Strawberry Frog Page
From Innovationclass
FINAL WEBSITE:
atlas.colorado.edu/~wight/AgAu.html
hey guys... go through what greg did and make any edits you have
Agency: AgAu
Motto:
Cultural Architects
Song:
"Silver And Gold"
Workin' hard every day
Never notice how
the time slips away
People come, seasons go
We got something
that'll never grow old.
-Neil Young
2013 Vision
So what will become of Ag + Au as it develops. Well at first we have to lay out what our goals will be. We want to have a full service agency that can generate profit for the SJMC.
To develop what our vision for the agency, we feel like we need to get a handle on what people can get on our bus, so we can begin to figure out where to drive it. But it is to be stressed that it is not just people, it is the right people. The ones who will be passionate about advertising, and select it as a major based on the desire to change how culture interacts and views brands. This is why the revamped application process plays such a vital role in getting this agency to its innovative and creative goals. Lack of attention to this concept could hinder advancement of the sequence. An agency trying to become more innovative should not rely on a traditional methods to choose what students its will develop.
As a first year implementation this should begin as a one-semester class laying the foundation for its eventual growth into a two-semester and perhaps a three-semester journey as it gets developed and clients are established. As it starts as a sixteen-week class, it is important that students to fully experience the creation of an ad, from consumer research all the way down the line to final form. We want to encourage students to get out into the world and view exactly how consumers interact with products and brands. This will get them to be creative and innovative, hopefully leading them to pursue advertising campaigns outside the traditional role of tv, radio, and print.
As the program grows into a two-semester or longer commitment it will allow for older students to help younger students. The older seasoned players helping the entry-level rookies get into the game. It would keep culture constant and the breeding of new ideas in place. It also would aid students as they transitioned from the school agency to a job in an agency following graduation. After all, a schools quality should be defined by its ability to create passion in its students, and set them up to be successful in the advertising world following the completion of their education on the boulder campus.
Eventually, the end goal if the agency can generate enough profit, would be to lease its own space off campus. This would allow greater control over the environment. We want students to have their own workspaces that are not just converted classrooms. This would also secure space for the ping-pong table and perhaps a Tiki bar. Every agency needs to have a unique environment to call its own. Hopefully one day we will. Advertising has a goal to tell people how certain brands can change the world, and make this a better place for everyone.
Intro:
In order for an agency to create work it must have a distinct culture and a differentiated way of achieving goals. Otherwise, they would all produce the same work, which they clearly do not. Every agency has its own personality and its own character. A culture that facilitates production of great work must stand behind it. At our agency we must deliver to our clients the answer to their problems, whatever it may be. But the answers we deliver have to be presented in a different way than others deliver it. Agencies deliver to their clients a way to differentiate their products from others out there in the market place, but seldom do agencies find ways to differentiate the product they deliver from other agencies' products. The following is the framework for an innovative agency designed to solve the problems brands face in today’s innovative and reworked environment.
- We have taken inspiration from Strawberry Frog, a fantastic agency in New York. Their guiding principles are to stay fresh and innovative, transforming advertising into something both entertaining and relevant. Their agency is the kind that people truly want to work at, not only because they produce great, award winning ads, but because they provide a fun, creative and inspiring atmosphere for their employees. We have used their principals as the building blocks of our agency.
Culture: The people
This is a team. Plain and simple. Great teams do not have a hierarchy. They are balanced and have contributions from every part of it. Everyone has the role and knows where they can contribute. Through all its members everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, where some may struggle others will thrive. This is the beauty of a team. The answers can come from anywhere, helping problems to not be so intimidating. The team element is essential to creating a fantastic and productive workplace where people support each other's work and successes instead of being in constant competition with one another. This is why all work produced will be agency's work, not the work of individuals. All work submitted to award shows, etc will not have individuals names on it, just the name of the agency. This helps to create a real team atmosphere where one's success truly is the success of the team and it is in everyone's best interest to work together.
Environment: The Physical Atmosphere
So what facilitates this great teamwork? This is an open space where ideas are free to roam and are never dead. But what is the setup of this agency? This is not going to be a traditional office space. Actually, it is going to be the farthest thing from it. Although it is impossible to know what kind of space we will be presented with, we have some general ideas that will create a the culture we seek. Ideally the main room will just be a huge open space with desks and work spaces scattered around the perimeter. This creates a space where people can work in teams and very easily get input from others. This room will have seperate, smaller rooms for private work. We would also love a gameroom with a ping pong table, pool table, etc. where people can go to blow off some steam and bounce ideas off each other in a non-stress environment. This also why we want some kind of bar that serves smoothies, coffee, beer, whatever that allows people to meet up and talk in an environment seperate from the office.
Process:
So how do we create great advertising? Seems like the age old question that there is no good answer to. But there is no good answer for a reason. Advertising is not formulaic because people are not formulaic. People are not predictable. They are not bred with a calculated way of thinking. They are ever changing and constantly evolving. So to connect with them it is necessary for our agency to talk to them like a friend would talk to them. We must connect to them on a personal level and appeal to them with emotional connections. We need to weave the product or brand image into the fabric of society in such a way that they embrace it as if it were its own person. So how do we do this? First of all, we want to make it a one year program, somewhat of a combination between the advanced creative and portfolio class for the creative, and the two final strategic classes. That way, all of the first semester could be spent generating a ton of concepts and fleshing them out, while the last semester would be executing and polishing work.
