Jaffe Juice

The Agency is Dead. Long live the Agency!

My brother-from-another-mother, Mitch Joel (a 2-time best-selling author with 6 Pixels of Separation and Ctrl-Alt-Delete, as well as a successful entrepreneur, having recently sold his agency, Twist Image to WPP) get together once a month to do a healthy debate about the state of the agency business, creativity, innovation or whatever is on our mind. We put this out on our respective podcasts (Jaffe Juice and 6 Pixels of Separation.)

We are now bringing this to life...by pitching a live panel at next year's SxSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas...and we need to rock the vote! 

Here's Mitch's blog post, which is so perfect I have essentially cut and pasted the whole damn thing :)

How will agencies attract and retain talent, when so many young marketing professionals are working for major brands, startups or companies like Snapchat?

It's time to debate, resolve and figure out the future of the agency model. Are you with me? Are you ready for a heated conversation? The venue has already been determined, but an event of this magnitude will not happen without your vote! We are hoping to make this happen at South by Southwest 2016... but it can't happen WITHOUT YOUR VOTE! 

Here's the set-up/context:  

Do you believe that if David Ogilvy or Bill Bernbach were alive today that they would be quaking in their boots? Right now, they're probably rolling around in their graves at the current reality. Is it possible that their beloved agencies could very well be a thing of the past? The world has changed so much. Today, Cannes Lions is run - not by creatives - but by the Facebooks, Twitters and Googles of the world. Can agencies survive this perfect storm? Will they prove to be the consummate cockroaches, and adapt... or will they die a slow and painful death (and will anyone notice or care)? Jaffe and I will argue the pros and the cons, and make the case as to the rise, fall and possibly even the resurrection of the endangered species known as "The Agency." We may even add some very special guests to this lively conversation.

Will you help us out and vote for this event to take place?

Joel and I will also answer the following questions:

1. How will agencies win the talent wars, when so many young stars are joining startups, tech companies, publishers or going to work directly for brands? 
2. What will agencies need to do to survive, as it relates to investing in technology, doing startup collaborations and/or seeking out new revenue streams? 
3. What's the best way to connect and build relationships with agencies (as a startup, vendor, tech provider), or is it better to go direct to the client?
4. What are the forces at play that are working against the agency model?
5. Which agencies have done the hard work of future-proofing their business models?
6. How will the major advertising and communications networks adapt?

Now, it's your turn.

Will you please support this panel by heading over to the SXW panel picker and voting for it (you will need to register regardless if you are planning on attending the event or not)?

I will also ask that you share this out with your network as well. There are also direct Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn buttons on the panel page.

Mitch and I know that this will be an exciting event, so we are very hopeful that you will play a small role in making it happen, by voting for us and sharing it with your community.

• We will be looking to add in a few surprises / easter eggs into the panel i.e. surprise guests.
• In addition we are thinking about a meet-up/event later that night so we can continue the conversation post-panel.
• Even if you can't make, we'll make sure there is a streaming solution so you can "beam in"

Let's make this happen!

2 episodes of Jaffe Juice - The New Marketing Podcast on Tech, Talent and Creativity

Hello strangers...

How about 2 episodes of Jaffe Juice - The New Marketing Podcast for the price of Z.E.R.O.? No actually, zero.

Plus you get Mirum's Mitch Joel as value add.

The first episode is #179 where we discuss the Wall Street Journal article, Tech Firms Pull Talent Away From Ad Agencies. 

You can listen live by left clicking or download by right clicking here

The second episode is #180 where we do an armchair quarterback deconstruction, unpacking, post-mortem of Cannes 2016. And yes, there is some bitterness, jealousy, cynicism and good old fashioned ranting as well. 

You can listen live by left clicking or download by right clicking here

Image credit 

3 doses of Jaffe Juice: on Millennials, Visual Story Telling and Word of Mouth

I know I have been long remiss in updating the podcast. So much so that Apple has removed "Across the Sound" from iTunes (ugggh) and I'm now trying to get the feed back up and running.

In the interim, you certainly can download it / listen to it via the Jaffe Juice blog and newsletter, as well as subscribing to the Jaffe Juice feed, which will give you an aggregation of blog posts, audio podcasts and Jaffe Juice TV video content.

So here are the 3 most recent:

Jaffe Juice #176 - Mitch Joel and I discuss Millennials

Photo credit

Jaffe Juice #177 - Book interview with author of The Power of Visual Storytelling, Ekaterina Walter

Buy the book here

Also co-authored with Jessica Gioglio

Jaffe Juice #178 - Book interview with author of fizz, Ted Wright

Buy the book here

Jaffe Juice #175 - Jaffe, Joel and Miriam

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.

