My 2012 Resolution: Tell Better Stories

I was lucky enough to recently have lunch with Adrian Ho, founding partner of Minneapolis strategy hot shop Zeus Jones, and an interesting topic came up that sparked my resolution for 2012.

Adrian had brought up the idea of "stories" at a breakfast many months ago, when he asked me to tell him some stories. How interesting I thought, but certainly it threw me a bit off guard. I asked why "stories" and he explained that great strategists are able to succinctly yet vividly paint a picture of how they think through and solve problems, identifying opportunities, and creating solutions. I dragged on about some of the strategy things I had tackled in the past and in the end he smiled, said he'd be in touch and we left our separate ways.

Fast forward a few months and we're both sitting in a dim booth at the CC Club in Uptown Minneapolis. I'm pontificating (as strategists tend to do) about how we can continue to help push our clients to newer, more bold ideas. Adrian took a bite of his Philly CheeseSteak and simply said, "Stories". He explained how the art of storytelling can help clients be more comfortable with bold new directions, ideas, and how how the power of stories can help sell them through.

And suddenly it clicked: the most underrated skill in a planner's arsenal is the art of storytelling. We talk to consumers, conduct focus groups, review data and ultimately need to distill it and be able to tell a story to our clients. We need to further refine these ideas more into inspiring and thought provoking briefs to jettison our creative teams. Ultimately we need to help the brands we work with tell stories to consumers. In the end, we as planners can do all the digging in the world but if we aren't able to articulate our knowledge in a compelling manner, we're pretty much worthless.

So while I've pounded my chest in the past about being fearless, leading our clients and respective agencies in bold new directions, and disrupting the status quo– I'm going to focus my energy in 2012 to master the art of storytelling.

You can check out Zeus Jones here.

Follow Adrian Ho here.

Where do good strategies come from?

Where do good strategies come from? What a marvelous question. It's not the birds and the bees, but ask any planner or strategist how they solve problems and you're likely to get a wide range of answers. Perhaps it is the bi-product of the planning process that– like the creative process, it isn't always linear or clear. That simple question jettisoned a thought trail that lead me to examine just how I set out to solve problems for clients.

Commerce & Culture

Let's start our attack of forming a strategy like a funnel, at first thinking in the big wide buckets of Commerce and Culture and then narrowing down. Whiteboards work great here to start organizing and thinking through the two. Understanding the commerce side– the category players and personalities, the product(s) and the competition, the state of the marketplace and the reason to believe for a particular brand or product, is typically the first step. Then it becomes an analysis of culture– the environmental situation (economy, gov't, shifting tastes, technology, etc.), behavioral trends, consumer needs & attitudes, and how consumers are currently interact and behave with your category. Once we understand the two avenues of commerce and culture, we can begin to develop a strategy at the intersection of the two.

Commerce

The first step is always understanding what the business problem we need to solve is. To truly understand the business problem at hand we will need to broadly assess everything from macro factors (the marketplace, competition, category brands, etc.) to micro factors (our clients' specific brand, their product lines and the specific product we're working with, etc.).

Brands all have personalities and sometimes they just need to be given the stage to shine. Even the great Charlie Chaplin, eccentric to be sure, had a special place. His draw was and continues to be unique, and it drew attention. Brands all have the same power inherent in them but we need to dig to unlock their potential to connect with audiences in a unique and relevant way.

Brand personalities and archetypes are oftentimes very influential to how we perceive brands. Understanding and digging into the history of the brand– the heritage and soul of it or what made the founders get it going in the first place, are often pathways to discovering just what makes our brand special. Like the Theory of Relativity, brands and their respective archetypes interact within their category– a category with too many heroes has too much me-too chatter and no real distinction between brands. It's a category ripe for disruption with a newcomer like an Outlaw or Jester. Doing things more authentic than the competition or putting a stake in the ground for a bold philosophy makes our brand different and draws attention. As long as our brand stands for a message or personality that resonates with the audience, we're on the right path.

