What happens to the strategic planner with the advent of data and marketing automation?

Second day in the digital summit and I swear that I've met agency groups who see Strategic Planners as an endangered breed.  And they rejoice to hear from one.

Strategic planners - a dying breed?  Well, that depends on where you come from.  In Malaysia, and specifically Malaysian strategic planners - yes, they're high on the list of extinction.  And if data intelligence is going to drive the client's business from now on, then how do we survive?

Image: Easystock

On the contrary, this. Is. Our. Moment.

Was reading Superforecasting on the plane and came across this very interesting paragraph:

"When the scientist tells you he does not know the answer, he is an ignorant man.  When he tells you he has a hunch about how it is going to work, he is uncertain about it.  When he is pretty sure of how it is going to work, and he tells you, " This is the way it's going to work, I'll bet, " he still is in some doubt.  And it is of paramount importance, in order to make progress, that we recognize this ignorance and this doubt.  Because we have the doubt, we then propose looking in new directions for new ideas.  The rate of the development of science is not the rate at which you make observations alone but, much more important, the rate at which you create new things to test."

Take that principle, apply it in planning. Ever come across a planner who struts in and is cocksure that his idea was going to work and everybody else's is going to fail?  Well, that's not a planner.  That's just plain bossy.  Jokes aside, it is true that we must be able to differentiate ignorance and doubt.  And it's always good to have a pinch of doubt in everything we work on because before we are planners, we are human and we must recognize that as humans, our knowledge will always be limited.  Hence, why there are always new ways to be tested, novel ways to do things.  Data, interestingly will help us to reach there and get our answers faster.  Because data does not only show historical behavior, it can also be a rich base for predictive modeling.  And that's essentially what we do isn't it?  We evaluate where the brand is today and project the highest potential of where it can be in one year, 3 years, 5 years time.  And then we work out the kinks on how to get there, considering everything good and bad that could possibly happen under the sun between now and 5 years later.  Predictive modeling helps us to close our doubtful gaps, even if not 100% and advise plans which are a lot more grounded and risk-proof in such a fast paced environment.

Account planning was half strategy and half creative - there was always something subjective albeit calculated in our proposal.  Because we were weavers of culture and we understood the fabric of people.  So we have and will always stand proudly to represent the consumer's voice in the parliament of marketing.  That human intuition will and should never go away.  It can only be made more powerful with data analytics and machine learning.  To quote Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner, "To reframe the man-versus-machine dichotomy, combinations of Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue may prove more robust than pure-human or pure-machine approaches".  The computer learns patterns and can probably spew a million positions in a few seconds, while the human mind can only project to as far as 10 steps ahead. But the computer will never be able to understand context as well as a human and there's where we trump. Honda said it right, Man Maximum, Machine Minimum when it comes to their engineering philosophy, because at the end of the day it is about the 'human taste'.  And THAT, was coined in the 40s.  Likewise, the machine might have hundreds of best variations but it still lacks our God-given creativity - the nature to start fresh without the burden of history. The even better news is, they will help us to be faster and more efficient as a planner.  In levels never before - we can make decisions overnight or in a blink of an eye.  Ten years ago, if you wanted a complete brief in 3 days, you must be out of your mind!  But today, 24 hours is possible with the right tools. But don't you dare test it on me.

Machine will never replace us. They're our friends. And they will help us to reconcile our client's brand and/or category back into the world where it happily belongs, in speed we've never been able to before. We shouldn't just wait and embrace it.  We should create it.

We are hiring: Driven 'automotive' marketing specialists.

It's going to be tough.  Automotive is a multi-billion industry in Malaysia.  Our GDP relies on this.  One screw up isn't one car sale down.  It sends a repercussion to hundreds or maybe even thousands of jobs being cut.  It's serious business because it involves 8.3 million lives (excluding motorcyclists and pedestrians).  So if you think we are anal about how this business is run and communicated, you are absolutely right. It only looks repetitive if you don't know how to hack it.  The game?  Is to keep repositioning your competitors with what you do.  One step if you're good.  Ten if you're great.

You'll be wanted for accountability - of everything that comes out from your kitchen.  Your pole position is meeting targets, the title on your card is secondary - let us make that clear.  You drive the brand and it drives you.  You are partners, like in any race - man and machine is one.  And let us repeat one more time, in case you missed the first line.  It's going to be tough.  On top of a challenging industry, is another.  We believe in innovating how brands are built by way of integration and collaboration.  We put scientific measures behind our intuitions and have extremely stringent expectations on our fellow brand builders whether from a creative, media or comms specialist aspect.  And most of all, we take pride in providing world-class service to our clients.  They win, we win.  If you can't agree to that equation, you may exit right now.

