In case you missed any of the ads they are on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/superbowl

Audi Green Car

Rich Kretz: This one I don’t think is getting too much notice, but it should. It was an inspired choice in having Cheap Trick rework Dream Police for the soundtrack to this spot. There’s some terrific staging that improves the setups and the kicker with the “Green Police” busting cops for using Styrofoam cups is terrific.

Boost Mobile, ‘The Boost Mobile Shuffle’

Taco Bell, ‘It Rocks, It Rocks’ Featuring Charles Barkley
Rich Kretz: These is just plain embarrassing. In the Boost Mobile spot, while the image of Jim McMahon is a scooter would elicit at least a chuckle, I found it, well, pathetic. And did they shoot it through a sheet of plastic, or what? Poor execution that looked like it was rushed together… As far as Sir Charles goes, Taco Bell has really hit a new low, and this is following their idiotic “I want to order from Denise” campaign. Does anyone have a clue what he was talking about? Child, please!

Snickers Ad
Mike Bell: The Snickers “you’re not yourself” ad is funny. Love seeing Abe Vagoda. Hard to do funny, but they pulled it off. Laughed out loud.
Rich Kretz:Does Betty White ever age? And Abe Vigoda still kicking? Who knew? It kinda reminded me of the Bob Barker scene from Happy Gilmore. Amazingly, showing ancient celebrities get whacked actually is funny in kind of a cheap way. Not usually for the comedic violence, but call this one a guilty pleasure.

Bud Light – House of Bud

Mike Bell:Bud Light “house of bud” was weak. Cheap joke overly produced is still just a cheap joke.
Rich Kretz: Clearly misguided ideas here. Both are clear retreads of past Bud Light themes – irritated girlfriend as outlet for beer and tricking out the joint for easy access. In the end they both feel like poor cousins to the usual output.

Doritos
Mike Bell: Doritos spots are embarrassing. The dog collar, the kid protecting his mom, Casket. All really suck. They are an insult to advertising. Am I supposed to think you have to be intellectually challenged to enjoy Doritos? They are tired, old jokes poorly done. On the same level as local car ads. Somebody please help them.
Rich Kretz: Like Coke, I think Doritos struck out big time with their attempt once again to solicit spots from the “public.” These are all of the sophomoric humor it seems only Bud Light can execute well, and crotch shots and other stupid sight gags can go south quickly in the wrong hands. Besides, I might be in the minority here, but I’m tired seeing smart-aleck kids disrespect adults on national television in hawking a product. Old-fashioned, I guess.

Simpsons/Coca-Cola
Mike Bell: As much as I love the Simpsons, “burns goes broke” Coca Cola spot is a sad follow up to “happiness factory.” And the tag at the end is insipid. “Open happiness.” Really? Sleepwalker in Africa for Coke is again a disappointment. Coke has had great spots in the past. Did they hold back because Pepsi isn’t running spots? These are expensive spots, just not very good. Like someone is making up for weak concepts with big money on production. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Rich Kretz: Wow. One more and they would have went down swinging. The Simpsons epic is overblown and projects its ending from the first moments of the spot, and the sleepwalker, where do I start? The bloated production? The waste of fine cinematography? How much did this thing cost, anyway? About halfway through I’m asking for the polar bears back. And who can’t get going in the morning without a Coke?

US Census
Rich Kretz: The US Census spot is surprisingly not that bad, especially considering the weird assortment of b-list actors involved. Hope that as taxpayers we didn’t pay for that. Deficit? What deficit?

Vizio
Rich Kretz: The most ambitious (and probably expensive, given its scope and that they had to pay Beyonce) of the night is likely getting overshadowed by the flood of cheap jokes and sight gags, but really is a miracle of modern production.  And with this cornucopia of images, it adds to the list of more groundhogs, prarie dogs and beavers in this year’s crop of commercials that has to break some kind of record.  If they kept those kind of records, that is.

