Though the recession continues to take its toll, there were signs that the advertising industry had started to shake off some of the economic doldrums in 2010. Forecasters from ZenithOptimedia to Magna Global began to revise upwards their borderline gloomy projections for U.S. and North American ad market media expenditures after the first quarter of ’10 surpassed the performance covering the same three-month period in ’09 for the first time since Q1 ’08 outdistanced Q1’07.
While still far from the salad days, bidding and jobs activity generally seemed on the upswing through much of 2010 as compared to ’09–and the palette is more diverse, reaching further beyond conventional broadcast commercials to also include shorts, webisodes and other longer content forms.
Indeed some advertisers boosted their ad budgets but at the same time there was evidence of an evolving landscape. Consider Procter & Gamble, SHOOT‘s 2010 Creative Marketer of the Year (see separate story), which reportedly increased its ad expenditures by $1 billion. At the same time, P&G biggest creative success this year, Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, underscored how the nature of the beast has changed–while consumer engagement and impressions were way up for the Old Spice brand, media expenditures actually decreased 15 percent since 2008.
Marketplace impact up and media spending down would seem like an incongruity to the old world mindset. But clearly a big thinking creative idea like “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” initiated on TV the day after the Super Bowl, resonated digitally with and engaged the public. The most memorable engagement was arguably the two-way conversation between consumers and the “Man,” played by former pro football player Isaiah Mustafa. During a three-day blitz, nearly 190 video shorts were posted of Mustafa responding to direct queries from the public. The videos gained a level of online viewership in the first 24 hours which far exceeded that for events ranging from President Obama’s victory acceptance speech to President George W. Bush dodging a pair of thrown shoes, to the auspicious vocal performance which put singer Susan Boyle on the world stage.
Since February’s introduction of “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, there have been two billion-plus impressions for Old Spice which now boasts the number one all time most viewed and most subscribed to brand channel on YouTube. The brand’s Twitter following has increased 3,000 percent. Google search is up 2,000 percent. Facebook interactions have risen 800 percent and OS.com traffic has grown 300 percent.
Still, don’t sound the death knell for TV and the prudence of major media buys. In another sign of an economic rebound, ad slots for the 2011 Super Bowl on Fox sold out in October, much earlier than this year’s Big Game. Thirty seconds of 2011 Big Game airtime is going for between $2,8 million and $3 million, up from this year’s spread of $2.5 million to $2.8 million.
For agencies and advertisers, embracing the new while carrying on with the ongoing still valuable conventional means of connecting represents an ever continuing balancing act. Just as the economy started to turn a corner in 2010, so too did thinking on the part of ad creatives and execs as well as clients. For a taste of that new found nimbleness and penchant for adapting, consider the observations of Jeff Brooks, co-CEO of Euro RSCG New York.
“One of the things that we as agencies have to get more focused on is how we–as organizations–need to change our behavior in order to keep on pace with, and even get ahead of, our consumers,” wrote Brooks. “It’s not enough to have digital capabilities, social media prowess, new content offerings, production innovations–or any combination of those practices–if the conditions aren’t present to make them sing. By ‘conditions,’ I mean everything from the right culture, environment, talent, operational model, go-to-market strategy, etc.–all the big stuff. So that’s where we’re spending a lot of our time right now, invigorating our agency model and building towards the future.”
(To delve more deeply into Brooks’ take on how the business is evolving, see sidebar story carrying his byline.)
Also marking 2010 was a sense of inclusiveness as in some respects walls separating businesses gave way. Indeed barriers were broken through in 2010 and that figures to continue well down the road–barriers separating ad makers from creating entertainment, barriers keeping production companies from taking on client-direct work, even barriers between agency competitors who can find themselves collaborating more frequently on projects through partnerships and sharing of resources. Production companies in many instances found themselves being thought of more as partners by agencies as they looked to come up with solutions for clients.
