Ladies and gentlemen. It is my great pleasure to let you know Traction has launched a new website and with that comes a new home for this blog. Please direct your bookmarks to: www.tractionco.com/blog/author/adam
While you're at it, you can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or SlideShare.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get moving.
11.02.2010
9.17.2010
Core Competencies
The agency landscape is rapidly shifting. Many claim to do everything. Some do one thing very well. At Traction, we focus on the things we do best and leverage an ecosystem of existing partners to do the rest.
I was recently asked what our core competencies are. The answer is Strategy, Advertising and Innovation. We refer to the discipline of these three considered together as Brand Experience Design. In our view, it's the experience that matters.
Strategy
We leverage design thinking and observation of human needs and behavior to inform our strategy—from brand and product strategy to communications planning in a socially connected world. This overlaps with media strategy, but we do not do large-scale media planning and buying. We focus on what we're good at and bring in partners (or work with your existing ones) for the rest.
Advertising
We are fully integrated and very strong at digital. Our approach is to try to create breakthrough ideas that align your business objectives with human insights and then choose the right tactics based on media consumption habits and creative opportunities. For instance, our campaign for Alibaba.com won the 2010 IAC award for best Integrated Campaign for Small Business and included print, TV, banners, rich media, video and a microsite. Here's a WSJ story on the campaign.
Innovation
We are successful in this area because we have both the in-house capability to deliver digital experiences and the strategic insights to understand consumer needs. This is reflected in the mobile app concept we developed for Intuit that won that company's Innovation Competition. Traction is a very strong digital partner in this space: last year we created a prototype of Bank of America's next generation user experience online. We've also developed very successful social media programs for brands like Adobe, Livescribe and Clos du Bois.
In addition, we have been very successful at developing production models for our clients at scale. For one consumer technology client in Cupertino, we develop hundreds of pieces of email creative each year and have even created a proprietary "Email Builder" application to make that process more efficient. For an online photo-sharing client, we are producing approximately 150 pieces of banner creative this quarter alone.
I was recently asked what our core competencies are. The answer is Strategy, Advertising and Innovation. We refer to the discipline of these three considered together as Brand Experience Design. In our view, it's the experience that matters.
Strategy
We leverage design thinking and observation of human needs and behavior to inform our strategy—from brand and product strategy to communications planning in a socially connected world. This overlaps with media strategy, but we do not do large-scale media planning and buying. We focus on what we're good at and bring in partners (or work with your existing ones) for the rest.
Advertising
We are fully integrated and very strong at digital. Our approach is to try to create breakthrough ideas that align your business objectives with human insights and then choose the right tactics based on media consumption habits and creative opportunities. For instance, our campaign for Alibaba.com won the 2010 IAC award for best Integrated Campaign for Small Business and included print, TV, banners, rich media, video and a microsite. Here's a WSJ story on the campaign.
Innovation
We are successful in this area because we have both the in-house capability to deliver digital experiences and the strategic insights to understand consumer needs. This is reflected in the mobile app concept we developed for Intuit that won that company's Innovation Competition. Traction is a very strong digital partner in this space: last year we created a prototype of Bank of America's next generation user experience online. We've also developed very successful social media programs for brands like Adobe, Livescribe and Clos du Bois.
In addition, we have been very successful at developing production models for our clients at scale. For one consumer technology client in Cupertino, we develop hundreds of pieces of email creative each year and have even created a proprietary "Email Builder" application to make that process more efficient. For an online photo-sharing client, we are producing approximately 150 pieces of banner creative this quarter alone.
9.10.2010
Watch this space
About a decade ago, I was cutting my chops at DDB. Theo and I had been recruited to start the San Francisco office of their Tribal DDB office. One day, agency patriarch Keith Reinhard (he of "two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese..." fame) came by and addressed the teams at both "mainline" DDB and us geeks over at Tribal about the coming future of digital.
That day, Mr. Reinhard challenged us to not to be shackled by the limitations of a 468 x 60 banner, but to use those precious pixels as a canvas to create famous work.
I still think about that challenge often. I've brought it with me to Traction and we strive to answer it every time we work on a campaign — whether we're creating a banner ad or anything else. We don't always hit the mark, but it's our ambition.
On that note, I really like the watch this space ad campaign that Google has put out for display ads. Despite the irony of an ad for ads, this effort challenges us to be smarter in this digital space. More relevant. To innovate. Be simpler.
I think it's an inspiring message about the future of digital. Display ads are not just a fishing rod for e-commerce. As a matter of fact, they suck at that.
When we look at the results of our campaigns (and we always look at the results of our campaigns), we frequently see indirect or "view-through" traffic as higher than direct traffic. In other words, more people are seeing and ad, making a mental note and checking out the brand site later than are actually clicking on the ad. We see online ads as effective tools to drive awareness and even purchase intent.
The industry average banner ad click-through rate hovers around a dismal 0.6%. Most brands see that as a reason to invest less in online creative. To slap "25% off" in the brand font on a slab of brand color and optimize their campaigns downward toward "conversions" for as low a cost as possible.
Sure, we need to measure. Sure, we need to optimize. But we're advertisers. We cannot forget persuasion. We cannot forget inspiration. We can't forget innovation. It takes Google, the king of search, to remind us of this.
The irony.
I recommend you watch the videos. How can you be smarter?
That day, Mr. Reinhard challenged us to not to be shackled by the limitations of a 468 x 60 banner, but to use those precious pixels as a canvas to create famous work.
I still think about that challenge often. I've brought it with me to Traction and we strive to answer it every time we work on a campaign — whether we're creating a banner ad or anything else. We don't always hit the mark, but it's our ambition.
On that note, I really like the watch this space ad campaign that Google has put out for display ads. Despite the irony of an ad for ads, this effort challenges us to be smarter in this digital space. More relevant. To innovate. Be simpler.
I think it's an inspiring message about the future of digital. Display ads are not just a fishing rod for e-commerce. As a matter of fact, they suck at that.
When we look at the results of our campaigns (and we always look at the results of our campaigns), we frequently see indirect or "view-through" traffic as higher than direct traffic. In other words, more people are seeing and ad, making a mental note and checking out the brand site later than are actually clicking on the ad. We see online ads as effective tools to drive awareness and even purchase intent.
The industry average banner ad click-through rate hovers around a dismal 0.6%. Most brands see that as a reason to invest less in online creative. To slap "25% off" in the brand font on a slab of brand color and optimize their campaigns downward toward "conversions" for as low a cost as possible.
Sure, we need to measure. Sure, we need to optimize. But we're advertisers. We cannot forget persuasion. We cannot forget inspiration. We can't forget innovation. It takes Google, the king of search, to remind us of this.
The irony.
I recommend you watch the videos. How can you be smarter?
8.27.2010
Trends with Traction: Social shopping is hopping.
The cover of Forbes magazine last month let the cat out of the bag. Social Shopping site GroupOn is the fastest-growing company... ever.
First came Google, then came Facebook, now comes GroupOn. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the next big thing. Half a billion dollars in revenue in less than one year. That's right, I said dollars. Not impressions.
What is GroupOn? Well, it's the leader of the pack in a new phenomenon called "social shopping" or "social buying." The site is simple and compelling. Every day they have a new fantastic coupon for a local business—the other day they had 50% off of Go-Kart racing at a place near San Francisco (guess what the gang at Traction is doing next month). The only catch? The deal is only valid if 200 people whip out their credit cards and pay for it on the spot. So, people are incentivized to go bonkers trying to get their friends to join in to "unlock" a GroupOn coupon they really want.
The site went legit last month when Gap pulled in $11 million running a nationwide promotion on GroupOn. They sold nearly half a million vouchers in one day.
Of course, just like Facebook isn't the only social network, GroupOn isn't the only social shopping site. There are plenty of copy cats and plenty of other models that combine social media dynamics with e-commerce.
There's plenty more (Would love it if you'd share other examples in the comments!).
As a marketer, it's important for you to think strategically about how your brand can take advantage of it. Clearly, there are a lot of directions you can go, but one thing is clear. Social shopping is a trend with some serious Traction.
First came Google, then came Facebook, now comes GroupOn. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the next big thing. Half a billion dollars in revenue in less than one year. That's right, I said dollars. Not impressions.
What is GroupOn? Well, it's the leader of the pack in a new phenomenon called "social shopping" or "social buying." The site is simple and compelling. Every day they have a new fantastic coupon for a local business—the other day they had 50% off of Go-Kart racing at a place near San Francisco (guess what the gang at Traction is doing next month). The only catch? The deal is only valid if 200 people whip out their credit cards and pay for it on the spot. So, people are incentivized to go bonkers trying to get their friends to join in to "unlock" a GroupOn coupon they really want.
 |
| Today's GroupOn Deal of the Day |
The site went legit last month when Gap pulled in $11 million running a nationwide promotion on GroupOn. They sold nearly half a million vouchers in one day.
