Naomi Goes to Ad School

From Goldin Nugget to Graduation

2010-03-20T21:50:00.001-07:00

While our final client pitch had passed, work for us Planners was far from over. In fact, after taking a brief sigh of relief following the Starbucks presentation (and victory!), it was time to create our portfolios.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with planning portfolios, these are books in which we share different case studies to demonstrate our ability to think both strategically and creatively. Our books are the first time during the entire Bootcamp where we work on something individually. (However, we are by no means the sole authors of our books. The work in our books is the result of collaboration with our partners and creatives... This is an important point to make!) Our books do, however, give us each the opportunity to express our thinking in a way that reflects our personality.

That's why, to create your book, you really do have to do a little self-reflection. You ask yourself questions like "what kind of a planner am I?" Or even, "what kind of a person am I?" (Super deep, right? It makes me think of this bit in Zoolander.)

I realized that I've always played a certain role on my team. I was the planner that identified what was valuable and the implications of that valuable finding. Because as planners, we find ourselves neck deep in a whole lot of stuff - complete information overload. But the real value isn't about collecting all that information, it's about being able to figure out what actually matters. Mick McCabe, head of planning at Kirshenbaum, calls this "serial reductionism." It's the ability to act as that human filter that uses intuition and intelligence to separate what's going to matter versus what is excess. And it's not easy.

I've never been one for hoopla. I'm a straight-shooter, not a bull-shitter. (You like that, huh? Me too...) In the beginning of the Bootcamp, I mistakenly thought that maybe this made me less creative than other planners. But it doesn't. Actually, it's a strength.

So I decided to play up on that strength - and my last name - and settled on the theme of the "Goldin nugget."

Because...

So, what's worth more now?

I think you get the picture. Anyway, in each case study I included in my book, I revealed the Goldin nugget - that precious insight that informed our strategy and the creative work that followed.

So now what? Well, now it was time to put what I offer up as a planner and my take on our case studies to the test. And there was no better person to evaluate our work than Sveta Srinivasan Doucet, partner and head of strategy at Profero.

Sveta is a wickedly smart planner with experience working at agencies like Taxi, Kirshenbaum and StrawberryFrog in Amsterdam. She's tough but also incredibly sweet, and offered up some insight to our class on planning at a digital agency. She brought along Megan Meagher, a planner she works closely with at both Profero and previously at Taxi. Together, these two struck me as a very powerful team.

Sveta went through our books and gave us both positive and constructive feedback. For us, it was the first time we were really evaluated individually and it was a good lesson in what potential employers look for in planning candidates.

After meeting with Sveta, I had a better understanding of what I could improve, but I was also left with a bit of confidence from being recognized for my unique voice and planning strengths.

What happened next was a bit of a whirlwind. Our graduation was quite literally the day after our books were evaluated. Two and a half months of working side-by-side 19+ students and virtually living at my Art Director, Ramzi's apartment (as well as Miami Ad School) were coming to a close. For me, graduation wasn't just the chance to be recognized for completing Bootcamp - it was the realization that life as a Bootcamper was over and life as a planner was beginning.

Now, for those of you who have been reading the blog since Day One, you already know that Miami Ad School really (I mean really) likes dogs. In fact, they even have an award that pays tribute to their doggy devotion: Top Dog. For different students (art direction, copywriting, planning, etc.), the Top Dog award means different things. For creatives, it means coming up with the best and brightest campaign for a certain challenge. For planners, it means graduating at the top of the class.

To be named Top Dog is an honor, but I was more driven by the opportunity to learn and hone my skills as a planner than win an award. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to hear my name called as the Top Dog winner. I was aware of the incredible talent that surrounded me in Bootcamp however, being a bit more on the reserved side, it did feel pretty awesome to be acknowledged. It shows that you don't have to shout to be heard - just be yourself and come up with something worth your words.

So a big thanks to the creatives who inspired me as well as the teachers and visiting planners who've helped me figure out the first steps on my journey as a planner-in-progress. And of course, nothing would matter without the fantastic friends and colleagues I've made along the way.

I guess this is it - it's now on to NYC and agency reviews. But if anything is for certain, I will miss Miami Ad School and...

the seats...

the hallways...
the people...
and, of course, one the fuel stations...

Hugs and well wishes to the faculty and students of MAS. Until next time, in South Beach...

Yours truly,

Goldin Nugget

The Starbucks DoubleShot Challenge

2010-03-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

Ah, Starbucks... it seems lightyears away, but that's what happens after three weeks without sufficient sleep, I guess. Anyway, it's now time to talk about one of the most influential projects in my (brief) planning career to-date.

I'll start from the very beginning. As you already know, each Account Planning Bootcamper participates in the Duck Duck Goose class, with the other 18 Account Planners, 10 Copywriters and 10 Creatives. Each week we present a campaign idea based on a company or brand challenge that we was given to us a week before. In total, we do 7 of such campaigns, until we get to the one that matters most: the client challenge.

This year, our client was Starbucks/PepsiCo and our project was focused on the Starbucks DoubleShot. Our brief, which was given to us by both the client (Starbucks) and their current alternative marketing agency (FreedomZone) halfway through the bootcamp, was relatively open to interpretation. The challenge was to build a marketing ecosystem that would connect the Starbucks DoubleShot to any or all aspects of the film world.

Because there was no set budget, we followed FreedomZone's suggestion to build a grassroots campaign that could move the dial (sc

alable; start small and grow). Therefore, we wanted to focus on a niche target of aspiring filmmakers - like film students or young pr

ofessionals just starting out. After all, they are the future of the film world.

And to justify our decision to go after such a small (but powerful) audience, we looked at RedBull.

As the client himself acknowledged in his briefing, RedBull is quite clearly the aspirational brand for energy drinks. RedBull is synonymous with energy drinks. However, despite its mass appeal, RedBull's marketing efforts initially focused on a very niche market - extreme sports - and then grew from there.

So if we were going to position Starbucks as the "go-to" drink for aspiring filmmakers, having them own the film world in the same way that RedBull owns extreme sports, we figured we better first understand how RedBull became so successful.

So, what's RedBull's secret?

Sure, Red Bull poured a whole lot of money into sponsorships of extreme sports. Easily over the $100 million per year. But as we mentioned we're starting small, and that kind of money isn't really conducive to our whole "start small and grow from there" approach. But, that doesn't mean that RedBull didn't do anything that we couldn't learn from.

You see, RedBull figured out how to to position its product in a way that showed added value to extreme sportsmen. You see, people in extreme sports love what they do because of the adrenaline rush – that high they get from daredevil stunts and speed. Thus, Red Bull’s tagline “Red Bull gives you wings."

So we decided to do this for the Starbucks DoubleShot. We would figure out what’s important to these aspiring filmmakers and position the DoubleShot in both a way that adds value and builds a budding relationship. No big costs involved.

To do this, we had to get to know these aspiring filmmakers. So dove into their world, reading film blogs, joining online film groups, sending out a survey to film students and young filmmakers and - most importantly - talking to film students on set and at their schools.

What we understood about them is that they consider filmmaking to be the ultimate art form. They are not just passionate, they are meticulous. They will put their blood, sweat and tears into getting the right shot. (We observed this first hand, as we got to watch a shoot and saw how they shot take after take on the same scene. Whenever a little detail was off or something unexpected happened - like a loud truck passing by - it was back to shooting.)

So what we found out – the big “ah ha” – is that filmmakers are craftsmen, so they’ll spend hours upon hours shooting the same scene until it’s just right.

Since shooting (and everything that happens in pre and post-production) requires so much time and energy, we asked how these guys were coping. The answer was what we expected: caffeination, baby. RedBull, soda and coffee are their best friends.

