The Social Media Blog - Methodical Madness

6 ways to write a better brief

The other day, I read a great article from AdAge on the importance of  a well-written brief. It struck a chord with me because I am a firm believer that an effective brief is critical to the success of any project or campaign. In fact, nothing at The Duffy Agency is executed without a brief. 

In the article, a marketing consultant, Casey Jones, shares his experience, “The norm is partial, incomplete and sometimes no brief at all.” Unfortunately, my experience has been similar. Some people think a brief means only a paragraph of information. It doesn’t. Some think it’s just a list of a product’s features. It isn’t. A well-written brief is akin to a well-defined map. It clearly guides the team and ensures that the final outcome is achieved in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

 

To formulate a brief that will not only help define your message, but also add value to the strategic and creative process, here are a few tips.

 

1. Choose reality over the abstract
   
   The more specific you can be with your target demographic, the better your brief will become. To say your target is  anyone with a mobile phone would probably be too broad. Even using the word “target” may be too abstract. Abstract concepts don’t buy products, people do. So, define your target as an individual.  What’s their gender, age, education? Try creating a full bio for your target. Who is this person? What’s their name? What do they look like? Look through stock photography and create a visual of the person. All of this will help the team visualize who they are talking to and develop better creative.
   
   
2. It’s all about their needs
   
   One of my favorite sayings is that people don’t need drills; they need holes. The product or service must satisfy a motivating need in order to sell. When developing the needs of your target audience make sure you are not confusing the drill for the hole.
   
   
3. Play mind games
   
   A person is not a blank slate waiting to receive messages. They are an amalgam of all their experiences and knowledge. Use this to your benefit. What pre-existing knowledge, experience or feelings will influence how they interpret your message? Has the target had a bad experience in the past with your product? Is there a new feature that fixes a perceived problem? Btw, perceived is the key word here. How your target perceives your brand makes all the difference in how you will communicate with them.
   
   
4. Make a good impression
   
   If a customer was exposed to the message you created for only a few minutes and walked away, what would you want them to think about your brand? Be clear and concise in your offer. Bounty paper towels has done this brilliantly for years. What do we all know about Bounty? It’s the quicker-picker-upper. It will quickly clean up spills and will do so faster than any other brand. What promise do you make to your customers? And does that promise fulfill a need?
   
   
5. The proof is in the pudding
   
   When creating any type of messaging, what proof are you offering so that the target believes it. And remember, just because it is true does not make it believable or convincing. You could say that your motor oil is better for high performance engines. Or you could say that your motor oil is better for high performance engines which is why 75% of all NASCAR drivers use it in their racing cars. If you are better, faster, more economical or whatever your claim, make sure you use target-relevant facts to back up your claims.
   
   
6. Add some definition
   
   For your campaign, messaging, ad, social media program, etc. to be successful you need one important ingredient: a definition of success. Ask yourself, if your campaign is 100% effective, what will happen? What will your customer do? Success may be an increase in Web site hits. Maybe success is the number of people retweeting your content. Regardless of the goal, just make sure you establish one. As Yogi Berra once said, “You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.” 

Obviously, there are other things to keep in mind when developing an effective brief depending on the brand and objective. What pieces of advice would you give? What do you find lacking in the briefs you’ve seen? Let us know in our comments section.

And of course, if you would like The Duffy Agency to help you with developing your next brief, don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

Is it time to pitch the pitch?

Last fall, I was looking at my house and decided it was in desperate need of a facelift; specifically, it needed a new coat of paint. So I did what I usually do in these situations, I asked a few friends to recommend some painters. I also Googled “painters” for my hometown. In the end, I came down to four firms that had good reputations, good references and all the right experience I needed.

Then, I gave each of them my terms.

I asked each to paint one side of my house including the trim. I then proceeded to tell them that once I saw the results of their work, I would decide which company I would pay.

Normally, you’d think there is no way any self-respecting company would agree to such outrageous terms. However, it happens in the marketing and advertising industry all the time. We even have a name for it: pitching.

Essentially, your agency, along with a number of competitors, develop an advertising or marketing campaign for a client. If they like it, you win the business.  Of course, even if you win the business, you may not get paid for the creative and strategic work you developed. After all, some clients would argue, the big idea part was already done. Free creative and strategy was the cost of entry.

There is no other industry in the world that works this way.

 

And the only reason it still exists at all is habit. Since the days of Mad Men, advertising companies made commission off of media buys. So we would give the creative and strategy away for free in order to get that 15% chunk of the media pie.

But things have changed. Media budgets have evaporated. And those brands that still have substantial media budgets are buying that time directly. In addition, there is "free" media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

So what is a modern-day advertising company to do?

