Register then check yes (or no)–but we’d appreciate the yes! Then make plans to head to Austin, TX in March! SXSW is a great week of interactive know how.
Voting stays open from August 17 – Sept 4th. In the words of 2 old ad pitchmen “Thanks, and we appreciate your support!”
Steve Hershberger is the Principal and Co-Founder of ComBlu but his name first scrolled across my screen when I tuned into a web radio show called SocializingMedia which is hosted bySteve, Jonathan Salem Baskin, Blake Cahill and Sean O’Driscoll. (Sean’s company, Ant’s Eye View will ring a bell because they were last week’s Ad Industry Innovator # 11.)
Although they’re only on show #6 SocializingMedia has already had guests like George Neil, formerly of Apple and Motorola, now the CMO of Brunswick. Upcoming shows will feature thought leaders like Dawn Lacallade, formerly at Dell and now the Community Manager at Solar Winds.
I scheduled Steve’s interview to fall around the same time as Ant’s Eye View because seeing companies like ComBlu, Ant’s Eye View and Brains on Fire crop up next to one another you begin to realize the impact and scope that community engagement and consumer involvement has had on marketing today. The rules have changed and companies like ComBlu are early adopters in helping companies adapt to that change.
ComBlu’s specialty is creating community-based Word of Mouth programs by identifying customer evangelists and influencers, activating them (so they) impact loyalty and affinity and measuring that impact on sales, reputation or mission. ComBlu is all about ROI. The company has built and manages over 25 communities in 20 languages with over six million members.
What was the “aha” moment when you realized, “Our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been?”
About 7-8 years ago, we realized that there was a perfect storm that would be the catalyst for the way people sought information:
Installed technology base and the emergence of social networkinng.
Communications overload making it more appealing for people to ask their own trusted resources rather than search for information.
The breakdown of trust in established institutions and channels; again a stimulus for people turning to each other for information instead of traditional sources.
This perfect storm was our “aha” moment. We knew we had methodologies to identify people with large social networks and who had a high level of influence within them. Because it was based on behaviors rather than traditional demographics, we realized we had lightning in a bottle. If our methodologies were properly applied, we could help companies find their best advocates and activate them as a powerful influence channel. We were way ahead of the marketplace, though.
What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader?
The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited by Emanuel Rosen, an update of a WOM classic
All Consumers Are Not Created Equal by Garth Hallberg
Guy Kawasaki: Short and sweet tidbits
TechCrunch: A futurist’s playground
Mashable: A quick overview of tools and techniques
Web Strategy: Jeremiah Owyang blog—great insights into where social marketing is heading
Groundswell: Forrester blog…lots of good stuff
Conversation Agent: Interesting, longer pieces on a variety of content and conversation marketing topics
Social Media Today: Good bullshit detector
Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why.
Liberty Mutual had done a great job. They started their “Do the Right Thing” positioning a few years ago and have evolved it now to include the Responsibility Project, which is a community that delves into ethics and societal behaviors. Quite interesting.
Walmart’s current ad campaign is visually great and has highly resonant messaging for today’s economic times.
UPS has a very engaging white board campaign and integrates it with online.
Ford Fiesta has good integration of social and traditional media.
We’ve all read that the pitch/RFP process is broken. Many agencies aren’t even interested in competing in pitches. Do you see an alternative to this process?
Don’t wait until you need an agency to find one. Instead, build a community of really smart people who are your “advisory board.”
-Look to them for ideas and collaboration.
-“Cut” those who are territorial or afraid of offering up ideas because their competition might hear them. That does not cut it in today’s age of transparency and social collaboration. These people are more concerned with getting the largest share of the marketing wallet and not being part of a team focused on results and innovation.
When you need a specific project or ongoing counsel, build your own team from your community. An RFP is just a call to buy an existing team. Instead build a team of the best and the brightest who are equipped to collaborate. Match the team to the skills needed for the program.
What does the agency of the future look like?
McKinsey meets boutique:
Business acumen with executional excellence and agility.
Build shareholder value with measurable and sustainable results.
Bring influential stakeholders to the company; don’t bring the company to the marketplace.
Help companies socialize their workforce, their products and their stakeholder interactions across three nodes: Feedback, advocacy and support.
What do marketers need that agencies are not giving them?
