It was a blend of academics and politicians that birthed this city of Athens with the creation of the University of Georgia a few years after the US became independent from England.
A joint venture team that seems to function a lot like a match made in heaven today!
The University of Georgia was the first state university in the US. Leave it to the visionaries down in Savannah to take the lead in bringing about extended education on a state sponsored level!
It took a few years to finally get the first building up on the campus, but once up it housed administration, faculty and student – all in the same building. Shortly thereafter a small town started to pop up in what is now downtown Athens.
What initially housed the University is called Old Campus and might represent about 15-20% of the University’s grounds today. There’s limited auto access and oak trees that date back a couple hundred years shade much of it
That first building is still standing on Old Campus. There is Old College (the original building) and then there’s another building called New College. I think that New College was built in the late 1950’s.
As the campus grew, so did the downtown, although I don’t think it was as much a party or music town as it is today.
Athens also became known for some innovative ways to process cotton. So innovative that Athens continued to generate some top revenue the history books say through WWII.
When I entered into my first classes at the University in the fall of 1975, I was invited to become a member of a special freshman honorary society. The leader of the group was Dean Tate…the Dean Emeritus of Men.
He was walking history and when we would meet late at night in the chapel on campus…he would tell stories of the past.
Dean Tate died when I was in grad school and the student center is named after him.
Today, when I walk Old Campus, I hear him telling those stories and I actually feel like I hear other voices from the past as well.
When I arrived on campus in 1975, the music scene of Athens was just beginning to develop. The bar scene too.
There was a band called the B-52s that performed in the basement of a pool hall called Allen’s. There was also a bar called TK Hardy’s and a concert dance hall called The Warehouse.
I heard that today, Athens claims the number one slot in having the most bars per square mile than any other city in the US.
I have roots here in Athens. I went to high school here. Played in the school’s marching band. Ran for president of the student council. And had my first company based out of Athens in which I did paintings of old houses and barns.
So why move BrandVenture out of Atlanta and over to Athens?
Why did Bogusky move the creative team out of Miami and out to Boulder?
The city life is fun…but after a while, most every client figures you are not too unlike every other agency and consultant found in the city.
There’s also a bunch of other agencies and consultants in the city…some that play the politics…others headed up by the “good ole boys” and “grand ole gals”…others that have been around for years…and others that hang both company name and title as the fancy packaging around limited skills and resources.
Bogusky – creative chief of Crispin Porter + Bogusky – fell in love with the backdrop of Boulder and connected with the Bohemian Millennial “Challenge the Conventional” culture of the community.
It’s a climate that fans the flame of technology and non-conventional, innovative thinking.
While known as the “Classic City”, Athens has a similar culture as Boulder, Colorado.
And right now, being in touch with this type of culture is more likely to breed the innovation and creativity to move brands forward in the midst of changing times.
So Athens is where BrandVenture is now headquartered. It is a culture and history we are embracing. It is the context and home-base from which we now journey.
We are just as accessible here via phone, web, Twitter and Facebook… and Athens is great place to visit!
So come let’s journey and move brands forward!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Encountering Radical Change!
There is change… and then there is radical change.
On April 10, 2009, I experienced radical change first-hand!
It was Good Friday and I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend.
I left my office at lunchtime and drove over to the nearby Lowe’s to pick up two more bags of mulch.
It was soon going to rain, so it was my goal to get the mulch and get it spread out first, and then make a sandwich and clean the house second.
The distance from the Lowe’s parking lot to my house is approximately 3.5 miles.
Driving the MINI Cooper, I only really had storage room on the passenger seat, so I placed both bags on it and also buckled the seat belt around them. If the seal belts were not connected, the seat belt alarm would go off and it bugged the heck out of me.
I was on a four-lane road called Moreland that then changes names north of Ponce to Briarcliff. It’s a four-lane road – two lanes on each side – that then narrows down to a two-lane road, as it gets closer to my home.
This stretch of highways had recently been featured in a newspaper story about the top ten worst intersections in the state. Never thought that I would experience those stats first hand, but I did!
While it was not as crowded as the roadways are during rush hour, there were a number of other folks that had now left their offices early and others that had the day off.
As I made the turn in the road, there before me was the challenge that would spawn the radical change… in the midst of all the traffic, there were two cars in the inside lane that decided to turn left and were stopped waiting for clearance in the traffic flow.
I am thankful that I was not driving fast.
The last thing I physically remember was saying, “there is really no way out of this” to myself. Change was inevitable.
Making a long story short, I ended up using the right lane to get around the cars and thought I had clearance, but I ended up nudging or being nudged and the MINI went out of control.
I hit a lamppost and brick wall head-on.
The engine in the MINI broke free and ended up also in the front seat.
I shattered both legs below the knee, broke my right collarbone, broke my right wrist and injured my right eye and the bone around it.
With all the metal plates and screws in me, I will never clear one of those metal security screeners!
I was hospitalized for 17 days and now at my parent’s home in recovery.
I cannot put any weight on my legs as they heal so I have to rely on a wheelchair to at least get a different viewpoint or perspective.
It’s just over a month now since the accident and I have had a lot of chance to think through next steps.
The radical change?
• I closed down the Atlanta office of BrandVenture – not sure just how accessible the office would be
• Put my house up for sale – cannot do the three stories!
• Relocating both me and the business to Athens, Georgia
• Planning to do joint venture work with Sliced Bread
• May go back to school to get my PhD
Part of me keeps saying caution, caution, caution… another part of me says that this change, may be radical, but is inevitable and part of the “master plan.”
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been reading my morning Ad Age electronic stories.
