Part of the creative’s job these days is to develop ways to encourage sharing a new campaign. It’s no longer enough to create brilliant creative that connects with the audience. Now, creative needs to be so powerful that it encourages “engagement” and “sharing.”

Read the rest here.

Ever met someone who never takes sides. Never makes a clear decision. Always wants the group to decide so he doesn’t run the risk of making anyone upset. You probably called this person wishy washy, indecisive or maybe even weak. And never a leader.

Now imagine this person is your brand. A lot of marketers are scared to death that someone may call, email, write a letter to the editor or, God forbid, tweet their dissatisfaction. They would rather stand for nothing then have someone rant about their product on their Facebook wall.

Now think of a person with strong opinions maybe even famous people with strong opinions. Those people probably have a lot of lovers and haters. Most politicians are that way and many business leaders are that way too  –like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Yet their brands represent the two largest market capitalization in the world (Exxon is the only US company with a larger market cap than Apple).

People find their personalities both attracting and appalling as well as the products these companies offer. Sure, they are unique individuals and companies but that’s the point. So is Tony Heish and Zappos. Or Mark Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks and HDNet. And of course, Martha Stewart and Omnimedia.

A company doesn’t have to have a strong CEO to stand for something either. You probably don’t know who the CEO of Disney is now that Michael Eisner (or Walt) is gone but you understand what the brand represents (yes there are people who hate the mouse). And what about Porsche? Or say Burberry?

A brand can stand for something just through the products it makes or the service it offers. But is often communicated effectively through it’s marketing and advertising. I’m not going to dissect ad campaigns and say which ones run the risk of offending and which make a stand. It’s pretty obvoius when they do and when they don’t.

As a writer and creative person, inspiration is something I’m supposed to know a lot about. I shouldn’t need your help, because I’m inspired to write witty, interesting things all the time, right? Certainly I’ve got a direct line to the muse? Unfortunately, there’s no bat phone for writers.

Article continues here on agency blog.

Too many marketing departments spend countless hours navel gazing, trying to find a omniscient inner-voice. This oracle is supposed to communicate who they are as a company and what they need to tell their customers so that they will finally understand the value they offer the world. It never works.

Sorry, navel gazers, your belly button can’t help you. Finding yourself might have been the mantra of 70s-self-help gurus but you’ll need to listen to your customers first if you want to make your marketing relevant to them.

Even worse, this feel good approach most often leads to corporate chest pounding. “Your number one source for widgets.” “The market leader in top-quality widgets.” Messaging no one gives a damn about outside the company and most customers will even find off putting. After all, who wants to listen to someone who only talks about themselves.

This approach totally ignores what the customer cares about. If you’re spending all your time discovering yourself, you’re not discovering the hopes and desires of your customers. Just your own.

The saddest part is there’s never been an easier time to really get to know what your customer wants and what they care about. Just fire up your internet browser and get to know them better. They’re putting everything on record for you through social media. Heck, you don’t even have to actually talk to them to get to know what makes them tick.

To be clear, this isn’t to say who you are as a company isn’t important – as long as it’s focused with the perspective of the customer. An easy to understand example of this is — UPS. What can brown do for you?

Image by c@rljones via Flickr

I don’t know a single person in my profession of advertising, or in an ancillary field, who isn’t working much harder for the same or less money then they were a few years ago. Most industries have been hit real hard. But marketing and advertising professionals got it right in the teeth.

Marketing departments are now expected to function with far fewer people and also handle a proliferating assortment of media types. Plus they need to be expert on Web strategy, analytics, ROI reporting, project management, get social media and Web 2.0 figured out and keep multiple vendors on task and on budget with less then half the work force they would have had five years ago. And did I mention the dwindling budgets?

Those dwindling budgets are being passed on to the agencies where staffs have been decimated and pressure to preform and workloads have risen. A friend reported an 80% cut where he was working.

Agency vendors and media companies are now in dire straights. Many have even folded.

There are now thousands of talented people on the street. Many of the people I know who’ve lost their jobs were among the best. Unfortunately their salaries lined up perfectly with what the bean counters needed reduce the hemorrhaging. I’ve been caught in that situation before and am so thankful it’s not me this time.

