1. The document provides 12 insights from a 12.5 week advertising course, with each insight summarized in a paragraph and accompanied by a related video or article.
2. The insights address topics like developing inspiring creative briefs, finding problems to solve through tension and enemies, conducting immersive research, embracing change and new technologies, and moving from traditional branding to digital strategies and experiences.
3. The final insight suggests it is the best time to be in advertising due to the fast-paced environment, demand for new ideas, and ability to share ideas globally without cost.
I was sifting through some old files of mine and found this guidebook I put together for my junior planners when I was still working in Korea.
The presentation deck might be a bit old (it's in 4:3 format), and slightly more tailored to how I saw the state of strategy & planning in Korea, but a lot of its content should still hold true today.
Hope you enjoy the read!
A lecture from the course "Entrepreneurship" at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The lecture covers how to get customers for your company, which marketing channels you should choose and how to use behavioral science to get ahead.
Don’t get us wrong—we're not saying that editorial calendars are all bad.
But using one poorly can lead to obscure social media posts, videos and white papers that do nothing to achieve your business goals, and other time- and budget-wasters that have little to no real ROI.
89% of content marketers are focused on creating more engaging, higher quality content now or within the next 12 months. If you’re one of them, maybe it’s time to ditch the calendar (or at least use it better).
Our latest Jack POV, Why editorial calendars make your content suck, was presented by our VP, Strategy Director, Ben Grossman at this year’s SXSW Interactive, and we’re making the insights from Austin available to you.
At Pragmatic Marketing, we’ve worked with thousands of high-tech companies—so we’re no strangers to innovation.
And we’ve recently completed some innovation of our own, restructuring our curriculum to offer more of what the market has told us it wants. You see, the market should be at the center of every innovation effort you make. As Neil Baron puts it in this issue’s feature article, “A valuable innovation delivers an improved customer experience as a result of a better way of doing things.”
In addition to Baron’s view, Paul Brooks helps you decide whether what you’re contemplating is actually a bad idea. Jessica Dugan provides tips to get past the hang-ups that are holding you back, and Eric Doner shows you how to foster innovation in your organization—all in hopes of helping you do your own innovating in a way that’s valued by your customers.
This issue is also full of best practices and examples of how to approach content, mobile products, competitive analysis, and much more.
As Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two functions: marketing and innovation.” This issue strives to help you do both.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
Personal User Manuals are all the rage in the business world today, but I think a one page manual isn't a real compelling format for others to get to know you so I tried something different and hopefully more engaging. Have you thought about the words that drive you at work? These are some great pointers I have learned, synthesized over the years, and borrowed from business luminaries. Tell me which ones you agree with and post your most important driving principles in feedback. Please be additive here and contribute to this topic.
I was sifting through some old files of mine and found this guidebook I put together for my junior planners when I was still working in Korea.
The presentation deck might be a bit old (it's in 4:3 format), and slightly more tailored to how I saw the state of strategy & planning in Korea, but a lot of its content should still hold true today.
Hope you enjoy the read!
A lecture from the course "Entrepreneurship" at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The lecture covers how to get customers for your company, which marketing channels you should choose and how to use behavioral science to get ahead.
Don’t get us wrong—we're not saying that editorial calendars are all bad.
But using one poorly can lead to obscure social media posts, videos and white papers that do nothing to achieve your business goals, and other time- and budget-wasters that have little to no real ROI.
89% of content marketers are focused on creating more engaging, higher quality content now or within the next 12 months. If you’re one of them, maybe it’s time to ditch the calendar (or at least use it better).
Our latest Jack POV, Why editorial calendars make your content suck, was presented by our VP, Strategy Director, Ben Grossman at this year’s SXSW Interactive, and we’re making the insights from Austin available to you.
At Pragmatic Marketing, we’ve worked with thousands of high-tech companies—so we’re no strangers to innovation.
And we’ve recently completed some innovation of our own, restructuring our curriculum to offer more of what the market has told us it wants. You see, the market should be at the center of every innovation effort you make. As Neil Baron puts it in this issue’s feature article, “A valuable innovation delivers an improved customer experience as a result of a better way of doing things.”
