Marketing: Still Part Art and Part Science.

So what's the big deal about creating ads that go viral?

A while back I learned the advertising axiom “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative” attributed to David Ogilvy. I also learned at DDB that “Word of mouth is the best medium of all” – from our beloved founder Bill Bernbach.  In today’s digital age content sharing has taken that notion to a new level.

But what are 20 million views of a funny ad worth on You Tube if they don’t help sell? 

Christopher Walken and Amy Poehler from SNL.

K-Mart’s “Ship My Pants” uses the time-tested approach of saying something over and over that sounds like an off-color word. K Mart agency draftFCB Chicago was wise to follow Saturday Night Live’s classic “Colonel Angus” skit gag along with their “CorkSoakers” skit. This kind of humor works.

K Mart followed with “Big Gas Savings” and “Show Your Joe”(16 million views) that went viral as well. So K Mart should be thrilled? Well not so fast. Their important same-store sales metric is off 2.1% in 3 Q 13, which isn’t helping the cause with parent Sears Holdings. Sears lost $ 534 million compared with a year-earlier loss for the same period of $ 498 million. 

K-Mart’s bright spot was a 17% jump in online and multichannel sales, so maybe people are shipping their pants (and other stuff) after all.

Mashable had a great write up on this whole issue “So Your Ad Went Viral – big deal” citing the “Advertising Bench Index” that supports the idea that ads should pitch a product above all else.

Legendary Ad Man Bill Bernbach.

This whole argument boils down to the simple fact that advertising is part art and part science. I’ve worked that places that placed great credence on the “art” or creativity side like DDB foster by founder Bill Bernbach, and other agencies where it was all science (or spend optimization) all the time like Grey Direct / G2 / Geometry Global.

Some firms like video agency Unruly push the value of the social sharing agenda by publishing a list of the most shared ads in 2013, as a metric. "Shares are the currency of social success and for leading brand marketers discovering how to create and distribute highly shareable content repeatedly and at scale is now at the top of their wish list," Unruly U.S. President Richard Kosinski said in a statement.

"And Your Reason for the 17.7% share loss was..?"

I'd bet these social sharing advocates never worked a client-side marketing job - and had to explain a falling market share and missed revenue target to senior management by countering “Gee – lots of people really seem to like our ads these days.” That argument never made senior management warm and fuzzy, usually followed by a disappointing incentive comp payout.

I still like watching “The most shared ads of 2013” – but taking the marketing process downstream to a profitable end with boring marketing effectiveness metrics  still has its place in an increasingly accountable world.

After all when marketing helps drive long-term profitable growth – doesn’t that give senior management something to talk about at the quarterly earnings call? And often it is growth that drives upward movement in equity valuations, or the real value creation for a business. I’m glad I learned that lesson in business school.

Data Exhaust and other thought provoking trends.

 Matt Turck with Gilad Lotan from Betaworks.

I had the chance to attend the 
Data Driven NYC # 20 last night at the Bloomberg LP building. This meet-up was founded by Matt Turck from First Mark Capital and offers some of the best data analytic thought leadership around, for free.

The event featured an all-star lineup of data talent, from Hilary Mason - Data Scientist in Residence at Accel (with almost 30,000 followers on Linked In) to Giland Lotan - Chief Data Scientist from Betaworks, a firm that utilizes data driven approaches to draw insights and understanding from social streams. What this guy did with visual analysis of a social flow audience study was amazing.

Betaworks social flow audience study graphic.

The event featured smart content, well presented with engaged speakers. They fielded a broad range of questions from the audience, and were around afterwards for lively one-on-one conversations. As a non-tech person I did not feel as if these people were taking over my head at any point. Better yet check out their personal blogs for really interesting content and thinking.

One of the most thought provoking presentations was from Blake Shaw, Data Scientist from Foursquare - the location based social networking website / app for smart phones. I thought they just offered an annoying service that allowed people to tell the world where they are.

I was dead wrong. Blake explained how Foursquare is using contextual data feeds - of "data exhaust" from mobile device users to build a contextual data feed. In plain English - news you can use based on where you are going and what you plan to do.

They've evolving the service into push content that will help people get smart about just about anything they plan to do, ahead of time based on near real-time information. This really advanced the idea of people being able to use their mobile devices to interact with their environment.

