marketear

Why creativity doesn't fit into the media agency formula!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

YES! It´s my first blog post in 2012 (Happy New Year btw.) I sure hope it attracts a lot of clicks, although my blogging gets more and more infrequent. Back in the days I would check Google Analytics stats every second hour. I lost the statistics game. Damn!

Let me start out by saying. I've got a media agency background. My thoughts come from conversations with people in or out of the media business - and not solely from my working experience. I loved working in the media industry (still part of it somehow) and most people are really skilled and awesome. I don´t hope people see this post as a: “You aren`t working on the media agency side anymore and now you can just shoot with shit “(can you say that?). But often it is easier to understand things when you are not in it.

I think it´s an interesting topic only because people (and client´s) need to understand the complex world of media agencies and why creativity never will be performed to perfection.

Another fact: I don't know all media agencies and how they work with creativity, but I have seen some output.

No more assumptions. I promise!

Creativity = stick out

I love creativity. It can be many things. It´s complex. For me it`s that unexpected and daring solution/thought/thing that gets more attention. All types of agencies want to be creative. Why: Because you get paid for it (if the client is fair), it can make you stick out from the crowd, plus it is what most clients ask for.

4 reasons why media agency creativity is limited

1. Client structure is safe. You aren't pushed to deliver the best work for your clients every fucking time (and many clients demand it). Client structure is safe in the way that you got longer agreements. And most agencies are part of bigger networks. That “stay hungry” culture is non-existing.

2. Innovation is not at the heart of the culture. It's administration. Success is about minimizing time spent on the client. It means: You seek out for the easy solution to a client´s problem. Creativity is time consuming and takes a lot of energy.

3. Integration is king and integration is a barrier to success. A successful media agency campaign is an integrated 360 campaign. Why: you bring more departments into play = internal success. I think ideas get too constructed that way and the genuine part disappears.

4. Media agencies are distanced from the media (of natural reasons, I know). That's why media owners have overtaken media agencies in terms of creativity. They are able to test ideas and are closer to the making of the creative solutions. Of course digital is better suited for it. On the other hand one can say that media owner’s don´t have a close client relationship making creativity too far from the strategy.

What to do?

Is this actually a problem? The fact is that the one´s paying for the party (read: client´s) think so.

I think there are two aspects to consider.

One is: Media agencies could consider rethinking their business and skip the creative focus. If you are not chasing it 100% you will never manage it at perfection and then there´s no reason in doing it. Competition is hard and in the long run you don´t win by trying to do everything. That´s positioning. Focus could be even more on effectiveness.

Another aspect is the client. They also got a responsibility in this formula. Don´t demand creativity from all the agencies you work with. Figure out what agencies are best at what and make them perform that.

Does that make any sense or am I talking complete nonsense? I´m passing the ball to you guys out there.

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Improved brand experience IS your marketing strategy (@Fly_Norwegian)

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:12:00 +0000

The best way to get some rolling brand love is to create something really useful and make it free for your crowd. Norwegian.no offers free WiFi on selected flights and with success if you listen to the users. From time to time I read status updates or tweets from friends with a "Wow, I´m xx feet off ground writing this update from my Norwegian flight". That´s really good advertising. So skip all the social media strategies, buzz metrics, number of likes, thumbs up, competitions etc. and create an innovative, useful, free and unexpected (in the sense, that people would expect it to cost) service for your crowd and you will get the genuine brand love.

In a market where it´s all about price it´s a clever way to stick out from competition. So, great work norwegian.no

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Telia wants you to be the next Mark Zuckerberg

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:41:00 +0000

I´m full of admiration for the work CP+B Europe has developed for Telia here in Sweden. In short the campaign is centered around the idea of becoming the next app millionaire. To grab people´s attention to the campaign Telia have partnered with iSwap faces founder Alex Vlachos and use him and the iSwap faces app in all the communication. All the roads leads to Facebook where you can submit your idea with a simple sketch. The winner gets the app produced by Telia and gets all the revenue. The competition has ended and 25.000 ideas have been submitted. Pretty impressive. Hopefully Marek and I will be picked as the final winners.

What I love about this piece of advertising: (I know I´m biased because I love advertising, tech and startups)

1. It sticks out. Telecom is all about pricing and boring specs.

2. It taps into the insight that people are dreaming of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg or the less famous Alex Vlachos.

