Anybody else?

Whenever I fly over cities set by rivers, I notice at how they resemble grey cavities from above, as if eating into the lush green landscapes below, and I think about how closely human civilization resembles a caustic bacterial infection eating away at the body the planet. 

And at night, I marvel at how those cities resemble neurons firing in a brain, each road stretching out like a bright pulse until it finds another city. And I imagine I’m sitting in a giant flying Excedrin capsule, sprinkling its analgesics down below to calm the cities (little headaches) down.

Then the Ambien finally knocks me out.

Excuse me, but could you spare a click on my QR code?

What if - in tech-savvy cities - we gave these out to the homeless…

Cardboard signs with QR codes.

Seems rather silly at first. Perhaps though, it’s provocative enough to draw some people’s attention and get them to spread it through social media. 

It could generate PR, and that’s how a bigger story can be delivered, leveraging the free media.

For anyone who snaps the code, $1 would automatically be donated on behalf of a charity into the cardboard sign-holder’s personal account - for meals, job assistance, substance abuse treatment, etc. 

It could also deliver a bigger message on behalf of a charity though. It could raise awareness, or bring up their site, asking the user to donate to fix the root of the problem, or to help spread their specific message.

Would we really expect homeless people to use these signs regularly?

No, probably not. But that’s not the point. The use of QR codes is a topical discussion in the tech world and that’s the conversation pulse it’s tapping into. The PR generated by one or two articles on tech blogs by what seems to be nothing more than a silly stunt could actually reach a much larger audience to help deliver a charity’s real message - for little to no cost.

February 15th is Allen Klein’s Day.

10 years ago, I got stuck at work late and missed Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend at the time. So, I invented Allen Klein’s Day on the 15th of February…which would of course be a more special day (Easier reservations and half-priced chocolate were an unexpected benefit as well). 

So I found a random Allen Klein and asked his permission to celebrate the day in his honor. He agreed. 

Allen happens to be an award-winning speaker on ‘The importance of mirth’, who created ‘International Mirth Month.’ 

And every year since then, we’ve wished each other a happy day, in his honor…

There are 365 days in the year. There’s no law that says you have to follow other people’s idea of a ‘holiday.’ It’s more special to just claim your own.

So, Happy Allen Klein’s Day!

In a digitally-connected world, ‘Scam’ ads hurt brands.

First, let’s define a ‘Scam’ ad.

A scam ad is the industry term for an ad made simply for the purpose of entering it into advertising award shows. It’s made for a client without the client’s consent, and sometimes, the agency or creatives don’t even have that client on their roster.

It may run once, paid for by the agency. Many times, it never runs at all.

For decades, these scam ads have been considered at the very least an annoyance and at most, a scourge of the award show scene. Creatives could launch their careers based on these ads, sometimes commanding top positions and salaries from their publicity, over those who work on real, revenue-generating brands. That’s encouraged many to take their chances on scam ads, knowing the penalties are usually light. Many award-winning print ads for years have been ‘scam’ - never having been funded or approved by the client whose logo appears on the ad. Still, the creatives got away with it and are now enjoying the fruits of their success.

Clients and brands have never seemed to take much notice of this peculiar inside-industry practice. But this recent example of an offensive  ‘Silver Cannes Lions Winner’ from a Brazilian ad agency (presumably for Kia motorcars) is exactly why they should start to.

The ad may not have run in paid media, but digital changes the game. In a digitally-connected world, it was indeed ‘running’ online, paid for or not, spreading through social media and blogs:

http://bit.ly/lAA3su

I contacted Kia at the end of last week, thinking their PR department would quickly notice the offending ad and take measures to squash it. Today, I received the official response:

But the question is - just how much damage was already done by one agency’s desire to get famous on the back of a multinational brand that sells family sedans? And how much money will it cost that brand to repair it?

Brands should watch industry award shows closely - not only to see how creative work can effectively solve their briefs - but to protect their own brands from this happening to them as well.

As I pointed out in my previous article, clients (and our industry) need to be restructured to act faster and be more nimble. It’s the only way to ensure they can react to a world that’s already operating that way.

Otherwise, what are the consequences?

Embrace failure. Not a failing system.

This isn’t an argument against small failures.

In any creative field, failure is necessary. In our business, I want to see even more failure - just faster and cheaper. It will get to better work.

This is about a massive failure of the entire body.

Advertising isn’t dying, but the model we work with is. Right now, we’re asking a 60 year-old man to breakdance (ok, never mind, I know some can probably breakdance better than me). More appropriate analogy - we’re asking the 60 year-old fuselage of a DC-9 to go supersonic. The ultimate failure is inevitable….the structure is eventually going to crumble, because it can’t handle what’s being asked of it.