Understand, every brand we touch as marketers is unique. Digging deep enough to help formulate what makes brands special is a process that requires not only an examination of our brand, but also the category. Category brands, like a college party, contain all kinds of personalities. Put an indy rocker in a room full of hopped up frat boys and he sticks out– but put a hopped up frat boy in a room full of indy rockers and he sticks out. Who are the players in our brand party? What are they like, how do they talk, what do they wear, what do they say? To determine what makes our brand special, we also need to be cognizant of the other players on the field.

And what about our product? Well, why was it created in the first place? What does it help people do? How does it fit in their lives? What makes it unique? What is the reason to believe? Examining all of the above, in relativity to the brand that it lives under and the competitive landscape will start to give us an idea of the commerce side of the equation.

But brands do not exist in a vacuum. They exist in an ocean of culture with constantly changing and shifting tides and tastes. Understanding them is just as critical.

Culture

Brands, though not entirely rigid, exist in a fluid ever-changing cultural environment. Demographic trends, economic factors, the environment itself, government influence, the lifestyles and values of society, and technological factors all demand a thorough investigation. Understanding them requires even more focus and diligence. It requires us to be open to new ways of thinking, new possibilities and new approaches to understanding such a complex and fluid beast.

Consumers would be appalled knowing that some marketers refer to them as targets, and for good reason, it objectifies them– making them a warehouse full of red circles, all startlingly similar and waiting for us to snipe them with a clever tag line. Understand, consumers are complex. Homo Sapien is by design unique and unpredictable. We can begin to contextualize who our audience is by getting to know them better.

Examining the greater environment in which they're currently living is a great start. Digging into what economic factors are playing into current consumer attitudes and behaviors is a big one given our current economic circumstances. Demographics, such as the rapidly evolving home structure with the "Boomerang" phenomenon, can also help yield a greater understanding. Technology– which has drastically exploded and changed how we gather information, interact and communicate with each other, experience entertainment, interact with brands and solve problems, is also a big area to look into. Analyzing the environment also requires an understanding of current events and cultural movements that are occurring. 9/11 and the economy have dramatically shifted how we feel about security– we're a bit uncertain and anxious about our future, and movements like Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" message or the resilience and unrest in groups like Occupy Wall Street personify how our values and attitudes are changing.

Understanding the environment can help us better diagnose changing behavioral trends– and the insights as to why they are occurring. I recently read a fascinating article on how societal values and our housing needs have shifted. Not only are we trending toward a desire for more affordable suburbia homes than the 1990's McMansion dream, but we're designing our homes with our modern needs in mind. With laptop, tablet and smartphone technology liberating us from a tethered experience with a desktop computer, the home office has vanished– in many cases for Boomeranger's or guest bedrooms. We're crafting our homes in more practical and heritage driven ways– designing in ways that elicit feelings of the past, perhaps of better times. Practicality doesn't just live in the aesthetic world; we're shifting toward affordable, methodical remodeling projects, that oftentimes increase the energy efficiency of our homes. A nod not only to our growing concern with the environment, but also of the economic benefits involved. And with the re-emergence of more family members living under one roof (Boomerangs, etc.), we're shifting entry-way laundry rooms into storage closets for us to kick off our shoes and take off our coats. Understanding the greater environment and the cultural trends that are taking place can help us dig into why trends are occurring and project what may happen in the future.

But we'll really need to start drilling down with who our consumer is to develop a sound strategy. This is often the place that requires the most work and a keen eye for digging deep enough to find the root of behaviors and beliefs– the almighty insight. 

Going online and seeing what consumers are saying about our brand or category is a cheap and dirty way to start contextualizing who our audience is, what they believe, and how they behave. Facebook groups, twitter, blogs, article comments and message boards all provide relevant, real, unfiltered places to cull information.

Putting ourselves in our consumers' shoes is also a great way to gathering insights. How would or do we go about gathering information in a given category? What would it be like to interact with our brand? Who are the other brands at the party? What do they say to you and why?