Of course, just like Facebook isn't the only social network, GroupOn isn't the only social shopping site. There are plenty of copy cats and plenty of other models that combine social media dynamics with e-commerce.
- Gilt.com also reports having $500 million in revenue. It's an "exclusive" club (if you can call over two million members exclusive) that gives members access to great deals on luxury items.
- Delta airlines now allows passengers to book tickets in Facebook.
- Sites from Amazon.com to Kaboodle.com have social recommendation engines and shared shopping lists based on what others are buying.
There's plenty more (Would love it if you'd share other examples in the comments!).
As a marketer, it's important for you to think strategically about how your brand can take advantage of it. Clearly, there are a lot of directions you can go, but one thing is clear. Social shopping is a trend with some serious Traction.
8.21.2010
The Learn Phase: HTML 5, Recasting Agile and a Content Strategy Toolkit
Every month or so at Traction, we host The Learn Phase, a four hour session of shared ideas, debate, conversation and pizza. It's named after the first phase of our process, "Learn," because that's what we hope to accomplish.
We created a SlideShare channel so you could learn too. Enjoy!
We created a SlideShare channel so you could learn too. Enjoy!
The Learn Phase: HTML5. The Geekening.
View more presentations from Adam.
The Learn Phase: Recasting the Agile Manifesto
View more presentations from Adam.
A Content Strategy Toolkit
View more presentations from Adam.
8.11.2010
Trends with Traction: The Internet's Free Lunch Program is in Peril
When I was in 10th grade, my math teacher ,Mr. Steen, scrawled T-A-N-S-T-A-A-F-L in giant letters across the board on the first day of school. It stood for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."
Seemed like an odd duck thing to do at the time—and I have no idea what it had to do with math—but it was Mr. Steen's intent to make an impression and I still remember it 25 years later. It seems this math teacher knew a thing or two about how to engage young minds.
Sadly, many "Web 2.0" entrepreneurs were not lucky enough to have Mr. Steen for 10th grade math and are suffering the consequences.
A must-read Newsweek article this week titled "Take this blog ands shove it." laments the passing of a foundational tenet of the Web 2.0 "movement." It seems that vast armies of people actually won't provide free labor indefinitely.
This is a big problem because a great number of online businesses that have risen to prominence over the past several years have been built on the premise that vast armies of people actually will provide free labor indefinitely. Oops.
A couple of years ago, hoards of individuals volunteered their time to edit Wikipedia entries in their spare time. Thousands became reviewers on Digg. Zillions started their own blog.
No more.
Today, Digg is trying to shift from a social news channel to a social network (because the world needs one?) because they don't have enough contributors. 95% of those blogs people started never saw a second post. And holy of holies, Wikipedia, has been subjected to the disdainful task of actually recruiting college kids to edit its entries.
Clearly, this has implications for you, dear marketing professional, as you lift heaven and earth to engage your customers to develop content on your behalf. Beware. They are a fickle bunch, those "users" out there.
As Newsweek describes the problem:
Many other elements of the user-generated revolution, meanwhile, are beginning to look sluggish. The practice of crowd sourcing, in particular, worked because the early Web inspired a kind of collective fever, one that made the slog of writing encyclopedia entries feel new, cool, fun. But with three out of four American households online, contributions to the hive mind can seem a bit passé, and Web participation, well, boring—kind of like writing encyclopedia entries for free.
nuance that's important to understand here is that people respond to value. There used to be value in the esteem of being able to brag to your friends (or digital equivalents thereof) that you edited for Wikipedia. But now that's old news, so there's not so much esteem there. New players on the scene like Gawker and HuffPo have taken a cue from the emerging success of FourSquare and started issuing badges to their most fervent contributors (like this one on the left).
Those badges have value——for now.
Unfortunately, for organizations with a more altruistic mission like Wikipedia, their business model is doomed. Not to failure, but to selling ads so they can pay people to be editors.
Truth be told, I don't remember how Mr. Steen was as a math teacher. But I know he taught me one thing. If someone hands you a sandwich and tells you it's absolutely free, somewhere, something doesn't add up. There ain't no such thing.
Seemed like an odd duck thing to do at the time—and I have no idea what it had to do with math—but it was Mr. Steen's intent to make an impression and I still remember it 25 years later. It seems this math teacher knew a thing or two about how to engage young minds.
Sadly, many "Web 2.0" entrepreneurs were not lucky enough to have Mr. Steen for 10th grade math and are suffering the consequences.
A must-read Newsweek article this week titled "Take this blog ands shove it." laments the passing of a foundational tenet of the Web 2.0 "movement." It seems that vast armies of people actually won't provide free labor indefinitely.
This is a big problem because a great number of online businesses that have risen to prominence over the past several years have been built on the premise that vast armies of people actually will provide free labor indefinitely. Oops.
A couple of years ago, hoards of individuals volunteered their time to edit Wikipedia entries in their spare time. Thousands became reviewers on Digg. Zillions started their own blog.
No more.
Today, Digg is trying to shift from a social news channel to a social network (because the world needs one?) because they don't have enough contributors. 95% of those blogs people started never saw a second post. And holy of holies, Wikipedia, has been subjected to the disdainful task of actually recruiting college kids to edit its entries.
Clearly, this has implications for you, dear marketing professional, as you lift heaven and earth to engage your customers to develop content on your behalf. Beware. They are a fickle bunch, those "users" out there.
As Newsweek describes the problem:
Many other elements of the user-generated revolution, meanwhile, are beginning to look sluggish. The practice of crowd sourcing, in particular, worked because the early Web inspired a kind of collective fever, one that made the slog of writing encyclopedia entries feel new, cool, fun. But with three out of four American households online, contributions to the hive mind can seem a bit passé, and Web participation, well, boring—kind of like writing encyclopedia entries for free.
nuance that's important to understand here is that people respond to value. There used to be value in the esteem of being able to brag to your friends (or digital equivalents thereof) that you edited for Wikipedia. But now that's old news, so there's not so much esteem there. New players on the scene like Gawker and HuffPo have taken a cue from the emerging success of FourSquare and started issuing badges to their most fervent contributors (like this one on the left).Those badges have value——for now.
Unfortunately, for organizations with a more altruistic mission like Wikipedia, their business model is doomed. Not to failure, but to selling ads so they can pay people to be editors.
Truth be told, I don't remember how Mr. Steen was as a math teacher. But I know he taught me one thing. If someone hands you a sandwich and tells you it's absolutely free, somewhere, something doesn't add up. There ain't no such thing.
8.05.2010
Trends with Traction: Meaningful "social" measurement with Net Promoter Score
If you're a CMO, you might feel like many of the business metrics you're chasing around in social media seem futile. The tactical click-throughs and engagements on marketing programs make sense, but the aggregate business ones don't quite make sense under close inspection. Volume of brand mentions kind of makes sense if you can measure if the mentions are positive, but take a close look at sentiment analysis tools and you'll notice they don't work very well.
Of course, you must measure something. But what?
A growing number of companies are maturing their social media measurement programs by shifting their focus to optimizing their Net Promoter Score. I'm seeing this more and more in the marketplace and I think it's a damn good idea.
What is Net Promoter Score?
There's been a zillion blog posts and a great Wikipedia entry on exactly how NPS works, so I won't go into detail of that here. It is a concept that was introduced first in Harvard Business Review, then in a book called The Ultimate Question by Frederick Recihheld. Essentially, you take a survey of your customers, add up the people (promoters) who are most likely to recommend you to others, subtract the people who are less than enthused with your brand (detractors) and you've got your Net Promoter Score.
Why NPS is a vital metric.
According to Forrester Research, over 83% of purchase decisions today are influenced by word-of-mouth. That means traditional "top-down" approaches to marketing their wares through advertising are simply not enough. Marketers today have no choice but to be concerned with creating an entire brand experience that delights their customers.
NPS shows you if you're doing that. Counting tweets doesn't.
Too simple to be valuable?
No, it's not. Not only does its simplicity make it relatively easy to measure accurately, it also makes it understandable to everyone on your team, both internally and externally. And because they can understand it, they can make it their mission in life to make it better.
Contrast that to most brand valuation measures. They're based on some kooky formula. They're abstract. They're not tangible to your people. They don't deliver accountability.
And if logic isn't enough to cover your arse, it's being used right now by brands like GE, American Express and Intuit.
How it's impacting agency/client relationships.
In recent months, my agency is getting more and more requests from clients to help optimize the brand experience for their products. One is a Fortune 500 client with an online software as their product. They came to us with a challenge to increase their conversion rates—and to increase their Net Promoter Score. There was a different cast of characters in the room when we presented our approach to their problem: alongside the Marketing Director was a Product Manager who had never worked with an agency before.
