Marketers To Ad Agencies: “You Still Don’t Get it.”

September 21, 2008 by guruofnew · Leave a Comment
Filed under: marketing & advertising 

I’m an ad agency veteran. My fellow Mad Men fanatics call me Peggy. Once upon a time, Madison Avenue was the place to be; the pulse of all possibility.

Then came the digital age. Luckily, I discovered the ‘Internets’ early on. I made a speedy exit from advertising, where the Petes and the Ducks were asking their ‘girls’ to print out their emails and insisting that Mrs. P&G  could never figure out AOL.  As my Supra modem squawked,  my world was instantly slashed into the ones that ‘get it’ and the ones that don’t.

Ad agencies still don’t get it.

Sapient recently sponsored a national online survey to gain insights into what marketers want from their advertising and marketing agencies in the next 12 months. The survey polled a pivotal group –more than 200 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketing professionals.

Sapient has put the key takeways from the survey into a Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future.

It’s all about technology, baby.

Virtually every item on the Top 10 Wish List centered on the digital space, from Web 2.0 and social media savvy to interactive advertising to virtual communities to even the availability of a Chief Digital Officer.

The List of Digital Shame:

More than a third of marketers surveyed say they’re not confident in their current agency’s grasp of online digital marketing and interactive advertising. 

  • 79% of respondents rated “interactive/digital” functions as ‘important/very important.
  • 45% of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns.
  • 90% of respondents agree that it is becoming increasingly important that their agency uses ‘pull interactions’ such as social media and online communities rather than traditional ‘push’ campaigns.
  • 94% of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.
  • 92% of respondents said it was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important that agency employees use the (social media) technologies that they are recommending.
  • 49% of marketers surveyed said that agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.
  • 63% of marketers surveyed said that an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are ‘important/very important’ when it comes to agency selection.
  • 79% of respondents rated “interactive/digital” functions as ‘important/very important.

Guru’s Take:  Ad and marketing agencies have got to quit insisting that being digital is about age. Yes, the whippersnappers have grown up with it.  My daughter has been online since she was 2, clutching blankie as she easily navigated ancient Macs and PCs. (Cross-platform since Pull-Ups, that’s my girl!)  But that doesn’t mean abdicating social media marketing, new technology or anything interactive to the kiddies.  When the first dotcom era bubbled up, those of us who could no longer squeeze into our high school cheerleader uniforms surfed our way through gallons of Visine and even more Starbucks to stay relevant. And guess what — we are.  We bring solid marketing skills, new product expertise, and consumer-centric insight to a digital world that sorely needs these capabilities.  I’d stack up my digital chops next to a Zuckerberg any day.  Even a divine digital diva like this one.

I suspect that some of this digital malaise on the part of agencies is senior management that ::::sigh :::: still doesn’t get it.  Maybe they’re still waiting to land the Pan Am account.

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Skip Ratazzi’s. Here Are Four Virtual Madison Avenues To Whet Your Creativity.

August 6, 2008 by admin · 1 Comment
Filed under: Technology, marketing & advertising 

With Mad Men stirring up everything from fashion to the Emmys, it’s time to take a look at the boomlet in virtual Madison Avenues. Once upon a time, wannabee creatives had no choice but to pack their portfolios and head toward Madison Avenue in hopes of finding a sympathetic Creative Director who might pony up a spot in the bullpen or junior copywriter cubbyhole.

Today, with User Generated Content moving beyond phenomenon into mainstream, there are more opportunities than ever to play Don Draper or Peggy Olson from your Mac Mini in Rhinelander, Wisconsin or while parked at an Internet cafe in Corfu. A growing number of sites offer everything from advertising and branding contests to online brainstorming, talent markets, and virtual name/idea generation. Many offer a place to post your profile and portfolio. Others have social networking features and encourage community building. Some promise compensation while others are designed for self-expression, the sheer love of creativity, and sometimes, simply coming to the rescue of your right-brain-blocked fellow artistes.