Yet at the same time, practices instituted by some marketers such as preferred vendors’ lists created a new form of separation, estranging some clients from many in the production community. A number of producers feel that these preferred lists reflect thinking that reduces production companies to no more than a commodity, and this commoditization of production houses rings ironic during a time when new forms of content are emerging and being jointly developed, necessitating more than ever that clients, agencies and production companies be creative, collaborative partners.
Indeed 2010 had its share of contradictions, advances, struggles and plenty of developments that necessitated adapting on the part of all industry segments. To get varied perspectives on what people took away from 2010 and what they deemed significant happenings during the year, SHOOT posed the following pair of survey questions to agency and production house folk.
1. What do you think was the most important industry lesson or lessons learned by your agency or company this past year?
2. What industry trends or developments were most significant in 2010?
Here’s a sampling of the feedback we received:
Craig Allen, director of integrated production, Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco
1) I would say it has been a pretty amazing year in terms of both the kinds of work and the amount that we have produced. The demand for content in the broadcast, digital and experiential worlds seemed endless. And each new bit of technology, device or pathway just opens up more opportunities and challenges to create even more innovative work. To say the least, it is an exciting time to be in production. But at the risk of sounding cliched, in spite of all these new mediums, clients still want what they’ve always wanted. They want it good, they want it fast and they want it cheap. Regardless of where and how people access and view it, the challenge of producing great work as timely and cost-efficiently as possible never goes away.
2) The introduction of the iPad this past year is a pretty significant development. For many people, it changed the way they watch TV by allowing them greater freedom to multitask (e.g., talk to their friends, access the show’s website, etc.) while watching TV. It also opened the door for the creation of more apps and content specific to the iPad. I think we also saw a leap in the maturation and sophistication of integrated campaigns. Both Nike’s “Chalkbot” and Gatorade’s “Replay” campaign showed how a great idea, beautifully executed filmically, digitally and experientially, can move and inspire. And I think equally important is the fact that the demand for TV spots is pretty healthy. In 2010, VB&P produced three Super Bowl spots for three different clients. And from what I hear, the automotive companies are now flocking to the 2011 Super Bowl. It goes to show that producing a Super Bowl spot is still pretty cool.
Gustavo Asman, chief creative officer, Wing, New York
1. We all talk about touchpoints in our presentations but we have the huge assignment of connecting them all -or at least the ones appropriate in each case- to make them actually work, no matter how many or how diverse they might be.
Regarding awards, as Philip Thomas put it, this year there were a lot of Lions awarded to what can be described as “not your usual network or agency”, or to countries that won for the very first time in 2010. Further, some of the most interesting cases weren’t in categories we typically see them, which is a nice change.
From Wing’s perspective, an important lesson is one we all already knew, but somehow continues to surprise me: the power of teamwork. We had a great 2010-winning a few national and international awards, and growing our business with new accounts and assignments from P&G, Goya and Eli Lilly, and we won two important pitches, Sony in Latin America and Johnnie Walker in the US.
2. It is really great to see -and work- on those concepts that somehow manage to intertwine media in a way that becomes extremely hard to dissect them, or even guess what happened first or how the idea was born.
“Chalkbot” from Nike, as one of the most notable examples. I mean, they probably should have given them a Lion in every possible category. What is it? How did that start? Can we even attempt -dare- to classify it? If you don’t know the answer exactly, or you doubt for a second, chances are, you probably have something fresh and new in front of your eyes.
With so many possibilities being created around us, and much more to come before you even finish this paragraph, I think we will see more and more examples of ideas that combine elements and media so perfectly that it becomes impossible to say what category should we put them on.
And that’s the beauty of it. Consumers don’t need the categories; they only make sense for the award shows.
