As the father of two sons (5 and 8 years old) I read a lot of books at bedtime. I started with my oldest from the day he was born. Goodnight Moon. I can still recite it word for word. Board books, picture books, you name it – I read it. When he was about three years old I began to get bored with books about diggers, bunnies, aardvarks and bears, so I started to make up stories. I created a place called Sillyville where he (and a few years later, his brother) would go on silly adventures. What started as a fun idea became a tradition. Daddy reads one book, the lights go off and we head to Sillyville. And even though he is 8 years old and spends most of his nights reading Star Wars and Avengers books, my oldest still asks for Sillyville stories. I think he likes them because he is always a main character and I have him do silly things. But I think the real reason is because Sillyville is ours – mine, his and brother’s. It’s a special place where only we have been and we are the only ones who know about it. Sillyville is our story. It defines us. It engages us. And frankly, it’s a really fun place to go – if I do say so myself.

I know I am not the only parent who makes up stories for their kids. It’s been happening for thousands of years all over the world. Stories are what connect us. It’s part of our DNA. We learn and grow from stories. Frankly, it’s what makes us human – we are natural storytellers.

Case and point; Homer’s Illiad is not Homer’s story. He’s just the first guy to write it down. That poem was passed down from generation to generation for years. I like to think of it as the greatest bedtime story of all time. Disclaimer: Greek Myth was my minor in college, so I am biased.

Story is important. We know this. For the past few years all of us in marketing and advertising have been talking about story. How we need to help brands tell a better story so that they can better engage their customers. Story, story, story. Every day there is a new article, blog post, video or white paper that talks about how to use story to differentiate your brand and resonate with your audiences.

And everyone is acting like this is something new. Well it’s not! From the first printing press to now, we’ve been using story to sell. How many of our grandmothers used to call soap operas “her stories”. Quick history lesson for those under 30 years old: Soap operas were dramatic radio shows created by soap companies (P&G, Dial, Lever and Colgate) to sell soap. See, we’ve been doing this for ages.

But something has changed. With the digital age people are saturated; overwhelmed with information. It has been stated that each of us is bombarded by over 3,000 messages per day. Brands know this, so they are trying their hardest to make you take notice. How? You guess it – story.

By trade I am a content marketer. It is my job to work with brands to figure out WHAT their story is and WHO to tell it to. It’s quite challenging. Many content marketers view a brand as a living and breathing thing. They personify the brand. Create a voice for the brand. Try to make it human. But that’s not always affective.

I am here to tell you that the story isn’t about THE brand itself or the spokesperson. The story is about the CUSTOMER, the consumer. Hey, let’s call them for what they are – the story is about PEOPLE. It’s about you, me and everyone else. The story I urge my clients to tell is not about the history of the brand or the mission statement. The story is about how their product or service helped someone – made a customer’s life better – solved a problem – filled a gap. And this where so many brands are failing. A mission statement is NOT a story. Sure it tells a story – but it doesn’t engage – it doesn’t resonate. What works is creating a story that a person can relate to. A story that pulls on an emotional string. A story that offers a solution to a problem they have. This is the challenge that lies before us. We have to smarter. We have to be more creative.

Who does it well? Red Bull. Volkswagen. Apple. Sure they each have interesting back-stories, but what they do is tell stories about their customers – their people. Writing your brand’s story is not easy. Trying to differentiate is hard. The audience is more savvy and has higher expectations than ever before. It’s our job, as marketers, to create stories that educate and engage. Don’t rely on your history or mission statement. Go deeper? Have fun with it. Be creative!

My kids are the main characters in every story about Sillyville. That’s why they want to hear it over and over. Your brand is NOT your main character; it’s a supporting role. Your customers are your main character. Write about them. That’s what they want to hear.

Natalia Casas
Senior Copywriter

“Words need to be translated, and that’s too inefficient in today’s globalized world” said Martin Murphy in a 2011 IHAVEANIDEA article. He wrote a great piece on opposite points of view on copywriting and its relevance. This sentence stuck with me because I agree.

To me, translating campaigns are, for the most part, a waste of time. But as a creative in a full-service marketing communications agency that works with and for the Hispanic market, I’m faced with having to directly translate campaigns every day. It’s part of the job, and sometimes it’s just a drag.

One of my best friends is a translator, and a damn good one, so I don’t mean to say the work of a translator is not valuable. On the contrary, when you have worked on a pharmaceutical account for the Hispanic U.S. market or created an entire website of a company in Spanish, you know the value of these professionals.

What I’m talking about is the assumption that simply by taking the words in Spanish, the real story the brand is trying to communicate via print ad, TV spot or digital execution is going to effectively reach the audience.

They’ll understand the words, sure. But is the brand really speaking in their terms? Is it hitting the point where language and culture unite? To me, executions like the translated version of AT&T’s “It’s not complicated” campaign proves that maybe just taking a general market (GM) concept and shooting it in Spanish was not the best use of resources.

More than 50 million Latinos live in the U.S., all with different buying power. It’s obvious that the creative and branding possibilities are endless. And only a few companies are really getting it. I recently read that McDonald’s aims for a marketing strategy that leads with multicultural insights. I still don’t eat their burgers (or at least I try really hard not to), but I will say their campaigns for the Hispanic market really hit the spot.

