Contagious ideas by PSST : spreading 2.0 innovation (editor = jérémy dumont, strategic planner, france)

AP, CP, IS: The Strategic Triumvirate (Account planning is about relationships,Connection planning is about context, Interactive strategy is about behavior)

                    

As communications (or conversations as we’re now calling them) become more complex, so too does it strategic development.

Account planning. Connection planning. Interactive strategy.

All three are critical to ensuring the best conversation possible.

But what the hell are they?

That’s the question I’m often asked by junior planners or planners in study.

Here’s the most basic breakdown:

Account planning is about relationships: We spend time finding the right things to talk about to build the right relationships between things.
Connection planning is about context: We spend time understanding the experience the ideal consumer goes through in the shopping process and identify the proper media and messages for each stage of that process.
Interactive strategy is about behavior: We spend time answering the question, “what do you want people to do next?”

Now it’s not to say that context is solely the preserve of CP and relationships solely for AP. Any great strategist operates/thinks on all three levels simultaneously. However the demands of each strategy and the fast pace of the ad business mean that people need to be devoted to each one in order to properly meet deadlines. But again, just because you focus on one doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be fluent in the other. That said, the future of strategy is filled with planners who can step into any of these three roles and competently develop strategy for each. So while these represent job titles, we should start thinking of them more as ways of thinking about a problem.

ACCOUNT PLANNING
Account planning, the most widely known and practiced strategy, has a ton of blog space devoted to it’s history, principles, practices and future so I won’t spend anytime on it.

CONNECTION PLANNING
As best as I can tell (and feel free to help me with my story because I know it’s not 100% right), connection planning started percolating at the turn of the century when the idea of media expanded. Media became anything that carried information. That’s when we started getting the Mini on top of a Suburban to promote “small.”

If anything could be media, then people could be media. This was the next stage: looking at the interplay of people. I think this is where influencers really became a big deal (an attitude probably helped more so by The Tipping Point). With this development, the question, “Who are the right people for us to talk to?” really became a media question – which is why some people feel media agencies now own the relationship with the consumer.

I think it was around 2004 that the conversation started shifting towards experiences. Agencies, looking to move beyond the TV ad, started touting the experiences they could produce by integrating all these media around specific targets. “I Love Bees” and “Audi’s Art of the Heist” are examples of this.

Because of this short evolution, the connection planning process goes as such:

#1 Identify who does and should drive the business. Who currently drives purchases? Who influences those purchasers? Is there are another segment that could be more profitable?

#2 Identify the brand experience. What stages are there in the purchase process (even ones that go beyond purchase)? What do people seek/value at each stage? What are their current sources of information? Does the brand properly deliver on those informational/experiential needs? What is the mindset at each stage? Where are there opportunities for the brand to improve the entire experience?

#3 Identify what types of media will be more effective for each stage given the consumer’s mindset and information needs. This isn’t about picking media vehicles like TV, newspaper or outdoor billboards. This is about being media agnostic by describing the characteristics a body of media will need to properly connect with the target and deliver the information. Again, media can be anything. So if I tell a creative team that “informative media” are important at X stage, they have more room to think of interesting media than if I had told them “Brochures are need here.” Same would happen if I tell them “we need grassroots media here” vs. “We need to develop some wild postings.” The idea is to leave room open for innovation of media vehicles rather than just innovation of content. For more thoughts on types of media read John Grant’s book After Image.

#4 Deliver the info to creatives after the idea. The one weakness of connection planning (though manageable) is that it can info overload for creatives. My suggestion is to let the creatives develop an idea first then provide them the CP learning so that they can figure out how their idea fits in the experience needs of the consumer. It’s a bit like gardening. Let the seed you plant sprout first. Then give it the lattice to guide its growth.

INTERACTIVE STRATEGY.
Interactive strategy is interesting. It’s probably the most misunderstood strategy as it is the newest one to come under the wing of ad agencies. If I had to guess, I think most agencies see IS as data analysis and optimization of online behavior. This includes a lot of search engine optimization, banner placement optimization, conversion rates, etc. Lots of data, like I said. And sure this is important part of understanding the online space and finding insights, but this is a sliver of what IS offers to ad agencies.

