May 2013
3 posts
The misguided belief in the democratization of...
“… [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,” (though she acknowledged that there are “different skill levels”). - Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO
I could go on and on about how this pathetic attitude dismisses the entire history of human civilization and art, but business school people only understand money. So, in terms...
Moment of clarity
I had one of the most beautiful walks this morning and saw the world as it is for the first time in a long while. On every face, the hopes, dreams, frustrations and insecurities were so obvious. The overwhelming beauty of the human condition set on the backdrop of grand human achievement (Chicago architecture) played out like an art film in front of my eyes.
I miss that. Like so many people, I get...
For those of you not familiar with nonsensical...
Accenture buys design firm, Fjord.
“In order to capitalize on the disruptions being created by digital, and to sustain engagement with consumers, our clients need new services and experiences that are powered by technology, analytics, mobility, and scalable marketing operations,” said Brian Whipple, global managing director of Accenture Interactive, in a statement.
Translation:...
April 2013
1 post
In defense of John Hegarty
When you’re 18, you think you know everything. When you’re old, you know you know nothing.
I very clearly remember in my youth rolling my eyes whenever I heard an “adult” say “in my day” or “kids these days”. But as you grow older, that feeling naturally begins to set in. You see change through the very limited lens of a 20-30 year range from your...
March 2013
2 posts
Does "big data" nullify "word-of-mouth"?
There’s a contradiction brewing which could completely reshape the ad industry, but somehow I feel like I’m the only one who’s noticed it.
With the explosion of social, digital agencies jumped on the “word-of-mouth” bandwagon. Problem is, it was nothing new. Look up the various writings of Ogilvy and Bernbach, for instance. Everyone’s been preaching it for 100...
Redefining luxury - the first step to saving the...
Like a lot of people, I think about the problems of our economy and what “growth” (the supposed prescription for the economy) does to our environment. I’m entirely too old to believe in the utopian fantasies of us all living collectively on a kibbutz. And given the natural gravitational pull all civilizations have had towards income/wealth disparity, I don’t have much faith...
January 2013
2 posts
A delusion I need to let go
I was able to have dinner and drinks in NYC tonight with friends I worked with a long time ago. It was as if we hadn’t seen each other in weeks vs the years it’d actually been. As we talked, I realized these were people I’d let borrow my car, watch my son, etc. I also realized there are 50-100 people in this category. Almost all of them were from a time long ago.
After the...
It's time.
Realistically, I only have about 9,000 days left in my life. When you start thinking about it that way, you quickly realize you’re not going to get to everything you hoped you’d do.
So, it’s time. Time to let go of everything I’m holding onto. Time to stop thinking I’ll ever get it back. Time to stop believing in the artificial sense of security. Time to do...
December 2012
1 post
The end of growth and the fallacy of acquisition...
I’m regularly writing about what’s wrong with the ad biz, clients, etc. But as often as I occasionally think I “nailed it”, I realize there’s something bigger going on I haven’t quite put my finger on. A bigger societal/macro-economic issue driving “management” to do all kinds of stupid shit based on misguided faith in inductive reasoning. The...
September 2012
2 posts
Your brand is an idea - not the products you sell.
There’s not a new idea in here, but it’s one adland seems to have forgotten. We and our clients often get trapped in the bubble and get so lost in the details of product benefits/claims we lose sight of what brands actually are. I’ve written about this before, that simple idea consumers have in their heads when making purchase decisions.
Corporations are sitting on tons of cash,...
August 2012
1 post
Accept that you don't know what you're doing and...
None of us know where the world is going. Take the disruptions going on in the entertainment and advertising business, then layer on the constant changing digital landscape and your best bet is to find something you believe in and ride it out. I always say I walk in every morning with no idea what I’m doing, but I consistently seem to be able to figure out today by around 2:30. The only way...
June 2012
2 posts
The Greatest Advertising Metaphor Ever....
“I once read about five monkeys that were placed in a room with a banana at the top of a set of stairs. As one monkey attempted to climb the stairs, all of the monkeys were sprayed with jets of cold water. A second monkey made an attempt and again the monkeys were sprayed. No more monkeys attempted to climb the stairs. One of the monkeys was then removed from the room and replaced with a new...
May 2012
1 post
Why the path to great advertising is becoming...
