Kevin Jansick. Advertising. Work. Life

Advertising's #SUPERMYTHS

2012-02-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

When you work in advertising, it's rather surreal to bear witness to the frenzy that surrounds the Super Bowl. You gather with a bunch of friends, more often than not to watch a game that "your team" isn't in, so you have no real vested interest in the actual game. In fact, the average size of a Super Bowl party is 17 people, where a potluck of chips, dips, burgers, brats and beers springs up at your buddies' home with the biggest television and seating arrangement. On your drive there, you realize you aren't alone; cars pack into homeowner's driveways as social circles congregate– all to view the spectacle.

If you're in advertising, this feels a bit strange. We're constantly reminded of consumers' pessimistic attitudes about advertising, the rise of fast forwarding through DVR commercials, the intrusive annoyance of pop up ads, people's distrust for our craft– but when the Super Spots come on a hush falls over the room. They love advertising, they're critics, they become inquisitive asking how much they cost or what you thought, and they love to share their opinions with the room. Indeed, it's a bit surreal when Nielsen polling says 51% of viewers watch the Super Bowl for the ads.

And then Super Monday rolls around and Adland goes bonkers. We have stats on social media buzz, grading cards for the spots, opinion articles (like this) galore– it's like Goddamn Christmas and the elves (or sadly interns in most cases) stayed up all night preparing the data for us to bathe in. I've been through most of the opinions and stats out there; here's my 5 myths about the SuperBowl XLVI reactions for adland and marketers.

MYTH 1: Twitter is a Primary Success Metric

I've talked to some people and read some articles that suggest twitter is the new primary success metric for the Super Bowl. While the twitter pulse is a fantastic measuring stick for engagement and a decent success metric, it's also dangerous in a two big ways; the twitter audience is certainly not representative of the entire viewing population and they're not correlating with other quantitative numbers.

Similarly, few tweeters are even tweeting about brands. According to Colle+Mcvoy, only 17% of tweets were brand related and I'd personally love to know how many of them were from people who work in the industry. I've used some of the tools that measure twitter before– it works, but it's limiting in drawing conclusive findings.

At least C+M's findings matched up their top brand, Doritos, with the top brand for likability and recall with Nielsen. From there it drops off; according to C+M's findings Doritos, Toyota, H&M, Skechers and the History Channel were the most tweeted about brands. Of those that were in the top 5 tweeted brands, only Skechers was in the Nielsen findings, and only for recall.

While twitter is dangerous, local ad outfit Fallon boasted that their Cadillac "Green Hell" ad was the most watched ad ever. As if that were a success metric– it failed to get traction on twitter (though their demo isn't necessarily a group of heavy tweeters) or Nielsen.

Here's a better way for brands moving forward: take a cue from GSP's brilliant Chevy Gametime app, tying in engagement off the screen with the brand on the screen. It was beautiful, it was fun, it worked with the ads and rewarded consumers who paid attention with chances to win loot.

MYTH 2: Brands that aren't in the Super Bowl will fade away

This one is absolutely ridiculous, and to quote Skip Bayless, it's "asinine, asiten, asieleven, asitwelve". While the article does point out the fairly obvious, that we're living in a new fragmented age of consumer attention span and participation, it concludes by stating:

"The future will likely be a chaotic hybrid, where marketers who aren’t in the 1% and lack Super Bowl-sized budgets will struggle to meaningfully influence consumers."

This completely flies in the face of modern brand storytelling and authenticity. Furthermore, it disregards brands like Tom's shoes that leverage an authentic, unique marketplace stance and story to create meaningful relationship with their consumers. Brands like Tom's Shoes don't need or want a Super Bowl ad; when brands act as extensions of the consumer persona, the relationship is already forged in gold. Modern brands that are successful utilize all of their touch points, including their reason for being, to create more meaningful engagement. In this instance Money and Bullshit both walk.

