Global Insights Magazine Issue 3 – Edited by Bruketa&Žinić August 2012
e3 insights Ideas that sell
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Combining strategic thinking with creative solutions
2 4 8 10 Tools and practices The role for sparking of creative creativity briefs
Creative office
Creative work climate
Mapping out your best possible direction
Feeling comfortable makes people more productive, motivated and creative
How to create a culture that breeds creativity
How to tell if you have insight or just plain facts
Tools and practices for sparking creativity Two clever tools for sparking creativity. Clover First model is called clover with four leaves, due to its characteristically unique shape. Clover is used to derive creative insight – the simple and sincere human truth that emotionally connects a brand with its audience. The prerequisite for using this tool successfully is to adequately define brand challenges and communication challenges, which must correspond to campaign goals. Communication and brand challenges which will be addressed by the campaign are used as the backbone, or a checkpoint, for tweaking the clover.
Clover at work Brand: Kala & Kalinčka Market category: Natural spring waters
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The clover uses four elements: (1) brand promise – the statement about what the brand, product, service or a person will do for a consumer, (2) consumer insight – a summary of the consumer or market’s current thinking, (3) competition – a one sentence summary of the brand’s competitor positioning, and (4) a key word – the word or a sentence that illustrates the brand promise and the consumer insight that leads to the creative insight, or what some call “the big idea”. In this issue, we discuss a creativity tool with four elements that should give an
answer to the defined brand challenge, communication challenge and trigger question. A few definitions: (1) brand challenge defines the business problem that the brand is trying to solve, (2) communication challenge defines the message goals of the brand in relation to solving defined brand challenge, (3) trigger question defines the key issue that the creative materials must address when executing the strategy and challenges the creative to fully connect with the audience.
Each adverting agency uses its own set of tools for developing brand propositions, creative insights or big ideas. All of these tools are somewhat different and unique; however, they are all rooted in the same principles of branding and marketing. It would be right to say that the main difference in agency strategic tools is often the agency’s work culture itself – that is, the process of how each agency approaches the client brief and how it envisions the solution. In this article, we present two strategic tools that we have found to be essential in developing excellent creative work at our agency, Bruketa&Žinić. We use them on a daily basis, or more accurately, on every brief.
Brand triangle The brand triangle is used as a testing and waterproofing tool in relation to the clover. It allows us to analyze the brand promise, consumer insight and positioning of the competition in the relation to the target group, our brand positioning, and the competitor’s positioning. The brand triangle also allows us to test how unique our brand is in its communication and positioning in relation to:
Execution of the clover tool – print ad for Kala & Kalnička
Brand triangle test
(1) the USPs of our product, (2) positioning of the competition, and (3) target group. In addition, the brand triangle also tests: (a) how well our brand promise communicates the uniqueness of our brand to our target group, (b) how much our uniqueness is actually differentiated from the competition, and (3) what key concept the competition uses to address its positioning to the target group.
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The role of creative briefs How to tell if you have insight or just plain facts ijan zerba
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Whether you love them or hate them, creative briefs are a necessary part of every creative process. Each one is different, everybody has their own way of writing them, but there is no denying the importance of a good brief. So what is a creative brief and why is it so important? First of all brief has to be brief. They are supposed to be short and to the point, outlining the project and strategic direction as quickly as possible. They really shouldn’t be more than a page or two, depending on the project, of course.
Obviously the creative brief document is created as a primary resource for the creative team. Briefs may be created by the Creative Director, Strategic Planner, or Account Executive – whoever has the most client contact and project knowledge. They are typically drawn up using feedback from the client about the project they want. However it gets done, the creative brief and briefing process are the best opportunity to add value to the creative process and to set the direction of the communication concepts and executions.
A brief is important because it provides essential information about the project at hand – the challenge, what the desired solution will be, and the goals for the assignment. It is a single constant document that everyone on a creative team can reference. With a singular resource like the good brief there are usually less chances that the creative people will get off track or be confused, which leads to wasted time and money for the client and for the agency, as well. Briefs also help the client sleep better at night, allowing them to have some kind of understanding of what to expect from their hired creative agency.
The most important part of every brief is the creative insight. It is a simple and personal human truth that emotionally connects the consumer with the brand. Creative insight summarizes the entire creative brief in to one sentence that is the basis of all creative concepts that the creative team can develop. Another important thing about creative briefs is that they save the agency time. Creative people can be completely focused on the development of the creative executions. All the research and background info gathering they would need to do on their own is compiled in the brief.
