It’s no secret that the role of — and opportunities within — client relationship management has changed. As Matthew mentioned, it’s become less about tools and more about understanding and planning. And to Carmen’s point: Even with a plethora of media options, everything is connected. So when a brand effectively engages with a consumer, there are no dead ends.

What I mean is that we’re no longer focused on pushing a consumer through a funnel, squeezing them ever so tightly the closer we get to the narrow tip conversion. Instead, we’re focusing on leading consumers through experiences that look, and feel (thankfully), a lot more free-form and cyclical in nature. In our work as user experience strategists, we often cite the McKinsey Consumer Decision Journey rather than the funnel.

The idea of a cyclical experience is far more applicable in today’s world, for while we may begin with a TV spot, that is simply the beginning of a potentially long and, hopefully, meaningful relationship. Because everything is connected and consumers have so many touch points, a good brand experience can start with TV, but then it might drive to a site, lead to a conversion, be followed by an email or text, and continue on and on. The acquisition of this ongoing conversation is often lovingly referred to as the “loyalty loop.”

Effective CRM allows the consumer to be identified and understood, thereby making the brand or product more relevant and more likely to end up engaging the consumer in the highly sought after loyalty loop. So as you plan your next initiative, don’t think about the end results — think about the ongoing results and how to make sure your brand experience has no dead ends.

Back in May, I went to Creative Week in New York. I learned a lot of cool things from a lot of cool people. Since, in advertising, it’s important to be timely and on top of things, I thought I’d share my notes a few months later. Since you had to wait, I broke everything up into little bits. Here you go.

Presenting…

All of the good parts of Creative Week without any of the awkward networking:

Click image to enlarge

With the proliferation of choice when it comes to consuming both products and media, the way forward for any smart marketer is to just embrace it. There is a lot of upside to what is happening in the marketplace, especially from a targeting and addressability standpoint. It means we can be more relevant with our message, and relevance is what leads to higher engagement. Engagement drives consumers to seek more information, stimulates interactivity and gives them the ability to take action. Yes, we have to keep an eye on privacy laws, but — having said that — technology is catching up across most mediums that allow us to more easily segment our audiences so that we can deliver messages that are specifically relevant to them. This alignment is particularly important in the paradigm shift we see today in the way consumers and brands interact. We now better reach consumers across channels with integrated messages and highly personalized communications.

The first step in all of this is truly understanding your audience — both your core and your growth audience. It goes far beyond demos and psychographics to deeply understanding the audience values, mindset, opinions, behaviors, decision pathway and experience. Then, marry the right audience to your products and services and serve up the most relevant message to them. It is as simple, and complex, as that.

We are doing this digitally, of course, and behavioral targeting is a good example as it allows an advertiser to serve up a message based on a consumer’s behavior. We’ve made headway with mobile, iTV and social — using geo-targeting and interactive messaging, and now with the ability to respond directly to customer comments and feedback. Social allows us to build a living community of our brands’ best customers and create not only a direct connection but also a personal relationship.

Reddit credits themselves as the “front page of the internet.” Their user-generated platform features stories on politics, sports and a bevy of nonsensical internet memes that are voted on and shared throughout the day, accumulating over 2 billion pageviews in 2011.

The recent shootings in Aurora, Colorado have given the platform even more notoriety in the journalism world. Redditors (reddit editors) were uploading content to the site and sharing the live coverage as the tragedy unfolded. Reddit’s general manager Erik Martin discussed the coverage of the shootings in Adweek  saying, “On Reddit, that picture that the kid posted from the hospital got to the front page and was seen by hundreds of thousands of people in well under an hour and that doesn’t really happen that quickly in other places.”

Image of Reddit post from integ3r

Stories unfolding on social media are nothing new, but how they get pieced together real time is what blows me away. Journalists use Twitter and Reddit as reliable accounts of what is happening on site. The Wall Street Journal used Storify to piece together Twitter updates, in which you can see reporters reaching out to eye-witnesses as the tragedy unfolded.

View the Storify stream here: http://storify.com/juliemmoos/how-news-spread-of-the-dark-knight-rises-shooting

“They [Redditors] are part of helping to get this information out or are trying to comfort each other and trying to make sense of something horrible in a way that they wouldn’t be able to do if they were just watching on TV,” Martin explained to Adweek.