Oftentimes it's great to throw our "Target Demo" up on the wall and leave the office– going out and meeting a 3D representation of who our audience is leads to far more insights than a 2D plane of paper filled with age ranges and incomes. This isn't always easy, but it's key to be open to meeting people and hearing different perspectives, even ones we (or the client's Brand Manager) may not like or agree with. 

By gathering a broader understanding of our audience we can begin to develop more in depth ways to drill for insights. It also will lend itself to what methodologies we will leverage for our research. Who do we need to talk to? Are focus groups the way to go? Should they be online or in person? One on one or in groups? What do we hope to find out from the research? You'll notice that a hypothesis isn't included. We don't want our judgements to cloud how we formulate or interpret our research. Don't ever start at the end and work backwards. By leveraging and executing the proper kind of research (a litany of blog posts in and of itself) we can properly set sail to digging even deeper into consumer needs, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

The Strategy

When we begin to understand the dynamics of Commerce and Culture; with all of their intricacies and nuances, we can begin to form a strategy. It's important to note, the things outlined should be taken as a bare minimum for how to start strategically solving problems. They're not a comprehensive nor complete prescribed method to solving every problem, but they're a good baseline to start from. Similarly, the insight and strategy often don't come from a single place– they typically come from a broad understanding of how all of the factors overlap and intersect with each other. 

Setting the strategy requires an openness to thinking and rethinking our solutions, inviting other opinions and an astute attention to ensuring it makes sense. It requires a keen attention to detail and a curious mind to ensure we're digging deep enough to uncover true valuable insights. It demands an open approach, ensuring we're open to new ways of thinking, being collaborative with our internal teams, and not letting our preconceptions get in the way of the truth. We need to attack problems with an egoless attitude, showing no attachment to one specific idea or strategy without ensuring that it makes sense throughout. Finally, it welcomes a creative process, not always linear- but always with a point of view that is the bi-product of our steadfast research.

It's a wide view on how we can begin to solve problems, and the success of it often is determined by the curiosity, diligence and determination of the planner or strategist involved. If we use a circle saw to cut a hole in a piece of plywood and placing our strategy with a Sharpied "X" in the hole, we've got a lot of blank space in the circle (that could be success) for error. But if we slowly move down to a drill, using smaller and more precise bits as we dig deeper and deeper, our chances for error (and shitty ineffective advertising) drop dramatically. 

What is required is the work to get there.

The future starts now

Yesterday the New York Times ran an article that highlighted Nielsen's third-quarter findings for mobile users. A staggering 43% of people have taken the leap to smartphone technology, and for users 25-34, that number is a whopping 62%. Interestingly enough, the fastest growing segment of smartphone adopters are between 55 and 64, and while only 30% of them are packing, that number jumped five points this quarter.

Another surprise? Teens are showing up as some of the slower adopters for smartphones. But look for that number to jump rapidly as parents and older siblings hand down their current smartphones as they hop up to the latest and greatest gadgets upon contract renewals. With the iPhone 4S selling like like hotsauce and older iPhones trickling down, expect this number to make a jump when the fourth-quarter report rolls out.

Forrester Research also backs up this data and the numbers are very close. 

The fact remains, we've reached critical mass with smartphone technology and the device that has been revolutionizing the lives of early adopters for the last few years is about to hit the masses.

With this, we're nearing the end of the "hardware" race. Phones will continue to get gradually smaller and smaller and have slight tweaks like camera and processor upgrades– but the pace of rapid technological acceleration is fading. We've essentially taken all of the past devices that used to tether us to a specific area and put them into our pocket on one device.

The future of mobile rests in the savvy engineers, developers, thinkers and makers who will now leverage the device nearly everyone has to retether all of our other devices– and it's already happening.

NFC technology is set to revolutionize the way we make payments. Pull out your cell phone and you'll be able to make purchases, tethering your phone as your own virtual wallet. Cars are also getting tethered to our mobile devices and keys are also set to be replaced. We're going from key to fob to fab and everything is being not just consolidated, but connected by one device. This same sentiment was shared recently by Marcus Fischer, CEO of space150, in this Ad Age article.

