Wong = WOW
One again, UO's Creative Strategist class was blessed with the presence of an advertising walking talking inspiration. This time the speaker was Tracy Wong of Wong Doody Cradall Wiener, and boy did he put a grin on my face. Much was promised, but Tracy still managed to overdeliver.
So much of what he had to say resonates with my own feelings and thoughts. He just puts them into words way better than I. I'd like to share a few of the main concepts he brought that really speak to me and help add focus to my own ideas.
Let your ego go
It's the biggest barrier to creativity and opportunity. You are not your ideas, whether you are a creative, account person, planner, strategist, whatever. So don't take it personally when your ideas get shot down. The true test of creative success is not "can you come up with the best idea in the first try?" It's "how much resilience do you have in round eleven?" Tracy recommends that the best creative process takes place in the democracy of good ideas: everyone has a say in the work.
WE > ME
"There is no 'I' in team. But there is an 'I' in prick." Well your ego is that prick in the back of your head that looks down on other work because it's not your work. Your ego is that prick in the back of your head that says it's better than the small unknown account; that you deserve the Pepsi superbowl spot. Get over it. The original stuff comes where something has never been done before. The original stuff comes from taking the less glamorous scenario and by being bold and courageous in the face of an unremarkable brief. Remove your ego from the picture, and focus on making the best work you can.
Something as powerful and effective as this would've never come to be if Wong Doody hadn't checked it's ego at the door.
LISTEN! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, LISTEN!!!
Tracy Wong puts it so well: the greatest creative weapon you have is your ears. We go into too many situations claiming we have an "open mind." The problem is, open or not, our minds are already full of our own ideas (as Tracy puts it: shit), and they diminish/taint the value of what we hear from others. Go into a conversation instead with an "empty mind," ready to appreciate what others have to say. Don't respond for the sake of response. People want to feel heard, so give that to them.
"Knowledge talks. Wisdom listens."
The other fantastic takeaway is to "love your client like you love your dog." I want any future clients to know that I want them to be successful; I have their best interest in mind and at heart. How to do this? Listen! "Listening creates trust which kills fear." This skill will allow its user to turn a rejection into an opportunity. It will include the client as part of the team, not the problem to solve. It will show the client that you care about them, which is an enormous asset to have when your idea is bold and potentially scary. Empty your mind and listen to what anyone and everyone has to say. Seek why they think the way they do. Search for what they value. Put aside your ego, and absorb what it is they want to say. You never know when the favor might be returned.
Remove your ego from the situation and shut up/clear your brain when someone else is talking. These are two incredibly powerful notions to employ in my work and in my career, and they're a bit stronger now thanks to Tracy Wong. Endless thanks goes out to him from myself and others.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
6 | Generosity and Reciprocity
We've been talking a lot about generosity in the agency world lately. I've been lucky enough to be at the receiving end of it on many occasions too. Kelly Meyers, Kelsey Coffrin, and Scott Bedbury have all been more than generous lately in helping me advance my career (THANK YOU ALL). I hope I can repay their favors with actions of my own some day.
Now, without diminishing what I just said, let's look at that previous statement: I hope I can repay their favors with actions of my own some day. I have a desire - a genuine desire - to be generous to Kelly, Kelsey, and Scott as a result of their generosity to me. No money changed hands. No promises were made. I just want to do a nice thing back. I already know they'd do the same for me. What a cool concept.
But wait! There's science behind this. In fact, it points to the notion that we are all wired for reciprocity. That is, if I extend a favor to you, regardless if you even know me, you are internally obligated to extend a favor back. Yesterday I watched an inspiring Stanford Breakfast Briefing video of Robert Cialdini talking about the power of persuasion (I'm searching for a link and will post it when i find one). The foundation for all the principles he suggests are built on this concept of reciprocity of generosity. It applies to personal interactions, international relief aid, and surely to consumer behavior.
Every major culture in the world teaches its children that those who extend resources to another has a significant credit and influence in the future. So why is so much of our world still stuck in a backwards mindset where the customer forks up cash and only then does a company deliver value?
