planning with purpose

Planningness Recap for interTrend Comunications

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a recap of two presentations from the "Planning-ness" conference that has the most relevance to my day-to-day here at our little asian-american ad shop, interTrend Communications. i've borrowed a lot of thinking and slides from people much smarter than me in putting this little recap together. for more in-depth smarts go to these 2 links here and here.

this was the most well organized and productive conferences i've ever been to. kudos to Mark Lewis and Claire Grinton on getting us all excited to make things. Looking forward to the next Planning-ness

the relationship

[photo]


The relationship of a client to an agency, is like that of a surfer to a shaper. Like most relationships, it is one that is built on communication and trust. But what makes some relationships so rich and prolific that it creates just tons of awesome? When the relationship between the two entities creates a culture, rather than just commercials for it's clients, or how about heaps of world titles and constantly pushing the boundaries of surfing with innovative board designs?

I believe it's an open and honest dialog between surfer/shaper and client/agency that yields the most rewarding ideas. I've had a few custom boards shaped for me over the years. With each consult w/the shaper, the best ones have come out of exchanges when the shaper asks all the questions to understand my surfing style, experience, and the conditions where I most often surf. This is when you [as a surfer or client] check your ego at the door and provide as much honest feedback as possible so that the shaper/agency can craft the appropriate board/idea for your needs. Most of the time, whether you're a pro or weekend-warrior like myself, we all want that "magic" board that does it all for us. however, we really don't know how to articulate the shape/design of what that "magic" board should be. Enter the expertise of the shaper. the best shapers are the ones that can understand the strengths/weaknesses of the surfer, the wave conditions, etc to craft that "magic" board. there has to be a dialog and trust between the two for it to work. And also, the good shapers don't talk over the heads of their clients either. they both have to be on the same "wavelength".

So there has to be a collaboration and mutual respect of each other's talents. How many times has a client tried to cocktail napkin a layout to their agency partner? Or, when an agency exaggerates how in love they are with a client's brand, just so that they can win the business? Respect. Respect what each person brings (e.g. assets/skills) to the table and work on creating a mutually beneficially relationship. The more a shaper gets to understand the surfer, the better the boards he/she can make for them. And in turn, a more prolific relationship where both get what they want. Better boards, better business.

Yes, there's also an exception. Most amazing surfers or clients can do almost anything despite the quality of the board/creative that is made for them. But those are probably few and far between. Hold onto the clients that you have and work on building the trust and confidence to experiment, innovate, and grow. I'd really like to think that we nurture those client/agency--surfer/shaper relationships so that we continue to elevate the work that is being created. Oh, and another thought...I think this analogy can also be made between the role of account planners to their creative partners as well. As planners our briefs that we produce for creatives should also be a collaborative process that includes honest communication and respect for each other. and just like the surfer who has an on-going dialog w/the shaper to create that "magic" board, and so should us planners w/our creative partners in developing the idea. yeah, agree? what say you?

o_O that look

ever since i've made it a point to connect w/people offline earlier this year, i've been getting those strange looks o_O from my wife every time i mention "i'm meeting a Twitter-friend." The strange look resembles something like the look that you got back in the early 00s when you told your roommate that you were having "coffee" w/someone you just met online. ;)

since then, i think the social web has matured a bit [just a bit]. there's no shortage of social media gurus out there telling you how you're doing it wrong ;) and by our very own experience, and interactions w/others on the web, we've learned where some of the guardrails and pitfalls are. myself, i've have had a couple mis-steps that i still regret, however, i've learned from them. right, moving on now.

the way i use the social web is different from how, let say, how my wife uses the web. both, though coming from a specific need. for me, it's been a journey on connecting w/other people outside of the orange curtain. For me it's the opportunity to learn and discuss ideas outside my immediate surroundings so that i can find applications to my profession. it came from a need. i'm more willing to put myself out there and meet new people.

for my wife, a facebook fanatic, who's constantly denying friend requests of ppl she doesn't know, she uses the social web as an alternative to connect w/her IRL friends as our lives have become time-crunched for [quality] attention w/our group of friends. again, a need.