Go Daddy
Mike Bell: Go Daddy massage. INCREDIBLY stupid. I at least laughed at the beaver spot last year. The girl-on-girl innuendo is played out like a thirteen year old’s locker room story and is just as believable. Are they really getting any business from this? I don’t see the appeal in Danica Patrick. Only when compared to other race car drivers is she considered sexy.
Rich Kretz: GoDaddy has become no more than a punch line for their spots that are becoming parodies of themselves – and of Danica Patrick, whose strong suit clearly isn’t acting. I’d have to imagine they’re seeing diminishing returns on folks hitting their site to see the “uncensored” ads, but who know? Sex does sell! The Motorola spot was a much better executed version of what GoDaddy tries to do with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Not a bad effort for what it is.

Bud Light – Auto Tune
Mike Bell: Bud Light voice modulation: The much-hated practice in pop music of electronically altering one’s voice is used as a weak attempt to recapture “wassup.” Too bad they didn’t take it beyond that spot’s “calling my friends” gag. Just comes of as a copy of a classic without the cleverness.
Rich Kretz: I found this spot pretty clever, and they might be the first to take auto-tune mocking to the mass market. It’s not going to stick in the consciousness like “wassup,” but it makes for a guilty pleasure and is probably saved by a terrific kicker.

Budweiser, ‘Fences’
Rich Kretz: Please, Budweiser. Retire the Clydesdales from your spots. Please!!

Monster.com
Mike Bell: Beaver hoe down for Monster.com  just makes me scratch my head. How did Monster help this beaver become so successful? Nice editing. And there is something to be said for oddities drawing attention. At least it didn’t make me cringe like the Doritos spots.
Rich Kretz: Monster has always been always very ambitious with their spots, and this is no exception. I don’t get the connection between our beaver friend and landing a job, but what they did was pretty well done.

Focus on the Family, ‘Celebrate Life, Celebrate Family’
Rich Kretz: Lots of focus on this spot because of its pro-life message. I don’t think it was that great or even if you completely go their message, but maybe that was their point: to give you a more subtle approach in this age of shouting. I suppose I think more of Tim Tebow that he would put himself out there, I guess.

Emerald Nuts and Pop-Secret, ‘Awesomer’
Rich Kretz: I’m not sure if Emerald Nuts gets their return out of their annual SB spot, but this one really had me scratching my head: I can’t decide if they’re just trying to leverage the money to cut costs for the two brands, or if you’re supposed to eat them together ala Chex Mix. Someone really has to try that and tell me if it’s any good…

FLO TV, ‘Injury Report’
FLO TV, ‘Moments’
HomeAway, ‘Hotel Hell Vacation’
Rich Kretz: I find that new products often try so hard to get noticed that they don’t leave enough time to get their pitch in. I like the FloTV “Injury Report” commercial but Jim Nance is focusing on “Jason” so much I’m not sure we get enough of what FLO TV is. Conversely, I think their “Moments” spot that features 50 years of television in one minute riveting. Makes you not want to miss another moment, and that’s the essence of their product. The same can be said for the Chevy Chase “Family Vacation” spot for what was it ? HomeAway? There’s so much time spent on the movie clips, does anyone really remember who HomeAway is? Or what they do? It would be interesting to see how many people hit that short film online and if it pays off.

Bridgestone
Mike Bell: Orca rescue for Bridgestone was a sad rip-off of “The Hangover.” The line “now that was a bachelor party.” is a lame ending to another over-produced spot. It’s either the start of a good idea and nobody could think of how to end it or it was all crap and the director made it look presentable. Bridgestone’s second spot was another cringe-inducing suckfest. A car stopped by Mad Max rejects. Guy ditches hot wife (she’s the highlight of the spot) instead of giving up his tires. Sad. Just sad. The spot looks to be inspired by “What’s in your wallet” spots and not pulled off as well.
Rich Kretz: Wow. They really had something there until they dropped that “Hangover” line.  What a way to tank what was otherwise a pretty well-executed concept.  Not sure where Bridgestone is trying to position themselves with these epic setups.

Bridgestone, ‘Your Tires or Your Life’
Rich Kretz: Wow, again. You’d have to say that was a pretty big setup for the single “misunderstood word” gag.  The wife’s reaction after being tossed from the car is pretty good – and the villian’s take is decent too – but where are they attempting to go here – do they think that because Capital One has had success with the goofy villain-as-character approach they should mimic that? How is that going to sell a tire? Short of beer merchandisers and tech companies, who can get away with being so cinematic and obtuse?