Here’s how I look at it: IS is the glue of integration. This is the strategy that links up everything agencies do – online and offline. It’s about designing and creating functionality and mechanisms that spur action among the consumer to visit other executions, visit a showroom, play a treasure hunt game, share a video, participate in an event, customize a product online, invite a friend or opt into a newsletter – for example. Like I said earlier, it answers the question, “what do you want people to do next.” In short, IS finds ways to pull your consumers further into the rabbit hole.

That said, I think “interactive strategy” is a misnomer. It immediately makes you think only of the online space. This style of strategy should be called participation strategy because “getting people to do the next thing” is not limited to the online world.

***

So there you have it: one man’s opinion on the strategic triumvirate. As I said earlier, strategists of the future need to be fluent in the language and customs of each of these strategies.

I hope more of us start blogging about CP and IS/PS. Each is a rich territory for development and new ideas.

LINK

Dino Demopoulos comments on John Grant : Planning's midlife crisis

Seen in Chroma Inc

 

Catching up with the enormous RSS backlog, I stumbled upon this video of John Grant talking about Planning's Midlife Crisis. John mentions the crossroads typical of a midlife life crisis stage in which one road leads to stagnation and the other leads to "generativity".

In contrast to stagnation (in which many of the same old ideas and behaviours are repeated, and we get bored and depressed), the path of generativity emerges when we take on bigger issues, or even a higher calling.

In John's case, this has meant applying his skills, energy and focus on sustainability, but it struck me that there a quite a few similar "big questions" that can lead to generativity for planner types. I'm thinking of course of things like education or politics (Obama?), where there are huge opportunities to do really exciting stuff as a result of the seismic changes in media. We're just at the tip of the iceberg with those two as it stands. Lots of exciting opportunities for planners, I imagine. Organizing for positive social change (as Clay Shirky argues) is still in its infancy, so there is lots to do there.

In my case, and I suspect this may be true for a few other planner/blogging geek types, what makes me tick and probably qualifies for "generativity" is the belief that planners can help make the world a slightly better place these days, by helping brands be more generous, more useful or more interesting. This has nothing to do with technology, or "digital media". That's putting the cart before the horse.
The really exciting part is the human, cultural and social shifts that media and technology are making possible, and are making it necessary for brands to adapt to. Not in order so they can reach their target better to deliver a message, but to fundamentally change the ways in which they behave.

Do good, be generous, spread love (shit, that's hippy talk, right?).

Incidentally, the timing for me to catch John's talk couldn't be any better, as I start the new gig this week. For someone that spent the better part of the last couple of decades as a DJ whose job it was to make people feel good, have a great time and spread love, all this talk of "generativity" in a brand new role couldn't be any more perfect.

John Grant: Planning's Midlife Crisis? from JWT on Vimeo.

Nokia helps ‘Lost Characters’ find their way

Seen in Contagious

Work Club – the start-up creative agency that combines top level talent from Agency Republic and Mother – has created a digital campaign for Nokia Maps based on ‘Lost Characters’.

Nokia Maps is a new service, the equivalent to mobile sat nav, that helps users find nearby venues and friends. Offering AGPS (assisted GPS) technology and free downloadable maps of over 150 countries, this type of service is seen by many to be the next big opportunity in mobile. Therefore, in order to help Nokia own this territory upfront, Work Club were given a brief to create a strategy that was all about demystifying the technology and helping consumers understand the real benefits behind the service.

The campaign was directed by Richard Ayoade (of successful UK comedy TV programmes The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh) and comprises five online films plus a ‘how to’ website. Each film features Lost Characters hooking-up with Nokia Personal Navigators who act as metaphors for the product. Using Nokia’s strapline of ‘Connecting People’, these Personal Navigators help the Lost Characters connect to restaurants, bars and friends.

The Lost Characters include a blue alien tourist who wants to find the pub his alien mate recommended; the pirates who are lost in a rental car looking for where X marks the spot; and the Pac Man who uses Sports Tracker to monitor his training performance and share his route with ghost ‘friends’.

