The Future of Brands

A rather grandiose title for this post, and really the title for a book rather than a short post on the blog. But it is worth mentioning that I had an interesting conversation  - I was kinda of interviewed for a project - on this subject this week. Here are a few themes that cropped up.

1. Brands being useful. No longer can brands be the nice looking fluff on top of the product. They need to offer real utility. Apps are clearly the best example of this but I suspect that it will increasingly become more widespread. Of course there still will be really luxury brands that don't apologise for their expense and opluence (one of my favourite propositions was about having the 'luxury of unused space') and of course there will be brands that strip the costs out of everything to provide unbeatable value, but utility is where it is at, especially in tech, entertainment, delivery mechanisms, etc.

2. The notion of brand as a composite of different elements you can play with, or can take different parts from or even be given the elements of and create a new/unique version of it. This way of thinking flies in the face of a single-minded brand and is more akin to a brand jigsaw or molecule or quilt of which there are many different aspects or pieces to the brand which make the whole. It speaks to the need for brand narratives or brand stories rather than single-minded propositions. This notion also allows for anyone to create their own version of the brand - which I guess is what happens in our heads anyway, each person has a slightly different take on say, Nike - rather than just think it.

3. A re-trenchment of authenticity. There will be a greater premium placed on true heritage, niche and cottage brands that story rings true. I like Clif Bar myself and the story of dissatisfaction with the current markets on a 175 mile bike ride, spending hours in mom's kitchen to get the right product, called the bar after his dad, Clifford has a great feel about it. I just hope it is true. If it isn't I will be severely let down. Ben and Jerry's would be another great example.

Effectiveness and Creativity Are Not Mutually Exclusive

I gave a paper today about objective-setting and how to measure effectiveness (perhaps I can de-brand it and insert it into this blog, like this, though I have forgotten how to do it!). It continues to surprise me how reasonably senior people see creativity and effectiveness as mutually exclusive.

Firstly, we are in a commercial industry. We don't make art.

Secondly, creativity has HUGE value in generating business value. That is to be celebrated. The more we can show the business effect of creative thinking and creative work the better we will all be.

Thirdly, though people may not get out of bed to create value for their clients -  they may do it for the creative bit for example - demonstrating value to clients SHOULD be part of the job. And if you are in client servicing in any way, and arguably we all are, there is no real get out.

Everything Everything

Everything Everything's first album is out this month. This is a single that was released last year entitled "My Keys, Your Boyfriend" and the video above accompanied it. I think they are re-releasing it with a different video very soon. The new video is at their facebook site, here, but I don't like it is as much. This is just a little more nuttier. The song is also being renamed for this release as "MY KZ, UR BF".

The lyrics are indecipherable, so I looked them up. They are also pretty potty:

Lucifer you're landing
Cross-hairs on the kitchen sink
Barb-wire in the bathroom
I can't make new memories since

Flashbacks to the time
this shell-shocked apartment was the place
i met with your boy
it's a mortal
thing, yeah it's a mortal thing
oh! he looked at me funny and a
oh! oh! think
our secret's out and a
oh-ooh-oh i try to explain
but then munitions rain,
and we're the epicentre

It's like I'm watching the A4 paper taking over the guillotine,
It's like I'm watching the A4 paper taking over the guillotine

And I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend
Cos he was looking at me like "woah..!"
Yeah right before the kitchen was a dustbowl
And tossing me the keys and I can't forget how
everything just coming through the windows
and half the street was under my nails
it's like we sitting in the Faraday cage,
when the lights all failed

i fly through the walls
all pieces colliding and i
see raymond apart
he'a a frowning now, wagging a
finger at me
"boy!" his knees bend the other way and
"boy! boy!" are you guys together honey?
"b..b..boy!" oh but now i can't find his torso, mmhmmhmm i
guess you're seperated ooh,
Monica i just wanna know...ooh

It's like I'm watching the A4 paper taking over the guillotine,
[Monica I just wanna know..]
It's like I'm watching the A4 paper taking over the guillotine

And I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend
Cos he was looking at me like "woah..!"
Yeah right before the kitchen was a dustbowl
And tossing me the keys and I can't forget how
everything just coming through the windows
and half the street was under my nails
it's like we sitting in the Faraday cage,
when the lights all failed

Lucifer you're landing (6 cars the
driveway oh i do believe it will be business inside)
Cross-hairs on the kitchen sink
(it's a real spanner into my works i think i kicked the bucket)
Baby's on the bullseye (...do believe it will be business inside..)
I can't make new memories since, ..ries since, ..ries since.

And I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend
Cos he was looking at me like "woah..!"
Yeah
right before the kitchen was a dustbowl
And tossing me the keys and I can't
forget how
everything just coming through the windows
and half the street was under my nails
it's like we sitting in the Faraday cage,
when the lights all failed

And now everybody gotta go hungry
and everybody cover up their mouths
And I haven't seen the bodycount lately
but looking at your faces it
must have been bad
and if everybody answered their phonecalls..
but people
say the army's on fire
it's like we sitting with our parachutes on
when the when the
airport's gone


I like the song so much I found this live version. It is also good and you get to see the band play it for real.

You could even watch them simultaneously.

Joining The Dots

I made a presentation to The Futures Company this morning called 'Joining The Dots'. It was about how some of that very powerful trend and insight work - whether it be desk or primary research - often gets lost in translation to the creative agency domain. It is a particular bugbear of mine as my career has crossed this divide. It was difficult for me to make the switch from enthusisatic and brainstorming researcher who thought he was being creative to being able to make a meaningful contribution to creative strategy and output. I have seen other people frustrated by the transition. It isn't easy and there is no manual to help you do it - perhaps that is a good idea for one - and my sense is that, inspite of my manuel idea, there is no substitute for the experience of doing it. It is a shame, as the very best ideas I have been involved with have been generated by looking 'outside', for insight or research or trends or some combination thereof. The trick is in bringing them to bear in a meaningful way that creative people can do something with.