Now we just had to figure out how the Starbucks DoubleShot could provide them with a benefit beyond their current caffeine sources. So we did some research using a research database for social media, and found just how people were consuming the Starbucks DoubleShot. Twitter feeds and blog posts showed the people were using the drink as a secret weapon them through long hours.

So, we applied this finding in the context of appealing to filmmakers. We were confident that we could make the argument that the kick filmmakers are getting from coffee, soda, and energy drinks just isn’t cutting it. Where these beverages fall short is that they provide a quick jolt, but filmmakers need a product that gives them longer lasting energy.

That's where the Starbucks DoubleShot comes in. We led with the DoubleShot drink with the mix of coffee and energy (there is one that just is espresso) because it's this unique combination that gives filmmakers the sustained energy to power through those extra takes.

And from this strategy, our talented creatives came up with a brilliant campaign - a winning campaign, in fact. That's right... the Bladow Team won the Starbucks pitch!

By accessing this link, you can see an article about the challenge, our team as the winners, some pictures and our video case study.

Cheers!

Heidi Hackemer: Good & Nice & Brave

2010-03-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

I meant to write this post before the whole client-pitch/portfolio-book insanity that ensues the last two weeks of Bootcamp... but unfortunately, that did not happen. Now that all the (incredibly fun and rewarding) madness has passed, I can finally write about one of the raddest planners I have met so far - Heidi Hackemer.

As the only planner to come speak to the entire Miami Ad School as an Industry Hero this quarter, and Heidi did us bootcampers proud! Many Industry Heroes get up on that stage and play us clips of entertaining commercials they've worked on. Not Heidi. Instead she gave us useful advice about getting into the Ad World and what to keep in mind once you get there. No gimmicks, just a couple of slides and the points to back it up. Genius, right? I thought so.

Like a good insight, her presentation was short but chock-full of solid advice. (You know, the "duh" kind of advice that you should have thought of before but probably didn't...)

List what you're good at. First and foremost, Heidi tackled the importance of being able to define what we're really good at. Crazily enough, most of us had never sat back and identified what it is that make us worthy planners. Sometimes it's easier to see what other people are good at than to figure it out about yourself, so talking with people helps!
Have mentors and sounding boards. I loved this advice because I know from my own personal experience that you learn more and grow exponentially faster with the help and support of a good mentor. They are invaluable, especially for those of us with no relatives or college connections in the ad industry.
Lastly Heidi said to keep your eyes, ears and brain open. Sounds easy enough, but I am always surprised to find how many planners can get caught up talking about what they think and have to say rather than what other people think and have to say.

Heidi also discussed the idea of being able to "cross your T"... which was something completely foreign to me so I'm glad she explained it. Basically there are two axes on your T - a vertical and a horizontal. The vertical axis is something you're awesome at and passionate about. That's all well and good, right? But the horizontal axis is everything else you need to do your job (maybe it's understanding research methodology or working with vendors... that stuff). Her point was that you can't just ignore the horizontal axis. To be a well-rounded planner, you have to address it all.

But aside from regurgitating parts of her presentation, I want to talk about Heidi's help off-stage. Thanks to her generosity with her personal time, my fellow planner Vess and I were able to chat with Heidi over some coffee. We asked her about the skills she looks for in planners and their portfolio books, sources of inspiration, challenges she faces in the field and so forth. Personally, I was really concerned about being pigeon-holed as the "research" planner because of my professional background, so Heidi kind of gave me the permission I was looking for to leave it out of my book (aside from my resume). It was awesomely freeing because, although I understand research well, there's a reason I am not pursuing a career in it!

More advice for our book came from some feedback that Heidi gave on our last presentation (the IHG green hotel discussed in my previous post). She kind of laid out all the elements of a brief that we should have: target, insight, communications strategy, creative idea and engagement strategy. Scary that at Week 9 or 10 (I am losing track now!), none of us had really heard about this engagement strategy element!

Totally smart and just as friendly, Heidi is a serious inspiration.

The Green House: Where Green Minds Grow

2010-02-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post on Nancy Jaffe, the last assignment we were given (before the final client assignment, of course) was to build a brand of green hotels. This project was particularly challenging because there were very few limitations. We were asked to start from scratch.

The Challenge

Create and develop the ultimate green hotel brand.

When we began brainstorming who our target would be and how to position our brand, I thought a lot about the Toyota Prius. Although hybrid and electric vehicles did exist before the Prius, the Prius really came into the American car market as a completely new and different breed of car. I researched the "Prius Effect" to better understand how Toyota designed and marketed the Prius.

What I liked about the Prius (and I have to admit that my parents own one... as well as a Honda Insight, to be fair), is that Toyota started by targeting a very niche market of consumers, but gained ground because the market was clearly headed in the direction of fuel-efficiency, where the niche they targeted would be considered influencers. I felt that this kind of approach could serve a green hotel well too.

To get a better grip on how to position our brand of hotels, we had to better define the target audience. Okay, yes, they are the Prius drivers, but there's more to these people than this.

So who are these people? Sure, Prius drivers tend to be well-educated men and women in their mid 30's to mid 50's... but what else?

Our target is health conscious and physically active. Whether it's hiking, biking, yoga or just hitting the treadmill, they care about taking care of themselves. They may not stick solely to organic foods, but they consider themselves healthy eaters.
They are explorers. When they travel, they don't just lie on a beach somewhere... they go out and see the sights! These are people who need vacations from their vacations!
They're natural-born leaders. Maybe they're super involved in their community or they are entrepreneurs. Whatever it is, they consider it their responsibility to lead the way - they don't know anything else.

Which led me to name this target: Eco-chievers.

The Target

Eco-chievers.

While I was confident that we nailed our target, we needed to dig deeper. Sure these Eco-chievers care about the environment... but why?

What we found out was pretty simple: These people feel that they owe it to themselves, their families and their neighbors to be environmentally responsible because their future, and their children's future, is at stake.

We thought this was interesting - particularly the idea that Eco-chievers take care of their world so that they can make their children's world a better place. While we were busy figuring out our audience, we forgot that Eco-chievers are parents and aunts and uncles too.

Insight

Eco-chievers are green leaders because they understand the role the environment plays in -not only their future - but also their children's future.

To keep it simple: Eco-chievers want their kids to grow up in a world with clean, air, water and trees.

Since children are a major motivation, we thought why not create a hotel that caters to these Eco-chievers and their Eco-babies? After all, boutique green hotels that already exist (take Element, for example), but there are no green hotels aimed at families. Especially none that not only are green in practice, but green in teaching as well.

Strategic Idea

Position our brand as green hotels that nurture the mind of the future Eco-chievers of the world.

What does that mean? Yes, our brand of hotels will be environmentally friendly, but it will also be dedicated to educating kids on the importance of being green by providing the ultimate green experience. Families will have the option to participate together in green activities like planting trees, cooking organic food and learning about energy consumption. This way, not only are we helping the future of our world, but we are building positive memories that revolve around our hotel. So as these little Eco-babies grow up - and eventually have a family of their own - they will be inclined to come back to our hotel.

Now, we just had to think of a creative campaign that would appeal to both current Eco-chievers and budding Eco-chievers.

First, our creatives thought of the name, Green House, because greenhouses are places where young plants grow and thrive. The name and the hotel was beginning to sound really fun and fresh, but we still were stuck on how to convey the message that this hotel is where green people stay.

That is, until my copywriter jokingly said, let's just throw a bunch of green cartoons in bed together.

Brilliant! I think my team thought I was nuts when I pounced, but who can't relate to a green cartoon character? There are so many: the Ninja Turtles, Yoshi, Gumby, etc. The idea is fun and fresh, and we could partner with the companies that own the rights to these characters because what company wouldn't want to be associated with a green brand that educates kids, right?

