Pure Thinking

Duuuuude, that brainstorm was like...totally rad man!

Brainstorming sessions are a fairly well known idea in a variety of industries and occupations; however, the way that a brainstorm is facilitated can drastically influence the quality of idea and outcome. 

A bad brainstorm can feel much like a middle school locker room, complete with apprehension, humiliation, and a general unwillingness to participate.

On the flip side, a good brainstorm has the capacity to shape a new project into the next award winning campaign or idea.

I recently stumbled across an article by Robert Sutton written for Bloomberg Businessweek in which he outlines eight tips for better brainstorming.  Check out the article here.

In essence, brainstorming should be a comfortable, warm environment in which people feel completely free to bounce new ideas, get creative, and build off of past experiences or work.

Brainstorm sessions are also a great way to tap into your team’s diverse resources and backgrounds.  I can guarantee you that each individual you work with comes with a unique set of talents, hobbies and passions which can lead to some pretty awesome creative thinking.

Be sure to go read the article above and start thinking about your own creative process.  How do brainstorming sessions happen at your company?  Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

--
Geoff Renstrom
Twitter: @savestheclash

Doesn't Anyone Want To Create Something Anymore?

This may be a mass generalization that I'm making, but as I sit in front of the box and watch the commercials roll past, I can't help but feel that the advertising that is being aired is getting as dumbed down as the programming. I've resigned myself to the fact that reality television is here to stay. Yes, it was novel back in the day when "The Real World" hit the airwaves, but to see what it has blossomed into says a lot about our culture and the media. Writers don't write for shows anymore, they've gotten lazy. Programs consist of recording reactions to certain stimuli and then cleverly editing them together to fill a :23 minute time slot. There is very little creativity that goes into so many shows now and our society still eats up the fluff.  Why do I care about who the biggest loser is, or who the latest victim is going to be who is destined for marital bliss?  Yes, I understand that we're in a bit of a voyeuristic society and that people can't help but watch when they see a car wreck coming, but to have most of today's programming reflecting a model that is based mainly on others misfortune is starting to get sad and tired.

The advertisers that I see on a regular basis are reflecting this same mentality in a sense. The creativity is missing in so much of the advertising out there. Companies are choosing to spoon feed their audiences their messaging in a desperate attempt to get their service or product recognized. Yes it is challenging to get the attention of a viewer that has a bit of ADD with that remote and can DVR and fastforward programming, but to boil down messaging so much that there is no thought needed to get the message across, is not the answer. A prime example would be AT&T. Their series of commercials featuring one of the Baldwin brothers are so tiring to watch. Literally showing a coverage map laid over whatever scenario that they are portraying, yes, gets the point across, but where’s the bigger idea? This seems to be a trend for advertisers, to create unmemorable spots that have no challenge or opportunity for personal interpretation. They are missing an opportunity to resonate with the viewer by spoon feeding their message, instead of letting their audience figure out what the advertising is trying to say, and in turn allowing them to develop an affinity for their product based on a personal connection to the advertising. They got the creative, they figured out a play on words or a visual metaphor and now have something they can relate to. They can share with others, open discussions with or just feel like they are a part of something since they got it.

We owe it to ourselves, and our industry, to assure our clients that we and the creative that we suggest can be trusted. We aren't going to lead them down a path that they shouldn't go down in their messaging.  Our livelihoods are as much at stake as theirs and if we are allowed to produce the creative we suggest, we may all reap some success. Let's create something.

Elvis Yourself

Warner Bros., Elvis Presley Enterprises and NCM Fathom are commemorating the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth by presenting Elvis on Tour: 75th Anniversary Celebration, a special in-theater event that celebrates the timeless music of the rock ‘n’ roll icon.

