In transformative markets, incumbents rarely survive

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

If you want to survive in the advertising business today, you can’t stay stuck in the past.
Constant evolution, learning, skill development is key, for both the individual and the
company.

In transformative markets,
incumbents rarely survive

edwardboches.com
@edwardboches
mullen.com


Or...
Oh shit, you mean we have
to re-invent ourselves?


We are living through the disorientation that
comes from including 2 billion new participants
in a media landscape previously operated by a
small group of professionals.


Clay Shirky sums it up best. It’s less about social media, or technology, or the web. What
matters more than anything as we think about the services we offer and the deﬁnition of
creativity and engagement are consumers and how they’ve changed. It’s no longer us and
them. It’s the age of we.

media

Once upon a time..


We made messages and shouted them out.


We bought attention


We distinguished ourselves and stood out with creativity, the old deﬁnition of creativity.

media

New media came along in the early 90s

NEW
media

New media came along in the early 90s

(1.0) Home Page

Notes
Page/ Site Title
A Ensure Quick Search is an HTML form

2
1 New GM Vehicles | Recently Viewed Vehicles | 0 Vehicles in Comparison List
logo Chevy logo Buick logo GMC logo 3 C CTA will change based on the content in the hero
E image

Vehicle Search | Dealer Locator | What Is GM Certified? | Model Library | Tools | Offers 4

A
Quick Search 5 E Vehicles are automatically added to Recently Viewed
list as user clicks on specific vehicles in the Vehicle
Zip Code: 10 Search section. Limit to 50 most recently viewed
vehicles. (Note: allow for the ability to increase or
decrease limit)
Make: Search All Makes 11

F Link to Vehicle Search page with Hybrid body style
Hero Image pre-selected. May need to widen the zip code radius
Model: All Models Select Models 12
by default on Hybrid search.
Learn more about GM Certified C
13
Search Advanced Search

|| Pause 1 2 3 4

F
Benefits of GM Certified: 6

Warranty
3-Day/150-Mile Satisfaction Guarantee Find a Certified Hybrid
117-Point Inspection (Promo Tile)
Free Vehicle History Report
OnStar
XM Radio
Body Copy
7

Promo Tile

* Disclaimers at the bottom of the page

8
FAQs | Site Map | Contact Us | GM Sites

GM logo Copyright/Trademark | Privacy Statement

Client GM CUV Deliverable Information Architecture Date 4/6/2010 10:30 AM
Project 4.0 Redesign Author eurban File Name GMCUV_4.0_20100326.vsd
Page 6/59


We mastered the art and science of building websites and creating destinations


We learned how to BE found instead of how TO ﬁnd


UX became the new creativity

social
media

Next came social media. Who needs brands or marketers or pros. We’re all connected to
each other, not to the brand.


We rushed out and read Here Comes Everybody. Or The Groundswell. Or we should have.


We learned to market through conversation, not shouting.


And it was no longer about getting people to listen to us, rather it was about getting to join
us or like us.

media

But now we move to the next stage. ME dia. You are the center of the universe.


It’s our job to ﬁnd you.


So we make apps that you can choose to download


We allow you to choose whether or not we enter your life in a more contextual way.


Made in 2002. Set in 2054. Already coming true.

How do we influence or motivate
prospects and customers?


Yet we are still in the business of inﬂuencing


There’s much we, as marketers, are supposed to know. Which screen are you on?

shopping watching connecting sharing creating responding interested


What mode are you in? Can’t build an eco system or develop content without knowing.

shopping watching connecting sharing creating responding interested


branding


We’re supposed to know how to brand, create content, build platforms like Garmin, that
become part of your daily life.

branding content



branding content platform



crowdsourcing


There are new tactics to master. An agency needs the people and know how (along with the
judgment) to apply them all.

crowdsourcing geo-targeting



crowdsourcing geo-targeting gaming
dynamics



crowdsourcing geo-targeting gaming transmedia
dynamics



.. ..
Gary Shteyngart, inventor of the Apparat


And ﬁnally, there is new technology invented daily. The importance of staying current has
never been so acute. (Fun book, Super Sad True Love Story)

meanwhile



What did agencies in their inﬁnite wisdom do?


Specialization


Claim they work together


But clients will tell you they don’t. See Forrester’s research on the frustration clients have
with this system.


More than ever all of this stuff has to work together. Consumers don’t distinguish from one
to another, they simply interact with brands and content.


Antidotes to what’s wrong: fat, expensive, slow not creative enough; unable to get the
different components to all work together.


It’s not either or. All of this stuff is still necessary and essential to a marketing plan. TV,
advertising, UX, conversation, mobile, geo, ME ME ME marketing.