So if you have what it takes - the desire to not just race but win in the automotive business and you can demonstrate to us why you can do that, we want to meet you.  We're looking for automotive specialists, no longer an account management person or a strategic planning person or a whatever person who can do many things.  We don't care where you come from as long as you can deliver what's to come in the future.  You can be Jack of however many trades you like, there's only ONE thing that we care for you to master - the car business.

In terms of personality requirements, you will need resilience and energy to excel.  A strong character with an inclusive leadership to take the reign is not absolute but from our experience, is a trait will take you very far.

So if you know anything about races, you'd also know second place is the first loser.  Reach out to us now.

How to hire the right person when you have too many candidates?

Okay.  Scenario.  You wanna hire an Account Manager - so it would be someone who's got some level of leadership, a team player, able to decipher complicated tasks from the Account Director which usually comes in the form of a Morse Code and break it into understandable tasks where they and the Account Executive can work on, able to put things together and get it organised and present it back to their boss.

There are 5 candidates.  All Senior Account Executives with similar agency experience and operational skills.  But what you need are 'invisible' skills and they are usually not stated in resumes or extravagantly exaggerated otherwise.

And your enemy is time.  You need this guy like yesterday and interviewing all 5 means you'll have to drown in your own team planning incompetency together with all of your other projects at hand.

So what do you do?

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

Easy peasy.  Get all 5.  Put them into a room with a two-way mirror (if your agency doesn't have this crazy surveillance room, then a spy camera would do).  You might want to inform them of the camera, in case they found out they didn't get the job, you might get sued to Timbuktu.  So as I was saying, get all 5 of them.  Put them into this room which you can observe them remotely and give them a 30 minutes to an hour task.  Give them a problem of which all 5 will have to agree on a common solution.  Tell them they're free to do whatever they want and you'll be back in an hour to 'hear out the solution'.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

Now sit back, relax and evaluate.

All 5 people, and everyone knows only 1 will get the job.  So there is some kind of tension already in the group.  So observe who is the natural leader in the group, who opposes with facts and who without facts, who are the followers, who are the 'whatevers', who are the limelight grabbers, who are the thinkers, who are the idea jotters, who are the yes people, who are the mavericks, who are the smartypants and who are the actual smart ones.

There.

I think you have an ideal candidate in mind already.

;)

How to break rules.

As if we, human beings, need any lesson for this.  It's in our nature to break rules anyway.

But when it comes to creating memorable, impactful, unique ads, one very practical way of doing so is to list down words that are category predictable - buzz words, words, taglines, copylines, visuals, graphics, designs, colours, mnemonics, contexts, stories.  And then tell the story without using any of the words that you've written.  Challenge, don't cheat.

Happy breaking em' rules ;)

The first CSR you can adopt in an advertising agency.

Everyone has been calling me to ask if I have any planners to recommend.  Well, here's my answer:

1) If the planner works with me then HELL NO, you can't have them!

2) If the planner doesn't work with me and I'm hiring, then BACK OFF.

3) If the planner doesn't work with me and I don't want to hire, you can have them but at your own risk.

So. There you go.

The lack of talents in the industry is so great that seriously, to all you agency owners and managers - do us all a favour to create a win-win situation in 3 to 5 years time.  Let us all hire fresh grads and commit to train them.  So that in a couple of years time, we can exchange them and there will be a fresh flow of new ideas in our stagnating blood stream.  The situation is a stuffed sewage and is in code red now.  I know it's a hassle to train especially if you're bogged down with day-to-day stuff, but is there any other solution to avoid all of us getting into a salary war?  A bloody lose-lose situation?  And you and I know that, that doesn't help building skills and careers either.  If planners' rate grows double to the ability to do the job, then what do you think will become of the quality of work we will be producing by mid-decade?  

So.  There you go.

I'm in.  First, I've signed up to be a mentor to fellow RMIT soon-to-grad students who might be interested in planning.  And next, I'll be looking out for a freshie.  So if you're interested and know someone who's interested to be trained by sticks and stones, apply here today.  Now, how about you?

Monetizing curiosity.

