Real Life Shark Tank

Many of my friends and I have been hooked by a reality show called Shark Tank, in which budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of seasoned business people including Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran and see if any of them will bite. A particularly interesting panel from today’s event was a real life, real time version of that exact program up on stage. 

Four startups, each in relatively different industries, had five minutes to pitch their ideas and general business model in front of a panel of four venture capital investors who ultimately crowned a winner. The businesses included a web tool that helped users identify and turn off any cookies they have on the web, a website that helped customers order online delivery from restaurants and food trucks, a company that helped build paywalls that were dismantled through video viewership rather than direct payment, and a job matching firm that connected prospective employees with opportunities abroad. 

Watching the pitches and subsequent judge grilling was both vastly entertaining and extremely interesting. As a member of the SIG team at Arnold, I was really excited to see how the model we use for any new business pitch, marketing plan, or client project, applies to the building and development of a startup, covering all the vitals that the investors were curious about. Making this connection helped me see that a strong foundation in the key areas of a business might not guarantee startup success, but it helps pave the path to that ultimate goal.  

A Higher Calling for the Interwebz

While the internet and smart phones are often seen as outlets for recreation, procrastination, and distraction, could it be that they serve a purpose beyond memes and Snapchat? Geoff Lewis, Principal at Founders Fund certainly thinks so and stressed how vital the web and mobile were for solving big, meaningful, real world problems during his keynote.  

Lewis spoke about the intersection of technology and healthcare as well as the burgeoning number of apps that have moved into this space and noted, “Just developing an app is great, but it’s not enough.” His argument is based two of many things: the ease with which apps can be copied, so their staying power and reach are tough to maintain as well as the fact that an app is often an ancillary part of a project tackling a larger challenge.

 “Specifically in the healthcare space, there are a lot of tough problems—we still need breakthroughs in the field of genomics, medical records digitized, how we treat insurance,” said Lewis, “Maybe these apps could be interesting combined with an incentive program from an insurance payer.”

The impact of digital can often feel lofty and hard to quantify, making it easy to forget the magnitude of its capacity for real, substantial change. Lewis’ talk was a inspiring call to action from someone has seen so many pitches, business plans, and idea s around technology and its potential. He emphasized that it’s become less and less common to see something truly new and unique versus a copycat or a flash in the pan or something that’s simply cool, but not translating to tangible utility or impact. 

His point touches on the true power of digital and the ability for advertisers, companies, and entrepreneurs alike, to harness it, and make a significant difference in all fields—not only changing, but improving the way we live our lives.

               

The Content Conundrum

Anchored by hilarious and often bluntly honest keynote speaker, Joan Rivers, Day Two centered on the role of content in marketing and media and how digital channels facilitate an unfiltered back and forth dialogue around it. For Rivers, a comedic legend in stand-up and television who has since expanded her presence to the interwebs (In Bed With Joan is a 45-minute web series of interviews she posts exclusively on Youtube), digital channels represent the final bastion of true free speech. “This is the last place where you can really say what you want,” she said. 

It’s no surprise that with this kind of freedom, the chatter online whether it’s social media, blogging, or reviews, can sometimes be deafening and hard to discern—begging the question of what it all means anyway. Nielsen and SocialGuide seek to offer one answer to this question with a new Twitter ratings system they will be unveiling in Fall 2013. According to the founder of SocialGuide Sean Casey, these ratings will not only measure “activity” (quantified by KPIs like number of tweets), they will also be able to track “reach” (down to viewable impressions—or the amount of people who have read each tweet), and ultimately help to add some metrics around the conversation taking place in regards to television and presumably brands as well.

For companies like Vice and Refinery29, which are editorial in nature,  the discussion was more about the role of branded content within their publications. Refinery29 which is seeking to grow its e-commerce arm, especially, was asked repeatedly about the conflict of interest between featuring products in articles because they are inherently worthwhile or because their sale would ultimately benefit the site. Co-founder Justin Stefano responded by saying that “transparency” was vital to draw the line between branded and editorial content. 

But, in marketing and business, is this in-between becoming more and more gray? Said Neil Blumenthal, founder of Warby Parker, “I think the best retail is a form of entertainment.”

As brands grow into storytellers and “product marketing becomes content marketing,” does this shift mean the currency of ideas and to a further extent, conversation, trump all?  “With the internet, we’re able to tell a really deep brand story,” said Blumenthal. 

While his point was about retail, to push the comparison further—are advertising and entertainment one and the same? Should they be? Does narrowing the boundary unwittingly manipulate the audience or simply speak to them in a different way and allow brands to move away from being commercial to being more conversational?
--Li

Lesson Number One: Learn How to Code

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Day One of Internet Week New York, it’s that I’m woefully underprepared for the future. In fact, it appears that my days as a relevant millennial are numbered indeed. 

Amidst talks of upending the purchase funnel into a pyramid (Google), building content that’s catching (Buzzfeed), and developing online creative communities (Adobe: Behance), a  common theme that emerged during the conference was the necessity for people in advertising, marketing, and the like, to not only be aware, but fluent in the language of all things tech. Sure, this is a story we’ve been hearing for years, but it turns out the level of fluency people need to keep up and stay ahead is higher than I had even imagined. Let’s just say, some casual postings on Vine aren’t going to cut it. 

This sentiment was perhaps best summed up by Razorfish CEO, Bob Lord. When asked what he thought what a good CMO will look like in the coming years, as digital takes more and more share of voice, mind, and (with the advent of Google Glass) certain parts of the body, he had a succinct response. “You need to learn how to code,” he said. Ad Age and B2B’s digital marketing summit, which took place in the afternoon, focused primarily on how the line between Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Information Officer were becoming rapidly more blurred and that having both skills sets would be vital for growth.