Ad Industry Innovator # 10 is GamePlan, an experiential marketing firm with offices in New York and Austin. It’s a special day for me because I got the guy who inspired the series and it’s kind of like having Buddy Rich on to talk about drumming.
Tim Hayden’s firm was my own personal a-ha moment. GamePlan proved to me that there were agencies out there who defied categorization and who were figuring out how to pull (rather than push) consumers and engage them effectively for marketers who wanted to participate in existing conversations. What they were doing was more than permission based marketing it was involvement marketing.
In one of our conversations Tim suggested we come to Austin to attend SXSW this past March, in fact, I believe he said: you need to be here– he was right. On the flight down the Southwest in flight magazine featured GamePlan in a story about how they were engaging audiences for marketers in ways traditional marketing had not been able to–and I learned a bit more about the unique position of GamePlan in the marketplace. While in Austin Tim and I had a chance to talk shop and I was convinced again, that his was a firm that was changing the game and what it means to be a marketer.
What was the aha moment when you realized “our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been?”
In 2006, Dell hired us to execute its sponsorship of Justin Timberlake’s FutureSexLoveSounds 2007 tour. We were to execute an integrated campaign that touched fans outside the arena (street teams + SMS), at an arena concourse demo kiosk and engage fans within the “Dell Lounge,” an SRO-only area surrounding the performance stage…all to drive traffic to an online sweepstakes.
We learned early in the tour to build more excitement by “upgrading” fans by giving those in the nosebleed seats a chance to sit down by the stage (Verizon held the radio-promo ticket “drop” rights), and then engaging fans online by tracking “Dell” tagged user-generated photos and video that could have only originated from mobile phone cameras (no cameras allowed per tour policy). Manually, we identified thousands of image uploads with tags such as, “Katy and me in the Dell Lounge with Justin,” and we were successful with near 60% of those we invited to experience http://www.delllounge.com.
While these tactics proved to us again that guerrilla tactics induce and amplify buzz around a brand during an event, also opened were our eyes to the coming potential of mobile technology and social media. A year later, we coined the “Live – Mobile – Online” engagement model as the key approach to driving offline experiences into online conversation, and vice versa.
What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader?
My wife often starts that question with “when are you gonna read all of those…?” in the stack now are (good friend) Richard Laermer’s 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade, Sarah Lacy’s Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good and Harlan Coben’s There Will be No Second Chance (my first Coben read sans Myron Bolitar, who has wasted many a day away with me on a beach on South Padre Island or in Tamarindo, Costa Rica). I also always have the latest editions of Inc., Men’s Journal and Conde Nast’s Portfolio in the queue (or lou-side, ahem).
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ – I read his post through http://otherinbox.com or click the posts he relays through Twitter. Chris seems to post 1-3 times/day, and I always enjoy the way he reports his live experiences…proving live-mobile-online every day!
http://brainsonfire.com/blog/ – found it when tracking a stat that 90%+ of all WOM occurs OFFLINE. Since then, I check in at least 1-2X/week.
http://adomatica.blogspot.com/ – run by my buddy, Robert Gilbreath, who pulled off the Enfartico online stunt. There’s no better source for gossip/real scoop on the Austin ad world than can be found here.
Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why.
I often talk with fellow marketers about “holistic” experiential/social marketing. Hands down, I see Southwest Airlines as the best example of a brand that holistically markets (and exudes) a brand experience.
At every audience touch point (website – ticket counter – gate – seat – pilot’s/crew’s voice and smile…) a positive attitude and engaging brand experience seems to be present. There is evidence of innovating that I experience each time I fly with them, because Southwest makes it a point to engage and educate each passenger on new developments, procedures and promotions that seem to be all about me, the passenger.
There is no other brand I’ve experienced that is as successful as Southwest with its culture and the warmth it delivers to a customer…and that’s the way it has been for more than 37 years. “Brilliant” is an understatement.
We’ve all read that the pitch / RFP process is broken. Many agencies aren’t even interested in competing in pitches. Do you see an alternative to this process?
Over the past three years, we have produced several “experimental” or “pilot” campaigns for brands combining events with mobile and social media. I believe that this is a new way to sell confidence within a client, including both new client business and organic new business from an existing client. Confidence is something we all must earn, and I do not believe we can redeem it with a sexy pitch or stating we have a certain experience or a global sphere of resources. Certainly it earns a few points to demonstrate a strong network and happy past clients…I just know that “proof of concept” will rule the foreseeable future.
