This Week in Strategy: What type of music are balloons most afraid of? Pop Music!
Hi Strat Pack,
Missed you last week! The Strategy editorial team is undergoing a bit of a restructuring which means that our regularly scheduled programming is going to be a bit different the next few weeks. Mainly it's going to be a little lighter this week due to time mismanagement and next week due to the holiday weekend in my home country, the United States.
Let's start off on a sentimental note - please read this sentimental and beautiful story from some random finance blog that will give you all the feels. All of them.
And now back to something more my speed. Check out Jezebel's (or anyone really) coverage about the fight between Adam Scot and Mitch McConnell about the latter's use of a Parks & Rec gif on twitter. It's good. Like, bad, and overall 100% depressing on the state of discourse in the country. But good.
Alright guys, stop messing around in the comments of that Adam Scott Twitter thread, let's jump right in.
The one thing to read this week
1) Confessions of an Account Planner: One Brief To Rule Us All [BBH Labs]
In the old world of account planning the creative brief is something of a sacred text. It is often described as a quasi-legal ‘contract’ – between all interested parties. The brief is the planner’s key tangible output. Proof they exist and are adding value – a professional badge of honour. It is wordsmithed, poured over, signed off and presented at every meeting as the primary ‘source’ text.
So, if that is the status of the creative brief in my old world, what of its role in the world of media ideas?
Well, it is fair to say that I have found, over the years, that the creative brief is not so much sacred as totally invisible.
Over the last couple of years I’ve chatted to a number of media planners, buyers and owners, and asked them about their use of the creative brief. Their answers shocked me – most had never seen it. Those who had seen it had never been ‘briefed’ with it.
The real truth is that we probably need to stop thinking of this document as just a ‘creative’ brief. We need to think of a new type of brief to spark the process. We need a ‘Credia’ brief, or maybe less clumsily and more simply, an Ideas Brief. One that both inspires media and creative agencies. Fundamentally, we need to change our mindset as account planners. The creative brief, is not our sacred text anymore. We need to remember to be generous and recognise it belongs to everyone. If we don’t take a chance to step back and think how to make the brief, and the briefing, useful in inspiring both media and creative ideas, the creative brief will inevitably be seen as essentially irrelevant and unfit for purpose.
Three Suggestions:
In terms of the creative brief itself, there are three areas for improvement – namely, the three core questions of strategy; the what, the who, and the how. Read more here
2) What are creative strategy craft skills? [David J. Carr - Medium]
The future of strategy is a partnership between creative and business strategists, orchestrating multi-functional teams in order to cut across layers of the “strategy stack”
What are the craft skills that are needed to deliver this, especially for Creative Strategy, which often has an “inferiority complex” or sense of “imposter syndrome”?
I believe that Creative Strategy — the form of strategy also known as ‘Planning’ in Ad Agencies—is uniquely placed to bridge the gaps between Human Empathy (The Why: Real motivations & jobs to be done) and Data (The What: Real behaviour and opportunities). But we need to be robust.
(Tough to read? Here's a link to the PDF)
3) Anatomy of Effectiveness [Warc]
This is an admittedly long white paper but one that I highly recommend perusing. And it's free! Here's what we're up against:
Great marketing can and does cut through. We need to challenge ourselves to think differently. By finding new ways to engage or through creatively brilliant executions we can avoid a world where consumers just ignore our best work
Data suggests that advertising, in its current forms, is not driving the growth it should be. Advertising spend is not having the intended impact, and, at its worst, it is alienating the people it is supposed to be engaging:
A study by the Advertising Research Foundation found that 69% of all US TV commercials receive no visual attention (putting up to $40 billion of investment at risk in the US alone); 27% air in an empty room.
A focus on short-termism has halved the business impact of creativity, according to researcher Peter Field.
Only 12% of supposedly ‘viewable’ ads are actually noticed by consumers, according to Lumen Research
Nielsen reported that only 53% of the impressions served in the UK reached their intended target.
More than 600 million devices now have ad blocking, in what US journalist Doc Searls called the biggest boycott in history.
Warc lays out 5 priorities to cutting through and making effective work. Check it out!
4) The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness [IPA EffWorks]
Another paper. Another one I strongly recommend reading. Lots of great charts and info in here.
New research from Peter Field shows that short-term thinking is no longer just ‘Selling creativity short‘. It is killing it. One of the most shocking findings of Peter Field’s new report is that creative campaigns are now no longer outperforming their less inspired cousins when it comes to effectiveness. According to his findings, they are less effective than they have been in 24 years of data analysis. Today they are no more effective than non-awarded campaigns.
This collapse in the effectiveness and efficiency of creativity can be explained by one over-riding factor. The shift to short-term activation-focused campaigns and the strategic and media trends this has promoted.
A short-term environment is not one in which creativity flourishes. Enormous effectiveness multipliers are evident for the most creative campaigns. But it needs time. Creativity delivers very little of its full potential over short campaign durations.
If we are to stem the decline of creativity in our industry, we need to stop squandering the use of creative firepower for tactical initiatives. Instead, briefs should stress that ideas will strengthen the brand over time. Creative shows also have a role to play. Separate classes of awards are recommended for short and long-term creativity. This could incentivise a rebalancing of creative endeavour in favour of long-term results.
5) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them.
Lego marketing chief says the challenge with online advertising is that so much content is ‘damaging’ to kids [CNBC] Lego CMO Julia Goldin said at Cannes that kids are “on platforms where they are exposed to content that is actually damaging to them.” On YouTube, the toymaker is targeting adults, she said. Lego is using its own social network called “Lego Life” to reach children.
These Influencers Aren’t Flesh and Blood, Yet Millions Follow Them [New York Times] If you haven't seen this check it out
Mark Ritson's Comprehensive Guide to what Marketers can Learn at Cannes [LinkedIn] You'll get a chuckle
Nick Hirst | How do you keep strategy interesting? | APG Noisy Thinking [YouTube] Hirst is Executive Strategy Director at adam&eveDDB an he talks about how to stay motivated and interesting over some of the longest pitch processes known to man. And even how to win some. 15 minute video. It's Friday, you've got time
Into Z Future: Understanding Generation Z, the Next Generation of Super Creatives [JWT Intelligence x Snap] ANOTHER PDF! What can I say, I've been reading a lot.
Welcome to advertising's next golden age [Campaign US] Today, naysayers are spouting: "Advertising is dead." But the truth is that it’s just adapting to the disruptive times we’re living in. Basically, creativity thrived in the face of hardships and challenges.
6) Department of Great Work
Everyone who could approve anything was at Cannes and is probably still hung over from Cannes. So it's a light week of new work this week.
It’s #timeTo Stop Being a Creep on the Croisette [Little Black Book] Cannes may be over but this anti-harassment ad will be applicable as long as there are unsavory characters in our industry.
P&G goes from 'The Talk' to 'The Look' to illustrate the unconscious bias that plagues black men [AdAge] Very powerful work from agency Saturday Morning
New Logo, Identity, and Packaging for Lone Star Brewery by Switch [Brand New]
A telephone for grief after the Japanese tsunami [BBC] Not advertising work. But a beautiful and powerful message nonetheless
Delta Introduce Le Labo Amenity Kits, That Drive Down Environmental Waste [Design Air] Delta! Le Labo! J'adore!
Jony Ive is out at Apple so there are no platform updates this week in memoriam.
As always, the full archive is available here. Was this email forwarded to you? Want to start getting this on a weekly basis? All I need is your email, everything else is optional.Thanks for sticking around as always. See you next week!