I recently sat down with my brother from another mother, Mitch Joel, to discuss the Super Bowl, Life after the 30-second spot, the life, death, after life and rebirth of creativity. And Miriam. @mitchjoel and @jaffejuice
It's another well spent hour of my life and I suspect it will be of yours as well. So give it a listen by downloading or listening here. Or you can subscribe to the show here.
PS I apologize for Mitch's singing. Really I do. Profusely.
PPS Mirum is now the agency formally known as Twist Image and Six Pixels of Separation Podcast, but it's still the same Mitch we all know and love.
Mitch and I had a great conversation debate about creativity, the legitimacy and integrity of advertising, Jerry Seinfeld's zinger filled "acceptance speech" for winning an honarary Clio (you can read the full text here) and more.
Personally I think the last 5-10 minutes are particularly powerful.
Mitch and I resume our monthly "debates" to discuss the agency world, including a very frank discussion about the recent acquisition of Twist Image by WPP. Congrats my friend! @jaffejuice and @mitchjoel
I'm thrilled to announce that as of July 1st, we have two new additions to the growing Evol8tion family: The BeanCast and its host, Bob Knorpp.
The BeanCast is "The Best Marketing Podcast Anywhere" (I know this because it says so on the website) and Bob is "The Best Host Anywhere" (I know this because I've been on the show since pretty much the beginning)
I've been a regular since the early days of the show. The earliest I could find was this episode from 2009. For those of you who don't know The BeanCast, it's a weekly panel discussion on marketing, with a particular emphasis on the digital, social, mobile and emerging categories. At Evol8tion, we call that the "Innovation Continuum" (can you see a connection here?)
As one of the earliest podcasters, I remain extremely bullish on the potential and future for "the spoken work" in an increasingly digital, social and connected world. I suppose it's proof positive of the power of podcasting (alliteration) that both Bob and the Beancast have found a home under the bridge between Madison Avenue and Mountain View.
Bob joins Evol8tion as SVP, Chief Analyst of our BrandWatch product. BrandWatch is a subscription-based insight product designed to help brands understand, prioritize and evaluate their innovation needs. Bob will also use his editorial juices to invest in our Madison & Mountain View (MplusMV) publishing asset.
From an structural standpoint, nothing will change with the show itself. Bob will continue to host and maintain full editorial control. He will also continue to manage the business side of the show. What will change is that the content will become much richer and deeper as a result of Evol8tionâs BrandWatch product.
If you want to listen to a brief fireside chat between Bob and myself, here it is. OK, so we didn't sit around a fire, but it was hot enough outside today so justify the heat reference!
The full press release is below, which also documents a series of new hires, new clients and new solutions at our innovation agency:
For Immediate Release:
Evol8tion Continues Expansion With BeanCast Acquisition
BeanCast Founder Bob Knorpp Joins Evol8tion Team To Lead BrandWatch⢠Offering
July 22nd, 2013
Evol8tion (pronounced Evolution), the innovation agency co-founded by Joseph Jaffe and Gina Waldhorn, today announced they have acquired Bob Knorppâs BeanCast Marketing Podcast for an undisclosed amount. The audio podcast features a weekly discussion with a rotating panel of global advertising and marketing experts, serving up to 75,000 shows a month.
âWeâre excited to include The BeanCast as part of the Evol8tion content offering,â said Mr. Jaffe. âOur goal is to help our brand clients connect to the latest trends and innovations, and match them to startups that fit their needs. The BeanCast is clearly the best show covering the advertising technology space, and having its research and insight resources onboard will add even more value to our clients.â
As part of the deal, show host Bob Knorpp will join the Evol8tion team as SVP, Chief Analyst for BrandWatch, a subscription-based insight product designed to help brands understand, prioritize and evaluate their innovation needs.
âMy vision for The BeanCast was always to provide the best possible insights and education to the marketing community,â said Knorpp. âHeading up Evol8tionâs BrandWatch product allows me to greatly enhance the quality of The BeanCast content, while more fully exploring my passion for informing and training the brand world.â
Knorpp is one of several new hires at the rapidly expanding company, joining Lauren Brown and Jessica Peltz; senior talent recruits from Carat and Zenith Media respectively.
These hires are hot on the heels of multiple key milestones for a company growing exponentially in its second year of operation. Evol8tion recently added Mondelez International to a roster of clients that already includes ABInBev and Unilever. Evol8tion is also currently running the popular Mobile Futures program with Mondelez International, currently wrapping up its North America phase and rolling out in Brazil.
Said Gina Waldhorn, Evol8tion's co-founder and COO, "We are seeing more and more blue chip brands committing themselves to consumer-facing technology innovation in digital, social, mobile and emerging platforms. Evol8tion is playing a key role in facilitating these important connections, having just finished our 15th in-market pilot program in just over a year."
