All Balls. Some Brains. Keeping Innovation From Becoming the New Irrelevant Art in Advertising.
“Listen… nobody’s got a f***ing clue.”
These words were whispered to me at this posh little member’s only club in London’s Notting Hill area (perhaps just an “ok hotel bar” to the posh people populating this neighbourhood, but to me the place was rad). The whisperer was a well known agency CEO at an equally known global agency. According to him, these winged words about advertising in general were once spoken by one of the famous Saatchi brothers. I know very little about them I must admit (apart from the agencies and that awkward strangling pic with the TV chef) but the quote stuck.
I find there’s a very liberating touch to these sorts of Uber-universal truths when told by a leader in your industry. And having just talked myself that day at London’s Saatchi Gallery in front of a crowd of creativity and technology enthusiasts — I certainly felt like I could relate. It wasn’t really that I doubted my marketing ideas and insights about (in this case) social media. It was more the notion of what brought me there in the first place. Me? Speak at a fancy tech conference in London? Are you high? Clearly nobody’s got a clue. I’m in!
EMBRACING YOUR AREA OF INCOMPETENCE
Innovation is a word that’s being thrown around a lot in advertising right now. The same way “big idea”, “halo effect” or “game changer” was just a while back. We’re hopelessly addicted to trendy naming in our industry. We thrive on whatever’s the new way of saying the same old thing. You’d think we’d be the only ones immune to it but instead we just keep getting high on our own supply.
It’s ok. It’s fun. And there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun. But behind the buzz — we’re still in the business of making and make believe. And what was once the art of making campaign products driven by lifestyle photography in the 1980’s — is now called making interactive tools and applications driven by social storytelling in the 2010’s. But the art of making is still a creative process based on the same basic brain wiring: Think. Try. Repeat.
I’ve found it to be a lot about daring to explore the unknown. Almost like a sports psychology strategy, and in my case one that works for both personal development and running creative projects at an ad agency. Simply, embracing this notion of initially not fully understanding how to solve something and keeping at it instead of finding ways of killing it (out of fear). To boldly step into your area of incompetence. Here you’ll find new inspiration and with it — opportunity to innovate at the true meaning of the word.
It’s not really about the latest technology either. It’s how you use that technology in the context of an already programmed human social behaviour.
It’s that moment when you look at a new phone, application, social channel, piece of software or even a plain bus stop down the street and go “Hey you guys, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could actually _____ simply by _____ this thing here? I bet people would love that. I know I would.”
Now, the importance of having nice people around you when you start embracing your area of incompetence cannot be understated. Whether it’s an open minded and sharing creative team, curious producers, excited developers or one of those freakishly smart planners. It has to be “no dicks allowed”. Any agency today with a somewhat healthy creative culture is perfectly able to figure out how to assemble the right minds to make innovation come to life — whether it’s by including the people with the right answers to begin with or by quickly delegating things to the most suitable individual in the room. Just. No. Dicks.
The other trick is to always move forward. When I was working for Alex Bogusky — and this was at a time when he was still very much involved in things at CP+B, we had this rule saying we were never allowed to say “No”. Just to figure it out or find the alternatives and move forward. It was called “to keep the momentum” and to be “delusionally optimistic” about things. And it went for everyone. Creatives, account people, producers and business affairs (especially business affairs, actually).
I still think that’s brilliant in all its naïve simplicity. There’s literally a hundred ways an idea can get killed before it sees the light of day. Whether it’s budget, timing, testing, client, competitors, natural disasters or politics. Why try so hard to kill it ourselves before it even gets there? (Unless of course the idea sucks to begin with. But that’s another chapter.)
Just try it. Put a bunch of assertive, smart individuals in a room to explore their area of incompetence with the simple rule not to kill. You’ll be amazed what they will come up with. And how far any group of people can push something if they really put their minds to it. If nothing else, they will love their job that day.
DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION. QUE?
In 2010 I moved to San Francisco and started working for Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby.
