tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48944660574488284812024-03-05T06:57:00.069+02:00On comms designcommunication is essential to business making and it involves more than the ability to name your product, write a tag line or a press release. It's an intricate, rational and scalable effort and, let's face it, not anyone can do it.Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.comBlogger747125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-79847265135085387632010-07-14T21:55:00.003+03:002010-07-16T20:49:05.714+03:00this blog has moved<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bogdanabutnar.ro"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 454px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLagjyz7gGyHVJXkBYpA_7t8uzRfCMDlg3xOAwcfcl98VoM8SwB_V0EBenqMmquz9Rgm8wTFNtzo_oA9HGh4qKP-uKzrbhEHxCqKnCY3Mq1Wxutxe4fKZJXB1E0qgGzPoHR6zdy0CeRS2/s320/Picture+1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493837784890680850" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://bogdanabutnar.ro/">here</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-90941680448883122042010-07-10T21:43:00.002+03:002010-07-10T21:57:16.547+03:00New things happeningSome new things happening or about to happen:<br /><br />1. I have succumbed to the general feeling and will be moving this blog to Wordpress although the first interaction with WP was a but scary - stay tuned for that<br /><br />2. I have been on the hunt for new blogs of interest and... well, remember the times when I was complaining about no niche blogs ever showing up that were interesting. Well, I don't think they are new but I really like:<br />a. <a href="http://www.shopstory.ro/">Shopping stories</a> - fun filled stories about how it feels to be a shopper in Romania. Always wanted to write one of those and think that maybe the guys at this one should accept collaborations from all over the country.<br />b. <a href="http://domnideromania.blogspot.com/">Gentlemen. Dosar de stil masculin </a> - which is a guide to male style covering the much needed basic of being a well dressed man in this country. I particularly like the URL - domni de Romania - you can't really find a lot of those around these days<br />c. <a href="http://www.dailycotcodac.ro/">Daily Cotcodac</a> - which we all know and which got lots of awards and stuff and whose only fault I can find is that sometimes it shamelessly links to stories in blogs of friends which are not all that interesting :D<br /><br />3. I have come accross at least two awesome ways in which the idea of newspaper is made to live on online.<br />- one is <a href="http://paper.li/">paper.li</a> where I adeptly made this: <a href="http://paper.li/Bogdana">Bogdana's own daily</a><br />- the other one is the more intricate and beautifully built NewspaperClub <a href="http://www.newspaperclub.co.uk">here</a>, where you can make your very one newspaper - British style and even print it. And there is an endearing story behind the name of the engine which makes the paper: ARTHR :D<br /><br />more to come...Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-3377231775151778522010-06-24T14:58:00.002+03:002010-06-24T15:01:00.561+03:00True about social media<span style="font-size:100%;">"And that Nike World Cup video (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE">here</a>) is not going to help.<br />With its millions of viral views, brand managers and creative directors worldwide are going to be viewing it as the gold standard.<br />Which is a huge mistake.<br />You see Nike is a Prom King brand. A brand people like because Nike’s discovered the secret sauce that makes people view them as “cool.” So they’ll want to pass around a Nike video because they get some sort of cool points for doing so.<br />Add the World Cup to that equation. Another Prom King brand, and, for anyone who remotely likes soccer, another source of cool. Factor in too the fact that the young male demo likes to share video, particularly video from brands that have a strong cool factor and you’ve got the perfect storm.<br />Which is not to take anything away from the actual video, which was exceedingly well done, but reality check: even a really bad Nike World Cup video would have gotten millions of hits. Having a really well done one probably doubled or even tripled what was destined to be a very large number.<br />The bigger problem, as I stated earlier, is that brands are going to start wanting “something like that Nike World Cup video... you know, the one with Homer Simpson in it.... it got 90 million viral hits.”<br />It’s the same speech an earlier generation of marketing and ad people got about the Apple 1984 spot.<br />But if you’re advertising corn chips or diapers or a cellphone service, you’re never going to get a Nike World Cup video. You’re just not cool enough. