Bet your entire money on Internet?

2009 has been a year when on several occasions I have had to look people in the eye and say, yes, we can do this without being 100% certain we could. It was also the year when, leaving behind the sweet non-committal years of strategic planning, I have had to put a price on what I believed to work or not.

Scamp places planners last on the list of people who should be asked to comment or have a say in the final form of a TVC (read here), and, somehow, he may be right because, unless the kind of planner you are makes you take responsibility for your recommendations, sometimes the environment can release you from the burden of a final decision.
Not so in 2009, when, after being asked how much I was willing to pay if my agency screwed up a project, I again found myself in a situation where the full burden of a budget was placed on one thing alone. In December 2009 I was asked if I thought replacing the full offline budget (non-trade) of an FMCG brand with online activities was going to increase its brand awareness and brand profile sufficiently to warrant a volume increase. In a crisis year.
I said yes and I am confident that we can make it happen BUT I find myself aware of the scarcity of tools at my disposal to give me the confidence I had offline that my answer was not hasty.
Think of these:
First, we cannot/will not/ have not measure[d] the impact of online over brand. Second, we have approximate tools to recommend media planning and split of budgets according to website clusters. Third, we are fully unequipped to complete the conversion funnel online for anything other than items which can be sold online. Fourth, we cannot measure something that has become more than 50% of the online time of users: social media. Fifth, most relevant social media channels are NOT monitored in Romania. Sixth, we are slowly but surely losing the credibility battle online now that concepts such as branded content, brand utility or brand spaces have but been buried by the financial crisis.
So, do I feel confident? No. Do I think I have my work cut out for me in 2010. Hell yeah! :D

New interesting book for planners

APG UK is as active as ever and they have published a book entitled The Gold Standard, which contains all the award winning cases from the APG Creative Awards.
"Since the APG Creative Strategy Awards began, in 1993, fifty-one papers have received the accolade of a Gold Award, out of around 900 papers submitted. APG chairman Matt Willifer has brought these papers together into an unparalleled collection of great strategic thinking: thinking that is not just impressive on paper, but which has directly resulted in great and effective work. The papers have been arranged, not chronologically nor by original judging category, but by the different strategic approaches demonstrated. This book thus provides a structured framework to show the different ways, and points in the process, where great strategic thinking can really make a difference" says the APG.
If you would like to get this book APG Romania is considering ordering a big batch so let us know by writing to contact@apgromania.ro. We do not know if we can get it for free but we'll try to get preferential price :-)

Editorials

For some time now I have been writing strategy editorials for Strategic.ro and promising to translate them for the blog. Obviously, I have not had the time so I am simply posting them here with links so you know what I have been thinking about.
1. Bucharest makes us pay a heavy toll, in that it puts us in a mindset where we seem to think that only what happens here is relevant
link
2. The crisis has been sucking the very creativity out of communications and somehow we are missing out on the opportunity to tell stories.
link
3. How online may be more effective in doing some things, but it will never beat TV in doing others.
link
4. Measuring efficiency online and how we need to go beyond CTR and clicks and become involved with engagement and affinity measurements
link
5. How new planners have to switch quickly from a "boom" frame of mind to a "moderate" frame of mind.
link

APG initiatives

This year the APG in Romania is planning to put forward an interesting document to help the advertising industry with reviewing efficiency. This document, which is the brain child of Stefan Stroe and will be written in cooperation with a number of APG members, is a "how to" for the Effie competition happening every year in the ad industry. The work is aimed at unveiling the most common "tricks" in writing a brief and enabling both writers of briefs and judges of briefs to get a better idea of what a correct and persuasive brief is.
The first draft of the document is being finished this weekend and there will be a public workgroup in the coming two weeks to get input from any planner or person involved with brief writing interested in joining. I will come back with details about this soon.
APG is also planning to put together the first Romanian Battle of Big Thinking so anyone interested n helping with that is welcome to pitch in ideas.
Finally, we are looking for some smart and savvy student of communications to help us out with logistics and keeping on schedule. We cannot really pay anything at this point but you will get to hang out with planners, plan meetings, contribute to texts and manage a website - which all are good things to have in your resume.
For interested parties you know the e-mail ...

Engagement

I have been counting the times clients have asked me to do something that will engage the customer with the brand. Lots. And by engagement they mean getting the customer to do something for or with the brand, to create something, send something, read something. I have this inkling that maybe consumers do not spend enough time or interest on brands to justify all of this interest in engagement. So, I did a little test on myself and a friend's 11 yo. I tried to calculate how much of what we do daily is driven or inspired by a brand.
In my case, a paltry 7% most of which revolves around my Apple gear which requires upgrades, beautification etc etc, or Internet brands (the latest being my quest to find a good way to donate because wikipedia had asked me).
My friend's 11 yo however spend even less time engaging with brands. Even if they are human brands like the pop singers she seems to love. Actually what she does it engage using brands rather than with brands. She does not do things with brands, but to brands meaning that brands become part of her daily cultural experiences. She uses brands visual ID to make her own decorations, she cuts down logos, pieces of ads and makes collages, etc etc. She takes part in contests when they give her something she needs. It's all about her being free and unconstrained in her creativity.
So, somehow I think that all this frenzy about engagement for a bunch of consumers who really spend minimal time caring may be just a waste of time. Because really, there is not enough time in the day to become involved in all the things brands expect us to do.

