From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

This post is a follow up to an earlier post titled Brand Reinforcement In The Digital Age. Previously, we referred to nine digital contexts that are now activating people around the world in incredibly powerful, quick and convenient ways: information, participation, conversation, application, transaction, location, diversion, aggregation/distribution, and visualization. Of course, the lines between these contexts are often rough when referenced in everyday application; there is often overlap between them and, as developers bring new thinking to market, there is often the intentional goal of fusing the contexts to make things even easier or more powerful for users.

As an example, Google has been continually ‘upgrading’ their map/location services with more and more information overlays, so that now users often go to Google maps for a lot more than just a location fix or driving directions; they will go there to find businesses like restaurants, which then links to reviews, etc. — location and information contexts merge. Twitter, which originally was a purely ‘conversation context’ based service, through the use of other applications, can now also avail you of a breakdown of other tweeters based on their proximity to you — conversation and location contexts merge.

So now, with digital contexts engaging more people every day and – as those contexts are fused and morphed – in more dimensional ways, there is a huge opportunity for marketers to find their brands’ presence right in the thick of their target’s psyche… but not as interruptive hawker; rather, as a service provider that offers what it is their target is interested in. In this way, not only is the line between promotion and content blurred, the lines between advertising and application, and product and service, are blurred as well.

Think about it… If you’re selling surfboards, don’t just spray your target with interruptive online/offline messages. Provide them with an experience – maybe an app that allows them to access real-time views of wave break at surfing sites… or that locates surfing equipment shops… or that allows surfers in local areas to communicate with each other about conditions… or that aggregates surfing videos, books etc. In doing so, you’ll be gaining the favor of your target by helping them do, and enjoy more, what it is they need your product for. And right there you have blurred the line between advertising and content or service. Selling your product is about giving your target a more involving way to appreciate your product.

So get out of the mind-set of talking about yourself (your product) and into the digital contexts that will draw your target to you because you’ve given him a deeper appreciation of, and a deeper involvement in, the activity for which your product was created.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

Do you remember how, when you were a lot younger than today, you were allowed to roam from home on your bicycle in the afternoon, and your mother didn’t stress out over it?

Times have changed. Today, kids growing up can’t go anywhere very far without an adult escort. Is it that our environment is more dangerous today than it used to be… or is it that we know more about it and, therefore, are more anxious about what could happen? Either way, it seems that children today are being raised in a much more guarded environment; one that may not allow for the independent exploration of places and things as in the past. And yet, when I look around at the youngsters of today, I see more creative thinking and action than ever coming out of their heads and hands.

So, too, is our pharma marketing environment becoming ever more restrictive and watched over… surely for all the right reasons. Now, exploring new ground has increasingly large risks associated with it. So what do you think — is the more scrutinized environment a plus or a negative with regard to creative thinking? Does it tend to restrain creative thinking or, ironically, turbocharge it? In some respects, having to work out of a smaller box requires one to be even more creative.

As a Creative Director for the last 20 years or so, I can honestly say that, as the marketing environment I work in has become more restrictive, the work I see coming out of those I work with is not less creative but more creative. Maybe there’s an equation at work here: something about how the more one is restricted, the more creative one becomes to break free.

So to that I say, bring on the rules and regulations. We’re busting out with ever-more creative thinking and having fun doing it. What do you think about that?!

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

With the advent of digital communications, consumers are now finding themselves engaged with brands in ways they never have before. It’s not simply a matter of being exposed to more “push” advertising, in the form of Web banners and pop-ups, for example, but it’s about actually being engaged with a brand – even “pulling” its presence into one’s personal digital space – while engaging in the various contexts that digital communication technology has spawned.

What are digital contexts? They are ways of behaving within, and with, the digital environment. In other words, look at digital not as a medium but as a mode of interacting.  For example, when you’re ‘googling’ a word or a phrase, you’re searching for information about that term; when you’re tweeting, you’re conversing with others. In each case, you’re performing an activity that involves a particular desired end result. When you look at digital communications this way, the following contexts, as I’ve heard them defined by Barry Wacksman at R/GA, can be identified: information, participation, conversation, application, transaction, location, diversion, aggregation/distribution, visualization and, finally, interruption; the last one being the traditional role of marketing – that of interventionist, a message that literally interrupts or cuts into content… “and now, a message from our sponsor.” Not necessarily the best way to promote a brand, if you don’t want to be regarded as a potentially bothersome presence.

We’ll be talking more about each of these digital contexts in greater detail over posts to come on this blog, but the point to take away from this post is that digital contexts are now opening up ways for marketers to engage consumers with their brands at a deeper, more active level… in a way that can reinforce a brand’s value like never before. So, yes, the interruptive conveyance of a creative campaign advertisement is still a fundamental way to reinforce a brand’s value to the consumer, but more and more, the type of experience a consumer has while in the various digital contexts can reinforce a brand’s value to the consumer in a more powerful way.

