Advertising . Technology . People
Social Media ROI
Sep 9th
This is a great presentation from Erik Qualman that neatly sums up why businesses should place their trust in social media marketing.
Who’s got the loudest voice? Now shut up and let’s go surfing.
Aug 19th
Just recently I have been in a bunch meetings and when I mention the real consumer, it’s almost as if I had invited satan to come in and shove everyone up the ass with a red hot poker.
You see, the thing I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of people who are full of their own importance in this business and really that’s not what this is all about. They should understand that advertising really needs to be far more humble. If we as a collective advertising brand are to progress then our culture needs to improve.
For example, the owners/CEO of RipCurl insist that every Friday morning the board must go and surf. OK but what the hell does that mean to us – planners? I think it shows that in order to maintain a distinct sense of touch, far more than just empathy, then we need to connect with consumers on a very real level.
There is an awful practice of trying to unearth consumers lives in a very disconnected computer research based fashion and then passing that off as some kind of magic insight. For me it’s simply not enough. And before anyone starts jumping up and down talking about ethnographic studies, what I’m talking about is being a real consumer – doing exactly what consumers do in that category, feeling all of their senses, emotions and motivations for interacting with a brand over another. That’s not insight via research, its insight via surfing.
I’ll be brief…….
Jul 1st
Here’s a reminder of what the ARF thinks about our briefs (from “On The Road To A New Effectiveness Model”).
…rethinking the model for advertising might mean a re-orientation in the
creative briefing process. That might include the following:
• A more visual approach to briefing. Adding key symbols, images, textures, colors that
would help the creative team in understanding and developing the non-verbal aspects of
the brand.
• Providing more emotional insights into target audience descriptions by including two or
three example “life stories” of the customer. These could be brief – 2 or 3 lines – that
give more specificity to the target audience.
• Greater emphasis on brand personality. Going far beyond the typical list of personality
characteristics and really creating more of a persona, using both images and words to
describe who the brand is and is not. More of a brand biography, with creation story,
likes and dislikes, tastes and style.
• A different emphasis on the proof points and rational benefits. We would no longer
consider them as primary drivers of preference. Proof points have a new role, which is to
give the consumer a plausible post-rationalization that supports their emotional choices.
• Development of new tools that would help with developing “narrative lines” for the
brand. What happens when the consumer interacts with the brand? What are some strong
storylines? How do we articulate them in a brief that will be useful to the creative teams?
How does the brand story interact with the consumer’s life story or stories about the
category?
To make a brand brief even more effective, it should be co-created by the client brand director or research director, a creative director and an account planner.
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