On Shoots

I love shoots. You get to watch as your little idea baby comes to life. Sure they're stressful. Sure things don't always go as planned. But that's life. You just roll with the punches and hope for the best.

We're currently shooting the second installment of a new campaign for our biggest client. The first installment was shot in January. It was a good shoot and the spots turned out nice. But it's only four months later and this shoot has a completely different feel to it. It's looser, the energy is higher and the scripts are wittier. And it'll definitely show in the end.

Why do I feel more confident this time around?

Experience. We've shot this campaign once before and we've learned from it. And now we get to build on the foundation we set last time around. As the saying goes, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." We've learned and it'll show in the finished spots.

Ownership. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this round of work. And a lot of battles were fought to make this next round the best it could possibly be. When that much heart goes into the work on the front end, there's a lot more ownership for making it awesome on the back end.

Energy. The energy this round is through the roof. From agency to client to director and casting, everyone is excited about this round of work. There was excitement last round, but it was nowhere near the levels it is right now. And when everyone is this energized, the work will be to.

Needless to say, I'm definitely excited to see how everything turns out. And hopefully when it hits the airwaves this summer, you'll all be excited to see it to.

On Meaning

Everything is subjective. Different people see the same thing in different ways. Everyone brings their own perspective into situations. That’s where meaning comes from. And if you’re trying to communicate with someone different than yourself, you need to figure out what matters to them. You need to take into account how they view certain situations. You need to understand that meaning changes from person to person.

This is my 50lb post. I’ve hit my goal of losing 50lbs and I did it in 5 months. And if you’ve never had to lose that much weight or if you’ve never struggled with weight, 50lbs probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to you. And that’s fine. But to someone like me, it means everything. So what does 50lbs mean to me?

It means size 4 jeans instead of size 20.
It means medium shirts instead of XL.
It means confidence instead of embarrassment.
It means shopping for clothes can be fun.
It means working out is no longer a chore but a way of life.
It means pride when I look in the mirror.
It means fitted clothes instead of baggy clothes.
It means sounder sleep.
It means knowing I have self-control.
It means hard work does pay off.
It means standing out for the right reasons.
It means learning to take compliments.
It means no longer using weight as an excuse.
It means knowing I’m worth it.
It means a happier, healthier, more confident me.

Losing weight isn’t about hitting a certain number, but about being healthy. So maybe all those products and services that help people reach a healthier lifestyle should remember and market the rewards of being healthy. Because at the end of the day, it isn’t about a being a certain weight. It’s about so much more.

So when you’re talking about the benefits of your product and service, make sure you understand what those benefits actually mean to your target. Don’t assume what you perceive as the benefit is the same thing they do. After all, meaning changes person to person.

On Worth

Worth determines whether or not someone will purchase something. It determines whether they'll devote their time. It determines whether they spread the word. Worth is important. So you need to make sure you are marketing in a way that proves worth to your audience.

Is the product worth the cost?
Is the convenience worth the lower quality?
Is the message worth 30 seconds of their time?
Is the result worth the hassle?
Is the destination worth the travel?
Is the company worth the loyalty?

You need to be able to make logical arguments that position your product or services worth. Because at the end of the day, if the customers aren't convinced it's worth it, they aren't going to use it.

On Expertise

Everyone is an expert of something. The key is figuring out what your expertise are and leveraging them when it's relevant.

I'm an expert in lots of things. Most of my expertise won't help much in the grand scheme of things, but you never know. Here's my partial list:

Expert in procrastination.
Expert in getting things done at the last possible minute.
Expert in navigating to new and unknown locations.
Expert in quoting Ace Ventura When Nature Calls.
Expert in passing cars in high traffic.
Expert in using a George Foreman grill.
Expert in spending money at Target.
Expert in stumbling upon interesting stuff on the Internet.
Expert in driving a manual.
Expert in HGTV programming.
Expert in coffee consumption.
Expert in the stretch of I-35 from Kansas City to Fort Worth.
Expert in efficiently getting through airport security.
Expert in sleeping in on Saturdays.
Expert in Photo Hunt.
Expert in looking at things from different perspectives.
Expert in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
Expert in getting places on time.

