Life. Then strategy » Strategy

Why strategists should make stuff

Mark Pollard — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:46:54 +0000

I was recently asked to answer this question for Brazilian account planner and blogger, Carlos Vilela:

What’s your best advice for the next-generation of young and ambitious planners?

I’ll always see myself as an up-and-comer so on one hand it’s an odd question to field… and a tough one to answer single-mindedly. My answer though…

Make stuff

The first thing I look for on a resume is proof of what that person has done and made of their own accord in the past – outside of advertising. And, what they are doing now – outside of advertising.

There are a lot of smart people ‘learning advertising’ – university, ad schools – but I actually get a little suspicious of this sort. Possibly, it’s simply because that’s not what I did and my bias is ridiculously ignorant but I always gravitate towards people with real-world, hands-on experience.

Here’s why…

1. Money appreciation

One thing that frustrates me in ad world is the phrase ‘limited budget’. I hear it every few days. A project with a $50,000 budget has a ‘limited budget’ just like one in the millions of dollars. What annoys me is that I continually find that the people who say this have never put their own money into anything.

I set up a hip hop magazine when I was 20. I was earning $150 per week, sharing a single bed with my now-wife. I put on events. I poster-ed at 4am. I did community radio for 5 years un-paid. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of articles for music press usually earning $30-$45 a pop. The magazine was distributed globally through Tower Records, New York City Library subscribed, it’s been quoted in a bunch of books.

You can read about that journey here: 10 things about trying.

I got bits of funding along the way but the energy and focus required to turn nothing into something gave me a very different perspective on the phrase ‘limited budget’.

If you make stuff, you too will have this appreciation – not only that, you may actually relish the challenge of making do without lavish budgets. I find that mentality exciting.

2. Stories are currency

Making stuff means you are comfortable flirting with failure, and, from failure often emerge the richest stories. I’ve actually only started talking about my hip hop magazine in professional circles in the past year – 12 years after it started. But that’s because people didn’t understand hip hop until recently. I’ve realised that other business people – once they get over their misconceptions of the subculture – are actually interested in hearing these stories. They relate to me differently.

If you make stuff – regardless of whether you make stuff successfully – you will hand-make lots of interesting stories that will find a home some time during your planner journey. I guarantee it.

3. Initiative gets the team further

The way agencies are evolving, departments will matter less and less. More people will have more varied skills and combine those skills in odd, curious ways. It will take teams of people with a lot of initiative to get projects that have never been attempted before off the ground.

If you make stuff, it will show people you’re bigger than your role and are self-motivated. That is golden.

4. We need white space finders not mirror holders

Lateral thinking – the essence of creativity (and, it’s more than words and pictures) – requires lots of different experiences and stimuli. In my brief time in advertising, I’ve seen way too many people looking into the advertising mirror – they’re on YouTube, Ads of the World, Campaign Brief all day… seeking inspiration.

If you make stuff unrelated to advertising, you will have a pool of stimuli to mesh into your approach to advertising. That’s usually when the exciting stuff happens… you don’t learn this in ad school.

5. Wisdom not theory

Reading the ‘Plannersphere’ and observing different planners over time, one of the things I’ve struggled with is the theorist – the person who knows everything but does nothing. A lot of planners are lost in their own cleverness, making things look and sound complicated to everyone in the room only to reveal their incredibly smart solution to the world of problems just revealed.

This is snake oil stuff. If I ever find myself heading into this space, I try to pull myself out of it as fast as possible.

Making stuff will keep you grounded and ensure you talk mostly with knowledge you farmed in the field – not simply theory.

6. A network built in the trenches

If you collaborate with other stuff-makers, you’ll grow with them throughout your career and be able to bring them in on projects when required. This is cool. You’ll have already stood shoulder to shoulder stuff-making so will trust each other more in a corporate environment and know what you’re both good at.

7. Not an advertising lifestyler

Yes, this is cynical of me, but proof of stuff-making tells me you aren’t an advertising lifestyler. If you were, we wouldn’t get on. I don’t like expensive stuff. I do like interesting stuff though.