Creative Idea

Where green people stay.
We thought that these print ads would be a great start to our campaign, since they really catch the eye and make a point. The ads lead to a website that discusses more about the hotel's green practices and philosophy, and also includes a gaming portion where kids and their parents can take a virtual tour of the hotel where they are greeted by green characters along the way and asked to play little games that are meant to provide green learnings.

Engagement Strategy

We didn't really flesh out a clear engagement strategy, which Heidi Hamecker (who merits a post of her own!), our Industry Hero, pointed out. I guess, looking back, we would need to go beyond the traditional print ads and digital website and really look at ways to engage our audience through different channels. We'd also have to take it a step further and plan where to place these hotels - most likely in areas that are popular family travel destinations. All this is something I will be thinking about as I work on my portfolio book.

In fact, after I share a bit about Heidi, who is a seriously cool planner and person, I will probably be MIA for a while. Our final competition is coming up, as well as our due date for our books, and things are getting mighty intense!

I can't wait until it will all be over so I can share! I have confidence that my team will rock the final project!

Conn Fishburn: F3 Ideas from a Media Whiz

2010-02-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

Our speaker last weekend was Conn Fishburn, Managing Partner at his company F3: Fibonacci, Fellini & Fishburn. Unlike most of our other speakers who hail from major advertising agencies, Conn runs his own company - a strategy and innovation firm - and serves as a consultant. After gigs in both start-ups and major ad agencies, Conn realized that he could make the most of his talents by advising other companies.
Conn set out to explain the changing landscape of media to us...
The next billion users will not think about "the web" the same way as the first billion do. Why? Social media, video and mobile are the emerging marketing channels. New media is no longer just old media put online, but rather a whole different type of media that creates new user experiences.

There was one story in particular that Conn shared with us which really illustrates this point:
Conn was at a friend's house, and the friend's toddler, who had been known to entertain herself with her mom's iPhone, went up to the television and swiped her hand across the screen. She expected a reaction from the screen, because she had become accustomed to interacting with media in this sort of tactile way.

...but also challenged us to look at planning beyond the ad agency...
Of course, with the changing media landscape, new media and marketing roles are created. Conn challenged our idea of where we might end up in the future. After all, it's not just the advertising agency that needs planners.

Minds that are both creative and strategic should be applied to things
large in scale.

He urged us to look laterally across the communications industry because everyone is bleeding across different spaces and "the opportunities are on the edges."

...and inspired us with stories of leaders who redefined the status quo.
To find these opportunities requires the ability to look at things from a fresh perspective. Conn showed us a TED video with paralympic sprinter Aimee Mullins, which served as an inspirational example of doing just this. Aimee redefined prosthetic legs as not only a means to run at record-breaking speeds, but also as art, fashion and a way to gain some height!

As you can see from his teachings, Conn is extremely forward-thinking. The advice that he gave us - much of which is not included in this post - was not only helpful in understanding the role of media in account planning, but also understanding the role of account planning in media.

If I owned a company, I'd want this guy on my team!

That's So Rice, Man

2010-02-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

Our guest speaker before Nancy Jaffe was Shari Allison, EVP at Northstar Research Partners. She talked about qualitative research and the different and newer methods of conducting it. Shop-alongs, interviews, focus groups, and then methods that are a hybrid combination of qualitative and quant - it was all very interesting and also valuable to know going in as a planner.

The main take-away to keep in mind while conducting qualitative research, however, is that people are people. Don't advertise to them - talk to them.

She quoted Hugh Macleod, when he said

Ultimately, Shari summed it up with this...

Research supports insight & communication optimization,
it is not a substitute for creativity & instinct

... which is super important because the one thing I worry about coming from a market research background is that I will get pigeon-holed as a "researcher." It's not about the research people, it's about how you use it to draw that creative insight!

Shari gave us a project for Uncle Ben's rice and challenged us to pull our insight using qualitative methods of research.

UNCLE BEN'S RICE

The Challenge:
Uncle Ben's fears that it's not connecting with its target audience (women 25-49). The company has recently launched some new products, and they want us to develop a communication platform that understands the target and their mealtime challenges.

So.... Hannah and I decided that before we single out a target or commit to the one that UB currently has, we should take a trip to the local supermarket and observe people shop for their groceries. What we noticed is that there were plenty of 25-49 year old women shopping, but there were also males shopping - both alone or with their significant other - as well as singles younger than the target.

The Target:
UB's target was limiting - many people grocery shop, and these different types of people are all looking for solutions to their everyday mealtime challenges. So who is our target? Anyone who prepares meals.

After realizing that we shouldn't only focus on shoppers within UB's original target, Hannah and I decided to conduct some shop-alongs to see how people shop, what they buy, why they buy what they buy, what they consider their mealtime challenges and - finally - what they think about using rice for their mealtime creations.

We spoke to a few different shoppers - 8 people, to be exact - ranging in age range, gender and race, some shopping alone and some with a significant other.

While each of these shoppers had their own unique list of items they were seeking (some wrote them down, others took a more relaxed approach, meandering through the aisles) based on their lifestyles, attitudes and taste preferences, they all had something in common:

Insight:
Whether it's due time constraints, health concerns, or financial limitations, people find themselves pigeon-holed into making the same ordinary, "go-to" meals.

And although collectively the shoppers were using rice in different ways (as a side dish, as a main dish, sprinkled in their salads, etc.), individually they were eating rice the same way every time.

But, just like pasta (a favorite among the shoppers we talked to for its versatility), rice is versatile too.

Strategic Idea:
Rice is versatile. Because you can use rice in so many ways, you'll never have to make the same meal twice.

Think about it. There's tons of different types of rice (brown, white, wild, long-grained, short-grained, basmati, jasmine, etc.) and there's tons of different ways to eat rice (as a side, as an ingredient in soup or salad or sushi, or as the base of the meal itself) and there's so many ethnic dishes that incorporate rice (Spanish, Chinese, Middle Eastern, etc.) that it's ludicrous for people not to consider rice a staple! We just have to get them to realize that...

Creative Idea:
Rice loves all. Love Rice back.

We took the idea of choosing opposites in the foods that can be paired with rice (like, fried chicken or grilled chicken? Mexican food or Chinese food? black beans or red beans), and translated into an idea a little more fun and relatable:

Jay Leno or Coco? Jennifer Aniston or Angelina? Bush or Obama? It doesn't matter who you prefer. Rice loves all. Love rice back.

Engagement Strategy:
Since we are targeting a really broad audience, we will have to use a multi-channeled strategy - traditional, mobile and digital - to reach them.

Our group decided on print ads that lead to a micro-site which demonstrates the world of possibilities of rice, interactive ads that can use on the new iPad, and a smartphone application.

On to the next!

Nancy Jaffe: Do Your Research!

2010-02-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

While many planners were dreading Week 7, I was looking forward to spending some time with an old friend of mine... quantitative research! And who better to prime us on the topic than Nancy Jaffe herself, Partner and Senior Strategic Planner at JWT?
With a seriously impressive strategic background (I mean, this is a woman who has held Strategy positions at Grey, Wunderman, Ogilvy and Saatchi... to name a few), I was very much looking forward to learning from Nancy. However, I didn't expect that such a thoughtful personality would accompany such an accomplished person.

Nancy demonstrated to us Bootcampers that good research leads to good strategy. Research doesn't stifle creativity, but actually gives it room to grow (art directors, take note!). She discussed all the different research elements planners are responsible for understanding, whether or not we conduct the research ourselves, hire vendors, or use proprietary data given by the client.

Even with a strong research background, there were plenty of studies that I was not very familiar with, including positioning research and copy testing. Not only did Nancy clarify when (and why) to implement these studies, but she also helped us understand the realities and implications of doing this kind of research.

