I’ll admit it.  Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of BooneOakley.  Then I saw their company website.  After I stopped laughing, I gave them a call.

BooneOakley was started in October 2000 by two former Martin guys–which probably made the people at The Martin Agency pretty mad, considering the great work these guys do.

BO’s sharp, strategic work has been put to the test by MTV, HBO, State Farm, Carmax, Visit Charlotte, the Charlotte Bobcats, Charlotte Hornets and Ruby Tuesday, to name a few.

If any part of David Oakley’s answers tick you off, I have his cell # and you can call him, after you stop laughing.

1. What was the aha moment when you realized “our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been?”

Why is the first question always the toughest?  There have been many times in the last 9 years at BooneOakley that we have said to ourselves, “We are really screwing up.  And we’ve got to change things.”  Back in 2002, things were really slow at the agency and we were trying to cut costs, so we switched to that really thin scratchy toilet paper for the agency restrooms.  It didn’t go over well so we switched back to the 2-ply Cottonelle pretty quickly.  That was truly an “ah ha” moment.  We learned that if you make a decision and it isn’t the right one, it’s ok to admit you’re wrong and try another solution.  Being a relatively small company, 30 people, it’s easier for us to do that.

2. What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader?

I have a really short attention span so I absolutely love Amy Flanagan’s blog, “the shortest blog in the world.”  She describes it as “a blog in handy bite-sized pieces for people who want to follow a blog but don’t have hours and hours of time to spend reading.”  I think she’s hilarious.

There are three books on my nightstand right now. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim” by David Sedaris.  Both of these are a series of short, (I’m sensing a theme) laugh out loud essays.  The only problem is that I usually laugh louder than I snore and that keeps my wife Claire awake.

I also just finished reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls.  It was on my kids’ 6th grade reading list and they both loved it.  Trust me, you will too.

You’ll notice that there are no advertising or marketing or social media books on my nightstand.  That’s the stuff that keeps me awake at night, so why would I read that right before I try to go to sleep?

3. Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why.

I was blown away by the “There Can Only Be One” campaign that Goodby did for the NBA.  It was so simple.  It was deceptively simple, actually.  The first time I saw the split images of Kobe and Shaq, it almost seemed to me to be a really easy, first concept or idea.  But what it was, was an idea that got to the core about the NBA playoffs:  that everyone wants the same thing.  They want the championship and that’s all that matters to each and every player.  Well OK, maybe money and prostitutes matter too, but any player can get those.  There can only be one champion.  Last summer, Time magazine featured a split image of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the cover with the “There Can Only Be One” headline.  That’s when the campaign truly became a part of culture.  And history.

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?

We’re truly not interested in competing in pitches.  We’d like for clients to instantly recognize how different we are from all the others and just hand us their business.  Yeah.  That’s it.  That’s the way new business should be.

But the fact is, as cool and good and different as we think we are, we’re not any cooler, or better or really that different from 100 other shops.

That’s what makes the rfp courting process so difficult.  For the agency.  And especially for the client.

How do they cut the list from 20 to 10?  Maybe they chop the list based on how many people the agency employs…

How do they cut it from 10 to 4?  Maybe it’s based on who has the most creative packaging…

How do they cut it from 4 to 1?  I’d venture to guess that mostly it’s on relationships. It comes down to who do the clients want to be spending a ton of time with.  It comes down to who they like the most.  Personally.  It rarely has anything to do with the work.

At least that’s been our experience.

One question:  When we make it to the finals of a pitch and don’t win, the consultants always tell us we came in a close second.  Do you think they say that to everyone?  Just wondering… [Editor's response: Umm, I'll get back to you on that.]

5. What does the agency of the future look like?

I’m not even sure what the agency of the present looks like.  But as we move into the future, I’d venture to guess that some things are timeless.  Like hot interns.

6. What do marketers need that agencies are not giving them?

Nice Answer:

A true partnership.  Genuine collaboration.  And a real chance for them to be on the same team with the agency.

Not-so-nice Answer:

The finger.  Especially if they let 107 agencies pitch their business.  OK, maybe I’m a little bitter that we did the zappos rfp.  I guess that was really an “ah ha” moment for us.  Like “ah ha”, we’ll never do that again.

7. Who do you admire and why?

I admire and love my wife Claire for putting up with me for almost 20 years.  I’m sure it seems much longer to her.

I also admire my second wife John Boone for many of the same reasons.

Mentors are often overlooked.  I have been lucky enough to have been blessed with several great ones.  John Sweeney, professor at University of North Carolina.  Peter Coughter, life coach, ad guy and professor at VCU Brand Center.  And my parents, Sid and Pat.

”  I create ideas I’d like to be a part of.”

-Richard Branson

With thanks to @ScottPorad for tweeting about @EspreeDevora who tweeted about @zappos on her BillionaireGirl blog which lead to me reading her post about Jane Pauley’s interview with Richard Branson.  Or put another way:  The path to genius is never a straight line.

Since this post is part of the 24 Hours of Innovation, I thought it’d be appropriate to start with a quote from futurist Bob Johansen, President of the Institute of the Future from 1996-2004 In his book Get There  Early, Johansen asserts that “no one can predict the future.” By his definition, predictions are statements of what will happen—and they’re almost always wrong.  Futurists forecast what may happen and “a forecast doesn’t need to come true to be valuable.”  Forecasts are valuable when they “provoke new thought, new insights, new possible actions, or new ways of thinking about the present [and] you don’t need to agree with a forecast to find it useful.”

To that end, My Pep Talk for 2009 during the 24 Hours of Innovation is less a statement of fact about the future of marketing innovation and more an outline of real examples, rhetorical challenges and possible outcomes.