The true excitement in mobile technology aren't the things on the immediate horizon. It's only a matter of time before our lights, retail experiences, televisions, exercise routines, and more are all within a denim square's reach. The most exciting advancements may be in how we interact with these devices, and voice technology a la Siri may become the new way we navigate. As artificial intelligence continues to improve and computations and thinking can be done in the cloud we open up a whole new and more convenient way to interact.

From there where do we go? Simply thinking to interact with devices by reading neurons fired in your brain.

Imagine turning on your TV with your smartphone and asking what the score to the game is. It brings up a ticker across the bottom of the screen, uses your location and past interactions to "think" for you, cross checks that with what's currently occurring, and displays the data for you. It "knows" that you're asking about the Wild game that's currently happening.

What if you brought your mobile device to the grocery store, scanned items as you checked them out (all on your device of course- goodbye register clerks), and as they expired or were consumed (ex: a smart fridge that could weigh items and determine how much is left), you'd be reminded when you need more the next time you're within a grocery store.

Imagine pulling out your phone, using it to heat up your car as you walk to the ramp, unlocking it via your phone, all the way playing your favorite album. You had a recipe for dinner saved on your phone but your fridge has sent through information to your mobile device that you don't have any chicken. It thinks for you via the cloud, finds the nearest grocery store, and directs you there to make your menu complete. When you finally pull up into the driveway, you've already preheated the oven, turned on the lights, and warmed the house up just a little bit for when you walk in the door. Half of the aforementioned example is already happening.

As technology continues to be adopted, the amount of smart devices in our homes will only increase. These things will become a reality. Our lives have previously been all about untethering and consolidating technologies into a single mobile device. The future will be about retethering our entire ecosystem together.

Fear Nothing

Life is all about learning, growing and incorporating new thinking into your arsenal. Recently, I've been intrigued by the economy and the current pulse of the American culture, a culture that almost fears turning on the television. From the sensationalized headlines of gloom and doom economies, larger than life natural disasters (Irene...), and of course the inevitable end times in 2012– we live in a time blanketed by a layer of fear.

I've seen this phenomena in many of the focus groups we've conducted recently as well. Everyone is buying cautiously, pragmatism has taken over (although it's about time), and people are making compromises in their purchasing decisions. It's not surprising, but it did get me to thinking about how we as marketers can help position our brands in these turbulent times.I ended up getting into author Robert Greene and the brilliant "The 50th Law", a book that examines fear and its implications on rationale and culture. While I wouldn't find the answer to my marketing problem through this book, I discovered something far more interesting in the process.

Fear creates a negative self-fulfilling dynamic. As people give into their fear they lose energy and momentum, and their lack of confidence ultimately leads to inaction. Not only does this not solve a problem but it typically leads to lowering your confidence in your own abilities even further, continuing a trend of negative momentum. Indeed I felt like the ability to solve this complex marketing problem was daunting, potentially even unanswerable, and certainly very subjective. I avoided it.

Fear grips our current culture in a very similar way. Unemployment is high, the economy bounces around week to week, the housing market looks about as nasty as a 4th round Mayweather punch– and we sit around going "when will it end". People stay in jobs because they're uncertain about the economy, stay complacent to hold on to what they have, be cautious to try and stay afloat. Fear stifles innovation, new ways of thinking, unconventional processes and ideas, and the boldness required to accomplish them. We need urgency. We need to think bold.

Our forefathers kicked some serious ass. The British were well on their way to smashing out our freedom festival in the Revolutionary War and George Washington stood death in the face during a cold winter in 1777. Greatly outnumbered, facing a bastard of a winter and having only a few thousand men with low morale and lower supplies, Washington did what most great Americans do– he said fuck it. He pushed forward, knowing the British thought of his forces as too weak to attack. But Washington would use unconventional guerilla warfare tactics to surprise the enemy, raiding garrisons in Tenton and Princeton and shifting the course of the Revolution.