I know money is an issue. Budgets have to be sliced thin between all the communications needs of a brand. But if any brand is considering advertising in Spanish, why not go all the way? Why do it halfway and then complain when the results are not satisfactory?

Clients today request campaigns that work across borders. This trend aims to build brand identity and equity. First you find insights and decide on a personality, and then you creatively execute across all media to go full circle. And yes, an insight can work for both GM and Hispanic U.S. markets but the way to tell the story, the narrative of the brand, should be tailored to the target market in order to make real impact.

What confuses me is why more brands in the United States aren’t jumping in to create Hispanic ads. It’s as simple as considering this target as a protagonist instead of an afterthought. To me, it’s a matter of culture. It’s a matter of understanding that the way we see the world is not the only way the world is viewed by others. And it’s about letting the brand penetrate a particular culture in its own particular way.

There are indeed common insights within Hispanics and Americans, but the way those insights are lived and experienced day to day, may vary greatly and our job as marketers is to discover that difference and go with it. When strategists are researching and digging for info, they should consider these nuances as well. Imagine all the materials available for really amazing brainstorms.

But then, of course this would mean as creatives we’d have our work cut out for us. I believe one of the best parts of our jobs is to create compelling stories that talk about brands and life – and I think that challenge becomes even more enticing if we have lots of material to get our “creative juices” flowing. The challenge will be even greater when our task is to say the same thing in two different ways, for Hispanics and “gringos”.

It would also be the end of direct translated campaigns…and I’m OK with that.

There used to be a time where thinking small was considered thinking big. A time when the crazy ones were looked up to for being pioneers and the essence of innovation that challenged us to think different, inspired us to be great. The forefathers of our industry — Doyle Dane Bernbach, J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather — changed the course of the agency model by combining the world of Art & Copy. Today, more than ever, we need to be as bold and fearless.

What if we continued carrying the torch of the crazy ones? What if we thought smaller by challenging the status quo of today and reinvigorated the voices of agency supporters, stakeholders and creators to “think different” once more?

What if the traditional creative team was no longer structured as a team of two but consisted of a structure of four: Art & Copy, Online Technology and a Social Anthropologist.

What if the agency wasn’t broken into a bunch of different departments that encourage silos, but instead, organized into three dynamic features within the agency that would inform, engage and create synergies across all departments?

These three dynamic features would be as follows:

1. Creative Solutions = Creative dept., digital dept. and planning dept. combined.

2. Strategic Alignment = Strategy dept., account services dept. and media dept. combined. This model
creates teamwork and forces a communication outfit to C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-E.

3. Business Intelligence = One executive team member from each discipline, combined. Adding Business Intelligence to the mix allows the agency to create a partnership with the client where both partners share in the profits. It also allows for the agency to adopt a new revenue stream consisting of their own IP. In the case of a select few agencies with this business model like Anomaly, Amusement Park, Digitas, and Disrupt Media Partners I’m merely preaching to the choir.

What if Media planners and buyers stop buying media before the creative is developed? What if the process was reversed and the creative team could actually develop freely, then the executions could actually go where they were meant to be? What if we used and looked at media as an art form that was a new medium?

What if creative briefs were actually brief? Strategist and planners often try to tell too many stories to illustrate a simple point and often ask archaic questions that don’t allow creatives to change the conversation. I agree with the need for basic points of knowledge: income, age, race etc… but that doesn’t ask or tell creatives about the targets’ passion points or cultural cues that the brand can engage in, creating an organic conversation that makes the consumers “just do it”.

What if the Account teams took some creative classes to understand their creative counterparts a little better? And, what if creative teams took the 4A’s and became a little more business centric? This would help bridge the language barrier and result in the selling of more work.

What if we considered forward momentum to get brands to the next goal and truly advance the ball? Often marketers and “specialist” use a 360-degree marketing approach (which brings you right back to the same point!) when what we really want to express to the client is that we want to turn their brand around and the only way to do that is to do a 180-degree arc. When the 180-degree arc is complete, you repeat the effort by understanding the learnings from the first 180-degree arc and then you create another 180-degree arc to continue moving the brand forward like a slinky.

What if agencies completely embraced digital as an organic arm of the agencies body? Then maybe they wouldn’t feel like a foreign object inside of the agency.

In this world of possibilities we have the power to do, create and script our greatness as individual contributors and as voices that want the best for our industry. The current agency model needs to be pulled apart and put back together again, challenged, experimented with and pushed.

Let’s be and do what we tell our teams: BE BRAVE. BE GREAT. BE FEARLESS. BE SMART.

Qin Guo
Brand Strategist

Today it is no surprise to see the luxury spending of a Chinese tourist who is traveling to Paris or Italy. He or she will possibly purchase most of the luxury goods there, with handbags, clothing, watches and jewelry being the most popular. These are often the gifts they plan to bring back home, to give to family, friends and business acquaintances. It is a favorable phenomenon, particularly in the luxury market, and in which Chinese gifting culture plays an notable role. Gift-giving behavior shapes the market of what is offered to Chinese consumers, and in recent years we also see a market which shapes the gifting culture in China. Not only new gifting moments are being introduced and accepted, but they also change what Chinese consumers purchase as a gift.