with people publicly sharing every moment of their lives on the social web, we've come to have developed somewhat of a digital intimacy and perhaps, trust of the people we meet online. this is not new to most people who've been blogging for a long time, who have developed a relationship-->friendship w/their readers, strictly online, and then having the opportunity to meet IRL. with Twitter, tweet-ups, meet-ups, and twestivals, I think it has accelerated that time [of online relationship development]. can you tell a lot about a person from just 140characters? or is it the string of all the daily FB status updates, flickr posts, tweets, blips and blog comments spread throughout the web that we make ourselves transparent-->real to people? Yes, there are chances that these digital personas can be manufactured, buyer beware i guess. these days, it seems that you can pretty much stay "connected" on the daily happenings of the people in your network thru so many different and shared platforms. i'm really excited to see how google wave and perhaps this Threadsy will simplify all these online platforms we're on.

i do find that it really is beneficially to carry those public, online conversations to the offline. I've been delighted by the opportunities to chat on phone or meet for coffee w/people whom I've met via Twitter and from reading their blogs. all of this didn't happen overnight though. these people demonstrated to me that they were stand-up human beings from their interactions across the social web. and myself, i'm learning from them and trying to do the same for myself. hopefully, the next time i say that "i'm mtg so-'n-so from Twitter", I won't get that look.

follow the good stuff

last week on my way into work, i was listening to an interview w/actor Jason Schwartzman on the Kevin & Bean radio show. If you've heard of Jason, you may know some of his work in films and his band Phantom Planet. Jason is now embarking on a new TV series. the interviewer asked Jason if he saw this new venture as a "step down" in doing the glitzy feature film work? Jason's response was [paraphrase]: "no, I just follow the good stuff." Film, TV, web, music, whatever the project is, if it's good, that's where you should be. This really had me think about some of the people that I've talked to recently who have affected by the recent economic turndown--->read: laid-off. About half felt that they needed to find something quick and just get a paycheck in. Others, saw it as a blessing and have taken the time to re-evaluate what's important to them. Both have their strong arguments, depending on your outlook on things i guess. Myself, I am very grateful for the network of friends that i have for support around me, and have the opportunity to participate in projects that i'm really passionate about [more on that later] and still keep a day job where the people around me teach me something new everyday. that's good, no? we spend too much of our waking day w/people at work, why not make the best of it. look around you, if you're not stoked on what you're doing at the moment, change it, or move on [to where you'll do some good]. And don't look at it as a "step down".

Universal McCann Power to the People

Wave 4 "power to the people"

View more documents from Julius Trujillo.

"dramatic changes in the way that consumers are using the internet to create and share their thoughts, pictures and videos" [via @pete291]

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity

Just an awesome vid that had me think about internet culture and how we, erm some of us are behaving differently because of it.

Pecha Kucha Night/OC - coming soon

I finally got around to attending a pecha kucha night recently with my pal Gil Aranowitz If you're not familiar with pecha kucha have a quick look here basically, it's a preso-style where you are limited to 20images x 20seconds to tell your story. i think it's a great way to train yourself to be present with purpose.

Gil and I both wanted to scope out the action, as we are looking to start a pecha kucha night here behind the Orange Curtain.

this particular preso connected with me the most. the presenter, Megan Willis, shares her thoughts on how to get functional use out of "residual spaces" in an urban area, specifically, downtown San Diego. she sees opportunities in these spaces to create more function, practicality and community in an urban setting.

more here from Megan Willis and here observations on residual spaces

the fans make it happen

no budget, no access to actors and cameras, no problem. this is what happens when you come up with a great idea and get fans to help you realize it. sure, it probably required A LOT of hard work and thinking, but what doesn't if you want something that people will connect with and want to be a part of? more about the creation and collaboration of this video here. A bit of this project reminds me of those audience participation stunts you see during the Superbowl halftime shows, using those flip cards to tell a story. Is it really so much different from the idea that people like Henry Jenkins and Faris suggests: "Bring people together and give them something to do"? a couple more examples of this I talked about here. I love this kind of work. It's honest and just good fun, and best of all, it harnesses the power of the fans via the internet. does your brand have this type of fan devotion? does that mean we should always be challenged with $0 budgets? not necessarily, but it has been a challenge that we've all had to overcome sometime or other in our careers, especially in these financially hard times. Here's to inspiring work and the fans that make it happen.