After all, this kind of testing lends itself to certain obstacles: pushing from the client (who want to put numbers behind an idea to measure the likelihood that it will be effective) and push back from the creatives (who may feel that these numbers may not do justice to the work). A planner needs to be the negotiator and, ultimately, the decision-maker.

Finally, Nancy taught us the following:

As a planner, you not only have to get an idea, but get others to understand that idea as well.

Videos really have a knack for bringing things to life, so Nancy suggested splicing together clips of people you talk to in the field to help others "get" your point. (After learning a bit more about how to edit videos in iMovie, I'm feeling inspired to buy an iFlip as a planning tool!)

As I write this post, my team is working on our Week 7 assignment: to create a flagship green brand for a very large hotel chain. I dig the assignment because I believe that sustainability is an issue that all businesses will inevitably need to address (yes, even advertising), and it was great to be given a challenge that gets us to start thinking about the future of "green." I don't want to give too much away until the work on our green brand is completed, but I promise there is more to come!

Overall, I really identified with Nancy's style of planning - which seems to be highly rational and strategic, and therefore very effective. To put it rather bluntly, there's a lot of bull in the advertising field, and sometimes we are dealt big, fluffy ideas that don't have any support. It helps to know that there are Nancy Jaffes out there to provide us with solid strategy.

The Life of Bottled Water is Dirty

2010-02-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

As you may remember from my previous post, visiting planner Isabelle DeFrancesco (Week 5) gave us an assignment for the World Wildlife Fund in which we had to help the organization raise awareness about environmental concerns around fresh water and encourage people to drink tap water. She suggested that rather than doing the standard 30 second spot or some print ads, that we utilize the power of PR and experiential marketing to generate press coverage and really impact audiences.Isabelle had showed us some work for the Tap Project done by David Droga and his agency, Droga5, for UNICEF. Basically, the Tap Project encouraged diners in NYC to donate $1 for tap water in order to provide clean drinking water in Africa. This campaign is the most genius idea I have been exposed to, and what I love about it (besides that it was wildly successful in raising money for an amazing cause) was that the idea was so simple.

Anyway, the WWF assignment was the first I worked on together with my new team. Since our past projects were for a fast food joint, a luxury cruise line, a bank.... and Walmart, I was extremely psyched at the opportunity to do something serious for a noble cause!

Hannah and I decided that bottled water is the obstacle to getting people to understand the water crisis and to drink more tap water. After all, bottled water is the direct competitor of tap water. And not only this, but bottled water is what creates all of the pollution and depletes the earth's natural resources!

At first Hannah and I had different strategies; hers was to address the personal cost of bottled water (why pay money for water when you can get it for free!) and mine was to address the global cost of bottled water (it really is destroying our environment). However, while the first strategy was smart - nothing motivates people to change behavior like their own self interest (saving money) - the latter was really the strongest case.

The fact is that there is tons of information out there on how bottled water is destroying the earth, and how it's actually worse for you than tap water. The more research we did, the more we realized that everything that bottled water stands for - it's purity, it's convenience, it's taste, etc - is a lie.

We found this great trailer to a documentary coming out called Tapped, and opened our creative briefing with this clip. We then talked to our creatives about the hidden truths behind bottled water - the fact that:

It takes 3 quarts of water to make 1 quart of bottled water, or
If you filled a bottle of water a quarter of the way up with oil, that represents how much oil is used to produce, ship and handle that bottle of water, or
Tap water is cleaner than bottled water because the EPA places higher standards on tap water than the FDA on bottled, and the EPA has over a hundred people monitoring tap water whereas the FDA doesn't even dedicate a whole person to tap water, or
80% of water bottles ends up in a landfill or the ocean, or
The amount of oil used annual to produce water bottles for America alone could fuel 100,000 cars in the US for the whole year, or
One-third of all bottled water comes from municipal sources and plants

Well, you get the picture.

What we were selling to our creatives was the insight that the life of a bottle of water is dirty: From the very beginning, where oil and natural gas is use to make the plastic and the water is sourced from a plant, to the middle, where tons of oil is wasted in shipping the bottles and chilling them in the stores, to the end, where the plastic bottles end up in landfills and oceans.
However, what our creatives found more interesting was the fact that people don't know the truth behind bottled water - the bottled water companies have lobbyists so that people don't realize what a sham bottled water actually is. So we talked to family, friends and colleagues, and found that this was true - people have no idea, and were just as shocked to learn the facts as we were.

And thus, our campaign was born: Dirty Secrets.

Below is a case study of the work that was done.

Web Analytics: Less Scary Than It Sounds

2010-02-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

One of the most practical classes we have in Bootcamp is also a relatively new one: Web Analytics. Taught to us by Miami Ad School's own web analytics supervisor, Xavier, Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. While this may not sound like it belongs in a planning course, it is actually an incredibly useful tool for planners.

Aside from measuring website traffic, Web Analytics can be used to conduct business and market research. Xavier showed us how we can use certain applications to measure the results of traditional print advertising campaigns and estimate the changes in traffic to a website changed after the launch of a new advertising campaign.

One application that Xavier introduced us to is Google Analytics. Like other Google research tools (and Xavier showed us tons - awesome), Google Analytics is completely free. It gives you information and statistics about visitors for a certain website. You can find out how many people are visiting, how long they are visiting for, where the visitors live, whether they are finding your page from a referring site or a search engine, etc. It's so cool, that I even hooked up my own blog to Google Analytics to see how my traffic is doing. What's even cooler, is that Xavier featured my blog in a Miami Ad School newsletter, and I could see the direct impact that the newsletter had on my page views.

See that peak? It's from the day that the newsletter was sent out. Thanks Xavier!

Xavier also taught us some Web Optimization and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Basically, you optimize a site so that it shows up higher in search engines like Google and results in your site getting more traffic. For example, if you search Google for anything related to advertising schools or copywriting or art direction or account planning, Miami Ad School will be one of the first results on the first page. This is because Xavier's done a kick-ass job of optimizing the school's site, and showed us how we can do the same.

To optimize a site, you need to understand what people search for and how they search for it (what key search words they use) and then edit the content and HTML of your site to increase its relevance to those key search words. Obviously, there's more to it than this, but this is the very basic take-away.

Xavier also taught us some Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is different from SEO. Unlike SEO, which is "un-paid," SEM uses paid placements to increase the site's visibility in searches. You know those ads that you see on the right hand side of a Google search? Or on the very top (sponsored links)? Those are the SEM ads that get the prime real estate on the Google page because they are paid for, rather than earned with SEO. Xavier even had us practice SEM by dividing us up into teams and having us create our own ad for the Miami Ad School site using Google AdPlanner and Google AdWords (other useful tools that Google gives away for free!). Jury is still out on whether any of our efforts turned into a conversion...

Free stuff from Google's Business Solutions

Which brings me to the very first thing Xavier taught us, which is about the conversion rate. In Internet marketing, conversion rate is the ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions based on subtle or direct requests from marketers, advertisers, and content creators. So, if you click on an ad for a website, it will bring you to a landing page. That landing page will ask something of you. Maybe it's to fill out a form, or maybe it's to click a button to take you to the site's homepage. Whatever it is, once you complete that action, you have made a conversion.

Confused? It's okay. Planners don't actually have to do all of the Web Analytics work, they just have to know what it's about so they can hire the smart guys like Xavier that do it for them!

Some of us Account Planners with Xavier

Filling in the Gaps

2010-02-07T23:07:00.001-08:00

A lot has happened since my last post: Soccer Sundays, Superbowl, my last Web Analytics course, my first project with my new "Dream Team," a surprise visit from friends in NY and a few great guest speakers. Not to mention a sudden bout of food poisoning that has left me a bit queasy for several days.

