The 2008 Account Planning was an amazing experience overall. The breadth and depth of knowledge in the room was overwhelmingly incredible. The fellow planners were nice, intriguing, and inspirational. While I cannot honestly sit here and tell you one thing in particular I specifically took away from this experience (and yes, I would call it an experience, not just a conference), I can tell you that I have learned to think in different ways, think ahead and embrace change.
There seemed to be two themes to the conference: simple, as well as the thought of, “from concept to content and back again”. There was also plenty of mention of the importance of actively engaging your consumers with your brands.
Tom Caroll, CEO of TBWA and AAAA Board of Directors referred to planners as “cultural arbiters” that should have simple, original thinking. We need to keep refining, keep experiencing, and keep moving forward with our brands.”
For Tom Carroll, the means to that end is relatively simple: “There’s no substitute for being out in the market. Planners need to get back into the market - touching people and touching things. Original thinking happens on beer trucks and in fast-food restaurants. The blood is in the market."
I was also fortunate enough to experience a sense of massive “planning comradery” that makes me excited to be a planner. Suzanne Powers, Worldwide Strategy Director of TBWA had said to us, “The greatest thing that you will take away from this conference is the conversations that you will have with one another...these conversations will be priceless”. I found this to be very true as some of the conversations I had I will take with me for a very long time.
Jeffrey Rayport, Strategy Expert, Author, And Former Harvard "B" School Professor
Jeffrey Rayport, founder/chairman of Marketplace LLC, a Cambridge, MA-based strategic-advisory business started off the event by giving us a brief background of the online world and where we stand presently.
In the 90’s - it was about just getting online. In the early 2000’s - web entered the mix. In 2008-Digital enables broadband.
We have witnessed enormous changes over a decade of living with digital. We are now living in an online word of amateur content, viral videos, re-purposed advertising & brand interaction.
He tracked the maturation of the web with a handy list of easily referenced digital entries.
Amateur Content: “I Kiss You” (1997–98)
Viral Viewers: Star Wars Kid (the most downloaded video of the male species, with the current You Tube count approaching 600 million)
He also touched on the subject of changes in the way we access information (new devices and new uses of old devices). Also mentioned was how connectivity is everywhere (more than half the U.S. population is “always on”—engaged in some sort of media exposure, 24/7). He noted as well that social networks are reality (new context for content).
He then shared with us the "5 hypotheses for how we create value":
1) Target the core: overwhelm the Microcosm-deliver a commanding but focused abundance of content, tools and services . -Examples are celebrity sites like Gawker, TMZ, Toyota Scion
2) Activate the community: Ensure membership has its rewards-forge communities of conviction based on location, identity, interest and condition. -Just an implication of a community or social connectivity is appealing. -Communities affiliate around 4 dimensions-location, identity, interest and condition. -Examples included Yelp (location), cafemom (identity), corkd.com (interest), the know (condition)
3) Work the web: let the outside in and let the inside out. Adopt “open source” thinking as an aggregator. -Sites can generate massive traffic by allowing other sites to link to their own content. -60% of YouTube’s streams are viewed on 3rd party sites.
4) Design for occasion: Tailor each interaction to its form factor-customize online content -Apple and Starbucks are very good examples of this -Consumer engagement rises when content is optimized for specific usage occasions
5) Integrate the experience - For example, ESPN provides ESPN.com, mobile ESPN, and ESPNHD. - Apple retail stores have the Genius Bar and generate $5,000/square foot. John Anton, Marketing director of Mars Petcare
John Anton, Marketing Director of Mars Petcare, whose portfolio of brands includes Pedigree dog food, started off with a planner’s brief. He informed us that there are 75 million dogs in the country; 65 percent of dog owners include their pups in family pictures and another 16 percent throw their dogs birthday parties.
However, Pedigree’s “Adoption Drive” effort starts with two sad facts: there are four million dogs in animal shelters and only two million will make it into a new home. This is where we all got the chance to “meet” Echo.
On the bright side, over 14,000 television viewers called Pedigree to offer to adopt Echo. We were then shown the spot “Echo Gets Adopted”, where Echo is shown happily running around his new home. This was the whole point-allowing dog lovers to share the joy of a homeless dog being adopted.
