scott goodson's writings

India has realised the importance of country branding

India wants something that no global economic powerhouse should be without: an international symbol for its currency. A rupee sign that will become as known and respected as the US dollar ($).

The most recent birth of a financial symbol was the Euro (€), which had a very complicated path to the world.

The Indian government's search for the perfectly formed sign is via an open competition, which stipulates that entries "should represent the historical and cultural ethos of India."

What is most interesting about this decision is that India recognizes the importance of branding. This is a most significant step.

The BBC writes about it here.

Google and media woes

Some say it is time to 'reboot' the advertising and media system. Some agencies, especially the legacy agencies, fear Google most of all. For example, the combined value of all WPP companies, doesn't equal the value Wall Street places on Google.

In the media world, the newspaper bosses are coming out swinging for a change. Perhaps because the newspaper world faces an even starker reality than the traditional advertising conglomerates. The BBC reported today that Google boss Eric Schmidt criticized the newspaper world in a keynote address at the Newspaper Association of America's (NAA) annual conference in San Diego and said that the "majority of newspapers should be online." In the face of this, the newspaper bosses threw it back at Google by saying, also with criticism, that Google should share some of the millions it makes from newslinks.

The BBC reported that: "Media owner Rupert Murdoch has questioned if aggregators like Google should pay to use content.

The Associated Press is to sue to protect its content as a time when the industry is losing readers to the web.

"I would encourage everybody to think in terms of what your reader wants," Mr Schmidt told newspaper bosses.

"These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them, you will not have any more," he warned the Newspaper Association of America's (NAA) annual conference in San Diego.

While he praised the way newspapers initially embraced the internet, Mr Schmidt said they had since dropped the ball allowing the likes of Google to take over content distribution.

"There wasn't an act after that. You guys did a superb job, and the act after that is a harder question."

3 questions to adapt marketing to the new economy

There are four kinds of advertising agencies (I use the word advertising because it is the best short-hand expression of what clients need and want today, which is everything from strategy to connections planning, from advertising to digital, to mobility to social media).

The first kind of agency is the legacy agency. The huge holding company that has been around for decades and has honed a very established model for the distribution of huge campaigns for massive budgets.

The second kind of agency are the more innovative medium-size shops like Crispin Porter + Bogusky or BBH or Goodby, which are owned outright or significantly by holding companies.

The third kind of agency are the independent medium size agencies that are owned by the employees that have been around for 10 years or more, do not report to a distant holding company, but have an established process and client base such as Tugboat in Tokyo, Forsman Bodenfors and Perfect Fools in Sweden, Modernista in Boston, Venebles Bell in SF, David and Goliath in LA, and Taxi in Canada.

And the fourth kind of agency are the ones which are just starting out. New kinds of shops that are digging in as the world is digging out such as Stick and Move, Persuasion Arts and Sciences, and others.

An exception to this is of course Widen and Kennedy which has been around for over 25 years and is fiercely independent.

Today it's all about having scintillating strategy and paradigm shifting creative, but more being an agency that's agile as hell.

Why? Because the world has totally and absolutely changed. So too have the needs of advertisers. I was in Italy earlier this month at a conference that asked the philosophical question: "Everything has changed, shall we change everything?" And then later in Dubai the same issues were addressed. They are the topics of conferences here in the US, Canada, Brasil, India and everywhere.

Change is true to marketing and it's true to business as a whole. But perhaps truer to the advertising business because the media revolution underway is undoing all the IKEA furniture and redoing it in totally new forms. And added to this is the economic cold shower that is hosing it all down the drain - both of which are turning what we used to know upside down. New global brands are breaking through in new ways.

Read Peter Bregman's recent post on the Harvard site. He explains it better than me:

Here's what surprised me though: once I changed my driving to match the conditions, I actually enjoyed it. The silence was relaxing and the snow was stunningly beautiful.

Driving safely through a storm requires that you change how you drive; you have to stay alert and adapt to the shifting conditions.

Welcome to the new economy. The conditions have shifted, and if you're doing the same things you did when it was nice and sunny, you'll crash. You need to change your approach.

Change doesn't mean doing more of the same: selling harder, working longer hours, being more aggressive. That won't help. If you're playing basketball and suddenly you find yourself on a football field, don't use more force to bounce the basketball on the grass. Drop the basketball, pick up a football, and run with it.

So often we hear the importance of being consistent. Let that go. Try to be inconsistent. Modify your action to match the changing terrain. It's always changing. So there's no simple formula that will get you through every situation you encounter.

