• Strategizing is for Prom Queens

    April 30th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    I hear the word “strategy” thrown on just about everything. Like rhinestones on a South-Texas-prom-queen’s dress, “strategy” is too often a cheap and easy bedazzle on everything from PowerPoint slides, to someone’s superfluous commentary in a meeting that is already running too long with too many attendees. Anymore, in my day-to-day, Strategy is quite the loose little buzzword.

    Often, it is a noun, as in “brand strategy” or “I am a strategist." Sometimes it is an adjective, as in “strategic vision” or “strategic insights." Also, as an adverb, such as “strategically developed” or “strategically placed.” And let's not forget it as a verb, as in “strategize” (which for the record, makes me want to punch the speaker in the nose every time I hear it).

    And that isn’t to say that I don’t use the word often myself. But I used to accept the word at what I believed was its face value — a sense of something great and purposeful. A sense that when I heard “strategy” — I knew we were talking about the key to winning whatever was at stake, the secret sauce critical to achieving the mission. I knew we’d be talking about something tangible, and most importantly — something actionable. (Strategy is, by definition, a military term that, in a nutshell, means using your brains and your guts to not only stack the odds in your favor, but empower you to make the right decisions when confronted with any obstacle.)

    Now, given the bedazzling trend, I’ve made it my personal charge to pay much closer attention when the word “strategy” is presented. Analyzing it quietly in my head, from every angle. Challenging my own application of it constantly. Because the real disturbing trend, is not that the word gets overused, but rather that the very concept of strategy has become a crutch. A well disguised excuse NOT to act. An exercise in lengthy requirements-gathering to plan for problems and scenarios that don’t yet exist. A perceived need to create a long list of tasks for what should happen in the future, when instead we should be driving for real feedback via iterative launches in the present. I see terms like “strategic goals” and “strategic vision” plastered across PowerPoint slides, and the actual bullet points associated with most of these goals and visions, amount to little more than minute tactics positioned as passive options to explore. Presented in the context of “we are working on,” or “working toward,” or “think there is great opportunity within this area.”

    And with that lack of conviction, certainty, drive — fucking nothing can be won. It’s all a lot of bling with very little bang.

    So here is what I'm really driving at — let's all of us in the industry be more thoughtful with strategy. That when creating, executing, presenting or thinking about strategy in any context, let’s be critical of ourselves, of our interpretation of strategy and when/how/why it matters or is applied. As an example, do we sometimes create formality where it isn’t warranted — like laboring over a “social media strategy,” when maybe all we really need is to just be social? Or when our strategy feels like it is a moving target, and people struggle with how to articulate it — should we check our premises? Are there assumptions at play that have been driving a weak, obtuse strategy? And if the goals are ill-defined, then no amount of “strategic planning” is going to get us anywhere, even if we wrap that anemic goal in a shiny label called “strategic vision.”

    Diamonds are a girl's best friend for a reason — because they have real value. The real, lasts-for-a-100-years-and-cut-glass kind of value. Fortunately, making sure your strategy has actual value is really pretty simple — just ask yourself, is your strategy something your team can:

    • Articulate without a slide in front of them?
    • Apply in any given situation?
    • Execute against to deliver desired results?
    • Feel empowered and confident in so doing?

    This piece is cross-posted from The BRAT Blog from The Aha Method — a company that coaches teams around a better working dynamic.

  • The Astonishing Rise and Rise of The Harlem Shake.

    March 15th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Collectively these videos may end up dwarfing Gangnam Style. At one stage last month new versions were being uploaded at a rate of 4000 per day. There’s every niche and sub-niche covered. You want walruses and sealions? You got ‘em.

    We’ve seen the Norwegian Army get involved, Wieden’s in Portland, Channel 4 and even my in-laws were persuaded to bogle with traffic cones on their heads in a charity shop while the manager’s back was turned.

    It all started in Queensland, Australia with 5 teenagers in morph suits. And it has blown up beyond all comprehension. They may get some fame – even some girls – but it’ll be interesting to see if they can monetize this monster. Could they ever repeat it? The odds say No.

    Vine-intolerant

    Ironically it exploded at the same time another short-form video format launched – Vine. Unfortunately Vine seems too inflexible to carry this type of execution so it’s been bypassed. Shame – what a way to launch yourself – with a pop culture phenomenon that will no doubt feature in everyone’s end of year round-up of 2013.