One of the stories talked about the shift that is in place where the “hot shops” and “most creative ideas” are coming out of agencies and creative groups that are located out and beyond from the Top 10 Market Metros.
Ad Age also highlights an agency in Greenville, SC that is hosting its 2nd Annual Food For Thought Conference. Individuals can attend this conference in person or experience it on line through Twitter, Flickr, Facebook or Blogs.
The agency hosting the event is Erwin-Penland that is housed on Main Street, not Michigan nor Madison Avenue.
If you read this Blog, I would love to get your thoughts.
I’ll be in recovery for at least another 60 days… but then I will be getting the company re-established in Athens, Georgia.
The next blog will be about Athens, its history, its character, what makes it unique and what fuels the creativity that dwells here.
The change now taking place is radical… and not sure I would have done this if I were not forced into it.
BUT… I do believe it is going to enrich my insights, my resources and tools, and the perspective I can bring to the brand marketing planning table.
So… make sure you have those seat belts on and Hey, Let’s Journey!
On April 10, 2009, I experienced radical change first-hand!
It was Good Friday and I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend.
I left my office at lunchtime and drove over to the nearby Lowe’s to pick up two more bags of mulch.
It was soon going to rain, so it was my goal to get the mulch and get it spread out first, and then make a sandwich and clean the house second.
The distance from the Lowe’s parking lot to my house is approximately 3.5 miles.
Driving the MINI Cooper, I only really had storage room on the passenger seat, so I placed both bags on it and also buckled the seat belt around them. If the seal belts were not connected, the seat belt alarm would go off and it bugged the heck out of me.
I was on a four-lane road called Moreland that then changes names north of Ponce to Briarcliff. It’s a four-lane road – two lanes on each side – that then narrows down to a two-lane road, as it gets closer to my home.
This stretch of highways had recently been featured in a newspaper story about the top ten worst intersections in the state. Never thought that I would experience those stats first hand, but I did!
While it was not as crowded as the roadways are during rush hour, there were a number of other folks that had now left their offices early and others that had the day off.
As I made the turn in the road, there before me was the challenge that would spawn the radical change… in the midst of all the traffic, there were two cars in the inside lane that decided to turn left and were stopped waiting for clearance in the traffic flow.
I am thankful that I was not driving fast.
The last thing I physically remember was saying, “there is really no way out of this” to myself. Change was inevitable.
Making a long story short, I ended up using the right lane to get around the cars and thought I had clearance, but I ended up nudging or being nudged and the MINI went out of control.
I hit a lamppost and brick wall head-on.
The engine in the MINI broke free and ended up also in the front seat.
I shattered both legs below the knee, broke my right collarbone, broke my right wrist and injured my right eye and the bone around it.
With all the metal plates and screws in me, I will never clear one of those metal security screeners!
I was hospitalized for 17 days and now at my parent’s home in recovery.
I cannot put any weight on my legs as they heal so I have to rely on a wheelchair to at least get a different viewpoint or perspective.
It’s just over a month now since the accident and I have had a lot of chance to think through next steps.
The radical change?
• I closed down the Atlanta office of BrandVenture – not sure just how accessible the office would be
• Put my house up for sale – cannot do the three stories!
• Relocating both me and the business to Athens, Georgia
• Planning to do joint venture work with Sliced Bread
• May go back to school to get my PhD
Part of me keeps saying caution, caution, caution… another part of me says that this change, may be radical, but is inevitable and part of the “master plan.”
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been reading my morning Ad Age electronic stories.
One of the stories talked about the shift that is in place where the “hot shops” and “most creative ideas” are coming out of agencies and creative groups that are located out and beyond from the Top 10 Market Metros.
Ad Age also highlights an agency in Greenville, SC that is hosting its 2nd Annual Food For Thought Conference. Individuals can attend this conference in person or experience it on line through Twitter, Flickr, Facebook or Blogs.
The agency hosting the event is Erwin-Penland that is housed on Main Street, not Michigan nor Madison Avenue.
If you read this Blog, I would love to get your thoughts.
I’ll be in recovery for at least another 60 days… but then I will be getting the company re-established in Athens, Georgia.
The next blog will be about Athens, its history, its character, what makes it unique and what fuels the creativity that dwells here.
The change now taking place is radical… and not sure I would have done this if I were not forced into it.
BUT… I do believe it is going to enrich my insights, my resources and tools, and the perspective I can bring to the brand marketing planning table.
So… make sure you have those seat belts on and Hey, Let’s Journey!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Hey! It's All About A New Way To Roll!
Have you seen the new Kia ad with the gerbils yet?
It is one cool ad that opens with a garage door going up on a suburban tract house unveiling a gerbil doing the stationary running in the turning wheel.
Next you see more and more and more gerbils turning wheel after wheel…there is no music…no voice-over. Just wheels turning around and around.
The camera moves to a traffic light with other gerbils parked in their turning wheels when all of a sudden a Kia Soul car drives up and stops at the stoplight.
Maybe it was the spark that got the creatives thinking, but the Kia Soul kind of even looks like a gerbil.
Then some funky lookin’ gerbils wind down the window and nod at the others parked in their turning wheels.. then hit the accelerator and take off bouncin’ to the music of their iPods.
The spot then ends with the tagline: Soul. A New Way To Roll.
What’s cool about the ad is that the picture it paints is actually reflective of the state of the business mindset today.
This past Friday, Advertising Age posted a story on their electronic daily about David Verklin…the new media guru that heads up Canoe after having served as CEO of Aegis Media Americas and merging together Carat Fusion and Carat USA into the largest fully integrated on/offline agency in the world.