What does the agency of the future look like?
The agency of the future will be smaller in size, enabling it to be more agile and more responsive to client needs that change near daily. And, for all I see BIG today as fallible, I also see challenges with the proliferation of the smaller, independent agency. I’m seeing a ton of “snake oil” being sold today across all media types (OOH, social, mobile, traditional…) and marketing services (SEO, SEM, direct mail…), and I don’t know how we might safeguard against wasted investments in such. Buyer beware…make us prove we can successfully execute that which we claim.
What do marketers need that agencies are not giving them?
I believe we must all see our service to clients as a partnership solution, no longer just as a program or campaign. For this solution to be successful, I see three requisite ingredients:
a. Accountability: It should never be about the agency portfolio or the stable of ADDYs behind the receptionist’s desk. Who cares if our peers judge us as “creative”? Are we putting measurable (and qualified?!) numbers up in terms of traffic and sales, and/or are we truly delivering a net-positive solution to the client? And, while executing this solution, are we ready to address the miscues and then switch gears to go an extra mile in ensuring the solution is ultimately successful?
b. Innovation: Even within an existing client, no two marketing challenges are the same. Agencies must acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers while learning about and incorporating advanced media, methodology and technology into each new solution. At GamePlan, we have never executed the same exact solution for a client more than once, and we constantly scrutinize new technology and media that may we identify as emerging in relevancy to online conversation and offline experiences
c. Collaboration: For too long, agencies have allowed (and embraced) “media” to define what channels can or cannot be leveraged to reach an audience. As engagement (the “impression” is dying, dying…dead) is now the ultimate goal of that reach, agencies must look beyond in-house competencies to engage and involve partners. If an agency has confidence built with a client, there is no reason why we cannot bring partners to the table as part of the total integrated solution…with disclosure and transparency being key.
Who do you admire and why?
My Grandad, Art Hayden, who is 93 years young this year, has survived polio, cancer and he can recall the names of/stories about every person he has ever met/place he has been here on Planet Earth. I can only hope to one day emulate his disposition, sense of humor and appreciation for life. Also, too many entrepreneurs to list. Mark Cuban: because he pursued his passion, basketball, became a successful technopreneur and…you know the rest of the story; Michael Dell, because building computers in his dorm room bathroom is a beautiful story of hope; and too many more who’ve Sinatra-like “done it [their] way.”
I’ve been looking forward to this Ad Industry Innovator profile for a while: Spike Jones of Brains on Fire from Greenville [say, Greenvul] South Cackalacky.
Recently someone commented, “Ad Industry Innovator is an oxymoron.” Getting to know agencies like Brains on Fire proves that point of view a little ill informed.
The shops works with a wide range of regional and national clients including Best Buy, Fiskars Brands, Confluence Watersports, the American Booksellers Association, Rage Against the Haze (SC’s youth-led anti-tobacco use movement), Love146, Jason’s Deli, Michelin and BMW.
So you get a sense of Spike, one of my earliest email exchanges with him had this in his signature line:
Says a lot about Spike, I think, and anyone who turns me on to a new artist who sounds, at times, like Dr John and Taj Mahal’s love child gets props from me!
A PEMCO business event at the Space Needle at the premier of a new spot by previously profiled DNA-Seattle I met Sean O’Driscoll from Ant’s Eye View (also coming up on a future Innovator’s profile) who are tight with, you guessed it, Brains on Fire.
Last month over my breakfast cereal and coffee I crack open the newest Fast Company and what should I flip to? An article about Brains on Fire.
Based on my friend, Alan Schutte ’s (Platt Hollow Road) recommendation to feature Norfolk, VA based Grow Interactive on an upcoming Innovator post, and who pops up on their site? Brains on Fire.
Next time the Brains on Fire team rolls through your town, go check ‘em out. Based on the places they pop up, they’ll probably be in your town next week. If you’re ever in Greenville and you drop in, as people in the South are want to do, take them food, coffee or beer, they’ll love you for it. (You’re welcome, Spike.)
1. What was the aha moment when you realized, “our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been?”
Well, this may come across as conceited, but Brains on Fire IS the ah-ha moment. We always say that Brains on Fire is a state of being. A condition. A movement. A cause. An attitude.
