Infomagination

Put down your bowling balls & get on the pinball machine

I don't know about you, but I love metaphors.  In fact, someone once told me that the secret to life was finding the right metaphors to live by.  And, if that's true, perhaps this one could come in handy. 

Metaphor of the week comes courtesy of Richard Rawlinson, Vice President at Booz & Co and co-speaker at this week's Financial Services Forum event.  Richard's take on things today was that marketing used to be a bit like ten pin bowling: you worked out of your message, lined yourself up and launched it at people down nice, straightforward channels.  And, if you were lucky, you might even get a strike.

 

Nowadays, however, things have changed.  Far from being nice and straightforward, marketing's become an increasingly complex affair where you lob your message into the chaos and it gets buffeted and passed around, with marketers giving it the occasional flick or nudge of control.  Less like ten pin bowling and more like pinball.

Getting good at pinball isn't easy.  It takes patience, luck and - every now and again - a touch of force.  Keep practising, though, and who knows?  Maybe one day you'll hit the jackpot.

The highest form is no form: what comms planning can learn from Bruce Lee

This week, I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to jot down a few personal thoughts on comms planning - both from myself and a man I think our industry can learn a lot from: Bruce Lee.

For me, it's no secret that marketing today operates in the midst of an intense tide of social and technological change. An explosion in the number of brands vying for our attention, the fragmentation of communication channels and increasingly brand-wise consumers all add up to a world in which building brands is becoming harder and harder. The net result is that marketers have to act smarter and spend more cleverly for their brand to get the edge. 

As such, I believe that comms planning within this environment mitigates against rigid structures and contained thinking and instead demands a free flow of ideas and information within a team that is itself primed for continual change.

Different challenges require different jobs - and now the key skill for agencies, clients and comms networks to develop is flexibility.  As a wise man once said, "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". 

Someone who worked all this out ages ago was Bruce Lee.   Whilst he wasn't much of an adman by trade, he did know a thing or two about the limitations of any one technique in tackling a problem.  That's why the martial art that Bruce devised, Jeet Kune Do, was not a fixed or patterned system but a philosophy with guiding thoughts, stressing the need to mould yourself to each unique challenge.

As Bruce said...

The highest art is no art. The highest form is no form
 
Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it.
 
When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, he can fit in with any style.
 
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.
 
The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement.
 
A good JKD man does not oppose force or give way completely. He is pliable as a spring; he is the complement and not the opposition to his opponent’s strength. He has no technique; he makes his opponent's technique his technique. He has no design; he makes opportunity his design. 

Stay flexible, my friends.  Stay flexible.

IBM: a clever campaign for a Smarter Planet

In the face of an ever-increasing tidal wave of data, companies today have two choices: drown, or learn to surf.  Now, whilst most of us are trying to keep our heads above water, the ones who got started early are out there pulling tricks.  One such company is IBM.

In a campaign that's just launched in the UK (although I think the States have had it for a while now) IBM have come out in force to celebrate the information revolution and showcase the ways it's changing our world for the better.  The message is that IBM are on a mission to create a "Smarter Planet" - and personally, I think it's a very clever campaign indeed.

As well as feeling fresh and engaging, whilst true to IBM's fairly corporate image, Smarter Planet is effectively a land grab around the clever use of information for the benefit of society - a positioning which should only become more powerful and relevant in the years to come. 

At a time when fear of information remains rife, the use of ordinary people and IBM employees is also smart, as their humanity and warmth should help conquer concerns that this data driven future will be mechanical and cold.  If I was an IBM employee it would also help me feel like a bit of a rock star - and proud, passionate employees are some of the best adverts you can get for any company.

Smarter Planet is a big, rich and interesting idea that IBM have already begun exploring in lots of ways.   Here are just a few to get you started - from the launch manifesto to the ways that information will revolutionise healthcare. 

Enjoy!

Eavesdrop on sex talk with Philips Sensual Massagers

Sex.  Everyone's talking about it.  And now, thanks to Twitter, quite of few of us are talking about it in public. 

In today's society of gossip girls and boys, that's just the kind of chat we love to eavesdrop - and now, thanks to this neat little site, promoting Philips "sensual massagers" (vibrators to you and me), listening in on other people's sex lives is easier than ever. 

The idea is simple: a clever little piece of programming grabs every tweet featuring the word "sex," then uses them to produce an interactive orgy of a word cloud, which you can browse through by theme - like birthday [sex], crazy [sex], kitchen [you get the picture].

For me, it's an engaging, relevant, smart, simple idea that should bring a bit of extra attention to Philips' sexy side, without contradicting their familiar, safe personality.  

The lesson for marketers out there, however, is that the idea works because sex is interesting.  I'm pretty sure that doing the same with "dishwasher" just isn't going to cut it...

  

Connection targeting: how to monitor friends & influence people

Birds of a feather flock together, so they say - and that's why a bunch of hot new media startups in the states have begun using data generated by sites like Facebook and MySpace to deliver ads based not on demographics, but on what your friends are interested in (says the New York Times).

