My agency is better than your agency

After a brief respite into the valley of personal recollection, It's back to do some harvesting in the business landscape.
Here's a question a client of mine has been asking themselves "how do you differentiate yourself as a marketing / communications agency". Your small, have limited capital, one or two blue chip clients and very little name or brand recognition. You believe you have an excellent creative team, however the scope of the published work is limited.
Differentiation in the agency world is a steep hill to climb, there's a finite number of claims you can make; the quality of your work, the effectiveness of your work and most importantly the success your clients have achieved as a result of your work.
Most agency's have a story about how it's their unique processes or methodologies, which enable the above or their tightly integrated model, which creates economy's of scale and there's probably some truth to all of that.
That, however still doesn't make for a unique position statement.
You can market to a unique market segment (a specific demographic) and only focus on that, however that approach while it provides focus also limits breadth and creates a new set of problems when you try and scale the company.
You can radicalize the concept and try and create an approach, which is just far enough out there, that no one's in the same ballpark. However you run the very real risk of being too far ahead of the curve that you scare your prospective customers silly.
In this world people want to see real and tangible results, not hyperbole and extravagant claims. No one is going to sink a multi-million dollar budget into your radical concept, unless you have a track record of turning radical concepts into dramatic and positive results.
An agency can have all the integration and methodologies in the world, but at the end of the day it always comes down to two things; Creative ability and Relationship management. They are the cornerstone of the industry and will continue to be so.
So what's the moral of the story?, Don't spend your time trying to be unique, as an agency anyway, as a person, absolutely. Spend your time being creative, put sustained and focused thinking against what your client needs, understand your client and their consumers better than your competition, focus on what needs to be said and then think about how your going to say it.
That's almost unique.

Two Poems

I find the act of writing poetry to be somewhat cathartic, If I had the time to do it more often, I might start getting better at it. I will use this blog to track my progress, that is assuming there is progress.

Of this train

Smiling
The subtle wash of two hands
Your fingers grace my palm
Knowing
That morning has been broken
By the fragments
Of Light
Which illuminate the beauty of
Your Eyes
Drawn closer by the movement
Of this Train


Passive

Empty boats, silent sitting on passive water
Sometimes I sit and watch them
And make believe that I am the wind

Brilliant sun, hanging like a picture on the painted sky
Sometimes I sit and touch it
And make believe that I am divisible by

You and I

Echoes of voices touched by your death
Sometimes I sit and listen to them
And make believe that I am the reason

Why

Two things

I think about when I am not thinking about anything else, for different reasons but with a common goal; to get back there.

Whistler Mountain, B.C.

About to set off on the back side of the mountain for one exhilarating ride on one perfect day.

Minorca, Spain.

I was fortunate enough to take summer vacations there as a kid with my parents and younger brother (that's us in the picture circa 1972). It has changed a lot through the years, the inevitable onslaught of commercialization, carving its signature upon its landscape, but my memories of it are lucid and untarnished.

Motivation

This is a large part of what drives me, my boys. I have learned more about who I am from the simple act of being a father.

I am not perfect, I make mistakes and I let them watch Family guy. My oldest son, Keegan is now listening to Pink Floyd and I am listening to whatever it is he is listening to and we can talk about the virtues of what is and what isn't good music.
My middle son, James gladly cleans the kitchen without being asked, wears his heart on his sleeve and will one day be an environmental warrior, taking the good fight to the dick cheneys of the world and my youngest, Evan, is forever coming up with new ways to torment the other two.
I can not imagine my life without them and I am so thankful for them.

