advice advice

Planning: We Bring The Divergent Thinking In From The Outside by Heidi Hackemer

Just stumbled upon this presentation given by former BBH Strategy Director, now freelancer and dare I say, life-liver, Heidi Hackemer. Like many planners who've reached a senior level, she had a crisis of faith in the traditional planning model realizing that the linear career path, reliance on focus groups and online reports and value placed on "busyness" were not conducive to inspiring the best work. The presentation offers invaluable advice for planners.

planning, creativity & planning for creative campaigns [slideshare id=12558713?rel=0&w=425&h=355&fb=0&mw=0&mh=0&sc=no]

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Digital Strategist Goes Client Side: Interview With Christina Lin

I was very fortunate to get paired up with Christina Lin through the Advertising Women of New York's mentorship program a few years ago when I knew I wanted to switch careers into account planning. Christina is a Director of Digital Marketing at L'Oreal, working with digital ad agencies on the Garnier brand.

What's a typical day like at L'Oreal and what are some of your responsibilities?

I manage all digital marketing for Garnier, which means I’m responsible for our website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and mobile. Our product launches cut across these platforms but I also manage general updates/revamps to these platforms as well as adding reviews and launching our mobile site this year. I also help plan digital media.

What was really different coming to the client side is that it’s obviously more corporate, but there are a lot more cross functional teams involved. There’s marketing, media, events, pr, sales, customer marketing, consumer affairs, corporate - the list goes on!  So there are a lot more meetings involved and just a wider variety of projects going on at the same time. I’m fortunate to work on a brand that has a lot of sub-brands (haircare, styling, skincare, and haircolor) so it’s never a dull moment.

Because contact with the client is somewhat limited, misperceptions and miscommunications between the two sides often occur. How has your view of the client's responsibilities shifted since coming from the agency side as a digital strategist?

Before, I didn't understood how the client never had enough time to keep up to date on what was going on in the industry. Now I know why, since I find myself in the same boat. I’ve worked more hours here than I ever had in my agency life and it’s hard to keep up with everything going on when your days involve non-stop back-to-back meetings. I do think coming from the agency side helps me work better with my agency and I think that my endless pitch practice has helped me become a better presenter.

What advice would you give to agencies to help build better relationships with their clients?

Make an ally on the client side and communicate with them frequently to better understand the hallway conversations that happen when you’re not there. There are so many things going on, and it helps to have someone on your side giving you the inside scoop of what people really think of your creative. They will help direct where to focus your efforts on and where not to.

You started your career at OMD, working in media on Apple, now part of the TBWA/Media Arts Lab. How did working in media prepare you for your previous job as a digital strategist at Tribal DDB and your current job at L'Oreal?

It is rare to make the jump from media to creative, but I have to say that I definitely recommend getting a more holistic background for agency people. Having the media background helps me during creative concepting because I know more about vendor capabilities and am more familiar with what goes into the media space. It also helps with the analytics portion of the job, which is becoming increasingly important as everyone is looking for ROI. Since my job now involves both digital creative and media, it definitely helps that I have both skills from my previous jobs.I'm often told that when asked in interviews what brands I admire, I shouldn't mention Apple because that's everyone's go-to brand that they mention.

You had the opportunity to work closely with the iconic brand while at OMD. What wisdom can you impart about strategy and branding that you learned while there?

Being that Apple was the first brand I worked on right out of undergrad, it was hard to fully appreciate it at the time. But when I look back and realize that I was part of the action from the silhouettes to I’m a Mac/I’m a PC, you start to realize what a huge movement that was. While working on Apple, you learn to go with your gut and to think outside of the “rules.”  Steve Jobs was known for not testing his creative and that is very different from other brands I’ve now since worked on. Sometimes when it works, you just know it and you don’t necessarily have to test it to death.

After working at OMD, you took time off to get an MBA in marketing at Kellog. I've often heard that you don't need an MBA to work on the agency side in strategy but do if you want to go client side. Is this true? Is your MBA directly applicable to what you're doing at L'Oreal?

