When Creative and Media Marry: Deconstructing a Powerful Pairing
May 18|2004

I found this to be probably the most interesting part of The Clio awards. Sure TV work is amazing and inspiring, but content & contact which some people know as viral or guerilla is extremely smart and intriguing. It’s the future. In fact it’s the present, because I have been working on projects like this one in the past weeks.

The jury was composed of Nick Brien, CEO of Arc Worldwide in Chicago; Naoko Katayama, Media Director, Dentsu, Tokyo; Kash Sree, SVP/Creative Director, Leo Burnett USA, Chicago; and Paul Woolmington, Chief Executive Officer/Chair/Head Chef, Media Kitchen, New York.

The Clios were the major first international award show to make a category for work like this. Highlights from the winners were the vertical soccer match from TBWA Japan (a massive billboard with real hanging players and a hanging ball playing soccer in the middle of Japan’s busiest intersection) and Deloitte’s Bull Fighter software, which is a Microsoft Word add-on program that eliminated the bullshit in corporate jargon (Let’s leverage your competitive global advantage and take the meeting offline).

What exactly is this content & contact?

Alternative mediums used to communicate advertising messages in a unique manner. Any place where they have exposure to clients is contact. This could be a tree, sidewalk, flying sheep, or like the guys from Japan did, take an entire building and light it from inside in a way that it works like a monstrous electronic equalizer to promote a Japanese radio station.

Why is it the future?

It’s cheap, it’s effective, it’s fun, it’s relevant, it’s impactful.

Any questions?

Yes, I actually had the first question. From personal experience, coming up with crazy ideas that take take traditional brands to the street for creative, interesting ways of interacting with consumers is very fun and clients are beginning to embrace these campaigns.

HOWEVER, a lot of them seem to be dying not in the client boardroom, but in the hands of the media department who give up too easily and are not used to doing things that can’t already be found in their Rolodex.

The Jury’s answer to my problem?

Change the structure of the agency. Make media planners, creative planners. Get them involved in the creative process and get creatives involved in the media process. Crispin Porter and Wieden and Kennedy are two examples of agencies doing just that.