Top Tags

Tag Expectations

WINDOWS VS FORD

bill_gates_01At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, Ford issued a press release stating:

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash……… twice a day.

2.. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3… Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4…. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5….. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6…… The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7……. The airbag system would ask, “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8…….. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9……… Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10………. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

by Robert Shaw West Brand Futurist/Commander in Chief

Photo Credit: courtesy of www.microsoft.com and www.ford.com.

Content Credit: Originally delivered as a chain email, author unknown

 

.

CAN YOUR PLAN BE HIJACKED?

With all of our marketing textbooks, classes and degrees, and our guru books, blogs and seminars, how is it that our marketing efforts so often miss the mark?  Certainly it’s not because we don’t know what to do. It really has more to do with the lessons omitted. Specifically: How to identify and overcome the ever-present forces that can hijack your plan.

Have you ever compromised a plan in the name of team work? Adjusted critical elements or language to satisfy a vocal, yet misinformed co-worker? Or even made changes in advance to please the CEO? Personal agendas, office politics and fear of innovation can reduce any of us to willing accomplices. Leaving us owning and being accountable to watered down plans.

Be prepared for the doubters. Overcome their objections with conviction, confidence and determination to keep your plans on track.

by Dwayne Fry Brand Futurist/Commander Strategic Ops

15-YEAR-OLD FORTELLS A FACEBOOK DECLINE

Like most 15-year-olds, my daughter is totally connected. Text and Facebook are her lifelines, or so I thought.  In spring, around the time of the pending Facebook IPO, I noticed a conspicuous absence in her Facebook activity. With a busy school and activity schedule I thought it nothing more than a function of available time.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. She and her friends have simply discovered social platforms that better fit the way they live – mobile. Instagram…take a picture, share it, 20 minutes later there are 65 “likes.” Pretty apt name. Twitter…group conversations and connections to peer group topics.  Pinterest…personal expression of self as individuals. What words can’t capture. Beautiful boards. Very revealing.
That’s the holy trinity for now. Along with ever-present text. This new world of social media supports her, not vice versa. And yes there is still some Facebook activity. But for her generation it is no longer the sun. Look around for yourself. There may be a world beyond Facebook. So far, I like what I see.

And now for the science. Two articles that prompted this post. The first is about Instagram: http://read.bi/OuFuVy  The second is about Pinterest: http://bit.ly/PApcZP  Both articles reinforce the utility of these relatively new offerings.

by Dwayne Fry Brand Futurist/Commander Strategic Ops

Photo Credit: courtesy of www.tgdaily.com, Has Facebook started its inevitable decline?

RALPH, MEET GEORGE. GEORGE, RALPH. NOW STEP BACK!

Ever heard of someone named Ralph Mcquarrie? Probably not. He’s the art director who concepted, designed and illustrated all the sets for the Star Wars movies. Click on the photo – you’ll see how mind-blowingly unheard-of his ideas were? If you don’t think so, remember, this was in1976. The bad news is that he died earlier this year. But at least take this from his life, that he, along with George Lucas, completely transformed the movie industry overnight. Just goes to show you – if you have big ideas, it doesn’t mean anything until you execute them properly. If you have big ideas and you haven’t found your George yet, start looking.

by Francis George, Creative Director, The Republik. Photo Credit: courtesy of www.conceptships.blogspot.com. Star Wars is a produciton of LucasFilms.

THE REAL REASONS WHY CREATIVES HATE ACCOUNT PEOPLE AND VICE VERSA

Superman and Lex Luthor, Churchill and Lady Astor, Hillary and Obama – just a few people who despise each other about as much as advertising creatives and account executives. The animosity between the two is truly legendary. As one creative director said, “I never met a good account executive I didn’t despise.” But few people really know why. Most assume it’s because account executives have the reputation of being spineless, sycophantic yes men to clients. And because creatives are notorious, egomaniacal prima donnas who pitch tantrums when their “brilliant” work doesn’t sell. That’s only part of the story.

The real reason creatives hate AE’s and vice versa, has more to do with a seriously flawed business model than differences in personalities. The truth is, agencies today do not make most of their money from creating and producing ads. They got out of the idea generation business long ago. Agencies realized it was much easier (and more profitable) to give the work away and make a big, fat 15% commission on the media buy. But that’s not the case anymore. Large media buying companies have all but eliminated that source of income. So agencies have been forced to come up with other ways to take money from their clients. Hence, the explosive growth in research and brand planning. Ten years ago, no one had ever heard of a brand planner – now there’s a Planning Department in every agency. The big agencies purchased interests in research companies. They trademarked their own processes of brand analysis and hawked them as an essential ingredient to every marketing plan. They created in-house studios to produce animatics, storyboards and “scratch” radio spots for qualitative and quantitative testing. To ensure profitability, agencies then force creatives to use these in-house facilities.