And that's just for me, a person. Imagine how many expertise a brand could find, claim and leverage. But when you claim expertise for yourself or a brand you need to make sure they are relevant and true. And then back it up with all you have.

On Learning to Read Minds

Welcome to the Faux Expert's Free Internet Mind-Reading Course where you will learn to read the minds of others in three simple steps. The process takes some practice, but the results will astound you!

How to Read Minds
Step 1: Make eye contact with the person whose mind it is you wish to read.

Step 2: Vocally state aloud the information you wish to learn when reading the individual's mind. This will usually, but not always, take the form of a question. Make sure you state your request loud enough to be heard, otherwise it may be misinterpreted.

Step 3: Listen to the information being transmitted from their mind. The thoughts will most likely come vocally, so make sure your ears are ready to hear the response.

Troubleshooting Tips
• If the response you receive is unclear or seems dishonest, repeat Step 2, revising your information request if necessary.
• If you wish to probe deeper for more information from the individual's mind, repeat the process requesting the new information.

That's it. Now go forth and read minds!

On Lots of Things

On Communication
The only thing worse than miscommunication is no communication at all.

On Loyalty
If you don't have their backs, don't expect them to have yours.

On Telepathy
If you don't actually say it, you can't expect them to hear it.

On Ego
Thinking you're the best doesn't make you the best.

On Hiring
Hire people who are better than you and you'll get better work.

On Bad Days
A bad day can only last 24 hours.

On Bad Days

Sometimes a day comes along that infuriates you so much you want to throw your hands up and quit. It happens to everyone. It happens in any occupation. It happens at big companies and it happens at small companies. It just happens.

So what do you do?

You go home. You unplug. And you go do something that'll make you happy. And then you go to bed.

And the next day, you wake up to a clean slate. You forget about yesterday. Forget about how bad it was. You find a way to just move on.

Moving on is as easy or as hard as you decide it'll be. Because it is a choice. You either choose to dwell or you choose to move on.

I'm wired to dwell. Most people are. It's an ego thing. But you can change that. You can decide that the anger and frustration aren't worth your energy. It takes time to reprogram your thinking. I've been working at it for awhile now, and it's still tough for me to not dwell on a bad day. But I know the anger isn't worth it in the end so I keep trying.

Tomorrow I'm starting over. And hopefully it'll be a better day. But if it isn't, I'll try again on Friday.

On Brand Loyalty

It's funny because until recently I've never really been loyal to specific brands. Well I've been a loyal Apple fan and Jeep fan for years, but that was the extent of it.

But ever since I've been reprioritizing different aspects of my life, I've become loyal to a lot of new brands.

My new more healthy lifestyle has made me loyal to General Mills cereals, specifically plain Cheerios. I felt like I was cheating on General Mills when I bought some Kellogg's Corn Flakes last night. Both brands are great for the health-conscious. The front of the boxes spell out the nutritional information and even better than that, neither have sacrificed serving sizes to get the calories down.

I've also become extremely loyal to KitchenAid. I have loads of shiny new appliances in my apartment to help with all the cooking I'm doing these days. And KitchenAid has become my go-to brand. They're solid appliances that look great. The aesthetic side of KitchenAid is probably what keeps drawing me in.

24HF and BodyBugg are probably my top brands right now. 24HF is convenient, but most importantly the staff is wonderful. They know me by name, they know what my goals are and they keep tabs on my progress. Awesome.

BodyBugg has been a God-send. Seriously. I love it that much. It has helped that much. If I'm not wearing my BodyBugg, I don't feel whole. That's what every brand what's to be to it's customers. That's what BodyBugg is to me.