In addition to Baron’s view, Paul Brooks helps you decide whether what you’re contemplating is actually a bad idea. Jessica Dugan provides tips to get past the hang-ups that are holding you back, and Eric Doner shows you how to foster innovation in your organization—all in hopes of helping you do your own innovating in a way that’s valued by your customers.
This issue is also full of best practices and examples of how to approach content, mobile products, competitive analysis, and much more.
As Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two functions: marketing and innovation.” This issue strives to help you do both.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
Personal User Manuals are all the rage in the business world today, but I think a one page manual isn't a real compelling format for others to get to know you so I tried something different and hopefully more engaging. Have you thought about the words that drive you at work? These are some great pointers I have learned, synthesized over the years, and borrowed from business luminaries. Tell me which ones you agree with and post your most important driving principles in feedback. Please be additive here and contribute to this topic.
Michael Chapman, SVP Group Planning Director at The Martin Agency, gave this presentation at "Ambidexterity," the VCU Brandcenter's executive education program for account planning on July 16th, 2013 at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond.
Networking as a Sales Tool - 5 Sure-Fire Steps to Increase Sales SuccessThe Chief Storyteller
Generally, a networking event is one big blind date. You never know who you will meet next. Networking is all about the deliberate development of professional relationships. Just as with personal dating, business dating takes time. You wouldn’t expect to get married on the first date. The same holds true with networking. Here are five sure-fire steps to make your networking more focused and effective to capitalize on opportunities, eliminate distractions, and increase your sales and development success.
Better Blogging for Better Results - 8 Tips to Generate Opportunities from Bl...The Chief Storyteller
On September 3, 2005, the screaming and shouting stopped. I finally gave in to writing my first blog. Back then, I did not have the appreciation for the power of blogging that I have today. Well-written, organized, and timely blogs offer tremendous benefits. If you look at social media today, blogging is rarely mentioned as a top application. And the irony is that, more likely than not, sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter refer back to a blog entry as the source of the information. Here are 8 tips to generate more opportunities to connect quickly to your target audiences.
How Emotions Drive Customer Experience WebinarGavin McMahon
MYTH: IF WE SOLVE THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM, THE EXPERIENCE IS A GOOD ONE
Are your agents getting off the phone fast, but not solving the customers’ problems? Or, are they solving the customers’ problems but still getting bad NPS scores? What both of these have in common is emotions – the ones both your agents and customers bring to the call.
Listen here to Tara Paluck as she lead our latest webinar, "How Emotions Drive Customer Experience". During this recording you will learn how to redirect emotions quickly and accurately by understanding:
- What role emotions play in the Customer Experience
- Why emotions are so hard to “use” effectively
- How to manage agent and customer emotions more successfully
White paper: Nine ways to communicate the value you offerPatricia McMillan
With shrinking budgets and increasing competition, it has never been more important to give your stakeholders a compelling reason to work with you: to subscribe to your service, select your product, fund your project, partner with you. This paper delivers a framework and a set of tools to help you communicate value and resonate with your stakeholders.
Some of the most successful companies have one thing in common – they offer an amazing customer experience. If you’re working on improving your strategy, get inspired by these inspirational customer experience quotes.
If you find this presentation interesting, subscribe to blog.neosperience.com to stay up to date.
Creative Traction Methodology - For Early Stage StartupsTommaso Di Bartolo
How to build a mindset that gets a new product traction? 99% of all startups are forced to give up because they lack traction. As founders are thrilled and captivated to build a product that could change the world - the majority downright neglects to put equal efforts towards how to differentiate in taking the product to market. The difference between those who make it to get traction and the rest lies in the innovator’s mindset.
Get Scrappy: A (Small) Business Owner's Guide to Marketing on LessMichelle Fitzgerald
Get Scrappy is a pared down, practical guide about how to incorporate marketing into the heart of any business plan.
Packed with expertise from Fortune 500 marketers and SMB consultants, Get Scrappy provides real-life examples on how organizations, even those on less time and money, can make seemingly tactical objectives become strategic initiatives that generate results.
Do more on less. GET SCRAPPY.
Gareth Kay, Chief Strategy Officer at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, gave this presentation at "Ambidexterity," the VCU Brandcenter's executive education program for account planning on July 18th, 2013 at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond.