Nathy Aviram, co-executive director of content production, Young & Rubicam, New York
1. You have to be proactive….waiting for the brief doesn’t work anymore.
Being involved in the start-up of an entertainment offering, one lesson we learned, and that we have to keep reminding ourselves, is that we’re not the only ones offering our clients creative executions. The marketplace has expanded and everyone is trying to enter the creative brand space, from talent agencies to media companies to production companies to networks–there’s plenty of work for everyone but we think we’re in the best position to help our clients stay true to their brand messaging. So in order to maintain a lead as brand builders we have to make sure we’re proactive in developing brand messaging across all media.
And also that there’s an app for everything…
2. My mother-in-law is on Facebook.
Casual Gaming. Who is gaming?
How people spend money gaming.
Content delivered through apps.
Augmented reality and the use of AR to change the way we sell things.
Technology is amazing….but the idea is still King.
Susan Bonds, president and CEO, 42 Entertainment1. It’s no longer novelty alone that can be counted on to engage the consumer and create buzz — so many innovative and unusual things have been attempted in the digital age to rely on the idea of being first. Everyone has somewhat been exposed to mystery, social media, the art of the unusual, multi-channels, trending technology, user customization and the subversive factor. What’s more important is excellence in execution, telling a story, convergence, letting the consumer participate in authentic and meaningful ways (active engagement), and having everything add up. People like to see any investment of their time pay off.
Authenticity is underrated and even when the audience can’t put their finger on why something works, it is usually a factor.
2. The industry has already shifted to a multi-channel approach to creating conversation and consideration. This was apparent in last year’s submissions to Cannes Lions as almost every campaign submitted for Titanium was cross-platform. What’s next is a longer term view to cultivating consumer relations and active engagement. Instead of seasonal campaigns that are abandoned immediately after execution (and starting to litter the internet like space junk circling earth), build on ideas, experiences and stories that have legs and cultivate brand loyalty over years. There are some great examples (some may argue that certain brand ideas have gone on too long) but for every great example of a long term connection, there are hundreds of examples of temporary ones.
A longer view engagement shift requires an equal shift in organization, commitment and approach. Social engineers, designers and architects who understand the care and feeding of active engagement and two-way conversation maintained over years should be in high demand. And brands who make the longer view commitment will find that it pays off bigger over time than instant short term hits.
Jeff Clift, creative director, Creative Realities, New York
1. Consumers have become communities that require a richer level of communication. Traditional channels of consumption are not enough, every campaign must include complementary channels of producing and sharing. It’s no longer enough to provide content that has a singular purpose (awareness, benefit). The content has to engage on an emotional level while enabling these communities to engage with other platforms–social, mobile, web, gaming.
A great example of this is Walkers Flavour Cup competition (UK) to find the world’s favorite flavor. This tongue in cheek take-off of the World Cup, which pitted flavors like American Cheeseburger, Irish Stew, and French Garlic Baguette against one another, got people stirred up and motivated to win. Who knew consumers could get almost as excited about an English Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding flavored crisp as the World Cup itself? The emotional tie to the World Cup generated the emotional connection, and social media empowered fans to band together and rally around.
2. In an age where anybody can be a celebrity, produce their own video, and create their own blog, consumers’ tastes have become incredibly sophisticated. Content has to be accessible across multiple platforms, but it also has to be curated, tell a story, and be well crafted. Throwing a 30-second video up on YouTube is not going to cut it for your brand. Singular content alone without community is not enough.
Take a look at the Lemonade Movie project, a documentary about job loss and starting over that came about from tapping into a community of people who had an emotional connection, a bond. It started from a blog entitled “Please Feed the Animals,” and expanded to include uploaded video submissions from the jobless. Finally, it evolved into a film. It resonated on many levels and inspired people beyond the community because it evolved and offered insights on how to manage through a problem. While this wasn’t created for a brand, it demonstrates the kind of care and feeding needed to nurture and engage followers in an ongoing conversation across multiple channels.