These newer ones differ markedly from sites like elance.com, which focus largely on skills and services rather than pursuit of the elusive Muse. Elance is about functionality and commodity — finding the best you can for the buck from whatever country– while with Bootb, for example, being global is not in the least about outsourcing.

Take at look at these four virtual Mad Avenues.

Here’s how Bootb describes itself: (Count how many times and ways it uses the word ‘planet’)


BootB is the Pitching Engine that brings Brand Builders and Creative Brains together. All around the Planet!

What is the usual way for Brands to quest for Creativity? If they have the opportunity to choose, they start a pitch and select the best proposal from a limited number of participants. BootB is designed as an online alternative to that process that has no offline limitations.

BootB platform is built to run Pitches. You can start your own Pitch and get Solutions from an unlimited number of Creators from anywhere on the entire planet. In this case we will call you a Brand Builder. Or you can participate in any Pitch you like and publish your Solutions that will be received directly by a Brand. Then we will call you a Creator.

As a result - instant access to Unlimited Creativity for everyone on the planet!

Guru’s Take on Bootb. $$$  This site is dead serious about this planet stuff, offering content in 12 languages and even making up their own special jargon-rich Bootb lingo. The look is hackneyed black and white with neon colors used for that handwritten, I-am-too-hip for Helvetica ambiance. The projects do indeed appear to be international, with a shopping center in Russia, an Italian magazine being marketed in China, UNICEF and big brands like Clearasil and Lego. Compensation ranges from $800 on upwards to around $12,600, with a (seemingly introductory) Bootb prize of $100,000.    I wish I could get past Bootb’s annoying attempts to be coolier-than-thou because I do appreciate the global opportunities. But the silliness of ‘becoming a Citzen of the Bootb Re-publi-ca” and other time-wasters ruin what could be a genuinely cool place.


BrainReactions is an online brainstorming site, with several levels of access, ranging from Free to Ultimate at $199 a month. Here’s what they say about themselves:

Do you need fresh, actionable, innovative ideas?

BrainReactions exists to serve organizations that need to look both inside and outside themselves for ideas for new products, programs and promotion. No organization has a monopoly on thinkers or thought. Often, it is an idea from someone from outside the corporate environment, who has no particular interest in or knowledge about the organization who can provoke a turn to a new, winning way.

In addition to customizing, teaching, and facilitating “idea generation for innovation” sessions within organizations, BrainReactions provides “Outside Insight” for our clients, perspective that is intentionally external to an organization and its culture. BrainReactions brainstorms generate a huge number of ideas in a short period of time to stimulate an organization’s innovation process. The sheer volume of ideas produced in our work invariably gives rise to a number of good, actionable ideas for our clients.

Guru’s Take on BrainReactions. I really wanted to like BrainReactions, especially as it was founded by Cheeseheads at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Plus I have rich, robust experience as an Ideator, Trained Brain, Generator, Idea Bunny, whatever label you’d care to use. So over the past couple of months, I spent a good deal of time on the site, contributing ideas to a wide variety of posted open brainstorms. It can be fun and kind of addictive. The problem is the lack of incentive — and I don’t just mean money. Day after day I posted gems and never got even the slightest ‘thank you’, response to my posts or even an update on progress. I tried opening a room or two for my projects and got largely drek. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t appreciate the creative stimuli, which I agree, can come from anywhere or even from the drek-iest idea. Interestingly, the Monjee contest, promising a grand prize of $150, generated the most for the site: 826 ideas.

It is entirely possible that BrainReactions consulting services, which seem to be extensive, are as fresh, actionable and innovative as they say. But their online brainstorming site, which while functional, simple and a no-brainer to use, doesn’t have what it takes to make it a truly useful business creativity tool.


