Dear Nick, I DO Love Creatives ...

There's nothing like being misquoted to get the blogger in me out of hibernation.  Especially if the misquote happens on-stage in Cannes and is done by someone as esteemed as Nick Moore (watch video below).  While I'm still a bit unsure whether I should be flattered for being in the same breath as Rupert Murdoch or stunned for being called a "bullshitter", I thought I'd write a post to set the record straight.  (UPDATE: Nick contacted me with the message he was perhaps a bit rash in his judgment.  Kudos to a man who practices what he preaches, when it comes to conversations!)

As a start, I'd like to make one thing absolutely clear.  In contrast to the "Lost in Translation" message which apparently reached Nick, I don't think we don't need or should get rid of creatives.  In fact, I LOVE creatives.  Some of my best friends are creatives.  My son of 8 is highly creative.  Almost everyone I know describes me as a creative.  In fact, I believe that creativity is one of the things that make our world worth living.

There is, of course, a "but".  When it comes to advertising, not all creatives are alike.  I regularly come across minds I tremendously respect.  But they are matched in numbers by those who confuse advertising with art, effectiveness with winning awards, relevance with million dollar budgets.  Because let's face it, the reason why we laugh at movies like Inspiration Anyone?, Truth in Ad Sales or Truth in Advertising is because we recognise their core of reality. 

And while it is easy for the enlighted creative classes to blame the advertiser that cannot brief, I believe there is no such thing as a stupid client.  There are only agencies that are insufficiently convincing.

So, as I was on the topic, I've summarised some of the criteria which I regularly use to either help agencies strengthen their competitive position, or help brands to evaluate whether they are making the right choices when it comes to spending their money.  You don't need to agree, yet in case anyone would like to quote me on Cannes 2009, at least you've got the correct context ;-)

Because remember ... I do love you

I LOVE CREATIVES ....

... which start with the business objective behind the briefing
David Ogilvy was wise: "you sell, or else". Marketing is about making money.  Period.  While sceptics claim that marketing's ROI is difficult to calculate, this excuse is used too often to skip the money-conversation all together.  That is why I love creatives that start by talking money and never leave the subject.  That challenge the brief until it is hyper-focused on the choice drivers that matter That measure results by the financial objectives achieved, and only then look at the Lions or even Effie's in their cupboard.

... that understand that customers are human
We all know that all women aged 28-34 are not the same, but billions in media are still planned as if they are.  We all know that different customers have different motives at different moments, but most campaigns still adhere to the mantra one product = one insight.  I love creatives who do NOT blast one message to a million different people that experience life in a million different ways.  I love creatives who tailor their messages as much as possible to the individual and his state of mind.  If only because that way, they have something interesting to say.

... who make my conversations and my life more interesting
By now, most agencies traffic in my word-of-mouth, yet only few creatives really get involved in making my brand experiences worth talking about.  I love the creatives who look beyond the tricks of the buzz-trade.  Who tell their client they will NOT do an ad-campaign as there's more value in upgrading the call centre or the after-sales support.  Who recommend internal communication programmes to ensure that the client's people "get" the strategy they are asked to implement, so they can in turn delight their customers.  I love creatives who care more about me, than about being witty.
 
... who embrace the mediaplan, and then kick it
Over the past 20 years it has continued to elude me how an entire industry gets away with separating media from creative, and pretend this actually works.  I love creatives who refuse to work on mediaplans that don't make sense, and in stead sit with planners and strategists to figure out what mix has most relevance for the inviduals that are being targeted.  Who point out that GRP debates are usually a waste of time.  Who pro-actively reduce their budgets' cause spending more is pointless anyway.  Who put the customer's interest first.

...who respect themselves and their clients
All agencies "love their clients", yet many still smile and go along, even when the client clearly got on the wrong bus.  After all, he is paying the bills.  To me, that's not love, that's prostitution.  Loving your client doesn't mean mindlessly doing what he says, but focusing on what he means.  What he needs.  I love creatives who have enough respect for their clients (and themselves) to always tell the truth and argue their case on facts.  And when the chips are down, are unafraid to say "we'll do as you ask, because you pay the bills, yet for the record we don't believe this is going to work".

... who understand that all of the above is "their department"
Yes, I know the world doesn't work the way I just described. Account management, production, media, creative, design, etc. are all part of the puzzle.  In fact, there are so many departments that most agencies even employ people to remind the rest that there is an actual customer out there (a little wave to all the planners :-).  I love creatives that fight this world of silos and ensure nothing leaves their desk that isn't relevant to the client and its customers, that isn't insightful and communicated with passion. Because real creatives use the limitations of the brief, the client and the agency to craft ideas that deliver the financial result and simply blow you away.

So when Nick said that I thought everyone in Cannes should be out of a job, I think he was being a bit too harsh.  But when reading the above, maybe some would be in line for some soul searching ...