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing."<br /><br />from <a href="http://toadstoolblog.com/">here</a><br /><br /></span>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-49483621589921653452010-06-04T12:33:00.003+03:002010-06-04T12:48:52.756+03:00The hardest year of my lifeI turn 31 today and this past year has been, by far, the most difficult one I have ever had. I am a workaholic, so most of my joys and disappointments are generally related to my work. This past year has been a landmark for me professionally and as a human being.<br /><br />A while back I said yes to a position I thought was the ultimate challenge in my career. I had never done management before and when I took it on - running a small agency I mean - I thought that it would be a piece of cake, especially since I seemed to be surrounded by a lot of people trying to help, and had a well of enthusiasm boiling inside of me, mainly generated by the novelty of the situation.<br /><br />All this was happening in 2008, October, just as the financial crash came tumbling over Eastern Europe and made everything different. I was 30, I had never been in charge of anything other than my strategy presentations and my power point slides and my own flat and car. All of which I seemed to manage satisfactorily.<br /><br />Being a manager has changed everything I though I knew and everything I though I knew about myself. I used to think that I was able to muster up endless resources of energy to finish up everything. I used to think that if something was not being done I could do it myself. I used to think that I could be very good at almost anything. Having to manage a team of people, revenue, salaries, clients, strategies sometimes gets pretty overwhelming and it took me a while to realize that some of the things I knew didn't really apply. The one constant realization is that dealing with failure is the most important skill one can develop in order to progress. Strangely enough though, I don't feel like writing I have learned a lot about teamwork and people skills and client management. I think all I knew about that before I became this new person largely still applies.<br /><br />But I turn 31 today and if there is anything I have learned is that nothing works unless you keep it simple and have fun with it; and that the hardest thing to do is always, but always, remember that it will not work unless you stick by the two things said before.<br /><br />So what I wish for myself this day is to always remember to not complicate things and have fun with whatever I am doing. Because only then, it all seems to work out fine.Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-60360805155936856682010-05-30T16:37:00.001+03:002010-05-30T16:39:23.354+03:00Speaking about the Ro Internet userI'll try to do a bit of that as part of <a href="http://orange.ro/meetup/2010/05/editii/o-noua-vedeta-la-online-meetup-utilizatorul-de-internet-din-romania/">Orange Online Meet-up</a>. This coming Monday. As said here, with <a href="http://www.orlandonicoara.ro">Orlando Nicoara</a> and <a href="http://clickio.ro/">Ionut Oprea</a>.Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-82835255287107778872010-05-30T16:33:00.001+03:002010-05-30T16:36:04.977+03:00I want to watch<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QX-9ad-naok&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QX-9ad-naok&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JkvP1BLWD7U&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JkvP1BLWD7U&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-16477709175258432412010-05-10T22:41:00.003+03:002010-05-10T22:51:04.209+03:00Digital changes gearsIn my previous post I wrote about an editorial I had published today in which I was pondering on whether brand managers, and the fact that they largely seem ignorant of online has something to do with things other than stupidity, lack of interest etc etc. I said there may be some redemption in the thought that they actually have to deal with something they are not being actively trained for and that may take more of their time than they can afford to devote to a new medium.<br /><br />I actually got to thinking about this while reading an interesting article about the take-over and integration of Businessweek into Bloomberg. What struck me was this particular paragraph:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The rigid culture [Bloomberg's] extends to the work environment. News meetings are held at 7:30 a.m. Every writer has a “dashboard” where the metrics determining his compensation — any scoops, hits an article attracts — are tracked."