Boston Over Labor Day Weekend

I'll be in Boston over Labor Day weekend (Saturday though Tuesday am).

Anyone in town? Meet up for a coffee or cocktail. Let me know.

Next Austin Likemind: Friday, 9/21

Be there or be square.

What: 2nd Official Austin Likemind
Where: Jo's Coffee on South Congress
When: Friday, 9/21
Why: b/c free coffee and good conversation are a must in life

On our way into a recession?

Are we on our way into a recession??? My very smart father-in-law (brilliant, even ski helmets don't fit his nuggin' - that's how smart he is!) thinks so.

Following snip it from AgencySpy...Earthlink lays off half its staff. Nationwide is dumping 39,000 policies in Florida. Interstate Bakeries Corp., the maker of Wonder bread and Hostess Twinkies, said it will exit the bread business in Southern California, cutting about 1300 jobs. General Mills is cutting 500 jobs. Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the consulting firm, said the U.S. financial industry has announced 87,962 job cuts this year, 75 percent more than in all of 2006. Monster.com cuts 800 jobs. Macy’s just wacked 650 jobs.

And today, stock exchanges fell on both sides of the Atlantic after reports Tuesday showed that consumers and companies alike said they were less confident in the economic outlook amid volatility in global financial markets.

Recession??

Sunscreen for your brain

PC Magazine shared a list of their top 100 undiscovered websites. Not sure how they classify "undiscovered" - if it's low site visits or newness or what but, they do list some pretty cool sites - some that I've never even heard of. Lumosity is my favorite so far of the 100 that I've visited to date.

Simply, Lumosity is sunscreen for your brain. A place to go work your brain muscle to keep in working at its optimal level. Just like you run to the gym after work to unwind and get those endorphins going...run to Lumosity for 15 minutes to get the blood flowing.


Based on the concept of neuroplasticity, Lumosity games and exercises are engineered to train and improve:
- memory
- attention
- processing speed
- cognitive control

The theory of neuroplasticity suggests that the brain has the ability to learn and physically adapt given appropriate stimuli. Lumosity provides this right stimuli. Pretty much your thinking, learning and acting skills can all change and improve by working on the brain muscle. There's a really interesting case study that the Dali Lama was involved in. More on that in another post as it's an interesting content for planning as well.

Feel Like a Teenager Again

There's not much positive that I can say about being a teenager, BUT the feeling of love as a teenager. It was awesome. It was all emotional. Not rational. A broken heart felt like a wound that would NEVER heal; and, being in love lasted always. It was so much more passionate (in that honest, innocent, pure way). And it's a feeling that one can relive by listening to the lyrics of some folksy singers like Matt Nathanson. His new cd dropped recently and I am telling you that it makes me feel (in that good way) 18 all over again. When love was incredible and painful and innocent and simple. Pretty much...it was simple back then. Close your eyes, listen to Sooner Surrender and relive those feelings...

Measuring Success Online - More than CTR

An interesting study was recently released suggesting the there is more to online metrics than CTR (click through rates). The study suggests that we should not only be measuring online success through CTR, but also through ad impressions. CTRs help determine explicit response (call to action) and ad impressions help determine implicit response (brand building). By applying traditional ideas about media impact (implicit and explicit response) to online banners, Chan Yun Yoo is helping us advertisers and clients think bigger picture about the role of the web – it’s not only a medium to drive quick response, but also a medium to develop brand impressions.

A good planner knows that the web is a complex beast that can play multiple roles in a brand's communication. It's our job to be able to pull out the right metrics to show the true story across the experience.

Planning for Good

Actions like this make me proud to be an account planner. Planners of the world, join this new social movement, Planning for Good, to do some good with our skill set. To talk the talk and walk the walk. Some very smart and innovative thinkers out there (yes you - Gareth, Piers, Aki, Mark, Jason and others) will be briefing planners via facebook on cause-oriented projects. So take an hour or so out of your day and stop working on whatever you're cleverly trying to sell to your consumer base and join the movement! See Gareth's site for more info or click here to go directly to facebook.

p.s. I guess the APG is good for something!

NOT Connection Planning

Wikipedia has a very bad definition of connection planning. "Connection Planning is the combination of account planning, media and creative thinking - the traditional silos of advertising. A connection planner combines all or some of these disciplines to approach the client’s communications challenges from an idea-neutral point of view. They don't just focus on people and media. They seek the best way to create meaningful relationships with people and utilizes any medium to do so."