    The mutating meme

    What’s interesting is that this meme is evolving. The rules are gradually changing and right now these are the ingredients one needs to make your own Harlem Shake:

    • one lone shaker with optional but preferred helmet on
    • several bystanders who look unaware or uninterested in the activities of the lone shaker
    • when the bass drops there’s a hard cut right on the beat and the locked off shot switches to the same same scene but with everyone in fancy dress going batshit crazy
    • optional: a lone person standing still in the midst of all the lunacy
    • the last second switches to slow motion to match the low time-stretched lion roar in the song

    There’s even a site that will turn any other site into a living breathing Harlem Shake:

    Try your own at http://hsmaker.com

    Inevitably the early-adopters are already disowning this phenomenon now the squares have caught onto it. And no doubt it’s jumped the shark when mainstream TV stations do their own versions.

    Douglas Rushkoff, author of “Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now” says, “Something like this stands in for the centralized broadcast spectacle. It’s interactive, in that people actually *make* one of these things. And being in one, or knowing people who are in one, or even just knowing this phenomenon exists *when it’s happening* is a form of connection. In some ways, the brevity of the fad makes it all the more tempting to participate in. It’s going to be over so soon that you want to get in on it before it’s not cool any more.”

    If you didn’t make your own within a fortnight of the first you missed the credibility boat – unless you bring an Earth-shattering twist to the format.

    Goodby Silverstein + Partners have released their own gentle backlash video – a charming swipe at other agencies that jumped on the bandwagon. Their message: we’re in the business of creating cultural phenomena, not straight-up mimicry.

    However, you have to wonder how it blew up so big so fast? And could a brand ever pull it off? Cadbury’s have perhaps come the closest with “Gorilla” and “Eyebrows”. Consumers are no mugs, which is why they’ll resist any prompting from us to spread overt brand messaging on our behalves.

    5 factors that made Harlem Shake go BOOM!

    1. Here’s the thing. It’s not even a great song. Released for free in the summer last year it’s highly repetitive and doesn’t really go anywhere. It does however work very well in this 15 + 15 second UGC format. The crescendo building to the bass drop just underlines that sense of anticipation, waiting for all hell to break loose.
    2. It’s stupidly easy to make your own. People are uploading their own versions at an astonishing rate. And is it any wonder? You need a cameraphone, 2 shots, enough people willing to make idiots of themselves (seemingly no shortage) and the track. You can even put this together on YouTube when you upload it – no need for any editing software. I managed using my phone and nothing else.
    3. The joy of it comes from the anticipation and the explosion of unfettered WTF anarchy when the bass drops. You could watch each one over and over and see something new to LOL at every time. There’s a man in a bra standing completely still, there’s the account guy for Nike on a trike, there’s my sister-in-law with a lampshade on her head.
    4. With so many versions out there, it reaches a critical mass where mainstream media gets hold of it and adds more fuel to the fire, so even the luddites get to hear about it.
    5. It’s funny and there’s a constant supply with something for everyone. Not in an intellectual or cerebral way. It’s an outlet for puerile, infantile stupidity that connects with our inner 10 year-old. A pleasure that gets more guilty as we get older.

    Gay abandon finally found an acceptable outlet. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

    So you can sing along at home, here are the lyrics in full:

     

    Con los terroristas

    (Do the Harlem Shake)

    Con los terroristas

    Ey

    Ey

    Ey

    Ey

    Ey

    Ey

    Con los terroristas

    Ey

    Con los terroristas

    Ey

    Ey

    This post originally appeared on the DLKW Lowe blog

  • How to Spend $275 Million in 48 Minutes: Three Super Bowl Ad Trends for 2013

    February 1st, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Want to watch $275 Million get spent in 48 minutes? Just tune into CBS at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday to see one of America's greatest primetime displays of violence, debauchery and poor impulse control. And I'm not talking about the Super Bowl…

    I'm talking about the Super Bowl ads.

    In all seriousness, these days it's no surprise that independent research year after year continues to show that over half of U.S adult viewers plan to watch the Super Bowl as much, or more, for the ads than for the game itself. In fact, social listening measurement findings suggested that in 2012 64% of respondents said that half or more of their conversations online with respect to the Super Bowl were about the commercials themselves.