An MBA is not the end all, be all. What matters more is what you’ve gained from your MBA (a lot of it is intangible) and how you apply yourself. You don’t need an MBA to work in strategy on the agency side, but I would say my MBA has introduced me to different ways of thinking that helps in a strategy role. And with so many MBA grads on the client side, it’s helpful to understand all the frameworks they’re using in order to better position your work. It’s the same when I think about how I apply my MBA at L’Oreal. It’s not specific things, it’s the overall learning you get. Having attended Kellogg, there are plenty of marketing clients that are in my alumni network.

What is it about digital that excites you?

The fact that it’s always changing and it’s hard to ever truly be an expert since there’s always something new. It’s rare that you’re ever bored by the industry. We’re also at an interesting time for “digital,” since everything seen as “traditional” is now digital. TV online, interactive TV, iPad magazines, etc.  Where is the line anymore? It’s all become integrated and fragmented at the same time.

What digital tactics would you like to see more of that you think ad agencies haven't yet fully explored?

I wouldn’t say it’s that digital tactics haven’t been fully explored (everyone’s seen their fair share of apps, social tabs, interactive videos). It’s more a question of how to evolve beyond the digital banner and traditional digital tactics. Most of us ignore banners and we now live in a time where most content discovery is social. So now it’s more, what’s the campaign idea and what’s the best way to execute in the digital space and integrate with TV and print. It needs to be a holistic idea and not just “I need an app but I don’t know what I want it to do.”You have a wide range of experiences and have worked at some great places.

Aside from working hard, what advice can you impart to those looking to make a career in strategy?

Aside from always having a point of view, never stop reading and learning. It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t carve out time every day to keep up with what’s new and culturally relevant. Immerse yourself in a wide variety of experiences. Your consumers are not always you and live in Manhattan. Travel, and don’t spend so much of your life creating your “digital presence” that you forget to have a real-life presence.

And finally, what are some blogs, websites, digital products or apps that you read or use to stay on top of your game?

Twitter is my main news source to keep up in the industry and my all time fav is Fast Company Design. Always great articles to inspire. I’m also currently teaching myself HTML/HTML5. It’s always important as a strategist that you’re not just a brief creator, you need to understand how things are executed too.

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Interview with Brand Anthropologist Richard Wise

Richard Wise is the resident Brand Anthropologist at the experiential marketing firm, Mirrorball. He received a masters at the University of Sorbonne in Paris and has spoken at various conferences, most recently the Future Trends Conference in Miami. You can follow him on Twitter @CultureRevealed or his Tumblr where he highights a plethora of interesting cultural trends and insights.  As a cultural anthropologist, you approach planning from an intellectual, academic angle. How valuable is the study of cultural trends to brands?

Look at the list of problems brands bring you to solve.  They almost always come back to cultural issues.

“Our franchise is aging and we’re starting to look dated.”

“People don’t talk about us as much as they used to.”

“People say we have an arrogant, out-of-touch image.”

“People don’t know what we stand for.”

So…you’re losing it with the group because what you stand for is no longer valuable to them – to their culture!

The thing about culture and brands that makes it so challenging is this; culture hides more than it reveals - and what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.  You can’t understand that fully unless you go live in another culture and, starting as an outsider, become an insider.  Then you go back to the culture you came from and suddenly you can actually see all the hidden meaning.  And this is true for people who work on brands and try to solve the cultural problems of the brands without actually understanding their own culture.  They won’t get very far.

The opposite is wonderfully true.  The more you make serving the culture your brand mission, the faster you will grow – and it will feed and feed on itself.  While most companies have been stagnant or declining in the last ten years, Apple‘s revenues, profits and public valuation have grown vertiginously.  It all started with the return of Steve Jobs and their publicly thanking their fans with the “Think Different” campaign.

There's a minor war in the advertising world between traditional agencies that tout their big idea thinking and a rigorous approach to research and smaller, digital agencies that are well versed in current digital trends. Who do you think will win the "war" and why?

Remember that pre-Internet classic, Ogilvy on Advertising?  I always love to get free advice from Uncle David.  He said in his charming book, published in 1985 by the way, that his best advice to young men and women in advertising would be to learn everything they can about direct response – because it’s the future of advertising.  You can see what works and what doesn’t, you have to lean forward and sell, one person at a time, like Ogilvy did when he sold stoves door to door.  He indeed saw it all coming and he was right.