Many of the people left manning the marketing departments and agencies are working at unsustainable rates. Yeah, I know it’s cool for creative types to sleep under their desks when they’re juniors. I did it too but a whole industry can’t continue working at a short-term pace forever.

It doesn’t look like lost workers are going to be replaced anytime soon either. Economists expect slow job growth over the next decade, it may even take 10 years to reach near full employment again. And fears of a double-dip recession are keeping staffs ultra-lean.

So is everyone just supposed to suck it up for the next decade? Many managers are choosing that strategy. And it may seem like the safest.

But I suspect it’s not in the long run. If the value was truly there in our current mix of services and the industry has not changed for good, then the money would have come back as the stock market has recovered. But it hasn’t come back to the traditional marketing channels.

In fact, digital is seeing some growth and Web 2.0 and social are seeing significant growth. Remember when newspapers ran columns in the business sections making fun of the internet companies like Facebook who couldn’t turn a profit? Yeah, times really have changed.

Well, we’ve all gotten leaner and meaner. We’re working smarter.  We’re employing project management best practices and using software to optimize our work flow. Yet none of these are good enough to restore balance.

What’s really needed is a complete re-imaging of the industry. We need to break down the all the assumptions that we’ve had about how our business works.

That ad agencies shouldn’t take responsibility for digital strategy and analytics.

That marketing is different than customer service.

That digital agencies can’t do branding.

That PR shops should function in a vacuum.

That corporate communications are somehow different than marketing communications.

That marketing and sales teams can function separately.

That virtual agencies just can’t work on branding.

That branding happens at an agency or marketing department in the first place.

That crowd sourcing will only hurt our industry.

That advertising should always be created in integrated campaigns.

That push messaging can’t also be pull (anyone old enough to remember The Great International Paper Airplane Contest knows better).

That a digital agency shouldn’t produce a TV spot.

That a creative departments should exist.

That an ad agency shouldn’t be responsible for the messaging and building of a corporate website.

If any of the above seems risky or scary you’re right. But if you don’t take these points seriously, you may find yourself in a rather scary place before this economy has recovered.

Now more than ever, we agency professionals cannot afford to have cliche’ agency jerks among our ranks. There’s enough tension with clients and providers thanks to the economic hardships. So please, if you recognize any of these behaviors as something you or your colleagues do, please do your best to put a stop to it.

1. Do you sigh every time a client opens their mouth to offer criticism?
2. Do you say things like, “obviously, you don’t understand” when you fail to properly explain the agency’s thinking?
3. Do you pretend to understand digital terms like analytics, UI, and RSS then blow them off as irrelevant or below your pay grade?
4. Do you put more effort in arguing about the size of the logo than improving your knowledge base?
5. Do you think SEO is someone else’s job?
6. Do you think web video is just another way to sell your 30 second TV spot?
7. Do you discount the client’s ideas without thinking how to improve them first?
8. Do you spend more time thinking about how you look than the way your work makes the client look?
9. Do you think pitching the client another iPhone apps makes you cutting edge?
10. Do you constantly refer to the awards you won during the last Ice Age?

I am not so sorry to say that you’ve been outmoded. The future doesn’t need you. Please get out of the business before you bring the ship down with you. The client’s never liked you and they’re beginning to figure out they don’t need you, your sporty clothes and fancy way of talking. They need someone with a deep understanding of digital, social and branding – who wants to be a real partner.

OK. OK. So I’m having a little fun. But I’m sure you can name a few agency jerk behaviors that are hurting our business.

Back in the days when I used to produce a lot of television spots, I sat through hundreds and hundreds of the most awkward auditions. Some were more like an American Idol outtakes show than you’d like to believe. Why? Because actors are willing to take huge risks to get an opportunity to do something great. Even if it means utter and shameful embarrassment.

That’s something advertising people are not too willing to do these days. Maybe because the job market is so tight that people aren’t willing to stick there neck out. Sure, we may be a media revolution these days, but we’re certainly not a creative one.

This lack of risk taking is in stark contrast to the hundreds of actors willing to make complete asses of themselves just to work on a television campaign. Standing out in that crowd is difficult to say the least. Actors seriously have to put it on the line every day if they’re going to do more than starve or wait tables. So it’s not only humbling to watch them do it, it’s very educational seeing other creative people taking risks that big.