Part 1: The Scrapbook
Brands/Products have personalities. If they don’t have distinct ones, we have to create one. So in what ways might it be possible to understand a person? Well every person has a scrapbook, or nearly everyone, created either by themselves or by their mom or dad. It tells a story for the first attempts at walking out of the crib through high school graduation and up to the present…wherever it may be. Our job is to tell the brand's story so people can connect with it. So for one week, the advertising team handling the client spends time on nothing but getting to know the product. Everything from product interaction to interviews with those purchasing the (or related) products would be documented in the book.
Part 2: The Consumer
It’s a vacuum cleaner. It’s an energy drink. It’s Ralph Lauren’s newest cologne release. These brands are all interacted with by the consumer differently. In order to make effective advertising it is necessary to understand how the consumer interacts with the product. It is impossible to know this by sitting in a meeting room looking around at colleagues. It is not fully possible to look at some marketing research breakdown by demographics. It has to happen by getting out in the world and witnessing how consumers use these different products. Maybe it’s going to Target and watching the shop for cleaning products. Maybe it’s sitting in a convenience store watching people pick out their drinks. Maybe it’s touring a college dormitory talking to guys as they get ready to go out on the town for the night trying to meet ladies. The point here is you cannot just imagine how people use certain products, you have to witness it. If you want to advertise brands that can shift culture and change the way people conduct their lives you have to put yourself in the game, you cannot sit on the sidelines and watch.
Part 3: The Work
Pool ideas. As many as possible. Do not think. Do not judge. Just let them flow. So often people stop being creative because they believe that there is a correct answer. Advertising does not have correct answers. It has great solutions to problems. That is why it is so diverse. Brands do not have identical problems. So here is what we are going to do. Creative people, account people, strategy people, everyone works together. At our agency everyone is creative, and creativity can filter through in so many different ways. Great ideas build through the great people that develop them. Sure some make act as the liason between the client and the agency (account people). Some may create print ads on photoshop or shoot the commercials for a TV spot (creatives). Some may present what they see as key insights important to the campaign (strategics). They are simply filling their roles. Job has a negative conotaiton and it tries to create a hierarchy. At this agency we have roles, because we are a team. Like a basketball team has forwards and guards, or a football team defensive backs and running backs, all its parts come together to work for a common goal.
But what do we want our work to be? Catchy? Memorable? Impressionable? Well how bout simply this, original. Often times advertising today just seems to be a reincarnation and interpretation of something that has already been done. So at our agency we will flood our room with other forms of inspiration to make sure our work truly blazes a new trail. TV, Print, and Radio used to be the only options for attempting to communicate with consumers. This is not how it is anymore. With the Internet brands can become global in a fraction of the time. Advertisements can be TV shows, events, a news story. The game has changed, and because of that we cannot rely on the past to dictate what can and cannot be great work. So No Communication Arts. No One Show compellations. No latest version of Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts. That has already been done. We are here to do something that has not been done before. Seek inspiration from other art forms and books. Maybe The Art of War or The Great Gatsby are the books that could fill our rooms. Also the decor that covers the wall can be just about anything. Posters of "The Road Less Traveled" by Robert Frost. Who knows what it can be. Lets be different with it though.
As we create comps for presentation to clients, we will not use Photoshop. This will only be in the final stages, as we get closer to super comp form. For the creation of ideas and laying out rough drafts it is too polished. It does not leave room for the clients to use their imagination and involve themselves in the development of the campaign. It also attaches us as an agency to the work too much. It would be more difficult for us to kill our darlings. So how will we create these rough comps? Well there are crayola markers, crayons, colored pencils, charcoal, ballpoint pens, lead pencils, watercolor, oil paints, sharpies, and fountain pens. It is endless. Each one might be fitting for a different campaign. See what works and run with it. We are a different kind of agency, and we will back that up through our work. We won’t make bullshit claims. We keep shit real.
Application Process
Our culture needs to be unique. But how do you do this with something you may have little control over? Agencies in the advertising business can hire just about anyone that want that they see fit for a position. An investment banker, a cafeteria worker, a chicken griller at chipotle. But we do not have this same opportunity. So where does this leave us? Out in the cold with no hope? Not exactly. We just have to work backwards. Where does it all start? Well at the application process. How can we select the ideal candidate before they even begun their journey through the advertising sequence.
If our agency and sequence wants to be innovative, why are we relying on traditional, old-school techniques for picking the rare breed who will succeed in this frustrating yet rewarding educational process. In the past it is a GPA comparison and some 500 word essay on how someone used creativity to solve a problem. Essays seem to be the crowned prince of bullshit. An educated guess at delivering to the reader what they want to here. So the following is suggestions on what this process could look like.
Part 1: Who you be?
What drives you? What are your Passions? What are your hobbies? What is your favorite movie and why? What do you do if you have to kill a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon? This gives you an idea of the indvidual.
Part 2: Finish the sentence
So many people don’t know that…
If I were a…
The chicken crossed the road because…
I get annoyed when...
My ex would say...
If I had a million dollars...
Marriage is for...
In hindsight...
Through this process it is possible to get a grasp on one dimension of people’s creativity. Also here you can learn how comical people can be. People make advertising work or not, its usually good if they can be funny people.
Part 3: GPA
It has its place. It does reflect your dedication to education and seeking out knowledge. A wide range of knowledge in diverse areas will make you better on all subject matters. But this seems like it should not be the top criteria.
Part 4: Tell us about your favorite campaign? -- This shows not only excellent writing skills, but also how well someone thinks strategically and creatively by how they discuss the campaign. It is essential to find creatives that know how to think strategically and strategics who understand the creative process. By having them talk about all the reasons they love a particular campaign, we can see how their mind works.
