POV3

A POSSIBLE Publication

THIRD EDITION

Going Rogue Disrupting Myopia Modern CRM Omnichannel Is Not Enough Seeing Is Believing Is Influencer Marketing Dead?

Global State of Commerce Why Women Should Run Agencies

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Going Rogue Brandon Geary

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COMMERCE | STRATEGY

The Good Catch Epidemic Jon Dietrich Originally published in HOW. CREATIVE

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New Rules for Creative Agencies in 2017 Liz Valentine Originally published in iMedia.

POSSIBLE is a creative agency whose mission is moving

brands by moving people. More than ever, brands rise or fall on the sum total of the experiences they create for customers, not just the success or failure of a given ad campaign. Brands that move are making customers’ lives easier, more entertaining, and rewarding. With more than 1,500 employees around the globe, POSSIBLE brings results-driven marketing solutions to the world’s most dynamic brands, including Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, AT&T, Shell, and The Coca-Cola Company.

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Dramatic improvements in CRM/CXM platforms help companies deliver more personalized communication at scale. But all this communication isn’t always delivered with an eye on the customer and what’s in it for them.

We focus on every touchpoint, email, push notification, SMS, and post so it has a positive effect on its recipient. It should move them, not just reach them.

COMMERCE

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Martha Hiefield Originally published in Advertising Age.

COMMERCE | STRATEGY

CULTURE

Disrupting Myopia Jason Brush Originally published in PSFK.

Modern CRM: Differentiating Your Brand on an Endless Digital Shelf Thomas Stelter

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COMMERCE

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CONTENT

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CREATIVE

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MOBILE

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The Ps & Qs of Selling Great Work Danielle Trivisonno Hawley Originally published in Advertising Age.

COMMERCE

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CULTURE

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Global State of Commerce

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Creatives & Technologists Working Together from the Start

Convenience Is the New King Malcolm Wild Originally published in Campaign Asia.

COMMERCE

A survey from regions around the world.

COMMERCE

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Justin Marshall Originally published in PSFK.

TECHNOLOGY

DATA

Digital marketing has been given a pass for many years, with vanity metrics often taking center stage. We are committed to aligning our work with business goals and truly knowing whether or not it worked.COM

Is Influencer Marketing Dead?

John Cunningham & Thomas Stelter

Seeing Is Believing Emiliana Torrens Originally published in The 3% Conference.

Jason Carmel Originally published in MediaPost.

CONTENT | STRATEGY

MOBILE

We help clients create for and navigate the entire mobile ecosystem. We combine deep experience in mobile app, game, video, and content development to deliver worldclass mobile experiences and marketing.

Deadly Venom & Lifetime Value

DATA

Omnichannel Is Not Enough Frank Kochenash Originally published in Total Retail.

Get Smart About Your Mobile App Notification Strategy Brad Gagne Originally published in Urban Airship.

Time for Social to Grow Up Simon Law

Lights, Camera, Action: Atom Tickets Looks to Reinvigorate the Big Screen Andrew Solmssen Originally published in The Huffington Post.

COMMERCE

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Better with Age: Overcoming Our Obsession with Youth

Shane Atchison Originally published in CMO.com.

EXPERIENCE

CONTENT

With so many content creation services available, it appears content is the ultimate commodity. However, content that truly fits with mobile and native environments, connects to influencers, and builds a brand effectively is not. We give as much attention to a GIF as a broadcast spot.

The 3 Cs of 2017: Content, Commerce & Customer Experience

Deep Dive: How eCommerce Will Change the Grocery Industry Frank Kochenash Originally published in Internet Retailer.

STRATEGY

COMMERCEMERCE

With the rise of ecommerce, Amazon, and Alibaba, marketing departments sometimes disconnect from the channels in which their products are sold. We aim to connect commerce directly to the marketing plan and drive retail performance.

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Why Cost Cutting Doesn’t Always Lead to Efficiency Diane Holland & Leesa Eichberger Originally published in Campaign.

STRATEGY | FINANCE

Why Women Should Run Agencies Rebecca Bedrossian Originally published in Advertising Week.

CULTURE

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adidas GLITCH Pablo Marques CREATIVE

POSSIBLE is a WPP Digital agency.

pov@possible.com possible.com ©2017 by POSSIBLE. All rights reserved.

Editor in Chief Rebecca Bedrossian, POSSIBLE Portland Printer B&B bbprintsource.com

Design & Art Direction Paz Ulloa, POSSIBLE Costa Rica Tony Aguero, POSSIBLE Portland *Illustration on page 20 by Vinicio Jiménez

A nice, relaxing stroll through the virtual mall in hopes of finding something that speaks to us and puts us at ease.

With the nonstop barrage of alarming news today, we could all use little retail therapy.

That’s why we’ve dedicated much of the third issue of POV to commerce.

As we all know, commerce today is on the move. Many new models such as mobile payments, click and collect, and subscription services are upending traditional buying patterns around the globe. Things are not moving in a linear path. Asia is all in for mobile purchases, while in Latin America, cash is often king. Some brands have grown up overnight by offering unique purchasing experiences and tying them tightly to CRM data. Still others are finding ways to make it easy to shop without lifting a finger.

Interested in getting an overview? At the center of this issue you can—with the Global State of Commerce, a report that shows who is buying what, how, and when in regions around the world. Then, you can dig in with our in-depth interview with Ameesh Paleja, whose company Atom Tickets is looking to revolutionize the way we experience the movies—and finding that innovation in that space is not what you’d expect [p. 24]. In another provocative piece, Brandon Geary looks at the profound effect Amazon is having on brands of all kinds—and what you should do about it [p. 3]. In addition, you can find commerce-related articles by our regular contributors Thomas Stelter, Frank Kochenash, and Malcolm Wild.

But POSSIBLE POV is never all work and no play, so we also have a range of articles on topics that may hit a little closer to home. Our CEO in Argentina, Emiliana Torrens, attended The 3% Conference for the first time. She shares her perspective on it and explains why workplace parity is not as hot an issue in Latin America [p. 15]. Martha Hiefield makes the case for hiring not only the young people everyone loves, but experienced hands in advertising [p. 23]. And Jon Dietrich weighs in on how great creative ideas get destroyed by those who think they’re protecting a brand [p. 20].

We invite you to take a break from a busy world, pour yourself a cup of tea (or something stronger if you like), and explore the fascinating and sometimes frustrating world of commerce today.

Rebecca Bedrossian Global Content Director, POSSIBLE Portland

#WeArePOSSIBLE

RETHINKING THE AMAZON EFFECT Brandon Geary Global Chief Strategy Officer, POSSIBLE Seattle

It’s no secret that Amazon is disruption with a capital D— and has been since your neighborhood bookstore disappeared.

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COMMERCE | STRATEGY

But while most of us recognize the pressure Amazon has put on retailers, not many are focusing on the similar effect it’s having on brands. Companies across the spectrum are finding it increasingly difficult to sell directly to customers, maintain brand value, and even control their own experiences. More than half of all product searches, for example, start on Amazon.com. And when you build a skill for Alexa, your brand speaks in her voice. If you’re a CMO, that’s cause for concern.

Of course, the reason this is happening is that Amazon is darned good at what it does.

The company is tops among retailers in customer satisfaction and has been for years. It grew 27 percent year over year in Q2, and accounted for 80 percent of the total ecommerce growth that quarter. Software may be eating the world, but Amazon is eating everything else.

Human interaction still matters. Best Buy has proved that a personal touch (and smart salespeople) can create competitive advantage, especially for high-consideration purchases. Nordstrom makes ecommerce a seamless extension of its legendary customer service. For example, you can first select clothing items on your phone, and then when you visit a physical store, they will be waiting in a dressing room that has your name on it. This kind of hands-on attention can go a long way to keeping brands relevant and customers happy.

The way around this is probably not to try to beat the company at its own game or seek alternative channels. Regardless of the problems it’s creating for brands, Amazon remains an indispensable retailer. Walmart and Target may be making huge investments to keep up, but their online growth is slow at best. Going head-to-head with Amazon may be a necessary strategy for them, but it’s not necessarily a good one.

Unique commerce. This is a narrower opportunity,

Rather, the brands that are sucessfully maintaining their identity and growing their sales have all taken a different, proactive step. They’ve come up with a unique commerce position.

Just as most companies have value propositions and voice guidelines, a commerce position outlines a stance for selling products in a uniquely branded way. To do so, a company has to take a critical look at the entire purchasing path and then create new buying experiences that speak to customers. Let’s look at four major ways brands have succeeded in this so far.

Commerce as an experience. Warby Parker, Blue Apron, and Dollar Shave Club all offer commerce experiences that grow out of their business models. The way you buy razors at Dollar Shave Club is a huge part of the brand. The same goes for Warby Parker, whose try-on box makes shopping for frames a rewarding experience.

While all of these brands are new, it’s a mistake to think that traditional companies can’t succeed with this as well. They have the products, data, and customer-service expertise needed to create these kinds of services—sometimes more robustly than the narrowly focused online upstarts. But to come to a good commerce positioning, they need to restructure how they sell and find opportunities to bundle products and services together.

but some retailers have found success by offering products no one else has. For example, Gleem & Co is an online jewelry consigner that focuses on one-ofa-kind estate engagement rings. This ensures that your fiancée’s ring will be something very special. You can also do unique commerce at scale. Lululemon has stood apart for years by stocking very few of any one item in any store and changing collections frequently.

As a result, its customers don’t have to worry about running into someone else wearing the same thing.

This makes the commerce (and by extension brand) experience highly personal and rewarding.

In other words, the Amazon Effect is powerful, but not omnipotent or even necessarily negative. Brands can benefit from the company’s reach in retail, while continuing to maintain their own identities. To do so, however, will require more than making good products and services. You will also need to come up with a commerce idea that sets you apart and delivers an experience that customers love.

Good hunting.

Commerce as a relationship. Some major brands are succeeding by doubling down on their relationships with their best customers. While Nike and adidas both sell through Amazon, they also offer their own commerce platforms. And these aren’t just stores, they’re relationship magnets.

For example, you can buy shoes on Nike+ SNKRS, but the app is also a source for new releases, limited editions, and sneakerhead-friendly content. Adidas GLITCH sets itself apart by selling a single type of shoe that features an inside sock and an outside skin.