Verklin is showcased in the story as taking a “giant step” forward in “weaving together” the cable nets into a 70 million home national broadcast platform.
For all the cool stuff he’s done… Verklin is a lot like the gerbils running in the stationary turning wheels in the Kia spot.
He is hooked on building the ratings…merging together the media…marketing to the masses…
Mass Media. The Old Way To Roll. Need I say more?
This week, Tropicana got slammed by consumers.
When I started in the marketing biz back in the beginning of the 1980s, Tropicana was one of the then-Beatrice Food brands in my agency account group.
We married their “home grown” image with the grass-roots equity of Martha White Foods. The promotions generated upwards of 4-5% coupon redemption.
Our Baby Boomer clients smiled back then and liked the results.
Oh well.. the GenXers are now running the show.
Not sure just who client-side or agency-side initiated the package change…but someone decided that the classic logo and visual of an orange with a straw was dated and needed to be changed.
I can hear the team already… “We’ve got to get our brand looking clean and refined.” And this was then met with cheer from the MBA bench who added further…”It’s our attribute of being 100% pure and natural that we have to push on the package in big, bold type!”
Industry commentators and consumer bloggers called the new design “ugly,” “stupid,” “cheap,” “generic” and “doodyhead.”
Perhaps more telling…Tropicana brand sales dropped 20% since the roll-out of the new design.
MBAs and their rational benefit models are also a lot like the gerbils running in the stationary turning wheels in the Kia spot.
Tropicana announced this week that it would scrap its newly redesigned packaging and return to the old design.
I’ll bet there will be some MBAs and agency account folks in those March unemployment stats!
And then there’s that story about Microsoft and how the bloggers are convinced that the whole Lauren shopping experience was fake…even going so far as to assess that the shopping at the Apple Store was staged.
When the Kia Soul drives up to the traffic light, the gerbil in the turning wheel right next to the Soul looks surprised and appears to be wishing it was he who was kicked back bouncing to the music in that cool car.
Microsoft and its current ad campaign is kind of like that gerbil who then tries a little too hard to be cool too by adding sound speakers and cool music to his stationary turning wheel!
The best part of all this?
The agency that produced the Kia Soul spot is David&Goliath, the hip shop based in El Segundo, the non-conformist coastal hang-out burb of LA.
Their brand-line says it all…
”We are David&Goliath and we believe in being brave... in using creativity to outwit, outsmart and outlast the opposition.”
Hey! We are BrandVenture.
We believe that success is all about unleashing innovation and creativity that has been stifled by conventional thinking that no longer is delivering results.
So plug in that iPod, turn up that music, put on those shade and come…Let’s Journey!
Cool.
It is one cool ad that opens with a garage door going up on a suburban tract house unveiling a gerbil doing the stationary running in the turning wheel.
Next you see more and more and more gerbils turning wheel after wheel…there is no music…no voice-over. Just wheels turning around and around.
The camera moves to a traffic light with other gerbils parked in their turning wheels when all of a sudden a Kia Soul car drives up and stops at the stoplight.
Maybe it was the spark that got the creatives thinking, but the Kia Soul kind of even looks like a gerbil.
Then some funky lookin’ gerbils wind down the window and nod at the others parked in their turning wheels.. then hit the accelerator and take off bouncin’ to the music of their iPods.
The spot then ends with the tagline: Soul. A New Way To Roll.
What’s cool about the ad is that the picture it paints is actually reflective of the state of the business mindset today.
This past Friday, Advertising Age posted a story on their electronic daily about David Verklin…the new media guru that heads up Canoe after having served as CEO of Aegis Media Americas and merging together Carat Fusion and Carat USA into the largest fully integrated on/offline agency in the world.
Verklin is showcased in the story as taking a “giant step” forward in “weaving together” the cable nets into a 70 million home national broadcast platform.
For all the cool stuff he’s done… Verklin is a lot like the gerbils running in the stationary turning wheels in the Kia spot.
He is hooked on building the ratings…merging together the media…marketing to the masses…
Mass Media. The Old Way To Roll. Need I say more?
This week, Tropicana got slammed by consumers.
When I started in the marketing biz back in the beginning of the 1980s, Tropicana was one of the then-Beatrice Food brands in my agency account group.
We married their “home grown” image with the grass-roots equity of Martha White Foods. The promotions generated upwards of 4-5% coupon redemption.
Our Baby Boomer clients smiled back then and liked the results.
Oh well.. the GenXers are now running the show.
Not sure just who client-side or agency-side initiated the package change…but someone decided that the classic logo and visual of an orange with a straw was dated and needed to be changed.
I can hear the team already… “We’ve got to get our brand looking clean and refined.” And this was then met with cheer from the MBA bench who added further…”It’s our attribute of being 100% pure and natural that we have to push on the package in big, bold type!”
Industry commentators and consumer bloggers called the new design “ugly,” “stupid,” “cheap,” “generic” and “doodyhead.”
Perhaps more telling…Tropicana brand sales dropped 20% since the roll-out of the new design.
MBAs and their rational benefit models are also a lot like the gerbils running in the stationary turning wheels in the Kia spot.
Tropicana announced this week that it would scrap its newly redesigned packaging and return to the old design.
I’ll bet there will be some MBAs and agency account folks in those March unemployment stats!
And then there’s that story about Microsoft and how the bloggers are convinced that the whole Lauren shopping experience was fake…even going so far as to assess that the shopping at the Apple Store was staged.
When the Kia Soul drives up to the traffic light, the gerbil in the turning wheel right next to the Soul looks surprised and appears to be wishing it was he who was kicked back bouncing to the music in that cool car.
