Dave O'Hare

Our guest teacher in Creative Thinking today was Dave O'Hare, current freelancer, former copywriter at Goodby and Chiat. Dave O'Hare was quite intriguing, as he got into this business after graduating from USC, selling a screenplay, and then having it stolen. He became enamored with the Apple launch ads and began to send their agency pieces once a month to showcase his copywriiting skills. Fabulous.

Aside from being a cool person to talk to, Dave has some interesting insights into the ad business. In list form, because I am tired, here they are:

- Advertising is a game of connect the dots. Get people to participate.

- There are not many unique distinguishing factors in products, so make people like you better.

- Understand the power of perception and of participation.

- We have a responsability to be respectful.

Speaker Series: Caroline Hadlock

Caroline Hadlock came to the Adcenter as a representative of Young and Laramore in Indianapolis, Indiana. In her introduction, Peter Coughter highlighted that she was here to prove to us that advertising happened in places outside of New York.

The offices of Young and Laramore are in a rehabbed elementary school, which looked very neat. Lots of open space and a youthful/learning/endless possibilities look. She first pointed out the power of editorial, explaining that Y and L had formed in 1993, but had been recognized by Creative Arts in 2005, which had done wonders for their business and reputation. She describes Y and L as being in the business of taking clients from local to national.

Caroline pointed out that we need better/braver clients. Clients have huge pressures on them. The average CMO's tenure is 23 months. In that impossibly short amount of time they are supposed to make their mark and make major changes. Creative people need to keep that in mind when designing campaigns. We now have a shorter time to establish ourselves and gain trust. Clients are also enamored with their products. They live and breathe them, and forget that not everyone else does as well.

Be intentionally ignorant. That, in a very small nutshell, is Y and L's process. Formally, they call it the 'unlearning curve' and will not take on a client without the agreement that they will all follow that process. In the unlearning curve process, client problems are looked into with no preconceived notions and by getting deep into people's lives (ethnography). The two to three month process goes something like this: go where the customers are, listen to what they say and what they mean, preconceptions start to fall away, creative work can then begin.

Other Y and L methods include showing only one campaign and not allowing the testing of their creative.

Caroline made a very good point that I think many people overlook. She encouraged us to start the agency process by talking to anyone who can say 'no' to the work. By doing that, you get to meet people you never would have met otherwise, get an upfront buy-in, earn the respect of your client, get new perspectives, and bring those powerful people into your process.

Lastly, she tried to impress on us the following ideas:
How you present is as important as what you present
Be multi-sensory
show don't tell

More Peter Wood thoughts

People are overloaded.

We rely too much on infected information. People change the questions to suit their answers ... listen carefully.

Reposition the wheel.

Be aware of other messaging out there.

We refine things too much -- leve room to breath.

Open your eyes in a new way.

UBUNTU: "I am because you are."

Consider that there are different levels of truth.

Ask yourself two questions: 'has it been done before?' and 'how story true is it?'

And lastly, a book suggestion: "20 Something: 20 essays by young writers in their 20s"

An update to 'Speaker Series: John Bell'

Part of my today's procrastination included looking around Vox. I checked to see who else on vox lists advertising as an interest and was excited to find that John Bell, who I discussed in a previous post, is a vox user. I'm not surprised given his line of work, but it's still fun.

If you're interested in hearing more of his point of view, check out his blogs at:

johnbell.vox.com and johnbell.typepad.com

And lastly, his official bio:

Here's the work bio: Managing Director/Executive Creative Director 360° Digital Influence John is always scouting the next wave of innovation that can help business, advocacy groups or social marketing causes build stronger, more genuine connections with people. He heads up the global 360° Digital Influence team - Ogilvy PR’s latest interactive discipline designed to manage brands in an era when anyone can be an influencer and we are all influenced in new ways. It connects our brand-building PR expertise with insider’s knowledge of new digital trends. This team of Digital Influence Strategists uses the power of personal media and technology and social innovations to create a comprehensive approach to all things interactive. He has developed strategy and executed award-winning programs for clients including Lenovo, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and the National Institutes of Health. The first wave of innovation was Interactive Television in 1990. Isn’t that where everyone started? John headed up the Visual Design Studio at Downtown Digital, a joint venture between Viacom and AT&T to create the most futuristic vision of interactive television anyone could imagine. He created programming for kids, gamers, fully interactive versions of Entertainment Tonight and fantasy sports. Turns out they were a bit ahead of their time but began a legacy of innovation. He created the first Interactive Advertisement for American Express during that ITV trial. John went on to form Media Circus Interactive Advertising in New York during the 1990’s. He found effective ways to use CD-ROMs including designing the first interactive advertisement on Launch, then a CD-ROM zine, for Sony Electronics. He also created the first I-Spy CD-ROM for Scholastic extending the brand into the electronic space and pushing the limits of what an interactive experience could be. At the same time the Internet was exploding. he designed and built complicated transaction sites like Gateway Computers ecommerce site and wild experiments like MTV’s Web service that connected “stringers” all across the country reporting on the music scene in their community (sound a bit like blogging? It should and the year was 1995). Discovery Channel was one of the first media properties to really experiment with the Web. John was brought in to transform a single Web site into a network of 14 Web properties known as Discovery.com. They had live, online expeditions from the field. Reporters would post stories, audio and video from Australia in search of giant spiders and from the bottom of the ocean where we explored the Titanic wreckage for the first time. All while the events were happening. He designed and built online experiences for TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Kids, Discovery Health, Travel Channel not to mention a host of digital TV network sites and global sites. His experience creating an online adventure service for kids with Discovery Kids, inspired him to join a startup called HiFusion committed to building a unique school-to-home Internet service for the K-12 community. There, he created full-service portals with every communication function under the sun – IM, mail, message boards, even an voice-to-text alert system that would reach you on all of your devices. They had a nationwide team of education professionals working to bring the service into schools and communities everywhere. But it was 2000 – a pivotal year for Internet-based business. They sold the company to Sylvan Ventures and moved onto the next adventure. For him that next adventure is Ogilvy. Where did he get his schooling? John graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in European history and a minor in communications spending a lot of time at the Annenberg School of Communications.

Peter Wood thoughts

Get into space. Have and hear the natural world.

Details --> thinking in a different way.

Don't think in terms of piles of facts and figures. Ripple out, not in. Drop the pebble, see what happens. Be an island -- and be prepared to fail.

Form and function come from truth.

Think about the impact that you have with your thoughts.

Peel back and get to th essence instead of just adding another layer.

We need standards, not standardization.

We are all begging for simplicity.

Ask: what can I add to make it healthier?

Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you've got and fix it as you go.

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination ... and then make it better.

"Its not where you take things from -- it's where you take them to." -- Jean-Luc Godard

Look at detail as it is relevant to humanity.

Speaker Series: Brian Hurewitz

This week's speaker was Brian Hurewitz, VP, Senior Art Director/ACD at Green Team USA. Green Team describes their mission as guiding their clients into the hearts, minds and homes of Awakening Consumers. They aim to do great work while advancing society and the environment. I think the concept is very interesting, especially considering their client list, which is not your typical Smokey the Bear environmental type stuff. I had never heard of Green Team before this speaker event, so if you're in that boat I urge you to check out their website at www.greenteamusa.com.

Brian spoke a lot about his journey from Florida beach bum to the advertising world. He was one of the more humorous speakers we've had to date. However, instead of focusing on that aspect of his speech I would rather spend time talking about Green Team's secondary site, www.afterthesemessages.com.

After These Messages gives everyday people like you and me the opportunity to view and review current advertisements. After you answer their questions, they will show you on a four-square diagram where you rated the advertisement (one axis is heaven vs. hell, the other is hack vs. genius) and where other people rated it. If you rate enough of them, you win points and get prizes. Aside from the fact that there are rewards attached to this site in the form of pencils and jewelry, I think this is just a generally cool idea. In my many hours of free time, I plan to review some ads and see how my views measure up.

Overall, what I got from this speaker was the concept of acting responsibly, as a consumer, a client and an advertiser.

Today's semi-obviou statement

Having a great idea is not good enough.

Executing an okay idea is not good enough.

Executing a great idea might be good enough. It's certainly a better bet than either of the other options.

Speaker Series: Jason Whiting

Today's speaker was Jason Whiting, Managing Director of AKQA Washington, who gave a talk called "Digital Out of the Ghetto." AKQA does interactive and digital advertising only. For offline work, they partner with other agencies. They are the largest independent interactive agency in the world.

Consumers spend 30% of their time on-line
Advertisers spend 5% of their marketing budget on-line
TV viewing has fallen by 1/3 since 1985
70% of DVR/Tivo users regularly skip through ads
57% of American teens are content creators
Over 1/2 the on-line population uses an on-line social network
87% of kids 12 - 17 are on-line
80% of people 18 - 40 are on-line
70% of people 40+ use the Internet

Virtual is reality.

With sites like Myspace, flickr, wikepedia and second life, consumers have become creators. You can now customize messages on M&Ms, make a music video on You Tube and buy pass along your favorite content to anyone with Internet access. In short, it is a more level playing field. Advertisers must now go from saying to doing, from interuption to engagement.

Thought for the day

Have a PROCESS. Things don't just happen.