A ‘how to’ website has also been created as educational support. The site explains how to use Nokia Maps through an interactive film that features a Personal Navigator on a journey. He explains how to use the maps, how much they cost and how to install them.

This core film is further supported by four separate interactive sub-films which specifically show how to use Sports Tracker (a training performance monitoring service), for running and cycling; and how to use the service as voice-guided sat nav in the car. These films were shot by Joy@RSA and Austen Humphries at Rattling Stick.

www.nokia.co.uk/maps

New Guiness Ad : gorgeous bit of creative or eco-debate waiting to happen ?

Seen in Contagious

After a hectic few weeks putting together issue 16 of Contagious Magazine, things in the office are getting back to normal, which means the team are back to arguing the interesting issues that we come across on a daily basis. Kicking off today’s bunfight is a new Guinness commercial from Irish International BBDO in Dublin. It’s typical big budget black stuff, showing a group of office workers turning their building into a swirling pint by flicking the lights on and off in a choreographed show to mimic the settling bubbles. The end of the ad shows the building in darkness, apart from the top three floors which are illuminated to represent the famous white head. Click on the link below to view the ad: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQe2s36y7dA

Half of the Contagious team think it’s a gorgeous bit of creative – not going to rival ‘Surfer’ for iconic status, but then again what is? The other half is slightly concerned that such a client would opt for a creative which shows frivolous energy wastage to create some pretty images with which to flog a product. Which side of the divide do you fall?

We’re all au fait with the ins and outs of the eco-debate by now. We’ve been subject to thousands of words of editorial, to government advertising programmes, and to Al Gore reminding us that the end is going to be extremely bloody nigh if we don’t pull our socks up. We all recycle, or at least feel guilty if we don’t. We’ve stopped leaving things on standby, we walk short journeys, we bike to work, we take showers instead of baths, and we compost. Well, some of us compost. And here, it seems, is our proof that the eco-battering is working. When you see people messing round with light switches, is your kneejerk reaction not to smack them round the back of the head and tell them to have a little more consideration for the future of the planet?

Those don’t look like energy-saving lightbulbs, either. As someone here has pointed out, energy-saving lightbulbs 1) don’t turn on and off that fast and 2) even so, don’t miraculously put you in the minus figures for energy wasted. They just waste less. And how long does a shoot like that take? How many times do you have to flick the switches?

Before we got too comfortable up here on our high horses, we called Colm McNamara, group account director at Irish International BBDO, to ask him about the shoot. ‘Whilst we were pulling the idea together, we were aware of the concerns that could be raised over the creative,’ he told Contagious. ‘However, we looked at initiatives like Earth Hour, in which office buildings all turned off their lights for an hour, and see it as something similar. Guinness is black. The point of the shoot isn’t about leaving lights on – it’s more about turning them off, and our client was comfortable with it for exactly that reason. How many lights would have been left on in that building otherwise?’

Hmm. So what do you see when you look at it? A good-looking bit of advertising? Or an eco-debate waiting to happen? Drop us a line at hello@contagiousmagazine.com with your thoughts.

Nike, the Human Race : Tenchology and Music

Seen in Contagious Magazine

Building on the association that Nike+ technology encapsulates between music and running, Miami-based agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky has sourced artists such as Kanye West, Kelly Rowland, Pendulum and Moby to perform on stages in LA, Paris and London respectively to celebrate the opening of the Nike Human Race on August 31st.

One million runners from 25 countries across the world will be released onto the tracks to complete the 10 kilometre Human Race run. Kanye West commented, ‘I’m hitting the stage in L.A. for the Nike+ Human Race, Nike's dopest 10k run ever.’ Talking of his part in the proceedings, he adds: ‘This race is bringing together hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to run and listen to some great music while serving a higher cause, and I’m excited to perform in L.A. as part of the grand finale.’

The London section of the race will be kicked off from the pitch of Wembley Stadium and then onto the surrounding streets, where British marathon star Paula Radcliffe will captain the runners all racing to raise money for three official charity partners: WWF the animal charity; the Lance Armstrong Foundation which unites cancer sufferers and ninemillion.org, the UN’s refugee agency.

