Of Zombies and fatty cigarettes…

UK ADVERTISING: Who can forget the fat dripping from cigarettes, the dead child brought back to life zombie-like or the pub that transforms into a car-crash scene? Some of the most strategically-sound and powerful campaigns of the last decade have emerged from the Public Sector. But to believe that the lessons they offer are only really applicable to those of us who work on Public health and information campaigns or at the Central Office of Information is deeply misguided.

Down The Rabbit Hole

When Mister Three Sixty first wrote about transmedia storytelling here, he didn’t realise what a rabbit hole he’d fallen into. Once in the hole, you find more and more people are talking and writing on the subject. Rather fewer of them are actually doing anything about it.

So here are some of the best examples of the thing in action;

• Star Wars – original movies and franchise, prequel movies, Clone wars animation, comic books, toys and on and on.
• Heroes – TV show, with weekly online comic (sponsored by Nissan), graphic novel , fictional website for Primatech, a front company in the series (sponsored by Cisco), ‘create your hero’ mobile phone competition (sponsored by Sprint), weekly online and mobile trivia games, blogs written by characters and on and on.

Entertainment properties do it well because media businesses own a range of platforms and have the impetus to extend their IP as widely as possible. Unfortunately this model isn’t exactly replicated in the marketing world.

Some good brand examples;

• Coca-Cola’s ‘Happiness Factory’ –a fictional world behind the original ad spot.
• Audi’s  ‘The Art of the H3ist’ – Alternate Reality Game meets Advertising.

Mister Three Sixty is still working out a practical framework for marrying business strategy with transmedia story development, but this chart from Gary Hayes seems like a promising startpoint. Thanks to Robbie and Sven for some good thinking and ideas – they really helped Mister Three Sixty’s journey.

Architects of Perfection: The agency of the future?

Unprecedented change in the marketing communications world is clearly putting agencies and clients under pressure to evolve. Although lots of the old models look broken, Mister Three Sixty doesn’t believe the new ones haven’t fully emerged yet. So what could the agency of tomorrow look like? Well it will still be about smart, creative, likable people. But what roles are required?

First, the people you still won’t be able to do without: 

1. Charming Client Service Director
2. Convincing Strategic Planner: Or maybe a Human Scientist; someone who cares about psychology and biology and behaviour and sociology an’ that but can also work it into a form that other people can work with.
3. A Scriptwriter. Specifically a writer versed on longer-form writing, I mean more than a Copywriter here, since where marketing is going requires someone who can think about big narratives, not just spots or executions.
4. An Interactive Art Director. The moving visual image will become even more important.
5. Technologist. Someone to open doors into new possibilities.
6. (Social) Media Relations Expert: Because Earned Media can be effective as hell and pretty cheap too.

I reckon that would be a good start, but to really rock, you’d also need:

1. An Experience Designer: So many things are designed without thinking about the people involved (from chairs, to urban centres, to websites). This doesn’t have to be the case.
2. A Data Analytics Guru: The data wave keeps growing and if Charlie don’t surf, he ain’t gonna win.
3. A Connections Media planner: Someone who can think creatively about how the medium and experience interact, not just a TGI monkey.
4. A TV Documentary Researcher: Someone who knows how to weave a great story and get the relevant people and places lined-up to tell it.

That’s it. If Mister Three Sixty doesn’t draw a line somewhere, it would be huge. It should be perfect. On paper…

What do you think? Who has Mister Three Sixty missed from the line-up? Where is the real talent going to be tomorrow?

Brand Narratives: What’s the story?

Stories are how we first learn about learn about the World. MRI research shows that as we read stories, our brains appear to simulate the scenes, actions and feelings we’re reading about.  So stories can build empathy between the storyteller and reader/listener.  This suggests that the power of narrative should be fairly interesting to anyone involved in communicating for brands right?

Mister Three Sixty has been doing a lot of reading recently on the theme of Transmedia Narratives. “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” (Henry Jenkins, MIT).

The Matrix is a classic example where key bits of information are conveyed through three live action films, a series of animated shorts, two collections of comic book stories, and several video games. Others working this vein include Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and JJ Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield).

This isn’t necessarily a new idea  (Faris has covered it in detail before) but it feels like an idea that is about to get much, much bigger. Transmedia narratives offer the opportunity to combine three interesting trends;

1. The idea that brands should be telling stories,
2. The layering of a brand’s messages accross different channels and platforms, allowing each to play to their strengths,
3. Our desire to retell, repurpose and remix stories themselves.

Mister Three Sixty thinks this will have a big knock-on effect for communications planning and creative development. Will the classically reductive approach to Creative Brief writing do the job when what may be needed are long-lasting and expansive mythologies.