Think about it. Maybe the most effective way for brands to promote themselves isn’t to talk about themselves at all, but to be facilitators to their consumers, helping them achieve something while in the digital contexts, without a hitch.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

It’s amazing how significantly, and quickly, the digital world has changed the way we communicate, interact with information, generate public awareness, monitor public opinion and share insight. In short, there are two huge advances digital-based communication has provided our population seemingly overnight: 1) the ability to exchange thoughts – to convene – in large numbers virtually, and 2) the ability to be on the move while doing it.

Now, not only can we can connect with many people who share a common interest and want to engage through the visual, aural, written mediums (smell and touch can’t be far behind), we can do it while we’re physically moving in completely different directions and places.

Two digital advents that have contributed hugely to this development are the blog and the mobile app. And when you put them together, you get a very powerful combination: the dynamic exchange of information and ideas while you’re on the move. It’s a combination that today’s business world demands you can handle if you want to stay ahead. And that’s exactly why Palio’s blog, Never be forgotten also comes with an iPhone application.

Check it out: simply go to the iPhone App Store and search for Palio. Up will come the Never be forgotten blog app with the visual of our logo that appears at the top of this post. It’s a free download.

WIth the Palio Never be forgotten app on your phone, you’ll be able to take part in one of today’s most engaging marketing-focused blogs out there… even while you’re on the way to your next meeting. Hope to see you on our blog, wherever you are!

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

If you’ve ever wondered how various brands stack up against each other in terms of their market value, you can find an answer here. This is Interbrand’s 2009 ranking of global brands, something they tout as being rated “the third most influential benchmark by CEOs.” It’s something fun to look at, especially if you’re in the marketing or brand-building business.

Ranking the value of brands is obviously a somewhat dicey proposition; there are many ways to determine a brand’s value. Nonetheless, seeing the brands that you know and love (or hate) ordered against any kind of metric is always fascinating. Interbrand’s approach to determining the value of brands is probably just as good as anyone else’s.

Which brand do you think tops the list? Is your company’s brand in the top 100? Take a look and have some fun thinking about what it would mean to see your brand on the list. Maybe 2010 is your year.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the evolving media landscape and the power of digital advertising. Yes, things are changing quickly and the way consumers receive marketing messages is becoming more and more sophisticated every day. Digital media, certainly, is allowing for the fundamental shift from a “push” to “pull” whereby brands are insinuated into a consumer’s day-to-day world. “Targets” are no longer passive objects on the receiving end; they are willing receptors who draw a brand’s message toward them while in the “digital contexts” that are now encompassing our lives.

Barry Wacksman, EVP, Chief Growth Officer at R/GA, suggests that there are at leat 10 digital contexts. It’s a subject that we’ll be writing about often here on this blog because it has huge meaning for marketers and is shaping very definitively the way marketing messages are now being disseminated.

But, for the moment, in this post I wanted simply to refer you to an article written by Philip W. Sawyer, recently published in Advertising Age. Take a look. It’s clear to me that what Mr. Sawyer is saying suggests that there are a lot of creative marketing agencies out there that just don’t get how to use the digital medium effectively. The seven mistakes he cites as being common to many digital ads are, no doubt, a real issue. In general, I think, he’s referring to advertising that is still based on the interruptive model of marketing, whereby content is ‘divided’ by a marketing message as it is pushed into the forefront of the space between the consumer and the medium. Right then and there you have a problem: advertising that is getting in the way of a satisfying user experience.

So, read Mr. Sawyer’s article. It makes sense. And also realize that marketers have yet to start leveraging the digital space, in a fundamental way, to provide an enhanced user experience, not a degraded one. When that really starts to happen, a lot of what Mr. Sawyer is talking about starts to go away. For more about this, check out this post.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative

This is something everyone in the advertising industry should take a moment to read (http://www.alchemysite.com/9_ways_to_improve_an_ad.pdf). Whether you work in an agency on the account, creative or brand planning team, or on the client side, this piece is a great reminder of how great ideas, especially simply great ideas, need to be understood and respected for the power they can bestow upon a brand… even if they’re in violation of the “traditional tenants” of marketing communications. This classic article remains a sound lesson in how “comments, adds and builds“ can destroy great work.

“The 9 Ways to Improve an Ad” article first appeared in Communication Arts magazine forty-seven years ago. Fred Manley and Hal Riney first exposed it at a San Francisco Ad Club meeting. It was delivered by Fred very straight and seemed perfectly serious. They didn’t use just any ad. They set out to apply “rules” to the 1960 classic “Think Small” Volkswagen ad, which Advertising Age has called the best ad of the 20th century. This tongue-in-cheek article was the most reprinted CA article in the magazine’s history.

It’s a quick read, short and sweet. But a very powerful piece nonetheless. Keep it mind when you’re trying to develop arresting communications for your brand.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative

What’s your brand’s personality? It’s an easy-enough question to answer – just take a look at your agency’s creative brief or positioning statement, where it might state, “Brand Personality: caring, empathetic, comforting.” Or maybe it’s “confident, assertive, capable.” Or, perhaps it’s “experienced, trusted, wise.”  Whatever it is, it’s in writing and official…  and it sounds just about right based on your product’s attributes. “OK, now let’s move on to the more important elements of the brief, like the Key Thought,” you might suggest.