Increasing NPS is a new area where agencies experienced in both interaction design and in unearthing the kind off insights that fuel great advertising can provide great value to their clients. But NPS is not just something for your agency to enhance from the outside. It's a measure that can get your whole organization on a path to creating happy customers. And that's important because you don't control the conversation anymore—your customers do.
Make sure they say nice things.
Of course, you must measure something. But what?
A growing number of companies are maturing their social media measurement programs by shifting their focus to optimizing their Net Promoter Score. I'm seeing this more and more in the marketplace and I think it's a damn good idea.
What is Net Promoter Score?
There's been a zillion blog posts and a great Wikipedia entry on exactly how NPS works, so I won't go into detail of that here. It is a concept that was introduced first in Harvard Business Review, then in a book called The Ultimate Question by Frederick Recihheld. Essentially, you take a survey of your customers, add up the people (promoters) who are most likely to recommend you to others, subtract the people who are less than enthused with your brand (detractors) and you've got your Net Promoter Score.
Why NPS is a vital metric.
According to Forrester Research, over 83% of purchase decisions today are influenced by word-of-mouth. That means traditional "top-down" approaches to marketing their wares through advertising are simply not enough. Marketers today have no choice but to be concerned with creating an entire brand experience that delights their customers.
NPS shows you if you're doing that. Counting tweets doesn't.
Too simple to be valuable?
No, it's not. Not only does its simplicity make it relatively easy to measure accurately, it also makes it understandable to everyone on your team, both internally and externally. And because they can understand it, they can make it their mission in life to make it better.
Contrast that to most brand valuation measures. They're based on some kooky formula. They're abstract. They're not tangible to your people. They don't deliver accountability.
And if logic isn't enough to cover your arse, it's being used right now by brands like GE, American Express and Intuit.
How it's impacting agency/client relationships.
In recent months, my agency is getting more and more requests from clients to help optimize the brand experience for their products. One is a Fortune 500 client with an online software as their product. They came to us with a challenge to increase their conversion rates—and to increase their Net Promoter Score. There was a different cast of characters in the room when we presented our approach to their problem: alongside the Marketing Director was a Product Manager who had never worked with an agency before.
Increasing NPS is a new area where agencies experienced in both interaction design and in unearthing the kind off insights that fuel great advertising can provide great value to their clients. But NPS is not just something for your agency to enhance from the outside. It's a measure that can get your whole organization on a path to creating happy customers. And that's important because you don't control the conversation anymore—your customers do.
Make sure they say nice things.
7.26.2010
Mad Men comes back to TV. But what about real life?
"Earned Media" then and now.
With a nod to the world we live in (SPOILER AHEAD), the creative team used "earned media" to support their print campaign for a canned ham. They paid two old ladies to get in a fight over a ham at the local supermarket and slipped a photo to the Daily News. One could imagine the story taking off even faster if the ham company had a Twitter account, but take off it did, reminding us all once again that today's generation of marketers has not invented a damn thing.
Of course, this is not the first time Mad Men has reminded us that the "Olden Days of Advertising" truly were the "Golden Days of Advertising." Remember the department store account in Season 1? Don Draper told the owner to put a restaurant in the lobby because he knew that wealthy shoppers wanted their luxury brand experience to be more than just another visit to the department store. His thinking was "innovative: and "out-of-the-box." But Don was right and the client listened. They built the restaurant because it was the right thing to do.
Step into the ROI Time Machine.
Could you imagine that conversation in today's ROI-driven world?
Don Draper: "You should build a fancy restaurant in the lobby. It's what will make your customers come back again. And mention you on their Facebook Walls."
Department Store CMO: "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Can you provide an ROI model that can tell me exactly how I'll make all of my money back in the next twelve months?"
Don Draper: "Um, no. No one has ever built a fancy restaurant in the lobby of a department store before. That's what makes this such a special idea."
Department Store CMO: "Of course! Wow. But can you provide a spreadsheet that outlines the past performance of department store fancy lobby restaurants? Then I can ask for budget."
Don Draper: "But, no one has eve... We have one other idea? How about this new DSP (department store picker) machine that can get you marginally lower click-through rates on a banner ad that will reach people that look like your customers while they are reading about Lindsay Lohan's underwear on Perez Hilton?"
Department Store CMO: "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Can you provide an ROI model that can tell me exactly how I'll make all of my money back in the next twelve months?"
Don Draper: "Sure."
Department Store CMO: "Sold."
Brand experiences today more dire than ever.
The need for Don Draper mentality is more important today than it's been in the past fifty years. Why? Because, the relentless focus on ROI is driving brands toward commoditization faster than anything has since Bill Bernbach wrote the word "Lemon" under a picture of a VW Beetle.
Today, "innovation in marketing" is regularly used as a term to describe the latest way to drive down CPMs or CPCs or CPAs—instead of how to drive up desire, demand and esteem in the mind of your customers.
This is a mistake. Yes, we need to measure. Yes, we need to optimize. Yes, we need to understand what's working and spend our money wisely.
But the truth is that half of the things marketers should be doing for their brands are not predictably quantifiable. They require strategic thinking, creativity, vision and instinct to pull off—not spreadsheets that complex mathematical equations over disjointed assumptions.
New ideas are new. The Mad Men of advertising knew this. Have we forgotten?
6.07.2010
What do you get when you throw a copywriter, an information architect and a media planner into a blender?
Hint: the answer is not a new "Will it blend?" viral video.
It's a content strategist—the hottest new job title to hit the agency scene since "social media guru" started popping up on LinkedIn profiles across the digital universe a couple years ago. With one great exception: this one actually services a vital business function and requires a professional skill set to perform
(I could rant on about every Tom, Dick and Mary with a Twitter account declaring themselves to be a guru, maven or superstar, but do I really need to?).
(I could rant on about every Tom, Dick and Mary with a Twitter account declaring themselves to be a guru, maven or superstar, but do I really need to?).
But, let's get back to content strategy—which serves an incredibly important function.
Why Content Strategy? Why now?
The emerging science on content strategy has emerged in response to two important trends:
(Copywriters + Information Architects) * Media Planners =
I've always observed a natural proclivity and intuitive skill toward information architecture prevalent in experienced Copywriters I've worked with. This is because good writers understand how to craft a narrative to communicate to an audience. That is essentially what good Information Architects do. Sure, the tools they use are not the same—one uses words, the other flowcharts and wireframes—but the principles are exactly the same.
The emerging science on content strategy has emerged in response to two important trends:
- Brands are realizing that they can create more meaningful and long-term engagement with their customers by providing a continual stream of valuable content and platforms that deliver that content than they ever could with one-hit wonders like the million dollar micro-sites we saw so much of a few years ago.
- Customers are now empowered to consume media on their own terms. And they do so, ferociously.
What's left is a vital need to figure out what all that content should be, where it should come from and how it will get distributed and redistributed to audiences. Ergo, the content strategist is born.
Introducing the Content Strategist
Notice I said "content strategist," not "content strategy." That's been around for quite awhile. I opened up a PowerPoint deck today that was created at Traction in 2006 that was titled "Content Strategy" on the front page. But now because of all this content that needs to be created and all these places it needs to be distributed, we are seeing digital agency want ad listings for content strategists.
So, who are these strange creatures? What makes a good one?
We live in the age of the mash-up, so it's only natural that this new position is a mash-up kind of gig. To be specific, a mash-up of copywriting, information architecture and media planning. Put them all in a blender and you've got a content strategist.
Let me break it down.
(Copywriters + Information Architects) * Media Planners =
I've always observed a natural proclivity and intuitive skill toward information architecture prevalent in experienced Copywriters I've worked with. This is because good writers understand how to craft a narrative to communicate to an audience. That is essentially what good Information Architects do. Sure, the tools they use are not the same—one uses words, the other flowcharts and wireframes—but the principles are exactly the same.
Remember the five paragraph essay you learned about in high school?
Paragraph 1 - the Intro
Paragraph 2 - the Counterpoint
Paragraph 3 - Support Point A
Paragraph 4 - Support Point B
Paragraph 5 - Conclusion
That was a mechanism we learned to craft an argument. But why? Because when you turn it on it's head and look at it from a reader's perspective, it's a great framework for convincing people of an idea. This framework is very similar to use case scenarios, a tool used by information architects to map out a visitors anticipated behaviors as they navigate through an application or website. Use case scenarios are a kind of narrative.
Watch me do this quickly:
Intro: Copywriters make great Information Architects
Counterpoint: Admittedly, one works in Word, a writing tool, and the other works in Visio or OmniGraffle, a visual tool
Support Point A: However, the principles behind effective written communication and use case scenarios are the same
Support Point B: And, if you look in the dictionary for a definition to the word "design" you'll find "to plan and fashion artistically" which is a fantastic description of what both of these professionals do every day.