There’s a deep-seeded angst amongst creatives. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling it too. A sense of sensing something. Something seemingly insurmountable. Over last few years, I’ve watched countless colleagues leave the business. They go to a startup, take client-side jobs, and go to Apple, Google or Facebook. Some just say, “fuck it.” Based on the...
March 2012
3 posts
And now I have to make people completely rethink...
That simple Zima banner ad on Hotwired.com so long ago, oh, the mess you left behind.
The first banners were little more than that - just a static image on a web page. Then, the animated GIF came along. First, we did the “Burma Shave” thing of three or four frames of copy, quickly learning best practices of keeping the logo and CTA on every frame to maintain our 10% click-thru rates...
Machine Readable World - How the uncanny valley...
If you’ve followed the miscellaneous crap I write about, you’ll know I’m fascinated with how technology interfaces with the evolutionary motivations baked into our DNA. And this is no different.
One of the earliest observations I had as a kid was the natural tendency we have to see faces in randomness. We see faces in clouds. In the patterns in carpet. In acoustical tile...
WatchNoticed this couple hadn’t looked at each other for the entire time we were at the restaurant. So, I just sat my phone on the counter and started filming. Wonder if they really hate each other, or are just oblivious…
February 2012
2 posts
Big data is here, and only creatives can save us...
When desktop publishing arrived on every PC, there was talk of the death of graphic design. The templates came pre-loaded on your machine so “anyone can do it.” Yet, 20 years later, graphic designers are more in-demand than ever before. Today, rumblings are beginning about how Big Data is going to reduce the importance of creative people. Unless you’ve been in a cave,...
Advertising: We are the 2-5%.
A couple people asked me why the Chrysler “Halftime in America” was my favorite SB spot. Well, here goes…
The median household income in America is still under $50k. AND, the average car on the road is now over 10 years old. If you’re in that household, you’ve also experience this economy first-hand. Either you, or someone in your close circle, has been unemployed...
January 2012
2 posts
A great Droga quote
“I care about our contribution to our industry. Certainly the quality and effectiveness of our thinking is our primary concern, but I also want us to help move our industry forward. Advertising is an industry under duress. People compromise for a buck and take short cuts for short term gains. In fact I would say no industry has worked harder at being lazy. But we believe our industry is far...
A quote from Ben Kingsley about Hollywood. Sounds like what we’ve been bitching about in advertising for the last 10 years.
“I think that once you start to make crucial decisions by committee and each member of that committee is extremely anxious about his or her job, then you’re not going to have the right decisions made. You’re going to have decisions that are...
November 2011
2 posts
If you can't make it, you shouldn't be selling it.
I saw an ad for The Leatherman tool on late night TV. It reminded me of a quote a good friend of mine said about them - “If I can’t fix it with this, I shouldn’t be fixing it.”
Yesterday morning, I was in a meeting with one of the teams bouncing around an idea we wanted to take into a client meeting. Two hours later, one of our developers walked into my office and put his...
The Forgotten Consumer
Years ago, I used to think junior creatives simply didn’t know how to present. Though often true, the past five years or so have taught me even many seasoned professionals don’t get it either. The explosion of digital, CRM, and more data than you know what to do with has agencies spending entirely too much time trying to prove they’re smart in client meetings vs. selling in...
October 2011
1 post
My name is my job description.
This summer, I was talking with Shane Ginsberg (@shaneginsberg) of Organic who gave me the best advice I’ve heard in a long time. He said, “Kevin, your name is your job description. Try to be the best Kevin you can be and try to be a better Kevin tomorrow. The second you begin forcing yourself into a pre-defined role, you’ll get frustrated and fail.”
As I spend this...
August 2011
1 post
Why words are hurting the Agency/CMO relationship.
(I’ve apparently become obsessed with language and it’s failings lately.)
Agencies work so hard to try and appear smarter than their clients. We have our “proprietary processes”, make up combined words (“tradigital”…really?), use as many acronyms as possible, etc. Tech-speak, acronyms, etc. have subconsciously become the way we judge if someone has...
July 2011
4 posts
Me. Here. Now.
In my lifetime, I’ve never seen a technology change human behavior faster than the blue dot on a map. GPS-enabled phones reinforce the natural self-interest of believing you’re the center of the universe. And when you’re seeing yourself as the blue dot on the map, what are you thinking? Me. Here. Now.
