Hasta La Creative!

I know there are not many people who would say they like watching infomercials, but we can learn plenty from them. Think about it: every time you hit a channel showing an infomercial, you stop, even for just a second, to watch. No matter what the product is, the commercial pulls you in.

Wikipedia defines infomercials as “long-format television commercials, typically five minutes or longer.” They also originated as an alternative to sign-offs on stations between two and six a.m. Now infomercials are broadcast throughout the day, targeting certain audiences for certain products.

The basics play an integral part in these commercials, things such as repeating the message or product name at least three times per commercial (think back to high school classes in which teachers taught through repetition). What else can we learn from infomercials?

• Enthusiasm – This is what pulls you in. I’ve never seen someone get so excited about a cloth that can clean up spills. Think about emotions and how easily they rub off onto someone. Not only does enthusiasm make the person happy, but it also excites these consumers enough that they buy a product someone else seems to get so much joy out of.
• Consumer advocates – Advocates have more power than most advertising companies give credit for. As I’ve noted before, Griffin Farley, from 22squared, puts it best when he says, “Don’t plan for the ones you reach, plan for the ones they [advocates] reach.”
• Show them, don’t tell them – There’s always a lot of action in these commercials that grabs your attention. Showing a ton of pictures, before and after, gives the consumers something to compare and store in their minds.
• Needs – These commercials directly target specific consumer needs. While most commercials already do so, infomercials have the broadcast time to really dig deep and get to the viewers’ desires (think about the weight loss commercials). They intertwine the message with what really matters to the audience.

Next time you’re channel surfing and come across an infomercial, take a second and really watch it. You may learn something.

Megan Green is a freelance propagation planner who has had her work published on PR News Wire, as well as many other outlets. Contact her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or at megankategreen@gmail.com.

I was speaking with a co-worker today and we began talking about how, with the recent major decrease in the economy and spending, companies have stopped using their employee’s brains and are doing the bare minimum to keep themselves afloat. This is probably the worst idea companies could do at this time.

Businesses are no longer buying marketing and advertising spots in order to save money. This move has killed off corporations and lesser known counterparts have taken their places. Why? Because the smaller companies didn’t forget to use a strategy.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that one product was better than another. It’s because the little guys took the money that they had reserved for advertising and marketing and actually used it for… surprise, those very things. They created a campaign and a strategy. While the big guys sat on their hands and saved their money, the lesser known of the two became the top seller.

Here’s another analogy to put it into perspective. Remember the guy in your high school that every girl had a crush on, but he really wasn’t that great? Well, he had a strategy… and it worked. Whether it was being rude to girls, ignoring them, or playing some other mind game, he had a strategy. The rest of the male population only knew they liked a girl and that was as far as they got.

Advertising and marketing are the same. It’s all about the strategy. And in the eyes of the consumers, when a relatively unknown product becomes better than the more well-known and ubiquitous substitutes, a great advertising campaign and strategy could really establish brand equity.

Perhaps the best strategic campaign is HBO’s “True Blood.” Not only did it have fantastic print ads, but it also introduced interactive sites, games, and a carbonated drink called “Tru Blood” that is portrayed as a synthetic blood drink in the actual show. It even brought in other vendors such as BMW’s MINI Cooper.

Let’s go back in time to the 1680’s, where the word strategy was developed. The term, meaning “to lead,” originated from the field of battle. It’s the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations.

A business could have the best product or idea, but if there’s no strategy, there’s no competition. So go to war, strategize, and be victorious.

Megan Green is a freelance propagation planner who has had her work published on PR News Wire, as well as many other outlets. Contact her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or at megankategreen@gmail.com.

Sometimes the past is fulfilled with wonderful memories of friends, music, good times and lots of laughter. Or, the past should remain exactly where it is, especially when remembering how you dressed, your bodily piercings, and that mullet with the spiked top that would never go out of style. If you remember the mullet, do you recall these lyrics?

Buying bread from a man in Brussels He was six foot four and full of muscles I said, “Do you speak-a my language?” He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich”
By: Men At Work, “A Land Down Under

What in the heck is Vegemite, anyway? Until writing this post, I didn’t know, nor care. Then I found out that Vegemite is actually produced by Kraft Foods, and that Kraft has developed a new Vegemite formula and has rolled it out in Australia…

My first thought: “Would this be the next huge marketing FAIL, akin to the New Coke Formula back in 1985?”
Knowing absolutely nothing about the product, I had to do some research. What is Vegemite?

