360 - Jack Morton Worldwide's Experiential Marketing Blog

The brand big bang

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:17:27 +0000

Robert Pattinson was hit by a cab last week, whilst trying to get away from a mob of teenage girls. Thanks to his breakout role in Twilight, R-Patz (as they’re calling him) is struggling to come to terms with his newfound megastardom. That’s the thing about “Hollywood fame” – no matter how hard you try, it changes you. There’s a point where you go from ‘next big thing’ to ‘king of the world’. The key is to remember how you got started, and make sure that you reconnect with the people who put you there in the first place. Brands face the same challenge. Early adopters become passionate advocates and drive the brand growth. The brand gets bigger and bigger, until suddenly it’s so mainstream that its original enthusiasts drop off the radar. This is great news for us in experiential marketing, since it’s the face-to-face, hands-on approach that allows brands to get back in touch with the people who helped them breakthrough in the first place. Tom Cruise knows this, which is why he’s happy spending two hours on the red carpet at every premiere.

History rising

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:34:17 +0000

McDonald’s have a great hiring policy. They figure that employment history and previous experience is irrelevant, since they can cover off pretty much everything with comprehensive induction and training. So instead, they hire the smile. The way they see it, it’s much harder to teach someone to be warm, friendly and approachable than it is to say, fry fries. OK, so that’s fine for McDonalds you say but what about other lines of work? I think the same rule applies. Sure, we all play the game and update our CVs diligently. But these days, no-one applies for a job that they think they won’t be able to do, since they’ll be caught out within a couple of days. So why put so much effort into looking at the past? What you did yesterday is nowhere near as relevant or exciting as what you’re going to do tomorrow. So focus on what comes next, rather than what you did before.

Adweek poll: consumers tune out ads

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:19:45 +0000

Adweek released a poll conducted on LinkedIn in which 4,148 respondents answered the question, "Of the ads you see in a typical day, how many engage your attention?" One out of four answered "None of them," and two out of three "A small minority."

Transparency - who should know?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:14:07 +0000

This may be a controversial opinion, but I firmly believe that information should only ever be shared on a need-to-know basis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for openness and transparency. But there’s a point where TMI (apparently that’s what the kids say for ‘too much information) infects our daily lives. I’m not suggesting we harbour secrets from one another, but there’s a danger that we tell everyone everything in order to absolve ourselves from any responsibility. It’s a little like the warnings on hot apple pies or Champagne corks. They pass the buck of responsibility onto the recipient of the information. In a business sense, the more we tell other people about the challenge we face, the more it seems like it’s no longer our problem to solve. Try to think about what people need to know, rather than assuming that information overload is best.

Is the recession good for customer experience?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:17:01 +0000

Today I witnessed first-hand one way the recession might be good for customer service--which is to say the customer experience. It started with an unfortunate encounter between a cup of coffee and my favorite Maria Cornejo dress, which happens to be ("to have been"?) pale beige. Against all prejudices I found myself at Bloomingdale's, a place I would usually avoid because I associate department stores with bad customer service... being agressively pursued by eager perfume proferers... then alternately ignored and insulted by the people I need to help me find the right size, or the restroom, or (this one is laughable) something I need in a hurry. I was happily surprised by an outstanding customer experience. Right there on the 3rd floor of Bloomingdale's, I met an amazingly nice woman who recommended a perfect dress on sale and hunted it down in the right size. When I explained the coffee snafu, she helpfully cut off tags and clipped temporary stitching so I could pay and then wear my new dress out of the store. And she gave me directions to a dry cleaner in the neighborhood, where I hope my old dress will make a full recovery. Could this great customer experience have been enabled by the recession--precisely because, in these recessionary days, the retail setting is by definition less about giant crowds and mind-numbing consumption and more about considerate staff interacting with customers they have time to look in the eye? Of course retailers love crowds and outsize consumption, but I think this moment gives them a chance to invest in improving their customer experience in ways that bode well for the long term. A few years ago, when we were still in boom times, Seth Godin and others warned that exhuberant success was leading to customer service failures. Today's opportunity might just be a silver lining for this downturn.

Hyundai and Jack Morton in the New York Times

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:33:51 +0000

Jack Morton was featured along with our client Hyundai in today's Media Decoder blog in the New York Times. The blog is written by the Times' advertising reporter Stuart Elliott. Take a look and find out more about Hyundai's summer 'Gas Lock' promotion and the five kick-off events that we will be producing this summer! New York Times Media Decoder Blog

It’s all in your head

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:59:05 +0000

Charles VI of France, known to his friends as Charles the Mad, suffered from the bizarre delusion that he was made of glass. So strong was his conviction that he even had iron bars sewn into his clothing, believing that this would prevent him from shattering if he was to fall. Although he made these efforts to remedy his situation, and probably slowed himself down no end, the problem never went away because it was all in his head. It’s so easy to confuse what’s going on in our head with reality; we do it all the time. “I shouldn’t phone them, I’d just be disturbing them.” “I can’t ask her out, she wouldn’t be interested.” “I know I’m entitled to that discount, but I bet they won’t give it to me.” So fearing the worst, we fail to do the things we should. It doesn’t matter how in-depth these internal dialogues are, they’ll always remain internal. If you really want to know what’s going on, you have to be prepared to make the first move. You’d be amazed at the results if you just get out of your own way.