via BBH Labs

Changing The Currency

View more presentations from Helge Tennø.

transmedia & advertising

Transmedia & Advertising

View more Microsoft Word documents from Ivan Askwith.

the matrix, lost, BMW's "the hire" and more. all these have stories have been told and shared thru a variety of media. each one inherently special among the community of people already having conversations there. a solid preso from @ivanovitch at Big Spaceship on the idea of sharing our brand narrative across multiple platforms.

the herd likes to surf

my shower-time thinking this morning was reflecting on a tweet and post by Faris, stating that the herd likes to rave and also seeing Seth Godin's post on a movement, both of them related to this video showing some dude in his underwear dancing like a crazy man. Faris says that "people like to copy each other." and he continues with "That one person [or thing] can change behavior, if persistent, because it doesn't happen right away, and if the actions, and the copying, are visible to enough people." Watch the video. What is it that the 1st guy experienced or saw that others around him did not? and then as a few more jumped in to participate, did they also see/experience what the 1st guy had going on? perhaps? Seth also adds the observation that it's when the 3rd guy jumps-in to participate, that's what's important, and so starts the trend.

anyone who's been on an early dawn patrol surf session, the 1st guy there is the one who gets the chance to see and observe what the ocean is doing. with enough experience he can probably figure out where to paddle out to catch the most or best waves. as more people start to show up at the beach, you'll see how they'll observe as well. most will wait to see what kind of ride that solo guy out there is having (read: does he look like he's having fun). and as a few more people paddle out to where that one solo dawn patroller is, he's made the decision a lot easier for the rest of us to jump right in. just like after the 3rd guy jumped-in to dance along, more people followed. however, more people in that one dense spot, you're gonna have to fight over those waves. i've never understood why my buddy likes to surf where the crowds are. sure, he may pick off a few waves, but it's a paddle battle most of the time. especially here in dense SoCal surf breaks. myself, i hate surfing around crowds. i'd rather go to where there's smaller, crappier waves, but fewer people around. my idea of fun surf doesn't have to be huge, epic waves. as long as i'm still able to enjoy a few waves, i'm all good. sorry i digress to surfing (have it on my mind since we're going on a surf trip this weekend.)

as ad people, i think it's our job to always seek out and look for those individuals who has the vision and can inspire an idea or a movement. we can either look for that dude that is able to spot out early where the best waves are gonna be and eventually others will be there w/him, or we go to where fewer people are (like myself) and hang with them. ya know, kinda like fish where the fish are and all that. all of this takes a lot of observation, sharing, bookmarking and observing some more. we should bring our client's along in seeing the potential in these "visionary" individuals who can see what others have not. if brought-in early, enough we can be part of a really big thing. even if it's paddle-battle among a bunch of other surfers ;)

no cheesy pitchman harmed in the filming of this infomercial

update Fri. June 5th: in the 4 days since the release of this video... 1.5MM views, 7100+ ratings, 2400+ comments. Make cool shit that people will want to see and share. How hard is that? ;)

Brand Engagement thru Participation Slideshare

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engagement through participation

“The key is to produce something that both pulls people together and gives them something to do.” - Henry Jenkins, Dir. of MIT Comparative Media Studies

i came across the above quote over at faris' blog. there's a great discussion going on over there. after reading thru his post and the comments, the little bulb in my head flickered on and i wanted to share these thoughts on two pieces of communications that i believe are powerful ways to get people to interact with your brand.

the first is an interactive sign that does exactly that... it gets people, [in this case, tourists in a high-traffic area] to interact. a simple practice i'm sure most of us who have traveled on vacation, can always relate with, the "kodak moment" when we photograph ourselves at a particular landmark. McDonald's took that cultural observation and created an opportunity to allow vacationers at Piccadilly Circus to be a part of the brand... experience.



the second video already covered by other fine folks here and here, is more recent and is getting a lot of blog coverage. this one is pure and simple joy to me. i've seen it a bunch of times now, and it still makes me feel good inside. [yes, i'm a sappy dork]. unlike most other branded buzz events where companies have hired actors to recreate a flash-mob stunt, this one for T-Mobile's "life's for sharing" campaign, gathered people into Trafalgar Square to take part in a sing-a-long of the Beatle's song, "hey jude." how simply beautiful is that? and it hits dead-on w/the tagline and strategy of T-Mobile about sharing life experiences w/the other people. bravo! i'd love to see more of this from companies. how about you?



thanks for your time.