This is not what Connection Planning is. Connection Planning originally was created as a disruption mechanism. Now, if you have uber-planners working on an account (uber-planners are account planners 2.0 - they look beyond the brand loyalist and brand and also embrace prospects, business bottom line responsibilities, and experience) it's main role is in new business and on a consultant basis. See my previous post on Connection Planning for more of my rambles on this topic.

Austin Likemind Update

Jo's Coffee. Thanks. Likemind Austin was good. 2 to start. Many had happy hour hang over. Slow Friday in the office.

Conversation topics ranged. From conversation architecture to creative briefs to the idea of merging media and acct planning (?!?!) to smaller, more nimble agencies within an agency to inspiration to tiredness to friday.

See you @ the next one. Jo's on 2nd.

Advertising Bible

All rise!

For this is the advertising bible. The cheat sheet everyday version of the bible to being awesome in our business. It's the philosophy in this book that is the guide to really being great - ways to create that ultimate winning and creative thinking mindset.

I highly recommend utilizing and practicing. One of my personal favorite teachings is the one that relates to winning "awards" in this industry.

If anyone else has a view on or experience with this little gem please do share.

First Austin Likemind

The first ever Austin, Texas likemind is about to happen! I can't believe it's taken this city so long.



August 17th, 8am @ Joe's Coffee on 2nd. Hope to see you there. Don't hesitate to email with questions: margaretmariani@gmail.com


pic: David Carlson

Connection Planning

In a former life I was a Connection Planner. Here's a quick viewpoint about what I think about Connection Planning. It's a disruption mechanism. It came about to get agencies to think about the consumer again (instead of primarily focusing on the brand and solely brand loyalist), it brought business results back to the forefront of the conversation (The first question every Connection Planner should ask is "How does my company make $$$?". Connection Planning brought focus to looking at the best prospects...looking at those who aren't contributing to your bottom line, but could and should....instead of just focusing on the traditional Account Planning brand loyalist.), it brought to the forefront identifying the consumer shopping experience (pre-trigger, trigger, during, purchase, post-purchase) and determined information channels that are effective across the moving walkway of the consumer experience to create one, holistic brand experience (not just the same look + feel, but an on-going brand dialogue with the consumer --> and not a brand dialogue that is solely around features and benefits....it's about the brand values and brand personality and f+b) AND lastly Connection Planning attributed ROI to marketing campaigns -- making ROI a conversation you have in advance of even writing a creative brief -- setting the groundrules up in advance and then evolving them with the campaign working along side what I lovingly like to call the troika (Account Planning, Connection Planning and Interactive Strategy) to make sure that we have all of the variables that we need tracked tracked so we can prove our value to our clients . Connection Planning made each of us in the industry set up to the plate -- pushed us to think about things from a different perspective and helped us all achieve better results for our clients.
. It's a chicken and egg scenerio - which came first??? Connection Planning or the need for Connection Planning? I say the need was the cause and the effect was the disruptive nature of Connection Planning. And, it worked because it got you all thinking a bit differently....a bit more holisicially (versus executionally)...a bit more collaboratively (versus siloed)....it worked.

Now, the question is: What is the role for Connection Planning now and into the future?

Trend Alert: Millenials Keen on the Stock Market

So, my sister who's 19 and is going to start her junior year at a university in Boston informed me about a new application for Facebook - a fantasy stock exchange that's run by Hedge Stop. You start off with $10 million in fantasy cash and you play the stock market any way you'd like.

This is a trend that I have been noticing for quite a little while now. With the popularity of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer amongst current undergrads to now this facebook application - it's a trend that's peaked my interest. Indiana University students even created their own original video invited Jim to come to their campus. There's something deeper here. Wonder were this interest in this age group is stemming from? Or if it's even a greater degree of interest or if this world of "new media"/"web 2.0" educated youth's fascination with the market is just more visible. Definitely a topic I'd like to address more in depth after a few hours of shut eye.

News at a Glance

News map is the most brillant way to get all of the latest top news stories at a glance. For us millenials with shorter attention spans and want of instant gratification this is a perfect solution. Color coded boxes with variations in text size make this truly a user friendly experience. Just click on the story to take a dive deep.

Simple Brilliance

David Armano & the Brians on Fire crew shared this new way of illustrating - simply and brilliantly - the life cycle of a fan. Between this and the Net Promoter Score my clients will have 2 easily digestible ways of understanding the conversation flow of turning a person into a loyalist.

The New Benz Site

Have you seen the new Mercedes Benz site? What a fantastic way to educate the consumer on product features. And in a way that's true to the core values of the brand and engages and entertains the consumer. A home run! Nice job, Agency Republic.