    With the average investment of $4 Million on the line for a 30-second spot, it's no wonder why the CMOs of many of these advertisers are looking to squeeze their investment for every penny.

    There are three standout trends that have continued to proliferate the Super Bowl ad space for the last several years (and by all accounts will continue even more in 2013).

    01. Online Ad Preview and Teasers

    Online Ad Previews and Teasers are becoming more of the norm. VW made the most famous splash last year with its Star Wars parodies that received over 56 Million hits after allwas said and done, largely in part to the pre-release of the spotson YouTube.

    This year's early winner goes to the Kate Upton Mercedes spot, which in one week gained over 5 Million views (and counting).

    Humbling news as, by this author's account, this is one of the more ridiculously off-brand spots I've ever seen. Given the fact that the CLA won't even be available for the next 7 months, the brand needs lasting impression and awareness. Regardless of the substance, it's clear that Mercedes knows the value of online traction and will do whatever it takes, no matter how low-brow, to get an early lead among its rivals.

    Regarding the idea of Super Bowl teasers, the concept is simple,but the debate still rages on about whether or not the big reveal should be saved for the big game. While we don't promote a "one size fits all" approach to advertising, and I'm sure there are errors to the rule, it's hard to argue with the facts. Mashable reports, "According to YouTube's research, ads that ran online before the Super Bowl last year got 9 Million views, on average. Those that waited? 1.3 Million." With, on average, three times as many views online over broadcast, many could argue that the real winner in all of this is actually YouTube.

    02. Ads for Social Democracy

    Ads by social democracy are becoming more common in 2013. While Doritos pioneered the concept with their user-generated ads in the past few years, this year we are seeing a greater variety of the concept. For instance, one of the biggest brands in the world, Budweiser, has finally launched a Twitter account in its name. The brand, which had a little more than 600 followers Monday morning, is using the account to promote its upcoming Super Bowl ad, which will feature a Clydesdale foal via their Twitter hashtag campaign. Pepsi is also using their site and Twitterto recruit some of their fans to strike a pose with their can before their half-time show.

    But, the big pre-game winners in 2013 seem to be the "choose your own adventure" style ads from Audi and Coke. In what Audi says is a Super Bowl first, they recorded separate endings for their "Prom Night"commercial, and are compiling social votes where the audience chooses the ending. Coke created cokechase.comto tease their spots by highlighting three different sets of teams who are all racing to win a giant coke in the desert. The team with the most votes online will get their spot aired right after the game.

    Coke_SuperBowl

    03. Second Screen

    This year, more viewers than ever will be watching on a second screen. Now in real-time, technology allows brands to engage with the viewing public on their mobile phone or tablet during the event. For instance, Yahoo's Into_Now pioneered app technology that augments the second screen experience by using the unique audio digital signature in a television show topickup, and serve up, content directly related to that show. CBS estimates ad revenue alone from their second screen engagement to be between $10-$12 Million. Being able to interact with stats,player bios, team formations, highlights and social aspects is an essential part of any second screen approach for the sports enthusiast.

    Regardless of all of the hype, a few certainties remain. The Super Bowl represents one of the highest risk: reward ratios in advertising. Because of this, marketers are getting smarter by using not only the right tools, but also the right content to get the consumer's attention. Disintermediation is taking effect and the consumer is finally starting to see large-scale control of and connection with their favorite brands. As our society gets more social and mobile, so does the advertising.

    Needless to say, as an advertiser, I am thankful for the Super Bowl. If not for any other time during the year - the Super Bowl gives us an annual magnified window into the progress of advertising. With so much attention to the commercials, it almost makes me feel sorry for the guys on the field.

    Almost.

    Originally posted on the Rodgers Townsend blog.

  • 12 Must-Have iPhone Apps For Creatives

    January 25th, 2013 / Comments (0)

    Apps, apps, apps. Everywhere you look, they're there. Almost de riguer on digital briefs these days, like banners and MPUs were in the 'old' days.

    It's estimated that over 400,000 new apps will be released this year - as there clearly aren't enough already...

    So which of the current crop are actually useful to an iPhone-toting creative looking to boost their productivity or just find inspiration?

