Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Positioning
Look, I get the whiteboard marker business is probably low on most people’s priority.
I also appreciate that if you work in this field, you probably want to feel like you’re doing something special … different … worth while … at least on a bigger scale than simply enabling people to write/draw rubbish in boardrooms.
But – and it’s a huge but – I can’t help but think the people behind the name for this whiteboard marker have slightly lost the plot …
Friendly?
Chisel?
Are they stark raving mad?
I swear to god you would have to be the most coke-snorting maniac to come up with those names.
What’s so friendly about this marker?
Does it do the writing for you?
Does it make your scrawl suddenly look neat?
Do other whiteboard manufacturers make their product hold a knife against your throat?
As for chisel?
A tool designed to hit things that will leave their mark in stone forever is literally the opposite to a whiteboard marker in almost everyway.
Where did that come from?
Did they want to big-up their role and significance or is it their way to add a psychological element to their product in the hope it makes the middle management who use it think their scribblings is the second coming of christ?
I’d respect them more if they named it, ‘A RED PEN FOR BAD MEETINGS’.
Or even ‘THE LOOK LIKE YOU’RE CONTRIBUTING WITHOUT CONTRIBUTING PEN’ …
But a friendly chisel?
Talk about an oxymoron.
Chisel’s aren’t friendly. You have to hit them to make them do anything.
Calling it a ‘stupid chisel’ might be more appropriate which is why the name of this bloody whiteboard pen has depressed me more than being invited to a 6 hour ‘brainstorm’ led by a middle manager who thinks leading a discussion that no one will pay any attention to is a demonstration of their emerging power and influence.
And no, I am not going over-the-top over this issue one little bit.
Ahem.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Design, Experience, Marketing, Positioning
Before I start, let me ensure your Friday is even better than if you were being bathed in a sea of Crunchies by letting you know next week there will basically be no posts as I’m going to be back in the good ol’ USA.
Now I’ve given you a deep sense of joy, let me rip that away from you with some bitching.
So I saw this ad for Kontor – a company that helps other companies find their perfect space.
Now I appreciate I have the style sense of an Australian [Boom Tish] but I must admit I am a bit confused regarding the image they’re using in the ad.
If it’s an example of an office environment they think is good, then I am afraid they’re badly mistaken.
It feels more like a hotel restaurant in any 3 star business hotel you can find across the US.
Or the Costa Coffee boardroom.
But if they’re trying to make it look like the sort of office environment a company would want to move away from … an office environment that Kontor can help them find … then I hate to say it, but it’s not bad enough.
Let me be a bit clearer …
Yes, it’s horrific, but in terms of an image for use in an ad on a tube, it’s no where near horrific – or nice – enough to make whatever point they want to make and so for the poor schmuck stuck on the tube looking at it, you end up wondering if Kontor have as bad taste as me both in terms of what they hate and what they love.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Egovertising, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail
One of the things that really shook me working in the US was how hierarchal it was.
Of course I appreciate not all companies are like this, but in my experience, there were a huge amount who were.
Where the person with the highest title won.
Regardless how right – or wrong – they were.
And what this led to was a bunch of talented people opting for the easier life.
Where they did what the most important person in the room wanted, because ultimately it meant they would have less stress and could go home on time.
Or realised their career growth was about managing up rather than being great.
I don’t blame them – especially those who had families to feed – I just found it sad and alien.
Sad … because I saw incredibly talented people being restrained and restricted.
Alien … because I had been brought up to see management as enabling people to make the best work of their life.
Directing rather than dictating.
Creating the time, space and energy to let your team craft the work not focus on the politics.
But in America, this didn’t seem to be the case … it felt it was much more about following orders rather than solving the challenge in the most interesting and exciting of ways.
I kind-of wrote about this before, but the reason I’m saying it now is because I recently read a book that reminded me of some of the things I saw and – to a degree – experienced.
A book that reinforced why I will always love Wieden – and now R/GA – because they were founded by individuals who value creativity rather than devaluing age.
The book I’m talking about is called “Disrupted: Ludicrous Misadventures in the Tech Start-up Bubble” and was written by ex-Newsweek journalist Dan Lyons.
It’s a humorous tale of his experience working for the tech/marketing company Hubspot and – without giving anything away – it’s a total shitshow.
There’s a bunch of reasons for it … but as I read the book, I couldn’t help feel that many of them were because of this hierarchal practice that I saw in America.