So big agency, digital shop…everybody looks for evidence of what works, what’s surprising and fresh, what people really want to experience.  And the only way to find that is to experiment.  If you’re conducting meaningful experiments then you have as much of a chance as anybody of owning the future.

That being said, I like what Karl Marx said: “Every time the train of history goes around a corner, the reactionaries fall off.”  The bigger you are, the more likely you are to be a reactionary. My heroes are guys like Ogilvy and Bernbach because they stayed humble and curious even as they got enormously successful.  And I think Robert Greenberg is just like that too.

The race today goes to whoever likes to learn the most and is fast at it.  But I like to think that, if you’re slow, but you love to learn, you may have an edge over the fast learner who’s arrogant.

What books, magazines and activities do you experience to remain on the cutting edge of cultural trends and developments? 

The most important thing I do is read books that have nothing to do with marketing or brands but books about human nature and civilization.  Most recently, I read two masterpieces of cultural anthropology: Becker’s [amazon_link id="0684832402" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Denial of Death[/amazon_link] and Girard’s [amazon_link id="0826468535" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World[/amazon_link].  I saw King Lear at the Public Library.  I walked through the Frick Collection.  I do this because it’s one of the best things I can do with myself.  It always pays dividends in my work – provided I don’t directly seek them.

OK, then there’s thinking about marketing, brands and culture.  Tumblr by itself is more than enough to be endlessly enriched, stimulated and provoked.  If you curate the right list of people to follow you will be in the kitchen of emerging culture where it’s all being made right before your eyes. I read the Wall Street Journal, the paper itself, every day – my God, it’s so beautifully designed and it has amazing trend info. If you don’t have time for it, though, follow me on Twitter, I always tweet out their best stuff.  I also love a couple of key websites: sciencedaily.com and psychologicalsciences.org.  And I live in Bushwick – there’s something about the experience of living there, not being a tourist, that’s very valuable.

At the recent Future Trends conference, you gave a presentation on two cultural phenomena, FameUs, and AnonymUs, showing how everyone wants to be famous while at the same time, wants to contribute to the greater good. Are these attributes just two different sides of the same consumer or completely different targets? 

I don’t believe that trend work should be some kind of glossy PC channeling of the Zeitgeist.  It should describe what is really going on.  I also believe that for every trend, there is a countertrend.  So here’s how I apply that with the shift taking place in our public and private selves.

On the one hand, FameUs describes the ever-widening sense of intimacy we have with our celebrities, the feeling of control we have over their self-expression and the growing conviction that we ourselves are going to be famous.

Its countertrend is AnonymUs - the growing conviction that so much of social media is communal narcissism, the impulse to unplug from a culture of celebrity worship, and the spiritual inspiration to lose oneself in pursuing a greater social good.

How we experience and live in these trends varies from one person to the next.  You can be your own Lady Gaga 24/7.  Or you can wear unbranded vintage clothing that you bought at The Cure while you volunteer at the Homeless Shelter.  And, just to keep things interesting, you can try to live in both trends simultaneously like the cast of Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab.  Same thing for brands – they, too, can go to Rehab like Domino’s Pizza did, to great success, improving their store sales by 10% in one year.

The recent New York article The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright, shares some of your findings about Millennials thinking they'll be famous someday while focusing on their reality as unemployed and disillusioned with the system. How can brands target these consumers given our current economic climate?

OK, suppose we’re Westinghouse or Maytag.  Why don’t we open stores for refurbished vintage home appliances?  They did it with manufacturer’s certified “pre-owned” automobiles.  Why not fridges and stoves from the different decades?  Why not train people in all these stores on how to refurbish vintage appliances?  That would create local jobs.  The appliances would look great.  And you’d be reclaiming, not just sending things to the dump.  I think there’s a lot of opportunities like that if brands would ask: how do I create jobs, how do I distribute my brand idea and logistics locally, how do I own not just what I make but what I have made?

