With technology constantly advancing, it's crucial for companies to tap into the resources that web design firms have to offer in order to even compete in this market.

Florida is currently coming to understand some of the economic changes that other parts of the country have already been experiencing and seeing. When things started to head downhill in Michigan, everyone expected that it was because of the lack of diversification in industry -- the auto industry wasn't doing well, so people assumed the state wasn't doing well solely as a result of that.

Fast forward a couple years to the present, and it's become evident that that was not the case. The entire country's economy is restructuring, and now we're all seeing the effects. In order to survive, you need to expand your global footprint, and adopt a universal brand presence. Web-centric advertising and the global reach it provides is the key to accomplishing your company's goals; it's the only way to thrive.
 

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Agile Creative

What is "agile creative"? Sounds like agency speak, doesn't it? Imaginative-sounding but empty words meant as a selling tool?

It probably brings to mind an image of an agency exec, selling his big, traditional ad agency to some helpless sap of a CEO. He pours doubt into the CEO's ear about his current agency, dropping phrases like, "You need to make your campaigns connect," "Your campaigns are missing the mark," and then the solution: "agile creative." You can almost hear it now, the schmoozing, the selling, the undermining of the incumbent ad agency.

Well, that's not what agile creative is about. Agile creative is the anti-agency creative model.

Agile creative is the solution to the fundamental problems of traditional advertising. Agile means flexible, moldable. It's creative that's malleable, that moves with its environment, that evolves. It's not standard. It's not generic. It's not traditional. That's the whole point.

What's So Wrong with Traditional Advertising?

Traditional advertising isn't all wrong. In fact, we can learn a thing or two from David Ogilvy, arguably the most famous name in the history of classic advertising. His book Confessions of an Advertising Man is one of the most popular books ever written on advertising, and is a must-read for anyone in the business even 50 years after its publication.

According to the Wikipedia entry on Ogilvy, he based his advertising philosophy on these principles:

1. "Professional discipline"—Ogilvy's line was, "I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the chaos of ignorance." He constantly educated with slides and presentations he called magic lanterns. He also focused on the future with training programs for young advertising professionals.

2. "Research"—Ogilvy worked for George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey early in his career. Largely because of Gallup's influence he never discounted the necessity of research to advertising. When he founded his own agency in 1952, he titled himself not the president of the company but the research director.

3. "Creative brilliance"—In advertising we emphasize ideas and thrive on creativity. Without innovation there would be no progress, no success.

4. "Results for clients"—Ogilvy once said, "In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create." Obviously the goal in commerce is to sell product for profit. The whole point of advertising is to make that happen.

You can’t argue with "results for clients" as a focus. It's the only objective that matters. The other three principles all serve to accomplish that end: results for clients.

In fact you can't really argue with any of Ogilvy's principles. The marketing communications founded on them created the consumer-driven economy we live in today. Having said that, "today" is certainly different than the days when Ogilvy applied his trade. So the question is, are his principles still valid? Ogilvy's ideals seem pretty logical, but is it time to reevaluate the basis of advertising as we practice it today?

What does it mean to say that agile creative is the new creative model? Where did it come from? Let us explore for a moment, the path from Ogilvy's principles from the Madison Avenue tradition to what we call agile creative—the evolution of advertising.

To start, let's determine what it is that makes sense about the Ogilvy principles. Why do they still seem to resonate?

The answer is that they mirror the way we live our day-to-day lives. People, not just clients, are results-oriented. Striving to reach a result determines our every move. Our actions are not random. We are told from practically birth that we must have a plan for the future. We must know where we are going, and take steps to achieve those goals. A résumé must have an objective statement. An essay must have a thesis. Coaches tell us to visualize success. Gurus, swamis, motivational speakers, your parents, and everyone else will tell you that you must form goals and determine your desired results in order to be successful.

So how do you get results?

Diligence is required for any goal we pursue—losing weight, learning new skills, giving up old habits, or gaining successes in business. The secret to success, we are told, always comes down to acting with commitment. Ogilvy's notion of professional discipline as a core principle for achieving results fits perfectly into our daily lives. The importance of discipline is such a part of our natural ideology that it is automatic for us to point to a lack of commitment as the root cause of any failure.

Next is research—research is what makes something credible. Ogilvy expected that creative ideas would be connected to the real world. It’s likely that little of what passes for research in advertising today would measure up to Ogilvy's expectations. Today's "research" often stops at a focus group, and results and quotations are frequently edited to support a viewpoint. (Remember the Pontiac Aztek? Reports from focus groups said people were energized by its styling. Sure they were—they were energized enough to laugh out loud. Then Time magazine listed it as one of "The 50 Worst Cars of All Time.") Research is not subjective, and objectively viewing and connecting with the real world is a necessary part of success.