Vegemite is similar to the British product Marmite, which is a tacky paste, brown in color, with a salty “beef broth” or “meaty-like taste.” Marmite is usually spread on toast or biscuits but can also be mixed with hot water to make a drink. Marmite is made out of yeast extract saved after the beer brewing process. During World War I, the flow of Marmite to Australia was interrupted and an Australian cheese company, Fred Walker & Co., commissioned an Aussie scientist to come up with similar replacement.

Vegemite was introduced with great fanfare (including a national naming contest) in 1923. The naming campaign was a big success; the product flopped. Despite various marketing efforts, Vegemite sales remained poor. Kraft purchased Walker & Co. in 1926 (forming the Kraft Walker Cheese Company) and in 1928, changed the name to Parmite, which killed Vegemite’s tiny though hard-won market share. Vegemite never recovered.

So, with plenty of Vegemite on-hand, the Kraft Walker Cheese Company started giving it away with Pontiac automobiles and cheese products. Sales responded positively; then, the British medical association proclaimed that Vegemite was a great source of Vitamin B. Sales increased more. By World War II, Vegemite was in 9 of 10 Australian homes, had become part of a soldier’s daily ration kit, and was even carried by Aussie’s traveling abroad due to lack of availability in other countries. Today, Vegemite is one of the most well-known global brands and outsells Marmite in Australia by huge margins.

Kraft tried to extend the brand with a cheese and Vegemite “single,” but failed. However, marketing contests, such as limerick and song competitions, boosted sales. Then, following the war, the baby boom hit and Kraft jumped on Vegemite’s Vitamin B content for infants;

“…baby care expert Sister Mc Donald, said in the Women’s Weekly that “Vegemite is most essential”, further cementing Vegemite’s reputation for nutrition and wholesomeness. Infant Welfare Centres were recommending babies have their quota of Vitamin B1, B2 and Niacin. Vegemite had them all!”

By the 1950’s, Vegemite was to Australia what apple pie is to America, aided in part by consumer-oriented campaigns initiated by J.Walter Thompson.

On July 7, 2009, Kraft released a ’second’ Vegemite. The new Vegemite is a mix of Vegemite and cream cheese, is less salty, spreads much easier, and supposedly tastes better. To coincide with the release of the new recipe, Kraft is running a competition to give the new flavor a name, hearkening back to the competitions that worked 50 years ago. Kraft recently launched a comprehensive marketing campaign to name the new Vegemite, drawing on the successes of past campaigns that involved the public.

In fact, the new campaign mixes both traditional and Social Media, including an interactive website that includes fun facts, the naming contests, and the history of Vegemite. The new Vegemite can be found on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Below is the one of several commercials. This one has been extended to be 48-seconds long:

And, just as in the early days, J. Walter Thompson was chosen for creative expertise. While some wait to see if this brand extension will be a coup or a pile of crap, early research shows that Vegemite has more brand affinity than Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike (globally);

The research analysed 1.5 billion posts across 38 languages within social networking sites, blogs, message boards, and online news. The results discovered 479,206 mentions for Vegemite, with brand affinity found more often than any other product globally.

If this was an election, the early results would show that the new Vegemite is a serious contender; however, all the votes haven’t been cast. Based on my research, I believe that the new Vegemite will most certainly take space in Australian kitchens.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Brand Project Manager, blogger and aspiring writer. To contact Jeff, leave a comment here, or find him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Despite the fact that Newsweek boldly claimed that the recession was over, it’s really not: On July 31st, Verizon Wireless reported a 21% decline in profits, which, as we all know by now, means massive lay-offs. In this case, 8,000 more employees, the largest lay-off since the GM debacle.  And just to keep things on the up-and-up, Verizon has already cut 8,000 jobs in 2009. It’s my guess that Verizon employees are thinking that the recession lives on…

So, not only must we disseminate information gathered from online sources, it would seem that we must do the same for magazines, newspapers, and TV newscasts; nothing can be taken at face-value.

Which brings me to Forbes and their haphazardly scattered reporting on Google. In the past 10 days, Forbes has printed stories ranging from Google being on top of the SEO game, to comparing Google to newspapers, printing a story titled, “Why Google Won’t Last Forever.” Forbes either does not understand Google’s business plan, or they’re simply pounding out headlines to gain readers. In a single week, they reported the Google demise story and a separate story on how Google Wave and Android will revolutionize telecommunications, e-mail, chat, blogging, archiving and file uploading.

