Marobella's Branding SoapBox

Maybe its me?

All the buzz lately about how CMO's are looking beyond traditional agencies for marketing innovation.  About how the old way of advertising isn't working anymore and the rally cry for something new. Well, I must admit I am a bit confused. We, at Wirestone, are doing something different. We are finding new ways for great brands to engage and influence their customers through the creation of very powerful brand experiences. These experiences could be online, they could be offline - the important fact is they all find new and innovative ways for brands to create explosive value by connecting in new ways.

This has become a bit of a problem for how we position our agency. We strive to be different, to not be a slave to a particular medium or channel. Yet, brands haven't caught up. Where are all the CMO's that are being surveyed and saying they want to move away from traditional marketing? And why do big brands still want to put agencies into nice and neat little boxes such as, advertising agency, interactive agency, direct marketing agency or word of mouth/buzz agency? Why can't we just be a marketing solutions agency? Meaning that the unique business challenge dicates the solution. Why do we have "hang our hat" on something specific? This disconnect is stemming from recent meetings I have had with big brands that say they want to find new ways to connect, but act much different. When challenged with a relevant and powerful new idea, they fall back on the old, tired marketing toolbox. I call that the 'foxhole mentality". They are afraid if they stick their head out of the foxhole, it will get shot off.

Sure, there are specialities that require a deep knowledge of certain areas - it is very hard to be a master of all things marketing. Deep expertise is needed in true direct marketing or web marketing. Every agency will say they can do direct or web, but to really do it there are certain things that you just have to do well. However, the smart agencies have learned that if a solution calls for an area that goes beyond their boundaries they can either partner or bring in subject matter experts or what Wirestone calls Solutions Architects. The core of the solution is solving the business challenge and assigning the all-important KPI's.

I would imagine that there are more agencies than just Wirestone struggling to position themselves in a rapidly changing world. However, the clients still need to catch up to all the talk in trade pubs and conferences. They need to know it is OK to step out of their comfort zone and hire an agency that may not have a million Cannes lions, but can bring new and innovative ideas to help them connect in powerful ways.

Marobella out.

Fraud.

I love that someone actually did this really in-depth, complicated experiment. It is something that has always been on my mind. Where are the truth in advertising police on this one?

http://www.thewvsr.com/adsvsreality.htm

Retail-Betting

A dream come true. Getting your newly purchased furniture for free and our beloved Red Sox winning the crown. Jordan's furniture in Boston is offering customers a chance to win their entire purchase for free if they buy during a de termined time period this spring and the Sox win the World Series in October. Reported by boston.com

This is an interesting new style what I call "retail gambling". Come on down, buy until your heart's content and then watch feverishly to see if they win. There was a similar promotion by a jeweler here in Chicago-area that bet against mother nature, not a team. If it snowed 6" or more on Christmas, your recent purchase was free. It didn't.

I think this is a cool new way for retailers to create some excitement. Imagine all the "retail-props" you can buy against -  I can see it now:

Target could have "If Wal-Mart's stock goes down by 10% this week, you get your purchases for free".

Multi-layered Approval Epidemic

While I will not be as outspoken as my friend Christopher Rowlison, I would like to comment on a statement made by folks at Crispin as to one of the public reasons they resigned the Miller business. Alex Bogusky said, " "Although we made every attempt to find common ground, the process of multilayered approvals of creative and strategy has made doing work we can be proud of increasingly difficult."

I applaud that statement. Alex, we have never met, but thank you so much for saying that. It seems the bigger and more influence a brand has, the more layers of crap we our ideas need to swim through. I call it the "sperm approval process". Hopefully if we throw enough good ideas, one will make through to see the light of day. It has become an epidemic in our marketing world and as an agency partner to larger brands. And clients wonder why our fees are what they are? We have to build in the factor of constant changes, approvals, tweaks, full re-writes when we are on press because so and so couldnt see it because they were at a meeting in Paraguay etc etc.

I love the times when a brand says - "We want our stuff to be more like them" Whoever the nemesis of that brand is, could be the "them". Well, of course we are not going to execute exactly like "them", but try to capture the essence of what they are speaking to. Case in point, Sears vs. Target. Someone at Sears says, we need to have more spirit, energy and passion in our marketing - make us more like Target. So, the agency goes off and slaves over new, great ideas that are full of energy and distinctly Sears - ground they can claim. They get presented and then the lowly, middle managers kill the ideas because they are afraid to present to the CMO or even the CEO. No wonder a brand like Sears is dying a slow, painful death.

A message to CEO's: Great ideas are being killed by your middle management because they are afraid to stick their head out of the foxhole. We implore you, create an environment that fosters (not punishes) creative, powerful thinking that could build your business. Streamline approvals, empower your people and most of all trust your agencies.