Cars.com
Mike Bell: Child genius for cars.com  is intriguing and made me want to listen to the story. A long and expensive way to go to say that everyone has trouble finding the right car. Didn’t position Cars.com  very hard as the solution. But in a sea of mediocre spots, it stands out.
Rich Kretz: Actually, a really good follow up to the David Abernathy spot from last year that had the guy performing open heart surgery “in a crowded opera house…with a ball-point pen.”  The :60 is a hefty story; I would expect the :30 to be excellent.  This is probably my favorite overall, even if it is reworking something they have already done.

Bud Light – Bridge is out
Mike Bell: “The bridge is out” Bud truck rescue that brings the whole town out to make a bridge is pretty cool. Nice effect. I like this one.
Rich Kretz: It seems like once a Super Bowl, Anheiser-Busch seems to pull one epic off.  This is clearly it.  The shot of the old guy on the scooter is priceless, as is the dog pitching in to build the bridge.

Leno/Letterman/Oprah
Mike Bell: David Letterman, Leno and Oprah on a couch was funny. Nice follow-up to last year.

truTV, ‘Troy “Punxsutawney” Polamalu’
Teleflora, ‘Talking Flowers’
Rich Kretz: These reside in the creepy side of town, where spots want to make you unsettled. You have to respect the TruTV spot, even if Punxsutawney Polamalu looks like some whacked-out character froma Tim Burton movie. What’s more, it’s really well staged and casted. On the other hand, the Teleflora spot plain just creeped me out. Talking flowers? Really? Talking flowers?

Career Builder
Mike Bell: Every year has its similarities. Lots of people in underwear this year: Career buider “Casual Friday”, dockers “I wear no pants” free pants spot, bud light “donate clothes” which only went out online – same sight gag. Bud Light does it best. Still ads start to diminish the joke when they’re all telling the same one. Like the mini-Kiss running right near the Punksatawny Palitano. Weird.

Rich Kretz: What’s with the infatuation with men in underpants? And crazy that these two spots ran consecutively; am I the only one who thinks heads are rolling somewhere over that one?Actually, the Bud Light concept that was bounced from the broadcast is better than either of these derivatives (extended version available here: http://creativity-online.com/work/bud-light-clothing-drive/18612)

Brett Favre
Mike Bell: Brett Favre 2020 “maybe I’ll retire” for Cadillac is a great example of not overworking a joke. Brief and funny. Not beat into the ground. Others are doing the Brett Favre retiring joke so this doesn’t rank among my favorites.

Bud Light – Lost Parody
Mike Bell: “Here we go” Bud Light spots: “Lost” parody and observatory end-of-world-nerds-party were pretty lame. Not nearly as cool as other spots for the product. But, throw enough of them out and some are bound to suck.
Rich Kretz: Not Bud Light’s best effort, but the shot of the pebble hitting the telescope in the Asteroid spot was one of the single best sight gags of the evening. And the companion Lost spoof features some highlight shots of its own, especially the reaction of the lone survivor who can’t believe the troop is partying in the face of disaster. Anheiser-Busch throws so many concepts out there, it would seem from multiple agencies, that not all are going to work. However, even their bad ideas are better acted, directed and executed than others who are frankly trying to emulate their long-running formula.

Dodge Charger – Guy’s issues
Mike Bell: Another theme for several spots: Guy’s issues. A man’s life spot for Dove for men; Men making promises in “I will” Man’s last stand” For the Dodge Charger.  Jason’s sad life in a spot for Flo TV with the line “change out of that skirt, Jason”. Apart they are okay. Together they point out how trite and hackneyed this meme is. Dodge was my favorite of the group.
Rich Kretz: A lot of focus on guy’s issues and targeting men this year: I thought the Charger spot was excellent and different, although I’m admittedly I’m squarely in the target demo.  Man’s Last Stand: perfect positioning for the product. The Dove spot actually made me chuckle; it was actually somewhat fresh writing and not so dependent on just slapstick visuals. Nice use of music, as well.
Hyundai, ‘10 Years Strong’ Featuring Brett Favre
Hyundai, ‘Built by Hand’
Hyundai, ‘Painted Hyundai Sonata’
Rich Kretz: Hyundai spent a fortune in placement with some really solid everyday spots. With the rate they are snagging market share, it might actually be a good gamble. The Brett Favre commercial does stand out though, with its matter-of-fact approach. Lots of nice design on the holographic “trophy” too, and the “cool blue” color correction made him seem older and more grizzled. I like it.