By now, most people have heard of Google Voice, although relatively few know what this new offering will provide. Luckily, I signed up to test Voice, and just received my “approved” email, so I’m not certain what it does either…but I’m eager to find out. Google Voice, formerly known as GrandCentral, was a company that Google acquired in 2007 for just over $50 Million. Despite the nearly two-year wait, the bugs have supposedly been put to rest and the service is ready for beta testing. Below is Google’s video explanation of Google Voice.

Google Voice has a singular main idea: “one phone number for all your phones, for life.” This single phone number will, in essence, combine all your phone numbers, including cellular, office, home, vacation home, etc. To use the service correctly, the phone number provided by Google Voice will be your main phone number. Depending on the party calling, Google Voice will route the call to the appropriate telephone, or even ring all of the phones simultaneously. Thus, calls coming from family members can be set up to ring your mobile and home phone; business calls, depending on how easily you want to be found, can ring both your office and your cellular (or your office, cell, home and vacation number). If your Google Voice number receives a text message, it automatically routes to your cell phone.

Google has also enhanced the original service by adding a transcription service which transfers all of your voice mails into text which users can then append, adding notes or tags for future searching. Voice will also include a friend setting, which routes calls from designated people straight to voicemail, home phone, cell phone, etc. Users can access Google Voice via computer or telephone, and the system tracks all received calls, missed calls, text messages, placed calls, and will even record phone calls. Although not “live” at this time, Google Voice and Gmail will be fully integrated in the future, providing a single source point for all personal and business communications. As an added benefit, if you happen to receive a text message while on your computer, you can simply use the Google Voice interface on your computer to respond.

Google Voice includes a teleconferencing feature for calls of up to 6 people, plus the ability to record the teleconference. International calls can be made at about the same rate that Skype currently offers.

As for costs, with the exception of International calling, the service is very affordable: It’s free.

With Android, Wave, and Voice all nearing release stage, it would seem that Google’s position is where it’s always been…in front of the competition.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Brand Project Manager, blogger and aspiring writer. To contact Jeff, leave a comment or find him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

It would be pretentious to speak about the emergence of online media as if it were…news. However, it is vital to address the fact that, despite the advent of the Internet, there remains a divide within the “connected” of the digital divide. Avant garde disseminators will tell you that marketing efforts are still being improperly implemented through online venues.

Leveraging the web correctly for business requires both the left AND right side of the brain; there is an art & science to web marketing applications-particularly in the field of web writing.

You can see web writing being utilized for various online mediums: websites, webzines, e-newsletters, blogs, Internet advertisements, and social networks, among others. However, it should not be dismissed as a task that can be done by a web designer or art director; it’s a craft that is developed through experience. Therefore, web writing should be delegated to professional writers.

Some of the variables of web writing that ROI is contingent on are: SEO, Meta tags, keywords, links, titles, and of course, content. Many writers are aware of some of these terms, but don’t know how to apply this knowledge when developing copy.

It would be a waste of time to delve into each of these terms, as their meanings are easily accessible on the web. I will, however, illustrate what makes good web copy, and elaborate by providing some examples.

1)      Wait…what were we talking about?

-Consider your topic. There are programs online to determine what the most important keywords are for any given topic; utilize this tool to determine which terms to include in your web copy.

2)      Pithy the Python says “WRAP IT UP, SON!”

-Concise, cohesive copy is the elixir of web writing.

3)      Want Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious web copy?

– Limit your vocabulary. To optimize SEO, you want controlled word usage so that your content is included in search results; stick to keywords and synonyms.

4)      I like em’ chunky.

-Both readers and search engines favor “chunking.” In fact, 79% of readers prefer “scanning” to “reading.” Techniques like creating sections, headlines, subheads, bullet points, and lists improve SEO.

5)      Links are a site’s best friend.

-To increase credibility, link to outside websites and resources. Outbound links encourage inbound links from other sites and improve SEO.

For a great example of web copy that utilizes linking and chunking, check this out.

Rohan Raj

Syrupy schmaltz. Finessing perpetual cadence. Boundless behemoth.

Absence of mutual exclusivity? Priceless…

www.twitter.com/dweomerlak

www.linkedin.com/in/rohanraj

Did you hear the one about the 15-year-old who decided to run his own study on the media consumption patterns of teenagers? It’s quite the research… er… story… lesson.