CrowdSpring is based in another one of my favorite former hometowns, Chicago. CrowdSpring calls itself a Marketplace for Creative Services. Buyers can post a project, asking for a new logo, website, marketing materials or custom illustration, and indicate how much they’re willing to pay. Creatives then view the information and decide whether they’d like to participate. CrowdSpring says:

Watch the world participate
Once posted, Creatives from all around the world will work on your project and you’ll begin to receive actual work - not proposals or bids - to review.
Choose the one you like
As the entries come in, you’ll be able to review, sort, rate, give feedback and collaborate with Creatives until you find ‘the one”.
1. Create your profile
We built a little section of the site just for you where you can tell the world about your skills and upload your portfolio for all to see.
2. Participate to projects
With new projects posted every day, you can reach customers all over the world and build your business. And, since it’s a truly level playing field, you won’t be judged by how fancy your offices are - it’s all about your work.
3. Earn money
We manage the entire billing and payment process for you and there’s never a cost - you keep 100% of the money you earn.

Guru’s Take on CrowdSpring. $$ Here’s the glitch. If you don’t get enough participation, odds dive on finding what need. And because CrowdSpring (reluctantly) lets you off the hook if you don’t get 25 entries, what happens is that Creatives post teensy variations just to push the number up and still, it’s close but no cigar. Apparently I was the first user to ask for my money back. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I posted a project now — a couple of months deeper into their beta — I would probably get a better response. I like this site. I like its founders, who appear to be authentically good guys looking to give Creatives a hand.


Next there’s Genius Rocket: Launch Your Creativity. GeniusRocket was founded by a couple of luminaries from the online world plus political stand-out Joe Trippi. I remember Mark Walsh from back in the day when I was one of the first members of AOL’s infamous Greenhouse Incubator — he always had a knack for ‘getting’ the consumer.

Here’s what they have to say: “The team that harnessed the power of the Internet to change politics forever in presidential campaigns, as leaders of the 2004 Howard Dean campaign, has joined with Internet industry pioneers to create GeniusRocket, an online platform that links the talent of its creative community with companies to solve real world advertising and marketing challenges.” The site lists a variety of current assignments, most paying an average of $2500. Unlike Bootb, GeniusRocket (so far) appears to be American through and through.

Guru’s Takeon GeniusRocket. $$ GeniusRocket is also heavily into cute-land, with its RFB (Request for Brilliance) and a bunch of other attempts at adorable. But it also has the uber-accessible look and feel AOL was once known for plus savvy use of the basic principles of Consumer Generated Content, which quite frankly, these particular Internet pioneers helped develop. While the GeniusRocket quite clearly has not yet hit the stratosphere, it has potential.

This blog has gotten way too long. Even my eyes are tired. Stay tuned for Part 2: Getty Images, Kluster/NameThis, Veaux and more.

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Mad Men and Their Equally Mad Women

July 30, 2008 by admin · 2 Comments
Filed under: marketing & advertising 

So tomorrow night, Maternal Instinct founder Kat Gordon and I are talking about “Marketing to Moms” at the annual Synergos Series sponsored by The Hayden Group in Palo Alto:

Our presentation just happens to jibe with the much-awaited opening of Season 2 of the hit AMC series “Mad Men“.  As a veteran of the ad business — albeit many moons after this TV series takes place — I am fascinated by this brilliantly detailed view of the ad agency world Kat and I were once so immersed in, and even more fascinated by the State of Women (and Moms) in 1960.   Mad Men highlights women in the workplace but also takes us home to suburbia, to the realm of the 5:31 commuter train, where Betty and her perpetually pregnant buddies blithely shun the local divorcee, reign over birthday parties, cocktails, straying hubbies and vibrating washing machines. All while balancing a Lucky Strike between their Fire and Ice’d red lips.

Nearly 50 years ago, women were sharply defined by their men, especially these Mad Men, who created the pop culture and the products that in many ways, enslaved both office wives and housewives.

Today with the sheer force of 82 million Moms (and growing, with a new boomlet showing up in census polls) plus the power and the preferences of our pocketbooks, we’ve managed to turn the ad world and everything else topsy-turvy.