I was used to running the Scandinavian Airlines account (as the name implies — a big account by Scandinavian standards) and had successfully helped in building an amazing team in Europe producing literally hundreds of print ads, banners, interactive experiments, radio and TV spots every year. We reached awareness goals and won awards. Good times. The move to the US shouldn’t be that difficult, right? Wrong. North America truly is “a whole ‘nother beast”. Skipping the most basic things here like the difference in size and the unavoidable politics that comes with it, just the overwhelming dominance of TV is fascinating.
“Ok. Cool. Where’s the script?”
I quickly realised I needed to make a choice. To join the 101 super talented young writers wanting nothing else but to write the next funny TV spot… or to focus on whatever’s not TV. On whatever’s different.
Enter the Director of Innovation.
It made perfect sense. Find the opportunities to do something that’s not TV across all clients. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m extremely proud of the TV work I’ve done in the US and going on production is always a lot of fun. You stay at nice hotels, meet nice people and get to hang out with celebrities. (Some of them nice.) But my passion was still trying to make things people had never seen before.
I know what you’re thinking… shouldn’t the Creative Director be in charge of the innovation? Isn’t innovation sort of our job/whole purpose to begin with? Of course it is! But every agency is different and everyone has to figure out what works best for them. Big agencies still need specialists. And while Special Teams might not represent the most desirable positions in the NFL — you’re not gonna make the playoffs without a good kicker. Besides, everyone is always looking for a timeless solution, but you know what — when navigating a company there is no timeless. Only now. Agencies and the people who populate them have to live in the now and act from that. Try new things. Explore. At the end of the day, what title goes on your business card is irrelevant anyway. At least to people I know. Thank God.
The point being, whatever measures your agency is taking to inspire innovation in advertising using the latest technology, changing titles or not, just always make sure proper authority is 1.given and 2.clearly communicated internally. I cannot stress this enough. Otherwise you will just waste a lot of precious meeting time having a former Creative Director explaining to account people that she/he is not really “in charge of the banners”. And hope everyone gets it in time for client introductions. Sad face.
ROBOBRO
The other option is of course what we’ve all come to know as the “Hybrid Creative Director”. The interdisciplinary creative.
A ‘Robobro’.
(Some years ago I randomly stumbled upon this picture of Robocop in a pink frat style bro-polo and it just felt like the perfect manifestation of the new Creative Director.)
50% new cool technology. 50% same old human behavior. 100% in sync with pop culture. All in an awesome Paul Verhoeven meets John Hughes kind of way.
Metaphors aside, the real Robobros and Robosistas in advertising will likely manifest themselves in a less colourful and more natural manner. And they will most likely be more successful by not being a one-man-show. Teams are a lot better in general I’ve noticed.
So perhaps instead of searching for that unicorn hybrid, it’s time to pair up the traditionally merited Creative Director AD/Copy with an interactive more tech savvy Creative Director AD/Copy counterpart? This is probably the best (and certainly the quickest) way agencies can kickstart being more successful at innovating across the board in advertising right now.
INNOVATION AS IRRELEVANT ART IN ADVERTISING
It used to be that art directors and designers were accused of confusing their own art with ads. Today the same thing goes for developers and innovation. It’s not their fault really. They probably ended up working for an ad agency for the same simple reason artists once did. The paycheck. (Possibly the people, and most likely the hope of getting your ideas published in some way, shape or form.) And that’s fine. But in advertising we make things that help a message or brand come alive and add value to consumers when solving an existing marketing problem. And whether you’re a Creative Director, Director of Innovation or Master of The F***ing Universe we still have to make sure we’re relevant.
Innovation without a brief is called having a business idea and as much as I love inventing random cool shit — why would I turn it into a crummy commercial? We’re not the next Facebook folks. We’re selling beer, cars and insurances. We’re making people aware of a new apple juice. Making them like an old forgotten body-wash brand again.
You are not Luke Skywalker my friend, you’re Boba Fett. A gun for hire. Suck it up or become a startup.
INNOVATION AS RELEVANT ADVERTISING
When it comes to inventing something never seen before there’s obviously no recipe. But there are different angles from where we can approach the creative process in how to use technology to innovate in advertising. So, in an attempt to get more tangible — I’d say it boils down to a few things that have seemed to repeat themselves a lot over the past decade.