    We only have iPhones at Ego Towers. The good news is that many of those listed below are available on other platforms too. Here goes...


    1. Dropbox

    You'll know this already, no doubt. Google has Google Drive, Microsoft has SkyDrive. They all do essentially the same thing with a few minor differences - online storage 'in the cloud'.

    Store your files where you can access them any time you have internet access.

    Dropbox lets you define which folders are public and you can share specific files with specific people.

    Saves bloating everyone's email with vast attachments and makes everything easier to file and find.

    Dropbox has great integration with other apps making it easy to create files in other apps and save them straight into your Dropbox.

    Download Dropbox >


    2. Evernote

    This is the power behind The London Egotist. With day jobs to attend to and families waiting at home, the commute is where a lot of the legwork is done - and it's done in Evernote.

    It's a relatively simple text editor that syncs with every browser you can think of (even Opera). Write your note and as if by magic, it'll be waiting for you on your desktop machine.

    Formatting tools are simple and comprehensive and the autocorrect is mercifully accurate.

    You can add voice and photos to your notes too if you're that way inclined.

    You can add tags to make files easier to find and it automatically geo-tag your notes so if all you can remember is where you wrote your note, Evernote will help you find it.

    Download Evernote >


    3. Tiny Scan

    Expenses. The eternal tension between admin and getting your own money back from Accounts.

    We've never found it easy, doing it in batches months apart so we forget the whole process in the meantime.

    What this app does us convert a photo if your receipt into a PDF that you can email yourself or save into your Dropbox.

    Then you just attach the PDF to your online claim and your money's on its way (slowly).

    Download TinyScan for iPhone (paid)


    4. Clipboard

    We resisted Pinterest but Clipboard does a similar thing with less of the 'look everyone, I'm curating!' vibe.

    It's good for scrap-booking if you're researching a brief, pulling together reference or you can showcase all the different places your lovely integrated campaign appeared in.

    Download Clipboard for iPhone >


    5. Great-Ads

    This is really just a web-app/shortcut on your phone pointing to great-ads.blogspot.com

    They pull together the latest and greatest ads from all over the world, so it's a handy window onto how the rest of the planet is selling toilet bleach.

    Download the Great Ads web app > (go here via your mobile)


    6. TED

    "TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology. Entertainment. Design."

    If you don't have this already, you need it - unless you're that Steve Jobs - and we're pretty sure no one is these days.

    This is inspiration for creativity and technology with valuable lessons for humanity and sometimes marketing. Each video is downloadable, so you can benefit from the wisdom of Stephen Hawking and Sir Ken Robinson wherever you are.

    You will feel surprisingly worldly and uplifted after every single one.

    Download TED for iPhone >


    7. Fathm

    Timesheets have always vexed us, so anything that helps is more than welcome on our smartphone.

    This is the prettiest apps of the bunch - though setting it up's a tiny bit fiddly.

    Once you've got past that, it's just a question of remembering to let Fathm know what you're up to so it can keep track of the hours for you.

    Download Fathm for iPhone >


    8. Snapseed

    Exercise your inner re-toucher - and you know, Instagram filters are for amateurs. Snapseed is one if the best, most feature-packed of the many mobile photo editing apps out there.

    For example, Selective Adjust lets to make subtle changes to a selected area of your photo, while Tune Image gives you control over the white balance and other ambient colour effects.

    Download Snapseed for iPhone >


    9. Pocket

    Pocket lets you save web pages to your iPhone so you can browse them offline when you're underground or somewhere you can't guarantee a good connection to the web. It can preserve the web page layout or you can choose a reader-friendly 'Article View' if you prefer.

    It's as simple as bookmarking a page, syncing while you still have a data signal then you're set. Plus you can bookmark pages on your desktop to save them to your phone. Smart.

    Download Pocket for iPhone >


    10. Image To Text

    A simple yet clever character recognition app. Take a photo of some text on a page and it'll send the editable text to your email.

    A bit geeky but very handy if you don't fancy typing out paragraphs needlessly.

    Overlooked and underrated.

    Download Image To Text for iPhone >


    11. Pocket Lists

    There are lots and lots of To-Do apps and this is one of them. What sets this apart is the ability to set reminders by time and or location.