25 Inspiring Quotes From Experts Shaping the Future of MarketingHubSpot
Get inspired by marketing experts Seth Godin, Nate Silver, and Scott Harrison.
Want to get more inspiration from these experts?
Attend INBOUND 2013. Learn more: http://www.inbound.com/
35 Inspiring Marketing Quotes to Improve Your ConversionsSwayHub
35 inspiring and actionable marketing quotes from industry greats, chock-full of wisdom to help you improve your conversion rates and optimize your pages more effectively.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? WHAT AGENCY HEADS WANT FROM PLANNERSAndreas Krasser
Creatives want planners to give them inspiring insights, single-minded propositions, and clear problem statements. Clients want frameworks, effectiveness, a bit of retro-engineering every now and then, and lately also crisis management advice. Planning heads want gut, empathy, curiosity, and interesting methods to unearth human truths. Suits usually want pretty PowerPoint decks. But what about agency heads? Do they even care?
This talk aims at giving a (slightly biased) perspective on agency leaders’ expectations for strategists. It will answer questions such as ‘what’s the value of strategy from an agency leadership perspective’ or ‘how do planners fit into the company’s overall growth agenda’. The topics covered also provide a blueprint for convincing agency leaders of strategy’s worth in case they’re too short-sighted to see it.
Unlocking Creativity: How to Harness the Powers of Design, Art Direction & Cr...Digital Surgeons
Using gaming's concept of Progression, this presentation takes viewers on a journey that demystifies the roles and disciplines of Design, Art Direction, and Creative Direction – demonstrating how they can be mastered to take your creative work to the next level.
Presentation given at the Digital Workplace Conference in Auckland, New Zealand on May 2nd, 2018 outlining the "secret sauce" in a successful marketing strategy, whether that of an organizational or an individual, and focusing on building a brand.
Michael Chapman, SVP Group Planning Director at The Martin Agency, gave this presentation at "Ambidexterity," the VCU Brandcenter's executive education program for account planning on July 16th, 2013 at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond.
Networking as a Sales Tool - 5 Sure-Fire Steps to Increase Sales SuccessThe Chief Storyteller
Generally, a networking event is one big blind date. You never know who you will meet next. Networking is all about the deliberate development of professional relationships. Just as with personal dating, business dating takes time. You wouldn’t expect to get married on the first date. The same holds true with networking. Here are five sure-fire steps to make your networking more focused and effective to capitalize on opportunities, eliminate distractions, and increase your sales and development success.
Better Blogging for Better Results - 8 Tips to Generate Opportunities from Bl...The Chief Storyteller
On September 3, 2005, the screaming and shouting stopped. I finally gave in to writing my first blog. Back then, I did not have the appreciation for the power of blogging that I have today. Well-written, organized, and timely blogs offer tremendous benefits. If you look at social media today, blogging is rarely mentioned as a top application. And the irony is that, more likely than not, sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter refer back to a blog entry as the source of the information. Here are 8 tips to generate more opportunities to connect quickly to your target audiences.
How Emotions Drive Customer Experience WebinarGavin McMahon
MYTH: IF WE SOLVE THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM, THE EXPERIENCE IS A GOOD ONE
Are your agents getting off the phone fast, but not solving the customers’ problems? Or, are they solving the customers’ problems but still getting bad NPS scores? What both of these have in common is emotions – the ones both your agents and customers bring to the call.
Listen here to Tara Paluck as she lead our latest webinar, "How Emotions Drive Customer Experience". During this recording you will learn how to redirect emotions quickly and accurately by understanding:
- What role emotions play in the Customer Experience
- Why emotions are so hard to “use” effectively
- How to manage agent and customer emotions more successfully
White paper: Nine ways to communicate the value you offerPatricia McMillan
With shrinking budgets and increasing competition, it has never been more important to give your stakeholders a compelling reason to work with you: to subscribe to your service, select your product, fund your project, partner with you. This paper delivers a framework and a set of tools to help you communicate value and resonate with your stakeholders.
Some of the most successful companies have one thing in common – they offer an amazing customer experience. If you’re working on improving your strategy, get inspired by these inspirational customer experience quotes.