Twitter101 for InterTrend "Lunch 'n Learn"

wanted to share my twitter intro preso that my agency, InterTrend asked me to take the staffers through. this is a quick overview of twitter, that led into a hands on demo. this was written for an audience of all 1st and generation 1.5 Asians/Asian-Americans.

Twitter101 for InterTrend "Lunch 'n Learn"

View more presentations from Nguyen Duong.

making the most out of our surroundings

First off, I want to apologize for the shaky-cam. i don't have a tripod for this FLIP MinoHD yet.

I finally got around to attending a pecha kucha night recently with @buddingculture If you're not familiar with pecha kucha have a quick look here basically, it's a preso-style where you are limited to 20images x 20seconds to tell your story. i think it's a great way to train yourself to be present with purpose.


Gil and I both wanted to scope out the action, as we are looking to start a pecha kucha night here behind the Orange Curtain.

this particular preso connected with me the most. the presenter, Megan Willis, shares her thoughts on how to get functional use out of "residual spaces" in an urban area, specifically, downtown San Diego. she sees opportunities in these spaces to create more function, practicality and community in an urban setting.

more here from Megan Willis and here observations on residual spaces

i think companies and brands have something to learn from Megan's proposed thoughts here. have a look for yourself. do you see potential to make the most out of our neighborhood?

bs our way into a strategy

and perhaps a job or a dept that perhaps isn't needed?

this is probably a topic that has been debated before, so forgive me if this sounds like a broken record.

what is the role of planning in advertising? (i'm looking to you creative folks). Planners, we can bullshit our way into an answer (either for ourselves or the client). ;)

a few weeks ago, i overhead this convo between an art director and a planner: "you guys (planners) are only telling me what i already know, but just make it more complicated"

then a recent post from the Ad Contrarian: "I'm tired of strategists" had me thinking a bit about the value and purpose for planners. read the comments, good debate.

a fellow planner in sweden posted this analogy of the role of planning

a lot of agencies like to talk a mean game about "turning insights into action" and great creative. before planning came around, where did these insights come from? who did the work to uncover them? who provided the inspiration? was it just some BS to get clients to feel better about the work we were gonna sell them?

or is planning suppose to help create? collaborate w/our creative partners? are we to find truths and opportunities that the creative team may not have realized or observed on their own? or should we just get the hell out of the way? do i find myself struggling with my recent decision to move into planning from account service? no. i've found my home. this is what gets my ass out of bed everyday.

are we necessary to the process? I'd like to think that we are. We are partners to our creative friends. we all in it to help solve our client's business problems. and today, more than ever, our clients are looking to us for more than just that :30second piece of film or page 4/C ad. we all need to be in the business of creative problem solving. in addition, as planners we should challenge not only our account folks but also our clients into solving for the right problems. we need to work closely w/our clients to define the business strategy, ask the right questions, observe, uncover, ask more questions and eventually inspire and create a launching off point for our idea creation folks. this is the role and the value that i see planning provides. it's the real deal insights, ideas, inspiration, or strategy that will help us connect w/relevance and a point of difference. sure there's probably a few exceptions out there w/the types of planners and what they bring to the table, however, like anything else, it all depends on how much the client and agency embrace planning and how much value you deliver, no matter what the title on your business card says. am i full of it? off base? i open the floor to you.

peace.

