me write. you read.

Anybody else think an agency B-team did the latest round here?

In advertising, nothing may be harder than keeping a long-running, high-frequency campaign fresh. I give the Martin Agency huge credit for keeping the cavemen campaign at least interesting, if not odd, for it’s long run, and especially at the ridiculous TRPs they run that campaign at. But, the Progressive “Flo” campaign, well, to me it seems like they pulled their A-Team off of it (and no not Face, Murdock, Hannibal and BA) and put in their second stringers. Why? The first two or three rounds of ideas had a clear beginning, middle and end and did a good job selling the product. But the last few executions have fallen way short. They talk about the product, but the endings have been almost as awkward as a Will Ferrell/Molly Shannon sketch. The fist explosions. The awkward exchanged with the biker dude. The weirdness of introducing classic literary figure of Captain Ahab into an otherwise surreal, everyman environment. In any case, I always wonder if consumers notice it when the creative quality of a campaign wanes.

Finally: My letter to the editor in Harvard Business Review

I submitted this content back in March, and it’s just now making it to the presses. The good people at HBR were extremely good to work with, even when they cut out 1/2 the content of my letter. What can I say? They said keep it under 400 words, and I kept it at 397.
Here’s the text:
Gen Y in the Workforce

Dear Editor:

If you take a step back and analyze the situation objectively, there seems to be something broken in the way companies approach Millennials (see Tamara J. Erickson’s article “Gen Y in the Workforce,” February 2009). What typically starts out as nothing more than a lack of understanding often grows into an opinion that Gen Y is simply a lazy, disrespectful lot.

Gen Xers and Baby Boomers view their jobs the same way: You are what you do. Today’s younger workforce, however, has the exact opposite perspective: Millennials see their jobs as an extension of their lives, not the other way around. And since their lives are fast-paced, communication-saturated, friend-rich, and change-filled, they have high hopes that their jobs will mirror that lifestyle. So why wouldn’t they be disenchanted when they haven’t gotten a promotion after six months on the job and when they get in trouble for Facebooking at work? They expect more from their jobs than a paycheck, but few managers are willing to give it to them. Millennials want to believe in what they are doing and want to know they are being heard.

While coddling is certainly not the answer, flexibility and accountability are. Remember, this is the generation that was force-fed group projects at every level of education, from elementary school through graduate programs, so how could we expect them not to be convinced that vertical collaboration is the best way to solve a problem?

Mark Ervin

Director of Creative
o2ideas
Birmingham, Alabama

Club & Rubber

A few weeks ago, somebody left hard evidence of a good time in our parking lot. Now, I know what you’re thinking: ad people. However, based on our proximity to the local high school, university and retirement community, I think it was somebody looking to do something outside other watchful eyes.

Basically, we found an expended prophylactic right next to a shattered bottle of Canadian Club. And while the scene looked like evidence of some recent debauchery, I couldn’t help but notice how awesome the shattered bottle looked. The patina of the glass. The perfectly preserved type. The contrast against the newly blackened asphalt. It seemed like so much more than a broken bottle, but a statement of the man behind the bottle. And since I’m on it, I do love the long history of Canadian Club’s advertising. Especially the new stuff. And the old stuff.
So, I snapped a picture to preserve this iconic moment in time. Ok, actually I snapped about 4 pics, this being the best one:

So, Matt Lane Harris, being the lover of all things aesthetic that he is, took it upon himself to turn this simple photo of a broken bottle into a pretty awesome gig poster for Blue Mountain.

Here’s the full gallery:

How the Mighty Fall

It’s called How the Mighty Fall, and it looks incredible. In the context of the current economy, I think it’s perfectly timed and a good shot of inspiration for lots of companies. And for those of us in the marketing arena, I think it’s particularly good to hear the words of encouragement, change and determination for the turmoil we find ourselves in. BusinessWeek did a preview of the book, which you can read here. Here’s an excerpt that explains some of his conclusions:

Never give in. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even to shutter big operations you’ve been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the principles that define your culture. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in your ability to prevail. Be willing to form alliances with former adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never—ever—give up on your core values.

The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation. It’s one thing to suffer a staggering defeat—as will likely happen to every enduring business and social enterprise at some point in its history—and entirely another to give up on the values and aspirations that make the protracted struggle worthwhile. Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down—and getting up one more time—without end.

Is Twitter the next MySpace?

Does anybody else remember how awesome 2005 was? The economy was rolling, jobs were plentiful and MySpace was all the rage. It was everything. Marketers all over the fruited plains were making sure their brands had a MySpace page. People were blogging on how MySpace was changing the industry. It was almost as awesome as the Adkins Diet.