If you find this presentation interesting, subscribe to blog.neosperience.com to stay up to date.
Creative Traction Methodology - For Early Stage StartupsTommaso Di Bartolo
How to build a mindset that gets a new product traction? 99% of all startups are forced to give up because they lack traction. As founders are thrilled and captivated to build a product that could change the world - the majority downright neglects to put equal efforts towards how to differentiate in taking the product to market. The difference between those who make it to get traction and the rest lies in the innovator’s mindset.
Get Scrappy: A (Small) Business Owner's Guide to Marketing on LessMichelle Fitzgerald
Get Scrappy is a pared down, practical guide about how to incorporate marketing into the heart of any business plan.
Packed with expertise from Fortune 500 marketers and SMB consultants, Get Scrappy provides real-life examples on how organizations, even those on less time and money, can make seemingly tactical objectives become strategic initiatives that generate results.
Do more on less. GET SCRAPPY.
Gareth Kay, Chief Strategy Officer at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, gave this presentation at "Ambidexterity," the VCU Brandcenter's executive education program for account planning on July 18th, 2013 at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond.
25 Inspiring Quotes From Experts Shaping the Future of MarketingHubSpot
Get inspired by marketing experts Seth Godin, Nate Silver, and Scott Harrison.
Want to get more inspiration from these experts?
Attend INBOUND 2013. Learn more: http://www.inbound.com/
35 Inspiring Marketing Quotes to Improve Your ConversionsSwayHub
35 inspiring and actionable marketing quotes from industry greats, chock-full of wisdom to help you improve your conversion rates and optimize your pages more effectively.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? WHAT AGENCY HEADS WANT FROM PLANNERSAndreas Krasser
Creatives want planners to give them inspiring insights, single-minded propositions, and clear problem statements. Clients want frameworks, effectiveness, a bit of retro-engineering every now and then, and lately also crisis management advice. Planning heads want gut, empathy, curiosity, and interesting methods to unearth human truths. Suits usually want pretty PowerPoint decks. But what about agency heads? Do they even care?
This talk aims at giving a (slightly biased) perspective on agency leaders’ expectations for strategists. It will answer questions such as ‘what’s the value of strategy from an agency leadership perspective’ or ‘how do planners fit into the company’s overall growth agenda’. The topics covered also provide a blueprint for convincing agency leaders of strategy’s worth in case they’re too short-sighted to see it.
Unlocking Creativity: How to Harness the Powers of Design, Art Direction & Cr...Digital Surgeons
Using gaming's concept of Progression, this presentation takes viewers on a journey that demystifies the roles and disciplines of Design, Art Direction, and Creative Direction – demonstrating how they can be mastered to take your creative work to the next level.
Presentation given at the Digital Workplace Conference in Auckland, New Zealand on May 2nd, 2018 outlining the "secret sauce" in a successful marketing strategy, whether that of an organizational or an individual, and focusing on building a brand.
Presented at the Digital Workplace Conference Australia, held in Melbourne AU on August 15th and 16th, 2018. This presentation outlines the evolution that has happened in marketing, and the components that are necessary for successful brand building and digital marketing.
The 7 must haves for a successful agency pitchJim Nichols
Many thousands of years ago, when mastodons walked the earth and I started in the ad biz, winning clients was
tough. But now, tough only begins to describe it. More competition, combined with blurring categories of marketing
solutions providers, means that an agency has longer odds than ever when it comes to garnering new clients. Here are
some thoughts on what it takes to win these days. Some of the thoughts are mine, and many are those of friends who
have recently gone through the process of selecting a new agency.
It's back! Content Marketing World's annual conference ebook featuring a large number of our incredible speakers offering their insights on content marketing, how to level up and advance, how best to amplify your message and so much more. Check out what your favorite content marketers have to say on these topics and also meet some new faces to CMWorld. CMWorld 2018 is going to be epic - be sure to join us there! Game On!
Get Scrappy A (Small) Business Owners Guide To Marketing On Lessmfitzgerald0705
Get Scrappy is a pared down, practical guide about how to incorporate marketing into the heart of a business plan. In a three-step process, Get Scrappy breaks down how to create meaningful, brief marketing plans, outlines the tools and resources available to getting it done and describes how to leverage Marketing to learn more about your business.