We as advertisers and as business leaders need to rise above marketing and selling products. We need to give value to the world around us. If we focus on that, the selling will take care of itself.
Side note: I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car for a summer. It was a bad fit, but boy do I respect the company for its generosity. The mission statement is "Take care of customers and employees first and business success will follow." I assure you, the company lives by that too. It also holds crazy high market share. Avis' "We Try Harder" campaign may be famous, but actions speak louder than campaigns.
Back on track: Value is not a coupon or a giveaway or some other marketing gimmick. Value is vowing not to contribute clutter to the airwaves, print, and web. Value is aiming to bring smiles to viewers' faces when they see what we're throwing at them. Value is supporting a cause because it's the right thing to do, not because it will give the illusion of humanity to a cold brand. Value is showing generosity towards audiences without conditions and a sales pitch. As individuals we have the power to set the tone for a relationship by acting first. As advertisers we have the same power, so let's use it.
Now, without diminishing what I just said, let's look at that previous statement: I hope I can repay their favors with actions of my own some day. I have a desire - a genuine desire - to be generous to Kelly, Kelsey, and Scott as a result of their generosity to me. No money changed hands. No promises were made. I just want to do a nice thing back. I already know they'd do the same for me. What a cool concept.
But wait! There's science behind this. In fact, it points to the notion that we are all wired for reciprocity. That is, if I extend a favor to you, regardless if you even know me, you are internally obligated to extend a favor back. Yesterday I watched an inspiring Stanford Breakfast Briefing video of Robert Cialdini talking about the power of persuasion (I'm searching for a link and will post it when i find one). The foundation for all the principles he suggests are built on this concept of reciprocity of generosity. It applies to personal interactions, international relief aid, and surely to consumer behavior.
Every major culture in the world teaches its children that those who extend resources to another has a significant credit and influence in the future. So why is so much of our world still stuck in a backwards mindset where the customer forks up cash and only then does a company deliver value?
We as advertisers and as business leaders need to rise above marketing and selling products. We need to give value to the world around us. If we focus on that, the selling will take care of itself.
Side note: I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car for a summer. It was a bad fit, but boy do I respect the company for its generosity. The mission statement is "Take care of customers and employees first and business success will follow." I assure you, the company lives by that too. It also holds crazy high market share. Avis' "We Try Harder" campaign may be famous, but actions speak louder than campaigns.
Back on track: Value is not a coupon or a giveaway or some other marketing gimmick. Value is vowing not to contribute clutter to the airwaves, print, and web. Value is aiming to bring smiles to viewers' faces when they see what we're throwing at them. Value is supporting a cause because it's the right thing to do, not because it will give the illusion of humanity to a cold brand. Value is showing generosity towards audiences without conditions and a sales pitch. As individuals we have the power to set the tone for a relationship by acting first. As advertisers we have the same power, so let's use it.
5 | Creatives, Clients, and Connectors
Take this for example: Research in Motion designed the 1st device to send and receive email wirelessly in 1998. Their executives couldn't decide on a name, but had some options firmly in mind: ProMail, EasyMail, MegaMail. The problem was email was not something most audiences wanted to have following them around all the time. In fact, as Lexicon found, even mentioning email raised blood pressure levels. A name like MegaMail would do anything but help get a new product moving. So the Lexicon staff started with a conceptual mind map, trying thousands upon thousands of words that associated with the intended goals of the brand. In the end, the name was composed of two full words. One was a color that evoked hi-tech mental imagery. The other was related to fruit, which had shown results of lowering blood pressure by mention. The brand and its name were massive successes. The product was the BlackBerry.
Cool stuff, eh? The article is ripe with more like that. But you can read it yourself, so instead of share those stories here, I want to point out a few things related to account management that I took note of from the article.
