I’m always on the lookout for inspirational thinking, brands and ways of connecting people to make my job, life and my shared experiences better. I came across a few wonderful examples this weekend while I was exploring Columbus, Ohio.
Let your people be part of the brand. I stumbled upon Paul Robinett, a tiny aroma therapy candle shop, and the storefront window sealed the deal for getting me into the store. The giant Polaroid photos of customers sharing their excitement and store experiences helped me understand what this super simple store was all about. The minimalistic brand was brought to life through the quotes and smiles of its customers. Now only if I could have gotten my face in the window!
Create shared experiences. The Columbus Museum of Art had a fantastic George Tooker exhibit that included opportunities for visitors to share thoughts about a specific painting or theme represented in the work. Art museums are often experienced in silence while each visitors creates their own story about the work presented before them. These exhibit extensions invited people to share their thoughts and it was refreshing to see similar interpretations and ones I'd never think of, even after seven beers. Even though I was alone in the room, I felt like I shared an experience with everyone that posted their stories on the wall and in the book.
Inspire passionate fans. I had never been to Columbus. I had no idea what I was in for. But the one thing that I'll never forget is how excited everyone was about their city. The people I met were eager to to share secrets of the city, local hotspots and their opinion on the best neighborhood. The community was full of passionate residents that truly care about investing in the city and foster its growth. These Columbus advocates had a much larger impact on my view of the city than the sights and shops.
The most authentic experiences are rarely brand related, but they always help to remember that I should strive to work harder to create work that is geniune.
Last month I heard Sally Hogshead speak at an IPG Women’s Leadership Network event. She told a story about striking out on her own with her business partner and starting their own agency. They were signing the lease on their office, a 12-month contract that finally made everything real, when her business partner turned to her. He said, “You know the way you’re feeling right now, the nerves and excitement and fear in the pit of your stomach? That’s risk. It's not necessarily bad, and you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you need to be able to recognize it. You're going to be feeling it a lot more.” Seth Godin must be quite familiar with that feeling, because his book is all about taking a deep breath and doing something terrifying because you believe in it.
Tribes made me nervous every time I picked it up. It doesn’t shout, but fervently whispers in your ear: Stop pushing papers. It’s 2009 and the world is changing. Go make the change you want to see. And before I could fully form all my logical objections—but I don’t have any money, it’s not that easy and no one will listen to me, everything is safe the way it is now—it has blazed through them by providing pages of examples of heretics who wanted change and got it.
Here’s a sampling of the best lessons learned:
If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either.
Find leaders (the heretics who are doing things differently and making change), and then amplify their work, give them a platform, and help them find followers—and things get better. They always get better.
This is what advertisers need to pay the most attention to. Find leaders, brand advocates, people with opinions, and fuel their fire. Conversely, don’t try to squelch the heretics. If you don’t amplify their leadership efforts, someone else will. You’ll be in trouble.
Marketers need to read Tribes to understand how to turn brand advocates into brand heroes. Junior-level employees need to read it to remind themselves of the passion they had in college when they dreamed of striking out and following their dreams. On the last page, Godin urges readers to pass the book along if we found it worthwhile. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share my copy.
To be fair, I cannot know the answer, as I am unfortunately part of the growing pack of the unemployed. (Or is that my answer?) However, looking toward my more blessed colleagues of the graduating class of 2009 in advertising, and by assessing what I feel I’ve learned from my college courses, I have come to a few conclusions about my experience with the state of advertising curriculum and its effectiveness.
*Note: I do give Dan an IHF for actively pursuing this topic for the right reasons. In the past few years, I have seen so many ad professionals pushing young ad students down to make themselves feel more important or skilled in the communications field. Dan, on the other hand, recognizes the fact that the advertising industry as a whole will continue to struggle if new talent isn’t taught what is necessary. (I’m not requesting hand-holding, only knowledge, thank you very much.)
Back to the issue.
Dan states, “Four-year colleges and universities do practically nothing to prepare students for a career in advertising, particularly as a creative.” I do agree with him on the creative standpoint. I studied at the University of Minnesota in hopes of becoming an art director, and I clearly remember being sat down by my Psychology of Advertising professor who told me, “You’re in the wrong place.” I was shocked, stunned, and a little angry at his statement, which I found harsh at the time. However, after a few more years of study, I would find that he was undeniably correct in his choice of words.
The University of Minnesota offered me a great education, and I would never claim otherwise. However, as a creative advertising student, the curriculum is lacking- to say the least. There are only 2 creative courses in our School of Journalism and Mass Communication: Creative Strategy and Copywriting (which is sort of a misnomer… as it also focuses on art direction and most other aspects of the creative process) and Advertising Portfolio Development. These classes are a great starting block for young creatives-to-be, but cannot teach them everything they need to know to be successful. Lack of classes isn’t to be blamed on the staff (many of them have begged time and time again for more creative courses), but rather on lack of funding. The J School has not had a full staff in a decade, and more courses would require more teachers, a luxury that the school cannot afford.
