create things and the Implementers make those things happen. In order to survive in this day and age, creative people have to own both pieces of that statement. The digital world opens up a tremendous opportunity for big ideas. Like the wild, wild west, digital is a creative frontier where brave pioneers venture forth, hoping to strike gold one day. But digital adventurers need more than just a great set of technical skills to survive. They need a big idea. Don’t get me wrong. The implementation of a great idea is important. But a great execution is like drinking from a beautiful crystal glass … no matter how fancy the vessel, without the substance inside the glass the experience is empty. And that’s how great ideas work. A great idea fills out the experience – it’s the part that the brain can rationalize, analyze and file away. Great ideas break through the environment they were designed to live within. They get noticed, and remembered. How many banner ads do you think you were exposed to today? I don’t know about you but no matter how nicely executed they were, without the surprise and engagement that a big idea brings to the party, you might as well pack away the invitations.

Big ideas are all about finding a fresh new way to say or do the same old thing. It’s all about that elusive eureka moment that your audience will experience when they’re exposed to your message. Everything we create in advertising or promotion is at its core, a story. Its the story of a product. The story of a contest. The story of a TV show. Big ideas can come in the form of a mis-direct – that “I didn’t see it coming” moment or plot twist. If you’ve seen HBO’s Larry David “Moon” promo you’ll know what I mean.

Or, they can own and tap into a device that exposes an essential “truth” about its communication, and this essential truth, something about our own behaviour as human beings, creates an emotional resonance or bond that audiences take away with them. Remember Budweiser’s brilliant “Wassup” ad campaign?

Big ideas are inherent in everything we like. They are the difference between things that suck and things that rock. Next time you have to come up with an idea for something, try looking at it from a different perspective. Or try to do something outside your comfort zone. And don’t give in to the expected after one or two takes. Great ideas take time and energy to develop. It can take hundreds of bad and lukewarm thoughts to find one good idea. But the end result is worth the effort. You’ll find gold in them ‘thar hills if you just keep looking.

Better Content = Better Creative

As a creative director, it’s my job to keep my creative teams engaged, enthusiastic, and excited about their role in finding brand solutions for their projects. Believe me it ain’t easy. Commercial creativity is an exercise in which a lot of personal energy and passion is stretched, with more sweat and blood going into the final product than anyone outside of the business could ever imagine. Some of the stumbling blocks – the creative quick sand that creative teams encounter, includes briefs that are written without a single focus, incomplete information, lack of demographic/psychographic info, testing the brief via the creative solution, no budget for photography, no budget for film/video, no money for graphics, a strategy that hasn’t been bought into by the client, fast turn around deadlines … the list goes on and on. And yet, like Border Collies after a herd of sheep, the creative person gets up every day looking forward to solving fresh challenges, always in pursuit of the next big idea.

Gotta love ‘em.

While many of the obstacles to finding the next big idea are operational, cultural and process-driven within creative departments (another blog post for another time) one of the ways to keep batteries fresh is to plug into the myriad of content available on the internet. I’m constantly amazed at the sheer volume of information available to us. Used to be I’d trek out a couple of times a year to the local art book shop and come back with 500 lbs of advertising and graphic design annuals. Now, I just have to log onto my TweetDeck or open my Google Reader and a whole world of positive creative energy is available to me in microseconds. It’s at moments like this I am totally in awe of the creative possibilities available to us. Imagine if creative legends like Helmut Krone or David Ogilvy were working today, what kinds of creative innovation they would be leading?

The way I see it, as head Creative Cheerleader, my part is to flag this incredible content … wave it in and make it available to my creative teams as an optional resource. Creatives are a naturally questioning tribe by nature. Chances are, where there is internet service, there is a creative someone surfing for the latest ads, type fonts and designs. But really good creatives work long hard hours and don’t always have enough time to chase down inspiration on their own. So I make it a point to contribute what I can. To spend time online doing research, with both my writers and art directors hats on – looking for inspiration. Looking for great content. Looking for award-winning work. Because creative solutions – brand or otherwise are only as good as the content (and ideas) that you put into them.