2008 JC Planning Awards Virtual Training

Slide 1: VIRTUAL TRAINING FOR JAY CHIAT PLANNING AWARDS

Slide 2: WHAT THE TRAINING WILL COVER 1. What makes the awards unique 2. Practical tips to get started 3. Lessons from previous years 2

Slide 3: The Jay Chiat awards are designed to be unique Many other shows award effectiveness Many other shows award creativity No other shows award excellence in creative thinking No other shows award reshaping how we see the world 3

Slide 4: Instructions to the Judges Celebrate brilliant strategic thinking that clearly led to a powerful creative expression Ultimately, we are looking for papers that fill you with envy and that showcase what’s possible for planning. Clearly this is a subjective evaluation, but there are some common areas you should be assessing: 1. Brilliant strategic thinking  Is there a previously unearthed insight?  Is there new thinking in the role of communications?  Is there new thinking in media or channels?  Was new ground broken in measurement?  Did this expand the frontiers of the discipline itself? 2. Powerful creative expression  Is there a clear link between the thinking and the creative?  Do you believe this creative would not have happened without planning?  Is there new thinking in the execution of the idea?  Is this great creative?  Was the creative effective? 4

Slide 5: A unique judging panel Not just planners Industry focused, not discipline focused Smart, intelligent, experienced Have seen it all before and have spun more stories than any of us Get excited and passionate if given the right stimuli…turned off if not 5

Slide 6: PRACTICAL TIPS TO GET STARTED

Slide 7: Start by asking yourself: “Should I really be entering this award?” • Not every piece of business we work on is worthy of an award. • Ask yourself the following questions:  Did we discover a fresh insight into either the consumer or the category?  Can we prove that planning played a key role in informing a powerful creative expression? • If the answer to both those questions is no, then it may not be the best case study to choose. • Finally, get your client’s permission to write the paper before you start, not after! 7

Slide 8: Inertia can be a killer • Getting started can be the hardest part of writing an award. • Block out a regular time in your calendar each week to work on the paper and stick to it! • Don’t rely on others to get you information before you get started (the client or account guy will undoubtedly drag their feet). If you need info, get it yourself. • Don’t rely on the deadline to be the thing that motivates you. Last-minute papers read like you did them at the last minute… 8

Slide 9: Plot out the story before you start writing • The paper isn’t going to write itself. You need a clear idea of what the story will be before you start writing. • Try to condense the story down to a paragraph; break it down to the key elements. • If you can shrink your story down to this paragraph, you probably have a coherent story and you should get going. • If you can’t write it in a paragraph, you need to rethink what the structure of the story should be. 9

Slide 10: Hone it, then hone it some more • Very few people can write the perfect award paper first time around. • It pays to write it, rewrite, and rewrite again. • Look for sentences that aren’t adding anything to the story you want to tell. • Trim away excessive verbiage or unnecessary superlatives. 10

Slide 11: Find yourself a critic • It’s important to have others read and critique your work. • Often times the act of writing the award leaves you unable to see the wood for the trees. • Have people who haven’t worked on the account read through the paper. • Try to also have a non-planner read the award. Second round judges are creatives and agency heads. 11

Slide 12: Read Past Award Winners • Simple as it sounds, a great way to learn how to write an award-winning paper is to read all the previous year’s winners. • The AAAA publish the winning papers each year. • Or alternatively, read the following section of this presentation. 12

Slide 13: LESSONS LEARNED FROM PREVIOUS WINNERS

Slide 14: Creative thinking is not the same as creative writing. There has to be an idea in the paper that judges feel is new and original. The idea has to come from planning and be visible in the creative. You must have a story of planning excellence before you start. 14

Slide 15: All the winners challenged conventional thinking. Using insights, they reframed how we could look at: 1. The problem 2. The consumer 3. The strategy 4. The execution 5. The connection 15

Slide 16: Insight vs insights The winning papers had a single idea that consistently informed every aspect of the paper. Not multiple disconnected insights. Not one insight for creative, one insight for media, one insight for the consumer, etc. 16

Slide 17: Reframing the problem: not the sales goal, but an understanding of what really needs to happen. Axe Snake Peel: From selling a shower gel to linking exfoliation with the promise of the brand. Coca-Cola Vault: From out-DEWing Mountain Dew to tapping into the psyche of blue-collar workers. 17

Slide 18: The consumer: fresh understanding that changed our view of the audience and their motivations. Tonik: Uninsured young adults aren’t all dropouts, some just don’t want a corporate life. Neither do they feel invincible; they’re actually quite anxious. National Car Rental: Not all business travelers care about perks and price. Some would prefer to get through the experience as quickly as possible. ONDCP “Above the influence”: Doing things just because your peers tell you to is as powerfully resisted as doing things your parents tell you to do. 18

Slide 19: The strategy: weaving together the facts to create a brand new interpretation. TLC: From “Reality Show Network” to “Sharing Life’s Lessons.” Angel Soft: From “Unmentionables” to “Shared Experiences.” Principal Financial Group: From “What we do for you in the future” to “What we can do for you today.” 19