photo via: The Planning Lab

be interesting

when i first started out in advertising, i used to think that it was the best job in the world. not in a sense that i was doing something that was making a big difference in people's lives, but more of the feeling that, "hey i'm surrounded by a lot of cool and talented people, doing some fun and interesting things with just words and pix." i used to surround myself with just ad people. all of my good bros (that i also surfed with) just happened to be in advertising. so yeah, i was pretty happy with my career choice and with the close knit group of friends around me. i had found my tribe. i also noticed that i was talking about ads all the time. there was no escape from it. my poor then girlfriend, now wife, had to endure so many get togethers, BBQs, cocktail parties, and company functions with the same type of people...ad people. but that was then, many years ago. today, i think i've matured and become comfortable in the skin that i'm in. not as an ad guy, but as a husband, a father, a son, a bro, a surfer, a cook, a photographer, a snowboarder, a fashion whore, a gadget geek, and probably a few more, but after all, i'm really just a person. the work that i do, does not define me. it is certainly a part of me, but it's just a part of my collective 38 years of experiences that has clumped onto me like different grains of sand, from different beaches, that stick to the wax on my surfboard. with each new beach that i surf and every fresh layer of wax that i rub onto the deck, i'm building more grip and traction to the board and therefore allowing me to surf with surefooted confidence. a lot of different experience = more confidence in who i am. i should be proud of the life and work experiences that i've had so far and carry that confidence into each interview. if i were an employer, i would bring in interesting people into their organizations. people with a variety of skills and interests that can bring that traction AND friction to foster a dynamic work experience. i wasn't planning to head down this path when i started to type this, but it just naturally went this way. so go with it.

what i really wanted to talk about was this tweet by @jasonoke this sunday right before the superbowl. the tweet read: "Why people care about SuperBowl ads: it's the one day a year the brief is "be INTERESTING", not "be on message." Let's do that more often." i couldn't agree more. BRAVO! so many times, we get trapped in the box of coming up with ideas that deliver a very clinical, 1-way message to people. the notion of "being interesting" can easily get lost in a poorly conceived strategy, or an ill-defined business problem to solve for. at the end of the day, it becomes just noise to the rest of us, especially the rest of us that ARE NOT in advertising. people who don't do what we do, don't read into ads as much as we do.

so by now, most of us ad folks have seen and talked about the Cadbury Eyebrows spot. what i loved about this ad, was that it was simply entertaining. it was interesting. and i also have to agree with the post over at Influx about the 9 reasons why cadbury's eyebrows are a hit, and especially if the idea "can spawn derivatives - people can try this themselves and post videos" which is clearly evident here , here , and here. these appear to have been created by fans of the idea, not ad folks who've taken an interest in this darling of spot. i also have my buddy clay who's not an ad guy also post the spot to his facebook profile. when i asked him about how he found this, he told me he saw it on his other friends facebook profile and he wanted to share it. now isn't that what it's all about? let's come up with ideas that are interesting, and not always be about force fitting some brand manager's positioning statement into a target audiences' head. so going back to jason's original tweet, i am inspired to challenge ourselves to come up with interesting ideas, that'll hopefully inspire others to share the work we create vs just being on message.

paddle-in contender

Axier Muniain Belharra from manet310 on Vimeo.

this should get recognition for the largest paddle-in wave of the year from the billabong xxl crew. location: belharra in the french basque country.

inspire to do good

if a one-man brand like David Armano can inspire a community to take action and do good, why don't we feel or take action the same way when big brands reach out to us? when was the last time you kicked in some loose change to the "charity jar" at your local fast food joint? or how about when a brand volunteers time at a youth club, do you bother reading the story, does it even change your perception of that brand?

what is it that made so many people, who have never met Daniela's Family and perhaps who probably have never even met David Armano want to reach out and help?

i've been thinking a lot about this idea that i've been working on called "community voice" coupled with the spirit of creating communications that "does GOOD" vs "doing good work." do you see the difference with me?

mr. armano is a brand. a very good brand that has produced solid content where he has built the trust and respect among his fans. i'm sure it doesn't come easy for him, he has to continually work at it, creating content that is relevant, good, and most importantly conversational between him (his brand) and his readers? how many other brands do you know can do the same with such consistency?

so when mr. armano reached out to his community to share something with us that he believed in and wanted his fans to HELP, he spoke to us in his "community voice". his voice was from the heart, it was honest and sincere. it's the voice that most brands would like to have but are constrained by the limits of a :30TVC or single-page ad. and it was with that "community voice" that the David Armano brand was able to rally the "online/social media/digital" community together to do GOOD and NOT just a good piece of creative work. however, please not that this can not merely be imitated or duplicated like a PR stunt. "this isn’t the future (of marketing). It’s just another step on the way there". let's learn and lead by this example and inspire our client's and our own personal brands to do GOOD!

thanks for your time.


Help Daniela's Family

new year, new skin