Microsoft and its current ad campaign is kind of like that gerbil who then tries a little too hard to be cool too by adding sound speakers and cool music to his stationary turning wheel!
The best part of all this?
The agency that produced the Kia Soul spot is David&Goliath, the hip shop based in El Segundo, the non-conformist coastal hang-out burb of LA.
Their brand-line says it all…
”We are David&Goliath and we believe in being brave... in using creativity to outwit, outsmart and outlast the opposition.”
Hey! We are BrandVenture.
We believe that success is all about unleashing innovation and creativity that has been stifled by conventional thinking that no longer is delivering results.
So plug in that iPod, turn up that music, put on those shade and come…Let’s Journey!
Cool.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Delivery Of Originality That Differentiates!
Did you know that creativity is actually defined as the synthesis of four individual elements?
Many of us think of creativity in terms of originality.
But originality is only one of the four elements.
Here are the other three elements:
• Fluency…how many ideas you can generate.
• Flexibility…how many different perspectives you can explore.
• Elaboration…how detailed you can get with an idea and the expression of it.
It’s not to say that the right side of the brain doesn’t contribute to these other three elements, but left-brain thinkers seem to find these elements the easiest to produce.
Some MBAs truly do believe that these elements of creativity can actually be mechanically and technically delivered and produced.
No question about it… Originality is where the highest level of risk resides right along with the highest level of “breakthrough” differentiation!
Original ideas seem to create discomfort among many in management today…and that’s with marketing and agency management included in the mix.
But its originality that differentiates and separates a brand from the dogma of the category and causes consumers to take note.
No question about it, Target headed out into the uncharted waters when it launched its truly original brand-line: “Expect More. Pay Less.”
It was one of those conventional challenges. I mean, how could you get more and pay less? It did not make rational sense back then, but it was an emotional hook that ignited a brand connection that turned the retail community upside down.
The branding campaign transitioned a mass discount chain from Blah to Cool, Hip and Fun and cut across the conventional demographic constraints that many marketing MBAs held true to their hearts.
Then in 2008, Wal-Mart came along with the new brand-line: “Save Money. Live Better.”
Well so much for originality.
But without a question, Wal-Mart hit on all the other creative elements by putting some big dollars behind it and banging away the message.
The creative team that developed it can lay claim to creative flexibility for at least switching the order of the “save dollars” phrase and the “reward” phrase.
Last week’s Blog-Logue was about business and agency folks that seem to have their heads buried in the sand.
This week I am going to nominate both Home Depot and The Richards Group to be their outstanding students and heads-of-the-class.
Today, Home Depot announced its new brand-line: ”More Saving. More Doing.”
No… I am really not making this up.
This is the brand-line that the Richards Group delivered to Home Depot to replace “You Can Do It. We Can Help.”
The article says…”The ad campaign is the result of an ad agency search that Home Depot’s Chief Marketing Officer Frank Bilfulco led last year. The Richards Group of Dallas kept the account and created the new slogan in the process.”
Okay. The Richards Group is probably good at letting clients feel that they are in charge of the team.
The article goes on to say: “The new ad campaign also jabs at the more female-friendly and style-oriented Lowe’s, Home Depot’s biggest rival.”
Is Home Depot the competitive "guy's-brand" because the new brand-line is dull and boring-- you know that stereotype "guy-like" personality?
To be honest...Home Depot has my loyalty right now because of its service. The fact that there are folks standing there ready to help is cool. And it is something that I featured on the Blog-logue a couple of weeks ago.
Oh well...
I don’t really think that there is too much more that I can say other than the Richards Group is probably a superb example of what Bogusky (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) terms as a BIG Monster Shop kneeling before the BIG Monster Client.
(See last week’s Blog-logue!)
For us...Originality rules!
BrandVenture is a small shop and it is my mission to keep it that way.
Maybe my passion for “digging below the surface and unraveling the submerged” and “challenging the dogma of the marketplace with heretical ideas” isn’t for everyone out there in business today.
But…as Bogusky says in his article…”we offer the nimble and fast approach to problems that a lot of the nascent brands need.”
Creativity is what is going to drive the economy, the marketplace, our brands and our personal visions forward!
Its all about fueling brands with innovation, creativity and insight!
So pick up that phone and call us… and come…Let’s Journey!
Many of us think of creativity in terms of originality.
But originality is only one of the four elements.
Here are the other three elements:
• Fluency…how many ideas you can generate.
• Flexibility…how many different perspectives you can explore.
• Elaboration…how detailed you can get with an idea and the expression of it.
It’s not to say that the right side of the brain doesn’t contribute to these other three elements, but left-brain thinkers seem to find these elements the easiest to produce.
Some MBAs truly do believe that these elements of creativity can actually be mechanically and technically delivered and produced.
No question about it… Originality is where the highest level of risk resides right along with the highest level of “breakthrough” differentiation!
Original ideas seem to create discomfort among many in management today…and that’s with marketing and agency management included in the mix.
But its originality that differentiates and separates a brand from the dogma of the category and causes consumers to take note.
No question about it, Target headed out into the uncharted waters when it launched its truly original brand-line: “Expect More. Pay Less.”
It was one of those conventional challenges. I mean, how could you get more and pay less? It did not make rational sense back then, but it was an emotional hook that ignited a brand connection that turned the retail community upside down.
The branding campaign transitioned a mass discount chain from Blah to Cool, Hip and Fun and cut across the conventional demographic constraints that many marketing MBAs held true to their hearts.