I’m right here. What’s near me? Where’s the nearest...
Cult of W+K Updated
After my post last night, I got several comments from people mentioned in it about how I’d tapped into something about the feeling. I also e-mailed it to Dan and as expected, got a response back within an hour.
“Oh god. You see what I see, what is so difficult to find the handle to. It is this almost cave like thing that literally thousands of people have left their mark on, and been...
The cult of Wieden + Kennedy: and why I'm still...
When people talk about W+K, the work is often the topic. Creativity. The awards. Etc. And in my years there, I was able to participate in all of it. But honestly, there’s something even bigger. A more human thing…
Today, I needed to find a spot that W+K did back in 1998 or so. I sent a quick DM to John Boiler (@JtothePtotheB) of 72andsunny and within 30 minutes, he’d replied with the link. At...
Paralysis of Choice - Why clients should stop...
A decade ago, I could confidently walk into a client meeting, present an idea, sell it, then go into production. They didn’t know much about “this digital thing” and trusted me to guide them.
Fortunately, I’ve been able to maintain my role as the trusted adviser. BUT, everything begins with helping them sort through the hundreds of tweets they’ve read about the...
June 2011
5 posts
Foursquare Cannes data #1 #canneslions @DraftFCB...
Just beginning to analyze Heat Tracker data. Obviously, checkins have dramatically increased with all is ad geeks in town (8x). After the Palais, 75% of checkins at Morrison’s Pub have been female (why am I here?) . 90+% of checkins at The Gutter (72 Croisette) have been male. More analysis coming soon. Http://heattrackerapp.com
The most beautiful Helvetica
I’m sitting in the Dusseldorf airport awaiting my next flight to Nice. After roaming around for thirty minutes or so, I realized I was much calmer than usual in such a situation. I’m convinced it’s the lack of visual noise. Design is simply a function of daily German life. Color theory (which doesn’t seem to be taught in US portfolio schools) is a given. Every sign, ad, etc...
Foursquare and Creativity? (@draftfcb...
Six months ago, we launched the Heat Tracker iPhone app which visualizes Foursquare checkin data on a map. You can see what places are hot, warming up, etc. You can even see the male/female ratio. So far, it’s done well. Retention rates are very high and those who’ve downloaded it use it several times a week. But the real story has been the data behind it.
Our Customer Intelligence...
Is it okay to burn a bridge if it's to a really...
Hypothetically…
An agency is about to lose an account. The CCO and CEO call in the “digital creative team”. Ask them to take one last crack at it. By the end of the meeting, the two guys have the basis of an idea. They go to lunch, and by the time they get back to the office have idea flushed out with TV, social, online films, etc.
Comps and decks get built working with the one...
May 2011
9 posts
Appearance, Racism and the fragmentation of...
A lofty subject line I admit. I’ve read several articles lately about how younger people, particularly urban and educated, don’t see race in the same way their parents and grandparents do. The hints and clues that trigger the first reaction if someone’s in your tribe are more about haircuts, clothing, headphones, etc. than it is about skin color. And that transition of visual...
Make stuff. Sell stuff. Or get out.
A job description for a potential hire crossed my desk the other day. After flipping through the multiple pages of duties, responsibilities, expectations, etc., I realized that nowhere in it was anything about what ad agencies actually do. It isn’t just an agency problem, you see it in corporations everywhere. We’re so wrapped up in the details, we lose sight of the role of our...
Embrace The Destruction of Everything.
A bit hyperbolic, but a very insightful article from 2009.
http://brianshall.com/content/new-working-class
The Serendipity Problem
In a creative discussion with a team, I started down the path of how the things we create have to provide some level of utility to our consumers. Pretty standard fare for a digital CD. But I heard myself going on and on about breaking through what’s expected to “surprise and delight.”
Then it hit me. We’ve made all of our digital stuff so good at delivering what we want...
The Pretending Layer
I’ve been thinking a lot about “persona cycling” and how easily we quickly flip from one aspect of our personality to another w our various social apps on our phones. How one is used for one part of our lives, another for another. Then I saw this from my old friend Russell Davies.
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2011/04/the-pretending-layer.html
We need to switch our thinking to...
