January 2012
1 post
December 2011
1 post
mysterious brand sighting: the something store
I stumbled across The Something Store today and was surprised to find that it’s core purpose is to leverage the joy of surprise.
The way the site works is simple: send them $10 and they’ll send you something. What that something is a complete mystery. You’re only promised that it’ll at least be worth the money you sent.
Although the site experience is pretty poor, I think...
November 2011
1 post
make meaning or perish →
Good stuff from Umair Haque on why differentiation is an old way of thinking about marketing built for an industrial age. Modern brands, he argues, need to focus on providing greater meaning for consumers in the form of outcomes.
September 2011
1 post
August 2011
2 posts
mysterious brand sighting: bodega
There’s a store right near my place called Bodega that is a perfect example of a mysterious brand in action (see my deck for more thoughts on this).
For one, you’d never know that the store was called Bodega (or anything really) because there isn’t a sign outside the building. In fact, from the outside, the building looks anything but interesting. I bet most people shy away from its eerie look and...
““Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how...”
– Steve Jobs, Wired ‘96
July 2011
1 post
what ceos can learn from siberian teenagers →
This is an interesting read from Martin Lindstrom who talks about the need to really immerse ourselves with consumers - beyond the focus group room and quantitative study.
Not that those aren’t viable forms of research, but I think the closer planners can get to observational research the more reliable our insights can be. I’m developing into a strong proponent to behavioral economics...
June 2011
2 posts
WatchGiven we are in the business of story telling, I was asked to share some thoughts on how we can do this interestingly with Digitas (my views only). This was a really fun assignment for me so I hope you enjoy.
Viewing the speaker notes on slideshare’s site may be helpful to ensure you understand the points I’m trying make.
WatchAfter being fortunate enough to attend this year’s Planning-ness, I was asked to share a distillery of what I walked away with to our planning department. Now posted here for your enjoyment (or dismay).
Please note: I have heavily borrowed thoughts, quotes and assets from the far more brilliant minds who presented them. Because this is my interpretation of my favorite talks, the whole story...
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
3 posts
people don't like banners, so why do we use them?
Some of the best performing banner ads (in terms of clicks) are often static images with stark backgrounds. Surprising, right? Rich media banners that feature video also generate decent activity (especially when featuring a person’s face) but that’s another story.
My assumption is that boring banners perform well because people often confuse them to be part of the site their on. When...
February 2011
1 post
“Think about it really deeply, then forget everything about it. The idea will...”
– Don Draper
January 2011
1 post
brilliant: gym members pay more if they don't work... →
This is an excellent example of how consumer behavior can shape insightful business strategies. I absolutely love this idea both for its simplicity and embrace of behavioral truths.
December 2010
1 post
“Let consumers have it there way, or they’ll have it somewhere else.”
– unknown
November 2010
5 posts
“Often the key objectives for a study is expressed in terms of defining attitudes...”
– Wendy Gordon, Acacia Avenue
“Come to work stupid everyday.”
– Dan Wieden in advisement to his many employees.
segmenting a brand's social fans - more than just...
I’ve had an idea today that I wanted to share. Wouldn’t there be value in doing an analysis of the followers and fans that brands have on social networks? For example, if Crayola has 1MM followers on Twitter, how many of those followers are just Crayola employees or spam? And how many fit within the target audience Crayola seeks? How many are part of a totally different audience that Crayola has...
“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and...”
– Confucius, 500 BC
October 2010
1 post
making advocates out of loyals
Lately I’ve been considering the power of loyalty programs and how, when done correctly, then can be a considerable influence in advocacy. More than fueling repeat purchases among loyals, I think marketing strategies that focus heavily on rewarding loyal purchasers - or just any purchasers in general - have arguably the most influence in generating WOM and overall affinity for a brand.
...
September 2010
3 posts
re-thinking the brief
A recent side project I’ve been tasked with at my agency is to help us re-think the brief - both as a document and a process. It is an age-old question after all, and something I’m sure every agency asks itself time and time again.