</span><br /><br />This feels very much like something we have to deal with now since online has become a priority. No longer are weekends safe or even workdays quiet after the TV beta tapes have been handed in. You need to track and monitor 24/7. Changes can be made in real time, everything is beta. No wonder then that everyone is under pressure, unable to catch up.<br /><br />The article goes on:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Employees swipe ID cards to enter and leave the building, and when an employee sends an internal e-mail message, the last time he clocked in or out appears next to his name. If he forgets his ID, “Forgotten Badge” appears next to every e-mail message he sends to co-workers that day — a tough fit for magazine journalists lucky to remember their wallets, let alone their building IDs."</span><br /><br />So maybe we should all have a bit of understanding for this immense change we are going through :D<br />full article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/business/media/26bizweek.html?pagewanted=all">here</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-62638472221275104312010-05-10T22:23:00.003+03:002010-05-10T22:27:39.696+03:00Al doilea editorial pe Digital IQadseste <a href="http://digital.iqads.ro/companie-multinationala-angajeaza-digital-brand-manager_12341.html">aici</a>. l-am scris dupa ce m-am gandit mult si bine la frustrarea pe care o simtim fata de oamenii din marketing care "nu inteleg" online. Am incercat sa imi dau seama cum se vede povestea de pe partea cealalta a baricadei si daca nu cumva aceasta lipsa de "intelegere" tine de chestiuni mult mai practice gen lipsa de timp, lipsa de motivare la locul de munca etc etc.<br />mi-e greu sa cred ca ignoranta unor oameni este generata exclusiv de rea vointa. si in plus, lucrand cu clienti cum este L'Oreal sau Coca-Cola, am avut ocazia sa vad cat de benefica este prezenta unui brand manager dedicat activitatilor online.<br />Cred ca inceperea discutiei referitoare la nevoia de oameni specializati in cadrul departamentelor de marketing nu este una prematura acum si oricum, la cat de greu misca lucrurile la noi in tara, probabil ca o discutie acum se va materializa in ceva peste 5 ani. :DBogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-90606285917081718172010-04-25T12:56:00.001+03:002010-04-25T12:58:05.059+03:00Interesting read<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKsto8hd4DeyhTOesYA2ngavV8CRG1d2Rglp5SujK7nT9ayXz8bWEhO2_G-WapPK6rVWfrFtp5nZ7LX9XLNwEZE9aNMPoRqjVYBTeS1zfO_StsbMjJ6NrFECvzjrfMLi0ZyKRwjfNXtiey/s1600/140-characters-20091013-091003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKsto8hd4DeyhTOesYA2ngavV8CRG1d2Rglp5SujK7nT9ayXz8bWEhO2_G-WapPK6rVWfrFtp5nZ7LX9XLNwEZE9aNMPoRqjVYBTeS1zfO_StsbMjJ6NrFECvzjrfMLi0ZyKRwjfNXtiey/s320/140-characters-20091013-091003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464011992776654546" border="0" />Reviewed as</a> "The main body of the book draws out all of the most cherished literary devices in writing and reexamines them for use in the short form. Dom urges writers to spend more time distilling the essence of meaning and emotion from their thoughts. Select tweets are used as examples, showing wonderful invocations of irony, sarcasm, suspense, awe, and humor. The mechanics of poetry are even explored in detail, with suggestions on how they can be applied to the short form." <a href="http://blog.teknision.com/?p=658">here</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-26684860440381060982010-04-25T11:05:00.002+03:002010-04-25T11:16:44.847+03:00Facebook credits - the social network is trying for an economy of its ownIf you're a non-gamer like me you will probably not have heard about FB credits, a form of in-network payment which lets you purchase virtual goods for the FB games and apps you like to interact with.<br />It seems that this system has been on for a while but it is so slim in spreading out that FB have recently had to consider a whole "promotional" program to get the ball rolling.<br /><br />As I understand, in a nutshell, the way the credits worked was were much similar to what you would get if you signed up for Second Life about 4 years ago. At that time any new account used to get free land and some Linden Dollars to stimulate purchase of virtual goods. In very much the same fashion, if you're a FB user with a lot of games to play you could purchase FB credits with your credit card and then use them to get game add-ons or perks like cheats or extra energy or stuff like that. So, actually, FB was a financial intermediary between the app/game developers and yourself. [more on what you can use credits for <a href="http://personalweb.about.com/od/makefriendsonfacebook/a/facebookcredits.htm">here</a>]<br /><br />However, it seems that the credit craze has not caught on because recently FB announced some promotional stuff coming users' way in the line of credits. They will be giving out credits to get people used to using them and also allowing people to gain credits by simple on-network actions so without actually using credit card money to pay for the credits [read more <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/21/a-look-at-the-future-of-facebook-credits/">here</a>].