Slide 20: The work: bringing insight to bear by breaking the conventions in execution. Napster: Used an icon of iPod—white—and an asset of Napster—piracy—to appropriate the semiotic code of the Navy vs. the Pirates. PSP: defined a target that was a tribe—Urban Nomads—documented their symbols and modes of communication. Sims: Making gamers the heroes (rather than the game) and getting them to create the ads using the games. 20

Slide 21: The connection: using insight to change how we speak to our audience. Audi: Used insights gleaned from people’s entertainment systems, book, CD, and DVD collections to create a living spy story told across multiple mediums. Axe Spring Break: Identified places where stamina might wane as perfect locations for its help in “Staying The Course.” 21

Slide 22: Winning the top prizes required fresh thinking in most (if not all) of these areas. Yet simply bringing great insight to one or two areas could guarantee you a place on the short-list. Winners let the writing get out of the way of these insights • In all sessions it was ultimately the thinking that was discussed rather than the writing. The writing can’t substitute for the content, but it can be the difference between elimination and short-listing. 22

Slide 23: Well-written papers were great marketing cases that clearly showed planning’s impact. They weren’t just stories of planners doing their jobs. • “Everyone was doing X so we did something different” is not an idea. All of them focused on a point of disruption. • A place where planning changed the accepted view of the world. • A place without which the creatives couldn’t have gotten to the solution. They were written simply, with a minimum of hyperbole and flowery language. In short, they were things you and I might want to read. 23

Slide 24: Conversely, writing all too frequently got in the way of the story. Writing often showed symptoms of self-congratulation and self-gratification. • Over-detailed and over-blown stories of an individual planner’s heroism • Clear exaggerations of a planner’s creativity or impact • Endless lists of other awards the campaign had won or press mentions and quotes that simply weren’t relevant • Design and art direction that made the story almost illegible • “Over adjective-ing” • Judges do not accept an idea as “Brilliant” just because you say it is 24

Slide 25: As did telling the wrong story. Writing also let down stories that might otherwise have been contenders • A disconnect between strategy and creative or a strategy that is only in some of the creative • Incomplete or rambling logic • Insights tiptoed around rather than spelled out • Following the Effie outline/structure • Judges often said there was a great story, but the paper had chosen not to tell it. • Telling a story that planners were interested in rather than telling a story of great thinking that everyone would be interested in 25

Slide 26: Some writers fell in love with the process of planning, not the result. Many papers seemed to think that using trendy research technique qualifies for an award. • What did this deliver that could not have been achieved from ‘traditional’ approaches? Don’t describe everything you did, just the bits that got you to the idea. Everyone wants to get away from focus groups. This does not make your paper notable. 26

Slide 27: GOOD LUCK… More questions? Continue the conversation on Facebook Jay Chiat Planning Awards 2008 Group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7890942903

Slide 28: Winners 2007

Slide 29: Grand Prix BBH London, Unilever (AXE/Lynx) 29

Slide 30: Service Brand Best contribution of planning to a service brand that has been in the marketplace for more than two years. Silver • Fallon, The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Honorable Mention • Campbell-Ewald, Alltel (Wireless) • TAXI, Blue Shield of California No Gold or Bronze was awarded in this category. 30

Slide 31: Product Brand Best contribution of planning to a product brand that has been in the marketplace for more than two years. Gold • BBH, Unilever (AXE, The Gamekillers”) Silver • JWT, Kimberly Clark (Kleenex) Bronze • RPA, Honda (Element) Honorable Mention • The Richards Group, Thomasville 31

Slide 32: Product/Service Introduction Best contribution of planning to a brand that has been in the marketplace for less than two years. Gold • Cramer-Krasselt, Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Rozerem) Silver • TBWA/Chiat/Day LA, Sony Computer Entertainment America (PlayStation 3) Honorable Mention • JWT, Dominos Pizza • JWT, Unilever (Sunsilk) No Bronze was awarded in this category. 32

Slide 33: Pro Bono Best contribution of planning to a pro bono brand. Bronze • The Buntin Group, Partnership for a Drug-Free America (Infected by Meth) Honorable Mention • Fallon, Children’s Defense Fund • Grey San Francisco, Youth Leadership Institute No Gold or Silver was awarded in this category. 33

Slide 34: Small Budget Best contribution of planning to a small budget brand (under $5 million). Silver • The Martin Agency, Hanesbrands Inc. (Barely There) Honorable Mention • JWT, Tourism Ireland • SS&K, msnbc.com No Gold or Bronze was awarded in this category. 34

Slide 35: Global Best contribution of planning to a global campaign originating from North America and running in at least three other countries. Honorable Mention • Euro RSCG, Novartis (Nicotinell) No Gold, Silver, or Bronze was awarded in this category. 35

Slide 36: International Best contribution of planning for communications that ran in international markets (not originating in the United States). Gold • BBH London, Unilever (AXE/Lynx) Silver • BBH London, Unilever (Becel) Honorable Mention • JWT London, Bayer (CalciAid) • JWT Brazil, Diageo Brazil LTDA (Smirnoff) No Bronze was awarded in this category. 36