Started in January 2012, Evol8tion (www.startupsforbrands.com) provides brands with a strategic and systematic process to connect with âmatchedâ early-stage startups. Evol8tionâs core offering includes BrandWatchâ¢, an education and evaluation framework, and BrandMatchâ¢, an execution framework, which combine to both qualify and quantify technology solutions to solve business problems.
The BeanCast (www.thebeancast.com), now in itâs sixth year of production, will continue to produce weekly shows with Knorpp as host and producer.
It's hard to resist making this a looooooooooooong post, so instead I'll do my best to be as brief and succinct as possible, so here goes...
My good friend and ex-client, Maarten Albarda and I are co-authoring a book together. It's my 4th book (after Life after the 30-second spot, Join the Conversation and Flip the Funnel) and Maarten's first. Besides sharing the same vision and passion for the subject, we're bringing a 1-2 punch to the table in the form of advertising-agency perspective on the giant elephant in the room: media or rather paid media.
The book is called z.e.r.o. and the sub-title, "zero paid media as the new marketing model" kind of says it all (and in less than 140 characters).
The book posits that in a perfect world, your paid media budget would be z.e.r.o. - literally, but also figuratively in the form of an acronym which stands for Zealots (advocacy), Entrepreneurship (innovation), Retention (customer centricity) and Owned Assets (moving from tenant to landlord)
On one hand, it's me returning to my "Life after" roots, but on the other other (and more poignantly), it's our set up of our premonition of a perfect storm approaching in marketing; one in which the bottom could conceivably fall out of the media model. Fortunately, the world is not perfect and change takes longer than we expect, but then again...just look at how your world has changed in the past few years to validate the fact that sitting and doing nothing is not a viable solution.
For me, it's a bold move for two reasons:
I've made the move from being a 3-time published author to self-publishing (thanks to Richard @ Wiley for everything to get me this far and props to my new home, Archway Publishing)
Review the various pledge rewards and become a backer. We've named them after famous misers.
From the Hetty Green and Warren Buffet (digital and hardcover copies respectively) to the maximum reward, which delivers 10 autographed books and an in-person keynote from either Maarten or myself (only 2 available per person)
The no-brainer and value rewards are the Mr Burns and Mr Krabs respectively, that also include a 140-character acknowledgement (plug) in the book itself
We just pre-launched the book and Kickstarter campaign at the Festival of Media in Montreux, but here's the crazy part...in just over 24 hours after I hit the publish button (in stealth mode), we've almost hit our initial funding goal of $10,000. With your help, we'll push this over the edge and see how far we can take it.
The wild thing is that the book will become it's own case study insofar that it will demonstrate how we were able to self-publish our book for "z.e.r.o." by tapping into our advocates and leveraging our owned assets. It's U.N.M.2.P.N.M. circa 2005 retooled for 2013.
So...if you're part of my community and/or appreciate my content, show your support on Kickstarter with the pledge amount (or more if your heart desires). I will post regular updates over the 6 week period to acknowledge my backers (which would be you)
And all things being equal, Z.E.R.O. will launch in September of 2013 and will contain the 10-point action plan towards implementing this bold vision towards helping marketing evolve, normalize and allocate scarce resources to a re-prioritized hierarchy of connection points.
I began my thought leadership/writing career with a column on Mediapost and so it is fitting to return to the scene of the crime so to speak for a new weekly column on all things Innovation.
My primary focus will be on technology-led innovation, which is about as wide and deep as the blue ocean (digital, social, mobile, emerging, startups etc), but I hope to also dial into true originality, disruptive thinking and creative flair as it relates to the ability to tell stories, surprise and delight (some might call it classic advertising...or at least my good friend Don would)
Mediapost were very kind to write up this piece, which outlines my return to weekly thought leadership columns and also gives a pretty good update on my update so to speak.
And so without further ado, my first piece which is a context setter/manifesto of sorts, outlining why now has never been as good a time to be focusing on the convergence between Madison Avenue and Mountain View...
Survival demands Innovation and Creativity
A war is being waged.
Its crusaders are the passionate pioneers that represent a new marketing reality never seen before in history. This is the story of the evolution of the Internet -- and its progression from a superficial flavor of the month to quite possibly, the most profound weapon ever presented to the treasure-chest of the marketing community.
The war in question is a war against ignorance and those who resist change. It is being fought on two playing fields, by two very different armies. Their insignias are the head and the heart. Progress has been varied.
The infantry of the head, earmarked by research, data, metrics and media has emerged victorious.
The warriors of the heart, however, have not fared as well. Along the way, there have been many casualties, but when the dust settled, the brave and the dedicated creative community stood firm, supremely focused on their prime directive: to win the battle for the heart.