Kathy Delaney, CCO, North America, SapientNitro1. Less “integration,” more “imagination.” Clients have become more receptive to allowing different channels to tell different chapters of a brand story. As long as the brand essence and core values remain true, the days of making sure all creative looks the same across mediums are over. We see this as a huge opportunity for brands that understand the power of storytelling and the ability of different channels to evolve and extend the story, while engaging consumers. It’s not about the same or slightly tweaked message repeated everywhere you look until you want to die of boredom.
2. Social co-creation…”collectives” where consumers collaborate to shape the future of products they love. It’s “crowdsourcing” but if you target and control that “crowd” to get what’s right for the brand, results can be powerful. Being attuned to consumers, creating your product with them, not just for them, can be engaging. We also see a shift in the retail shopping experience. Polyvore formed a fashion community that anyone can contribute to and functions more like a shoppable “wiki” than a retail site. Brands like P&G enable consumers to shop on their Facebook page where consumers already are, letting them buy what they’re looking for “in the moment.”
Bill Goodell, exec VP/director of broadcast & integrated production, Arnold Worldwide, Boston1. One lesson learned in the industry and at our agency is shooting on a digital format doesn’t mean it’s always cheaper than film. We have done numerous jobs this past year on the Red Camera, Phantom Camera, Canon 5D/7D and SI-2K camera. Once you factor in costs associated with backing up on multiple hard drives, transcoding, timecoding and/or transferring footage to HD CAM SR video tape, the total cost incurred can be substantial. Shooting digitally might be a cheaper method of acquiring the raw footage, but oftentimes there is significantly more material for the editor to load and review. We are always looking for smart technology solutions, but we’ve learned that film is still an efficient medium, as well.
Our philosophy is to let the director and DP make a recommendation for the appropriate format for the creative and project at hand. As an agency, we might request an alternate bid if necessary for a digital format, but really we are buying the look and visual style of a director. If that director has a preferred format for shooting their spots, we should be open to their creative approach, since that is what attracted us to their reel in the first place.
2. One of the biggest trends we have seen in the past year is that many of our clients are looking for efficiencies in producing more global content for TV, cinema, and digital. We have also handled most of the customization and versioning out of one central location. We produced numerous campaigns this past year for a variety of clients that had to work across global audiences, while maintaining sensitivity to cultural/legal guidelines for each country involved. It puts much more pressure on the business affairs managers and producers to make sure there are no product claims or substantiation issues that are different from country to country. We also continue to be challenged with producing content on extremely tight deadlines and at all budget levels, from small to large. Being nimble and inventive with our production approach is essential and our producers are constantly coming up with smart solutions.
Samantha Hart, president, Foundation Content, Chicago & Los Angeles1. In “The Art of Dreaming,” Don Juan tells Carlos Castaneda, “most of our energy goes into upholding our importance……..If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two we would provide ourselves with enough energy to…..catch a glimpse of the actual universe.”.
Our company prides ourselves on the idea that great creative content is timeless and will always be valued. We believe in the fact that no job is too small or too big–it’s all about how creative we can be today. In both our creative contribution and problem solving.
We are all here on the same playing field of now. And now is a place that changes daily. Let’s just try to have some fun, support one another and make some great creative work. Here is to a continued positive upswing for us all.
Jan Jacobs, co-founder, Johannes Leonardo. New York
1. In terms of film, what’s great is that everyone seems to be realizing that “viral” is a bit of an anomaly. Most films that can be thought of as having gone viral were not for brands but for individuals, and mostly not by design. Films for brands that did gain lots of attention online generally had big media spend behind them, which means that clients are understanding the Internet is not free for them. Just like in every other medium, you need to spend money to get in front of people. The earned media number will benefit exponentially from the paid media number.
2. Clients are experimenting more and more, and having budgets put aside especially for this. There is a realization that there are no formulas anymore for much of what we do. While it may be difficult to quantify the full impact of a particular piece of communications through all the channels, not taking part is the worst thing to do, especially if your competitors are. In this sense we are experiencing very positive, well-informed requests by clients to explore where their communications could go. And they are buying the work.