Ben Kellogg of Group SJR forwarded me the article after we had spoken about an entirely unrelated subject. To be quite honest, I didn’t jump right on it… my laptop had died, losing files, email contacts, and programs. I just kept resetting the email reminder. Until today.

Matthew Robson, a 15-year-old intern working for Morgan Stanley, conducted a media study called “How Teenagers Consume Media.” The conclusions caused a bit of an uproar, mainly because one teen does not represent all teens. Yet, it could also be said that the overall observations coincide with many teen media habits. The teens I know, for instance, would rather be online than in front of a television. Either that or doing both… watching TV and surfing the Web, interspersed with texting. Although there is absolutely no statistical backing for a survey of one, we can draw some general inferences from Robson’s writing.

General conclusions for the study include:

• Most teenagers are not regular listeners to radio, instead opting for online streaming services
• Most teens watch television, but frequency varies by season. Additionally, now that TV shows are webcasted as well, there’s less worry about missing an episode
• Teens do not read traditional papers because “they don’t have the time” (I am sure they have the time… it’s just that papers don’t rank highly on the priority list)
• Console gaming, interestingly, is not of interest to teenagers… and the main factor is cost. Costs for consoles and games are beyond most budgets; however, multi-player, interactive online games are popular
• The Internet is where teens interact socially, conduct research for school, create videos, IM, and otherwise connect to others… except for Twitter. Matthew states that teens do not use Twitter*
• Teens love music, but are not paying for it
• Viral marketing is enjoyed and supported by teens
• They do not use directories unless it’s online, etc.

*According to the graph below from Sysomos, teens comprise 30% of Twitter users:

This is directly in contrast with Robson’s assessment.

But hey, he is 15 years-old, and while he may be intelligent, his judgment is missing the crucial benefit of time. However, Morgan Stanley should not be lacking in the judgment column… or, in retrospect, maybe that’s exactly what they are missing…

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Brand Project Manager, Writer & Blogger. Unlike the all the other blog writers for Talent Zoo, Jeff is cute and nice. Tweet him @jlo0312. Just kidding about the nice part.

Another faux pas from the now controversial brand, Burger King. This time, instead of offending an entire country, it went after an entire religion. Burger King’s latest ad release includes the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi sitting in front of the new “Texican Whopper.” The tagline is ‘La merienda es sagrada’ – the snack is sacred.

It seems as though Burger King has taken the “even-negative-press-is-still-press” approach to its advertising strategy because, as Ad Age eloquently explained, “…It’s easy to assume that it was planned: Particularly “edgy” work is sent abroad with the expectation that it will soon reverberate on American soil, accompanied by lots and lots of news coverage.”

Ad Age goes on to discuss ad agency involvement and the debate of who did what and who’s affiliated with which campaign, but quite frankly, I think that all are responsible. Whether or not Crispin was involved overseas or another small agency was contracted by the franchise, the point is that the entire brand suffers. Truly. It’s clear that Burger King has lost control of its brand to a point that it’s now globally hurting consumer loyalty. That, or Burger King has the absolute worst brand positioning plan.

The ads were created in an attempt to increase sales. As CNNMoney reported, an increase in sales does not mean an increase in profit. So, what logic is there in creating campaigns that will discourage buyers faith in the brand by offending them? The fact of the matter is that as a straggling brand attempting to follow in the shadows of the golden arches, you DON’T TOUCH RELIGION. Anyone heard from Mel Gibson lately? You’re not just offending that religion, you’re offending anyone who believes in religious respect.

What should we expect in the next ad, Burger King, swastika fries?

Rena Prizant is a Copywriter, Ad Creative and mammal in the Chicago area. Visit www.RenaPrizant.com or @WriteLeft.

After Cannes and all the recognition many commercials and agencies have received, I feel it’s only fair to nominate five commercials that are on the other side of the spectrum. Usually, I like to write about advertising commercials or campaigns that are noteworthy, but lately, there seems to be a lack of stellar campaigns (besides the few I’ve outlined in past postings and, of course, at Cannes).

Due to this lack of creative advertising commercials, and the plethora of horribly bad ones, I managed to poll a few people about which ones make them want to change the channel the most. Here’s a list of the top five.