Red Bull gives you Whinge

Apparently the "Bull" in Red Bull stands for false or misleading advertising as a court recently ruled in favor of customers who did not sprout wings. Who knew?!

Here's my Jaffe Juice TV episode talking about this as well as my MediaPost article. 

 PS Please subscribe to the channel if you like these videos.

Jaffe Juice #173 - Jaffe, Joel & Jerry (Seinfeld)

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.

Follow us @jaffejuice and @mitchjoel 

Listen live or download here.

Subscribe to the show via iTunes here

Photo credit: qz.com

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JJTV #140 - Delta Red and Chelsea Blue

I'm continuing to experiment with video formats in an effort to produce more content more regularly. This is my man-on-the-street attempt and clearly I haven't yet mastered the selfie video technique, but I'm learning! Be patient, it'll get better (I hope)

In this episode, I comment on an unusual Delta Airlines partnership with Chelsea Football Club. It's a partnership which makes sense on a global scale for both parties...but its the execution that got my attention...

JJTV #138 - Fanning the Flames of the #IceBucketChallenge

 

JJTV is back (after a 3 year hiatus!) In this episode I talk about the Ice Bucket Challenge and the power of Creativity, Conversation, First Mover Advantage, Raising the Bar...and exceeding it.

I Dare You To Get To 10%

Lately I’ve been describing myself as the Robin Hood of marketing. If I look back at my four books -- “Life after the 30-second spot,” “Join the Conversation,” Flip the Funnel” and “Z.E.R.O.” -- they all have a common theme of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Or, in marketing speak: budget optimization (sounds less daring when you put it that way).

I challenge marketers to rethink the way they spend other people’s money in favor of a scenario which I believe more realistically reflects reality – or, at least a reality grounded in consumer insights and the actual behavior of the people they call consumers.

Inherent in the final optimization is the belief that we need to create innovation budgets. My co-author and fellow Online Spin writer, Maarten Albarda, dedicates an entire chapter in "Z.E.R.O." to the budget-setting component of the Z.E.R.O. action plan.

The creation of new budgets and allocation of funding is nothing new to marketing or media. I wish I could tell you this was the first time we are discussing this, but if I did it would just be déjà vu all over again. Every new medium has faced the same challenges when it comes to begging for scraps, justifying its existence and making the case for a spending level commensurate with consumer behavior and media consumption.

I only need to think back to my agency days recall the eye rolls when I pleaded for dollars that I believed were justified -- if not right then, certainly in the months to come.

I also remember being told that there are two types of people: pioneers and settlers. The pioneers get killed and the settlers take the land. “Joe, my boy: you are a pioneer!” Gee, thanks (I think…).

It takes a bold individual to put that stake in the ground (versus having it thrust through their heart). Chuck Fruit did it at Anheuser-Busch and The Coca-Cola Company with regards to cable television (ESPN is still grateful), and most recently, Mondelez’ (a client) Bonin Bough did it with respect to mobile.

In the world of digital innovation, we constantly hear about the 60/30/10 -- or 70/20/10 as a slightly more conservative -- rule being applied, led by the uber innovator, Google and in the corporate world, Coca-Cola (again) respectively. Coke refers to it as Now, New and Next.

So with all that said, what percentage of your budget are you spending on innovation -- aka “next”? Do you even have a budget to begin with? And if so, do you have a dedicated champion internally, and partner externally, to help you execute against it?

It dawned on me last week as I was immersing myself in the startup world of Silicon Valley that this 10% dream is really just a pipe dream to marketers. They talk a big game, but walk an entirely different one. I realized that 10%, while realistic and practiced by a handful of progressive brands, is unattainable to many others.

So I thought I would take the hatchet and lop off an entire digit, leaving us with a solitary and pretty binary “1.” I challenge the marketers still standing to get to 1% for innovation. Could you do it? Could you do it this year? And no, the year is NOT almost over. What about next year? How embarrassed will you be when you get to the end of NEXT year with still nothing NEW to show for it? Shouldn’t you take the first step NOW?

For your first step, why not move the decimal place one more time to the left: 0.1%. On a $50 million spend, we’re talking about $50,000. How about 0.1% of your spend on a test, experiment or pilot program. I don’t care what you call it, as long as you call it. As long as it isn’t others calling… time of death. Yours.

My TedxWestportLibrary Talk on Retinkering Marketing (and Rethinking Libraries)

Enjoy :)