The product is only available via app and delivered within four hours. The catch? You need a referral to get it. It may not be the best way to move lots of product, but a terrific one for connecting with loyal fans.

COMMERCE | STRATEGY

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Liz Valentine CEO, Swift, a POSSIBLE Agency, Portland

And just like that, uncertainty and change are the new norm.

As we enter 2017, business leaders face a market scenario poised to combust as political, social, and economic forces chafe against one another.

Marketers and agencies must be prepared to adapt—quickly. Agencies in particular should be ready to push past business as usual and build in-house capabilities that anticipate changing client pressures and needs.

Here’s how to gear up: THINK LIKE A STARTUP An increasing number of brands are pulling everything from strategy to production to measurement—core agency capabilities—in house.

How can agencies compete?

By thinking and operating like members of the client team. Be open to co-creation, even if it means the client is jumping in the doc to rewrite copy. Invite the brand and creative teams to bounce ideas off one another in real time. Speed up your process so the client doesn’t have to wait three weeks in between reviews. Evaluate your recruiting strategy and consider hiring candidates who have skills across several areas.

Do what you can to unburden the client from heavy process while still maintaining enough process. It’s messy, but clients want to be involved, and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t cut it anymore.

OWN THE MEDIA STRATEGY A campaign is only as good as its media strategy and buy. The unfortunate reality is that one agency develops the campaign while a different agency devises the media strategy largely responsible for the success of said campaign. Over the last few years, brands have pushed for maximum media efficiency across social, digital, online video, and above-the-line properties. There are simply more places for advertising to appear, but marketing budgets aren’t keeping pace with the profusion of channels.

At the same time, advertising technology has become more sophisticated. Faced with fewer dollars, media agencies rely more on programmatic purchasing than plans developed by skilled, big-picture strategists. After all, they are compensated with a percentage of a brand’s media spend—it’s in their interest to protect resources.

This model is broken. Creative agencies, whose job it is to know their clients’ consumers best and who already do the heavy lifting on consumer insights to inform campaigns, are well positioned to own the media strategy as well. Ramping up on this capability will ease client frustration and give the work a better shot at achieving the goals that warranted a campaign in the first place. In an evolved model, creative agencies develop media plans and hand them off to media partners, who can execute the spend and put the plan in place.

PUSH FOR DATA TRANSPARENCY In the maze-like new media landscape, a brand ends up with multiple performance reports from their slew of agencies, each measuring a different component of a campaign. Picture being on the receiving end of these reports and trying to puzzle out a comprehensive view that shows true performance. And then having to turn that around for your boss.

Now imagine if creative, media, event, and PR agencies teamed up to produce a single cohesive campaign report showing which tactics worked well and how the results stack up overall. Brands crave data transparency across all advertising channels and it’s up to agencies to bare the results and provide an accurate measure of success. The payoff? All parties gain a better understanding of what resonates with the target consumer.

SPEED UP VIDEO PRODUCTION More and more clients are emphasizing video and are focusing on fewer, more involved media projects as opposed to a regular flow of social posts. What’s behind the shift?

• Gen Z and Millennials, of course. They make up half the US population and their preference for video is real. And they go for all kinds of video, cozying up to everything from product demos to consumer testimonials to episodic or docu-style storytelling.

• Our brains are wired for video: We are 90 percent more likely to remember messages we watch than those we read.

• Another key driver is the decline of organic social content. With new platform algorithms in place to serve up more content from users’ friends, the reach of content without paid support is greatly diminished.

The challenge is to pull off high-quality video without sinking so much time and money into production. Traditional production is incredibly expensive and doesn’t meet clients’ quick-turn needs. Cracking the code of rapid video creation will be a game changer. That might mean hiring staff cinematographers who can concept, shoot, and edit—who aren’t easy to find. Start looking now.

CREATE EXPERIENCES WORTH SHARING The role of events in social media is flipping. For the past decade, brands used social to promote and drive traffic to events. Now, it’s the opposite. Brands see that great experiences—whether in real life or online—are the ones consumers want to share. Arm your audience with social currency by giving them something they can’t get on their own, whether it’s a timely Snapchat filter, exclusive access, or direct communication with a celebrity.

Remember, a consumer’s most valued brand is her/his own, so give each of them a moment, a tool, or an exclusive capture that will burnish their identity and rack up shares and likes.

Such activity can be a powerful megaphone for brands, and one of the few ways organic posts can still achieve considerable reach.

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Native content. Brands are, of course, no strangers to content, but its needs and shape have changed. People coming to our digital properties (and to some extent, our physical ones) now have identifying tags that reveal much about their preferences, shopping history, and even income. We may know that someone overindexes on outdoor gear, or has visited our site four times and looked at shoes and baseball hats. The challenge is to take that information and use it to drive more relevant experiences.

2017 Shane Atchison

Global CEO, POSSIBLE Seattle

Above all, this means making more content and making it smarter. If you’re a computer company and a person comes to your support site, you can detect the machine they’re using. If it’s one of yours, you can reasonably assume they’re having an issue with it and show them quick fixes to common problems. Likewise, an insurance company could offer one kind of content to people in flood plains and something completely different to those in regions beset by wildfires. The goal is to make the content fit a customer’s context, rather than making something for everyone that’s right for no one.

Contextual commerce. With commerce, the story is much the same. It’s time to think past the cart and into the mind of the consumer. Most CMOs now have ample data and programmatic tools at their disposal. As a result, we can get much smarter about how and when we ask people to buy. For example, if we know a person mostly shops online, we should not send them in-store coupons by mail.

If 2016 could be summed up, it would be the year of data. For months we’ve discussed it, watched CMOs invest in it, and listened endlessly to people talking about its synergy with creativity. At the end of it all, we find ourselves with heaps of data—and probably not enough to show for it.

That’s why 2017 will be different, a retrenching into our investments to find the value it delivers. To do so, we have to start with a simple fact: Content is no longer king—the customer is. Our ruling mantra must be marketing transformation, or putting the customer at the center of everything we do.

Of course, this is much easier said than done. Customercentricity requires a daunting level of data and business alignment. Anyone can talk about breaking down silos, but if you’ve actually tried to break them down, you know they can be made of durable stuff. As much as brands would like to transform themselves into Uber overnight, for most, that’s not practical.

Like transformed content, the new wave of commerce is also about understanding the customer’s context: where they are physically, where they are in the purchasing process, and who they are as human beings.

The Holy Grail, of course, is one-to-one commerce at scale. That may be aspirational at the moment, but we can still anticipate their needs. If we know people are interested in extreme sports, let’s offer them an adventure they have never heard of—but must try when they do.

Commerce also needs to be sensitive to the platform it’s on. Brands still largely think one-size-fits-all. It will become increasingly important to play natively in every space, whether that’s Facebook, YouTube, or an owned property. Amazon Shorts, for example, should prove an interesting new option for brands looking to provide helpful or entertaining content in a way that highlights (but not overly promotes) their products.

Customer experience. Finally, we can look for However, there are three areas where we can find quick wins and a focus for our efforts in 2017. For lack of a better term, we can call them the three Cs: content, commerce, and customer experience. We’ve been using these terms for a long time, but in a transformed world, they have different meanings, and we need to approach them in new ways. Let’s look at them in detail.

like-minded opportunities across the entire customer journey. We know people do not usually like looking at marketing, but we also know that there are times when it can be helpful. We merely need to study their journeys and make critical improvements in everything from initial contact and research to the checkout and unboxing experience.

We must also recognize that silence is sometimes golden.

Merely because we can map every moment in the customer journey does not mean we have to say something at each one. Sometimes removing a touchpoint is easier and better than improving it. Apple has traditionally featured a lot of white space in its marketing.

It’s worth thinking about.

In other words, 2017 should be about realizing the promise of 2016. It’s time to use our new-found data not merely to sell, but to also nurture a long-term relationship with consumers.

The best bets are content and commerce, but the opportunities across the entire customer journey will prove especially fruitful for the brands that discover what people want (even if they don’t know they want it) and deliver it.

COMMERCE | STRATEGY

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Jason Brush Global EVP, Experiences & Innovation, POSSIBLE Los Angeles In An Incumbent’s Guide to Digital Disruption, Chris Bradley and Clayton O’Toole describe four stages of disruption from the perspective of an established organization: At first, the disruptive force is merely a bit of signal amidst a lot of noise, only detectable to folks paying attention.

Then, out of the noise, a clear model is validated. Once validated, it becomes an inevitability that a critical mass of adoption will be achieved. Finally, when this new business model is widely adopted, it becomes the new normal— until, of course, the next disrupter comes along. The fact that, between 2002 and 2012, 70 percent of the Global Fortune 500 companies turned over, suggests that the ability to learn and evolve is challenging, despite being imperative.

In order to remain competitive, incumbents must adapt and change and, to do so, overcome a range of barriers inherent to evolution. Pain avoidance, overcoming inertia of the extant model, and reframing a brand to fit within a new context all present challenges, but perhaps the most challenging step in this evolution is the first one: overcoming one’s myopic point of view in order to have the acuity of foresight to begin the process of change.

Once you know you must evolve, the barriers to overcome can still be incredibly challenging. But they are also practical and operational in nature, and, as such, have specific solutions.

Myopia, on the other hand, cannot be solved with an improved customer experience, technology infrastructure, or marketing message; it’s the very hardest challenge to overcome because it stems from an organization’s ethos, rather than a practical concern. Open-mindedness and willingness to change can’t be bought; it must be an inherent part of an organization’s culture and outlook.

To be comfortable with change is not a natural inclination; it takes constant attention and effort. When confronted with the threat of change, it’s far too easy to stick to our beliefs of how the world works—or how we think it should work—despite the evidence that things are evolving. When something threatens to disrupt our frame of reference, it’s tempting to double down on one’s beliefs, and construct a bulwark to defend our familiar world against the future.

Though a natural reaction, it is, in fact, simply ignoring reality.

Why is it so frightening to accept that the only reliable constant is change? The evidence is all around us: Children grow up faster than we can comprehend; our own bodies continuously morph from infancy to our death; culture, fashion, art, and architecture are always changing, propelled by ever-advancing technology; and on a grander scale, in the natural world, species continuously evolve in the face of an ever-changing environment and new pathogens and predators.