New gifting moments

I have been living and working in Shanghai, a city said to be the most vibrant and metropolitan in China. A few times a year I will visit my family back in Wuhan, a city in the middle of China and known to marketers as a second tier city. I think my emotions are equally divided between the two cities although they are very different in terms of dialect, lifestyle and ambitions. The weekend I went home was Mother’s Day. It intrigued me to see how imported holidays harmoniously mix with Chinese traditional holidays, and also how inspirational these dates can be to China’s market today, no matter to which city it is.

Just a few years ago, our family started to hear about Mother’s Day through market promotions. We did not know much about it and it was not in our celebration agenda. This day never existed in our tradition. This year, my brother and I gave our mother her favorite flowers and cooked a nice meal for the whole family. It was a happy day for everyone and created great moments to talk and share the latest with the family. Thanks to the marketing of Mother’s Day, we now have a special occasion to say ‘thank you’ to our mothers; another “gifting moment” has successfully been created and marketers of flowers, jewelry, health care are winning these moments in China.

About gifting in China

Holidays and gifting occasions in China have seen an interesting development over the past decade. They have also mirrored and reflected greater social changes that are happening all around China. Historically, China has always been deemed “lǐ yí zhī bāng 礼仪之邦” , which is a land of etiquette and propriety. Gifting culture has been of the utmost importance, along with the etiquette and lifestyle associated with each occasion. Written letters, fabrics, tea and silk used to be the ideal gifts. Today, the variety of gift options are abundant, luxury goods, wine & cigarettes, perfumes, fancy gadgets, etc. Gifting has become less conventional and more creative, traditions and modernizations are intertwining. It is no secret that business definitely booms around the holidays. Special moments are being recognized with material goods like never before—and consumers are more and more hungry for new experiences.

So when is a good time to give a gift? When do people do most of their gift shopping? Chinese New Year, birthdays, weddings, new babies, housewarmings, and business openings—all of these events are occasions when gifts are given and expected, probably pretty much the same as elsewhere in the world. Gifting behavior though, has ballooned thanks to the marketing and business developments in China: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day were not on people’s radar until recent. But now all of these special days are known and observed in China. Consumers are seizing every opportunity to buy, give, and get. The holidays are the driving force behind much of China’s gift consumption today.

The copy reads: “Dear Dad, I’m not very good at expressing, but there are some words I don’t need to say, and you will understand. The most thoughtful gift is what takes care the most, and it makes everyday a Father’s Day. 

Creating new gifting moments

What if you are the marketing director of products that not yet seem to fit in the conventional gifting environment in China? You may try to introduce a new reason to purchase or a new moment to celebrate. For instance, diamonds. It was not at all a traditional symbol for Chinese weddings. Nowadays a diamond is almost a must for all the newlyweds, not to mention the meaning of size or clarity. Certainly interesting stories were told to consumers, such as “believe that diamond is the only proof for your love”. Aside from people’s open heart to a new material culture, the increasing purchasing power made it very possible. Another example, China was not a big consumer of chocolate due to its sweet taste and cocoa ingredients. However, since its introduction to China’s market, much effort has been made to introduce it as the gift for Chinese New Year, birthdays, and especially Valentines. More and more people have tried chocolate and then started to consume it on regular basis. Creating new purchase moments means forming a new habit or culture; a big step forward to grow a sustainable market.

The growing gifting nation

Chinese consumers’ passion for luxury goods will remain and for gifting, this is still the desirable option. The nation is growing wider on the gifting market; Father’s Day is approaching and it seems this new day is taking over the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, as the focus of gifting promotions. Although both in the coming two weeks, online and offline stores have started asking question ‘what is the perfect gift to your beloved father?’ whereas things are still quiet on the Dragon Boat Festival. It must because this traditional event is know to have Rice Dumpling as occasional offering, and nothing else. Imported holidays seem to allow for more gifting options, every marketer can possibly find a piece of pie. Chinese consumers are eager to celebrate new occasions, which come with active buying and giving. This is the gift to the land of etiquette, a market that starts to shape the culture.

“Finding inspiration in the diverse lifestyles and vital creative community surrounding the company’s Sacramento office, Toll channels an introspective and thoughtful leadership style that reflects the strong personal bonds that he cultivates among the BKWLD creative team. When not working, Jeff enjoys hanging out at the local skate park, or spending quality time with his wife Keri, their son Jackson, and daughter Myla.”

That’s wonderful and all, but what the IHAVEANIDEA audience really wants to know is… how’d you get in?

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I’ve always been attracted to art and drawing. All throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school, I would draw, doodle, and sketch. In the 6th grade we had a hands-on workshop with an 80s cartoon legend named Mark Kistler, aka “Commander Mark” and the Imagination Station, a show on PBS. He taught me how to draw using foreshortening, perspective, and 3D. From that point on, I was addicted to every medium of art. I dabbled in watercolor, oil painting, charcoal, and pastels – you name it. Later, when I got into high school, I started to take it more seriously. I started drawing comic books, entering art contests, and exploring early digital drawing tools.