Intel
Mike Bell: Intel’s sad robot does a decent job of expressing what a big advancement their new processor is. Again, not overdone. Didn’t beat it into the ground.
Rich Kretz: The sad robot seems to be a trend this year. Not a bad execution, and the humming employees at the end is a nice way to humanize their long-standing tag. It somehow left me feeling unsatisfied, though.

Volkswagen
Mike Bell: VW’s punch spot where people hit each other and say the color of the car is a great example of editing and small changes making the spot better. Old man getting hit in the crotch, what’s not to love. Then that blind guy joke at the end. Great pacing. Funny spot.
Rich Kretz: I’ll take it, reluctantly. Like the Doritos trilogy, crotch shots get old quick on Super Bowl Sunday. That said, this was a nice acknowledgement of an ages-old tradition. And the cameo by Stevie Wonder is really well placed, with Tracey Morgan a perfect foil. Maybe the Slug Bug game will catch back on and they’ll have a real “Where’s the Beef” phenomenon on their hands…

KGB
Mike Bell: KGB Sumo wrestler does a decent job of pointing out that KGB is a fast search engine. Not funny. Tries too hard. But the message still gets across in spite of itself.
Rich Kretz: Don’t really care for this one. Ziploc, Pledge and others have put people “under the gun” or else, and it just seems tired.

Denny’s
Rich Kretz: The whole Denny’s Grand Slam giveaway thing was done pretty poorly, and they are rightly getting panned for it. It’s worth noting, though, that the talent in the Denny’s commercials is Chicago-based Kiff Vandenheuvel, a good friend of Hart animator Matt Karlovec’s from BGSU.  His big break and he probably made a lifetime of residuals in one day.  Not particularly great spots, but for what it’s worth, this one in which he’s featured prominently is the best of a bad lot.

MetroPCS, ‘Tech and Talk: Shaming‘
Rich Kretz: What was that? I felt like I was watching some alternate universe Saturday Night Live skit gone bad or something. Still haven’t figured out what was going on there…

Etrade
Mike Bell: Talking babies for etrade lost some of its cool factor with the new babies. Not as snarky as the “shankapotomas” and other spots with the original baby. Still captivating. Writing just doesn’t seem as good.
Rich Kretz: OK, this campaign jumped the shark a long, long time ago. It was already a retread idea on the coattails of the Look Who’s Talking phenomenon, and yet they’re still riding it. Their last stand was the golf commercial; now it’s just getting a little sad.

Google Search
Rich Kretz: One of the best spots of the night, this simple travel from initial search throughout a life change is executed expertly.  Soundtrack meets visual meets payoff.  Well done!
Mike Bell: Google “Search on” was excellent! My favorite spot. Example of taking something overdone (boy meets girl story) and making it new. Compelling. Draws you in. Had to be the least expensive spot to produce. A great concept and it is allowed to show through.

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It is undeniable that the landscape of advertising is changing. Want to know why you have been seeing more product placements in TV shows? Because people fast-forward past them on their DVR. Or maybe because they aren’t actually watching on a TV, they are watching it on a computer because of services like Hulu or Boxee.

Photo credit: California4life

Today is the biggest day of the year for advertisers. The Super Bowl, home of the most expensive 30 second ads. Sure in the US people are watching to see two teams battle it out. But as a marketer how many of us are watching for another reason?  People who make ads watch to critque, people who place ads watch to understand where the money is going, and companies are watching to see what creative ads there are this year, so they can try to copy them. The reality is that in 2010 who can afford to place a 2.8 million dollar ad? On top of that would you want to?