First question - what does it take to be a planner?  You have to be curious.

But doesn't everyone in advertising... or as a matter of fact, in any industry (last I checked most Nobel Peace prize winners aren't from the communication business), should be curious?

Then the question becomes what makes a curious person, a planner?

When you can monetize curiosity.

Being curious is not enough, you need to be resourceful.  Experiencing a moment is not enough, you need to understand how to draw that moment into the creative process.  Discovering trends is not enough, you need to know why and how people's behaviour is changing and how that would affect brands.  Researching a problem is not enough, you need to find illuminating solutions.

Yup.  2013 - monetize curiosity.  Because curiosity stems all creativity.

And in case I don't see you, hope you have had a Merry Christmas and most importantly, an awesome fruitful 2013.  Take care and see you in business.

Do I really want to quit my job?

This is brilliant.  The brilliance lies in the stark truth of what the ad is saying to me because... I was about to quit my job! (and I kid you not).  To save the world (I seriously kid you not).

How many of us are locked in the routine cycle of the corporate world, breathing in the mundane money-powered lifestyle and finally realising that there's something missing that's really bigger than our paycheck?  Either after being exposed to a one time pow-wow campaign (think KRONY) or incessant exposure to causes that pull our pity strings in all directions, that we decide to call it quits because we're (true to the following ad below) sad, angry, guilty for not doing what we can to save whatever we feel we should be saving.

Yup.  That's me.

But what if we're all meant to be play our part in this ecosystem of superheroes.  What if we all have different super powers?  There's only one of each in the Avengers.  So it wouldn't work if 80% of us quit to join the 20% Greenpeace advocates to stop the capitalistic world from misbehaving.  I mean, if 100% of us is on the other side fighting the cause, then logically speaking there's no one to fight against anyway, right?  Right.  That's one solution.

But here's another one, probably a better one given there're 80% of us scattered across the globe; Sit at your desk, do what you're skilled to do, live the life you're creating but make better smarter choices.  Maybe it's time for us to redeem our guilt by practising some self-compassion that we're not so bad after all.  We could choose a cuppa from free-trade versus a mugga that's not.  Maybe there is an easier way to do things.  And the easier way is presented here:  Enjoy.

When the testing stops, the manipulation stops too?

Recently read an article on Campaign Brief with regards to the latest 'facial coding technology' by Milward Brown.

Says Daren Poole (global brand director for Link, Milward Brown's existing copy testing solution): "Traditional methods of measuring emotion are not always capable of capturing a true emotional response. Facial coding allows us to track how a person really responds, rather than what they claim to have felt. There's no substitute for a real smile, laugh or frown and for the first time in Australia we can measure this all in the viewer's home environment. 

"Facial coding as part of Link can measure factors such as how well it captures a viewer's attention, how they respond to it and ultimately provide guidance in the analysis of the ad's impact on the brand. If a campaign is pushing the boundaries in terms or humour or controversy this is a controlled means to test how consumers really respond."

Neuromarketing is almost like the perfect matrimony between science and art.  Finally, marketers can make scientific sense out of the art business (called communication or more crudely some say, advertising) via MRI scans.  Getting neuro-scientists to decipher brain activity when 'respondents' are exposed to different storyboards, subsequently helps them to put the dollar on the best one that brings the most profitable emotion home (kaching).

It may sound fine and dandy and even awesome initially, as Morgan Spurlock professed after one of these scans, that he wanted a Coke but didn't know why (The Greatest Movie Ever Sold).  That is how powerful an ad message can be.  More explanation of the usage of MRI scans in marketing here:



Now.  Let us pause for a minute.  Let's take a minute to consider the effects of such testing in Political Marketing.  Are we still in awe?  Let's take another minute to consider the result of neuromarketing in say... pharmaceutical business?  Are you just burnt out from 21st century-living that a good old vacation can't fix or do you really need to be fixed with a drug?

I always felt FGDs fall short of something - people are back-rationalizing what they did in a room with a two-way mirror hence making findings a lot less accurate.  Gives you a sense of direction but hardly provides any crux to the issue.  But to now pay them to sleep through scanners?  Hmm.

I've always thought marketing or advertising as a courtship.  Between us and the consumer.  You don't really know what makes them click unless you put (a hell lot of) effort in trying to understand their world.  It's like a real relationship isn't it?  No effort, no depth.  If you don't bother finding out what they like, dislike, what makes their heart pulpitate and what makes it stop, you'll never develop that dream partnership of a companion they truly want to exist!