Execution of the creative brief – Aktivol print ads
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Insight with Axe Effect When the staff at an advertising agency explains their creative process, or how they came to an idea, they will most often say that the idea was based on this or that insight. It is typically believed that insight is a type of new and unbelievable fact or observation. Insight is an important element in the creative process, but it’s not because of facts or observations, regardless of how surprising they are. Rather, it’s something more intangible. Women are the fastest growing segment of the online gaming industry – that is not insight, but a statistic. And statistics are facts. Facts are not inspiring, in and of themselves. They surround us daily. It is a fact that there are not enough parking spaces in Zagreb, that taxi drivers are unreliable, that Croatia is in the midst of an economic crisis; but these are not insights for an advertising campaign for a new underground garage, a new taxi company, or a new political party. Facts are not enough to communicate with the public for the simple reason that this same public is already well aware of these same facts. A campaign based only on communicating the facts to the public can offer no new added value, and with that, it cannot make the product, good or service more valuable, which is the essence of every communication campaign. Gillette bases its communication on the insight that women need to shave 70% of their body surface, while men need to shave less than 10%. Is this insight? It seems that this is just an observation, a very good one, but not insight. In fact, it is certainly not insight because it is hard to find a single Gillette ad that could be associated with this.
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For a campaign to be effective, communication between a brand and its audience -- regardless of whether it is a product, good or service – should be based on mutual trust, understanding and relevance. The public has to believe that the one communicating with them genuinely understands their needs, thinking, fears or desires, and is able to communicate those same needs, thinking, fears or desires to them in a relevant and sincere way. All that together creates a good definition of insight. Professors define insight as a simple and personal human truth that emotionally binds the consumer with the brand. I believe that insight is very difficult to define with a single sentence, as it is a type of experience that is had by a perceptive person at the moment when he or she isolates one of a hundred available facts about the consumer and combines it with the brand and communication challenge, realizing how this experience can be important in the creative process. An example of ingenuous insight is this: Every man wants women to approach him. That is the Axe Effect. How do we know that we have found good insight? Very simply. In the moment when we say to ourselves Aha! Aha!, we have just had that experience. If it is spectacular for us, then it is good enough. Of course, we may be wrong, which is why we need to reassess it. And perhaps the best method to verify the quality of insight is to ask yourself whether the insight has the Axe Effect :)
How to tell if you have insight or just plain facts and observations
Axe effect print ad
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Creative office Feeling comfortable makes people more productive, motivated and creative. The standard organizational structure of companies and organizations hasn’t significantly changed since its beginnings. A clear division in hierarchy or some sort of separation between different teams and sectors has been the way most offices have been organized and designed worldwide. Although in that way the organization of work and basic productivity has been facilitated, a big potential in employee creativity and their sense of belonging has been lost. No matter how big the office is, among the staff it should always feel the way it felt when it was still a small studio striving for success, when there were no teams, sectors or branches. Everybody on the team should always be aware of his or her importance as a contributing member of this ‘family’. Digital times have brought a lot of new, previously almost unthinkable ways of doing business and organizing the work force, but they have also brought many new challenges when it comes to maintaining the motivating team spirit. For example, outsourcing and working from home create a whole new category of workers that don’t require a fixed work space. Thanks to the fast development of technology, virtually any place with a power socket and WiFi could become a fully equipped office space. According to recent studies, by 2020, 80 percent of workers will be involved in some work activity outside of a fixed office. So what makes our old fashioned office space still an exciting and motivating place, a place that everybody wants to work at, spend time at and contribute to their maximum? It’s that feeling you get when you come home from a long trip, the feeling of being safe and comfortable, the feeling of being at a place that allows you to be who you are. The office atmosphere, the coworkers, the organization of the work place or the design, all contribute to the unique
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experience the company is providing for its workers and clients alike. This experience should project what the company’s brand essence is all about. Its consistent translation into physical space, especially office space, is crucial to the overall success. Working in an office without a strong and consistent brand presence, no matter how nicely designed it might be, will make it underperform as the motivation that comes from feeling proud of belonging to a successful ‘family‘. For introducing brand presence inside the office space, the usual posters with ‘visions‘, ‘missions’, ‘goals‘, stock photo happy-peoplein-expensive-suits-running-through-meadows just won’t do the trick. Branding the office space should be a part of the design concept from the beginning and not just a random decor here and there. Another very important element in creating a creative and productive atmosphere is giving the workers an inspiring place to work. No matter how fast the technology is changing, trying to facilitate the work process, people still spend more and more time every day in their offices working on even more complex ways of presenting their work. As we tend to spend most of our day at the office, it becomes a venue for social interaction and a marketplace of knowledge, it is less and less considered ‘just’ for working. A well planned office space must provide enough formal and informal meeting areas, as five times more knowledge is generated during conversations between people than from other sources. An open office plan is a great tool for team-building, but along with it there should always be sufficient opportunities for retreat and mental isolation that can significantly increase the overall productivity. A combination of open plan office with specially dedicated ‘private’ or silent rooms will create a great work atmosphere. After all, people like other people around them and that’s the most inspiring fact in the world.