The unique element of the Nike+ Human Race is that by using the Nike+ technology, runners do not have to be in the official locations for the start of the race – they can virtually represent their country via nikeplus.com. The runner’s footwear instantly transmits signals to an iPod nano or Nike+ SportBand to keep them informed of their distance, time, calories burnt and pace feedback. As a result runners can complete the distance whilst monitoring their run on race day then synchronise their Nike+ iPod or Nike+ SportBand with their Mac or PC to upload their running time to be officially included in the race.

To support the scheme, Nikeplus.com caters for all pre-race training needs where participants can create their own profile pages or gain motivation by downloading mixes called Sport Music designed specifically for fast and upbeat Training Runs and Coaching Mixes.

Check out the site at nikeplus.com

the Contagious team has compiled a list of the Olympic happenings raising eyebrows in our world

Seen in Contagious Magazine

Olympic Round-Up! There’s been plenty of Olympic activity blowing our tiny minds this week, starting with the staggering opening ceremony. If the fusion of digital technology and performance art on a truly biblical scale sounds like the sort of time-wasting you’re into, head to the BBC’s lovely iPlayer service to catch it again. It’ll be up till Friday.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cwh7g/

In a frenzy of topicality, the Contagious team has compiled a list of the Olympic happenings raising eyebrows in our world. As sponsors go head to head, accusations of ‘technological doping’ get flung around like 12-year-old gymnasts and our great political leaders ignore the situation in Georgia in favour of the women’s beach volleyball, it’s hard to debate the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ tagline…

1) adidas paid $190m for their official sponsorship. Yet who lit the Olympic flame? None other than Li Ning, ex-Olympian and founder of one of adidas’ biggest competitors in China. Strung on a high-wire, he drifted for several minutes in front of 15% (1bn) of the world’s population as a timely reminder to the big guns at adidas that money can’t buy you everything. Makes you wonder about the nature of official sponsorship. There’s a great Business Week article about the whole debacle here, which includes the following gem: "If I had to guess, I would say the uniform was from Li Ning's company," says Wang Zhong, a 32-year-old executive assistant in Beijing who watched the opening ceremony on TV at home. "Don't they sponsor the Olympic uniforms?" www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2008/
gb20080811_303782.htm

2) There’s Olympic swimming records breaking left right and centre, with American Michael Phelps claiming his fifth gold in as many days in the 200m freestyle and shaving almost a second off the previous record (also his). Swimming, for the record, is a sport in which victory is normally claimed in hundredths of a second. Is this anything to do with the Speedo LZR swimsuit, hailed as a miracle breakthrough by those sponsored by Speedo and a f*cking disaster by those who aren’t? Find out how it works here: www.weshow.com/uk/p/36428/speedo_lzr_racer
_swinsuit

3) Back to the BBC again. As the first Olympics in which web 2.0 and all its attendant applications have been truly put to the test, we salute Auntie Beeb for her wonderfully comprehensive coverage. Not only is a squadron of live reporters assailing the firewall with superfast opinion and coverage, they’ve also got the iPlayer, a Twitter feed, a Flickr stream, a desktop widget featuring their own Olympic monkey character, user commentary, interactive maps of the venues, podcasts and games. Due to the 8-hour time difference, Olympi-enthusiasts outside of Asia are relying on digital means of communication to get their updates, and they don’t come much more up-to-date than this. www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics

On a similar note, here’s Kaiser Kuo at Ogilvy Beijing’s take on ‘The First Web 2.0 Olympics’: http://digitalwatch.ogilvy.com.cn/en/?p=307

4) A lovely integrated global campaign from Timberland launches with a TV spot entitled ‘Podium’, in which a single hiker’s treks up a mountain to discover his “personal podium” at its summit. Created by Leagas Delaney, ‘Podium’, a ‘making of video and a video documenting the 360 degree view of the shooting location in British Columbia, Canada will be hosted on www.timberland.com/podium, along with an interactive game.

