3 X 3 For Global Creative in 2014

!Imperatives in Business, Design &

Technology for everyone in the creative business in 2014.!

!With book references and cases!

!Sami Viitamäki, TBWA\!www.samiviitamaki.com!

www.tbwa.fi!

BUSINESS

1.  Get to Your REAL Business 2.  Have a System 3.  Use Your (Global) Brain

1. Get To Your REAL Business

•  Ads and websites are already commoditized; building brand equity is always at a premium.

•  You need to clearly differentiate creative vs. routine business models. Learn from consultancies.

•  To be more relevant and truly creative, you need to understand also your client’s business in-depth.

•  Instead of memorizing market share and SOV data, understand their business ecosystem & dynamics.

Further Reading: Business Model Generation

2. Have a System

•  Contrary to the ‘perfect brief’ dream, creativity flourishes under strict constraints and the right system.

•  If DARPA can use a system to create microwaves, GPS and the internet, why couldn't you formulate success?

•  We’ve been in transition and flux since 2008, but now’s the time to lay down the rules for your business.

•  A system enables you focus on better and more profitable work, with happier employees to boot.

Further Reading: Lateral Thinking

3. Use Your (Global) Brain

•  Advertising is traditionally cultural and local. As a result, creative networks are fragmented and rigid by default.

•  However, greatness in marketing is now defined by global interests, audiences and standards.

•  Harness the brainpower of your people. Encourage and reward sharing, and build global practices.

•  Have less fixed job descriptions. Utilize flexible, skill-based resourcing to move brainpower where needed.

Further Reading: The Future of Management

Our Success Case

McDonald’s x Angry Birds

DESIGN

1.  Balance Help vs. Hype 2.  Revive the Power of Story 3.  Drive Everything with Data

1. Balance Help vs. Hype

•  Big Ideas are more and more about ongoing services or content that help and inform the audience.

•  Explosive Top-of-Mind is useless if exploration and decisions are better supported by competitors.

•  Proactive and innovative services cut through the clutter, even as audiences grow ever more demanding.

•  Hype is necessary to get the traffic. But hype is easier to build when you’re being genuinely useful.

Further Reading: Youtility

2. Revive The Power of Story

•  In the chase of the next big thing, basic storytelling and storytellers have been left undervalued.

•  Stories are an essential part of being human. We crave them, seek them – and invent them if we can't find them.

•  Get back to writing a powerful brand story and delivering meaning, both in content creation and service design.

•  Build on your greatest, differentiating strength instead of downplaying it. Also clients need stories to believe in.

Further Reading: The Storytelling Animal

2. Drive Everything with Data

•  With SaaS & API's, collecting data on people’s behavior is now easier, faster and more affordable than ever.

•  Focus your resources to better analysis. Feed everything from Big Ideas to micro-targeting with data.

•  Use data to also prove your impact beyond direct sales, from reach to loyalty and Word-of-Mouth.

•  Be curious and get better at asking the right questions. Tools will only get you numbers, thinking gets you insights.

Further Reading: Data-Driven Marketing &

How to Measure Everything

Our Success Case

Adidas WindowShopping

TECHNOLOGY

1.  Know Your Platforms 2.  Get from Digital to Technology 3.  Work and Test in Real Time

1. Know Your Platforms

•  As people, things, places and data become connected, it’s platforms that get them talking and interacting.

•  Platforms are resisted (NYC Hotels vs. Airbnb; French Taxis vs. Uber), but they will win for they bring the value.

•  Unlock this value by knowing the right platform to use for the job, and also the quirks within platforms.

•  Mobile use already exceeded TV use. Know your mobile platforms well, or your content won’t exist in 2014.

Further Reading: The Age of the Platform

2. Get from ‘Digital’ to ‘Technology’

•  While moving beyond advertising and communications, you need to update your skillset.

•  Bring in technologists, engineers and inventors. Empower them already in the research & creative phases.

•  Wearable tech, accessories, connected products, etc. require technology and engineering skills.

•  Just having tech gear and people around sparks new creative ideas, also within your existing staff.

Further Reading: What Technology Wants

3. Work and Test in Real Time

•  Today’s market is a 24/7, always-on experiment. Check your goals, milestones, test methods and criteria.

•  Think about your work as an infinite process loop instead of a project. Value and sell it accordingly.

•  Be curious about your content, the response in the audience, and especially the change in behavior.

•  Insist on agile building and testing instead of months-long boardroom rounds and subjective guesswork.

Further Reading: Growth Hacker Marketing

Our Success Case

Nissan NISMO Watch

THE BOTTOM LINE

Innovate Or Die

•  Without radical innovation and disruptive work, you won’t be a creative agency in 2014.

•  Storytellers need to get together with designers, entrepreneurs and inventors to unlock unprecedented value.

•  As devices and people at the fringes become ever smarter, innovation happens at the edges.

•  Encourage and motivate your people to innovate continuously, or lose their power and momentum.

Further Reading: Lean Startup, UX & Analytics

52 Tools to Innovate like a Startup

@ Slideshare

Thanks for#Your Time!

Contact:

sami.viitamaki@tbwa.fi +358 (0)44 906 6650

@samiv

www.samiviitamaki.com www.tbwa.fi