"Reinvent the brand experience," advises Light

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:04:37 +0000

Great "CMO Strategy" piece by former McDonald's CMO Larry Light in AdAge.com. In "Six Rules for Brand Revitalization," Light advises: "Reinvent the brand experience. To revitalize a brand, we need to bring the redefined brand promise to life."

You can't handle the truth

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:19:15 +0000

As Col. Nathan R. Jessup in A Few Good Men Jack Nicholson delivered one of the most memorable movie lines ever and perpetuated one of the biggest untruths (here) That somewhere there are people who can’t handle the truth. Your cheque’s in the post. I’ll be in touch. It happens to everyone. We’ve all heard those clichéd untruths used to spare other people’s feelings. And clients are no different – that was a great meeting, we loved your idea, we’ll call at the end of the week. We’re grownups though. And contrary to Colonel Jessup’s thinking, we can actually handle the truth. In fact, it’s tremendously disempowering to protect people from the facts they need. In most situations, as soon as the truth’s out there, people just deal with it. So please to all of you clients out there, we’d rather hear it than be strung along in the false hope that something good will come of it. Not all our solutions are going to be right, our mix of people may not fit, and that’s OK we know that we’re not always successful. The point is we want to be the best and try win every pitch so much better that we get the news early, learn and move on. We can handle it!

The only bad decision

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:41:25 +0000

Have you ever driven home, only to arrive and realise that you don’t recall anything about the journey? It’s because our lives are filled with routines that we can accomplish as if we’re on autopilot. Only when we have to make decisions do we really wake out of this stupor. Unfortunately though, making decisions is much more challenging than simply going with the flow. In 1973 Walter Kaufmann, professor at Princeton University, identified a condition known as decidophobia – the fear of making decisions. He recognised the fact that, although decisions usually lie at the heart of whatever makes us successful, they can also be difficult, perplexing and nerve-wracking. Our fear isn’t so much about making a decision as it is about making the wrong one. The way I see it, the only truly bad decision is no decision at all. As long as you’re moving forward, you can figure out changes to your plan along the way. The pressure’s on so be sure to make a decision and get yourself up and running. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

Anticipation as Chevy Volt brand experience

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:32:46 +0000

I'm really struck by the degree to which the anticipation of the Chevy Volt is so integral to its brand experience. Anticipation implies so many positive things, so it's a good thing, assuming the ultimate experience delivers on what is being promised. Speaking as the mother of a car-obsessed nine-year-old, the anticipation is very high... and speaking as a green-iac myself, I was struck by the narrative of earth-hugging web clicks that brought me to the news of it being on the road (sort of) ahead of schedule.

Another year older?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:02:09 +0000

Ponder on this for a second. Nobody gets a year older on their birthday. You’re only ever a day older than you were yesterday. Small incremental changes that affect our lives are happening all the time When something goes wrong, there’s no flash of lightning or crash of the cymbals. Mistakes are made one teeny tiny step at a time. Chaos theory starts with a butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the world and ends with losing a pitch because you didn’t sweat the detail, time after time. . So keep your eyes open for all the little things.

Summertime and the livin's easy (at JACK)

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:44 +0000

Although you wouldn't know it from the Seattle-type weather New York's been having--it's summer at Jack! I walked into our office Monday to be greeted by a wading pool, indiscreet bathing suits hanging and (best of all) rubber duckies. All that's missing is the swim-up bar.

Check out more pics on our Flickr set. And for your listening pleasure I bring you two "summertime" classics: one by Billie and the other by Big Willie. "Summertime" (Billie Holiday) "Summertime" (Will Smith)

Stanislavski’s Method

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:09:31 +0000

Constantin Stanislavski is widely believed to be the founding father of realistic acting. His system, known widely as ‘method acting’, has influenced the work of legendary performers such as Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino. The key to Stanslavski’s System was to encourage actors to ‘live the part’ – tapping into their own experiences to elevate the believability of their performances. At Jack Morton we often receive briefs that ask us to ‘create a great experience’, but that passion for experiences seldom figures in the brief itself. So it was a genuine honour to be invited by the British Army to tour the barracks as part of the briefing process. We, and the other agencies being briefed, got to meet officers and enlisted men. We saw where they lived and trained, we heard their combat stories, and we got a real feel for life in the military. This kind of first-hand experience is invaluable when taking a brief. We need to visit the factory, the shop floor, the sales desk, meet the people in front and behind the scenes. Even use the products. Can’t wait for the Rolls Royce pitch to come in! See, there’s always method to my madness.

Experience brands are tough

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:15:31 +0000

Today we released some data from our 2009 Marketers' Survey in which we asked marketers from leading companies about their perspective on trends and spend amidst a tough climate. It's worth noting that the vast majority of the marketers we talked to remain committed to investing in marketing precisely because times are tough. Cutting marketing in a recession is like being single and staying home to watch TV instead of going out to meeting new people... Here's a link to more on the research >> 2009 Marketers' Survey