GBS: Ads, Brands, and ESPN

Seth Gaffney February 18, 2009 Advertising + Brands + ESPN 4-eva

Super Bowl, anyone?

Wieden + Kennedy
We’re an independent, global, full-service advertising agency founded in Portland in 1982 on April Fool’s Day.

What are we going to talk about today?
Why most advertising sucks
What it takes to build a great brand
How we’ve helped to define the ESPN brand and develop its advertising

Part 1 Why most advertising sucks

A list of reasons your advertising isn’t up to snuff.
You’re not asking the right question at the beginning: Why are we advertising?
You don’t know the people you want to talk with.
You lack insights…and ideas.
You don’t know what you want to say.
You don’t really want to listen or engage.
You ask “users” to generate your “content” for you.
You don’t put enough thought into the context.

RIGHT QUESTION

“ People read what interests them and sometimes it’s an ad.” Howard Gossage, The Socrates of San Fran PEOPLE

“ The consumer isn’t a moron; she’s your wife.” David Ogilvy, The Father of Advertising

“ At the heart of an effective creative philosophy is the belief that nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his actions, even though his language so often camouflages what really motivates him.” Bill Bernbach, Founder DDB IDEAS & INSIGHTS

MESSAGE

ENGAGE

CONTEXT

A list of reasons your advertising isn’t up to snuff.
You’re not asking the right question at the beginning.
You don’t know the people you want to talk with.
You lack insights…and ideas.
You don’t know what you want to say.
You don’t really want to listen or engage.
You ask “users” to generate your “content” for you.
You don’t put enough thought into the context.
You try to use the advertising to create the brand…instead of the other way around.

“ Advertising is a tax companies pay for being unremarkable.” Robert Stephens, CEO Geek Squad

Part 2 What it takes to build a great brand

The advertising process isn’t so different from brand-building.
Define the problem clearly
Understand people, culture, and the category in which your business exists
Develop your strategy - the story(ies) you want to tell
Identify the best way(s) to connect with your customers
Recognize the process is on-going and often a bit messy, so act appropriately

The way you articulate your objectives impacts the output.

Making great advertising is never the end goal.

So, what is a brand?
A brand is people’s gut feeling about your product, service or company.
A brand is not a logo or a product. It’s not an ad. It’s not what you, the marketer, say it is.

“ I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

A strong brand serves as a bond with, or promise to, people.
Advertising is just one piece of forming and maintaining the relationship. It’s part of your communication.
And just like in any healthy relationship, our job is to make sure communication is open, honest, and enjoyable.

“ Brand equity is the number of people who will buy the brand with the least thinking.” Erik Du Plessis, The Advertised Mind

How do you start to lay the foundation for a strong brand? Company Community Competition

Lay’s

You also should get comfortable with three more C’s. Control (Lack of it) Change (Speed of it) Complexity (Growth of it)

“ Customers build an image of a brand as birds build nests. From the scraps and straws they chance upon.” Jeremy Bullmore, Former Chairman JWT

The most important thing you can do is define the following:
What you believe in
What role you’re going to play in people’s lives
What’s your voice

“ Create advocates, not consumers.”
Eric Ryan, Founder method
“ We can inspire a happy, healthy home by combining style and substance.” “ Own a share of culture vs. a share of voice.” “ Brand from the inside out.” “ We are people against dirty.” BELIEFS

“ To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” ROLE

“ Nike didn’t discover the power of advertising. Nike discovered the power of its own voice, and it, for the most part, has continued to ring true...The biggest advantage you have in this business is your own voice, your own way of looking at things, thinking about things. That is where your power lies
Dan Wieden, Founder W+K
VOICE

Part 3 How we’ve helped to define the ESPN brand and develop its advertising

What is the ESPN brand?
Sports with authority and personality
The world’s biggest sports fan

What is our voice?
We take sports seriously but not ourselves too seriously.

In many ways, the “This is SportsCenter” campaign has helped us hone the ESPN voice.

Case 1: Monday Night Football
Challenge: Make MNF the event it once was so whether the matchup is good or not, they tune-in.
Truth About Fans: They have entrenched rituals for MNF that help them survive the “Monday blues.”
Strategy: Because it signifies the last game of the football week, show how MNF can change the way football fans see Monday and each day of the week.

Case 2: NBA
Challenge: Firstly, fans have very little awareness or recall of when and where the NBA is on. Secondly, Turner has taken a leadership position as the most relatable and authoritative network to feature the NBA.
Truth About Fans: They think our talent is bland and boring; they think for our guys, the NBA is a 9 to 5 job.
Strategy: Demonstrate how our ESPN talent lives for NBA basketball every day and brings you games on Wed, Fri, and Sunday.

Case 3: World Cup 2006
Challenge: Ma ke the World Cup relevant to the American sports fan.
Truth About Fans: While American sports fans have a general awareness of the magnitude of the World Cup, they have yet to realize what’s at stake.
Strategy: Reposition the World Cup from the biggest soccer tournament to the highest stakes and greatest drama of sport, culture, politics, religion, and passion.

Case 4: SportsCenter Live
Challenge: Promote a change to our morning format that was huge for us, but won’t impact fans in any way.
Truth About Fans: Quite honestly, could give two shits about this. In fact, they already thought the show was (at least partly) live.
Strategy: Create entertainment rather than advertising that is interesting, imperfect, and human. And our creative solution was quite literally that...a human.

Case 5: Brand Campaign
Challenge: Address ratings declines due to external issues by bringing more people to ESPN.
Truth About Fans: Their connection with sports was waning in the wake of the recount, 9/11, and other culturally significant events.
Strategy: Remind people of the role sports plays in their lives . Show them they’re sports fans even if they don’t realize it.

Thank You

Get in touch
Seth Gaffney
Strategic Planner
Wieden + Kennedy NY
[email_address]
www.elgaffney.com
twitter.com/elgaffney

Props
In addition to all the people I’ve quoted, I want to thank the following planners - without whom this presentation would have still been possible, yet far worse.
&

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GBS: Ads, Brands, and ESPN

by Seth Gaffney on Feb 18, 2009

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GBS: Ads, Brands, and ESPN — Presentation Transcript