My family had a Tandy 1000 at the time and some frame-by-frame animation software branded under “Hanna Barbera.” The software was basically a pixel paint program limited to 16 colors. You could animate frame-by-frame using onionskin. I would come home from school each day and lock myself away, going through the painstakingly slow process of drawing these animations. Once I was done, I’d set up a tripod, play music from my cassette boom box, and bring my animations to life. I still have the VHS recordings.

As soon as I graduated high school in 1995, I freaked out. I didn’t know of any school or career paths that would have leveraged my interests in art and animation. I was really into skateboarding and snowboarding so I took a break from school and pursued my other dreams. I did that for years and then realized I needed to go back to school.

I eventually enrolled in Sonoma State University as a Business Major, still unsure of what in the hell I wanted to do with my life. I laugh thinking back to the days of accounting class… I’d be a god-awful accountant.

At this time I met my now-wife, Keri, with the help of my cool-guy America Online profile. It’s hilarious thinking back, Keri and I basically made up a phony story about how we met that we told for years. Online dating was definitely not mainstream or fully accepted back then. We were only able to see each other for a few weeks before she moved off to study in San Diego, but we traveled to see each other frequently. Around this time she introduced me to rave culture and drum n’ bass music, in particular. I instantly fell in love with it all.

The music, the aesthetic, and the culture just grabbed me. At the time I was really into being “straight edge” – go figure. I started buying records, collecting flyers, mix tapes, rave visuals, and DJ-ing at parties. My wife started throwing DnB events and needed art for flyers and other materials. This is where my inner artist began to reveal itself once again.

The first flyer I ever designed (dare I say “designed?”) was done in one late night at a Kinko’s where I hacked my way through a foreign and extremely intimidating program called “Photoshop.” I used Sharpies, magazines, Exacto blades, scans, and saved them to my good ol’ zip drive. I loved the work UFO! and “Hell”vetica were doing at the time, raw mosaic scanned image style in contrast with digital textures. The first time I saw my flyers printed and posters pasted all over a rave, it was abundantly clear to me where my talent was. I soon heard of a Graphic Design program that had just recently been created at CSU Sacramento. I quit all the random jobs I had and focused solely on learning design. I completely immersed myself in learning the fundamentals of design and the software to create it.

I started treating all my contacts with rave promoters as clients and began “freelance work.” I worked for some rather large names in the rave scene back in the early 00‘s – The Planet of the Drums Tour and Dieselboy, to name a few.
I was eventually able to combine my design skills with my animation and web skills and, soon after graduation, I began work for a company named Multimedia LED, where I worked as their in-house creative lead. They were the leading manufacturer in all the LED screens you’ve most likely seen in Times Square. The ribbon/wave style LED screens at ABC Studios was their initial claim to fame.

I did everything from branding, marketing, copywriting, animation, web design – you name it. It was great and I learned a lot, especially from a man named Rich Webster, who ran numerous successful startups. He taught me a lot about the web, but I wanted to be pushed harder. I decided to put in my two weeks and just flat out quit.

During this time, I was a big fan of Scott Hansen, aka, iso50. I always admired his work and we would chat online here and there. On my last day at Multimedia LED, I received an email from him. He told me he was working at a web shop named “BKWLD.” As soon as I read, “You’ll be working on about 90% web work,” I was sold. I remember calling my mom and telling her that I was not going to accept any of the offers that paid more because they lacked the creative opportunity I was yearning for. It was worth it.

That year, 2005, I met the BKWLD crew- Ryan Vanni, Scott Hansen, Dusty Brown, and Robert Reinhard and instantly knew that this was the place I needed to be. I’ve been fighting the good fight ever since.

Clive Pickering

In swinging 1960s London, scanning the property pages of the Evening News for a new pad, you might have come across descriptions like this:

“Do not be misled by the trim exterior of this modest period res with its dirty broken windows; all is not well with the inside. The decor of the nine rooms, some of which hangs inelegantly from the walls, is revolting. Not entirely devoid of plumbing, there is a pathetic kitchen and one cold tap. No bathroom, of course, but Chelsea has excellent public baths.”

or

“Although it reeks of damp or worse, the plaster is coming off the walls and daylight peeps through a hole in the roof, it is still habitable judging by the bed of rags, fag ends and empty bottles in one corner.”

or

“Nature has fought back in the garden and won.”

Enough to put anyone off, you might think. But no. Embarrassingly for Roy Brooks, the ‘red-under-the-bed’ estate agent who penned them, these ads were hugely successful at selling homes, putting a fortune in the tight pockets of his and his clients’ flared velvet split-knee loon pants.

There’s a lesson to be learnt here. Not that slagging off what you’re selling is necessarily a good way of getting it off your hands [although it worked well for Roy's customers], but that honesty can help make it more attractive.

21st century examples of this can be seen on e-bay or Gumtree. A description that refers to a “Fender Telecaster, 1968, post CBS but decent action and great tone. Slight damage to the headstock from the time I let a ciggy burn down on the tag end of the E string during a long solo” is likely to command a far bigger response, and ultimately higher price, than one saying simply “Fender Telecaster. Good condition.”

You might point out that these are examples of second hand items, where a bit of honesty about slight damage to the product only adds to its perceived character. But it works equally well for new products and brands.

In the ’90s, Marmite did it by admitting that you either ‘love it or you hate it’ on ads that featured people actively spitting the brown goo out in disgust.

