2012 planning may have wrapped up four or five months ago, but 2011 actually still persists ... hanging on, in fact, for four more lazy end-of-year days. What will next year really bring to the friendly confines of agency life? What will you promise yourself to make it even better?
A few friendly suggestions (from the girl with an opinion about everything):
For better work:
For better life:
For good intentions that will be left behind by January 6 (at the latest):
There's a curious phenomenon that happens in advertising agencies ... Despite our annual planning sessions and relatively-long project lead times, every other month or so, we have a genuine Advertising Emergency. An all-hands-on-deck, everyone-cancel-their-plans, someone-place-a-takeout-order humdinger of a crisis. No matter the cause, each emergency plays out nearly the same way:
Almost two years ago now, I left the world of retail agencies to join up with a specialist: one of the leading healthcare marketing organizations in the world. It was a good opportunity to refocus on digital and innovation, but, I'll admit:
I was pretty nervous about it.
I had the same question almost every job candidate I talk to now asks: What's it like to work for pharma (often asked with a grimace)?
If there's an industry out there with a black hat, it's this one.
Pick your complaint: cost, claims, commercials that warn of anal leakage. (ew)
Working inside this industry, though - it's a completely different story. And, the gap, I think is what regulations can do to communications.
Here's what I like about it:
I've never been closer to my customer:
Close your eyes and think of a patient. Chances are that word brings to mind someone in a hospital gown shuffling down a hospital hallway. The truth is that most "patients" are people out living their lives who happen to also have a chornic or acute disease to deal with. Getting that context that keeps real people at the center of what we do requires a lot of listening. I've read blog posts to packed conference rooms like a preacher at a pulpit. Watched patient advocates paint (literally) pictures of what the experience is really like. LIstened to survivors talk about how being diagnosed changed how they and their families live their lives... it is incredibly powerful stuff that will completely change perspectives and create better, more advocacy-minded work.
Or more challenged to figure out how to make a big idea work:
If you've ever worked in a highly-regulated industry (finance, military, health), you know the easiest answer is no. The hurdles are high. The rewards in the distance (and the reprecussions close in).
Getting a big new idea through the system can seem daunting, if not impossible. Creating the business case, the compelling experience, the can't-miss storytelling around a new technology, a new tool, a new market is harder here than it is anywhere (and it's that much more rewarding when it pays off for the people we ultimately serve).
All in an industry that really is changing people's lives
90% of new treatments and drugs are created by private industry (plus/minus depending on whose numbers you look at - either way, most). Those new treatments extend and improve life: In the last two decades of the 20th century, new medicines accounted for 40% of the increase in life expectancy in more than 50 countries (Columbia University economist Frank Lichtenberg). In other words, for every year that life expectancy has increased, five months can be attributed to the availability of new medicines.
Believe it or not, marketing plays a significant role is making these new drugs available. Physicians are busier now than ever - longer days, more patients, more paperwork. The time they spend in the exam room is down to an average of 7 minutes/person. The treatments they rely on tend to be the ones they learned in residency. Bringing innovation to the practice, well, that's what we do here.
Is it perfect? No way. No business is. But I'll take this over selling you a holiday ham most any day.
Along with Pottery Barn, LL Bean, Uncommon Goods and the other deluge of holiday catalog mail in my box yesterday, I found this:
It's the 2012 Obama catalog - where you can get everything from Obama wine glasses to necklaces to dog bowls to this weird t-shirt that makes it look like the president is coming out of your pants.
Hysterical. Not even Bono has this kind of brand.
The boom of candidate affinity - from something expressed through free yard signs and buttons to a virtual revenue-driving mall of political gear - is an interesting mashup of the consumer trend of wearing brands (Old Navy, AE, Coach) and the acrimonous political encampments being built between blue and red.
Mostly, though, it's just funny that you can buy an Obama cutting board in the year he's arguably on the chopping block :)
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on this big pitch with good people from all over the agency. It's the kind of opportunity that warrants some serious planning sessions and big, dramatic staging. In other words: It's the best kind.
As we were talking about who would be on the team, this old blog came up in conversations a few times ... people read it before I started working here, they'd heard it mentioned from this colleague or that, basically they consider Advergirl to have been just a little internet famous.