Well, hang on a sec.  That's where neuromarketing comes in.  Pay them, scan them, and they'll fall in love with you because amidst of the 10 storyboards of words, surely you must have said something right.  And them walking out of the room, falling in love with you but have no idea why.  And yea, you sustain that relationship as long as they don't fall in love with someone else.  And you extrapolate the findings and make hundreds and thousands and millions of others fall in love with a can of whatever-you're-selling.  Brill.

But that takes away so much romance isn't it?  Whatever happened to good old ethnography?

Neuroscience in consumer courtship - aye or nay?

When one campaign needs to top the last.

To be very honest with you, I don't think we always came out with stuff that we really like or that we're really proud of.  Because that would be really ideal.

Yesterday we launched the new Civic in Malaysia, and I'm very very very proud to share with you the fruits of the entire team's hardwork.  Team includes the clients and our business partners.  The campaign took one year to complete because of the unfortunate incidences that hit Honda in both Japan and Thailand.  It was a risk that we took because we've never dared to pushed the boundaries with what we can or cannot do with our precious car.  I'm glad we took the leap and did not look back.

It was a lot of hardwork, a lot of frustration, a lot of laughter, a lot of 'I-so-wanna-punch-you' moments but you know, every single bit of it is worth every single bit of it.  Here's the TV commercial that's on air right now :)



So go on and witness for yourself what happens when you simply allow your intuition to take control.  It truly is an adventure and I promise, an amazing joyride :)

Click here to experience the all-new Civic's web movie, starring you!

What happens when hybrid meets art?

Them guys had a ball creating this masterpiece which is currently up in KLCC Convex tunnel :) The idea ties back to being 'naturally driven'. Driven to inspire change in the way we look at and do things. Why print when we can paint? Sure hell takes a lot more effort, but it's way more rewarding :)

Really. Seriously. Honestly, what do planners do?

When people ask me what I do in advertising, everyone gets it if I were to say 'Client Servicing' or 'Copywriter' or 'Art Director' or 'Media' or 'Production'.  Most often than not, I just get a blank look when I say 'Planner'.  No one knows what we do.  Heck, even some within our own office don't know what we do.  While some people bitch about Servicing as being the 'high-class' messenger, we are infamously known as the 'expert' Powerpoint writer.

It's total bullshit.

What I do is I PLAN.  I solve problems.  Any problems.  Period.  Full stop.  You have a problem?  You come to me.  I give you a solution.  And that solution has a plan.  It consists of an idea that has a concise strategy to help you get out of your rut hole (Point A) and into dreamland (Point B).  Wherever your Point A is, wherever your Point B is.  It doesn't matter.  Sometimes, we can give you an even bigger plan and suggest the third point.  Point A to Point B to Point C to Point Whatever.  Till you say stop.  Small planners, small journey.  Big planners, big journey.  Simple as that.

There's no job in planning.  Planning is living.  If you're a good problem solver in life, you're a good problem solver at work.  Problems are problems, big or small.  What a planner lives on, he or she feeds back into their work.  So, there's no 9 to 5 job, it's a round-the-clock work because a planner is perpetually living, breathing and most importantly learning.  What a planner learns is oxygen (amazingly well put by fellow planner, Heidi Heckemer) to the agency.  The oxygen that's needed for the ultimate first spark of light (yes, pun intended).  Without that oxygen, there's nothing.

I'm not a workaholic.  I might seem like I'm thinking all the time.  That's because I enjoy learning.  You can't learn if you're not thinking, no? (that's why our education system failed so terribly).  So people may mistaken me as a workaholic.  Well, yea.  Whatever.

In reality, there's no such thing as a 'junior' planner.  Or planning manager, or director, or chief planner.  A planner is a planner.  You're either a planner or you're not.  A good planner or you're not.  Levels don't define how good you are, it just defines how old you are (defers maybe only in some exceptional cases).  But I guess, it's a way for management to safeguard the planning lineage in agencies.  Therefore, they need to photocopy the planning director into many little planners so that they can make more money.  Makes perfect economic sense and I'm not complaining.  But I think planning directors are just highly misunderstood.  That's all I'm saying.  I'm not interested in intellectual masturbation with C-executives.  I'm here to solve problems.  Directorship sets a diplomatic restrain on you, that's all (say that, don't say that, say that, don't say that).  It's no biggie.  Don't like?  Leave.  Be a planning nomad :) (that's my dream job actually.  And now that I've mentioned it, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU READ THAT TERM HERE FIRST.  TQVM).