Then in 2008, Wal-Mart came along with the new brand-line: “Save Money. Live Better.”
Well so much for originality.
But without a question, Wal-Mart hit on all the other creative elements by putting some big dollars behind it and banging away the message.
The creative team that developed it can lay claim to creative flexibility for at least switching the order of the “save dollars” phrase and the “reward” phrase.
Last week’s Blog-Logue was about business and agency folks that seem to have their heads buried in the sand.
This week I am going to nominate both Home Depot and The Richards Group to be their outstanding students and heads-of-the-class.
Today, Home Depot announced its new brand-line: ”More Saving. More Doing.”
No… I am really not making this up.
This is the brand-line that the Richards Group delivered to Home Depot to replace “You Can Do It. We Can Help.”
The article says…”The ad campaign is the result of an ad agency search that Home Depot’s Chief Marketing Officer Frank Bilfulco led last year. The Richards Group of Dallas kept the account and created the new slogan in the process.”
Okay. The Richards Group is probably good at letting clients feel that they are in charge of the team.
The article goes on to say: “The new ad campaign also jabs at the more female-friendly and style-oriented Lowe’s, Home Depot’s biggest rival.”
Is Home Depot the competitive "guy's-brand" because the new brand-line is dull and boring-- you know that stereotype "guy-like" personality?
To be honest...Home Depot has my loyalty right now because of its service. The fact that there are folks standing there ready to help is cool. And it is something that I featured on the Blog-logue a couple of weeks ago.
Oh well...
I don’t really think that there is too much more that I can say other than the Richards Group is probably a superb example of what Bogusky (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) terms as a BIG Monster Shop kneeling before the BIG Monster Client.
(See last week’s Blog-logue!)
For us...Originality rules!
BrandVenture is a small shop and it is my mission to keep it that way.
Maybe my passion for “digging below the surface and unraveling the submerged” and “challenging the dogma of the marketplace with heretical ideas” isn’t for everyone out there in business today.
But…as Bogusky says in his article…”we offer the nimble and fast approach to problems that a lot of the nascent brands need.”
Creativity is what is going to drive the economy, the marketplace, our brands and our personal visions forward!
Its all about fueling brands with innovation, creativity and insight!
So pick up that phone and call us… and come…Let’s Journey!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lifting Our Heads Up From The Sand!
3-24 UPDATE:
Today's leading headline in Advertising Age: Future May Be Brighter But It's Apocalypse Now. Subhead goes on: 'Chaos Scenario' author Bob Garfield watches as his worst predictions wreak havoc on media and marketing worlds. Okay. Enough is Enough! If you can't stop hyperventilating...hold your breath and stop talking!
Also on the front page of Advertising Age: Bogusky Loves Small Shops...Says Entrepreneurs Will Lead Us From Recession. As he says, its the "Scrappy Entrepreneurs that can do things for their clients that the big monster shops can't." Bogusky offers rich perspective!
Okay...now read on what we said a week ago before Ad Age got the insight into what is going on!...
Trendcasting is something we lay claim to here at BrandVenture.
We write about it. Talk about it. And spend a lot of time doing it.
Trends have been a popular topic.
Reading Mega Trends and Future Shock when growing up somewhat got me hooked on doing what I do today.
When my CNN.com home page came up yesterday, I was surprised at what I saw. The site showcased a link to its sister site TIME.com and “10 Ideas Changing The World Right Now.”
The “Ideas” are actual perspectives of stuff that’s going on here at home and globally as well.
Everything from “Jobs Are the New Assets” to “Reinstating The Interstate” to “Biobanks” to “Africa: Open For Business” to “Ecological Intelligence.”
Not that the press is biased, but a lot of the “Ideas” listed fall in sync with much of what the President and Congress recently enacted in Washington.
What I find most interesting about the posting of these “Ideas” is that…
1. The “Ideas” actually support and confirm what I cited in the 1/14/2009 Blog titled “Heed The Call of Imminent Fundamental Change”
2. As a culture we have shifted to a “Focused-Forward” perspective
3. As individuals, we find cultural and societal observations of interest
Yesterday, I got into a discussion with a colleague about a call that I made to a Marketing Research VP. It is a person that the Chief Marketing Officer of the company referred me to regarding upcoming projects.
I made comment in the discussion with my colleague about how this VP was “overwhelmed” with “the process and project load” and could not find the time to speak about anything else for weeks.
It was a repeat of what I heard earlier last week from a marketing VP at a Southeastern Hospital.
It is also a repeat of what I heard from one of our current clients.
CNN also reported that close to 40% of management workers recently surveyed are concerned about losing their jobs in the next six months.
Maybe the picture that is posted next to the “10 Ideas Changing The World Right Now” sums up the conventional business perspective the best....It features a person wearing half of a globe as a hat that entirely covers the eyes where they cannot see beyond the shell of the globe.”
I shared with my colleague yesterday that many individuals in management today are like ostriches with their heads in the sand.
My illustration is not as original as the picture on TIME.com.
Change is happening as I write this Blog.
BIG CHANGE.
Maybe…there is an 11th Idea that needs to be added TIME’s list titled…
The New Paradigm of Entrepreneurialism, Self-sufficiency, Craftsmanship and Accountability
Both sets of my grandparents were entrepreneurs. They came to this country with only a little bit of cash in their pockets and purses.
They multi-tasked back then by working a variety of jobs that enable them to live a better life.
The large business and big government machines are broke…figuratively and literally.
And many in management are scared shitless to do much about it, but dig in even deeper in the sinking sands of the past.
Whew…It’s really, really not bad news!