APG Romania news

So we had elections, and APG Romania has a new board of directors.
Some new faces, some old faces. The new president is Stefan Chiritescu of BBDO and we have a new Project Director, Elena Ionita from Leo. Costin of IQAds remains as our Communications director and Diana is still the money girl as Treasurer.
I have happily preserved my station as Project Director too (thanks y'all who voted, I felt touched to see that among "the voted" I am the one with most aggregated points :-))
So, here goes nothing: a new year for APG and hopefully more planners' meetings and more cool stuff to do.

APG Romania

More stuff happening with APG Romania. We met - 'we' being the board and the few members that could make it, in the IAA house last Thursday to listen to the candidates' platform and discuss some issues. Interesting ideas were exchanged and voting - only members, people - is due this coming week.

I am running, yet again, for the position of Project Manager with a clear and easy platform: DO YOUNG RESEARCH, which means literally that we should DO more research, more innovatively, but also stands for my wish to have planners DO more - meaning create content, create valuable knowledge, to guide the new generation - YOUNG - and to promote the use of research everywhere - RESEARCH.
Keep checking the APG Romania website )especially the blog( for updates.

Planning hazardous for love life?

Trivially for Saturday night, Scamp has done a poll and planners are among the least likely to be asked out on a date by their colleagues
ouch...
(pic from Scamp also :-)

Calling digital planners

I am interested in getting together with people who think they fulfill the role of digital planners in their agencies.

If you think you're a digital planner or are interested in digital strategy can you e-mail me or leave me a comment here and I'll try to set up something for next week?

APG updates

Please read this if you're interested in running for the board of APG Romania and also to find about updates on what we have been up to. Thanks Costin and Razvan

Planning in Ro loses key person

I don't particularly get along with Razvan Matasel (Leo's former Head of Planning) mainly because people tend to tell me that I am the female version of him. Which is annoying for several reasons I won't get into. But one thing that I will never deny about him is that he's played a key role in shaping planning in Romania. I know there are people said to have been planners before Matasel but, if anything, he should be credited with getting agencies to think about having a planning department.

And no, this is not an obituary - he's not dead. Just leaving Leo to start his own thing.

Two things come to mind:
1. How will Leo fare now that its entire senior team has been slashed down to zero?
2. Will Razvan join the now pathetically long list of people starting strategy consultancies or will he surprise us all with a more innovative [and lucrative] concept?

And also, this latest announcement makes me realize that maybe, after major upturns in the industry, we are finally seeing a renewal spirit blowing through. Maybe with younger people invading the now-empty senior positions in multinationals and with seniors forced to think outside the box, in their new positions as business people, communication will be revived.

... ?

Ed Cotton

IQads publishes an interesting interview with Ed Cotton who will be speaking at Idea Forum. For all those interested here's the English version

IQads: What's the latest trend in strategic planning in US these days?
EC: Agencies are trying hard to redefine and re-frame their planning function due to changes in the marketing environment. They are grappling with the role of interactive and how Planning needs to function. In addition, there's also the challenge of integrating Media and Account Planning. Overall, there's a lot to think about.

IQads: What's the strategic idea for "ZIG, ZAG, ZUG", the Mini Clubman launch campaign?
EC: The MINI Clubman is a unique car. It's design takes the iconic elements of MINI and twists and subverts them to create an entirely new entity. Our strategy was based around the idea of uniqueness and difference, that all MINI's are unique, but this one pushes the concept to the edge. The tag line we use is "The Other MINI".

IQads: What was the most impressive use of media in the "Zig, Zag, Zug" campaign?
EC: We did a unique deal with the New Yorker magazine to have a triple page fold out on the front cover of the travel issue. This meant we could show on consequetive pages, the executions, Zig, Zag and Zug.

IQads: Why did You choose the webisodes solution for the 2007 Mini Cooper viral campaign, "Hammer and Coop"?
EC: We saw the emergence of online video as an affordable solution for our client. We didn't have a sufficient budget to launch the new MINI on television so we did it online. The webisodes also allowed us to generate more content that could highlight all the new features of the new car, this is something that could never be achieved in a conventional 30 second spot.

IQads: What was the seeding strategy for "Hammer and Coop"?
EC: We custom created lists of people who we thought would be interested in the content; from the obvious MINI fan groups to the more obscure lovers of 70s car action shows. In addition, we also allowed MySpace users to place the webisodes on their home pages. This had a significant impact on traffic.