It started a positive momentum for the Revolutionary Army, captured the public's attention and boosted his troops' moral. At no point did he wait for things to turn around or improve, he attacked with fearlessness, conviction and unconventional methods. It turned the tide of the war, cemented his legacy and eventually gave birth to the U.S.A.

Fear isn't meant to stifle us in the way it does today. Our ancient ancestors used fear to avoid a Sabertooth Tiger and face epidemics like the black plauge. Today we fret over office meetings, presentations, social status and interactions, the economy and even the color of shoes we wear. The guy with a spear looking death in the face would be disappointed. Fear has essentially become a basic flaw in the human design.

It's time for culture to break down the negative stigma of how we think, to look past the circumstances of an economy that we have no control over and to realize this is a time of opportunity. The old systems aren't working; established conventions are being broken down by brash startups, boomers methodical processes are being replaced by lean and unconventional ways of doing things, new ways of incorporating design into brand building have gave birth to the meteoric rise of brands like Apple- and we're riding on the forefront of it.

It's time for us as planners, creatives and agencies to adopt a similar fearlessness. Let's continue to push our clients into new territories, investigate new ways of conducting business, new campaign strategies and bold new creative executions. The landscape is so opportunistic right now and so many times I've heard "it's not the right client" in this industry. Let's be fearless in how we approach our clients' brand portfolios and campaigns, let's encourage them to do the same. The opportunity is right in front of us. The time to be bold is now.

Baked In Brands

Alex Ovechkin took stage yesterday and announced he was the new poster boy for one of the premier hockey manufacturers, Bauer. He grinned, said a few words, and said he was enjoying his new sticks from Bauer. Captials owner Ted Lensis even joked that it's been fun watching Alex try and break his new sticks in training camp, to which he's arrived to early this year to get into shape and try and lead the Capitals squad that has made him captain.

While this is a commentary on the problematic nature of endorser brand strategies, it's moreso a commentary that stems from a belief in branding strategy that I hold deep: brands need to stand for something more in todays marketplace. You may remember in my previous post (it was SO long ago- sorry in the lack of updates) that I asked the question of what hockey manufacturer CCM would do if Ovechkin left the brand. They tried to bake in his quirky and colorful personality into their advertising and then bake it into their brand. They failed on both. You need to work from the brand outward.

You see, CCM began as Canada Cycling & Motor Co. Ltd. But they forget As the bike market saturated (and being savvy Canadians) they began to forge into the burgeoning hockey market. After a series of sloppy financial acquisitions, mergers, and bankruptcies they were eventually bought by Rbk along with a plethora of other hockey manufacturers. They were the sole brand name to survive in the acquisition.

As Bauer broke off from Nike and continued its stranglehold on the market and innovators like Easton and the newcomer Warrior nipped at their heels CCM decided to plaster superstar Ovechkin all over the brand. They even adopted his popular and flamboyant nature and infused that personality in their brand. It worked, the commercials were hilarious, the brand and the legend were cemented as one, and kids started digging the CCM gear. But something happened here that wasn't supposed to: The advertising shaped the brand, when the brand should shape the advertising.

Which relates wonderfully to the excellent Alex Bogusky & John Winsor book, Baked In, a set of thoughts and ideas I've read and reread several times. The book argues that in todays complex marketplace brands need to stand for something more. It needs to start with a philosophy, a credo and mission, an archetype, and that needs to extend to their products and services, their communication strategy and their outward facing marketing. Warrior has done this brilliantly and forged their way into a difficult to penetrate marketplace. By "Baking In" a philosophy of an "Outlaw" Jungian archetype, they've managed to carefully craft a personality from the inside out. CCM decided to ride a popular star and leverage a "Jester" archetype for their advertising. They didn't even bother to work it in. And what are they left with now?

A brand with no name, no purpose, left awash in a sea of "me-too" category archetypes.