The result? Ad agencies are now in the business of not producing ads. The business of testing, researching and fancy sounding trademarked processes to find “the soul” of a brand has become the real source of income for ad agencies. Income that had to be replace when agencies were forced out of the media buying business.

As a direct result of all this, the goals and priorities of a really good account person and a really good creative are 100% diametrically opposed to each other. Take your typical AE. His #1 priority is to make sure the agency is always profitably billing the client for something. His #2 priority is making sure the client is happy and the relationship is sound. Notice nothing was said about selling creative executions. Whether an ad sells or not, the AE gets paid the same amount. In fact, an AE might get a raise by not selling a campaign – as long as priorities #1 and #2 are met. In essence, there’s absolutely no incentive whatsoever for an account person to sell an ad. Period. So you see, a really good account person doesn’t really care if an ad sells or not. In fact, selling an ad may violate priority #1. By allowing the client to kill concepts, the really smart AE ensures the agency will be able to bill the client for another round of creative development, planning, research or —”Cha-Ching!” – all three. Crazy isn’t it?

On the other hand, a really good creative’s #1 job is to sell award-winning work. His #2 priority is to just sell something, anything so he can spend more time surfing the web and writing his screenplay. Notice that a creative person’s priorities do not include billing more hours and making the client happy. Creatives (unless they’re freelance) get paid the same amount of money whether they spend one hour on a project or 50. And to complicate matters, agencies always make sure their creatives’ time is maxed out on several projects. So when a client doesn’t buy work, it means the creatives are going to have to work late nights and weekend just to catch up. If this happens too often, (and it always does) art directors and copywriters will burnout. Sometimes permanently. That’s why creatives go nuts when their ads don’t sell – chances are they’re already on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Legendary copywriter, Jerry Della Femina once opened a 50th floor window and threatened to jump out if a client didn’t buy his work. The client did buy it and Jerry went on to write a best seller called From Those Wonderful People Who Brought You Pearl Harbor and to run a very successful restaurant in the Hamptons. But I digress.

Now you know why creatives get that desperate look on their faces when you don’t approve their concepts. Great ideas do not come easily. For that matter, neither do bad ones. Concepting ads takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears no matter how you slice it. And the thing that kills creatives more than anything else, are AE’s who treat ideas like they’re a dime a dozen. They’re not. On the other hand, nothing ticks off an AE more than a creative who throws a tantrum in front of the client. It jeopardizes priority #2 – the relationship. And if the client buys a campaign right off the bat, it will jeopardize priority #1 – squeezing as much money out of the client as possible. This is also why creatives demand to present their own work and precisely why AE’s don’t want them to.

So how do you fix this age-old problem? Should Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger step in? Actually, the problem is a pretty simple one to solve. Unfortunately, most agencies are too stuck in their ways to make the necessary fix. Agencies have to change their business models. Right now, agencies get paid the same amount of money whether their advertising works or not. It’s high time agencies joined the rest of the service industry and became accountable for the work they produce. For instance, they could tie their compensation to performance. If their ads meet certain marketing goals they’re paid more money, if they don’t, they get paid less. Additionally, agencies should make all the creatives and all the account executives partners. That way, account and creative people’s income is directly tied to their clients’ success or failure. In an agency that ties its compensation to performance and all its employees are partners, creatives and AE’s suddenly find themselves working towards the same goals – producing great ads that get results.

by David Smith The Republik

Photo Credit: Unknown via Wikimedia Commons – Licensed public domain

BLOOD BATH

The creative folks at Jung von Matt ad agency created some spine-tingling interactive advertising for the Action and Suspense Channel in Hamburg, Germany to promote their exclusive horror films.

A bathroom of a nightclub in Hamburg was specially prepared to give clubbers an unexpected scare. Upon entering the room, the light suddenly goes out and the room is bathed in black light. A bloody crime scene appears on the floor and walls with a message on the mirror that reads: “See what others don’t see. 13th STREET. The Action and Suspense Channel.”

Read more here.

“Experiential advertising at its best.”

by David Smith The Republik

Photo Credit: © thecoolhunter.net