The future will be owned by brands that leverage authentic stories across multiple touch points that align with consumer beliefs and behaviors.

MYTH 3: Mass appeal always wins

This year there were so many ads that were "expected", and they might as well have been called the SuperSafe ads. Even Bud Light's Platinum spots had everyone at our party groaning. Thankfully, everyone loves dogs, and "Here Weego" proved as a sweet redemption to the otherwise bland Budweiser/Bud Light showing.

I heard several people say things along the lines of, "Remember when the Super Bowl commercials were good?" The Super Bowl isn't a time to let your freak flag fly if it isn't in your brand DNA, look at Chrysler's incredibly effective "Halftime America" spot. But for brands like Budweiser, going a bit surprising, funny, and even a bit risky (H&M got a lot of social buzz for a scantily clad Beckham) is permissible and even welcomed for the Super Bowl.

People are psychologically wired to be excited by anticipation and the unexpected. The recent trend of leaking ads early is already killing the delight of the surprise in exchange for Youtube metrics. Don't recycle a previous creative idea (Pepsi Max) or go way too safe (Bud Light Platinum) to kill viewers' excitement even more.

Let your brand's personality dictate what the tone of your spot will be and branch out from there.

MYTH 4: All Super Bowl ads must be funny

It was the second year in a row that Chrysler stole the show in many marketers' eyes. The media buy was brilliant, nestling the anthemic "Halftime America" at the tail end of halftime, the execution was stellar, can you get more "American" than Clint Eastwood, and the authenticity of the story resonated with the current context of American culture.

This ad combined all the things that make a great advertisement– media buy/placement, creative execution, fantastic insights/contextual planning, and an authentic brand story. I'm not one to use different measuring sticks for my own good– it only placed #8 on Nielsen's likability index, but ask most advertisers and they will tell you this was a solid hit, creatively playing out unlike any of the other ads we saw during the game.

Leverage your own unique brand story in the aforementioned ways and we'd have great ads throughout the game. If you're a funny brand, be light and funny like M&Ms (top 3 in both Nielsen polls), and if your an anthemic Hero brand like Chrysler, tell that story.

Don't be like TaxAct and try and shoehorn humor in there when it is completely unrelated to the brand.

MYTH 5: Pepsi Max is a winner

The Pepsi Max ad was, by nearly all accounts, one of the biggest flops in this years Super Bowl advertising. I felt like I had already seen it, it was anticlimatic and it wasn't funny.

Hopefully we can at least all agree on this one.

So there you have it, my takeaways from SuperBowl XLVI. If I called you, your agency or your brand out, or said something you don't agree with, feel free to leave a comment below. I always like to see what your opinions are on subjects that are openly opinionated.

My 2012 Resolution: Tell Better Stories

2012-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-11-16T16:51:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-27T16:30:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-05-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

#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.

The Importance of Agency Culture

2011-03-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

I just read "Hoopla" a book about the rise of Crispin Porter + Bogusky and a unique snapshot into the inner cultural cogs of the agency and their rise to stardom. The scrapbooky assemblage of company wide emails, anecdotes, and agency photos really give a candid look into their cultural makeup and mindset. I also read a great article on Ad Age about a trend in agencies hiring a CCO - or Chief Cultural Officer. Both worked in tandem to get me thinking about just WHY agency culture is so important.

The thing with agencies and the nature of a business where the currency is in ideas, is that ideas are like the deepest secrets in your closet and really good ideas are often built upon by others. Agencies can have "cultures" in many different regards, but building an environment where people are comfortable to share their little secrets out into the world for judgement, ridicule, glory, brilliance or shame is what is important.

Think back to being younger and in a room with a bunch of seasoned adland vets- how many times did you sit silent, fearing the judgement of a Creative Director or Account Exec in the room? Even if it has happened a few times, that has a stifling impact on an agencies output, their currency-- ideas. Stupidity trumps silence in every instance. If there is a wrench stuck in the assembly line (which the creative process is NOT) at a Ford plant, one can be sure that a COO would be flying hell and high water to fix an issue that was having a negative impact on the output. Agency culture can help maximize the agency output of ideas.