It’s definitely a book worth reading because apart from just being enjoyable, it is super informative in how Silicon Valley works.
Even more specifically, how the finance of Silicon Valley works.
But if that doesn’t tempt you, then maybe this will.
You see Dan Lyons – the author – was a hardcore, tech journalist and yet when he joined Hubspot, he found himself in the marketing department. After experiencing the industry first hand, this is what he had to say about the conferences we love to go to and talk at …
“Marketing conferences are filled with wannabe gurus and ‘thought leaders’ who work themselves up into a revival-show lather about connecting with customers and engaging in holistic, heart-based marketing … which sounds like something I made up but is actually a real thing that really exists and is taken seriously by actual adult human beings, which makes me want to cry.”
Harsh?
Maybe.
True?
Definitely.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Honesty, Imagination, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Social Media
So following on from yesterday’s post about how to create content that people actually want to watch rather than run away from, here are the remaining 6 lessons.Remember, they’re not from me, but from a friend of a friend who started a YouTube channel [Kyra.TV] last year that has turned them into one of the most interesting and fastest-growing content creators in London.
Be grateful for that, because this is my version of good content.
Here.
Here.
And Here.
Exactly. Now settle down for the remaining 6 points.
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LESSON SEVEN: This audience loves ‘YouTubers’
When we first started making content for Youtube, I confess we used to turn our noses up at the “YouTubers”.
We learnt that made us idiots.
We couldn’t understand why young people loved them so much and just put it down to one of the mysteries of the internet.
Your Jake Pauls
Your PewdiPies
Your David Dobriks
Your Zoellas
We had watched some of their content, we thought we understood it and we made our minds up. We assumed their audiences came from getting to the platform first and I can’t tell you how wrong we were and how much respect I have for them and their teams now.
What we’ve come to understand over the past year is that some of these creators are nothing shy of complete genius. They are media powerhouses with intricate and refined strategies that are driving levels of engagement never seen before in our industry.
Take Logan Paul.
Say you what you want about the controversy, let’s look at the facts.
In December he generated 320 million video views.
He creates a 15 minute TV Show every single day.
Even his dog has 3.4m Instagram followers and generates 500,000 likes per post …
Let’s take another example.
KSI gained more subscribers than Complex, Vice, Buzzfeed and Vox COMBINED in the last 30 days.
These are some of the most innovative people in the media industry and unlike the past, they’re beginning to realise it as well and are now beginning to seriously monetise it. Every media house in the world right now should be paying attention to them, watching and learning from them every single day.
I know we are.
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LESSON EIGHT: This audience listens to and values people over brands
Leading on from that point …
Since the dawn of media, individuals and influencers have always been at the forefront of entertainment.
Think David Beckham, the Spice Girls, Gordon Ramsay …
Beforehand these figures needed media owners to reach their audiences but today that is definitely not the case.
The Kardashians … the Paul brothers… these are people and media giants rolled into one.
Just two months ago Will Smith started vlogging and has already amassed a huge audience of close to 1 million subscribers on his channel.
I’ve learnt that this generation expects to connect with influencers directly, and if you can facilitate that connection, you will win.
A lot of our business strategy at Kyra is centred around putting people at the forefront of our content proposition.
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LESSON NINE: Your audience is a manifestation of the content you produce
This one is glaringly obvious, but I find it pretty interesting.
If the content you publish is negative, you will breed an audience fuelled by negativity. Haters in the comments. Low sentiment ratios.
If your content is positive, uplifting, inspirational, aspirational, you’re likely to receive the same response from the audience.
If your audience is intelligent and thoughtful, you will see intelligent, thoughtful people gravitating towards it.
And so on, and so on…
It sounds obvious, but for me it was somewhat of a revelation.
In a world where so much is reliant on the kind of audience you attract, this has been a key factor to our success with advertisers and has a huge impact on the kind of content we produce every day.
The proof is out there, go and have a look at video publishers and their comments, I think you’ll agree that their audiences are a direct mirror of what they put out into the world.
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LESSON TEN: Long term value comes from consistent and regular programming
When we first started, we were constantly hunting for a viral hit … the mythical unicorn of the internet that everyone strives for.
But after creating and publishing hundreds of pieces of content consistently for a year, the question I am still asking myself is “does it really build long term value?”
I’m unconvinced.
The conclusion I’ve come to is that what will ultimately win, is creating quality content CONSISTENTLY and incrementally building a passionate army of fans that are unwavering in their loyalty and affinity to your brand, channel or content.