Sony Playdoh ... It's Almost Here

I can't wait!!!! Bravia Paint and Balls were awe-inspiring. Creatively and consumer wise. Have you seen the consumer response to the most recent Paint spot. So genuis. Sony/Fallon nice work! And thanks for inspiring me and help me remember part of why I love this biz so much. Simply Brilliant. Product Attribute: Color.

In the meantime, check out this tweeter if you're hungry like me to see Sony Brave Playdoh. Holding my breath...

Blip.TV

Blip.TV is so cool. It found a consumer need and is trying to fill it - need from individual content creators for a place to distribute their recurring original series.

Simply, Blip.TV is the vice versa of Joost. Where Joost distributes already produced content and puts TV shows on the web; Blip.TV levels the playing field a bit more for independent content creators and shares original shows online in hopes of making it onto the TV screen.

Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.TV, breaks down video sharing experiences into 3 buckets:
1) Viral Video
2) Friends and Family Sharing
3) Recurring Original Series

Viral Videos are the YouTube's of the world. These videos are primarily one-offs. Think Who Let the Dogs Out. Friends and family sharing, like Afiniti, where 12+ people are sharing wedding and vacation videos. And, Recurring Original Series is the sandbox that blip.tv is playing in. The companies goal is to support shows from independent content creators and to give them the tools that they need to succeed. For example, Blip.tv (which is still in Beta), acts as the sales & marketing department making a 50/50 profit split with the content creator. Wonder how many will bite for the 50/50 split and if the split is negotiable based on quality of content.

Britney: And You Wonder Why She's Crazy!

Can you imagine this is what your life is like? Every time you walk out of a restaurant, out of your office building, go shopping, at the airport...think you get my drift.

No other she went crazy.

FROM SANE

TO INSANE

Death of Marketing

It ain't dead. We've just got to have a clear and consistent spiel about what it is that we do. That will help us in the boardroom prove our value. How come all other departments have clear definitions and deliverables (aka: product offerings and consumer benefits)?

There's a good conversation on PSFK's idea of dropping the word "marketing" from the name of their LA conference. Jump in on the fun. What do you have to say?

Grant & Piers - thanks for initiating.

Trader Joe's and H&M - Why are you so distant from Austin?

Hi Trader Joe's,

I don't get it. Why don't you set up shop in Austin? Hello, it's a great economic area for you. Lots of health conscious college students. And bonus they love the whole foods type of living, but want it for a lower cost. Whole Foods is better known as Whole Paycheck around these parts. So, Trader Joe's and H&M's of the world tell us what's stopping you from profiting from us in the oasis of the Lone Star State?

Huh?

LLo - Just a place to get away from it all

Hi Linds,


I have an idea. Just take a week to be a normal 20-something. Come live the life of someone in the ad biz. With booze, with men, with fun, but not to the extreme. Something more normal. Good times with real, genuine people who aren't after your money. Put on a wig, bum out at my place, have a friend drive you around and just have a good time and stay out of the limelight. That's what you need. A shoulder to hang onto to for a little while you're trying to get out of this funk. It's so totally not cool what you did - drinking and driving only leads to bad things - but, we can, or at least I can totally relate. Seems like you need some real people in you life. People who aren't after celebrity fame or fortune...not money grubbers. Hope you can find that somewhere Linds, if not give me a call in the lone star state and we'll find that place.


peace,
gret

Client Polaroids

What a great idea!!! (I know I'm leading you to believe it's a great idea, but I really do think this has a ton of merit) We in the biz :) should take pics of our clients (every single client that we deal with at least on a monthly basis) and have stats about them like age, marital status, kids or no kids (how many and names), birthday, education on them. Think Polaroid picture with

notes on the bottom. That way we would know who we'd be talking to, who we'd be trying to persuade, who we're collaborating it. Account Management/Services of the world grab your camera and start taking client pictures!

I LOVE Starbucks!

It makes me sooo happy. Today is my birthday and I treated myself to a Skinney Cinnamon Dolce Sugar Free Light Whip Latte and it just put a smile on my face. The bustling noise of the crowd working and conversing inside the Starbucks (feel like that's what saloons back in the day must have felt like), to the barista chatting with me and calling me by my first name ("Hey Margaret, how's it going today?"), to the cleanly designed white cups with the cutest insightful messages (like The Way I See It #267). Starbucks thanks for making me smile. Raise your prices, I don't care. My frequency might change, but my loyalty will not. Ahhhh....yummmm...Starbucks...