Stop pitching (at least for free). Giving away your product tells clients that it has no value. So, if you don’t value it, how can your clients? Some may bring up pitch fees as compensation, but in truth pitch fees are part of the problem because they provide the illusion that the client is paying for the work. In truth, pitch fees are usually pennies on the dollar and usually never even cover a fraction of the cost of the pitch for the agency.  

At The Duffy Agency, we have never been big fans of entering into a pitch, but have transgressed in the past with the lure of landing that big client. In almost every case, we've paid a heavy price.

The Duffy Agency's product is the services we provide, including international brand strategy, creative execution and campaign adaptation for new markets. These are things that have taken years of hard work to develop. These services have a tangible value, and we bill for them accordingly.

Of course, a creative pitch is different from a capabilities presentation or a "chemistry" meeting, which we are always happy to do. Sitting down with clients and getting a clear understanding of their business problems and goals is part of establishing a good working relationship. 

However, spending hundreds or even thousands of hours developing free work is not a sustainable business model. As an industry, we need to change how the client/agency relationship works and start valuing the work we produce.

The Duffy Agency's motto has always been, "We will do anything for our clients." For the new year, we've decided to modify it a bit: "We will do anything for our clients—except work for free."

What do you think about pitching? Do you think it is an industry practice that should stop? Tell us what you think in our comments section.

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

Happy Holidays from The Duffy Agency

Everyone at The Duffy Agency would like to thank the readers of this blog and all our colleagues and clients for a tremendous year. And in that same spirit, we wish you the happiest of holidays and a healthy and prosperous 2012!

We also wanted to share with you a special holiday gift: a holiday poem inspired by Dr. Seuss. Click below to read it. We hope you enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time, it's personal

Social media asks a lot from both consumers and the brand. So, before you start putting yourself out there, make sure you are ready for the relationship.

In the old days of advertising (pre-2005), campaigns came and went. You'd run them for a while and then see how they were being received by the marketplace. Based on that, you'd either continue or scrap it and try something else. Marketing campaigns were almost like spaghetti. You'd cook it up based on best practices , throw it against the wall and see if it stuck. (I realize this is completely oversimplifying the process, but you understand what I mean.) Stopping a campaign had no real consequences.

Social media is different.

With social media, your goal is to create a community around your brand. And this changes the terms of the relationship between consumer and brand. With social media, consumers invest a certain amount in a brand. Brands are no longer asking for your attention; they are asking for your time. It's a more personal relationship. In fact, just look at the lexicon of social media: "liking" brands on Facebook and "following" brands on Twitter. These are very personal expressions.

And like any personal relationship, breaking up has definite repercussions.

Sure, you may think you can still remain friends, but no one likes to be dumped. And when you stop a social media campaign and abandon a community that has invested time and energy into that relationship (especially suddenly and without warning), there are consequences.  From a brand's perspective, the worst of these consequences is the lost of trust.

Business strategist, Fred Reichheld, talks about the value of trust in his book The Loyalty Effect. Trusting a brand builds loyalty to that brand, and loyalty to a brand brings sustained profitability. In fact, research shows that loyal customers are more apt to continue buying a brand even if the price increases. Once a consumer loses trust in a brand it is almost impossible to regain it. And if you do, it is a lot harder the second time around.  

In other words, social media is a commitment—not a campaign. And as such, it should be well thought out beyond your immediate marketing goals. Now, some of you may say that the commitment/campaign debate is just semantics. But if you develop a social media presence with the idea that it is just another campaign, you may be missing the point.

If you want help developing your social media strategy—one that will stand the test of time—feel free to contact us at The Duffy Agency.

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

4 steps to help you become a more insightful marketer

In today's social media savvy world, more and more companies are taking the time to get to know their target market better. As such, it could be argued that reliable target insights are more valuable than ever.

The best definition for insight I have ever heard came from Morgan Shorey,  a TAAN colleague, who herself had heard this definition at a seminar. Insight is a truth which until now has not been leveraged, but if leveraged will generate revenue.

Discovering those insights requires a sound methodology and experienced investigators. Producing market insights is a lot different than producing market statistics. Statistics may tell you that 34% of women from country A prefer brand X over brand Y. But a true insight will tell you why and show you how you can compete more effectively in that market.

So how can you find those insights? Having the right framework can help. At The Duffy Agency, we feel that framework can be boiled down into four steps.

1. Design
   It starts with defining why a study is needed and what objectives the study is aiming to achieve. This often includes defining a hypothesis about the market. From there, a methodology that ensures accuracy and objectivity is selected to test the hypothesis. For The Duffy Agency, the two preferred methods of obtaining market insights are focus groups and one-on-one in-depth interviews.
   
   
2. Investigate
   Never outsource the fieldwork and wait for the results. Outsourcing invites a high degree of misinterpretation and lacks the flexibility to adapt to real-world conditions. At The Duffy Agency, for example, one of our researchers is present during, if not running, each session. This gives us the ability to adapt our techniques to what we discover, as the target often reveals points that are of greater importance than what we planned to cover.
   