I’d take 200 videos with positive, steady growth over one big Gangnam Style hit any day.
What I’ve basically learnt is: viral hits do not build community and that is essentially all that matters.
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LESSON ELEVEN: This audience has REAL spending power
So many Brand Managers ask me ‘but how much money do these young people really have?’
For PAQ, we set up a Pop Up shop in London and put out some posts online the day before inviting them to come down and check out the shop.
Now to put this in perspective… I had no fucking idea what was going to happen. Up until this point, everything … the followers, the comments, the engagements were just pixels on a screen, ones and zeros.
So I was 100% ready to turn up the next day and find a ghost town.
Well at 7am we had 100 people already queuing outside the shop.
At 9am when we opened it was up to around 500, lines of people queuing around the corner to meet the people they watch every week on our show.
People flew in from Germany, Sweden and even Malaysia just to come to the shop.
My learnings from this were so valuable:
This audience has access to money and they are very much REAL.
I learnt that digital audiences can transcend into real world purchases very easily.
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LESSON TWELVE: Length doesn’t matter to the audience, it matters to the advertiser
I remember when we started producing content, speaking to dozens of people to try and understand what length our videos should be.
So many people told me so many different things.
But here is what I’ve worked out myself over the past 6 months:
It doesn’t matter if your video is 30 seconds, 5 minutes or half an hour.
If the content is good, the audience will watch it.
We have the same view through rates across our content, no matter what the length.
However, the length of the content is very, very important when it comes to making effective branded or sponsored content.
The bottom line is this: The longer you can engage an audience, the more right you have to show them an advertiser’s message.
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Again, there may be stuff in here you knew and stuff you disagree with … but I personally found all this stuff interesting.
The key – as is the case for all successful communication – is know your audience.
Not in terms of just what they do, or where they do it … but why.
That little thing that seems to have fallen out of vogue and yet in the right hands, can still make the difference between good and great.
Of course, the ‘why’ – or the other name for it, insight – isn’t good enough on its own.
For it to really unleash its power you need creative people who are given the time and space to explore, experiment and just be creative … and yet it appears to me that the approach favored by most people in addend – and their clients – is to only make content they want their audience to like rather than what their audience actually wants to watch.
As I wrote ages ago, engagement is not about relevance, but resonance.
Of course, it always used to be that way.
It’s why kids loved Beavis and Butthead but adults hated it … to name one out of a thousand possible examples.
But somewhere along the line, the networks started to focus on scale – meaning they made shows designed to appeal to as many people as possible. Hence we got juggernauts like Friends – shows that were kind-of relevant to everyone without being specific to someone.
This was fine until the internet came.
Then choice was handed back to us.
No longer did we have to put up with the general interest, mainstream TV … suddenly we could choose the things that reflected us.
Our individual tastes, interests, viewpoints.
The content creators who are making things that are changing things get this.
They know their audience and they double down on it.
The content creators who are making rubbish like that Nescafe ‘thing’ that caused this whole stream of posts, don’t.
If adland and clients really want to have a position in culture, then the thing they need to get back to doing is knowing their audience … not in terms of a demographic or even a psychographic … but really know who they are, what they do, what they hate etc etc, because while ‘appealing to everyone’ may sound good to the board of directors, it doesn’t really work then that means you mean nothing to no one.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Devious Strategy, Immaturity, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Professionalism, R/GA
Starting a new job is always slightly unnerving.
You want to make a quick, positive impression but you don’t know how everything works so you often end up asking ridiculous questions just to work out how to get through the day. To make it worse, you know people are judging your every move and so you can often end up presenting a side of you that really isn’t you at the very time you need to be showing exactly who you are and what you can do.
So while I am still on my probation at R/GA, I was kind-of happy they said they wanted to take a photo of me so they could use it in some material.
The happiness wasn’t because I love my photo taken [would you with a face like mine?] it’s because by them wanting publicly acknowledge I work for them, it seems I’m doing OK.
I say ‘seems’, because this is the photo they have ended up using.
They took quite a few pictures.
Some are – even by my ‘hate myself’ standards – OK.
And yet they ended up choosing the most ‘mischievous, caught in the act of evil, I’m-going-to-fuck-with-you, prepare-for-hell’ photo they could find, which can only mean this is their way of telling me I have 3 months to convince them to keep me because right now, they think I am a bit of an asshole.
Unfortunately, this only makes me like them and respect them more.
Damnit.