Yet some agencies focus on just one.


or two.


or what’s new.

Three different ways to hold onto what is. But
that’s a strategy for extinction.


Good luck with that.


We should get our inspiration from outside our direct industry.

clients

current
current

services


Here’s the dilemma. You can maintain business.

clients

new
current

current
current

services


Expand (hard due to all the competition.)

clients

new
current

current current
current new

services


Adapt and sell new services to current clients. Hard as they didn’t come to you for that.

clients

new new
current new

current current
current new

services


Or innovate. Challenging and requires culture and commitment.

different people
different processes
different briefs
different teams
different mindset


The ingredients to innovate.

this is hard


Understatement of year.

madmen cast

let’s make cool messages


Hardest is evolving from traditional

microsoft cast

let’s build something of value


to digital (Thanks Scott Prindle for this visual idea.)

who the fuck’s in charge here anyway?


And here’s where you often end up.

four things we’ve learned


We, Mullen, have been trying and making progress, for a few years now.

can’t change behavior by changing thinking
have to change thinking by changing behavior

1 2 3 4


Some things we learned.


Instruction manuals don’t work. Behavior and trying things work.

A story needs to be repeated many times
before someone understands how it relates to
them, and many more times again before they
change their behavior.


Along with repetition.

talent alone isn’t enough

1 2 3 4


People (without process and culture and a respect for different perspectives) ain’t enough.


We had lots of nerds.

Digital Delivery Production
Executive Producer Digital Studio Manager
Sr. Producer Lead Flash Developer
Producer Senior Flash Developer
Associate Producer Flash Developer
Junior Flash Developer
Digital Creative Production Designer
Chief Creative Director Junior Production Designer
Group Creative Director:
Lead Information Architect Technology/Development
Senior Information Architect Technology Director
Senior Art Director Technical Lead
Senior Copywriter Software Engineer/Database Architect
Art Director Senior Web Developer
Copywriter Web Developer
Information Architect Associate Web Developer
Associate Copywriter
Associate Art Director
Associate Information Architect


In lots of positions.


Tech on left. Ad CD on right. Left knows stuff right needs to know but doesn’t realize it.
Right needs stuff left knows but doesn’t know left knows it. How to bring together.


Read The Checklist Manifesto. By Atul Gawande. Great surgeon. Great writer. Majority of
surgery mishaps (wrong leg, suchers left in body) because team doesn’t know each other,
never worked with each other, isn’t comfortable speaking up, defers to much to the CD-God-
Surgeon. Introductions at start of surgery reduce accidents by 35 percent.

everything is connected to everything else

1 2 3 4


DIGITAL
PRODUCTION/TECHNOLOGY CHRISTIAN 1,800f 100%f


Tech’s not in the room, because there aren’t enough of him, because understaffed, because
not in staffing plan because client and or account service thinks its part of production rather
than creative. Follow the problem to the source.

expect a lot of mistakes

1 2 3 4


how we sold - encouraging offline ae’s to think and how we delivered - collapsed all project management
sell digital with no training or supervision - into one group, allowing key online pm to leave -
neglected to put digital-savvy person in new assumed a “brand” creative brief was enough
business role - arrogant enough to think we knew despite lack of details to do effective digital work -
what we were talking about allowed traditional creative teams to present ideas
before including UX and technology - failed to unite
how we scoped - refused to acknowledge true costs different groups physically l delayed integrating
of digital - gave team leftover money squeezed from digital media, creative, Technical Support -
offline budgets - failed to train clients on actual neglected to invest in collaborative technology,
value - brought message rather than experience depending too much on IT instead of developers
mentality to the space - gave digital work away to
“get” the business - perpetuated the diminished
worth of digital

how we staffed - continued to hire legacy talent l how we rewarded - assumed digital people would put
focused on usage rather than future when learning on hold while they spent time cleaning up
downsizing - assumed traditional talent could lead after offline colleagues - under invested in training
digital efforts - believed project management could (formal and informal) - didn’t mandate digital skill
compensate for digitally naïve account people - expansion as part of performance evaluation for all
defined integration as offline people could try
digital (but not the other way around)


Other mistakes you might make.

10 things we did right


But, things that work.

declare your vision

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


From the top. Declare your change.


Ours started with a word

take action

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



We also took dramatic action, moving from the woods of Wenham after 38 years to downtown
Boston.

create collisions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Steven Johnson tells you and us that innovation comes from collisions. We knew that already
and created an environment and location of people that forced collisions. Tech, UX, mobile
and social strategy in the middle of the creative department.

connect people

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Play leads to friendship leads to trust leads to risk taking. Risk taking is essential to
innovation.

do it to get it

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Two years ago, almost, before any of the ad agencies were there, we got everyone onto and
into Twitter and social.