Mister Three Sixty asked NYC-based Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, whether in his experience, it is possible to develop narratives from scratch for brands, rather than just exploiting entertainment content. “It is indeed possible for us to develop worlds without relying on pre-existing IP. In fact, we would prefer doing so, as it would allow us to infuse a persistent narrative with sensitivities to the strengths and weaknesses of an array of platforms from the very start.

Often we are forced to contend with the inherent limits of the properties we are given to work with, because they were created with linear narrative (a single movie or videogame) or interruptive narrative (a TV commercial) in mind.

On the other hand, when Mattel gave us Hot Wheels and told us the only requirement was that all 35 cars featured in their 35th anniversary celebration needed to be included, we were unleashed to create a fabulously successful series of IP’s for them, each piece of which was especially designed for the platform at hand”.

Mister Three Sixty thinks there is an interesting debate to be had here. Some questions for you:

• Do you think existing agency structures and skillsets are able to really build proper narratives and tell stories, as opposed to providing mere glimpses of stories e.g. condensed into a 30 second spot?
• Or will traditional agency structures be replaced by new types of agencies, able to develop a brand World replete with characters, story, backstory and chronology?
• Can any brand recount an engaging narrative over several years or is the idea of a transmedia narrative best suited to entertainment properties?
• Is this already being done right now, or are existing approaches more about layering and repetition across multiple channels rather than the telling a story?
• Who is best placed to write and develop the narrative and the world that supports it? PR agencies, film marketing companies, ad agencies, production companies, DM copywriters, digital design companies?

There’s more, so much more Mister Three Sixty could cover; the power of Archetypal characters, or the seven main universal plots…  but these can be the subject of another post.

Would really love to hear your thoughts…

The Recession Survival Guide

 Times are tough. There is pressure to cut communications spend. What should people working in Marketing and Communications do to ensure their brands survive the Downturn? McKinsey&Co argue that the two biggest managerial mistakes in Recessions are first; being surprised by the severity of the downturn, and second; being caught unawares by the recovery. So it seems wise to look back for any clues on what we should do in the present day. Problem is, very few were working in the same types of job in the recessions of 1974, 1980 or 1991 – there’s just not that much relevant experience to draw on.

Mister Three Sixty would like to transport you for a moment to the American Midwest during the Great Depression. Picture long lines of unemployed men queuing at soup kitchens; others are wandering from town to town searching desperately for work. With panic on Wall Street and declining sales it would take a brave manager to resist pressure from shareholders to cut marketing budgets and scale back on advertising and public relations.  What would you do? Would you do what Richard Dupree, President of P&G, did? He spotted a new opportunity and seized it with bravery. In fact, P&G have been doing the same thing in every Recession ever since.

Dupree’s genius was to focus on radio, the exciting new technology of the 1930’s. His new strategy was the ‘Soap Opera’. He knew consumers still needed to wash their clothes, whatever the economic climate, so the first foray into branded content was born. ‘Ma Perkins’ sponsored by Oxydol, launched in 1933. By 1939, P&G was sponsoring 21 radio programs, virtually doubling its radio spending every two years during the depression.

Nimble and astute

Recessions accelerate changes that are already taking place. We need to be nimble and astute enough to spot the patterns amongst the chaos and take advantage of them. 2009 is 150 years since the publication of The Origin of the Species. Darwin showed that species survive when they are robust enough to survive challenging environments but also adaptable enough to evolve. This is the simple answer to recession survival: Be tough but be prepared to change.

A Little More Conversation. A Little More Action.

Mister Three Sixty had the good fortune to join a seminar run by the the lovely people at the Berghs School of Communications  in Stockholm this week.   The event was part of a string of inspiring presentations during the week of the Swedish Golden Egg awards. Mister Three Sixty presented on one of his favourite themes, Advocacy.

It is all about the power of advocates in determining how brands get taken-up, imitated, bought and sold. There is a lot of talk about Word of Mouth but not much practical advice. Hopefully the ‘new brand mantra’ slides can help. Mister Three Sixty’s favourite bit is the Watchmen case study taken from here  (with thanks to Daniel Light).

There were some super-smart presentations from David and Gabriel. Mostly in Swedish, so Mister Three Sixty didn’t enjoy the full benefit but the pictures and films were great.

Msiter Three Sixty thanks the Slideshare team for favouriting the presentation and helping spread the Advocacy love.

Life Before Search

What did we used to do before the Search Engines? The answer is: Offine Search. Mister Three Sixty is saying that Search isn’t in itself very new. But it is a useful metaphor for thinking about word-of-mouth campaigns.

Needing a new car? Looking for a holiday destination? Deciding on a school for the kids?  Long before they typed a term into Google, people asked their friends and family. They were particularly interested in anyone with highly relevant information or experiences to learn from. One thing you can say about people is that they are damn good at imitating each other.