Yet, despite the inexorable changing nature of our lives and our world, people often find the disruptions stemming from this change a frightening, even impossible, phenomena to confront. Perhaps because, deep down, we know the forces that change end one way: with us no longer existing. The logical outcome of change is our own obsolescence.

To confront this means choosing between two fundamental paths in life: optimistically embrace change and evolution and progress, or cling fearfully to the past, steeling yourself against the inexorable pull of the future.

While it sounds like an easy choice, it’s far from simple.

Why didn’t Blockbuster avoid Netflix? Why didn’t Nokia launch a successful touchscreen phone before Apple launched the iPhone? Why didn’t record companies begin selling MP3s before Napster made piracy easy? Why didn’t Kodak invest in digital imaging sooner?

It’s not necessarily because people in those disrupted companies were untalented or inept; it’s that they were making decisions based on their current frame of reference. A key cause of myopia is that one’s frame of reference—what we believe to be true about the world—usually changes in reaction to outside forces, instead of proactively causing change itself. We often live in a bubble that reinforces its own notions.

Put another way, it’s awfully hard to disrupt the thing you’re paid and rewarded to do. We spend so much of our lives optimizing the systems that support us that to think of altering them is terrifying.

It’s not only daunting to embrace change, but extremely difficult to know, exactly, what form that change will take. Even Mary Meeker, KCBP’s digital sage, noted in the most recent annual Internet Trends Report that

“Computing industry inflection points are typically only obvious with hindsight.”

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Then, how do we disrupt our myopic mindset?

Like most progress in our world, the answer lies in empathy. Stepping outside our own frame of reference in order to understand the point of view of others (in this case, disruptive forces) is the only way of gaining insight to point us in the direction of where we should adapt and grow.

Empathy is an ability, not a feeling. Like any ability, empathy can be practiced and improved with exercise.

To empathize and understand disruptive forces, consider the three different pillars that comprise a disrupter’s value proposition:

Experience—the creation of a better experience that delights by eliminating frictions and annoyances, creating more choice, and feeling more personalized and relevant.

Value—not necessarily (just) a reduction in cost, but also an improvement in the perception of what people get for their money.

Ethos—making people feel as if they are participating in a movement they can believe in and that they are, themselves, helping to make the world a better place.

Empathy allows these pillars to be used as lenses to take a clear-eyed look at your potential challenges: How do disruptive forces view you? How do your customers view you? What might you change or improve?

It’s important to note what this is not: it does not mean not having convictions. It does not mean letting yourself be swayed by fads, or following the crowd mindlessly. It does not mean not valuing the past. It does not mean not fighting for things worth saving.

But, for incumbents, it does mean being willing to step outside of a position of power, privilege, and comfort to appreciate (in the sincerest meaning of that word) the forces driving change in business, culture, and society as a whole. It means being honest about how your customers see you. It means putting yourself in the position of your competitors, and seeing your business from their point of view.

From the perspective of the disrupter, the world—including what you built your career and business on—is imperfect and incomplete. The disrupters long to fix what they see as broken. They’re optimistic. They believe things can be better than they are. This is something that every incumbent would do well to make a part of their everyday outlook.

Eleanor Roosevelt, in her book, You Learn by Living, famously noted: “Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product.” By this, she meant that one cannot find happiness by seeking it out in and of itself, but instead will only enjoy it through a life well-lived. Likewise, it’s a mistake to look at innovation as a deliverable. Disrupting myopia and breaking out of one’s current frame of reference, should not be seen as an isolated tactic.

To have a true impact, continual learning, growth, and evolution must be a constant and become part of one’s modus operandi.

EXPERIENCE

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DIFFERENTIATING YOUR BRAND ON AN ENDLESS DIGITAL SHELF Thomas Stelter VP, Emerging Solutions, POSSIBLE Chicago

You’ve done it. Your online retail presence is top notch. Your brand’s website is best in class. You have squared away your product detail pages across every digital channel. Your smart, segmented media campaigns are filling your funnel, and your sales growth is encouraging. But don’t break out the bubbly just yet.

No matter how well you’re doing in the short term, you are probably not affecting your most important driver of longterm revenue and brand health: customer lifetime value (CLV). Today, many brands are competing well on price and product, but failing to build lasting relationships with their customers. And it’s not hard to see why: One recent study found that consumer expectations had increased 23 percent in the past year, while brands had improved by only 4 percent.

The implications should be clear: Traditional CRM has become table stakes. The strategies marketers used to use to build loyalty are now expected, not appreciated. Things like shipping confirmation emails, good customer service, and follow-up communications merely meet expectations for transparency. They do not create real differentiation.

Nowadays people aren’t impressed by embedded tracking numbers. They expect an option for callback if a service center is overwhelmed. They don’t necessarily reward those things with loyalty, though they do punish for a lack of them.

In addition, the customer journey has become fantastically connected and varied. Today, one customer might hear about a product on YouTube, see a display ad, read a review on Amazon, and then check out a product page. Another may view a quick video about it and instantly click “add to cart.” Brands have to solve for an infinite number of journeys, and they can’t do so with a CRM system that produces a set of messages that are broadly generic and sadly anonymous.

To succeed, brands need to do more than nail the requirements of any one channel. They must gain a full view of the entire consumer journey and account for all possible conversations at whichever touch points they take place. They need to acquire behavioral data that identifies unique segments and triggers the right messages. And most of all, they need a marketing technology platform that enables them to deploy near one-to-one personalization at scale.

The good news is that the industry is seeing a substantial upswing in CRM capabilities. It began with the rise of new CRM-driven commerce companies. The Warby Parkers and Dollar Shave Clubs of today achieved breakout success by custom-building systems around direct-to-consumer business models that incorporated commerce together with CRM. That gives them deep, personalized insight into their customers and the ability to target communications over the lifetime of the relationship.

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COMMERCE

In other words, CRM is emerging from the dark ages. .

Luckily, you don’t have to build such a system from scratch anymore. A wave of consolidation and innovation is afoot in the CRM space, making it much easier for established brands to get up to speed. For example, Salesforce, a leading CRM player, has recently purchased Demandware, a major digital commerce player. Gartner has named Apptus and Elastic Path— both commerce platform companies with relationship management core technologies—visionaries in its

It’s no longer an email application. It’s a marketing and commerce platform with a comprehensive set of tools and activities that allow you to take what you learn from data and reach customers with relevant messages that build a lasting relationship.

Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce.

At that point, you can certainly crack open the champagne. It’ll be well deserved.

The next step will, of course, involve better integration between CRM and social. Once that happens, you’ll be able to integrate and regularize communications across social, email, and mobile apps. Rather than sending endless promotions to people who are barely interested, you’ll have an engine that automatically nurtures relationships and creates real brand advocates.

Such solutions allow brands to look at every message in a more nuanced, multidimensional, and datainformed way. They can integrate insights from behavior, past purchases, and pages visited—and then use them to generate targeted and relevant communications across the customer journey.

For a simple example, brands have a big opportunity with shipping confirmation emails (they have six times the click-through rate of a special offer—and twice the reopen rate). Yet most brands throw away this chance by restricting their communication to a tracking number, which is the equivalent of shaking hands and expecting a lifelong friendship. It’s time to take what you know about a customer and turn moments like these into points of real connection.

COMMERCE

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CHANGING THE RULES Then came the day Facebook throttled back the “free tap” and organic reach began to disappear. Today, depending on the category, organic reach is likely to be between 1 and 10 percent of fans—with the 1 percent mark the more common result. While engagement is still a great indicator of content people like, it’s not something to aim for because it doesn’t drive reach. Engagement is no longer a valuable outcome.

Simon Law Chief Strategy Officer, POSSIBLE London

The beauty of social media is the pace.

It’s a fascinating, exciting, ever-changing place that has driven new opportunities for brands mirroring the growth in capabilities, ad units, tech options, and the channels themselves.

In what seems a blink of an eye, Facebook has launched over a dozen new ad units in the past few years, as has Twitter. Snapchat and Instagram vie for brand attention with a slew of new ad vehicles they rolled out last year. Already in 2017, we’re seeing a healthy wave of developments in beta.

For marketers, it means the strategies for success have changed more rapidly than ever before. At the most basic level, we’re moving from a free model to a paid-for model, but the reality is more complex.

In a pre-IPO world, Facebook needed users. Momentum was the game and the smart play for brands. Presence—the single most important tactic—meant being active every day. A brand in momentum was a brand Facebook would recommend to users, gaining you fans to extend reach. An “always on” brand would win, getting free reach to a growing audience. Brands that got it right would easily hit one million-person audiences and up, even in smaller countries such as the UK. Large proportions of that audience would see your posts, with engagement driving another 5 to 10 percent reach; the scale made it all worthwhile.

11

CONTENT

In fact, for most brands today, reach is really only driven by media money, and is less immediate too. More brands are trying to get in front of people than there are ad units being displayed; your audience may need to log in a few times before your post is even seen, which means a number will see your post in a few days time. A 24-hour horizon is no longer realistic.

RULE OF SEVEN Remember the age-old concept of marketing, where a person needed to see an ad/message seven times before it broke through? While old, it’s not outdated. Your audience may not spot your content the first time—because of the speed with which people fly through their feeds on a smartphone. You’ve got a heartbeat to grab attention and, frankly, most brands don’t hit that sweet spot the first time. The medium may have changed, but the old truths are still valid.

A recent Warc study by Peter Field showed that long-term campaigns have greater impact on all success measures, but it’s most marked for business effects where they see double the likelihood of having an impact. Our own data-wrangling has shown that brands see marked increases in both engagement (likes/shares) and onward activity (clicks) in return for maintaining a single post and investing to get repeat viewings. In simple terms, achieving a frequency of four or more times on a single post will lift the effectiveness over one and a half times. And it has the glorious side effect of building greater reach at the same time. Facebook itself recommends brands aim for a monthly target of 75 percent reach with a frequency of at least four.

Last year, P&G stated it would no longer pay for targeted posts on Facebook. They made it clear that scale is more valuable than targeting for an FMCG (or CPG) advertiser. Spending a premium to target earlier-funnel brand activity is a losing game for a corporation such as P&G. Depending on the task and the brand, you might open up your target audience to include a wider reach.

CONTENT THAT CONNECTS In summary, to get your brand noticed:

• Spend media money to get content seen, even on social media. And spend properly, to build up reach—and not just boost it for a day.