I do disagree, however, on Dan’s point that “Most of the professors at these schools have little in the way of relevant, recent industry experience, nor do they provide much insight into how today’s ad agencies work on a day-to-day basis.” I found, in my experience, my professors to be extremely relevant, qualified and insightful. (Let’s be honest- you can’t get much better than John Eighmey, Earl Herzog or Jennifer Johnson.) They didn’t try to force outdated textbooks on us or lecture all hour on worthless information. They engaged us to come up with solutions to the new problems that the industry is facing. (And BELIEVE ME… they DEFINITELY made sure we understood the inner-workings of agencies.)
In fact, Jennifer Johnson went out of her way to help me try to solve the lack of creative curriculum when we founded the University of Minnesota Student One Club, which provides students with an avenue for portfolio development and creative brainstorm outside of the classroom. Her dedication to her students is relentless, to say the least.
Later, Dan commented, “I cringe when ideas go to an Assistant Account Executive who doesn’t have an informed notion of what they’re helping to sell and who they’re selling to. It doesn’t benefit anyone to see a junior creative team present a wonderful, well-crafted idea that just happens to be the completely wrong tone for a target they can’t seem to relate to.”
To that point, I would argue that the HR people have obviously chosen the wrong account candidate in this situation. If there is anything stressed in our coursework at the J School, it’s research and strategy. Even though I was more focused on creative, I couldn’t help but be schooled in the teachings of knowing the target, what motivates them and how to display the value that the product/service can have in their lives. (Which, in my opinion, has made me a better creative as well.)
However, despite my belief in the strength of the U of M’s ad program, I have always said that I have learned more about advertising through the National Student Advertising Competition than I ever have in the classroom. To tirelessly work on a campaign for a year on your own time for no credit beyond the pride of knowing you did your best is really the way to know more about the industry and whether you’ve got what it takes. It also doesn’t hurt having a genius like Howard Liszt overseeing everything you do and giving you insights into what needs to be done. (Another phenomenal, RELEVANT teacher.) This is not to diminish the importance of my formal education, but rather to show another benefit of four-year education for ad students.
I did enjoy Dan’s final remark: “However, there is one skill they do learn at college: How to drink. And drinking skills can indeed get you far in advertising.”
Thank. God.
Upload your own music to Rock Band - MTV is plotting to launch a service called Rock Band Network to allow "any artist-unsigned emerging act, indie cult fave or major-label superstar-to submit songs for possible inclusion in the game." If all goes well with the indies, the platform can be opened up to bands already signed to major labels. Will Rock Band be the new sellout?
Mos Def's album as a tshirt - New tunes, threads and a little free promo. Fans that rock the tee with the album cover on the front and track listing on the back are able to download the album with the code printed on the tag. Not sure about you guys but I love sportin' tees of my fave bands so this is a great two-for-one.
Blink-182 and Big Boi / Doritos late night concert (augmented reality) - If you're still sober while noshing on your late night Doritos you can now check out exclusive footage of Blink or Big Boi. I can't say that I'm well versed with Big Boi's tunes, but Blink has been a long time favorite - you can see some documentary style details here. This promo is perfect timing for the Blink reunion and gets Doritos into the music scene. Viewers can also enter to win tickets for the summer tour.
While the NFL is cracking down on Twitter, the Saint Paul Saints are embracing Twitter and the social world with open arms. The Saints are asking players, coaches, fans and employees to join them in the Twitter-My-Face event on July 23rd."I woke up today at 6:30 a.m. (so tired), worked out (off to the gym!), took a shower while listening to the radio (don’t you love that new Jonas Brothers song?), ate breakfast (LOL @snapcracklepop), and am now writing this press release (#work)."
Forget Twitter (and other social spaces) and focus on product reviews? I'm not so sure. AdAge dropped this article over the weekend and while product reviews are undoubtedly a fantastic way to gain customer feedback, Twitter can be used to directly gain product feedback and in a much more creative way.I’m not saying that it isn’t correct to have an aspirational target. I’m saying that you shouldn’t forget that the majority of [your target] doesn’t live in the city where you’re making your advertising. The majority of [your target] doesn’t frequent hipster bars on Ossington and shop at H&M. They drink beer at their campsites, shop at Wal-Mart and go to Boston Pizza for a nice meal. And sometimes, they have handlebar amazing moustaches.Couldn't agree more. So often we are marketing to the people we'd like to buy our product, but we ignore the people who actually do. Fortunately, it's getting easier to identify our true fans.