Colin Jeffery, executive creative director, David&Goliath, Los Angeles1. We need to understand and accept that the world has changed. The recent economic turmoil has forced clients and consumers to re-evaluate what’s important and how they go about their business. There is a “new normal” out there — what was acceptable, cool and progressive a year ago is no longer the case. The year served as a reality check, a time to rethink our industry and how we approach creativity.
In the “new normal” budgets are over-scrutinized, timelines are unrealistically tight, departments are leaner and yet agencies are required to produce innovative work that is more effective than ever before.
While this can be perceived as a negative, it’s really just an open invitation for us to evolve and find smarter ways to solve problems.
2. 2010 was filled with uncertainty, instability and change. There was a lot shifting as companies rallied to adapt to a post recession market. We all felt the reins tighten, clients battened down the hatches, many key industry players jumped ship, and numerous accounts changed hands. We were all forced rethink creativity, how we work, what we say and where we say it. We re-evaluated business models and staff plans, and took the time to restructure and reboot. All of this resulted in a trend towards safer and fairly bland creative work. But the good news is with all of these changes, 2011 stands to be a stellar year for creativity.
There is a growing sense of Optimism in the air. The industry is revitalized and clients are looking for smart, relevant marketing solutions.
The successful agencies of 2011 will be structured to ensure that every discipline has a seat at the table. We will see less silos and “genuine” integration. Here we go…
Andrea Kikot, partner/executive producer, Mechaniks, Venice, Calif.
1. The new reality worldwide continues to be about doing more with less — both in the way TVCs are produced and the way production companies are structured. Even though there is a lot of pressure on margins, innovators are finding ways to grow their business models as content providers across a wide spectrum of new and traditional media.
2. Prognostications about the death of TVCs have been vastly overstated. Against all predictions, TV viewing on a daily basis, according to Nielsen, has actually grown quite substantially per household–thanks mainly to the demand for flat screen TV’s, the improved quality of scripted shows and an economy (not likely to change soon) which keeps consumers at home. Additionally, it’s not longer the case of the internet killing TVCs but how to best use TVCs on the internet. Moreover, as the YouTube phenomenon continues to grow, the use of “film” to express points of view, both personal and corporate, can only cause this trend to expand.
Michael Mark, creative director/CEO, NYCA, San Diego, Calif.
1. Being there and there and over there means you care.
A client looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Michael, it’s better to be fast and wrong than slow and right.”
Quite the t-shirt statement. Seems the speed needed in today’s business environment has reached a pace of acceptable recklessness.
Today, it’s not about quality time but about brands being here and there and over there because the consumer is. With the proliferation of .coms, social sites, applications, and meet-ups, there are so many more parties where one needs to be seen that one’s brand could well show up underdressed.
The perfectionist’s motto, “measure twice, cut once,” has become: “cut, oops, cut better, oops, cut, ouch!, just keep cutting.”
Is it worth it? Our successful client says, “Absolutely.” Because consumers have a 24/7 jones for content served rapidly, constantly with relevant feedback.
B-b-but what about the added strain on the brand? Well, if frequency breeds intimacy, then, like any good relationship, brands and consumers won’t get caught up in the small stuff. Mistakes are overlooked–forgotten in a tweet.
We’re redefining quality to include compassion under extreme time pressures. The rising quantity of touch points, ill-executed as they might be, means you’re always there for me: you care. That’s a quality everyone wants in relationships
Today’s dress-for-success code: even if slightly un-tucked, make sure your brand shows up. Everywhere. Often.
2. The big idea isn’t dead; it’s just smashed into gazillions itsy bitsy pieces.
“We gotta have a BIG idea or we’re hacks! Dead hacks!” Oy, the angst-haunted days and nights conjuring the single-minded, iconic center of the campaign. The elusive big idea sourced its power from a universal insight, and a complete expression, enabling it to run for five years.
Imagine not changing communications, anything, for five years? What in life doesn’t change in five years?
