scott goodson's writings

REAL TIME MARKETING IS OPPORTUNITY FOR THE JACK BAUER OF ADVERTISING

How do you think real time marketing affects what traditional marketers do? How do big marketers cope with the idea that you spend months on end planning, creating, producing and then launching major campaigns that could get hijacked by consumers using blogs, Facebook, or the weapon of choice: Twitter.

Case in point: last week J&J's Motrin's new national advertising campaign was brought down by a mob of moms on Twitter. How do you prepare for this? What strategy do you use?

"Praying doesn't sound like a wise strategy to me," says my friend PJ Pereira who broke away from the management of AKQA earlier this year to start his own agency.

Real time marketing is fast becoming the challenge for brand managers. What is real time marketing? Think managing a marketing campaign as if you were Jack Bauer, the lead of Emmy winning show 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland who heads field operations that take you into a number of different directions all at once. Real time marketing is the "flash flood" phenomenon on the Web, in which consumers band together through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other sites. Real time marketing has become fairly commonplace by now: A TV show gets canceled, a company's product turns out to be less than advertised, and boom - an instant protest group forms, using blogs and other "social media" as a megaphone to make its collective voice heard.

Real time marketing is a new challenge brand managers need to get their heads around. What is the appropriate approach?

It's about being able to respond real time, thinking much like dynamic PR people managing all aspects of an advertising campaign. A mindset that can react to changes in the currents, on daily or hourly events as they unfold. It's thinking and acting much more like a PR agency and much less like a traditional advertising agency.

"It's tough," says PJ.

But it does work, and increasingly it's the mentality needed for modern brands as they manage their marketing campaigns. The more you work this way, the more deft you become at managing this way.

Steve Etzler is leading the biggest conference on the subject: Real Time Communications and Marketing the 14th of January 2009 in New York. Steve said: "There's a strong correlation between real time and Cultural Movements - ie: StrawberryFrog's Scion campaign. Turning over the campaign to the community has a lot of real time facets to it. The buzz/word of mouth groundswell is all about real time engagement with the community which causes the Cultural Movement."

Real time marketing does require brands to have a clearer and harder working brand idea, one that can stretch into many different media without breaking a sweat. Without strategic clarity, events could easily overtake a brand real time causing anxiety among clients. The more real time marketing takes hold, the more consumers are engaging with and taking control of brands, the greater the demand for strategic clarity by brand managers. Without the high-end strategy enabling you to focus, you won't be the rehearsed machine ready to make fast decisions with agility.

Perhaps the biggest impact of real time marketing will be the emphasis on strategic idea and less on execution.

FAMILY AT THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving in New York. Time for a pause. Time also for family. Talking about family, my sister Anna is featured on the cover of Communications Arts today. It's a great article. Anna runs Anna Goodson management.

STEFAN BOUBLIL - LUNCHTIME CHATS

There is a global design company in New York that is unlike anything I've seen in that they can play with any surface or setting. The company is called The Apartment. And in the years that I have known him, I can say that Stefan Boublil, the founder, has never been boring or expected.

1. Tell me about your career?

born in france, i chose to become a new yorker at the age of 20. after studying philosophy, theology, photography, and filmmaking at, respectively, the sorbonne, parsons school of design and new york university, and spending years dabbling in each, it came time to actually choose a profession. i asked myself, why choose just one? THE APARTMENT was born of all the things i care about in my life: design, imagery, products, love, friendship, music, technology, art, sex, fashion, etc... and realizing that all of these have one thing in common when successful - consideration. as the conductor of this grand orchestra, my role is to encompass a team's life experiences into a symphony that will not just bring financial or practical value to the listener, or user, or occupant, but emotional benefit that will then become part of their own life experience.

woody allen once said, "i have no idea what i am doing but incompetence has never prevented me from plugging in with enthusiasm." that is exactly how i live my life. and i am intent on living a considered one, no matter what.

2. What have been the highlights-works, people, experiences?

highlights would include but not be limited to:

- being a teenage recording artist in my native france.

- having left france, the feeling of freedom in my first yellow cab trip from jfk airport in '89.

- discovering david letterman.

- understanding that stories do not need a pen, a stage or a lens to be told properly.

- upon first meeting, finding my wife utterly uninteresting.

- discovering internet porn with a 14.4 modem

- realizing what i didn't want to do with my life.

- upon third meeting, really digging my wife.

- daring to think that retail was the new theater. and being right.

- providing community for complete strangers in the early 90s, back when social networking meant a meet-and-greet at the penn club.

- saying "i do" in a skirt with my wife in overalls, alone in front of a resentful hamptons judge on a cold winter morning.

- hearing a customer say: i like what you've done here, can you do this at my house?