Conclusion: So you see, the principles are the same and their really just different kinds of designers in the first place which is why Copywriters make great Information Architects.
So, the copywriter and the IA are in the blender. How does the media planner come into the picture?
Figuring out what to say is only half the battle.
The question remains: "Where to say it?"
The answer is as many places as make sense. Take this blog post. I'll post it to my personal blog. I'll post it to my blog on iMediaConnection. I'll tweet about it. I'll post it to Facebook. Maybe I'll get ambitious and post it to a Content Strategy group on LinkedIn. There are a zillion ways I could distribute the content I create. If I'm smart, I'll have an objective and I'll have a plan.
A key part of the content strategist role is figuring out where to say it. This is where the Media Planner influence comes in. That involves an understanding of the media consumption habits of the target and of which distribution platforms will work best to achieve your marketing objectives. It also involves an understanding of how much effort it will take to adapt content to that medium (should I add "producer" to my mathematical equation?)
Should Content Strategists exist?
To tell you the truth, I'm on the fence about this. Content strategy definitely needs to exist. But content strategists?
The roles of content creation and content distribution are no doubt closer than they've ever been. That's why I'm constantly dragging folks from the creative department out to iMedia Summits. Having an understanding of the media landscape gives my team a competitive advantage. Today, more than ever, the medium is the message. In the agency of the future, the media planner will sit with the creative team.
But, should they be the same person? I'm leaning toward no. At my agency, Traction, everyone is a strategist. We use cross-functional teams to infuse strategy, innovation and creativity into everything we do. I see no reason to create a special role to perform a service we collaboratively deliver.
What do you think?
Figuring out what to say is only half the battle.
The question remains: "Where to say it?"
The answer is as many places as make sense. Take this blog post. I'll post it to my personal blog. I'll post it to my blog on iMediaConnection. I'll tweet about it. I'll post it to Facebook. Maybe I'll get ambitious and post it to a Content Strategy group on LinkedIn. There are a zillion ways I could distribute the content I create. If I'm smart, I'll have an objective and I'll have a plan.
A key part of the content strategist role is figuring out where to say it. This is where the Media Planner influence comes in. That involves an understanding of the media consumption habits of the target and of which distribution platforms will work best to achieve your marketing objectives. It also involves an understanding of how much effort it will take to adapt content to that medium (should I add "producer" to my mathematical equation?)
Should Content Strategists exist?
To tell you the truth, I'm on the fence about this. Content strategy definitely needs to exist. But content strategists?
The roles of content creation and content distribution are no doubt closer than they've ever been. That's why I'm constantly dragging folks from the creative department out to iMedia Summits. Having an understanding of the media landscape gives my team a competitive advantage. Today, more than ever, the medium is the message. In the agency of the future, the media planner will sit with the creative team.
But, should they be the same person? I'm leaning toward no. At my agency, Traction, everyone is a strategist. We use cross-functional teams to infuse strategy, innovation and creativity into everything we do. I see no reason to create a special role to perform a service we collaboratively deliver.
What do you think?
5.19.2010
Why Danger Mouse is the most relevant man in music
I came across a feature in this Sunday's SF Chron (yes, I still read the newspaper) detailing the litany of projects that Danger Mouse (the dude on the right) has produced since he put together "The Grey Album" in 2004 (which I'm listening to as I write this post).
If you're not familiar with "The Grey Album," it was a mashup of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" with the Beatles "White Album."Was it legal? No. Was it awesome? Yes. And it made Danger Mouse a superstar. Since then, he has gone on to collaborate with artists like the Gorillaz, Beck and most recently, James Mercer from the Shins (the dude on the right). Not to mention Gnarls Barkley. But Danger Mouse is more than just a superstar.
Danger Mouse is the most relevant artist in music today.
Full disclosure.
Before I get into why I think Danger Mouse is so relevant, I must disclose that I sort of know him. Not well, but well enough to root for his success.
To me, Danger Mouse is Brian Burton, a kid who grew up around the corner from me in Spring Valley, a suburb outside of NYC. He was friend's with my kid sister and I remember him coming by the house a couple of times. I used to go over to his house with my dad, who was a plumber, to fix the sink every once in a while. His dad was a real cool guy. I remember he raised show dogs. Brian was always a really nice kid, but to be honest, I hadn't thought of him until my sister said to me on the phone one day, "You ever hear of Danger Mouse? He's Brian-fucking-Burton from around the block!"
This is all interesting stuff, but it's not what makes Danger Mouse so damn relevant. Here's what is:
He embodies the expectations of the Millennial generation
I saw a study a few years ago that asked college students if they thought they would be famous in their lifetime. 28% said yes. Not that they could be famous. Not that the might be famous. That they would be famous! That was amazing to me, but fame is a very tangible thing in the YouTube era. And because it's perceived as actually within reach, people desire it even more. Tens of millions of people tune into American Idol every week because they are entranced with the notion that any one of us with the talent and the desire can take the fast track up the career ladder and become a star.
Danger Mouse said screw the ladder.
He didn't ask for permission. He made something because it was cool. He put it up on the web and now he's famous. That, ladies and gentlemen, is today's American Dream.
He embodies the malleable nature of media
A fundamental shift happened with the advent of "Web 2.0" and social media: the internet effectively shifted from a series of static pages that we passively look at to an immersive experience that we actively engage with. The web today is a malleable object. And soon, all media will follow suit.
Music is no different. All you need is a Mac with GarageBand and you're a musician. Of course, like any creative endeavor it takes tremendous talent involved in doing it very well.
If you're not familiar with "The Grey Album," it was a mashup of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" with the Beatles "White Album."Was it legal? No. Was it awesome? Yes. And it made Danger Mouse a superstar. Since then, he has gone on to collaborate with artists like the Gorillaz, Beck and most recently, James Mercer from the Shins (the dude on the right). Not to mention Gnarls Barkley. But Danger Mouse is more than just a superstar.Danger Mouse is the most relevant artist in music today.
Full disclosure.
Before I get into why I think Danger Mouse is so relevant, I must disclose that I sort of know him. Not well, but well enough to root for his success.
To me, Danger Mouse is Brian Burton, a kid who grew up around the corner from me in Spring Valley, a suburb outside of NYC. He was friend's with my kid sister and I remember him coming by the house a couple of times. I used to go over to his house with my dad, who was a plumber, to fix the sink every once in a while. His dad was a real cool guy. I remember he raised show dogs. Brian was always a really nice kid, but to be honest, I hadn't thought of him until my sister said to me on the phone one day, "You ever hear of Danger Mouse? He's Brian-fucking-Burton from around the block!"
This is all interesting stuff, but it's not what makes Danger Mouse so damn relevant. Here's what is:
He embodies the expectations of the Millennial generation
I saw a study a few years ago that asked college students if they thought they would be famous in their lifetime. 28% said yes. Not that they could be famous. Not that the might be famous. That they would be famous! That was amazing to me, but fame is a very tangible thing in the YouTube era. And because it's perceived as actually within reach, people desire it even more. Tens of millions of people tune into American Idol every week because they are entranced with the notion that any one of us with the talent and the desire can take the fast track up the career ladder and become a star.
Danger Mouse said screw the ladder.
He didn't ask for permission. He made something because it was cool. He put it up on the web and now he's famous. That, ladies and gentlemen, is today's American Dream.
He embodies the malleable nature of media
A fundamental shift happened with the advent of "Web 2.0" and social media: the internet effectively shifted from a series of static pages that we passively look at to an immersive experience that we actively engage with. The web today is a malleable object. And soon, all media will follow suit.
Music is no different. All you need is a Mac with GarageBand and you're a musician. Of course, like any creative endeavor it takes tremendous talent involved in doing it very well. Danger Mouse had that talent. But he didn't have a studio and producers and loads of expensive equipment. He had a Mac and GarageBand. And he mashed up a plate of genius.
He embodies the collaborative world we live in
In their book, "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything,
" Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams describe a new economy where companies are taking advantage of a new collaborative world to foster innovation and grow their enterprises.
Brands like Procter & Gamble, BMW, Lego, Boeing, and Netflix are all actively going outside their walls to find new ways to innovate and better ways to produce their goods and services. These companies are pioneers of the collaborative economy.
Danger Mouse is a pioneer of the collaborative musiconomy.
Take a look at his resume:
In their book, "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything,
" Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams describe a new economy where companies are taking advantage of a new collaborative world to foster innovation and grow their enterprises.Brands like Procter & Gamble, BMW, Lego, Boeing, and Netflix are all actively going outside their walls to find new ways to innovate and better ways to produce their goods and services. These companies are pioneers of the collaborative economy.
Danger Mouse is a pioneer of the collaborative musiconomy.