<br /><br />It seems to me like the next logical step: FB might have imagined that users will jump at the opportunity to buy gaming goods but in reality they may have overestimated the traction FB games have had so far. Compared to SL or WOW, FB games are still baby games and, at least until Mafia Wars and Farmville showed up, had little potential of getting people wild and digging deep in their pockets for money. The FB profile also, in Romania at least, is not hard core gamers but rather socializing freaks.<br />so, I personally cannot wait to see how this new credit initiative is going to work. I would have added credits for making profile crazier looking and boosting your social status on the network. somehow it feels that's that FB is about in Romania.Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-11056509981426861392010-04-25T10:51:00.002+03:002010-04-25T11:00:25.956+03:00Digital industry - chilly daysLast Friday a couple of the people running digital agencies met with a UK planner to discuss the options of putting together a sort of knowledge camp for digital. It was like back in the old days with planners' meetings only this time it was supposed to be focused on digital.<br /><br />It was funny to watch how, being the young pups that we are, we looked at this as both a threat and and opportunity. An opportunity because it would give us a chance to go after new business maybe in the portfolios of other agencies present, and a threat because it would mean sharing knowledge which we think is proprietary and makes us hold on to our clients. Overall the meeting was sad and inconsequential because we were all heads of agencies and all we cared about were procedural issues and "industry" problems as opposed to being really concerned with the systemic lack of know-how that the industry suffers from.<br /><br />I cannot blame us however. In times of affluence, everyone is focusing on expanding knowledge, on finding out better and smarter ways to create and innovate. In dire straights, we focus on survival, and, being the bureaucratic people that we are, for us survival comes from making rules. Other people, in times of need, become inventive and get smart. With Romanians it seems that in times of need we start imposing regulations [just look at what the government is doing].<br />i'm not saying this is a bad thing. I personally do not have a solution at this time, but that meeting just felt sad. Because nobody was there to talk about how we can become smarter as an industry. everyone was out to protect his slice of the pie....<br />I hate this effing financial crisis :(Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-69957678657784701282010-04-17T14:10:00.003+03:002010-04-17T14:30:35.227+03:00Romania's publishers decide to set display standardsI am not entirely sure what this means, but some of the top publishing conglomerates online in Romania have put out a three points standard system for display on their websites. This means that they will start "evaluating" the display they accept on their websites. It will serve to increase the quality of display they get, and thus, enhance results for clients and agencies alike.<br /><br />From what I understand the consesnus is that publishers will refuse CPC payment when the campaign is clearly brand awareness or brand building driven. CPT payment will be enforced in this case. I also understand that the publishers will evaluate display submitted and decide whether it qualifies for CPC, CPA, CPL or CPT. Plus, ads will get run of network or run of category treatment exclusively in order to ensure targeting more clearly and better results for the client.<br /><br />Well, to me, it seems like a great initiative for an industry which has managed to bury display almost completely through the very work of some of its agency heads who, avowedly, despise display and consider it a menial form or promotion BUT... :D some questions do remain:<br /><br />- it's pretty hard to evaluate display creative anyway, banners are small, they move fast etc. Who will be the ultimate decision maker in what gets CPC or CPT treatment? Can we get some basic guidelines, you guys :D (like simple one liners "always say click here, never use flashing arrows or always use flashing arrows)<br /><br />- does this mean that publishers will become involved in telling agencies what works or not? will this be done transparently? or, like agencies sometimes get with ad serving companies, where the creative is simply rejected without explanations.