That got me thinking about writing again. Or, writing here again. When I joined GSW, I put all my blogging energy into starting up some agency blogs. Three of them, actually: WhatsYourDigitaliQ.com, BrandLiberators.com, and BeShareworthy.com
Ok, so that last one did totally fall off. But the other two are doing pretty well. BrandLiberators has 30 contributors from all over the organization - executives and newbies, nurses and coders. And, WYDiQ was named one of Facebook’s top 50 healthcare blogs (whatever that means).
And, even better news? They don't need me any more. The two surviving blogs each have their own editors, writers and readers ... so, I'm off to the next thing. Or, back to it, I guess.
It turns out I miss writing here - trading emails with readers, cracking bad jokes, sharing my favorite things. I miss that connection.
So, my long-abandonned readers, I hope you're still out there ... I feel like typing with you again.
(Oh, and I think I'm going to do some more advertising resume makeovers - so, if you've got a bum CV, send it my way)
We live in a culture of many cultures. We're so broken up by endless media choices, closed social networks and virtually limitless options in music, food, entertainment and assorted stuff that what is uber popular in your group is likely virutally unnoticed by others. It's created a real challenge for advertisers because it demands a wholly new kind of thinking - one that shifts from looking for normal to identifying significant.
There's no middle in a culture of many culture - no bland demographic data that represents our audience. Instead, we need to look for interesting niches, micro audiences as likely to be united around an interest as an age group
To do that, we have to give up the belief that, say, all moms are like you are as a mom or all college students experience what you did in college or - most importantly - that advertisers like us are anything, anywhere, at all close to normal.
What about you? How "normal" are you? What do you have in common with the rest of America?
Grab a pencil and take this short quiz to see how good of a pulse you have on some of the most interesting, influential niches in American culture.
Answers and scoring after the jump.
How'd you do?
10+ points: Ok, I was wrong. There are some people who can speak for all of us. Clearly your combination of crystal ball gazing, media consuming and general curiousity about your fellow (wo)man has made you a clear-headed advocate for segment marketing. (And, I'd like to hire you) (IF you didn't use Google to answer the questions)
7 -9 points: Congratulations, you're looking pretty broadly at the influencers and experiences that are shaping our fragmented world. Now the challenge is putting it to work - can you find meaningful ways to engage these signficant - and wildly different - audience segments that may not be at all like you?
4 - 6 points: Decent showing. There's a ton going on out there and you have your eye on a lot of it. To learn even more, talk to different kinds of people. The next time you're spending the day at a family/church/work/friend event, interview the people there who seem most unlike you. Find out where they spend their time, what absolutely captivates them, and where their frustrations are.
3 or fewer: Yeah, right? This stuff is hard - people are weirder than you think. In really delightful ways. Get to know more of them. Start by adding one new media channel to your mix - a source of news or ideas or entertainment that might help you get to know an intriguing new niche.
I haven't watched much TED in a while. I blame it on inspiration overload. Too many exceptional people with exceptional aggravations pounding at pulpits.TEDWomen may bring me back, though - the talks I've seen so far are a lot more practical, filled with insight and action.
My friend Jude actually sent me my first TEDWomen talk. It's Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg exploring why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions. You've seen these numbers - Of 190 Heads of State around the world, only 9 are women. In the corporate world only 15% of the top leadership positions are held by women. (Those numbers haven't moved since 2002.) There are more examples - all that either suggest that women drop out or don't have access.
Sandberg didn't want to talk about the problem, though. Instead she focused on the practical ways to change it. What should we focus on as individuals? What messages do we share with the women who work with and for us? What do we tell our daughters?
And, before I get to her advice. I want to talk about her "but": What do we tell our collegues and daughters in a world where there will be sacrifices they have to make for their successes that their brothers will not?
One example of that sacrifice is reputation. The data clearly shows that success and like-ability are positivity correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. Sandbeg pointed to a case created Professor Frank Flynn at Columbia Business School known as The Heidi/Howard Roizen Study.