I have a confession.  I have trouble following rules or systems to be specific.  I can't work in a cookie cutter.  I can't live in a pigeon-hole.  That makes me unstable and that always gets me into trouble.

BIG SMILE.  Sorry, can't help it.  Learning is a dotted-life (credit Steve Jobs).  Hold that thought!  Did you just imagine some black dots on a straight line?  Whether horizontal or vertical?  Hmm.  You know what dalmatians are?  Well, that's what I'm talking about.  Sporadic dots (who says it must always be a line!).  I get suffocated, unhappy, bordering depression if I'm locked within 4-walls.  Not 4 physical walls (I don't really care about physicality) but my light gets dimmer if I'm tied down by systems.  Linear methods.  You must do this and this and this because it's this and this and this.  You must be in by 9am.  I don't really care what time I come to work but to sit in the jam for 2 hours simply don't make any common sense to me.  I defy inefficient systems.  So.  I don't come in to work at 9.  As long as I'm in when I'm needed then problem solved.  You get me now?  Yea, planning nomad.

I get suffocated if I can't travel.  If I can't go and see the world, talk to people and consume their culture, I shrink.  Some people don't.  They retain their original size.  But I will shrink.  I don't why it happens, but it happens.  I'm not sure if it's gonna work as well if you tell me to 'grow up', cause trust me, I told myself that gazillion times before.  But it doesn't work.  On the contrary.  Every time I travel, my mind grows.  It stretches itself so much to carry the excitement back to my team.  My excitement literally bursts out from me.  I wanted to share with them what I saw, who I met, what I did because I have all these great ideas that would make for great problem-solutions.  Without getting out there, my sight dims.  And I will lose the love for my work.  The love for solving problems.  The love for learning.  The love for living.

That's what I do.

That's what a planner does.

And now, I'm gonna share with you a really simple but profound slideshow from Heidi, another planning nomad.  And right after this.  I'm gonna share the link with my bosses.  It feels like these are the words which I've always wanted to tell them but never knew how.  Well, now that a planner has expertly put it into a Powerpoint, I should just click 'send'.  PTL for Slideshare.  Enjoice :)

planning, creativity & planning for creative campaigns

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What happens when you lose?

March was a krazy month.  With a capital K.

Amidst our campaign launches, pitches here and there, small and big, we got two wins and two losts.  I remember someone telling me that we're always SO focused on our shortcoming that sometimes we forget to celebrate the other great stuff that has happened.

But sometimes when we're too focused in that elated feeling, we become over-confident and arrogant.  And I think that is what caused us the lost.  These were very difficult pills to swallow.  Because you know exactly why you lost.

Sheer arrogance.

Kills opportunities.

Or was it exhaustion?

My ex-boss used to tell me to stop being so competitive.  But I have a whole different contention to that.  It's not that I'm competitive (okay, maybe a little bit) but you really wanna give your best to every project.  If it's not 100%, it's not a 100%.  It's okay if you're ready to bite the bullet and chew on the results if you're well aware from the beginning, you're not gonna give a perfect ten.  But it's something else when you perceived yourself for having done that and yet in retrospect, you realized it was just over-confidence masquerading as know-how.  The frustrating thing is I know this.  We've had a similar experience with a long-time client.  The day we lost, the feeling... sucked.  Again, because we know why we lost.  Since, we've vowed to always carry humility to this particular client and so far, so good.  So this is not a new lesson.  It's a forgotten lesson but it's one, once again, well-learned, well-deserved.

I'm deeply humbled.

And I owe an apology to my client.

For losing on such irrelevant ground.

We'll be better next time round.  That's our professional commitment.

Who says you can't go for a spin and keep the planet spinning?

Watch this space soon for an elegant surprise.  We're adding a new member to the family.  Naturally ;)

mcgarrybowen meteoric rise.

In 2002, John McGarry and Gordon Bowen left their big employers to set up on their own with only four staff and no client.  Today, mcgarrybowen employs over 700 people in New York and Chicago, boasting 20 clients, 65 major brands, and billings in excess of $10 billion.

Which means to say, within 10 years, on average per year mcgarrybowen hires approximately 70 people, gaining 2 new clients that bring in 3 to 4 brands per client which provides approximate billing of millions per year.

