• No Rubbernecking. Avoid the Marketing Technology Collision.

    May 28th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    There is a constant collision happening every day in marketing. It's the collision between marketing and corporate IT.

    And those constant collisions create a bottleneck for innovation, speed to market and adaptive marketing.

    Today's marketing is more than just strategy and creative. It also involves technology and the utilization of technology to deliver a marketing message. It's not just about being innovative, but leveraging innovation as an early adopter or first-mover.

    And that's where the tension happens.

    Think about the tension points: marketing is about agility. IT is about consistency. Marketing is about innovating and taking risks. IT is about stability and mitigating risks. Marketing is about shifting and adapting. IT is about consistency and policy.

    A bigger question to ask is who owns marketing innovation via technology within a company today? If you ask, many will answer the final decision lies within the IT team.

    And that is where the problem lies. Marketing technology decisions should not just be made by IT, as it should be a collaborative business decision that is led and driven by the CMO.

    With growth and progression comes change. And a change in the decision making process is what's needed. Today's innovative marketing campaigns should no longer be limited by current-to-outdated IT policies and procedures. And with today's technology of APIs, web services, SaaS, PaaS, and open-source social, web and ecommerce platforms, they no longer have to be.

    I've worked alongside some amazing IT teams over the years and found the common factor each team had was the ability to adapt their policies and procedures to implement and support new marketing innovations and technologies. Rather than just providing marketing teams and external agency/development partners with a list of functional requirements, they instead partnered with the marketing teams to help provide immediate solutions.

    It's no coincidence these companies have become leaders in the use of marketing technology and have increased market share in their given categories.

    But not all companies have this advantage. And marketers have to understand their culpability by advancing their expertise in understanding technology. Develop a passion for understanding software development. Understand how to lead, drive and push the IT group when it comes to marketing technology and innovation. And understand how technical platform decisions affect not just their marketing business, but their overall business when it comes to omni-channel revenue, ROI and a multi-device consumer experience.

    Marketing technology can no longer be a decision made by a separate team within the organization. Marketing technology now has a direct impact on the success of your marketing programs, your consumer experience, and your brand itself.

    Gene Paek is the principal of Ideate Digital, a digital collaboration service that partners with marketing agencies and companies to lead them in the digital marketing space by unifying strategy, creative and technology together. Connect with him: gpaek@ideatedigital.com or Twitter @gpaek.

  • Dear Jr Creative, Earn Your Place. You’ll Be Better For It.

    May 21st, 2013 / Comments (2)

    Dear Jr Creative,

    I’m a firm believer in earning your keep, starting from the bottom, doing the less than desirable well, before moving up.

    Prove yourself on what seemingly matters little, and people will notice. I promise.

    At the very least, I promise I’ll notice. Because it’s the unorthodox grind of a route I took.

    I was a rich kid from the suburbs. I was embarrassed by it. I hated it. It was a 90’s thing.

    In High School, and in Gen-X “rebellion” against my white collar family, I worked for the Las Vegas Water District doing underground construction.

    I dug ditches and changed water lines during the Vegas Summer for 8 dollars an hour. Not desirable work. And the guys I worked with could smell the rich kid on me. They busted my balls mercilessly for it.

    I dug the shit out of those ditches. I loved it. I used my hands. I used heavy machinery and pneumatic tools—I drove a dump truck (which is awesome by the way).

    All I wanted was the respect of these old guys changing water lines in the desert. Dudes that worked so fucking hard. For so fucking little. To feed their families; their addictions; their gambling debts.

    Eventually, I’d earned a bit of respect.

    I worked hard…”for a skinny rich kid.”

    One day I mentioned to the crew lead: “Fuck it. I like this. Why not full time?”.

    He pulled the truck over to the shoulder of a mountain road, heading North towards Mt. Charleston, looked deep into my face, “Every single one of us would give the world NOT to be here. Stop your blue collar charade. Go to school like you’re supposed to. Get out of this shit.”

    So I did.

    That was my last of three summers working for the water district.

    I went to school for business. Marketing & Advertising to be exact. Which, aside from teaching me some business basics, really just help develop my aptness for bullshit.

    Luckily for me, somewhere along the line, I learned a real skill and about this thing called the “Internet.” It was a place I could upload the photos I was taking (and developing in a darkroom, btw). I learned some Photoshop and HTML skills because of it. Eventually, I started freelancing: horrible graphic design and web work. Whatever I could get—fucking rave fliers, man. I just wanted to learn. The beer money was the gravy on top.

    My first “real” job out of college was resizing graphics for an eCommerce company. I showed up for the interview on my skateboard, handed the HR lady my resume and said, “I’ll take anything. I know Photoshop. Here’s my book.” I didn’t even know what a “designer” was. But that’s why I was there. And by no means was I a designer; Photoshop monkey…maybe.

