Jaffe Juice

I noticed a novel new way to entice absent moviegoers back to the box office. My TiVo showcase offered me the opportunity to watch the first 4 minutes of the just released action movie, Stealth. Obviously the idea here is to show a bit of skin to the audience (and what better way than an action-packed opening sequence...remember Saving Private Ryan?) and have them salivating at the mouth wanting more....

P.S. Any puns with box office are purely unintentional.

On Wednesday night, close to 200 people crammed into Pressure in New York City for the final Battle for the HeArt Creative Roadshow.

The venue was way cool...but the sound was....gee, how should I put it....hmmm...well....IT SUCKED! That and the torrential downpour which demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lars Bastholm is in fact from another planet, or at least is able to channel the elements. Such is his mastery of all things creative!

Funnily enough...the sound was absolutely perfect in the restrooms for some reason. Many people came back to me afterwards maintaining that THAT was the reason they stayed so long in the restrooms. Yeah, right!

It's kind of ironic of course that in our business, where technology is part and parcel of everything that we do...that often times, it gets in our way and even becomes a distraction. Think about it....form and function. Pressure: great venue for a party, not so much for a conference...but a parference, well that's another story.

Before I get into the highlights from Lars' and Doug's speeches, I just want to take the opportunity again to thank our sponsors for making this whole Battle a reality. Without your generosity, commitment, support and belief in myself, the "Battle" brand and initiative, and most importantly the Creative Community, we would and no doubt will continue to wander through the creative abyss searching for inspiration and answers: About, DoubleClick's Motif, Klipmart, MarketWatch, MSN, Reuters and Unicast. Also a thank you to our media sponsors: Adweek, the Webby's and AAAA's.

P.S. Don't forget to enter MSN's Creative Awards!

So here are the takeaways from Lars and Doug:

Last night the Battle swung by Dallas for its second round. The 2004 show was one of the highlights of the tour and I will never forget the heated, passionate debates that ensued long after the battle concluded in the Mansion Bar. There is a ton of enthusiasm and passion in the Dallas market and it was a pleasure to come back and see so many friends from the likes of Click Here, TM Advertising, Southwest Airlines, Tribal and the list goes on...

And then there was a Ferg. Put it this way, you had to be here. He's one in a million all right and pulled no punches as he spoke from deep within his heart on creativity, interactive and pretty much whatever else came to his mind.

Ferg's opinion is that the new definition of creativity = the old definition of creativity, and by that he means, it's all about the idea. Some of his pointers included:

• Ideas first, technology second: "nobody cares that you're using Flash 7...I don't care about any of that crap. Technology is not the idea, the idea is the idea."
• Get interactive involved early. This is a big concession and a hugh shift forward. "For the longest time interactive traveled coach." And addressing James Hering, the MC for the night and SVP, Integrated Marketing at TM, "Interactive is important. I get it...I get it. Now leave me alone!"
• Reimagine the creative team: "Make traditional creatives and interactive creatives work together. Throw in a flash wizard or a media person into the mix and see what happens."
• Let consumers interpret your idea: "It should be painfully obvious by now that we don't have a lock on the idea business

Only 1 to go...the Big Apple: NYC on Wednesday evening. No excuses New York. No, "I never knew about it" - join the battle today! It's growing in passion and momentum as we speak and you can be a part of it too. Register today at www.battlefortheheart.com

In this week's Adweek (subscription required...although the article could appear on their site for free), there's an article about Web companies - like AOL - redeploying their adspend to a more web-heavy mix.

To this I say BRAVO and "I told you so." I wrote about the need for AOL to move from a CBS to a CRM strategy, and it seems like they're doing just that.

It's both strategically and tactically sound whichever way you look it. Strategically: what kind of message does it send out if you're going TV heavy on a Web-centric product? Especially with a media company, it screams disconnect. Tactically: the shortest distance between exposure and action is the click of a mouse, so from an ROI standpoint, there is less inertia and thus more propensity to act in an online state of mind.

During the dot com boom, you just had a bunch of greedy ego-driven little f***ers who wanted their 30-seconds of fame, especially on the Stupid Bowl. Today, the game is different and there are smart and savvy marketers making common sensical decisions (finally)

Bad news: there are still too many companies that go TV-heavy with Web-centric products and services: Apple, HP, Napster etc. etc. etc. - get with the program(ming) dudes.