Clients are going to come in with preconceptions about their brand and clients ultimately want to be right. In the same light, clients are going to want to feel as if they are an essential part of the creative process. Account managers have the challenge of keeping these preconceptions from impeding on the construction of the project and yet lead their client's agents to feel included and helpful (if not indispensable). After all, who doesn't want to feel smart - especially if the topic is your own product and audience? Jon Steel aptly points out that the best way to persuade someone to adopt your idea is structure your pitch so that the listener comes to the conclusion [seemingly] on their own. So a client point-of-contact's first job should be to listen. Listen to what your client has to say, what ideas they have, and who they are. Make them feel cared for and included. There will even be times when preconceptions they have will be of significant value, so never ignore what they bring to the table. Listening builds trust, and it equips the listener with tools to support your ideas later on.
If you listen, and use that to your advantage, the following will be mitigated, but rarely completely avoided. Clients are going to be uncertain about what your agency brings to the pitch. After all, they hired your agency because they realized they're not as capable as others in this arena. Subconsciously, clients acknowledge they don't know what they're doing (or at least they see that they're not experts). Of course your agency's ideas will appear strange and uncomfortable; that's why you're here. Their pants are down, but they won't want to admit it. And so they'll be indecisive. David Placek, Lexicon's founder and C.E.O., says that "clients typically drill down on 'I don't know, is that really supporting our positioning?'" Account people need to really work with their clients to aid them in the decision making process. It's starts with listening, which turns into understanding, which yields trust. Client comfort with the people behind the ideas may be the greatest piece of persuasion an agency has when comfort with the ideas themselves may be shaky.
Speak the language of who you're talking to. Just as listening goes both ways, so does communicating. We in advertising have potentially the coolest gig out there. Every stage of the process stems from creativity: it has the power to be bold, funny, powerful, effective, revolutionary, insightful, entertaining, and most of all fun. And we get paid to do it! Minus the biweekly paycheck, it seems more like a sustainable hobby than a job. Well that doesn't always make sense to people, let alone clients. Talking about shaping words into a euphonius resonant sound that evokes emotion may be what the creative folks at Lexicon aim to do. But even Research in Motion executives knew that their duty was practical. To an outside agent, it's about getting things done. So the message needs to be translated. Thus, account handlers need to be multilingual. I'm not talking about throwing business terms into sentences merely to check them off the presentation list. I mean actively shaping your message to meet your audience on their level. Perhaps that sounds similar to what we do with regards to consumers? Equally important is communication with the creative side of the equation in that language. This isn't about suits versus creatives anymore. If you think it is, good luck but I think your fate is already sealed in mediocrity. Account managers are a very important piece of the puzzle. They can merely manage accounts and expectations, or they can rise up and bridge the gap, allowing better work to flow. I know what route I've chosen
The New Yorker writers regularly impress me with their abilities to take even mundane business topics and turn them into something personable. No matter what end of a spectrum you may fall on, I feel a story well told can fill the foreign void in front of you. Maybe this is something we should all try to attain! Perhaps facts, numbers, and all things linear can be harmoniously joined with ideas, creativity, and all things human to make some sort of super enterprise in business, society and the world. What an idea!
In adland (as anywhere else), we have limits. Yet we all have different strengths in this game, and that's OK. That's even great. Because when these strengths overlap, magic happens. Look at what resulted from simply pairing art directors and copywriters during the Creative Revolution (thanks Bill)! The walls defining agency job roles are getting kicked down left and right allowing all the players to share, grow, and innovate like no era before. Lexicon has come up with some incredible brand names: BlackBerry, Pentium, Swiffer, the list goes on. Some of those brands have more aural recognition than the companies that own them! But none of those would've come to be without talented account people to connect client with agency - creativity with context. Examples of great account work can be found all over the place. I consider this article a case study. But it's a case study that points out crucial traits of account management success: listen, build trust, and translate. From there, who knows what can be accomplished?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
4 | What I Bring To Your Table
Possibility and potential are knocking at the door #UOCreativeStrat. I don't know most of you. Let's change that and if you're interested, make something amazing in the process!
I come from a very different background. I'm studying business. There, I said it. Dirty dirty word. I'm pursuing a career in account management, maybe strategy, maybe media. I am not a suit (though I do look very dapper in a three-piece). Though, I can bring a very essential viewpoint to the creative spectrum. The best work isn't merely about products and bottom lines, nor is it just about creativity and magic. Great work is the result of those extremes coming together to strategize and collaborate. Let's make some "positive friction" (much thanks to Scott Bedbury for that) with this project!
