Sometimes, the agency biz feels like a highwire circus act. Not necessarily a bad thing.

The Bailey Gardiner team does some light stretching before a client presentation

At a recent TAAN meeting in South Beach (Transworld Advertising Agency Network), I had the opportunity to hear a presentation about creativity in the workplace from a senior executive at Cirque du Soleil. Jordan Fiksenbaum, Vice President of Marketing and PR, spoke to our gathering of some 50 or so ad agency owners from around the globe as we gathered together to share and learn from one another at our annual global conference. The story of Cirque du Soleil has been well-told and revered by many, and still I found much inspiration in hearing Jordan explain the company’s approach to creativity. Truth be told, their philosophy matches my own in the ways we try to encourage and inspire our marketing teams to forever top themselves.

You see, creativity both exhilarating and exhausting. It’s not a constant bubbling spring from which all great ideas flow – at least it’s not for me anyway (or any other creative person I’ve met so far). You’ve got to provide a nurturing environment, and atmosphere that breeds ideas – a place where creativity can grow and prosper. Cirque du Soleil has that going on, and then some.

Some things we can learn from their successful formula:

• Everyone’s a player – Every person in your company plays a role.  At Cirque, the behind-the-scenes creators of sets, costumes and soundtracks are treated with as much importance and respect as the performers.  Same goes for the admin staff, the janitors, the cafeteria ladies, etc – they are all playing key roles in helping the organization reach success. In the agency world, when was the last time you applauded for the accounting department, or the second account coordinator from the left?  Yep, you couldn’t do it without them either.

• Office environment – The Cirque headquarters in Montreal was custom designed for them as a creative playground. It’s their business offices and training center for performers from around the world, all wrapped into one. They do not separate the art from the commerce – they see no line drawn between the two. At your workplace, do the creatives sit in their own “department” or section of the office, walled off from the business side of the business?

• Individual workstations – Their offices literally look like a circus is going on inside (and it is). Each person has the freedom to customize their space with their own creations, surrounding themselves with their own interpretations of creativity.  Crazy colors and feather boas? Check. Wild masks and impossibly tall springy things made from god-knows-what? Check. Gray cubicles with standard issue manila folders and a 3-drawer file cabinet? Not so much.

• Work family – From the atmosphere in their headquarters, you can see the camaraderie and interaction between performers and business teams. All offices surround the performers’ practice areas, so at any time at your desk you can look up and watch some death-defying flyover or sweet balancing act. What a great melding of purpose, having everyone sitting together – creating. Doesn’t matter whether it’s columns of numbers on an excel spreadsheet or juggling fiery spears.

• Food – What’s creative inspiration without fuel? The Cirque offices have incredible kitchens, and a cafeteria serving the foods of the world for people from all around it. Twenty languages can be heard as people share their meals together – food serves as the great unifier. At our agency, we’ve found this true – ask members of the Bailey Gardiner Food Club about that.

Our accounting dept is extremely nimble.

• Freedom – Creativity is about exploring the boundaries and crossing them. This process requires freedom, and trust. Without it you might as well forget about seeing or hearing anything new. One Cirque example I remember was a story about a makeup artist and an eyelash fetish. She felt the performers in a certain scene needed to wear 14 pairs of eyelashes to get the desired effect. The bean counters could have questioned if they could get by on 7 pairs, or even 10 – this would save on production costs.  Management sided with the makeup artist, knowing this attention to detail is what makes Cirque a global sensation. Creative freedom.

We strive to do as many of these things at our humble little agency.  What’s working for you at your hive of creativity?

Brainstorming is a way of life in our creative agency, and yet so many people find the process unrewarding. And after attending a Mirren seminar recently on Innovation by Mark Levy, I realize why. We all come to the brainstorm session with the expectation of great results, but we don’t prepare properly. Following up on KDay’s great post on brainstorming rules, I dive deeper here to share some advanced brainstorming techniques sure to set you up for maximum creative success.

First, a couple of mistakes (come on, we have all done these):

Mistake #1: You set a time for the brainstorm, send the invite to those idea mavens, and everyone shows up at the appointed hour ready to be creative. NOPE! Coming to the meeting prepared with ideas (like you would for any other meeting) helps the group by giving a starting point to ideas you’ve already germinated. Then the group brainstorm can help nourish them.