Hold on. If you really want to ensure that your brand has a personality, a character that will truly engage your target, let’s look a little closer.  You always want your brand to communicate with your consumer in as compelling a way as possible, in a way that might actually suggest your brand understands what it is to be human, and is something – no, someone – who your consumer would like to get to know better, someone who has a little simpatico with your consumer.

So how do you ensure that? First, recognize how important an element your brand’s personality is. If you break up a communication into “what is being said” (the content) and “how it’s being said” (the attitude), you could say the personality of your brand makes up 50% of its expression. Your brand’s personality is the driver behind how your brand speaks, so make sure you’re putting it to work appropriately to get the right message across. As an example, the words “That’s great” can mean two completely different thoughts depending on how they’re uttered – with enthusiasm or sarcasm. In the same way, it’s important to make sure your brand communications are fully leveraging the “how it’s being said” component and that they’re doing it in a way that reinforces your brand’s attitude or personality appropriately.

Second, think about giving your brand some real personality. Human experience makes for some very interesting characters and moods in general. People are three dimensional, not cardboard cut-outs. As such, your brand shouldn’t be flat. Give it some depth of character. Don’t let it be just a throwaway… a shallow personification of your product’s attributes. Just because your product works the fastest doesn’t mean your brand’s personality should be expeditious or to-the-point. Your brand is bigger than your product. Know your competitive space and your target mindset and use that knowledge to create a brand personality that will stand out and appeal to an emotional need in your audience. By rendering a deeper personality with your creative you’ll be sure to draw your audience in deeper as well.

Take the Cheetos “Orange Underground” campaign that features Chester the cheetah. It gives the Cheetos brand real personality. It might not be the kind of personality you admire, but it definitely brings a human dimension to Cheetos beyond its functional attribute, i.e. satisfying flavor. This campaign was developed because consumer research showed that it’s not just kids who eat Cheetos. In fact, 60 percent of all Cheetos consumption is by adults. Robert Riccardi, managing partner at Goodby Silverstein (the ad agency behind the new campaign), says that Chester’s mischievous new personality stems from the idea that “powering down” Cheetos as an adult “feels like a nonconformist moment. You’re supposed to be eating arugula dip, but you have a nonconforming desire.”

So, through Chester’s somewhat mysteriously dark personality, the Cheetos brand is brought to a deeply human place. Chester may only exist in our subconscious, but he does represent an inner urge that many of us express outwardly from time to time: the desire to shatter adult norms. And with that the Cheetos brand bonds with its audience at a deeper level. Here’s one of the spots.

In pharmaceutical advertising, as well, there are great examples of how bringing personality into communications can deepen the impact of a brand’s message. One that most everyone is familiar with is the “Your dreams miss you” campaign for Rozerem.

In this campaign, the Rozerem brand connects at a deeper level with its audience as it uses the quirky visual and verbal language of dreams to remind us how important they are. Sleep specialists will tell you it’s critical for humans to dream… they serve as a processor that helps us make sense of our everyday reality. But rather than asserting this through a less-engaging approach that might establish sleep’s medical importance (and therefore Rozerem’s value), this entertaining campaign lets the viewer enter a dream, as if it were a reunion of sorts, for just a few moments. It says Rozerem has a sense of humor and imagination and sentimentality that all combines to create a deeper understanding of, and care for, the viewer.

The last thing any of us wants to do is abandon our friends, and by establishing an affection between ourselves and the characters we dream through the technique of developed personalities, we welcome the Rozerem brand into our hearts and minds. Take a look.

Remember, truly persuasive, brand-building advertising compels its audience to bond with your brand at a human level. And not until your brand “feels” human will it be able to get that human commitment from your audience. To do that, don’t overlook the power of personality for your brand.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative

Parents often ask their children this question at the dinner table, and expect, perhaps, that it may lead to interesting dialogue, if not an elevated discussion about life’s more meaningful aspects. Perhaps not. Either way, it is fun to ask people what they’ve learned in a day… or, even, a decade or two or three.

I know you didn’t ask, but if you did, here’s what I would tell you I’ve learned working in the creative department of an advertising agency for what feels like a very long day.

1. The numbers don’t tell you everything (it’s the way the car feels that’s just as important).

2. Put the brand first, not you.

3. Selling an idea is just as important to its survival as your creation of it.

4. Stay current, always be curious.

5. Be honest.

6. Be prepared to be wrong to get to something original.

7. See the gem in every rough idea.

8. Respect others and their ideas and listen to them for real.

9. Have faith in those around you.

10. When you hit a wall, take a walk.

11. Do things outside of your career to keep other parts of your brain/heart active.

12. Recognize that working in a company will always presents challenges beyond “the work.”

What would you say you’ve learned?