I wrote that blurb in 2004 when I put together a roadshow called âThe Battle for the HeArtâ. Youâll notice that I capitalized the A in Heart, as this was about art; the right brain; creativityâ¦or the lack thereof in the online space. My position was that online was dominated by science; the left brain; analytics; metrics.
And in the vacuum, was an infinite void of desolate inspiration.
Battle for the HeArt was a Creative Roadshow, designed to celebrate, uplift and showcase the best online creative youâd never seen or perhaps had, but you couldnât quite articulate or put your finger on exactly what made it unique or special.
The show lasted two years and save for the fact I founded my first company, crayon, it would have continued. Interestingly enough, 2006âs Battle (the third year) would have been sub-branded as Madison + Mountain View (I even registered the URL www.madisonandmountainview.com, with a positioning that the future of advertising lay in technology.)
Itâs kind of sad and even pathetic that weâre asking the same questions today. We're questioning the lack of creativity and innovation in the online space. Itâs not too late for an intervention though, but I fear that soon enough, it will be unless we inject a good dose of truly game-changing digital whoopass into the mix.
My antidote is the intersection of technology and advertising; Mountain View meets Madison Avenue. Iâll use Albert Einstein's famous quote to illustrate my point: âInsanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Dictionary.com defines creativity as âproductive originality.â
Originality = Doing things Differently Productive = Getting a Result
âDoing things differently to get a resultâ is, in fact, the exact opposite of doing the same thing over and over again to get a different result. So it hit me: Creativity is the solution to insanity; the remedy to mediocrity and status quo.
Similarly, the dictionary defines innovation as new approaches that achieve positive outcomes. Is it coincidence that this is a synonym for creativity? I think not.
I think this underscores that the future of marketing is a digital one, a tech-laden one. Brands have got to innovate in order to evolve and arguably, survive. I believe that the intersection between marketing and start-ups is one way to mix together creativity and innovation into a powerful cocktail.
The catch perhaps is that innovation is typically associated with product or packaging R&D, as opposed to marketing itself. Itâs time to change that.
I always like to quote photographer Diane Arbus who said: âIt's what I've never seen before that I recognize."
Our consumers are the same. They ignore what theyâve seen before time and time again. And they notice the unanticipated. They crave the unexpected, the unpredictable, the surprise and delight. They long for the intellectual sparring that comes with an idea that provokes, irks, challenges or dares them to think or act different.
And theyâre not insane, although we might be if we donât rethink the way we go to market, or the way we utilize the full potential of the Internet and its social portfolio of gizmos and gadgets. The way we partner with our consumers -- and the way we combine what we do best (creativity) in a form, function and utility-laded service that truly delivers transformational (innovation) value.
Is Nike a Shoe company? An apparel company? A health and fitness lifestyle company? Or a technology company? DigiDay Brian Morrissey's insight and my purchase of a Nike Fuel Band prompts a great discussion about brands, branding and the future of marketing and consumer engagement in a digital world.
Join the Conversation dammit (it's not a cliche when I coined the term and wrote the book on it!) @jaffejuice on Twitter and @mitchjoel on Twitter.
And be sure to forward this to any brand marketers you think would benefit from the discussion and ultimately give their perspective on the theme at hand.
Listen to it LIVE (left click) or download it HERE (right click)
Could this be the year that advertiser's finally gave up? Forget #brandbowl. This was the year of #blandbowl.
Last night I was live tweeting as part of Wharton's Future of Advertising program and so actually so most - if not all of the ads - versus actually socializing with human beings and even enjoying the game.
It gave me the opportunity to utter WTF about 20 times.
I believe there were about 54 to 70 spots depending on different accounts (which may include halftime show or perhaps pre-game), but that seems like a LOT of clutter.
In addition, according to @AlanKercinik - who was keeping me updated on - auto made up about 31% of ALL creative spots. Seriously guys, how are you not all hopping mad that you all just canceled each other out and pretty much zeroed out any ability to differentiate.
Flashy Flashy Flashy. Fast Fast Fast. Bright Bright Bright. Hashtag. Dogs. Hot Chicks. Dogs. 4 Wheels. Hashtag. Overproduced Hyperbole. Hashtag. Fast. Fast. Fast. Brand in question: ?????????
In general, I couldn't believe how over the top and overproduced some of the spots were, to the point where they went completely over the heads of people watching.
Reminder: Most people are inebriated and/or watching with groups of people making lots of noise with the sound of the TV either being drowned out by the noise or turned down.
Reminder: Copy. Text. Spoken Word don't work. Keep it Simple. Stupid which is why Coke's Polar Bears works. It's safe and predictable, but people get it.