Mistake #2: You expect everyone to drop whatever they are working on, and flip their creative switch on. Instead, consider transitioning them into the session by shedding their distractions. Levy suggests asking them to take 5 minutes and write down all the noise in their brain that would keep them from “being in the moment”. Once it’s on paper, they can set it aside for the duration of your session and devote themselves to generating good ideas.

Mistake #3: We assume that people generate ideas in a brainstorm the same way we do – at the same speed, in the same direction, following the same paths. Not so – as evidenced from any disagreement on point of view you have ever had with your spouse or significant other. To counteract, set up a level playing field where normal leaders are not in charge, and those with more quiet voices are still heard.

Here are some ways Levy shared to accomplish this goal:

Brainstorm Questions First -

To get the creativity rolling, Levy suggests posing only questions first – dozens of them. Without the pressure of answering them, these questions can heighten participants’ curiosity and encourage them to think about possibilities.

Brain Writing -

Created by two professors, brain writing is a way to capture everyone’s contributions regardless of their rank or thought process. Each participant writes an idea at the top of a piece of blank paper, and when the group is done, collectively passes their papers to the person on their left. Then this person writes an idea that builds on the original.  From there, pass the paper and idea down the line 4 or 5 more times, until you have a group of ideas that have been fleshed out by a group dynamic without a single word being uttered aloud.

Mind-Reading –

Similar to Brain Writing, except after the participants write their idea on the page, they then imagine what they think the person to their left would write on the page next.  Then the person on their right, and so on. The concept here is that the ideas people have in their own heads are never as good as the ideas they come up with when they are in someone else’s head, and not stuck in their own thinking.

We’ve been trying these techniques with great success – I’d love to hear your stories if you try them too.

If more than half of the meaning we derive from communication is based on non-verbal cues, then why do agency people spend so much time focused on the materials, and not on the delivery?

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with some fantastic presenters, and they have taught me a great deal about how an agency person should communicate in a meeting. At our agency, we’ve put great emphasis on what I call the “theater of the room.” We strive to orchestrate every element of each meeting to maximize our success. Using the theater analogy, we are all players, the conference room is the stage, and it’s completely within our control to affect the energy, the movement, the visuals and the words to reach our desired outcome.

Now, a successful presentation can result in many different outcomes. It could be that our client accepts a new campaign concept or it might be that we win a new piece of business. Regardless of the goals for the meeting, they all share one thing in common – we are trying to sell something, and have that sale be accepted by whomever is on the receiving end.

Recently, I reviewed some of the key elements of a successful presentation at our weekly staff meeting, and I thought I would share some of those tips with you here. Some of this stuff might be old hat to a few of you, but I’m constantly surprised when the most senior people show little preparation or management of presentation elements:

12 Tips to Improve Your Presentation Techniques

1. Clearly communicate the meeting objectives in advance of the meeting.
2. Take control of the room from the moment you greet your guest until you wave goodbye at the door. It’s your meeting and you are in charge, even if you are not on your own turf.
3. Pre-plan the seating to maximize focus. Are you presenting creative? If so, how will your guests view the concepts so you don’t have to awkwardly shift back and forth, or force people to crane their necks. Where is the hot seat? Make sure you don’t sit a guest in the A/C downblast, or staring out the window at your gorgeous yet distracting view.
4. Get the coffee/water/snacks dance out of the way quickly. You don’t want interruptions with someone barging in to serve Sanka in the middle of your meeting kickoff.
5. Once seated, review the agenda for the meeting and CLEARLY STATE WHAT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH. Plant the seed that you expect acceptance of your idea and a plan for next steps.
6. Review the time frame for the meeting – how long will be here? Does anyone have to leave early? Disaster strikes if your key decision maker has not communicated she needs to leave 45 minutes into the presentation.  Adjust accordingly.
7. Pass out any materials with hierarchy in mind – the senior-most guest gets the handout first, and down from there. Agency people get it last.  Hand it to each person – do not throw or slide it across the conference table. This is about showing simple respect.
8. Present with authority. You know your shit, so own it. If you don’t know your shit, YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN THE ROOM. Project your voice, be authoritative but not aggressive or brash.
9. Everyone from the agency side should have a role. If you have nothing to say, you don’t belong in this meeting.  This is where the client is thinking: “Am I paying hourly rates for all these people to sit here and add nothing?”
10. Watch your body language. Don’t slouch in your chair (you hear that, creatives?).  Stand if you have to, walk around the room, wave your arms for emphasis, use movement to make a point. It’s theater people! Channel your inner thespian.
11. Use visuals, use whiteboards, make origami if you have to in order to prove your point — it keeps their attention focused on you and your ideas.
12. At the end, verbally review the decisions that were made in the meeting.  It sets things in concrete and reminds people that you are a goal-oriented achiever.  Make clear what the next steps will be, and then follow up in writing to remind everyone.