Creative Commons Around the World

I came across this little gem by Jun Sato of Toshiba over at MIT's Simplicity Blog.  It gives a comparative overview of the adoption of creative commons licenses in the world.

When I look at the numbers, the thing that makes me wonder is the "reasons" for variations from market to market.  Any ideas anyone?  

   (click to open PowerPoint).

The 10 Truths of 'Real' Guerrilla Marketers

If you look up the definition “Guerrilla Marketing, is an unconventional way of performing promotional activities on a very low budget”.  While this is accurate, I’m not buying it.
   
The great guerilleros like Che or Mao had something more going for them than being “unconventional and cheap”.  Their battles became legend because they were thinking beyond next quarter.That’s why in this post I’m going in search of that “something more”.  As usual, I’m not claiming wisdom, so if you find omissions or flaws in my mini Sun Tzu on the Art of Guerilla Marketing, don’t hesitate to hit me.
   
And if all this macho talk of warfare is getting a bit too masculine for your taste, just remember that Ms. Wang Cong’er (aka. Mulan only without the happy ending) was one of the fiercest guerilleros of them all.
   
Here we go …

# 1 Set out to Change the World
In the spirit of Guy Kawasaki: Don’t launch a business unless you’re prepared to change the world.  No one ever freed a nation with features and benefits.  People will only get excited about your initiatives if you clearly articulate how your proposition will liberate your customers in a way none of your competitors can.  That is the true cause and banner of your guerrilla.  And if you can’t come up with it, don’t bother with the rest of this list.

# 2 It’s not about the battle, it’s about the war
If successfully waged, guerrilla causes “death by a thousand bee-stings”.  Yet all too often, marketing initiatives that claim to be guerrilla in nature, are planned without regard for the 999 stings to come.  This leaves successful campaigns without follow-up or even budget.  While in war there may be merit in merely irritating your enemy, in business it’s simply a waste of money.

# 3 Power to the People
No guerrilla or revolution can succeed without popular support.  Guerilla campaigns are a great opportunity to involve your most loyal customers and staff.  Consider community marketing, CGM and co-creation programmes to get them in the loop.  Not to make money, yet to help achieve the change you described in point 1. People love to improve the world.  Invite them to your cause and treat them well.

# 4 Deploy Mercenaries Wisely
While agencies can be great allies in having extra resources to deploy, they also know that there will be a time that you will abandon them (come one, be honest).  That is why they will serve offer you the same loyalty of any mercenary; as long as the money’s good.  The moment a budgetary glitch reduces budgets or margins, they will leave you to your own devices.  That is why you should involve agencies whenever you need the extra firepower, yet avoid relying on them for the long run.  That, you can only do on your own staff and customers (as long as you treat them well).

# 5 Think Small, but Spectacular
Guerilla campaigns are high on brainpower and low on budget.  They use creativity, speed and adaptability to capitalise on high-profile opportunities.  Foster this attitude by combining tight budgets with high to impossible expectations from your marketing team or agency.  And when they get lost in opportunities, focus their attention on the one thing that will really blow the market’s mind.
 
# 6 Keep Them Guessing
Guerilla campaigns always capitalise on the element of surprise.  Not once, yet over and over again.  If you have something that works, change it before your competitors can respond.  If you focus on one geographic region in one month, move somewhere completely different (or not).  If you can create a rhythm of surprise, yet stay true to your cause, your competitors won’t see your next move coming, while your popular support keeps growing.

# 7 Get the Gold and Get Out
Guerilla campaigns are executed with laser precision.  This means they get clear, quantifiable business objectives.  Once these are achieved, you get out.  Prolonging your initiative only leads to wasted resources plus gives your competition time to react.  Similarly, if it looks like a new tactic you try isn’t working, get out fast.  Don’t let your pride get in the way and run to fight another day.

# 8 Lead the Charge
Every cause needs a leader who’s drive cannot be captured in a PowerPoint presentation.  Love it or hate it, but this leader is you.  And if you don’t have the time to be with your troops when they need you, find someone who cares enough about your cause to do it in your place.  Leaders are where the action is, and in your case that’s among your community, customers and staff.

# 9 Don’t forget propaganda
These days it’s probably called word-of-mouth (WOM), yet in the old days whenever the Partizans in Italy blew up another stronghold, the country knew about it in an instant.  If one of your guerrilla marketing campaigns hits a home-run, get yourself a megaphone and shout it off the roofs.  You have taken another step to change the world.  And don’t take the credit yourself, but celebrate your heroes (customers, staff and other) for they will be your biggest source of WOM.