Dentsu Utama is in its 6th year now.

Don't mean to self-hurt.  But.  Sometimes, you know.  It's frustrating.  No one knows why and no one wants to talk about it.  But if you look at benchmark numbers, it's crystal.

Really frustrating.

*mcgarrybowen is part of Dentsu Group.

It's that time of the year again - appraisal time ;)

Appraisal time.  The moment of truth.  Have you got enough ammunition or does the very thought of it send jitters to your spine?  Or worse.  You are oblivious to it?  It doesn't excite you, doesn't spook you, to you it's just another piece of paper, another meeting, another session of nonsensical but mandatory chat session.  It. doesn't. mean. anything. to. you?

Well if I hit a nerve there, then I'm really worried for you.  Because it shows that you have no accountability to what you do.  A job is a nine to five routine that you trade for some dough to basically eat and drink to stay alive before your time ends.  You have no love in what you do.  You don't care about the bigger picture.  You don't care about your boss.  You don't care about your clients.  You don't care about your colleagues.  You. just. don't. care.  Or do you? C'mon, get a grip.

Last mid-term, I had a moment of truth.  Appraisals are done annually, but we have a practice here to touch base with the team every 6 months just so, we are not just on the same page but are on track - you know, the usual - motivation, goals, $$$, things-we-love-most-about-you-which-you-should-continue-doing and things-you-do-that-we-hate-so-much-we're-using-all-our-might-to-refrain-from-...

And my moment of truth came after speaking to about 10 colleagues.  People, are generally hungry for feedback.  I always thought that perhaps, Malaysians being non-confrontational tend to shy away from these kind of open discussion, especially when it's their performance that is put under the microscope and scrutinized.  But such is not so.  They generally want to know if they have done well, met expectations, hoping you could give them feedback which they failed to see in the mirror.  And me being me, I'm the last person on earth to be appointed to candy pills, I'm quite surprised that the team takes facts - good or bad - with good strides.  And the best part is?  No satisfaction is bigger than to watch people grow.  In the next 6 months, you see them change.  You see them really working on the issues which we've identified and agreed upon.  Albeit they're not perfect, but the point is you do see them working on it and you do see results.  Sometimes the result is tangible, other times it's not.  Sometimes it's surprising even.  But of course, you get a lemon now and then.  And unfortunately OR fortunately for us, the person almost always leaves the team before the term ends.

I always get the jitters when it comes to appraisal time.  Not so much my own - I have one of the nicest and most encouraging bosses eva and I almost always get away with a lot of things - on paper or no (haha!).  Woops.  Too much info.  But anyway, it's the appraisal time with the team that gives me the chills.  We made a point that it'll be an open discussion, a two-way traffic.  So as much as the person is reviewed, I supposed I'm also getting reviewed indirectly as a senior colleague.  If you've been put in charge to lead, it's hard not to feel responsible for the person whom you are leading.  C'mon, if one of your staff is in Timbuktu, SURELY there must have been a smart alec who may have mentioned 'going to Timbuktu' at some point?  I'm not sure whether everyone feels the same or just the fact because I'm the fairer gender (hence I'm more emotional, more feely weely, more blah blah blah), I feel responsible when one person does not hit their KPI.  It's strange.  It feels like you've not been guiding enough.  It feels kinda like a guilt-trip.  You get what I mean?  And almost always, with extremely great difficulty for the words to spew out from my mouth, I will ask them for feedback on my leadership.  That's when the butterflies don't just fly, the explode in your gut because it's your turn to strip naked and go under the microscope.  I know my colleagues withheld a lot of comments (haha!) seriously.  Because I know them and because I know I could be better.  And I thank them for... being extremely considerate about my feelings :) No, seriously.

It's quite ironic, that being in a communication industry, ad people rarely talk to each other.  They play cool and they hardly get in touch with their emotions when it's this very same business that should be stirring emotions, creating new feelings.  If you're doing appraisal with your team right about now, take some time off and really... communicate with them.  It's not about talking, but about understanding.  Yup, the pressure is always gonna be there when there're numbers put in place as goals but it's gonna be good.  The second most satisfying thing about working here, in Dentsu is to be able to see your team grow.  Not just in the business sense, but as people.  You see them become empowered and you see them try and challenge themselves and you see them stretch.  Well, fireworks are inevitable along the way because we are... at war, but nevertheless it will be pretty at the end of it and it will be all worth the trouble.