• Spend more money on production. With fewer posts, you have the opportunity to improve quality and give your audience something worthy of their attention.

• Finally, don’t expect immediate success—plan for content/posts/ads to be seen multiple times so they cut through and get noticed.

This adds up to a strategy that is very different from the old strategies of always on, targeted is the answer, and this is an editorial model. These new rules mean fewer pieces of content, given more support for a longer period of time.

The reality is that social media—Facebook in particular—has grown up. There’s now a TV-sized audience, but we’re still treating it like a startup media. It’s not the channel, it’s us. We need to change. We need to stop pretending we’re publishers when we’re brands (often struggling to find 36.5 impactful things to talk about, let alone 365).

Focus on content that connects, then take the time and spend the budget to give it a chance to do just that.

Danielle Trivisonno Hawley Chief Creative Officer, Americas, POSSIBLE Seattle

As 2016 came to a close, I paused for a moment to reflect on how fast the industry is moving. Deadlines come quicker than ever before and, all too often, as creatives, we forget this is a business built on relationships—not just ideas.

We focus so hard on doing and selling great work that we tend to overlook our role in fostering good common ground between agency and client.

Whether you need a friendly reminder or are just beginning to land yourself in rooms with the big guns, here’s a compilation of what I’ve learned from 15 years in advertising.

1 Don’t interrupt anyone. Not the client nor your co-workers. This can be increasingly difficult

over the phone. If it happens, apologize and explain you might be on a delay.

2

Treat everyone with respect. Including the receptionist and security personnel checking you into the building.

3 Study up on the client’s brand. Know how they’re doing in the stock exchange, what relevant press

they may be managing and, for god’s sake, don’t say “Google it” in a Microsoft meeting. (Full disclosure: I’ve done this. It was terrible.)

4

Ask clarifying questions. It lets the client know you really desire to understand their feedback.

5

Actually listen. This is important. Don’t just wait for your chance to talk.

6

Don’t be afraid to challenge them, if you know you’re on brief. And always leverage the data, when doing so.

7

Always remember you and the client are both in service of the audience. Not the people sitting around the table. This is your North Star.

8

Don’t bullshit. If you don’t know the answer, say so. Then tell them how you’re going to find it. And do not be afraid to test and learn. Sometimes neither of you knows the answer.

9

It’s ok to allow the client to have ideas, too. It doesn’t make you less of a creative. And sometimes their ideas are really great building blocks.

10

Keep the energy high—read the room. Match your personalities to theirs. If you’re not excited, who will be? Clients look forward to seeing creative, so make it the best part of their day.

11 Be yourself. We are social beings. Make them buy you, not just your work.

12 Present as unified team, and make the meeting conversational and participatory. There are excep-

tions, but most clients want to be a part of the work, not just the “approvers.”

13 Don’t pile on. If it doesn’t absolutely need to be said, don’t say it.

14 Don’t correct your team members. Instead take a YES and approach.

15 Clients always buy chemistry over work. No matter what we may tell ourselves, remember this.

In the world of advertising, we create reasons to believe in brands every day. And behind those brands are teams of people. Let’s foster those connections and grow personal relationships.

It’s human nature. And it’s good business.

CREATIVE

12

Frank Kochenash Global SVP, Commerce, POSSIBLE Seattle

13

COMMERCE

Every modern retailer and brand knows an omnichannel strategy is needed in order to thrive in today’s commerce landscape. The term has passed m-commerce, social commerce, and even multichannel in popularity. And from my vantage point, the approach is valid: Meet customers at the places where they want to be met.

However, risk arises when companies focus too much on the “channel” part of the strategy and not on the implications of “omni.” This can result in a firm obtaining an in-store strategy, a desktop strategy, a mobile strategy, and a social strategy, but still not create any differentiated, sustainable value for the brand or for their customers. It risks checking all the boxes, ensuring that every channel is covered, yet misses opportunities to innovate and jump past competitors. Furthermore, an approach that overfocuses on channels can cause overinvestment in channels that may not warrant the focus.

In short, an omnichannel strategy can go sideways if the strategy focuses on channels rather than on consumers and their needs.

It makes more sense to start with the needs of the consumer and work backwards. Consumers don’t care about channels; they don’t think about channels. Consumers have problems, needs, and desires. They care about solving problems, obtaining value, and having a delightful, efficient experience. It is true that an omnichannel approach can solve consumer problems, but there are often unintended constraints applied to solutions developed within that approach.

“Channel” presumes a known sales channel—in-store, web, mobile, etc. If we broaden the solution space beyond known channels, we free ourselves to consider the problem the consumer has in the first place—the reason they are shopping and trying to buy something—and focus on new ways to solve that problem. Why do they want to buy something? What is the problem they are trying to solve? How can we, as a brand or a retailer, help them better solve that problem?

This consumer-first approach forces us to consider the context of the consumer when the problem arises. That is, it forces us to consider where and when a consumer is and how they become aware of a need to buy something. We call the development of commerce experiences to solve consumer needs in this way contextual commerce.

Contextual commerce is the design, development, and delivery of solutions that solve consumer problems by enabling them to efficiently and intuitively purchase a product or service at the point and place where the need arises.

This approach brings value to the consumer and does not necessarily require them to go to a channel.

Though newly defined, past examples of contextual commerce are some of the most innovative developments of digital commerce:

• iTunes allows consumers to purchase music while listening to music.

• Kindle e-readers allow consumers to buy books from a book.

• Amazon Dash buttons allow consumers to order laundry detergent from the laundry room when they run out.

• Uber enables consumers to order transportation whenever they need it.

• Video on-demand services (e.g., xfinity) allow viewers to purchase movies as they watch TV. Arguably, channel strategies alone would not have yielded these innovations. Furthermore, the proliferation of connected devices, Wi-Fi connectivity, web services, and instant delivery services enables even broader innovation for a contextual commerce approach:

• Can fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies provide replenishment opportunities within the kitchen, laundry, or bathroom?

• Can pet food brands automate point-of-sale to be in-home at the point when it’s realized that we’re almost out of pet food?

• Can we enable a consumer to do an intuitive search for “gluten-free” in a grocery store?

• Can we help a consumer get the ingredients needed for dinner delivered during their commute?

• Would it make more sense to simply ask my refrigerator for more milk?

Contextual commerce approaches each of these situations by starting with the consumer problem, not with the channel. This is the fundamental nuance/innovation that contextual commerce brings to an omnichannel strategy. It forces brands and retailers to truly consider what value they provide to consumers and frees them to solve those problems without the constraints of a specific channel.

For brands and retailers, contextual commerce creates value in several ways: It encourages innovation by forcing a focus on consumer need; it pushes differentiation from competitors because, by definition, the solution doesn’t have to fit within the constraints and specifications of a channel; it encourages more efficient use of capital and resources because contextual commerce solutions are viewed as new business ideas and can’t use the crutch of “this is our X channel strategy.”

To summarize, an omnichannel strategy is necessary and I am certainly not arguing against omnichannel.

But it’s not enough.

The solution set must be enlarged to enable consumer needs to be understood and solved.

Brands may find that some contextually relevant commerce solutions deserve more investment, and yield greater value, than a “me too” channel strategy.

COMMERCE

14

Emiliana Torrens CEO, POSSIBLE Buenos Aires

As an Argentine, I’d never thought much about The 3% Conference. And I certainly never thought I’d attend, until I was personally asked to do so. Conference founder Kat Gordon selected me to participate in a women’s creative leadership event hosted by Google.

The day before the conference began, I found myself at Google’s New York City headquarters, a brick-faced building located across the street from the famed Chelsea Market. The panel, Imposing Gender Quotas at Work: Is it a good thing or bad thing?, featured four women from around the world: myself; Bec Brideson, Excecutive Creative Director, Venus Communications, Australia; Christina Gliha, Group Creative Director, Juniper Park/TBWA Toronto, Canada; Jureeporn Thaidumrong, Chief Creative Officer, Grey Advertising, Thailand; moderated by Cecelia Wogan-Silva, Global Director of Creative Agency Development, Google, San Francisco.

From the beginning, it was clear the panelists fell into two distinct categories. The women from Australia and Canada were absorbed and well-versed in the topic. They had statistics, experiences to share, and well-defined ideas about what needs to happen next. The creative director from Thailand and me? Not so much.

MY REALITY

NEW RULES

POR MUCHAS MÁS

Put simply, in our countries this is not a top-of-mind, pressing topic—at least not at an agency level. In Argentina, governments and private organizations, not private companies, are leading the fight on gender issues.

For instance, Ni Una Menos (#NiUnaMenos)—which translates to “Not One Less”—is an organization that fights against femicide and in support of oft-unenforced laws protecting women from domestic and other violence. Last year, it became a trending topic that drew a protest of more than 300,000 people in Buenos Aires.

Before attending The 3% Conference, I never consciously thought about whether we were hiring a woman, a Colombian, a man from Chile, or someone from India or Asia. I simply wanted creative people, and a team, who work well together. Research—and my experience—shows that such teams are often diverse, but we never explicitly made it a requirement.

Arriving home inspired, I immediately set out to discuss the possibilities and opportunities with both my female and male colleagues. We collectively decided to create #PorMuchasMas (“For Many More”), a movement that will help advertising women speak up for their rights and empower them to become leaders.

For companies and corporations—and this includes agencies—economic stability is top of mind. In the Argentine creative world, we talk a lot about inflation, which is high but also unpredictable. We know prices are rising, yet it’s difficult to keep salaries balanced to the realities of the actual economic situation.

That’s not to say, however, we don’t talk about inclusion and diversity. They are natural things that we do in order to get the best results for our clients.

The 3% Conference changed something for me. Being surrounded by so many talented women was both inspiring and shocking. And so I started thinking, clearly and consciously, about gender diversity.

I have to admit that during my 20-year advertising career, I’ve worked primarily with men. During client meetings, jury sessions, seminars, and even interviews—it’s mostly men. They may be polite, they may not make gender an issue (or they might), but the truth is the agency world does not have many women leaders.

On my return flight, I had much time to think about how I might change the ratio. How could I inspire other

women? Could I create a forum to discuss what it’s like to be a woman in advertising in Latin America?

15

CULTURE

Though these are early days, we plan to promote the movement out of our Buenos Aires office and link to the already trending #NiUnaMenos. The goal is to get more women involved as leaders—in our agencies, with our clients, and the business world as a whole.

