so…how would i find that cool web thing you are pitching?

We are in planning for next year (already) for one of our CPG clients and we are doing this new “integrated” approach that means nothing more than that we have to listen to other agencies (interactive, media, etc) say silly things and then fight for our ideas to get presented to the senior leadership. It’s a lot of fun.

The interactive agency tops the unintentional comedy scale almost continually. I am going to miss them.

The real issue, which bothers me less than the fact that the creative team they brought to these brainstorms included a copywriter who could barely read the concepts he wrote and then said nothing the rest of the first day of meetings, is that they do not understand that people have to have a reason to go to a website. They do not understand that it takes awareness-driving tactics to build buzz around an interactive idea. They seem to think that because something is cool and online, people will magically find out about it and start logging on immediately.

Tangerine Toad, as you would expect, says it best:

I mean the most basic of all interweb ad concepts– that people need a reason to come to your site– is seemingly lost on many of my colleagues, who seem to think that like TV, putting something online guarantees viewership and that any video posted to YouTube automatically becomes “viral.”

This maxim is as true for a website or a viral video as it is for, say, branded entertainment of the sort that AdPulp featured today:

On its website ae.com, American Eagle introduced a dedicated media channel called 77e, which plays music and videos. The idea was to make visitors intrigued enough by what they saw to entice them to click further and buy clothes. Much of the content on the channel has been commissioned specifically as entertainment and used the American Eagle brand almost incidentally.

Though it seems a stretch to believe that music and videos, which can be found online and on television at any time (though not, of course, on MTV), would drive purchase the idea works as a general concept because it is hosted at a site that already attracts a significant number of consumers and targets only those current visitors.

The objective is conversion of site visits to purchase. The objective is not to bring in new consumers.

Which is good.

Because if you want to bring in new consumers online video and branded content without a big awareness driver or a targeted means of reaching new consumers is a complete waste of money.

As I have been saying all week to the clowns at this interactive agency we are forced to work with.

things get weird over at grey

The creative department at Grey (they have a creative department?) apparently has to move from their swanky digs at the top of the Death Star down to the second floor. Chief Creative Officer Tor Myrhen is not all that happy about it:

Why is it that all the creatives at Grey seem to be bald?

Is there something in the water? Radiation from the Death Star? Is it just that stressful to move floors?

Anyway, this video is a perfect example of Grey’s work: sort of an interesting idea that isn’t developed to the point that it is really funny or interesting and then executed in a ho-hum sort of way. After watching this video, I really wish that I had those two minutes back.

If I could do it all over again, I would watch this video from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky:

Unlike the movie from Grey, CPB’s makes me want to go work there.

Even though I could never feel safe taking a vacation.

that great viral idea? yeah, it was killed

As expected, the great viral idea that I was all sorts of jazzed about has been killed by the client.

This idea was on-strategy, utilized an outside interest-driver to get people interested about what is, plainly, and otherwise boring brand message, and was very funny. More importantly, it was very funny (the one sure-fire additive that makes viral actually viral). I still laugh when I think about it. Making this idea even better, the viral part fit seamlessly within the whole, multimedia campaign. It was a fantastic idea.

The client, of course, felt like their message was strong enough to stand on its own. In their mind, the creative was getting in the way. In our mind, the (pesky) creative was making a interesting, breakthrough and palatable to the consumer.

Clients love their product and bland marketing-speak messages about their product are, to them, compelling.

To consumers…not so much.

I knew this idea was going to get killed, but I am still crushed by the news.

viral always sounds great in a brainstorm

I am calling into a brainstorm (right now actually…it’s not going well), the focus of which is to come up with ways to build awareness for a new product launch for a CPG account that I work on.

Of course everyone wants to do a viral video. I’ve wanted a gold plated toilet, but it just doesn’t make sense with the needs and budget that I have.

That was an analogy to the current situation.

Viral ideas are great – if they work. You invest a little money and if it takes off it dwarfs the reach and interest that could have been generated through traditional TV advertising (unless I was writing the spots, of course, right? Eh? Oh.). But so much that attempts to be viral is complete crap. And even when the stuff that is good it is tough to get it circulated without some additional support.

Even BMW Films ran traditional advertising, albeit as movie trailers in movie theaters and online.

What are we going to do if we blow our whole budget on semi-interesting viral videos for a new product that doesn’t yet have brand enthusiasts who are the easy target to seed it with? We are going to lose the account, that’s what.

There are days when I hate my job.