In the ’80s there was Citroen with their 2CV ads proclaiming ‘No wonder it’s so reliable, there’s nothing to go wrong’ above a list of all the features the car lacked.

And way back in the ’60s, while Roy was flogging rundown flats and houses in London, there was the famous Avis ‘We try harder’ campaign. Not to mention the daddy of them all, Bernbach’s Volkswagen Beatle campaign – this in the U.S., the birthplace of the hard sell.

So should we, like Dudley Moore’s character in the film Crazy People, be writing lines dripping with untamed honesty like “Jaguar — For men who’d like hand-jobs from beautiful women they hardly know”?

No – because that is still a boast, albeit a rather dubious one. The whole point of Marmite etc is that they are charmingly candid – they are based on an admission of a truth that isn’t necessarily to the brand’s advantage. They expose a weakness and, in doing so, seduce us.

By being open and truthful about the product or brand, these campaigns deflect any natural cynicism about advertising. Among a pack of braying, boasting, loud-mouthed city boys of ads their modest, truthful, gentle tones shine out. And they make us feel warm and welcoming to the brand’s message. No one likes being shouted at, everyone likes a bit of charming humility.

Perhaps, like the Holsten Pils/First Direct/Cadbury’s trick of simply showing something entertaining and then putting the product name at the end, it can only be successful for one brand per decade.

But the principle goes much further and can inform almost everything we do. Ditch the preachy, shouty “we’re the best thing since sliced bread” tones and adopt a more humble, honest approach and you will become easier to love. People will listen to what you have to say. You might even sell a bit more stuff.

We should all develop an awareness of the true importance of our product and our advertising in people’s lives – which is little to nothing at all. Only by recognising this and showing some humility will we work hard enough to entertain and connect with the people on whom we ultimate depend – our customers.

Of course to buy such straightforwardness takes a brave and visionary client. Immersed, as they are, in the world of their product, their sales and their marketing they find it hard to recognise that the world out there is pretty well uninterested.

But the rewards for those who do have the courage to be humble and make a real connection with their customers are immense.

Pieter van den Heuvel

I was founded many years ago.

Bringing something new that was better than the old.

I got some attention, interviews, positive reviews and even some fans.
People liked me. People talked about me. People bought, used and loved me.
It was absolutely great.
I was welcomed into their cities, streets and homes.

I wasn’t a brand, not even a product – Just another great thing that helped people out.

Oh, the good old days.
A time without introductions, headlines, pictures and illustrations.

I was who I was.
No need to prove myself.
No need to step up.
No need to stand out.
I was outstanding.
You could get me wherever whenever and didn’t have to choose.

But then that day came.
New ships sailed in and dropped their anchors.

Crossing borders I never drew.
Stealing fans I thought were friends.
Shifting all attention.
Messing up the world I found and founded.

How did they do it?
Well, they weren’t much better and they weren’t that hot.
I guess it was because of their cargo:
A new kind of new that was more new than the new I used to bring.
Yes, that was it.
I needed something new too.
Something the others didn’t have.
Something people wanted (no need for them to actually need it).
Something hot, creative and unique.

So, I decided to give myself a name.
A name with a story.
A unique story which none of the others could tell.
A story about my heritage and originality.
About the reason I started all those years ago.
About my passion, the great things I brought and the bloody reason the others came here in the first place.

That’s what I needed!
To tell my story.
Not only to stand out, but to step over all those awful others.
So I did what had to be done.
I saved my life by telling the world about it.
That started with some posters.
Soon other ads and merchandise followed.

People loved it.
They loved my story.
They loved each of its chapters.
But most importantly, they loved me again.
Some even stuck my ads on their walls.
I became part of people’s homes again.
Part of culture.

But like any good story, people always want more.
And that’s where the others sailed in again.
They launched their own campaigns and told their own stories.

Not about heritage but about other fantastic things that seemed to be trending.
Stories about modernism, style, freshness, pop and art.
I must say they were quite entertaining.

People seemed to love them too.
They were very welcome.

My story soon became dusty and I’ll be honest; I was worried.
I even started to copy the others: Look who’s trying now.
Gradually my stories turned into campaigns and campaigns became advertising.
People hated advertising.
I believe they still do.

Today, things are different.

Much more positive.
The competition is killing.

New ships sail in every day.

Some even come with powerboats.
But I’m not that reactive anymore.
Mainly minding my own business.

In my case that’s a brand ol’ story.
But it’s simple, honest and pure.
And thanks to today’s innovations…

I can keep telling it, in brand new ways.

To be continued…

Once a business reaches a certain size, it can have a difficult time seeming warm and personable, not just to outsiders, but also to their employees. But for the Berlin-based headquarters of acclaimed German ad agency Scholz & Friends, it starts at the front door.

Or rather above it.

Scholz & Friends’ fancy digs are found near the Hackescher Markt in Mitte, the center of Berlin. A historical neighborhood that fell into neglect during the Cold War, the area has been undergoing both a revitalization and a modernization since the fall of the Berlin Wall (fast fact: Scholz & Friends was the first agency to open up offices in the former East Germany after reunification) Part of that change includes Scholz & Friends’ own building, which the agency itself lent its architectural talents to help design.