Other brands I've built a loyalty with recently are Nintendo. Love Wii Fit. Laughing Cow. Hy-vee for it's health food section. Gap won my loyalty with their Long & Lean jeans.

I guess my point is that all these brands have been a huge part of my journey these past few months. So now all these brands hold a special place in my heart. Sounds cheesy, sure. But it's true. And I'm sure they're all stoked to have a new loyal customer that'll keep coming back for more.

On the Agencies (and People) that Inspire Me

Since it's Follow Friday, I thought I'd give a shout out to the shops I follow on Twitter, but more importantly the shops I follow everyday to keep me inspired to do good work. So here they are, in no particular order:

Mullen
@edwardboches

Wexley School for Girls
@Wexley

CP+B
@cpbgroup
@bogusky

rethink
@Rethinknow

BooneOakley
@booneoakley

McGarrah Jessee
@mcgarrahjessee

Cole+McVoy
@ColleMcVoy

W+K
@FakeDanWieden
@WiedenKennedy

Victors and Spoils
@VictorsnSpoils

AKQA
@AKQA

The Martin Agency
@MartinTweets

R/GA
@RGA

TBWA
@TBWA

On Listening

Everyone thinks they're a pretty good listener, but the truth is that very few people actually are. We need to all work on becoming much better listeners if we want to become more efficient in our jobs.

A lot of time is wasted by not listening. Or maybe it's wasted by not listening to the right people. We all know that we need to listen to what our bosses say. We all know we need to listen to what our clients say. But a lot of the time we aren't listening to what each other are saying.

We aren't listening to the people who touch the projects each and every day. We aren't listening to the consumers who actually use the products and services we advertise. And we aren't listening to coworkers who have already spent the time and energy thinking through the task at hand.

So we need to start listening. Start really listening. Because maybe then we wouldn't waste a couple weeks coming to the same conclusion that someone else already has. We wouldn't waste time on strategies that are flawed. And we wouldn't waste time rehashing the same things again and again and again.

Everyone is an expert in something. Everyone has something to bring to the table. The key is listening to what other people are saying. Listening to the insights and ideas that other people have.

When we become better listeners, we'll also become more efficient at solving the problems we need to solve.

On Plussing the Work

My Creative Director and I have been talking a lot lately about the notion that everyone who touches a project should make it better. Think about that for a second. You have an entire agency where everyone contributes one thing to making the project better, to plussing the work.

Account Service and Planning would contribute better insights on briefs. Media would contribute unique vehicles to deliver the message. Art Directors and Copywriters would contribute fresher, more strategic ideas. Creative Directors would add even more fresh thinking to those ideas. Directors and photographers would add their expertise and insights to the project, as would editors and so forth and so on. The work would get better with every person who touched it.

Here's the most important thing: sometimes your contribution might be nothing more than acknowledging that you don't have something to add to make it better. Sometimes that'll be the case, which is okay. But don't feel like you have to contribute just to contribute. If you can't make the idea better, acknowledge that and let the process move forward.

The saying goes if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Well the same principle applies here. If you don't have anything good to add, don't add anything at all.

On Leadership

There is a big difference between being a boss and being a leader.

A boss does what needs to be done to get the task at hand accomplished. They aren't concerned with fresh thinking, new approaches or employee morale. They simply want to get the job done so they can collect their paycheck.

Leaders, on the other hand, inspire. They look for the best ideas, wherever those may be. They understand that their role is to help everyone do the job to the best of the their abilities. They appreciate unconventional thinking. They reward employees who contribute. They don't sit back and wait for a problem to appear before they tackle it. They accept that they don't have all the answers, that they aren't always the best person for the job. Because at the end of the day, they know it isn't about them and what they can bring to the table. They know it's what the entire company can do to produce better work for better results.

Advertising thrives on leaders. Agencies rise and fall based on their leadership. Rising stars are born because of strong leadership.