As for our current model, we found it in 2002 when we started a word of mouth movement that birthed Rage Against the Haze, SC’s youth-led anti-tobacco use movement. We didn’t have the funds to run ads like the TRUTH campaign, and we knew that even if we did, after the money ran out we’d be back to square one. So we created a peer-to-peer movement built on education instead of one built on fear. We used our identity/creative chops to bring it to life and RAGE has become one of the most successful anti-tobacco use movements in the nation (with one of the smallest budgets). At the time, we were just doing what we felt was right. A couple years later, the word of mouth industry came to be. Now we had a name for it.
2. What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader?
I’ve been on a business book hiatus for a while, but I’m currently reading New York Stories: Landmark Writing from Four Decades of New York Magazine. It’s fantastic. And the last book I read before that was Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly. (You’ll notice an old-school pirate mentality around the Brains on Fire crew.)
As for blogs, I look to Adpulp for my daily dose of the ad world. I faithfully read Peter Kim’s blog, John Moore’s Brand Autopsy, Jake McKee’s Community Guy blog, Mack Collier’s Viral Garden, the Brand New blog (since Brains on Fire’s heritage is in identity development), and then, of course the FAIL Blog.
3. Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why.
Maker’s Mark brand ambassadors. Turbo Tax’s Inner Circle. Fiskars Fiskateers (that’s ours). Any movement that is shoulder-to-shoulder with your biggest fans where you empower, engage, listen and join forces with your customers. Scratch that. Not your customers. Your brand’s best friends.
4. We’ve all read that the pitch / RFP process is broken. Many agencies aren’t even interested in competing in pitches. Do you see an alternative to this process?
Don’t get me started. RFPs represent all that’s wrong with the client/agency relationship. We don’t answer them. I despise them. What a waste of time. But that’s the way things have always have been done – and it seems that no big agencies or companies are willing to take a stand. And for every RFP we refuse to answer, there are ten thousand agencies willing to roll the dice.
Especially spec work in RFPS. Come on. Giving away the one thing that you have to sell is completely insane. For example, an international hotel chain called us up…
An alternative? How about sitting down and having a conversation with the agency? How about checking out what they’ve DONE instead of making them guess about what they would do? How about checking out their culture to see if they believe what you believe? How about basing your decision on tangibles? Stupid RFPs.
5. What does the agency of the future look like?
You think I’m going to say digital, don’t you? I’m not. The agency of the future will be the one that is willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and figure out how and why people connect OFFline. Let’s face it, 92% of WOM happens offline. Digital is getting to be the easy part. And those are tools. Just tools. We are humans. And we crave real interaction. The rise of offline focus – and I’m not talking traditional advertising – is coming.
6. What do marketers need that agencies are not giving them?
Long. Term. Actionable. Strategies. They HAVE to get rid of the “campaign” mentality. Build a movement first. Campaigns are short-sighted and tactic-driven. It’s a great way to quickly become the former agency of record.
7. Who do you admire and why?
That’s an easy one. John Saringer. This is a guy who saw possibilities in everything. He couldn’t afford college, so after his chores and work, he’d sprint down to the local university, climb the fire escape and listen through the open window to chemistry classes. John Saringer took nothing and turned it into one of the most respected cattle ranches in the state of Texas. He worked his ass off every single day of his life, but was quick with a smile, a kind word and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for friend or stranger. Oh, and he was my grandfather.
But if you want someone who I’m not related to, I’d say pick someone at Brains on Fire. Anyone. Matt Reese, the First Impression and one of the smartest people I know. Kathie Conway, our CFO, who has a mind for numbers I’ll never have in a million years. Geno Church, the most forward-thinking WOM practitioner in the business. Greg Cordell, a principal and Inspiration Officer – the guy is freakin’ brilliant. Robbin Phillips, our Courageous President who has created a flat organization where everyone can thrive. Carrie Woodward, who manages one of the most successful WOM programs of all time – and never complains about the bad days. Simply. Amazing. People. And I could go on and on.
Know an agency or individual who you’d like to see profiled? Contact me.
New series from the client side coming up soon along with a chance to win an autographed copy of Guy Kawasaki’s new book Reality Check.
Until next week, have a safe and fun holiday. Hope it’s sunny whever you are. And for our international readers: Happy Weekend of the 23rd of May! What holidays do you have coming up?
Ad Industry Innovator # 10 is GamePlan, an 
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