Between Reddit, Storify and other social channels, we are all equipped to break news. Journalism is being crowd sourced in a way that wasn’t available before. While we often focus on the misinformation and ignorance that travels via social media, here’s a chance to appreciate the power that it gives to help keep everyone informed during such important times.

Media never really fragmented. Our audiences just became more discerning and dynamic in what has value to them and the ways they want to access content, experience and information.

This has led me to look at how we attract people and aggregate audiences around the attributes and passions they may care about. This has caused me to look deeper into the audience insights we are given, looking for the audiences within the audience. Understanding where an organizing idea we create will work for the meta-casting nature of advertising can inform and drive how we can demonstrate value through concepts of micro casting.

Essentially, our job as creative has shifted to creating ideas that audiences want to form around.

Working with the tools and insights we already have, just shift the assignment to designing audiences with idea platforms that demonstrate value through experiences, information and utility. The right ideas should now generate the gravity to attract and build a series of smaller audiences that display higher affinities within the broader general targets we work with.

Conceptually, it moves creative and media into being on the same team, as the best ideas we inject into the marketplace will design and form audiences that create their own value for the product or brand. Thus, the challenge for the agency is that the client’s investment in a strong, organizing idea that demonstrates value and aggregates audience is essentially creating media.

Functionally, we all have the tools and are already doing this to some level. In an age of connected media with a social graph, this becomes an important filter for creative teams to produce ideas that are built around the concept of designing audiences.

We live in a world in which tools are often confused with practices or cultures. Buying and having IT install all the latest and greatest CRM tools, databases and automation does little to build customer relationships if you don’t understand the customer, not only by what they do but WHY they are doing it. Additionally, if your company culture isn’t aligned around consumers and rewarding customer-centric behavior, CRM tools could be a great way to become the uninvited guest in many of your customers’ lives.

Customer segments are the first critical glimpses into who your customers are — a neat snapshot in time that are the bread and butter of media planning and buying. Personas layer ethnography, qualitative and non-media research onto those customer segments to help businesses and agencies understand customer motivations. Customer insight should be at the core of any CRM and personas (sometimes called archetypes) are the beginning of the CRM journey.

Discovery or journey mapping by customer persona is a great second step because it forces the organization to think about what motivates customers in the customer’s — not the business’s critical touch points. Each inflection point in their journey is an opportunity to gather data about them as well communicate with them.

NOW we’re talking about CRM that makes sense: Understand and plan and then communicate and learn. It’s at this point that marketing and IT can get out the catalogs and start shopping for tools.

By Scott Gilbert

Forbes published an article by Jessica Hagy titled “The 6 People You Need in Your Corner.” She uses Venn diagrams and line graphs to illustrate each one – oh the joys of finite math.

I thought it would be fun to extrapolate her examples to people in an advertising agency. Now this is, of course, just the humble and non-professional opinion of an intern based on observation at several agencies. Here we go…

The Instigator:

Creatives should always be asking these two questions. A lot of effective advertising starts with this insatiable desire to try something new.

However, at the same time, this should be everyone. Every department should be constantly pushing ideas. If we don’t have to daily ask ourselves “What if?” or “Why not?” then we probably aren’t doing the best work we possibly can. This is what makes us better at what we do.

The Cheerleader:

Account managers aren’t going to like me calling them cheerleaders, but when it comes to the creative/account dynamic, someone who believes in you and supports you is exactly what a creative needs. That belief and support means you’ll champion their work to the client. (more…)

Hello internet. The lovely Adele passed along a list of the top ten reasons to visit Austin. I looked at it! It was good! It is a very fine introductory guide to Austin. However, it’s chock full of the places that people always go, so I’ve recruited fellow writer Tyler Booker to discuss their choices and add a few of our own.

1. Alamo Drafthouse

Reagan: Okay, we’re off to a great point/counterpoint start because I agree with this one. Way to go, this list. You’re ruining my post already.

Tyler: Yep. Easy. Good place. Go to there. NEXT.

2. Waterloo Records

Tyler: Okay, I agree with this one too. I DO spend a lot of time there. Particularly on Tuesday evenings during vinyl happy hour because I’m one of those people in my generation that spends a good portion of his paycheck on an outdated music medium.