Part 5: Lets jam for a bit
How can you know someone without talking to them? Answer is you can’t. But it is also impossible to talk to all applicants. So you use the first few steps to get down to the meat of who you really want. To develop this committee you have to look within and use the people the school is shaping at the very moment. This is a school who should take pride in the individuals they are mentoring before their eyes. Students and former students can be an asset so why not use them. Since the administration must ultimately make the decision, this committee will simply provide a list of people they recommend for admittance. It will not have the final say, but should have a strong voice.
Part 6: Do it…but do it in style
Can we think of a better way then an email or a letter to notify an applicant. I believe we can. (So what should it be). I have no idea right now.
Core values:
Agency: AgAu
Intro:
In order for an agency to create work, it must have a distinct culture and a differentiated way of getting goals accomplishments. Otherwise, they would all produce the same work, which they clearly do not. Every agency has its own personality and its own character. Behind it must exist a culture that facilitates production of great work. At our agency we must deliver to our clients the answer to their problems. Whatever it may be. But the problem we deliver has to be brought in a different way than others deliver it. Agencies deliver to their clients a way to differentiate their products from others out there in the market place. But seldom do agencies find ways to differentiate the product they deliver from other agencies. The following is the framework for an innovative agency designed to solve the problems brands face in today’s innovative and reworked environment.
Culture: The people
This is a team. Plain and simple. Great teams do not have a hierarchy. They are balanced and have contributions from every part of it. Everyone has the role and knows where they can contribute. Through all its members everyone has their strengths and weakness, where others may struggle others may thrive. This is the beauty of a team. The answers can come from anywhere, and causes problems to not be so intimidating. The team element is essential to creating a fantastic and productive workplace where people support each other's work and success's, instead of being in constant competition with one another. This is why all work produced will be agency work, not the work of individuals. All work submitted to award shows, etc will not have individuals names on it, just the name of the agency. This helps to create a real team atmosphere where ones success truly is the success of the team, and it is in everyone's best interest to work together.
Environment: The Physical Atmosphere
So what facilitates this great teamwork? This is an open space where ideas are free to roam and are never dead. But what is the setup of this agency? This is not going to be a traditional office space. Actually, it is going to be the farthest thing from it. Although it is impossible to know what kind of space we will be presented with, we have some general ideas that will create a the culture we seek. Ideally, the main room will just be a huge open space with desks and work spaces scattered around the perimater. This creates a space where people can work in teams, but very easily get input from others. This room will have seperate, smaller rooms for private work. We would also love a gameroom with a ping pong table, pool table, etc where people can go to blow off some steam and bounce ideas off each other in a non-stress environment. This also why we want some kind of bar that serves smoothies, coffee, beer, whatever that allows people to meet up and talk in an environment seperate from the office.
Process:
So how do we create great advertising? Seems like the age old question that there is no good answer to. But there is no good answer for a reason. Advertising is not formulaic because people are not formulaic. People are not predictable. They are not bred with a calculated way of thinking. They are ever changing and constantly evolving. So to connect with them it is necessary for our agency to talk to them like a friend would talk to them. We must connect to them on a personal level and appeal to them with emotional connections. We need to weave the product or brand image into the fabric of society in such a way that they embrace it as if it were its own person. So how do we do this? First of all, we want to make it a one year program, somewhat of a combination between the advanced creative and portfolio class for the creative, and the two final strategic classes. That way, all of the first semester could be spent generating a ton of concepts and fleshing them out, while the last semester would be executing and polishing work.
Part 1: The Scrap Book
Brands/Products have personalities. If they don’t seem to have distinct ones, we have to create one. So in what ways might it be possible to understand a person? Well every person has a scrap book, or nearly everyone, created either by themselves or by their mom or dad. It tells a story for the first attempts at walking out of the crib through high school graduation and up to the present…wherever it may be. Or job is to tell the brands story so people can connect with it. So for one week, the advertising team handling the client spends time on nothing but getting to know the product. Everything from product interaction to interviews with those purchasing the (or related) products would be documented in the book.
Part 2: The Consumer
It’s a vacuum cleaner. It’s an energy drink. It’s Ralph Lauren’s newest cologne release. These brands are all interacted with by the consumer differently. In order to make effective advertising it is necessary to understand how the consumer interacts with the products. It is impossible to know this by sitting in a meeting room looking around at colleagues. It is not fully possible to look at some marketing research breakdown by demographics. It has to happen by getting out in the world and witnessing how consumers use these different products. Maybe it’s going to Target and watching the shop for cleaning products? Maybe it’s sitting in a convenience store watching people pick out their drinks. Maybe it’s touring a college dormitory talking to guys as they get ready to go out on the town for the night trying to meet ladies. The point here is you cannot just imagine how people use certain products, you have to witness it? If you want to advertise brands that can shift culture and change the way people conduct their lives you have to put yourself in the game, you cannot sit on the sidelines and watch.
Part 3: The Work
Pool ideas. As many as possible. Do not think. Do not judge. Just let them flow. So often people stop being creative because they believe that there is a correct answer. Advertising does not have correct answers. It has great solutions to problems. That is why it is so diverse. Brands do not have identical problems. So here is what we are going to do. Creative people, account people, strategy people, everyone works together. At our agency everyone is creative, and creativity can filter through in so many different ways. Great ideas build through the great people that develop them. Sure some make act as the liason between the client and the agency (account people). Some may create print ads on photoshop or shoot the commercials for a TV spot (creatives). Some may present what they see as key insights important to the campaign (strategics). They are simply filling their roles. Job has a negative conotaiton and it tries to create a hierarchy. At this agency we have roles, because we are a team. Like a basketball team has forwards and guards, or a football team defensive backs and running backs, all its parts come together to work for a common goal.