    Ninety people had been laid off a month prior to me being brought on. I was the first hire after those layoffs and in the eyes of everybody…I was “that guy…”

    I was at the bottom of the totem pole. Where I belonged.

    The only thing I had going for me was a fear of “sucking.” And for the record, I sucked. (Certainly compared to the kids I see today).

    “…good enough to resize graphics” was what I overheard the Creative Director say, just around the corner.

    So I resized graphics. I resized the shit out of graphics, learning to code HTML along the way. I unlearned what I learned in business school. And learned…business. I developed site and page concepts for fun. Always showing my boss. Wanting critique. Always trying to get better. People noticed. He noticed. I gained more and more responsibility and more importantly, trust. Never begging for more money. Just wanting to do more work, better work.

    To not suck.

    Eventually, I took over as Creative Lead. I redesigned both KBToys.com and eToys.com. Enterprise level eCommerce stuff. Real businesses, making real money. I thought the designs were pretty damn good for the early 00’s. Some of the first .com’s to switch to 1024x768. We won some eCom industry awards. It moved product. I thought I was hot shit.

    I was far from it.

    Fast forward a decade and I’m blown away by the level of talent that’s out there. Kids today come out of school with so much fucking skill it’s crazy. But with all of that skill, in so many, there is equal-to-more parts hubris. An entitled attitude that seems to expect everything for nothing.

    Somewhere, along the lines, we (everyone) got sensitive. We started giving trophies for last place. People forgot how to take criticism. We started (and continue) to want to spare people from the realities of what it really takes. Close counts. Thanks for trying. Better luck next time—even worse—Fail Harder.

    I hate this phrase more than anything.

    “Fail Harder” is a manifesto for the delusional, the lazy—the lotto dreamer.

    Celebrating failure is a cop out. Be pissed that you fucked up—when you lose. And know why.

    Fail “Smarter” maybe. But failing hard is for losers.

    Industry-wise, we covet the idea. Not its realization, it’s viability.

    “I want to be an AD. But I don’t write and I don’t design. I’m an idea guy”

    “No, no, no, i’m a UX guy. I don’t do wires and I don’t do finished design. I just explore interaction concepts.”

    “I want to be a CD. But I don’t like talking with clients.”

    “My new Web 3.0 business concept doesn’t have a revenue model—it’s like Instagram but with animated gifs of kittens.”

    Ideation in a clientless vacuum; devoid the realities of real life (inside an agency or any company for that matter). Feasibility. Budgets. Client bureaucracies. The fact is that big ideas take time to sell. They die. They have to be reborn. And that it’s your role to breath the life back in. But only if you really give a shit.

    The “idea” is the tip of a gigantic, shit stained iceberg of work. And if you aren’t ready for what it takes, or worse, you think “that it’s someone else’s job” to push your idea from ether to reality—reconsider your profession.

    My advice is simple: don’t be the entitled kid. The kid who over indexes in ambition but lacks any real passion—any real drive other than a new title at a new agency.

    Be the kid who wants to learn even when he doesn’t have to—the designer who wants to learn to write, to code, to understand business because it makes the design better.

    Don’t be an industry douche. They call themselves ninjas or gurus…even evangelists. They’re the ones who will tell you, to your face, that they are smarter than the other guy. They’re the ones who have stopped reading by now.

    Don’t be the kid who hops around. Don’t be the kid, who, when given the chance, will opt for the bare minimum. Who scoffs at perspective. The kid who will jeopardize the team to spare his fragile ego. The kid, who, when faced with a situation that gets difficult, says “I’m too good for this kind of work. I deserve better.”

    Nobody deserves shit. Until you do. And even then, never admit it.

    I’m now the old guy. I get it…

    I’m not saying you need to go out and work construction. But it’s good to know where you don’t want to be. And understand why.

    I know I don’t want to resize graphics anymore. Why? Well…because it sucks.

    But I’ll still dig the shit out of a ditch.

    - Dave

    I should note, that my teen “rebellion” against my Father was laughably ironic. My dad was blue collar. A cowboy who changed tires on big rigs before finishing college and becoming who he is today.

    Behind my teen angst, unbeknownst to me all that time, I was trying to be just like him.

    What a silly little rich kid.

    David Snyder is Executive Creative Director at Firstborn. Living in Brooklyn. He likes progressive thought, design and technology. He eats and libates well. This editorial original posted on Medium.

  • Agency Insider: Moosylvania

    May 16th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Company Name:
    Moosylvania

    Year Founded:
    2003

    Physical Location:
    7303 Marietta Ave.
    St. Louis, MO 63143

    Online Location:
    Website: www.moosylvania.com
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/moosylvania
    Twitter: @Moosylvania

    Company Philosophy:
    Continue to build and foster open-dialogue and collaboration across all disciplines and between all people, to better establish our brands, incorporate design, and to successfully integrate digital, retail, and experiential programs.

