Influx Insights Tag Feed: agencies

agency challenge of the year- adidas says build us a nike+

Influx Insights — 2008-01-22T14:48:45Z

I am surprised it took so long, but according to Campaign in the UK, Adidas is officially jealous of Nike's success with Nike+ and it wants its own.

This could be the agency brief of the year and one of the branding world's most challenging assignments, because no other brand, in sports or beyond, has come close to delivering a layered, engaging experience quite as good as Nike+.

The Campaign story lacks some critical information about the real nature of the brief, the timing and the agencies that Adidas is talking to.

It's especially interesting because it's asking agencies, assuming they are talking to traditional shops, to stretch well outside their comfort zone.

Will it involve product development?

Partnerships?

Technology?

Building robust social networks?

I can only assume Adidas is looking for an idea that replicates the level of brand engagment of Nike+, rather than simply copying it.

The interesting question here is what makes sense for the Adidas brand?

Nike has made an about-turn in its strategy, especially for running, instead of focusing on only the elite athletes, it has now learned to love and embrace, "anyone who runs". This would have been an unthinkable concept in Beaverton 5 years ago.

Adidas, in many ways, have focused on the athletes and their superhuman efforts. The brand has pushed into Nike's old space with "Impossible is Nothing". It's a focus on the elite athlete and their extreme edge of performance.

While the Campaign story makes it clear that this isn't going to impact the brand's main agency relationships, however, the participating agencies are aren't going to be able to create a rival idea, unless they take a long, hard look at the future of the Adidas brand. You can't separate the two things, so this one is going to get interesting.

Posted by Ed Cotton

designing an agency for black swans

Influx Insights — 2007-12-21T16:19:25Z

As the advertising industry falls more and more in love with black boxes, terabytes of data and predictive models, it could be missing out on the one thing it needs to encourage, the random.

One of the non-fiction books of the year is Nicholas Taleb’s Black Swan, which examines the significance of rare and unexpected events and the lack of human understanding about these areas.

As human beings we are always looking to explain things and develop theories to explain the unexplainable.

The more we develop plans and process to create outcomes, its less likely that these will generate something breakthrough.

Taleb believes that tinkering and doing is the way to create and make something interesting, this isn’t about following a predictable and prescribed pathway that’s based on past events.

“Let us go one step further. It is high time to recognize that we humans are far better at doing than understanding, and better at tinkering than inventing. But we don't know it. We truly live under the illusion of order believing that planning and forecasting are possible. We are scared of the random, yet we live from its fruits. We are so scared of the random that we create disciplines that try to make sense of the past--but we ultimately fail to understand it, just as we fail to see the future.”

Forbes- May 23rd- 2007

While it’s undeniable that tracking and accountability are essential elements of responsibility for the agency: client relationships, there’s significant danger in believing that past results can predict future success.

In the end, it’s all about allowing and encouraging accidents to happen.

Maybe Account Planners should change their title to Accident Makers.

Agencies should look at how they can create environments and situations that allow these accidents to happen.

This could involve a radical look at how creativity is developed and the environment its developed in- our office space, etc.

We need to be more comfortable about embracing chaos.

Most significant of all, is that in a world where breaking through is getting tougher by the minute, agencies must teach their clients how to embrace “the accident”, instead of falling back on tried and tested formulas.

For many, this will involve throwing away the rules, this will be hard to do, but it’s likely that those who don’t embrace and encourage unexpected accidents, won’t achieve the success both they and their brands desire.

Here’s an interview Charlie Rose did with Nicholas Taleb in August of this year.

Posted by Ed Cotton

if advertising equals myth, does design equal truth?

Influx Insights — 2007-09-09T20:01:16Z

"Design is so popular today mostly because business sees design as connecting it to the consumer populace in a deep, fundamental and honest way. An honest way. If you are in the myth-making business, you don’t need design. You need a great ad agency. But if you are in the authenticity and integrity business then you have to think design."

Bruce Nussbaum-Business Week- Speech given to the Royal College of Art- London

Posted by Ed Cotton