NEW WAYS OF WORKING

THE TRADITIONAL WAY

Briefs focused on advertising as output

Archetypal lone creative genius

Linear process

Brief

Creative brief Burning the midnight oil Advertising solution

THIS APPROACH WORKED VERY WELL FOR A LONG TIME

but...

Consumers are avoiding advertising, creating personal firewalls: PVRs, internet ad-blockers etc.

It’s harder than ever to reach them: In 1965, 80% of 18-49 year olds could be reached with 3, 60 second TV spots. In 2002, it required 117 prime-time commercials to do the same

And when we do reach them, they are cynical: 76% of consumers don’t believe companies tell the truth in advertising (Yankelovich)

ADVERTISING IS INCREASINGLY LESS EFFECTIVE

Sean Parker: Facebook is cool that's what it's got going for it.

Mark Zuckerberg: Yeah.

Eduardo Saverin: You don't want to ruin it with ads because ads aren't cool.

Mark Zuckerberg: Exactly

THE NATURE OF OUR IDEAS IS CHANGING

From ideas

that ‘tell’

To ideas that DO

Ideas that DO - Ideas that offer utility

Ideas that DO - Ideas that provide entertainment

Ideas that DO - Ideas that build movements

Ideas that DO - Ideas that stimulate play

IDEAS THAT ‘DO’ DEMAND NEW TEAM STRUCTURES & PROCESSES

GENIUS IS STILL A REQUIREMENTBut a single genius is incapable of conceiving these sorts of ideas alone

Art Director Copywriter Art Director Copywriter Design Technology UX Media

From Creative Teams to Teams of Creators

TEAMS WORKING TOGETHER MORE ITERATIVELYCo-working sessions & frequent check-ins

SOME THOUGHTS ON HOW WE DELIVER IDEAS THAT ‘DO’

IDEAS THAT ‘DO’ PHASE 1. PROBLEM SOLVING

Defining the client’s problem and conceiving creative solutions to it. Solutions may be products and services, digital utilities, games, movements, sales tactics…

PROBLEM SOLVING EXAMPLE

Problem: A woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth every 90 seconds but the people whose advocacy and money we need to help (American moms) are unaware that the issue exists.

Solution - No Mother’s Day: Stimulate a conversation about maternal mortality amongst moms by asking them to forego their Mother’s Day as a show of solidarity with families around the world unable to celebrate.

IDEAS THAT ‘DO’ PHASE 2. PUBLICITY & PARTICIPATION

Publicizing these ideas and defining how people will participate with them. This will be a combination of traditional and non-traditional comms tactics

PUBLICITY & PARTICIPATION EXAMPLE

Publicity: A viral video featuring regular and celebrity moms explaining the initiative and sending people to Facebook to participate.

Participation: A Facebook page providing pre-written status updates for participants to spread around their social networks

PROCESS*

*Flexible dependent on project requirements

STAGE 1. PROBLEM-SOLVING WORKSHOP PREP

Problem-solving Brief

Planning defines the client’s problem and pulls together materials to stimulate a brainstorm that will answer it. These materials will be distilled into the problem-solving brief and shared in advance of the workshop.

STAGE 2. PROBLEM-SOLVING WORKSHOP

Small group workshop will discuss the problem and the stimulus and brainstorm solutions.

The group will decide which of the ideas from the workshop (+ others that bubble up in the days following) have the most promise.

STAGE 3. PUBLICITY & PARTICIPATION BRIEF

A few days after the workshop, the ‘chosen’ ideas will be written up as publicity & participation briefs – briefs setting out the user experience / customer journey, the channels ideas need to be executed in and how we intend to stimulate consumer participation. Different briefs will be assigned to different creative teams.

Publicity & Participation

Brief

STAGE 4. LEARN AND IMPROVE

Once we have completed the process we will discuss whether or not we feel it worked and how we feel it can be refined / improved