<br />If this is not the case, I expect to see an incremental ballooning in revenue for in-house publisher agencies - which caught some wings last year but eventually almost died out.<br /><br />- if run of category is mandatory what prevents publishers from spawning a host of "category-friendly" mini websites which then will attract top dollar without the actual traffic numbers solely on the basis of affinity?<br /><br />I think this idea by the publishers gives agencies a great opportunity to go to the clients and make some points about the use and misuse of display. I also think that we will finally see campaigns that will HAVE to be made with at least some guidelines covered (like, for Pete's sake, have a landing page that requires some form of response and then track it!) and that maybe we will stop trying to bury what has so far been the largest source of revenue for publishers. In the meantime however it would be nice if I could get some answers to the above.<br /><br />Anyone?Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-47564509096651027512010-04-17T13:54:00.003+03:002010-04-17T14:10:23.735+03:00Am scris un editorial pe Digital IQ Ads [this post will only appear in Romanian but I will continue to post in English too]<a href="http://digital.iqads.ro/complexul-facebook_12292.html">pe care il gasiti aici</a> si la care cativa oameni au pus comentarii. editorialul relua o idee, pe care o mai discutasem cu colegii de agentie, despre impresia eronata a unor clienti - sau chiar a unor colegi din industrie - referitor la cat de usor sau nu este sa faci Internet. I-am spus "complexul Facebook" pentru ca mi se pare ca Facebook a facut cel mai mare serviciu si in acelasi timp si cel mai mare deserviciu marketingului online in Romania. Serviciu, ptr ca nimeni nu poate sa ignore avantul acestei platforme si toata lumea a fost nevoita sa isi faca un cont, asa ca, vrand nevrand toata lumea a inceput sa foloseasca apps, sa invete sa scrie niste statusuri, sa inteleaga cum si cat de repede merge o stire pe net, ce este interesant etc. Deserviciu, pentru ca nivelul de "user friendliness" pe care il vad ei la FB este transferat automat si proiectelor pe care vor sa le dezvolte pe net fara niciun moment pierdut sa se gandeasca la cat timp le-a luat celor de la FB sa dezvolte platforma, cate erori si buguri au fost rezvoltate, cate probleme de scalabilitate surmontate etc.<br /><br />oricum, problema e mare si eu am scris putin si mai degraba histrionic despre asta pe <a href="http://digital.iqads.ro/">Digital IQ Ads</a>. Insa, ce mi-ar placea - si am spus-o si in comentariile de la editorial - ar fi ca oamenii sa sugereze solutii. Si ar fi si mai misto daca nu am arde-o cu fraze sforaitoare si absurde ca "e nevoie de educatie in piata" "ne lipsesc profesionistii". Evident ca astea sunt cauzele problemei, lipsa de educatie si de profesionisti, dar nu poti raspunde unei intrebari despre solutii cu cauze. Asta se cam numeste "a bate inutil din gura" si, din pacate, televiziunile romanesti sunt populate numai cu oameni care stiu sa faca asta si numai asta.<br /><br />deci, daca cineva are vreo idee practica de propus, ar fi misto sa o scrie undeva. eu ma gandisem la un videocast unde sa explicam the basics intr-un limbaj simplu. cred ca s-ar distribui usor si repede.<br /><br />alte idei?<br />.............<br /><br />Si, da, m-am hotarat ca o sa scriu alternativ in romana si engleza. Practic sunt subiecte despre care cred ca trebuie sa stie si oameni din afara dar sunt unele legate exclusiv de Romania.Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-58486698415050469602010-04-11T18:58:00.004+03:002010-04-11T19:03:18.335+03:00Why it's good to be in digital this yearthree reasons:<br />1. any creative that gets done this year will have a digital component if only for two simple reasons: a) www recorded the fastest growth and marketing managers will want to get on that boat b) www remains cheaper<br />2. most international brands will try to cut regional expenses by making creative hubs and sharing creative work which means that some regions will only get access to dubbing other people's creative, but so far the movement of localizing websites has not caught on completely, simply because sometimes it's cheaper to make one locally<br />3. every agency is trying to become digital either by integrating digital in all its operations or by working more closely with its digital siblings. digital work results from that more than ATL work<br /><br />so, if you're in digital, you're the lucky ones.