If doing this for thirteen years makes me a square, so be it.
Now with that said on what I can bring, here is what I am:
Improvement finder and problem solver - I look at situations, projects, etc. with a critical perspective and always ask "how can we do this better?" "What can we learn more about to better understand/deliver on this?" I analyze what's going on, because somewhere in there (or out there) is a new insight or clue to improvement.
Improvement finder and problem solver - I look at situations, projects, etc. with a critical perspective and always ask "how can we do this better?" "What can we learn more about to better understand/deliver on this?" I analyze what's going on, because somewhere in there (or out there) is a new insight or clue to improvement.
Communicator and unifier - Aren't we all? The greatest team work comes from when the team members are all on the same page. I love helping the people I work with reach that. When that happens, then we can really build something bigger than a class project or even the start of a brand. We can build a vision, and that's something that transcend the 90% of ________ in Morrisonian Theory.
Endlessly curious - I read books and periodicals. I surf the interwebs. I go to seminars and workshops. I take classes outside my major requirements. Why? Because it's fascinating! I will never say no to learning something new. Learning and the pursuit of more is my mission in life. That's what led me here, and that's what takes me forward. I'm new(ish) to this landscape. But that doesn't make me clueless. I'm decently well read and I going to expand on with this project.
I'm also very flexible in roles. Let's use this content specialization project to grow as professionals and as people. I want to learn what your creative process is, how you tell a story, and where you hope to go from here. I'll share the same with you, and then some stuff that might seem a little alien or square. Have a drink with me - beer or coffee, both are delicious - and let's do this.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
3 | "The Magician" is Right
This week's issue of The Economist features a special on the late Steve Jobs. It fittingly names the technology icon "The Magician." Steve Jobs took the computer world around us and reshaped it with awe and splendor... several times. He wasn't an adman, but he had creativity up the Wazoo and without his direction and innovations, the ad game would be a very different place. In his honor, here are some bits of info I've found through readings that are not so commonly known about the legend, and yet crucial to the successes of his legacy. Oh, and they shaped the advertising and marketing world like nobody's business.
For this we have to thank Hewlett Packard, Jobs' drive and curiosity, and a lot of luck. Steve Jobs didn't grow up in a rich community (like Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft) or have easy access to programming hardware in an age when it was scarce (like Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems). But he did live in the heart of Silicon Valley as a teen. And he went after every opportunity he could. He even wrote to Bill Hewlett, one of the most powerful tech men in the world at the time, looking for computer parts. Guess what? It landed him a job, and sparked his curiosity further into designing his own computers. You never know what lies at the other end of a new handshake. I certainly can use this as evidence to reach out to industry players (and even leaders) as intimidating as it may be. More can be found on success stories like Jobs - as a result of taking advantage of opportunities - in Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers.
Here's another story brought to my attention by Gladwell in a great New Yorker article. We're all familiar with the 1984 commercial. But it would've been for naught without a revolutionary product to back it up. Enter Macintosh Operating System and the mouse. Before the original Macintosh, even personal computers were completely controlled by users typing in lines of commands. In 1979, Jobs negotiated a deal with Xerox to see many of the projects the giant was working on. They showed him a complicated resemblance of what we recognize of a bitmap OS and a concept for the mouse. The problem was the mouse was far too intricate and expensive for Xerox to ever produce for the masses. Jobs instead saw opportunity just waiting to be plucked. He instantly took the idea to his industrial design partners to make a mouse that was cheap and easy to use. By 1984, the concept was realized, and allowed Chiat\Day to break the mold of television ads. Jobs didn't invent the personal computer. Though in my opinion he certainly put the "personal" in personal computer.