The 1959 General Electric blender

My mother has an old upright GE blender, bought in the late 1950's. Its white and brown with a variable speed slider on the bottom. It is the only blender she has ever bought, not because she's cheap (she isn't), but rather because the damn thing still works perfectly. My mom is an excellent cook, so it's had a great deal of use in the last 46 years or so.
I can't imagine, in this day and age, owning an appliance for 46 years. I don't know what the lifespan of the average appliance is, not in how long it works but rather how long you keep it. Maybe we need a new word, rather than lifespan, it's keepspan.
Can you imagine the economic consequences of keeping an appliance for 46 years, I am not talking about digital appliances, but simple motor and switch appliances. It would be catastrophic, I know that's not news to anyone, but it's fascinating nonetheless.
How did they get that blender, so damn right?, I mean its never been serviced, tuned up, tuned down or even had the blade replaced (and its chopped more Ice than an Eskimo).
Which brings me to, somehow, something else I find fascinating. The 1950's.
I wasn't born in the 50's so there's no first hand experience here, just conjecture and historical persuasion.
It is actually (from a North American perspective) the decade I like the least;
Mcarthyism, Eisenhower, Diefenbieker, Bad Music (I cant stand Elvis), Atomic proliferation, the Nuclear family was born (you know the one, Dad sitting on the wing chair, reading the newspaper, puffing his pipe. The two children, usually a boy and a girl sitting dutifully on the floor in blissfull serenity and Mom baking away in the kitchen). That's the family values archetype on which the Republican Revolution has ridden on, in the last two elections, The Korean War and the demise of the Avro Arrow.
One thing though stands out, Design and Innovation flourished, in every element. Every facet of modern life went through a makeover. There was no Retro or looking in the past for ideas, everything was bold, new and invigorating.
It's possible that was simply a reaction to fifteen years of economic depression and War, and I am sure that played a large part in what happened, but I think there was something else going on and I'd like to find out what it was, any ideas ?

It's not the channel.............

As someone who has literally grown up in the world of advertising (my father was the creative director for JWT, in Europe and Manhattan), I have seen this industry go through enormous changes over the years. Consolidation, technology and much greater creative freedom have driven this industry, faster than its ability to properly manage the change.
For years now, I have been hearing about the imminent death of direct advertising, from Presidents to Creative Directors, how people clinging to the notion that Direct has a future are dinosaurs and need to be taken out for their own good.
My focus, is and has always been on the interactive side of the business, so you might assume that I am part of that choir.......not exactly.
I have always maintained that the message, trumps the medium and when you put all of your energy into the channel, you start to forget about the message. Great advertising, will work on any level, whether its print, TV, rich media or even wireless, the channel itself is meaningless, without great thinking behind it.
Interactive enables tremendous reach, it can create personalization and time sensitivity. It can drive revenues, open up dialogue and has implications on a strategic level which simply were not possible before.

Unfortunately when the interactive medium is not constructed the way it should be, the results can be fatal. Too many people focus on what they can do with a medium, rather than why.
It's the content that counts, time and time again, that message is forgotten.
Just because I can interact with an ad doesn't mean that I want to, I shouldn't have to work to get the message, if I simply want to be a receptor.
Direct isn't dead, it isn't even sick, it will continue to flourish, because its the medium of least resistance, and that path will always work in a modern society.
My goal, in my work, is to understand what is the most effective way to create interactive pieces, that engage the consumer, that creates an experience for the consumer, one that they will want to repeat and one that ultimately creates a meaningful and positive experience with the brand. Just remember its not the only way and never should be.

Time Honoured Ghosts

This is a true story, although admittedly hard to believe.I have never written this down before so I will attempt to bring this back to life, as best I can . I haven't changed the names, places or events, there's no reason too.

Early July 1984

Our Band used to practice on the second floor of an old townhouse on the north side of King street, just east of Jarvis. Our practice space was huge, and old and creaky and full of the kind of character, which is felt, rather than seen.
We didn't have the full band that night, just the three of us; Andrew H on guitar, Andrew C on drums and myself doubling up Bass and keyboards. The evening was hot, really hot, almost to the point where you didn't want to play at all, but after a few joints we cranked up the amps and went into a sort of Bob Marley meets The Who type of jam, the type that's only interesting to those playing it.
At some point in the song, Andrew H and I slowed down the tempo and eventually stopped playing. Andrew C, however just kept right on drumming (by virtue of his choice in instruments he was completely oblivious to anything other than the sound of his own drums, all drummers are).