It’s just not built for it. Same with most agency models.

We need to redesign and rebuild from the ground up, to handle what we should be doing best - creating (truly) disruptive ideas - and then implementing them. Production companies shoot TV. You don’t leave it to an agency. Now, think of production being virtually anything. You know who to call with your best script. Tell me though, right now, who will you call for your best Cologne formulation and bottle that will contain a fresh, first-ever organic new car scent of the latest Hybrid car?

Fights between ‘traditional’ and ‘digital’ are ridiculous. Isn’t anybody looking at the next 5, 10 years? That argument will make us all look like idiots by then.

Even now, agencies need to respond to social in real-time. Few do. WK’s Old Spice Twitter campaign was great. But I also wonder why that type of speed and response still isn’t being adopted by brands? The market and opportunity is there…waiting. They proved it. Imagine those kinds of ideas, 12x per month. On all different fronts. The “old-school-Robin Williams” approach; throwing out a bunch of small but powerfully zinging assaults.

For a challenger brand with a budget and the right talent on it, it would be a juggernaut that would overwhelm their lumbering competition. I’m not saying TV is dead at all. I’d argue that Old Spice was solid TV first, on it’s own. It’s probably the best medium right now to establish the concept, and it was the creative execution that drew the love.

But, the Twitter campaign took it to a new place…and it’s apparent it was pushing to where we all need to go. I’m not familiar with how it all played out, but I’d venture to say the typical agency-client layers, that we’re all so familiar with, were super-condensed or pared away for that specific project.

Can’t we do that more often, for more clients?

Some agencies are starting to act like those better models already. I was lucky enough see it work on projects at 180 Amsterdam, BBH NY and CP+B. And it’s what I think this Fast Company article by AKQA’s Rei Inamoto’s made a case for, when he talked about agencies needing to act more like ‘Tech Startups’. I don’t think he meant it in the sense of getting millions in funding but not making a profit. I think he meant it in the sense of how we operate to solve problems.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1761735/cannes-pov-the-evolution-of-the-idea

Agencies and clients that are starting to get it keep their core teams small. They position strategic & creative thinkers who have built a trusting relationship with their client - as a partner - and can integrate not just in the ‘advertising’ sense - but in the whatever-we-need-sense. Competently.

When we’re more nimble that way, we can start our process with more disruptive ideas…then decide whether to build products, make a 60 TV spot, create an app, choreograph a dance, create a TV, or whatever. There should be no limitations on where the idea can go.

Sometimes, when I’m presented with a media schedule before there’s a concept, I just stare at it, confused. Sure, we know who we’re talking to, where they’ll be. But we don’t know what we’re going to say, or how we’ll need to say it. It’s kind of like handing us an expensive megaphone and being told to try to soothe a baby to sleep.

If we don’t, you say the ‘advertising isn’t working.’ No, the system isn’t working.

If we instead rebuild it, and the client dynamics center around really solving problems instead of ticking expected boxes - then that’s a pretty huge step. That way, for any idea, we’ll just simply tap into the new resource structure and assemble the right production groups to craft and develop it out, faster and more efficiently. So we can focus more on the most important things…the ideas.

Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? And, what we’re paid to do?

If you work in advertising, but all you make is ‘advertising’, you’re doing it wrong.

-By Tim Geoghegan, Creative Director

The ad industry is quickly evolving into a new industry. It will be one that won’t offer only the limited menu of services that’s attributed to it today. I’m not sure if this new industry should even be called advertising anymore, as the term itself can be an albatross to innovation. But whatever the name is, it’ll be even more exciting and productive than in its current incarnation.

When the 4th Amendment Wear brand was invented, I didn’t realize at the time that it would teach me such an important lesson about where we’re headed. It helped me crystallize my thoughts on how our industry needs to fundamentally shift the way it operates in order for it to survive. Originally, it was created as a political art statement to challenge what many saw as an invasion of US citizen’s constitutionally-protected rights to privacy. Then, working together with art director and designer Matt Ryan, we developed products that launched a brand within weeks, reaching millions of people and quickly selling thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. Recently, it was honored with a Tomorrow Award, as well as ADC Global’s Inaugural Designism award.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9tiXjkx5MI
(Courtesy, Tomorrow Awards)

As CEO of my own strategic brand consultancy, Timmovations, I know first-hand just how laborious the process of developing a brand can be. But the new media landscape requires that we become capable of doing so quickly, if we expect to be able to meet time-sensitive opportunities.

It’s one thing to create an ad. It’s a whole other beast to invent new technology, create products using that technology, tap into social media, and orchestrate a marketing campaign to reach millions. Then, to sell tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, in a less than a month, with a small initial investment, with a small team of just two people to make everything happen - opens your eyes to what’s wrong with the current setup at many agencies. Because the big lesson of 4th Amendment Wear wasn’t how to launch a clothing brand. It was how it can inspire our industry to reshape its own internal organizations to react to events just as fast and be just as nimble.