I was recently interviewed by Television Week after the Minneapolis Battle for the Heart on the subject/themes of my book.

Also featured are Minneapolis and Chicago Keynoters, Chuck Porter and PAul Tilley.

The full article follows:

This week, the Battle for the HeArt winds up and heads for home with its two final shows: Dallas on Monday and New York City on Wednesday.

Apathy and mediocrity are common bedfellows. Neither are welcome at the Battle for the HeArt.

But you are. So request your invitation today.

Here’s a thought about the unbelievably hyped, anticipated and purchased phenomenon – the new JK Rowling Harry Potter incarnation: The Half-Blood Prince – inarguably the most successful book release in history (second probably to the Bible, but I wasn’t there so I can only speculate at best)….WHY THE HELL DISCOUNT IT?

Amazon slashed 43% off the cover price before it even hit the stands. Why? Did they think it would get bad reviews? Did they think someone would give away the ending (Voldamort is the bad guy) Or are they just too far gone and locked in their never-ending story of Wal-mart like discounts?

Perhaps if JK has called it the Full-Blood Prince, she could have got her asking price :)

The last time I visited the Great American Music Hall was 2000. It was an afterparty for some obsolete and defunct dot com after an @d:tech conference.

So much has changed....for starters, we were discussing creativity last night which wasn't exactly something that anyone cared about back in 2000.

Patrick Kiss, Managing Director at Butler Shine Stern & Partners keynoted and he delivered a really great speech which showcased some fantastic work for a number of clients...in particular the great Converse Gallery. 

The Battle for the HeArt made its annual West Coast stops in LA and San Francisco this week.

On Tuesday night, we swung by Shutters in Santa Monica where a record-breaking crowd of over 200 came to celebrate creativity. You can read the review in iMedia here.

Court Crandall, Partner at Ground Zero, keynoted and Doug Schumacher MC'ed.

Here are some highlights:

Last week, I blogged the viral iPod Flea commercial which seemingly was only available on New York Times (that is until I got stuck into a few search engines)

Today I went there again...as I was following a link I was sent. What was just too ironic for words was the fact I had to see a 30-second spot before I got to view the spoof ad. In one moment, the two worlds of old marketing and new marketing hurtled into each other and both were left with bumps and bruises.

I'm not really sure what to say about this...I know advertising is supposed to endorse content. I also know that (good) advertising can be content - or at least perceived that way. That being said the whole experience was just a bit icky....it's kind of like seeing your parent's kissing (with tongue)

...then the pause button is your best friend (one of my better lines)

The trades and papers are all in a tizzy about TiVo's announcement to introduce "extended advertiser information", allow "consumers to contact advertisers" or to allow "instant response to ads."

jaffe is amused for a few reasons:

1) TiVo's been offering this for ages already - in their homepage long-form ads/content as well as overlays in select 30-second ads

2) This concept is all over my book. In the chapter on on-demand consumption, I talking about "commercials frozen in time" where consumers will be able to enter "new worlds" i.e. go deeper into commercials of interest without missing a second of regular programming.

3) Is this nothing but an extremely elementary demonstration of "interactive" i.e. go to the Web and check out any form of online advertising?

If anything, I'm surprised by how basic the offering is...click to get more information or one-click (sorry, Amazon) to get a brochure or free sample...how very Wink of you.

Make no mistake, it is the future of television advertising and will inject new life into the mothball-smelling 30-second spot. It's new marketing 101 my friends: give the consumers who give a damn about you/your product or brand/your message the means to do something about that need. It's a clear sign that the 30-second spot is morphing into its new role: a foot in the door; a conversation starter.

Don't judge me based on the fact I started watching Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, but I just had to marvel at how such a sumpremely branded ad could have been created like in this movie.

Most of all, it's honest...White Castle is what you crave (when you're as high as a kite and have the munchies)

Anyone know to what degree this was paid for? Or in fact (like Castaway), did they just barter the deal with hundreds of thousands of square gifts from heaven?