The third principle for success in both advertising and life is creative brilliance. Life is messy. It's cluttered, and things are always moving. Big ideas get attention by breaking through the clutter and chaos. Important ideas demand attention. But in spite of the power of Ogilvy-style research and professional discipline, big ideas are notoriously hard to find. Fact: most people are not brilliant. Yet creative directors and brand strategists are held hostage by the demand to come up with big ideas. Maybe there is a better way. Instead of a single large idea that stands, perhaps there is a more elegant approach, a more practical approach.

Enter: Agile Creative.

This is creative that doesn't require a single big idea to make a splash. All it requires is one or several starting ideas, and a way of letting the real world act on them. Rather than attempting to steady one self on one foot, the agile creative model can stand and actually maintain its balance. It senses changes in its surroundings and adapts instead of falling over.

How does a piece of creative work accomplish this wonderful thing?

In the April 19th issue of New Scientist magazine, Michael Reilly writes about new adaptive websites that evolve like living things. He writes, "This ability to adapt without human intervention allows sites to stay up to date with changes in their users' tastes and can result in designs that are more user-friendly than anything a human designer is likely to come up with. Evolving sites might also allow web designers to hone in on the features that work best for users."

Rather than the deeply researched and static design we're familiar with, these sites are always changing slightly. The changes that get the most customer interactions are maintained and mixed with others. These websites become successful through hybridization, all controlled by evolutionary software.

According to Reilly, "Now Matthew Hockenberry of Creative Synthesis, a nonprofit organization in Boston, Massachusetts, has adapted the technique to develop evolutionary software that alters characteristics of web pages, such as their colors, fonts and hyperlinks." The visual elements are changed based on user preferences and popularity.

Websites can now follow the market. The creative elements change over time; they are agile, not static or hardcoded. Each website interaction with a user is an experiment. The results of each experiment are compared to all others. Elements of web pages from less successful experiments are used less often and eventually disappear, as all ineffective creative should.

In the past, the main outlets for advertising were broadcast and print. Web creative used to follow broadcast and print creative. In an agile creative world, the hierarchy is flipped upside down. Advertising, like these websites, is evolving. Ogilvy's principles still apply, they’ve just evolved a bit themselves.

Old-style advertising relied on gathering and surveying focus groups to garner feedback which would then be used to determine and apply changes to a campaign. The beauty of interactive media is just that—it's interactive. The website becomes both the ad and the real-time measurement tool, creating an environment for constant feedback and improvement. We can change out colors, promotions, and copy, based on thousands of responses received at all times of the day.

The research principle is now carried out in the constant rush of experiments that occur with daily customer interactions. The professional discipline is no longer about presentation and magic lanterns; it's about Taguchi analysis, data mining, and genetic algorithms. Creative brilliance depends on agility. And the results—well, customers get what they want, not what a big, traditional ad agency thinks they want.

Customers, and people in general, want the same thing that Ogilvy's clients wanted: creative that delivers results.
 

Whether you're Britney Spears, Hillary Clinton, or a non-celebrity just trying to get ahead in business, your reputation is everything.

What's the chatter online about you personally, your company, the quality of what you manufacture, the quality of your services? What are your customers, your ex-employees, and your competition saying about you? Information travels quickly across the Internet. So, listen to the online conversations about your brand. How are these conversations affecting the way people view your organization?

With the growth of consumer-generated media such as blogs, forums and message boards, information can be quickly generated and indexed by search engines. For business leaders, it is vitally important to know what's being said online, especially messages that are negative. Listening creates the opportunity to take action and resolve internal problems or deal with malicious information, both of which hurt your brand image and your corporate reputation.

What is the best way to effectively protect an online reputation?
Online reputations should be planned out, practiced and managed. You can accomplish that by creating and optimizing positive websites regarding your name or brand. You can have a low-budget PPC campaign going as well. Send out a press release, contribute frequently to a blog, get friends to post a page about you, etc. Publish the information you wish to have people see and read about you on the Web.

Three concepts to master for search engine reputation management

Monitor
What to monitor? Brands, products, company and key executives. Types of content? News Search, Social Media/Tags, Standard Search Results, Blogs and Forums.

Where to monitor? Google and Yahoo alerts; RSS feed subscriptions to search results from organizations such as Technorati, Feedster, Yahoo & Google News, Blog Pulse (and Social Media, via tags).