There’s a lot more to it than this, but consider this a quick primer in Agency Presentation 101. If you need more training, hire a coach. We did, and she did wonders for polishing our communications.

What other tricks do you use in presentations? We’d love you to share your tactics and we’ll add to this growing list…

Recently I had the privilege of visiting Hong Kong along with fellow SD ad agency leaders as the guest of the San Diego CW TV affiliate Channel 6. Whenever I travel, I can’t help but observe the local marketing customs along with the culture and sights – when you’ve been in the business for as long as me, you just can’t turn off your inner sociologist.  Anyway, I thought I’d share a few interesting observations about what works there, and the culture of marketing in the most westernized of Chinese cities.

1. Sex sells.

Hmmm. What a surprise. I guess I just expected that sex would be somehow dampened in ultra-conservative China, but ooooh no. Everything from sodas to luxury handbags, from cars to mobile service – they all use beautiful and alluring women to advertise their products.  Main difference from the US is that most are fully clothed (except for bus girl here), but just as sexy. Even the men are sexified – and not so fully clothed.  Double standard?

2. Out-of-home marketing is King with a capital K.

Every surface, everywhere you look at any time of the day or night, there is an advertising message blaring out. Seriously, it reminded me of a scene from Blade Runner. If they could figure out how to fly robot blimps above the streets with ads on the sides, they would. There seems to be little legislation about size of ad or brightness of lights – even the sides and tops of skyscrapers are used liberally. With that riot of messages fighting for attention, how do you break through?  Easy – bigger is better. Add flashing neon lights and you are GOLDEN.

3.  Mandarin/English language mash-up is the new bilingualism.

I expected a more full-immersion language barrier, and I think I was just being naive. After a very long time as a British Colony, Hong Kong retains much of its English language injection. Modern marketing simply combines old and new, translating some words but not others.  This results in us non-Mandarin speakers being able to pick up about every fifth word – still enough to get the gist. Locals presumably understand the entire message. Whatever works.

4. Start a mobile service, bank or energy drink.

These dudes have all the money, or so it seems judging from the ad spend.  I was on this trip with several media planners and buyers, and together we tried to add up what we thought the market dominance of these three categories amounted to in ad dollars.  It was a staggeringly large amount of money, and considering just about everything in Hong Kong is VERY expensive, I propose that Bailey Gardiner’s first client when we open our Hong Kong office should be in one of these three categories. That, or the sex trade. But that’s another blog post.

5.  Open a pizza franchise.

Whoever gets there first will KILL IT.  McDonald’s is all over the city, but we could not find one single pizza brand represented in Hong Kong.  Is it a cultural thing and they just don’t like pizza?  Judging from the amount of western culture they consume, and the love of all things American there, pizza should do really well.  Papa John’s, are you listening?

6. Social media is alive and well.

I had the impression that China was squashing the use of Facebook and Twitter, but apparently that is not true.  In fact, as I tweeted away about my happy visits to The Peak, the Giant Buddha and the Ladies Market, I received tons of followers and a lot of conversation with people (in English) who were visitors, locals or expatriots. I also noticed many Hong Kong businesses encouraging people to connect with them on Twitter and Facebook. In fact, that’s how we found Happy Feet which we ended up visiting three times. (See earlier reference about another blog post).