You got to hand it to the Japanese...they're one step ahead of us all. Rather than face up to the realities that consumers are weaning themselves off irrelevant advertising and turning to DVR's like TiVo for respite....rather than figure out the solution, doesn't it just make sense to focus on the problem instead? After all, if those ungrateful sods of consumers don't get it...we'll make 'em get it. Consumers, you can run, but you can't hide! (insert evil laugh here)

Segue to the final act of desperation, courtesy of PVRWire that Japanese broadcasters are throwing their toys that skipping ads is a violation of copyright law. HUH? Come on guys, this big brother mentality is both juvenile and short-sighted. Instead of bullying your consumers and trying in vain to preserve an old-world order, why not just rededicate yourselves to creativity, better targeting, contextual relevance and the creation of branded experiences (not necessarily in that order)

Sidenote: Another sign that Life after the 30-second spot is very much a global challenge and imperative.

On Thursday night, about 150 Minneapolis advertising folk gathered at Le Meridien (cool hotel) for the second leg of round 2 of the Battle for the HeArt. Headliner was none other than Chairman of CP+B, Chuck Porter (some say he put the Porter in Crispin, Porter + Bogusky)

First of all, I want to send a big shout out to my Twin Cities brothers and sisters. It was great to meet you all.

Here are some highlights from Chuck’s speech. In a nutshell, Chuck’s message was that creativity is creativity – no matter which form or definition you might choose to describe, outline or define it.

Not sure why Lifetime would want to produce research which adds fuels to the raging debate about the future of the 30-second spot, but I thank them nonetheless.

As reported by MediaWeek, it is women (and therefore not men) who are in the “driver’s seat” when it comes to DVR use.

To quote their Senior VP of Research, Tim Brooks, the results are “dramatic and counterintuitive” and some highlights include:

·         48% of married women say the decision to purchase a DVR was their own

·         55% of the wives claim superior knowledge of the DVR’s features, compared to their hubbies

·         Here’s the big one: 99% of women say they use their DVRs to zap through commercial spots (jaffe note: find me the 1% and let me sponsor their frontal lobotomy)

·         Here are some 90-degree stats for your:

o       98% said they would recommend DVR to a friend

o       94% said the service was “worth the cost.”

I’m sick and tired of threatening dumbass companies with action…I’m going to start taking some.

Today’s specially selected will include Northwest Airlines and indirectly, Delta. They are being fairly or unfairly singled out – not because of what they did, but because of what they didn’t do. You can decide whether my rant is justified or not; whether these two companies are innocent, scapegoats, guilty by association, or just ‘orrible.

(insert 50% sarcastic, 50% genuine clap here) So CBS announced that they're going to be launching a 24 hour broadband news channel online....bypassing cable (so no CBS News - fair and balanced) and rather catering to the exploding shift from nightly news on the network's terms to always-on on-demand consumption.

Maybe it's due to the fact that network news is in the TOILET (ya think?)...but smartly (here's the credit part) they're leveraging the reality that their brand means something (even in a post Rather Reality) to consumers.

Personally, I'm glad they've showed up to play and in so doing, will stop being bitch slapped by the CAB (Cable) and quite frankly the Web. This is one of those times where if can't beat 'em, join 'em....

Now here are the cautions/concerns:

1) Will they just dump/transplant their content online with a similar advertising proposition i.e. same shit, different (time of) day...or will the evolve the offering...say to incorporate search

2) Will they put dedicated and specialized resources on this or just overwork their terrestrial folk who may not "get it"

3) Will their tree falling make a sound? Meaning will anyone care and/or show up? CBS and their network brothers and sisters are way behind the major online portals in terms of recurring and substantial traffic (gulp, reach) Put different, will they invest substantially in migrating/growing/attracting the kind of traffic they need (beyond the pathetic, "I'm going to mention the website address at the end of my broadcast only because they forced me to" attempts by current newsreaders?

Either way....it's a smart move, albeit an inevitable one.

I've been following Jeff Jarvis' "Dell Hell" on his influential blog, BuzzMachine and this morning picked up Jennifer Rice's lament with Comcast via @d:tech as reported in MediaPost.

To call Jarvis' comprehensive account of his hell with Dell scathing, would be to call the Unibomber misunderstood. It was worse. The amount of negative PR generated continued to snowball and the hundreds of like-minded consumer comments served as a proxy of what is unquestionably many thousands more of disgruntled and underserved customers.

The harder Jarvis pushed, the more Dell resisted until eventually Jarvis e-mailed Dell's CMO and Chief "Ethics" Officer.