I recommend signing up for the December Data Driven NYC event well in advance.

Ready. Set. Now where are we going?

Being a typical American guy I am not too big on asking for directions, even when I am lost. It was much worse before smart phones with GPS direction finding functions, a fact not lost on me when I am driving anywhere in New Jersey.

It seems like many ad agencies and clients are living the pre-smart phone era from a strategic marketing standpoint. For the life of me I do not understand many of the ads that I see. 

Take for example this ad for Volvo Trucks featuring 53 year old Jean-Claude Van Damme and his trademark "spits" move. What are they trying to sell? Who is the target? Why does this ad seem 100% “benefit-free?”

One of my business school professors said “Sears sells lots of 3/8” variable speed cordless drills every year. But people do not buy the drill, they buy the hole in the wall – the end benefit.” Or maybe the power of a drill - as shown in this ad from DeWalt tools.

I was taught as a junior AE at DDB to write smart and tight strategies or I’d get thrown out of the creative director’s office on my ear. We needed to clearly state the purpose of the ad, the target (demographic and attitudinal description) and a benefit or promise statement, with three support points, or reasons to believe the promise. What would the product / service do for the user? How would it help the target audience feel as a result?

One agency that still gets it right is Wieden + Kennedy, and it shows in this Grand Effie award winning ad for Chrysler "Imported from Detroit" directed by Serial Picture's Sam Bayer.

 

The challenge was for Chrysler to launch the Chrysler 200 in the absence of any consumer loyalty or eager customers. "Unfortunately, America had turned its back on American cars" Chrysler stated in its entry. "Success requires us to keep the public's eye on Chrysler's future" - a simple and straightforward strategic objective.

As one Effie judge commented "They gave that brand its soul back" and the successful turn-around of Chrysler allowed them to pay off their government bail out loan six years early, and return to profitability.

This disciplined process in a highly creative shop helps develop lots of award winning ads, not only from a creative standpoint, but also from a brand and business building perspective. Chrysler is considering an IPO later this year, following the take-over by FIAT in 2008.

Looks like basic strategic training is gone from most agencies these days, a casualty of cost cutting and plain neglect of practicing a profession that is both art and science. So the old saying “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” is the order of the day. A sad state of affairs indeed.

Ad Agencies: Strategic Partners or Commodity Suppliers?

A commodity item is often defined as a good or service that is perceived to be of value, widely available, and bought / sold primarily based on price, with little to no difference made based on where it comes from.

I am wondering if advertising agency business has fallen squarely into this definition? Is "good creative" a commodity that can be bought on price along?

Used to be that ad agencies were viewed as important strategic partners and brand champions.They offered invaluable objective perspectives, were sources of business building ideas and advocates of their clients' business from front to back including customer service, distribution, pricing and new product development. They actually used the clients' products and understood them.

Working in both large and small agencies over the years I can recall making board level presentations on important branding and strategic direction issues, stepping in to act as a brand manager for new product launches and spending time in the field with sales people to better understand how our clients products went to market through various distribution channels. 

We spend countless hours analyzing data of all sorts and championed consumer-focused research to better understand our target audiences. Agencies also were experts in the competitive landscape and were excellent at spotting trends of all sorts that might impact our clients' businesses.

Seems these days lots of agencies just want to produce traditional and digital advertising. They have taken on a project management mentality, focused more on delivering the marketing communications programs on time and on budget and avoiding "scope creep."

Not long ago at a leading digital agency - I asked our account team to get on a plane with me to go visit our clients' office. The response I got was "Why should we do that?" They went on "We can just use Skype or set up an online meeting." During the interview process I was asked "Can you turn our client facing staff into real account people?" This turned out to be a significant challenge.

1990 United Spot: Still Relevant

 

 

 

Brings to mind a classic 1990 United Airlines Commercial "Speech" from Leo Burnett that showed a manager talking to his staff about a long-time client that had just fired them. He gives his team members airline tickets to go out and visit every one of their remaining clients.

I am all for new technology, but some of the old ways of doing business - face to face with vested concern in a positive strategic outcome still seem to make sense today.

Ad Agency Business: Is anyone putting client interest first?

