Google cracks the creative code

Google is fast becoming one of my favorite broadcast advertisers. I think they have as solid an understanding of their brand's promise and personality as anyone in the business.

What's most impressive to me is Google has a brand that lives entirely online, and yet they communicate their online experience through the tangible, real-life experiences they enable. The result is a wonderfully warm, human brand personality.

I get a couple of lessons out of looking at Google's broadcast portfolio. One is a reminder of the unique ability video has to surprise, delight and endear unlike virtually any other medium (something we all-too-often forget). The other is how powerfully humanizing a smart branding campaign can be. Brand architects talk about what human emotions and personalities their brands convey. In the abstract, it's hard to appreciate or know what to do with it. Then you see work like this and it all makes sense.

Here's their latest spot promoting Google Maps from Venables, Bell and Partners.

Fast Company on Embracing Chaos

Required reading from Fast Company for anyone in our business. Some of the industry's best minds with a common thread - embrace the change constant. Possibly scary if you are a manager, potentially disorienting if you are a leader and exponentially inspiring if you are the fearless force our industry so desperately needs. Wherever you are amongst those groups (none are mutually exclusive), your ability to embrace chaos and allow it to serve your greater good will have a big say in your future success.

This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers Of The New (And Chaotic) Frontier Of Business | Fast Company:

Email Sucks - So says a tech company

Love seeing companies take this kind of approach. It's not just about the time saved simply by not having to sift through a bunch of (mostly irrelevant) emails. Atos is trying to promote conversations. Whether they happen in-person, through video conference or even online chat, conversations force participation, engagement and action. I would imagine the quality of the work (as well as the communication) will quickly improve.

Ironic how we stress to our clients the value of having conversations with customers, when we often fail to do the same within our own walls.

Tech Firm Implements Employee ‘Zero Email’ Policy - Yahoo! News:

Making chicken salad out of chicken #@*!

"Adversity doesn't build character. It reveals it" (author unknown)

One of my favorite quotes. To me, character and leadership are interchangeable.

Speaking of adversity, Detroit's economic devastation has redefined the city in a way unlike anything we've ever seen in our nation's history. But amongst the despair, there is hope. Because leaders from unexpected places have even more unexpected solutions. This is "Lemonade: Detroit", an in-progress film lauding those with passion for a place many have forsaken. It's a sequel to the original "Lemonade", which documented the new lives created by several people who lost their advertising jobs during the reception.

The ongoing adverse conditions we're fighting through in the ad business will reveal our leaders of the future. But, like Detroit I think they'll come from the most unexpected of places. If you are finding your agency's future leaders, you'd do well to remember the film's title and hang on to those optimists who see the solutions where most see problems.

Pretty awesome time to be in our business if you are up for it.

Fostering genius talent

Without question the biggest obstacle to fostering growth among (and ultimately retaining) great talent is the willingness for leaders to put their defenses down and encourage those on their team to bring what we perceive to be "too out there" to the table. I was told early in my career that, in our business, if you are comfortable with a big idea, it's not big enough.

Some ideas will be a miserable failure. You'll look back and say "what in the hell were we thinking." But I'll bet you'll also look back and say "we learned something from that experience, and it influenced another idea that turned into a wildly successful endeavor." And you will NEVER get opportunities to learn those valuable lessons if you squash your team's motivation and willingness to scare the shit out of you.

And if we have an obligation to attract people who will help shape the future of the industry, you yourself will have to take risks on hiring. Potential game-changing talent should make you unsettled. Just like a bad idea, some will be horrendous and some will be phenomenal. But I can guarantee you a bunch of safe hires will never elevate your culture or work in the long run.

Yes, it will be trying at times. You might on occasion be worn down by a colleague's incessant rants and pleas for a green light on an idea. It will not always be harmonious. But the energy will be palpable. There will be moments where your hair on the back of your neck will stand up. The adrenaline will flow. The magical emotions that remind you of why we are in this business in the first place will overcome you. And it will ALL be worth it.

Here's a great article in AdAge on this topic:

Who's the Genius in Our Midst That We're Not Listening To? | Small Agency Diary - Advertising Age:

What Guy Kawasaki Learned from Steve Jobs

Guy Kawasaki's reputation as an inspiring innovator stands amongst the giants on its own merit. To see the wisdom imparted to him from Steve Jobs is a rare chance to see what drove the greatest marketer of our generation.

Enjoy.

How to Change the World: What I Learned From Steve Jobs:

The more things change...

Interesting article in Forbes mentioning the most pressing need for CMO's today:

"the white-hot spark that focuses consumer attention, makes the brand relevant to the consumer, and keeps the audience engaged beyond a simple transaction."

I disagree with Forbes. This is no revelation. Hasn't the value of agencies always been derived from the power of their ideas?

Let's not overcomplicate the basics. The key to being a great agency, regardless of specific expertise, has been and always will be finding talented people who can:

• Understand what your client's problem really is
• Author a unique strategy to solve the problem
• Arrive at a powerful idea to creatively connect your strategy to consumers

The tools we have to observe business performance, consumer sentiment and category behavior give us more inputs to better understand our client’s problems. The channels we have at our disposal allow for much more creative solutions and ways to employ strategies. But those are commodities. Every agency worth their salt can either build or buy these elements.

What’s not a commodity is talent. Clients buy into people who can deliver results. No process, toolkit, white paper, philosophy or anything other propaganda tool will ever replace the value of smart, visionary thinkers whose ideas solve problems in a creative fashion.

As you look to refine your agency’s model, process, philosophy, etc. Don’t lose sight of the most significant element to an agency’s success that clients value most: Finding, hiring and keeping smart people. With a good leader in place, the other stuff tends to fall into place.