It’s been internet week in NYC this week. A useful round up of stuff can be found here. Loads of great panel debates & this one in particular struck a chord & feeds into some of the stuff we starting discussing here.
Also this week there’s been a bunch of cool stuff showcased at the interaction awards too. One of my picks is here:
Finally, Noah Briar has just curated some of his favorite marketing(ish) articles from the last couple of years. A great primer.
This is a little old now (from SXSW in March) but I’ve just gotten round to watching the full hour long ‘keynote’ from Springsteen. It’s awesome.
The final section strikes a chord with an earlier post from today called ‘Advice from Dave’. But it’s much more poetic.
The Boss’s advice to young musicians is just as relevant to young account handlers:
‘Open your ears, open your hearts. Don’t take yourselves too seriously and take yourself as seriously as death itself.”
Then he continues: “Don’t worry. Worry your ass off. Have iron clad confidence. But doubt! It keeps you awake and alert. Believe you are the baddest ass in town and you suck. It keeps you honest. Be able to keep two completely contradictory ideas alive and well in your heart and head at all times. If it does not drive you crazy it will make you strong. Stay hard, stay hungry and stay alive.’
A couple of choice quotes:
“There’s no right way, no pure way of doing it. There’s just doing it…
“Everyone has their genesis moment, whatever initially inspires you to action…, my genesis monument was in 1956… Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show. I discovered… that you could call upon your own powers of your imagination, that you could create a transformative self.”
And the full show here:
Boss-like.
It has been said that all good account handlers have 2 ears & one mouth.
And that all great account handlers use them in this proportion.
The great Dave Trott makes a great observation around this point in his recent post for Campaign. It’s reproduced (in part) below:
I’m not a big fan of the TV series Mad Men. But my wife likes it a lot, so I end up watching it. Last week there was a sequence in it that I thought was actually very perceptive.
An account man is sitting at a dinner table next to a French philosopher.
The philosopher is cynical about advertising. He says haughtily “So, what is your job?”
The account man says “I’m an account man.” The philosopher says sneeringly “And what exactly do you do?
” The account man says “Well what do you do? ” The philosopher says proudly “I am a philosopher.
” The account man says “I hear you’re more than that, I hear you’re very eminent in your field.
” The philosopher raises his eyebrows, surprised that the account man has heard of him.
He says modestly “Well, perhaps you could say I am, yes.” The account man says “In fact I hear you’re more than a philosopher.
I hear you’re a fine teacher, too.” Blushing now, the philosopher says “Well, my goodness, perhaps that is also true.
Yes, indeed.” The account man says “In fact, I hear that we’d all be a lot better off if we took a lot more notice of your views on many things.”
The philosopher is now thrilled and embarrassed. He says “Oh, my dear sir, you really are too kind, thank you.” And he shakes the account man’s hand warmly.
And the account man says “That’s what I do.”
Brilliant. The account man turned the philosopher’s view from cynicism to trust in just a few sentences. By talking about the philosopher instead of talking about himself. By finding out about the target audience. Instead of just talking about himself and what he wanted. Which of course is the lesson for all of us. It’s no good just telling someone what we want. They already know that.
So Cannes has finally introduced a mobile category. And this presentation nicely shows us why it’s about time. Great work from the guys at Mobiento to pull this story together.
It’s award season & with Cannes just around the corner we’re getting some indicators.
72 & Sunny seem to be cleaning up with the Kenny Powers stuff for KSwiss but what I’m more interested in is their approach behind the work.
Cannes introduces a couple of new categories this year: Mobile (about time) & Branded Entertainment Content.
Both of these new categories are reflecting what seems to be going on with this Kenny Powers stuff.
The idea not only ‘has legs’ but is a whole world of ‘what if’ that tells it’s story across media. It’s a world that unites it’s parts into a very entertaining whole. More than that – it’s an alternate reality – that can keep generating content over an extended period of time.
It’s a long idea.
And it’s taking the rules of the beer category/docu-soap comedy & applying them to fitness in a post recession America.
In a world where popular culture is fueled by many temporary blasts of interest - it strikes me that this idea can keep on & on. The challenge will be to keep it fresh. And keep it pulsating with new scenarios - fueling the upward engagement curve & keeping it from dropping back into the chasm.
72 & Sunny claim that there all about making brands matter in culture – & it’ll be really interesting to see how KP can keep you entertained over the duration.