I was thinking about the $ 35 billion merger deal between Omnicom and Publicis earlier this year as well as the roll up of a bunch of agencies by WPP including G2, Ogivly and JWT’s former “activation” operations into Geometry Global .

Maurice Levy and John Wren.

I fully understand why the big holding companies are doing this – to drive down back office costs by eliminating operations and management redundancies. In theory this should improve profitability and enhance shareholder value.

But which larger agencies / holding companies are committed to putting their clients’ interests first? Is anyone really thinking about the needs of the nice people who pay?

I went looking for a new financial adviser a while back and ended up selecting a person with the Chartered Financial Analyst credential or CFA. This is an elite group of global investment professionals whose code of ethics is grounded in their commitment to putting their clients’ interest first. I like the fact that my hard-earned money is being well managed by competent investment professionals, who will not do things like “churn” my account by making unnecessary trades.

However it does not appear that the same commitment to client interests is being followed in the ad agency business. I recall when I was a senior manager in several of the largest holding companies I spent lots of time arguing about money. In the morning I would discuss blended hourly rates and compensation reduction with client procurement departments. In the afternoon I would field calls from my agency CFO and President about growing my top-line revenue and improving my unit’s operating margins.

I got funny looks from both sets of people when I made the statement “So as the agency of record are we leading the charge for growing our clients’ business with our marketing and advertising programs?”

One holding company executive pulled me aside and said “Look – we all know we’ll lose this business within two years when the client CMO leaves and the new CMO holds an agency review, so why bother worrying about their business?”

Bill Duggan EVP of the Association of National Advertisers advised: Clients of Publicis and Omnicom should directly ask their agencies "What's in this for me?" and "How will this impact my business?

I've always viewed the most mutually beneficial agency-client relationships as being focused on building the client’s business. This usually produced long- term profitable growth for the client, a few Effie awards, and seldom resulted in arguments about compensation. The Agency simply delivered tangible value and it was rewarded accordingly.

What fishing taught me about business.

Despite the fact that I live in NYC I am to be able to fish quiet often. We pull largemouth bass out of the lakes in Central Park, Striped Bass from the East River and I get to go off shore fishing south of Long Island for really big Tuna and Mahi Mahi.

Some time-tested approaches to fishing turn out to work really well in business, and here are some tips:

1.    Always have lines in the water:
 

Last summer I was lucky enough to get on a friend’s boat at 3:00 AM to go 100 miles out to the Hudson Canyon for tuna fishing. After the 3 hour trip to the appointed spot we discussed at length the underwater topography using GPS, the surface temperature of the water looking for “breaks” that hold bait fish and discussed at length what kind of rig to use – all trying to increase the chances of our success.

One astute member of the party said “Hey guys – if don’t get some lines in the water I guarantee you that we will have 0% chance of catching fish.”

My take-away for business is to always be engaged in activities that can lead directly to revenue generation, or have “lines in the water”.  Do not get overly distracted with strategy, planning and lots of internal meetings at the expense of actually conducting your business. 

2.    Learn to read the water:

Fish of all sizes, from small trout in Colorado streams to trophy stripped bass off Montuak share on trait – they’re predictable when it comes to feeding. Fish like to sit in still water next to moving water or on a “rip line” when looking for food. It limits their need to expend energy while seeking their next meal. Also makes for an excellent place to fish.

So I’ve learned to “read the water” in business – to know where concentrations of business opportunities might be. Like going to industry events and “meet-ups” where smart people are talking about innovative ideas. People feed there on these ideas, and it’s a good place to start business conversations.

3.    Try everything in the tackle box:

From my dry flies / nymphs for trout to “spreader bars” that target giant blue fin tuna I have tons of different tackle. People ask me all the time “What’s going to catch the fish?” I can honestly say I have caught fish on every lure / live bait rig I own – but I can never tell what is going to work or when.

So like in fishing – I change up my sales and marketing approach / offer often when it is not producing the desired result. Some entrepreneurs call it “pivoting” your business model. I like to try different approaches until I “hook up” as we say on the boat.

4.    Be patient and enjoy the process:

I have a really short attention span, and get frustrated when I don’t succeed. But getting upset about not catching fish has an inverse effect on actually catching fish. Somehow they just know! So I now I like sit back and enjoy the view and solitude when fishing. Once in a while I actually catch some nice fish. That why it is called “fishing” not “catching.”