The air in the room became thick, with something, I use the word something, because there isn't a word that comes close to describing what i mean. The air became heavy to the point that it almost aquired shape, and then, it started to smell. A smell that I had never experienced before or since. The only way to describe is that it was an old smell, almost rotten, but alive all at once. At the same time, the room felt sad, We often say that a place is "happy and alive", this room was now the opposite, sad and very much dead.
Andrew and I, both looked at one another in an almost, "what the fuck is going on", kind of look and there was a palbable sense of deep apprehension about being there.

Whatever was happening was coming from behind a grey door at the opposite end of the room. It was a large storage room, with no other exit and windowless.
Andrew and I went back and forth between leaving and investigating, safety versus curiousity, it's a syndrome which has been the demise of many cats and a few people.
Andrew and I opted for curiousity and decided we were finding out what was going on in that room.
We heard a noise from the closet, it repeated itself and then stopped. The sound was similiar to someone walking back and forth, but quitely and carefully, as if they were trying not to be heard. The closer we got to the door, the more anxious we became. More than once we almost left, on our own we never would have stayed, but together we become more courageous than either one of us could have been alone.

I turned the knob on the door, my intent was to slowly open the door, inch by inch. I had seen this scene played out in the movies and wanted to stay true to script. Suddenly, I changed my mind and pushed the door open, slamming into against the wall. Andrew and I recoiled back, almost anticpating a gunshot. A man stood before us, tall and wearing old, old tattered clothes. He was bleeding profusely from the forehead and holding an antique rifle, held across his chest, he was looking right at us, but didnt see us, he was there, but at the same time he wasn't there. He had a presence but it wasn't a presence I can relate to.

Andrew and I ran, actually bolted would probably be a better word. We were down the stairs and out on the street faster than I have ever moved in my life. We locked the door and left, trying to make sense out of something that simply didn't make any sense.


The next evening:

I was at my Moms having dinner with a few of her friends. One of them, Sandy Cline, was a learned, veritable walking library of information. There was nothing she didn't know or couldn't find the answer for.
After dinner and a few bottles of wine, I told the story but didn't mention that it happened last night.
Sandy, in her informed and cool demeanor, told me that one hundred years ago last night, from the second floor of a house on King street, a man attempted to assassinate the mayor of Toronto, but was overwhelmed by his guards and shot to death, with a single gunshot to the head.

Bob's grave

Today's post, is not about marketing or advertising or interactive anything. It is about remembrance.
I went to my step fathers grave at Riverdale cemetary last night, to change the water in the vase of flowers my mother places there once a week.
It is truly a remarkable place, hidden in the heart of Cabbagetown (One of Toronto's oldest neighbourhoods). It's a quiet, calm and beautifull environment. Situated next to Bob's tombstone is a circular white bench, under an old oak tree.
It is one of the most serene and calming places I can think of, but what makes this interesting or different is the purpose of the environment.
It is truly about rememberance, not self introspection or analysis, but rather a place where I can reflect on what and who somebody was. What they did, how they made you laugh, what they taught you and ultimately how much you miss them.
Bob was so unique and I am eternally gratefull for knowing him.
He grew up dirt poor in North Toronto, His family was poor, 1930's poor. He used to make his shoes out of cardboard boxes, he got thrown out of every school he went to and at the age of fifteen lied about his age and signed up for WW2.
Bob wasn't that tall, at about 5 feet 7 or 8, but he was built like a shit brick house, probably the strongest person I knew. Because he was small and agile, his job as a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers, was to crawl through bombed out houses in France and find undetonated explosives and then I assume, take them out and detonate them in a field somewhere. He always use to say he had a blast in the War!.
He was once captured by the Germans and was on his way to a POW camp when the house they were being held came under mortar fire. The Germans all ran like hell, leaving Bob and the other POW's handcuffed to a bench, apparently the three of them stood up, with the bench still attached and ran like hell, in the opposite direction. It seems almost slapstick thinking about it now, but it was pure Bob.