That’s why today it’s about lots of little ideas. Tons, techno-squirming to their fertile destinations, incomplete so they continually seek to engage, generate connections fortified with consumer insight and fluid relevance.
No longer one Big but lots of small ideas packaged to travel anywhere at any time. The old big idea would keel over today, too asthmatic to keep pace with the consumers’ voracious appetite for more: more personal, more valuable. Little ideas die faster, willingly, programmed to not overstay their welcome, become irrelevant, stale due to their omnipresence. So we need lots of them, in fresh forms and sizes.
Small is the new big. Transmutable is the new focused.
Big Warning: small puts a bigger drain on the talent pool. Teams of tireless small idea makers are needed.
Compared to now, though, the days of the single big event were lonely, small-minded, self-absorbed, stagnant. I’m big on small.
Josh Rogers, executive creative director of Imagination, the Americas (New York) 1. The economic climate for the foreseeable future is still partly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of WTF. So we’re all a little scared, understandably, industry-wide. In my view, the client reaction to this fear takes two forms: the first is to seek traditional agencies that provide some comfort and stability (and job security). The other path is client as “agency,” in a sense. Discarding the traditional model of mostly monogamy and surrounding themselves instead with a slew of silver bullet specialty shops.
Regardless of the fact that I think both of these paths are flawed and more a function of short term job security strategy (“how can they fire me for being conservative” or “how could they fire me with such a Gordian knot of partners surrounding me”) than the bolder, more effectual, belief in big ideas, it has taught our agency something very valuable as we grow our business in this new environment.
And that is this: it’s always obviously good to be uniquely relevant to your audience, which requires flexibility and adaptation to your environment. But never over-salamander yourself. Never be something you’re not, and never ever become something you don’t believe in, no matter what. It might be difficult now to resist becoming more traditional or trying a new niche on for size. Come on! That’s what they’re buying! But don’t do it. It’s your only shot at surviving. Because it’s who you are.
2. To my eye, the most interesting trend of 2010 was the growing awareness of the power of small.
Sure we saw increasingly smaller budgets, but they came with tighter scopes–more chipping away at the false security of the agency of record relationship, with more clients asking “hello, can you help us solve this problem,” as a project, rather than as an AOR relationship that can (and please don’t kill me, new business directors!) bloat an agency and become expensive and stale for clients during the times when their problems are sort of solved for the moment.
We also saw some smart brands begin to behave smaller (smally?), which I think is the result of some good clients finally beginning to realize that people are not just faceless members of a target audience. Not just consumers. They’re people. They’re humans. They’re individuals with crazy tools, an intense curiosity for the truth and a desire to shape their culture and the brands that drive it. And for as technologically progressive and Twitter-happy as they each may be, these humans want their brands to be more human–not just seem it, or say it. Be it. Beyond, beneath, before the marketing efforts.
Levi’s did it. They became Braddock, PA.
J Crew did it. They became the Liquor store. And, once they did, a funny thing happened: the marketing sort of took care of itself, in a really, really big way.
Gary Rose, partner/executive producer, GO Film, bicoastal1. I learned that a client who wants to spend less on production can. That the term “Creative Recommend” really means you are bidding on a job. In 2010 low bid did get the job, despite how brilliant the agency felt your director was– That production companies did not mind being evaluated by the procurement departments at large conglomerates. And then the ads would be made by people on secret list! Super creative! However, it is an exciting time and refreshing to think that we can produce a commercial for broadcast, content for Internet and print, simultaneously if a client wants to. The business continues to grow, evolve and change, which is good.
2. Procurement and preferred vendor lists by clients was something our industry had never seen before, at least with any success. It’s not surprising it was successful this time, considering it is put out there during a recession and in a buyer’s market.
The consolidation and amortization of services that production companies are providing for both clients and advertising agencies will continue, which I believe is good for everyone… And most of all the continued use of the phrase: “Thank you sir, can I have another–“