Fast forward to 1997. Steve Jobs is called back to save a dying Apple. Jon Steel recalls Goody Silverstein + Partners' new business meeting with Jobs in Perfect Pitch. After writing more than a dozen projects Apple was then developing onto a board, the CEO crossed all but two of them off. "We've got to get back to doing what we do best...The two projects that remain...represent what we always wanted this company to be about; they're technologically superb and visually stunning." Though it may be a bit of a stretch, I feel this is a [business oriented] approach to creativity and innovation: don't start with just one idea and just slap stuff onto it. Start with lots of ideas, and whittle away till you find the ones that are worth continuing. Jobs then went off describing how he wanted to thank Apple's loyal following with a new ad campaign. "These people are just like us. They don't care about being different. They like being different." I don't think you need to think hard to see where this originated from. Oh, and those two projects that he chose to bet the company on? They were the G4 and the iMac.
One more thing I want to point out: Steve Jobs as a master presenter. His keynote speeches are phenomenal and accumulated a fan following all unto their own. They are simple and powerful. Compare Jobs' launch of the iPhone to Bill Gates' early attempts at product presentations and you'll see the difference (given Gates is much better now). The gap in presentation effectiveness is even more apparent when you consider which of the two "invented" the world standard, PowerPoint. Jobs realized the power of telling a story with his product. Excuse me, that's incorrect. Jobs realized the power of telling a story with his brand. He told his brand's story of reinventing the game...again and again. As a result, the high-tech industry leaders now almost always follow this format and the "keynote" has become a far more significant promotional channel than ever before. Jobs was an expert at building anticipation for the next Apple release and grew into a brand himself. Is he essential to a sustained Apple success story? Will the company thrive as it did under his at-times overpowering yet visionary management? I think the loss of the leader is significant, but also that brands don't have to die with their founder. Steve Jobs shaped a strong and magical brand in Apple from the technology and raw materials in the world around him. It is hard to imagine that dying in the near future. Still, Tim Cook has quite the shoes to fill.
By now you're probably realizing I don't really write short posts. I may surprise you yet, but I also enjoy the liberty to dive deep into a topic here. There's a lot at play in every story, and I find a lot of it to be fascinating. If you want something guaranteed to be short, follow me on Twitter.
For this we have to thank Hewlett Packard, Jobs' drive and curiosity, and a lot of luck. Steve Jobs didn't grow up in a rich community (like Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft) or have easy access to programming hardware in an age when it was scarce (like Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems). But he did live in the heart of Silicon Valley as a teen. And he went after every opportunity he could. He even wrote to Bill Hewlett, one of the most powerful tech men in the world at the time, looking for computer parts. Guess what? It landed him a job, and sparked his curiosity further into designing his own computers. You never know what lies at the other end of a new handshake. I certainly can use this as evidence to reach out to industry players (and even leaders) as intimidating as it may be. More can be found on success stories like Jobs - as a result of taking advantage of opportunities - in Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers.
Here's another story brought to my attention by Gladwell in a great New Yorker article. We're all familiar with the 1984 commercial. But it would've been for naught without a revolutionary product to back it up. Enter Macintosh Operating System and the mouse. Before the original Macintosh, even personal computers were completely controlled by users typing in lines of commands. In 1979, Jobs negotiated a deal with Xerox to see many of the projects the giant was working on. They showed him a complicated resemblance of what we recognize of a bitmap OS and a concept for the mouse. The problem was the mouse was far too intricate and expensive for Xerox to ever produce for the masses. Jobs instead saw opportunity just waiting to be plucked. He instantly took the idea to his industrial design partners to make a mouse that was cheap and easy to use. By 1984, the concept was realized, and allowed Chiat\Day to break the mold of television ads. Jobs didn't invent the personal computer. Though in my opinion he certainly put the "personal" in personal computer.
Fast forward to 1997. Steve Jobs is called back to save a dying Apple. Jon Steel recalls Goody Silverstein + Partners' new business meeting with Jobs in Perfect Pitch. After writing more than a dozen projects Apple was then developing onto a board, the CEO crossed all but two of them off. "We've got to get back to doing what we do best...The two projects that remain...represent what we always wanted this company to be about; they're technologically superb and visually stunning." Though it may be a bit of a stretch, I feel this is a [business oriented] approach to creativity and innovation: don't start with just one idea and just slap stuff onto it. Start with lots of ideas, and whittle away till you find the ones that are worth continuing. Jobs then went off describing how he wanted to thank Apple's loyal following with a new ad campaign. "These people are just like us. They don't care about being different. They like being different." I don't think you need to think hard to see where this originated from. Oh, and those two projects that he chose to bet the company on? They were the G4 and the iMac.