Now, raise your hand if you still even use your MySpace account any more. Thought so. This is precisely why I feel like Twitter will inevitably fade out of relevance in the next 5 years. Granted, I feel like marketers and agencies alike need to engage in social media and know how to properly wield it as a tactic in their overall brand strategies, but what’s the breaking point? Seeing the numbers for Twitter’s growth (something like 1400%) are troublesome for those who think it’s gonna be bigger than advertising on the television set. It’s a great tool and it should be used wisely, but make no mistake: Twitter has a shelf-life. And when it gets so saturated with your mom, your pastor and your high school English teacher that consumers start to leave, then something else will inevitably take its place.

However, I feel certain that Twitter hasn’t even come close to reaching its zenith. It’s got a long way to go down the monetization path before it gets oversaturated. People are just now figuring out how to make money off of it, so until Apple or some other worthy, cash-laden suitor makes an offer, it’s safe to work into a basic strategy. But I am afraid too many people are leaving agencies only to start social media companies who’s business model is based on the idea of twitter being relevant indefinitely. Well, I hate to break it to you, but it will fade from relevance.

Many of these agencies are also predicated on the idea that social media is right for every brand out there. Also, a farce. Many solid brands have no need of social media because their target audience is almost wholly not online. But no worries. Somebody is inevitably pitching social media to them.

I am a huge fan of the practice as a supplement to good marketing strategy, but as I’ve often stated, don’t make it the focal point of your strategies or of your agency. And especially not on one social media outlet.

Meet BuddyPress

Now that WordPress has been out for something like 10 years, people of all different web abilities and knowledge are jumping aboard like it’s the second coming of the iPhone. And don’t get me wrong, I myself am a 5-year fan of WP; I just find it staggering that it’s all of a sudden the favorite program of agencies and blowhards everywhere.

And now, a breakthrough that will surely be having every self-proclaimed “web 2.0 and new media expert” blogging like madness and selling “social media networking services” to every small business on the planet. Introducing BuddyPress, a sister project to WordPress transforms your favorite open source, free content management system into a social network platform.

Don’t get me wrong: I think this is an awesome bit of software and a great development in the social networking space. However, I know it’s going to be repackaged and resold to every pest control business, restaurant and church out there as a customer retention system. I hope that all who come across it will use it wisely.

Lots of good content. No conclusions.

Has anybody else noticed that most social media, web 2.0 and “the future of advertising” presentations have absolutely no conclusions?

Those of you who work with me know that I am a presentation junkie. I scour the web for really good ones, constantly try to up my game on style and do things that break the rules whenever possible. Because of that, I have become a pretty harsh critic of most presentations and a huge fans of the ones that are solid on communicating their intended purpose. But what’s the point of presenting information to someone without making some sort of recommendation for how they use it?

I base this on a point of view on a deck that I viewed yesterday by David Armano, who just left Critical Mass to join the unaptly titled Dachis Corporation. Here’s the deck:

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Employment Branding: A Defense

So, over on another blog, I read an article insinuating that employment branding was nothing more than a way for agencies to schnooker money from talent managers. You can read the initial article here.

Here’s my response:

Wow.
So let’s all take a step back from the rhetoric so we can analyze this problem objectively. First of all, I can easily say that no one of competence has ever really explained employment branding to you or shown you numeric results of how it can positively affect a company. And, I assure you from experience, it can.

So let’s start with the basics:
Employment branding refers to a larger group of services that treat recruitment and retention efforts like building a brand. It has nothing to do with creating brand-building tv spots like Nike or Apple, rather it has everything to do with using the same emotional triggers (often seen in good advertising and design) that draw someone to a brand outside of just rational benefits. Think Nike or Apple. Their products are more expensive, but their branding makes people want to buy them for the association and perception benefits.

Case in point, the EVP, or employer value proposition, is an attempt to define the intangible qualities of working with your company. Other than their balance sheet and dental plan, what motivates me to want to work for Google over Yahoo; Nike over Reebok; or The Home Depot over Lowe’s? Sure, many of those things will be tertiary employee benefits, like bringing your dog to work or not working in a sweat shop, but they make a difference. Recruitment advertising throws a laundry list up on an 8.5×11 flyer and hopes somebody notices. It’s a classic push strategy. Employment branding takes those ideas and shapes them into a message that features the benefit of working with that company to a candidate. It uses both emotional and rational messaging to draw them into that company.

Just like in a retail brand, the manifestation of an employment brand is the combination of several talent facing and employee facing concepts, including talent management software, referral programs, college recruitment programs, signature experiences, internal communications and recruitment. Shaping a consistent look and feel that delivers on a company’s core values is really where the agency comes in. They should be able to help a CTO or HR manager extract most of the core ideas for the employment brand from the company vision statement and extended intangible benefits. Then the agency can help them express that creatively in a campaign. Also, the agency should help them place it in different media that just classifieds and Monster. There are too many opportunities out there to get in front of potential candidates that just “the old standby’s.”

