Food for thought

"Reinventing the market means redefining the category."
- John Grant, "After Image"

"Dialogue marketing works because it is based on a simple principle of human nature: people tend to interact with those they already know and trust."
- Allan Steinmetz, "The Art of Conversation"

Brands = Engagement?

The consumer of today ...
More than being opinionated and demanding, wants to be part of the "conversation".

"All markets", as we all know "are conversations". Exactly! The problem is that still today, brands only provide "one-way conversations" with their consumers. Today's marketers still think that by using advertising, you only need to craft beautiful positioning statements; shout USP's full of promisses and benefits or charm the target with aspirational images - in order to involve and engage the consumer with their brand and product.

Therefore and in the end, what we see is that brands are still "talking to", not "talking with" the consumers. Interaction, participation, shared voice, brand communities, learning, being part of ... that's what today's consumers expect from a brand in order to pay it back with loyalty and respect.

This is pure common-sense, it's self-evident. Unfortunately reality (in the majority of the cases) is not following the theory.


[Other debate sources: Cup of Java]

TBWA\Paris

Leo Burnett, London

His last words ...

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax this won't hurt." - Hunter S. Thompson, Jul 1937 - Fev 2005

How to talk to Women

"Seven Tips for Successful Marketing to Women"

Better real than ideal: "Female gender culture is all about finding something in common with others to build bonds, not aspiring to an ideal to set oneself apart."

Beware of talking about women's unique needs: "The problem with this approach is that women don't want to feel different. They want to feel taken seriously. The risk with the women's unique needs approach is that, unless it is subtle and respectful, women feel stalked, not wooed."

User focus trumps product focus: "For example, with cars, computers and consumer electronics (all categories where women make the majority of the purchases, incidentally), while a man may be mesmerized by the specs of high-tech widgets and gadgets, a woman is captivated by the person using the product."

Others matter: "Not only that, but helping someone else, which isn't mission-critical for most men, is second nature for women."

Make the world a better place: "She thinks you should be helping others as well. Numerous studies show women are more motivated than men by the goal of giving back"

Immersion instead of Topline: "Whereas men 'see' more clearly when key information is extracted and ?extraneous details? discarded, women better absorb information when it's presented in context."

Show some emotion: "Emotion-based advertising has a powerful pull for women -- people are always involved."

[Via: Ad Age]

DDB London

About the Motorola iTunes

"Why the iPhone won't rock your world"

"The reason people were so intrigued about the idea of an iPhone is that it had the potential to make three hitherto-parallel universes converge. First, there was Apple's iTunes - the first, and still the dominant, legal online music business (which has sold half a billion songs since it opened). Then there was the mobile phone - the one modern device that has become ubiquitous in our lives. And finally, there was the iPod, the iconic gizmo that has become the Walkman de nos jours.

Put these three together in a single device and - so the theory went - you had a truly revolutionary technology."


[Source: The Observer Business]

"The future of entertainment"

"The future of entertainment promises bigger shows and infinite choices to you, the master of this digital universe."

"Entertainment is no longer linear," says Bennett. "You have to think in terms of a broader life cycle of a show - how it will play on TV or computer, in a game, on a phone - and you have to embrace a new kind of creative partnership with your audience."


[Source: Newsweek]

"Advertising Works" Compendium

"The most effective campaigns from the first 25 years of the IPA Effectiveness Awards"

Table of contents:
1. Foreword (John Bartle)
2. Introduction (Laurence Green)
3. Grand prix winners 1980-2004
4. The Client View (Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Reuters)
5. 25 Years of Advertising Works (Laurence Green, Fallon)
6. The Value of Advertising Agencies (Tim Broadbent, BrandCon)
7. A True Story (Paul Feldwick, DDB)
8. Back to our Roots (Will Collin, Naked)
9. How to launch into an established market (Malcolm White, Executive Planning Director, Euro RSCG)
10. How to profitably revitalise your brand (Richard Warren, Director of Strategy, DLKW)
11. How to defy commoditisation in your category (Richard Storey,
12. How to profitably add value to your product (Neil Dawson, Executive Planning Director, TBWA)
13. How to use branding to orientate your organization (David Golding, Planning Director, RKCR)
14. How to profitably influence the size of your market (Guy Murphy, Deputy Chairman, BBH)

Sixty Magazine

I got today at the agency the v.8 of Sixty Magazine.
An excellent initiative on "music, trends, culture, life" from the students/creatives at the VCU Adcenter.
Congratulations, good work! Recommended reading.

"Swiss knife" Cell phones

Video-calls, television, news online, email, MP3, pictures, radio, multimedia messages ... Apart from the "early adopters", curious geeks and executives, does the "mass market" really need or look for multi-features, special add-ons when buying a mobile phone?

"A recent In-Stat survey showed relatively little interest in new phone add-ons, such as video. Since most people upgrade their phone about every two years, they're looking for an easy-to-use device - not a pricey all-in-one (...) Still, cell phone companies persist with fancy phones. That's because: 1) Data is lucrative. 2) The market is huge."


[Source: USA Today | MobileTech News | Agenda News]

IKEA "Sleep better"

[Click to see it bigger]
IKEA "Sleep Well. Feel Better" | DDB Oslo

Cliches ' R ' Us

"1. Men are obsessed with sex but will forego sex in order to watch football or drink beer.

2. Women are locked in a constant battle with their weight/body shape/hairstyle.

3. Career success is entirely based on your ability to impress your boss.

4. Mums are often harassed but NEVER depressed/unable to cope.

5. Any act of male stupidity (e.g. walking across a clean floor in muddy boots, putting the dog in the dishwasher, etc.) will be met with a wry smile, not genuine annoyance/anger.

6. Married men will flirt with other, younger women but NEVER act upon it.

7. Anyone with a scientific career will have a bad haircut and dreadful clothes. "

(...)

