My latest piece for Fast Company, “Brand Endearment: Why Super Bowl Ads Aren’t Dead Yet”, was published yesterday:

“There is an old truism in the sales profession—people buy from people they like. The same goes for brands. Being “liked” is certainly not the only reason people buy your product or service, but it’s the foundation of a strong and lasting relationship and something that needs to be nurtured and developed. There are certain times when a brand should be “selling,” and there are other times a brand should be building that deeper emotional bond–something I call brand endearment.

The Super Bowl is certainly one of those times. Super Bowl advertisements have become their own form of entertainment, and as such play by a completely different set of rules. Ads shouldn’t be in hard sales mode, they should be trying to build greater brand endearment. As the world quiets down to actually watch a Super Bowl commercial, they are expecting to be entertained, moved, inspired, or made to howl. Beware to advertisers who don’t understand these rules–they’ll wake up Monday morning with a multi-million-dollar case of buyer’s remorse.”

Read more on why Super Bowl ads aren’t dead yet

“People want to feel alive. We want to have new experiences and see things that surprise, inspire, or yes, even shock us a little. But we live in an Internet-exposed world that gives us all we want, raw and in real time, and we have an ‘I’ve seen it all before’ attitude about everything. Yet companies are more cautious in this politically correct, overly litigious, and socially enabled environment. According to Trendwatching.com, consumers are ‘able to handle much more honest conversations, more daring innovations, more quirky flavors, more risqué experiences–these consumers increasingly appreciate brands that push the boundaries.’ So companies had better figure out how to let their brands thrive in today’s world.

“Just where is that boundary, and just how daring are today’s marketers? How do they straddle that fine line between engaging and offending? What happens when the unreasonable objections of rampant political correctness threaten to stifle their best ideas and creative content? …”

Read the rest on Fast Company for some guideposts to follow when trying to break through.

People are coming before technology: You’re starting to see more companies make the consumer experience more central to the story versus the bits and bites. Apple has always led the way here, but others are realizing and catching up. My favorite example was Samsung’s Note (best device at the show in my opinion). Its ability to help a person move from handwriting and drawing notes to more text-based and voice interactions was amazing. It felt like it was designed for the way a normal person works. The demo involved artists drawing portraits of attendees on the device as though it were a pad of paper. Very cool.

In a sea of overwhelming choice, content is still king: There were so many content plays and partnerships announced that it felt like the next great land rush. Consumers have too many media choices. It takes too much effort to find interesting stuff for the typical low-key-hoping-to-relax couch potato. No one has figured out the global electronic content guide (though many are trying). In the meantime, consumers are going to the well-branded and trusted content. So marketers, more then ever, need a content partnering strategy as well as a media strategy.

3-D is still a gimmick: Don’t get me wrong, there where some amazing displays, like LG’s 80-foot entrance display that made you feel as though you were walking into another world. But there is no content, and no effortless way to consume it in the home. It’s a ways off from becoming a reason to watch content, so brands should not invest much effort in drafting for those properties.

Coolest consumer electronics at CES—A muscle car. Or was it really a living room on wheels?: A little black gadgetis cool, but let’s get real – it ain’t no double butterfly-doored, lipstick-red road monster on wheels—that gets 100 mpg. Seriously, the technology in cars is making them the next great American living room—where you can interact with any content and communities you want. It represents a whole new way of engaging a consumer, and smart and inventive brands will exploit this relatively virgin and uncluttered frontier.

Last month VIA hosted the annual holiday party for our employees and their guests and we had an excellent time, as we do every year. As the cliché goes, here at VIA we work hard but we also know how to play hard when the occasion presents itself, and we had an incredible year worth celebrating. Traditionally I have always given books out as gifts to the team, but this year I wanted to try something a little different, something that I hoped would still be meaningful. I’m a huge reader of all kinds of mediums, but lately I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that music has often proved just as inspirational to me as the printed word. Sometimes even more so. For me, music has never been something that goes on half-noticed in the background. It has the power to change a mood, evoke a feeling, to literally move people. That’s why we still embrace opera and musical theatre, genres that have evolved over time but still remain vital pieces of the culture. It’s the reason presidential campaigns would never think of going into election season without a theme song and – love it or loathe it – a big reason American Idol has held on now for eleven straight seasons.