After sitting down with various constituents across disciplines and digging around online to see what other agencies have been doing, I figured I’d...
the best content curation is from your social...
Over a discussion this weekend, I was reminded of my complete abandonment of Google Reader. For quite a while, this RSS aggregator was my preferred content curator. I could track the blogs I wanted, sift through them quickly, and share and save my favorites.
What I’ve noticed over time is that I’ve replaced Reader with Twitter. Even though I’ve used both services together for...
August 2010
1 post
June 2010
1 post
WatchThis is a nice deck from the folks at @bbhlabs (via a nice Faris post) who support my feeling of the need for planners to be and behave differently. Although I thought it was initially cool, I always found it strange that it was up to planners to define the brand strategy, all by themselves, through one major insight. This is how planners got casted as arrogant by the broader ad community and...
May 2010
4 posts
why meaningless incentives are really meaningful
Lately, I’ve been intrigued by the fact that simple incentives are such powerful motivators for consumers. Relatively meaningless things like points, “badges” and other intangible objects can push us to be more loyal users and even try new products (this is the part where I insert links and support but for some reason have none - either way, just go with it). It has been...
“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he...”
– Leo Tolstoy
“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or...”
– Marty Neumeier
April 2010
3 posts
SXSWi Prezi →
The above link is to a presentation @zacholantern and I shared with our agency’s Engagement team (AP, Media, Response Planning) on takeaways from SXSWi. After attending over 30 panels, there is much information that was left out and is to be shared with more relevant groups including Creative and Account Management.
In the spirit of interactivity, we decided to share our learnings using...
March 2010
1 post
sxsw - why go when its all online?
I had the insanely privileged opportunity to attend South by Southwest’s Interactive and Film festival this year. It was a first time for me, and actually the first time anyone had gone down from my agency. It was a great testament to our leadership team’s faith in interactive and the need to represent our agency in such an environment. Our resident social media planner and I...
February 2010
3 posts
WatchAs account planning (and advertising for that matter) evolves and defines how to better use digital in our favor, I’ve been thinking about how planning should approach consumer research.
A post from Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) reminded me of the power of focusing on socialgraphics. Of course planners need to understand consumer demos, psychographics and overall behavior, but a deeper focus...
“The way forward for brands is in creating ‘generous interactions’ in...”
– Aki Spicer
January 2010
4 posts
“Preaching may teach, but sharing sells.”
– Lee Clow
what the haiti relief can remind us about...
Catching a few minutes of the Haiti Relief Marathon on just about every channel this weekend reminded me of something that we should keep in mind for engagement.
No. 1: John Legend is cool.
No. 2: The key to engagement is making it easy to participate.
We all know this, but I think it can be forgotten. Considering the success of mobile donations during one of the toughest years economically,...
Watch‘Tis the season for year-end reflection and pondering of the future. Thus, introducing Chemistry Communications Group’s stab at digital trends for 2010. It’s quite long, but addresses four themes and some of their implications. Always nice to hear a different perspective.
December 2009
6 posts
how to market a boring product
Let’s face it, the majority of products out there are boring. Whether for consumers or tradespeople, not many of them have an exciting benefit - let alone a competitive advantage that’s worth peeing your pants over.
I urge more marketers to think about differentiating their products in ways that makes them exciting. Take a look at the photos below for example. This is a stunt an...
Many marketers relying on 'love' messaging →
WatchSeth Godin on What Matters Now.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though...”
– Theodore Roosevelt
WatchRazorfish produced a nice presentation following some primary research they conducted about digital brand experiences.
It’s a lot of what we’ve heard before, but has some great stats for supportive engagement decks in the future.
“Culture can be defined as the implicit rules that everyone lives by. Culture has...”
– Colin Drummond, Director of Cultural and Business Insights at CP+B
November 2009
3 posts
Requirements of Participation
(at least one of the following):
- A Benefit (service, incentive, feeling)
- Entertainment (games, videos, etc.)
- Shared Passion (charity, affinity, point of view)
- Inspiration (change)