As agencies restructure to keep up with the new technology and media, they need to remember that their agency's success will ultimately stem from the effectiveness of their leadership. If those at the top are worried about their egos, their legacies and their role in the new structure, the agency will suffer. Right now agencies need leaders. They need people who listen, who inspire and who do it for the good of the agency, not for the good of the their wallets and egos.

On Priorities

Advertising is not the most important thing in your life. Let me say it again. Advertising is not the most important thing in your life.

Family, friends, health, happiness. All those should be higher priorities than your career in advertising. That's sometimes a tough thing to remember.

I love this job. I love this industry. But for years my entire focus was on breaking into this industry. Then once I made it my focus shifted to proving I belong here. But recently my focus changed yet again. This time it shifted from consuming my life to loving my job.

There's a big difference between being passionate about something and letting it consume your life. Passion is good. Passion keeps you energized. It keeps you pushing to be your best. But when you mistake that passion towards you job for life as a whole then there will be sacrifices. Sacrifices of time spent with family and friends, and most importantly sacrifices of your well-being.

This just recently clicked for me. And since I realized that I loved advertising but didn't live for it, I've focused a lot more of my attention on my family, friends, health and happiness. Perhaps best of all, now that I don't live for my job, I find myself loving my job even more.

Part of the reason I have this blog is to keep it that way. To keep me from taking all this to bed with me at night. Because when I finish my work and leave the office for the day, I want to go live my life. I don't want to live my work. And neither should you.

On Seeing the Big Picture

I notice more and more that people are losing sight of the big picture, instead spending all their time worrying about the details that don't really matter in the end.

A lot of time is spent changing words from delicious to tasty or from big to large when what really matters is whether it's on strategy. A lot of time is spent in meetings about deliverables when it can be better be spent on coming up with stronger ideas. A lot of time is spent on worrying about being politically correct when the focus should be on effectiveness.

Now don't get me wrong, details matter. Details are what separate the good from the great. But when you devote that much time and worrying to the details, you can lose sight of the big picture. And in the end, the message matters more than the execution.

In portfolio school we were told again and again that concept is king. CONCEPT IS KING. If worrying about the wording and the colors and the logo size and any of those other details takes away from the concept, then something is wrong. And that's not me being a creative, fighting for my craft. That's me understanding that the concept, the message, is what's doing the heavy lifting.

So the next time you catch yourself worrying about the little things, stop and ask yourself if it's really that important in the grand scheme of things. Choose to spend your time and talents on making the message better instead of wasting it worrying about all the little things that consumers may or may not notice in the end. After all, at the end of the day all that matters is whether or not consumers understand the message.

On Briefs

Briefs make or break assignments. Seriously. They are that important.

But a lot of times it feels like writing the brief is an afterthought. The one thing is actually ten things. The strategy doesn't exist. The creatives have no insight to work off of. I think a lot of times we aren't sure what is helpful to include in the brief. So instead of leaving out something that may somehow possibly spark something, we include it. And we end up with a three page brief full of useless information. So how do we make briefs better?

Keep them short and to the point. And frame them around the problem the client needs solved.

Here are a couple strategies I've come across on a brief lately:

"Stop guessing and give that special person something he or she will REALLY want - a gift card."

"________ is pleased to introduce ________ as the newest member of our family of products. ________ is another solution to make your mealtime quick and easy. It utilizes ________ technology which allows customers to have a delicious, fully-cooked meal in four minutes. No need to boil water, no fuss and no clean up."

Neither of these help frame a problem that needs to be solved for the client.

In middle school and high school I participated in a program called Future Problem Solvers*. It was an international competition** around solving real world problems. There were six steps in the problem solving process. I sometimes find myself using these same steps when I'm trying to tackle an assignment.

Step 1: Identify Challenges Analyze the situation and identify the challenges. With advertising, this step comes from listening and working with the client. What problems are they facing that need to be solved? Do they need to push a certain product? Improve their customer service? Do damage control? Promote good will?

