Sheri Kaufmann

Words of wisdom from a creative director and digital strategist

“I think you can’t go wrong career-wise if you figure out what your passion is, and then find a way to get paid for doing the thing that you love.” — Sheri Kaufmann, former VP/Group Creative Director, Mobile & Social Practices, Digitas

Sheri Kaufmann came to my Fundamentals of Creative Development class last year as a guest speaker, and spoke about digital advertising focusing on emerging technologies. Currently, Kaufmann is freelancing as a copywriter, creative director and digital strategist. Her role as a digital strategist resonated with me.

We, as students, are always fretting about finding the right career path or landing the dream job. However, if someone had asked Kaufmann 20 years ago about her aspirations, she would’nt have said anything close to advertising or marketing. “I discovered advertising because my roommate was looking to apply for jobs in advertising,” said Kaufmann. “I thought, hmm, this seems like a cool career. And I could use my writing skills. The rest is history.”

Kaufmann began her advertising career as a copywriter at Arnold and eventually moved to Digitas — first as a writer, then ultimately the Group Creative Director. She was most fascinated by digital innovations throughout her creative career and she chose new media over the traditional one because it’s always changing. As a creative person in digital marketing at Digitas, Kaufmann believed in being up-to-date with the latest trends in technology. She always kept an eye out for trends that she thought were gaining momentum and compiled presentations that she shared with her teams in Boston, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. “The advent of mobile and social marketing was something I had been following closely, and so when the agency was starting its mobile and social practices, I was lucky enough to be invited to be the creative lead for them in the Boston office.” said Kaufmann.

Kaufmann says it is a fun challenge to keep up with how people are consuming media and what can be considered relevant. “I’m bored to death with Facebook right now,” said Kaufmann. “But this morning I watched a cat in Ireland give birth to kittens live on Periscope. So that’s cool, right? What can we do with that? The possibilities are endless.”

Eventually, Kaufmann started her own consulting business so she could balance her work and personal life. Her advice to people just starting out is to work at a full-time agency or on the client side. “It would be an advantage just because of the immersion you get from working in that environment,” said Kaufmann. “And also because all of those relationships you build will help form a solid and invaluable network which you’ll be able to draw on throughout your career.”

I have always wondered how digital marketing professionals keep up with trends and I asked Kaufmann about the same. Kaufmann gave me the following tips:

1. Twitter is a big resource. It is the quickest way to get information. Kaufmann follows a lot of tech news, brands and people on Twitter. Kaufmann does a lot of link hopping to follow the trail of something interesting that has caught her eye and her advice is to keep digging if something inspires you.
2. Google (most obvious but very useful) is a great help.
3. Follow sites such as Mashable, Techcrunch and Wired. There are other tech news sites as well that should be followed on a regular basis.
4. Be aware of your surroundings. According to Kaufmann, “Sometimes you might learn about a trend because your neighbor got his son a drone helicopter. You can also be an early adopter, and buy the first Amazon Echo or August Lock. Though, note, that many of these technologies may go away. But it’s fun to explore them.”
5. Be proactive.

I asked Kaufmann about current trends in advertising and she said that these days the biggest trend in advertising, is that it is starting to look a lot less like advertising. Kaufmann does not see TV or print going away anytime soon. Brands are also focused on providing true value to customers rather than just making a product. This can be anything from BMW offering a parking app to Amazon offering a button that reminds you to stock up. Kaufmann believes that as long as the execution is clever, it’s easy for brands to emerge from nothing and become powerhouses. Popular examples include Uber, Airbnb, and Instagram. Uber and Lyft allow you to easily call one, see exactly when it arrives, track the cab’s progress on a map and pay through the app. These are the features that endear these brands to the customers.

“To become a big brand, it used to take years and years of successful sales and marketing,” said Kaufmann. “Now all you need is a big idea and smart execution, and the social channels can carry you to the masses in no time.” Kaufmann also believes that virtual reality technology advancements are accelerating. According to Kaufmann, Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is going to be a game-changer (literally!). But the question she asks is, will it go beyond gaming and movie watching. “The potential of what you can do with this technology is mind-boggling,” said Kaufmann. “I think it’s fascinating, while also being a tiny bit scary. Will people start unplugging from actual reality? It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.”

Kaufmann is also skeptical about technology that can be gimmicky. She gave Ray-Ban’s Reflections example which is their new photo app. “It was cute. I used it. It was fun for a few minutes. Then I never opened it again. I think brands need to be careful about trying to identify things that will provide ongoing value.” said Kaufmann. However, she does see an opportunity to use technology to create a buzz. Kaufmann gave the example of the promotion of Black Friday sales by Camisaria Colombo. When a brand is the market leader or the first ever to use a new technology to connect with customers, it can have a great PR value. It automatically positions the brand as being innovative. However, the best case scenario is to provide a lasting value such as Nike Plus.

I learned from Kaufmann that it is not just important to keep up with technology but also be able to tell the difference so that you know which one to apply to a particular brand.

To wrap up, I asked Kaufmann to share some words of wisdom with aspiring digital strategists and she told me the following:

1. Follow your passion, emerging trends and find ways.
2. Share your knowledge so you become the go-to person for tech news.
3. No one will ask you to follow consumer and technology trends. Do it to stay abreast with what’s happening around the world.
4. It can get frustrating because the moment you come up with something that has not been tested before, you will face some opposition. This comes with the territory. You need to be able to roll with it, and keep moving forward.
5. If you can help educate your clients, and make them feel smarter, you will have done your job, even if they don’t buy your big idea.
6. Look to work in agencies and with clients who share the same passion for innovation that you do.

Kaufmann shared her knowledge and wonderful tips to help aspiring digital strategists like myself understand the industry. Follow her on Twitter because she is smart, funny and of course, very knowledgeable.