Brand managers take note, analyze your category, determine the personalities of competitor brands, and plant a stake, internally first, on where you want to position yourself to disrupt the category. Bake it into your brand, your mission and where you want to be and then move outward with your agencies to develop the voice of the brand. Don't work with an agency to put a band aid on your gunshot wound.

Let's Play Hockey Expo 2011

The start of spring in Minnesota signals one of the great events in hockey– the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. For the lucky hockey head, it continues into the NCAA tournament and then into the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's for that reason (and Tim Thomas being a beast) that it's with great regret I've taken this long to get to my annual post that looks at the brands that show up for the MN Let's Play Hockey Expo, a showcase of the latest and greatest in all things hockey. Over 120,000 people attend the tournament over its 4 day span and it provides a unique opportunity for the top hockey brands to showcase their newest offerings to a state that truly loves the game.

This year the competition from a brand perspective was certainly elevated. I stated last year that I thought CCM and Reebok needed to capitalize on their endorsers (Ovechkin and Crosby respectively) more— and they certainly delivered. Smart move boys, but after seeing it, I started to wonder what happens when those endorsers are gone? More on that in a bit.

Bauer, always a headliner at the event, was once again situated in the back of the show floor. It's always sectioned off with private curtains and usually has a mysterious attraction that people somehow find themselves waiting in line over an hour for– all to get yet another Bauer knee-hockey stick (oh come on they're kind of cool). This year, Bauer created a "Confessional Booth" where rink rats could hop in and make their pledge on how they would "Change the Game". It's a fitting idea too, "Change the Game" is the tagline for the new top notch APX skates, and as you waited in line you saw spots with the typical roster of Bauer athletes claiming how they'd change the game. The footage from the booth, all shot similar to the commercials, is now available to use for future spots. Cool, smart, and techie like usual. The heritage and innovative properties of the Bauer brand DNA were on display and they continue to outdo themselves, particularly with their skate technology. One gripe, I did miss the slow-mo shooting station where they use a high speed camera to track the flex you put on your stick during a shot, something that was really cool in years past.
Swag: Vapor X60 Knee Hockey Stick

Similar to their recent ad campaign, CCM finally pimped superstar Alex Ovechkin to carry the brand at the Expo this year. Huge Ovie faces were plastered throughout a booth that featured a few demo stations and televisions showcasing the new Ovechkin commercial campaign. There also was a gimmicky but fun photo booth set up where you could get a picture with the Great 8's skates and his head would be sitting next to you augmented reality style. It's great to see CCM finally leveraging the personality of the superstar for the brand but it begs the question of what CCM means without Ovechkin... Is the brand really the quirky Jester reminding you in your bowling bag, "More practice for you!"? Can it be baked into the brand more to extend throughout CCM's DNA once the superstar is long gone from the game?
Swag: Ovie stickers, posters

Easton once again had an interesting showing this year and potentially the coolest swag item of the tourney. This year the booth featured a bounce the puck on your stick competition, some give aways, and a cinch backpack that everyone seemed to rock for the weekend. They were actually really cool and useful (especially for collecting other booth goodies) though mine eventually broke with my Macbook Pro in it and I almost burnt my Easton gloves in a rage. All that said, Easton seemed a bit lost this year and it doesn't come as a surprise. Since the 90's, when they were really a force with sticks and stick technology, they seem to have struggled to find their identity. No longer the revolutionary brand, with Easton sticks in all the top tier players hands, they need to figure out what their core brand belief is about and really go with it. If they want to recapture their revolutionary archetype of innovation they need to start making breakthroughs and bake that into their brand.

While the face of Rbk Hockey is the polar opposite of CCM's posterboy, both brands used a similar strategy in elevating their brand endorsers this year. Rbk's booth, like their latest ad campaign, was Crosbyrific. They did bring some of the elements from their ad campaign to the expo in the form of demo stations which was pretty cool. Expo-goers could shoot pucks into a dryer, ala the classic Maxime Talbot/Crosby commercial. While Crosby is the face of the league now and certainly will be around for a while (barring concussions, get well Sid), Rbk's all-in approach on his personality raises some long term questions about the brands core message and the sustainability of this approach.

