behind the curtain at strawberryfrog, part one

First, the unrelated to advertising good news: the Netherlands stuffed world champions Italy yesterday 3-0…as in, the worst defeat Italy has suffered since the 1970 World Cup, as in the first Dutch victory over the Italians in eight matches, as in the best possible way to spend a Monday afternoon.

I am thoroughly exhausted, but quite content.

Speaking of Holland, I had the opportunity last week to have an email conversation with Scott Goodson and Kevin McKeon of Amsterdam-headquartered global hot shop StrawberryFrog about their agency, being independent and why they have account people.

PART I / The role of account people

Scott and Kevin, thank you for your time. Let’s start with the account team…I ask because I just learned that Zeus Jones doesn’t have them and am curious how you view their role? How does the account side continue to add value in a changing marketing world and in an innovative shop like yours?

We’ve always seem the role of the account person as one of the most important to the entire process. At StrawberryFrog we want them to be brilliant at creatively solving business problems.

We built the agency around an open-room principle. From this platform emerges speed, friendship, respect and all the important things that are needed to make it happen. [The New York office is] housed in a large open space in the penthouse of a building on Madison Avenue and it allows us to work with a lot of motivation, inspiration and knowledge because it’s all open and everyone is mixed together. Everyone knows and appreciates each other’s work and if anyone is called away of feeling ill someone can come in and keep the process going.

We seem to keep twice as many accounts around a single account person as a traditional agency without, I dare say, losing creativity. I would say that the role of the account people is to gain creativity and freshness because our team is moving forward all the time.

StrawberryFrog is built user-friendly. People are truly responsible for the client’s business. We think it makes our people feel more confident and more like they are making a difference which is important because the client is not sold ideas. The client is there to work with us on ideas. An Account Director is the team leader, the curator leading our cultural movement process, which liberated creativity and delivers effective communications.

In today’s cut-throat environment, former fame and glories are overshadowed by the ability to out-innovate while delivering business results. What StrawberryFrog account people have done is understand that the traditional agencies and their structures do not stand for the systems of the future. The old way is expensive and time consuming, egotistical and pretentious. All the times that we think lead to bad work and bad creativity.

Stay tuned for parts two and three as your neighborhood ad blogs digs deeper with StrawberryFrog (aka the agency you secretly wish you worked at).

strawberryfrog in pepsi new business coup

Okay, okay, that headline over-promised a little bit if you’re North America-centric or have a thing for carbonated sugar water…but what can I say, I’m in advertising. In reality it’s not about soda nor is it a northern hemisphere thing, but it is still pretty big. StrawberryFrog in Brazil has won a pretty big shootout to scoop up a number of the brands under the Pepsico umbrella.

As of today, StrawberryFrog Brazil will be doing their signature work on Quaker, Toddy, Toddynho and Coqueiro.

I know, I haven’t heard of three of the four of those brands either, but they unseated BBDO (who was the incumbent and defended) and beat out DM9 DDB and Agency Africa, all Omnicom shops.

Brazil is a huge growth opportunity for a company like Pepsi and it’s an even bigger growth opportunity for StrawberryFrog, whose Brazil office was only opened last September. You read that right, less than a year old and it’s wormed its way into the Pepsi family.

That Scott Goodson has quite the touch.

Pepsico’s accounts come to join the agencies’ current clients Natura Brasil, Kitchenaid, Microsoft, Universo Intimo, Lindencorp, Gallo Olive Oil and Caipirinha One and Mahindra automotive.

Congratulations!

strawberry frog scrunches the golden gate bridge

The European members of Strawberry Frog have been busy. They have just launched a new campaign for Panasonic’s Lunix camera that is predictably high in terms of production values and has a cute little twist:

It also reminds me of the movie Superman.

My memory of the old Superman movies with Christopher Reeve is pretty hazy…I was a youngster when I last saw one so I apologize if I am missing some detail, but remember when Lex Luthor sends the missle to the fault line so that the western part of California falls into the ocean?

The bridge scene in this commercial reminds me of that.

What does that have to do with advertising or the relative worth of this spot in the grand scheme of things? Absolutely nothing.

friend of the biz applies to grey…hilarity ensues

I had mentioned in an earlier post that a very good friend of mine is shopping her resume around some New York shops. Predictably for an account person as talented as she, her targets are top shops like StrawberryFrog, Gotham and Toy. But, like anyone testing the job market, she has been willing to look at some of the Mad Ave behemoths…just to see what the action would be like over there.