So the holiday gift had three parts to it. The first was an iPod, which is basically a practical delivery system for music, but is also a truly exceptional product. The second was a gift card to a local music shop in Portland where we as a company would descend the following morning, (hangovers be damned) to each choose an album – but not just any album. I asked people to consider their choices closely, and to submit to me their written rationale for why they chose what they did. I wanted to know how that album either inspired them, how it will inspire us as a group, or how it inspired a generation. All our album choices have been loaded onto a shared music network that anyone in the building can access and enjoy, which is part three of the gift. And just to make it interesting, I put a deadline on the submissions and turned it into a contest with a cash prize for the winner. The winning entry was submitted by our resident senior copy editor and proofreader, Patti Lanigan, who happens to also be an accomplished musician in her own right. (Click here to read Patti’s entry, “All Killer, No Filler”.)

Here’s to an endless fountain of inspiration for us all in 2012. Happy New Year.

Best,
John

When I started VIA in 1993, my mother sent me a card with the famous quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” I believed it then, but now I know it to be the truth.

This year VIA was named Small Advertising Agency of the Year by Ad Age and Creativity in large part because we have been able to do what the huge ad agencies struggle with–get results for companies operating in extraordinarily challenging markets. One client went so far as to say that VIA is the “Seal Team 6″ of the marketing world. Being small is a huge advantage when trying to do the impossible.

From my experience, these are some of the things to think about as you build a small team:

Eradicate fear: Big operates on fear. Small operates on thrill. Small teams are less political by nature because there are fewer relationships and greater transparency. Small teams can go for broke because they deal with less of the bureaucracy that can quickly kill an idea. But the fearlessness needed to bring forth the best thinking has to be nurtured. You need to stamp fear out and reward those who are bold. Only then do you have a shot at making big change happen.

Respect diversity: I believe that to solve very complex problems you need a variety of viewpoints and ideas. It is imperative that group leaders play no favorites. All opinions and roles must be valued. This ensures balanced contribution and keeps all players equally motivated. This top-to-bottom equity of contribution is the foundation of excellence.

Create clarity: It is critical that everyone’s role is clearly defined and ownership is distributed wisely. Only then can a team move with the speed needed to keep pace in today’s world. I have found that rotating leadership between people of various skills, depending on the phase of the project, can add an additional degree of decisiveness, speed and quality.

Recognize chemistry: Chemistry is like porn–I know it when I see it. I can’t tell you why some people click and others don’t. But I have come to realize that it is essential to build teams that have good chemistry. I am not saying everyone has to be the same, or even friends, but I do believe that for small teams to be exceptional they have to have the same attitude and vibe, i.e., chemistry.

Share experiences: If you want a high-performing small team, you have to put them through some battles together. There is no replacement for living through rough or wild times. The stories that come from common experiences are the lessons that allow everyone to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the team, while providing a roadmap for how future endeavors should be undertaken. These shared experiences create group empathy, which leads to a bond that gets a team through the highs and lows. Accelerate team bonding by finding unique and challenging ways to pressure test the team. The dividends will be aplenty.

Drop dead weight: When you don’t have a big group with lots of depth, you need everyone to be a black belt at what he or she does. The old adage is so very true: you are only as good as your weakest link. Any team will immediately recognize the weakest players and will try to work around them, which is the first step to mediocrity. You have to lose the dead weight. Harsh, but true.

Dream bigger: You can’t change the world without dreams of what could be. Because there are countless things that will tear down your dreams along the way, I propose that you start with bigger dreams. Then dare your teams to be absurdly aspirational. In my experience, it is an easier task to get a small team to dream big since there are fewer voices to judge you. If you start with big dreams, the likelihood of even part of your dream coming true is more likely.

Trust me, those rose-colored glasses will look fantastic on you.

Author John Coleman is CEO and founder of The Via Agency.

Yahoo! Advertising Blog asked me how advertisers and marketers are integrating social media, and my post is below. Enjoy!

– John

Most marketers are obsessed with adding big social media initiatives to the marketing mix—and for good reason. The membership numbers for Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, etc. are staggering.