And when you pull up to said building, you’re greeted by a large sign over the door that reads “________________ & Friends” No, not an empty space. The sign is digital, and the empty space is changed whenever an employee checks into the office via Foursquare. “It is a fun way to show how we include everybody in our family,” says Wolf Schneider, Managing Director and a ten-year veteran of Scholz & Friends. “You don’t have to wait long to have your name on the door of a big agency!”

“We are very serious about living up to our ‘Orchestra of Ideas’ tagline,” says Wolf. “To us this means that we are always aiming for collaboration, to come together to make beautiful things.” The collaboration Wolf speaks of doesn’t just occur within the halls of Scholz & Friends, but also with other companies — especially within the WPP network, which brought Scholz & Friends under their umbrella in 2011. The agency also fosters outside collaboration by having its creative management attend the world-renowned Berlin School of Creative Leadership. “We want our creative directors to build their personal networks,” explains Wolf. “By working with other CDs from around the world at Berlin, they form friendships and business relationships that can only help us in the future.”

Scholz & Friends’ Berlin office has a staff of about 400 people, but it is getting increasingly difficult to place people into “creative” and “strategic” departments. “Art Director, copywriter, all of those terms are going away,” says Wolf. “On the teams here, especially the ones I work with, everybody is expected to take on different roles, depending on the situation. These days, creatives are expected to also be consultants.”

But surely everybody can’t be good at everything, or even want to do everything. How does Scholz & Friends know who are the best people to bring into a particular project? Well while some agencies conduct annual performance and salary reviews, Sscholz & Friends meets with every staff member every six months to chat about their personal goals within the company. “We want everybody to tell us what they want to get out of working here, and then we do our best to align their goals with our own business objectives,” says Wolf. This also means that the agency is open to helping its staff switch disciplines. For instance, a trained copywriter may decide that PR now interests him, or that they might want to try things out at the agency’s Hamburg office. “I believe Scholz & Friends gives its staff a platform to fulfill their own business ideas.” Wolf knows about this firsthand; it was Wolf who was given the latitude to branch the agency out into design.

So what does an average day at Scholz & friends look like? Well although the agency isn’t a stickler about being in at a certain time, and it encourages people to work remotely should they wish to head out to the coffee shop, Scholz & Friends does have a tiny little incentive to arrive at a decent hour; the company provides a free hearty breakfast to anybody who arrives before 8:30 AM. “For the younger staff whose fridges at home likely contain more beer than food, this is a great bonus,” jokes Wolf.

The agency also has many planned and unplanned gathering throughout the year, from its Monday morning company-wide meetings in the foyer of the office, to the Scholz & Friends Academy, where guest speakers from both within and beyond the office educate their peers on various subjects. The office has multiple balconies on all sides of the building, and a beautiful rooftop garden that allows for impromptu barbecues — as well as secret glimpses into the guest rooms of the hotel across the courtyard. There are also the traditional summer parties and winter holiday parties, including all-out blasts where all 400 employees get into planes or buses and head off to some crazy location.

Now you don’t have to have your finger on the pulse of the German advertising scene to know that Scholz & Friends is a major player. The agency regularly racks up big wins at the European and global awards shows. But in spite of its mission to always be ranked in the Top Five in the country in advertising, design, PR and so forth, you won’t find any Lions, Pencils or Cubes lying around. “We like to win, but we don’t have a trophy case in our lobby,” explains Wolf. So where do these precious trinkets go? “The cellar,” he jokes.

So what does the future hold for Scholz & Friends? What does this agency consider its biggest challenge in the months and years ahead? “I believe the biggest question, for both us and for the industry in general, is the value of creativity,” answers Wolf. “It’s becoming more and more apparent that creativity is not a day, a block of time billed to the client. It’s the result. That is something that needs to be changed, and I think we at Scholz & Friends are ready to take that challenge head on.”

We’d like to thank Wolf for spending time with us at Scholz & Friends Berlin. An extra special thanks to Getty Images for making this visit to Berlin possible.

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Greg Dillon
Strategic Design Consultant

Do you have any career regrets?

Here’s a bold statement: I actually don’t think I do. I have made errors, sure, but regrets? Not worth it, every wrong direction, misstep or moment of poor judgement should be a learning, not a cross to bear.

I speak to a lot of people; peers, colleagues, friends, mentors, family and sometimes randoms, and it is curious how often people hold onto career regrets and use them to punish themselves for years after.

Broadly speaking, there are three common career regrets:

Taking a job for the money

If you are lucky enough to be offered a job with a ‘flattering’ compensation package you’re likely to start mentally spending the cash before you’ve even finished reading the three-page contract. I’ve done it, I was offered a full time job that netted me a 53% pay rise overnight. I took it. It was not the right move for me, I knew that by the end of the second day.

What did I do? I resigned on day twelve using decisive action to move on to pastures appropriate instead of fields of gold.

Do I regret it? No. It was a good learning and pushed me one step closer towards doing my own thing.

Conjuring the confidence to start the business earlier

Starting your own business is nerve-wracking, don’t get me wrong, it takes energy, commitment, cash and a lot of guys to take the leap. A lot of people get comfortable in their day jobs and subsequently while away their time dreaming of pastures new.