    Client List:
    Universal Studios, Grey Goose, Capital One, Sapporo, Pay Pal, Enterprise Car Share, Bacardi, Martini, Cohiba, and others.

    Personnel Count:
    103

    Best Achievements from Last Year:

    Our advertising and shopper marketing services utilize the collaborative team of more than 100 in-house professionals including user experience designers, creative and account teams, developers, social media community managers, digital analysts, experiential marketers, media planing and buying and experiential execution. Our globally ranked research facility provides the ability to study usability and identify new trends in the market. We recently fielded a national study of 1,800 smart phone users determining trends and significant changes in mobile shopping behavior which was noted in Harvard Business Review other national publications.

    3 Things The World Doesn't Know About Moose That It Should:

    1. The Moosylvania Embassy is one of the most unique work spaces in the Midwest.

    2. Each year Moosylvania employees support some wonderful charitable organizations, such as Friends of Wings (see friendsofwings.org, Events/Project Flutter).

    3. Boomer is high up on the org chart. Contact@moosylvania.com to set up an appointment to meet Boomer.

    Our Space







    Our Work

    Sapporo – Sapporo Last summer Sapporo partnered with Loyal Dean Longboards to create custom longboards. Not only was Loyal Dean's commitment to craftsmanship the perfect fit for Sapporo, the partnership immediately gave Sapporo credibility in the community. Loyal Dean uses a proprietary process to custom assemble each longboard deck out of natural wood so these pieces are beautiful and sought after. Sapporo gave consumers the chance to win these custom, limited edition longboards through out the summer months.


    Snow White – After months of tinkering with games and toiling over spells, Moosylvania and Universal Studios launched Snow White & the Huntsman Conquer the Kingdom, an Internet promotion website on August 31st. Through this labor of love, we discovered that as a web development agency, our developers rarely say anything is impossible, and as a result, these exclusive games are truly one-of-a-kind.

  • Strategizing is for Prom Queens

    April 30th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    I hear the word “strategy” thrown on just about everything. Like rhinestones on a South-Texas-prom-queen’s dress, “strategy” is too often a cheap and easy bedazzle on everything from PowerPoint slides, to someone’s superfluous commentary in a meeting that is already running too long with too many attendees. Anymore, in my day-to-day, Strategy is quite the loose little buzzword.

    Often, it is a noun, as in “brand strategy” or “I am a strategist." Sometimes it is an adjective, as in “strategic vision” or “strategic insights." Also, as an adverb, such as “strategically developed” or “strategically placed.” And let's not forget it as a verb, as in “strategize” (which for the record, makes me want to punch the speaker in the nose every time I hear it).

    And that isn’t to say that I don’t use the word often myself. But I used to accept the word at what I believed was its face value — a sense of something great and purposeful. A sense that when I heard “strategy” — I knew we were talking about the key to winning whatever was at stake, the secret sauce critical to achieving the mission. I knew we’d be talking about something tangible, and most importantly — something actionable. (Strategy is, by definition, a military term that, in a nutshell, means using your brains and your guts to not only stack the odds in your favor, but empower you to make the right decisions when confronted with any obstacle.)

    Now, given the bedazzling trend, I’ve made it my personal charge to pay much closer attention when the word “strategy” is presented. Analyzing it quietly in my head, from every angle. Challenging my own application of it constantly. Because the real disturbing trend, is not that the word gets overused, but rather that the very concept of strategy has become a crutch. A well disguised excuse NOT to act. An exercise in lengthy requirements-gathering to plan for problems and scenarios that don’t yet exist. A perceived need to create a long list of tasks for what should happen in the future, when instead we should be driving for real feedback via iterative launches in the present. I see terms like “strategic goals” and “strategic vision” plastered across PowerPoint slides, and the actual bullet points associated with most of these goals and visions, amount to little more than minute tactics positioned as passive options to explore. Presented in the context of “we are working on,” or “working toward,” or “think there is great opportunity within this area.”

    And with that lack of conviction, certainty, drive — fucking nothing can be won. It’s all a lot of bling with very little bang.

    So here is what I'm really driving at — let's all of us in the industry be more thoughtful with strategy. That when creating, executing, presenting or thinking about strategy in any context, let’s be critical of ourselves, of our interpretation of strategy and when/how/why it matters or is applied. As an example, do we sometimes create formality where it isn’t warranted — like laboring over a “social media strategy,” when maybe all we really need is to just be social? Or when our strategy feels like it is a moving target, and people struggle with how to articulate it — should we check our premises? Are there assumptions at play that have been driving a weak, obtuse strategy? And if the goals are ill-defined, then no amount of “strategic planning” is going to get us anywhere, even if we wrap that anemic goal in a shiny label called “strategic vision.”