    Need to remember to call that production company back as soon as you get into the office? Easy. Just enter the reminder and your office postcode and you won't forget.

    It syncs with all your existing work and Google calendars so those reminders will find you wherever you are.

    Download Pocket Lists for iPhone >


    12. Snapguide

    This is actually an app designed to help people share their step-by-step how-to guides using a sequence of annotated photos.

    However, there's no reason why you couldn't use it to map out a TV storyboard on the move or an online user journey on the train home.

    Download Snapguide for iPhone >


    So that's our top 12. What have we missed? Tell us in the Comments below or email us london@theegotist.com

  • The School of Life.

    November 21st, 2012 / Comments (0)

    Yesterday a reader asked us "how do you get into advertising?", our knee jerk reaction was to ship them off to the nearest ad school for a year or so.

    Then they told us more about their experiences to date and what a fascinating life they had lived. And as all of us forget from time to time, education is just a base foundation, life is what moulds you into an interesting creative person, ultimately making you more employable than the next guy or gal.

    This trending video from Mondo Endruo below seemed an appropriate fit for this editorial.

  • How to Survive in Advertising

    October 29th, 2012 / Comments (1)

    A lot of extremely credible, and no doubt, scientifically-tested rules that apply to horror movie survival can be used to ensure our own advertising industry longevity.

    I'll get back to that in a minute. First, we must be aware of another potentially scary situation…

    Years ago, a software program became capable of doing our job. Well, kind of. It produced mass quantities of ad ideas – all in blandly-adequate fashion. Acceptable creativity in ten seconds. About two coffee or martini sips worth of creative team time.

    Is creativity merely an algorithm? Can a machine do that thing that not even strategists can realistically explain with a set formulaic definition? I've actually seen it defined with whimsical hand movements placed mid-sentence.

    BETC Euro RSCG Worldwide, creators of the Creative Artificial Intelligence (CAI) technology, determined the software is only so clever. It's built with existing creative connections. Thankfully, enlightened humans are still superior. CAI was an experiment to demonstrate just that.

    ...But don't let your guard down quite yet. That's rule number one in advertising survival.

    1. The moment you get comfortable and complacent is the moment you become obsolete. Think about it. If your "character" is not contributing to the main plot, you are potential prey. (Especially if you go off on your own, mock someone on the team, or live in Maine.)

    2. The junior creatives are always right behind you. Always. They're hungry and they don't sleep. (Encourage them and let them inspire you. Seriously, you really don't want them turning on you.)

    3. Anything you think you know about advertising you probably don't. The rules are always changing. Go with it. Arm yourself with current knowledge and collaborate with other creatives. (Whatever you do, do not take that shortcut you heard about from one of the locals. It never ends well.)

    4. If an idea is dead, don't assume it's going to stay dead. An ambitious idea always has one last shot at reality. Theoretically, it could resurface at any time – with more power. Ideas love to avenge their own deaths. And, idea sequels are always in the works. (If the idea has access to a hockey mask get the hell out of there.)

    5. Do not try to unmask creativity. It shows up where it wants, when it wants. It's everywhere and nowhere. It laughs maniacally and probably hangs out in a sweet lair during it's downtime. Whatever it is, it's certainly not a single software program. (Sooner or later, in a shocking orchestra-crescendoed plot twist, you'll realize it was actually you all along.)

    Advertising enthusiast, idea-driven creative, relentless pursuer of insight Jennifer Hohn is a Senior Art Director at Vladimir Jones in Denver. This piece is cross-posted from Jennifer's blog.

  • It's Called ‘Brief’ for a Reason - by Rob Campbell

    August 21st, 2012 / Comments (1)

    Creative briefs.

    The bane of my fucking life.

    I hate them. HATE THEM!

    But – and it’s a very important but – you have to do them because they not only provide the framework and inspiration for creative teams to start creating their magic, but they become a piece of historical reference on the brand that ensures people won’t post rationalise the execution and miss out all the little bits that made all the difference.

    That said, the debate of what should and shouldn’t go in a brief still rages and I find that sad because at the end of the day:

    + You should never be a slave to the briefing format, the briefing format should always be a slave to you.

    + Different people like different levels of information so a ‘one size fits all’ mentality, is totally and utterly ridiculous.