As advertisers, working in trend setting cities like New York, San Francisco, Portland, etc. how can we be sure that our observations on trends reflect the viewpoints of the rest of the country?  Should brands look to be ahead of the curve or eye to eye with consumers? 

Go live in your trendy neighborhood – you want to see what’s coming next.  But here are some suggestions, based on my personal experience, on how to avoid becoming nothing but a snob.  Truth in advertising: I am a snob but I am not JUST a snob.  Sign up for thankless volunteer jobs.  Go to a regular, old-fashioned church and listen and learn.  Call your Mom and find a way to be of service to her.  Try to avoid gossiping about anybody for one day.  Take a cross-country drive and hang out at truck stops.  These are all intrinsically good things to do but they will also help you in your work.

Finally, can you give young planners with varying backgrounds advice on how to incorporate cultural anthropology into their research and brief writing process? 

Show respect for the dignity of your fellow human beings but try not to be so PC.  PC is the sanctimony of our time.  Sanctimonious people don’t make very good art nor do they write very good briefs.  Be curious, humble and open-minded.  Always give into your curiosity and don’t be afraid to admit you don’t understand why people behave a certain way or prefer a certain brand.

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advice advice

Too Many White Men?

During my internet travels, I recently came across this great blog, Pretty Little Head by the planning director of Digitas New York, Farrah Bostic. Her recent post containing a list of inspiring women in technology and advertising. I've already worked with at least two people on the list and hope to work with more. Have you had the opportunity to learn from any of these women? Click here for original post.

