the fruits of imagination

Users put Microsoft on notice, via Twitter

Whether you love it or hate it, Microsoft Outlook is the ubiquitous email client for millions of cubicled office dwellers. In a great example of the power of social networking, fans of the email client have banded together in the hope of getting the software giant to rethink it's recently announced upgrade.

A quick Whois search revealed that a David Geiner, of Email Standards Project fame, is leading the charge with the recently launched FixOutlook.org. The slick site pulls tweets from the Twittersphere (I think I just coined a new term!) and displays them alongside the person's profile picture. Any tweet with the fixoutlook.org url will be pulled in and displayed on the page in an attempt to get Microsoft's attention. Based on the amount of press the press has received in just 24 hours, I'd say they have it by now.

As of now, the site has over 17,000 tweets which is almost double what it had when I took the screen cap above this morning.

This ingenious little tie in with the well known social network makes giving your input to Microsoft as easy as sending out a tweet. And starting a conversation with their most loyal fans to help improve one of their best selling products should be should be exactly what Microsoft wants to do. For that matter, any company from Audi to Kelloggs could start promote this kind of engagement with their customers.

By launching this site, with its smart integration into a well known social platform, Mr. Geiner and the team at the Email Standards Project could very well change the course of Outlook in 2010.

Source: Fix Outlook.org

A La Cart – Designing Toronto’s newest brand

Here at Leo, we love our fair city of Toronto.  So when were asked to help out on a new project aiming to bring diversity to the street food of the city, we were more than thrilled to help out.

The Toronto A La Cart program, run by the City, is meant to bring the diverse ethnic foods of Toronto out of the restaurants and on to our streets, to offer a healthier alternative to the hot dog, for those who want it, and to show that we are a city sophisticated and multicultural enough to present its residents with a kaleidoscope of street food offerings.

 

With this opportunity in mind, we set out to come up with an identity for the project.  The resulting graphic design we developed is grounded by the number four.  Four has great significance in terms of food and diversity.  The four corners of the world (north, south, east, west), the four taste sensations (sweet, sour, salty, bitter), the four main utensils used when eating (fork, spoon, knife, chopsticks).  It uses four circles, symbolizing plates, and grounds the utensils within them to create a graphic representation of the word ‘Cart’.  The vibrant colour palette was inspired by actual vegetables and spices to reflect different cultures and ethnicity.

 

The identity can be found on the actual street carts throughout Toronto. I decided to go sample some down at

Nathan Phillips Square today…my picture doesn’t accurately reflect the crowds.  There’s nothing like some good chicken Biryani and a fresh piece of fruit to enjoy out in the sun.  I could get used to this.  Hopefully some carts will pop up near our offices mid-town!

conversations with ourselves

Alternate media. Traditional media.  That both marketers and agencies refer to any media that falls outside the realms of TV, print, and outdoor as ‘alternative’ suggests at best an inward looking and dangerous perspective.

Q: Alternative to whom?
Q: Unconventional by whose standards and whose behaviour?

The pressing reality for most brands today is that product differentiation can be erased overnight and brand messaging easily duplicated. But the creation of purpose driven acts that deliver layers of the brand experience may be a last source of differentiation. What many call ‘alternative’ media today  - and what I might call a brand act - has in been in play since 2nd century B.C. The circus maximus was buzz marketing, conversation creation and stunt writ large for brand Rome. The first known example of guerrilla marketing is to found in Ephesus (modern day turkey) in the form of graffiti advertising a brothel. Place based media in the form of architecture has at its best, implied much more than mere form as in the case of Beijing: Contemporary Superpower. Alternate media…how about a conversation about context as a media in and of itself.

Pitching (and Winning) New Business

You're in the room. In a few moments the client will be there. The AV is setup and (thankfully) working after a few failed attempts. Your team is nervously ruffling their notes or mouthing their scripts to the nearest patch of carpet. Yes, it's Pitch Day.

The tension inside the pitch room is palpable. It's a mixture of stress, adrenaline and butterflies. While my role was only a small part of the larger presentation, watching all our hard work come together in a flawless 27 minutes of power point prowess was quite a sight.

While we didn't end up winning the business (therefore making my record 0-1), it was not all a loss. It took Leo Burnett many years of hard work to even get an RFP let alone get in the room. So that on its own was a small success.

In my opinion, the secret to success is to show your potential clients that you not only have the muscle and the foresight to get the job done, but that you work well as a team and could potentially do great things together. Chemistry, in advertising, between clients and agency peeps is of the utmost importance for longterm success - even more so that than the work itself. If McDonald's isn't happy with the work Cossette is creating, they'll ask Cossette to change it or hire a new creative team who can. But they won't fire them.

