HHblog: Rethinking Marketing

iTunes. Hulu. ABC.com. Elgato. The list of offerings that move TV content to the web seems to get longer by the day. As a concept and a business model, this migration has been pretty successful so far: last year, 45% of Europeans watched at least some TV online, and nearly 20% of US internet users paid for video content. Snappy. Last week, though, Ilya and I were prepping a future of media presentation, and something occurred to me: ultimately, is it possible—if not likely—that web content will make an equally successful migration to TV? I think so, and here are a few reasons why:
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This | Link to this entry 2 Comments »

This is the first in a series of posts on lessons the advertising industry has learned–or perhaps could learn—from American political campaign history. I know what you’re thinking: there’s no such thing as too much political coverage, right? Right. After all, ‘tis the season. At least until November.

“We’re going to sell Jack like soap flakes” and other lessons from American political campaign history

Joe Kennedy gets the lazy credit for being the first to introduce this strategic imperative to the American political process. At least as it pertains to campaigns. At the time, his comment was derided by contemporaries as both glib and beneath the dignity of the august and sanctified presidential nominating contests. Funny thing, though, is that a little wiki-diligence reveals that Joe, while perhaps rightly maligned for plenty of other political transgressions, shouldn’t be made to bear the burden of responsibility for turning American presidential campaigns into an advertising affair. He wasn’t the first, second, or third History Channel luminary to acknowledge—or downright celebrate, even—the notion that the selling of a presidential candidate is tantamount if not identical to launching a new product; he was merely the first person in the 1960 election cycle. So, who was the first person to come to this insight? Before we answer that, let’s step—just for a moment—into the Wayback Machine, way back to a certain front porch in Ohio in 1880. A funny place to start a conversation on modern political advertising and its associated lessons, I know. But it’s important backstory.

POST/LESSON ONE: GET OFF YOUR PORCH!

It’s 1880 and we are here in Ohio. Specifically, Mentor, Ohio, at Lawnfield, the home of presidential candidate James A. Garfield. And we’re here because he’s delivering his near-daily speech to voters who have traveled across the country to listen to his stump speech, and hear him recite the list of reasons he should be President. Sometimes hundreds of people would show up in a single day, literally camping out to hear from the candidate. Hard to believe, I know. Perhaps, by now, you’ve surmised that we’re here witnessing the first Front Porch campaign in American political history. (As I understand it, there were only three, so soak it all in while we’re here.) The Front Porch campaign was a peculiar (a charitable word given our 21st century advertising mindset) method of ascending to the presidency: the candidate is essentially saying, “I want your vote, so come listen to what I have to say. And bring your family. And your horses. Or take the train. Or a steamboat. But get here if you can,” as Oleta Adams might sing. Today, it’s hard to imagine even the most ardent Obama Girl going to all that travel trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This | Link to this entry No Comments »

Well, it’s official. After several thousand decades at the Hancock Tower in Back Bay– okay, so maybe it only felt like several thousand– we’ve finally settled in at our new digs at 53 State Street, a stone’s throw– um, maybe if you’re Jacoby Elsbury– from Quincy Market, the Aquarium, the Freedom Trail and in general what Mike Sheehan affectionately refers to as the real Boston. Let’s take the quickie tour (All photos by Scott Hainline).

Share This | Link to this entry 5 Comments »

For over a year, Hill Holliday and Liberty Mutual have been working on a mutli-pronged integrated campaign we call The Responsibilty Project. It’s an outgrowth of our TV campaign. With its message of personal responsibility and doing the right thing, it hit a nerve like few things we’ve ever been involved with. So much so that we decided to blow the idea out in ways that would allow us to build on the momentum. That meant taking the brand into new, but we think amazingly exciting, territory.

Today, the project was officially kicked off with this story in the New York Times, the highlight of which is the announcement of a collaborative deal between Liberty and NBC that will result in a 2-hour feature film, a pilot for a possible series, scheduled to air this Fall.   “Kings”, developed in collaboration with Hill Holliday and Liberty Mutual,  will star Ian McShane (HBO’s “Deadwood”) and Christopher Egan.  “Six Feet Under” scribe, Michael Green, penned the screenplay.  A second movie is planned for early 2009. “The 30-second spot is still very relevant, very valuable,” said Ben Silverman, co-chairman at the NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios divisions of NBC Universal, “but this deal with Liberty Mutual is the centerpiece of the kind of deals we want to make going forward.”

Besides the NBC films, the project also will feature a series of short films, many from top name directors. The films will launch on a dedicated website, ResponsibilityProject.com, that also features a blog, special resources for parents and teachers, and a wide range of other content.

Share This | Link to this entry 3 Comments »

Not long ago, Dave Droga of Droga 5 in New York, did an amazing campaign for UNICEF. It was called The TAP Project. The idea was to raise awareness of the fact that 5,000 children die every day because of unsafe drinking water. To help raise badly needed funds, The TAP Project got hundreds of New York restaurants to participate by asking diners to contribute a dollar for their drinking water.