    Diamonds are a girl's best friend for a reason — because they have real value. The real, lasts-for-a-100-years-and-cut-glass kind of value. Fortunately, making sure your strategy has actual value is really pretty simple — just ask yourself, is your strategy something your team can:

    • Articulate without a slide in front of them?
    • Apply in any given situation?
    • Execute against to deliver desired results?
    • Feel empowered and confident in so doing?

    This piece is cross-posted from The BRAT Blog from The Aha Method — a company that coaches teams around a better working dynamic.

  • "No Gays Please, We're Advertising."

    April 22nd, 2013 / Comments (4)

    Advertising is a pretty progressive industry. We like to think of ourselves as an enlightened bunch. Some of our best friends are gay. Hell – some people in advertising are actually gay. Seriously. And yet, we all seem reluctant or incapable of portraying same-sex lifestyles in our work.

    There are gay creatives, planners, producers, directors, clients and actors. And yet in adland, it seems gays don’t need mortgages, don’t drive cars, brush their teeth, play bingo or use low-fat spreads as part of a calorie-controlled diet.

    There’s no question we should include ethnic minorities in our advertising. Who would even dream of digging their heels in to preserve an all-Aryan cast? We’ll feature empowered women. Strong-willed kids. And moonwalking Shetlands. But where’s even the token homosexual? They can’t all be at G.A.Y. screaming for a Kylie encore – or in hiding, surreptitiously unpicking the very fabric of our society.

    Did Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s child-catcher change tack and start prowling the streets playing Barbara Streisand from a float pulled by French bulldogs, loaded with rainbows and glitterballs?

    Dropping the G-Bomb

    Benetton have deliberately courted controversy over the years – some executions playing ‘agent provocateur’ with same-sex relationships as their political football. But why can’t gays feature in ads because they’re normal consumers who just happen not to be heterosexual?

    Look, it wouldn’t take much to stand out a mile in the UK straight-acting ad-scene. Feature gays. Leading normal lives. Arguing over dog food, trying out sofas, comparing their car insurance, living out their later years with a private pension.

    Ikea ran the first gay commercial ever aired on US television in 1994. It ran for a few weeks until there was a bomb threat at one of their stores and was subsequently pulled. Have we moved on since then?

    It must seem alien for gays to see themselves represented in TV shows and films but have their very existence given the cold shoulder when the ad break arrives. The few examples I’ve seen just use homosexuality as the rug-pull, the reveal, the joke. “Oh I get it, she’s actually a lesbian.” Gag, packshot, endline. Cheap.

    JC Penney vs One Million Moms

    JC Penney in the US used Ellen deGeneres to front their campaign which led to a storm of protest spearheaded by a Christian group calling themselves One Million Moms. They wrote, “By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years.”

    So far, so predictable. But two silver linings emerged:

    1: One Million turned to be a tiny fraction of that figure.
    2: The backlash spawned its own backlash. The #StandUpForEllen campaign gained 50,000 signatures almost overnight and helped prompt JC Penney to er… ‘come out’ and say Ellen was their perfect brand ambassador.

    In that distant land called real life, gay marriage is here. The Prime Minister – a Tory – is pushing for more rights for gays. And who’s to say he’s wrong?

    Guinness made an infamous commercial portraying a gay couple back in 1995. It was ready to run, word got out, people were up in arms, the world was clearly going to end and the client lost their nerve. And in so doing, they compounded the very problem they set out to address.

    Is it time for another try?

    Papas and Papas

    One recent exception is a Mamas and Papas campaign in the UK for their Urbo buggies, featuring heterosexual mums and dads, single-parents and a genuine gay couple and their little boy, Blu.

    The press release states, “How We Roll celebrates the diversity and individualism that forms the makeup of the modern family, for whom parenting has simply become a positive extension of their current lifestyle.”

    There have been mixed reactions. On Netmums, some are highly supportive – “The world is changing and it’s about time all loving parents are catered for in adverts” – while others chime in with not wanting to have this sort of thing “shoved in my face.” Freud would have a field day.

    Even the gay community was sceptical. Were they being used simply as a PR stunt? Were the ads really running? It seems there are pitfalls and suspicion whatever your intentions.

    Creatives want to create. We want to invent brand new stuff, never before seen. And yet there’s this vast expanse of unexplored territory: overlooked at best, taboo at worst.

    It’s a rich, emotive area, surely. Love against all odds. Unconventional is cool, right? Overcoming prejudice, defying conventions, being true to yourself. You could have this space all to yourself. Column inches galore and plaudits for being progressive and well… real.

    It doesn’t have to be gratuitous. No need to shock. In a way, the most shocking thing is that one of the most enlightened industries in the land is lagging so far behind the real world.