Packed with expertise from Fortune 500 marketers and SMB consultants, Get Scrappy provides real-life examples on how organizations, even those on less time and money, can make seemingly tactical objectives become strategic initiatives that generate results.
Do more on less. GET SCRAPPY.
*Contributing authors includes individuals from ExactTarget, Hubspot, iLoop Mobile, Swanberg Associates, Communicate Value and the David Marketing Group.
How Hire A Social Media Agency For Your Business?Arjoon Mehra
Interested in hiring a social media agency for your business? But don't know where to start from? Get to know the basics of hiring a social media agency for your business!
Mårten Mickos' slides from April 2011
see also http://aaltoes.com/2011/04/marten-mickos-never-work-for-a-large-company-unless-youve-created-it-yourself/
The Disruptive Reader: Three Urgent Questions for B2B Marketing InnovatorsShelly Lucas
This reader is dedicated to the marketing misfits. The interrogators. Because marketers who are courageous enough to ask probing questions are the ones who transform their businesses and ignite their careers.
A look at how some small firms are leveraging Covid19 to become more authentic, more congruent, and more certain that they will continue to dance to their own beat, and not buy into the masses and their ideas of standing still, shrinking or seeing what happens before they get into meaningful action.
Openbar Leuven Online // Launching in Digital Space - Seb De RooverOpenbar
Een nieuw product of service lanceren in ‘a digital era’ is best een uitdaging. Wat zijn de grootste marketing uitdagingen, valkuilen en opportuniteiten? We zetten alle key take-aways voor een vlotte go-to-market-aanpak eens netjes op een rijtje.
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Embracing GenAI - A Strategic ImperativePeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
2. Twelve and a
Half Weeks
NY Advertising Week
04 Understanding the Idea
08 Brand Experience
02 Understanding The Issue
06 Quantitative Research
10 Judging Effectiveness
week 01 Account Planning 101
05 Qualitative Research
09 Exploring New Business
03 Creative Brief and Briefing
07 Planners as Change-Makers
11 Portfolio Review
12 Knock Knock, Agency Visits
12½
3. Twelve and a
Half Insights
For a little over three months, I had the pleasure of stepping
back into education; studying with some of the brightest
teachers, peers and industry heroes in advertising. All with
an incredible view of the media capital of the world.
The following pages include a few insights from the material
covered in such a short amount of time. From the thought
provoking, to the mundane. From the ‘of course’, to the ‘you
don’t say.’
Whether you agree or disagree with any of these points, I’d
love to hear your opinion.
4. Don’t just come up with good ideas, help me solve a problem.
Construct an argument that makes people comfortable with
the work. Strategy is that handle you grab when you’re
nervous in a speeding car.
Dig through research, brush off cobwebs, ruffle some
feathers, and sift through the relevant and irrelevant: all for
the promise of finding the one insight that makes consumers
gasp in delight.
Turn this insight into an inspiring brief; A brief that will act as a
launching pad for the people who are tasked to solve it. The
brief is not a set in stone document. It’s living, breathing and
changing. “The brief is irrelevant the minute you read it,
because from that moment on, everything has changed.”
1. Write Briefs That Inspire
“Your job isn’t to figure it all out in the brief”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
Video
Learn how execs from multiple
agencies approach the brief
Briefly - Basset & Partners
5. If you can, on a consistent basis, uncover a problem that is
equal parts true, relevant and interesting, you will always
stay in business.
Tension, human truths, tangible and current cultural divides;
this is where good advertising lives. Being able to
breakthrough the noise with a disruptive and relevant idea will
lead to better business results and campaigns that stick.
McGarryBowen goes as far as including an “Arch Enemy” in
their creative briefs. They position their brand and find who/
what they are up against; their challenger. This ability to find
and grab on to the tension is the difference between a good
brief and an inspiring strategy.
2. Life Is Better With Enemies
Article
Read how disruption is the
new strategy for taking down
your competitors
Disruptive Change - Harvard Business Review
“Find problems, problems keep you in business”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
6. It’s always a good idea to remain intellectually curious, but
curiosity only gets you so far. You have to be a little brave.