The marketing hard sell and cold call have given way to interactions where brands intersect a customer’s life and add to their experience, provide clarity or make the customer’s life easier.  But marketing strategies and tactics are not in line with this new role; it’s the basis of an identity crisis in marketing—the likes of which we’ve never seen.

Marketing’s identity crisis

Marketing has an identity crisis and to solve it, marketers need to innovate.  Innovation requires us to lead, experiment, and take risks with emerging technology as well as traditional channels.  It also requires clients to create a culture so this can happen.  But right now we face a clash of wills and expectations. To get past it, clients and their marketing partners need to create a new framework from which to operate.

Social media and the Always On, consumer-controlled marketing environment change the rules almost daily.

Technology emerges and changes, sometimes faster than it can be harnessed—making it nearly impossible for marketers to make proven recommendations to clients , especially as these same clients begin to require money back guarantees and assurances of ROI.  A recent example is the Coca Cola Company’s pay-for-performance plan, a model that, instead of fostering innovation, runs the risk of stifling it. 

So what’s an agency or CMO to do? To begin with, I believe marketers need to become futurists and first movers by utilizing emerging technologies for marketing.

Some marketers have stepped into uncharted areas with great success and support from progressive clients.  ComBlu harnesses the power of online communities for their clients.  The Advance Guard’s work in social media allows them to stand firm in the belief that as marketers “we simply set the stage and arrange the chairs for customer conversation to take place.”

These firms are products of an industry diametrically opposed to itself, in which agencies can no longer afford to be reactionary, but in many cases can’t afford to be risk-takers, either.  For agencies to innovate and lead they need to continually experiment. 

Web shops do this every day by developing unique solutions to problems that can’t be solved by off-the-shelf products.  iPhone app developers quickly create micro software for very specific problems.

Perhaps innovation requires marketers to have access to a budget line item in which unproven methods can be tried without being held hostage to guaranteed sales increases.  This will be familiar ground for any marketer whose agency has continually preached the benefits of brand marketing with the cautionary warning that not all dollars can be quantified.

Problems fuel innovation

Many a conundrum has fueled innovation in the past, although it could be argued that these innovations have not necessarily helped marketers.

In a well informed treatise, Joe Jaffe has forecast the death of the 30-second television spot because of the DV-R. In response to these threats, the DV-R has driven innovation around commercials, soon services like ZillionTV will allow spots to be grouped and customized to a viewer’s interests.  For example, in the near future you’ll be able to choose nothing but beer commercials as your preferred pitch.   This reframes the whole model from less of an interruption to more of a choice—by giving viewers control and an increased ability to filter and giving marketers what Zillion calls “zero-waste” media.

Another innovative service will interrupt viewers fast forwarding through commercials and they’ll see a static page containing an enticing message that compels them to stop and watch a spot.  A bikini clad woman may invite them to view a commercial for Jamaica tourism—letting them know what they’re missing by flying past commercials.

Similar circumstances have driven the innovation that created blogs, satellite radio, YouTube and many other tools.

The near future

So what’s to become of advertising and marketing in the future?  Are we becoming a digital world with no use for the physical?  Far from it.  A 2009 digital report by Razorfish forecast that online and physical experiences will continue to merge.  Mobile continues to gain traction as customers are less concerned if they use a PC, phone, or their feet to access a brand.  Without distinction, customers want brands to be there whenever and wherever they want them. 

The offline experience melts with online as the web becomes less reactive and more real time, a phenomenon that began with the rise of the 24-hour news cycle and has increased exponentially as millions of online users flock to tools like Twitter and Facebook on their laptops and Blackberrys.

Technology dances with marketing

The Razorfish report shows distinct areas where technology has and will intersect with marketing.

RFID is an exciting innovation enabling companies like Target to become hyper efficient logistics machines.  By utilizing RF technology in their backrooms, the Target replenishment system allows shelves to stay stocked without over ordering, keeping inventory lean and responsive to customer’s purchasing habits.  

This same technology has been a marketing tool for years at Target.  They pioneered the development of their bridal and baby registry using RF technology.

In the near future, as barcode scanners become part of a Blackberry, for example, Target guests will be able to scan a product for instant information including user reviews, competitive price matching or suggested uses and accessories.

For years RF technology has been used for chip times in marathons, to find a lost dog in your neighborhood or to pay tolls via EZ Pass.  But when that same technology not only collects our money on the LA Freeway, but beams traffic information into our on-board navigation system and suggests alternative routes , then we’ll be starting to integrate and optimize this technology.

How many times have you found yourself in the grocery store line, with a full cart—and no credit card? But you’ve got your cell phone—because you didn’t want to miss that important client call.  Mobile wallet via your cell phone would allow you to bring home the bacon, literally—without running home for your billfold.

Reframing marketing

Are the above scenarios marketing?   Traditionalists would say no—not in the truest sense—they  are convenience and customer service on steroids.   Using Zappos as an example, one could certainly call their focus on customer service one hell of a marketing strategy.

So in conclusion, marketing innovation lies not entirely in positioning, public relations and ads, or even online communities, Twitter, and iPhone apps.  Innovation happens as a result of online and offline worlds merging, by reframing marketing’s role and developing tools and tactics that align all of the above.   

More importantly, if innovation is to be the savior of marketing, clients need to foster a culture that allows for experimentation and risk, and marketers need to offer a return on investment.  Two very different problems with different solutions; but in order to function, marketing must do both.

Thanks to Philippe De Ridder and the Board of Innovation for inviting me to participate!