After the War, he went into the restaurant and fitness business, working in and then ultimately running his own fitness clubs.
The first time I met Bob, he had just started dating my Mom, was probably 1978 or 79. I don't think I was much more than 15 or 16, but within minutes I knew, he was here to stay. He adored my Mom and my Mom adored him, it was something that never changed untill his death in 2002.
The Health club, known simply as "The Club" was situated in the heart of what is the Gay Village, right next to the old Headquarters of the CBC. It made for an incredible variety of people. Actors, actresses, bookies, cops, filmmakers and politicians all hung around the club, smoking, eating, drinking and carousing. I never saw anyone actually "work out" but this was the seventies. Jerry Orbach used to drink Scotch there, Oliver Reed once got so drunk he left in his underwear, carrying a bottle of wine, walking up the middle of Church street, howling at the proverbial moon.
There were probably three women to every male at the club, Bob used to say it made the long hours more bearable, but he just loved women, plain and simple and they loved him back.

Bob was ardently left wing and couldn't tolerate right wing zealots of any make up, as long as you didn't fit into the aforementioned category, he was accepting, tolerant and compassionate to a fault. He loved animals and gave to the Humane Society, probably more than any other charity.
The one thing that I still find truly remarkable about the man, was he was universally loved, and not just in a passive, "he was a great guy" context, but deeply loved and respected by everybody.
More than anything, Bob taught me how to be a survivor, and do it with my integrity and humour intact and for that, I am eternally thankfull.
I miss him

the ninety nine

We spend ninety nine percent of our time, thinking about us. What we look like, how we are behaving, how we feel and how others are perceiving us. As marketers ninety nine percent of our time is spent thinking about how the brand self identifies, what it looks like, how it is positioned, how its is advertised. One percent of our time is therefore left with the proposition of “what’s going on in the mind of the consumer”.

ninety nine things, I think I think

1. Objectivity is a rare and precious commodity, it’s value never goes down.
2. Objectivity equals truth
3. Objectivity equals clarity

4. Bias equals blindness
5. Bias is a silent killer
6. Agency integration is the perfect host for Bias

7. Your agency can not do everything
8. Your agency should not do everything
9. Your agency occasionally isn’t doing anything
10. Managing everything your agency said they would be doing has become a full time job
11. Your agency is telling you the last campaign was loved by your customers
12. Your agency uses the phrase “very successful” a lot
13. Your last agency said the same thing
14. So will your next

15. The customer demands that you get it right
16. Customers change their mind
17. Nobody owns the customer
18. You are a customer
19. Your customer isn’t 25 to 34 years old
20. Your customer isn’t upwardly mobile
21. Your customer isn’t a brief
22. Your customer isn’t as complex as you think they are
23. Reward your customer, when they are happy
24. Understand why your customer is mad
25. Run a contest where every single customer wins
26. Your customer wants you to succeed
27. Your customer is your Mom, act accordingly


28. Customer satisfaction surveys are a giant waste of time and money, as long as it’s you whose asking the questions.
29. Your automated voice recognition call center is universally hated

30. We buy when we self identify
31. We all love to shop for something
32. Some people even love to shop for nothing
33. Buying is an essentially emotional act
34. Turning off your service is an entirely emotional act
35. There’s a trend here

36. Your brand measurement analysis is probably wrong
37. Some company is charging you through the teeth to tell you what you want to hear.
38. Brand experience is the ultimate truth
39. Positive brand experience happens through hard work
40. Negative brand experience happens through hard work
41. Hard work isn’t the answer

42. Do you use your brand
43. Do you buy your brand?
44. Call your hotline, ask a question, did you get the right answer
45. Did you answer yes to all of the above?

46. Value is a floating barometer
47. Value is subjective
48. Value is fleeting
49. Value is not provided, it is perceived
50. Value is not a proposition

51. Let a small idea get big
52. Big Ideas make good copy and bad reality
53. It’s your customers who validate your ideas

54. If your brand doesn’t stand for something, it stands for nothing
55. Make your brand stand for something
56. Volvo doesn’t sell excitement, if they did, they would be finished and they know that.
57. Ferrari has never been in a price war
58. GM has never been out of one
59. No one ever started a price war because they were gaining market share

60. If your talking to kids, they are smarter than you think
61. If your talking to parents they have less time than you think