    This post originally appeared on the DLKW Lowe blog

  • Studio Insider: Avatar Studios

    March 29th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Company Name:
    Avatar Studios

    Year Founded:
    1999

    Physical Location:
    2675 Scott Ave, Suite G
    St. Louis, MO 63103

    Online Location:
    Website: www.avatar-studios.com
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/avatarstudiosstl
    Twitter: @AvatarSTL

    Company Philosophy:
    Avatar provides the highest level of service from “script to screen” to create engaging and effective communications tools for our clients. Our passionate, talented team of industry creatives utilizes the vast resources at our disposal to ensure each project yields a powerful product that delivers on the client’s objective and timeline. We configure a production design and schedule based on the client’s needs and overall scope of the project, whether it is a high end shoot or a quick “run and gun” job. Our goal is to let our work establish personal relationships, and allow those relationships to grow into strong collaborative partnerships.

    Client List:
    We help agencies look like heroes, and the corporate world communicate.
    We also assist our fellow production companies round out their creative endeavors with equipment rental, post services and crew staffing.

    Personnel Count:
    32

    Best Achievements from Last Year:

    A Fall From Grace Trailer – Director Jennifer Lynch and Apothecary Films chose Avatar Studios for the production, post-production, and sound design for the trailer to the upcoming film “A Fall From Grace” which was shot throughout downtown St. Louis. We were up against some pretty ambitious timelines, and the production required Director of Photography Doug Hastings to manage several crew members, utilize helicopters, boats, cranes, and jibs to capture all of the incredible footage. Jim MacMorran planted the voice over from Bill Pullman into the trailer and added his own original sound design. Perhaps the most important thing that came out of the trailer was the awareness it raised for the lack of tax breaks for filmmakers in the state of Missouri. Our friends at Apothecary are continuing their fight to bring more films back to the show-me state.

    Against The Grain Original TV Programming – Avatar was able to use our in house agricultural gurus to co-produce the documentary, “Against the Grain” that aired on 175 stations nationwide. The documentary was filmed from 2011-12 and chronicled the up and down lives of America’s farm families in the midst of the recent climate volatility. Our own Brad Shelton line produced the documentary, and Doug Hastings was again responsible for the lens work. Scott Betz edited the vast amount of footage down to final 45 minute piece. We take a lot of pride in our Midwest roots, and this project allowed us to feature our core expertise, while also bring to mind a serious issue across our region.

    3 Things The World Doesn't Know About Avatar Studios That It Should:

    1. Avatar Studios is the largest full service production and post production facility in St. Louis. We boast a 2,200 square foot sound stage on site with a full light grid, 2 dressing rooms, and full prep kitchen. Those attributes, along with our on-site set construction ability allows us to help you dream up just about any environment to shoot in the studio. We can shoot simple table top or green shoots, but we have also built beaches, decks, living rooms, and car dealership showrooms on our stage.

    2. All of the content we provide is specially designed to be flexible tools for our clients to utilize across different platforms. We provide truly flexible options for the content that we develop for our clients. We are resolution independent, which allows us to accommodate just about any media placement in today’s world of total media convergence. We license all of our work for it’s main purpose as well as the internet, so our clients always have the flexibility to feature the video on their website or YouTube channel to increase its reach and visibility.

    3. If you are lucky enough to supervise an audio session with sound engineer Jim MacMorran, there is a good chance that he will offer you a glass of scotch from his private collection. Just be sure not to ask for too many revisions.

    Our Space






    Our Work

    Motion Reel – We are experts in Adobe After Effects and Avid, and have years of experience behind the camera as well as providing creative support to designers and shooters. Above all, we love making creative and visually engaging videos out of any concept, existing art, or video.

    Ascend Retail – This piece was one of seven to be used on Firestream Worldwide's website. Firestream's Marketing Department wanted to better explain each of their software products simply and concisely, but with their high-tech image in mind. We accomplished that by shooting a spokesperson on our sound stage using motion tracking technology along with high-end motion graphics and 3D animation.

    Trane Mantra – The Trane “Mantra” video was a quick turnaround project that essentially challenged us with bringing a company’s mission statement to life with no more than a script and a PDF file. We applied some motion graphics to existing stock photography and video to paint a beautiful picture of their corporate mantra.

    Fall From Grace

    Against the Grain

  • So, Only 3% of Ad Agency Creative Directors are Women. Is that the Real Problem?

    March 8th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    On Thursday, February 28th, a bunch of talented people from our industry got together to discuss the shocking fact that only 3% of the nation’s advertising creative directors are female. That was put out there with the other big, bold fact… 80% of all household purchases are determined by women.

    When you look at that on the surface, it’s an obvious paradox. Surely, with 80% of the purchasing power in the hands of females, we should have more females controlling the output from the advertising agencies that are trying to influence those women? And that would result in better, less condescending advertising, right?

    Right?

    Well, not so fast, my partners in crime.

    I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are many truly talented women in this field, and in the complementing fields of design, PR and marketing. The fact that there aren’t more female creative directors is a real fucking tragedy. Seriously. I’ve written a whole article on the subject. I’m a believer.