New sexy technology.
Relevant context.
Same* human behaviour.
Here’s the trick: Successful innovation for big brands always finds a way to innovate and still work on broad platforms. It manages to identify and adapt to the human behaviour within that platform. Preferably doing so by demystifying the technology (hence the broad).
“Well, duh!?”
Fair enough, but this has not really been doable up until just recently. Or even worse, even when it’s been doable it’s not been done! Think about it. (And if you’re in advertising, I’m sure you’re more than familiar with the background to all of this.)
For the longest time, interactive advertising was using technology to chase “first downs” instead at looking at human behaviour and relevance on a broader scale. I know, because I was doing it too. The first Facebook photo gallery app idea before even all my (real) friends were on Facebook. The first contextual Spotify idea before Spotify was global. The first… /insert new technology here/ …idea. You get it. And as long as they kept handing us pencils, lions and pens for it, why stop, right?
In our defence, it wasn’t our fault Facebook wasn’t publicly traded or Spotify wasn’t available in the US yet. The relevance was there, the innovation was there, simply not in the sense of the established broad platforms we’ve got today. (Let’s just say back then no broadcast producer was making millions just showing Internet sensations on TV.) Still, we saw it coming and we were not gonna be held back.
But this eagerness to chase first downs and getting rewarded for it is exactly what eventually led to the rhetorical battle in the ad community putting “Storytelling” against “Digital”.
Excuse the short derail here, but if there’s still even a shred of doubt: There is no such thing as “digital” any longer and there’s not been for quite a while. There’s only life. Everything from your telephone, car stereo or airplane ticket, to your TV menu or ATM is already in the timeless shape of digital. What can make it innovative on the other hand — is realising the interactive potential of a specific format and how you allow consumers to interact with it. And storytelling has never been the opposite of interaction, has it?
The thing is: any story can be translated into something interactive. Something a little less expected. Something little bit more innovative. Now, if it should is another question. That still depends on the brief and ultimately, the problem at hand.
Beyond the old “digital” label lies the immense global marketing power of existing and now widely populated platforms. YouTube, Twitter, Google Maps, Yelp, Craigslist, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Shazam and Pandora/Spotify are not what they initially were. They’re all grown up. And interactive advertising has been forced to grow up alongside them.
It means that relevance in innovation can now operate within huge, populated channels and with the speed of early adaptors — since the threshold for audiences to enter newer digital platforms has been severely lowered. It’s finally true mass communication.
No more first downs. (Except by the Oakland Raiders. Sadly, they are few and far apart. Go Raiders.)
*A new exciting technology like instant messaging or social media can definitely change human behaviour — but the behaviour within that platform will then find its target, its “norm” and stay that way. Like the way we use texting compared to emailing, or how we communicate on FB compared to Skype. This becomes the context. The framework for how you come up with relevant advertising ideas, if you will. The tech innovation might present a whole new set of rules, but technology can’t tame our human behaviour. It’s like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Us humans will always do what feels most natural and what makes the most sense. With or without logic. Just look at what happened with Google+.
INNOVATION IN CREATIVE TEAMS
As a Creative Director you can’t just give feedback — you need to properly structure and lead the creative process. Map things out. Inspire. The same goes for innovation in the creative process.
Keeping it tangible here, I use what I call “buckets”. (You know, paper notes on a wall. Or in your head.)
These are basically a handful of relevant territories where we can start exploring new ideas in tech innovation together. Each bucket can hold 5, 10 or 100 ideas. A bucket can be called “mobile”, “in-store”, “social” or “OOH”. Or perhaps it can be called “video content ideas”, “packaging”, “stunt/event” or even “product development”.
The product, brief and the problem at hand naturally set the number and type of buckets. Usually a working handle or existing tagline affect what goes on the wall. Then, what’s most relevant/effective usually determines what stays. The buckets worth keeping are what eventually make it into the deck — and the best ideas in each bucket get presented to the client. Easy, right?