62. I don’t want to be bundled
63. If I am unbundling myself don’t penalize me
64. If you are penalizing your customers, you will eventually lose your customers
65. Customer rewards can also be spontaneous
66. Be spontaneous


67. The competition is not your enemy
68. The enemy is arrogance, complexity and complacency
69. Look for ideas in completely foreign places
70. Embrace simplicity

71. Usability is the foundation of your website
72. Usefulness is its goal
73. Enjoyable is the objective

74. There are more magazines today, than at any point in history
75. We don’t read web sites in the bathtub
76. Let different media complement each other

77. Don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself
78. Don’t afraid to say we were wrong
79. Don’t be afraid, period
80. The enemy of fear is education

81. Relationships aren’t built on commitment, they are built on trust
82. The essence of a relationship is love
83. Your customers wont love you, unless you love them
84. Your customer is promiscuous, not through desire, but need.

85. Right now someone is taking your customer for granted
86. Right now you are thinking about yourself
87. Right now we are thinking about you

88. Thinking is the opposite of nothing
89. Bad thinking is worse than nothing
90. Great thinking is sustainable
91. Bad thinking is always exposed

92. You can’t think of everything
93. You can’t fix everything that’s broken
94. If something is broken, try and figure out why before you fix it


95. If you’re going to dress up like a cowboy, make sure you’ve got more cattle than hats.
96. Don’t be something your not

97. You spend 99 percent of the time, thinking about you, That leaves what, for the customer………………..
98. Be Bold
99. Be someone's hero

psychiatric marketing

Psychiatric Marketing

Psychiatric: a branch of medicine that deals with the science and practice of treating mental, emotional, or behavioural disorders especially as originating in endogenous causes or resulting from faulty interpersonal relationships

The first step to recovery is made when we decide something needs to be changed. It doesn’t mean something has to be fundamentally wrong, it merely suggests that we don’t feel we are where we need to be.

The same is just as true for a brand or brand identity.
One of the more brilliant cases of brand identity being reinvented is BP. Until recently known to most of us as British Petroleum, with one simple yet elegant word replacement, the brand has become Beyond Petroleum and with it a whole new opportunity to re-invent itself upon a public fed up with Oil companies, gas prices and environmental pillaging.

Psychiatry is a process which enables change; it allows people to understand themselves and use that understanding to act as a catalyst for change. I would suggest that BP went through what we are calling psychiatric marketing.

So, what exactly is psychiatric marketing (PM) and how can we harness its potential to build an agency?

Not every brand was as fundamentally in need of change as BP, however that doesn’t mean the scope of the practice is limited to cases of such dire cause.

A brand’s identity is reflected through many mirrors;
The one, which is directly positioned to the consumer in the form of direct advertising,
The one in which its actions belay it’s nature (environmental, legal and community responsibility)
The one in which the consumer actually interacts or uses the brand.

I would suggest that very few brands are truly healthy in each mirror and in some cases are fundamentally un-healthy. These three perspectives give us a truly holistic understanding of a brands overall health.

There are three macro steps in the process of psychiatry, Understanding, Learning and Recovery. Each step is a linear descendant of the other and as we change, as our lives change, the process can be repeatable. The same is just as true for a brand’s identity, each time a brand changes or evolves, its health needs to be assessed and reassessed from each unique perspective.

The Last Great Big Idea

The agency world is full of Big Ideas, however Great Ideas are at a somewhat smaller premium. Great Ideas do not necessarily have size or scope, and they are usually birthed as small ideas, which develop through sustained creative thinking. We are not in the business of creating Big Ideas; we want to create powerful and creative thinking, which expresses itself on a strategic level.

There are very few great ideas which started out as big ideas; they were almost universally, small ideas which grew, and which took form over time. The process of producing great things is organic, iterative, often convoluted and subject to change. The Big Idea makes good copy and bad reality.

I believe that the model simply does not address some of the most fundamental aspects of communication and brand identity. The agency model is full of bias; it’s a bias towards maximizing media, managing razor thin margins and responding to the tactical nature of operational marketing. If you can eliminate that bias, maybe you can eliminate the traps which accompany them.