Egos in Advertising

The Ego Epidemic in advertising is ridiculous. This is one industry - probably because it's idea driven - that is high on ego and self-rightesness.

How many times do people take credit for someone else's idea? How many times do people add in comments to briefs/in a client meeting just because they want to be heard? How many times are people wrong and just don't say "Oops, didn't mean to do that?"

I'm in the account planning field and I am so sick of watching planners walking around all high and mighty. Like they are some kind of magical wizards that have all the wisdom and answers. Little do they like to admit that without the creative department they would be nothing. Nada. Hear that. Planning should inspire the creatives not be nit-pickers on briefs and wheels in a larger cog.

The greatest planners of all time are those that are genuine and not full of themselves. These are the ones that creatives take to, want to work with and go seek out for input. Those other planners out there - you know if you're one of them - are just wheels in the cog.

CALL TO ARMS. SAVE THE BRANDS.

Alert! Read Immediately and Pass Along to All Caring Citizens of the World.

BRANDS ARE BEING SILENCED

Brands have personalities and marketers are silencing their voice, emotions and behaviors. Bad people are trying to make many brands of the world act and say things that aren't authentic to the brand's spirit - in effect, suffocating them. We must join forces to help give brands back their voice!

This is serious stuff. Before we know it, all brands will be extinct. They will be killed off by greedy marketers who only care about the bottom line and NOT the consumer experience. Brands will be commoditized into just being products with features with NO authentic brand personality or voice. They will be contrived. Just like robots.

Is this what you want? Is this the kind of world you envision your children living in? One without the joy of counting on a Fred water in your time of dryness or refreshing your home with a pump of Method cleaning soap! These are 2 brands that have honorable protectors and I call on them and other caring citizens to help raise the awareness of this serious national crisis.

The time is now.

I'm calling on all good people of the world to help me on this new mission to help Save The Brands. Pandas and redwoods are not the only things worth saving. So are the Saabs, AOLs, Jaguars, Gaps and Dells of the world.

Consumers - we must join together and make these marketers aware that brands are worth preserving and saving just like the pandas of the world or our national parks. Brands are like people and they deserve to live happily and, in today's day and age, a little more freely. Give them back their personalities and let them breathe! Stop suffocating them by making them feature heavy. They are more than just features. They have real, emotional benefits to offer us, the consumers of the world. Brands have authentic personalities and they can make you smile, cry, scream, feel comforted. And now, more than ever - they need our help!!!

If you have a great brand, marketing it becomes easy and obvious. The brand's personality will lead you to the right distribution channels, the right marketing channels, the right tonality and the right messaging at the right times.

In the next few weeks I will start activating this movement and I am calling on you, good people of the websphere - and specifically, you, Mr./Ms. Brand Planner - to join the movement. Stay posted, spread the Save The Brands Movement to other concerned citizens and get prepared to join the crusade!

Visit SavetheBrands.org in the near future to make your mark on the world and help the brands regain their voice and actions.

Death of Planning

Came across this quote (actually a response to an adliterate blog: Are brand ideas too big for advertising) by Sir Winston and man is his thinking dead on:


“Planning is, these days at least, an utterly futile activity (and a very dull career). The instructive paradox is this: the brands that planners really admire (Innocent, Apple, Nike, Starbucks) do not and have never needed Planners to tell them what they're about. And the brands that Planners actually get to work on (the Vodafones, HSBCs, and BTs of the world) do not and will never care about any of this high-falutin' brand stuff anyway. So if you want to work on a cool brand, go and create one. Or, as a second best, work for one. But don't 'Plan' on one or hope you that you will have any real affect on the brand you Plan for. It is a (admittedly frequently amusing and entertaining) waste of time.”


That's why hearing Adam Gayner, inventor of Fred water, speak at this year's PSFK Conference in LA was absolutely inspirational. Passionate planners want to make a difference. They see opportunity where others just see research data or focus groups (gosh do I abhor the idea of focus groups - the enviornment is just so fabricated). They believe in the brand and the difference the brand can make in the world. The feel the emotions the brand can bring to consumers (joy, pain, nostaligia, confidence, friendship). Passionate planners go beyond the research or trending aspects of their gigs and desire to make a difference with their brand leading the way.

Sadly, Sir Winston isn't really off. Too many times, marketers don't understand the power and role of their brand and instead diminish it or mute it. And planners either fight for what's right or just become another cog in the machine.

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!

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.

Principals of Method Planning

I recently came across this approach to strategic planning. It's a pretty good way of putting some structure around activities that we planners do on a daily basis. The inspiration for this thought process comes from method acting. Pretty cool...

Principals of Method Planning:

1) Be your target group. Dress like them, act like them, go where they go, listen what they listen to, eat what they eat, watch what they watch, read what they read...you get my point.

2) Determine your brand's utility angle. How does/could your brand improve one's life? How does it help or benefit the consumer?

3) Identify the consumer's experience with the category and your brand. The WHOLE experience: Pre-shopping, trigger, during the shopping process, purchase, post-purchase. Then illustrate the length of time the consumer typically spends in each of the different phases of the experience, their evolving mindset, touchpoints & sources of influence.

4) Spend at least a day with your target. Shadowing is a great exploratory method for this.

5) Join the same online networks, forums, hangouts as your target group. Share in their passion. But, be genuine with your participation. Don't sell them on anything. Trust me on this. I worked on Polaris (a power sports company) and frequented many online forums on snowmobiling, motorcycling and atving to learn directly from the source and our target didn't mind in me joining in the fun as long as I was there to learn and share in the fun and not to sell and ruin their sanctuary.

6) Uncover the target's passions, opinions and thoughts on the state of the world.

7) Listen. Join in their watercooler conversation, but do more listening than talking.

8) Become an Internet Zeitgeist. Dig around and find insights in the Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Del.ico.us, Stumbleupon sites of the world. The first thing I do whenever I start working on a new brand is such as The American Legacy Foundation is poke around YouTube. I go on to seek out consumer videos on the target group, category or brand that I just started working on. You could be astonished by what you can find on YouTube. I recently learned so much about smoking, why and how people started smoking, how they are planning to quit, why they've decided to quit, and what drives them to keep relapsing.

9) Prototype the product/service/idea/communication. Ask for the consumer's feedback in a natural setting. Not under the hot, sterile lights of a focus group facility.

10) Ask "What if" and let it guide the conversation.