CMOs and CIOs from Motorola, Nationwide, and Intercontinental Hotel Group discussed how IT has grown far more strategic, moving way beyond the tactical to become integral to innovation.  Each company also unveiled its own updated version of the five P’s, with the “what I want, when I want it” customer at the center of every marketing decision and technological development. 

Additionally, speakers asserted that marketers have to combine their creative roles as brand managers with the agility of product managers who are able to test, iterate, change, and prioritize quickly based on user experience and response. It’s vital to move from “advertising that runs” to “advertising that learns,” said Razorfish CTO, Ray Velez. All of these observations suggest there is a new paradigm in town and although “evolve or die” might be a bit dramatic, with such high stakes, the biggest risk is not taking one.

Brand Storytelling Unpacked!

One of my favorite sessions at Iconosphere was called "Brand Storytelling: No Shit - Now What?!"

We've all heard that your brand has to tell a story, but not too much about WHY and HOW and WHERE. What are the best practices? Who's doing it well?

This session laid out a great framework we can use to explore the various ways brands are telling their stories, and the things those stories have in common - so we can start to gather a list of best practices.

Since it was a great visual presentation, I translated my notes into some maps to lay out the landscape, as it were. I'm not claiming any artistry (and hopefully you can read my chicken scratch!) but it helps to see how everything kind of works together:

The bubbles represent the examples of brands who are doing it well - definitely Google those suckers to check them out. They're either engaging across multiple platforms, or just one, and they're either active (requiring consumers to engage and act) or passive (broadcasting to consumers). The words & phrases ending in "!" represent some of the elements that make these stories successful...and of course in the middle of everything is heart, an emotional connection. According to research cited by Iconoculture, emotional differentiation is the #1 loyalty driver for brands - if you're not making consumers feel something, you're not telling a successful story.

- Jane Schlech, Knowledge Manager for the SIG Group

“The Opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression.”

Jane McGonigal, author of Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, spoke at Iconosphere 2013 this week. Iconosphere is a conference put on by Iconoculture, a consumers trends and research company. Jane spoke about the tremendously positive effect gaming has on gamers. Unlike at work, where 71% of Americans don’t feel engaged in what they’re doing, gaming is extremely captivating and brings out the following positive emotions in people: excitement, awe & wonder, joy, relief, love, pride, contentment, surprise, curiosity and creativity. Science and research has proven this to be true. Kids with ADHD and/or Autism see decreased symptoms when playing video games. People with mild anxiety or depression feel better after playing video games compared to when taking anti-anxiety or anti-depression medication. And the evidence goes on.

Overall what Jane was conveying was the opportunity gaming presents to all facets of life – to work, to learning, even to banking. Instead of being afraid of “play” or “games” and seeing them as only something to be done when there’s extra time, we need to think about ways to bring game play into more parts of our lives. We’ll benefit from doing so because we’ll be happier, more engaged and more productive.

Kelleen Peckham, Senior Brand Planner

Don’t be cheap. Don’t rely on gender stereotypes.

Advertising messages, movies, shows, stand up comedy…we all do it. Rely on gender stereotypes for making jokes that is. And there’s a reason we use it so much. It can be really funny. But there are better ways to connect with people that can still be humorous without coming off as cheap or like something that’s been done a million times before.

That was one of the points I took away from a presentation given on the use of gender stereotypes in advertising. In advertising, the root of this problem stems from asking ourselves the question, “How do I market to women?” or “How do I market to men?” We spend so much time focusing on the differences between the genders – of which they aren’t a ton – and too little time focusing on the commonalities. Even though men place more value on sexuality and women more on security, these are only a couple of the many values that both men and women share: success, happiness, honesty, family, etc.

Advertising that can speak to a value important to both men and women avoid the over-played gender stereotypes and they also open up more opportunity for the brand. Instead of saying to consumers, ‘We make a product for men specifically. See, we made a funny joke that is obviously more relevant to men,” brands can say, “We make something both men and women will find appealing. Our joke is funny for everyone.”

Let’s work harder to communicate with consumers in a way that is gender neutral – and if we want it to be, still humorous. A more intelligent solution exists.  

Kelleen Peckham, Senior Brand Planner

Arnold Creative Work Mentioned at Iconosphere

Over the two day conference, it was interesting to see some of Arnold’s own creative work called out as examples of brands that are doing a good job at addressing today’s consumer trends – or not.

The recently launched Volvo XC60 spot was shown as a good example of portraying “real” beauty. The Volvo driver is a real woman; she’s pretty but not unrealistically so and she has a sense of humor whereas the other luxury car driver is stiff and too consumed by her own looks.

The work Arnold Amsterdam did on Stuessy’s collaboration with Cotton and their specialty marijuana T-shirt was used as an example of a brand appealing to European Gen Y’s value of nonconformity as well as their interest in connecting with local culture. The Stuessy marijuana T-shirt brings out a unique quality of the city of Amsterdam, while also daring to do something nontraditional and a little risqué. It represents creativity, fun and freedom.

And lastly, the Rate Suckers Progressive Snapshot campaign made it into a presentation about gender stereotypes used in advertising. But this time the creative was being shown to demonstrate what not to do; don’t portray women negatively. The example, however, was not explained and I believe it was misinterpreted. The presenters were trying to make the point that portraying women as idiots was not a good marketing strategy. Fair enough. However, in the Rate Sucker campaign, both male and female “rate suckers” are used and therefore gender stereotypes don’t really apply.

Kelleen Peckham, Senior Brand Planner