So is the farthest flung of global locations and cultures really that different from our own when it comes to marketing, advertising, social media and public relations?

#notsomuch really.

I just had the opportunity to do some travel in Italy, and although I was there primarily for the pasta and wine, I am still a marketer at heart – and that’s hard to shake off, even on vacation.  What struck me about Italy was the lack of advertising and branding messages everywhere – we are so used to being hit with them from all angles in the States. But I can’t tell you how many times we met some nice Italian local who said “I know a guy who know a guy, and he can get you…”

Clearly, word of mouth marketing – the original form of advertising – is alive and well.  Perhaps this kind of communication was born in Roman times, and has smartly persisted throughout the ages as Italy and the rest of the world have modernized.

Nowhere was I accosted by brand-mania.  Althought there were occasional ads in the areas where we traveled, there were no roadside billboards, no digital signs in the airports, no poster ads above the urinals.  Yet both locals and visitors were clearly conducting business, referring customers to various locations, and communicating the benefits of particular products and brands.  All by talking.  Animatedly.

One great example was presented in a restaurant along the coast, where the simplest way to advertise the daily specials were to just show us.  Luigi, the owner and proprietor of the restaurant, brought around a platter of fresh caught fish to each table.  He told us what kind each one was, how it would be prepared, what kind of wine would be best served alongside. Very effective.  And delicious, I might add.

In another town, shops marketed their handmade local specialties by putting a few in baskets outside on the street.  As we walked by, we saw something that interested us and the shopkeeper picked up on that interest, nicely told us about the products we were eyeballing, and we were drawn inside the store to buy.

The concierge at our hotels became preeminently important people.  They deftly directed us to fabulous restaurants, wine and cheese shops where we could find the best of Tuscany, and where to get the best deal on gasoline.  Their word became fact for us, and we followed every recommendation.  No tourist magazines, no bus side ads, no peel downs or page take overs. Just one-on-one recommendations.

And when in doubt, we just asked someone along the way.

There’s something to learn here about the simplicity of direct communication. Maybe those Ancient Romans weren’t famous only for their aqueducts and gladiators…. perhaps they are also the original social networkers.

I am so darned sick and tired of marketing agency people with an inferiority complex about being in San Diego, and last week creative legend Mike Hughes had my back.  Mike was in town to speak to a group of marketing leaders gathered by San Diego AdClub, and one of the key points he made was that creativity can come from anywhere – even San Diego.

Mike is the creative genius at The Martin Agency (ADWEEK agency of the year), and is the guy behind blockbuster advertising campaigns for GEICO (geckos, cavemen, dancing money), Walmart (tear jerker holiday ads with snow falling on troops in Iraq), the singing guy from freecreditreport.com and more.  And that award winning blockbuster agency is located in….Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond? Population 204,000 thousand, humid in the summer and snowy in the winter, miles from anything remotely cultural, capital of the Confederacy and firmly planted in Southern traditions.

Yet guys like Mike Hughes can thrive there.  Creative geniuses from around the country are drawn there. Talent grows and prospers there.

So why would we not expect the same or better from San Diego?  We’re a happy bunch, basking in nearly perfect weather, enjoying a plethora of cultural events and arts, inspired by people of all ethnicities and backgrounds, and uniquely uber cool.

Look at this amazing work by some of our best local talent, and tell me there’s not the seed of some greatness here.  We just have to nurture it so it can grow into the next Martin Agency or Crispin Porter (Miami? Gimme a break).

http://www.vitrorobertson.com/
http://www.meadsdurket.com/
http://www.gearyi.com/
http://www.lambesis.com/
http://www.fishtankba.com/
http://www.baileygardiner.com/

Come on folks. Drop the apologies and just pony up. We deserve the cred.

Sometimes you just need a good laugh – especially when it’s a mistake you could have easily made yourself. Well, maybe you wouldn’t write some of these hilarious mistakes in grammar, editing and just bone-headed lack of proof reading – but it’s damned funny to laugh at whoever did:

And my personal fav:

Yesterday I got an email from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) urging me not to represent Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (no relation), and I gotta tell you I’m impressed with the approach.  Now I don’t like being threatened any more than the next guy, and I do not always agree with PETA’s tactics. However, I do have to applaud them for their unique strategy in targeting PR and marketing firms.