One more thing I want to point out: Steve Jobs as a master presenter. His keynote speeches are phenomenal and accumulated a fan following all unto their own. They are simple and powerful. Compare Jobs' launch of the iPhone to Bill Gates' early attempts at product presentations and you'll see the difference (given Gates is much better now). The gap in presentation effectiveness is even more apparent when you consider which of the two "invented" the world standard, PowerPoint. Jobs realized the power of telling a story with his product. Excuse me, that's incorrect. Jobs realized the power of telling a story with his brand. He told his brand's story of reinventing the game...again and again. As a result, the high-tech industry leaders now almost always follow this format and the "keynote" has become a far more significant promotional channel than ever before. Jobs was an expert at building anticipation for the next Apple release and grew into a brand himself. Is he essential to a sustained Apple success story? Will the company thrive as it did under his at-times overpowering yet visionary management? I think the loss of the leader is significant, but also that brands don't have to die with their founder. Steve Jobs shaped a strong and magical brand in Apple from the technology and raw materials in the world around him. It is hard to imagine that dying in the near future. Still, Tim Cook has quite the shoes to fill.
By now you're probably realizing I don't really write short posts. I may surprise you yet, but I also enjoy the liberty to dive deep into a topic here. There's a lot at play in every story, and I find a lot of it to be fascinating. If you want something guaranteed to be short, follow me on Twitter.
2 | Turn that preconception upside down!
Chrysler's new campaign (and new brand identity at that) blows me away again and again. In Creative Strategist we dove into how Wieden+Kennedy went beyond creating another ad campaign, and instead linked Chrysler's goals with those of a recovering Detroit. This is powerful stuff. But I can't help but point out there is something bigger and more appealing at work in this effort than just a worthy philanthropic cause. No, it's not Eminem making a celebrity endorsement (though it certainly helps). It even goes beyond painting a touching and believable story. The "Imported from Detroit" campaign is the ballsy response to American doubt in its own auto industry.
The past few years have been downright awful for the Big Three. Confidence in domestic cars has been on the decline for at least the last decade. Japanese (and now Korean) automakers are really making solid names for themselves in reliability, luxury, and affordability. And financial crises have taken Detroit's single-industry focused business landscape and stripped it of its dignity. Detroit became a dirty word, now a barren relic of old world Americana. Detroit became Hell.
"What does a town that’s been to Hell and back know about the finer things in life?"
And then Chrysler does the unthinkable. Instead of running from America's impression of the Motor City, it embraces it. It uses that - a solidified notion that no amount of unsupported advertising can fix - as the foundation for the rest of its argument.
"You see, it's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel."
Our world has been flipped. W+K took the City of Detroit's and Chrysler's greatest weakness, and leveraged it into an incredibly powerful asset. Forget about arguing that the automaker is a figurative diamond in the rough. No, diamonds are made from the rough. Luxury is born from the ruins. You don't have to like Detroit. It's gritty, blue collar, crude, alienated from America, and in one heck of a depression. But damn do they live cars. It's almost as if buying a Chrysler is like buying an import. Oh shi...
"This is the Motor City. And this is what we do."
This rebrand is incredible. Chrysler didn't take the easy road. It accepted the hard truth and then used that to challenge the status quo. It gave us a new vision of what American-made, no, Detroit-made luxury could mean. And inspiring a vision is my favorite thing to witness in the world. It drives us to do things we never would've done before. It supports our associated efforts (like picking up a fallen friend off the ground). It leads us to be better people. And when used in the right context, it can serve as the mortar for building revolutionary brands.
On a side note, I must point out my appreciation for the new logo that goes with the rebrand. The design evokes old world luxury akin to Aston Martin or Bentley that reinforces the "import" appeal. Not the most original idea in the world, but not something that's been embraced in quite some time. And then again I could be wrong. At the very least I'm less likely to associate it with corny beer.
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