    + A short brief shouldn’t be an excuse for ignoring the real issues that need to be addressed & conveyed.

    + A long brief shouldn’t be an excuse for not being clear, concise and interesting.

    + Regardless of what you are being asked to do, a brief should always be interesting, informative & inspiring.

    Because of this, we have a few different briefing ‘formats’ here.

    Some are designed for more junior guys to ensure they’ve done all the critical thinking necessary … some are designed for clients to ensure they give us what they need, rather than what they want … but all cover 6 critical questions.

    1. WHAT IS THE GOAL

    What is the end objective? I don’t mean the execution but the business result.

    In short, if they say, “We want some TVC’s”, ask why and don’t stop till you get some real reasons with some real quantifiable goals.

    2. WHAT IS THE BARRIER

    What are the key issue/s that are stopping this from happening right now.

    It might be people’s attitude and behaviour … it might be a competitors product or distribution.

    Maybe it’s an issue with our brand or communication or even a product quality or lack of innovation story.

    Whatever it is, find the fundamental issue and write it down.

    3. WHO DO WE NEED TO TALK TO, TO CHANGE THIS?

    Who do we need to engage in conversation? Who do we need to inspire, inform, push?

    Don’t just write a bunch of stats or bland statements, explain how they think, live, worry, behave.

    Let people feel the person not just read a bunch of cold, clinical bullet points.

    4. WHY WILL THEY CARE

    This is where blunt honesty is needed.

    You can’t write this from the perspective of what the brand wants them to think, it has to come from the audiences mindset. If you’ve done your homework for the previous question, you’ll know the answer to this … and if you’ve done your homework well, you’ll know the answer is not going to be some marketing hype/bollocks, but something that satisfies a real need in their life – be it emotional, physical or mental.

    5. SO WHAT’S OUR STRATEGY?

    Detail the macro approach you are taking to achieve this brief. It should be short, precise and full of creative mischief.

    ie: Deposition the key competitors as ‘old success’ by making XXX the badge for ‘new, entrepreneurial achievers’ … or something.

    6. WHAT’S THE KEY POINT OF VIEW

    Based on the goal, the barrier, the audience and the strategy – what is the brands point of view on the issue they need to address.

    It should be something that is obviously based on truth but also full of tension and pragmatism.

    ie: “You can’t change tomorrow if you don’t act today” … or some other z-grade sounding Yoda impression.

    Don’t rush it. Take your time to really craft it because apart from needing to be relevant to the task in hand, it also serves as the creative ‘jump off point’ and if you’re going to help your colleagues do something that is powerful and interesting with it, you’ve got to ensure they really feel the tension and energy of what they can play with or play off.

    You might ask why things like ‘tone of voice’ are not mentioned.

    Well sometimes they are … sometimes they’re not … it depends on a number of factors, however at W+K, we place great importance on ‘brand voice’ so a few abstract words like ‘fun, upbeat & lively’ are not really going to cut it.

    I should point out that how you brief your colleagues is another incredibly important part of the creative process.

    If you give them a piece of paper and tell them to “read this”, you’re almost doomed before it’s even had a chance to begin.

    While the brief should be inspiring on it’s own merits, it’s always good to think of ways to let your colleagues really understand what you are trying to get across.

    That might mean you present it in a different location or environment to the office … that might mean you put them in situations where they can really feel what you’re trying to convey … that might mean you get interesting – yet relevant – people in to chat to them before you go through your hard work, but whatever you do, it’s always worth putting in that extra little bit of effort because it will genuinely pay dividends to the work that comes out the other side and that is ultimately what you’re going to be judged on.

    At the end of the day it’s worth remembering there is no such thing as a perfect creative brief because ultimately, it’s about what you put on it – or how you present it – rather than what it looks like … however what I can say is that from my experience, as long as you have a culturally provocative point of view running all the way through it [obviously based on truth rather than 'marketing truth'] then you stand a much greater chance of creating something that affects culture rather than just adds to the blunt, advertising noise.

    ----------
    By Robert Campbell, W+K's Asia Regional Head of Planning. Reposted with permission. Read his blog "The Musings of an Opinionated Sod"

  • How NBC’s Digital Ignorance Screwed the Olympics for You.