8. Multiple skills to fall back on

If you make stuff, you will have skills for your post-advertising life. And, let’s face it, you will have a post-advertising life.

So there you go. Eight reasons making stuff is one of the most important things an aspiring planner can do.

Speaking of people who make stuff… you may enjoy these three blogs from 3 super cool people I work with: Nicola Swankie on Happiness, Marie-Claire Jenkins on the Science for Seo and Hugh Munro on Dunny Art.

What do you think?

Photo courtesy Thinkstock.

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What Jon Steel said that stuck

Mark Pollard — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:27:30 +0000

Originally written for the Account Planning Group.

Ninety minutes ago, Jon Steel finished speaking at one of our Ideas Exchange events in Sydney. He’s a bit of a legend around these here planning parts – author of one of the most read books on planning (Truth, Lies and Advertising), former planning director (for a decade) of Goodby Silverstein, and lots more.

Here are some of his thoughts that I think are thoughts worth thinking about.

1. Clients value agencies less than they used to

Jon spoke of days past when agency types like himself were often so embedded in a client’s business that they would get seconded to temporarily fill brand manager roles, or induct new marketing directors on not just the brand but the business they were entering… because they knew it better than the client-side team.

It’s a thought that Bob Miller (former GM of Marketing at Toyota Australia, visiting professor at Macquarie University) discussed in a talk last year: in previous eras, the CEO or head of marketing would be in at their agency at the start of the day asking “How can we make money?” whereas, now, he said, the role of dealing with an advertising agency has been junior-fied.

2. The role of planning

Jon’s description of the role of planning is simple: to bring common sense to the advertising process. As a build, he described it as getting into people’s heads and working out how to influence them. He’s not a fan of ‘Google Planning’, believing planners should spend time in the real world, away from the agency and industry, and talking to people.

3. Turn pitches down

I would have loved to have heard more on Goodby’s approach to pitching but one of the key things Jon said is that they turned down 4 in 5 pitches offered to them. They had a set of questions that they asked themselves of the potential client, which included:

Does the client truly value the role of advertising and an agency?
Do we like them?
Do we really really want to work for them?

If he applied the same criteria to current opportunities, he said, they’d have an even higher turn-down rate. He also spoke about putting the client through some tests – a mini reverse pitch, if you like.

4. Approach pitching in thirds

Jon believes in approaching pitches in thirds:

Spend the first third on getting to the best idea you can
Spend the second third on bringing the idea to life in lots of different channels
Spend the final third on the presentation

He told an amusing anecdote about the first point, when, during a pitch, he asked Rich Silverstein if the work on the table was truly the best work possible. Silverstein replied: “Is your wife the best woman you could have married?”

5. Present one idea

Jon’s an advocate of only presenting one idea. I think this can work if the client relationship is great, work has been consistently great (for years), and it’s an expectation managed from the outset. However, it would be a difficlut thing for most agencies to change on the fly with existing clients. It’s definitely a thought that does the rounds every few months in most agencies I’ve worked in. Rarely acted on though, of course!

6. People outside advertising often make the best planners

A lot of the founding planners like Jon talk about deliberately hiring from outside the industry – killer whale trainers, geographers, mathematicians, psychologists. Jon is adamant that of the three types of planners he’s worked with (advertising outsiders, planning converters – eg account managers turned strategists, and experienced planners), the ‘not experienced planners’ make the best planners. A bit of a conundrum for any planning director – do they get to keep their job?

7. Research has a role – when done well

It was interesting to hear that Jon believes that research should be done by the planner – not out-sourced. He believes that pre-testing usually leads to even better thinking (and Cannes-winning stuff) – but, again, it should be done by the planner who understands the intent of the thinking, who has seen it in its evolving forms, and that animatics and illustrations should not be researched. He believes planners should read the scripts themselves, and that the best use of quant pre-testing is for rough cuts of campaigns – again, not animatics.

What did you take away?