3. It got a natural link to Telia´s core business

4. The campaign is supported by a whole lot of ATL comms

5. It can start a conversation. [I know it´s not so representative, but I have kick-started many conversations about this competition. What surprises me is the quality of ideas coming from people in "so-called" non-creative jobs]

6. It is more than just a competition. Way too many campaigns are centered around a weak competition - forced engagement - this one differs because people needs to be creative with a greater purpose.

7. It´s a great example of modern storytelling. The mechanic of linking all the elements elegantly together (ATL, Facebook, target audience, PR, endorser) - and of course the great potential of making the campaign live longer using the winner (and the story behind) in a second round.

The only thing I would change if I was in charge was to socialize the campaign even more (group work), and of course to have a real app where people could submit their ideas from.

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Interactive game from McDonald's #Stockholm

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:11:00 +0000

I had fun today thanks to McDonald's. By coincidence I dropped by Stureplan. For non-Swedish people it's a central square located in Stockholm. The Swedish version of Times Square. Yeah, and then there is a big screen. It was interactive today. You could simply battle McDonald's in ping pong steering with your smartphone. The steps are: Go to www.picknplay.se on your smartphone. Enter your name and prize. Queuing starts. Then you receive a notification when it's your turn. It took 3 minutes. Game on. Brilliant! I lost but I got a loosers Icecream by showing my coupon at the nearest McDonald's. Next game will take place the 14th of May from 15-17. Go have some fun.

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Favorite tweet this week

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:17:00 +0000

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What gets me out of bed in the morning [sort of word game]

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:46:00 +0000

Brands not corporations

People not target groups

People not clients

People not colleagues

Development not money

Things not projects

Meanings not number of slides

Groups not hierarchy

Time not working hours

Coffee not meetings

Stories not PowerPoint

Space not office

I like to twist my mind creating a reality that is non-corporate. I think motivation, productivity and creativity is better suited in a non-corporate world.

Do you follow me?

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Random pics from #SXSW 2011 and SF

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:52:00 +0000

A short picture stream shot with my eyes. Or at least very close.

SXSW 2011

People queing for the IPad2. People all ages.

A world of tweets visualization at the frog design party. The installations were amazing.

Another installation.

Rest room surveillance.

SF 2011

I like this entrance.

Custom build bicycles.

This coffee shop produces its own coffee.

Grey-haired old dude watching an Apple demo.

The clash. Past vs. future.

Mustache coloration.

Old McDonald`s.

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Now this is technology!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:40:00 +0000

<p>Now this is technology! from Christian Hermansen on Vimeo.</p>

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Brand love or brand stealing? [pic]

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:25:00 +0000

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Twitter on speed #SXSW

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:40:00 +0000

First time attending South by South West I can only say that I will make a strong comeback next year and probably many years to come. For those you that haven't discovered SXSW it's a beautiful mix of talks, beer, BBQ, workshops and queuing. People call it spring break for geeks. I prefer Twitter on speed. Actually the queuing thing was just a good thing since it brings people together. Oh, and then it's in Austin, Texas. I have read many wrap ups so far and one thing that stood out is people's different take on it. The scale of this conference does that it's impossible to attend more than 1/100. The fragmentation influences on the conclusions. I can't get a quote out of my head summing up that the Internet revolution is two-stepped. First thing was about connecting people. Check. Most people are connected. Now it's about making people really understand the value of this connectivity. This is so goddamn true. We are in stage number two. The Internet seemed to be a community. Now it´s for everyone. Let me get back to my wrap up. This probably gonna change when I have consumed an enormous amount of info and notes. However, with my eyes, I saw four things I want to share with you:

1. Gamification. How to add a game layer to interaction? How to motivate action? Foursquare is the grand old man that we all look up to - and I think we will see more cases of adding fun to the stuff we do through our mobile. Seth Priebatsch said a clever thing about gamification. School failed because it uses a game mechanic where you can lose. It disrewards action. Instead it should motivate action and that´s what brands should think of in future.
2. Group-behavior. How to organize in groups. For me GroupMe stood out. What I liked most about this thing is that it´s simple and that it solves a true problem. "Old" technologies such as text and mail never got a grip of that need.
3. Digital wallets. How our mobile will become our wallet replacing money? Transaction gone mobile. Starbucks is one of the earliest examples of transaction gone mobile. Check it out here

4. LBS level 2. Location, location, location. How to be relevant in the right context and how to put deals to it. Start-up worth mentioning in this perspective: Hurricane Party. And the Foursquare AMEX partnership. The technique: When you check in at selected locations and for example purchase at least $5 worth of goods, you will get a $5 credit on your statement. Confused, look here.

