Hasta La Creative!

After many years in the corporate world, a year ago I started working in startup land. By the end of my first day, I had a bunch of suggestions to offer that I thought were no brainers. But, to make it look good, I resolved to just wait until it seemed like I had spent enough time listening (I thought maybe a few days would do it) and then impart my tremendous wisdom.

And then something strange happened: I started to watch how things were done, and almost every one of my recommendations was rendered obsolete. And I was faced with this chilling doubt: What am I going to tell them that will actually help them? It was like jumping from a cruise liner to a pirate ship with my “How to Lower a Life Boat” manual. Kind of useless.

In the end, of course, there are lots of things that we so-called classic marketers can do to be helpful to start ups. But after all is said and done, I think I am getting the better end of this deal. I call it my Startup MBA. And here are the Cliffs Notes:

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Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Friday, June 30:

It’s been a long (and surreal) week, so let’s just get started …

1. “MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski and her co-host said Friday that President Donald Trump lied when he said they tried to join him at Mar-a-Lago last winter while Brzezinski ‘was bleeding badly from a face-lift,'” per Bloomberg News (via Ad Age). “On air, Brzezinski called the incident ‘fascinating’ and ‘sad for our country.'”

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In the past year, bike-sharing companies have transformed China’s cities: Suddenly, bicycles are everywhere, in hues from sky blue to canary yellow to flashy gold. Riders unlock them by scanning a QR code with a smartphone and then park them wherever they want; there are no docking stations. Each ride costs just pennies via mobile payments, which have been widely adopted in China.

Obviously, marketers are interested. Bike-sharing apps can potentially yield a lot about riders, like the area where they live, their route to work, which shops they typically pass by and whether they’re on holiday in a new city. And brands have been experimenting with how to tap into the sudden Chinese craze.

Pizza Hut ran a two-day promotion on the Mobike service, with 10 million riders collecting digital stickers on their smartphones; two stickers could be redeemed for a free breakfast coffee. JD.com, a big Chinese e-commerce player, also did a sticker-based campaign with Mobike for its annual sales event, dubbed “618” because the date is June 18 or 6/18; people needed five stickers for a chance to win prizes worth 618 yuan, about $90.

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(TrendHunter.com) Alcohol has its benefits in every season, but the July 2017 alcohol trends show that summer is a special time for consuming that magical elixir. In the northern hemisphere, summer means balmy weather,…

The government department representing the creative industries and media sector has had a name tweak to include digital in the name.

Drum, Omnicom Media Group UK’s content agency, has hired CHI & Partners’ Monty Verdi as its executive creative director in a newly-created role.

Nick Robinson, formerly UK marketing director at Budweiser owner AB InBev, has joined Kerry Foods as chief marketing officer.

(TrendHunter.com) July 2017 packaging trends reveal brands’ current focus on providing summer-themed products, as well as offering packaging that is more sleek than it is extravagant.

With the summer months…