And with the economy in the shape it’s in, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re getting the right people, not just warm bodies. Because your applicant flow will be far greater now, you need to be actively screening for good people that share your core values. Again, this is where EB comes in. Not only should it screen in the right people, it should effectively screen out the scrubs you don’t want. In work that we’ve done in our past, we’ve flat out told people that “this job isn’t for everyone.” You know what that effectively does? It tells the lazy dude to buzz off and encourages the competitive candidate to step up and apply. We’ve also done work that showcased different working environments that stiffer, more corporate types would hate. And in numeric, quantifiable ways, it has worked. But don’t just take it from me, take it from the Marine Corps. They used the “We’re looking for a few good men” line starting in 1776, and for over 200 years it helped them attract a different breed of soldier. Screening worked then, and iit will continue to work today.

I know you like to think that agency folk don’t know what they’re talking about because it’s easy to hate on agencies. We lie, cheat and steal just like Darrin Stephens or Mel Gibson from What Women Want. However, some of us actually do our homework, know what we’re talking about and make a difference for our clients. Some of us do great creative work that’s strategically sound and helps HR managers get better people. So before you cast wide aspersions that employment branding is throwing millions of dollars away, dig a tad deeper. It does work.

Actually, check out a presentation I did on the basic case for Employment Branding.
It’s featured on www.Insightory.com this week as their key insight.

The client relationship

I often ponder the ad industry. Where it’s going, who’s going to be the next big player and what’s wrong with it.
Many times nothing comes of it, but today my ponderings drifted into a far more philosophical territory. What truly makes a good client relationship? What is a client’s ultimate loyalty to? Is it the cost of doing business with you, whether high or low; is it the location of their ad agency, whether local or NYC; is it the quality of the service or the quality of the creative; or is a combination of all of these things. But beyond the why, the real point of ponderance I had was, “why does a client choose to stay with you?”

See. The boys from Sterling Cooper now how it's done. A good looking CD.

There’s one type of client that I like to refer to as a “Golf Course Account” or the type of account that simply picks their agency on the golf course. That’s the kind of account that agency principle’s love and creatives despise. When the client relationship is based on nothing more than an inferior handicap, a few Michelob’s and a wager on a missed putt, there’s nothing that awesome creative and strategy can do to save a business when a better schmoozer in a foursome comes along next time that dude is at the country club. It’s a dangerous way to construct an agency and an even harder way to keep talented people around. They want to win business on the merits of their work, not on the ability of their boss to shank a drive.
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I really loathe Popeye’s new stuff

Wow. I couldn’t believe the first few Popeye’s spots when they aired recently. I honestly thought I was watching a spot from the 70s when racial stereotyping was the way to go in advertising. Not only is the character portrayal amazingly stereotypical, but it’s also just bad work.

Now, I can easily say that about 10% of my loathing is nothing more than jealousy to work on a brand like Popeye’s, and about 40% of it is the fact that an Austin agency did a horrendous job representing the flavor of New Orleans. For someone who once lived in the Crescent City, I am really disappointed at the rebrand. They aimed incredibly low (fleur-de-lis and saxaphones) to hit people’s trite, hackneyed stereotypes of New Orleans with the brand work, so why would I expect anything less from their tv work? I mean, really, has anybody on that account been to New Orleans other than the Quarter or during Mardi Gras? OK, and the Garden District to see Trent Reznor’s house? There is so much life and culture and color that bubbles out of every stinky sewer, sweaty restaurant and great recipe in that retchedly awesome town that you would think somebody could throw up a red flag and say, “Um, this work is incredibly lame.” It’s like doing a MEGA-DEALS promo for BMW. That’s not how you sell something as awesome as the food of New Orleans. Granted, I kinda dig the tagline, but the rest of the brand is really just lame. Anybody could slap a Church’s, Captain D’s, Long John Silver’s, Chubby’s, etc logo on the work, and nobody would know the difference.
What’s that?
You used orange?
That’s what makes it unique?
Oh, and you slapped a fleur-de-lis all up on it.
Got it. My bad.
The fact is, it’s just over the top, stereotypical, mediocre work. This looks somebody brought in some old hired guns that was passed their prime when Copperplate was in vogue. The tv in particular is just awful. Granted, there’s a nugget of a good idea in there. I can see it, but it doesn’t come out on the screen. Having a “fried chicken expert” in the kitchen of your store is neat. Real neat. Like this one sassy lady cooks all the chicken in all your stores, or at least macro manages all 400 of your corporate and franchisee stores across the country. That seems very plausible. Wait a minute, scratch that nugget comment.
So where does the campaign go from here? Do we get more racial, more trite and more muddled with other fried-centric brands? Or do you focus on the idea that makes Popeyes unique among all QSR competitors: Louisiana, Fast.
And I hate to say this (because PC I am not), but if their agency were at least a minority owned firm (like we are), you could give Popeye’s a pass. But GSDM is definitely not. So good luck, Popeye’s, in cleaning this up. I think you might want to hire a minority firm to step in, clean up your work and prove that you’re not in bed with racists.
But that’s just me, the jealous, New Orleans ex-pat CD who loves good advertising and Cajun food.