- hearing a customer say ok to me saying, what if you lived inside a glossy black box? the client was cindy gallop, the rest in black history.

- looking at each human as the question and the answer.

- choosing my family of friends.

- still fantasizing about my wife.

- living an interesting life.

3.What are your regrets?

i regret only the things i will not have time to accomplish.

4.What defines you?

robiola bosina

5. What are you up to now?

i've just now finished writing the 2nd draft of my book entitled "the considered life" which is a philosophy/self-help tome that deals with thoughtful methodology about ways to get to know oneself. the goal is to gain from this quest for meaning, ultimately, to be inspired by ourselves, for ourselves. it is not dogma, merely a way to escape the hamster wheel that modern life has become and look at ourselves in the mirror. "the considered life" is but one way to look in that mirror.

i also recently relaunched theapt.com which has been a great way for me to stay in touch with our community since our retail design store was transformed into an agency. theaptBROADCAST has become an amazing way to catalog our thoughts about everything from architecture to branding by way of porn and food that tends of thousands of people visit every day.

with the good people at the wooster collective, we also just launched a new concept called meet at the apartment in our former design store space on crosby street. it is a new way for corporations to think about brainstorms, about meetings, in a space that has inspired us for the past decade and in which the latest technology and superb food and service make it easy to concentrate on the task at hand.

and the agency keeps looking at the same old design problems with fresh eyes, not wanting to simply add a twist to get paid but intently change conversations to new territories.

6. Five years from now?

still gorgeous. but fatter. (see What defines you?)

7.Who are your heroes/ who inspires you?

what is inspiration other than the ability to look inward and find a relationship between the self and someone else until an idea pops out? It is, many believe, simply chemistry, inspiration is. But it is more, it is something that you can willfully create. inspiration is not something that happens to you. Inspiration is something that you create, it springs from my ability not to rely on external factors, but to take my life into my own hands and make things happen. Inspiration is no less a product of my ability than cooking. and for me, no one exemplifies such a way of life than Orson Welles. The reason being that I recognize in that man a thirst for knowledge, a thirst for action, to always be doing something. Always looking at opportunities. Always trying. And having an enormous appetite for life and food and all the things that you deem good as well as being at ease with those appetites, all the appetites of life.

8. What advice would you give to agency world?

mind the human, please. design is not simply a marketing ploy but a foundational process at the center of which a human being works, plays, loves, angers, sleeps, eats, orders, reads, drives, listens, tears up, watches, acts, hesitates, buys, fails, signs, drinks, wonders and hopes; in not so many words, he lives. this is your customer. design for a purpose, his, her or its purpose.

FEARLESS AND SECURE IN A TIME OF FLUX: LOUISE BOURGEOIS

One of the bravest and most secure people in New York these days is a 95-year old artist named Louise Bourgeois. What's amazing about her is how impressively focused and fearless she has been throughout her life and career. What I find wonderful is how she has lived in a parallel history, unmoved by the hysteria of the world outside, secure in her own energy. There is inspiration here in this woman for many people living through today's shifting sands and anxiety.

She is the most inspiring and oldest living American artist today, living in Chelsea New York. When the newspapers read of downs and downs, I find it incredibly motivating and stimulating to learn and understand Louise's view of life. She is transformative. She makes you think. And she generates energy, psychological energy that is the real thing in times that are unreal. This is reality not the crap we read about in the stock pages. I've tried to put together a collage of some of her more inspiring elements.

She was born 1911. But she is still working full on. Her work continues to shift the paradigm and is the symbol of post, post, post modernism.

She is best known for her 'Spiders' and various drawings, books and sculptures.

Her comments to journalists are no less. She believes she is an artist first not a feminist. When asked what she thought about feminism she famously said: "I am a woman."

Her works are sometimes abstract and she speaks of them in symbolic terms with the main focus being "relationships" - considering an entity in relation to its surroundings. Louise Bourgeois finds inspiration for her works from her childhood: her adulterous father, who had an affair with her governess (who resided in the home), and her mother, who refused to acknowledge it. She claims that she has been the "striking-image" of her father since birth. Bourgeois conveys feelings of anger, betrayal and jealousy, but with playfulness. In her sculpture, she has worked in many different mediums, including rubber, wood, stone, metal, and appropriately for someone who came from a family of tapestry makers, fabric. Some of her pieces consisted of erotic and sexual images, with a motif of "cumuls" (she named the round figures such because they reminded her of cumulus clouds). Her most famous works are possibly the spider structures, titled Maman, from the last dozen years. Maman now stands outside Tate Modern in London. A similar sculpture was featured at an art exhibition in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She studied art at various schools in Paris, including the Ecole du Louvre, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Académie Julian, and Atelier Fernand Léger. In 1938, she emigrated to the United States and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York. Though her beginnings were as an engraver and painter, by the 1940s she had turned her attention to sculptural work, for which she is now recognized as a twentieth-century leader. Greatly influenced by the influx of European Surrealist artists who immigrated to the United States after World War II, Bourgeois’s early sculpture was composed of groupings of abstract and organic shapes, often carved from wood. By the 1960s she began to execute her work in rubber, bronze, and stone, and the pieces themselves became larger, more referential to what has become the dominant theme of her work—her childhood. She has famously stated “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.” Deeply symbolic, her work uses her relationship with her parents and the role sexuality played in her early family life as a vocabulary in which to understand and remake that history. The anthropomorphic shapes her pieces take—the female and male bodies are continually referenced and remade—are charged with sexuality and innocence and the interplay between the two. Bourgeois’s work is in the collections of most major museums around the world. She lives in New York.