Culture has the power to tear down the restrictive nature of shielding ideas and not feeling free to express them without judgement. Great agencies like CPB have people staying late, playing cards, shooting the shit and all motoring toward one common goal-- to make great work. They've made a culture that encourages collaboration and makes people feel comfortable to share; after all theyre sharing ideas with people that have are their friends and they will probably play tip cup with at the end of the day anyway. Culture can manifest itself in many ways, each agency does it different, but the importance is that you can remove those fears, barriers, etc. and just let ideas flow.

I had the pleasure of working with MPLS Creative Whiz Mike Fetrow, and he always was talking about the creative department needing to be louder and have more energy. I thought he was crazy, it was already nuts-- but he was onto something that happens in the fold of a chaotic, energetic and collaborative agency-- ideas flow much more freely when you tear down barriers that stifle creative output, and culture can be an important force in maximizing it.

Have Heroes and Buy Shit

2011-03-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

"Brands are totems. They represent our inner spirits for all to see. When I wear my Air Jordan 1s, I feel that I'm channeling the spirit of one my heroes, Michael Jordan. Wearing Nike or the Air Jordan brand internally aligns with my beliefs that only through hard work can you get the most out of your talents so you can achieve your dreams... So my advice is to have heroes and buy shit."
-Van Horgen, Founder SuperHuman

I absolutely love this quote and I had to share it. It's such a profound and simple way of looking at two very, very complex subjects. There are two things that are great about it: Yes brands are an easy way to communicate your beliefs and passions outwardly and yes brands can psychologically change the way you feel.

In the digital age in particular, there is a trend to create an ideal persona for the world to see. We're used to projecting our best forward facing self to society and we're also using brands to talk to people as we pass by them on the street. This quote touches on that and it's something I really find interesting.

The quote also touches on "Look good, feel good, play good." But is there any truth to this self fulfilling prophecy? That discussion is far too long for a blog post but I did want to share a trend I'm finding in some of the research I've dug up. Studies show people get more satisfaction and feel they do better with their preferred brand (in Van's case Nike) but in reality their performance remains very similar.

This is not necessarily surprising but it is interesting to note that people FEEL like they are doing much better and ENJOY the experience that much more. Brands and products have the powerful ability to change the way we feel and behave and while a pair of Jordans might not make you a better basketball player, they can actually make you feel like you're performing better.

Van was talking at a creative meeting over 6 months ago when he said this, and I still think about it walking down the street. It moved me, not because of it's Shakespearean delivery or it's philosophical prowess but because it's a really unique way to talk about brands and branding. As a planner it also asks more questions than it answers, which in turn has landed a shit ton of research studies on my home desk trying to figure it all out.

This post isn't conclusive, and it's a super heady theoretical subject so I'd love to hear your comments. Anyway, I've tried to top it and simply can't, so as Van so brilliantly put it "Have Heroes and Buy Shit."

You can find SuperHuman here, follow them, and follow Van Horgen here.

Leveraging Online Sources for Rich Insights

2011-02-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

In this day and age everyone has an opinion. Brands no longer need to have people in a position at a newspaper or magazine column, a Consumer Report article posted, witness an angry focus group or (hopefully not) a class action lawsuit to get the attention of their respective marketers. No longer do we need to rely on conventional outlets to collect feedback on how consumers feel about our brand.

It’s no secret, brands, agencies, and research firms spend tons of money to collect information about how people feel about brands, campaigns, and products. But why? We are in the information age and a ton of information is available for free for the scrappy planner and firm to pounce on and utilize in their research.