Two companies in particular, 33Across and Media6Degrees, are leading the way.  They're not interested in basic friend lists, but in interactions on the sites, taking note when a user visits a friend’s page, sends a video or exchanges an instant message. In turn, they can identify people who are friends with a company’s existing customers and then advertise to them.

The approach is based on research about social groups, mostly from earlier this decade.  One influential paper showed that people in contact with clients of a telecommunications firm were more likely to respond to the company’s offer. 

“Instead of understanding all these things about people, you could understand who was connected to who,” said Eric Wheeler, the chief executive of 33Across. “The reality is, those people are very similar not only in socioeconomic terms, but in terms of what they click and buy, so it’s very valuable.”

Margaret Clerkin of Mindshare, agrees that “the theory feels strong that in this very social environment where people are influenced more by their friends than they are by advertisers and brands.” 

Yes, there are privacy grumbles and yes, the technique will suit some sectors more than others, but overall I reckon that the runaway success of social networking, combined with the news that reaching your audience through these guys could be "five to ten times less expensive than buying through premium sites" makes connection targeting a very interesting prospect for the future.

So, hey, go tell your friends!

The first ever online advertising science fair

Are you sick to death of bullshit masquerading as facts?

Are you tired of smarmy-young-things and their bounty of hyperbolic new-age marketing jive?

Then you, my friend, are ready for First Ever Online Advertising Science Fair.

Here's the deal.

The Editorial Board of The Ad Contrarian is looking for a few good facts. Not opinions, not bullshit, facts about contemporary advertising and marketing that are either interesting, not widely known, or misunderstood.

Here's what you need to do. Scour the net for interesting factual stories about advertising or marketing. No "expert" opinions; no tired "how to's", just the facts, ma'am.

Write a brief one-paragraph description and include a link. Send it to adcontrarian@gmail.com.

- c/o The Ad Contrarian. 

 

I've entered.  You should too.

Creativity in Advertising & the Evil Arithmocracy

 

Last week WARC held it's annual Creativity in Advertising conference, at a comfy hideaway somewhere in London.  I didn't get to go, but I've just been reading the reports on WARC and (even if they're not exactly news) the themes of the day make for sobering reading:

1.  The traditional "persuasion" model of advertising is broken.

2.  The industry is becoming data rich but insight poor.

3.  The structure and process of creating advertising has changed little since the days of Mad Men (whilst consumers have moved on dramatically).

In the words of dubious 90's girlband Shampoo: "uh oh, we're in trouble."  But at least we agree that something's wrong - and that's got to be a step towards doing something about it.

I'm also glad I'm not the only one worried about how we can balance imagination and information, to develop kick ass ideas.  The wonderful Rory Sutherland, who chaired the conference, warned of the dangers of becoming over-reliant on data and analysis, for fear of its effect on creativity.  Antony Tasgal, founder of POV Marketing and Research, echoed the need for us to value insight over information, concluding neatly that "it's easier to count the bottles than describe the wine inside them".

At the heart of the problem, according to the report, is "the rise of the Arithmocracy" - a group whose obsession with numbers and measurement is stifling creativity. I think I speak for a lot of my friends and colleagues when I say that these people SUCK. 

In a time of uncertainty and change, we desperately need license to try new and different ideas, if we are to make a difference ourselves.  As WARC rightly concludes, "advertisers and agencies should not focus exclusively on accountability and measurement at the expense of idea generation and convention-breaking".   After all, as I've heard Jim Taylor of MEC say several times, "what's more important: doing the right thing, or measuring it?"

Yep, sadly, much like knives, elastic bands and guitars, information can be evil and destructive in the wrong hands.  But what can we do about it? 

The first option is to shut it out as the enemy of creativity, and stonewall the Arithmocracy.  The problem there, however, is not just that there's a huge data explosion that we'd be crazy to ignore, but that there's also an undeniable need for clients to get support for and feedback from our ideas, in order to justify their ever-tightening budgets.  And if we're not providing it, there's plenty of other, less creative sources who will. 

The second option is to find a way for data and creativity - art and science - information and imagination - to co-exist and learn from each other.  Coming from a blog called Infomagination, I'm sure I don't need to tell you this is where I believe we should be headed.  In the battle for our ideas, I say fight fire with fire - and who better to tear down the Arithmocracy than the Data Punks?!

Life's a game - data lets us keep score

It might seem a little weird but, when you think about it, data's already at the heart of every competitive sport.  If no one took score at the footie, cricket or rugby then there wouldn't be any winners - let alone any league tables (though perhaps that's no bad thing if you're a West Brom supporter).  And it goes without saying that you'd never be able to break a world record if nothing was recorded in the first place.

With that in mind, my thought for the day is that the explosion of information we're witnessing has the potential to turn all kinds of activities into games - and that brands are perfectly placed to help us play.