Creatives

  • Mary Beth Adduci, Creative Director, DDB Chicago
  • Susana Albuquerque, Creative Director, Lowe Lisbon
  • Sofia Ambrosini, Partner Creative Director, WLF Milan
  • Suzanna Applebaum, ECD, Strawberryfrog
  • Federica Ariagno, ECD, AUGE Milan
  • Rosie Arnold, Deputy ECD, BBH London
  • Vicki Azarian, Group Creative Director, OgilvyOne
  • Sarah Barclay, ECD, JWT
  • Kim Bartkowski, Group Creative Director & Creative Lead – Mobile Practice, Digitas
  • Mariandreina Behrens, Creative Director, Vapro
  • Serena di Bruno, Creative Director, 1861 United
  • Katrien Bottez, Creative Director, Duval Guillaume Brussels
  • Rebecca Carrasco, ECD, Colman Rasic Carrasco
  • Tobi Carvana-Moore, Associate Creative Director, Matlock Advertising & PR
  • Chiara Castiglioni, Creative Director, McCann Italy
  • Janet Champ, Creative Director/Writer, Switzerland
  • Fiona Chen, Creative Director, Ogilvy Shanghai
  • Valerie Cheng, Executive Creative Director, JWT Singapore & XM-Asia
  • Marian Cohen, Creative Director, Inbar Merhav Shaked Tel Aviv
  • Vida Cornelious, VP Group Creative Director, GlobalHUE
  • Susan Credle, CCO, Leo Burnett
  • Augusta Duffey, Freelance Creative Director
  • Katerina Esslin, Creative Director, Olympic DDB Athens
  • Isabela Ferreira, Associate Creative Director, Energy BBDO
  • Paola Figueroa, Creative Director, Ogilvy Mexico City
  • Marie-Claude Garneau, Global Creative Director, DDB WW Paris
  • Helene Godin, Creative Director, Sid Lee Montreal
  • Alison Gragnano, Global Creative Director, Saatchi NY
  • Carolyn Hadlock, Principal/Executive Creative Director, Young & Laramore
  • Nancy Hartley, Joint Executive Creative Director, Sapient Nitro Brisbane/Sydney
  • Frances Hatzipetrou, Creative Director, Fortune Athens
  • Barbara Hernandez, Creative Director, BBDO Mexico
  • Susan Hoffman, ECD, Wieden + Kennedy
  • Jennifer Hu, ECD, Ogilvy Taipei
  • Heather James, Director of Learning Services, Acquio Ireland
  • Maria Carolina Jaso, Creative Director, ARS DDB
  • Judy John, Managing Partner & Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Toronto
  • Laura Jordon-Bambach, ECD, LBi London
  • Linda Kaplan Thaler, CEO/Chief Creative Office, Kaplan Thaler Group
  • Pamela Kaplan, Creative Director, BADJAR Ogilvy Melbourne
  • Kerry Keenan, Global Director Creative Content, Y&R
  • Kris Kiger, SVP, Managing Director Visual Design, R/GA
  • Elke Klinkhammer, Creative Director, Neue Digitale
  • Tiffany Kosel, VP Creative Director, Crispin Porter + Bogusky
  • Becky Kozlen, Creative Director, DDB Chicago
  • Natalie Lam, ECD, OgilvyOne Shanghai
  • Jodi Leo, UX & Design, The Barbarian Group
  • Elspeth Lynn, ECD, Profero
  • Gerry Killeen, Managing Director-Creative Services, Kaplan Thaler Group
  • Amy Markley, Creative Director, Tom Dick & Harry
  • Kammie McArthur, Group Creative Director, Publicis West
  • Suzanne Molinaro, Deputy Head of Interactive Production, BBH
  • Charlotte Moore, Creative Director/Art Director, Switzerland
  • Monica Moro, ECD, McCann Madrid
  • Judite Mota, ECD, Y&R Lisbon
  • Mehera O’Brien, Creative Director, AKQA New York
  • Eleftheria Petropoulou, Group Creative Head, McCann Athens
  • Christine Pillsbury, Creative Director, Beam Interactive & Relationship Marketing
  • Suzanne Pope, Creative Director, John St Toronto
  • Claudia Portela, Creative Director, Y&R Lisbon
  • Katja Rickert, Creative Director, Scholz & Volkmer
  • Fernanda Romano, Global Creative Director – Digital & Experiential, Euro RSCG
  • Consuelo Ruybal, Creative Director, Kaplan Thaler
  • Mariana Sa, Global Creative Director, DM9DDB Sao Paulo
  • Catherine Savard, Creative Director, Cossette Montreal
  • Bibiana Segura, Creative Director, Global Link Communications
  • Jennifer Shreve, Creative Director, Razorfish
  • Stefania Siani, ECD, D’Adda Lorenzini Vigorelli BBDO Milan
  • Liz Sivel, Creative Director, R/GA London
  • Eloise Smith, Creative Director, Euro RSCG London
  • Nina Thelberg, Creative Director, B-Reel Stockholm
  • Marianella Torres, Creative Director, TBWA/Venezuela
  • Elizabete Vaz Mena, Creative Director, Grey Lisbon
  • Isbelt Venegas, Executive Creative Director, Publicis
  • Gabrielle Weinman, Group Creative Director, Ignited LA

Strategists & Media Mavens

  • Ingrid Bernstein, Digital Strategy Director: Experience Department Head, JWT
  • Farrah Bostic, VP Group Planning Director, Digitas
  • June Cohen, Executive Producer, TED Media
  • Mimi Cook, Director of Creative and Brand Strategy, Mekanism
  • Emma Cookson, Chairman, BBH New York
  • Mel Exon, Managing Director, BBH Labs
  • Amber Finlay, SVP Global Engagement Planning, Arnold Worldwide
  • Robin Hafitz, Founder, Open Mind Strategy
  • Brenna Hanly, Mobile Strategist/Catalyst, Mullen
  • Katie Harrison, Head of Planning, BBH New York
  • Sarah Hofstetter, Senior Vice President: Emerging Media & Brand Strategy, 360i
  • Natasha Jakubowski, Managing Partner/Head of Innovation, Anomaly
  • Kristen Maverick, Digital Strategist, BBDO
  • Kate Miltner, Masters Candidate (Media & Internet Memes), London School of Economics
  • Alli Mooney, Head of Trends & Insights/Marketing, Google
  • Jaime Morelli, VP Account Director Media Planning, Zenith Optimedia
  • Kelly Stoetzel, Content Director, TED
  • Amelia Torode, Head of Digital Strategy, VCCP London
  • Lindsey Weber, Social Media Lead, The Barbarian Group
  • Alisa Leonard, Director of Experience Planning, iCrossing
  • Judith Lewis, Head of Search, Beyond
  • Constance DeCherney, Director of Strategy, iCrossing
  • Shoshana Winter, SVP Marketing Strategy, iCrossing
  • Shelby MacLeod, Group Director of Earned Media, The Barbarian Group
  • Sarah Watson, Chief Strategy Officer, BBH New York
  • Sarah Wulfeck, Director Content & Community, Beyond Consultancy
  • Shelley Zalis, CEO, Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange
  • Jennifer Zeszut, Social Strategist, Lithium (ex-CEO of ScoutLabs)

