From Bob Rath, Associate Creative Director, Palio

From Mike Myers, President

It still surprises me when clients and friends ask if their businesses need to be involved with social media.

Last week when dropped into this dialog with a client who felt that they weren’t “ready” yet, I simply said as I often do “OK, but you have to listen in on the social media dialog because people are already talking about your brand whether you’re involved with the conversations or not. You don’t own what your brand stands for in isolation anymore.”

Listening is important – responding appropriately and engaging in the dialog even more so.

Like it or not, social media isn’t going away. If you’re not on board, you might as well jump overboard.

And if you aren’t ready yet, just ask Marka Hansen, Gap North America President.

Last week, the Gap rolled out a new logo which seems innocuous enough as companies do own and control their brands, right?

Wrong.

Within hours of the announcement, Twitter was abuzz with designers, customers and anyone who had an opinion and Web access ripping the Gap’s new branding apart.

The Gap’s Facebook page became an open forum and the company tried to allay concerns and deal with the customer backlash.

The company even started a customer logo contest to see what people could come up with on their own.

Yet four days after their decision, Gap has recanted and is returning to their old logo.

Gap has about 3,100 stores in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Ireland and Japan. They are a multibillion dollar company.

Yet, a basic marketing decision of theirs was just undone by social media.

If you think it can’t happen to you, you think wrong.

Mind the Gap. If you haven’t at a minimum started to listen into the social media maelstrom, it has the potential to pull you in and under.

What do you think? Any thoughts?

What are you doing to engage your customers and communicate about your brand through social media?

From Sean O’Donnell, Group Copy Supervisor, Palio

Any time I sit back to admire my brilliant concept, clever headline or ground-breaking body copy, I ask my self, “What Would Joe and Dave Do?” Then I picture myself standing in Joe and Dave’s corner office, waiting to hear words of admiration flow freely. But it usually follows along these lines:

Dave: Yeah, keep going.

Joe: (perplexed) Did you read the brief?

Dave: Should we put someone else on this?

Joe: (sound of scribbling) You need a headline like this.

Dave: Or this.

Joe: Study the award books. Don’t copy ‘em.

Dave: Were you out late last night?

Then I’d take another look, a hard one, at my work. Yeah, my headline lacked punch. The body copy really didn’t have any flow. And the concept was a poor man’s iteration of an ad in Archive magazine. Damn, they were right again.

Who are Joe and Dave? My first creative directors, and more importantly, my mentors.

Hopefully you’ve had one. I was lucky to have two. Eleven years ago they saw potential in me. Or maybe HR told them that I’d be sent back to Project Management if I didn’t work out.  Either way, they nurtured, nudged and never gave up on me.

I didn’t look up to them only because they had won boatloads of awards and were written up in countless magazines. I admired the way they would grind it out without complaint. They were ‘roll up the sleeves and let’s get the job done’ guys in an office that had its fair share of prima donnas. But these two blue-collared creatives constantly churned out gold. And I was an eager writer who desperately wanted to learn how they created ads that were simple and powerful.

Over the years I’ve worked for a range of creative directors. Some who were one-trick ponies and should have never held the title. And others who were truly gifted, but enjoyed the power to belittle. But Joe and Dave possessed a rare combination in this business. They knew when to push, when to help, and when to give a pat on the back. To that young copywriter standing in Joe and Dave’s office right now – do what they say and you’ll turn out alright.

And if Joe and Dave were reading this right now, they’d tell me to cut the copy in half. They’re right again.

From Joseph M. Acee, Associate Creative Director, Palio

In the course of a meeting, a few weeks before writing the following piece, I encountered a phrase I found humorous. Our team was discussing visual elements for a layout when an individual in the meeting referred to less important elements as “noise.” It didn’t strike me until later in the day that there was something unusually profound about the statement. The following poem was inspired by the moment:

The Rest Is Just Noise

Stop and sink in silent wait
Inspiration bleeds within
Extra hours spinning plates
Whitewashed screen mocking grin

Scenic literary grime
Pressure frozen temporal bliss
Fear so serene this time
Surviving worse than this

Self-proclaimed electro flunky
Sprinting futile digital race
Touch pads fire burning keys
Launching monkeys into space

Outstretched comfort zone
Mental exercise foreplay
Over and out it bemoans
Same loop different day

Hot air blows blacken pixels
Digital pontification
Sheep ride upon the wave
An ensemble’s obligation