Optimize
Companies that want to protect their brand visibility on the Web would do well to make optimizing their brand content a best practice. They should optimize all digital communications, including: PR, marketing, HR, investor relations, and related electronic content that is publicly available. Social Media (text, images, audio, video) will produce more branded content in the SERPs.

Engage - Address the cause, once a negative mention has been identified.

Research the situation. Is there merit?
If not, provide the facts and ask for corrections.
If yes, then offer to discuss.
Be ready to respond with your own blog.
Be honest, be transparent, and LISTEN.

Results can be anything from a position turnaround to creation of another loyal brand evangelist who will thereafter generate only positive comments about your company.

The bottom line? Today online reputation management (ORM) is mandatory.
 

A damaged reputation can spell the difference between being part of the "in crowd" and being a loner. For businesses, a damaged or negative reputation can mean millions of dollars in lost revenue. There are a few reputable ORM agencies to help you assess your situation and take appropriate action. For highlights on how Moncur Associates would approach your issues with reputation management, send us a quick note.

- Posted by David Hofer

Developing a successful brand in an always-on world
Of all the salt sold in America, Morton's sells the most. Why? What makes Morton's different? Why do consumers continue to prefer it, even though it costs about a nickel more per box than other salt?

The case of Morton's is particularly interesting, because there is NO chemical difference between Morton's and other salt brands. Chemists have carefully explained to consumers in focus groups that, of all the products in the world, salt represents the lowest in terms of technology. Salt is salt. One molecule of sodium combines with one molecule of chlorine to make sodium chloride. You cannot make premium salt. You cannot make designer salt. Salt is it. Even when this is explained to consumers, however, the same number remain loyal to the brand.

Why? Because Morton's customers don't buy salt. They buy a promise. They buy trust. Trust that the salt is clean, uncontaminated, a fair measure, and the same product used successfully by their mothers, aunts and grandmothers for the last 75 years. Consumers see the Morton's salt girl on the label, and this brand identity resonates with them. Month after month, year after year, decade after decade, millions of customers are willing to pay a premium for the trust that the Morton's salt girl represents.

A Branding Primer
In order to understand how to effectively build a brand in a saturated world, it is necessary to have a fundamental understanding of what a brand is. Simply put, a brand is a mark of trust, a sign of value, a trademark and an asset in and of itself. Brands are built through associations that appeal to a specific audience:

Functional associations: Relating to the performance of the product. Coke refreshes the drinker.

Expressive associations: Connecting with the salient beliefs of the customer segment. (Consumers buy Apple Computers and iPods because they appreciate Apple's creativity and "human technology.")

Central associations: Embodying the core beliefs of the consumer (the irreverence associated with Richard Branson's various Virgin enterprises).

These associations represent what a brand stands for, and they imply a promise to customers from the company. A brand therefore shapes a wealth of customer perceptions, attitudes and experiences to turn a company and/or product into something to which the customer relates. In short, a brand is a powerful emotional tool that is designed to appeal to customers for the purpose of selling products and/or images.

Getting Your Own Morton's Salt Girl
While it helps to understand what branding is, the reality is, it's an always-on world. Consumers are saturated with messaging wherever they go, and it can be difficult for younger and lesser-known brands to identify and communicate their unique promise and build trust with their customers. How do you create exclusivity? How can you make your brand unique and distinctive, and command higher margins?

The key is through a defined brand-building process that begins with three steps:

1. Gathering unique insights through a process we call Key Messaging.
We gather input from three voices:

• your company
• your competition
• your customer

Insights from this research lead to messaging that sells and builds business.

2. Identifying the customer's purchase path through a process we call Brand Integration.
This ROI-based purchase funnel methodology and planning construct matches engaging creative and media tools to the way in which your core audience shops for your product. It's an iterative process designed to optimize the return on your marketing investment.

3. Spreading the word through a process we call Network-Centric Marketing.
We use the information gained from Key Messaging and Brand Integration to build your brand on the Web through blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, RSS feeds, search engine optimization and other online messaging tools. By establishing your brand online before using more traditional, paid media such as broadcast, print, direct, events and promotions, or earned media such as public relations, we can build a highly effective and highly measurable campaign.

Branding in a Brave New World
Back in Morton's day, the challenges for building a brand were much different. There were fewer media outlets and consumers were not saturated with messaging. Unfortunately, many of today's fledgling brands risk becoming part of the white noise of constant advertising that most consumers ignore. Yet, even in an always-on world there are still consumers who are yearning to find brands they can trust.