5. Five Dollar Footlong, Subway
Although the business concept of a $5 bargain meal is great and has caused numerous other restaurants to follow suit, the commercials are becoming annoying and missing creativity. Having different “customers” sing the theme song makes it seem as if this ad agency was procrastinating and threw this together at the last moment. Does it make me want a sandwich? No, it makes me wish I have TiVo to fast forward through it.

4. Volcano Taco Wedding, Taco Bell
First, as a woman, this commercial makes me so angry. If groomsmen showed up to my wedding sweating profusely, I would hurt someone. But, back to the point, I understand it’s a hot and spicy taco, but is it necessary to overreact to the point where it’s ridiculously stupid?

3. Toasty Torpedo, Quiznos
In the words of a fellow YouTuber, ”What was Quiznos thinking?” This commercial is beyond racy. I’m sure everyone agrees with me when I say, “Enough with the sexy sandwich campaigns!” I’ve noticed that the commercial has since been changed to something more family-friendly, but that doesn’t mean we all don’t notice and realize Quiznos messed up. Even YouTube has a montage of Scott saying, “Put it in me.”

2. Somebody’s Watching Me, GEICO
The pile of money with eyes is driving me nuts. The song alone will be stuck in your head for days. I do have to say that I absolutely love the commercials for Geico with Flo, but a pile of money that follows people across the country chasing after cars? *click* Change channel.

Drumroll please… and the worst commercial goes to –

1. The Young and the Wireless, Verizon Wireless
This one doesn’t really need an explanation. My friend said it best when she said, “Who was the executive that approved those commercials?” Not only is this commercial void of being catchy and interesting, a two year-old could have come up with something more creative.

Much anticipated, the switch to Digital Television, or DTV, finally took place on June 12, 2009. Despite over 1.5 years of warning, many found themselves with no programmings that fateful day. The original switch date of February 17, 2009 was pushed back due to the “lack of preparedness” of over 10% of US households. The whole effort to switch to DTV, according to the Federal Communications Commission,  began on January 23, 2001.

Eight years of planning, $10 billion dollars invested, and you’re now looking at it. Whew! Glad that’s over. Reminds me of Y2K.

Yet, it’s not really funny. Especially for the 1,700 broadcast stations that spent their money to upgrade to the new digital equipment, and then to wait patiently for the change. It arrived in February,and then the digital implementation was delayed. It arrived again in June as the cut was finally made.The money invested by the stations was to be recouped via the use of additional signals. Each broadcast station has been given its core channel, which currently carries the signal, along with 5 additional signals that “piggyback” on the original.The additional signals are actually sub-channels, capable of carrying additional programming. For instance, if a viewer wants to watch an “all business, news and weather” version of his or her local NBC affiliate, the station can theoretically satisfy this niche. Geographic areas with high Hispanic indices can have access to Spanish sub-channels.

BusinessWeek reports that there are areas of the country already utilizing DTV’s capabilities, but the others have run into a major stumbling block: the economy.

ION’s Qubo airs cartoon programming for kids while ION Life focuses on health and fitness. NBC offers its local stations a sports channel and just launched a New York City news channel. MGM aims to partner with local stations to offer a movie channel, and entertainment service LATV offers bilingual programming for young Latinos.

Here’s the problem: The cable, satellite, and phone companies are loath to distribute programming that is largely untested and may compete with their own channels. What’s more, the recent switch to digital TV coincides with a punishing recession. Local TV advertising fell 28% in the first quarter from the same period in 2008.

It is not a question of “if” the stations will use the expanded bandwidth, but a question of “when.” There has been speculation that the added sub-channels will be used to send TV programming straight to computers and cell phones, further integrating TV, Online, and Mobile platforms.

Either way, it looks as if it may be a while before the dollars flow out of DTV at the same rate they were invested.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Account Coordinator. His passion is writing. Reach out and touch him: www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com.

Advertising and marketing have taken new directions with the recent integration of social media and consumer advocacy. Agencies have been forced to rethink their ideas and strategies to reach their consumers. One such agency, 22squared, has done just that with the help of its SVP Director of Brand Marketing, Brandon Murphy.

I had the opportunity to catch Mr. Murphy on the phone this past Friday and ask him about the company’s model, The Friendship Model: How to Build Brand Advocacy in a Consumer-Driven World.

“I think that basically it’s an approach for brands to build advocacy. When we first introduced this thing, it was mostly an internal thing, and actually still is. In essence it was an internal way to focus the agency on what marketing was about today, what a person does to make and maintain a friendship, earn enough respect, and I guess enough attractiveness for a consumer to advocate for them like a friend would advocate for a friend,” Murphy said.