If you want to start your own business one day, make productive use of your time building the idea, get your business plan written and the idea sketched out in principle.

Then work out what you would need to achieve your goal, what the costs would be to start up, what the route to payback is, how long it will take, what the income potential is, different scenarios that would affect your bottom line and when you can stop working for the man and start being the man (or woman, obviously).

That’s exactly what I did in my last full time job, I planned and planned and projected how things would pan out until I had the confidence to break away from the ‘day job’ and start my ’24/7 job’ of being a consultancy founder slash .com founder slash blogger slash photographer slash husband (to be).

Not speaking up and not acting on hunches

Something that is apparent in most people’s careers is nerves. The nervousness that stops you speaking in meetings, voicing ideas that later are raised by those higher up, leaving you gutted that you had not had the idea attributed to you. I used to feel like that when I was junior, but, through practice and experience have the confidence to say what I’m thinking to see if it moves the project and the brand in the right direction.

Whilst it is good practice to respect and listen to those higher up the strategic pole than you, be aware that all of us are fallible, we all make mistakes or follow initial hypotheses too soon and whatnot. There are times when junior members of the team hang off the every word of anyone paid more than them, I see it all the time.

I’m not saying be argumentative or to challenge them on everything but do not be afraid to counter or voice your own opinion as you never know where the gem of insight and creative platforms will come from.

Do you have any career regrets?

How do you or did you deal with them?

What advice would you give to others?

Greg is a freelance brand strategist working with brands and agencies all round the world, he is also the author of Strat-Talking.com, a website aimed at giving advice and insight to new, existing and veteran freelancers as well as commenting on all things strategic. Feel free to email him at: greg@gdinspires.com or follow on Twitter @StratTalking

Brendan Watson

Looking out over the Manhattan skyline, Chris Martin asks his friends a question common for someone his age: “What should I do with my life?” He’s standing on the balcony of a suave corporate apartment on loan to a friend in the middle of an internship in New York. Given the meandering path that led Chris to that life-changing conversation, it’s an honest question.

The years prior had Chris exploring his options. At one point destined to make his millions on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Chris was majoring in International Business, with a minor in Japanese. This was followed by a stay in a Swiss mountainside retreat. Described by Chris as a cross between a commune and a hostel, he spent most of his time within the on-site library consuming books of the philosophical and theological variety. This time of solitude seemed to clarify his path, at least for a moment, when he enrolled in seminary with the hopes of completing a PhD in theology. However, soon thereafter he switched his focus to media arts at the University of South Carolina. Upon completion he took a job as a School District Secretary. Less than pleased with his vocation, he wondered aloud, “What should I do with my life?”

Surrounded by the people that knew him best, Chris and his friends began to brainstorm possible career options. They created a list, which spanned from writer all the way to Intellectual Property Attorney. One thing that they all came back to was the suggestion of advertising copywriter. Feeling that it was worth exploring, Chris reached out to friends of friends who were in the business. Upon their suggestion he picked up the books Hey Whipple and Pick Me. He also started to look into The Creative Circus and VCU Brandcenter.

The Brandcenter has a notoriously long application. Interested candidates are peppered with essay questions, writing assignments, self-analysis and industry critique. Chris’s contact suggested he attempt to the application. If he actually completed it and enjoyed the process, they said, it was a good sign. Chris tackled the daunting application and amongst other things was asked to write a short story featuring a really strong antagonist, and to discuss the most significant events of the past year. He enjoyed the process and was subsequently accepted into the copywriting track.

Chris’s story about arriving to the Brandcenter is similar to other students in that it is completely unique. No two stories about finding VCU are the same. John Birney, a student in the Creative Technology track, spent two years in Washington doing political advertising. Hunter Pechin also did time in the nation’s capital working on political fundraising before enrolling in the Creative Brand Management track. Sam Cantor, a former t-shirt company owner/neuroscience major, was en route to taking his volleyball career pro, before an injury eventually lead him into the Art Direction track. Then there’s Sloane Beaver who interned at a Richmond ad agency before finding her way into the Brandcenter’s Communication Strategy track. There seems to be no direct route to the school, and this is a good thing.

The Brandcenter program is a graduate program offering students a Masters of Business. It is this distinction that separates VCU, at least on the surface, from other competing schools. It is also an element that seems to attract a more varied pool of applicants.

You don’t have to go too far back into the history of advertising to find a time when portfolio schools didn’t exist. ‘How’d You Get In?’ was a recurring column on IHAVEANIDEA.org, where notable creatives such as Neil French, Steve Hayden and Lee Garfinkel were asked how they got into advertising. No two stories were alike and the only commonality was that they all lived a life outside of advertising before getting their start in the business. Not unlike those roaming the halls of the Brandcenter. The only difference is that these creatives will get some formal training to compliment their life experiences before starting their career.

There’s a lot presently going on at the Brandcenter, however that’s nothing new. Fluidity and flexibility was built into the DNA of the school by former Director Rick Boyko. He was known for changing and updating the curriculum on an almost yearly basis in order to keep pace with the constantly evolving industry.