Attack company annual reports. It is full of summaries, stats,
and juicy back-office insights. Read P&L’s, investor reports,
and interview current employees. The client will respect you
more if you really know their business. Focus groups can be
helpful, but ethnographies can be game changing. Immerse
yourself in the unknown and never assume you know anyone.
The world’s best research won’t always be there for you, so
don’t be afraid to get dirty and creative on your hunt.
3. Get Way Out Of Your Comfort Zone
“Read the brief, then question everything”
Website
A useful tool for all strategists
looking for new resources and new
research methods
OpenStrategy - It’s Not Rocket Science
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
7. No matter how hard we try, or how well we do our jobs, no
one will ever love the brands we are paid to push.
No one will love their detergent, their toothpaste, even their
phone. While brand managers are thinking about their brands
24/7...their customers are unfortunately not. All we can do is
create brands that make life better, help reduce the cognitive
load, and offer a quality experience in the process. In return,
we get their hearts on loan, and more importantly, their
wallets. Then we hang on tight until something better comes
along.
This isn’t to say that a brand can’t create a personal
connection with consumers. We, in fact, should strive to
develop small emotional rewards that trigger a feeling. Brand
engagement like this is the gateway to salient messaging.
4. We Don’t Love Our Brands
Website
For an alternative view, learn
more about Lovemarks: the future
beyond brands. Let me know
where you stand.
Lovemarks - Saatchi & Saatchi
“We all loved our BlackBerry…until we didn’t”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
8. What’s a dinosaur? Old, outdated, and destined to die off,
because they never learned know how to adapt.
With new technology and changing consumers, advertising
seems to be more like a newsroom than a traditional agency.
Speed is not a choice anymore. Fast-paced, real-time/right-
time, out the door marketing is the new standard.
This change in content has forced a shift in the way agencies
work between teams. Those who succeed will be the ones
who bring in more minds early-on in the process.
5. Don’t Be A Dinosaur
“Digital, social, channel...all need a seat at the table”
Case Study
The best example of right-time
marketing goes to this creative
Super Bowl success story.
Oreo “Blackout Tweet” - 360i
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
9. Be a mutant, and depending on the day of the week, morph
and change what that means, and the hat you wear to work.
We had a guest speaker explain, “I don’t know video editing
because I want to do it better than everyone in the agency. I
do it to make me a better planner. So I know what is possible,
and I know what to ask for.” The shifting dynamic in the way
agencies function has altered the typical employee into more
of a hybrid. Knowing what goes into the creative process,
what’s possible, and what are the pain points only makes for
a stronger planner.
A good creative and a good strategist should go hand-in-
hand; working best when both understand each other and
engage in meaningful conversations along the way.
6. Be A Mutant
Video
A trailer for the 2013 movie about a
man and his unorthodox creativity
Tim’s Vermeer - Penn & Teller Film
“Have a mind for strategy and a tool box for creative”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
10. Power is no longer in the hands of the brand. A company can
no longer speak and expect to be heard. The world is no
longer ready to be talked to, but instead they look to have a
conversation.
Ever been to a party with the guy who only talks about
himself the whole time? Ever notice how quickly you try and
get away from him? Today’s advertising can be very similar.
Share stories, share opinions, start conversations, but don’t
continue to try and drive a stake in the ground when no one
wants you to mess up the grass.
Publishing a story used to be the end point, but today,
publishing a story is really just the beginning.
7. The Positioning Statement Is Dead
“A brand is just ownership, an icon you can get behind”
Video
When news happens, it happens
on Twitter.
#LIVE - TwitterHQ
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
11. With countless platforms at our disposal, there is no reason
to tell your story without allowing other’s to experience along
with you. Invite the audience into your world, and create
something really compelling.
When you walk into an Apple store, the laptops are partially
closed because they want you to touch them. They want you
to interact.
Once you can feel a brand you are no longer afraid of it.
Create an experience that awakens and grabs the consumer,
because as soon as they are comfortable, they slip back into
the feeling of not being alive.
8. Good Storytelling Is Immersive
Video
A great look at examples from
The Future of Storytelling Summit
- October 2014
Connected Immersion - Susan Bonds
“Don’t speak rational when there’s room for romance”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
12. Cookies have troubled advertisers for years, constantly
disrupting the analytics from the buyer journey. While some
search for a solution, others decided to focus on “People
Based Marketing.”