“Research purposes” was her excuse for sending her resume and cover letter over to Grey the other day.

I was wary about this not because of Grey’s reputation of the weird singing Creative Director but rather because I can’t imagine working at an agency that can’t even figure out what to call itself:

Her inquiry to Grey did pay dividends though, at least for this blogger. The same day that she sent her inquiry she received an invitation from HR to interview at her earliest convenience along with a note that read:

“Congratulations! You are one of the select few who have included a cover letter with their application. This puts you in great position for the opening and we look forward to meeting you.“One of the few to include a cover letter?

I guess that explains a lot about Grey and the caliber of people they attract.

strawberry frog has a blog

Some bloggers type up posts and save them as drafts for times when they may be traveling, snowed under at work or just plan uncreative. The Daily (Ad) Biz does not do this, preferring to utilize a blog to the limit of its ability to post and publish work immediately without rounds of revisions and changes and rethinking. I get enough of that sort of thing at work.

The one downfall of this approach is that I actually have to be near a computer with time on my hands to post – I have nothing in reserve.

That is my mea culpa of sorts for disappearing yesterday in the midst of big news about the Microsoft account and the other fascinating developments, gossip and campaigns going on in the industry. It also sets the stage to marvel at the ability of Scott Goodson, founder of StrawberryFrog, to write quality posts for his blog every day. I am fairly certain that he is busier than I.

(Full disclosure: a very good friend of mine is applying there…but since you don’t know who I am or she is, it doesn’t really matter! Still, they should hire her. She is excellent.)

Goodson utilizes the site to publicize job openings at the agency (get those resumes ready strategic planners for there are openings), to talk about the state of the industry and all that, and even to talk about why they resigned a piece of business. While staying firmly grounded in advertising, it is a wide-ranging blog that is interesting in its own right – I would read it no matter who the author was – but is of particular interest because Goodson founded StrawberryFrog.

As the founder, one would expect that he sets the tone for the agency. And he sets it well.

strawberry frog to launch mahindra in the u.s.

Independent Strawberry Frog has some good news to announce: the rounding out of their client roster with an auto account. Specifically, Mahindra which, while unknown Stateside, is India’s biggest automaker and plans to break into the American market with three models: the Scorpio luxury SUV and a pickup truck offered in both two-door and four-door models.

As Agency Spy reports, all three will use diesel engines…the clean-burning kind that the company says will get 20 to 40 percent better gas mileage than comparable gas engines and will emit fewer greenhouse gases per mile. By 2010, their hybrid will be available, as well.

So they’re right on trend with that.

Strawberry Frog has had success with Mitsubishi International, though it is ironic that their success is with a brand that still faces rumors that it is going to cut and run from the North American market. It is a big win for the Frog, an account that has the opportunity to take them to the next level because Mahindra faces huge obstacles:

Nobody has heard of them before. Even with publicity and star power DeLorean was a flop and established brands like Mitsubishi, Jaguar and Saab struggle, not to mention brands that have been binned like Suzuki and Plymouth and Oldsmobile. with nameplate of so much importance, especially for luxury SUVs, the Frog is going to have to quickly convince consumers to try something new.

The brand is from India. Though foreign carmakers have established themselves in America, it is only recently that they have had even borderline success selling trucks…because trucks are still overwhelmingly bought by heartland Americans who want big engines and big payloads and may have been buying the same brand across generations for over fifty years. And Mahindra is launching with two versions of truck. That run on diesel. The Frog is going to have to find the right consumer for this offering because traditional truck buyers are not the low-hanging fruit.

Neither Mahindra nor India stand for anything. German cars are known for luxury and performance. American trucks and SUVs are known for brawn and power and over-the-top bigness. Japanese cars are tops in terms of reliability. Korean cars are considered an affordable value purchase. Within those national buckets, each of the brands themselves stand for something. Of course, this wasn’t always so, but it is the way the marketplace looks right now. Strawberry Frog isn’t just building the Mahindra brand, it’s building the idea of what India can deliver (whether they want to do that or not). Americans are more than willing to buy foreign cars, they just need a reason why.

All of that said, Strawberry Frog is a fantastic agency with a track record of strategic, creative and above all successful campaigns that build brands and drive results. Mahindra could not have done better with their agency choice.

Count me among those looking forward to the launch campaign.