Hacker, Maker, Teacher, Thief: Advertising's Next Generation

by Creative Social

A dozen articles celebrated “Not Normal” via fashion oddities to environmental phenomena. This content alliance allowed Mini to expand the positioning of its brand messaging and bring their range of unique cars into focus.

In the case of social native advertising – think sponsored Facebook posts and promoted Tweets – the page or profile owner needs to be clear on what value their brand brings to their followers and not veer from that purpose. More telling in this instance is the reactions to the content – was it referred, commented upon, liked etc.

A planned approach meant Oreo concentrated its efforts on relevancy, reach and timeliness with an outcome that everyone talked about.

programmatic media can be relevant, but it lacks soul and context, whereupon native formats are reigniting creativity from both the brands and the publishers to engage with audiences in more interesting ways.

Yes, a powerful partner, but misused it turns into a creepy stalker.

Being open with their data has allowed London to rally its technically savvy citizens to create tools and services that improve the lives of many.

It feels that we are at the intersection of change, whereupon push advertising lacks a role in our online experiences. We naturally look for referred media first, something that’s validated by real people, ideally our friends.

We will, however, refer friends to a remarkable film or story. We’ll encourage followers to download an App we can’t live without or visit a site that’s interaction design is compelling. We’ll share information that’s helped us solve a problem or tackle a task we knew nothing about. We will even applaud a service that took the time to look after our needs and go the extra mile. Experience is everything and if you’re having a good one, you’ll likely shout about it.

As media companies begin to forge creative capabilities and creative companies become more media savvy, we edge towards the brave new world of an agency capable of a holistic approach with laser accuracy and intuition.

now we need to return, head and heart joined, and ready to take a risk.

I took everything I’d learned about building a creative culture and I offered it to businesses. That’s how I pay the rent now.

I’m talking about giving recognition to the people who came up with the ideas in the first place. And that recognition should be public and congratulatory.

It’s much better to keep your team small. So small that there’s nowhere to hide and your reputation is on the line if you don’t deliver.

boss should be showing examples of the kind of idea they want people to produce. They should be pointing people towards the interesting stuff that might spark an idea. And they should have enough charisma and passion to get people excited about what they’re doing, even when it seems a bit tedious.

a good Creative Director is someone you can trust to crack the brief if you can’t.

Only a bad leader keeps the good briefs for themselves.

Office desks are designed for executing rather than thinking.

Just getting out of the office - or moving to a different part of the office - is enough to change people’s perspective on a problem.

Liberating people from their desks is the simplest way to liberate their minds from the obvious.

If you want people to develop an idea, tell people exactly what’s wrong with it, what needs to be addressed and what you want them to come back to you with.

A good creative leader will protect their staff from these harmful barbs, because encouragement nourishes the creative soul far more than criticism ever will.

There’s more chance of them doing something brilliant if you take away the crap that’s preventing it. Stuff like politics, pointless meetings, unrealistic deadlines and bad briefs.

A good leader should be looking to curate a department of frighteningly talented people and making sure they have everything they need to do the best work they can.

The client isn’t there to crap on your creative genius, they’re there to make sure your ideas are going to help them achieve their business objectives.

No one is ever too senior to learn something new. Be curious about everything. Learn all you can about the business. Research your clients and get to know about their industries. Read up on new technology. Find out about the latest thinking in psychology and human behaviour. And let your staff know that you expect the same from them.

It was Bill Bernbach who first put Art Directors and Copywriters together to form a creative team. He believed two heads were better than one when it came to advertising.

Collaboration and co-creation is the new source of creativity. It requires confidence (not ego) to give your idea away to someone else - whether that’s another agency, partner or even your consumers.

It’s about giving it away and enjoying the ways in which it’ll come back and, delight and surprise you.

believe that as the briefs are become more complex, the ideas need to become simpler. But these are simple, powerful ideas that can live in complex ecosystems, across channels, in real-time, that always create value and earn attention for the consumer.

The comparison between the advertising industry and film industry is interesting given that The Beauty Inside is perhaps the first ‘ad’ to beat regular programming and take home an Emmy Award for Outstanding New Approach to a daytime series.

Successful advertising will be built on powerful organising ideas that live over time (and in real-time), across channels with a programmatic logic. Felix Baumgartner’s infamous space jump clearly demonstrates the shift from saying to doing.

In a disposable world, there is less value in the things we consume – with an increase in volume we decrease the amount of emotion or rational engagement we can give any particular thing.

We don’t need to tick every box. An agency should have the remit (or the balls) to stand up, have an opinion and not be timid. A client should have faith in their agency – if they haven’t then they are working with the wrong agency. Together they should work out a strategy that is unique to them and their values, defining the creative and using the channels that are best fit for purpose.

think we need to learn how to become better curators of our lives.

So, I want people to care. And if they do care, to show it in the right way. To hold value in the words they believe in. To have a standpoint by which they are rooted, and welcome the opportunity for discussion.

As creatives our role is to help brands be more responsible in their communications. For brands to create things of value that touch the hearts and minds of users and inspire them to engage. It’s not all about volume. It’s about quality. It’s about being smart.

As agencies we talk about creating narratives that consumers can enjoy, participate in and share. But there is more to a great strategy than this. To allow ownership to be transferred to the people we create it for. We have opened our creations to a collaborative environment – so is now the time to let go?

If brands can learn to harness this power and be truly comfortable in allowing a conversation to take its own form, and be happy to ride the wave wherever it takes them — rather than trying to control a single message across all media — then we have taken one small step into true communications. To ‘get out of the story’ and start being the story.

People desire meaningful relationships – smarter communications with meaningful content, not superficial likes and approval. They need a substantial brand meal rather than an endless diet of junky ad snacks.

“Commercials” are no longer just commercials.

They are now better known as “branded content”, which is essentially art sponsored by the brands, art with the purpose of product sale or a commercial in a new, artistic disguise.

do we really want all brands to be culturally famous agents of change? And even if we did, is this realistic?

The most exciting ideas are born on the places where science, technology, and creativity meet. The best of them are extremely relevant for people (whether we call them art lovers or consumers), changing their lives for the better in a very tangible way.

Creativity is becoming something new, undefined and very broad; it is becoming a field where creative human beings are using scientific, artistic and communicational tools of all kinds, merging and combining them in a meaningful way to have greater impact than ever before.

if you know where people are looking for happiness – and status and identity and meaning as key ingredients of that – you’ll have a much better idea of how you can sell to them.

Stuffocation is about how we have enough, and how we’ve had enough of stuff.

experiences are now more visible, more tangible, more valuable, and more likely than material goods to contribute to your status.

our fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviours are changing, what can you and your brand do about it?

We still need and want and use and use up material things. But we want less material clutter, less waste, less monotonous, commoditised stuff. And we will still want status.

“Everyone is an autobiographer nowadays, it’s like everyone is actively writing their own biography all the time,” says Bompas. “So stories are becoming even more important. In the ‘80s, people wanted a fast car. Now they want a good story to tell.”