Croatian Lottery creative office
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Creative work climate Every creative agency, as the name says, should emphasize creativity. It is a value or an attribute that should be the way agency thinks and operates, especially in today’s competitive world. Clients want ideas that sell, and we all know that ideas that sell combine great strategic thinking with great creative solutions. So, how can we emphasize creativity among our employees and give clients better services? There is an old French proverb that says ‘the forest shapes the tree..’ The environment shapes the person. The family shapes the child. The workplace shapes the performance. Creating a culture that fosters creativity (which is at the root of all innovation and invention) is the key to success. Certain company cultures have a special company spirit, an intangible substance, that makes people want to work with them (whether clients or great talents) because it seems it brings out the best in them. These companies create a work environment which doesn’t silo creativity, but on the other hand, it promotes creativity among every employee in all sectors of the company – because all of us are in some degree creative. So, how can we help our company to create an atmosphere that sparks creativity among employees? First thing should be “fun”. As crazy as this sounds, the first stage to fun at work is to make it OK to talk about fun at work and to have fun at work. The more you allow humour and fun to be part of the culture, the more you open up communication, idea generation and innovation. So, a party at 3 p.m. in your office is actually pretty ok and probably will bring better solutions to your campaign problem, then not having one at all. Also it is very important to have a creative work space (for more information on this topic, read the article titled “Creative Office.”).
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Internal workshops done on a regular monthly basis that involve employees in the creation of new ideas in every area of agency business can foster creativity. Workshops should be done in a creative way, giving employees the possibility to play and work. The “play” part is very important. In this way, the company stimulates employees to think differently and to start thinking about improving the company’s business on regular basis. Also, it acknowledges people in the organization who generate new ideas. It can be anything from decorating the workplace in the company to creating a new product for your client’s brand to a creating a campaign for a nonexistent product. Ideas are limitless. Workshops for gaining knowledge by showing the best global practices can help to inspire employees to perform better. Latest work from Cannes festival? Inspiring people like Richard Branson or Steve Jobs? We need to make work an emotional, inspirational place, not just a place to collect a pay cheque. Company culture should create the atmosphere of family/team support where people can safely grow into their jobs and at the same time grow their self-worth. Sharing information with employees, allowing them to be authentic, and rewarding them for their accomplishments and celebrating those accomplishments creates a safe work environment and drives out fear. In that way employees feel at home, relaxed and supported to be who they really are. Maybe you can allow dogs in the work place as long as they do not bother other colleagues? Or make a room for meditation/kick boxing so that your employees can unleash their daily stress? By creating such a company culture and creative atmosphere, the company will attract talented people who produce high quality creative work (as such people are drawn to work in an environment where creativity is supported, valued and recognized) which, on the other hand, attracts clients and businesses. In that way the creativity circle is closed and completed and ensures the company’s success.
Creativity does not happen in an intellectual vacuum nor in the emotional icebergs that many companies fashion for themselves. Bruketa & Žinić work climate
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Adsmith / China Advertigo / Romania Aloft Group / USA Ansel-Möllers / Germany Audacity / USA Base One / UK BBC / Belgium Bernstein / Germany BMLab / Russia Bruketa&Žinić / Croatia C&COM / Czech Republic Café Design / Hungary Epoka / Poland Igriega / Spain Kimauskis 2.0 / Finland Maitri Advertising Works / India Mandate / Singapore Media Consulting / Portugal Netural / Austria Preferendum / France Quarry / Canada Recommended / Finland Recommended / Sweden S’P’S Marketing / Austria SanderWerbung / Germany Schindler Parent / Germany TANGRAM / Liechtenstein TANGRAM / Switzerland Truly Deeply / Australia
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This issue of E3 Global Insight
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Magazine is edited by Bruketa&Žinić.
marketing communications firms from around the
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