    July 30th, 2012 / Comments (0)

    Let’s be blunt: NBC shit the bed in their Olympic coverage.

    In this digital, social media age – when earthquakes are tweeted about before the Earth even finishes shaking – NBC made the unfathomable decision to broadcast events on tape delay in order to garner primetime ad dollars. Apparently NBC execs figured a few billion people could keep secrets until after dinner.

    The funny thing is, even if a few billion people weren’t on Facebook, Tweeting, texting and blogging, NBC’s strategy was so stupid, they spoiled their OWN results. While the broadcast was holding back the biggest events into the evening, at practically every other commercial break, they were encouraging viewers to check out additional content on their Olympic website which… wait for it… showed headlines of results they had yet to broadcast.

    Fail.

    Their Twitter and Facebook pages were no better. Before Americans got to see for themselves, the NBC Olympic Twitter stream had already blown the surprise of the Queen and James Bond parachuting into the arena.

    NBC, you do understand how the internet works, right? (Rhetorical.)

    But wait! There’s more! While you’re stuck trying to navigate a slow, horribly-designed, advertising-laden NBC site to see streaming events, 64 other countries get to view it live on YouTube for free. Afghanistan and Botswana get YouTube. You get McDonald’s ads to pay off NBC’s investment.

    Then, to top it off, when they rightfully got hammered for their ridiculous ad dollar grab in lieu of actual viewer experience, they responded by getting one harsh critic kicked off Twitter .

    Because, you know, THAT’S the way to respond to social media criticism. There’s no way that strategy could backfire.

    It sure seems like NBC’s entire strategy was “Let’s just say we’re streaming everything live!” without understanding how the viewer actually wants to engage with their content. Consumers have spent the past decade buying giant-ass HDTVs. Not everyone wants to be forced to their 10-inch iPad screen to watch events live. And certainly not everyone can stay completely away from Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the internet long enough not to ruin the surprise before primetime.

    Someday, the networks will come into the 21st century with a digital strategy that makes sense. Unfortunately for fans of the Olympics, that day isn’t in 2012.

  • 50 Shades of Bad Typography

    July 23rd, 2012 / Comments (1)

    By Randall Erkelens

    When the world was introduced to desktop publishing thirty years ago, proper punctuation marks and kerning pairs were not brought to the party. Foot and inch marks were used instead, and they weren’t exactly the best stunt doubles. Today, I expected a more savvy designer pool with an arsenal of modern tools to rectify this problem. Nope.

    Then again, should I expect such a giant leap in only a quarter century? After all, 200 A.D. saw the rise of woodblock printing, a practice that ran the show until 1476 when the printing press was born. It was an era where typography used to be a specialized occupation filled by highly skilled artisans. It should be no different today.

    When your keyboard isn’t set up for smart quotes by using the foot and inch key, you can create the proper marks on an Apple keyboard by the following keystrokes. To kern using your keyboard, use Shift-Command combination with your bracket keys shown below.

    Tip: Use a serif font punctuation on san-serif design for more pronounced typographic presence. San-serif punctuation marks tend to be lifeless.

    Bad kerning (or tracking) is equally destroying design. It’s 2012. We should have enough computing power today to accurately plot any two letters together with good spacing between them. And yet, our design software still struggles with how to negotiate visually-appealing kerning pairs. I’ve noticed the worst infractions between upper and lower case letters. The Heinz example below has issues so obvious, it’s hard to imagine what designer, art director or creative director signed off on this. POUR ABLE MUST ARD. Really?

    Tip: It’s ok to have letters crash into each other to create correct letter spacing. The R and A in pourable need to touch due to the negative space created by the slant of the A. The B had to move to the left slightly too to close-up the white space.

    Dr. Pepper recently ran a national campaign with a blatant kerning error. That is, unless the 10 Bold T Asting Calories was the primary message.

    Now, look at this “Professional Sign’s & Lettering” company mark (of all businesses). Yes, they did use the proper apostrophe over inch mark, even though it’s still grammatically off since chances are unlikely the company is owned by some guy named Sign. But all the points they scored were lost when they left a gaping hole between the n and s. But we can give extra credit for the use of Brush Script.