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. PS Jon, if I’ve misquoted you, let me know.

Mark Pollard (@markpollard) is the Strategy Director at McCann Sydney.

Seeking 5 shape shifters for McCann Sydney (jobs)

Mark Pollard — Mon, 24 May 2010 07:20:47 +0000

McCann is one of the oldest and biggest advertising businesses in the world. In Sydney, we’ve been furtively re-shaping. We have a whole lot of work coming out in the second half of 2010 that people simply would not expect from us. We’re evolving our approach, processes and culture to create something very different and meaningful.

We’ve kept our heads down this year, focusing on action – not words. And off the back of this focus, we now need to find some likeminded vagabonds to help us on our new trajectory.

If you intend to apply:

- Please do not send a long email – your work will speak for itself
- All submissions will be treated confidentially
- Feel free to DM me or contact me on LinkedIn if it’s easier

Head content angler

We need someone to build a team of content-makers around. You’ll have run a team before. You’ll understand the rhythm of online content, how different channels require different approaches. You’ll be able to explain some of the well-worn techniques bloggers use in their headlines, themes and content structures. You’ll have a feeling for what makes something worth sharing. Above all, you could find an interesting content angle in the places others would find dull.

You may be an editor, managing editor, deputy editor or sub-editor. You won’t be coming to McCann to do advertising. You’ll be coming here to write interesting, useful and entertaining stuff across a wide array of topics – and build a team to contribute. This is a senior role.

Interested? Email contact@mccann.com.au with your CV, links to your favourite writing online and/or a portfolio.

Search upstart

You’ve been involved with SEO for a year or two. You love it – in that wide-eye kind of way. You probably have a fetish for the complex. You’re curious about how people think and behave: how they search for stuff, what sort of content they find useful. You can spot an information gap – and know how to plug it.

You read widely – and not just about the interwebs. You have a life – you do interesting stuff, you write about interesting stuff, you talk about interesting stuff. Your workmates think you’re great to sit next to – in the office and when you go out together. You’re looking for something a bit bigger and broader than what you’re doing now.

You’ll be working directly with near-PhD Marie-Claire Jenkins so have a read of her blog. Day to day, you’ll be hands-on with:

- Meta data creation
- Developing link architecture
- Making sure all content is optimised (words and video )
- Intelligent use of sitemaps
- Working understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- Know how to deal with the use of Flash for example
- Able to code/adapt a spider and crawl a site
- Knowledge of domain and hosting issues

Interested? Email contact@mccann.com.au with your CV, examples of anything you’ve made personally or professionally online.

Experience architect

You’re an experienced specialist and have a great track record. You find yourself constantly analysing how things work and how they can be improved. You’ve been involved with both experimental and highly practical interface thinking. You’re up to date with the latest interface trends. You take as much pride in where and how a Cancel button sits on a form as you do with creating an incredibly artistic interface. You probably have a Bachelors of Science. You’re patient and can clearly express your thinking to people not as immersed in what you do as you are. And there’s always reason to your recommendations.

You’ll be working with our designers on technology projects but we will also try to employ your brain in non-technological projects to see what happens. It will be fun. This role would ideally suit an EA with at least 5 years experience.

Interested? Email contact@mccann.com.au with your CV, examples of anything you’ve professionally made and please include links to anything you’ve written or designed on a personal level.

Freelance project manager (3 months)

We need someone who is very buttoned down to champion a few key projects for us, including a global social network party. You’ll need to be an ace at documentation and managing small, specialist teams. The main project you’ll be working on is a high profile social campaign across several countries. It will definitely be one for your CV. We’re open to producers or account managers from various backgrounds but a large part of this project will require a good technical understanding of the social web. We will ask you about this when we speak. The role will start ASAP.

Interested? Email contact@mccann.com.au with your CV, examples of anything you’ve done professionally and please include links to anything you’ve written on a personal level.