I don't mean to digress, but rather explain why on earth it's taken me so long to catch up with my blog. But don't worry kids - I am back and committed as ever. In fact, as I write this, my mom is visiting and we are sitting across the table from each other with our laptops getting our writing on. Ah, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

So, let's get serious, eh? I intend to briefly cover all these topics and then do a bit more justice to my projects and guest speakers in separate posts.

Soccer Sundays
Okay, so the first thing I learned when I got to Miami Ad School is that "Everyone plays soccer." Ron, founder of the School, made it very clear that - athlete or not - you will meet on the soccer field each and each Sunday and kick around a soccer ball. Whites against colors. And gray is not a color.

Now, I'm not the type of kid that grew up on team sports. I'm a first generation American (mom from Poland, dad from Russia) and I wasn't raised on AYSO, Little League and dance recitals. Swimming and tennis, for sure, but I've never played soccer. That being said, I was nervous about this whole "Soccer Sunday" thing. I don't know how to kick. I don't know strategy. I am a soccer virgin.

Well, that is no more. Pippa and Ron, who both play, were wonderful. They encourage everyone - even the beginner saps like me. The first game, I even got the only penalty shot for the girl's game and my team won. That Soccer Sunday was my first introduction to team sports, and I honestly enjoyed every minute of it. The girls were so supportive of each other, and I actually learned a thing or two. But don't get me wrong, I'm still a soccer lightweight.

Superbowl XLIV
Aside from the fact that Bootcamp is... well, bootcamp, it could not be at a better place and time if your a New Yorker. Skip January, February and March for the sunny Miami weather? No brainer. And as if this weren't a treat enough, how about being in Miami when the biggest annual event in the country takes place in the same city? Yeah, we are a lucky crew.

Again, not a big team sports girl so I didn't have much vested in the teams. (However, I couldn't help rooting for the Saints when I saw all of Ocean Drive turn into Bourbon Street the week of the game!) What I was interested in was all the advertising that surrounds the Big Game. I mean, it's one thing to see the commercials on TV and quite another to have the experiential marketing at your doorstep.

One big event that had my classmates talking was the Bud Light Hotel. Basically, Bud Light took over the Surfcomber Hotel on South Beach and turned it into party central for Super Bowl week. GQ Magazine party one night. Usher concert another night. Jamie Foxx show the next. And there are bikini pool parties, UFC events and even a visit from Jimmy Tailgate to get ready for the Big Game.

Tide also played ball, lining ten 6-foot high orange aluminum boxes with 15 foot vertical poles running from 7th to 10th streets along Ocean Drive, creating an eye-catching clothes line. So what’s a women oriented brand like Tide doing in the middle of an NFL event? The "Tide Mile of Style" was a 3-day event that included free give-aways of their new detergent for athletes, a runway show to accompany their motto "Style is an option. Clean is not." and the Tide Loads of Hope truck to showcase their philanthropy initiative. It may not have been a brilliant event, but with all that foot traffic on Ocean Drive, they surely got tons of exposure.

And then there was the Wheat Thins dancers at Luck Strikes lanes, the Bridgestone-sponsored football throw tent in the SuperBowl Fan Zone (also with Coors Light and McDonald's marketing), the GQ and Maxim events, and - my personal favorite because I attended for free - the Pepsi SuperBowl Fan Jam featuring Rihanna, Timbaland and some kid named Justin Beiber (the 7 years old girls were going completely nuts... I've never seen anything like it).

I could go on with more of the experiential events, but I have so much more to write about. Just wanted to give you a taste of South Beach during the Super Bowl.So as I mentioned

The Dream Team
So as I mentioned in the previous post, our new teams (we switch half-way through the program) were given to us in our Wednesday night presentation class. The process of calling out teams is nerve-racking: everyone has a general idea of who they would work well with, but since teams are picked "randomly" (there's much speculation about this), you never know who you're going to get.
I was in the last team to be called, and was thrilled to be paired with two of the most talented creatives in class - Ramzi (Art Director) and Gabriel (Copywriter) - and a high-energy planner (Hannah). I knew I had a great team, but it was only until other people started referring to us as "The Dream Team," that I realized how lucky I was... and still am.

Competition aside, the chemistry in our group is amazing. The Creatives are real strategic thinkers themselves, and the work is exceptional quality. Ramzi, our Art Director, is the most organized and detail-oriented creative I've ever met, with the biggest heart to boot. Gabe's got a way with words - he's edgy and his ideas reflect that. Both terrific guys.

Hannah and I work well together as planners also. Although our speaking and presentation styles are similar, our working styles are a bit different. Hannah is great at verbalizing her thoughts, random as they may come, and I'm pretty darn good at filtering them down into the one focused idea. She's high-energy and intuitive and I am inquisitive and rational. We both are cultural explorers. It just works.

Our team has re-branded ourselves as "The Bladow Team." I could try to explain what "Bladow" is, but it's really not mine to explain. Gabe's site, Blad ow Ideas, pretty much covers it all.
As I write this, we already have two (and a half) presentations under our belt, and we will be working on the final project together as well. I'll devote whole posts to the work that has already been done, and - if allowed - discuss the final client project. Win or lose, I could not be happier with these guys.

PNC Presentation with Marci Ikeler

2010-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, my group presented our last presentation together, which was to create, develop and market a credit card for PNC. I wouldn't say that we knocked it out of the park, but we definitely did well!

When considering the state of the economy, consumer distrust of financial institutions and PNC's role in the banking industry, Kathrin and I identified a few key points.

TARGET: Echo Boomers = The Future of Banking

Sheer size - There was no doubt in our minds that the audience to focus on were the Echo Boomers (aka Gen Y or Millennials). Why? At 70 million strong and comprising nearly one-fourth of the US population, Echo Boomers are the largest generation the country has encountered since Baby Boomers.
Financial opportunity - While their Boomer parents are headed for retirement, Echo Boomers are just entering their prime spending years.
Attitude - Also, while they (or we, I should say, as we did this presentation from our POV being Echo Boomers ourselves) have seen their parents and older siblings get burned by the recession, they were not directly affected so they still have a cautiously optimistic outlook.

CHALLENGE: Gaining Their Trust

Security - EB's already think credit spending is risky, so selling them a credit card is not an easy feat. They are not down with the "spend and charge" mindset of the past, so they need a card that appeals to their need for security.
Loyalty - These Echo Boomers are looking for a bank and a card that works with them, not against them. They are not brand loyal like other generations, so they will not hesitate to switch banks if they encounter additional fees, misleading terms or increased interest rates.

OPPORTUNITY: PNC = The "Good Guys"

PNC is a bank EB's can trust. With a moderate risk profile and good behavior at a time when other banks were getting their hands dirty, PNC isn’t about profiting at their customers' expense. They’re the good guys.

After positioning PNC as a bank that EB's can rely on for fair play and support, we then designed a credit card with three features that specifically caters to the mindset and needs of this group. We know that the world already has a ton of credit cards, so we wanted to make one that the world actually needs.
This semi-transparent card doesn't only convey the message that the bank practices transparency as well, but also has the following benefits:

No fees, 0% APR - PNC is not going to charge you annual or ATM fees or make you pay a high interest. They know you are just getting started and want to help you build your credit. So, as long as you pay your card on time, you're fee free.
Rewards or Cashback - We're a generation fixed on instant gratification. To appeal to this, PNC rewards points for every dollar spent, and these points can be turned in for a variety of options, including (but not limited to) gift cards, cash back, charity donations, miles, etc. (Think Citibank's Thank You network.)
Special Rates Perhaps the most unique feature of this card is that it almost acts like a student discount card by getting users discounted rates on everything from public transportation, museums, theaters and concerts, FedEx Kinko's, bookstores, etc. PNC knows that at this point in their lives, EB's are not raking in the dough. But they also have faith that they’ll get there eventually, and they’re helping EB's move forward by partnering with companies that offer products and services that help EB's get by and enjoy life while they’re getting there.