To spread the word and begin the celebration early, we've created an "Elvis Yourself" application. Check it out at: http://www.elvisontouronthebigscreen.com/elvis-yourself

Advertweeting

With an immaculately wrapped towel, a baritone bellow and an impressive set of hand weights in his bathroom, the Old Spice guy took the advertising world by storm. Demonstrating yet again the strength of social media, the innovative pairing of chiseled abs and user generated content has been touted as one of the most brilliant campaigns ever. However, it begs the question of if a scantily-clad former football star saying socially awkward things mid-scrub really make people want to buy Old Spice deodorant? TIME magazine and WARC advertising news service say it didn't. The reason being, it is just too focused on the ladies - and maybe a little too funny.

As both a lady and a fan of a good laugh, I suppose I wouldn't want my man to smell like a man I once laughed at for being "that guy" on a YouTube. In real life upon smelling the sting of Old Spice, I would probably make some awkward comment about a preference eyes in a cello-like verbrato instead of sliding a napkin with my phone number on it across the bar. I think we can agree that neither one of us looks attractive in that situation.

Oh well. Though not a catalyst for a long term relationship, the campaign certainly secured the sustainability of social media campaign. Maybe Domino's will have more luck with their Twitter/Facebook proverb campaign. Maybe not so visual, but still poses a great opportunity to poke fun at pop culture.

Philtrums and aglets and tittles! Oh my!

“His chiseled features even included a well-defined philtrum.”

Hmmm, what radio station did I just tune into?! The local radio announcer reread the sentence then asked his audience if anyone knew what a philtrum was. As soon as I got my mind out of the gutter, I made a quick mental note to expand my vocabulary, something I constantly remind myself to do, but never take the time to actually do.

A philtrum is the vertical groove on the median line of the upper lip. Gee, who woulda knew that? Actually, very few. Which is why Merriam-Webster recently posted its newest Top 10 List: Words  For Things You Didn’t Know Have Names. Check it!

If A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words, How Much Is A Brand Worth?

More importantly, how much is a successful brand worth and how did it become successful? Think of some successful brands; Apple, Chipotle, Starbucks, Kleenex, Virgin Atlantic. How much do you think their brands are worth? Then think of the marketing world's most famous brand flop; the Edsel.

What are all these companies selling? A product? A personality? An experience? Has the name taken over the meaning of another word?

I've seen way too many companies start selling their product without any kind of analysis of what their brand is. It makes it a whole lot easier to create an amazing marketing and PR campaign when you have a brand positioning statement to promote your product/company.

It's amazing how a little work upfront on a brand analysis will help the entire company get excited about a campaign to market and sell your product.

What are your current clients saying about you? other stakeholders of the company? What about clients you'd like to have? and former clients? What type of internal review have you done? What are your goals for the brand? Who are your true customers? Why would they want to be a customer? What is the core feeling or benefit from being your customer?

Once you have that figured out you will have a much better understanding for a brand positioning statement and then you can dramatically tell your brands story.

Why did the Edsel fail? Marketers say it was the Ford corporate culture and its failure to understand the American consumer. 

Are you doing your homework to understand your customer? Are you planning for a successful brand?

Is your brand, or more importantly the marketing for your brand, an Apple or an Edsel?

 Good luck with your brand.

John Meyer

@johndmeyer

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Though this post is not going to help my hometown get any cred in the eyes of some of my co-workers, who think the Old North State is a backwoods land of Bud Heavy and NASCAR... this is pretty great. (And my hometown is way cooler, and farther from NASCAR, than Charlotte).

 

Behold - a billboard that smells like meat!

 

This billboard is spreading its smokey, peppery BBQ goodness to Charlotte, NC commuters each day at morning and evening rush hour – promoting local grocery chain Bloom.  Leading consumers by the nose - do you think this tactic has staying power?

--Kate

Magazines Take a Stand

 

A decline in magazine newsstand sales is a common headline this year. Buzz about decline in newspaper subscribers and increase in digital technologies that are argued to be taking the place as the tool for media consumption, such as the iPad or Nook.

As one may suspect, there is always another side to the story.