- Posted by David Hofer

How do you drive your company’s growth? INNOVATE!
What can you learn from the U-2 spy plane and 747 jet airliner? These were both commissioned innovations that were born out of the driving needs of their time. These groundbreaking inventions changed the world forever:

The U-2: During the Cold War, the CIA and Air Force had a need to conduct accurate, high-altitude overflight reconnaissance on the Soviet Union’s military activity, but did not have the means. The CIA commissioned the famous Lockheed “Skunkworks” and its acclaimed leader, Kelly Johnson, to invent an aircraft capable of fulfilling the mission. The invention was the U-2 – capable of flying at nearly twice the speed of sound at 70,000 feet, and with the photographic capability of sweeping 100,000 square miles of terrain in unprecedented detail. The U-2 and then later, the SR-71 Blackbird, fueled their own discoveries, inventions and innovations in metallurgy, avionics, flight data management and stealth technology.

The 747: Juan Tripp, the driving force behind Pan American Airways, challenged his own company to march at the speed of his vision for commercial aviation’s future. He commissioned airport construction in some of the most remote parts of the world. Then, to take passengers to these far-flung locales, most of which were across huge expanses of ocean, he commissioned Martin Aircraft and Boeing to build airplanes with marine hulls so that they could take off and land in water. In the late ’50s, Juan Tripp then commissioned Boeing to build an intercontinental jet passenger aircraft that could speed passengers to their destinations at 600 mph. That invention was the Boeing 707. And finally, his lasting legacy was his commissioning of Boeing to invent the 747, a jet airliner that could transport nearly five times the number of passengers than any other airliner to virtually any major destination in the world.

Differentiation: The New Imperative
So how do you create the next U-2 or 747? And why is it crucial to have this discussion now?

There is a new imperative emerging. It comes from a restlessness that’s been building since the late ’90s. It comes from the frustration and pent-up energy caused by the economic aftermath of September 11 – with companies trying to ride out the storm until conditions are more favorable for risk taking. It comes from the naked erosion of margins caused by your customers’ predatory purchasing policies – and their commoditization of your company’s products and services.

That imperative is differentiation. In order to survive and thrive in a time of ruthless cost-cutting and commoditization, you have to rise above the street fight and redefine your company with ideas, products, services and new ways of doing things that literally “rock the marketplace” as the U-2 and the 747 did. And, if you do, your commoditized products will be enriched because they will carry the halo of your company’s differentiation, too. For more recent examples, just look at what Apple did with the iPod or what Audi is doing with the superlux R8 vehicle.

In short, your goal should be to have competitors and customers viewing your firm in a new light. You need to go from being just a “maker of things” to a “creator of breakthrough ideas.”

Some Common Objections
You may be saying to yourself that this doesn’t apply to you:

“I have an R&D Department that’s responsible for that.”
That may be true, but they are focused mostly on improvement rather than creating for differentiation.

“Our culture is one that takes proven technology and adds incremental features for which customers may pay a little more.”
That’s only replication with added feature content rather than creating for differentiation.

“We don’t have a team focused specifically on this, but from time to time we employ consultants to analyze the market and suggest ideas.”
That’s a traditional business approach, but a consultant’s role is to sift through mountains of data you furnish, then build strategic recommendations. The result is a report out rather than creating for differentiation.

The Process of Creating for Differentiation
What we’re talking about here is a progression of applied thought, wisdom, curiosity, ingenuity, creativity, passion and determination … not focused on a product or a good, but on a much bigger goal – differentiation. Think of this in three stages:

Discovery: a novel observation, unearthing a natural phenomenon or historic find, or even a formal naming of a new concept

Invention: a novel device or technique, creative ideas generated to counter a lack of resources (satisfy need) or theories that then are proven out

Innovation: the introduction of new ideas, goods, services and practices – a sequence of activities by which a new element is introduced to society with the intention to benefit

Discovery, invention and, ultimately, innovation require a commissioning visionary and a commissioned team.

The “Commissioned Invention” Difference
I believe that the time is right for certain manufacturers to step out of their persona as an “improver” and allocate financial resources to the development of a team that will act as the “engine of differentiation.” I recommend that you bring to your table a group of creative thinkers who are synonymous with discovery, invention and innovation. Their task: to develop breakthrough ideas that can differentiate you from key competitors.

I call it Commissioned Invention.

But where do you find this team? Most companies lack the internal resources to dedicate to this initiative – either in staffing or in the ability to think outside of their box. Traditional outside resources such as marketing agencies and management consultants also do not have the core competencies, nor are they appropriately compensated for this type of engagement.