The other day I blogged how hard it is to get hold of a human at Amazon, and it appears that all of the successes of the post dot-com boom are all in the same leaking boat - eBay, Amazon, Dell etc etc etc - why the hell are thier customer service arms virtually non-existent? That's rhetorical. It's the money, stupid. It's the money

Far be it for me to not jump on the bandwagon which seems to be spreading through the Web like a bad case of fleas on a mutt.

Here are my observations of this very humorous CGC creation:

1) It was created by a bloke by the name of Scott Kelby, who - according to his very humble website - is editor in chief of photoshop user magazine. Bottom line is that this is a pretty damn good way to generate some business through dramatic increased traffic to one's website, no?

2) It was posted on nytimes.com and seemingly was ONLY available on NYTimes. What an interesting turn of events to see something this viral being distributed through a MSM outlet like this. [insert your own thoughts here] I did manage to find a Quicktime version of it (linkable via the graphic)

Every now and then, a ROI study comes out to completely underscore the fact that marketers really don’t have a clue which half or three-quarters of their budgets are being absolutely flushed down the toilet.

As reported in the new MediaBuyerPlanner, a new study by the ANA, Forrester and MMA revealed:

·         

60% of marketers believe measuring ROI is important, but only 20% feel they do it well.

·         

73% of 135 senior-level marketers surveyed, lack confidence in their ability to understand the sales impact of a marketing campaign

Personally, I would find out exactly who the other 40% of respondents - who didn’t feel that measuring ROI was important – are, and make sure they were instantly fired or thrown in jail.

• A 2004 study by the ROI Council concluded that ROI analysis prompted nearly half of advertisers and agencies to alter their 2005 media buying plans.

Scarier still is the fact that despite the inept and unconfident points of view demonstrated by the marketing decision makers in this study towards ROI, they’re still making mission critical decisions based on this limited, incomplete and flawed information.

Hey, I got an idea. Let’s hold the Internet to a ridiculously high, siloed and unrealistic standard, while we continue to plough money into old marketing based on nothing more than faded fumes of the past, a longing to return to the good old days of 3 networks, and of course a guarantee that we’ll be wined, dined and 69’ed and taken to Cannes, the SuperBowl and other Boondoglish excursions.

We should all be ashamed of ourselves. Grrrr.

OK, how many of you knew Morgan Freeman had a production house? And how many of you knew that he’s formed a new company – a partnership with Intel – called ClickStar that will allow consumers to watch movies online before they come out on DVD.

This announcement underscores the continued acceleration from cradle to grave of content i.e. from the initial movie release through the DVD, VOD and Web releases. Except of course this puts the Web before the actual DVD release.

It’s going to piss off plenty of people (which is both an alliteration and awesome) including the Movie studios, the DVD industry and of course MovieLink and CinemaNow.

But so what…it’s just the inevitable force of change and it’s somewhat ironic that it take an actor (as opposed to the studios for example) to capitalize on it.

P.S. MF, Surely you can do better than “ClickStar” – sounds like a kiosk to toss your pennies into, not a proprietary way to distribute move content.

Last night, The Battle for the HeArt kicked off in Chicago.

Uber Creative, ECD and Group Creative Director at DDB, Paul Tilley, keynoted and spoke on a "new definition of creativity"

He noted 3 primary new definitions of creativity are needed:

1) One which moved from interrupting/intruding in people's lives to one which becomes part of their lives. From cause marketing efforts to experiential plays. He gave Office Max's Rubber Band Man as an example of a brand/campaign which began advertising on the Today Show, but ended up being on the today show...as part of its editorial/content.

2) The need to move beyond "ads" - take the redesign of McDonalds uniforms for example. This is where new marketing comes into play and where brands really are limitless in their communication touchpoints e.g. Rainier Beer

3) The need to change the very structure of creative teams (Bernbach created the copywriter + art director combo)...or at least to have additional people in the room. This speaks to the idea that creativity can come from anyone and anywhere.

After my presentation, we had a lively discussion on 2 of the 5 town hall topics:

1) ROI or Die. The reconciliation between the art of persuasion with the science of results

2) The role clients play in terms of enabling agencies to take risks, come up with big ideas, and ultimately rewarding them.