In her own words:

The spider:

The recent exhibit at the GUGGENHEIM:

Watch this video. It's not embedded.

WHICH ADVERTISING IS BETTER? GM VOLT OR THE EV1 (the father of Volt)

In ads that ran this week in the US, GM said the Volt - the plug in car it is betting its future on - is : "not just a car. It’s a vision of our future.” Another claimed that the vehicle would “completely reinvent the automotive industry.”

The NY Times reported today from the LA Automobile show that the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid, will not arrive in showrooms until late 2010. But is already straining under the weight of an entire company. The Volt is expected to go on sale in late 2010. G.M. plans to sell about 10,000, priced at about $40,000, in the first year. Executives at General Motors, the largest and apparently the most imperiled of the three American car companies, are using the Volt as the centerpiece of their case to a skeptical Congress that their business plan for a turnaround is strong, and that a federal bailout would be a good investment in G.M.’s future.

The Volt is not General Motors’ first electric vehicle. In 1996, G.M. started leasing the EV1, an electric car, to customers in California. Although its few hundred owners loved it, the EV1 was discontinued just three years later.

The EV1 was launched by John Dolye who has been working at StrawberryFrog the past year on the launch of Natura, P&G, and our Morgan Stanley campaign. His launch advertising concept and work for the EV1 are, still considered, some of the best-ever in the automotive industry.

StrawberryFrog's Morgan Stanley ads

John's extraordinary EV1 ads

The GM Volt

Blek Le Rat - Original Stencil Pioneer

SHOOTING FOR CHANGING THE PRESENT

We were out shooting our new campaign for changing the present today. The tv commercials and web films are being directed by the amazing Jeff Cooney of EUE Screen Gems. Jeff, his producer, the actors, pet handlers and his entire team have been INCREDIBLE.

StrawberryFrog has been committed to this not-for-profit since the beginning of the year, having developed the marketing strategy and communications, style and logo. The new TV and web film campaign is written by the brilliant Michael Folino with some help from Karl Haddad - both of whom were chilling on the freezing cold set today. Also on set was Jill Golden our hero client. Rob Farber is producing the campaign and has been a god. Everyone has put in a ton of their time and energy for this cause and it's well worth the effort. Will post the spots here when they're done. The spots and web films pay homage to your favorite gift giving commercials, but with stunning endings.

Here are some pictures of the day.

OUR NEW OSCAR CAMPAIGN FOR TRUE NORTH

We are very proud of our new True North campaign. Together with our clients and our partners, StrawberryFrog have been developing this new campaign for the past while. It's the first time a major consumer brand is reaching out to Baby Boomers in a MASSive social media internet campaign. Today, the story of the campaign officially broke in the entertainment news, the wire story is below. Is your life's passion ready for an Oscar's debut? Enter your story here.

TrueNorth is a contemporary brand of 100% natural, great tasting nut snacks. "True North" is also a singular passion in life that can leave a legacy, empower others or simply make the world a more interesting place to live.

To bring the brand to life, TrueNorth the brand announced today that it will partner with OSCAR(R)-winning actress Helen Hunt to find the most compelling "True North" story.

The program was born out of the desire to celebrate and share the stories of people who are pursuing their dreams. TrueNorth invites consumers to submit a written essay that describes how they (or someone they know) are pursuing their life's passion, for an opportunity to have their story told in the form of a 60-second commercial aired during the 81st Annual Academy Awards broadcast on Feb. 22, 2009. The contest winner will be selected in early January and the inspirational spot will be directed by OSCAR(R)- winning actress Helen Hunt. Details about the contest, including the official rules, are available now at www.truenorthsnacks.com/story.

