Useful Lunacy

Listening to Zappos

My column for May is up over at TalentZoo.com. Already I've received quite a few nice comments, via Twitter, naturally, from various Zappos employees.

The piece is based on themes I've been laboring over recently. Marketing = Listening, etc. And I owe a big thanks to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh for making the time to answer some questions for the article. Just goes to show, when you Twitter a CEO, you never know what might happen.

Here's the column:

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TalentZoo.com
Listening to Zappos
by Tim Brunelle
05/05/2008

I’ve become enamored, lately, with Zappos.com, the online retailer, and not just because I’ve purchased six pairs of shoes from them in the past year. As of Sunday, May 4, 2008, they’ve got 252 employees out of 1600 on Twitter.com. (That’s up from 168 employees, less than a week earlier.) I’m following at least 100 of them.

Zappos appears to have eclipsed Dell, H&R Block, Comcast, JetBlue and other name brands on the popular microblogging platform, in terms of its number of employee-participants. But all of these companies are demonstrating the value of participation and conversation in this particular corner of social media. Say what you will about the peculiarities of Twitter (or Pownce or Jaiku), the platform is inherently conversational. What’s truly important is that Zappos and the other brands are listening.

Are you? Are your brands?

Marketing = Listening.

Having 15% of your employees plugged into one social media platform might not impress—maybe you’re concerned with productivity. But Zappos has aggregated them all, demonstrating a larger corporate agenda towards participation, towards conversation, towards listening. Makes sense, since Zappos is “powered by service.”

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh told me, “Beyond being able to pay our bills and make our financial goals, we're not actually that focused on getting customers to shop and purchase from us whenever possible. Instead, we're interested in forming lifelong, meaningful relationships with our customers, so the more engaged our customers are, the more likely that will happen.”

If you don’t count Hsieh (who follows 3,639 people), the other top 19 twitterati at Zappos follow an average of 283 people apiece. In other words, Zappos has 19 employees listening to 283 other human beings (read: customers). That’s a lot of listening/learning/customer service potential. Can you say the same of the employees of your ad agency or marketing team?

“Our number one focus as a company is our company culture. We believe that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff will fall into place on its own, including our employees providing great customer service. Twitter has been a great way of getting our employees to connect with each other in ways they weren't able to before, which helps improve our culture,” said Hsieh.

Let’s take this idea a step further. I wonder when I’ll first see a resume that states, “following 250+ people on Twitter.” (In case you’re wondering, it actually takes a bit of effort to follow that many people.) When will the skill of listening share equal footing with the ability to speak—especially for those in marketing and advertising?

Listening is work.
Listening is active.
Listening is doing.

By listening, we learn. And thus, we discover the hidden gems, the inspiration with which to speak more effectively, more persuasively. Listening tells. Listening enables.

And in listening, we also learn when not to speak, we learn the marketing value in simply shutting up (hat tip to @rorysutherland.).

Zappos also gains an advantage in having a sizable potion of its workforce with ears tuned outward when it comes to public relations and customer service. More ears means more awareness and a greater chance of catching errors or mistakes before they fester and blow up.

And let’s be clear—it’s not just about an immediate financial impact. Hsieh said, “In the short term, there's probably not any meaningful financial impact (to having 200+ employees on Twitter). It's all about creating a deeper relationship with our customers for the long term.”

If conversation truly is the future of marketing and advertising, then Zappos is showing us the modern construct: Many ears, many mouths, many conversations from many different parts of the organization with many different constituents.

Next month I’m going to take this subject a step further and propose a methodology for measuring and putting value to examples like this one. Is there a fiscal corollary for having 252 employees on Twitter? Could a branded social media program improve the stock price of a corporation, and if so, how would it be measured? I’d very much appreciate any questions, ideas or insights you care to share.

In the meantime, let’s continue the conversation. Follow me @tbrunelle.

MCAD 15 (MAY 5) recap

Students:

And then, it was done.