To me, I think advertising in the Super Bowl has become a giant ego trip for most advertisers (like the tax prep software one that no one will remember tomorrow) and it's all about the announcement itself, rather than the execution. Look at me...I'm a playa!!!! Yawn.
It should be so simple i.e. focus all your efforts on hitting the fast ball zipping straight down Broadway for a game winning home run...made all the easier if an existing platform/equity can be leveraged (e.g. Polar Bears) but instead it becomes a completely insider and incestuous attempt to outdo one another in terms of lavish production.
...but this post was really meant to be about innovation (or the lack thereof) from the Big Game. Starting with basic new media best practices and integration like making sure your freaking website doesn't crash (Coke, Acura) or how about the complete neglect of your digital storefront; your home i.e. your website.
From what I heard only Bud Light did some kind of intelligent drive to digital via it's Facebook integration to get people to donate money to Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF), although I completely missed it during the spot. People were saying, "why did they use such an ugly dog?"
All in all, with over 50 spots, only 2 companies did anything that could be called "innovative". Let me be clear...I take my hat off to both companies for their efforts and I wag my (M.I.A. middle finger) at all the others for zzzzzzzz....boring, bland, safe and mediocre creative. That said, I'll also offer a little commentary on what worked/could have worked better.
The first was Coke's Polar Bowl, which apparently had two Andy Serkis characters covered in bulbs reacting live to the game itself and broadcasting themselves as two Polar Bears supporting the Pats and Giants respectively. Ordinarily that would be awesome to follow this live streaming, except for:
The scarf colors were ambiguous given both teams sort of wear the same colors
The site went down
It didn't work on iPad or iPhone, which imho, is how many people would be watching TV these days and especially at a party. I'm sure someone at Coke or their agencies will explain this to me...and I assume it would have worked on Android, but either way, I think it was a missed opportunity
Next time, take into account how people typically watch TV in a multichannel multiscreen environment.
The second was the Shazam Bud Light integration during the Half Time show with Madonna. The idea was that you'd Shazam the new song by Madonna and then get to download the LMFAO remix. The challenges here were as follows:
Shazam had to work over the noise of the party (it did)
There were several steps that had to be followed e.g. verifying age, e-mail address and filling out marketing opt-in boxes (it is what it is)
The disappointment of not being one of the first million as what happened to me...
Overall, the big winners here were Shazam and LMFAO/Madonna...both getting ridiculous downloads of app and track respectively. I feel Bud Light scored 1,000,000 kudos but fell short on anything from 1 disappointed customer (me) to countless many more millions of potential new customers and/or exisiting loyalists.
Next time don't use a cap and set a record for music downloads!!!
And that's about it from the Super Bowl that really was a Super Bust when it comes to creativity, originality and innovation.
In this monthly debate, Mitch and I have a meaty conversation about one of the hottest and endless topics in the marketing world: how to correctly value, price and position ideas.
It all stems from an article which Scott Montgomery wrote in Ad Age, where he attempted to debunk the myth about how long idea generation takes and on a parallel path, how ideas should be valued and compensated as such.
We also open on a brief conversation about blogging, authentic voices and being re-certified.
Join the Conversation dammit (it's not a cliche when I coined the term and wrote a book on it!) @jaffejuice on Twitter and @mitchjoel on Twitter.
And be sure to forward this to any brand marketers you think would benefit from the discussion and ultimately give their perspective on the theme at hand.
Listen to it LIVE (left click) or download it HERE (right click)
In this episode, Mitch and I discuss #occupywallstreet - its consumer behavior insights and learnings for brands and brand marketers.
We discuss some of the obvious and less than obvious catalysts or ingredients that have contributed and combined to create - arguably - a force for change and an idea whose time has come.
We debate whether #occupywallstreet is just the left's version of #teaparty or something else.
We also attempt to isolate government versus big business' role and ultimately responsibility in terms of weighing in, being accountable and taking action.
Most interestingly, we chip in our respective marketing POV's and 2c as we talk about some practical and tactical next steps and ideas.
Oh yeah, there's the whole social media component as well. I almost forgot.
PLUS: At the end, we get into a really meaty topic and I turn the tables on YOU for your thoughts, input, feedback, pushback, ideas and recommendations.
Join the Conversation dammit (it's not a cliche when I coined the term and wrote a book on it!) @jaffejuice on Twitter and @mitchjoel on Twitter.
And be sure to forward this to any brand marketers you think would benefit from the discussion and ultimately give their perspective on the theme at hand.
Listen to it LIVE (left click) or download it here (right click)
to the reincarnated and reinvigorated Jaffe Juice.
What was once a weekly op-ed column is now an unshackled, uncensored and uninhibited dialogue
on the subjects of new marketing, advertising and creativity.
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