Take a look at his resume:
- 2004 - he puts out "The Grey Album"
- 2005 - he produces a record for the Gorillaz
- later in 2005 - he puts out "The Mouse and the Mask" with MF Doom under the moniker DangerDoom
- 2006 - Gnarls Barkley releases #1 hit "Crazy" this a collaboration with Cee-Lo Green
- 2007 - produces "The Good, the Bad and the Queen" with ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the Verve's Simon Tong and Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen
- 2008 - collaborates with The Black Keys
- 2008, again - collaborates with Beck
- 2009 - collaborates with Sparklehorse
- 2010 - collaborates with Mercer
Notice a trend? This is guy is blazing trails everywhere he goes and in everything he does. Collaboration is not a special on the menu. It is the menu.
No one else in music this today is so dialed into everything that's shaping the cultural landscape today.
Brian, you are making it happen. Keep it up.
And, Amanda says "hi."
5.13.2010
Facebook's virtual currency vig is not so bad
Facebook-hating is becoming quite vogue these days. Seems everybody has an opinion about why these guys are horrifically evil. Maybe they are, but one thing that's come under scrutiny certainly doesn't make them so. It is their new rule that games use Facebook's virtual currency... and that Facebook gets a 30% cut.
This is obviously a deep cut into the revenue of rising stars--particularly Zynga that has over 80 million people playing Farmville on the Facebook platform. But is it wrong?
Maybe if you live in the fantasy world where the notion of giving away unlimited value to the masses for free has become sone sort of quasi-religious moral imperative. But here's a news flash:
Facebook is a business.
Zynga is making millions of dollars running a business on the Facebook platform. Why shouldn't Facebook get a cut? Apple gets 50% of revenue from music sold in the iTunes Store. Is that any different? They created the platform, they get paid.
Ironically, Facebook is getting slammed for creating a virtual currency standard. Zynga may bemoan that fact, but it's something I'm sure they'd like to do themselves. Granted, Facebook's standard is a pproprietary one, but a standard nonetheless.
What do you think? Is Facebook evil?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This is obviously a deep cut into the revenue of rising stars--particularly Zynga that has over 80 million people playing Farmville on the Facebook platform. But is it wrong?
Maybe if you live in the fantasy world where the notion of giving away unlimited value to the masses for free has become sone sort of quasi-religious moral imperative. But here's a news flash:
Facebook is a business.
Zynga is making millions of dollars running a business on the Facebook platform. Why shouldn't Facebook get a cut? Apple gets 50% of revenue from music sold in the iTunes Store. Is that any different? They created the platform, they get paid.
Ironically, Facebook is getting slammed for creating a virtual currency standard. Zynga may bemoan that fact, but it's something I'm sure they'd like to do themselves. Granted, Facebook's standard is a pproprietary one, but a standard nonetheless.
What do you think? Is Facebook evil?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
5.10.2010
Persuasion - A lost art?
Some direct response marketers claim that the focus on ROI and auction-based media forces good creative. That notion illustrates a fundamental problem in advertising today—that the art of persuasion is dying. And it's simply not true.
The dominance of direct response has made it so that good creative has been relegated to what performs well in driving clicks. Sure, the more sophisticated wonks out there focus on the second or third click and name it a conversion, but it's still about a click. As long as it fits neatly in a spreadsheet.
Persuading audiences to click may result in measurable ROI, but David Ogilvy would roll over in his grave to think that this is what the art of persuasion has been reduced to. Persuasion has the power to change mass behavior, to create demand, to impact culture, to inspire. It requires an understanding of the rational and the emotional triggers that drive human needs and desires. And when those kinds of insight are combined with creativity, they can be transformative. But sadly, persuasion is an emotional achievement that doesn't always fit neatly into a spreadsheet.
Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't measure and optimize online creative. It's an imperative. So, let's put our tracking tags in place and move on.
When I was at DDB a decade ago, Keith Reinhard came by the office and spoke to us all. He asked us how many famous banner ads we could name. He challenged us to think bravely in a 468 pixel wide box. Direct response driven marketing does not lead us to fulfill that challenge. Rather than compel us to think creatively, it drives the industry to do what worked well last week, but try and make it .01% better at achieving clicks.
Yesterday, I spoke to a direct-focused marketer who told me that honestly, the creative they run that performs best are ads with fear-based messaging, so that's what they wind up running. They hadn't invested in their brand at all because they couldn't measure the ROI of that. And they were steadily seeing a long-term decline in their results.
That is a direct result of online being dominated by direct response.
Two weeks ago, I spoke to a client from a major consumer software brand. He began the conversation by saying that our work and our service was far better than another agency they had been working with, but they had to shift more of their work to that other agency for one reason. They were cheaper. I explained why we charged what we did: the steps we took to ensure quality creative and our rigorous quality assurance testing process. He looked at me with a completely straight face and said "What if we don't care if you do all that QA? That's not how our bonuses are calculated."
That is a direct result of online being dominated by direct response.
Last week, I had the opportunity to see Scott Bedbury, the former CMO of Nike and Starbucks speak. He started off his conversation telling the audience that we were facing the commoditization of Planet Earth and that the perceived difference between brands was never smaller. He reminded us that some of the most important things you can do for a brand are not predictably quantifiable.
I'm sorry. I just can't buy that a shoulder shrug that failed attempts to encourage the advertisers to also care about those earlier in the buy cycle adds up to forcing good creative.
Special thanks to industry vet, Tom Cunniff, for inspiring this post.
The dominance of direct response has made it so that good creative has been relegated to what performs well in driving clicks. Sure, the more sophisticated wonks out there focus on the second or third click and name it a conversion, but it's still about a click. As long as it fits neatly in a spreadsheet.
Persuading audiences to click may result in measurable ROI, but David Ogilvy would roll over in his grave to think that this is what the art of persuasion has been reduced to. Persuasion has the power to change mass behavior, to create demand, to impact culture, to inspire. It requires an understanding of the rational and the emotional triggers that drive human needs and desires. And when those kinds of insight are combined with creativity, they can be transformative. But sadly, persuasion is an emotional achievement that doesn't always fit neatly into a spreadsheet.
Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't measure and optimize online creative. It's an imperative. So, let's put our tracking tags in place and move on.
When I was at DDB a decade ago, Keith Reinhard came by the office and spoke to us all. He asked us how many famous banner ads we could name. He challenged us to think bravely in a 468 pixel wide box. Direct response driven marketing does not lead us to fulfill that challenge. Rather than compel us to think creatively, it drives the industry to do what worked well last week, but try and make it .01% better at achieving clicks.
Yesterday, I spoke to a direct-focused marketer who told me that honestly, the creative they run that performs best are ads with fear-based messaging, so that's what they wind up running. They hadn't invested in their brand at all because they couldn't measure the ROI of that. And they were steadily seeing a long-term decline in their results.
That is a direct result of online being dominated by direct response.
Two weeks ago, I spoke to a client from a major consumer software brand. He began the conversation by saying that our work and our service was far better than another agency they had been working with, but they had to shift more of their work to that other agency for one reason. They were cheaper. I explained why we charged what we did: the steps we took to ensure quality creative and our rigorous quality assurance testing process. He looked at me with a completely straight face and said "What if we don't care if you do all that QA? That's not how our bonuses are calculated."
That is a direct result of online being dominated by direct response.
Last week, I had the opportunity to see Scott Bedbury, the former CMO of Nike and Starbucks speak. He started off his conversation telling the audience that we were facing the commoditization of Planet Earth and that the perceived difference between brands was never smaller. He reminded us that some of the most important things you can do for a brand are not predictably quantifiable.
I'm sorry. I just can't buy that a shoulder shrug that failed attempts to encourage the advertisers to also care about those earlier in the buy cycle adds up to forcing good creative.
Special thanks to industry vet, Tom Cunniff, for inspiring this post.
3.11.2010
Traction named Top Interactive Agency for 2nd year in a row!
We're drinking champagne again this week! BtoB Magazine just named named Traction runner-up for Interactive Agency of the Year for 2010. This on the heels of our winning Agency of the Year for 2009. Here's a snip from the article:
“What differentiates us is that we're thinking about how the marketing landscape works in a world where the funnel no longer exists, and we're creating plans that not only move people toward conversion but toward a conversation,” said Adam Kleinberg, CEO of the San Francisco-based agency. “We believe everything is interactive.”Check out the rest of the article here.
1.06.2010
Top ten Traction news stories of 2009
Well, the year's not over yet, but I've got some time before the turkey's ready and lots to be thankful for. Here's a wrap-up of Traction's top news stories of 2009.
1. Traction wins 2009 Interactive Agency of the Year :: BtoB Magazine (Apr 6, 2009) - My favorite story hands-down. Traction named the # 1 digital agency in the U.S.
2. Top interactive agencies benefit from shift online :: BtoB Magazine (Apr 6, 2009) - Traction is highlighted in this article covering shops with a digital edge.