<br />the same works for direct, or e-direct and mobile :DBogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-63072538536463704952010-04-10T11:36:00.001+03:002010-04-10T11:37:24.729+03:00Chatrouletteprecisely my experience with it<br /><br /><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:southparkstudios.com:269234" width="480" height="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="window" flashVars="autoPlay=false&dist=zoso.ro&orig=" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allownetworking="all" bgcolor="#000000"></embed><br /><br /><br />via <a href="http://wwww.zoso.ro">zoso</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-27385178350249419942010-04-07T08:41:00.005+03:002010-04-17T13:54:40.757+03:00Why procurement has no business handling pitchesOf course this is a post written under the influence of some major "pissed-off"ness because we lost a major pitch for which we worked really hard and naturally you cannot but be a sore loser. But more than that this is a realization of almost 8 months of in-crisis pitching - not just for us but for our ATL sister agency and also some half dozen other agencies we are friendly with, where we have seen the following repeat itself enough to become a pattern.<br />1. most in-crisis pitches are run by procurement teams [secretly meaning 'we're only interested in the money']<br />2. most in-crisis pitches have EXACTLY the same format: request for credentials, request for offer made of CVs and creative plus money. lots of useless paperwork, because participating agencies project the ideal team onto all RFOs and have a standard credential they send to everyone.]<br />3. no face-to-face unless you get picked to be among the few going to stage final<br />4. no debrief unless you really ask for it and then whatever gets discussed then gets emailed to everyone for fairness reasons<br />5. one hour for presentation<br />6. humongous brief with 70% of the qualification criteria going to.... financial :D. Basically testing to see if you're willing to do shitloads of work for no money.<br /><br />But what gets to me most, aside from the heartlessness of this process is that final letter, where they tell you that you did not qualify. Thanks for playing but you suck, and we will not even take the time to tell you why. You may have prepared a 300 page presentation for us, which you printed in 4 copies because the RFO asked you to - yeah, we print layouts of online banners ... figure that!, but you do not deserve more than the standard letter of 'thanks but no thanks' because we were too busy to really understand why we picked someone else.<br /><br />And while I understand the power-position in which everyone in procurement is these days, what with the crisis and everyone willing to do almost anything to get a budget, I think that somewhere in the brand management team someone should realize that this is not the way to handle what is, by all accounts, the relationship with your most important partner: the ad agency. Even when you DO NOT pick them, the point is not to treat them like they're nobody. Because sometimes the winning one happens to be crap, and maybe you want to drop them and move on to the runner-up. And if the runner up think you're basically heartless bastards, you're down to another RFO process. And this is not "not nice", but, in terms procurement can understand, it's NOT EFFICIENT.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LATER UPDATE</span>: I did call the company asking for more info. I got an email asking for my phone number. So at least they were decent, and tried but I still do not know why we lost.<br />In general, however, I notice from the comments that, what with the crisis and all, the majority view - 2 out of 3 comments :P - is that the factor called 'serendipity' no longer plays a part in agency-client relationships. Weirdly enough, I used to think the same until I realized that the clients where we did find the same wavelength tend to be the ones for which we work most efficiently, most enthusiastically and where we get the best results. I think agencies like W+K and, locally, Headvertising have made this kind of "human" treatment of partners a landmark of their business style and it's worked (don't you just envy<a href="http://dog-the-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/ing-aniverseaza-12-ani-de-hdv.html"> posts</a> like these? :D)<br />BUT, having been bludgeoned over my stupid head by the true business people of this real world, with words like "standards, professionalism, process, transparency, streamlining, capitalism, money" I assume I am just a silly silly girl to think that writing to extra lines in the 10 reject letters is not a big deal and will take my silly silly ideas and put them to sleep for tonight :D<br /><br />LATER LATER EDIT: Got a call from marketing person - not procurement, who was nice enough to explain why we lost but said they would never put in on record. Feels