# 10 Don’t get killed by friendly fire
Guerrilla campaigns are by definition unorthodox, daring, visible, accountable and prone to failure.  This means that if you’re in a large organisation, people can get nervous about them. Prepare the ground by selling your bosses on your cause and the path you intend to walk.  Demonstrate the benefits of involving your customer community and focusing your staff on “one goal”.  And if it looks like you really won’t get any air cover, don’t go it alone.  Dead soldiers can’t win wars.

Happy fighting! 

BenettonPlay: You don'€™t always have to shoot€'m up

When Silvia Marini of Fabrica in Italy dropped me a note about the launch of www.benettonplay.com, I wasn’t just interested in it because of my 10 years in fashion.  When checking out the group's new gaming site, I was immediately taken by its implicit invitation for creativity and wanted to know more ...The subsequent email exchange with Andy Cameron, Creative Director Interactive at Fabrica, shows that he means what he says when he advises marketers to take games seriously (note: Fabrica is the Benetton Communication Research Centre).  

“We all know the world of marketing communication is changing rapidly, but no one knows where it’s going.  One of the key ways in which communication seems to be changing is that more and more people expect to be actively involved in their own communication experience.  They want to be protagonists.  They want to talk and play with each other.

While the marketing world is more comfortable with traditional message oriented communication, for many people these days, especially the younger demographic, it can be hard to get the messages across.  They’re too busy chatting and playing.  In order to try and reach this sector we decided to do an online games site for Benetton, but we wanted it to be different from other online games sites”.

In this context the team at Fabrica focused on creating games they wanted to play themselves.  These are games that are open rather than closed – where the player brings their own creativity to the experience, rather than follow a pre-defined path.  Andy explains:“We didn’t want to make games which are competitive, but rather games which enhance the player’s sense of creative potential and allows them to share their creations with others.  Maybe they’re not games at all, maybe they’re toys.  In any case the sense of open endedness was very important to us.”

The results so far have been encouraging.  There are “lots of” daily and returning visitors and – best of all – an average stay time which is nearly 20 minutes (which means quite a few stay longer).  Many of the players also seem to feel a real sense of ownership of the site, even after only a few weeks of the site being online, which can be explained by the fact that most content on the site is user generated though, in my opinion, is still an achievement.

Where the next gaming steps of Benetton will lead them Andy won’t yet give away, yet it’s clear benettonplay.com is a place to keep watching.  Meanwhile, give it a try.  My favourite game is Odd One Out. 

---

The team behind the project:

top row from left: Andy Cameron (UK), Creative Director, Federica Roncalli (Italy), Producer
middle row from left: Juan Ospina (Colombia), Designer Flipbook, Linus Nilsson (Sweden), Designer BubbleBreeze, Silvia Marini (Italy) Writer, Hansi Raber (Austria) Designer Doodle and Odd One Out (original concept Ross Phillips)
front row from left: Michela Venturin (Italy) Art Director, Federico Urdaneta (Colombia) Designer Orbit.

Andy Cameron, Creative Director Fabrica Interactive,  has been working in interactive media design for over ten years. In 2001 he was appointed visiting artist and subsequently creative director in interaction design at Fabrica where he is responsible for the research programme in interactive media as well as guiding Benetton’s online and interactive communication policy.  He is currently working on United People, an interactive video installation and online community for Benetton megastores worldwide.

Hansi Raber is an Austrian programmer (and sometimes student of mathematics) who's been serving at FABRICA for eight month now.  He gets really excited about accordions, soap bubbles and hanging out in parks.  His favorite Google video is Einstein The Parrot.

Juan Ospina is a Colombian graphic designer turned Internet creator, working at the Interactive department in FABRICA since 2004. Likes to focus on on-line applications only, since the Internet is, in his mind, the best invention human kind has come up with since the wheel.  His favorite Google video is a DIY t-shirt folder made of pieces of a cardboard box.

Federico Urdaneta is a Colombian musician / interactive designer currently working in the FABRICA interactive department, developing new, shiny and completely useless forms of making music. He used to be a handball champion, but a routine knee operation gone bad forced him out of the fields and into the world of computers.  Fate, they call it.

Silvia Marini studied marketing and event management before deciding to devote herself to a more playful field related to communication and contemporary art.  She became a member of the Ars Electronica Festival team and then she mysteriously landed at Fabrica.   Here she plays the role of an art reporter focusing her research on interactive and relational art.

Michela Venturin after realizing that painting was not the career for alive people, Michela switched to computer graphics and became a web designer.  She’s been at Fabrica for five years now.  One of her projects at Fabrica is BenettonPlay.com.  For this website she created an interface where the games could co-exist harmoniously and simultaneously adhere to the Benetton identity.

Linus Nilsson is an interactive developer with a current interest in mobile applications.  He is from Sweden.  He likes music.  He likes art.  He likes football.  He likes a lot of things.

Photos and graphics used with permission from Benetton.