5) Elsewhere, official sponsor Coca-Cola has been taking advantage of the massive crowds surrounding the Olympics many venues, setting up Bluetooth hotspots to deliver branded content to those opting in. Restaurants, hotels, and bars around the city will see the transmitters installed. Smart move, Coke – go where your audience is.

6) More branded content – Johnson & Johnson’s baby products have launched a TV and online campaign in which Olympic athletes say thanks to their mothers for all the years of love, hard work and driving them to training. Real footage showing the now-terrifyingly evolved athletes as teeny innocent bundles of joy contributes to the tear-jerking, conceived by Lowe in New York. The Contagious team would like to thank their own mothers for recognizing their lack of natural sporting ability and tactfully withdrawing them from competition. www.thanksmomonline.com/us/ 

7) And finally, while we’re on the subject of tear-jerking, the Contagious team has decided that listening to commentators reporting photo-finishes involving their own countrymen is one of our favourite things. For reference, please see the heart-warming victory of British swimmers Rebecca Adlington and Jo Jackson, and commentator Bob Ballard’s delighted commentary. We challenge you not to smile (start the action from 5’30’’): www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cqbpf/

the relevance (or rather lack-of) car advertising is a pertinent question : Aumotive Micro Sites

Seen in Contagious Magazine

Don’t get us wrong, we have nothing against a ponderous Garrison Keillor narrative, and we can almost stomach Alesha Dixon gyrating in front of a band playing instruments made from parts of a Ford Focus. Almost. (See link below for ref.) However, the relevance (or rather lack-of) car advertising is a pertinent question - after all, this is a large, utility-based purchase which normally costs in excess of $30k, so surely the adverts should tell consumers at least something useful about the actual product itself? As three new web sites launch for three popular small cars, this question is once again thrown into relief - style or substance - informative or irrelevant?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_At5qfddQ 

The first, created by JWT, Brazil, is for the launch of the new South American Ford KA. Visitors to the site are invited to upload and paste a picture of themselves onto the body of a bee, a grasshopper or an ant. This insect can then be used to navigate across the laterally-scrolling web page which looks like a cross between the car’s dash board, a Salvador Dali painting and a Monty Python animation - all surrealist landscapes and bizarre cut-outs. There is even a mini-game section where you can pit your insect against what looks like a kung fu potato in a pillow fight. Amazing.

www.itsclicktime.com/2008/fordka/website/

The second example we’ve come across is that from BSSP, Sausalito, CA - The MINI Carfun Footprint Calculator. We like a ruddy good play-on-words as much as the next B2B intelligence-briefing publication, however the site itself left us a little perplexed. Using results from two separate surveys - one on customer enjoyment and one on green capabilities, this website will calculate how fun AND eco-friendly your car is. Presumably, this intends to steal some of the limelight away from manufacturers such as Honda, who's eco-credentials are not necessarily matched by their sex-appeal. However, what exactly does the Carfun Calculator tell us? That a Mini convertible is cuter than a Honda Civic? You don't say guys.

www.carfunfootprint.com

Imagine our glee therefore when we stumbled across truthaboutsmart.co.uk - the new UK web site for the Smart Fortwo city car. Created by Agency Republic, London, the site is led by a very friendly, yet informative narrative - imagine that favourite teacher from school who could always tell you that you were being a complete thicko without making you feel stupid... However, this website does rely firmly on users getting things wrong - more specifically, by subscribing to the misconceptions about the Smart Fortwo. These are challenged in a series of five films which tackle everything from interior space to crash safety and fuel consumption. After explaining the vehicle's capability in each, a multiple-choice question is then posed. Users are expected to underestimate the Fortwo and are therefore pleasantly surprised to find out that you can fit a tumble dryer in the boot or travel from London to Scotland on one tank of petrol...

www.truthaboutsmart.co.uk

Perhaps we’re being a little harsh on the other two, but as obvious as it may sound, consumers visit vehicle web sites to find out more about the vehicles - not to pander to the irrelevant flash-enabled musings of a creative team. We live in an age where prospective buyers are forced to look beyond cute and and consider the environmental impact of their new vehicle as well as how safe and affordable it is. For this reason, we put Smart straight to the top of the Contagious class...