good to know we are good enough but not good enough at politics :D<br /><br />LATER LATER LATER EDIT: funnily enough got an official email from the procurement person saying basically that "our creative approach" sucked salty balls of chocolate although we were cheap enough :D. So, there you have it: marketing says we are creative enough, procurement says we are cheap enough, yet we lost :D. it must be we're ugly or somethingBogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-19495720254263282942010-03-30T23:41:00.002+03:002010-03-30T23:47:49.374+03:00Social media strategyInteresting fact: during a recent digital gathering in London, most heads of main UK brands said that they had "no digital strategy for social media yet". It seems that everyone is just going with the flow for the time being :D<br /><br />Interesting fact no. 2: local brand manager for nice and exciting brand confessed that the only apps she truly sees the worth of are branded utility apps like USPS's gimmick which lets you calculate the type of box you need for your to-be-shipped item (<a href="http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i388dc3328f74c5ee152e36f2b608b604">virtual box</a>)<br /><br /><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WpS3LeCiCtc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WpS3LeCiCtc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-22505504909521523442010-03-30T22:48:00.003+03:002010-03-30T23:02:46.061+03:00Pretend brand loveRomanians are a lot about pretending they buy into things. we have lots of political parties but no political ideologies. we have lots of churches and people crossing themselves but not a lot of true believers. we have a lot of people who are 'fans of jogging' on Facebook but do not own sneakers.<br />Recently the pretend trend has hit a new low with people becoming interested in fasting. it's right before Easter and everyone who is in any way trendy needs to discuss how hard and intensely he or she is fasting. it's talked about on tv, in ad agencies and on the street. there are levels to fasting, and you are fast warlock if you refrain from sex and swearing which seem to be two things God really hates.<br />interestingly, someone smarter than me explained that fasting is about humble, humility and not really making a fuss about all that but hey... we are 'pretend nation'<br />the same works with brands here: we really love them until they screw up minimally, or until some friend comes up and says that the brand sucks. if you market a brand your commitment to its success is limited to its budget. you care about it as much as your money will let you. if something is good for your brand but it requires an extra phone call to your manager, well, heck, it's not worth it. you like the ritual, but not the commitment.<br />pretend brand love is a symptom of people who are afraid of having an opinion, are unable to defend it and unwilling to stand up for themselves. so it's easier to go with the flow and not commit. it's easier to cross yourself when you pass a church than to NOT cheat your colleague out of his bonus.<br />pretend. it works. it keeps people afloat and seemingly happy. :(Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-84098651404623621392010-03-30T00:25:00.004+03:002010-03-30T00:30:28.644+03:00NYT business best sellers (paperback. it's a damned crisis, people)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijgGxRwdzKIV97-OmVvmP_L87CIV7msDTwX3O4GVJtl-ygFxOt8lFIbMEhVeC-UivLZ9WDc02tf7KD0AbpnkYUPRG4vecTy8_-htVNN2uyQ8mqtD3UFCh2hMhxBUebia5y07U4w6FMwWOI/s1600/Picture+5.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijgGxRwdzKIV97-OmVvmP_L87CIV7msDTwX3O4GVJtl-ygFxOt8lFIbMEhVeC-UivLZ9WDc02tf7KD0AbpnkYUPRG4vecTy8_-htVNN2uyQ8mqtD3UFCh2hMhxBUebia5y07U4w6FMwWOI/s320/Picture+5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454170613289654434" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2f5UPROpUrwtI8Dbl36AKsuz6Orn7tdKaMGWcEZ3VmMT1uUUOwaY2fyZs5_PoDBSbpd3JAew4D4n5-0rdxqwyn20qZ1aRz1A5HsO1faCmgtr8z6HFSPOcBUYrjJGRiBSLC9dN1IqVfuCZ/s1600/Picture+6.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2f5UPROpUrwtI8Dbl36AKsuz6Orn7tdKaMGWcEZ3VmMT1uUUOwaY2fyZs5_PoDBSbpd3JAew4D4n5-0rdxqwyn20qZ1aRz1A5HsO1faCmgtr8z6HFSPOcBUYrjJGRiBSLC9dN1IqVfuCZ/s320/Picture+6.