In this process a lot usually get structured by the traditional creative flow/team. The lines and the handles that feel right usually are. (i.e. creative talent at work.) But from my experience there are two other types of knowledge that add tremendous value and should be included throughout this process:
Planners
Developers
(Depending on titles at your agency the planner might be a strategist, or the developer perhaps an interactive producer) — but what you want out of it is really:
Someone sticking with it from a purely strategic standpoint.
Someone coming at it early on from a strict tech standpoint.
Not to mention the value of simply having two more brains with a slightly different perspective. The key is to get everyone onboard early, and more importantly, at the same time. That way you avoid having to do things twice and it’s also the special sauce for the group dynamic. Team structures can be hard to mix up even just a little bit. Trust me I know.
Actually, I know it to the point where it has led me to believe one of the biggest problems of our time is the territorial pissings of spoiled creative teams. The fearful, over-protecting of ideas that slowly kills all the good energy and fun in the room. It’s a disease and one that usually ends up defining the true difference between a creative and a Creative Director. It can divide departments and complicate necessary change.
Every agency is different — but from my experience the best way to deal with chemistry/people/team related problems like this is just to be very inclusive, transparent and available from the start. Make sure the creatives feel comfortable and in charge of things. Make sure the developers feel valuable and listened to. Get stuff on iCal and make sure everyone gets the invitation.
Open doors. Lead the way.
INNOVATION 2014…
I never worry too much about the future. I never try to predict what’s next because trying to be in the now is hard enough. The world is just getting more and more full of things to interact with. Whether it’s new social platforms, games, art blogs, wristbands that measure the calories in your poop, a trending breed of dog, drones that print Metallica’s next concert on the moon in 3D, or simply the fact that three generations are now crossing over on Facebook — there’s enough innovation, tension, truth and plain shit out there to create new stories for any brand already.
A million little things are going to change advertising this year, but I believe that within three specific platforms certain things will change in 2014 based on growth and a normalising human behaviour. Namely: Social, Mobile and Physical.
…IN SOCIAL: “THE DAWN OF THE PARENTS”
In 2013, social media once again proved to us how interactive platforms have become mass communication. (Not talking about the hype or the Facebook IPO, just the width.)
That day at London’s fancy Saatchi Gallery I remember comparing Facebook to the dog hatch scene in “Dawn of the Dead”. (If you’ve for some reason missed the past decade’s crazy zombie trend — I’m talking about the 2004 remake of George Romero’s classic with the same title.) The scene when the survivors on the roof of the mall discover another survivor on a roof across the parking lot. The lot is flooded with zombies so they send a dog over with supplies. When the guy opens the dog hatch to let the dog in he keeps it open a split second too long and the zombies grab ahold of it, quickly swarm the building and eat him.
Just like the summer of 2008, right? The summer we all truly experienced the dead returning back to life. When every high school flirt, college buddy or kindergartener you ever knew added you on Facebook.
And now, just when you’ve figured out the language and social code to successfully maintain that social relationship (perhaps how to keep your distance) — another social attack is imminent: It’s The Dawn of The Parents. I’m not talking about the pictures of newborn babies clogging up your feed. I’m talking about the social Armageddon that is watching your own parents help themselves to your social life online, without a manual. Getting access to every picture ever posted of you holding a beer or singing karaoke. Adding friends from your friends-list that you don’t even remember adding in the first place. And that dreadful feeling when your dear mom is using your nickname from when you were 4 years old to comment on a random pictured you’re tagged in, blissfully oblivious about the fact that this is not a private message to her son, it’s a broadcast message to everyone her son ever knew. Talk about technology demystified. It’s the dog hatch all over again.
Suddenly the balance between tonality and being relevant has never felt more important. Of course, this opens up for innovation in stealth settings, great insights for creative ideas and new truths following the change of social behaviour. But all that aside, the best advice I ever read on social was “Be yourself and don’t do anything stupid.”
…IN MOBILE: “INNOVATION IN LIMITATIONS”
Our mobile behaviour has reached the point where we need help from ourselves. With every 10 new apps celebrating the potential of being 100% available, all the time, there’s suddenly a need for 1 contextually smart app, blocking, rerouting or weeding out that very same possibility. Whether you’re in traffic, on vacation, at the gym or on a flight to Phoenix, mobile sanitation will hopefully help us take back and focus on what’s really important in life. Fear of missing out (FOMO) has become the norm in our lives so fast it’s suddenly an abundant territory where brands can act as relevant remedies.