Though The 3% Conference is not yet well known in Latin America, I know it will make a difference. By starting the conversation, we’ve already begun to change the ratio. Little by little and step by step,

we will make a difference.

CULTURE

16

Global Market Highlights

APAC

NORTH AMERICA

Malcolm Wild Chief Technology Officer, POSSIBLE Singapore

Christine McCambridge Director, Shopper & eCommerce, POSSIBLE Cincinnati Frank Kochenash Global SVP, Commerce, POSSIBLE Seattle Thomas Stelter VP, Emerging Solutions, POSSIBLE Chicago

General state of commerce:

General state of commerce:

While its average annual GDP growth rate is slightly more than 5 percent, APAC is slowing as the region turns from exports to internal consumption. Commerce is often event driven, as the region plays host to two of the biggest global shopping events: Singles Day and India’s

While the economy is strengthening, ecommerce continues to grow several times faster than general retail growth. In almost all categories ecommerce sales growth outstrips general retail sales growth. Several major retailers are closing stores while shifting investment to digital and omnichannel capabilities and consumer offerings. Driving this is increasing consumer confidence with ecommerce experiences and fulfillment. Amazon and agile startups are the primary drivers of change.

Market Highlights

Independence Day.

eCommerce revenue:

$503,881M

eCommerce revenue:

$340,510M

Growth rate:

16.2%

Growth rate:

8.6%

Largest segment:

Fashion

Penetration rate:

34.4% ARPU

$561

Largest segment:

Electronics and media Largest ecommerce market:

CH

Penetration rate:

74.6% Top trends: Speed and convenience are a top priority Ever-faster delivery Voice and AI Subscription services Click and collect

How people buy: Cross-channel, cross-device, with a product and price check at Amazon in the process

Purchasing drivers:

Purchasing drivers:

Recommendations on mobile social media (WeChat)

Ratings, reviews, events, and social influence An easy, seamless purchasing process

Biggest players: Marketplaces

Tmall Taobao Alipay WeChat (social commerce)

Unique features of commerce: Huge price competition from supply chain forward Winners: platforms Losers: brands

Unique challenges: Lack of consumer digital data

COMMERCE

US

$1583

Low prices drive sales over product quality Low quality of trusted reviews Rapid delivery—logistics sophistication improving China brands selling internationally Mobile is dominant Alipay dominates

Largest ecommerce market:

ARPU

Top trends:

How people buy:

17

eCommerce revenue: $1,179,203M Growth rate: 12.3% Largest

Biggest players: Amazon Walmart Numerous digital-native category killers (Uber, Dollar Shave Club)

Unique features of commerce: Many brick-and-mortar businesses adapting slowly to digital Subscription models and services that complement products on the rise Brands bypassing retail channels and selling direct to consumers

Biggest challenges: 73 percent of shoppers want brands to use their personal information to make more relevant experiences Large established retailers face huge challenges of retooling infrastructure to meet the needs of consumers trained to enjoy the benefits provided by newer digital pure plays Leveraging data to offer personalized experiences across channels Integrating brand and retail operations

segment: Fashion Fastest growing market: APAC

Global user penetration: 41.4%

EMEA

ARPU: $733

LATAM

David McColl Business Director, POSSIBLE London

Emiliana Torrens CEO, POSSIBLE Buenos Aires René Zuleta Managing Director, POSSIBLE Costa Rica

General state of commerce:

General state of commerce:

Across Europe the picture is looking brighter. The UK, Germany, and France have led the way in economic growth in recent years, but the growth rate is levelling off as rapid growth takes place in southern and eastern European countries.

Despite the economic downturn, Latin America is a market retailers have to pay attention to. It's one of the top regions in the world for ecommerce growth, and those retailers that build out their ecommerce operations now will be in the best position to grab market share when the economy rebounds. US retailers are investing heavily in building out their ecommerce businesses in the region, despite the slowing economy.

eCommerce revenue:

$281,522M

eCommerce revenue:

$28,885M

Growth rate:

8.8%

Growth rate:

13.2%

Largest segment:

Fashion

Penetration rate:

55.8%

Largest segment:

Fashion Largest ecommerce market:

UK

ARPU

$904

Penetration rate:

39.3% $261 Top trends:

Consumers wanting more than speed and convenience Online retail as an event-like experience Sharing economy hitting makers of large, infrequently used products

Mobile penetration is high (90 percent in México) Mobile is driving ecommerce growth Fusion of online and offline retail sales Faster delivery

Mobile and web are in the ascendancy Brick and mortar still players

Purchasing drivers: Reviews, recommendations, etc. are key drivers Online is channel of preference for two main reasons: -Access to better information than in-store -Consumers are shopping there already

How people buy: Retail still dominates commerce in Latin America.

Mobile penetration of ecommerce still remains under 10 percent Cash is king—more than half of consumers don’t have a bank account

Purchasing drivers: Word of mouth Research

Biggest players:

Biggest players:

Amazon Otto, GmBH Tesco Shop Direct Cdiscount

MercadoLibre (similar to eBay) B2W Digital Amazon Walmart

Unique features of commerce: Click and collect eCommerce/brick-and-mortar partnerships for drop-off and delivery

Biggest challenges: Traditional retail metrics are falling short with omnichannel retailing Shoppers increasingly switching between purchase channels Retailers needing to meet them where they are: everywhere

BR

ARPU

Top trends:

How people buy:

Largest ecommerce market:

Unique features of commerce: Alternatives to online payments Click and collect

Biggest challenges: Limited number of payment services available Low customer confidence Slow 3G Cross-border logistics

COMMERCE

18

Under vice-grip pressure to deliver more for less, agencies have lately accelerated their efforts to build efficiency into their processes. The conversation centers primarily on ways to reduce rates: automation, procurement, production audits, and lower-cost compensation models.

It’s in the news, too. The performance-based component in the 2016 McDonald’s/Omnicom deal made it one of the most controversial transactions in memory.

Since then, discussing compensation pros and cons has become an industry sport: cost-plus (rewards inefficiency!); commission (encourages agencies to maximize media); and retainer (predictable—but what about scope creep?).

By contrast, consider the engagements people fight to be on. Client and agency put in upfront time to understand what makes the other tick. A palpable excitement sets in. When the team presents, the room buzzes; the work is right from the start. Client and agency feel they’re part of something big. The experience is electric.

On one hand, we see value in this exercise. We are a CFO and head of brand marketing—so of course we rigorously analyze and implement tactics like these.

But this hyper-focus on rates is self-defeating. When clients squeeze agencies on rates, far from saving resources, it initiates a cycle of inefficiency. The agency’s ability to maintain the margins necessary to hire, retain, and invest in the best talent is compromised. As a result, the agency taps less experienced people for the account—or scales back the team.

An engagement that starts this way will likely thrive over the long term. The client, confident that the agency has its best interest at heart, remains transparent about its objectives.

This shows in the work—and in interminable rounds of revisions. In time, the client looks elsewhere.

Cost cutting, in other words, just got costly.

We believe in the value of putting rates aside for a moment (they’ll be there when we return) to consider efficiency from a different angle. As we see it, efficiency is more than a tactical matter. It’s a relational one. And the quality of the work hangs in the balance.

Pick any inefficient engagement from your experience.

We’ll bet the story goes like this: the brief is unclear; the scope ill-defined. The client changes course midstream. As a consequence, the agency misses the mark; trust vaporizes.

As the client asks for round 22 on a rough cut of a TV spot, no one is happy. No one makes money. Good talent soon says “thanks, but no thanks,” fleeing the scene. And we can guarantee: round 23 will be no closer to meeting this client’s needs.

It’s terrible to think how often this happens. But make no mistake—this hypothetical engagement would have run off the rails whether the contract dials were set to retainer or flat fee.

Contracts don’t codify trust. You wouldn’t say a couple’s pre-nup makes the relationship go right. So why do we expect a rate structure to make an engagement productive?

19

STRATEGY | FINANCE

Diane Holland

As such, the briefs are clear—and senior talent stays put. For one, the agency can maintain the best team.

Moreover, the team is motivated to be there. This perfect storm of factors—namely, motivated talent and mutual respect—translates into an efficient process for devising great creative.

Global CFO, POSSIBLE Los Angeles

Leesa Eichberger Head of Brand Marketing,

As it happens, trust is profitable for agencies, costeffective for clients, and good for the creative.

Farmers Insurance

Not incidentally, this concept of relational efficiency also applies to the performance-based compensation model, held up by some as a panacea. For clients, the appeal is that the structure incents agencies to deliver against business objectives and offers protection against risk.

We like the possibility of this “skin in the game” approach. But unless client and agency have trust, it can be difficult to define metrics fairly. That places disproportionate risk on the agency, in part because advertising is only one factor affecting KPIs like sales or market share.

In a successful performance-based model, each party commits to radical candor: They’re honest about past failures—and which KPIs the work realistically can or can’t influence. The client understands that putting too much risk on an agency’s shoulders is no kind of protection at all. And the parties can strike a balance between risk and reward.

The challenge in all this is that it’s impossible to quantify relationships. You can’t crunch numbers on trust. Rates are easier to measure by comparison. And because CMOs—more than ever—need to connect marketing spend to ROI, it stands to reason the industry wants to focus on numbers.

Our point: It doesn’t have to be one or the other. It doesn’t have to be rates or relationship, contracts or Kumbaya. We believe that, when client and agency align as partners to protect not just their separate interests but the integrity of the relationship, compensation falls into place. And the result is high-quality work—delivered efficiently.

Jon Dietrich Group Creative Director, POSSIBLE Seattle

So you’re in a meeting, presenting work you’ve traded sleep and your spouse for the last few days, and it seems like it’s going to be worth it. Then that guy who’s been furiously volleying emails from his laptop for 43 minutes glances up at your gleaming PowerPoint, and in seconds cuts the work off at the knees.

or

or

Suddenly you hope no one else is paying attention, but the marketing gods are not kind. And so, inevitably, someone cements your fate by rewarding the guy with the very phrase he seeks:

But the thing is, it’s not a good catch, Ted. One of the joys of this business is that pretty much everyone wants to do good, interesting work. There are easier ways to make money, and yet we’ve chosen this. And when we have time, we see the upside in ideas. We see where they can go. We invest. We collaborate. We try to make them better.