But what do we want our work to be? Catchy? Memorable? Impressionable? Well how bout simply this, original. Often times advertising today just seems to be a reincarnation and interpretation of something that has already been done. So at our agency we will flood our room with other forms of inspiration to make sure our work truly blazes a new trail. TV, Print, and Radio used to be the only options for attempting to communicate with consumers. This is not how it is anymore. With the Internet brands can become global in a fraction of the time. Advertisements can be TV shows, events, a news story. The game has changed, and because of that we cannot rely on the past to dictate what can and cannot be great work. So No Communication Arts. No One Show compellations. No latest version of Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts. That has already been done. We are here to do something that has not been done before. Seek inspiration from other art forms and books. Maybe The Art of War or The Great Gatsby are the books that could fill our rooms. Also the decor that covers the wall can be just about anything. Posters of "The Road Less Traveled" by Robert Frost. Who knows what it can be. Lets be different with it though.
As we create comps for presentation to clients, we will not use Photoshop. This will only be in the final stages, as we get closer to super comp form. For the creation of ideas and laying out rough drafts it is too polished. It does not leave room for the clients to use their imagination and involve themselves in the development of the campaign. It also attaches us as an agency to the work too much. It would be more difficult for us to kill our darlings. So how will we create these rough comps? Well there are crayola markers, crayons, colored pencils, charcoal, ballpoint pens, lead pencils, watercolor, oil paints, sharpies, and fountain pens. It is endless. Each one might be fitting for a different campaign. See what works and run with it. We are a different kind of agency, and we will back that up through our work. We won’t make bullshit claims. We keep shit real.
Application Process
Our culture needs to be unique. But how do you do this with something you may have little control over? Agencies in the advertising business can hire just about anyone that want that they see fit for a position. An investment banker, a cafeteria worker, a chicken griller at chipotle. But we do not have this same opportunity. So where does this leave us? Out in the cold with no hope? Not exactly. We just have to work backwards. Where does it all start? Well at the application process. How can we select the ideal candidate before they even begun their journey through the advertising sequence.
If our agency and sequence wants to be innovative, why are we relying on traditional, old-school techniques for picking the rare breed who will succeed in this frustrating yet rewarding educational process. In the past it is a GPA comparison and some 500 word essay on how someone used creativity to solve a problem. Essays seem to be the crowned prince of bullshit. An educated guess at delivering to the reader what they want to here. So the following is suggestions on what this process could look like.
Part 1: Who you be?
What drives you? What are your Passions? What are your hobbies? What is your favorite movie and why? What do you do if you have to kill a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon? This gives you an idea of the indvidual.
Part 2: Finish the sentence
So many people don’t know that…
If I were a…
The chicken crossed the road because…
I get annoyed when...
My ex would say...
If I had a million dollars...
Marriage is for...
In hindsight...
Through this process it is possible to get a grasp on one dimension of people’s creativity. Also here you can learn how comical people can be. People make advertising work or not, its usually good if they can be funny people.
Part 3: GPA
It has its place. It does reflect your dedication to education and seeking out knowledge. A wide range of knowledge on diverse will make you better on all subject matters. But this seems like it should not be the top criteria of
Part 4: Tell us about your favorite campaign? -- This shows not only excellent writing skills, but also how well someone thinks strategically and creatively by how they discuss the campaign. It is essential to find creatives that know how to think strategically and strategics who understand the creative process. By having them talk about all the reasons they love a particular campaign, we can see how their mind works.
Part 5: Lets jam for a bit
How can you know someone without talking to them? Answer is you can’t. But it is also impossible to talk to all applicants. So you use the first few steps to get down to the meat of who you really want. To develop this committee you have to look within and use the people the school is creating at the very moment. This is a school who should take pride in the individuals they are mentoring before their eyes. Students and former students can be an asset so why not use them. Since administrators want the final say as sort of a commendation of power, this committee will simply provide a list of people they recommend for admittance. It will not have the final say, but should have a strong voice.
Part 6: Do it…but do it in style
Can we think of a better way then an email or a letter to notify an applicant. I believe we can. (So what should it be). I have no idea right now.
Core values:
Everybody is creative
Ideas don't come solely from art directors and copywriters; they can stem from anyone, anywhere. The defining factor of our agency is that everyone involved is a creative of some sort. This will be evident in both the application process and the interaction of "employees." Strategic planners must have creative insight in order to make truly great creative briefs, and creatives must be able to understand and utilize strategy to make exceptional ads. "Everyone is creative" is essentially the notion of using every resource possible for creative input, regardless of their job title or role.
Listen - Suspend disbelief
Nothing is impossible, no idea is unattainable, don't assume something small can't take you somewhere big. These are the notions on which our agency is founded. Don't lock yourself in a room to generate ideas, and don't assume that no one's ideas are as good as yours. Listen to everyone.
An idea is never dead
Just because an idea may not fit for a current project or current brand does not mean that it has no place in the advertising marketplace. It may go into a scrap book or into a bucket or even a hat. What may have not been possible 6 months ago is now possible. Never kill an idea. Just let it take a nap.