    But we need to concentrate on the facts being presented to us right now. Yes, only 3% of creative directors are women. There is a greater percentage of women in creative roles within agencies, but again, it’s not equitable. Not even close.

    Stats from a comprehensive study done in 2009 (best one I could find, sorry it’s a few years old) show that only 19.1% of creatives in ad agencies are women. And although 46.7% of employees are women, only 16% are in the top roles. Still, it’s all a little better than the paltry 3% that are creative directors. The figures are not good.

    And yet, as I analyze all of this, there seems to be an enormous elephant in the room that most people are choosing to overlook. And being the unpopular prick that I am, it seems reasonable that I should point it out.

    Question: Who Works with the Ad Agencies?

    Corporate America is not quite the same as it was in the 50s. Women make up a sizable chunk of the workforce now, and there are some stats I’d like to share in that regard. You’ve seen the negative figures. But there are positive ones. For instance, the Department of Labor shows that 60% of PR managers are women. And better yet, 61.1% of advertising and promotions managers are women. Andy Dougan, group account director of KLP, said back in 2009 that “there is a 60/40 split of women to men. We’re seeing more and more women come into the marketing industry and they are climbing the ranks too.”

    Anyone here think that in the last three years, women suddenly left the marketing and advertising workforce in droves?

    From personal experience, most of the meetings I’m in, with various clients spanning many different industries, are dominated by women.

    As a creative, draw upon your own experiences. How many client meeting have you been in that were made up of just men? I can’t remember one. I can remember thinking “wow, why are most of the creatives men, but most of the clients women?”

    I don't have the answer. I’m not claiming to know why. But here’s what this is leading up to.

    The BIG Question: Who’s Buying the Ads Aimed at Women?

    Answer: It’s NOT the creative directors. It’s the client.

    And most clients employ more women than men.

    Let’s backtrack a little.

    When I started my career at the tender age of 21, there were two female teams in the agency. There were two teams that were mixed. And there were seven all male teams. I suspect that was a better batting average than most agencies at that time.

    The female teams were put on female accounts, because it was felt that they knew the products better, would have an affinity with the client, and would be more comfortable on the accounts.

    I saw great campaign after great campaign get rejected. The male teams had a crack. Same story. The female clients in charge of these accounts were not out to do radical work, redefining the industry. They wanted the same old shit. And they got it.

    The male creative director pushed for the most interesting work. The work that resonated most with the women in our own agency and, dare I say it, with focus groups. It was killed. Seriously beaten to death.

    After months of reworking, the end result was bland, vanilla vomit. The sort of manure that includes women parachuting when they’re on their periods, and female friends discussing life over a pot of fucking yogurt.

    Fast-forward to today, and it’s still going on. Ads aimed at women, created by women, bought by women, are just as crap as ads aimed at women, done by men and bought by men.

    Remember the failed TV show The Pitch? (Well, it should have failed.) There was an all female agency on that one – Womenkind. Female creative director, female creatives, female account teams. They knew just how to market to women. They were inside women’s heads. They did better work than DIGO, their male competitors, for C Wonder.

    They lost the pitch.

    Now, in all fairness the head of C Wonder was a man. A complete douchebag of the first order, although his executive marketing team was a mix of men and women.

    But this is the real problem.

    Clients, by and large, are afraid of change, they don’t like to rock the boat, and they don’t want something that hasn’t been done before.

    If we reversed the 3% tomorrow, and 97% of creative directors in this country were female, do you think we would see a vast shift in the way we advertise to women?

    No.

    Clients buy more shit work than good. They ask for more mediocre campaigns than breakthrough ideas.

    Always have. Always will.

    At the end of the day, ad agencies will always bow to the whims of the clients, to keep the account.

    No amount of women in the creative department will ever change that.

  • Agency Insider: Dachis Group

    March 1st, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Company Name:
    Dachis Group

    Year Founded:
    2008, by Jeff Dachis, co-founder of Razorfish.

    Physical Location:
    1918 Locust Street, just a block east of The Tap Room.

    Online Location:
    http://dachisgroup.com
    http://socialbusinessindex.com
    http://socialbusinesssummit.com
    http://socialbusinesscouncil.com
    http://facebook.com/dachisgroup
    http://slideshare.net/dachisgroup
    http://twitter.com/@dachisgroup

    Company Philosophy:
    Everything that can be social, will be. We want to unlock the value of data driven social marketing for companies and brands with our social business software and solutions.

    Client List:
    Express Scripts, Disney, Estée Lauder, Hewlett Packard, IHG, Kodak, Nestlé, Bank of America, Discover Financial Services, Nokia, AT&T, US Cellular, Target. We work with at least half of the Fortune 500.

    Personnel Count:
    About 175 in Austin, St. Louis, Portland, New York, Lincoln, and London.

    Best Achievements from Last Year:

    Releasing a set of powerful, groundbreaking SaaS apps for monitoring and optimizing social performance using big data.