15 classes. 5 hours per class. 18 guest speakers. 14 students.

That was, "The Future of Advertising."

And it was a real pleasure to collaborate and learn with all of you. I enjoyed the experience, hope you did, too. (Now please go fill out the survey I created, so I can get a better understanding from you about what works and what doesn't.)

I was very pleased with everyone's presentations for Assignment #3: Wachovia's "Way2Save" Program. You all demonstrated good skills with TV, as well as smart, strategic thinking in the digital space.

Also, a big "thank you" to Jeff Kimball, COO of Internet Broadcasting, for taking the time to come in, present and then talk with all of us. Jeff gave a great presentation, and spurred an insightful conversation. We're very grateful for Jeff's contributions to the class.

Here's the recap video:

Listening = Doing = Marketing

"No art comes from the conscious mind."

I think David Mamet said that.

I was driving to meet my buddy Andrew for lunch today (Bulldog NE: best truffle oil-topped tatter tots in town), and a simple equation popped into my head. What else to do, but grab the phone and call Utterz?

The conundrum that inspired the idea is this: Why the ongoing resistance, the hesitation with social marketing and media from agencies and marketers?

A realization (perhaps fueled by the impending tatter tots):  Social media succeeds because it's as much about listening as talking. But old-school marketing and advertising doesn't listen. The old methodology equates listening with inactivity, with "doing nothing." Hence, less interest in social media.

But listening is doing. Listening is active.

Here in 2008, I believe marketing and advertising = conversation. Conversation is listening and talking. Hence, marketing = listening.

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UPDATE:  Got a great audio comment from Andrew Gruhn, via Twitter.

MCAD 14 (April 28) recap

Students:  I thought we had a robust 14th session on Monday. Three guest speakers. Lots of good Q&A. Many thanks to Paul Saarinen from BrandButter, Scott Litman from SDWA Ventures and Brian Morrissey from Adweek for coming to class and sharing their insights on the future of advertising.

Also, an additional thanks to Brian for flying in from NYC to speak with us and appear at the fifth installment of Conversations About the Future of Advertising. I thought his presentation was inspired and useful.

Here's a video recap of class:

Welcome to Advertisingland!

This is amusing. And tragic. And real.

For the third assignment in my "Future of Advertising" class at MCAD, I thought we'd expound on an opportunity over at Current.tv's VCAM (Viewer Created Advertising Messages) contests. First, I think the whole VCAM program is generally awesome and very well constructed. Second, I thought it'd be more realistic to today's ad industry to require a TV concept integrated with "some kind of digital program." And leave it at that. Just like most creative briefs, right?

The client:  Wachovia's "Way2Save" program. Here's a link to Current.tv's VCAM contest for Wachovia.

The briefing over at Current is pretty dull. Not really a true creative brief, but then, most of them never really are, are they? (Realism!) And I deliberately left it open with the digital side of the assignment.

Then one of my intrepid students sends me a link to this blog post about the Wachovia "Way2Save" program (bolding mine)...

"Clearly, very few customers will be able to get anywhere near the maximum bonus that is the major selling point of this program. That leads me to believe that way2save is nothing more than a gimmick, with Wachovia’s interests taking much higher priority than that of their customers."

And the author, Mike Smith, has done the math. "The major flaw with this program is that the amount of recurring transfers is limited to $100 a month. To get the full payout bonus of $300, you’d need a balance of $6,000 at the end of the first year, since $6,000 x 5% = $300. To get your balance up to $6,000 you’d have to make 4,800 debit card purchases or online payments over the course of the year!"

Let's contrast Mr. Smith's math with the assignment over on Current (italics mine): "Now with Wachovia’s new Way2SaveSM program, saving is almost effortless. Make an ad showing us something worth saving for and how the Way2SaveSM program can help you get there."

The irony is delicious, no? How many times have you dug into a creative brief to discover the program, product or service you're supposed to dramatize is really, well, honestly...worthless? And maybe even a little deceptive. C'est la vie in advertisingland.