Creative Technologists

Marketing & Client Service Leaders

Entrepreneurs

Advocates & Change-Makers

Brand Marketers

  • Beth Comstock, SVP/CMO, General Electric
  • Rebecca Messina, VP Global Marketing Capability & Integration, Coca-Cola
  • Jill Simmons, Marketing Director, The New York Times
  • Julie Washington, VP & General Manager – Consumer Products, Jamba Juice
  • Connie Weaver, CMO, TIAA-CREF
  • Andrea Harrison, Director of Digital Engagement, Pepsi

 

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Can Psychology Help Us Understand Our Changing Relationships with Brands?

I always find it fascinating and exciting that the craft of planning requires so many different levels and ways of thinking. One must approach a brief from a psychological, creative and business perspective, to name a few. But one thing that remains constant is the focus on relationships; between the client and agency, planners and creatives, and most importantly between consumers and the brand. Max Spiegelberg points out how as advertisers, we should think about the relationship between our brand and the consumer in the same way we'd look at interpersonal relationships and note the implications.This article is re-blogged from Popsop Brand Magazine Online written by Max Spiegelberg.

You are welcome to share your thoughts on this article written by Max Spiegelberg, Brand Director at Bloom The saturation of markets, congestion of media and maturity of consumer understanding of brands has steered marketing practice in recent years beyond ‘image branding’ towards ‘relationship branding’. Loyalty is no longer simply won through passive respect. Consumers demand more.

The brand’s role today has evolved from being an object of desire to being a champion of its own philosophy. This is no easy feat for marketers. It takes time, confidence, continuity and a lot of money.

So it’s important to get it right from the start. It’s important to understand how we as consumers relate to brands and why we enjoy the relationships we have with them.

In 1997 Jennifer Aaker published the paper ‘Dimensions of Brand Personality’ in the Journal of Marketing Research. At the root of this paper, Aaker outlines a brand personality scale, mapping out 5 dimensions, or human characteristics that could be associated with brands. These are Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication and Ruggedness. This scale is often used to determine the current perceptions of a brand and to describe the desired future status of it.

This is all well and good but how do these traits strengthen a brand’s relationship with its audience? Should we profile consumer personality traits and map these against brand traits? Which characteristics are right for the brand?

These questions have led some academic marketers back to the Psychology text books to try to understand the affinity we as humans develop in our own relationships and whether this thinking can be applied to the consumer-brand relationship.

Social Psychology, put simply, is the study of how we perceive ourselves and how we interact with each other. Potentially there are some rich pickings amongst the research and models that this discipline has created.

As an example let’s look at a study of the development of interpersonal relationships. One of the most influential models in this field is proposed by psychologist, George Levinger (1983). According to his ABCDE model, the natural development of a relationship follows five stages:

1. Acquaintance: Becoming acquainted depends on a number of factors including, proximity, first impressions, attractiveness, similarities in personality, attitude, and interests and association to positive situations. Acquaintance may lead to the next stage or can continue indefinitely.

2. Build up: Beginning to trust and care about each other. Here there is a need for compatibility and filtering agents such as common background, cultural background and related interests. Compatibility will influence whether or not interaction continues.

3. Continuation: Following a mutual commitment to long-term relationships this is generally a long and relatively stable period. Continued growth and development will occur during this time.

4. Deterioration: Relationships deteriorate as a result of boredom, resentment and dissatisfaction. Individuals may communicate less and avoid self-disclosure. Loss and betrayals may take place continuing the downward spiral.