Create fields, not walls
First step when you tackle any problem is to take a sledgehammer and knock down all the walls. Do not create limitations when a direction has not even been established. Fields are open places that are free, some use them to grow, some use them to play, some just use them to relax stare at the sky. They can be so pure, so untamed, ready to be made into something special. At our agency we create fields not walls. Advertising is not about limiting ideas. It is about pushing boundaries.
Make it tangible – Show me on the whiteboard
Sometimes a simple explanation with words does not to justice to your idea. People are visual and can often make sense of an idea better if they see it written down or as an image. This makes an idea tangible. It is a first step in bringing an idea to reality
Spread the love – “Pay it forward”
Sometimes a project can be overwhelming. Its always nice to have a helping hand. So often the cliché phrase “It’s not my job” is used in the workplace. So to fix this lend a hand. Wherever you can help do it. Even if it is as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee or placing an order for the pizza for your teammate. Maybe it might just be giving an opinion. Spread the love, it will come back around to you.
Keep the wheels turning- Kill your darlings
It may be difficult to get away from an idea that seems to be a golden answer for advertising a brand or product. But keep the wheels turning you never know what may develop. The more ideas you can generate the better. Links between two may develop but most of all it offers you more choices. Don’t get attached like a high school relationship to one idea.
Keep Shit real
Be honest. Be truthful. Don’t drag people around through the mud.
Love thy Keg
Come together and be social. Beer is a universal beverage that can unite people from all backgrounds to share a drink.
Wear many hats
Each person is a person of many talents. There are many different roles that exist within an advertising agency. So lend your talents. They may not fit on all projects, but they will for sure serve helpful for some. This agency is going to be one of diverse individuals from a variety of backgrounds.
Wear many hats can also apply to your consumer. The best way to advertise to your target consumer is to truthfully understand your consumer. How is it possible to advertise to a rancher from West Texas if you do not understand their value system. So put on their hat. Find out what it is like.
Lets play ping pong
This is how you can build and develop your ideas. Bouncing ideas off another person(s) can help quite a bit. Two minds talking through a problem with play.
Play 20 questions
All of us have had a conversation with a 5 year old where it seems like that ask a million questions. Every response is followed by the question “Why?”. These children are not meaning to sound annoying. They are simply seeking answers to questions that they don’t know the answer to. Why the sky is blue is a legitimate question. The point is here, that children are not afraid to ask questions to learn. At our agency neither should we.
We spark CULTURAL MOVEMENTS for the world's most respected brands using CULTURAL CONNECTION - a better sequence for planning communications.
Being open to new influences and cultures will be the new culture, especially in the wake of the US presidential election. Regardless of whether Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama is the new Chief Executive, we can all expect a much more globally-oriented American engagement.
Web has no boundaries – This has knocked down barriers and will continue to open consumers open to other markets
Corporations are increasingly perceived as part of the problem and not the solution. Only by really becoming the solution will these conglomerates be able to survive.
People are increasingly initiating change in their personal lives. Brands have the opportunity to take it to a wider level and by doing so, to reflect a universal value system of likeminded people, be they from Tucson or Tokyo, New York or New Delhi, Scranton or Stockholm. It's about culture and bringing people together irrespective of the country they come from. The brand offers the group the warmth and comfort of a campfire, a metaphorical venue for the consumer to discuss and divulge their perceptions and innermost feelings.
This is true even for high stake choices/purchases such as vacations, luxury cars, and selection of leader of the free world - rational points are important in judging criteria, but humans are ultimately far more complicated and emotions connection carry a stronger weight than marketers recognize.
We have two approaches, to brand building and developing creative work. Our philosophy is about creating cultural movements for brands, that is, harnessing the power of the fan base through shared brand values. Two aspects of achieving this are that (1) we try to have a role for the brand in culture that transcends the category and (2) that we believe that people need to interact with the brand, and it needs to live in people’s lives. We need to find channels so that people can act on the brand, so everything we do works holistically. Whether that’s a TV show, or a website, or a manifesto for a political party, we look at all possible channels. And that’s one of the best things about being independent is that we don’t have to sell anything except for the answer. And we’ll bring in someone who has the answer if we don’t.
In terms of the way we work to create these ideas, we have principles of collaboration in the way we work. We’re non-hierarchical, we have a team-based system, we attack a problem from all different perspectives from the beginning. The creatives can have a solution to the business problem, and the guy in the suit can have a great perspective on creative.
Brands that succeed are cultural, lifestyle and iconic brands that stand for a range of values that consumers agree with."
Culture is best absorbed the same way. At street level. Want to know what’s going on in the real world? Want to be inspired? Put down the cultural anthropology bibles, leave the research and the must-read reports and the trade pubs on the desk, close the advertising award books, get out of your intellectual SUVs, and get out there on foot. Be your own expert in the field. Form your own hypothesis’. Take a jog through the cultural landscape, and see a little something. Spend more time on the streets, in the bars, the clubs, the supermarkets, the parks, the malls, the office parks, the online communities… and don’t forget to look around (remember, it’s not a race, it’s a jog.) Take in the sights, the smells, the sounds, the details of our amazing, complex, and often bizarre culture. See the world up close. It’s really rich, fascinating, and full of detail. All of which is hard to see from a safe distance.
Feng Shui is a Chinese philosophy that has existed for more than 4000 years. It’s about arranging environments to make better use of them. The underlying principle is to live in harmony with an environment so that the surrounding energy works for you rather than against you.