Twitter, message boards, comment threads and facebook groups have redefined the way we receive and process consumer information. Indeed, the ability to connect with consumers worldwide is still a relatively new phenomenon, yet we don’t give it the due diligence it deserves in mining the valuable and relatively cheap (read FREE) information that it provides in comparison to other research outlets. Let me provide a few examples that have I’ve recently run across that make a ton of sense.

Best Buy leveraged a crowd sourcing platform with their Twitter initiative “Twelpforce” that leveraged their existing workforce to provide a platform to respond to consumers. It allows Best Buy (and the respective electronics manufacturers) the ability to monitor consumer feedback and response. Twitter is also a great way to measure how consumers are feeling about your brand. Just do a simple search and the information you can mine is incredible.

Limited software releases or “Betas” have also seen a surge in popularity. They allow software developers the ability to have a limited open testing release to gather and implement consumer feedback before a wide scale public release. Halo, Call of Duty, Killzone and many other recent games have used this as a way to cheaply gather feedback and test their software before it goes to retail for the masses. Developers also use online message boards and facebook fan pages as ways to gather customer feedback and address game errors. It’s free and doesn’t require the resources and efforts of in-house testing or focus group responses.

Facebook has also leveled the playing field for brands. Facebook “Fan” pages provide a direct outlet for brands to monitor and connect with consumer feedback. Third party sites often provide an even more valuable connection opportunity to be made. Take for instance the “I have a defective Sony TV” (IHADSTV) group on facebook. Sony representatives monitor this group and often respond with a personal friend request to wall posts within the same day. Not only does this response let people know that they have personal connection with the brand and a large corporation, it also lets them know that they have the opportunity to get their voice heard by someone who can help make a difference. Sony will typically personally respond to posts and concerns and offer options to remedy the situation. It even put a new 55” TV in my living room. NICE!

And yet, these direct channels and skewed expectations also put pressure on brands to deliver responses that are on point, personable and solve problems for consumers. It also raises consumer expectations on how brands are supposed to respond and resolve problems that they have. Consumer expectations on the response time have risen but savvy brands can stay ahead of the curve and forge great consumer loyalty by leveraging these channels and staying in touch with their consumers.

While brands and planners alike can continue to spend tons of time and money on focus groups, qualitative and quantitative research and other avenues to understand consumer insights, there is a wealth of information available for free for us out there. Im not suggesting these sources should replace traditional research methods, but it would be unfair to cast off their value in uncovering valuable insight. Just take a look at the screen grab at the end of this post-- you couldn’t ask for a more honest opinion from a focus group participant. Oftentimes these are some of the most unfiltered and true responses that we can gain. So next time you have a fresh and juicy assignment dropped on your desk don’t feel bad about stopping in mainstream resources for information like facebook, message boards and twitter. Just remember-- while it typically isn’t the entire consumer segment-- the results, while not definitive, are often a valuable and cheap supplemental source to gaining great insights.

The Best Weapon in the Communications War Chest

2011-01-31T15:47:00.000-08:00

There is no greater weapon in the communication war chest than truth. When our advertising can be crafted to fit into what is currently happening within the culture our client wishes to exist, we can engage in a relatable connection and relationship with our audience. I needed to make a post on this because I kept seeing the ad in new places, with new groups and demos of people, and in different environments. Yet the reaction was the same with each viewing no matter the demographic or location-- people love it, and they love it because they can relate to it.

The advertising touches on a human truth within modern American culture: We spend way too much time on our cell phones. It should come as no surprise then that "Digital Downtime" made JWT Intelligence's list of cultural trends for 2011.

The Value of Inter-Agency Relationships

2011-01-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

We spend so much time trying to build meaningful relationships between brands and consumers, but we should all spend some time really investing in building meaningful relationships with our co-workers.

Case in point, the above message designed and sent as a Holiday Gift from the super talented Sarah Ekstrom. Warm fuzzy feelings followed opening up this beautiful gem. Thanks Sarah!

Check out her portfolio here.