Media Gold Mine: The Full Page Newspaper Ad

The full page newspaper ad is the holy grail of newspaper advertising for media buyers. When the client says newspaper, the rest of the room immediately visualizes how to get a full page ad out of it. But, from my side of the keyboard, there couldn't be a worse media buy.

Don't get me wrong, love a good newspaper ad. But people read newspapers for the content, not the advertisements. Watch someone read a newspaper on the subway/train/bus/plane tomorrow morning (preferably a good looking person so you don't get weirded out by it). They read the articles and (at best) skim the ads and not the other way around. If the ad isn't in or near the content, it will be completely ignored.

What do you think? Am I wrong? Are full page newspaper ads generally well read by the consumer?

Mac nerds cry foul over new PC ad

While Mac nerds across the interwebs are busy crying foul, the rest of us are nodding our heads approvingly. Finally, the plights of trying to buy a computer on a budget are being showcased.

If you're in that boat, we all know Apple is not the place to start.

Luckily, I'm unbiased.

4 ways to improve your retail strategy

Malls. A fertile pit of loud advertising and over saturated consumers. The last refuge for ads that don’t bother connecting with their audience but prefer to shout at them. But even with all the mayhem, the retailers that take the time to understand how people shop will come out top.

Apple has become the poster boy for the retail space. With their big, open and inviting spaces, they always seem to draw big crowds. But there are several other retailers that do well in the world of malls and they all seem to do the same things well.

1. Sense of Urgency

My largest complaint with retail advertisers is that they feel the urge to add “a sense of urgency” to their ads. In reality, people walking through the mall do things on their schedule; not yours. If the sale ends in 15 minutes but they are straight broke, they probably won’t partake.

2. Confusing offers

If you are in charge of pricing, listen up. Professional advertisers go to great lengths to ensure that their messages are simple for the consumer to comprehend. They understand that in the retail environment, you have the time it takes for a consumer to glance at your poster to get your message across. That automatically means anything longer than “SALE 50% off” will be a complete flop. No one is going to stop and read “50% off only on select items after a Mail-in rebate and oh by the way if you buy this specific shirt in medium you will get $.50 off our hottest sneaker with a free sticker”.

3. The in-store environment

Your in-store environment, in my book, can do two things. It can have signage that educates the consumer on what they are looking at. For instance, at Bell stores, when you pick up a phone off the wall, the screen next to it automatically flips to information about the phone in your hand.

If your signage is not doing that, then it should be aspirational; Apple does this well. Apple makes you believe that if you get a Macbook you’ll be as cool as the Mac nerds in the store, make professional home movies, create bombastic presentations and flip through the coolest playlist known to man. Call me nerdy but some days I’ll walk into an Apple store just to admire it and the crowd that has come to massage all their products. It’s an orgy of optimism, technology and cool.

4. Empowerment

If you’re in a store, and the sales person is unwilling or unable to help, it is the greatest turn off of all. Most people (ie everyone who knows less about what you sell than you do) would rather talk to a real person than read a sign explaining a product. If that person can’t provide an appropriate level of service, you’re dead in the water and no sign can help you.

You’re number one job, apart from making pretty posters, is to ensure that your sales people are brand evangelists that can help your customers understand why you are worth their investment. Your shirts are organic, your phones are the latest and greatest, your computers make you look cool at Starbucks… Whatever it is, your sales people have to preach it and be able to deliver on it.

Beyond that, there isn’t much I can add other than simplicity is king and if you follow that rule you’ll be ahead of 75% of the pack. Oh and if you really want to succeed, I’d take an hour and sit outside your store to see how real consumers react with it.

Yes you, not your intern.

what do the numbers tell you?!?

"where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge, and the knowledge we have lost in information?"

Dr. Richard Smith paraphrasing T.S. Eliot, in a British Medical Journal editorial, 1991.

i think if there's a book just waiting to be penned it's one about 'marketing smack talk' - those myriad of statements in meetings meant to sound sage and wise....yet ring hollow and add little or no value to the conversation at hand.

my personal favourite rising to the top of the charts amidst the recession and looming uncertainty facing many products, brands, campaigns etc....is WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY? either (a) i need more medication, or (b) have taken way to much of the wrong medication, but last time i looked at a set of numbers they didn't utter a single syllable or revelation...they just sat there like a fat kid on a couch. for numbers to say anything useful at all really, one has actively place them in service of hypothesis, draw out implication and conclusion through comparison, juxtaposition, pattern recognition and some good hard thinking! the human psyche is far too complex and dynamic, as are peoples reactions to communications, as are brands... to be completely and quantitatively unraveled and explained away by point in time numbers alone. "just when you want it, you don't want it" as gershwin said.  And yet increasingly decisions are being made around tables on raw numbers alone without much considered analysis, sense of context or implication to those numbers. To mitigate risk or conversely unearth reward, numbers need interpretation. if there's one book that's worth picking up on this very subject - and i urge you to do so - it's The Sum of Our Discontent - Why Numbers Make Us Irrational by David Boyle. Next time you see copy test results, or indices, or ROI numbers (which are ever so vogue) don't ask what the numbers say...figure it out for yourself and take note of the context they're to be evaluated against and the social and psychological context that they were reported in...i guarantee it will cause you pause.