IQads: My Starbucks Idea vs. twitter.zappos.com: which one do you think is more promising for a valuable and useful conversation about the brand?
EC: I think they are both good and important. Brands using Twitter appears to be a good solution that can allows them to react to conversations. If they see something going wrong or issues for concern they can sweep in and make a contribution to change or add to conversation. MyStarbucks is a little different, it's more of a proactive outreach campaign to solicit powerful ideas from their customers. Overall, both are good and important, but they serve different needs.

IQads: Could any type of corporation take the risc of allowing their employees to tweet (officially), like Zappos did?
I think its potentially dangerous for large corporations. To let everyone loose on Twitter would be madness. I think Zappos is a pretty small company and it's therefore easier to control. There's an inbuilt ethos of customer service that helps and probably some kind of self-policing. Large corporations need to be careful who they allow on and this should be driven by the marketing and PR folks.

IQads: Would You briefly describe a campaign using social media that impressed You this year?
EC: The most interesting campaign in the past year, please note that I changed the question, is the Gorilla from Cadbury, created by Fallon in London. Obviously, it cleaned up at the awards shows this year and has been the fashionable choice. However, I think it's an important landmark in the development on television advertising because it understand that entertainment and participation are key drivers for breakthrough. Great ideas are always about the fusing of two independent thoughts to create something new. The drumming Gorilla and the Phil Collins track was just the right mix of strangeness to get people to pay attention. In addition, the agency cleverly seeded different music versions of the film and encouraged consumers to do their own. The campaign seemed to create it's own momentum with a huge level of media interest and coverage in the UK. The important thing here is that this took a lot of effort on behalf of agency creative and planners to convince the client to take such a huge gamble. This ad went through extensive research before it aired. Millward Brown told the client that the ad worked, but they couldn't explain why!! Of course, the most important thing are results and apparently this advertising helped Cadbury grow its business in the UK.

Weekend round-up

Some stuff happening over the weekend:

- Toolbox non-TV - I will be doing my evangelism presentation as part of this event; the presentation will also be posted here soon

- a couple of colleagues are thinking of setting up an Effie advisory committee to train jurors into the tricks of Effie case writing - this obviously begs the observation that the Romanian Effies are starting to go down the path of Ad'Or, our own creative festival, today in disgrace from having become a cesspool of ghosts and mis-judging. I find it disheartening that, even with the odds being basically about advertising (!!!), people still like to play these improper games.

- rumors about major agency losing a newly appointed head of Client Service and Strategy to the local branch of a network. To be confirmed Monday.

- am clearly on my way to accomplishing one of this year's resolutions: went planner dog "scouting" and came across this little darling. Unfortunately, he was taken but I am reassured that there are more like him :-) more pics on my flickr page

- Kylie concert was decent (though not exceptional)

- Have realized I need help to make this blog look like something readable so anyone willing to help with the design, I am open to suggestions for fees and such :-)

Interesting 2008 via 2007

I missed out on Interesting 2007 (russell's awsome project last year) and if you are like me you will love the Interesting 2007 website packed with ...interestingness :)
Also, if you are like me you will book the last week of June for Interesting 2008 :-) in London.

Thought of the evening

By Bradut Florescu, during an APG seminar: "Planners are the only people still working in advertising. Creatives are in Cannes, CS are in Cannes too".

"Inspiring the creatives is the planner's new mantra but creatives are like communists, they need to make a revolution every time."
[with speaker's permission :-)]

Some updates

• John Griffiths is coming to Romania soon so there is a planner meeting in the making. Keep you posted on that.
• The APG seminars are still going on but because there has been a wide request for another session we would like to maybe redo them (if anyone is interested please e-mail or comment)
• In order to make them better, we also really need feedback from the seminars so anyone willing to share also e-mail or comment
• APG membership is still available and open and you get discounts and preferential entry at APG events. Join here
• In case you never visit the site, here are some cool videos some even cooler planners did for the newest APG chapter :-)

Creative briefing

ON Thursday I am giving a training on creative briefing at the IAA. Wish I could say come along but unfortunately it's already booked. I will try to get permission to post the presentation here and in the meantime [also if you plan to attend cos it's good basics] you might want to have a look here for the basics of briefs (IPA creative brief database, slim but still...)

APG Romania - 7 free seminars about planning

Big news people, APG Romania is putting together 7 seminars/trainings about planning in the coming weeks. There's 7 and they're absolutely free to be held in the IAA headquarters on Victoriei. For details go here and get registered asap here contact@apgromania.ro because it's first come first serve (I'm doing creative briefing so that will be funfunfunfun)

LATER (not very much later) EDIT: Already filled up with more people than we can manage. So registration is closed for now :(

Special offer for Digital Forum

People, early bird registration for DMF is still ongoing and also, special offer for APG Romania members, you get 10% off if you have joined APG Ro in the mean time.

Digital Marketing Forum

The second edition of DMF is in the making as Cristi tells us [sorry only Romanian]. There's going to be at least one interesting panel on digital planning so make sure you get your seats in advance.