Frogisms
Being results focused, smart, and agile
Believing you CAN outwit the dinosaurs
Effortlessly hopping from one part of your world to another
Using your ingenuity to solve problems not your size
Making the most of your strengths with efficiency and control
Creating perpetual motion, one step at a time
Engaging the world from a shared perspective from the ground up
In a world of dinosaurs, it's good to be a frog
'articles about strawberry frog
[[http://ihaveanidea.org/articles/archives/316-Agency-Profile-StrawberryFrog-NY.html ]]
so is this one: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-10-09-goodson-profile_x.htm
It talks a lot about all the stuff we've discussed about what makes an innovative organization--culture, business mode, office layout, efficency, etc...and strawberry frog does it all. I think we should tap into their culture and methods of efficency especially. I really like how they outsource a lot of their work so the in-agency focus is all about creative ideas and not execution.
this is a really great article. http://ihaveanidea.org/articles/archives/316-Agency-Profile-StrawberryFrog-NY.html It talks a lot about all the stuff we've discussed about what makes an innovative organization--culture, business mode, office layout, efficency, etc...and strawberry frog does it all. I think we should tap into their culture and methods of efficency especially. I really like how they outsource a lot of their work so the in-agency focus is all about creative ideas and not execution.
The Ten Faces of Innovation Cheat Sheet: http://www.tenfacesofinnovation.com/tenfaces/index.htm
Strawberry Frogisms (the guiding principles):
-Being results focused, smart, and agile
-Believing you CAN outwit the dinosaurs
-Effortlessly hopping from one part of your world to another
-Using your ingenuity to solve problems not your size
-Making the most of your strengths with efficiency and control
-Creating perpetual motion, one step at a time
-Engaging the world from a shared perspective from the ground up
-In a world of dinosaurs, it's good to be a frog
cool links below--check 'em out!
http://www.reveries.com/reverb/advertising/goodson/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q87TFuh4qOk
CHECK OUT THE STRAWBERRY FROG BLOG: http://strawberryfrog.typepad.com./
According to Wikipedia: Strawberry Frog is an independent advertising agency with offices in Amsterdam and New York. The business was launched in 1999 by founder Scott Goodson and named after the rare and poisonous Strawberry Poison-dart Frog.
The Strawberry Frog name, unconventional by advertising agency standards, is reflective of the company's ambition to become �a different kind of ad agency,� one small and flexible enough to take full advantage of the new communications opportunities offered by the Internet, but with a global perspective.
The company cites its practice of employing an international network of freelancers assigned to work groups for clients as further evidence of its unconventional approach. As a result, the agency's operating model has received considerable media coverage and commentary across Europe and the US, and as far afield as India and Brazil. Adweek described Strawberry Frog as being part of a wider trend toward independent agencies who are proving that �big global clients don't need big global agencies any more.� Other non-traditional agencies cited as part of this trend include SMART (advertising agency) and TAXI (advertising agency).
Strawberry Frog's client list has included blue-chip brands like Frito-Lay, Credit Suisse, Heineken, Mitsubishi and Morgan Stanley. The business remains privately held and recently extended its reach to service clients in Japan from its New York and Amsterdam offices.
Key People
Scott Goodson, Founder and CEO
Steve Hardwick, President
Mike Lanzi, Managing Director
Richard Monturo, Director of Strategy
Michael Folino, Executive Creative Director
Ideas for Core Values
Everybody is creative
Listen - Suspend disbelief
An idea is never dead
Create fields, not walls
Make it tangible – Show me on the whiteboard
Spread the love – “Pay it forward”
Keep the wheels turning- Kill your darlings
Keep Shit real
Love thy Keg
Wear many hats
Lets play ping pong
Play 20 questions
Hey Guys Greg here. THis is my take on some of our Core Values:
Everybody is creative Great ideas come from everywhere and everyone in the agency can be creative. Being creative can be an an idea, a picture, copy text, a tag line, it doesn't matter. The more creativity that goes on the better the work that will happen.
The following is from an AdAge Article by Alex Bogusky regarding creativity:
We all have it. It doesn't mean you can draw or sing or compose music or write. It might mean you have a unique ability to sniff out the right audience. Or an uncanny ability to find the truth of a business hidden in the numbers. Or maybe you have a way of talking to consumers that allows them to reveal what they're really thinking.
Anything we do as humans, when done well enough and with enough passion, becomes creative. Creativity is not inherent to the activity. I play guitar and it's certainly not at a level that I would consider a creative endeavor. I've even written commercials that in retrospect I would not consider creative.
I've also seen strategy decks and marketing plans that were outrageously creative and flat-out brilliant.
It's not the job. It's how you do it. Creativity and excellence are synonymous.
Listen - Suspend disbelief Don't kill idea at first glance. Hear someone out. Advertising is not a profession of inherent correct answers. We are not scientists were there are matter of facts. Suspend disbelief like in a play and just let it roll for a bit.
An idea is never dead Just because an idea may not fit for a current project or current brand does not mean that it has no place in the advertising marketplace. It may go into a scrap book or into a bucket or even a hat. What may have not been possible 6 months ago is now possible. Never kill an idea. Just let it take a nap.
Create fields, not walls First step when you tackle any problem is to take a sledgehammer and knock down all the walls. Do not create limitations when a direction has not even been established. Fields are open places that are free, some use them to grow, some use them to play, some just use them to relax stare at the sky. They can be so pure, so untamed, ready to be made into something special. At our agency we create fields not walls. Advertising is not about limiting ideas. It is about pushing boundaries.