And for all the swag you collected over the tournament, category bad boy Warrior would take it off your hands and give you a taste of their own medicine if you wanted to trade. Warrior did random swag throws to expo goers that gathered waiting in the booth, but they also traded any competitor swag for their own Warrior apparel. Super smart, super edgy, right in line with the brands attitude. The "Chop Shop" hair salon once again made a brreturn carving up some gnarly cuts for kids to finish off the school year with. The "Patty Kane" mullet seemed to be a big hit this year and several wandered the halls of the Xcel Energy Center throughout the weekend. A shooting booth, booth babe autographed posters and a goalie slide mat station rounded out the showing.
Swag: Hats, Swag Steal, Booth Babes, Chop Shop

It was a much more competitive showing from all brands this year which is refreshing considering this is typically a pretty Bauer and Warrior lopsided event. While last year I prescribed CCM and Rbk to lead with their endorsers, I've recently began to wonder about the longevity and long-term strength of the strategy. Athletes come and go, but great brands are multi generational, standing the test of time with a core brand belief and strategy. It shouldn't come as a surprise then that Warrior has been able to continue their remarkable penetration into the market with their baked in brand message through all their consumer touchpoints. It also isn't surprising that Bauer continues to be such a leader in the category with constant innovation and a rich history of legacy and heritage in their back pocket.

It seems like everyone else in the category is still playing the "Me-Too" card and there isn't a real message behind the brand. In today's marketplace, people want something unique and different something— that means more than just having the current trendy face for your brand. Bauer is hockey, Warrior is rebellious, Easton is ______, Rbk is _______, CCM is ______. If I asked you to fill in the blanks they'd probably all be cutting edge or another adjective that is synonymous with innovation. It isn't surprising that the brands that took a core philosophy and cooked it into every consumer interaction with the brand are enjoying a nice lead from others in the pack.

Let's close the gaps boys.

What Happen's Next?

#Planningness stormed MPLS last week and it was an amazing experience to say the least. So many smart people in a room, working towards pushing our collective profession forward was extremely educational, fun and above all inspiring. Dr. Pam Rutledge's "How to Communicate in a Transmedia World" session really got me to think about a post I've been meaning to write for a while now.

Let's look at the above screen shot- the end of a television commercial. We're used to seeing a big client logo, a web address and now more frequently a facebook or twitter icon that invites consumers to become fans of the brands' respective pages. In the past (and currently) there has been a disconnect to achieve the aforementioned actions. We'll need to open a laptop, pull out our tablet or in some cases grab our smart phones to accomplish becoming a fan or visiting a brand experience online. This disconnect is an inconvenience and it adds to the "time cost" of participating into another level of engagement with the brand.

What happens when this disconnect evaporates? Crazy? Not at all. Televisions are quickly becoming suited and booted with internet capabilities and while they currently are more for consumption focused reasons (Netflix, Hulu, Sony's Qriosity, Youtube, etc.) they will inevitably move into more browser focused experiences that you can do on your television. What happens when you can actually like a brand or extend your experience onto the web? It's very similar to clicking a banner on an iphone- the experience is seamless and it quickly kicks you out to additional content that, hopefully, relates back to the overall campaign (or even better) brand story.

Today it seems there is a divide between digital and traditional shops. There shouldn't be. We have a model where many agencies specialize in one medium of communication. The Big Wig AOR sets the strategy and the overall story and then other, often more specialized agencies, divvy up smaller projects. In lieu of reading Alex Bogusky's brilliant "Baked In" as well as Rutledge's session; this isn't a great model. Everything needs to beam back to the mothership and that overarching brand story.

When the change finally happens and you can use your TV as a hub to the internet and additional brand experiences, they all will need to have a common thread in what they are saying and doing. As advertisers, we need to start thinking now about how we can make sure when this change comes our agency can continue to call ourselves "full-service". The future starts now.