But just because people have accounts on those sites doesn’t mean they are exhibiting social behaviors that marketers can leverage for mass reach.

People vary greatly in how they like to socialize and interact with their friends, family and communities. Understanding the importance of social media to your marketing efforts goes deeper than just determining how much time your customers spend on social platforms. It goes to the heart of what kind of social people they are.

Some people are sharers, possessing an almost habitual need to spread what they know; some are voyeurs, possessing a deep desire to listen to gossip and see how others live; some are networkers, able to connect easily with and enjoy new people; and others are isolationists looking for simplicity and solitude when they find time to relax.

These social behavior categorizations can go on and on. Each of these social segments needs to be determined for the target audiences a marketer is going after.

Demographic and psychographic segmentation work doesn’t give the insights needed to build effective social media programs. You need to create what we refer to as “socialgraphic” segmentation.

By better understanding how your audiences socialize you can build social marketing efforts that naturally enhance their current behaviors, and thus build deeper engagements with your brand.

 

“Crowding Out the Experts—Social Taste Formation” examines how social and digital media are changing the importance of traditional experts like reviewers. The panel will feature Greil Marcus and David Goodman, the president of CBS Interactive Music Group and Last.fm. VIA’s Director of Digital Delivery Annemarie Crivelli will moderate. The idea for this panel came from an unlikely source: Stephen Hebson, our geeky statistics intern (now social media analyst) who’s writing an applied microeconomics thesis on the subject based on quantitative data from the music industry.

“Shock But Don’t Offend—Daring Brands Walk the Line” discusses how brands can be provocative and embrace the rawness of social media without offending customers. Samsung CMO Ralph Santana, AdWeek News Editor Tim Nudd and VIA CCO Greg Smith will speak on the panel. As soon as our Chief Knowledge Officer David Burfeind suggested this idea, we knew it was a keeper.

I’m really excited about both ideas and already looking forward to this year’s South by Southwest. If you think these ideas are interesting and would like to see us there, please vote for our panels in the SXSW PanelPicker: Crowding Out the Experts and Shock But Don’t Offend.

You can check out the online announcement at AdAge. The full story will appear in the August 8th edition of AdAge.

We are only as good as our clients, and we are grateful for their support and hard work throughout the year.

Congrats to the entire VIA team!

John

In March, the Home Appliance group at Samsung approached VIA to develop a digital and social media campaign around three exciting product launches: PowerFoam™ Washer, 4-Door LCD Fridge with apps, and Flex Duo™ Oven. Each campaign had two goals in mind: connect the product and brand to consumers and increase fan acquisition on Facebook with a big idea.

VIA went to work developing contest ideas with high-impact prizes. In the last three weeks, we helped Samsung launch the first three user-generated contests on Facebook. The first, called FoamFace, launched on June 1 and was in market until June 15. In just two weeks, fan acquisition increased by approximately 200% with nearly 900 contest submissions.

This past week, we launched the next two campaigns: Mom’s Day Off and Clean Slate. For Mom’s Day Off, VIA created an online Facebook Crazy Day pinball game for moms to play and submit their scores for a chance to win an LCD Fridge. We partnered with the best game developers in the world from Texas, Vancouver, Peru and Budapest to develop the custom pinball application. In just one week, fan acquisition increased by an additional 100% with nearly 1,500 sweepstakes entries.

The other contest to launch this week is called Clean Slate, which offers a chance for moms to submit a photo of their laundry space and, in 300 characters or less, explain why the room needs a makeover.

The last campaign to launch is for the Flex Duo™ Oven and is currently in development. These engagements follow a series of Samsung digital projects VIA had a hand in developing, including the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.™

We also created two TV spots for Samsung’s Home Appliance group:
“Monkey” and “Cravings.” Enjoy!

In other VIA news, we are proud to announce that we have been selected as Agency of Record for People’s United Bank, a fast-growing retail bank operating from New York through New England. Also, in the coming weeks we will be breaking new campaigns for Unilever’s Popsicle® brand and Samsung’s Refrigerators, and continuing new work for Klondike, DuPont and Unum.