Make it tangible – Show me on the whiteboard Sometimes a simple explanation with words does not to justice to your idea. People are visual and can often make sense of an idea better if they see it written down or as an image. This makes an idea tangible. It is a first step in bringing an idea to reality
Spread the love – “Pay it forward” Sometimes a project can be overwhelming. Its always nice to have a helping hand. So often the cliché phrase “It’s not my job” is used in the workplace. So to fix this lend a hand. Wherever you can help do it. Even if it is as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee or placing an order for the pizza for your teammate. Maybe it might just be giving an opinion. Spread the love, it will come back around to you.
Keep the wheels turning- Kill in your darlings It may be difficult to get away from an idea that seems to be a golden answer for advertising a brand or product. But keep the wheels turning you never know what may develop. The more ideas you can generate the better. Links between two may develop but most of all it offers you more choices. Don’t get attached like a high school relationship to one idea.
Keep Shit Real Be honest. Be truthful. Don’t drag people around through the mud.
Love thy Keg Come together and be social. Beer is a universal beverage that can unite people from all backgrounds to share a drink.
Wear many hats Each person is a person of many talents. There are many different roles that exist within an advertising agency. So lend your talents. They may not fit on all projects, but they will for sure serve helpful for some. This agency is going to be one of diverse individuals from a variety of backgrounds.
Wear many hats can also apply to your consumer. The best way to advertise to your target consumer is to truthfully understand your consumer. How is it possible to advertise to a rancher from West Texas if you do not understand their value system. So put on their hat. Find out what it is like.
Lets play ping pong
This is how you can build and develop your ideas. Bouncing ideas off another person(s) can help quite a bit. Two minds talking through a problem with play.
Play 20 questions All of us have had a conversation with a 5 year old where it seems like that ask a million questions. Every response is followed by the question “Why?”. These children are not meaning to sound annoying. They are simply seeking answers to questions that they don’t know the answer to. Why the sky is blue is a legitimate question. The point is here, that children are not afraid to ask questions to learn. At our agency neither should we.
"Intro:
In order for an agency to create work, it must have a distinct culture and a differentiated way of getting goals accomplishments. Otherwise, they would all produce the same work, which they clearly do not. Every agency has its own personality, its own character. Behind it must exist a culture that facilitates production of great work. At our agency we must deliver to our clients the answer to their problems. Whatever it may be. But the problem we deliver has to be brought in a different way than others deliver it. Agencies deliver to their clients a way to differentiate their products from others out there in the market place. But seldom do agencies find ways to differentiate the product they deliver from other agencies. The following is the framework for an innovative agency designed to solve the problems brands face in today’s innovative and reworked environment.
Culture:
This is a team. Plain and simple. Great teams do not have a hierarchy. They are balanced and have contributions from every part of it. Everyone has the role and knows where they can contribute. Through all its members everyone has their strengths and weakness, where others may struggle others may thrive. This is the beauty of a team. The answers can come from anywhere, and causes problems to not be so intimidating.
Love Thy Keg- Beer brings people together. perhaps it's not neccesarily to be taken literally, but if possible...let's do it! the primary idea is that beer forms bonds, friendships, and even communities. Taking a break and going to a seperate area (whether it's a keg, a bar, or even just outside to crack open a beer with a colleauge) provides those within the agency with an opportunity to get outside the office and discuss ones life, work, etc with the hope of both potentially spawning some ideas, but more importantly, to strengthen ties within the agency.
Everybody is Creative- There are no purely technical, dull jobs within this agency. EVERYONE, from the AE's to the photoshop people to the media planners must use creative thinking in order to generate their best work. On the other side, everyone is strategic. You cannot just churn out creative work without a strategy to back it up and make it relevant. Otherwise, it's just a cool/funny/whatever piece of work with no real meaning. The other reason for this core value is that it also strengthens the idea of working purely as a team with no one being better than anyone else. Everyone has something to offer creatively that will make their work better, and thus, make better work for the agency.
An Idea is Never Dead - Ideas are always changing and developing. They must be allowed to continue to grow. We must "kill our darlings" in order not to stifle the idea before it has developed. Also, an idea should never be thrown away. Just because it isn't right for this project doesn't mean it won't be right for another project.
Wear Many Hats- nobody c an play just one role within a group, company, etc...it's just freaking boring and makes them more of a stock character, or caricature at best, rather than a multi-faceted person with distinct contribution. if everyone wore just one hat and played just one role they could be incredibly easily replaced. We don't want that; we want individuals who add so much to the group that it would be nearly impossible to replace them. We want people who can be incredibly practical on one one project when no one else is, and then on the next, dream big and reach for the stars.
- adding to the team culture, no work goes out with individual names on it...just the agency's name. We're a team, we all participate and help...we all get credit. Build the company, not yourself. As a result, in order to really be able to work well here and be happy you have to truly love the agency and youre co-workers.
Environment:
So what facilitates this great teamwork? This is an open space where ideas are free to roam and are never dead. But what is the setup of this agency? This is not going to be a traditional office space. Actually, it is going to be the farthest thing from it.
Feng Shui is a Chinese philosophy that has existed for more than 4000 years. It’s about arranging environments to make better use of them. The underlying principle is to live in harmony with an environment so that the surrounding energy works for you rather than against you.
An important part of this industry is to go out and be in the world. Rather than having one place to call our own, we must seek out inspiration in all environments. That said, it is also important for us to have a space dedicated to work because it can be easier to accomplish tasks in a space that is dedicated to them.
Hey guys...Amanda here.