    3 Things The World Doesn't Know About Dachis Group That It Should:

    1) The St. Louis office actually began in the late ‘90s as XPLANE | The visual thinking company in an old house in Soulard. So while DG largely is a social software firm, the St. Louis office’s specialty is high-end information design — we create clarity and understanding through visually rich graphics, stories, maps, and movies.

    2) Our VP of Product Marketing won a silver medal in sailing at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona (he works at the Austin HQ).

    3) Social media may be an inherently digital thing, but last year we launched a print magazine called The Social Business Journal (!).

    Our Space








    Our Work
    Click Images for full project

    Data viz: Visualizing Disney’s Twitter Universe

    Video: "Engagement @ Scale" — created for the new DG site.

    Publishing: The Social Business Journal #03

    White papers: 10 Steps to Supercharging Your Brand with Employee Advocacy

    Social Business Intelligence: The Social Business Index

  • How to Spend $275 Million in 48 Minutes: Three Super Bowl Ad Trends for 2013

    February 1st, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Want to watch $275 Million get spent in 48 minutes? Just tune into CBS at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday to see one of America's greatest primetime displays of violence, debauchery and poor impulse control. And I'm not talking about the Super Bowl…

    I'm talking about the Super Bowl ads.

    In all seriousness, these days it's no surprise that independent research year after year continues to show that over half of U.S adult viewers plan to watch the Super Bowl as much, or more, for the ads than for the game itself. In fact, social listening measurement findings suggested that in 2012 64% of respondents said that half or more of their conversations online with respect to the Super Bowl were about the commercials themselves.

    With the average investment of $4 Million on the line for a 30-second spot, it's no wonder why the CMOs of many of these advertisers are looking to squeeze their investment for every penny.

    There are three standout trends that have continued to proliferate the Super Bowl ad space for the last several years (and by all accounts will continue even more in 2013).

    01. Online Ad Preview and Teasers

    Online Ad Previews and Teasers are becoming more of the norm. VW made the most famous splash last year with its Star Wars parodies that received over 56 Million hits after allwas said and done, largely in part to the pre-release of the spotson YouTube.

    This year's early winner goes to the Kate Upton Mercedes spot, which in one week gained over 5 Million views (and counting).

    Humbling news as, by this author's account, this is one of the more ridiculously off-brand spots I've ever seen. Given the fact that the CLA won't even be available for the next 7 months, the brand needs lasting impression and awareness. Regardless of the substance, it's clear that Mercedes knows the value of online traction and will do whatever it takes, no matter how low-brow, to get an early lead among its rivals.

    Regarding the idea of Super Bowl teasers, the concept is simple,but the debate still rages on about whether or not the big reveal should be saved for the big game. While we don't promote a "one size fits all" approach to advertising, and I'm sure there are errors to the rule, it's hard to argue with the facts. Mashable reports, "According to YouTube's research, ads that ran online before the Super Bowl last year got 9 Million views, on average. Those that waited? 1.3 Million." With, on average, three times as many views online over broadcast, many could argue that the real winner in all of this is actually YouTube.

    02. Ads for Social Democracy

    Ads by social democracy are becoming more common in 2013. While Doritos pioneered the concept with their user-generated ads in the past few years, this year we are seeing a greater variety of the concept. For instance, one of the biggest brands in the world, Budweiser, has finally launched a Twitter account in its name. The brand, which had a little more than 600 followers Monday morning, is using the account to promote its upcoming Super Bowl ad, which will feature a Clydesdale foal via their Twitter hashtag campaign. Pepsi is also using their site and Twitterto recruit some of their fans to strike a pose with their can before their half-time show.

    But, the big pre-game winners in 2013 seem to be the "choose your own adventure" style ads from Audi and Coke. In what Audi says is a Super Bowl first, they recorded separate endings for their "Prom Night"commercial, and are compiling social votes where the audience chooses the ending. Coke created cokechase.comto tease their spots by highlighting three different sets of teams who are all racing to win a giant coke in the desert. The team with the most votes online will get their spot aired right after the game.

    Coke_SuperBowl

    03. Second Screen

    This year, more viewers than ever will be watching on a second screen. Now in real-time, technology allows brands to engage with the viewing public on their mobile phone or tablet during the event. For instance, Yahoo's Into_Now pioneered app technology that augments the second screen experience by using the unique audio digital signature in a television show topickup, and serve up, content directly related to that show. CBS estimates ad revenue alone from their second screen engagement to be between $10-$12 Million. Being able to interact with stats,player bios, team formations, highlights and social aspects is an essential part of any second screen approach for the sports enthusiast.

    Regardless of all of the hype, a few certainties remain. The Super Bowl represents one of the highest risk: reward ratios in advertising. Because of this, marketers are getting smarter by using not only the right tools, but also the right content to get the consumer's attention. Disintermediation is taking effect and the consumer is finally starting to see large-scale control of and connection with their favorite brands. As our society gets more social and mobile, so does the advertising.