Other things I was amazed by:
Facebooks role in SXSW. People didn't use it. Twitter was THE thing. Coded real-time communication is the only thing that counts for geeks.
The use of Foursquare. We went to a party at the driskill hotel. At that time 461 people had checked in. Fucking amazing.
Productivity. I don't understand how people can produce so much during the festival.
Multi-tasking by heart. Most people communicated face to face while tweeting, check-in, updating.
Apple over Android. IPhone and Apple owned this festival and I was the only one with a Sony Ericsson device.
I met an Apple employee. He wouldn't install the Foursquare app on his phone because of the design. It was way too ugly. Steve, you did a great job!
Energy. As a newbie I was truly amazed by the level of energy. People are extremely passionate. It was contagious.
Vision is about looking into the future. Sounds obvious but isn't when looking around the brand landscape.
Nerds are rockstars in Austin.
Innovation is about doing more than telling.

Brands should exploit and develop a brand system (apps, information etc.)

This experiment and outcome. It doesn´t take time to create great ideas and to produce them.

This guy.

More to come...

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THE NEW DORK - Entrepreneur State of Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:16:00 +0000

My friend Soren showed me this one. Funny.

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Ice bike #Stockholm

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:57:00 +0000

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.Flowchart: How to Make Money on the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:44:00 +0000

via lenkendall

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I love the Internet!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:13:00 +0000

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A different take on consumer insight... #iphonevsandroidvsblackberry

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:13:00 +0000

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First Church of #Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:35:00 +0000

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Flavors.me vs. about.me

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:12:00 +0000

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I want it!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:11:00 +0000

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Anatomy of a great idea!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:10:00 +0000

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The new world of the internet

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:55:00 +0000

I like it!

via xkcd

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Power of people and about breaking habits

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:34:00 +0000

An observation through the eyes of an average person, which is me.

Once and again I´m amazed of the power we have as individuals. Yesterday I went to the movie. For the second time in my life I was alone. It was actually a good experience. I went to see Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - definitely a great movie (passing it to all of you) and I got the last seat. Just makes the experience stronger. What impressed me was the crowd. It was a mix of young and old people. The majority was men in their 70´s, but there were also groups of young girls. Normally when I go to the movie I go with my girlfriend, with friends or with my family. Yesterday, I broke the habit and went alone. I think that enhanced the experience. Where I work it´s all about affecting behaviour with something that is called communication. Basically, we want the consumer to see, smell, taste, think, feel, hear, or do something with the brand. Probably more things - I´m not able to come up with them right now. Something that will result in a good experience, a stronger commitment and in the end them buying the thing or experience. Very simple put. Nothing odd about that. Getting back to my movie experience, my choice of movie and the circumstances around the experience. In the old days when I went to the movie the strongest information source was the movie review from the local paper. The decision was solely made based on that piece of paper. If I was stuck in my old routine I wouldn´t have seen the movie tonight. All the reviews I have read have been bad. Instead I trusted a friend and that was a good choice. Check. The experience was further amplified by something I admire one of my other friends for doing. He is a busy family dad and the way he´s unplugging is by going to the movie alone. I think it´s pretty cool. In sum my movie trip was initiated by a friend´s recommendation and amplified by another friend´s way of unplugging. I trust a friend before I trust a newspaper I don´t have a relation with - and the experience around it is much more important than the product itself (the movie). It´s was about relations and experience.

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Awesome use of Facebook to recruitment (in Swedish)

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:19:00 +0000

I really like this one. A different approach to recruitment - making your friends boost you through Facebook. Clever to lead all traffic to their own Facebook page. Follow the competition here.

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Keeping history

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:57:00 +0000

I was visiting a client yesterday. They had a room for silent moments. Tradition and history all in one. Great!

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A Facebook ad

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:33:00 +0000

Visually I think this Facebook ad is one of the better I have seen. It caught my attention having a profile picture as the visual. Mostly, I don´t notice or remember the more traditional ads on Facebook.

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It´s about trendsetters. Not followers. #mercedesbenz #fail

noreply@blogger.com (Christian From Hermansen) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:50:00 +0000

I saw this one on an outdoor poster today. What do all you followers say to this piece of writing? I think it´s very yuppie and outdated. Communication that aren´t synced with reality.

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