It is undeniable that the landscape of advertising is changing. It is not just about the 30 second TV spot anymore. Want to know why you have been seeing more product placements in TV shows? Because people fast-forward past them on their DVR. Or maybe because they aren’t actually watching on a TV, they are watching it on a computer because of services like Hulu, Blip.tv or Boxee.

Frontline just did a compelling documentary on how our society is changing because of how connected we are. Think about it, we are constantly multitasking, using multiple computers, checking our phones, replying to emails. The problem that they highlight isn’t just about advertising. It’s affecting education, healthcare, jobs and more. As advertisers though, this digital society that we are building is also building a resistance to marketing.

This is even worse as the Millenial, Gen Y (or whatever you want to classify the 18-30 y/o generation) comes of age. They are the ones that are starting to hit the job market so that means they will start voting with their own dollars. These Millenials really don’t care about your marketing, they care what their friends think. They are even more immersed in media than previous generations but they  are making decisions based on recommendations or opinions of their friends. The other generations are following suite too because their parents are learning about social media from them. The notion of brand loyalty is also in danger. They might like your product today, but tomorrow a bigger, better product might get their loyalty. This is a scary shift.

As an marketer I have to think that it’s a scary time. Sometimes it’s scary in a good way because we are looking at a whole new direction of advertising, but also scary because it is new territory. This new territory is paved with new mediums and every step of the way riddled with the question of “is this the right direction.” To that question my answer is yes. As long as you as a marketer are changing your approach, using new methods, new mediums then you are progressing.

The 30 second ad might be fading but our jobs as marketers is to figure out how to evolve it. I work on the digital side of things but still I need to plug our digital solutions into the entire marketing strategy. Daily the Hart team looks at a clients problem and figures out a new solution. Most times we’ve never delievered this exact solution before. Today every solution is different, and custom. What stays constant is that we are looking at all mediums like mobile, social, web, video, billboard, guerilla marketing, etc and deciding which is going to work best for our clients. It’s not going to be just one medium. It is going to be a mix of all of them. Adjusting the dial up and down on each medium based on the audience.

Now as you watch those Super Bowl ads look for how they are changing. 10 years ago there might have been a URL they mentioned.  Tonight watch for how many will have mentions of mobile apps, Twitter names, URLs and more to extend that ad? I bet all of them. You are witnessing the evolution of the landscape of advertising right in front of your eyes. Are you ready?

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They took that “reality” one step further by developing an iPhone app that is part game, part augmented reality. I first noticed the application in one of their ads in Fast Company. In the lower right hand corner I noticed directions to download the app and take a picture of the advertisement. I was intrigued so I downloaded it.

Now first let me begin with a little background on augmented reality. This is probably a new term for most. Recently there were a number of iPhone applications that enabled this feature. Simply put augmented reality is:

“Looking at the real world with data over-layed in your view”

This can be done using a headset or in this case using an iPhone camera to take images of the real world and overlay data on it. There are some great programs that are out there using this technology.

When I downloaded the application I was pleased to see that is it had more than just the augmented reality app. As instructed in the ad I took a picture hoping for some cool augmented way to interact with the ad. However it turns out that it’s not really augmented reality per sei. It is more of a photo recognition program. Because after I took the picture it pointed me to a static version of the image. This image had small hot spots that I could touch to learn more about those features. It gave me a little bit of information but really didn’t sell me on the car being that innovative. On top of that the type was pretty small. I was a bit disappointed. I didn’t write it off just yet.

Next I tried out the “Tour” feature. This feature allows you to use the accelerometer in the phone to move your iPhone around to see a 360 degree view of the interior of the car. This also has lots of potential but once again under delivered. When I was using the app I couldn’t control the movement at all. I moved left, right, up down. It did what it wanted. I was able to use my finger to point the movement, much better I thought to myself.  This feature ended up being ok but not great.

The next two features I’ll put in the same bucket as they were trying to show off other features of the car by having the user play little “games” with the car. The first one is the draw feature. This feature asks the user to draw things using your finger. The user draws items like boxes, trees, leaves to demonstrate interior room, “greeness”, and aerodynamics. Still adding little to no value in my opinion. This is coming from a guy that is currently thinking of buying a new car. None of this resonated with me. It just didn’t excite me at all.