3. Traction pulls ahead :: San Francisco Business Times (Dec 1, 2009) - Full-page feature on Traction after we were named #51 on the list of the Fastest Growing Companies in the Bay Area.
4. Social Media Agencies to watch :: iMediaConnection (August 17, 2009) - Traction was one of four agencies noted for "Moving beyond the experimental phase" in social media
5. Alibaba.com Plans U.S. Push :: WSJ (Aug 7, 2009) - Traction's campaign for Alibaba.com featured in the Wall Street Journal
6. "China's eBay" targets U.S. entrepreneurs :: CNN (Aug 14, 2009) - While CNN wrongly describes Alibaba.com in the title (people who sell on eBay find stuff to sell on Alibaba!), they describe the work well—"The creative is earnest and funny—you may even laugh out loud at Dave, the action figure proprietor"—earning them a spot on my list.
7. Inc. 500 | 5000, No. 1,399 Traction :: Inc. Magazine (Sep 24, 2009) - This was a great accomplishment. Check out my post about my experience at the Inc. 5000 Conference.
8. Ad Industry Innovator: Traction :: Hitch (Apr 21, 2009) - Traction was the first agency highlighted in this series on advertising innovators on the Hitch blog.
9. Designing Minds: Traction :: Adobe TV (Jun 8, 2008) - OK, this was 2008, but I love it and it's video, so it's making my list. Traction was featured in this brief documentary video produced by Adobe.
10. Interview with Susan Bratton :: DishyMix - Last, but definitely not least, I was interviewed by marketing diva Susan Bratton about "Building a Successful 21st Century Agency" on the DishyMix podcast.
1. Traction wins 2009 Interactive Agency of the Year :: BtoB Magazine (Apr 6, 2009) - My favorite story hands-down. Traction named the # 1 digital agency in the U.S.
2. Top interactive agencies benefit from shift online :: BtoB Magazine (Apr 6, 2009) - Traction is highlighted in this article covering shops with a digital edge.
4. Social Media Agencies to watch :: iMediaConnection (August 17, 2009) - Traction was one of four agencies noted for "Moving beyond the experimental phase" in social media
5. Alibaba.com Plans U.S. Push :: WSJ (Aug 7, 2009) - Traction's campaign for Alibaba.com featured in the Wall Street Journal
6. "China's eBay" targets U.S. entrepreneurs :: CNN (Aug 14, 2009) - While CNN wrongly describes Alibaba.com in the title (people who sell on eBay find stuff to sell on Alibaba!), they describe the work well—"The creative is earnest and funny—you may even laugh out loud at Dave, the action figure proprietor"—earning them a spot on my list.
7. Inc. 500 | 5000, No. 1,399 Traction :: Inc. Magazine (Sep 24, 2009) - This was a great accomplishment. Check out my post about my experience at the Inc. 5000 Conference.
8. Ad Industry Innovator: Traction :: Hitch (Apr 21, 2009) - Traction was the first agency highlighted in this series on advertising innovators on the Hitch blog.
9. Designing Minds: Traction :: Adobe TV (Jun 8, 2008) - OK, this was 2008, but I love it and it's video, so it's making my list. Traction was featured in this brief documentary video produced by Adobe.
10. Interview with Susan Bratton :: DishyMix - Last, but definitely not least, I was interviewed by marketing diva Susan Bratton about "Building a Successful 21st Century Agency" on the DishyMix podcast.
Digital marketing resolutions for 2010
If nothing more, 2009 was a year for everyone in this godforsaken industry to reflect. For most, it was a year of tremendous struggle. That's OK. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. And we're far from dead.
I had the good fortune to see Jim Collins, the author of "Good to Great" at the Inc. 5000 Conference (Traction was proud to be No. 1,399 on the list) a few months ago. He gave some sage wisdom to the crowd:
Don't just have a to-do list. Keep a not-to-do list.
That's wisdom I've taken to heart, so I've kept my list of resolutions this year to a list of not-to-dos.
So, what did we learn? What can we do about it next year? I run an agency, and here's a list of my New Year's resolutions.
1. Do not gain back that five pounds.
2009 was a year of belt-tightening for everyone. It forced many of us to become more operationally efficient. We became a lean, mean, interactive experience-producing machine.
As business picks up in 2010, I'm going to make sure my agency is running a streamlined operation.
2. Do not build silos.
A long time ago, agencies were not quite sure what to do with this whole "internet thing," so they created little silos filled with hairy, tattooed kids and kept them around the corner from the "real" creatives that wrote the TV spots and print ads. I was one of those kids and thought this was utterly stupid.
So stupid, in fact, that we started our own agency that was born integrated -- we had one team that produced ideas and then thought about how best to execute them across channels. Now, many of those "traditional" agencies are crumbling. Who was right?
Today, agencies are not quite sure what to do about this whole "social media thing," so what are they doing? You guessed it. Silos.
Not this guy.
3. Do not tell my clients it's the year of mobile.
Mobile is myopic. It's a tactic, not a strategy.
The real trend is that people are empowered to consume media and content on their own terms. Mobile devices, netbooks, interactive television, digital billboards -- screens are everywhere we look. Brands need to be thinking about how they can produce content people want to consume and how they can distribute it as efficiently as possible to all of these channels.
I say it's the year of distributed consumption.
4. Do not talk the talk without walking the walk.
It's very easy for us to read a few articles on social media, add the word "guru" to our LinkedIn profiles, and start talking about transparency as keys to success in social media.
But how many agencies are actually being transparent in how they do business?
Just as transparency has become an expectation of consumers in their interactions with brands, it is becoming an expectation of brands in their interactions with agencies. The agencies that try to hold onto their smoke and mirrors in 2010 will be in for a struggle.
5. Do not believe the recession is over.
For some of us, 2009 was actually a good year -- perhaps because we were in the digital place at the right time. Perhaps because we were more willing and able to change with the market. For many, a flurry of new business activity in Q4 has us feeling optimistic about the economy coming back in 2010.
Optimism is good. Over-confidence, however, can be a brutal mistake.
The global economy is shifting dramatically and will continue to do so for quite a while. Millions of feet of commercial real estate will become vacant next year, sending new ripples through our financial system.
What impacts will these issues have on our business? Beats me. But, you can bet they will have impacts.
6. Do not train people. Cross-train them.
No, I'm not talking about taking them jogging and then out for a bike ride.
I'm talking about the absolute fact that if your people are not well-versed in multiple aspects of the advertising business, they are simply not prepared to be of valuable service in this day and age. It is not enough to train your people to be great at your job. You need to cross-train them.
Designers need to understand media. Account people need to understand social media. Copy writers need to understand analytics. And you need to set up the means by which they can gain this understanding.
7. Do not give up on big ideas.
There's so much focus on direct response and social media right now that it's easy to forget that great ideas can have a transformative impact on brands.
I was at a client's office the other day, and the company had York Peppermint Patties in the candy dish on the receptionist's desk. I excitedly picked one up and said to my co-worker, "When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty... " How many years has it been since I've seen that commercial? Fifteen? Twenty? But it's still embedded deeply in my memory.
And as powerful as ideas have always been at creating emotional resonance between brands and consumers in advertising, they are even more valuable today. Now, the definition of what an ad is has exploded, and a limitless palette of opportunity lies before brands.
An example: Tampax wanted to build connections with young women, but how do you identify with a tampon ad? Well, here's an idea: BeingGirl.com, the online community that is "for girls, by girls" -- and sponsored by Tampax. And hundreds of thousands have shared intimate experiences with one another and with that brand.
Ideas have allowed brands to go far beyond Mr. Whipple. Ideas are what fuel innovation. Innovation fuels growth.
So in 2010, I'm going to be sure to not stop bringing ideas to the brands we work with every chance I get.
This article was originally published on iMediaConnection.com.
I had the good fortune to see Jim Collins, the author of "Good to Great" at the Inc. 5000 Conference (Traction was proud to be No. 1,399 on the list) a few months ago. He gave some sage wisdom to the crowd:
Don't just have a to-do list. Keep a not-to-do list.
That's wisdom I've taken to heart, so I've kept my list of resolutions this year to a list of not-to-dos.
So, what did we learn? What can we do about it next year? I run an agency, and here's a list of my New Year's resolutions.
1. Do not gain back that five pounds.
2009 was a year of belt-tightening for everyone. It forced many of us to become more operationally efficient. We became a lean, mean, interactive experience-producing machine.
As business picks up in 2010, I'm going to make sure my agency is running a streamlined operation.
2. Do not build silos.
A long time ago, agencies were not quite sure what to do with this whole "internet thing," so they created little silos filled with hairy, tattooed kids and kept them around the corner from the "real" creatives that wrote the TV spots and print ads. I was one of those kids and thought this was utterly stupid.
So stupid, in fact, that we started our own agency that was born integrated -- we had one team that produced ideas and then thought about how best to execute them across channels. Now, many of those "traditional" agencies are crumbling. Who was right?