We advertising people think we’re so creative but just how often do we put ourselves on the line in the same way. And I don’t mean by doing an edgy ad – that’s not risky, that’s expected. I mean doing something truly risky. Something that will get you called into the bosses office or called out by a client. Or worse, something that you could be embarrassed by suggesting.

So what’s truly risky? Using technology in a completely new way. Applying real creativity to a new media instead of letting concepts spin out of the print ads or TV spots — (remember the landscape has changed). What about not even presenting an ad at all. Or how about killing the big idea and presenting lots of little ones.

Are you willing to embarrass yourself by trying something risky?

Tomorrow I’m running the Atlanta Half Marathon. Back in my early 20s I would have been much better prepared for this effort. I was a competitive cyclist and didn’t have the same job and family commitments I do today. In fact, the old me would probably say that present me is ill prepared.

So what the @#%^ am I thinking running a half marathon tomorrow?

Actually I’m not mad. I’m simply using some principals from social media.

I’ve listened. I’ve done my research. I know what’s expected to participate properly.

I understand the community. Sure, there will be some serious athletes there, but most will be weekend warriors just like me.

I’ve created a strategy for both success and failure. If I make it to the finish I have a ride home. If I don’t, I’ll have 20 bucks for a cab.

I’m getting in the mix. I’m engaging. I’ll have a chance to connect with other runners and have a great time. And that, not my time, will be the reward.

So I hope you have a great turkey day. I know I will.

Update: I finished the Atlanta Half Marathon in a not so respectable two and a half hours. But I was pleased that I did it. I learned that I was capable of doing it, even when I wasn’t completely prepared. And now I have a more clear idea what I need to do to be better prepared next year and have greater success. These are good things that far outweigh the unpleasant lactic acid build-up that’s already passed.

I’ve already posted on the 10,000 foot view, so I wanted to get at about what I actually learned BlogWell Atlanta.

Andy Sernovitz had some important points on ethics and disclosure. He outlined dangers to a brand of not having clear, legal agreements with vendors acting on a brand’s behalf and opined that the new FCC guidelines a positive development for the industry. His belief is that social media will be much better served by government policing than it would by being allowed to evolve on its own the way email did.

There were some compelling BtoB stories. Orange and SunGuard had showed how social media benefited their bottom line through providing helpful information to clients and potential clients.

Also there was a terrific UPS crisis management story. And I enjoyed hearing about Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 campaign.

But what did I really learn there? That there’s a vibrant community of professionals trying to figure this social media thing out. That it lives beyond the blogs and tweets. That people are engaged, smart, and want to do the right thing. And frankly that’s damn refreshing place to be compared to discussions about direct mail, email marketing, or print advertising. People really are seeing a brighter horizon in this space while in traditional marketing the world is shrinking.

So even if Twitter does turn out to be a stupid fad, I think social media is a pretty great space to be in.

Why do people always say if you’ve had a particularly bad experience that you should “learn from it?” Do they really mean it?

It’s not always possible to grow from something. Especially if that bad experience lasts longer than say five minutes. (I want to make it clear I’m not speaking about truly bad experiences like abuse.)

That’s not to say that bad experiences can’t toughen you and make you more resilient the next time they happen. For example being laid off after an account loss several years ago made me tougher. But is that really growth? Maybe it is but it’s not the kind I’m interested in.

Where is this going? I’d like to make the case that it’s important to stop trying to make the most of every experience and recognize them for what they are good, bad or just not very valuable. Whether they’re friendships, jobs, clients, work relationships, or an automobile they should be evaluated. Then we should change the negative ones, deal with them, or change how you deal with them.

Your time, your energy and your passion deserve more than to be drained for naught. Something like a bad job or relative can’t always be avoided. But you can focus your passion on the things that give the most back. For example, social media gives a lot back to me. That’s why it gets as much energy as I can put into it.

Writing email copy gives back less, partially because I’ve been doing it for so long. I’ve already gained most of the learning. That doesn’t mean I don’t do it with the same professionalism, I just don’t expect it to be the same learning experience and have the same depth.

Photography is the same – a simple studio product shot gets an hour, where a location shot with multiple subjects gets much more time.

What do you think? Is part of what you do daily draining? Other things rewarding? Do you think every task deserves the same dedication?