And we created experiences that let people unfamiliar with new spaces start to get it.

change the brief

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


audience community
messages experiences
target invite
media plan interest plan
penetrate collaborate


Old way of seeing world on left. New way on right.

what do we stand for?
who is our community?
where do they hang out?
what is our content?
how will people share it?
how can they get involved?
what will make it ongoing?
what do we want to get out of our efforts?


Ask new questions. Still working on this. Thank you Gareth Kay for some of this thinking.

interactive
shareable
participatory
ongoing


We want everything to be this: these are ﬁlters we use to evaluate the work.


We’ve experimented with digital briefs to remind people that the brand is in the dialog at
every moment.

think ecosystem

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


SEARCH

LE
AR
Y
PLA

N
CT
NSA
JOI

TRA
N

CONNECT

Consumers come to a brand for a lot of reasons in a lot of ways. Be there with the right stuff
and think about what kind of content or experience you need to create in each of those
places.

change the team

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Hire different people: GenY content creators, bloggers, social strategists, mobile experts.


Mobile especially.

CW
AD


Change the team. Depending on the assignment, but change the team.

CW CW
AD Design
UX
Social



CW CW CW
AD Design AD
UX Social
Social Mobile



CW CW CW Design
AD Design AD UX
UX Social Tech
Social Mobile Mobile



1

6


Hard but necessary. CW and AD need just one agreement. A bigger team needs more
agreements. Takes a certain kind of person and a certain kind of CD.

elevate media to creative status

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Media is the new creative department. How can you possibly have a separate agency.

define the job differently

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Create an experience that encourages
reducing energy consumption


Don’t ask for an ad. Ask for an experience.

national grid polar bear


Get a cool site and platform.

launch a product using the
platforms where it’s most relevant


Use social media as an engagement and creative environment.


It has its own vernacular and tactics.

invite the public to join in making
donations to Feeding America


Don’t write a check and a press release.


Get your consumer to create artwork, donate money on their behalf. It spreads all over the
web. And beyond. Project Bread Art landed us on GMA with Dianne Sawyer.

do something that mirrors the
product position



Your product is not your product in mobile and social. Content is your product. Here our
product was a site that helped contruction workers ﬁnd jobs, courtesty of Timberland Pro
boot, whose tagline is stay on your feet.

let people play with the product



Augmented reality can be good and actually useful. Not a gimmick.

continuous experimentation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



Make stuff.


Try stuff.


Play with stuff.

so, does it work?


‣ Prevailed in Jet Blue and Zappos
‣ Built a robust social media business
‣ Won digital assignments from
Olympus, Timberland, Martha Stewart
‣ Grew our iPhone app business
‣ Launched a mobile practice


It works.

“Throughout the pitch process, you couldn't really tell in the room who
was creative, who was digital, who was media, who was planning —
everyone was equally adept at talking about all disciplines.”

Marty St. George
senior vp, marketing and commercial

…as told to Ad Age, July 2010


Testimony


Tweenbot. My interpretation. Accomplish great things if you break them into small tasks.
Give psychic reward. Trust the crowd. Don’t be afraid to ask. Smile. Or at least be
passionate.


Progress.

WORKSHOP A: LAUNCH ____________

• develop launch plan for either The Social Network or SCVNGR
• write a modern, digital/social brief
• include role of consumer participant
• determine make-up of the team CW/AD/SM/M/UX/D to work on it
• set criteria for what constitutes creative success


WORKSHOP B: INVENT THE NEW AGENCY

• define its proposition and the problem it solves (why will clients hire
you)
• how does it work: standalone, alliances, embedded, other
• what kind of people do you hire
• what do you make
• set criteria for what constitutes creative success


WORKSHOP C WORKSHOP D
• honest assessment of who you are • create a skunkworks inside your
agency (alternative, or model to
• clear definition of what you want to replace what you have)
be, do different
• define mission and purpose
• key challenges obstacles to getting
there • service and offerings
• five specific steps to make progress • staffing
and achieve
• marketing


WORKSHOP A WORKSHOP B
• honest assessment of who you are • create a skunkworks inside your
agency (alternative, or model to
• clear definition of what you want to replace what you have)
be, do different
• define mission and purpose
• key challenges obstacles to getting
there • service and offerings
• five specific steps to make progress • staffing
and achieve
• marketing


In transformative markets, incumbents rarely survive

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