The digital hoarding extension of FOMO is just so ironic when you think about it. It’s slowly making sure that we are in fact missing out on every single first hand magical moment. From sunsets to weddings, field goals to puppies. Pretty soon we’ve got everything on file and nothing in our heads.
I’m not saying it’s not super awesome that mobile has allowed the interactive extension of any physical thing. The next couple of years we will definitely see every connectable household device get connected to our iPhone. Locks, thermostats, espresso machines, alarm clocks, you name it.
But in 2014, more than before, the challenge for agencies will be to limit our desire to make brands even more mobile. Is this really relevant? Is this really useful? Is this really, truly adding value? These are the questions we will have to ask each other a lot more often. The brands that can keep doing things just to show off innovation will still exist, but the risk of simply becoming the new irrelevant art is getting higher with every new app in the store.
…IN PHYSICAL: “SOMETHING TO LEAN ON”
Our increasing need for nostalgic security blankets should not be underestimated. I’m sure there’s a flood of essays already out there, or currently being researched, just on the topic of books, vinyl records and how they relate to our basic emotional need for “things”. I would simply argue it’s finally gotten to the point where it’s a broad consumer truth and not just a hipster trend.
What fascinates me is the gap between logic and love in the matter. I know I’ve got access to every Iron Maiden album ever recorded 24/7 through the music cloud service of my choice but still I really, really want to buy “Somewhere in Time” on vinyl again. Why is that? It makes no sense whatsoever! (Buying it on vinyl again I mean, not buying this specific album, it will always be my all time favourite Maiden album.)
From a strict marketing standpoint it means that we are possibly going to see a lot more stories supporting cognitive dissonance — creating and adding arguments to justify buying things that innovations in technology supposedly have replaced already.
In the case of my Iron Maiden album collection it manifests itself in me saying things like “Taking back the ritual that was once how I used to enjoy music” or “Hearing the album the way it was intended”. (For audiophiles I’m sure there’s a whole separate range of amazing arguments, leading up to things like Neil Young developing that Pono player and all — but I never cared much for differences in quality impossible to detect with the limited sophistication of the human ear.)
Past nostalgia, in terms of pure product innovation, we’re likely to see more new physical objects as part of not only the marketing message and creating a social object for the sake of PR — but also because of the real demand for these “things”. Something to touch, smell and put on a desk.
Moby Dick on my iPad is obviously no different from the original hard copy — but a reproduction in the shape of a big, thick saltwater stained beast of a book presented on an oak table in front of an open fireplace just messes with my whole perception of what a true reading experience can, and probably should, be. It becomes something else. Time well spent. A memory. A social bragging right.
And that bragging right could be what drives the whole idea of, in this case, innovation in product design. The human behaviour, not the technology itself.
Oh yeah, and big budget TV has finally found it’s way to YouTube. There’s no denying the power of sharing great video content any longer. It’s forcing producers to think outside of .30/.60/Super Bowl and it’s putting the pressure back on creatives, directors and ultimately clients to tell better stories.
A SIDE NOTE
Through Creative Social I’ve been introduced to some of the most interesting people, artists, buildings, foods, minds and experiences in my life, at some truly unique locations all over the planet. I feel blessed. Not because of the network of somewhat “important peeps” in advertising or the opportunities it has created for me on different levels. I feel blessed simply because of how these people have made me a less ignorant person and more pleasant guy to be around.
I wanted to contribute to this book to feel like I’m giving something back. Hopefully my contribution sparked some new ideas. Or perhaps even inspired you in some way. Maybe it just made you feel better about yourself (whether it’s because we think the same way or simply because you’ve realised you’re much smarter than I am). If nothing else, maybe you got a laugh out of it.
And there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun.
This essay was written by Anders Gustafsson, Creative Director at ARGONAUT Inc., and first appeared in the Innovation section in our latest book, Hacker, Maker, Teacher, Thief: Advertising’s Next Generation, which you can still buy from Amazon here.