So successful was the project in New York that now the program is going nationwide with agencies around the country creating and producing their own TAP campaigns for their local markets. In Boston, we’re proud to say that Hill Holliday joins Goodby Silverstein, Wieden + Kennedy and dozens of other agencies that have come together to take part in this amazing program. Besides an enormous public relations initiative, HH will be running both print– click the image to enlarge– and TV. Jeff Baxter and Mike Shaughnessy were the creative team.

If you live or work in Boston, or anywhere remotely close to Boston, we urge you to go out and eat at a TAP Project Boston participating restaurant anytime during World Water Week, March 16 through March 22, and donate a dollar of your bill to this very important cause.

Share This | Link to this entry 2 Comments »

Yesterday, my husband and I were at Whole Foods getting our goodies for the week. As we were checking out, I noticed little signs on the register stating that the days of plastic bags at WFM are numbered. As of March 1st, in our store in Massachusetts, and in all stores by April 22nd, Earth Day 2008, Whole Foods will no longer offer shoppers the option of plastic. It’s paper or bring your own.

Every time we go, when they ask, I always say plastic. And I notice a very slight, but noticeable, grimace in the face of the clerk. Hey, we have two dogs and, um, the plastic bags come in handy. I always want to say, hey, wait, I swear, I am doing something useful with these bags, I’m surely not as bad as you think I am!

But this time, after reading their happy little signs, and finding out I could purchase my very own reusable bag for $.99, I bought 5 of those Whole Foods bags. Yes, I know, Whole Foods isn’t necessarily an angel, and as one of my colleagues recently reminded me, they are closing a few Wild Oats stores following their acquisition of the natural food store chain.

But you know what? All that aside, I still walked out of the store yesterday feeling pretty darn good about myself. Not only is the company doing something good, and congrats to them for the bold decision, but they’ve executed it in such a way that they are letting us consumers in on the feel good experience. Win-win, right? Now here’s hoping I remember to bring my nifty new bags with me next time I shop.

Share This | Link to this entry 6 Comments »

During this presidential race, we have all become increasingly aware of the trend toward authenticity. It might ultimately be what brought Mitt down. We’ve been burned a few too many times and it now appears we’d rather get straight talk, even if it’s bad news, than run the risk of being conned.

But now there’s a new twist on authenticity. It appears that people in power – across the globe - seem to be finding some merit in saying “I’m sorry.” I first noticed this a few months ago when it was announced that doctors in states across the country are being encouraged to apologize to their patients when they make an error. Imagine that! Apparently they’ve discovered that an apology has the power to relieve much of a patient’s anger and distress.

Then Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, made it a campaign promise to apologize to the Aborigines. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This | Link to this entry 2 Comments »

Did anyone catch the Time magazine article a week or so ago titled “Your Own Personal Paprazzi”? It was single handedly one of the most preposterous things I’ve read in awhile.

Two companies, Celeb-4-A-Day and Private Paparazzi exist solely to make people feel like they’re famous. You can hire these companies, and they’ll send out “photographers” and “reporters” to “chase” you as you’re leaving your party or event, or God knows what.

The pricetag? Up to $1,500. With the gluttony of reality shows out there, everyone hungry for their 15 minutes of fame, I shouldn’t be surprised that such companies have sprung up.

And yet, I am. I’m stunned. What does it say about us when we’re willing to pay money, a lot of money, to feel a fake experience?

Share This | Link to this entry 6 Comments »

Yes, we all know. One of the new rules of advertising is ceding control to consumers. But you’ve got to hand it to IKEA on their latest surrender.

I just read that IKEA is hosting a furniture swapping event on February 9th. People can come into the store and trade furniture with each other. I don’t want my lamp anymore, but I’ll take your desk. And no, the furniture brought in by customers does not need to be IKEA stuff. Yes, IKEA is throwing a few of their pieces into the mix, but I can bring in my old couch and possibly get a new IKEA one in the process. Not a bad deal.

A great example of creating an engaging environment and then staying out of the way, letting what will happen, happen. Not only will people be inside an IKEA store, hopefully eyeballing a new lamp or rug or frame that they surely need, but I can only imagine how much buzz this event will create. And, really, for not a lot of money.

If you, like me, want to go to the swap, sadly you’ll have to wait until they decide to replicate it in the US. For now, it’s only in Amsterdam.

Share This | Link to this entry 1 Comment »

A couple of months ago, I tried to track down the source of the often-cited number of ads — 5,000 — an average American consumer sees each day. Among these sources was a speech by the head of Yankelovich, Dr. J. Walker Smith. Dr. Smith has just left a very detailed comment to the original post. His comment is reprinted below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This | Link to this entry 3 Comments »