Lastly the “Play” feature is all about the aerodynamics of the car. Again this feature shows off the new aerodynamics of the car. This is a huge problem with hybrids. The drag of the car can really hurt the efficiency of the electric engine. Essentially this feature puts the car in a wind tunnel where you control the wind. Not a horrible feature to the application, I learned about this car. I ended up playing for a couple of levels. Still just made me say to myself “ok, but I don’t have anything to compare it to?”

The bottom line with this application is that it is a clever application and has good intentions but falls short at really engaging the consumer. If your company is wanting to use such a specialized application to show off your product please provide engage me in fun way while educating me or another way to educate me about why I should buy your product.

With a few simple tweaks to the application it could have achieved this. If I were redesigning this application here is what I would recommend:

1. Interact Feature – Step up the quality on this feature by adding a true augmented reality application. Take it one step further and make it possible to use this same approach if a potential customer is sitting the car to learn more about the features. Heck this could almost be like a little car manual using this feature. This could be a great sales tool for dealers.
2. While educating the consumer on your features, offer a comparison to your competitors. If you want to show how good your product is there needs to be something to prove it.
3. Locating your retailer shouldn’t be hard. It certainly shouldn’t be outside the application. I recommend that you have less features and focus on the real needs of a consumer. Keep in mind what the main reasons that a user would use their mobile phone to interact with your company/products.

What are your thoughts? We’d love to hear what you think.

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Jowyang had a great quote on Twitter “Interns, while creative, heavy in social, and not ’soiled’ from corporate culture are great at tactics –but may not know business side” I definitely agree with Jowyang. They can be great at the tactics but keep in mind you are essentially handing the keys of your business over to the intern. There is an obvious dark side to this whole thing.

Via ApramSi

First of all the intern isn’t going to be there forever. Nowadays Gen Y is skipping from company to company as quickly as they going from one BF/GF (short for boyfriend or Girlfriend, the whole text message language is another topic). So when they leave after a short tenure in your company how do you keep your social media efforts going? Especially if they have attached your brand to their personal brand. Tricky.

Now even worse than that, what if you part on bad terms? They have all of the logins to your accounts. They set all of them up under their information, or at the very least have some of their personal information intertwined with the companies. Do you know how to get access back from them, and hopefully cut the cord? Depending on the social network this can be incredibly difficult. The absolute worst outcome is they can tarnish your online reputation by posting a few choice words in the social networks. Sure you can threaten legal action but the damage is already done. I’ve seen this happen first hand, and wow is it ugly!

You can avoid all of this by approaching your social media strategy carefully and making sure you have the proper checks and balances in place.

1. Make sure that someone is overseeing the entire strategy, and that they know your complete marketing strategy. Your communication efforts need to feel cohesive both online and offline. This is a great place to engage your agency. Have the agency oversee the strategy. Then they can direct your team on what to communicate, and where to communicate online. This keeps things feeling cohesive, and stretches your budget.

2. Monitor the space. I can’t say this enough. Make sure you know what your team is posting, and what people are saying about you. This will also help in measuring how effective you are in the social media space.

3. Have a company social media policy that explains what employees can and cannot do in this space as representatives of your company.

4. If you do let an intern post on behalf of the company, do frequent checks on their content. I do think that an intern can be effective communicating on behalf of the company but they have to be mentored. That is why they are at your company right?

5. Make sure that the social media accounts are setup by the person overseeing the strategy or someone else in management. You want to make sure that you don’t lose access to those accounts. There is no better way to kill your social media efforts than to lose access, or have your employees say something nasty on the company account.

6. Know how much time is being spent doing their job. Most likely this isn’t their only job function, and you need to make sure that they aren’t using it as an excuse to chat with their friends on Facebook.

Overall make sure that you are approaching the project in the right way. I know that everyone is budget conscience these days but just because interns are cheap doesn’t mean they are the best solution. The old saying “you get what you pay for” will come back to bite you. They can definitely help keep the cost down, but make sure that you have someone that has experience with communicating brands effectively.