In the year 2008, women are setting the trends and woe unto advertisers who don’t get The Triple AAA’s:

  • Acknowledge
  • Appreciate
  • Authenticity

In this millennium, we’ve got spaces for moms that Betty Draper could not have imagined even after a pitcher of Daiquiris.  In London, private clubs like Maggie & Rose and Cupcake Mom, offer mothers a place to convene and relax, where they’re welcome to come and go as they please, 7 days a week.  Maggie & Rose, based in chi-chi Kensington, features play areas and offers children’s lessons in art, cooking, dance and more, as well as a weekend movie club and birthday party services. Parents are catered to with a comfortable and (importantly) quiet café (with wifi access, natch), as well as seminars and access to a a concierge-style service with well-researched info on nannies, tutors, schools, holidays, etc.

 Cupcake also aims to provide a grown-up but child-friendly environment but especially for pregnant women and new mothers. In addition to an organic café, Cupcake also offers personal trainers and a spa. The top floor of the club, where the spa is located, is a “baby-free zone” and features treatments tailor-made for pregnant women and new moms, from the “Cupcake in the Oven Massage” to the “Mermaid Wrap.” Cupcake also plans to install a sleep pod for much-needed powernaps, and will offer a concierge service to help busy moms complete their to-do lists.

In New York, there’s Citibabes, the club in Manhattan that offers high-quality services and activities both for children and for parents, all under one roof. The big A — acknowledgement — here is clearly stated by the founders:
We all know that having young children can do one of two things for new parents: it can make them feel isolated or it can bring them together. Our ultimate goal is to build a community for New York families that fosters a sense of identity and fellowship among its members. We also hope that families will appreciate the security and privacy of Citibabes, so that they may feel at ease while their children play freely inside the club—as if it’s a second home.

In the Mad Men era, not only would these special Mom-friendly places not exist, but the need for them would not be acknowledged, either by the Mom herself or by the business world.

Check back for more new Mom trends– and tune into Mad Men for a real education on how far we’ve come.

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“I’m A Focus Group Moderator and I Approved Obama’s New TV Commercial.

June 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff, Uncategorized, government, marketing & advertising, media & publishing, politics 


As a veteran market researcher and focus group moderator, I usually can spot Projective Exercises like Perceptual Mind Maps or ‘Design Your Ideal Product’ techniques.  Sometimes smart ad agency creatives, if they’re not too engrossed in either the Merlot or the M & Ms in the viewing room, pluck verbatims from the groups and sneak them into television commercials. There are countless anecdotes about this – like the classic McDonald’s theme “You deserve a break today”, which supposedly emerged during a focus group in Chicago.

One of the reasons to conduct focus groups is the off-chance that an expressive respondent in Cleveland will blurt out something so right on and real that it can quickly be transformed into a tagline or campaign that resonates authenticity. Another reason is to further understand what’s polarizing about potential products — in this case, fully figure out how Obama can satisfy the wants, needs and hopes of Hillary supporters who continued to passionately plead the case clear through to the bitter-end of Puerto Rico and South Dakota. And then there’s grokking to the likely toolkit of Karl Rove-style tricks that are already being emailed 24/7.

The minute I saw Barack Obama’s new television commercial “The Country I Love” now slated to appear in some 18 states starting this month, I knew that market researchers everywhere were nodding. The spot is so tightly targeted even a marketing newbie can’t miss the strategic genius in this commercial. Every sentence and shot, from the very visible flag pin to the neighborhoods ‘devastated when steel plants closed’ is perfectly calculated to resoundingly answer those persistent questions. Not only is the ghost of Hillary most decidedly flickering about but so are other symbols of white America — like Barack’s mother and grandparents. Carefully designed to be warmly reassuring with its message of Heartland working class character and values, this spot is a classic example of smoothly going from Me Media to We Media.

Much of this affecting and effective 60 seconds is subliminal.  While it’s all about heading off the negatives, it never feels anything but positive.

I only wish I’d been the Moderator facilitating those Perceptual Mind Maps.

Here’s the full transcript: (video link above)

OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama.

America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life’s been blessed by both.

I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you’d like to be treated. It’s what guided me as I worked my way up – taking jobs and loans to make it through college.

It’s what led me to pass up Wall Street jobs and go to Chicago instead, helping neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed.

That’s why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who’d been neglected.

I approved this message because I’ll never forget those values, and if I have the honor of taking the oath of office as President, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love.

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