5. Ending: This marks the end of the relationship by complete termination or separation. There are some obvious parallels here with our own developing relationships with brands. Jooyoung et al (2008) point out that true brand loyalty is derived from brand credibility, attitude, strength and brand commitment, which form the basis of Levinger’s first three stages here.

There are plenty of other studies that could be investigated. For the purpose of this article I have explored one model as an example but it serves to demonstrate the potential of Social Psychology to generate interesting parallels and further develop brand models.

All of this is predicated on the assumption that brands carry human traits and that consumers interact with brands in the same way that we interact with each other. Could it be that our richer understanding of brands and more complex relationships with them justifies a closer look at the field of Social Psychology?

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PSFK Video Skills of the Rockstar Planner: Understanding the Human Condition

The final video in the PSFK Series: Skills of the Rockstar Planner is one of the most insightful of the series. The title, Understanding the Human Condition sounds profound and hard to grasp but it's actually very simple; it's the idea that planners need to think of their consumers as humans and really delve into what makes them tick. Beth Kaiser from Arnold often takes psychology, anthropology and sociology into account when researching her target and developing strategies. Alda Alpert simplifies the inherent skills of a planner as someone who is curious about what makes people tick, recognizing that skill as key to understanding how to engage consumers at various points. I agreed with both Dylan Viner, from JWT and Ben Parker, from Mother's zen approach in that planning is about valuing virtually every type of consumer and understanding their hopes, dreams and interests in order to connect with them.But above all, I have been thinking a lot about what Lee Maicon, from 360i said, about how more than ever, the skills of the planner aren't modern, that the height of technology has actually made us more human, drawing us back to humans as individuals rather than the masses. How are our needs as individuals shaping our relationships with brands? How is technology making us more human and what does "more human" even mean? My feelings are that social media enables us to virtually make the small, supportive communities that we've had in the physical world for centuries. In what other ways does technology make us more human?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e--9ZkuP7QY&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3&w=640&h=390]

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Ponderings Ponderings

PSFK Salon: Future of Real Time

Last Friday I essentially had my mind blown away from 9am to 9pm. In the morning I attended the PSFK Salon: Future of Real Time, afternoon took a Rorschach test for my friend's psychology class, and evening attended a screening of The Last Lions. Post on my evening to come but first I'll address the salon at the Soho House. To simplify, the salon discussed what the implications are of data created in real time; i.e. through mobile applications, GPS, status updates, instant photographs and video. Like a Twitter feed in 2011, there was a lot of information to take in within the one hour presentation. Their presentation is available online and breaks the topics down more thoroughly but here's what I took away:Implications of real time data for psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists and planners who study human behavior:

Sites like OkCupid collect data on dating preferences, behavior, dynamics between men and women etc. leading to a data-driven, better understanding of what influences our dating choices - among other insights.

Facebook, Twitter and a new British site, Mappiness, collect data on people's general state of being, monitoring social sentiment. Wouldn't it be nice to discover how a population feels at any given point in time and what influences these feelings without having to do a labor intensive survey? And there's Voyurl, which allows you to view the actual behavior of people on the web, understanding what websites interest them. Users can discover the most popular sites and content they never thought to look for without user generated, deliberate recommendations.

Implications of real time data for marketers and advertisers:

Marketers and advertisers can take all the above data and use it to better market their products. Fast Society creates a temporary network allowing groups to communicate via text, voice and share their location. Marketers can take advantage of Fast Society, connecting their product to an event or location. Twitcritic is a service that monitors the online buzz of movies. The service has a track record of predicting box office success. Essentially, the "like" or positive sentiments has become a new form of currency, creating a stronger connection between the consumer and brand. Before social media, all an advertiser had to do was sell a product. With the advent of the Like button, spread of information and consumer advocates, it is absolutely essential that a product stay true to their message and maintain the trust of their consumer. That sounds like progress to me!

The implications for real time data in the physical world:

Services like Harassmap allow users to anonymously report physical locations of where they were harassed in the world. Instant Mapping is a local tool that allows users to create a shared, visual experience of their environment. Viz Center creates a shared visual experience for disaster response teams, allowing for more efficiency in disaster response. SF Park is a sensor installed into San Francisco parking spaces and an iPhone app that reveals when spaces are empty, enabling users to find parking more efficiently and prevent traffic as long as their not too absorbed looking at the app while driving.