In the pink slippery slope
Corporate Custer’s last stand
A final round in the clip
His mouse against the man

Huddled righteous insane
Bring the noise and the funk
Your fifteen minutes of lame
Desperate art directing punk

Push beyond write profound
Shine hindsight for the blind
Self-composed rhymes abound
For all of madmen kind

Journey on wayward one
Sling sobering song with poise
Your vision rings eternal
For the rest is just noise

From Bob Mason, EVP, Managang Director of Brand Strategy, Palio

Marketing and advertising have always been realms where hot topics and buzz phrases abound. One subject that I’ve read about for some time, behavioral economics, is one of those topics that’s having the big spotlight shone upon it as of late.

It seems I can’t pick up a magazine or trade journal without some reference to the discipline. As I type this, I literally have four different documents on my desk that happen to address the subject. They come from the likes of Advertising Age, McKinsey, Towers Watson, and even the Federal Trade Commission. Clearly the topic is achieving a business culture “tipping point” (another one of those hot industry buzz phrases that has caught on, thanks to the wonderful insight and writing of Malcolm Gladwell).

It’s interesting for me to observe this because, as a discipline, it’s been bantered about in academia for some time, but it’s just now getting attention in the business, consulting, and media worlds. What’s most interesting to me, though, is the simple (and oh-so-long-overlooked-by-too-many-marketers) premise at its core. Simply put, behavioral economics (often described as “a blend of psychology and economics”) is considered to deviate from traditional economics, according to a recent Advertising Age article, “in that it doesn’t assume consumers behave rationally, like a market (in theory) does, making decisions based solely on facts or logic such as price or quality.”

Really, you don’t say?

The fact that that’s newsworthy is a frightening statement about our industry. For far too long, we’ve taken research respondents words at face value and continue to be baffled when brands don’t excel in the marketplace. You’ll often hear, after the fact (when brand performance isn’t what everyone dreamed, hoped, and expected), “Well, the research said XYZ so that’s what we did.”

I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, but frighteningly enough, I’ve probably interviewed (or been behind the focus group mirror listening to) thousands of research respondents over the course of my career. And I’ve yet to have met one who is “influenced by advertising and marketing.” At least to hear them say it, they’re all ultra rational.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe that marketing and advertising cause people to rise up from their chairs and march, zombie-like, to the store. But it obviously impacts people more than they realize and/or would be willing to admit. But no one wants to look less than rational.

So, next time you’re developing a market research plan, please factor this “newfangled” behavioral economics thinking into the mix. Recognize that consumers are crazy and will lie to your face (I say this in the most endearing of ways) and that, to truly understand their values, motivators, and deepest hopes, you have to use market research the right way, employing methodologies, techniques, and lines of questioning that, combined with good judgment and courage after the fact, will help build better insights into stronger brands.

Call it behavioral economics or call it common sense. It’s the right mind-set to have when approaching the marketplace.

From Steve Dubansky, MD, SVP, Medical Director, Palio

From Geoffrey Sheldon, VP, Brand Planning Director, Palio

Whenever I hear discussions about one of the biggest urban myths associated with social media – that it’s “free” – I automatically think of Lewis Strauss’ infamous “too cheap to meter” quote about nuclear energy.

In fact, believe it or not, you can actually draw many parallels between these two misnomers.

The Nuclear Chain

The act of producing nuclear energy sounds fairly simple: use the heat produced from a nuclear reaction to convert water to steam that drives a turbine, and Bob’s your uncle – energy that’s too cheap to meter.

In reality however, the process is a little more complex, and getting to that energy production requires an intensive process involving exploration, mining, and enrichment before uranium ore is ready to be placed into a reactor. And it doesn’t stop there; once the fuel is spent, it’s either recycled (reprocessed) or converted into material for nuclear weapons (both extremely complex processes).

In addition, at each stage along this nuclear chain, the radioactive waste that is produced must be carefully handled and stored, and if there is an accident (a Chernobyl style meltdown, for example) or if the radioactive material falls into the wrong hands, the results can be catastrophic. Therefore the whole process requires careful handling and intense security, and suddenly that cheap energy is not looking so rosy, or cheap.

