What consumers want?

Consumers want marketers to engage, not advertise.

Listen more, react intelligently. Incorporate social media insights into your marketing. Hyundai responded to customer needs by using the Hyundai Think Tank to understand customer needs. Thanks to the Think Tank, Hyundai introduced a gas lock program promising consumers more efficient performance from their cars. And Hyundai sales grew during a recession. Meantime, Razorfish client Mercedes-Benz adapted its brand to stress innovation instead of the Mercedes-Benz heritage.

Target people, not statistics. Focus on consumer behaviors, not demographic data.

So what can marketers do today?

Adapt your approach to new ideas. Watch for, and be ready to adapt to, major groundswell events (like the emergence of Foursquare occurring now).

2. Adapt the roles of your team. Brand managers need to consider the role of brand advocates, or people who share your brand every day on multiple platforms and communities — invaluable sources of customer insight for the brand strategist.

3. Adapt your process. Plan iteratively and frequently. Don’t think of planning as a one-time process. Partner for creativity, not durability. Use predictive metrics in addition to descriptive ones.

4. Adapt your mix of media. Think in terms of owned media for the portable brand and paid media as a brand catalyst.

In summary . . . remember that customers always evolve. Be ready to innovate on their terms as CNN has done. And marketers need to change the pace at which we learn and adapt. We must constantly learn — and quickly.

What makes it a GOOD brand?

Being a genuinely good brand takes more than a widely used product and an ubiquitous global presence. Though there is no precise formula, what the ten good brands on our list have in common is a penchant for imagination, innovation, environmental responsibility and social consciousness.

Their products and services don’t just serve a basic need, but instead help as a tool to improve people’s lives. Several companies have stayed strong, maintaining their positions from last year with continued innovation, while others on the list have jumped into prominence through offering creative solutions and ground breaking new business models.

How does a "BIG AD agency" look like?

"An advertising agency is not an office. It's not even from this world. It's a place of culture, arts and good taste where details are food for the brain"

Clients go to agencies to get more. More arms, more hands, more ears, more brains, more talent, more solutions as apposed to stress and headaches. On other words clients want greatness. For this reason an agency must make sure it’s up to standards to achieve this goal.

There are some great agencies a little around the world like JWT New York, McCann London but i propose you to see TBWA Los Angeles for the single reason that the dream is some how there. ENJOY.

Look also at this twitter post to see some pictures of big beautiful agencies: http://yfrog.com/4i383ij

How to motivate the ADagency team?

Advertising as I often tell my team is a job for masochists.

Not many jobs in the world have to face as many "NO" as in the advertising world. (Even if I think I found a way to combat that problem... I will talk about it in another post.)

To face the "NO" that make part of our business a team "must" be motivated to arrive come back over and over again with great work.

To fight this reality i found out that happiness makes wonders so i created some internal events that keep everybody in the expectation for what will happen next.

Let me give you some examples of this events i do in regular bases (every week):

1# I have a wall that from time to time i post the pictures of everybody in the agency. I chose a subject and people must come to the studio to pose under that same subject.

The next week i will use the nike application: http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/becomemars/

It will be fun ;-D

2# Take the pet for a walk. I take balloons and i draw animals on it. After everybody goes around taking the pet for a walk. Very often we finish in the restaurant with our "pets" (the best moments ever). Look at the last pet alive :-P

3# Star academy in the agency it's a classic i can't live with out. I assure you we are very good advertisers but very bad singers and we love it. The drill is simple a song will be chosen and people must memorize the lyrics. A day will be schedule and during one hour or so the people that applied will do the best... possible. The rest of the agency will be there to vote. Memorable every-time.

4# I got this movie from a friend of mine that works at Ogilvy. I'm planning to do something like this to present the team on the next pitch. Enjoy

/// All this seems crazy and stupid, I know. But i assure you it work wonders on the team moral.

Back to new media.

We have been looking out for new media since ever.
The problem is that this industry (advertising) is so fast that we don't even realize that new medias become old the very next day after coming out.

It's important to have fresh new medias to work with and this digital era is really exciting and i am in-loved by it but, as i continue saying to my team, it's the experience you pass to your consumer that matters. Important is to be able to provide a sensation on the artwork you do. If it is with old media or new media i don't care. The thing is to call the attention and if possible to make them react.

There's a small exercise I use:

Imagine you are alone in the middle of a crowd. Now, shout the message you are working on. If the reaction is: "Tell me more!" than you are in the good way. If not... you need to go back to pen & paper.

Keep it simple guys and focus on what is really important.
In the end-of-the-day it's our client product that matters.