Let's take a look at a few brands that are out there doing it already.  First up is Nike+, which has turned the solitary pastime of jogging into a social, competitive event, just by letting people collect and compare data about their runs. Suddenly joggers everywhere have a simple way to take on their mates, the rest of the world or just their own personal bests. In 2008 this culminated in Nike's landmark Human Race, which saw close to a million runners around the world compete as one.  Imagine applying similar technology to anything from cycling computers to gym equipment, roller skates, punchbags and beyond...

 

"So far, so sporty" you may say. Well, for something a little different, check out the competition that Fiat are running off the back of their eco:Drive system. By collecting and comparing data about fuel efficiency, to see which test drivers are the most environmentally friendly, Fiat will be soon be crowning London's first eco:Drive Champion.

Whilst I haven't had the chance to see it in practise yet, there are three reasons why I love this idea.  Firstly, it's an original, engaging mechanic that allows Fiat to show off the clever kit they've created.  Secondly, the social element of comparing information about your driving could add a whole new layer to the experience of owning a car.  Think of the value added when a trip to your nan's house becomes a chance to improve your rankings vs the rest of the country?  Thirdly, if you can turn environmental friendliness into a game, then the ultimate winner has to be the planet. What if school recycling bins also kept score, so that the kids could compete to win prizes for their schools? And what if we had something similar at home?

Moving on, my last piece of inspiration comes from the world of computer games, where conquering those elusive high-scores has kept many a good man, woman and teenager up all night.  Now our consoles are plugged into the net, gamers worldwide can compare their conquests, creating a whole new generation of world record holders - many of them celebrated in Guinness' new Gamer's Edition of their famous Book of Records.

   

Imagine if other, more prosaic, applications allowed you to compare your data in the same way?  Surely Microsoft would seem a little more fun if you could get a world ranking for your typing speed in Word, or the distance travelled by your mouse in Windows?  Russell Davies reckons this kind of "Passive Multiplayer Online Gaming" could be a great way for brands to bring a bit of playfulness to people's lives.  As he says, "imagine games based on loyalty card points. Or Air Miles. Or Oyster card use. Or frequency of Ocado deliveries."  Sounds like fun, huh?

We humans have always been a competitive bunch - and all we need to challenge each other is some information, plus the means to compare it.  Now, thanks to a mixture of new data capture devices, plus the world wide web, fresh playgrounds are being unlocked all over the place.  In the future, anyone who thinks data dictates dullness had better think again - because the bell just sounded for Information Playtime.

GPS graffiti: painting with data

Now this is pretty cool.  A graffiti artist in New York has made a tag so big you can see it from space - all by using a GPS device to record a meticulously planned 46 mile, 8 day journey.  The results spell out a message to his countrymen:

For more info, take a look at the sparse blog at www.areyouwatching.tv. It doesn't really give much away, but the slickness of it makes me suspect there's a brand involved somewhere.  Personally, I hope I'm wrong.  For a start, I'm not big on unbranded teasers campaigns; revealing there's a boring old brand behind something that seemed cool and genuine is inevitably a bit of a disappointment.  More than that, though, it'd just cheer me up to know that there's people out there with the ingenuity and drive to go out and do this stuff, without any financial motivation. 

Whichever way this story plays out, what it certainly signals - along with things like Radiohead's House of Cards video - is that data is not just a reporting tool, but a creative one as well.  The sooner that we welcome information as another brush in our palettes, then the quicker we'll be able to use it to paint new and inspiring masterpieces for the brands we work on too.

It's not Information Vs Intuition. It's Information X Intuition.

 

With all this chat about data, you might be forgiven for thinking that I want to turn the industry into a club for number junkies - or that I place more importance on information than intuition.  To set the record straight though, that's really not the case.

Personally, I love intuitive planning and I'm totally convinced that "doing what feels right" will continue to create much of the world's best marketing in the future.  The subconscious is just about the most powerful data processor there is, after all, so we'd be mad to ignore it (as Mr Gladwell quite rightly points out in Blink).

I do think the industry needs to have less of a downer on data if we're going to succeed in our rapidly changing world, though.  The quicker we embrace intuition and information as complimentary, rather than competing, elements the better.  Enriching intuition with information should make us more creative, inspirational and effective, not the other way around. 

I don't think this means we all suddenly need to get all techy, but I do think it means we'll have to welcome a few more techy people into our teams.  These people needn't be geeky, mechanoid data albatrosses hanging around our intuitive necks, though - just sparky, numerate types who offer us another point of view, plus valuable insight and expertise, whilst working to the same creative ends as the rest of the team.  That's why I call them Data Punks.  

I ran into the Planning Director of the direct agency Partners Andrews Aldridge a little while ago and she told me that the way they do things there is to pair intuitive/creative planners with data planners.  As data becomes more important throughout the comms industry, this kind of thing could definitely be an interesting model to explore elsewhere.  Creatives work in pairs, after all - and wherever there are different skill sets and points of view then you can be sure that clashing them's gonna set off shed loads of sparks...