To my awesome team, I'm really fortunate to have you guys.  No, seriously.  I may not LOOK like it (dood, it's tough to look like it every day.  I am after all a human being) but I sure mean it.  Somehow, this appraisal thing?  Makes me more aware of myself too not as a staff to my boss but as a colleague, a person, a leader, a guide, a friend, a lamp post, a torch light, whatever you wanna call it, you know what I mean :)

Here's to our realignment and an awesome 2012!

Operation Christmas - the best campaign ever!

This is one of if not the best campaign I've ever seen and been moved.  My highest salute goes to you guys, Lowe-SSP3 Bogotá, Colombia.  You’ve proven to be a solutions agency.  Not an ad agency.  You moved people from death to life, from lost to hope - the ultimate desired consumer action!

Wow.  You deserve beyond the Gold Outdoor Lion at Cannes 2011.  You deserve a medal for sheer bravery, in both literal and figurative speak.  My hats off to you.

And to whomever who wrote this copy, I just wanna let you know... you're amazing :)

The world's award winning honey has just arrived on Malaysian shores.

If you're not a honey person, it's time for you to really consider making it part of your everyday diet.  Why?  Because honey can help weight loss by increasing your metabolism and providing better digestion (no more sluggish days!).  Also if you don't already know, it is a natural alternative remedy to health problems like asthma, bad breath (yup, that's right!  Gargle with honey because it has anti-bacterial property), cholesterol, heatiness (what I'm feeling now :( sigh... ), sleeplessness and insomnia (milk + honey = yummi), stomach ulcers, arthritis (honey + cider vinegar), burns (yup, while you do your thang in the kitchen, it may come handy), cough, and the most evil problem of them all... STRESS (1 tablespoon of honey + 4 tablespoons of warm water = wow, I'm feeling happy already).

But there are so many varieties out there, off the shelves in supermarkets alone.  As we increasingly appreciate the additional health benefits of honey and not just as an indulging sauce to be put on our pancakes and waffles, it's time to look for some honey experts to get the best quality and not to mention the best deal.

Welcome to Yummi House, which recently launched in SS2, PJ.  It is 100% unprocessed with no artificial sweetening, colouring and whatever-ing they put into your jars outside.  It's really the closest natural honey you can get from the beehive in the wild jungle without going through a life-threatening battle (isn't it great to know that someone else did that for you already?).

So come along now to:

And experience real yummi goodness in a jar.

Meanwhile, here's something to perk you up.  A teaspoon of honey honey is enough to put a smile :)

Read more: http://www.yummihouse.com/index.html

When do you call it plagiarism?

Sometimes it's really hard to tell if our idea is truly original anymore.  Same idea different execution?  Different idea same creative strategy?  What we think of here today, is also thought by someone else somewhere else.  When the world was divided (read: world without the wide web), it was much more difficult to aggregate creative work.  Maybe it has been happening all this while, with or without the internet. It's just gotten a lot more in your face to watch your idea being executed with the most uncanny similarities on YouTube.

Watch this (Subaru, Japan, Dentsu Kansai, 2010):

And then compare with this (Audi, London, BBHLondon, 2011):



What if two different teams in two different parts of the world have the same idea.  Upon client approval, started executing it and at the end, one produced faster than the other.  If you were the one in the midst of production and so happened on a beautiful hummingbird chirping morning clicked, and watched in horror the same idea being executed in another part of the world.  What would you do?  Would you stop the commercial and burn the money?  Or would you proceed and bear industry mockery after you launch the campaign, even though you could have been the one who conceived the idea wayyyyyy before the other team?  It's such a subjective and grey area.  So if this was the scenario, and the team which was able to launch the commercial faster, subsequently submit it for awards, will of course stand a higher chance of scoring it.  Do you see the fundamental problem here?  What this essentially means is, the metal is awarded to the team who executed the campaign first.  It has nothing to do with WHO conceived it first.  It's based on speed that kinda stems from a lot of luck.  Would this be an industry problem?  Do we close one eye and pretend this is not happening?  What is the implication on us anyway?  And more importantly what is the implication of this on intellectual property and creative thinking?

Good question.

Quick. Name a soft drink.

And your answer is?

The power of brands. When you don't even need to say more.

Image from CR.

Thou shalt not procrastinate.

Do what you need to do today. Tomorrow has its own job.

Pic ffffound from Piccsy.