Murphy says one of the hardest questions companies face when creating campaigns is the question, “How do we build advocacy?”

“A lot of times it comes down to not what you say but what you do,” he said. “How can we get the customer to interact with us. Your next customer could turn into your next 10 customers. It’s a pretty simple idea.”

Griffin Farley, senior brand planner from 22squared, has a great saying for this: “Don’t plan for the ones you reach, plan for the ones they reach.”

How can this model help an entire agency? I listed those questions and responses below:

Megan Green: For people now looking for work in progressive ad agencies, why is it important for them to know about advocacy, social media and word of mouth?

Brandon Murphy: The simple reason is because that is how brands are growing now. Brands aren’t growing by increased awareness, they are growing with people talking about them…that’s how people are choosing products and what brand to use.

MG: Media Planners are specialists at reach and frequency. Are those still important skills to know when advocacy is the end goal?

BM: I think there is always going to be a critical mass of people you have to reach to keep your brand afloat. You look at our agency, it’s not like we don’t do media plans, it’s just that we’ve changed how we do our media plans and how we engage the customer. For media planners, the one thing is that it is no longer about buying space and just calculating reach or frequency, it’s about getting opportunities for the customer to talk.  Media planning has gotten to get more strategic and inventive to get messages to customers.

MG: When you brief Creative Teams, does the Friendship Model help them get to a better creative deliverable?

BM: The Friendship Model does a few things. First, it gives a sense of direction in work and strategy. We always still do the right things in understanding a customer and how a brand can fit into a customer’s life. The key thing is to think entirely around a problem and all different ways to solve it. Sometimes it’s something really cool or something simple. We’ve looked back and told a client, “it’s not a TV campaign you need, but it’s an associate campaign,” like we told Buffalo Wild Wings and Lincoln Financial. Second, [the model is] something else that makes them work better, it forces you to figure out what the brand’s purpose is. If a brand has a purpose beyond just selling something, as a customer you’re more likely to invest in it.

MG: Has the Friendship Model helped your New Business Team win accounts or peak interest among search consultants? What feedback do you hear from them?

BM: Well the good thing about the Friendship Model is that it really does help filter out clients that are right for you and clients that aren’t right for you. The client typically hates it [the model] or loves it. It’s a nice screener for us and prospective clients. It really puts ourselves out there and we’re really passionate about building advocacy.  Also, search consultants really like it. Search consultants are tasked with bringing agencies that bring in business. With this model we can focus on the things that bring in sales. We can tell them how much they can expect to increase sales given an increase in advocacy or reach of other people. That’s really been super attractive to some consultants.

MG: Does the Friendship Model help Account Service strengthen the relationship with the clients? Do clients value the philosophy?

BM: In two ways. One, it’s kind of a gut check for us. The way we act and the people in our agency – it creates a pretty high road for us to walk in terms of being passionate and doing the right thing. You know, it’s interesting if you think about the relationship between friends, it’s not all nicey-nicey and how can I serve you. It’s real. It gives us a nice path to travel on how we build relationships with clients. Two, it most importantly gives our clients something to circle into. Clients always have business goals, but doing it through a filter of building relationships and advocacy gives the client a way to lead that they hadn’t had before. Most of the Friendship Model is based on what we currently do for our clients. It feeds the development on how to win over customers and act differently than other brands, like Publix Super Markets, Inc.

MG: Finally, as Director of Brand Planning, what skills do you look for when you hire Account Planners that want to work for 22squared?

BM: Planners have to be insatiably curious and really, really good at writing and getting ideas across to people. Those two things are core building blocks for planners. Something else we look at is planners who are always able to take a different look at things than most people. Whenever I hire a planner, I make sure they are not only smart, but smart strategically and creatively. Our planners are much more active in participating in the creative. We look for planners that understand how to engage a customer and not just about bringing a message but about where we engage, how we engage, and the content and value of the brand. Planners are provocateurs by nature. At least we want them to be. We want them to cause people to look at things differently. They need to be the glue that holds people together.

Want more information on The Friendship Model and what it means? Check out this video that 22squared put together, “I Love Blank”, or Brandon’s white papers.

Megan Green is an advertising and marketing professional published on PR News Wire, as well as many other outlets. She specializes in social media and is currently looking for a full-time advertising position. Contact her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or at megankategreen@gmail.com.