Step 2: Select an Underlying Problem Select the most important challenge to solve. Out of all the clients ideas or concerns, what is the one most important issue that the agency can help them tackle at this time?

Step 3: Produce Solution Ideas Produce solutions that will solve the underlying problem. Come up with solutions for the client. It might be a TV campaign. It might be cause branding. Maybe it's a microsite. Or maybe it's simply sitting down with them and redefining their company's goals.

Step 4: Generate and Select Criteria Generate criteria and that evaluate the potential or merit of the different solutions.

Step 5: Apply criteria Use the criteria to evaluate the most promising solutions. How will we measure our solutions? How well do the solutions we're providing answer the concerns of the client?

Step 6: Develop an Action Plan Improve upon the best solution and describe the actions necessary for the implementation of the solution. How do we execute our solutions?

The brief is steps 1 and 2. The brief needs to state what the problem is in the most distinct way possible. In the competition we had to phrase our underlying problems with "In what ways might we" or "How might we" to keep it open ended and simple.

So for the gift card example above it might be "How might we promote our company's gift cards?" With the new product example, it might be "In what ways might we show customers how quick and easy using ________ makes mealtime?"

Phrasing the challenge in this manner allows all the departments within the agency to tackle the problem through their area of expertise. Media might have a unique take on the most effective places to reach people looking for convenience at mealtime. PR might have ideas on garnering support through the media partnerships focused on quick and easy meals. Creative might not be limited to print and TV but focus their efforts to placements in grocery stores and outside fast food places.

The point is to keep the brief simple and relevant. Don't bog it down with unnecessary information. Provide customer and client insight and provide the problem we need to tackle. Then let's figure out how to solve that problem.




*Ms. Fite would be so proud that I remember all this.
**I got 6th place internationally, in case you're interested.

On Collaboration

I've got this strange idea to change things up. Let's collaborate. I mean actually collaborate.

A lot of agencies are so compartmentalized that collaboration doesn't exist. Account service does their job then passes it off to media who does their job who passes it off to creative who does their job and in the end you have an execution that may or may not be good, but it does the job. Would the results be different if instead of passing the job from department to department we all collaborated on it to find the best solution? I think so.

What if the second a client handed us a problem (as in this product isn't selling enough or we want to run this promotion but don't know how to market is) we all got together to find the solution? What if we all had a say every step of the way. Creative helps with strategy and media. Media helps with creative. You get the point.

Not only would this be a more efficient process, but I'm pretty certain it would also net better results. Better creative. Better media purchases. And even perhaps happier clients.

On Rebranding

Whether you're rebranding yourself, your company or your product I have one simple piece of advice:

Quit talking about what you what to accomplish and GO DO IT.

Seriously, if you're rebranding yourself just do it. Who do you want to be? Successful? Enroll in classes. Healthy? Hit the gym. Happy? Do the things that make you happy.

Same goes for a company. If you want to be an interactive agency you have to learn, and more importantly embrace interactive. You can't just say it's who you are – you actually have to do it. You want to be a creative shop? Awesome. Quit talking about it and start fighting for it. Fight to come up with the best ideas, fight to produce innovative work and fight to sell fresh thinking. Talking about being a creative agency and actually being a creative agency are two completely different things. No, you can't rebrand the company over night. No, it won't be an easy thing to do. It'll take restructuring. It'll take commitment. It'll take a new perspective on things. But if it's what you really want to be as a company then do it.

Talking is the easy part. Actually doing it is where you'll find your results. Simple as that.

On Iowa

John Kinsella might be the dumbest fictional character ever. Who in their right mind would confuse Iowa with heaven?

I recently spent 36 hours in small town Iowa. It was supposed to be 48 hours but I thought it best to leave the first chance I had. Now, I'm sure Iowa is a fine state. Wikipedia tells me that it's the Food Capital of the World because of its insanely large agricultural impact. It's also apparently one of the safest states to live in. And we have Iowa to thank for Johnny Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody, Ashton Kutcher, John Wayne and Elijah Wood. So the state definitely has some things to hang its hat on. But it still isn't a place that should be easily confused with heaven.

