public good

In economics a public good is something, that benefits everyone, but that costs so much that individuals aren't incented to pay for on their own (e.g. national defense, clean air).

It seems that better knowledge about advertising, media habits etc. are a sparse public good in the US, but a more abundant one in Britain. AdAge reports that the IPA is sharing out the results of it's Touchpoints project, that surveyed people to understand what media they consumed when, what they were doing at the time, and what subsequent purchase patterns were.

Now in this day and age, this sounds like a pretty vital survey to me. It is not free, but it does not seem to cost a fortune. But where is the US version?? Apparently Arbitron, VNU and a few others completed a massive project, with a larger scope, called Apollo. Why haven't we heard of it. Why isn't it available to advertisers?

The fact is, we are an industry going through a bit of a gut wrenching change. It would be helpful if we had a trade organization that put out this and other valuable information the way the IPA does. Instead we have the ARF, with their very helpful definition on brand engagement (see numerous posts around the web) and their over-emphasis on academic like studies. But is not just their fault or that of the AAAA: agencies have invested in proprietary studies (e.g. WPP's BrandZ) rather than public goods. This is sad, because we have a huge amount left to learn about some basic parts of advertising.

unbundled web

Noah Brier has posted some very smart thinking about the unbundling of web content - that we have moved past the site as the prime unit of currency on the web, and landed on the individual post.

To me, one of the most observations he makes is that audiences are no longer willing to view things in the way that the media define them, but rather in portions or context that consumers wish to. This helps makes the argument that brands can no longer rely on media or other forms of communication but must influence the cultural fabric of how or what consumers wish to see. They must be products with a surrounding culture or set of beliefs that make people more willing to engage in them .

It's easy to criticize this point of view and say: "well that's all very well for fashion or culturally relevant categories, but harder for bread and butter marketers like FMCG or financial services". However, if you look at what Crest White strips did with it launch, you see that they tapped into existing cultures (bride culture, gay culture) and encouraged new behavior. One of my financial services clients is tapping into existing issue sin retirement and giving people a new behavior culture to try out.

Its not easy, but it is worth it. And it is where the future is going.

thinking in the box

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the best solutions or ideas come when you have the least time or resources? How the phrase: "necessity is the mother of invention" is more true than ever?

We all talk about thinking outside of the box - its the challenge we set ourselves (or should be). But sometimes setting constraints on yourself - putting yourself in a box - can be a big help. It forces you out of your regular way of thinking and down new paths. Sometimes it means setting aside some of the information you have. You may do it by making assumptions about how the competition are acting or will act. Or, more basically, by assuming your budget (media, research) is small.

I'm going through a good example of this now. One of my clients is launching a new brand but has to do it on a much shorter time frame than they are used to. The result is that they have opened themselves to new ways of going to market.

I'd be interested in other people's examples of this as well.

effie

I was very chuffed to hear that I am part of the team at Kirshenbaum Bond that has won an Effie for the Edward Jones campaign.

Edward Jones is a really fascinating company which, at the time we pitched the business in 2003, had an under developed brand. But it is one that has a brand experience that matches it's brand promise of a conservative long term investing strategy. They don't offer Internet trading, options trading and don't provide research on companies in business less than 10 years old.

We gave the creatives a brief that set these practices in the nervous investing context of the time. They did a great job - as you can see here

what is measured

I feel like my last few posts have been "blog-lite", so maybe this will counterbalance things

A recent business book coined the phrase: "what gets measured, gets done", and this truly does apply to planning. After all, how can we fulfill the part of our job description that says "make the work more effective" unless we can measure how good it is to start with?

The problem is that the measures we have are not keeping up with the task. Our old standby, the tracking study, is not up to the task of dealing with a world where conversations, blogs and retail experiences often carry more weight than ads. How do you know what the ads did and what they didn't do?

Everyone agrees self reporting is innacurate and using econometrics to try and show the effects of a marketing instrument depends on a) being able to measure all the activity affecting the brand and b) that no one media use affects another. The first is very hard (how do you quantify the effect of an in-store display?) and the second is impossible (are we saying a TV ad can't encourage conversation or vice-versa?).

