Its About the PRODUCT Stupid

I just read a very interesting article on AdAge.com – How To Build Better Car Marketing.  In it Jordan Zimmerman makes some interesting points about how agencies are up for review because marketing automobiles is a unique proposition and in his words “agencies lack a fundamental understanding of how the industry operates.”

I couldn’t agree more but I think that Jordan left out a few key points:

1. In too many instances, the agencies handling the accounts not only lack an understanding of how the industry works, they lack an understanding of the PRODUCT.  Automobiles are different than sneakers, diamonds or food – all of which the average agency grunt can relate to.  Cars and trucks are complex machines that evoke passion in enthusiasts and owners alike.  Driving and interacting with the machine involves every sense and sensation – whether the owner is aware of it or not.  Yet we trust the communication of core brand attributes to people at agencies in cities like New York who often don’t even have drivers licenses!  In order to represent an automotive brand, everyone on the team should have a passion for the product and have the ability to experience the product on a daily basis.
2. Agencies need to stop working for awards and keep the goals of their clients in mind.  In the case of the auto industry, it is a monthly cycle that is focused on moving the metal.  Award-winning ads are great, brand awareness is important but every agency should be tasked with helping sell the product and rewarded or penalized based on their ability to do so.
3. To follow up on the point above, the way agencies are organized it is difficult to measure how effective a national campaign is in terms of sales.  There is a lot of inefficiency in the system with different agencies handling the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 advertising.   What about a different model that coordinates the three under one agency and true metrics put in place to measure the efficacy of a campaign?

The role of the advertising agency is changing rapidly and the automotive industry is a primary catalyst to this change.  Even after the economy stabilizes, automotive clients will be running lean and demanding more accountability from their agencies.  Per Mr. Zimmerman, a better understanding of how the industry works is important but I’d argue a understanding of and passion for the product is paramount for success in the future.

Filed under: Advertising, Automotive, Marketing , Advertising, Automotive, Brand Engagement, Cars, Consumers, Design, Retail

Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s crowdsourcing experiment backfires

Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s always rattling the ad-industry’s cage–whether through disturbing ads for Burger King, or roundly lambasted ads for Microsoft. But recently, they just lost the Volkswagen account–one of their marquees–while Burger King franchisees are blaming Crispin for flagging sales. And their latest experiment may have overstepped the line with designers, who usually pay them a grudging respect.

To create a logo for the electric motorcycle start-up Brammo, they’re crowdsourcing the design, for a reward of $1000. The winner will be announced in six days, and over 700 people have submitted work. But no matter: To many professional designers, so-called “spec” assignments–that is, exploratory work, done for free–is taboo. Many designers think it undercuts them, and denigrates the profession. Designis.ms was among the aggrieved, and they’ve started a Twitter campaign (#nospec) against Crispin.

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Filed under: Crowdsourcing, Innovation, Marketing , Advertising, Clients, Crowdsourcing, Design, Marketing

More creative shops creating their own product rather than tout clients’ offering

With major advertisers cutting costs, creative shops are increasingly commercializing their own product ideas.

When Coca-Cola acquired Vitaminwater for $4.1 billion in 2007, it wasn’t for the breakthrough electrolyte-drink technology. It paid for breakthrough marketing, and that epiphany rippled through Adland. Why shouldn’t agencies launch their own brands rather than solely focus on other people’s prodcts? Consultancy PSFK recently invited FAST COMPANY writer Danielle Sacks to moderate a panel featuring four creative chiefs running what PSFK calls New Idea Agencies. In this edited transcript of the conversation, they explore what it’s like for ad people to go beyond branding into the messy world of product creation. Will what they learn improve advertising for the rest of us?

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Filed under: Innovation, Marketing , Advertising, Clients, Consumers, Design, ideas, Innovation, Marketing

Apple granted patent for sports sensors

Think Major League Baseball’s stats and live video iPhone app is cool? Imagine what Apple could do with technology it was granted a patent for this week: a network of sensors that deliver real-time velocity, impact, rotation and other data from sporting event participants to the web. Imagine your iPhone’s accelerometer placed inside a boxer’s glove, a snowboarder’s snow suit or a NASCAR driver’s car – with the information captured delivered to your iPhone or Apple TV while you watch the competition either in person or remotely.