Oh, there appears to be an agency-produced spot for Way2Save. Not sure who made it. But they seem to have decided that a "raining money" theme was appropriate.

I'm excited to see how my students will address all this. Stay tuned.

MCAD 13 (April 21) recap

Students:  Thanks for bringing in your portfolios today. You're an impressive bunch. It's been an honor to work with you all. I think today's portfolio review was insightful; I mean, I learned a lot. [By the way, if anyone out there is looking for talented, above entry-level writers, art directors and designers, let me know. MCAD has a wonderful crop ready for hiring.]

For one thing, I realized that you don't really need to create your own website anymore. Not with Tumblr and drop.io out there. Those sites accept JPEGs, PDFs, video and audio files and text. Even SlideShare.net provides a smart tool for presenting your work. What else do you need, beyond these tools (and flickr, YouTube/Vimeo)? I applaud the use of available tech to aggregate and present your portfolios.

Second, now that we're talking about portfolios and getting hired, I encourage you--really encourage you--to reach out and connect with all of our guest speakers. Every one of them has declared themselves available to you on Facebook, LinkedIn, et al. Don't hesitate to make those connections and ask for advice about your portfolio and job research.

Finally, have a story. I said as much in my TalentZoo column this month. It's as much to do with your identity system, how you present your work, what you present (and don't), and especially about who you are as a human being. What's your story? Figure that out, and tell it well (at the right time), and you'll get hired.

MCAD 12 (April 12)

Students:  Sorry for the delay in recapping last week's session.

Big thanks to Joseph Jaffe for making the trip out to Minneapolis. I guess my main point to you, dear students, is to follow Joseph's request and join him in the conversation (Facebook, Twitter, blog).

You're Not Creative Enough

My April column for TalentZoo.com went up yesterday. It's a commencement address of sorts, based on a fool-headed assumption that any school worth attending would bring me in to bid their seniors farewell and good luck. A blogger can dream, can't they?

I titled the address "You're Not Creative Enough."

Feel free to leave comments over at TZ. They love that sort of thing.

But here's the original post for the record:

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TalentZoo.com
04/14/2008

Dear Graduates
by Tim Brunelle

With graduation season approaching, I thought I'd work through my commencement address. I'm certain that VCU or the Miami Ad School or Art Center or the Portfolio Center will be calling soon. (I think there's a rule about not being the commencement speaker if you already teach at the school, which means MCAD probably won't make the offer.) Anyway, I want to be ready.

Here's the working title of my commencement address: "You're Not Creative Enough."

I think that sets a good tone, don't you?

Traditional thinking suggests you go to school, build up a body of work, graduate and that's enough to get your first gig in advertising. But I believe your portfolio is just table stakes. Your "book" is the ante. It's not the rest of the game, and it's certainly not enough to launch a remarkable career.

I just completed a survey of 10 creative leaders and advertising recruiters, CCOs and the like. Almost universally, these people (the ones who make the hiring decisions), describe the need for an entry level creative's portfolio to be outstanding. Not "great," but exceptional. The fact is, if you have some measure of talent and the tenacity to polish your ideas, you'll easily assemble a portfolio that looks and feels like 98% of all the other portfolios competing for jobs.

It's just not that hard to be a great entry-level creative anymore.

So what will get you hired, assuming you've got the bare minimum of a truly outstanding portfolio with the requisite print ads, guerrilla tactics, and digital integration?

1. Timing. Honestly, you have almost zero control here. But being in the right place at the right time helps. The key is research. The more you know about where you want to work -- who works there, where they came from, who's blogging outside the firm, what they're saying -- the more likely you'll be ready when they are.

2. Casting. Again, not much you can control here. As a creative leader, it's my job to find people who will fit into an existing team and enhance it. That's casting. You might be the 2% that's truly awesome, but if your style doesn't fit with the style we're creating for Brand X, you won’t get hired. Know yourself. Would you hire you to work on Brand X, assuming the table stakes are covered and we're just talking about style? Where would your style fit in best?