"The TrueNorth team found its passion in the process of making ordinary nuts into a new and extraordinary snacking experience," explains Regan Ebert, vice president and general manager, warehouse direct business, Frito-Lay North America. "As we've shared our brand and our story, we found people with passions that are almost cinematic. We want to find people who have found their "True North" and put a spotlight on their powerful stories."

"After ten years, my passion project and 'True North' came to fruition last year with the release of Then She Found Me," explains director of the film, Helen Hunt. "When TrueNorth approached me, I was drawn to this project because it would allow me to play a part in sharing someone's extraordinary story."

"True North" stories submitted between October 20 and December 31, 2008 will be judged for the coveted commercial directed by Helen Hunt, which will air during the Academy Awards broadcast on February 22, 2009. And by encouraging people to share their stories, TrueNorth hopes this invitation will also inspire people to find the passion that drives them to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

A native of Los Angeles, Helen Hunt grew up in an artistic environment. Her father, Gordon Hunt, is a director and respected acting coach and her singing teacher is one of Hollywood's finest voice coaches, her grandmother, Dorothy Fries. From her earliest work in community theater, to the New York Broadway stage, to her film and television performances, critics continuously recognize her for her outstanding performances.

Hunt made her acting debut on television in 1973's "Pioneer Woman". Since then, her career has spiraled at a rapid pace, to encompass over 15 movies for television, numerous film appearances, three television series, one OSCAR, four Emmy's, five Golden Globe Awards and a coveted Screen Actors Guild Award among many others. This year, Hunt made her big-screen directorial debut with the release of her passion project Then She Found Me, based on the novel by Elinor Lipman, in which she also stars, co-wrote and co-produced.

TrueNorth is the snack category-exclusive advertiser on this year's Academy Awards broadcast, which entitles the brand to air commercials during the pre-show and awards show, as well as sponsorship acknowledgments during the 81st Annual Academy Awards. One of the sixty-second commercials that will air during the show will feature the extraordinary story of the TrueNorth contest winner.

This commercial will celebrate one extraordinary story, while also kicking off the brand's 2009 advertising campaign, which will highlight real people who have pursued their life's passions. Following the Academy Awards airings, TrueNorth will roll out national television, print and online advertising that feature three inspiring stories discovered during the brand's inaugural year. They include Teddy Gross, who is empowering children with the power of a penny; Gary Greff, who is using the art of sculpture to revive his hometown of Regent, North Dakota; and Majora Carter, who is bringing nature and a green-mindset to the South Bronx.

Frito-Lay North America is the $11 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo, which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo business units include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade and Tropicana.

CHANGING THE PRESENT NEEDS FREE MEDIA

It's important to give something back to society when you can. When you're in advertising and digital experiences, you can help not-for-profits in ways that can make a real difference. Like Good Magazine says, it's all about giving a damn.

Earlier this year, we became inspired by a group called Changing the Present. They have an awesome idea. What they had done in the past was very good. We were asked if we could help them make it better and also raise their profile and spread the word.

We went to work helping them develop their marketing strategy. We developed their new identity and logo, and a fresher looking website. Now, we are in the process of developing a series of TV spots and webfilms that will break sometime before Xmas.

If you're in the media business and have some media available digital or TV space, for the not-for-profit Changing The Present to help spread the word, please send Robert a note at: RTolmach@wellgoodllc.com

THANKS

MAYBE THE MELTDOWN'S A GUY THING

This is a great article from today's NY Times and a fun read if you have a moment. I knew testosterone was powerful, but I never thought that the presence of cortisol could change the world so dramatically. Yikes! Perhaps it can.

Will the down market never end? For months, policy makers around the world have tried bailouts, interest rates cuts, anything they could think of, really, to bring global markets out of their deepening depression. Once in a while, the markets do move up — only to fall again. Nothing seems to work for long.

Perhaps there’s a reason that everyone has overlooked: hormones.

If a research paper published earlier this year is correct, traders have become prisoners of their endocrine systems — testosterone, the elixir of male aggressiveness, during a bull market; cortisol, a steroid that helps the body deal with stress, when the bears take over.

The study suggests that raging hormones might explain why the men who rule the global markets send them rocketing up when they’re on a roll, and swooping down when they get scared, exhibiting judgment that can remind you of the guys in an Adam Sandler movie.

One investment strategist intuitively grasped the situation when he recently told The New York Times: “Normally markets are driven by fear and greed. Now it’s fear and fear.” In other words, instead of a rhythm of testosterone alternating with cortisol, it’s been cortisol and more cortisol for weeks. Actually there was a step in between — greed and greed, the bubble period. That’s when traders were making a lot of money, which made them pump out extra testosterone, grow overconfident and overcompetitive, and take on more and more risks that eventually went bust.

Now, in their funk, the lingering presence of cortisol makes them irrationally fearful, negative and risk averse.

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