Because agitation stimulates creativity, innovation, inspiration, vision, desires and drives!
My only editorial comment to TIME.com… Your Idea that “Jobs Are The New Assets” is just slightly off…
It’s not Jobs that are the assets…
It’s the Entrepreneurs and Inventors that are the REAL assets!
While management might be afraid they will lose their jobs and the media seems to be addicted to foster pessimism, the vast public is NOT... NOT!
Today's CNN.com survey asks "do you think another Great Depression will occur in the next year?"
More than 27,900 people have responded thus far with 78% saying "NO!"
While it might seem to be hard work… don’t sit on the sidelines within the confines of a broken past.
Go shake off that sand, clear out those eyes, put on those running shoes…and come…Let’s Journey!
Today's leading headline in Advertising Age: Future May Be Brighter But It's Apocalypse Now. Subhead goes on: 'Chaos Scenario' author Bob Garfield watches as his worst predictions wreak havoc on media and marketing worlds. Okay. Enough is Enough! If you can't stop hyperventilating...hold your breath and stop talking!
Also on the front page of Advertising Age: Bogusky Loves Small Shops...Says Entrepreneurs Will Lead Us From Recession. As he says, its the "Scrappy Entrepreneurs that can do things for their clients that the big monster shops can't." Bogusky offers rich perspective!
Okay...now read on what we said a week ago before Ad Age got the insight into what is going on!...
Trendcasting is something we lay claim to here at BrandVenture.
We write about it. Talk about it. And spend a lot of time doing it.
Trends have been a popular topic.
Reading Mega Trends and Future Shock when growing up somewhat got me hooked on doing what I do today.
When my CNN.com home page came up yesterday, I was surprised at what I saw. The site showcased a link to its sister site TIME.com and “10 Ideas Changing The World Right Now.”
The “Ideas” are actual perspectives of stuff that’s going on here at home and globally as well.
Everything from “Jobs Are the New Assets” to “Reinstating The Interstate” to “Biobanks” to “Africa: Open For Business” to “Ecological Intelligence.”
Not that the press is biased, but a lot of the “Ideas” listed fall in sync with much of what the President and Congress recently enacted in Washington.
What I find most interesting about the posting of these “Ideas” is that…
1. The “Ideas” actually support and confirm what I cited in the 1/14/2009 Blog titled “Heed The Call of Imminent Fundamental Change”
2. As a culture we have shifted to a “Focused-Forward” perspective
3. As individuals, we find cultural and societal observations of interest
Yesterday, I got into a discussion with a colleague about a call that I made to a Marketing Research VP. It is a person that the Chief Marketing Officer of the company referred me to regarding upcoming projects.
I made comment in the discussion with my colleague about how this VP was “overwhelmed” with “the process and project load” and could not find the time to speak about anything else for weeks.
It was a repeat of what I heard earlier last week from a marketing VP at a Southeastern Hospital.
It is also a repeat of what I heard from one of our current clients.
CNN also reported that close to 40% of management workers recently surveyed are concerned about losing their jobs in the next six months.
Maybe the picture that is posted next to the “10 Ideas Changing The World Right Now” sums up the conventional business perspective the best....It features a person wearing half of a globe as a hat that entirely covers the eyes where they cannot see beyond the shell of the globe.”
I shared with my colleague yesterday that many individuals in management today are like ostriches with their heads in the sand.
My illustration is not as original as the picture on TIME.com.
Change is happening as I write this Blog.
BIG CHANGE.
Maybe…there is an 11th Idea that needs to be added TIME’s list titled…
The New Paradigm of Entrepreneurialism, Self-sufficiency, Craftsmanship and Accountability
Both sets of my grandparents were entrepreneurs. They came to this country with only a little bit of cash in their pockets and purses.
They multi-tasked back then by working a variety of jobs that enable them to live a better life.
The large business and big government machines are broke…figuratively and literally.
And many in management are scared shitless to do much about it, but dig in even deeper in the sinking sands of the past.
Whew…It’s really, really not bad news!
Because agitation stimulates creativity, innovation, inspiration, vision, desires and drives!
My only editorial comment to TIME.com… Your Idea that “Jobs Are The New Assets” is just slightly off…
It’s not Jobs that are the assets…
It’s the Entrepreneurs and Inventors that are the REAL assets!
While management might be afraid they will lose their jobs and the media seems to be addicted to foster pessimism, the vast public is NOT... NOT!
Today's CNN.com survey asks "do you think another Great Depression will occur in the next year?"
More than 27,900 people have responded thus far with 78% saying "NO!"
While it might seem to be hard work… don’t sit on the sidelines within the confines of a broken past.
Go shake off that sand, clear out those eyes, put on those running shoes…and come…Let’s Journey!
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Emotional Horizon of Opportunity!
A person who I have gotten to know in the industry recently was hired to serve as the CEO of the Atlanta office of one of the well-known NY shops.
It’s a shop whose past client mix was largely driven by a telecom client. That client recently merged with another dominant telecom group and the agency is no longer their agency of record.
The role of the person I know is to help move what remains of the Atlanta office forward into a more innovative way of thinking.
There is no question that she is taking on a challenge.
I worked with her “new business” team on two recent pitches.
Both of the potential clients sent out an RFP.
Both RFPs outlined what the agency needed to bring back to the table. Both RFPs outlined how their products functioned and what they wanted to communicate to customers.
I told the agency that if they responded back to the RFP with communications tailored around the mechanical operations of the clients’ products that the campaigns would likely yield little-to-no return and the agency would likely be laying off folks when the clients sent out new RFPs 12 months from now.
Repeat after me…NO!