It’s a pinball idea. It’s surprising. It’s cross platform. It interrupts but entertains & ultimately engages with it’s alternative world. Like Sons of Anarchy or Game of Thrones you look forward to more ‘stuff’ from this world.
Maybe what’s so culturally interesting is that it pokes fun at a category that has been taking itself a bit too seriously lately.
And that exercise is really escapism from some of the more heavy going realities of office live. That it celebrates the heretic taking on the corporate antibodies & driving change with new ideas.
And that there’s an obvious tyrannical boss ‘vacuum’ left by the tragic passing of SJ. But that the archetype lives on.
Maybe I’ve been reading a bit too much cultural strategy but there’s something all the more transparent & human about this brand that no-one really noticed before this alterante reality emerged.
Now, that’s a reality distortion field for you .
Well done to the IPA for getting this going. Check out some great videos on the link below that walk through some basic but useful advice for all account handlers & new biz teams.
http://www.thegoodpitch.com/the-6-principles/openness-transparency
Looking for a simple aggregator for all your narrative bits? Of course you are.
It’s the simple way to bring your social footprint into one place.
One wag has quipped – ‘this is what FriendFeed would look like if it was designed by Conde Nast’. Lovely.
I’ve now set this up as my home page & feel a sense of calm that finally someone has given me 10 code free minutes to pull a simple site together.
This is a tricky one for all account handlers – whether it’s your first major account or whether you’ve been running business for years.
Everyone has opinion. And you want to hear everyone’s opinion – especially your clients. You’ll also be tempted to put yours in the mixer too. And you should.
But before you do – get a grip of the facts. Not the ego’s, the personalities, the dyanamic in the situation – these are all important lenses through which to see the problem (and can catalyze the process) but first you need to establish the real issue.
The account team is duty bound to be an expert source on the business – not just of opinions but of facts.
These facts need to be on the table first. It’ll save you a lot of wasted time getting lost in – well ‘I think this’ or ‘I think that’.
Any start up phase should always start with ‘well, what do we know’.
Better still if you can quantify what you know. About the competitors, the customers, the market, the client business plan, the obstacles – whatever.
Everyone will have opinions.
But wth the facts established at least you’ll have an informed one.
Any planner on your account team is unlikely to develop a killer insight out of thin air.
It won’t stand up to client scrutiny if it’s just ‘a hunch’.
Tactics of leadership are easy. But setting the conditions that enable the team to dig, establish, dig, establish will take some clear expectation setting with clients. This ‘golden window’ is a crucial time that lets the work group establish the real issues. And it’s here that we need to frame up what we know, establish facts, consider what we don’t know, dig, polish, dig, polish, look at different angles – all the while continually managing client expectations.
The 99% hard work that leads to the 1% magic is often found in this shared commitment to establish the facts. Even better if clients are partners through this phase.
But we all know that it can get tense. Particularly when we’re dealing with practicalities of time/budget/quality.
Time is the ‘wolf’ that needs keeping from the door. Personalities & conflict will emerge.
But this is where smart leaders need to convert conflict into breakthroughs.
The culture of the team should naturally want betterment. And discussion. And this can create conflict. But this conflict can push you higher.
If the conditions are well managed then this ‘golden window’ will not only help you establish the facts – but catalyze the personalities into a real debate with informed opinions.
And this means we’ll fight about the work together. And fight for it with clients.
All the while improving the quality of the work.
And that’s what it’s all about – right?
Here’s 3 texts on my reading list right now that I wanted to share:
1) Cultural Strategy: Douglas Holt & Douglas Cameron
2) Beyond the Obvious: Phil McKinney
3) Black Swan: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I’m really interested in any wider book tips along the same lines & please feel free to share in the comments. Thanks all for the traffic (from 54 different countries so far!) & looking forward to kicking out some more thoughts over the next few days.
Just a simple redirect this but very helpful none the less. On the reading list this week: Kevin Allen’s: The Hidden Agenda. Kevin has held senior positions at McCann Worldgroup, IPG agencies/Lowe Worldwide etc. He has some great stories in his book about famous new biz shootouts & life as a Pitchman.
The book has a bunch of associated video content called KAPTV – a couple of which are here:
Reminds me of the approach from other great video content like Jim Collins & Simon Sinek. 2 favourites below while we’re on it:
And one other inspirational video from this week.
More about the art of the long idea & ‘pinball ideas’ in the next few days…