A Soldier in All of Us

2010-12-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

Omnicon Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles unleashed the "There is a Soldier in All of Us" campaign earlier this month in preparation for the launch of the latest installment of videogame wounderchild franchise Call of Duty: Black Ops. I have been meaning to do a write up on it for a while now but I've spent far too much time playing the damn game.

Personally, as a gamer and advertising aficionado I think it is pure gold. The decision to skip gameplay and run with a real-life dramatization that focuses on the feeling of playing the game strikes a chord with the human truth of escapism and the online community aspect of playing with friends in combat.

TBWA/Chiat/Day really raises the bar in the typically bland videogame advertising world with an awesome rendition of what real life Call of Duty online feels like. Perhaps it is because I am a gamer myself, but capturing the fun and rush of playing something over the top with a bunch of buddies, strapped into your coach, zombified by your TV, white knuckle from the action and barking orders at your tv is captured so perfectly.

And in the end, that is the human truth of gaming, especially now where it has become a community where you can stay in touch with friends and enjoy an experience free from the worries and realities of a daily grind. NHL, Madden, etc. all do this with the same formula - yes the product itself is engaging, but our society is moving more towards more interactive ways of staying in touch. It adds a layer of engagement and competition lost in the sea of AIM, email and text.

The secret formula as to why this works so well simply comes down to a few facts about what have made the franchise so successful in the first place. Games like Halo, Madden, Call of Duty all do a few things well. They play well, are fun, engaging, but the kicker is that your friends all have it and you can play with and against your friends and still stay in touch. Online games have become just as much about playing against a real opponent as they are collaborative - playing with your real life friends in an online world.

Call of Duty is such a success because almost everyone of your gamer friends has it. When the first Modern Warfare came out it was still held back by a Call of Duty brand that had lost alot of merit in the gaming world. But Modern Warfare was such a success because it was a fantastic game to play and also had a ton of features that made playing with friends a breeze. Now it is the hot franchise, and hot franchises have it made when it comes to rapid diffusion in the marketplace. I went and bought it because I knew everyone of my pals was picking it up and I remembered how much fun we all had in "parties" playing with each other with the last game.

And yet that is what makes the spot so strategically spot-on. In the end it isn't about the shiny graphics or new guns and maps. It is about people from all walks of life coming together and having an over the top good time. It is about taking a break from the 9-5 and catching up with old buddies. It's about getting weird looks from your girlfriend at midnight as you scream "They're coming for A!" It's about all those things and more- and in the end it isn't really about the game at all.

Perfect strategy and flawless execution TBWA/Chiat/Day. Bravo

The Outlaw and the Hero

2010-11-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

Don't let the Michael Vick photo deceive you, this post is still about brands and advertising. And while Michael Vick may be the watercooler rage of the day - and rightfully so after a downright electrifying performance - he stirs up questions about the human fascination with the Michael Vick story and brand. The tension of his brand, the Hero and the Outlaw is what makes Vick such an undeniable intrigue.

Vick came into the league as the "Magician" archetype, blessed with the ability to make the impossible - possible. A new style of quarterback, his effectiveness at dismantling defenses left viewers in awe and transformed what we thought was possible much like a "Magician" brand. While the magic never quit, Vick was championed as a revolutionary and quickly became a "Hero".

As the "Hero" archetype, Vick harnessed his abilities and triumphed over rivals becoming a highly successful household name. Strong, confident, and courageous, Vick blossomed into a superstar that cut opposing teams to ribbons. Endorsements championed him, contracts made him wealthy, and opponents feared him. Then came a federal indictment and with it a subsequent sentence of 18 months in prison. Suddenly, Michael Vick was the "Outlaw".

During the hearing and sentencing periods Vick was caricatured as a thug and a heartless animal killer. People wanted a lifetime ban from the sport that had given him so much and yet he had somehow managed to squander it away. Many doubted that even in the unlikely event he returned to the football field, he could regain the magic that had made him such a star. The Philadelphia Eagles decided to take a chance with him, deflecting the immediate public backlash and helping rehabilitate his image and get back to football. Determined to destroy the opinions of critics and shed the "Outlaw" image and reemerge a "Hero", Vick went to work. A year later, here we are after what I would call the single most dominating sports performance I have ever seen.