Today, agencies are not quite sure what to do about this whole "social media thing," so what are they doing? You guessed it. Silos.
Not this guy.
3. Do not tell my clients it's the year of mobile.
Mobile is myopic. It's a tactic, not a strategy.
The real trend is that people are empowered to consume media and content on their own terms. Mobile devices, netbooks, interactive television, digital billboards -- screens are everywhere we look. Brands need to be thinking about how they can produce content people want to consume and how they can distribute it as efficiently as possible to all of these channels.
I say it's the year of distributed consumption.
4. Do not talk the talk without walking the walk.
It's very easy for us to read a few articles on social media, add the word "guru" to our LinkedIn profiles, and start talking about transparency as keys to success in social media.
But how many agencies are actually being transparent in how they do business?
Just as transparency has become an expectation of consumers in their interactions with brands, it is becoming an expectation of brands in their interactions with agencies. The agencies that try to hold onto their smoke and mirrors in 2010 will be in for a struggle.
5. Do not believe the recession is over.
For some of us, 2009 was actually a good year -- perhaps because we were in the digital place at the right time. Perhaps because we were more willing and able to change with the market. For many, a flurry of new business activity in Q4 has us feeling optimistic about the economy coming back in 2010.
Optimism is good. Over-confidence, however, can be a brutal mistake.
The global economy is shifting dramatically and will continue to do so for quite a while. Millions of feet of commercial real estate will become vacant next year, sending new ripples through our financial system.
What impacts will these issues have on our business? Beats me. But, you can bet they will have impacts.
6. Do not train people. Cross-train them.
No, I'm not talking about taking them jogging and then out for a bike ride.
I'm talking about the absolute fact that if your people are not well-versed in multiple aspects of the advertising business, they are simply not prepared to be of valuable service in this day and age. It is not enough to train your people to be great at your job. You need to cross-train them.
Designers need to understand media. Account people need to understand social media. Copy writers need to understand analytics. And you need to set up the means by which they can gain this understanding.
7. Do not give up on big ideas.
There's so much focus on direct response and social media right now that it's easy to forget that great ideas can have a transformative impact on brands.
I was at a client's office the other day, and the company had York Peppermint Patties in the candy dish on the receptionist's desk. I excitedly picked one up and said to my co-worker, "When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty... " How many years has it been since I've seen that commercial? Fifteen? Twenty? But it's still embedded deeply in my memory.
And as powerful as ideas have always been at creating emotional resonance between brands and consumers in advertising, they are even more valuable today. Now, the definition of what an ad is has exploded, and a limitless palette of opportunity lies before brands.
An example: Tampax wanted to build connections with young women, but how do you identify with a tampon ad? Well, here's an idea: BeingGirl.com, the online community that is "for girls, by girls" -- and sponsored by Tampax. And hundreds of thousands have shared intimate experiences with one another and with that brand.
Ideas have allowed brands to go far beyond Mr. Whipple. Ideas are what fuel innovation. Innovation fuels growth.
So in 2010, I'm going to be sure to not stop bringing ideas to the brands we work with every chance I get.
This article was originally published on iMediaConnection.com.
12.21.2009
Brizzly Makes a TwitFace
But do Facebook and Twitter belong together?
Another guest post by Carly Schwartz
Another guest post by Carly Schwartz
Of all the social media aggregators out there these days, I was most excited to beta-test Brizzly, and not just because its icon is more adorable than the Snuggle bear. The program promises to simplify online social activity by allowing you to access Twitter and Facebook at the same time, on the same screen. As a longtime user of both platforms for very different purposes, my curiosity piqued. Is it possible to enjoy the benefits of both at once?
Brizzly offers a way to view your Facebook and Twitter accounts on the same webpage, dividing the two programs by tabs. Its clean interface makes for easy navigation of content. Users can even integrate up to five Twitter profiles into their Brizzly account and peruse the individual pages’ activity side-by-side.
Brizzly’s Twitter content looks almost exactly like Twitter’s webpage itself, with minor design tweaks (black stars instead of gold ones for favoring posts, lists moved to the lefthand side of the page instead of the right). Its Facebook content, however, is much more limited, displaying only news feeds, wall postings, and status updates—essentially Facebook’s most Twitter-esque features.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Brizzly is its ability to explain Twitter trends. Users simply click “why?” next to a topic, and Brizzly offers a concise explanation in a neat little pop-up box. This saved me the agony of scrolling through streams of 140-character gobbledygook to figure out why #sorrysorry appeared as the number one trend yesterday, as Brizzly quickly informed me it’s a reference to a hit single by Korea’s Super Junior, allegedly the world’s largest boy band. Fascinating stuff, I know.
Other useful Brizzly features include the ability to embed photos and videos into the actual Twitter stream (as opposed to accessing the content on a separate client like Twitpic) and the option of saving drafts of your tweets and Facebook status updates (not sure why anyone would want to, but it’s a nice touch). Its real-time updates feature also saves users from constantly refreshing their page, a flaw that plagues both Twitter’s and Facebook’s original websites.
While most of Brizzly’s positive attributes relate to its Twitter features, the majority of its problems have to do with Facebook. Its Facebook content prohibits users from updating their profiles, playing games, chatting, or engaging with any part of the program beyond the wall. When users click a link to access their Facebook photos, a new window opens up entirely, directing to their actual Facebook pages. Kind of defeats the purpose of accessing Facebook through a separate client.
Brizzly’s successful use of Twitter and limited integration of Facebook begs the question: Do Facebook and Twitter—or any differing social mediums, for that matter—belong together? As social media continues to evolve, will one network reign supreme, or do different programs serve different purposes?
I’ve been actively tweeting for more than a year, and on Facebook since [gasp!] 2004, and I use each platform for very different reasons. Though Facebook statuses are useful every now and then to brag about an impending vacation or vent about a tough day at the office, for me, the program is a vehicle for keeping in touch and communicating with friends. Whether chronicling photos, planning a party, playing a game of Scrabble, stalking a crush, or indulging in general vanity, Facebook is best suited as a means to socialize in the digital space.
Twitter, on the other hand, is an information aggregator extraordinaire. I use Twitter to read the news, stumble upon discounts, follow my favorite musicians and artists, share interesting tidbits, and monitor the general pulse of San Francisco. Of course, a few friends and I call each other out on inside jokes and upcoming plans, but I prefer to use Facebook for that.
Furthermore, as a member of the ad industry, I believe tools like Brizzly inhibit the potential to develop marketing programs across social platforms. Successful social campaigns take very different forms on Facebook (games, fan pages, gifts) than they do on Twitter (hashtags, retweets, customer relationship management). Integrating the two poses a significant challenge for marketers, who clearly want to move beyond display banner ads as the social space continues to grow.
Despite Brizzly’s earnest attempt to blend the two programs, I think they’re ultimately better off alone. Social networks will continue to grow and find their respective footings in the coming years. For now, there’s a place for Facebook and a place for Twitter, and although some of their features overlap, I’m not convinced they belong next to each other—even when joined by a mascot cute enough to turn my insides to oatmeal.
Despite Brizzly’s earnest attempt to blend the two programs, I think they’re ultimately better off alone. Social networks will continue to grow and find their respective footings in the coming years. For now, there’s a place for Facebook and a place for Twitter, and although some of their features overlap, I’m not convinced they belong next to each other—even when joined by a mascot cute enough to turn my insides to oatmeal.
12.11.2009
A Creative Alien at the iMedia Agency Summit
This is a guest post written by blogger Renee Crawshaw, Associate Creative Director at Traction.
I've just returned from the iMedia Agency Summit in Scottsdale. On my first day, a group of four Summit veterans took us newbies aside to tell us what to expect in the coming days. Afterward, I asked the group of 40 or so freshmen if there were any other creatives present. Not a single hand raised. It was plain to see: I wasn't in Kansas anymore.
Now, to be fair, the iMedia Agency Summit is the opportunity for agency media planners and buyers to meet with digital publishers and technology providers. But as the person who is ultimately responsible for communicating ideas through digital media, it's important that I understand their capabilities. That's why I jumped at the chance to go. And I encourage more creatives to get their names on the invite lists of future Summits. Here is a bit of what I took away.
Collaboration, education, and standardization.
At the Summit, these three ideas were meant to apply to the relationships between media agencies, publishers, and clients. From a creative person's point of view, I say that they apply to how we here at Traction approach a project. We employ cross-discipline collaboration, starting at the concepting phase. In addition to the copywriter and art director, our brainstorms include our UX designer and our technical leads. This organic ebb and flow of expertise from each discipline results in experiences that generate visceral responses and reflect natural human behaviors on the web.
Traditional, digital, social: it's all a big blur.