3. Your story. You have one, right? You've spent as much time on it as your portfolio, right? The reality of agency life is portfolios just blur together during a hiring phase, and the things creative leaders latch onto are often the stories you tell us about yourself. At the simplest level, it's your bio, your website, the way your work is packaged. But it's also about editing -- what you choose to reveal about you, and how much. You're not yet worthy of an autobiography, are you?
The Interwebs have made this part so much easier. When I started out, my gimmick was billing myself as a "writer/drummer," and I'd give the interviewer a drumstick that had a functioning ballpoint pen coming out of the tip. (Yeah, I know.) Jelly Helm mailed boxes to guys like Mike Hughes that said, "I hear the Martin Agency is hiring art directors for $20,000 a year." Inside the box was a check from Jelly for $20k.

Now we've got art directors like Gabriel Jeffrey, who created Group Hug, the anonymous online confessional. There's a story. (And by the way, Gabe's book is top notch.)

Or Kyle Phillips, an MCAD student, who created the Generative Engine. Sure, this might be a portfolio piece, but the story behind it creates something more. Does some of your work deserve a greater telling? Find a way to tell it.

Even Chris Crocker offers a valid example. That guy is creative. He's established a brand. He's got an audience of millions. How many entry-level writers and art directors do you know with their own syndicated video series?

Oh right, didn't Facebook start in a college dorm?

The point is, be more creative. Go beyond the portfolio. Use the readily available (often free) tools to help create, distribute, and nurture the story that is you.

Here's why this matters, dear graduates. Look at how rapidly and dramatically the advertising industry is evolving and mutating. To survive, we need more than your portfolio, however brilliant it may be. We need entry-level talent whose story offers energy and insight into the future. We're looking for illuminating experiences above and beyond a portfolio that demonstrate your abilities to help all of us move forward.

Thank you, and good luck.

Conversations with Joseph Jaffe

This coming Monday, April 14, Joseph Jaffe will be in Minneapolis for a series of events, including the fourth installment of "Conversations About the Future of Advertising." Here are the details on that:

6:00pm
Monday, April 14
Fine Line Music Cafe
318 First Ave North
Minneapolis

The event is free. No registration required. And the first 250 people in the door get a free copy of Joseph's latest book, Join the Conversation.

Don't miss it.

I'm also psyched that Joseph will be making a presentation at MCAD for the students in the advertising program earlier in the day.

This series has been very rewarding. Not just for the students, but for the community as well. Thanks to the generosity of MCAD and MIMA, we've been able to able to elevate and sustain a productive conversation about the future of marketing and advertising with brilliant minds from outside and inside the Twin Cities.

I feel fortunate that the leadership at MIMA and my partners at MCAD thought this was a good idea in the first place, and have been more than helpful in keeping the effort going. It is, to be completely honest, a lot of work to maintain this speaker series.

But it's been entirely worth it.

Getting hired

As promised, here's the survey of advertising creative leaders and industry recruiters I conducted for my students at MCAD. The survey was designed to provide insights into how to better differentiate yourself in today's marketplace and get that first job. (Or maybe get a better job.)

| View | Upload your own

Big thanks to the following people for agreeing to participate in the survey:

James Brown, Creative Director
Lori Greenberg, Greenberg Kirshenbaum
Dion Hughes, Creative Director, Persuasion Arts & Sciences
Ashley Jahn, Creative Search Consultants
Albert Kelly, Executive Creative Director, Fallon
Matt Lindley, Executive Creative Director, Arnold Worldwide
Anne-Marie Marcus, Marcus St. Jean
Sasha Martens, Sasha The Mensch Creative Recruiter
Peter Nicholson, Chief Creative Officer, Deutsch
David Weist, Creative Director, Modernista!