Microsoft to open store, Apple shrugs

Every time I walk into an Apple store, I am always confronted with a crowd. There's a feeding frenzy in our local Apple store even there's a blizzard outside and the rest of the mall is empty; it's like they're all trying to stay warm. Due to this unrivaled popularity, it's no surprise that Apple moved 4.4 million iPhones and 2.5 million Mac computers in Q1 of '09 according to the Financial Post.

Now Microsoft, a few years late, is a copycat jumping on the bandwagon with their own dreams of being king of the tech retail arena. The obvious question on every one's mind: What will they sell? Will it be an empty room with Vista boxes along the walls?

It's easy to see why Microsoft is chasing this down as it is a huge opportunity to reconnect with consumers long disenchanted with the brand and the product. But they need to take the time to get it right.

They need to inspire me and make me believe in them again. I want to play Xbox and I want to discover the Zune and I want to see Windows 7 on computers that at least rival the MacBook Pro. I want to spend hours on their website configuring and reconfiguring my perfect dream machine and I want to buy into their brand with the same ferocity that Mac addicts defend theirs.

I hope, for their sake, that they put on a good show.

Source: Fast Company, Financial Post

packing - the orphan of brand strategy

why is it that so many brands spend an inordinate amount of time micro managing advertising and yet so so little discussion occurs around packaging...sending so much 'ugly' and 'off strategy' to the shelves of our local markets? 

disproportionate amounts of time and energy are spent on defining brand strategy and tonality for traditional marketing medias and yet that conversation rarely if ever seems to migrate into the world of packaging where arguably the most trp and grp equivalents lie. there's no bigger billboard than shelf and no better frequency medium than your package moving in and out of the cupboard or fridge of your customer!
 
Republic of Tea gets it. Their Be Well line of teas not only conveys the premise and purpose of the product but also it's compelling benefit, while at the very same time managing to spin an entertaining and captivating story: Whatever your athletic abilities, this organic rooibos-based blend will help you get charged both physically and mentally. Simply put, health-enhancing rooibos is an antioxidant superstar. When teamed with these mighty herbs, it's downright formidable: Eleuthero, Chinese ginseng, and Ashwaganda contribute properties that may enhance stamina, mental performance and vitality.
packaging and design is advertising - maybe not in the form many agencies and clients think of as a critical media in and of itself - but it is and should be born out of the very same place that more traditional advertising is: the brand strategy and tonality. here's the plan: next brand discussion you find yourself in include packaging as a strategy and media...and see where the conversation goes. what the hell!

Creating Holistic Communications - Mplanet 2009

Creating Holistic Communications Strategy – Mplanet 2009

I was disappointed by the discussion on holistic communications, as the dialogue and ideas discussed on the topic seemed all too familiar (read re-run). The topic remains mired in tactical examples and talk points ranging from employee programs, sponsorship, experiential marketing and blogs. And unfortunately there was little discussion on STRATEGY – a discussion of brand ambition, brand idea (essence), and brand pov as fundamental starting points to the creation of effective and powerful holistic marketing communications. Without an integral conversation about strategy, it makes one wonder how brands can possibly select meaningful content, context and conversation in pursuit of growth.  This very omission is perhaps the real driver behind the many conversations I heard  about fatigue, confusion and trepidation around engaging in the overwhelming multiplicity of new and old touchpoints.  Just because the touchpoint exists doesn’t mean you should use it, and the feelings expressed won't go away until strategy provides the filter for informed choice.

Globlaization & the New Capitalism - MPlanet 2009

I had the distinct and humbling pleasure of hearing Mr. Kumar, Chairman of Tata Coffee and Vice Chairman of Tata Teas and Hotels, Tata Sons Ltd., share his thoughts on next gen capitalism.  Tata is first and foremost a global, diversified holding company and probably best known to us in the Americas as the new owner of luxury auto brand Jaguar. Mr. Tata spoke to his belief that the current economic collapse will and should lead to a new form of ‘capitalism’ built around several key themes:

1.    Affordability – as the key engine of innovation not cultural fit. The most fundamental issue facing the developing and  - increasingly as of late - developed world economies is one of income level vs. price of goods. This year, the company is launching the Tata Nano a $2,000 car – yes $2000 not a typo - which makes me wonder what plans Detroit has lying in wait to resuscitate itself!
 