Well, maybe there's one.

Before you do or say anything, ask yourself three questions:

1. What's the situation? (The outcome you want to achieve? The risks? The time pressures? The needs?)
2. Who else is involved? (What are their strengths? Weaknesses? Values? Vulnerabilities? Needs?)
3. How can I help? (What are your strengths? Weaknesses? Values? Vulnerabilities?)

StrawberryFrog Brasil moves to a bigger pond

StrawberryFrog Brasil is moving to new digs. The first office, across the street from BBH, is already too small. Peralta is rocking it in São Paulo.

Under construction!

Wagoner says biggest mistake was killing the EV1

The spot above was the launch campaign for GM's electric car, the EV1. It was done by John Doyle who is currently working at Frog on the launch of Mahindra, the Indian car company set to enter the US next year.

In many of today's newspapers and blogs it has been reported that Rick Wagoner made a mistake stopping GM's electric car the EV1.

The LA Times wrote:

General Motors EV1

Wagoner has said the biggest mistake he ever made as chief executive was killing the EV1, GM's revolutionary electric car, and failing to direct more resources to hybrid gas-electric research. This admission is acutely painful for green-car advocates who know GM squandered its early lead in electric-hybrid technology.

How to do an Olympic bid - the Stockholm Olympic bid

Years ago, I was asked by Olof Stenhammar and Bjorn Unger to lead the branding and marketing for the Stockholm 2004 Olympic bid.

Athens, of course, won the bid. But Stockholm 2004 branding and Olympic Bid materials still hang to this day in the Olympic museum in Switzerland.

At the time, I was co-owner of an ad agency in Stockholm, Sweden. My team and I (made up of some amazing people such as Margareta Hammark, Olle-Jo, Martin Stadhammar and others) developed the strategy for the bid, the branding idea and the communications.

It took almost two years and we created a LOT of materials for the bid itself.

One of those elements was a film (below) which I wrote and produced with director Anders Skoog. It was shown during the final presentation to the IOC and was intended to capture the essence of the entire Stockholm bid in a short emotional film.

I had to showcase the Olympic venues that would be used for the events, such as Globen (Stockholm's large arena), the old 1912 Olympic Stadium, the City Hall where the Nobel Prize is awarded, as well as elements of the city that would feature prominently during the events such as Gamla Stan - the Old Town, where much of the festivities would occur. I also had to showcase sporting events such as diving, fencing, cycling, gymnastics and sailing (see if you can find the sailboat in the film!)

Stockholm is an incredibly green and natural city, which is something that its residents are incredibly proud of. These games would have been the most environmental. After Atlanta, I wanted the feeling of the Stockholm bid to not convey commercialism but rather a feeling of freshness, of innocence, of green and nature - and of course the abundance of fresh water in and around the city - were very important themes to get across in this film.

The theme I came up with for the bid, the phrase to symbolize and summarize the city, the geography and the event itself was "Feel the Light" which was all about the special summer light in Stockholm, the sunlight of the midnight sun, the magical light of this most extraordinary and green Nordic city.

The "Feel the Light" theme was broken down into five sub-themes to help create memory aids for special elements of the Stockholm bid city.

Island of Light - was all about the close proximity of these games. The center of the Olympic experience was to be the Old Town which is an incredibly beautiful island in the center of Stockholm.

The Light of Olympism was all about the Swedish history through the modern Olympic games. Stockholm was one of the first cities to host the modern Olympics. Sweden has also been a revered supporter of the modern games, and many Swedish athletes have taken part in the Olympics throughout the years.

The Magical Light was all about the geography, the climate, the evening sun and the feel of it all.

I will scan the materials we created and post these on my blog - including the identity, the ads, the pamphlets, the books themselves. The website we created is no longer up as would be expected and I don't have that material.

Much of the writing for the technical bid was done by one of the foremost Olympic writers in the world, George Hirthler. George has worked on numerous bids throughout his career including Beijing, Vancouver and his first Atlanta - which is where I met him for the first time, prior to the Atlanta games. I'll post some of the work we did that made up the official Olympic bid. He worked closely with his partner Brad Copeland and amazing designer and their teams. It took an army of talent to marshal all the energy and focus to deliver the bids at the level and sophistication the Stockholm Olympic bid had when it was complete.

Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy

For all of us independent advertising agencies challenging the huge legacy holding company agencies, there is an inspiring piece on today's Harvard blog entitled "Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy." This was sent to me by Anthony Kalamut / southsideadguy.

Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy,
by Peter Bregman

I just heard a story from a client that's hard to believe but true.

In the worst economy we've seen in decades, Passlogix, a privately owned 100-person software development company, just received over a million dollars in prepaid commitments for the next three to five years of service. And they beat out several much larger more established companies, like CA (14,000 employees) and IBM (400,000 employees), to win those customers.

Now, how do you explain that? The bigger companies aren't getting similar deals. It's not standard in this industry to prepay contracts of that size and duration. And the clients received only a small reduction for their upfront payment, less than the cost of capital.

I think it's a trend. And understanding it might just be the difference between failing and thriving in this economy. More>>>

Couldn't agree more.

Here's how StrawberryFrog translates the idea that Small Companies Will Win in This Economy into a short film:

Award shows: the good, the bad and the ugly

Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I have a love-hate relationship with award shows.

When I lived in Sweden and ran my agency in Stockholm, we used to enter all of means of award schemes. Cannes, the ONE show, the Clios, the Andy’s, Eurobest, Euro this Euro that. The Gudagg, the 100 Watts, the Bessies, the London International Advertising Awards, the NY Festivals, and many many MANY more.

Our office walls were COVERED in framed awards. It was THE thing to do. Each entry cost hundreds of dollars. The more the merrier. I loved attending the events and I especially loved winning the awards.

But winning awards has an idiomatic affect on the winners. (Yes in my youth I admit that I was a little arrogant for about a month). But more than this, awards started competition and rivalries among collaborating groups and team members. Great friends who created wonderful work together were cherry picked by the huge holding companies because they won awards, and offered outrageous sums of money. I didn’t like this part of it because I lost friends who went to work at big agencies for the money - moves they ended up regretting. Awards were divisive. And as a result, winning awards became a little painful.

Over the years I kinda lost interest in award shows. I met two kinds of agency clients. There were those who love awards and there are those who think awards are a total waste of time and steer the agency off course.

When we started StrawberryFrog in 1999 in Amsterdam, I was against entering award shows. Even Cannes. Instead of spending the money on award shows, I reasoned, I wanted to build a different kind of agency that used the money to do amazing things with the staff. So we saved all our shekels from award shows and took the entire agency to Istanbul, to Morocco, to Iceland, to the US, the mountains to go hot air ballooning. It was amazing and memorable and team building and it was SO MUCH FUN.

Our first few years in Amsterdam were frenetic. We created outrageous campaigns, that fused advertising + music + brand pr + digital marketing into totally innovative campaigns like Sony Ericcson's “Drool” or “Don’t be Grey” for IKEA and the “Running Fish Gutter” for Asics Onitsuka Tiger, the "Drive Alive" campaigns for Mitsubishi Motors including the cult launch of the EVO. We would talk about award shows now and then, but we didn't enter them because we felt there were no categories for our campaigns. They were simply too out of the box.

But then after some time, I started to long for those awards events again. I missed the friends who attended them. The networking. So, as it happens, we started to enter again – but only Cannes because Cannes is the gold standard. And StrawberryFrog won Cannes lions. It felt good.

But we didn’t go full hawg, we held ourselves back…we were very selective, especially compared to my earlier life in Sweden.

Today, we are still fans of Cannes. We have even entered our recent TrueNorth snacks campaign in the Clios.

Kevin my partner and our ECD feels awards are important as do many others in our NY office. So I suppose we will enter more work.

How to get a job in advertising (a good job)

I'm currently judging the Young Lions for this year's Cannes Lions. I was asked by PJ Pereira to be a part of this jury. He is the heart and mind behind the young lions and the ferocious defender of young bloods. To him and to me, it's important to support young adlanders (a term coined by my friend Anat) for many reasons. On a macro level it's important because our industry needs new energy, new ideas and new enthusiasm that pushes the established players to be even better at their game. On a micro level young talent means that there are new ideas in agencies for clients needing solutions, and it ensures that salaries don't keep going up and up and up.

But getting into the advertising industry is no easy task, especially in today's economy. So I have turned to one of the leaders in the stewarding of young careers, someone who works with the next generation of talent. Those who are chomping at the bit to break into advertising and the digital space, those who want to change the
game and make their mark. His name is Anthony Kalamut. He's one of the good guys, and he happens to be Professor | Program Chair of Creative Advertising and Seneca College School of Communication Arts, one of the more respected communications schools in the world.