I think it's definitely important for our agency to really take the time to get to know their client and their target consumer. I know we talked about this in class, and I felt it was important enough to be put up here. Take a ton of time to get to know all you can about the product you are working on--go to the grocery store and watch people interact with the product. Buy it, use it, live with it. Talk to others about it and get as much information as you can, from the company who makes it, the web, pop culture, anywhere you can think of. Keep track of it all for when you need to reference a point about the product. Also spend the same amount of time and diligence with your target consumer, getting to know them inside and out. Be a stalker of sorts, but get inside their heads.
Here is an ad Strawberry Frog placed for themselves
Greg here: Some thoughts on the process of creating work and the app process
Process: So how do we create great advertising? Seems like the age old question that there is no good answer to. But there is no good answer for a reason. Advertising is not formulaic because people are not formulaic. People are not predictable. They are not bred with a calculated way of thinking. They are ever changing and constantly evolving. So to connect with them it is necessary for our agency to talk to them like a friend would talk to them. We must connect to them on a personal level and appeal to them with emotional connections? We need to weave the product or brand image into the fabric of society in such a way that they embrace it as if it were its own person. So how do we do this?
Part 1: The Scrap Book
Brands/Products have personalities. If they don’t seem to have distinct ones, we have to create one. So in what ways might it be possible to understand a person? Well every person has a scrap book, or nearly everyone, created either by themselves or by their mom or dad. It tells a story for the first attempts at walking out of the crib through high school graduation and up to the present…wherever it may be. Or job is to tell the brands story so people can connect with it. So for one week, the advertising team handling the client spends time on nothing but getting to know the product. Creating in that span of time.
Part 2: The Consumer It’s a vacuum cleaner. It’s an energy drink. It’s Ralph Lauren’s newest cologne release. These brands are all interacted with by the consumer differently. In order to make effective advertising it is necessary to understand how the consumer interacts with the products. It is impossible to know this by sitting in a meeting room looking around at colleagues. It is not fully possible to look at some marketing research breakdown by demographics. It has to happen by getting out in the world and witnessing how consumers use these different products. Maybe it’s going to Target and watching the shop for cleaning products? Maybe it’s sitting in a convenience store watching people pick out their drinks. Maybe it’s touring a college dormitory talking to guys as they get ready to go out on the town for the night trying to meet ladies. The point here is you cannot just imagine how people use certain products, you have to witness it? If you want to advertise brands that can shift culture and change the way people conduct their lives you have to put yourself in the game, you cannot sit on the sidelines and watch.
Part 3: The Work Pool ideas. As many as possible. Do not think. Do not judge. Just let them flow. So often people stop being creative because they believe that there is a correct answer. Advertising does not have correct answers. It has great solutions to problems. That is why it is so diverse. Brands do not have identical problems. So here is what we are going to do. Creative people, account people, strategy people, everyone works together. At our agency everyone is creative, and creativity can filter through in so many different ways. Great ideas build through the great people that develop them. Sure some make act as the liason between the client and the agency (account people). Some may create print ads on photoshop or shoot the commercials for a TV spot (creatives). Some may present what they see as key insights important to the campaign (strategics). They are simply filling their roles. Job has a negative conotaiton and it tries to create a hierarchy. At this agency we have roles, because we are a team. Like a basketball team has forwards and guards, or a football team defensive backs and running backs, all its parts come together to work for a common goal.
Application Process
Our culture needs to be unique. But how do you do this with something you may have little control over? Agencies in the advertising business can hire just about anyone that want that they see fit for a position. An investment banker, a cafeteria worker, a chicken griller at chipotle. But we do not have this same opportunity. So where does this leave us? Out in the cold with no hope? Not exactly. We just have to work backwards. Where does it all start? Well at the application process. How can we select the ideal candidate before they even begun their journey through the advertising sequence.
If our agency and sequence wants to be innovative, why are we relying on traditional, old-school techniques for picking the rare breed who will succeed in this frustrating yet rewarding educational process. In the past it is a GPA comparison and some 500 word essay on how someone used creativity to solve a problem. Essays seem to be the crowned prince of bullshit. An educated guess at delivering to the reader what they want to here. So the following is suggestions on what this process could look like.
Part 1: Who you be? What drives you? What are your Passions? What are your hobbies? What is your favorite movie and why? What do you do if you have to kill a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon? This gives you an idea of the indvidual.
Part 2: Finish the sentence
So many people don’t know that…
If I were a…
The chicken crossed the road because…
I thought Bambi was a girl because…
Through this process it is possible to get a grasp on one dimension of people’s creativity. Also here you can learn how comical people can be. People make advertising work or not, its usually good if they can be funny people.
Part 3: GPA It has its place. It does reflect your dedication to education and seeking out knowledge. A wide range of knowledge on diverse will make you better on all subject matters. But this seems like it should not be the top criteria of
Part 4: Lets jam for a bit How can you know someone without talking to them? Answer is you can’t. But it is also impossible to talk to all applicants. So you use the first few steps to get down to the meat of who you really want. To develop this committee you have to look within and use the people the school is creating at the very moment. This is a school who should take pride in the individuals they are mentoring before their eyes. Students and former students can be an asset so why not use them. Since administrators want the final say as sort of a commendation of power, this committee will simply provide a list of people they recommend for admittance. It will not have the final say, but should have a strong voice.
Part 5: Do it…but do it in style Can we think of a better way then an email or a letter to notify an applicatnt. I believe we can. (So what should it be). I have no idea right now.