After eight years, Boyko stepped down as Director as the VCU Brandcenter and in May 2011, the school set out to hire for what Board Member and Martin Agency President Mike Hughes referred to as “the most important job in advertising.” Filling Boyko’s position was a difficult task at best, and filling his shoes would be even more challenging. After a lengthy search, including a campaign rooted in social media, the committee tasked with finding Boyko’s replacement had a list of thirty candidates. That list was then discussed and debated until it was reduced to a manageable six.

The building that houses the Brandcenter is notable and historic. In 2008, the school moved in after a massive renovation. The reimagined building was designed by internationally renowned architect Clive Wilkinson, who has designed spaces for Google, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Mother and JWT. However the building was originally built as the carriage house for the historic Jefferson Hotel, located two blocks away. So it seems fitting that the final interviews for the Brandcenter Director, whose future office will be surrounded by horse and buggy elevator relics, took place within a conference room at The Jefferson itself.

The search committee met with all six candidates over the course of a Saturday and in the end one name rose to the top, Helayne Spivak. Much like her predecessor, she has an agency background. Most recently as Chief Creative Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, Spivak has also held leadership positions at Hal Riney & Partners, Y&R New York, Ammirati & Puris and JWT, New York. She has a diverse background, at one point in her career owning a 274-seat fine-dining Italian restaurant in Chicago’s Northbrook neighborhood, later spending some time doing stand-up comedy. Spivak claims the former was fodder for the latter.

After six months in her new job Spivak talks about feeling more alive than ever. It’s a new kind of challenge that she relishes. The Brandcenter brings with it agency-size responsibilities, without the client-size pressures. Molding the minds of future industry leaders is no small task, however there’s no fear of a client walking out the door, nor the large-scale layoffs that accompany that all-too-common scenario.

Spending the better part of her career in high-level leadership positions had put some distance between Spivak and the work. It appears to be a refreshing change to be in an academic environment where she’s able to get her hands dirty. She’s never been closer to the work, she says, and feels especially plugged into the creative world.

In speaking with Spivak, it becomes clear that she has a huge amount of respect not only for the Brandcenter and what it has achieved up until this point, but for its future potential. Founded as the VCU Adcenter in 1996, the school then made it’s mark by producing some of the most well rounded advertising and marketing communications graduates. In 2008, the name was changed to the Brandcenter. As Rick Boyko explained at the time, “Today’s advertising industry has evolved into the business of developing a brand’s total communication, influencing everything from strategic plans and message content to the creation of advertising, the retail environment, packaging, Web sites, word-of-mouth messaging and public relations. It is this change in marketing communications that drove us to put brand building front and center in everything we do.” Spivak talks about the onset of the second creative revolution and takes pride in the schools positioning and ability to keep pace. She jokes about the need to change the name yet again, this time to the Braincenter. Given the type of thinking going on within the walls of the old carriage house, it’s not such a crazy idea.

The students are now thinking bigger, Spivak says, and that’s because their toolbox has grown. Given the speed at which technology evolves, and the information and resources available, what was an overly complicated task a few years ago is easily executed today.

The Brandcenter offers five distinct areas of study, all of which are taught collaboratively: Art Direction, Copywriting, Communication Strategy, Creative Brand Management and Creative Technology. The Brandcenter added the fifth track, CT as it is referred, at a time when some agencies hadn’t even started to employ Creative Technologists. While some schools spend their time playing catch up with the industry, VCU is anticipating the needs of tomorrow.

From day one, the school has served the industry well, creating a pipeline of topnotch talent for agencies and brands alike. While this will remain its core objective, one can’t ignore the inevitable possibility of start-ups starting up at the Brandcenter. Given the five available tracks, it’s something that will organically happen, if it isn’t already. Spivak discusses the desire to graduate creative entrepreneurs. The collaborative nature of the environment will foster the development of future start-ups, but it’s the technology and resources available to the students at the Brandcenter that will bring these ideas to life.

There aren’t any classrooms in the basement of the Brandcenter. You’ll find meeting rooms, workspaces, a ping-pong table and the biggest concrete table you’ve ever seen. It’s a free flowing design, not unlike a pool winding through Caribbean resort. A series of studios and computer labs sit opposite the table and they’re outfitted with the latest and greatest equipment and software. However, what’s more impressive than the up-to-date gear, is the availability of resources not taught in the classroom. While some institutions might struggle to stay current on the hardware and software taught in class, Brandcenter students have the opportunity to explore technology outside of the curriculum such as Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D. When you take this into account, along with the highly accomplished teachers who take a tough love approach, and the constantly evolving curriculum, you start to see how the Brandcenter is able to get so much out of each and every student. Finally factoring in that their graduation rate nears 100% every year, it becomes all the more impressive.

After spending a few days at the Brandcenter I packed up my computer and headed out the door. I was supposed to fly home that night, but Mother Nature was being uncooperative. However, the southern hospitality that infuses the school meant that I wasn’t alone as I waited out my two-day delay. Offers from students and faculty alike made my extended stay that much more comfortable.

It’s Friday afternoon at around 6:00. Chris Martin is sitting inside the iconic cocoon—a unique structure that sections off the large main room with the push of a button. He, along with some fellow students, are in no rush to leave. Laughter echoes through the halls as brainstorming sessions have given way to the weekend. And as such, I leave concluding that the Brandcenter isn’t a school after all, it’s a way of life.

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