Anthony is highly respected by students and the industry alike, entirely passionate about the business, and probably as unorthodox as they come - oh one more thing, he cares about his students. It's not easy to get into his class of course, but it does provide an invaluable education. He is the perfect sage in a time of tumultuous change. He works with and shapes the young talent who are about to enter the business, and gets them ready and psyched to take on the world and win a Titanium Grand Prix. And many days he consuls them when the going gets tough. Especially these days when it is difficult to break into advertising. He had some very good insights for young talent that I wanted to share with you. If nothing more, these words should give young talent inspiration and ideas for how they can break into the business. On a purely selfish level, we at StrawberryFrog love to work with young talent because they bring some of the freshest ideas, and by supporting them is like being a part of self fulfilling prophecy where the more you assist them the more the best talent want to work in your agency. And currently we are looking for interns.

So here are some questions I asked Anthony:

What is the most important thing for advertising students?

It’s passion, Scott. The one thing I can’t teach. I can only reach inside myself an look to inspire. I start all freshmen classes with a couple of simple promises, "I won't teach you anything" and "When this becomes a job for me, I will resign". All I can offer is inspiration, and lead you to the idea if you love something you will never work a day in your life.

This industry beats the tar out of these kids, but by hell or high water the believers survive and succeeded.

We (the program) work them to the bone to see if they really want it, and my faculty and myself have a passion to share every day in class – but every year I have kids with A+ averages come into this program and I feel for them, because if they don’t breath and sleep advertising all the A’s in the world won’t save them.

I hope that doesn’t sound like there is nothing to teach. This is after all a professional business and a major force in economic culture, but at the end of the day when all the teaching is done – passion is the only factor that really creates the success stories.

The day I discover how to teach passion by rote, I’ll be a very rich man.
(If you’re asking about Anjali Vijh in specific, she is one of those bright minds with passion. Not being able to teach it makes you very good at spotting it.)

What do they need from the establishment?

Short answer: Opportunity

Creativity never happens in a vacuum, I’m sure one of the reasons this business will always be tied to brick and mortar is because sometimes the air inside is electric. Competition and creativity push big minds and big ideas farther. Students – honestly passionate students need to feel that, they need to be a part of that. My faculty shapes and molds... but that shine only comes with being apart of that office energy. The structure.

Long answer: Everything the establishment does and why it does it. That way they know exactly the right time to break it. Sure it’s an old cliché but I still think it applies “if you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him”. These kids are the future of this business and this business is like mercury. If they are going to adapt and break molds they need to learn all the lessons we learned over our careers. If you know why something failed, you can shape your break out big idea to succeed. If you don’t, then history repeats itself.

Another gem is pretty simple too, "Being neither teacher nor guru, the most one can do is help point the way. In the end it resides in you." The establishment can't teach either, but it is seen as the "guru"... so the establishment must let what resides within the individual to nurture and grow.

(Again regarding Anjali specifically, StrawberryFrog might be her one opportunity to break into the Indian market place – a place where a strong intelligent woman could do amazing things.)

What can they bring to the table for an established agency?

If they have nothing to offer, you can be dam sure I’m not letting them out the door of this program. Not on my watch. But what they really bring the table is: Honesty and Youth and Optimism

Three non-renewable resources in this business, and sure some wells are deeper than others but there is nothing like that "Jed-Clampett-black-gold-geyser" that new minds bring. We hammer these kids and prepare them for the worst this business has to offer.

We teach strategy, media, and creative at the same time. Creative or business every student is expected to stand behind every project they complete.

If they don’t come prepared I’m proud to say that my faculty channel the best and worst creative directors they have ever known and take our students to task.

The big take away from all this is Honesty. They are honest with the quality of work they bring to the table, they know and believe that what they create will work, and they are willing to stand by it.

Youth can in fact be taught. It’s about being plugged into as many cultural sources as possible, and letting those sources shape you. I’m proud to say that we have a class here on "Trends" and "Trend Hunting" -- What do they mean, if they will last, who is a part of them. We’re one of the only schools in Canada with a class like it and I’m sure a lot of awkward teen moments could be avoided if we farmed the curriculum out to high schools. (BTW - I am working with a high school in Brampton to establish a high school advertising program for the 12th grade -- first class graduated last spring and I have 6 of those students as freshmen this year).