Would you pay a premium for an event ticket that includes real time stats like that delivered to your iPhone? I would. Of course Apple is granted all kinds of patents all the time and only some of them amount to anything – but this one is very cool.

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Filed under: Innovation, Science , Design, Future, Gadgets, ideas, Innovation, iphone, Mobile, Technology

Sharp Ultra-Thin solar panel for cell phones

First Sharp announced the development of the world’s first waterproof solar-powered cell phone, and now the company has done the world one better by developing the thinnest solar module for mobile devices ever. The LROCGO2 Solar Module measures just 0.8 mm thick–the width of eight human hairs.

The Solar Module’s polycrystalline solar cells only provides 300 mW of power, so the device won’t replace traditional batteries any time soon. But it can act as a supplement for emergency situations or any time when a traditional cell phone charger is MIA. And since the module is fitted onto cell phones in the manufacturing process,it eliminates the need to carry around extra emergency solar chargers.

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Filed under: Innovation, Science , Design, Energy, Innovation, iphone, Research, Science, Technology

Proud to be Danish: Fisker is a leader in automotive innovation

Anyone can design the car of the future—but you have to be a little bit messianic to actually get it on the road. Attempts by Preston Tucker in 1948 and John DeLorean in 1975 did not exactly end in glory. Inventive financing left Tucker charged with fraud (he was later acquitted) and DeLorean with cocaine trafficking (he too was acquitted—after he spent 11 days in jail).

Yet at the dawn of the 21st century, sick of watching ice caps melt while Detroit dragged its heels, Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk and veteran car designer Henrik Fisker bravely entered this risky business. Their respective companies, Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, aim to make beautiful, high-performance electric cars. Cars for people like themselves—residents of Bel Air or Newport Beach, Calif., who once parked a McLaren or a Ferrari or a Maserati next to the Prius in their driveways. Let soccer moms buy Civic Hybrids, the battery-powered Mini E or—in a year or two—a plug-in like the Chevy Volt. Musk and Fisker would make chariots for the gentry—cars once believed impossible: red-hot and green. [wsj.com]

Filed under: Automotive, Innovation , Automotive, Danish, Design, Innovation

Launch of fashion site

We launched Papillon Bleu’s new site on Friday. The good people at newpixel designed and build it with us. The litte research firm that could is now doing more and more web projects.

Filed under: Marketing , Clothes, Design, Fashion

Prototype: Scope, a camera for kids

Inspired by James Nachtwey’s TED Prize wish, designer Bas Groenendaal shares this prototype camera with TED. The Scope camera has a fresh look and a singular purpose, he says: to be used as a therapeutic instrument for underprivileged children, e.g. children living in (former) warzones. Children can take photographs and self-portraits in order to rediscover their environment and identity, and share their point of view with others.

With its open-steering-wheel design (you click the shutter by squeezing the sides), Scope invites a new perspective on picture-taking, removing the distance between the photographer and her subject. [more on TEDBlog]

Filed under: Innovation, Science , Design, Innovation, Science

Peugeot 888: Shape-shifting and green

[From dvice.com]: The Peugeot 888 is billed as the “personal vehicle for the future Metropolis.” For designer Oskar Johansen from Norway, that means a car with space for two with room for luggage, as well as a nifty shape-shifting body. On the highway, the Peugeot 888 stretches itself out flat so that it’s stable and aerodynamic. In the city, however, it scrunches up for easier parking and taking up less of the road in general.

Just to make sure it’ll fit in with the eco-minded future, the 888 is powered by electric motors in each of its wheels, runs off of an array of lithium-ion batteries stored in the trunk, which, in turn, is covered with solar panels.

Filed under: Automotive , Automotive, Cars, Design