   
3. Analyze
   Drawing on the results of the investigation, seek to answer the questions posed by the study. The value of the insights is dictated by the quality of the data collected. That’s why a solid study design and competent investigation practices are so crucial. As an international advertising agency, many of our clients have global concerns, so we look for insights both by region and globally.
   
   
4. Report
   Using meeting reports, notes and audio recordings from each session, individual regional reports should be created which are then combined into one global report. For the results and conclusions of the study to take root in the organization, they must be easy to understand and retell. Strive to make your reports readable, visual and compelling.

Marketing insights are like small nuggets of gold. They take hard work and patience to uncover, but the rewards can be significant. 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

How to ensure a consistent brand voice across all channels

Establishing a tone of voice and style for your brand is one of the most difficult aspects of the branding process. For some companies, the product is the voice of its brand. Just take one look at the iPhone and you know what Apple is all about. But how do you establish what your brand is all about when it isn’t a neatly packaged, attractive thing you’re selling?

Be consistent.

Your brand, like a person, should have a certain consistent manner in the way it communicates. Consistency builds trust. And trust leads to sales. I'm sure you know exactly how your mom, dad or best friend talks and the mannerisms they use. That style of talking and those mannerisms become part of their personal "brand." If they were to talk differently, or in a different style, you'd notice and be concerned.

The same is true for a brand. The challenge, however, is that you often have many different people communicating on the brand's behalf—from social media folks to marketing writers (and everyone in between). This can lead to a brand voice with multiple personalities.

To be effective, a brand's voice must be consistent in all of their communication. And not just the material that comes from their ad agency, but in every piece of communication they undertake. So to make sure everyone in the company is speaking with a uniform tone of voice, we often suggest conducting a workshop for those that will be communicating on behalf of the brand.

The workshop outlines the established brand voice and all its characteristics. It also covers tips and tricks that help to create consistent body copy and headlines for print and online. Moreover, we develop a guideline for grammar and vocabulary for the brand, especially if the brand has a unique tone and style.

As with any skill, practice makes perfect.

Workshop attendees get the chance to put what they learn to use by participating in writing exercises on the brand voice. The result of all this hard work is a consistent voice in every piece of communication that comes from the brand—from a tweet to a print ad— and a consistent experience for customers.

Establishing your brand's voice is not an easy task, but it can get a whole lot easier if everyone is speaking in the same manner.

(Btw, if you'd like more information on our workshops, contact The Duffy Agency. As an international advertsing agency, we can conduct a workshop for your brand anywhere in the world).

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

When co-branding makes sense

A company’s success or failure hinges on its brands. They are the key to controlling consumer perception. Brands take a lot of blood, sweat and tears to build and become loaded with ideas and feelings in the mind of the consumer.

So combining an established brand with your own can be a quick way to get powerful results. This can help in penetrating new markets and extending a brand’s reach. Most of all, it can be a major sales catalyst.

Finding the right brand for you to partner with could be the next big break for your company. The most common method of creating co-brands is to create a new product or offer by combining products and then shouting about it to the world. Many food producers have had success with this, for example Häagen-Dazs released its Bailey’s Irish Cream flavor. Another is Hershey's chocolate in Betty Crocker brownie mix. In fact, you can visit your local grocery store for isles full of examples.

Nike and Apple also had success when they unveiled Nike +, a technology that allows Nike shoes to track running data on your iPod. These two combinations put two strong brands with large followings into one package. This resulted in more success for both brands.

Sometimes the co-branding opportunity is so good a whole new company springs up—as happened with another of our clients, Sony Ericsson. With the strength of the Ericsson brand as a quality cellular phone manufacturer and Sony as a world leader in camera and electronics technology, a new line of high tech phones was created and marketed. Despite the already crowded marketplace, consumers were intrigued by the brand pairing and flocked to the shops to check out what the new duo could offer them.

However, although co-branding can be a quick way to gain market share, you should be wary when venturing into this type of partnership. If, for example one of the brands is suddenly seen in a bad light, it could affect the partnership (the Tiger Woods incident comes to mind). Or if the two brands aren't really aligned either philosophically or in the minds of the consumer.

You know you’ve found the right partner when the two brands are seamlessly complementary and the benefits for the consumer are crystal clear. The Nike/Apple co-branding ventures is successful because of its undeniable ability to add value to each other’s products, thereby creating something greater than the sum of their parts.

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

How your brand can be an honest shade of green

The last few years have seen an increase in environmental awareness among consumers. More and more people are opting for eco-friendly labels and there’s been a huge surge in demand for everything clean and green—from transport to technology to clothes to cosmetics. 