“Dear prospective client…If you really, really want to move your brand forward, stop telling the consumer about how your product is made and instead invite them into the emotions of the experience!”
But to do that you have to be brave and maybe even a bit insane.
When I started BrandVenture more than 6 years ago, I did so with a passion to drive brands forward fueled by the brand’s EIP or Emotional Ignition Point.
Rational logic drives little consumer response.
I showcase examples of brand success that abide by it like Apple, Nike, Cartoon Network, MINI Cooper, Southwest Airlines, Burger King and Red Bull… and a few shops like Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
The MBAs often debate it, many clients often reject it and account service folks often run from it.
Last week an article ran in Advertising Age titled; Why Emotional Messages Beat Rational Ones.
It showcases a book titled “Brand Immortality” – a manual on how to keep brands healthy in the long term.
The article highlights an analysis the authors completed of over 880 case studies of national and international top winning commercials based on response and sales.
16% of the cases were driven by rational “benefits pay-off” strategy.
84% of the cases where driven by emotional engagement or a combination of emotional engagement with rational support.
The authors are quoted in the article as saying that there is “a superior ability of emotional campaigns to create a sense of differentiation for the brand, one that can endure and will not disappear with the next product launch from a competitor.”
They then go on to say… “Our analysis shows that emotional strategies continue to work well during downturns…and emotional engagement increases in importance during the life cycle of market sectors while rational persuasion-based strategies progressively lose the product differentiation they depend upon.”
So will the ad agencies be whistling a new tune?
As long as account service and media buyers run the shops, probably not.
By the way, this article in Ad Age was not on the front page. It was on page 13.
Seeing the glass as half full is part of our core values here at BrandVenture.
And especially in times like where we are right now, innovation, emotion and creative thinking combined with “passionate persistence of preaching the emotional experience” is what will move brands forward.
It’s not a horizon of storm clouds… it’s a horizon of opportunity!
So pick up that phone, email or text message us…and…let’s hit those Emotional Ignition Points and Journey!
It’s a shop whose past client mix was largely driven by a telecom client. That client recently merged with another dominant telecom group and the agency is no longer their agency of record.
The role of the person I know is to help move what remains of the Atlanta office forward into a more innovative way of thinking.
There is no question that she is taking on a challenge.
I worked with her “new business” team on two recent pitches.
Both of the potential clients sent out an RFP.
Both RFPs outlined what the agency needed to bring back to the table. Both RFPs outlined how their products functioned and what they wanted to communicate to customers.
I told the agency that if they responded back to the RFP with communications tailored around the mechanical operations of the clients’ products that the campaigns would likely yield little-to-no return and the agency would likely be laying off folks when the clients sent out new RFPs 12 months from now.
Repeat after me…NO!
“Dear prospective client…If you really, really want to move your brand forward, stop telling the consumer about how your product is made and instead invite them into the emotions of the experience!”
But to do that you have to be brave and maybe even a bit insane.
When I started BrandVenture more than 6 years ago, I did so with a passion to drive brands forward fueled by the brand’s EIP or Emotional Ignition Point.
Rational logic drives little consumer response.
I showcase examples of brand success that abide by it like Apple, Nike, Cartoon Network, MINI Cooper, Southwest Airlines, Burger King and Red Bull… and a few shops like Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
The MBAs often debate it, many clients often reject it and account service folks often run from it.
Last week an article ran in Advertising Age titled; Why Emotional Messages Beat Rational Ones.
It showcases a book titled “Brand Immortality” – a manual on how to keep brands healthy in the long term.
The article highlights an analysis the authors completed of over 880 case studies of national and international top winning commercials based on response and sales.
16% of the cases were driven by rational “benefits pay-off” strategy.
84% of the cases where driven by emotional engagement or a combination of emotional engagement with rational support.
The authors are quoted in the article as saying that there is “a superior ability of emotional campaigns to create a sense of differentiation for the brand, one that can endure and will not disappear with the next product launch from a competitor.”
They then go on to say… “Our analysis shows that emotional strategies continue to work well during downturns…and emotional engagement increases in importance during the life cycle of market sectors while rational persuasion-based strategies progressively lose the product differentiation they depend upon.”
So will the ad agencies be whistling a new tune?
As long as account service and media buyers run the shops, probably not.
By the way, this article in Ad Age was not on the front page. It was on page 13.
Seeing the glass as half full is part of our core values here at BrandVenture.
And especially in times like where we are right now, innovation, emotion and creative thinking combined with “passionate persistence of preaching the emotional experience” is what will move brands forward.
It’s not a horizon of storm clouds… it’s a horizon of opportunity!
So pick up that phone, email or text message us…and…let’s hit those Emotional Ignition Points and Journey!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Cheap Is Chic In More Ways Than One!
I always get a kick out of the content of our local business rag here in Atlanta.
The articles now seem to fall in two buckets…one termed the “Gloom and Doom” of business closures and lay-offs and another termed “Retro Spotlights” that highlights the “good ole boy” leadership relics that are grasping to hold onto past titles and accolades.
But perhaps the biggest laugh I got out or this week’s issue is a page featuring lease programs on top luxury cars.
One of those ads featured a “special discount rate” of $949 per month for a Jaguar sports car.
That just kind of confirms where many of the conventional business mindsets reside.
Either that, or it showcases a strong stage of denial in the midst of change.
Whatever the case…that kind of thinking is now history!
Spending frivolously is OUT and CHEAP CHIC is in!
This morning’s posting on CNN.com contained an article that caught my attention.
The title: “In A Recession, Cheap is Chic.”