The Iowa I visited taught me a few things I'd like to pass along. Here's what I learned.

1. The words "pray for me" act as a period, ending any thought. Examples include, "I'm running to the restroom, pray for me" and "I'm going to turn on the coffee machine, pray for me." How would I best use this lovely new punctuation? "I'm in Iowa, pray for me."

2. Neon colored windbreakers are still cool. Especially if you're female, 60 and hanging at the bar on a Sunday night.

3. Skunk odor neutralizes manure odor. Don't ask, just accept that it's true.

4. Pizza is the only food you can eat on a Sunday night. All restaurants are closed, except the six pizza places.

5. Eminem "songs" anger the locals. As do songs about Barack Obama.

6. Happy Hour is from 9am to 11am. Yes, you read that right.

7. There's not much to see in Iowa. You know, unless you think miles and miles of farmland is something worth seeing.

And the last important thing I learned, perhaps the most important of them all is...

8. Iowa makes Missouri look cool. 'Nuff said.

Like I said, I'm sure Iowa is a fine state. I'm sure some people love it. I'm also sure that I am not one of those people. And I'm pretty sure I'm not headed back any time soon.

On Knowing Your Role

Art directors art direct.
Copywriters write.
Designers design.
Creative directors direct the creative.

It's not rocket science. And yet somehow people seem so easily confused by it all.

Know your role.

Art directors art direct. If you're an art director, you're allowed to have opinions about the writing. But, you aren't the writer. You weren't hired to be the expert on writing. Know that. Accept that.

Copywriters write. If you're a copywriter, you will surely have opinions about the art direction. Good for you. Share them. But then trust the art director, you know, the one hired for their art direction expertise.

Designers design. If you're partnered with a writer, let them write. If the design calls for a shorter headline, ask the writer to shorten the headline. Don't take it upon yourself to rewrite it. Because you're a designer, not a writer.

Creative Directors. This one's a little more tricky because they have the background of either art direction or writing but are supposed to be proficient in both. Or at least proficient enough to know what's good. So Creative Directors direct. They offer advice, direction and insight on the writing, art direction and design. Because their job is to spot a good idea and help make it a better one.

Honestly, I think it'd be best to be proficient in all of these things. We are an industry that works in teams, so you should be knowledgeable enough to form opinions about the whole spectrum of the project. I'm an art director who is never short on opinions about the writing. But you know what? At the end of the day I accept that the writers were hired as such because they're damn good writers. If I were a better writer than them, I would've been hired as a writer too.

On Awesome Things

A quick post on awesomeness. Because sometimes we need to be reminded that life is indeed awesome.

Every morning I read a bunch of blogs to get caught up on all things advertising-related and non-advertising-related. My favorite blog to check daily just might be 1000 Awesome Things.

Why is it my favorite? Because it's awesome.

Some of my favorite awesome things from the blog include, but aren't limited to:
• Locking people out of the car and pretending to drive away
• Sleeping in new bed sheets
• Planning for snoozes I do this every morning to get my three snoozes in.
• Watching ‘The Price Is Right’ when you’re at home sick
• Getting in a line just before it gets really long
• Finding out your birthday is on a Friday or Saturday next year This year mine's on a Friday. In three Fridays to be exact!
• The smell of freshly cut grass
• The moment at a restaurant after you see your food coming from the kitchen and before it lands on your table
• The moment at a concert when the crowd figures out what song they’re playing
• Coming back to your own bed after a long trip
• Learning a new keyboard shortcut My mom was super excited about learning the keyboard command to make heart icons this week. Sadly, she now uses one in EVERY Facebook status update.
• When you’re in the fastest moving lane in a traffic jam

Awesomeness is everywhere people!