Where has the time gone? It’s the end of Week 3, which means we are already halfway through the Squared programme! It’s been another packed week. After our online business pitches at the end of last Thursday, we went straight into briefing for Project Two on Friday morning.
We were re-assigned groups and given a week to come up with an integrated campaign idea for a leading hair care brand with a justifiable media plan, budget allocation and a plan of how we would measure KPIs. At the end of the week we presented back to a panel of Squared programme leaders, mentors and industry experts.
Interspersed with the group work this week were influential talks, debates and a toolbox.
We learned about the use of mobile and how essential it is that brands optimize it. We had inspirational talks from Sir John Hegarty and the delightful Jeremy Bullmore. We also participated in a debate about cross channel planning with contributors from Google, Starcom, MEC and PHD. Another highlight was a talk by Derek Scobie from YouTube.
Jassmine: This week has been so action packed it’s hard to try and find one or two focal points. We had a full week to work on our brief and it was nice to mix up the groups and work with different personalities who offered different skills and strengths than last week. All three of my group members work in media agencies so I particularly enjoyed learning how they approach a campaign and learned some useful tools for research data and insights. We decided not to elect a leader this week and instead took turns leading parts of the project where we felt we had strengths to offer. This equal and collaborative approach worked really well for us although we were aware that we needed structure to stay on track so we set agendas for each day. I was really proud of the resulting work and the pitch went well.
I also enjoyed the debate we had on cross channel planning. The question posed was: “Are agencies successful in naturally integrating digital channels into their comms mix?” The votes were unanimous that agencies were not natural at integrating digital just yet although they are becoming better at it. People don’t wake up each morning and decide whether to be digital, what digital behaviors they will adopt that day; however, a lot of agencies do. They need to try and make digital as natural a part of their lives as it now is for consumers.
There was also the suggestion that digital does not sit with campaign thinking. It is now so fully integrated into people’s days that the temporary, disruptive conversations do not work. Brands need to find a way to exist in the digital space seamlessly, and therefore naturally.
Seth: This week I’ve really been able to get my teeth into media planning, something of which I only knew the very basics before. Working on our hair dye project with people from different disciplines across the industry, we had loads to learn from each other and by the time we gave our presentations I understood how much budget to put behind both digital and ATL media to create an effective plan.
We’ve also had some fantastic toolboxes this week. My favorite was a YouTube session with Derek Scobie where we made our own videos on the back of the “How it Should Have Ended” viral trend; my group’s was a plasticine re-imagining of the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ”from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan.” We then had to title, describe and tag our videos to hook our target audience, learning the importance of combining creativity with good digital practice such as thorough SEO.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the next week, and Project 3, has in store for all of us.
Sam:
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Squared so far has been the range of speakers we’ve heard from, and in this Week 3 was no different. We heard from two of the industry’s all-time heavyweights, BBH’s Sir John Hegarty and JWT’s very own living legend, Jeremy Bullmore. Sir John spoke to us about the ’10 Reasons Why This Is The Best Time To Be In Advertising’, and left us all feeling suitably enthusiastic about our futures in the industry. He outlined the changing role of creative agencies in today’s media landscape and that, far from being a threat, this represented an enormous opportunity. Sir John pointed out the recent trends of content-driven advertising as an example of this, as well as the more hands-on role agencies are taking in fields like product-innovation. His speech made me realize how well-placed we are at JWT to respond to these changes, given most of these trends have been inside the agency’s blood for decades.
Jeremy’s speech centered on the challenges of communication, not only in advertising but in society as a whole, and was perhaps one of the most articulate talks I’ve ever heard. He stressed that the most question to ask of any piece of communication is, “How does it feel to be on the receiving end?” and that this question is as true in 2012 as it has ever been in advertising. He went on to illustrate his point with an amazing range of anecdotes, including a particularly great one taking place on a near-disastrous Air Canada flight. I found his talk remarkable in the way that it clarified so many of the issues in our industry today, and left us all raring to get back to our agency.
Katie:
This week we’ve been lucky enough to have an inspirational lunch session from Sir John Hegarty. The room of Squares was transfixed for an hour by a Paul Smith-clad Sir John, who shared his views on the role of creativity in today’s channel neutral environment.
As Squares we have digital in our DNA, and it is our role to act as Change Agents within the industry. Digital is now fundamental to our industry – to the extent to which the terms offline and online are almost irrelevant. Consumers engage with brands across so many touch points that the attempt to separate the digital and the actual now risks being detrimental to the very identity of a brand.
What was exciting was that Sir John pointed to creative agencies as being central to promoting this channel neutral mentality. It is our responsibility to recognize the power of digital in transforming communications we need to embrace and accommodate the behavior it creates, not shy away from it. He cited the acclaimed BBH Guardian ad which highlights the way that news is now created and consumed. No longer do we sit passive in front of crackling television sets the internet has opened up conversations around news stories and we can now engage with and debate events as they unfold. Whilst official reporting will always have its place, they way in which consumers can supplement it truly democratizes the reporting process. Being able to tap into a network of connected consumers with eyes and ears and opinions (especially in areas of censorship and/or where the media is denied access) is an invaluable resource for any news agency, and transforms the way they provide their service.
Sir John also stressed our responsibility to treat each and every project with due care and consideration. Digital has amplified the advertising process so that work is no longer restricted by media spend. Sir John cited the BBH Smirnoff Tea Partay and Xbox ads, both great ideas that refused to acknowledge parameters; despite being produced on limited budgets they reached and resonated with a worldwide audience. Digital therefore can act to empower the idea itself, which once needed hundreds of thousands of pounds to come to life in a TV ad, but now only needs an engaged online audience to share and talk about it.
Sir John addressed a point also made by other speakers at Squared, about the relationship between creativity and technology. Digital–far from being a strange and unfamiliar animal to be shoehorned into a traditional media plan–is instead the latest instance of technology being used to amplify the way that creativity happens. In the same way that the printing press revolutionized the way the written word was shared, so technology today is transforming communications in its own way. Creativity is what gives social relevance and meaning to technological innovation. It is one thing for the internet or a mobile phone to exist, but quite another for us to discover how to properly use it. The power of technology lies wholly in our ability to recognize its potential and to do this we need truly creative minds.
It was this final point that stuck with me the most, as when it comes to new technologies we have a tendency to be sceptical of what is uncharted and unknown. However, the sooner we delve in and understand new technologies, the quicker we can ascertain how they work and whether or not they have a future – and what that future might be. The enduring brands will not be the ones that best adapt to the specific changes happening today, but the ones that embrace this process of change, because as long as our industry exists there will be innovations and developments that will profoundly disrupt it, and we have to be ready to react.
Read previous weeks posts: Week 2 / Week 1