Online community manager

We need a full-time online community manager to curate conversation for a variety of interesting global, regional and local projects. You’re preferably in this role already, have hands-on experience, and you may have collected a few virtual bruises along the way. You probably blog, Tweet, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr yourself silly but when your game face is on you’re a consummate professional. You’re resourceful and quite possibly delightful.

We understand that this is an emerging role in Australia but, please, if you apply to work with us, you’ll need to have more experience in this space than simply having a few social network accounts.

Interested? Email contact@mccann.com.au with your CV, examples of anything you’ve been involved with professionally and please include links to anything you’ve written or made on a personal level.

Photo courtesy Thinkstock.

Please send this around to friends you think we’d get on with. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or join in on Facebook

How to position your business in 3 lines

Mark Pollard — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:45:34 +0000

Many businesses don’t know how they’re really different

A big part of what I do for a living is helping businesses find out what they have or do that’s unique and compelling to possible customers.

For some reason, I still find it surprising when I start a workshop and the answer to this question isn’t clear… but then that’s my job. Why it surprises me is that a lot of companies have spent thousands of hours developing a product or service. Tens of incredibly smart people may have been involved with developing the idea. Then it’s been handed to a marketing team (unfortunately not enough marketers are allowed to feed research into the innovation process), someone’s priced it and projected sales then written a business case to get money from the business to put into communication. And, at some point, someone has probably written an agency brief – which, in many instances, could be 5-10 pages long.

The surprise? That more often than not, people can’t explain in plain English and in a sentence why the product is better than what else is on the market.

Why this happens:

Business cultures that only allow some of their employees to come up with ideas – and treat the rest as servants of these idea-creators
Business cultures that do not encourage constructively restless and honest pushback – overly-institutionalised behaviour
Business cultures that value technocratic innovation over people-centric innovation (IE innovation ‘because we can’ rather than ‘because people have a problem that we can solve’)
Business processes that do not bring in different types of people – including the people who may buy the product – early enough
The industry dictionary loop – or, “We read competitors’ ads and feed their language (words that real people don’t use) back into our communications”

In other words, too many of us are navel-gazers lost in really big echo chambers.

For. Only. Because.

One of the tools I use to help break deadlocks is the classic (it’s been around for years) For. Only. Because. Think of this equation as your elevator pitch. It should be interesting, differentiated, people should be able to get it straight away, but most importantly, it should be something you can build your business around for a long time. It can actually take a lot of thinking and research to get simple like this but it’s worth playing around with if you need to sharpen what your business is about.

How it works:

FOR: Who you want your customers to be (preferably knowing that there’s a quantifiable market there)
ONLY: What you do that’s different – one thing (although the one thing could be the sum of several supporting parts)
BECAUSE: The reason for someone to believe your ONLY claim

A make-believe Google example:

For any information-hungry human being with internet access (going this broad isn’t always recommended)
Only Google organises the world’s information online
Because of its unique search algorhithm and incessant innovation

A made-up design studio example:

For marketers who are absolutely sure of what they want
Only CONTROL-A-DESIGNER puts the marketer in complete control of their design project
Because of our web-based management system and the live cameras that sit over the shoulders of our designers

How to fill in the blanks

Research and a bit of lateral thinking will get you where you need to go. Think about your current customers then jot some thoughts down about your perfect customer. Really try to work out what’s unique about what you do – if you aren’t clear, talk to people. See what they tell you. If they can’t tell you then talk to them about your competitors – work out what they’re good at and what holes are in the market (then fill them). Try to write the end result in an interesting but honest way. Fight for clarity and simplicity.

Take it for a test drive below

If you’d like to throw down some thoughts about where you could go in the comments below, please do so.

Photo courtesy Thinkstock.

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Why YouTube doesn’t get more agency money – and what they should do about it

Mark Pollard — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:04:46 +0000

I presented this to YouTube today. It’s meant to be provocative – not offensive – and was delivered with a smile. I think they found it useful – they gave me sparkling grape juice, which was awesome.

I’d love to hear your constructive thoughts in the comments below.

View more presentations from Mark Pollard.

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