Deelish, isn't it? I'm a copywriter by discipline. Nine years ago I felt my advertising career was all but wrapped. The San Francisco ad scene was decimated by the dot com implosion. And this new-fangled thing called online marketing limited me to a character counts and static executions. Today, technology has caught up to what I do—and is pretty transparent to me. Not only can I work in my familiar territories like video (for you traditionalists, that's what used to be known as "broadcast"), I now have a host of new channels in which I get to tell a brand's story. At the Summit, we heard a lot about the importance of developing original content for interactive video. I'm looking forward to it.
It can be messy at times. All these options. All that content. None of us quite speaking in the same language. But to the consumer, it all mashes up to a yummy dish of relevance.
I've just returned from the iMedia Agency Summit in Scottsdale. On my first day, a group of four Summit veterans took us newbies aside to tell us what to expect in the coming days. Afterward, I asked the group of 40 or so freshmen if there were any other creatives present. Not a single hand raised. It was plain to see: I wasn't in Kansas anymore.
Now, to be fair, the iMedia Agency Summit is the opportunity for agency media planners and buyers to meet with digital publishers and technology providers. But as the person who is ultimately responsible for communicating ideas through digital media, it's important that I understand their capabilities. That's why I jumped at the chance to go. And I encourage more creatives to get their names on the invite lists of future Summits. Here is a bit of what I took away.
Collaboration, education, and standardization.
At the Summit, these three ideas were meant to apply to the relationships between media agencies, publishers, and clients. From a creative person's point of view, I say that they apply to how we here at Traction approach a project. We employ cross-discipline collaboration, starting at the concepting phase. In addition to the copywriter and art director, our brainstorms include our UX designer and our technical leads. This organic ebb and flow of expertise from each discipline results in experiences that generate visceral responses and reflect natural human behaviors on the web.
Traditional, digital, social: it's all a big blur.
Deelish, isn't it? I'm a copywriter by discipline. Nine years ago I felt my advertising career was all but wrapped. The San Francisco ad scene was decimated by the dot com implosion. And this new-fangled thing called online marketing limited me to a character counts and static executions. Today, technology has caught up to what I do—and is pretty transparent to me. Not only can I work in my familiar territories like video (for you traditionalists, that's what used to be known as "broadcast"), I now have a host of new channels in which I get to tell a brand's story. At the Summit, we heard a lot about the importance of developing original content for interactive video. I'm looking forward to it.
It can be messy at times. All these options. All that content. None of us quite speaking in the same language. But to the consumer, it all mashes up to a yummy dish of relevance.
12.09.2009
Trends with Traction at the iMedia Agency Summit: Have agencies become commodities? - iMedia Connection Blog
iMedia Connection Blog: Trends with Traction at the iMedia Agency Summit: Have agencies become commodities?
12.01.2009
Traction pulls ahead
San Francisco Business Times just published this article on Traction. You can read the original here.
Ad firm Traction's software supports creative side
As far as Adam Kleinberg is concerned, there are ad agencies and there are software companies. Traction Corp. is one of the few that blurs the line between the two.
“We work across integrated branding and advertising, interactive experiences and social media to create experiences and align human behaviors with the brands,” said Kleinberg, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Traction. “We’re as much a software development company as we are an ad agency.”
This model of combining advertising principles with web applications has worked for Traction. Over the past three years, the company has grown 105.5 percent, to $3.7 million last year from $1.8 million in 2006.
Illustrating this is a campaign the company created for Adobe in 2008 that involved a Facebook application that allowed users to guess if an image was an original or modified using Adobe’s Photoshop software.
“They wanted to reach out to the college student audience, so we created a game called ‘Real or Fake’ that leveraged images created with Photoshop,” Kleinberg said. “It provided a really successful brand engagement for Adobe’s customers.”
Kleinberg said the company tries to align a brand’s business objectives with human behavior through something it calls “engineered marketing.” The traditional marketing that had audiences move from awareness to consideration to intent to purchase doesn’t work anymore because “consumers can consume media on their own terms,” Kleinberg said.
The company’s blend of traditional and interactive ad experience led to an identity crisis early on, said Kleinberg, who has a web design background. “Were we a web development agency or an ad agency?”
But Kleinberg and the company’s other founders, Theo Fanning and Paul Giese, who all worked together at Tribal DDB before founding Traction in 2001, decided they were both and decided to combine the two.
The lines were blurred further when Traction was hired by Bank of America to create an Internet application that allowed customers to engage with the BofA brand while investigating their personal finances through the bank’s web site.
“It was truly different from anything the bank had ever done before,” said Tim Brown, who was creative director for Bank of America’s e-commerce division. He has since moved to a similar position with Kaiser Permanente.
“Instead of just taking what we thought would be a good idea, they really went to town and did great research on how people view their finances,” Brown said.
Kleinberg said 2008 was the company’s best year, and despite a tough beginning to 2009 he expects the company to come out of the recession stronger.
“At the beginning of this year, we had two months where most of our clients froze and we were very touch and go,” Kleinberg said. “But things quickly picked back up and we’ve grown quite a bit this year.”
Kleinberg said that through the third quarter, the company was on a path for more than 40 percent growth compared to the same period last year, despite the lull. He said the recession has made the firm focus on companies that value their brands, choosing clients more selectively.
As a manager, Kleinberg has learned that the most difficult aspect of managing the firm has been hiring good people.
Traction has grown to about 30 employees, with 12 of them joining in the past three years. Kleinberg estimates that he will hire about 10 more in the next three years. He said he took one of the company’s biggest risks when he decided to keep a particularly cohesive team even after the project they were working on was canceled.
Among Traction’s competitors are San Francisco firms such as AKQA and Organic, Kleinberg said.
“The team knows that we really care about them and I would say to a man when the need comes to put in that extra effort and put in a long night, people don’t hesitate to make that happen,” said Kleinberg, who thinks the risk paid off. “That’s been something that has made us a stronger company.”
Ad firm Traction's software supports creative side
As far as Adam Kleinberg is concerned, there are ad agencies and there are software companies. Traction Corp. is one of the few that blurs the line between the two.
“We work across integrated branding and advertising, interactive experiences and social media to create experiences and align human behaviors with the brands,” said Kleinberg, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Traction. “We’re as much a software development company as we are an ad agency.”
This model of combining advertising principles with web applications has worked for Traction. Over the past three years, the company has grown 105.5 percent, to $3.7 million last year from $1.8 million in 2006.
Illustrating this is a campaign the company created for Adobe in 2008 that involved a Facebook application that allowed users to guess if an image was an original or modified using Adobe’s Photoshop software.
“They wanted to reach out to the college student audience, so we created a game called ‘Real or Fake’ that leveraged images created with Photoshop,” Kleinberg said. “It provided a really successful brand engagement for Adobe’s customers.”
Kleinberg said the company tries to align a brand’s business objectives with human behavior through something it calls “engineered marketing.” The traditional marketing that had audiences move from awareness to consideration to intent to purchase doesn’t work anymore because “consumers can consume media on their own terms,” Kleinberg said.
The company’s blend of traditional and interactive ad experience led to an identity crisis early on, said Kleinberg, who has a web design background. “Were we a web development agency or an ad agency?”
But Kleinberg and the company’s other founders, Theo Fanning and Paul Giese, who all worked together at Tribal DDB before founding Traction in 2001, decided they were both and decided to combine the two.
The lines were blurred further when Traction was hired by Bank of America to create an Internet application that allowed customers to engage with the BofA brand while investigating their personal finances through the bank’s web site.
“It was truly different from anything the bank had ever done before,” said Tim Brown, who was creative director for Bank of America’s e-commerce division. He has since moved to a similar position with Kaiser Permanente.
“Instead of just taking what we thought would be a good idea, they really went to town and did great research on how people view their finances,” Brown said.
Kleinberg said 2008 was the company’s best year, and despite a tough beginning to 2009 he expects the company to come out of the recession stronger.
“At the beginning of this year, we had two months where most of our clients froze and we were very touch and go,” Kleinberg said. “But things quickly picked back up and we’ve grown quite a bit this year.”
Kleinberg said that through the third quarter, the company was on a path for more than 40 percent growth compared to the same period last year, despite the lull. He said the recession has made the firm focus on companies that value their brands, choosing clients more selectively.
As a manager, Kleinberg has learned that the most difficult aspect of managing the firm has been hiring good people.
Traction has grown to about 30 employees, with 12 of them joining in the past three years. Kleinberg estimates that he will hire about 10 more in the next three years. He said he took one of the company’s biggest risks when he decided to keep a particularly cohesive team even after the project they were working on was canceled.
Among Traction’s competitors are San Francisco firms such as AKQA and Organic, Kleinberg said.
“The team knows that we really care about them and I would say to a man when the need comes to put in that extra effort and put in a long night, people don’t hesitate to make that happen,” said Kleinberg, who thinks the risk paid off. “That’s been something that has made us a stronger company.”
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