Flynn had Heidi Roizen, a powerful entreprenuer and venture capitalist, speak to his organizational behavior class in previous semesters. She spoke about networking, her business successes and the challenges of being a woman in Silicon Valley. One semester, he distributed two versions of her bio to the class. Half got Heidi's real background and half got that same bio with one word changed: Heidi became Howard.
Before the lecture, Flynn had students go online and rate their impressions of "Roizen" on several dimensions. The results showed that students were much harsher on Heidi than on Howard across the board. Although they thought she was just as competent and effective as Howard, they didn't like her, they wouldn't hire her, and they wouldn't want to work with her. They disliked Heidi's aggressive personality and rewarded Howard's entreprenuerial one. The more assertive they thought Heidi was, the more harshly they judged her (but the same was not true for those who rated Howard)
(Jump to minute 7:27 if you want to hear Sandberg talk about this story)
That's a powerful caveat. And surely one of the reasons women drop out.
But if you don't - here is Sandberg's advice: practical steps for women to get ahead in the workplace (serious highlights of things I'm not doing well in my own career, by the way). It's followed by my own ideas about what we can do together to get rid of a little bit of that "but" (which is really what all new years resolutions are about anyway, right?)
That all sounds great. Except the more of it women do, apparently the worse they're seen. So, here's my idea for our shared resolution (because if women support each other more, the rest will come):
We're likely among the last generations to live in a world run so decisively by men. Wouldn't it be great if we enjoyed some of that equity and opportunity instead of simply being on the slightly wrong side of history. Wouldn't it be great if there was no "but" in wanting to succeed?
What would you guess is the average age someone first has an online presence?
In North America, Australia and Europe it's 6 months.
This probably isn't a surprise to the 30-somethings reading here. Our friends' and colleagues' blogs, profiles and Twitter feeds are clogged with icky anecdotes, cute photos and other artifcacts of parenting life. What may be a surprise is just how ubiqutous it is. We're not talking "mommy bloggers" here - we're talking parents. Almost all of them.
By 2 years old, 80% of kids can be found online.
Almost 1/4 of parents don't even wait for the birth day - they upload ultrasounds and other scans - creating an online life that predates the real world one.
Baby photos are definitely the addiction point. 70% of moms post them to share with friends and family.
But, some parents are a lot more planful about it. Just under 10% are actually creating email accounts for their babies.
It's an interesting trend because it's about a lot more than just an online baby book. It's the start of a digital dossier - one created for another human.
(Source: Internet Security company AVG, 2010)
(Love to Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics for the find)
This isn't a story about Foursquare or its eager little cousin Gowalla. Instead, it's about the most mainstream of the mainstream - Facebook. The platform reaches 62% of the online population. What might surprise you is where it's reaching them.
150 million people use Facebook via mobile. Over 200 developers are creating and deploying even more mobile-friendly tools for the social giant. The reason? It's the #1 driver of their growth right now - getting status updates, party photos and what-kind-of-care-bear-are-you quizzes (literally) into the hands of millions.
The move to mobile doesn't stop with Facebook - mobile social is the #1 fastest growing app category overall (ahead of both news and banking).
All that mobile connecting has a multiplier effect. Facebook recently reported that people who connect via mobile have over twice the amount of activity and engagement as typical computer users.
It's not (all) part of the iPhone elite effect. People are connecting to mobile social via all sorts of devices and browsers. Although iPhone is still in the lead, Blackberry is close behind. (What's up, Andriod?)
The trend is especially true for some of our favorite reach-by-social audiences: like new moms. At home, their go-to chat-with-friends technology is text messaging. On the go, they turn to apps - like Facebook - to connect.
Looking for a little more Leigh in your life? Look no further - it's been a busy month and I've got lots to share from around the web. A few highlights:
MedAdNews: How brands are using social context for better offline marketing
Slideshare: Top digital trends in healthcare marketing
BeShareworthy.com: Two storytelling initiatives that really tell it like it is
WYDiQ: Five must-quote statistics on mobile, social and WOM (For more data: Ten healthcare statistics that matter now)
BrandLiberators: In defense of speaking plainly (a shot across the bow at all that annoying lingo that takes over our office communications)