    Tip: Reduce the size of your apostrophe and lower its relative position to characters in the word. This gives it a better lockup in the word. You don’t have to accept where your design program plots your punctuation.

    If I had to just kern one thing on any piece of creative, I’d spend extra time with your headline—especially if your layout is type and/or copy driven. Because when your all-type headline layout looks good, it is your visual. Treat it that way.

    Good typography isn’t always about where the computer places your 26 characters. It’s about how it looks, flows and feels to the reader. And that takes effort. Effort takes time. If you don’t have time for good typography, another line of work might be in order. Goat herding, perhaps?

    Randall Erkelens is a managing partner and creative rebel at Philosophy Communication, a Denver marketing and public relations firm.

  • Marketing on Fire. Wish We Were There.

    July 12th, 2012 / Comments (0)

    The inspiration to make something culturally and psychologically strong enough exists when you get back to what blew your mind.

    For just a moment, you’re a kid in 1970s suburban Los Angeles, ok? Pedal your bicycle to the big Topanga Canyon Boulevard record store. See what I saw: an epic, billboard-sized reprographic image of Pink Floyd’s album, Wish You Were Here, bolted to the side of the record emporium and taking up huge amounts of sky. Big record company marketing budgets could afford to blow a lot of minds in those days.

    It was a mysteriously huge, Godzilla-sized piece of pop-surrealism that captured my imagination: A man on fire obliviously shakes hands with another suited man. It’s a random meeting in an abandoned soundstage backlot, like a dream in constant production. The handshake, a blithe and obligatory social grace, appears to hide the true burning intensity of ulterior motives. Or is that something about the fear of getting burned?

    This was all the proof I needed for what I had suspected in my young mind all along: People are weird. And deep and funny. And this was weird, deep, and funny marketing.

    I got lost in a new kind of alchemy, a mixture of what I both did and did not understand about this album cover. I actually liked not understanding the imagery. There’s power in mystery. Though I knew the marketing for this album was about dreams. Not Disney-esque life goal dreams, not those dreams, but the unsettling world of dreaming. And was this a billboard for an uncomfortable dream? Pink Floyd knew how to show you how dreams really feel. That’s what they do. Later, I’d find out that they made music, too.

    Something else that astounded me—although I didn’t know how to name what it was in my monosyllabic, child mind. I can find the word now. The imagery was alluringly unwholesome.

    Unwholesome? Yes. Every bit of product marketing I had ever seen in my limited time on earth seemed to dance a giddy dance of the effusive, wholesome-hypnotic, the good—and good for you—wash of the brain. Secret ingredient: sugar. (Or, substitute the word, trustworthiness).

    This album cover on the other hand, was marketing that used dream language to call no bullshit, and for me, great marketing began with that album cover.

    Eventually, I saw how this imagery shared the same surreal power of the Buddhist monks who had self-immolated in protest of the Vietnam War. Add the imagery of Rene Magritte’s Victorian men floating in the sky, perhaps. That was the era. The era of the inner mind meets social upheaval.

    Artwork for Wish You Were Here had a power that purposely reached for what was wrong and yet beautiful about the world.

    Like most album covers produced during that slim psychedelic and post psychedelic creative era, meaning and hidden meaning trumped safeness, and it’s difficult to not regard album artwork created of that ilk as a true slice of cultural honesty through the language of symbolic imagery and playfulness.

    Chances are, like me, you’d recall the marketing you probably don’t regard as actual marketing, but as something meaningful enough to feel and recall on a deeper level.

    That might require you going back in time. When you were a kid. When you were raw-minded. Re-experience what affected you, the unspeakably good montage intro or trailer to a film, the world of colors in the Maoist propaganda poster you saw on Canal Street in NYC, an album cover you forgot you loved, a commercial that rocked your world, a PSA that pulled like a maddened emotion, desperate to free itself from the leash of the everyday.

    That’s where the inspiration to make something culturally and psychologically strong enough exists, because it’s still living psychologically and culturally in your mind. That is, if you believe that marketing is actually part art, part storytelling, part psychological event, and is powerful enough to act as a sociological medium that does something amazing.

    1975, Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd.
    Album Art by the amazing agency, Hipgnosis.

    Joseph Coplans is owner of Denver's Ink Stain Inc, a strategic messaging firm in Denver.

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