But when we don’t have time? We’re still in the meeting. We still feel the expectation to contribute. We are, in large part, paid for our opinions—even when we don’t have them.

So we point out what could go wrong. We never get to what could be, because we satisfy ourselves with an easy why not. We think, “How can I add value here without investing myself?” and then point out the headline will be too long for the banner width in Dutch.

We go fishing for a “good catch.”

(I use the “we” consciously here. The pursuit of a “good catch” infects agency people, Uber drivers, and clients alike.

Even creative directors—otherwise well beyond reproach—are not immune.)

There’s a reason the first rule of improv is “Yes, and…” Ideas are fragile. They need the whole village when they’re young so they can grow into the work we all want to do.

So, the next time you’re in a meeting and someone fishes for a “good catch,”

don’t give it to them. Don’t reward it. Don’t enable.

Ted definitely has something more productive to say if we just get him past the armadillo hair thing.

CREATIVE

20

Frank Kochenash Global SVP, Commerce POSSIBLE Seattle

Look around the next time you’re in a grocery store and you’ll see that the category is changing in ways beyond screens and phones.

Two of most obvious upgrades are the additions of home delivery (HD) and click and collect (CnC) services. In the HD category, there are standouts such as Google Express, Peapod, and Instacart. For CnC, we have Walmart Grocery and Kroger’s Click List, as well as Amazon’s plans to add more physical stores.

While these are often cast as competing models, they’re really not. They’re simply different ways to meet consumer needs. As a result, neither will win out over the other. But both will be required components of any omnichannel strategy.

It’s important to note that there is not a single flavor of each. CnC, broadly speaking, involves any fulfillment process in which the consumer orders an item online and travels somewhere to pick it up. As you might expect, CnC does not have a fixed operational model nor is it necessarily tied to a traditional store footprint. It can involve going to a traditional store or picking up at dedicated lanes outside of one. It can even include getting items at lockers or drivethrough convenience stores.

HD is similarly diverse. It can involve scheduled or unscheduled delivery with different timeframes (including almost immediately). We’re also seeing personal shoppers and organized parcel delivery, with additional models coming soon. In the US today, for example, Amazon is reaching a scale where it’s reasonable to expect its own delivery vehicles may soon be making weekly rounds through a neighborhood, dropping off and picking up household items, just like the milkman of the early 20th century. Time will tell.

21

COMMERCE

FACTORS DRIVING GROWTH. A number of factors are driving the growth of these models, many of which are inextricably linked to the new digital economy:

Costs of transport Today, car ownership is declining due to changing preferences among younger generations, and as more and more people take to new services such as Uber and Zipcar. That adds a big cost to shopping. Where in the past delivery was considered a luxury service, it’s now a cheaper option for many consumers.

Stress Growing evidence suggests that today’s consumers are willing to pay more for lower-stress options. For many consumers, traffic and in-person shopping create stress. As a result, they turn to HD and CnC options.

Time Many people today are also seeking ways to manage their tasks more efficiently. With CnC or HD, consumers fill up a virtual cart over several hours (often in mobile) rather than compress everything into a trip to the store.

Looking at these factors, it might seem that HD is the simplest option, and the only must-have for most retailers. After all, it features no travel, low stress, and much saved time. And, in truth, for many grocery retailers, HD should not be an optional service.

However, HD has a number of weaknesses that make CnC an attractive complement to it. First, CnC provides for timely handling of temperature-sensitive foods, while HD may not always be feasible for frozen or refrigerated goods. In addition, CnC may actually be more convenient for many consumers, as collection can coincide with other chores (for example, during a commute)—and not all consumers can set aside a time window for delivery. It’s also more secure for customers who lack a discreet, at-home drop off location.

In other words, depending on geography, security, and other factors, one may prove more popular than another, but to meet customer needs comprehensively, just having one won’t work.

THE IMPLICATIONS. These new capabilities may

SUMMARY. CnC and HD will soon be required com-

be necessary, but neither is easy. Each requires much bigger changes than might appear on the surface. In the “old” days it was sufficient for suppliers to manage and track products at the order, pallet, or truck-level.

Once the items arrived at the retailer, the supplier didn’t need to worry about them anymore. And once the products left the store, the retailer was in the clear. Now, retailers and suppliers confront a reality in which every location is a possible ecommerce distribution node.

They will increasingly need to track delivery of individual items not just to stores, but also to residences and intermediary locations.

ponents of an omnichannel strategy. Grocers should not focus on one model versus the other, but instead work on developing a product portfolio and an itemlevel supply system that works seamlessly across all channels, allowing brands and their retailer partners to meet the needs of individual households and consumers in a cost-effective and delightful way.

As a result, the supply chain is lengthening all the way to the consumer and becoming more convoluted than the traditional, linear factory-to-store model. Today, we need to think of it more as a consumer-supply system, with many different parts, rather than a linear chain.

We need to track individual items as well as trucks, orders, and pallets.

Retail grocery will undergo massive changes in the next 10 years, not unlike the shift to consumer self-service that occurred with the Piggly Wiggly stores of 1916. CnC is a part of the change, as well as HD.

But to do both effectively, we’ll need to rebuild the distribution infrastructure of retail. In this sense,

it will likely be the CFO, rather than the CMO or CTO, determining who succeeds and who loses in the race.

Of course, this requires new infrastructure, both for HD and CnC—and that mandates big changes in the entire business model. The reason is that when you model the basic economics of the two, a few things become clear. First, the difference in variable costs as a percentage of sales between CnC and HD becomes negligible as the number of participating customers increases. It’s necessary to invest in a fleet and employees before getting to that level, but once there, the differences in transportation between the two aren’t relevant.

Second, both are heavily affected by picking costs, which are largely influenced by the number of units per order and picking efficiency. This is very important because traditional grocery stores are not optimized for the latter. In fact, they’re designed for the opposite. For the most part, retailers have sought ways to keep consumers in stores and maximize their travel in order to expose them to more assortment. To be cost competitive, whether CnC or HD, this must be addressed.

As a result, new infrastructure and capital investments are needed to succeed in both CnC and HD. CnC requires new distribution sites and/or store models, as well as fulfillment systems. HD needs, of course, trucks and optimized regional distribution centers. Getting from here to there may be necessary, but it won’t happen overnight.

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BETTER WITH AGE Martha Hiefield

Global Chief Talent Officer, POSSIBLE Seattle

“I’m 46 and I’m in my prime”… said no one in advertising ever.

MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR THAT TO CHANGE.

Diversity and inclusion are hot a topics, and age is an important point in that constellation. Especially in the tech and ad sectors. Yet it’s often overlooked simply because ageist stereotypes are so pervasive that even older people believe them.

A huge part of our fear of aging is cultural, but another part is practical.

People see older employees as less adaptive and innovative, or just plain in decline.

Take these examples from a recent Washington Post story on ageism:

In a 2015 survey by the Harris Poll...65 percent of Boomers rated themselves as being the “best problem-solvers/troubleshooters,” and only 5 percent of Millennials agreed.

Fifty-four percent of Millennials thought Boomers were the “biggest roadblocks.” Sometimes these perceptions come straight from the top: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg once said “young people are just smarter.”

The stereotypes aren’t necessarily true, but like every other stereotype, they start early and they are powerful. As Jere Daniel writes in Psycholog y Today:

We develop negative stereotypes about aging by the time we are six years old, the same age we develop negative stereotypes about race and sex. These stereotypes persist as we grow up, completely unaware that we even acquired them or granted them our unconditional acceptance.

With our understanding of the subject forever frozen, we grow into old age assuming the stereotypes to be true. And we live down to them.

I’ve always been of the opinion that life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent what you make of it. So, in a culture where youth is wasted on the young and aging is seen as a plague to be combated, how do we start living it up?

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CULTURE

CHOOSE FACTS OVER FICTION There’s a lot of evidence to suggest the we get smarter and sharper over time. Our problem-solving abilities in our mid-20s haven’t peaked yet, because our brains haven’t fully developed. Huge breakthroughs often come in our late 30s, according to The Atlantic writer Olga Kazhan. “Genius, it seems, happens when a seasoned mind sees a problem with fresh eyes.” To me, that’s true well beyond your late 30s.

FIGHT STEREOTYPES The best way to fight a stereotype is not to become one. I’ve done more training programs in the last year than I ever did at age 20. I read articles on our industry nonstop. I talk to people of every age group about what’s happening and what’s next. I’m active not just in our agency and industry, but also the world at large. And with every new thing I learn, I take pride in the fact that I’m able to contextualize it with the experience and knowledge I already have.

TELL YOUR STORY The truth is, I am so much better at my job than I was at the beginning of my career. I know when to cut my losses on a project or candidate and walk away. I’m more confident and direct. I make better decisions more quickly. I’ve led a business in double-digit growth and through economic downturn.

There’s no way I ever could have studied my way to the kind of knowledge I have now. It’s been hard-won through experience.

FIND ROLE MODELS One story I love is that of Barbara Beskind, IDEO’s 90-year-old designer. After seeing a 60 Minutes special with IDEO’s CEO, she reached out to the company for a job. They saw her value, hired her, and now? Not only is she adding enormous value to designs that will benefit aging populations, she feels gratified by her work, saying it’s one of the best chapters of her working life. Our world needs more stories like this one.

REMEMBER YOUR WORTH Brands market to the world. Advertising and design agencies need to mirror that world. That means representing older populations too. The question we ask across our agency is, “Does it work?” And one thing we’ve learned in asking that—across many contexts and scenarios—is that if you really want to know the answer, it really matters who you ask. Messages should be custom-made and targeted for a marketer’s audience. Having people on staff from different backgrounds and experiences helps an agency to better reach everyone.

Age, despite the fact that it happens to everyone, is something we tend to see as happening to everyone else. When we confront aging in our own life, we are reminded that it’s not a valueless proposition, nor are older generations a valueless population.

If we can shift our attitudes in the workplace and as a society, we have amazing opportunities to bring mature perspectives into the fold. Perspectives that can shift our work as radically, and as beautifully, as younger

ones often do.

And that’s something that makes me excited.

That, and getting older.