The truth is that great stories, like great brands have a tension behind them. The tension of the "Hero" and the "Outlaw" is the Mike Vick story. Was Michael Vick an electrifying persona before his off-the-field issues that landed him in prison for 18 months? Absolutely. But we would be blind to ignore the fact that it is not only the absolutely dazzling athleticism of Vick that makes him such a must see athlete. The narrative arch of the road to redemption, the conflict of the Hero and the Outlaw, is what makes Mike Vick such a compelling figure.

GAP logo flub evokes brand loyalists and generates buzz

2010-10-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I won't ever do it again I promise. Yes I used "buzz" in a headline, a word so overused and redundant at this point that I feel bad using it, but it is the only way to describe the way the internet blew up over last week over GAP's logo redesign. Ad land and their consumer base erupted, arms in the air clamoring for the iconic serif blue box to make a triumphant return. No matter which we cut this, one thing remains certain, if you believe any press is good press, this one certainly takes the cake.

What can we learn from this? If inspiring brand communities and loyalists to engage with the brand was the goal, this move was a resounding success. There was an unprecedented outpouring from a brand shift. Their facebook fan count skyrocketed, their brand buzz went through the roof, and when all the dust cleared they admitted their wrong. In a noble attempt to harness their obviously passionate consumer base, they offered to allow fans to upload their own submissions for a crowd sourcing project. Let me be clear, I haven't seen crowd sourcing work yet and I don't know if it ever will. What does work is utilizing your consumer base as a soundboard and valuing their opinion.

Case in point, in a poll conducted by Ad Age and Ipsos Obvserver, 63% of consumers liked the old logo over the new. Using this kind of data to help guide decisions could really help strategically drive the creative process and circumvent flukes like this from ever happening.

This also was something that really ignited in design and marketing circles. Sure it extended into the consumer realm soon thereafter, but marketers and designers have a keen role in hopping on internet trends early and propagating their diffusion through the web. While I thought the design wasn't anything special and seemed poorly tested in consumer markets, it did mark a look "more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward," according to Marka Hansen, President of GAP North America. Now that they are backpedaling, this new way of thinking has been lost. Brands NEED to evolve over time.

The question is, should this come as a surprise to any rebrand? Pepsi received flak when they decided to give a new look to the iconic brand. All of the research in the world couldn't save the uneasiness caused by changing such an icon. People resist change, it is in our nature, and we are always going to be vocal with our different opinions. Brands become icons and it feels weird to us when they change. But that change is often for a good cause, signifying a new direction and a new way of thinking. Brands should plan for resistance from consumers and especially loyalists. But if a rebrand is not just a new coat of paint but rather a signifier of a new direction and commitment to it (a la Gap), they must embrace that resistance in order to evolve.

space150 turns 25, then party like we're 10

2010-04-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

space150 launched Version 25 last week marking over 3,600 days and ten years of digitaliciousness. This version, designed and pimped out by MPLS Designer Evan Nagan, showcases the minds at work within the space offices from LA>MPLS>NY. This also happened to be the first space150 version designed through crowdsourcing. Everything from the space150 website, business cards, stationary, front doors, office candles, pencils, lapel pins and even the space150 barware gets the version treatment.

“A lot of agencies would get really uptight about something like this,” says Billy Jurewicz, founder and CEO, space150. “You typically don’t let other people mess around with your brand, but we like to think and do things differently at space150 and besides we’ve never been tied to be just one thing forever. We reinvent ourselves every 150 days and with this being the 25th incarnation of the firm’s image we wanted to throw open the creativity door and invite in outsiders.”

Be sure to check out the new website at space150.com