[Source: BBC News Via: Cup of Java ]

Glossary

The Smart Networker:
"That individual who embodies the person-centered values of the counterculture and the skill to use the new tools to express him or herself in a hundred different ways in the suddenly accessible public sphere.

Smart networkers seem driven to express, to take on do-it-yourself projects, to advise others about everything from good products to good health. They cultivate a host of public identities, equally at ease with podcasting their favorite tunes and their favorite religious messages."

[Source: Institute for the Future, "2005 Ten-Year Forecast"]

Jane's & Mike's School

English Language School
Spot, Anthens

Shots in Portugal

Edson Athayde (Ogilvy), José Cabaço (W+K), Leandro Alvarez (TBWA), Pedro Magalhães (JWT), Alexandre Okada (Leo Burnett) amongst others talk about the advertising market in Portugal, its brazilian influence, etc.


[Via: Shots, n.90]

"Duracell. Pure Power."

- Ogilvy & Mather, New Dehli

"The Advertising Saturation Point"

"For every automobile, and maybe every product, there's a threshold beyond which your ad budget is wasted (...)

But what if there was an optimal level of advertising spend for any given product - beyond which the money was completely wasted?"


[Source: "The Advertising Saturation Point", Strategy + Business]

Neil French

"The answer to making an ad is always in the product, if you look for it. Our task is not just to find that answer though - it's to make the answer relevant to someone who, at present, doesn't give a shit about it. So first I look at the product and deconstruct it ... what Robin Wight used to call 'interrogating it until it confesses to its strenghts'."

[Source: "The Way I see it", Shots Magazine 90, Set 2005]

Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai

"Ariel. Don't let a stain ruin your day."

Shock to prevent

The shocking format is a common tactit usually used in prevention campaigns (diseases, accidents, etc). Nevertheless to use a simple video from a camera phone without the typical post-production as a TV advert, is a true novelty. And the effect is brutal and intense! Very "Blair Witch Project", lots of screams and blured images.


[Via: Observer Magazine]

The question!

Why don't the ad agencies take advantage of the remedy they prescribe to their clients? This is the question Al Ries poses in a recent Ad Age article.

"The only industry in America that doesn't believe in advertising is the advertising industry itself. Because they don't do any.
Well, hardly any. And certainly nothing like the volume of advertising they convince their clients to spend."

John Hegarty for example believes that: "The biggest problem for advertising agencies is none of them act as brands."

70 Years of Penguin

70 years of existence. 70 "short stories" to celebrate it.
(at £1.50 each, I bought a few myself)

BBDO, NY: "Sopranos"

How to promote with impact, low budget and effective
coverage the Sopranos series from HBO?


[Via: brainstorm]

Charlie Wonka

Unmissable!

I want one of these!

[Source: Protein OS | Via: Being Hunted]

Waiting for an extension

"The brands below have the best extension opportunities according to consumer perceptions."



[Source: Forbes]

TBWA Brazil

"iPod. More than 100.000 songs."

smashLAB, Vancouver

smashLAB: "Our creativity comes from inside."

The iDJ

The DJ's can now start forgetting the vinyl and the CD's ... or maybe not. One thing is for sure, this "little" gadget will make the wonders of every wanna-be home amateur DJ.

[Source: Numark]

JWT, London

Light? Only the name perhaps ...

Campaign from Mother, NY for Milwaukee's Best Light beer ... running on Playboy Magazine.

Paul Malmström, the Creative Director says:
"The Milwaukee's Best campaign celebrates real men who still act like men, and lets them know they haven't been forgotten. We wanted to take a modern turn on classic American beer advertising - the pinup poster - to create something that guys would love to hang up in their garages."

[Via: AdLand. Cheers Chaps!]

Agência e21, Brasil

"Child abuse. Stop staring."

The Procter (and Lever) way

Are P&G and Unilver ad-making formulas outdated?

The endless "copy and paste" editing of the offline footage, the piece-meal approach with the "problem-solution" demonstration ... are they still working?

As someone already stated: "the use of rational arguments makes us draw up conclusions; emotions makes us react, therefore ... decide a course of action.".

But every case depends on its context per se. And the debate between marketers, advertising people and neurologists is far from being closed.

"Isn't it totally amazing, as the kids might say, that Procter & Gamble, the world's largest advertiser, isn't sure whether emotional appeals or product demonstrations work best at driving sales?

And doesn't it also defy belief that there's confusion at P&G about who exactly is supposed to approve ads? Agencies apparently didn?t even know about its 5-year-old 'single-point-accountability' policy of naming and sticking with one decision-maker for each ad."

[Source: Adage | Via: MC Planner]

"Groupies love the ..."

The CoqRoq.com

[Needless to say who ... Crispin Porter + Bogusky]

Contrapunto Barcelona

"NBA is going on holidays"

"Pick Me"

"Pick Me" ----- is one of the most recent publications from the prestigious Adweek series.

It's written by Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk (Chief Creative Officers at Ogilvy Toronto a.k.a. Ask Jancy from the website "I Have an Idea").

"Pick me" includes contributions written by 12 industry pros including Neil French, Bob Scarpelli, Mike Hughes, Chuck Porter, David Droga and others.

One of the greatest strenghts and interesting things in this book is the diversity of subjects and index themes: "What's a good ad anyway?"; "Portfolio preparation"; "Awards. Yes, they matter"; "Brainstorming techniques"; "Account executives: They're people, too" ...

(this later chapter sounds promising!!)

"Pick Me" will be out on sale on September.

"Food for thought"

"I have a lot of trouble with your remote controls.
Too many arrows."

- Queen Elizabeth II to Sony CEO Howard Stringer, "on what could be improved on Sony products", ComputerWorld 6.24.05