The Social Media Chain

Similarly, the use of social media to promote your brand also sounds fairly simple: Utilize the free channels to set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube account, develop a blog, and you’re on your way.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple; in fact it’s a whole lot more complex and requires careful planning and oversight. Analogous to producing nuclear energy, the process for developing, executing, and maintaining a successful social media presence is very intensive and requires the similar steps of exploration, mining, enrichment, and production

• By exploration, I mean strategic planning – Developing clear marketing and communication objectives for your social media efforts
• By mining, I mean insight mining – Gaining a deep understanding of how your target audience uses these channels, and uncovering the unique opportunities on how you can connect with them there
• By enrichment, I mean content – Clearly defining what type of content will be developed and distributed
• And by production, I mean propagation – Defining who, and on what time frame, is responsible for generating, and maintaining content

Then there is the monitoring component of social media. In this space, things can easily go wrong and you can quickly lose control of your brand and messaging (akin to a reactor meltdown or having radioactive material fall into the wrong hands) so it’s essential that you are constantly monitoring the space to make sure that you are able to react to anything negative. Pre-planning for these types of worst-case scenarios can help you respond quickly and redirect ill-will to avert disaster (reprocessing, to draw another nuclear analogy).

At what price free?

All of this, of course, takes significant amounts of time and energy, and this is where the waste component of the nuclear chain comes into play. While the hours you invest in your social media efforts are not waste per se, the process of developing, executing, monitoring and maintaining them is extremely labor intensive, and those hours have to come from somewhere or someone (i.e. they are an unexpected drain on your resources). And when you start adding up those hours, assigning dollar signs to them, and including them in your ROI analyses, suddenly your “free” presence in the social space is not looking so free anymore, in fact you might find it’s not even looking too cheap to meter.

From Steve Dubansky, MD, SVP, Medical Director, Palio

Apparently, you can put lipstick on a pig yet still be punished for it!

I read with interest that the Cadillac division of General Motors changed its advertising agency for the second time in 5 months. What else would you expect? The economy remains severely troubled and Cadillac sales are down, so, just as happens in the pharmaceutical ad world when drug sales falter, the client frequently looks for a scapegoat. The client means business, and he’s not just horsing around. And there, somewhat sheepishly cowering in the corner, sensing it’s a lamb soon to led to slaughter, is the unfortunate ad agency. The Cadillac client spies the agency and says, “Agency of record for Cadillac, it’s all your fault. Now hit the road, and no pun intended.” But the Cadillac car is clearly the turkey here, and their brand team is just too chicken to admit it.

Okay. Enough of the faintly amusing and highly derivative puns. Simple story really. Poorly designed car with faltering sales in hard financial times. The agency couldn’t put lipstick on a pig, and so, like an old jalopy, they were kicked to the sidewalk. Imagine how surprised I was when simply out of curiosity I looked into Cadillac sales figures.

What! Total sales for June were up 39 percent versus the same month in 2009. Retail sales were up 35 percent. The Cadillac SRX crossover model saw its total sales rise 462 percent for its 10th straight month of triple-digit percentage increases. Its CTS sports sedan posted its best retail month of the year with total sales up 31 percent and retail sales up 23 percent.

So the agency wasn’t scapegoated at all. Quite the contrary. They had been part of a rather remarkable sales upturn. So why were they let go? Hard to know, but it’s indubitably related to the arrival at GM of a new marketing executive. Interesting to note that the new Cadillac agency, until last week the agency-of-record for Chrysler, when offered the Cadillac business, displayed their undying loyalty to Chrysler by dropping them in a heartbeat when offered a no doubt more lucrative Cadillac assignment. You can bet that the difference in fee is not  a poultry-sorry, I mean paltry- amount. Perhaps the new agency is trading loyalty for the Benjamins and being just a bit piggy.

So what have we learned. The advertising aphorism, “You can’t put lipstick on a pig,” and a corollary truth, “If you can’t put lipstick on a pig you’ll be scapegoated,” clearly don’t apply here. There’s a new agency in Cadillac town for reasons not to be found on a profit and loss sheet. Personality clashes? The agency not obsequious enough? Perhaps the agency had the temerity to say, “No” to something? One editorial mistake too many? One deadline missed by a day? As any of us who work in agencies knows well, there are many possible explanations why companies dismiss their agencies.

I don’t wish to duck the issue, but perhaps in this case it was nothing more than the new marketing guru wanting a new team of vendors. Kind of like a new baseball manager firing the old coaches and bringing in new coaches of his own choosing. The only difference? New baseball managers are usually hired to redirect underachieving teams. It appears that both Cadillac and its old agency can hardly be said to be underachieving.