Through a Facebook recruitment drive, Nokia has rounded up 250 students to promote the new handsets

Seen in Contagious

This week, Nokia is trying to entice us into buying its latest range of handsets using a little magic. Thankfully, they've steered clear of David 'what God complex?' Blaine in favour of yoof street act Dynamo. This nifty magician was last seen working wonders for our favourite three-striped German brand and is now using mobiles to get the marketing message across.

With a little help from seeding maestro's Unruly Media, a couple of virals are working their way around the web - the clips finish with a clever little card trick to pull people to the homepage http://nokiaconnectors.com. Dynamo flicks through a pack of cards, asking you to remember one, and then promises he will guess your card when he greets you at http://nokiaconnectors.com/dynamo, which he mind-blowingly does; just like David Blaine did in that Peugeot commercial all those years ago oops (not that the teens of today will be old enough to remember luckily!).

The really fun part of the campaign is going on in the background. Through a Facebook recruitment drive, Nokia has rounded up 250 students to promote the new handsets. Nokia’s UK Head of Communications Anna Shipley told Contagious ‘this summer, Nokia is launching ‘Nokia Connectors’ sending teams of student brand ambassadors onto the UK's streets, parks, beaches and parties, to help the public unlock the magic in their phones. Based all over the UK in 18 key cities and armed with Nokia’s new 6220 phone and some amazing mobile magic tricks, the aim is for the Nokia Connectors to engage, entertain and connect with potential consumers.’

This engaging grass roots initiative is a sterling example of how to pull potential customers closer to your corporate bosom, creating anexperience to remember and hopefully a dollop of brand loyalty with the existing Nokia crowd. This is how the matey matey approach should be done; walk up, entertain your consumers with a bit of illusion, talk to them on their level, and give them something back. Don’t just stride up, put your arm round their neck and share their jokes, forcing your opinions and bullshit on their friends – you’ll just up the Saturday night drunkard who ends up in everyone’s photos but no one actually spoke to. Or will remember.

Slideshare Contest: Why Business Models Matter (by Alex Osterwalder )

Read in Business Model, Design and Innovation

I finally succeeded to submit a powerpoint presentation to the "world's best presentation contest" on slideshare.net, after some initial problems with the submission options (they simply disappeared before the end of the deadline...).

Please have a look at my slides below on "why business model innovation maters". If you like them please click on the link and go vote. Thanks! As a Swiss I believe in your democratic opinion - but vote "thumbs up" anyways ;-)

Business Model Innovation Matters

View SlideShare presentation (tags: osterwalder alex alexander telco)

The surprising derivation of the word "free" (by Chris Anderson )

Read in longtail.com

In English the word "free" is fraught with ambiguous meaning, which is why the open source world has to make the distinction between free as in speech vs. free as in beer. In Romance languages, such as Spanish, French or Italian, the twin meanings munged into the English word "free" are split between two words, one derived from the Latin "libre" (freedom) and the other from the Latin "gratis" (zero price).   

In these languages, "libre" is usually an alloyed good, while "gratis" is often considered a marketing gimmick.In English, marketers take advantage of the ambiguity to use the positive connotations of freedom to help past suspicions over the truth of the pricing meaning.

But that still leaves the question: what's the derivation of the English word "free"?It's actually fascinating: "free" comes from the same Old English root as "friend".

The path is this:

[They both come] from the Old English freon, freogan "to free, love." The primary sense seems to have been "beloved, friend, to love;" which in some languages (notably Gmc. and Celtic) developed also a sense of "free," perhaps from the terms "beloved" or "friend" being applied to the free members of one's clan (as opposed to slaves).

The sense of "given without cost" is from 1585, from notion of "free of cost."

[A fun example of freedom and free combined is in the poster shown above, which Larry Lessig found at an open source conference. The Free Beer this refers to is a recipe that is free to all. But if you want the version someone has already made, you've got to pay for it. This is another example of the time/money business model of free.]

Posted by Chris Anderson