The next shows are in Minneapolis (7/14), LA (7/19), San Fran (7/20), Dallas (7/25) and NYC (7/27) and you can register here.

It's unbelievable to think of a retailing giant like Amazon.com as being only 10 years old.

Like a beacon or proxy of change, here you have one company that has literally not only changed the book business, but indeed has transformed re or e-taining as well.

The degree of sophistication, personalization and customization that takes place, on a bed of rich data is only just now starting to demonstrate its profound impact and value and in Bezos, you have a retailing pioneer that John Wanamaker would be proud to share a beer with.

Between Google, eBay and Amazon, you have - what I call - the prime trinity of the Web. 3 powerful companies; 3 powerful brands.

That being said....a sobering note of caution. Amazon needs to figure out a way to maintain an element of "humanness" (as opposed to humanity) It is exceptionally difficult to get hold of a human. Ever. There is very little personal contact and even the customer service in the form of the standard 24-hour autoresponder (which typically never answers the question)

Jeff - you're a legend. In the first 10 years you reinvented the selection and shopping processes. You've always been consumer-centric and done a great job at making the shopping experience pleasurable (from 1 click to Amazon Theatre) Now, as you enter your teens...I look to you to lead once again. This time reinvent CRM, customer service and show how humanity and web activity need not be mutually exclusive.

AMC – frustrated no doubt that more consumers are not turning out in droves to overpay for popcorn, and more specifically that a good movie like Cinderella Man isn’t doing better at the box(ing – sorry couldn’t resist the Russell Crowe “Jab” – oops, I did it again) office, decided to offer a money back guarantee to consumers.

And since then, an additional theatre chain has decided to join in…

I'm in Chicago this week (so slower to blog :( ) for the launch of year 2 of my "Battle for the HeArt" Creative Roadshow - an event designed to restore order and balance to a business seemingly dominated by left brain thinking nowadays.

It's tomorrow (Thursday), July 7th, at the W Lakeshore from 5-9pm and you can request an invite here. Next week we're in Minny.

All you have to do is to give a damn about creativity to be here and to be counted. You needn't be a creative or even have to have the word creative in your title...you just have to care about the importance of creativity in advertising and/or want a free copy of Life after the 30-second spot!

Hope to see you there. Rage on.

Credit where credit is due. General Motors “led” and the rest of Detroit followed. That counts for something these days. GM shaved the flesh off their bare bones and one Lindsay Lohan month later, they’ve had record sales for the month of June – 47% growth versus DCX’s 5.2% and Ford's 1.4%.

The result? Daimler-Chrysler and Ford plunge head first into the bottomless pit by offering similar deep-discounts, albeit with different fancy names like Employee Purchase Plus so that consumers can tell one desperate marketer from the other.

Today’s question ‘o the day will be who’s laughing last and loudest? GM or the invasion of Japanese manufacturers that are no doubt reaping immense satisfaction from watching Detroit implode.

Is it surprising that consumers flocked en masse to take advantage of this seemingly unsustainable offer (GM are extending through August 1)? Hardly. It’s a no brainer really. The real keys are as follows:

1)    how much longer can this be kept up?

2)    What will happen in 3+ years time when these same consumers are back in the market?

3)    How many true impulse purchases did this promotion really capture? It’s one thing to capture a piece of the pie that was currently in play…especially at the hands of their competitors; it’s another thing altogether to build incremental business through growing the category – even if this expansion is temporary

In keeping with today’s empowered, connected, intelligent and “one step ahead of the curve” consumer…the gig is up. The expectation is now firmly set that the “price” of entry has been fixed at employee levels. And once the bar has been “lowered”, it’s a tough act to emulate, deviate from and maintain.

Worse still, consumers now know that auto manufacturers can afford to price their cars so low and this kind of transparency will prove to be a challenge down the line.

P.S. If the promotion was so good, why the need to extend it? :)

I’m not sure how many people caught this, but during this weekend’s Live 8 Global Extravaganza (a great communal experience, with a strong cause-marketing foundation), we witnessed arguably a major turning point in the world of media where old and new crossed paths – albeit in different directions.

ABC’s 2-hour highlight reel (you would think ABC would have learnt a thing or two from NBC’s repeated Olympics delayed drivel coverage) on Saturday night yawned in an average 2.9 million viewers. AOL on the other hand (AOLmusic.com) pulled in 5 million viewers throughout the day.