It doesn't help that so much of this potentially good stuff gets handed across disciplines in the form of powerpoint and almost inevitably, it gets lost in translation. There is no substitute for talking rather than handing power point decks over. Because the recepient needs to internalise the nuggets of insight and somehow make it there own, in order to create from it, it is no wonder that a powerpoint slide just doesn't do it.

We have also become so specialist that in our process it has become rare for one person to champion insight all the way through the process. Back in the early days of account planning, planners did lots of groups on their own ideas. They were able to understand any creative work that was going into the groups and fed back to the creators in a language they understood. With more and more creative development work being put in the hands of research specialists the passage of good, clean, inspiring information is hampered.

I have more to say on this subject, but that will be for another day. The presentation seemed to go well. Whether the group take me up on the offer to have a further working session is another matter altogether.

The Visual Semiotic of Western Print Advertising

Look at most Western print advertising, or just imagine some, and the chart above will make a lot of sense very quickly. It also works for some packaging (rectangular shaped), and probably a fair amount of other stuff as well.

TV star

Instead of writing AGAIN about how crap the trains are in the country - today it was a train that was meant to take me to Wakefield cancelled at the last minute, almost literally - it is about time I posted about my appearance on the final of the Junior Apprentice, broadcast a month or so ago. The final itself took place at the end of last year. I was a member of the audience of 'industry experts' and I must say, I am looking terribly expert-like in the above still taken from the broadcast (I didn't know it was on until the next day when I showed up at work and was told about it!).

The kids - they were around 15-16 - were brilliant, and though they had some (real) expert help they did a fantastic job in their presentations and dealing with the questions the audience asked. They were both given a bottled water to sell. One team (male) branded it a 'Bottle of Water' and targeted adults with a cheap and simple challenger to the market. The other (female) team targeted their brand, 'Drip Drop', at the teen audience, which, though brave, finally did for them as Sir Alan Sugar didn't think that was the right audience to target. It was a very close call. Personally I would have given it to the girls as they were just a little more creative and courageous in their approach. But I wasn't party to their dynamics, how they worked together and all the background 'stuff' which has a bearing on the decision.

The other interesting aspect of the evening was how the audience questionning got increasingly more 'competitive' as more questions were asked. Though extremely good, the competitors were only in their mid-teens and some of the questions that were asked were just too difficult for them. It didn't take very long for the questions to be about how smart the questioner was, in front of his or her peer group. Naughty.

Zero 7 - Give It Away

Lovely lilting track. Chilled and melodic. Dreamy. This track is the type that makes me want to dabble in music.

Running Workshops (1): Energy levels

I have been running a few workshops recently, and have been stuck by how the way most workshops are run the 'wrong way around'. What I mean is that most workshops start with some presentation. I don't mean just a 15 minute introductory thing, I mean a couple of hours worth of presenting. Often people don't get to be 'creative' or generative until after lunch, and by then their energy has declined, and the ideas are not as creative or as bountiful. I would have thought it would be better to have people start the by being creative.

I have some idea that people's bio-rhythms are also on the 'up' in the morning and down in the afternoon. Even more reason to try to capture people's creativity in the morning.

New Blackberry

I had had enough of the trackball failing and the damn thing wasn't synching with my diary. I took my trusty blackberry to IT and within a couple of hours I had a new one. Yippee. Now if I were a real tech head I would be up to my neck in iPhones, iPads and all sorts of other devices, but for me the company blackberry is functional and does what I need, plus a little more. It is exactly the same type as before, only it has a colour screen, the handset is a slate grey colouring and the keys/track ball make a satisfying 'click' when I depress them. I like that. The satisfaction of a good 'click' is a good thing. The other good thing is that I no longer have to make do with a rather fuzzy camera. This one seems to work much better, as evidenced by the clarity of the images on my second picture (the first was a little fuzzy due to hand shake!):

Pretty good eh? More to follow in due course.

The Cost Of A New Duffle Bag

Of course First Capital Connect haven't found my duffle bag, the one I lost here, inspite of me being able to pinpoint it pretty accurately in terms of exactly where I left it and having called within 5 minutes of me getting off the train.

In it was swimwear, goggles, swimming hat, washbag and contents of the washbag. Not too hard nor too costly to replace. But of course nothing is as simple as you think it is.

I bought some very natty swimming goggles:

Speedo, with a little carrying case (black) and some interchangeable bits (in the plastic bag). But they hurt my left eye which seems to stick out a little more than my right and when the glasses are tight, I blink 'against' the goggle, and it hurts. So I bought some more:

These are Zoggs 'Predator' goggles (strange name for swimming goggles) and they are fantastic. They 'suck' the skin without being too tight, and my left eye doesn't hurt when I blink. It is a shame I had two goes to get there but that is the problem when losing a duffle bag. 

When I bought my first pair of goggles (the Speedo ones), I also bought this:

A micro-towel: super-absorbent, packs down very small and seemed just right. But there is a big glitch; it doesn't stretch around my waist, so I can't wrap it around me. Crucial for a towel.

Here is the micro-towel with my foot. The towel may be super-absorbent, but it is just too small. I wouldn't have known that by looking at the packaging. Anyway, I bought a new towel. 

Much better, and bigger, though only the standard size of towel. Boy, that small one is small.

I got a washbag, which is the only thing I haven't had to replace, and I am gradually filling the washbag with the appropriate toiletries.

The moral of all this: "Don't lose your duffle bag"