Reagan: Alright, Rob Gordon. No, but really, I enjoy Waterloo, too. But there are tons of record stores in Austin! Why not try a different one AS WELL AS Waterloo? Might I recommend End of an Ear?

Tyler: Well, yeah, there are record stores all around town, but none with as good of a selection of NEW records than Waterloo. And they’re expanding their vinyl bins. End of an Ear is great, but if we’re throwing around new options, how about Friends of Sound?

Reagan: Yes, there too. Now we’re talking. I like Friends of Sound because it feels like you’re going to a secret place.

3. Top Notch

Reagan: I have literally never been to Top Notch.

Tyler: I’ve never been and I can’t think of a reason that I would go. Is it to get a burger? Because I like Hut’s. If you want a fancier burger? Hopdoddy.

Reagan: Rosemary fries!

Tyler: Why did the article say to go to Top Notch?

Reagan: Because Dazed and Confused was filmed there?

Tyler: Alright, if you need to go somewhere that’s been on the picture box, go to Top Notch.

4. Guero’s

Reagan: Alright, as I’m reading this article, it just seems that they’re just recommending places that have been in movies. Please don’t go to Guero’s.

Tyler: The location is great, that building is nice, but you could do a lot better.

Reagan: True story: Guero’s was the first restaurant I ate in in Austin. IT WAS ALSO THE LAST. Not really.

Tyler: Also, on their sign: A chicken, a cow, a pig and… a donkey.

Reagan: How about Curra’s? I eat there all the time. I might see you there! (I will probably see you there).

Tyler: Yeah, Curra’s is good for that level. If you wanna go a little fancier, La Condesa is great.

Reagan: Oh man, street corn.

Tyler: If you’re looking for tacos, find a trailer.

Reagan: Yeah. Find a trailer!

5. Hill’s Cafe

Reagan: Also, never been there. But it was on Friday Night Lights, to keep with the TV thing…

Tyler: [heavy sigh]

Reagan: I don’t even know.

Tyler: What is Hill’s Cafe? Are you looking for something with cafe in the name? East Side Cafe. Go there for brunch.

Reagan: Or an agency favorite Counter Cafe. It also has the added benefit, if you need that FAME FACTOR, of being called one of the best burgers in Texas by Texas Monthly. So get that.

6. “Hi, How Are You” mural — Daniel Johnston

Tyler: I mean, sure. Check it out. It’s not a reason to come here, but it is definitely something to see.

Reagan: Yes. Let’s put this on the list of things to see in Austin. But if you’re in the area putting that in your eyes, why not explore the University of Texas campus? Did you know that you can take a tour that takes you to the top of the Tower? You can!

Tyler: You can also go look at that statue where the horses have webbed feet.

7. Paramount Theater 

Tyler: Just between you and me, I’ve never been. I’m sure it’s cool, but we’ve already got one theater.

Reagan: Aw, you haven’t? It’s fun. I saw a concert there once. They also have a pretty great film series that runs through the summer. But you’re right, we’ve got a theater, so let’s do something outside. How about the Town Lake Trail? If you don’t like walking, kayak or canoe or something. Come on, be flexible.

Tyler: Get up and get out.

8. Baker Street Pub and Grill

Reagan: This place was recommended because it was in Office Space. Come on.

Tyler: I’m calling this woman.

Reagan: I’m sure this place is great, but I’ve never been. So, take this for what it’s worth. But it says pub in the title, so where can you drink? Tyler, where do you like drinking?

Tyler: Hmm. Cocktails. The drink menu at Contigo is nice. I’ve worked my way through it several times.

Reagan: Oh, you’re right. Good call.

Tyler: And that place on South 1st. G&S.

Reagan: Oh they have a Zoltar machine!

Tyler: Go there. Play pinball. If you need your celebrity fix, I hear that Matthew McConoughey crop dusted this place on his way to ACL.

Reagan: So famous! Also, I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention two of my favorite cucumber cocktails in Austin: the cucumber gimlet at Lambert’s and the 78704 at the Highball.

9. Austin City Limits’ Moody Theater

Tyler: Well, yeah.

Reagan: Another thing to see.

Tyler: It’s certainly my favorite place to see a show.