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454170665560386450" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Somehow I feel only people working in marketing are buying books in the States these days :D<br />[yeah, and BTW BN.com is still NOT letting me pay with my NON-Physically located in the US credit card so anyone holding the magical key to getting some of their ebooks, please do help. and, yes I have tried to come up with a valid US address but I gather they check the credit card address or something]Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-36151003090350424322010-03-30T00:21:00.004+03:002010-03-30T00:24:56.120+03:00Palimpsestic advertising<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCzc1twFlhzJTQoYVwN5dTGAV3Xycsf49ty9_eC7VUMh44O9ENtQux4AMPnkbww-pEW7yzWSSyAa24T2sXrW1zSLqtJz1jfrGF0OKVmxO5D1PQ8Qc23S2WIgUMtFmGWuNo08ohgJ6yY4d/s1600/dr_gecko2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCzc1twFlhzJTQoYVwN5dTGAV3Xycsf49ty9_eC7VUMh44O9ENtQux4AMPnkbww-pEW7yzWSSyAa24T2sXrW1zSLqtJz1jfrGF0OKVmxO5D1PQ8Qc23S2WIgUMtFmGWuNo08ohgJ6yY4d/s320/dr_gecko2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454169569259308066" /></a><br />This kind of title makes you almost invisible for search engines :D<br />Naturally writing 'poster hacks' would be a lot easier but then I would not be able to comment on this trend of "commenting" on already made artifacts. And since advertising seems to be one of the most accessible forms of expression, commenting on advertising is happening all over.<br />This one is my favorite - the original poster turns into that when the light turns on at night, but there's a whole list <a href="http://scottburnham.com/2009/01/best-poster-hacks/">here</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-86969476600256262152010-03-27T20:32:00.001+02:002010-03-27T20:34:21.247+02:00Earth Hour YeiiiDARK<br />[as an aside, I understand some people are putting on a music show, a grand one, to celebrate the turning off of lights...makes COMPLETE sense to try to save energy by plugging in hundreds of watts of speakers and so on ...but hey, complete darkness for the rest :D]Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-12893580361068740532010-03-27T11:14:00.001+02:002010-03-27T11:14:24.980+02:00Burberry goes 3D<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PpD-KGaWt_E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PpD-KGaWt_E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-28718831051725306862010-03-27T10:32:00.001+02:002010-03-27T10:33:43.989+02:00Light grafitti - whoa!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxM3MqQZmqHwITm6_qdNP62E9tX2sNqCESas_oBcjRQL-DUFes9jgRgtzD7Yy2Vl1VVfqNwrCGSyJoe0doIVBGpUzIjiKz-TlGgZwT3owXnVPXujRyRGvX2K8blV3d7grIzjcEl09Uzoh/s1600/Picture+4.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxM3MqQZmqHwITm6_qdNP62E9tX2sNqCESas_oBcjRQL-DUFes9jgRgtzD7Yy2Vl1VVfqNwrCGSyJoe0doIVBGpUzIjiKz-TlGgZwT3owXnVPXujRyRGvX2K8blV3d7grIzjcEl09Uzoh/s320/Picture+4.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453228971333355122" /></a><br />from<a href="http://cyanatrendland.com/2009/09/07/light-graffiti-is-getting-more-and-more-popular/"> here</a>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-82393078283137217442010-03-27T10:23:00.001+02:002010-03-27T10:25:11.607+02:00Be stupid<a href="http://diesel.com/be-stupid">I like this campaign by diesel</a>. In Romanian we would say "nu fi absurd, nu fi tampit, nu fi penibil" :)<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/589qKh_IeLI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/589qKh_IeLI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Bogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4894466057448828481.post-55180137609127067452010-03-26T11:00:00.002+02:002010-03-26T11:07:46.700+02:00Start overThere comes a time in every blog's life where you have to write a post about a new beginning. it generally happens once every two years when you've gone through all the stages of enthusiasm, commitment, lackluster routine, blah boredom and lack of objective and finally complete and utter disinterest to the writing.<br />Being a woman, I tend to be more prone to these cycles and since I am currently on a 5 day sabbatical I have had some time to think about this AGAIN.<br />Two years ago I became a manager and stopped being anything else. I never thought the process of managing a company could be so intense and so time consuming. I have all but lost myself in the attempt to make everyone happy and make the agency a success. Things are going well right now and I am more than ever aware that apart from being the person in charge there I am nothing else anymore.<br />So, as it befits a blog, I am again making a commitment to come back to writing about what used to be me: strategy, planning, communications, digital.<br />Romania is not a pretty picture right now: everyone who had anything remotely interesting to say is too busy staying alive and so we seldom hear about anything other than survival techniques. So I should stop reading Romanian blogs simply because survival is not living.<br />I have grown friendlier with my bed. Now it's time to reconnect with the blog.<br />Hi :DBogdana Butnarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02096720247480363854noreply@blogger.com1