So in business I try to enjoy the process of meeting and talking to lots and lots of people. Once in a while they turn into clients and profitable business relationships. Then I can yell “Fish on!” – oh wait, I have to save that for this weekend on the boat.

Last year when the Dollar Shave Club came out with its streamed ad I wasn't sure if it was some clever spoof, a parody or a legitimate way to address a real marketing opportunity in a really fun way.

The original spot "Our blades are f***ing great" is clever and memorable. It has garnered over 10 million views on You Tube to date, and created a legitimate business. It won the "Best-Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign" at the 2012 Ad Age Viral Video Awards.

The company is based in Santa Monica, CA and delivers personal grooming products, such as discounted razor blades by by mail. The company operates on a member subscription for home delivery model rather than selling through traditional retail channels. It was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin in July of 2011.

But enough about their business - they guys just jumped into the shock-and-awe school of marketing with their brand new video “Let’s Talk About # 2” promoting their new product “One Wipe Charlies” – a butt wipe made for men. No kidding.
While they kept the same irreverent approach that won them so much attention the first time around – they really stepped over the line of acceptable taste with both this product and the promotional video. A better way to wipe your bottom – did anyone wake up this morning with this “need state?”

I think they could have addressed lots of other more pressing HBA needs of men – like a cheap version of Minoxidil for hair loss or body wash for guys over age 25. We all know there are plenty of laughs waiting at the expense of bald guys with BO, delivered in a really nice and tasteful way of course.

But what do I know? The new spot has over 442,000 views in its first 24 hours. 

A whacky storyline follows a frog. Remarkable content results.

It was Seth Godin raised the idea of "remarkable content" in his book Purple Cow. Godin said the key to creating successful content is to find a way to stand out - to be the purple cow in a  field
of monochrome Holsteins. Remarkable content should motivate people to want to read it, share it and comment on it.

The "Follow the Frog" spot from the Rainforest Alliance fits this description. It has over 1.1 million views on You Tube to date and still growing. So what's the big deal here?

The Rainforest Alliance went out on a limb with this spot. First it is over three minutes long. A viewer has to pay attention to "get it." It makes fun of earth-friendly / do-good people, plays on guilt and apathy, and then goes around the bend with a "...here's what you're not going to do..." fantasy storyline.

The spot ends up telling a very compelling story, that makes for quite remarkable content. It has an unpretentious beginning, a zany middle, and a great end with strong brand message and call-to-action: "Follow the frog." It is funny and compelling all at the same time. The editing is choppy, and the quick cuts will make most people dizzy. But it really works. It's remarkable. Kudos to director Max Joseph.

It is amazing how much content these days is simply re-purposed, re-packaged, fails to tell a compelling story, has nothing to do with a brand message or simply plays it safe and just does not get noticed. Maybe that's the price we've paid for our overwhelming fascination with technology, smart phone gadgets and 140 character micro messaging via Twitter.

Thrill and Delight Your Customers.

I had a really bad customer experience with Verizon Wireless last week. While trying to work my through the issue, it got me thinking about ways to thrill and delight customers.

First – Try hard to treat your current customers well. They are the nice people who already buy your products / services, and can be your best “brand advocates” or big time “brand detractors” in the wide world of social media.

It  started when Verizon offered me a 4G upgrade last week on my broadband ISP account. 

The customer experience "went south"  when I tried to activate it - following the quick start instructions. Failing that effort, I spent two hours on the phone with Verizon and another two hours in a Verizon store trying to install and troubleshoot a new Pantech UML 295. Fives sets of people tried to get the device to work, to no avail. At the end a store manager said "enough is enough" and upgraded me to a mobile "hot spot' device.

Second – Offer high quality products / services. Seem obvious. But Verizon Wireless apparently failed to QA test this new new device with its online software, on a very popular hardware / OS platform – a MacBook Pro with the most recent version of OS X.

All the Verizon employees I spoke to just could not get the device to work for Internet access. Could have been a VZ access manager software version incompatibility issue, who knows?

Third – Have a well-defined problem resolution process. Empower customer-facing service people with what ever they need to resolve problems. This did not happen with Verizon. The hardware / software combo I was dealing with was just not going to work. Maybe the failure was the result of a low-level nuclear electro-magnetic pulse blast from North Korea - that adversely impacted the Pantech plant in South Korea. 