Reagan: Definitely check the calendar to see if there’s a show. It’s a fun place. Mohawk is my personal favorite, though.

Tyler: That’s my second favorite.

Reagan: I also like the Parish, but I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve been there.

Tyler: Yeah, that place kind of reminds me of the Moody Theater.

Reagan: I get that.

10. The Continental Club

Reagan: The reasons to visit this place also included three celebrities.

Tyler: Surprise. But the Continental Club is worth going to, though. James McMurtry plays there frequently. Mel Davis and the Blues Specialists do a standing gig every Friday afternoon as well. Go to that.

Reagan: A plan, indeed. Also, if I’m allowed to recommend places I’ve never actually been, The Elephant Room has a most excellent reputation and has been on my to do list for some years now.

Tyler: Pip, pip!

Reagan: So that was fun. Come to Austin, expand your horizons! Eat food! Drink drinks! See shows!

Tyler: And whatever you do, don’t live your life according to what you’ve seen on television.

Reagan: Good call. Austinites, any favorite places? Leave ‘em in the comments.

‘Til next time…

Guest Post by Naveed Lalani

“I think so many of the objects we’re surrounded by seem trivial. And I think that’s because they’re either trying to make a statement or trying to be overtly different. What we were trying to do was have a very honest approach and an exploration of materials and surface treatment. So much of what we try to do is get to a point where the solution seems inevitable: you know, you think ‘of course it’s that way, why would it be any other way?’ It looks so obvious, but that sense of inevitability in the solution is really hard to achieve.”

Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design, Apple Inc.

The past two years, Apple has assured its claim as the world’s most valuable company and is on track to become the first trillion dollar company. In addition to raw tenacity and the visionary leadership of the late Steve Jobs, much of Apple’s “secret sauce” comes from their focus on user experience and beautiful design, lead by Jonathan Ive (pictured above). User experience is “the way a person feels about using a product, system or service.”

What makes Apple’s approach to user experience superior to others? I think the answer is simple – everything Apple does, including how it deals with user experience decisions, is driven by Purpose. Readers of this blog will know that GSD&M’s core focus when engaging with a client is to help them find their Purpose and excel. The Purpose Institute defines Purpose as “… A definitive statement about the difference that [the company] is trying to make in the world.”

Note that Jonathan Ive says “of course it’s that way, why would it be any other way” when referring to user experience decisions. How does Apple get to that point, and what is the Purpose that drives it there? Apple’s purpose is To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.

This Purpose assures that Apple is constantly aiming for the highest bar, no exceptions. Apple embraced and pioneered many user experience principals on its way to realize the Purpose – investing in iteration, prototyping, bringing metaphor’s into the user interface, the modality / app model, creating a 3d space, and continuity in experience.

(more…)

It’s no secret – the soundtrack and score to a film evoke emotion. C’mon – you still cry when you hear “My Heart Will Go On” and you know it! The score is a part of storytelling and is essential to marketing as well. But how do you find that perfect score?

Back in 2010, Jordan Passman noticed that there wasn’t a dedicated community out there for composers looking for work. He saw craigslist ads for various music gigs, but there was no place to connect composers with filmmakers. And so ScoreAScore was born – a no cost, no obligation resource to hire a composer or find original music for your work.

Passman has a group of over 175 composers who cover every music genre with varying levels of expertise (even Grammy winners are on there). He vets requests through the group and then pares them down for his clients to help find the best match for what they are looking for within their budget. As a musician himself, he empathizes with a composer’s desire for great projects and a filmmaker’s quest for the best music for their story.

“Anything needs music, even pyrotechnics,” he explains. ScoreAScore has worked on projects including  feature films, commercial work, video game trailers, movie trailers, reality TV and even what might be a live firework show. And when it comes to ads, ScoreAScore has worked with brands like Google, Crayola, Burger King, Ally Bank, Skechers and more. Crowdsourcing the creative process allows for plenty of options that can be customized to exactly what you need in a short amount of time, which is something that agencies often demand.

Check out some of my favorite spots that ScoreAScore…scored.

Nest score from Luke Atencio and Hannah Gingrich.

The Gates Foundation score from Lee Brooks.

Google Chrome score from Polly Hall.

Learn more about ScoreAScore here: http://scoreascore.com/