Pedigree’s planning brief had encouraged parent Mars to tap into the group of loyal family-picture-taking, birthday-celebrating lovers and to rebuild the brand around a “Help Us Help Dogs” multi-media platform.
“We aren’t just selling dog food, we’re selling an emotional connection,” Gamgort explained.
Pedigree payed attention to detail —For the first time ever the dog food packaging was shown with the dog at eye-level. Gambort said this is because “When people first meet a dog, they get on their hands and knees and this is how they see them. This strategy helped generate 3.5 million in donations to animal rescue organizations.
Sales have seen a double-digit increase every year since it first began in 2005.
He taught us the importance of raising awareness, encouraging participation with your brand, and embracing advocacy.
Planning And Politics
Political consultant and strategist, Alex Castellanos, talked about a few common points between political campaigning and advertising.
Sell a Product v. Create a Cause: It gives consumers a chance to vote for a purpose greater than themselves.
The Law of Car Keys: Consumers ask both brands and candidates, "Where are you going to take me?" "Who are you?" "Can I trust you?" A consumer won't buy your brand or promise if values, motives, and interests are not aligned.
Your Brand Is a Candidate: You shouldn't try to sell your customer a Ford when it's clear he wants a Toyota. Politicians and marketers need to do the homework to discover if they're a problem or a solution for their target audience. And that tracks back to brand character, just as in politics it reflects the character of the candidate.
Castellanos states, "We are fighting for the same thing in different worlds".
John Winsor (Crispin's vice president/executive director of strategy & product development) and Colin Drummond (vice president/director of cultural and business insights) lead the discussion. They started the discussion by stating that "Most of us begin with communications to create an artificial wrapper. The most powerful experiences/connections begin with the product (and then culture can be tweaked around it). We need to open up minds about what the product actually is. More and more, the best ideas push toward product itself: they ARE the product."
There are a few levers to activate the power of the product: 1) Create a holistic view between the agency, your customer and your product. (Don't get locked into a category and never lose the perspective of how a brand operates in a larger culture).
Example: Burger King leaps into X-Box with product-specific games, that's "putting the brand in the culture," as Winsor explains. And creating a new profit center for BK.
2) Look outside your category (Offer an alternative to traditional advertising that will create a conversation with the consumer). In the below example of a Jetta ad, they went beyond the traditional "families" in car accidents concept. They made the point that accidents happen to everyone, even just two friends on their way somewhere.
Example: Jetta's "Safe Happens"
3) Know your customers better than they know themselves (People generally operate within a set of familiar practices. Anthropologists can help unlock other patterns of behavior that actually make more sense).
Ex) Twist sponge targeted to those who are enthusiastic about doing dishes 4) Make the new familiar
Ex) Urban B-Cycle program encourages people to abandon their cars for bicycles. B stands are placed outdoors for people to just pick up a B-Cycle and drop off at another location.
5) Empower customers to co-create with you (Look for specific occasions to create dialogues).
Example: BK's Whopper Freakout
6) Mine your past to create new relevance (There is a wealth of goods in old brands.Creativity is the ultimate business weapon…. If you ground your idea in sound strategy then you can change everything overnight).
EX) Volkswagon's Golf was failing, so they brought back the rabbit once they found out there was still enthusiasm behind it.
The Power Of Awful Insights
In his breakout session, Michael Fanuele, Euro RSCG Worldwide talked about the half truths of marketing. “The enemy of great marketing is half truths”, he said. He informed us, “Do not deny your shadows”, or brand shadows that is. If there is a negative side to your brand, don’t be afraid to embrace it.
In one example he gave us, this brand “flirted” with their shadows. Crocs are typically seen as shoes that people make fun of, or younger generations are embarrassed when their parents wear them. Crocs took this “shadow” and made fun of it in an imaginative, or “flirty” way.
Ask yourself: What sucks about your brand? Create honest insights. These insights help us create deep connections.
The first enemy of insight: observation
Observation: Grass stains are hard to get out. Insight: The kids had a great day outside.