Who knows what Kim Jong-un is up to these days with all that belligerent rhetoric?

So now I have a Verizon “Jetpack” mobile hot spot. The assistant manager of the Verizon store here in NYC took pity on me. She told me to forget the broadband device and suggested the mobile hot-spot solution. It appeared to be a "work-around" solution she came up with, and for that I am thankful.

BIg Data: Best Used as a Means to an End?

Is “big data” a means to and end or an end in itself?

Big data / data collection / data analysis seem to be “the next big thing” and what has lots of people talking these days. Much is being written about the copious amount of data being collected, how little of this data is actually being analyzed for any useful purpose

All this begs the most basic question: Does “big data” really support better decision-making, improved outcomes, less risk exposure, and more efficient deployment of scarce resources – all to help drive long-term profitable growth for businesses?

A recent article in the WSJ talked about how Auto Zone is using data analysis to optimize its retail supply chain and improve the chances store visitors will walk out with a purchase. Another example was given around optimizing wind-turbine performance. All good, but hardly earth shattering developments.

Another article focused on the data-crazed vibe around SXSW last week entitled  “Who Rules the Data?”  Many tech firms are rushing to collect all sorts of data, display it close to the body (Google Glass) and even placing devices to track conference participants whereabouts and even how much time they spent sitting or standing in the porta-potties on site. Here the focus was on privacy issues, pardon the pun.

Chances are if both IT and marketing types spent a little more time linking data collection / analysis with informing smarter decision making (and tracking outcomes to inform future actions) for senior management – we’d all be in a better place: More efficient businesses that will grow, create jobs and fuel economic prosperity.

Now that’s a data point worthy of further consideration.

The Art of Making the Complicated Simple

One of the most undervalued skills that any marketer can have is making the complicated simple.

American businesses seem to thrive on making things as complicated as possible. Just try getting through an entire issue of The New Yorker or reading the owner's manual that come with your next major appliance with any sense of how to fix the darn thing if it breaks down.

Hats off to the Wall Street Journal for demystifying the whole papal conclave / election process. I know that the "white smoke" signals the successful completion of the process, but I had no idea what the process steps were inside the Sistine Chapel to get there.

I love the whole idea of the "info-graphic" medium - a description of something that is simple without reducing the storyline to a 140 character Twitter post that coveys nothing of value. After reading this article I now get how it works, when it will happen, where and who will be involved. All the basic elements of a story.

This approach may be an excellent marketing tool for a whole variety of business sectors. Maybe someday it will help me explain what "re-balancing an investment portfolio" means to someone who does not have an MBA.

Square Inc. Getting it by giving it away.

Square Inc. is a privately held electronic payment service that is doing a great job of getting marketing share / product distribution by "giving it away" - literally.

Square consists of a small card reader that can plug into a smart phone or tablet device with two apps: Square Register and Square Wallet. The register app accepts credit cards using the card reader.

It is amazingly easy to register for this product and get it for free online, or stop by your local Starbucks and pick one up for $ 10 - which is then credited to you bank account once you start using it. Might help that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz just invested $ 25 million in the firm, and as a result he got a seat on their board.

Square Wallet app allows people to use their smart phone a cash free mobile payment device, competing with the likes Google Wallet.

Signing up for the Square Register is a delight - they have an amazingly simple consumer interface and registration process, including identity verification when you enter your bank account information. How did they know where I lived back in 1992?

And best yet is their simple pricing model: Either 2.75% per swipe, or a monthly flat fee of $ 275 with 0% per swipe. This must have the Banks and their "merchant services" units shaking their heads, and watching their market share do a nose dive as a result of this innovative offering.

 The Rain Forest Alliance NGO really got its marketing message right with its new
follow the frog video - with a hysterical story of what you should not do to support their cause. The spot was created by Wander Films in LA.

TED came out with it third "Ads Worth Spreading" list yesterday - and this spot was included among in this top-ten list of ads. It is featured with some very prestigious creative company from the likes of Coco-cola, Chrysler's Ram Truck Super Bowl spot "The Farmer" and Dell's "Annie" spot. All are well worth viewing.

