Hasta La Creative!

In the bad old days, large consulting firms were famous as fiefdoms, with each office and the specialty practices within those offices controlled by territorial partners. These partners defined the customer experience and the local branch culture, caring little about the master brand. Customer loyalty was to “their” local partner. Clearly, this approach was problematic, especially as the economy and the clients served became more fluid and global.

Deloitte, which employs approximately 286,000 people in 150 countries, has essentially eradicated this feudal approach. One key was to establish a shared brand purpose (“make an impact that matters”). Another was to create Deloitte University, which trains every consultant on critical skills like empathy, listening and leadership. One of the final pieces of the puzzle was a global marketing campaign, orchestrated by Global Chief Marketing Officer Diana O’Brien, who in our conversation below shares some critical insights for just about any modern marketer.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

While Amazon would not confirm it will air a Super Bowl commercial, on Friday it introduced a program that employs celebrities to beta test Alexa-enabled technologies.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

A brief sampling of productions that use augmented reality, smartphone mapping and motion capture, blurring the line between the live and the virtual.

In the bad old days, large consulting firms were famous as fiefdoms, with each office and the specialty practices within those offices controlled by territorial partners. These partners defined the customer experience and the local branch culture, caring little about the master brand. Customer loyalty was to “their” local partner. Clearly, this approach was problematic, especially as the economy and the clients served became more fluid and global.

Deloitte, which employs approximately 286,000 people in 150 countries, has essentially eradicated this feudal approach. One key was to establish a shared brand purpose (“make an impact that matters”). Another was to create Deloitte University, which trains every consultant on critical skills like empathy, listening and leadership. One of the final pieces of the puzzle was a global marketing campaign, orchestrated by Global Chief Marketing Officer Diana O’Brien, who in our conversation below shares some critical insights for just about any modern marketer.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) The Boris Bidjan Saberi collection that debuted during Paris Fashion Week presented the designer’s offering for the Fall/Winter 2019 season. The silhouettes that hit the runway were absolutely…

Today’s robots can do a lot of things, like deliver packages, clean store aisles and assist surgeons. But they can’t drink beeror at least enjoy it, a point Michelob Ultra makes in one of its two Super Bowl ads released today.

The spot, by FCB Chicago, draws a parallel between robots and people who work out so hard they resemble machines. That’s no fun, according to Ultra’s point-of-view, expressed at the end of the ad with a scene of a sad-looking robot logningly peering at a bar from the outside in the rain. “It’s only worth it if you can enjoy it,” states on-screen text.

The ad keeps Ultra’s longtime pitch as a fitness beer, which at 95 calories has for years been positioned to be enjoyed after workouts. The 30-second spot is a new take on the “Live Fit, Live Fun” tagline the beer introduced last year. Ultra is “all about balance and we believe that life is better being active and having fun and being social,” says Azania Andrews, VP of the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brand. The robots, she says, are representative of “that person we all know who is too intense and too focused and doesn’t have any fun.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com