There’s another baseball saying that’s worth remembering. It’s an almost universal truth: “Every manager knows that he takes the job only to be fired later.” Similarly, when a company farms out their promotional business to an ad agency, that agency must remember that beginning on day one, their time as agency-of-record is limited. The clock starts ticking. Fortunately for most of us,  it usually ticks longer than 5 months!

From Geoffrey Sheldon, VP, Brand Planning Director, Palio

One of the biggest factors in ensuring a successful launch of a new prescription drug lies in a marketer’s ability to generate pre-launch buzz and brand name awareness. Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done, due to restrictions by DDMAC on what can and can’t be said about products in development.

So what are the allowable forms of pre-launch promotion, and what can you do as a marketer to generate that critical pre-launch brand awareness while staying compliant with DDMAC’s guidance on prelaunch promotion?

If you need a quick answer to this question why not take a minute out of your day, and read “The 60-Second Guide to Understanding DDMAC’s Guidance on Prelaunch Communications”

As the title implies; it’s a quick, easy, yet informative read.

[slideshare id=4754845&doc=the-60-second-guide-to-understanding-ddmacs-guidance-on-prelaunch-communication-100714131747-phpapp01]

No Slideshare account?! Download it here – The 60-Second Guide to Understanding DDMAC’s Guidance on Prelaunch Communication

From Steve Dubansky, MD, SVP, Medical Director, Palio

Let’s say you’re an oncologist with 25 years of experience in patient care, research, and teaching. You’re now working in a medium-sized pharmaceutical ad agency, and you’re the medical strategist and writer responsible for a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor called pinkiemib, the first successful biologic therapy for cancer of the fifth finger. NouveauRx Pharmaceuticals, the originator and promoter of pinkiemib, is excited with the possibility that this will be their much needed blockbuster product, and you and your team are excited to help them promote it.

You’ve been working closely with the pinkiemib brand team for almost 2 years. You’ve recently developed a series of advertorials, and you’ve written content for its disease state awareness Web site. Concepts have been developed and testing is well underway. The client likes you and your agency team, and the feeling is mutual. The product is set to launch in 6 months. All’s right with the world.

This idyllic picture is suddenly and unpredictably shattered when your agency is told by NouveauRx that they have decided to consolidate their entire $175 million dollar advertising business with the McPharmold Group, an agency holding conglomerate with offices just about everywhere. Nouveau is looking for consistency and cost efficiencies. Their executives feel that they’re not getting back enough in return for their marketing dollars. More worrisome, their marketing dollars are not nearly as effective as their major competitors’.

So you and your agency are out the proverbial door, kicked to the proverbial curb, to the dismay of your now good friends on the pinkiemib brand team. You’ve lost out to a bigger company with multiple subsidiary agencies. Bad for you but good for NouveauRx. Or is it?

While there are undoubtedly reasons to trim the fat, cut costs and consolidate, the old adage, “penny wise pound foolish,” comes to mind. Certainly Nouveau’s costs may be lower with their new agency than they were with yours, but will that translate into improved pinkiemib sales? However, promises of access to the “best talent” and providing economies of scale are often mutually exclusive. Oftentimes neither promise is kept.

Will this new conglomerate have an agency with a team so smart that they can handle the now incredibly steep learning curve that’s staring them in the face?

Will this new agency have someone with the scientific acumen that you and your agency team has in this specialty area… yours gleaned over 25 years, and your colleagues’ gleaned with your guidance over the past 2 years?

Will the new agency have experienced account personnel with the time and the insights to handle pinkiemib on a day-to-day basis, or will Nouveau’s baby be left to bright (hopefully) but inexperienced and perhaps over-their-heads junior account people?

Will McPharmold’s agency have the same quality of creative people, steeped in learnings from first-hand observation of qual and quant research like your creative team? Will they even have brand planners, and, if they do, will their planners have the same depth of understanding of the 5^th finger cancer marketplace, as does your agency? Can the new agency provide invaluable support with research and analytics?

Will the new team have the passion? Will they develop that never-to-be-underestimated great working relationship with the pinkiemib brand team?

There’s more to life and business than consistency and efficiency. I believe they’re both overrated. I agree with Aldous Huxley, the British writer and humanist, who said both, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative,” and “The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency.”

Could Bayer, Sanofi, GlaxxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson be wrong? Possibly. They all have been wrong before. But then again, what do I know. I’m just an oncologist with 25 years of experience.