I don’t think there’s ever been a more similar apples-to-apple moment where these two mediums have been side by side as a demonstration of flexibility, consumer engagement and yes…even their ability to amass an audience.

No doubt, VOD can and will play a major role in terms of providing additional depth and versatility to the networks, but until that day, AOL took advantage of the true global power of the Web to not only provide current footage…but no doubt will continue to deliver on-demand through their archives of the landmark event.

2 pieces of interrelated news behind this post:

1) The launch of iTunes 4.9 w/Podcasting

2) Lexus’ sponsorship of a 26-week, exclusive deal with NPR-affiliate KCRW's podcasting offering.

According to Ad Age, 22 million Americans now have MP3 players (read: iPods) which is hardly a niche audience anymore. The iPod (which is to MP3 players what TiVo is to DVR’s) is as mobile and accessible as a cellphone and for that reason alone, is arguably the one “medium” that is constantly with a consumer – and often in the hardest to “reach” places i.e. on the road, in the air, under the ground etc.

Many feel that iPods are as much a threat to terrestrial radio as is Satellite Radio, but in Podcasting, we might just be witnessing the kind of shot in the arm for radio as is being witnesses with video on the Web (with respect to complementing/supplementing traditional television commercials)

The third screen has become synonymous with mobile phones, but the third location (other than work and home) is the MP3 device, capable of transcending any media obstacle or cacophony of advertising clutter. So how then should advertising have a place in this new value proposition? For three reasons:

As reported in Adweek’s IQ Briefing, Cingular Wireless will soon launch a campaign that encourages consumers to use their camera phones to submit photos via MMS of Cingular's advertising theme (the inherited 5-bar one from AT&T).

Photographer Robert Clark will pick 5 finalists and then consumers will then vote on the best submissions via text messaging. Also the best submissions will be incorporated into subsequent Cingular advertising/messaging.

With Lubars’ tentacles notably hovering close by, this is yet another example of supreme new marketing at its best – and a strong demonstration of horizontal integration (for anyone unfortunate enough to have heard me speak on true integration in the past few months)

As a Cingular customer myself, I'm proud to see them deploying this kind of higher intelligence effort.

There's something really sweet about a perfect market economy...or at least one created in the space hallmarked by eBay.

hanka3153 for example, might turn up his or her nose at paying $4 for a Grande Frappucinno at Starbucks. But when it comes to having lunch with Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, $351,100 turned out to be the winning bid and the rate that the market determined was fair and equitable.

The proceeds of the auction on eBay go to charity...but underneath it all, is a a stern lesson to all the marketers and advertising practitioners out there who fall victim to continous discounts, sales and undercutting the competition: consumers will pay a premium for value - especially with there is an experience which comes along for the ride.

And even deeper down...you'll find some invaluable insights which could even help the world of advertising.

Hope you all had great July 4th Weekends. I was fortunate enough to receive these two book reviews from Jaffe Juice readers and wanted to share them with you.

"As flat out fun to read as 'Life After 30' is, there's a genious undercurrent that you'll be riding on here. LA-30 is Marketing ReThink that is definitely not for the timid. Jaffe's brain and heart have produced ideas that are too damn smart, too elegantly counterintutive, and too fucking thoughtful to bring back old-thinking brands from the dead. Dead they should be and stay if they can't put in place the leaders that would understand and apply Jaffe to the world that will crush them while they're sleeping. They'll nod their heads at cocktail parties then flex back to their wasteful, unaccountable ways at the office. 'Life After 30' is for those who want to live, not die. It's for leading companies, their CEOs, marketing directors, and responsible board of directors who, simply put, want to live...and live well. Jaffe articulates and electrifies what today's emerging leaders are sensing and incorporating into their business and communications plans. Jaffe has leaped alongside, and maybe past, Godin and Gladwell and created a tipping point of his own with this purple cow of a book." JAN ZLOTNICK

"Joseph, I just got through the book (thank God for long weekends) and I can already tell I'm in for a couple of sleepless nights. The countless ideas you highlight and myths you dispel will be haunting my right brain for some time to come. Thanks for having an opinion. These days that's a Purple Cow." RICHARD BANFIELD