Sound too good to be true? Wondering how on earth PNC will benefit from these special offers? It's simple. Instead of making money off the credit cards, PNC will use the credit cards as a way to pull in bank customers by requiring that a bank account be opened in order to have a credit card. By establishing relationships with EB's early, they will be the bank of choice when this group of customers start moving up in the world and putting more and more money into their accounts.

STRATEGY: Position PNC as the "good guys" and the Pristine card as a reflection of a bank that champions Echo Boomers by giving them the rates, rewards and tools that they need to achieve their life goals.

THE FEEDBACK: With Marci Ikeler

Marci Ikeler, Director of Digital Strategy at Publicis New York, was kind enough to fill in for Troy Valls. She actually was our Industry Hero lecturer earlier that week, and shared some extremely useful digital trends with the Miami Ad School students. Her past experience working on bank accounts was a huge help in providing us with actionable feedback that was constructive and positive in nature.

Marci liked our campaign and suggested we could improve it by placing more of an emphasis on how the Pristine card distinguishes itself from the cards already on the market. Since there are already cards with similar features, it would have been good to really drill in on the fact that the combination of these three features is really what makes it unlike anything else out there.

Marci also showed us how to create a spider web which includes all elements (i.e., connections, business, conversations, competitors, etc.) that should be considered to arrive at two extremely important elements of a strategy:

The Positioning Statement (e.g. What the brand stands for?)
The R2B (Reason to Buy/Believe)

Overall, she did a great job showing us where our strengths and our weaknesses lay, and helped us improve the way in which we build our strategies to boot!

Isabelle De Francesco: Ideas & Insights

2010-02-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Isabelle De Francesco, Brand Planning Director at DDB in New York, visited Miami Ad School to give us Bootcamp planners a lesson (or several!) on idea literacy. Because really, what is an idea?

First and most importantly, Isabelle (who credited Bernbach with this quote) said:

An idea that doesn't sell
isn't an idea.

Sound like common sense? Then you'd be surprised how easy it is for teams (not just creatives) lose sight of this objective. So many adverts out there fail to do just that: sell.

As Isabelle pointed out, "idea" originates from the Greek word idein, an idea is something that puts people in motion. If there is not action, there is no idea.

So how do we make this abstract topic of an idea apply specifically to planning? Well, it's our job to generate and sell ideas. Isabelle's slide on the right shows us just how we do that:

Convince the account
Inspire the creatives
Translate the client

However, before I dive further into more of Isabelle's discussion on ideas, there is another very important topic that Isabelle covered first: the insight.

Although we know that you really can't have a great idea without a strong insight, the difference between an insight and an idea is often something that us "ad-types" struggle with. Isabelle was able to help us distinguish between the two.

So, what is an insight? At it's core, Isabelle says,

An insight is an
undiscovered truth.

Basically, an insight captures the hidden picture - it's like seeing something that is already there but in a different light.

As shown on her blog This World Outside (currently under construction), an insight can come from anywhere, you just have to observe and explore, using any or all of your senses.

Isabelle also helped us identify what kind of planner each of us are. There are different ways planners go about doing their research and pulling their insights. No one way is right or wrong, what matters is not how you get there but that you find the right insight.

Actually, one of the my favorite quotes from Isabelle is,

Don't try to fix your flaws,
try to strengthen your strengths.

As you can see Isabelle shared a great deal of planning advice with us, but perhaps the thing she did which I appreciated most is that she encouraged us to share our observations with each other.

Isabelle gave us our assignment straight away - a WWF initiative to get people to stop drinking bottled water and start drinking tap water to conserve the environments (more on this to come). Then she had us go outside the classroom to observe behaviors of how people consumer beverages. The next day we shared our observations in teams each bringing different and intriguing insights.

Allowing us to share with each other broadened our mindsets on the topic and I wished that we could do this each time. I guarantee that no one will come up with the same idea even though we all shared with each other - it's a win for all situation.

Worldly (not just because she is French!), no-nonsense and clever, Isabelle is the type of planner you would love to have as your mentor.

Smart Moms Shop at Walmart

2010-02-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the third time really is a charm. Last week our class presented our Walmart campaign, and our group rocked it. The strategy and creative executions all came together to produce one realistic (but fun) campaign.

Basically, we were tasked with the challenge of creating a commercial for Walmart showing how people benefit from shopping at Walmart (Save money. Live better.) by showing what they do with their savings.

My fellow planner, Kathrin, and I did some research and found that the fastest growing segment of Walmart shoppers are actually middle-class American mothers, working or stay-at-home. This audience is of a bit higher socio-economic status than what one might expect (especially if you've paid a visit to People of Walmart).

Who are these moms? Well, they are busy - that's for sure. Not only are they carpooling their kids to play-dates, soccer practice and ballet, preparing meals, tending to the house and even working, but they also often act as the CFO of the family. They are the ones doing the buying and the budgeting.

When we did some more digging on why these moms choose to shop at Walmart, we found a really simple but compelling answer: Shopping at Walmart is smart. (Again, not something that might occur to you right off the bat if you're at all swayed by the out-dated stereotypes of a Walmart shopper.)

But, just think about it: If you have $50 and a shopping list of items to buy, which would you choose to do?

Go to a store and buy all those items and come back empty-handed OR
Go to Walmart and come back with all of those exact same items and some extra cash

It's not rocket science.

Our insight: Time-crunched mom has to be - and wants to feel - smart and savvy about her financial decisions.

Using this insight, my team developed a "Smart Moms" campaign. Our message was that shopping at Walmart is the smartest thing a mom can do. Why? Because the money that she saves can be used to treat herself here and there. Whether it's with a babysitter, a salon appointment, or a night at the opera, moms can get that break they deserve without compromising the things that their families need.

One of the executions of the campaign was a commercial in the form of a musical (Abba-style!). My fellow planner, Whitney, was kind enough to star as the lead - Mom (see below). The lyrics were from the funny man himself, our copywriter John, and the camera-work credit goes to art director, Vic. I will upload the video once it's been posted to YouTube!

The campaign has a lot of really smart (duh!) components and a positive spirit. But perhaps the most important thing is that the campaign not only shows the great things that Walmart shoppers can do with their savings (as the client asks), but also motivates people to shop at Walmart.

And as Bill Bernbach said, "The purpose of advertising is to sell."

Mick McCabe: Live the Strategy

2010-01-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

Mick McCabe, Chief Strategy Officer at KBS+P, was our third guest speaker. Like the lecturers before him, Mick really helped shape our understanding of the role of a good account planner.

The focus of Week 3 was the Creative Brief and Briefing. Although we got a bit of an overview with Chris, Mick furthered our understanding. He helped us distinguish between the attributes of good briefs and bad briefs and also discussed the skills that planners must hone to collaborate with the creatives and understand how to tell a good story.

As I write this post, I am looking through the 18 pages of notes that I scribbled down during our three days of classes. (It's a small notebook, I swear... but mostly, I am a nerd.) What I am finding are these amazing nuggets of useful quotes that I'd like to share, because they really capture Mick and also what it means to be a creative and sharp account planner.

The job of a planner is to be
"serial reductionists."

Strategy is, in some ways, the highest form of creative thinking. You put all the pieces together.

Be humble.
Everyone knows who is responsible for great work.

I understand people. Consumers... not so much. Avoid marketing speak.

A planner's job is to know people better than anyone else. You are the source of authority.

This isn't LOST.
You want to tie [the creative brief] up.

The formulas of advertising are over. We all move into each other's territories. We are a much more fluid group of creative people.