But the more fundemental problem might be idea of surveying itself. Just as we know the flaws in focus groups, we know that people like to hear themselves talk in surveys, that they give rushed answers to get off the phone and that people are notoriously bad at predicting their own behavior. On top of that, Robert Hall's research (and the work of many in neuroscience) have shown that we can't just rely on answers to atribute statements and believe we are getting a picture of the brand, the effects of the ads etc.

The only company I have seen even trying to address this is Hall & Partners (no surprise). But there is a lot more we could do. Here's a few ideas of mine, but it would be great to hear what others are doing.

a) Incorporate other measures into a unified tracking study e.g. a measure of web conversation that could be compared to a dollar spent on advertising. MotiveQuest has a great technology to measure how many conversations occur onlne about a brand and on what topic - how do we use that?

b) Interview people just after they have interacted with the brand. After a TV show the ads have aired in, after they have been in a store with it etc. This means not reaying on one means of data collection - problematic in terms of comparing old and new data but once you establish a new data stream you get over it. Communicus is one tracking company that is at least starting to link the TV progams people watched and their response to advertising.

c) Tap into psychology a bit more for our questions. There are established personality profile questions and other questionnaires that might be useful.

I don't know all the answers (does anyone) but I know this won't be cheap or easy. BUt if our world is changing, shouldn't the tools we use in it change too?

hiccups

I wanted to go photo diving on Flickr when I got this message

Hold your clicks a moment please...

Flickr has the hiccups. We're looking into the problem right now, so please check back later.

And despite not being able to get onto the site - I was happy and smiled at the way the brand spoke to me.

In thinking about how we put brands out there, anticipating how the brand should deal with problems, complaints or unexpected events is as important as thinking about how the brand is advertised. This is real test of a brand for consumers: what will it do when things aren't quite perfect. It seems like Flickr knows the answers.

more kid business

In doing more thinking about kid-oriented entertainment I came across this site offering business wisdom from none other than The Wiggles themselves (for those of you without kids, the Wiggles are four ex-musician, ex-early childhood development students who have turned jumping around in skintight outfits singing kids songs into a multi billion dollar business).

A lot of the points on what makes the Wiggles successful were telling and very applicable to advertising:

1. Do what's good for your audience without lecturing
The Wiggles sing songs about crossing the street safely, but don't do the "product demo", problem-solution overkill for kids. That way the kids think its normal to hold someone's hand etc. You'd think we could learn the same thing.

2. Keep it live and stay in contact.
The Wiggles could get away with not touring and doing live shows. In fact very few band tours make money (unless you are U2 or The Rolling Stone(ager)s). But the shows realy bring the moment alive for the kids, and they sit their with their mouths hanging open (ok - my kids did anyway).

Similarly, maybe we're just phoning it in if all we do is make ads for brands and shoving them on air. Even finding new media to put ads on is a bit of a cheat. Treat the brand like a touring band, then think of what to do.

3. Stay true to your roots
Despite being on Disney, the Wiggles haven't made themselves less Aussie. Now Australia to America isn't to big a cultural stretch (Aussies may kill for saying this), but I don't beleive that becoming an international brand means having to change your nature. Either it works or it doesn;t. This does not mean being culturally insensitive or not making the brand idea relevant to local life, but it does mean that the core brand story should remain the same.

nice stuff

I finally got time to do some walking around the city last week. Despite the best intentions I only managed to walk around a little bit of Chinatown and the financial district. I have to get to the Mission, Castro and Haight to really feel like I have seen more of the city.





Hannspree is a Taiwanese manufacturer of LCDs which has gone into business for itself making very cool designs surrounding the TVs themselves. Lots of stuffed animal TVs, Buzz Light TVs etc. A very smart way to differentiate in a category with little differentiation (and bad ads).



I also had my first Tapioca Iced Tea - essentially exotic flavored iced tea with tapioca balls at the bottom. It gives a very strange sensation while drinking but is delicious.



This is a beautiful building that reminded of some of the great art deco architecture in Brussels (where I grew up) and the Flatiron. Francis Ford Coppola has opened up a restaurant at the base of ti as a way to showcase ( his winery.