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that great rewards await companies who either offer environmentally friendly products and services or have green business practices. Demand for environmentally friendly products is continuously rising, and this is not just confined to developed countries. National Geographic and Globescan’s 2010 Greendex found the biggest rise in environmentally friendly consumer be¬havior in India, Brazil, China, and Mexico. Suddenly green is the new black. 

Now while some of these brands are genuinely green, there are plenty of others out there who brazenly claim green credentials. “Look at me, I’m green. Buy me, and you will reverse global warming, improve air qual¬ity and save the tropical rainforests,” they say. Consumers, of course, are not morons. Their radar can pick up and tune out messages that sound like exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims. This practice is so prevalent that a new term has been coined to describe companies who try to spin their products as environmentally friendly: greenwashing. 
The bad news is that companies that continue with their indiscriminate greenwashing can, in the long run, hurt their brand. Consumers can boycott it. Green activists can run negative campaigns about it. And regulators can impose restrictions and huge penalties by way of fines if they discover a deceptive claim. In fact, Greenpeace has a website dedicated exclusively to exposing greenwash—stopgreenwash.org.

Here are a few ways your company can start staking your green claim:

1. Develop a realistic corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy that integrates "green" business practices

2. Be aware of how your products impact the environment from manufacturing to retail packaging to disposal

3. Develop real, measurable ways to mitigate or eliminate your impact in all phases of your product’s lifecycle

4. Whenever possible choose green alternatives for everything from heating oil to copy paper

5. Encourage a green culture in your workplace through recycling and energy efficiency

The potential of this new market has led to an increasing number of companies and brands approaching The Duffy Agency for help showing off their green side. But as Kermit often said, it's not easy being green. Our initial advice is simple: you can't just talk the talk; you must walk the walk. Because the illusion of being green is not the same as being genuinely green.

 

 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

Four forces that changed advertising forever

Up until a few years ago, advertising had changed little from the days of the Mad Men. But 3-4 years ago, forces started coming into play that fundamentally—and forever—changed the advertising industry.

Evaporating advertising budgets
After the global economic meltdown in 2008, advertising budgets shrunk dramatically. Today, the smaller budgets that remain are being allocated to social media and other online activities. The result is that clients now expect more results with less spending.  

 

An indomitable media environment 

Media strategy used to be pretty simple until long-tail media options both on- and offline spread target groups paper thin. The days of monolithic blocks of eyeballs are gone forever. 

 

New consumers
It’s not just that consumers are spending more time online that has shaken the apple cart. It’s that technology has empowered them to choose how they are willing to be addressed by brands. Seth Godin predicted it in 1999 with Permission Marketing. Dis­ruption as a model has been replaced. Today's social media-savvy consumer demands engagement, facilitation and relevance. 

 

Omnipresent measurability via web analytics
Remember the days when there was only reach and frequency? Say hello to a new world where hundreds of metrics are measured in real-time. No more long-winded soliloquies from agency Creative Directors; You now have Google Analytics to tell you what’s hot and what’s not.

 

These four forces have changed the fundamental nature of the adver­tising business —for the better. Like it or not, today, agencies are being forced into accountability. They are being forced to provide consumer insights and real strate­gic business solutions. And they are being forced to display creativ­ity in every aspect of the business, not just with their words and images. 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

What's lost in translation is found in adaption

As an international advertising agency, we are often asked by clients to help them extend their marketing message across borders. In fact, adapting marketing messages, campaigns and websites (Duffy Adapt) is one of the three main services we offer along with market research (Duffy Consult) and campaign execution (Duffy Create).

For many brands, their first thought might be to simply hire a translation company. After all, you've spent many months crafting your marketing message. All you need to do is translate the copy into the appropriate language for whatever market you are trying to penetrate.

But delivering your message to a new audience takes more than sim­ply moving words from one language to another.

There’s nothing wrong with transla­tors – in other situations they’re per­fect for the job. But they will drain the motivational power out of your marketing message. And that moti­vational message is something you’ve spent a great deal of time and money crafting. That process probably in­cluded defining your target, getting into their heads to discover what they value and coming up with a creative execution to generate demand.

A translator isn’t concerned with what makes your customers tick. But that’s the core focus of an adap­tor. Their job is to understand your goals and why they matter to the reader. They take your core idea and find the right way to say it in the new language. And sometimes the way it’s said is quite different, on the surface at least, than what you said in the original work.

We’ve all seen the humorous ex­amples of translated marketing gone wrong. Pepsi famously launched in China with a slogan that originally read “Come alive with the Pepsi gen­eration,” but locally meant “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.” But the real danger is much more subtle. It’s more likely you’ll spend your time and money on something that looks and sounds pretty good, but ultimately falls flat with the target and fails to achieve your business goals.