2.    Ethics – “we must take that which is wrong and change it.”  The avarice and greed that has tipped the worlds economies into their current state of chaos require a “moral compass in imperialist times.” Mr. Kumar made a compelling case for the fundamental need to balance growth with ethics in the creation a new capital order. Two-thirds of Tata group foundation profits are donated to building interests that benefit the people and commerce of India…and I had to think very hard how many North American companies might pursue a fraction of that balance.

The concept of ‘capitalist balance’ is a compelling thought. It does fly in the face of the notion of ‘free market economy’ as CNBC pundits would describe it, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the issue.

Back to Marketing Basics - MPlanet 2009

Back to Basics...

Was one of the core tenants and themes presented by Anne Mulcahy – Chairman & CEO of Xerox Corporation at this mornings M-Planet opening in Orlando. I might have thought the topic de jour from one of the worlds pre-eminent tech companies would have been closer to their core business. Refreshingly however, the conversation focused on getting back to marketing basics instead of buzzword bingo. A relentless focus on the customer, smart strategy and a shared internal understanding of brand culture. If there was one mantra I hope everyone walks away with is customer focus. Under her leadership, the company has proactively invited their core customers right into the innovation labs to co-create products based on real market space needs and tangible pent up customer desire! Sounds simple, but how many product-producing organizations have you worked for or seen that actually put the person into or before the product in innovation and R&D?                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Things we would do without in 2009

Like many, I suspect the New Year brings a sense of renewal and reinvigoration, which more often than not disappears faster than the proverbial post vacation tan. Moving into 2009, a few things I’d love to see much less of as they share the same exact crippling properties as Superman's arch enemy Kryptonite:

1.) An over reliance on copy testing - advertising is both an art and science because it involves a collision between the pressing need for profit and the real requirement of magnetism, attraction and seduction born of creativity. I can't help but wonder what has happened to the value once lauded to marketing experience, intuition and strategic intent. Creative should not serve as a proxy for strategy – strategy is about making choices not compromise. This year lets get back to basics and develop sound strategies before asking creative to solve the sins of omission.
2.) 2009 predictions - as the great physicist Neils Bohr said..."Prediction is extremely difficult. Especially about the future."
3.) Questionable qualitative - a recipe for success: recruit one dozen people who may or may not be expressive and articulate, place in a white room that has no physical, sensory or emotional connection to the topic at hand, add bad sandwiches, ask them to act naturally and think creatively, and question for one hour. As the enthusiasm grows year over year for measuring ROI, that measure should come to include Return On Insight: quite simply, did the investment uncover a human understanding that drives growth, changes behaviour and ignites ideation. Increasingly I see qualitative delivering truisms and basic observations more so than thought provoking insight. Did you hear..."teens love brands that connect with them on their own level"...pass it on.
4.) The ubiquitous 18-54 m/f target - every product or service - with the exception of oxygen quite possibly - does not appeal to each and every consumer, and each and every consumer is not of equal value to the brand. More often than not however, the target called 'everyone' finds it way insidiously into a brief. In trying to be all things to all people, more often than not many brands, products and creative executions become nothing to everyone. Proof positive: simply watch people while you're our shopping: how they dress, what they have on their ipod or zune, what they buy or how they wear it...rarely do people think of themselves as similar or aspire to be average. Average is 18-54 m/f and I doubt that's how many people think of themselves.

Advertising vs. Reinvesting

On the first day of my first internship, I sat down with the CEO for a quick orientation. During that short chart, he instilled in me the belief that the simplest idea always wins and that the journey to that insight is never an easy one. From that moment on, I was sold. For some it's the fast paced environment that gets them or maybe it's the excitement of seeing your work on the TV. For me, advertising forces me to challenge convention and apply my skill set to an ever evolving set of problems.

And yet, I find myself questioning it's relevance.

Sure, for commodities like Coke/Pepsi, Nike/Adidas and Shell/Esso it's a necessity as they live and die by market share. However in most cases, I find myself wondering why companies don't take their millions and reinvest in their products.

For most corporations, they use advertising/PR to fill in the gaps in their product and make it look sexy. Much like the sexy looking but actually shitty Shaun White Snowboarding.

What if a company like Microsoft took their $300,000,000 ad budget and put that into R&D on Vista; like Apple suggested. Would it have received a better response? What would happen if telecoms reinvested in their networks or provided high speed internet to rural areas instead of creating the Alltel guy? What if GM had put it's ad budget into the Volt program instead of marketing the Malibu? Or if Canadian politicians had donated their campaign funding to charity (since the election clearly meant nothing).

The bottom line is that advertising has been downgraded to a bandaid solution; one which takes the focus away from the actual problems. Advertising is meant to be a bridge to connect with consumers, not a blindfold to keep them in the dark.