Finally, during the question and answer section, a passionate debate ensued about the implications of all this real time data being public. Andrew Hoppin, the former CIO of the New York Senate advocated making most of the government data public in the hopes that it will facilitate a conversation that will improve our society as a whole or give businesses the information to better serve their community. Services like New York's 311, is a step in the right direction, collecting data from their call center and sharing it with the public on open311.org. But governments need to be more transparent and make data easy to digest. While there is an obvious push from consumers for marketers to be transparent, governments are not held to the same standards. It seems we hold more power as consumers than as citizens but hopefully that will change with more government transparency. Adam Leibsohn from voyURL touched on the practice of corporations using our data for their gain, saying it was okay they did this, as long as they were transparent. I strongly agree with his statement. I value honesty, transparency and an attempt at understanding as a means to solve most problems and think that if a marketer wants to use my information to sell me a product that I want, then the more power to them, especially if they are improving my life.

(Polymaps: site that allows you to overlay data onto different maps)

So what did I learn from all this? In 2006, Time marked "You" as the person of the year, implying a shift that the individual and collective have control, a shift from corporations and the government. Taking this idea further - I believe our collective data will be the driving force behind government changes, cultural shifts and marketing in the years to come. Because Information is beautiful.

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PSFK Skills of a Rockstar Planner: Communicating Ideas

The second video in the PSFK series published last summer is below. Once again, I looked back on the video with a new perspective and felt it was important to share and summarize their comments with my readers. As account planners, our audience is the creative team. We are essentially making ads to the creatives, hoping that they buy into our findings and ideas. Therefore, it's no surprise that the qualities needed to deliver an effective Creative Brief mimic that of a successful piece of marketing communication. The thread that runs through their responses is that account planners need to simplifying their message and sell the idea in a way that seduces the listener. This thinking can even be extended to the brand. Look at the top three most valuable global brands; Google, IBM and Apple. Can you simplify each brands' message in a few words? Google = internet search, IBM = computer intelligence, Apple = innovative, functional design.Now let's extend this to the interview process. Ada Alpert's coaches her candidates to be able to walk through their case studies during interviews, first mentioning the problem, answer, insight that lead to that answer, strategy then walking the interviewer through how you got there to solve the problem. So in essence, it's your job as a planner not only to sell the strategy and the creative work, but to also sell the idea that you know how to sell ideas. Pick case studies you feel passionate about and believe in without hesitation. I wrote about the first PSFK video in the series here and stay tuned for the rest of the series.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn40fvPDWeE&w=640&h=390]

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PSFK: Skills of the Rockstar Planner: Intuitive Problem Solving

Back in June 2010, PSFK posted a video series entitled Skills of the Rockstar Planner. The video came at a perfect time while I was just finishing up my Miami Ad School Account Planning Boot Camp application. It was exciting to learn that all their commentary about planning matched my responses. I find this series especially interesting after having completed the boot camp. There are so many skills and components to planning that it's exciting having this series available as a mini review. Even within each video, you can see how each planner thinks and approaches situations differently. Some core ideas from the Intuitive Problem Solving that I picked up are:- Creativity is at the core of planning.

- Planners need intuitive problem solving skills and emotional intelligence.

- The ability to put disparate information together and connect the dots.

- Innate ability to imagine things that other people couldn't do; i.e. imagination and creativity. I find this particularly interesting because it really touches on how many planning departments look for planners from all different types of backgrounds. Writers, journalists, actors, singers, editors, photographers - all people you wouldn't imagine in advertising but they all have jobs that put them in other people's shoes.

- Take thinking from one discipline to another. There are human truths and patterns that can be applied from one area to another.

- Break logic and find a new space. This goes along the lines of influencing and changing human behavior.

- And one of my favorite lines of thought - it's okay to evolve thinking constantly. The journey of learning is messy but as Domenico Vitale implies, it's exciting and an evolution.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NepafwxD8&w=640&h=390]

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