All told we pushed these kids through 90 plus hour workweeks with projects challenging the right and left sides of the brain simultaneously. We ask for full campaigns – not matching luggage, and the only way to get an A is not to bring a big idea, but a rich one. Plenty of creative can already match a misleading turn of phrase with a surprising image, but a rich idea is not just big but culturally relevant and meaningful to a larger group of people. As we push them, their optimism drains – they get exhausted and beaten down. I’m proud to say that by the time they are done, they hate school.

Scott, I do all this with one promise to them -- "If they can get though this and land that first gig, there is nothing they can’t achieve".
I have talked to hundreds of post grads over the years and by the time they walk into an office like yours the well of optimism is so deep you might never see the bottom.
(Anjali has pushed through this process and to her everyday post Seneca is a gift.. when she came back to visit me in Toronto last week, she says her university classes hardly challenged her in the same way)

How can they get jobs in advertising?

I stand firm in this belief, and I think I have covered the five major pillars here:
1. Passion
2. Opportunity
3. Honesty
4. Youth
5. Optimism

I never craft e-mails like this often. For every one I send, my students have sent out hundreds... with portfolios attached (yes the business students build books on strategy and media planning). They beat the pavement, create self-promo pieces, and are taught to scour the advertising news to watch for migrating staff and new business acquisitions.

We make them do informational interviews to better understand agency cultures and build contacts – we encourage them to become involved in the advertising community. Join the relevant associations, groups etc... I find every way to get them into the right places. Sometimes pointing... sometimes shoving them. I try and Create volunteer opportunities.

Just as an example I had a student volunteer during Advertising Week here in Toronto as a photographer. He ended up having lunch with 8 members of the Zig staff. Needless to say we excused his absence. These kids know it takes knowing people, the places and events.

Remember, when you came to Toronto to speak in the fall, I had a team of 9 students working the site. From that 4 found placements, others found leads to other opportunities and Kathy Lee wanted to start a "cultural movement" by representing "youth and education" in Dubai. (She leaves this week).

How do you know if they are good?

Probably the same way you do. Open the door to your office and listen.
You know who has the lines… who’s carrying the weight on a team… who’s outside your office with a hacking up a lung but wants to get a approval to go into production.
They prove it. They prove themselves. They prove it to others. As for knowing great creative work when I see it. I push myself. It’s done a number on my personal health and I’m sure there are nights when my 2 son’s wonder what it is I do all day, but I can’t push these kids if I can’t push myself. My six year old thinks I read the coolest books, all pictures and great images, he will one day understand that annual isn’t really a book… but he thinks it cool.

I make it to every “reel” screening at least once. I host “screenings” and educational nights for the ADCC. I am “culture vulture”, a “media whore” and I’m passionate about the craft and the concept. Alex Bogusky had lunch with myself and 15 of my students last spring and reminded us of there being more to this then selling, “live the craft” and “enjoy the process”.

I’ve done internships at 45 just to test my own skill set. Yup, I was the “45 year old intern” a couple of summers ago. I travel to New York for Advertising Week and attend Toronto’s week as well. Above all every CD and VP I have met has my card, and I have asked again and again what makes for great work. I listen, I evaluate and then I relay that in my teaching and mentoring.

Beyond that I have what every CD and every parent has to go on – blind faith and a willingness to make mistakes then correct them.

Anything else you wish to add about young adlanders?

Hire more juniors.

If you’re willing to shepherd them just a little, the returns are as massive as penny stocks or Seattle.

They cared about the environment before green washing.

They wore street ware before 7-up or Threadless caught on.

They are multi-cultural to a degree that puts this industry to shame.

They always knew bankers where up to something.

They will sell their blood, sweat and tears for one chance at greatness.

How do I know this?

Because I get up every morning for these kids and I can call them my kids because I’m proud to say I have watched them grow into real live “adlanders”.

A few words about Sabra Hummus

In 2008, we began work with Sabra Dipping company and in the spring of 2009 the first campaign, "Experience the Sabra Mediterranean at home" was rolled out.

Sabra is the top-selling hummus in America, ranking #1 among hummus in the refrigerated dips and spreads category at a time when Americans are looking for new tastes and foods. Modern food culture in America is all about discovering and sharing new tastes.

We decided to focus on the authentic Sabra Mediterranean taste experience you can find in your grocer's deli section. For the first time in many many years people, after all, won't be traveling as much as they used to. The campaign, which is timely as many consumers shift their eating habits back to the home, inspires food lovers everywhere to take a dip into the Mediterranean without leaving home.

In the blink of an eye, Sabra is an energetic and relevant challenger with huge market potential.