You have to see the product in its best light. Somebody loves it. Find the love.

Live the strategy. Don't just say it. The "saying era" is over. We now live in a "be it, don't say it" era.

Mick's advice is certainly helpful for us rookies, but more importantly, you get the feeling that Mick practices what he preaches. He has a very modest but engaging presence and is able to distill information in simple doses. He really connected with the students, answering our questions, listening to our concerns and, of course, partaking in the occasional senseless banter. Altogether, another information-packed weekend.

Cheers!

From Fast Food to Luxury Cruise

2010-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Now that I've been found out (Miami Ad School has blogged, tweeted and Facebooked about my blog!), it's probably a good time to update this little journal of mine.

I want to get to a point where I am not just describing the guest lecturers (who all have been brilliant so far, and truly make this program worthwhile), but also describing bits and pieces of the work that we do here.

A few of my friends gave feedback that more pictures would add some color to my stories. Point taken - I have done just that.

With this post I'll catch up to where I am at this point, about one month after my arrival to South Beach! From then on I will do my best to provide quick updates (extra time is not something we bootcampers have a lot of).

So our first presentation was on the BK Whopper Bar.

Troy Valls, a down-to-earth Media Director at Weiden + Kennedy, leads our Wednesday night class and is the man to please when it comes to presentations. He has the task of critiquing our presentations and offering us constructive feedback. I don't envy his job - the view from my seat was that each group came with some unique insight or creative offering. I was very impressed by the talent in the room!

With all the different kinds of people in South Beach - Latinos, Jews, gays, students, retirees, etc., we felt that personalization was the feature to focus on for the BK Whopper Bar.

Our insight: We are all unique. Shouldn't our food reflect that?

Our strategy was to position the BK Whopper Bar as a burger joint that caters to individuality. While I felt that the strategy and the executions were one of the strongest in the class, the presentation left something to be desired. Technical difficulties and a lack of rehearsal (although, not on the planning end) resulted in a presentation that did not do justice to the work.

Getting that first presentation over with was quite the relief. (In fact, we all went to 8oz., a local burger joint and BK Whopper Bar competition, for a drink afterwards. How appropriate...)

Our second assignment was on The Yachts of Seabourn.

I LOVED this assignment because it was very different from the previous one, and it was challenging because the target is not your average consumer (rather the "working wealthy" - someone able to spend $10K for a 7-day yachting experience around the world).

This assignment was given to us by Christopher Owens. He did a terrific job of briefing us planners, and gave my partner Kathrin and I inspiration to give our creatives on a real briefing experience. (The approval from the actual client did not hurt either! See previous post on Chris Owens.)

To convey who these "working wealthy" are, as well as impart our wisdom on the Yachts of Seabourn brand and its offerings, my team embarked on a little adventure. Kathrin and I took our creatives the Delano, a modern, Philippe-Starck-designed, upscale hotel (picture Bentleys and Rolls Royces lining the entrance and $20+ cocktails in the hotel bar). We guided them through the elaborate lobby and various rooms, and finally outside to the pool area with its gorgeous cabanas featuring flat screen TV's.

After the grand tour, we went back into the lobby and proceeded to brief them on the project using a PowerPoint presentation that included vivid pictures of the destinations that Seabourn has access to, its yachts, and the target audience. We even gave them a piece of rich dark chocolate to eat while we briefed them so that our briefing would allow them to experience the richness of the journey using as many senses as possible.

Our insight? "Life is a journey. Travel richly." (Not to be used as a tagline, but to convey that these people have everything money can buy. What they are looking for is experiences that enrich their lives, giving it substance and creating priceless memories.)

Our group met a day or two after and concepted. After a lot of back and forth, our copywriter came up with the line "Tell better stories." Perfect, right? We loved this line because it really hit the nail on the head when it came to targeting the right audience and sending this message of exploration and enrichment.

Unfortunately, the campaign did not end up following this approach. I don't want to get into the details, but the creative work ended up being off-strategy and off-tone, which left Kathrin and I feeling a bit defeated after such great effort on the planning front. On a positive note, however, the presentation went much smoother than the last thanks to some time spent rehearsing.

Our next assignment is to create a 90 second commercial for Walmart that shows how people "Save money. Live better." by using their Walmart savings to do great things.

We are presenting our ideas tomorrow in class, and I am really excited! I hope this is a chance for my group to redeem ourselves (if only we can rehearse!). The strategy is well thought out and our copywriter came up with a fantastic commercial idea. We even had a fellow planner, Whitney, star as the lead!

Exhausted yet? Well, Bootcamp is just getting started! I mean, right in this very post I've outlined three assignments, and the fact is that Kathrin and I have already researched and created a brief for our fourth one (and have yet to present our third one tomorrow)!

So now I have caught you up to the Walmart project, I can talk more about the school and our third guest lecturer, Mick McCabe, in my next post!

RP Kumar: Analysts Are Your Friends

2010-01-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we had our second guest lecturer come teach us: RP Kumar, SVP of Strategic Planning from Javelin in NYC.

The three days he spent with us were dedicated to discussing the importance of helping the client company (and more specifically, a CMO) justify the money they are spending on marketing, and why it is important to allocate budget to one marketing practice (such as PR, Advertising, Promotion, Direct Response, Web, etc.) versus another.

What I really appreciated about his presentations is that he guided our view of the marketing industry as a whole. While we definitely need to learn the specific skills involved in being an effective planner, it is just as important to see the big picture and understand the role that ROI plays in every business transaction. Also, we sometimes lose site of the fact that advertising is just that: a business.

RP's main message was that analysts (and the technology that they use) are our friends. If used and used well, they can help us deliver the best results for our clients, therefore building our own worth.

Another thing RP touched upon is that idea that strategic planners are needed in every industry, not just advertising. (Good to keep in mind when job searching!)

Altogether, his lectures were a refreshing reality check to the fluff we sometimes encounter when we get wrapped up in the creative work and pulling insights. You need to understand the business, as well as the consumer.

Chris Owens: Creative Briefs... And Then Some

2010-01-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

While our BK Whopper Bar presentation is tomorrow, we already have been given our second presentation from last weekend's guest lecturer (or Hero), Chris Owens. A Bootcamp graduate (of Top Dog quality, no less), Chris introduced us to what we can expect here at Miami Ad School's AP Bootcamp and out there in that place called the "real world." He helped us identify what really makes a brand a brand, and gave us some ideation tools to shape our discovery and strategy processes. While this may sound bland, I assure you his presentation style was not!

The thing I appreciated the most, however, is that Chris pulled us onto a client project that he is currently working on (The Yachts of Seabourn) and actually had the client come sit in the classroom with us so we could ask her some questions about the company and brand and the challenges that they face in building brand awareness and growing their consumer base.

My partner Kathrin and I presented a strategy (or an opportunity) that we felt resonated with the category, consumer and company, and that would help Seabourn carve out a unique identity and appeal to this newer, broader target. After the presentation, Chris was able to talk with the client and provide us feedback on our presentation. We learned that she had singled our presentation out for being the most on par with the brand's direction! Needless to say, this was great to hear and has given us the confidence we needed to really dive into the second assignment.

Another great thing that Chris taught us is that we should make the briefing process as much of an "experience" as possible. Instead of just handing the Creatives a brief, he inspired us to think of active ways to help the Creatives get in the mindset and the environment of the target and the company. Kathrin and I are already thinking of the cool things we could do to introduce the Seabourn client to our Creatives, and I will share that with you after we brief them!

Altogether, we learned a lot from our "Hero" - particularly what distinguishes a successful planner from one that is less effective.

Burgers and Briefings

2010-01-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while since my last post, but there is a good reason for that: BOOTCAMP.

This program is really an active learning experience. Instead of just attending classes and lectures, we are learning by doing as well.