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Bottom line is that agencies have to make the time. They have to find ways to experiment, and make innovation a part of their culture. Easier said than done right? If you look at some of the most innovative companies there is probably something they all do right. They analyze what they are doing now, and use that insight to look at the future. If Apple rested on it’s laurels when it launched the iPod 8 years ago (yes it was that long ago) and just rode that success would they be where they are today? No, they would be forgotten.

They are constantly trying new things, experimenting, and adjusting their methods. Sure I might be a bit of an Apple fan-boy but they are always a great example of innovation. How can you take that mentality and instill that in your business?

How Hart is innovating
I wanted to pull back the curtains a little bit and talk about what we are doing here at Hart. The biggest thing that we do is find the time to experiment. Sure we want to be billable and we are but we also hire people that want to experiment. It doesn’t always have to be during the day. We love what we do so we do it after hours as well. Then we conduct morning scrum meetings. These are just quick 15-30 minute meetings to share ideas and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Have a sandbox
We have multiple sandboxes. The grown up version of our little kid fantasy, having lots of playplaces. Places where we can just experiment without the public seeing. We would hate to setup some silly little test project where we are trying out mobile applications and take down the la-z-boy.com site in the process… The thought of that just scares me. This might seem like a given but a place where you can test stuff, blow it up and try again is necessary.

Find inspiration, from anywhere
Keep a place where you can store everything that inspires you. Whether it is a notebook, scrapbook (picture below from Mike Bell’s sketches), delicious bookmark, or a tumblelog. Have at least one place that you store your inspiration. When you are lacking inspiration or creativity go back there.

Innovate in small ways, and add them to real work
Baby steps to the bigger innovations are one of the best things you can do to drive innovation. Innovation doesn’t have to be done on pet projects. You can get creative on current projects, but in the small details. After-all it is the subtle details that lead to the best work. If you are paying attention to the small details, the end result will always shine. We make sure that we sweat the details, sometimes it might seem silly but we don’t care.

Hire people that want to innovate
Again this sounds like a given, but it is not. During our interview process we ask employees to dream a little bit. We give an example problem and ask them to discuss how they’d solve it. Great way to understand how a person thinks, rationalizes and gets creative. Having team members that are creative and willing to dream means that you have a group of people to bounce ideas off of.

These are just a few things that we do, but this topic will be one that we’ll discuss more in the future. The bottom line is that companies need to continually innovate or they are going to make themselves obsolete. Our industry and more-so our economy needs innovation so never stop dreaming. We won’t!

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3. It Could Happen to You

Interview with 5 High School Students from Hart Associates on Vimeo.

However during this discussion I think that I learned just as much from them, as they did from us. I also put the question out to my contacts on Twitter, and received a number of great questions for the students. My biggest take away from the discussion was their point of view on social media. All of them are very active in the social media, but none of them saw it as a way of marketing products or people. We had a great discussion on how brands are using it right now.

They all said that primarily they used Facebook as their main social network, which isn’t surprising. That is the most popular social network in the US right now. What did surprise me was that none of them had heard of Twitter. It made me realize that there are still a lot of people out there that really don’t know what this social network is, and how it’s changing how we communicate.

I look forward to seeing what this group of students does in the future. Who knows I might be working for one of them one day.

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They are no longer just telling their friends and family about how much they love or hate your brand. They are telling the whole world. The world may not be listening at that moment, but their message is still spreading and rapidly. Social Media has given them a mega-phone which they aren’t afraid to use. Recommendations about products are being handed out or worse yet they are turning people away from your products.

What does that mean for brands, and the agencies that market them? They need to change, and quickly! We can no longer just push out a message about products. You have to earn the respect of consumers. However earning a consumer’s respect isn’t that easy. A relationship has to be built up from the ground up.

Building that relationship takes time, and effort. Many agencies aren’t used to taking criticism or feedback. However there is something amazing happening through all of this. Agencies are not only marketing brands, but also assisting brands with customer service. After all if a person is complaining about your product on Twitter that is an opportunity to understand why they are complaining and fix it.

Hart Associates understands this shift and is prepared. To be prepared for this shift we are also going to show that we understand this space by engaging in it ourselves. After-all how can we guide our clients, if we aren’t doing the same for ourselves. We are embracing this shift, and changing. Hope that you like it.

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You can watch on ABC13.

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