Now, in 2015, we can track offline purchases, track user
accounts, monetize visits from matched users (BIZO) or pair
content to a relevant persona (TwelveFold).
Perhaps one day, when iPhone 9 and iOS 12 come out, our
cell phones will act as our all-in-one computer/TV/whatever,
where cookies won’t be a concern. Until that time, we live in a
world that’s adapted well; just find the tools that work for you.
9. The Cookies Won’t Crumble
“Future of tech may mean going back to one device” Video
One example of a company
turning customer journey data
into actionable intelligence
Live Nation - Salesforce
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
13. As brands tunnel vision on the next incremental
improvement, they are often blind-sided by being too caught
up in “Big Data.”
The problem with data is it can only tell you what already
exists. It can’t tell you where the white space opportunities
live, or where the next untapped market may be. That is up to
planners.
Instead of allowing the client to focus on the data, switch the
conversation to digital strategy. Digital strategy is about
creating a sense of how the brand behaves, how the brand
would speak/act/interact in the world. Brand strategy finds a
purpose, but digital is about engagement and how this
affects the bigger society.
10. Digital Strategy Is Not Just Big Data
Presentation
Salmon vs Lamposts: The Use
and Abuse of Research
Martin Weigel - Wieden & Kennedy
“Don’t tunnel vision on the data, find the blind spot”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
14. Today’s constantly changing, always-on consumer is difficult
to reach with traditional advertising. As we produce content,
we are challenged with creating work that is more interesting
than EVERYTHING else on the internet. That is extremely
difficult and dense competition.
As planners, we should be fighting for the more interesting
content; not just what the data tells us will work. When we
push out our ideas we call it content, but when consumers
see it, they should call it entertainment.
To break away from the mundane, you need to take chances.
Fortune will favor the bold. Fortune will favor the brands that
take risks and embrace a culture that is not only more
connected, but more knowledgeable than ever before.
11. Nothing Is Taboo for Millennials
“Myth: every campaign has to succeed”
Video
A glimpse into AdvertisingWeek
NYC, and a good discussion on
content and advertising
Economist Creative Summit - AdvertisingWeek
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
15. The old Coke model: a system of vertical or horizontal
integration, where you succeed by either buying all the
production or buying all the competition. This worked great
for the last 100 years, but today’s businesses require a new
model of success.
Functional integration is the concept that consumers gain
more benefit from your product if they purchase/subscribe to
another product from your company, and so on and so on.
For example, how Apple connects all their devices via iCloud,
or how McCormick developed FlavorPrint, which pairs aspiring
chefs with other spices they might enjoy. Turning your brand
into a utility creates an ecosystem of value; encouraging, if
not guaranteeing, future purchases with your product.
12. Learn Functional Integration
Case Study
Find out how McCormick
reinvented themselves by helping
consumers reinvent their palettes
FlavorPrint - R/GA
“Replace the old Coke model with utility”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
16. Although only an opinion and only worthy of half a credit, it is
still very accurate in my mind. “Things used to be simple, but
now they’re complicated.” Back in the day, you would go to
the store for a bar of soap. Then one day there were two.
Now, there are thousands.
We exist in a time where we move fast, we think faster, and
bold ambitious ideas can be shared between millions of
people without spending a dime.
This changing world requires a constant stream of innovation.
There's a demand for someone to turn these new ideas into
results, and it’s definitely the best time to be in advertising.
12½. It’s the Best Time to be in Advertising
Video
My experience at Miami Ad School
culminated in a brief graduation
video; check it out.
Graduation - Miami Ad School
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
17. About Me
I’m a bit of a hybrid, a “Swiss Army strategist,” with a mind
for planning and a toolbox for creative.
@mattbuildsit
Whether it’s building a web
page or building a brand: I
bring a smart, perceptive and
enthusiastic approach to
whatever challenge lays in
front of me. I’m a people-
pleasing, bagel-eating, dart-
playing, family and friends as
my desktop background kind-
of-guy. Let’s chat.
http://mattbuilds.it