    Needless to say, as an advertiser, I am thankful for the Super Bowl. If not for any other time during the year - the Super Bowl gives us an annual magnified window into the progress of advertising. With so much attention to the commercials, it almost makes me feel sorry for the guys on the field.

    Almost.

    Originally posted on the Rodgers Townsend blog.

  • You Birth It, You Raise It

    January 25th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Anyone who reads my posts knows a few things about me. First, and foremost, I’m an annoying cunt (and I don’t use that word lightly) who has his fair share of lovers and haters. Mostly haters, but as regular readers also know, I don’t really give a shit.

    Second, I have this tendency to swear too much. God knows I’m trying to hold back these days, but sometimes only a fuck will do. Third, I am extremely passionate about a lot of subjects related to advertising (and some that aren’t…guns, for instance). And fourth, I am (for the most part) a copywriter by trade.

    So, now that’s all out of the way, what’s this about?

    Well, it all comes down to something that has grown from a small problem into an epidemic. It happens when money is tight, but that’s generally not much of an excuse. It also happens when certain people within agencies are shortsighted, which is way more prevalent. And it usually happens when those with power abuse it for their own gain.

    As I elucidate, copywriters will no doubt be nodding their heads along with this most of the time. Art directors and designers, hopefully you’re nodding in solidarity. Everyone else, who the hell knows.

    What I’m talking about is a simple premise. Those who create the ideas, or give birth to them, should be instrumental in their development. Or, to put it another way, the copywriters have just as much right to develop their ideas as the art directors and designers do.

    Easy enough to grasp, I think. But it doesn’t happen as often as it should.

    The problem is one of perception and reality. A lot of people wrongly think that copywriters do the words and art directors do the pretty pictures. That’s a complete fallacy, as you savvy Egotist readers already know. In fact, it often happens in reverse.

    Usually it's a collaborative effort of some kind. Sometimes the writer takes it from inception to sketches to presentation, without the help of an art director or designer. I know. I do it often.

    Copywriters, in my humble experience, dig a little deeper when researching most projects — and with good reason. If you’re about to write an ad about investment funds, or a TV or radio script about the benefits of a certain medicine, you’d better know your shit.

    I remember sitting in the office at 11pm one night writing copy for a 48-page brochure on savings accounts. The art director had left at 5pm to get drunk. But it all balanced out when he disappeared on a four-day shoot across the country for the brochure, and I got to sit in the office and write radio scripts until midnight. Awesome.

    If this had only happened to me, it would be a case of pissy sour grapes. And I’m sure some of you will point that out. But I have many copywriter friends, in many countries, and they all have the same stories. When it’s time to think, writers are flavor of the month. Everyone depends on them and their ideas. When it’s time to execute the ideas, writers get the big veiny shaft.

    Now, if a copywriter works his or her ass off on a TV script, should that writer be at the shoot to ensure their vision comes to fruition? I would say so. Look at the number of screenwriters who are right there alongside the directors making sure the scene is just what they had planned. And there are business reasons and advantages in having a writer on set. Any last minute changes can be penned on the spot, instead of going back and forth through emails (and faxes…yes, faxes) and phone calls.

    If the agency can trust the copywriters to create these ideas, why can’t it trust them to be there when it’s time to execute them? Does a copywriter know as much about production as an art director? Maybe. Maybe not. But the biggest catch-22 every copywriter faces is this one:

    You can’t go on the shoot because you don’t have enough experience.
    You can’t get good experience until you go on the goddamned shoot.

    This one is a real mindfuck for most of us.

    “Hey, my workload’s not too bad today. I’d love to come along and help direct the shoot that’s for my (fucking) idea.”

    “Yeah, sorry, we really can’t spend extra money sending you there, especially as you have so little experience on shoots. Why not stay here and rattle off this shit brief for the client everyone hates working on? We’ll be unreachable after four unless you call the local titty bar. See ya, buttmunch.”

    See, going on shoots is not just about gaining work experience, it’s a perk of the job. All creatives got into advertising to create. To sketch an idea and see it come to life. And that exciting part – the part that goes from sketch to reality – happens outside of the office on sets, locations, model making workshops and recording studios. We, ask copywriters, have every right to be there. And yet we account managers and their fucking fiancés will get an invite before we do.

    Am I pissed off? Yep. Do I have a right? I think so, you may not. But here’s the truth of the matter. The agency will not grow if you don’t let the employees grow. Keeping some of them chained to the desk day and night will only help them grow more and more annoyed about a system that rewards only a select few.

    Felix is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. If he uses the f-bomb from time-to-time, forgive him. Sometimes, when you're ranting, no other word will do. In his spare time, he does not torture small animals. He's been known, on occasion, to drink alcohol by the gallon. Do as he says, not as he does.

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