Instead, a true innovation partner and team should:

• Serve as a catalyst for change
• Offer industry-specific domain expertise
• Provide access to other industry authorities’ thinking and experience
• Create breakthrough ideas against specific corporate goals
• Articulate breakthrough thinking in a compelling way that challenges traditional thinking and defines the clear differentiation and customer value proposition

5 Steps for Achieving Differentiation
So how do you start on the path to differentiation? Just follow these steps, which may mean a complete paradigm shift for your business:

Step one: Agree that the future of manufacturing is in differentiation – not duplication.

Step two: Agree that a vanguard team should be assembled and dedicated to the task of creating and presenting breakthrough ideas.

Step three: Canvass the market for innovation teams with the right credentials to head up this vanguard team and who can access world-class creative thinkers.

Step four: Agree that the assembled team will be appropriately funded for a time period sufficient to bring forward a fully developed and relevant idea that meets the differentiation criteria.

Step five: Agree to give this initiative senior management attention and oversight.  

Want to learn more? Contact me and I’ll send you my FREE "innovation checklist."

- posted by David Hofer

Every month, as principal of Moncur Associates, I am blessed with the opportunity to speak with the visionaries and leaders of numerous client companies. These firms compete in a vast range of disparate industries and sell both complicated and simple products/services to businesses as well as consumers. Through those conversations, I'm marking 2007 as the beginning of a paradigm shift in business communication that will re-define the way successful businesses communicate with their customers over the next several years.

It's a shift away from the confusing, metaphorical-based communications of the past decade; a shift toward clear communication that illustrates an understanding of how customers feel; a shift toward straight-forward familiar tone and personal, common language.

It's a fundamental shift in communication toward "keeping it real."

By "keeping it real," businesses can talk with customers as if they were friends or neighbors – the way they would if they were speaking over the fence in the back yard. These new communications are void of the marketing speak and advertising rhetoric that have numbed the minds of consumers in today's crowded advertising space, and are designed to create relationships and trust, not just sell.

"Real" Communications are designed to help businesses get into the minds of their consumers where they can influence behavior in a way they never could before. They'll be able to engage their customers in real conversations about issues that are important to them and illustrate they're aware of, sympathetic to, and have answers for the pains those customers are experiencing.

Only with this approach will sellers in the new global economy be able to cut through the chatter of traditional advertising and marketing and reach their target audiences. With consumers growing more savvy and skeptical of advertisers each day, this trend toward "real" communication will be the only way to build the trust and rapport necessary to connect with consumer audiences in a meaningful way.

- posted by David Moncur

Embracing the Network Centric Revolution
In the information age, as we prepare for the delivery on the promise of the Internet, a paradigm shift in business communication is taking place. It's called Network Centric Marketing and it will change the way that business is done forever. By using the internet to harness the power of the network inherent in any organization, companies can become smarter and faster than ever before, positioning themselves for success in the changing global economy.

The Tools: Blogs, Forums, Wikis, RSS, Podcasts, SEO, CPC, Social Networking and Tagging
Technologies for leveraging the network are coming onto the scene almost every day. But technology by itself is not the answer. Only a few pioneers truly understand how to utilize these new tools to create results, and solve problems in a real-world business environment.



The Team: Moncur Associates
Moncur Associates is one such visionary organization. Our mantra is "Results Matter!" and we believe that the network holds the answer to any business problem, no matter how complex. We're sparking a movement based around our ability to leverage intelligent strategy, effective brand communication and cutting edge internet technologies into systems, campaigns and passionate communities capable of delivering tangible results for business. While previously unimaginable, our efforts are making it possible to realize some amazing new things at every level of an organization:

• CEOs can rapidly communicate their vision and gain buy-in from their organizations
• LEADERS are able to locate and tap the genius within their companies
• MARKETERS gain empirical SWOT data to guide communication and development initiatives
• SALES can maintain a real-time connection to customers, their changing needs and inevitable concerns. They can also reach out and connect with prospects using directed, fully leveraged techniques.
• PR can achieve one-to-many exposure without the obstacles and costs associated with traditional media outlets
• ORGANIZATIONS become more efficient and effective in their everyday operations and communication processes
• ANYONE can quickly access or share critical knowledge and experience with the entire community

If you'd like to be among the first to coordinate the strategies, brand communication and technology necessary to achieve remarkable results through leveraging the network, contact us. We'll open your eyes to the possibilities and show you how to use the internet to help secure your position in the new global economy.

- posted by David Moncur