PETA’s basic premise is this: if you represent Ringling, you risk your own reputation. “No amount of PR can make beating baby elephants sound good”.  Yep, they’ve got a point on that one.

In the email, they quote PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman. “Ringling Bros. is a public relations nightmare waiting to happen. There’s not a PR team in the world that is slick enough to sell the beating of baby elephants, the whipping of tigers, and the use of chains, bullhooks, and electric prods on animals – all for the sake of a few cheap tricks.”

This effort coincides with a full page ad in PR News with the same theme, geared at letting PR people know what they might be getting into when they sign a contract with Ringling. I also got a phone call from a PETA representative to follow up on the email.

As a marketer, I don’t recall ever being targeted with this kind of effort.  I think many people are affected by PETA’s tactics, and not always in supportive ways.  Some of my friends are very turned off my their scare tactics and strong-armed veiled threats. Others are sympathetic to the cause, and to the animals PETA seeks to protect.  I don’t know anyone that is FOR animal cruelty, but when does PETA and other similar organizations take it too far?

If you want to know more, here’s PETA’s website devoted to the Ringling issue.  A word of warning – it’s not for the squeamish or faint of heart.  But then again, I don’t know anyone in the marketing business I would define as faint of heart.

What do you think about this approach of preemptively targeting marketing firms?

*** Note: BG would not be interested in representing Ringling Bros. – animal cruelty or not.  Our business is enough of a circus as it is, and we don’t need clowns and tightrope walkers to remind us.

I recently returned from a business trip to New York City for a marketing agency conference, and was blown away by something I always have taken for granted – the doorman at my hotel.  My experience reaffirmed for me that the doorman is THE most important position in hotel marketing. Sure, he’s dependable and helpful, always ready to grab me a cab or direct me to the nearest Starbucks.  But this guy was phenomenal – and here’s why:

He remembered my name.

The hotel I stayed at was The London NYC, a recently renovated hotel that was formerly the Rhiga Royal Hotel – I used to love staying at the Rhiga because it’s well located in Midtown Manhattan, offers all-suites, and was my virgin hotel experience in New York when I visited NY for our client Tiffany & Co. more than 18 years ago.  Now it’s updated and even more cool and trendy.

And here’s the kicker – I haven’t stayed there for more than 9 or 10 years.  And Michael the doorman remembered me.  AND CALLED ME BY NAME. Impressive customer service.

Stunned by his feat of memory, I realized at that moment how critically important that job really is – and how much the doorman can make a difference in a guest’s hotel stay. In today’s world of instantaneous communication, the roles of customer service and marketing have become synonymous.

What if we all had this same attention to detail, this same freakish memory?  If every business had a “doorman”, how would that man or woman represent the front door of your company? We would all do well to think about this approach a bit more seriously.

One thing I can tell you about this experience. I am instantly made to feel like the London NYC Hotel is the only place I care to stay in New York City.  I will be back there soon.  And Michael the doorman will remember me.

Friday night was the Annual Addys Awards at the Se San Diego Hotel hosted by the San Diego AdClub, and it was a great night for Bailey Gardiner and for the entire San Diego advertising and marketing community. What a great showing of creative work by everyone involved! My particular favorite was the category for work-you-sweated-over-and-really-loved-but-the-client-didn’t-chose-it-for-some-insane-reason, or the more politically correct version “Ultimate Torture” Category.  And yes, we won an award in that category for a campaign we created for the San Diego Museum of Art that never saw the light of day (see our Creative Graveyard).

BG was also honored by several People’s Choice Awards too:

• Advertising for the Arts & Sciences – The San Diego Museum of Art
• Interactive Media – San Diego Hospice
• Agency Self Promotion – Bailey Gardiner website

Plus we picked up an award in the Elements of Advertising Category for our Rockrose new homes community Logo Design.

A fun night had by all – and kudos to our awesome creative team for their award-winning work.

We could not have done it without them!