It has some great observations in it…
Like…”During a deepening recession, conspicuous consumption is out and frugality is the new black.”
Like…”Now what’s chic is being the most knowledgeable and efficient at saving money.”
And also…”Consumers are now focusing on how to live like a king without having to spend a king’s ransom!”
This article even has a couple of cool terms…
One is “economize” that describes the way people shop today.
The second is “in-sourcing” versus “out-sourcing” – a term that our local Atlanta talk radio star Clark Howard recently coined in one of his afternoon shows.
As Clark Howard says… “People had their collection of ‘mys’ like my massage therapist, my yard person, my hairdresser…now people are really stepping back from that and saying ‘if I cut my own yard, I am going to have that $60 in my pocket.’”
I’m into “in-sourcing”!
I now clean my house, make my lunches and go out and get my own office supplies… and believe it or not… doing those things saves me more than $500 every month!
What’s interesting is that CHEAP CHIC may not just be a recessionary trend.
When websites like Expedia replaced travel agencies, it wasn’t flying first class that was cool…it was flying first class and doing so with a 70% discount!
While Budget Living Magazine died a couple of years ago…it came into being back in the days when the Dow Industrial was posting over 12,000 – remember back then?
While ReadyMade Magazine circulation has increased during the recession, it became a Millennial Generation cultural Icon 37 issues ago.
And HGTV premiered Design On A Dime back in 2006…long before the layoff run.
And then there’s Target’s “Expect More. Pay Less.” campaign that has been part of our brand mindset now for more than 10 years!
CHEAP CHIC is as much a part of the Millennial Generation as the PEACE SIGN is an icon of the Boomer Generation.
What does this mean for your brand?
Rule #1 – Just being cheap doesn’t make something CHIC!
Rule #2 – No matter how bad the economy gets, there will always be inventors, innovators and trendsetters.
Rule #3 –Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Friendster and YouTube are primary forums where what’s chic is being defined.
Yeah… you can go to those ad agencies and PR groups to get assistance and advice…
But certainly at those prices, the advice is not what is CHIC today!
Call us… We are CHEAP… And with us, you can not only Journey forward with your brand… you can be CHIC in doing so!
Cool?
Cool.
AND HERE'S AN UPDATE JUST POSTED ON CNN.com ONLINE SURVEY...
QUESTION: When you shop at discount stores or purchase a knock off...74% "Brag about the great find!"...and only 6% "Hide the shame of buying cheap"
The articles now seem to fall in two buckets…one termed the “Gloom and Doom” of business closures and lay-offs and another termed “Retro Spotlights” that highlights the “good ole boy” leadership relics that are grasping to hold onto past titles and accolades.
But perhaps the biggest laugh I got out or this week’s issue is a page featuring lease programs on top luxury cars.
One of those ads featured a “special discount rate” of $949 per month for a Jaguar sports car.
That just kind of confirms where many of the conventional business mindsets reside.
Either that, or it showcases a strong stage of denial in the midst of change.
Whatever the case…that kind of thinking is now history!
Spending frivolously is OUT and CHEAP CHIC is in!
This morning’s posting on CNN.com contained an article that caught my attention.
The title: “In A Recession, Cheap is Chic.”
It has some great observations in it…
Like…”During a deepening recession, conspicuous consumption is out and frugality is the new black.”
Like…”Now what’s chic is being the most knowledgeable and efficient at saving money.”
And also…”Consumers are now focusing on how to live like a king without having to spend a king’s ransom!”
This article even has a couple of cool terms…
One is “economize” that describes the way people shop today.
The second is “in-sourcing” versus “out-sourcing” – a term that our local Atlanta talk radio star Clark Howard recently coined in one of his afternoon shows.
As Clark Howard says… “People had their collection of ‘mys’ like my massage therapist, my yard person, my hairdresser…now people are really stepping back from that and saying ‘if I cut my own yard, I am going to have that $60 in my pocket.’”
I’m into “in-sourcing”!
I now clean my house, make my lunches and go out and get my own office supplies… and believe it or not… doing those things saves me more than $500 every month!
What’s interesting is that CHEAP CHIC may not just be a recessionary trend.
When websites like Expedia replaced travel agencies, it wasn’t flying first class that was cool…it was flying first class and doing so with a 70% discount!
While Budget Living Magazine died a couple of years ago…it came into being back in the days when the Dow Industrial was posting over 12,000 – remember back then?
While ReadyMade Magazine circulation has increased during the recession, it became a Millennial Generation cultural Icon 37 issues ago.
And HGTV premiered Design On A Dime back in 2006…long before the layoff run.
And then there’s Target’s “Expect More. Pay Less.” campaign that has been part of our brand mindset now for more than 10 years!
CHEAP CHIC is as much a part of the Millennial Generation as the PEACE SIGN is an icon of the Boomer Generation.
What does this mean for your brand?
Rule #1 – Just being cheap doesn’t make something CHIC!
Rule #2 – No matter how bad the economy gets, there will always be inventors, innovators and trendsetters.
Rule #3 –Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Friendster and YouTube are primary forums where what’s chic is being defined.
Yeah… you can go to those ad agencies and PR groups to get assistance and advice…
But certainly at those prices, the advice is not what is CHIC today!
Call us… We are CHEAP… And with us, you can not only Journey forward with your brand… you can be CHIC in doing so!
Cool?
Cool.
AND HERE'S AN UPDATE JUST POSTED ON CNN.com ONLINE SURVEY...
QUESTION: When you shop at discount stores or purchase a knock off...74% "Brag about the great find!"...and only 6% "Hide the shame of buying cheap"
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