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION

Andrew Solmssen Managing Director, POSSIBLE Los Angeles

Not so long ago, seeing the latest Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts movie meant waiting in lines 50 yards deep. Those days—along with Mr. Cruise’s blockbusters—are gone. Times have changed in the last few decades: the drive-in died, smaller theaters popped up, the VCR came and went, and now we stream. Throughout it all, theaters have remained. And while many a Gen Xer or Baby Boomer prefers to watch the latest movies from the comfort of home, others continue to enjoy movies on the big screen—just in smaller numbers.

CEO and co-founder of Atom Tickets, Ameesh Paleja, is a 12-year Amazon veteran who helped launch Prime Instant Video, Amazon’s Appstore, Cloud Drive, and the Kindle product line. Seeing an opportunity to bring modern ecommerce techniques to a popular and traditional form of entertainment, he and his partners started Atom two-and-a-half years ago.

The company has become a popular choice, especially among Millennials. Its app and website not only sell movie tickets but also includes social features, special offers, and preorders for concessions.

We spoke with Ameesh to learn more about the movie industry, and what to expect from Atom in the future.

Why did you get interested in the movie space?

About three years ago, I was approached by the executives at Lionsgate. They presented me with a fascinating problem: There are five-and-a-half billion unsold seats in the US theatrical market. That meant that if we could just sell 1 percent more seats, we’d have a billion-dollar box office opportunity.

It was also a field ripe for disruption. None of the innovation you’ve seen in the ecommerce space—recommendations, personalization, and machine learning—had made its way to the digital ticketing industry. There are a ton of interesting techniques we can use that have now evolved from their infancy to where consumers expect them.

When we talk about disruption of space, typically there is somebody that gets the short end of the stick. In this space, we make everyone happy. It’s a very unusual situation, which is one reason I was so attracted to it.

What have you found to be the major driver of adoption growth?

It’s a somewhat complicated question, because we’re now moving from our infancy to our adolescence in terms of customer adoption and growth. Early on, we did a good job of engaging customers through standard digital paths. Over 50 percent of our customers came from other people inviting them to the movies. Those who get invited by the app are likely to download it. Then, after they use it two or three times, there is a very high likelihood that they are going to invite new friends to join.

Why did you start as a mobile-first solution?

Though we have a website, mobile is our primary platform. We focused on where people are engaged. Mobile phone usage in the US is obviously huge and growing.

When you think about outside of the US, it’s monstrous. In China or India or Japan, it’s basically the only thing people use.

I had also stumbled on an astonishing statistic that said on average, a person unlocks their smartphone 150 times a day. That’s on average. My dad unlocks it maybe 10 times a day, while people like me do it more like 400. That engagement with the device was a big deal and we wanted to be close to that customer.

Why aren’t people going to the movies more?

One of the big pain points is planning. All of us have experienced it. Whether it’s these crazy group texts, email chains, or posts on Facebook, nobody can get their act together. That’s why we added group invite features to the app.

There are also a lot of ambivalent people sitting on the fence. We realized that social influencers could play a big role in getting them into theaters. Most people just want to go out with their friends and family. Let’s say a bunch of your friends want to go see Star Wars and you aren’t interested in it—but you are interested in hanging out with them. We found the opportunity to leverage social influencers with these people.

Tell us about the ways you’re changing the buying process for moviegoers.

Most new ecommerce experiences are taking on pain points in the purchasing process. With Amazon Go, the new grocery store, you can shop without standing in line or seeing a cashier.

We looked at the entire ticket-purchasing process to find ways to make it easier. For example, we deployed tablet scanners in theaters so people can skip the lines.

Another function we’ve added is preordering concessions, so they don’t have to wait in line for popcorn or soda. In addition, we can send targeted coupons. For example, let’s say I know you like Junior Mints. If you haven’t been to the movies recently, I can offer you a box of Junior Mints if you go. And if I know that when I get you to come to the movies, you’ll bring a few other people, it becomes a simple ROI equation. The studio is happy because it’s getting revenue. The exhibitor is happy because your friends are buying popcorn. And you’re happy because you love your Junior Mints.

That said, we are still at a place where our biggest hurdle is awareness. Candidly, people just don’t know about us. Customer acquisition has shifted from simply leveraging digital channels to supplementing with unaided awareness campaigns.

One of the more unique features of your app is the user experience. Was that by design?

With over a thousand apps deployed every day, it’s incredibly hard to differentiate yourself in the app stores. One way we do that is by having an incredible customer experience. It has to be unique, it has to be innovative, but it also has to be engineered well. Our customers get 60 frames a second, and it’s really smooth whether they have a $50 Android phone from Best Buy or a new iPhone.

Are you planning to incorporate more brand content?

Our brand partners and advertisers are important to us, and so is customer experience. We’re trying to create integrated opportunities to expose brands—at the point where they are endemic to a better experience. If it’s about helping the customer enjoy their night out, there should be a clean way to integrate advertising into the experience.

What’s your favorite part of this?

The nice thing about movies is that the whole country loves to watch them.

Seventy-seven percent of the US will go see at least one movie a year. It’s one of the most egalitarian and recession-proof forms of entertainment. There is something for a 3-year-old all the way up to a 93-year-old. For men, for women, for every race, for every ethnicity, you know, movies basically are the broadest entertainment category that exists.

What’s next?

We keep innovating. In 2016, we created preordering concessions for the exhibitors, and that was a big deal. We also made a deal with Rogue One that connected the Disney consumer products division with the Disney Studios team. We now sell T-shirts and hoodies for Star Wars when you buy your ticket.

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Brad Gagne VP, Device Analytics, POSSIBLE Mobile Seattle

Mobile notifications and message centers continue to evolve into live, interactive spaces to communicate with your customers. The opportunity to re-engage users while adding value to their experience has been shown to reduce churn and add real business value to brands.

For example, when my favorite sports app sends me a push notification that my home team is about to pull off the upset, I’m likely pleased. If they follow up with a notification that includes a video clip from the “play of the game,” it might excite me enough to open up the app and start following along.

But what if that notification stream becomes a live game play-by-play? Too much? Or perhaps I’m left wondering why the app didn’t alert me when the game first kicked off.

The options for how and when to best communicate with your audience are endless. For many users, the default notification settings are all that stands between loving your app and annoying them to the point they turn off notifications completely.

So how do you determine the optimal cadence and triggers for your audience? Start by measuring the right things.

USE A COMBINATION OF METRICS TO IMPROVE YOUR MOBILE APP NOTIFICATIONS STRATEGY For app marketers, it’s inspiring to know that your notifications drove a million launches. You might see push notification users engaging at a rate 50 percent higher than direct launches.

But by focusing on those two metrics alone as your KPIs, you would be completely unaware of the declining percentage of users responding. Worse yet, you might not realize that many are turning off notifications completely or uninstalling the app.

KPIs followed in isolation become vanity metrics. We suggest using a combination of mobile analytics that indicate reply volume, along with in-app engagement and opt-out rates to improve your notification strategy in the short term—without increasing churn in the long term.

Your KPIs should be monitored consistently, with benchmarks set at key moments to account for seasonality, campaigns, or app updates. These same KPIs should be applied to any tests conducted.

FINE TUNE TO AVOID TUNE OUT Circling back to the matter of optimizing your mobile notifications strategy: It’s always best to start broad.

While A/B/n content tests and landing environments are highly valuable in determining what inspires people to act, the question of “when” may determine how often they will read them in the first place.

Triggers and cadence are two levers that you can pull to tune your mobile notifications strategy for your entire audience. In some cases, they can be mutually exclusive.

For example, a retail app may want to test sending push notifications to users triggered every time a sale begins, compared to a weekly “flyer” that promotes the best deals that week.

A travel app could test award point bonus opportunities compared to hot hotel deals, examining them exclusively or together.

The focus of the exercise is to learn broad preferences of your audience. This will inform default notification settings, as well as the types of personalized notification settings you enable.

BOTTOM LINE Like the marketing mantra says, “delivering the right message, at the right time, to the right audience” will always be the end goal. But in the mobile app world, it seems that timing is everything. A broad, well-planned strategy to optimize when mobile notifications are delivered will have both immediate and long-standing benefits.

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MOBILE

Jason Carmel Global Chief Data Officer, POSSIBLE Seattle The best book on marketing analytics that I’ve read this year is not about marketing analytics at all, but rather about snakes, scorpions, spiders, and jellyfish. In Venomous, biologist Christie Wilcox walks through the unique physiology and evolution of venomous animals, from cobras to platypuses (platypi?) and everything in between.

Aside from being a fascinating book to read (come on, snakes!), Venomous becomes instructive for marketers when

Wilcox talks about one of the most common questions somebody who studies venom gets asked:“What is the deadliest

venom?” It seems a deceptively easy question to answer, until she unpacks it.

Venom lethality is commonly measured on a scale known (creatively) as the Lethal Dose 50 (LD50), which grades the amount of venom needed to kill 50 percent of a tested sample. So one would think that you simply find the smallest number (.00015 mg/kg for a zoanthid—a relative of coral. One gram of its venom is sufficient to kill 80 people.) and that would be it.

But while the palytoxin employed by zoanthids is, indeed, incredibly dangerous, the actual number of deaths that result each year from accidentally running into an enraged toxic coral is so rare that there are no statistics on annual deaths. Which begs the question: How can we legitimately call something the “deadliest venom” if it doesn’t

cause any deaths?

Let’s compare that to the mosquito, which is also technically “venomous,” but only in the same way the Sahara Desert is technically “moist,” or the 2016 Presidential Election was technically “a teachable moment for Democracy.” The venom from a mosquito is so not deadly that I couldn’t even find a score for it on the LD50 scale.

Mosquito venom really only contains a mild anticoagulant (so your blood doesn’t clot) and a mild analgesic (so you don’t feel anything while it feeds). And when you are looking for animals that are considered stone-cold deadly, the word “mild” usually serves as an immediate “thanks, we’ll call you if we need anything.” But the barely-there venom that allows mosquitos to feed also allows them to transmit some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Malaria and yellow fever kill hundreds of thousands of people per year; far more than all venomous snake bites or scorpion stings cause annually, combined. So now we have one of the weeniest venoms (from a toxicity perspective) making a legitimate case as the deadliest venom on the planet as well.

Which one is the winner? Well, both…and neither…depending on why the asker was curious about the question in the first place. Which is why I think this is such a great analogy for where the best laid measurement plans for marketers go wrong so quickly. The definition of the word “customer” in marketing, like “deadly venom,” seems so obvious. I buy some gum or a car from your store, and ta-da!—I am your customer. But being a customer is a relationship, not a point in time, and yet all too often our measurement plans rigidly focus on the single purchase event.