Last week, after being divided into groups of four, we received our first assignment. Our challenge is to drive locals to the new BK Whopper Bar that is opening up in South Beach. All week long my team has been preparing for our presentation by researching, writing creative briefs, ideating in public places (with free wi-fi, of course) and creating quite a commotion on the streets of South Beach in order to produce our creative executions.

I should mention that my team rocks. I really feel fortunate to have been paired with Kathrin (lovely Swiss and fellow planner), John (copywriter/comedian) and Vicente (Venezuelan creative mastermind... with adorable puppy to boot). We all get along and have completely collaborated on our work throughout this entire BK Whopper Bar process. Every step of the way has been so enjoyable - I just hope that my group for the second half of the program is as easy to work with!

I am glad I had a chance to update you on my experience, but now it's back to work... I've got BK on the brain!

Bootcamp. It's the Real Deal.

2010-01-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

There was a bit of mystery around exactly how much work would be required during our AP Bootcamp. While I had heard from MAS grads that the course lives up to its description, our original schedule gave the illusion that we would have quite a bit of free time. Well, what an illusion that was! The final schedule was sent to us right in time for this morning's class - my first real class.

So, what's the real deal?

7 courses, 6 days per week covering a breadth of topics ranging from tackling creative briefs to search engine optimization and marketing (SEO/SEM).

I am especially excited about the Thursday course that was added, because we will learn the ins and outs of web analytics (nerd alert), which is super important in a increasingly online and connected world.

In addition to the courses, we will have client projects. We will be paired with another planner and two creatives to create advertisements for actual clients. As a planner, I will be working on two client projects simultaneously, presenting one each week. (Now add to this attending class and completing those separate class assignments and you get a bit of a better picture with what is in store for me!)

Since so much of our work is collaborative, it looks like most of my time spent outside of class will be with my teams as well as participating in the research and discovery process that is necessary to come up with that "big idea."

Coming from a research and measurement background as opposed to an ad agency, my biggest fear is lacking sufficient creativity. For this reason, I am going to do my best to shift my focus away from mere metrics and to observe the world from a less literal angle. I think it would be safe to call this a transition from researching to discovering.

As nerve-racking as this all sounds, I am actually thrilled for the opportunities to learn as much as possible!

I am off to work on my first of two assignments I received this morning before meeting with a fellow planner to "concept." Then it's straight to an evening course where I will meet my creative team. Fingers crossed that we will have great synergy and really be able to bounce ideas off each other!

Jim Hord: Making Something Out of Nothing

2010-01-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

On to my second post of the day, since I just sat in on my first lecture for the Industry Heroes course at MAS! I'm not being over-zealous... it's just a day of many firsts! (In fact, I would have written even sooner, but I'm pretty sure there was a full-on Irish step dancing performance taking place in the apartment directly above me, which somewhat diminished my ability to reflect properly.)

Today's guest lecturer was Jim Hord, an Executive Creative Director at R/GA who spoke to us about the idea of advertising as alchemy, or "making something out of nothing." The lecturer demonstrated that even with a nothing product or project, you can make a great ad (or at least a provocative one, in the case of Clayson's furniture and the Dallas Zoo!).

He then showed us how to take "something" and turn it into "something useful" by taking advantage of the digital arena. Going digital enables a company to create online communities and generate a two-way interaction that goes beyond an ordinary 30 second segment and fits in to peoples' lives. Some great examples he showed us were the Nike + and Human Race platform and the Nike iD platform (Nike being his top client).

I found a lot of what the speaker discussed to be particularly relevant to an account planner, as moving a platform from merely something that "fits in" to something that can "break through" requires much strategy and insight. I was especially impressed by the Nike+ Human Race campaign, since I did not know much about it.
Fit in: You can track your run with Nike +.
Break through: Use Nike + to run with the world.

Aside from specific examples of work, the ECD also imparted some general ad wisdom that I found extremely valuable. For example:
- The best creative briefs have that one sentence - that one magic insight - that creatives can do something with. (e.g., got milk?)
- Agencies are looking for the big idea that you can do anything with (print, digital, television, etc.)... the 360 degree idea.

I had no idea what to expect since this is the first in a series of speakers, but I found the lecture to be extremely interesting and am looking forward for more to come!

On another note, tomorrow will probably my last day of complete freedom. We just discovered that there has been an additional class added to the schedule, which means that I'll be at MAS 6 days per week - quite the Bootcamp! However, it makes a world of a difference when you are learning or working at something that you are passionate about, and for this reason I am really looking forward to the coming weeks.

Bring it on!

First Day: Orientation

2010-01-04T08:13:00.001-08:00

It's official - I am an Ad Planning student living in South Beach!

I moved in to my apartment on Saturday, met some of my fellow Account Planners at Segafredo's on Sunday (I'm pretty sure our waiter was THE Segafredo himself... and also not fond of having to cater to a group of 15 excited ad students) and had orientation at 9am this Monday morning. What a whirlwind!

The School is as colorful as the people in it - neon bleachers, flat screen TVs for video conferencing, student's ad work on display and of course the Miami Ad School logo of a puppy everywhere. (They really like dogs here. I mean, REALLY like them.)

Upon arrival we got a little welcome package in the form of a logo-adorned messenger bag filled with all sorts of ad school goodies, including a mug and a flamingo pen and temporary tattoo (to be used for my next biker rally, obviously).

Like the nerds we are, us AP students chose the front and center bleachers to congregate. We are a pretty international crew, which I totally dig. Peru, Switzerland, Germany, Venzuela, Puerto Rico, UK, and so on. I've already expressed my interest in learning Spanish to a couple of girls here hailing from Latin America and asked that they speak to me in Spanish. From my experience vacationing in Spain (where I responded with "Si, soy de Nueva York" after a waiter asked whether I was done with my cafe con leche), I am pretty sure this is going to be a disaster.

Pippa, the President of MAS came over to our area and introduced herself to a small group of us. Both she and her co-founder seem really passionate about what they do (which is always refreshing). She also mentioned that MAS is opening up a new school in DUMBO in New York - I'm eager to see that happen!

After introductions by fellow students, mentors and faculty, we toured the school and learned a bit more about how it runs. Overall, I was so impressed with how personable everyone seems.

It sounds like most students in my Bootcamp program have an ad agency background, which can be a bit intimidating. BUT I also know that we are all here to learn, so I am coming at this with an open mind. It doesn't hurt having market research experience either!

One thing I find about everyone I meet who is interested in AP is that they are all super curious by nature - I love that.

My first class is tonight and I am looking forward to hearing a lecture from a practicing Planner in the Ad industry.

So far, soooo good. Stay tuned - there is definitely more to come.

Why Account Planning?

2009-12-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

I have a passion and respect for the advertising industry: Great advertising can transform a brand and inspire an audience, changing the way people think and behave.

But great advertising is not possible without equally great account planners.

What is an account planner?

The purpose of an account planner is ultimately to help influence consumer decision. By connecting with the consumer, the account planner shapes the strategy behind the brand.

Why would I make a great account planner?

I’m an ideas person: give me a problem and I’ll work out a solution. Innately curious and highly observational, I approach work by first immersing myself in the discovery process before conceptualizing and forming strategic solutions.

To create a strategy of value – an idea that is truly innovative – one needs a solid combination of creativity and practicality. However, often those who are creative lack pragmatism, and those who are pragmatic have little imagination. I embody a bit of both traits – I may never be the next Kandinsky or your financial advisor, but I’ve got what it takes to provide an account team with meaningful insights.

As a market researcher, I’ve written surveys, organized focus groups and completed more than my fair share of quantitative analysis. However, my favorite aspect of the research process is translating hard data into workable ideas, and helping account and creative teams understand their target audience.