‘Advertising’ has become pigeonholed. Even among those of us working in advertising, what we do is often defined by 30-second TV spots and double-page spreads with some sort of digital thingamajig thrown in for good measure. But anything we’re already making is then automatically ‘traditional.’ So creating ideas that live beyond those traditional routes is quickly becoming a mandatory skill that we all need to develop. Fast. ‘Fast’ is the future of how this industry needs to work.

The typical ad agency/client relationship model is an antique. We need to reinvent it.

While much of 4th Amendment Wear’s success can be attributed to the brand being in the right place at the right time, the truth is, all brands need to be. It also shows how we, the creative talent, can evolve - from making the ads that sell the products, to making the products that become the ads. So, I hope it inspires more creatives (and agencies) to take advantage of the quickly democratizing production systems around us and the unprecedented access to media channels.

You don’t always need millions of dollars worth of production and media spend for a brand’s message to spread. While I’m not discounting the importance of strategic branding, which I am very familiar with, it’s the system of executing the campaigns that communicates those messages that needs to be rebuilt from the ground-up.

Today, all you need are great ideas. Yes, it’s a cliche. But can you think of a time when it’s ever been more true? The future belongs to those with the best ideas. Not to the agencies, not to the media platforms or technologies, nor (which is the most popular saying now) even to the audience. Because those with the best ideas will always out-think and outmaneuver them.

That’s what we do. It’s just our business.

If a brand spends an enormous budget on campaigns that seem to fade into the background, I’d suggest giving it to more nimble teams and adaptable agencies. With the right system in place, for the cost of one ‘globally integrated, high-production value, slightly-positive-focus group-approved’ campaign, those teams will create ten times the number of quality initiatives for your brand that could possibly light and catch fire. Then, go ahead and raise your budget back up, and you’ll make even more. That’s how you can destroy competition that still works within an antique model.

If you take your brand to one of the world’s best agencies, think about what you’d rather have them create…

• One, carefully-honed, thoroughly-researched piece of wallpaper, approved by every layer of your organization, over the course of a year, that the world then may or may not ignore?

• Or ten ‘at-bats’ that start little fires that can be closely monitored and fanned into flames? The world might ignore one or two, but you still have a tenfold chance they’ll actually pay attention to what you want to say. To me, it’s pretty clear.

There’s value, efficiency - and an entire future - in being nimble.

With access to technology, you can now leverage nimble talent against massive organizations in a way challenger brands never could. A great idea could earn its own media. And great ideas that do exactly that should be what you’re paying for.

Don’t outspend - out-think. The only way you’ll do that is by allowing the talent in your agencies to respond much quicker than they are able to, or allowed to, right now. Those agencies also need to learn how to be nimble by creating and perfecting the systems that allow their clients to react as fast. Because in today’s media, responding to a socially relevant conversation 2-4 weeks after the fact is almost always too late. Sometimes, a day is just too late.

If you’re a client briefing your agency on a campaign a year (or, typically, years) in advance, you’re just working in another world. How many opportunities to react to the social conversation will happen in that one year? Your brand is missing chances of free, earned media. And your competition can change drastically in that year. The entire landscape can change in a month. The category could be challenged by the end of the week.

Remember the RAZR phone?

If not, look it up on your smart-phone’s web browser and you’ll understand what I mean.

A lot of what was taught in MBA programs ten years ago is being untaught by disruptive outsiders today. In the current system of typical agency/client development and approval processes, agencies and clients will most likely miss out on more and more opportunities to respond quickly and to profit. And that’s some of us, will have our own eyes open - watching when to strategically embed our own client’s brands - or even our own brands - into the conversations that your system has made you miss.

As a client or agency, you need to realize the resources that you have at hand, right now, and make the process more efficient. Advertising isn’t dying. As the business evolves, the talent will simply evolve with it. Your brand can either leverage those talents, or you can wait until production becomes so democratized and so easily accessed, that they go on to create their own challenger brands that may, one day, take yours down.

Of course, that’s not necessarily what we do right now.

But soon enough, it may just be our business.

Tim Geoghegan is a freelance Creative Director and strategic brand consultant with over 10 years of integrated global experience. Previously, he was Associate Creative Director at CP+B in Boulder and Creative Director of the ZAG brand IP-invention subsidiary at BBH, NY.

You can follow him on twitter, at @timogeo or contact him at timmovations@gmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/timmovations

© 2010, 2011 Timmovations LLC You have the author’s permission to repost and republish without modifications to content.