Then, as now, the searcher would often hear the same names repeated again and again. It was an old-fangled version of the Page Rank. Humans  are herd animals and they all tend to talk about the same things at the same time. Witness the sudden explosion in popularity of Twitter below. 

Search Volumes for Twitter on Google

 

But Mister Three Sixty hears you cry; what does this mean for people working in Marketing Communications? Two clear implications. First, whatever discipline you are working in, you need to make your communications so memorable that when someone asks for a recommendation, your brand pops-up top of the list. Second, go for fame. However good your creative idea, if people don’t end-up talking about it, it won’t be driving successful ‘searches’ for your brand – so make sure it’s talkable if you want word-of-mouth. Chris Anderson tells a great story here about using King Gillette driving offline search for razors.

If your brand is top-of-mind (think page rank), then you’ve got attention (think traffic) and you can start to monetize it (think Google’s ads).  There’s much more to be said on this says Mister Three Sixty, but that’s quite enough for now…

Crackheads, Prostitutes and the Poor

Crackheads, Prostitutes and the Poor are not the sort of people most of us have much experience of dealing with. Which is ironic, given the number of marketing and communications briefs that ask us to include ‘Hard-to-Reach’ audiences. Too often the ‘Hard-to-Reach’ get nothing more than a politically-correct hat tip.

I met with Stephen Lacey (stevielacey@aol.com) yesterday, a researcher who specialises in finding, connecting with and talking to hard to reach audiences. Stephen grew up on an Estate and that’s given him a head-start but combined with a fearless and unassuming approach, he has a deep understanding of the worlds of prisoners, alcoholics, benefit fraudsters, children in homes, domestic abusers, anorexic models, drug dealers, business men with heroin problems, Eastern Europeans, Estate kids, Faith groups, people with disabilities, the homeless, heroin addicts, teenage parents, sexually abused children, sex workers and the transgendered.

Steve had some really interesting stuff to say about motivations for crime – and it seems obvious now (all the best insights do) – but he showed other factors that drive crime e.g. Fame, escapsim, to appear hard, to look good, to get rich and to have fun.

The truth is that most market researchers are much more comfortable treading worn paths to the doors of the recruiter in Oldham. Or that one in Watford. A comfortable armchair, a cup of tea and kidding yourself that this is truly moving outside your comfort zone to meet with ‘the people’.

Farce Strategy

MisterThreeSixty noticed an awful lot of talk recently about Fast Strategy. There are conferences and blog posts aplenty devoted to it. MisterThreeSixty doesn’t want you to misunderstand him, he does not think that Fast Strategy is a bad thing; but it is just rather ironic hearing it from the Advertising Planners who often have eons of time to devote to developing the Creative Brief.

MisterThreeSixty would be glad to elucidate on what he thinks Fast Strategy is: First, it’s what happens when the Creative team tears the brief apart in front of the poor Planner’s eyes. It isn’t just Fast Strategy it is Fast Talking.

Second, Fast Strategy is the default mode of those working in most of the communications industry outside Advertising. Without the Retainers, the lead-times, the well -resourced Planning departments, sometimes the only option left is Fast Strategy. Is this a bad thing? MisterThreeSixty doesn’t necessarily think so.

MisterThreeSixty has a friend, who spent time as an Advertising Planner. Even with all the time in the world (and research budgets to match), it often happened that the first conversation was both the most interesting and also the most creatively inspiring.

The Real Hidden Persuaders

A couple of years ago Mister Three sixty came across a copy of Vance Packard’s famous 1960’s book “The Hidden Persuaders”. Packard painted a picture of a new consumerist age. A world where businesses powered by the psychological market research and its evil twin, Advertising, would succeed in persuading us to do and buy things we didn’t really want or need. You don’t say.
OK, people are influenced by advertising, communications and marketing and it does affect their behaviour. But Packard was wrong about one thing. He suggested it would be easy to for businesses to do it. Despite reams and reams of research, brands continue to get it so wrong. It’s the kind of thing that gets Mister Three Sixty ranting. How many marketing efforts are obviously blunt and misconceived despite the research?
The real Hidden Persuaders are not Packard’s men in dark suits, loitering behind vending machines, deconstructing the consumer’s psyche. The real Hidden Persuaders are the Media and even more pernicious than the journalistas, are our friends and families.
Time and again Mister Three Sixty’s surveys show that it is other people who are most influential in their purchasing decisions, in the way they form opinions. So much of what people buy and believe is based on the recommendation of the people we trust for an unbiased opinion. The pinnacle of influence and credibility is not the evil Advertising Executive but the humble woman next door.
Mister Three Sixty says it is time to force these Hidden Persuaders out of the closet.