The Rain Forest Alliance is a non-governmental organization (NGO) who is working hard to conserve the biodiversity and sustainability of the world's rain forests by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. The spot focuses on the last of its objectives.

The story takes a page from the "Hangover" movies - with a bunch of crazy vignettes that befall an average guy. He is presented as a good person in may ways - but has a feeling that he must do something to help preserve the rain forest. The twist is that the spot focuses on what this guy should not do...

The rapid firing editing and voice-over effectively lead to the call-to-action: Follow the Frog. Buying Rain forest Alliance certified products helps insure the future of the rain forest. Entertaining and effective at the same time.

Will "big data" work to improve the quality of life for people via their smart phones?

Groker is a new smart phone app that uses "predictive search" to feed data into a "discovery service" for mobile devices.  In essence is supposed to be deliver  a"personalized search and discovery service" that makes it easier for users to get the information they want.

This app claims to anticipate your needs - what you might search for - and bring it to you before you actually search for it. Ad Age calls this "pre-sults" - informed by data extracted from a user's information like location, interests, search history and social graph.

In theory this app is attempting to redefine search based on the way people use their mobile devices. Seems like a cool idea if they can evolve the "intent market" on mobile the way Google has on traditional laptop / desktop devices. This might be a real gold mine based on the stampede of user going to mobile devices and all the data they are generating day in and day out.

I'm sure they're tracking me already here in midtown Manhattan - ready to sell my data to marketers and retailers who want to put their message on my mobile device. They've already served up deli and restaurant suggestions for lunch, and a bunch of shopping malls in NJ for some reason. The app also serves up moderately useful content like "trending on the web" / "headlines" / local weather.

It also offers movie reviews tied to theater locations / times. No link to Fandango yet to buy tickets remotely - but I am sure they're negotiating that deal right now.

Ad age also reported Nara as a site to watch - "A Boston based start up with the goal of creating a personalized Internet experience, for users, based on a recommendation engine developed by its team of MIT neuro-scientists, artists, computer scientists and astro-physicists."

I went on this site and it only promises "Find restaurants that match your tastes" - I think they way over-paid for their development team.

Creating an Object of Desire

Kudos to Google for the way they are launching "Glass" - their revolutionary wearable technology. These glasses are a major step towards what is known as "ubiquitous computing" - the notion that computers / the Internet will be available to users from any place at any time with simple voice commands.

I don't get the feeling that Google is doing out of the goodness of their hearts - as these glasses will most certainly deliver Google products at some point soon. What is so cool is the way that Google is launching the product.

Earlier this week Google launched a new video called "how it feels" that gives a user's-eye-view of the product and what it can do - from getting directions to taking videos, and translating a conversation to getting on-the-spot reference information. A very emotional sell for a technology hardware product. With a clear call-to-action at the end of the video for social sharing and "how to get one."

Google did a great job or rolling out their PR machine earlier this week as well, with an interesting article in the NY Times Business Day Technology section called "Google Searches for Style" playing the fashion / style angle.

It gets better - as Google is truly making its Glass "an object of desire" by making it hard to get.  

Google is offering a lucky 1500 people the chance to win the product in its first release. All you have to do is apply by using  Google+ or Twitter to "tell us what you would do if had Glass, staring with the hashtag #ifihadglass." Photos and videos and can be included in the application restricted to 50 words or less.

By the way the newly chosen "Explorers" will need to fork over $ 1500 plus tax for the privilege of attending a special pick-up experience in person in NYC, San Francisco or Los Angeles.  Now that's a bold and innovative approach to  marketing.

There is an old say that goes "If you don't know where you are going - any road will get you there" and  that observation can be applied to lots of the marketing / advertising that can be seen today.

Seems that corporate marketing teams and ad agencies have become enamored with the latest offerings in social media & new devices like smart phones / tablets and have forgotten the basics of building blocks of strategic  marketing - including the creation of a benefit based brand positioning and a clear story or reason-to-believe behind the brand's promise of value.

With increasingly fragmented audiences and their ability to filter out unwanted commercial content - marketers will face an uphill battle to justify spending and show an attractive ROI. So Sagg Insights will look at both best and worst practices in marketing - applauding those marketers who get it right and questioning some of those that miss the mark.