Observation: People are reluctant to throw out old furniture. Insight: People develop irrational, emotional attachments to furniture
Ex) An Ikea commercial was developed based on this insight
Tip: Play. Have fun. Screw around.
Tip: Forget they’re consumers. Talk to them like they are people.
Tip: Look at them…look at their behavior
Tip: Hunt for tension. Find conflict. AND love it.
Tip: Don’t be a journalist, be a comedian and express yourself dramatically.
The way we express half truth can become a whole truth if done with imagination and power.
Ex) Nud & Rye razor: Half truth: Clean shaven guys are attractive. Whole truth: Hairy guys are creepy!
See the commercial that expresses this whole truth here.
Coping With The New Realities of Creative Briefing
In his breakout session, Stephen Walker of Headmint gave us 10 pointers on creative briefing for today's campaigns - recognizing that there is a new reality out there in the world of communications development and this has to be recognized when writing briefs and briefing.
1. Brand is verb
Brands are strategically so much more than simply their product. He called it 'Cultural Doism'. Ask yourself: what could this brand help people to do in their lives?
2. Stop defining, start positioning
Brand essence does not equal Brand Positioning - the latter will only last as long as it is different and relevant. Stephen believes that planning's job is to position brands, not to define them.
3. Different briefs, different roles
He believes there are two different kinds of briefs. The first kind of brief is for setting a course, a position for people to rally round, get consensus and be a fixed point. The second kind of brief is an ongoing process - the integrated marketing brief for setting sail and moving things forward.
4. Briefing for an integrated campaign describes the when where how and why of an idea
A tool that he recommends is their adaptation of Stephen King's Consumer Buying System, to plot all the decisions a customer makes on the path to purchase. You can even make a video of it to bring it to life and use it to brief your creative teams. Think about what 'arouses' them and their moods and decisions along the way.
5. A competitor's brand image probably isn't your biggest competition It is usually a good idea to go places where your competition is not. And you can also depict that space by summarizing a brief visually. He gave an example of a brief depicted with pictures to explain differences between two brands.
6. Integration of the idea separates media planning and connections planning In other words, what is being said and where and how it is being said is conceptually connected. The medium enhances the message. He gave an example of a toothbrush ad on a New York subway and asked, “Well, what is the connection between brushing your teeth and riding the Subway?”
7. Get an agreed way of defining the core idea to integrate around
Have a formalized definition or clear-cut way of defining what they mean by a 'big idea', or 'great creative', or what its key components are.
8. A consumer focused view of media and their benefits
Defined as a 'do' view of media. Where we put the message will impact on how that message is interpreted. Consumers can select where they see you, and interpret your brand in different ways accordingly. 9. Briefing for content means briefing for media
Brands are going to be media. Certain brands become cultural icons and that gives them a certain magnetic appeal, making them desirable in other formats - the Apple Suite in the Tribeca Hotel was one example. Figure out at what points during the day consumers are spending time with your brand - e.g. breakfast with Kelloggs. Don't just think about the time spent with the brand, but also the time spent with the idea of the brand.
10. The need for the provision of high quality briefs is higher than ever before
Digital creative people want something different from Design creative people. As things get more complex, the need for simplification is growing. In a world of co-creation and letting consumers plan and create their own media, you have to let go of the steering wheel. But you need to be very careful that they do not drive you straight into a brick wall.
The 2008 Account Planning was an amazing experience overall. The breadth and depth of knowledge in the room was overwhelmingly incredible. The fellow planners were nice, intriguing, and inspirational. While I cannot honestly sit here and tell you one thing in particular I specifically took away from this experience (and yes, I would call it an experience, not just a conference), I can tell you that I have learned to think in different ways, think ahead and embrace change.
Tom Caroll, CEO of TBWA and AAAA Board of Directors referred to planners as “cultural arbiters” that should have simple, original thinking. We need to keep refining, keep experiencing, and keep moving forward with our brands.”
I was also fortunate enough to experience a sense of massive “planning comradery” that makes me excited to be a planner. Suzanne Powers, Worldwide Strategy Director of TBWA had said to us, “The greatest thing that you will take away from this conference is the conversations that you will have with one another...these conversations will be priceless”. I found this to be very true as some of the conversations I had I will take with me for a very long time.