Recent data released from GfK MRI reveal that consumer magazines showed a print readership growing by one percent from spring 2009-spring 2010. A MediaPost analysis took a longer view at a decade's worth of MRI data that showed the total audience for 81 top titles increased eight percent from 2000-2009. 

Interestingly, as consumers continue to read magazines, advertisers continue to walk away. From 114,910 ad pages in the first half of 2006, the industry total dropped 32 percent to 78,218 in the first half of 2010, according to the latest figures from the Publishers Information Bureau.

This may be the result of agencies successful sell on the growing trend of digital media and popular social platforms. Advertisers intrigue with sophisticated data collection captured on digital channels that are often difficult to measure, may also be a factor of persuasion. Cost-effective (can I say cheap?) digital budgets are no doubt also a dangling carrot for smaller marketing budgets in comparison to the larger traditional media buy options.

The bottom line: It does not matter what agencies are selling or what advertisers want - It's about where are customers are. And my guess is more often than not, it's probably a little bit of both. 

To blog or not to blog...

...that is the question. Personally, I'm not much of a blogger. I've tried and it's just not my thing. I have my own blog and it hasn't had an entry in probably six months. And that was more of a rant then anything else, and I think the therapeutic endeavor paid off once I spilled the angst that was building up over the years. Not only that, it was number one on a Google search and had maybe three comments over the course of six months or more. Kinda makes you feel like you're talking to a wall.

So this morning I was approached to write a blog today and was kinda caught off guard, hence, the subject matter of Forced Blogging. I never heard that term before I Googled it today, but there it was in plain english. Maybe I'm going out on a limb bringing up this subject in an inappropriate forum, but it would be interesting to get other comments on this subject from people who feel the same as I do. I know when I was active on my own blog I definitely had to force myself to blog.

At work, I feel I can spend my time doing something more productive with down time, like brushing up on or learning all this new technology and programs I'm now expected to master in one or two sittings to stay current in this overwhelming digital age. I'm not a designer and I'm not a copywriter, nor do I purport to be either. I do production. And I'm sure anyone reading this doesn't want to hear about how I was having technical issues uploading those images to our email marketing server and how I was able to come up with a workaround.

The truth is, in a heavily PR influenced environment I think that you should have some blogging skills if that is your area of expertise. These folks are used to keeping their finger on the pulse and typing up news releases, reports, new business proposals, tweeting, and whatever else it is that they do (apparently blogging is one). But for some of us it's more like going back to school and having to write an essay for your homework assignment. Sorry, but that's how I feel and this is my blog post, right?

Now, if it were my sole job to blog I would have many secret resources I could use. I would always have my feelers out for the next coolest thing, I would be a hipster. Or if I were trying to drive folks to a website with meta-data and keywords to get higher on the search engines that would be one thing. But the truth is, to be totally original in a blog post you have to be passionate about a subject which, for me, might be more of a log about say, my fly-fishing experiences or snowboarding trips, of which I would say there are probably waaaay to many of to begin with. 

That being said, I still think in the future I can hopefully post one or two interesting topics from time to time since it's something that I now know is expected of me. My only other real question is, how many hats can one employee wear anyway? But that may be a topic for another post, if they let me...

Paul the Oracle Octopus Finds Potential in PR

Farewell Paul, internationally acclaimed aquatic invertebrate with successful soccer game calls equivalent to the number of your goopy tentacles.  Applauded for your powers of prediction, I think that there is something else you should be recognized for: your inspiring gift for PR.

 

I will forever be impressed by how your lack of a spine never prevented you from making bold moves that made major headlines.  How your lack of thumbs never hindered your Twitter capabilities. How your flimsy anatomy never foiled your iPhone app development. How your intermittent inking tendencies never impaired your on-camera interview skills. You are an inspiration to the PR profession, Paul. And if the citizenship deal Spain offered you falls through, I’d say you have a bright future at Pure.