“What campaign sold the most?” is the common (less cool because no snakes) question we get asked. This makes a lot of sense from a revenue recognition perspective, but it risks skewing long-term planning, especially against existing customers or for customers not ready to buy yet. One’s definition of success, be it for the deadliest venom, or longterm customer engagement, should be defined broadly and reflective of prioritized business goals. If we overfocus on a single metric, too narrowly defined within that umbrella, we may place all of our medical and research funding on anti-venoms for the dreaded death coral that actually kills no one, rather than the laughably impotent mosquito venom that is incredibly dangerous as a disease vector across much of the planet. Or we rehash campaigns that bump sales in the short term while chipping away at high-value relationship building in the long term.

I grow innately nervous when I see a measurement plan, even for the most basic of campaigns, that doesn’t take into account lifetime value (LTV). LTV forces us to look at a customer beyond a single sale or any other metric into how successful our relationship is likely to be over the long haul. That macro view helps justify some decisions that may look counterintuitive in the weeds. Do we risk a holiday offer that boosts sales in the short term but that cheapens the premium

brand for existing loyalists in the long term? Are we really moving the needle forward if we increase lead generation at the expense of known quality?

How we define our goals and the key indicators for those goals, for venom or for value, determines the outcomes of these questions, and the budgets that follow them.

It is imperative that we revisit these definitions regularly to make sure that we aren’t measuring something with perfect accuracy at the expense of our goals rather than for the benefit of them.

DATA

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Justin Marshall VP, Partnerships, POSSIBLE Seattle

TM 20m 400k

35m

20k

10k

A client asked me that question 20 minutes into our presentation. Honestly, it’s a fair question. With FDA guidelines kicking in (#ad, #paid) and several lead marketers claiming to pull funding for overpaid influencers, it seems the bright-and-shiny, guaranteed-to-win influencer marketing approach is losing its appeal.

Great Snapchat stars are original and authentic, creating great content for an audience that loves them—for a reason. When done right, they make a shit-ton of money! But too often we’ve seen those posts filled with disgustingly fake love of, say, a luxury car brand—or that wonderful shampoo that they certainly don’t use— making emoji eyes roll, and ultimately, exposing the fatal flaw in today’s influencer marketing model:

media KPIs.

It bears repeating, media KPIs are where influencer marketing fell apart.

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CONTENT | STRATEGY

INFLUENCERS ARE PEOPLE TOO? Creating a lifestyle brand connection requires a human approach, not a media approach. When compared to display advertising, of course, influencer marketing comes out ahead. But comparing the advocacy of real people with the blunt-force, pixel-serving banner ad? It’s like apples and oranges.

Put another way, paying $250K for a few Instagram posts—really, the eyeballs of an audience—to generate reach and frequency is ultimately forgetting why people follow others.

Influence is being bought like display advertising. And that model does not work when applied to the creative, human exchange of ideas. Influencer marketing needs a new model.

FOMO I’m an avid traveler. And after two decades of flying Alaska Airlines out of the Pacific Northwest, I consistently reach its top frequent-flyer status. While Alaska’s been the premier travel supplier for years, Delta is now making a huge competitive push in the area.

Like a lot of very frequent fliers, I know many others. We’re a small group—united in misery—and we influence each other. We trade tips on different airports and share information about travel gear. A few months ago, while on Facebook, I experienced the pang of being left out when I saw two frequent flyer compatriots post a gift they received from Delta for their loyalty. Now, I have a similar elite status with Alaska Airlines, but I didn’t get any such love— much less free bottles of champagne.

Brands, take note of Delta’s move.It seemed like everyone I knew was benefitting—but me. For marketers, this is a prime example of FOMO, or fear of missing out. It results from the simple truth: We want to experience what others are experiencing. If we see someone trying a new game or product, we want to do what they’re doing.

BEYOND THE BUY The simple truth is emotions motivate us; we want to belong. CMOs must think about influencer marketing beyond being a media buy. Currently the traditional, reach-and-frequency approach reigns supreme. We size up an influencers’ audience and pay them to endorse our products. We buy the attention, full stop. But ROI?

It’s time to get back to the basics of advocacy programs and aim for the emotional reaction. This means a new approach to influencer marketing that’s about human beings. Humans influencing other humans based on delight and authentic emotion.

Influence is not a media buy. Once CMOs and brand leaders accept this truth, it revolutionizes the distribution of brand messages. The big ally in doing this? The Majority Illusion.

First identified by a team at USC, the Majority Illusion states that in a networked world, you can be greatly deceived by how prevalent something is simply by how pervasive it seems. If certain people in your network are talking about something, it may seem like a ubiquitous event, even if it’s not. In my airline example, only a tiny percentage of people overall received champagne (and likely less shared it), but a disproportionate number of my connections did, so to me it seemed like everyone was getting the VIP treatment, when very few people actually were.

In my case, influencers were simply other business travelers in my network.

The Majority Illusion helps us programmatically create influence, and more importantly, approach influence as a part of our marketing strategy with a wider lens. We’re not just buying audiences from influencers, we are generating influence by first using data (third-party modeling, custom audiences, etc.) to identify whom we want to influence and who is best to influence them (friend or celebrity) and connecting the two. Simply put: It’s the connection that’s the sweet spot—not simply the output.

Influencer marketing isn’t dead. In fact, it’s likely the only way brands will hack the pay-to-play algorithms built by social networks. But as marketing leaders, we need to remember successful influence is pervasive, not invasive. There is a simple humanity to creating influence that begs us to look beyond buying what media execs sell to replace banner ads. Getting more for your media spend requires looking at influence at a macro-level and orchestrating every facet of influence, from paid to earned.

HACK THE ALGORITHM The power of the connection—the overlapping individuals surrounding your target audience—is where the magic happens. It isn’t just important to find those with the biggest following, but identifying a connection that starts with the customer in mind will create the Majority Illusion—the impression that everyone is having a positive experience with your brands. Remember, my frequent-flyer friends were not YouTube stars. They simply had a great brand experience, shared it, and created some crazy FOMO. Paying an online celebrity $200K for a tweet won’t get you that.

And, okay, I feel a little silly for being jealous about not getting free champagne. But the truth is this (likely) small investment is paying off: Delta created a good deal of FOMO and made me want to join their program, plain and simple. (AlaskaAirlines: You can reach out to me via LinkedIn. I still love you, too.)

CONTENT | STRATEGY

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John Cunningham

Thomas Stelter

Global Chief Technology Officer, POSSIBLE London

VP, Emerging Solutions, POSSIBLE Chicago

KILLJOYS, BUZZKILLS, THE “NO” GUYS. Meet the unofficial titles brand leaders sometimes give to technologists. The reason is fairly simple. Often, a creative team comes up with an idea based on a loose understanding of what they think is possible. And then they hand it over to a tech team, as a done deal.

It’s not.

While our industry breaks down silos and embraces data and creativity, it often leaves the tech team behind.

In many agencies, technology has its own place, sometimes physically separated from the rest of the agency.

But nonetheless, technologists are vital to great work.

Without them, creatives could never bring their cool ideas to life. This modern-day disconnect does not have to happen.

But to understand how we can improve the situation, let’s look at how ideas grow within an agency.

It begins with a challenge presented by the client. The data team then uncovers a great consumer insight that it passes to the creative team, who then comes up with a creative idea. Often, this requires a technologist to execute it. At that point, the creatives see all positive facets of the idea, while the technologists focus on the negative. Very often the creative sees a perfect user journey, while the technologist looks at it more holistically, with the understanding that it must support the user experience. Unfortunately, the tech team has little ownership of the idea, and little investment or real desire to support it.

It’s important to note that this is not a natural—or necessary—state. Industrial design firms don’t operate

this way. And at many smaller, higher-end digital firms, technologists are always at the table. For example, creative agencies that serve retail often make bespoke technology, like touch walls, projected experiences, or machine-to-machine interaction. Because such projects have never been done before, they usually involve pushing boundaries with technology. As a result, you need technologists to be on board to create prototypes and serve as a core part of a multidisciplinary team.

In fact, the lack of technologists at the ideation table in many agencies opens up new strategies for some.

That’s because technologists know not merely what can be done, but what new things can be made. As a result, brands and agencies that bring them to the table could go a long way in improving their innovation efforts.

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TECHNOLOGY

In addition, technologists can also help get ideas off the drawing board and into reality. Rapid prototyping can be used not merely to speed development but also to sell and explain new ideas. Rather than trusting an agency’s gut instinct or studying wireframes or video simulations, brand leaders could have a micro-version of a project in their hands within days or weeks. That way, the entire team, creative and technology, could get fast feedback and rapidly innovate to a better solution.

Doing this, of course, requires getting over some deep seeded cultural issues. Most large agencies today use technologists to execute ideas, which means that the technologists haven’t been developing their strategic and creative muscles. Separated from many aspects of what makes an agency and gives it a personality, they have some learning to do. They have to be willing and ready to learn the rest of the business.

In particular, they need to learn how to think strategically about brands, assess data insights, and turn them into good experiences, and create things that connect on an emotional level. Some will likely be better at this than others, and some won’t embrace the role at all.

But nonetheless, agencies must evolve the status quo as tech-

nolog y is creating more and more experiences and opportunities for brands.

The Holy Grail would be to find and nurture true advertising creative technologists—ones able to use their insights to bring effective ideas to brands— collaboratively with colleagues from other disciplines. Having this capability would deliver a serious advantage to any agency. Right now, only a few agencies are dabbling in this area, so the upside potential is huge.

To get there, we should all do what technologists have long done: prototype and iterate. Agencies need to invite their tech teams to the table, do a trial run, assess the results, and iterate and improve their processes until great work results.

Great creative technologists may sometimes be born, but they’re also made. It’s time to bring them to the table and let them grow into everything we need them to be.

Malcolm Wild Chief Technology Officer, APAC, POSSIBLE Singapore

In an amusing post from late 2015, blogger Adrian Hanft (@ade3) took 23 small SUVs from different auto brands—only white models—digitally removed the logos, and placed them side by side. They were all but indistinguishable.

This phenomenon is not restricted to automobiles. In many product categories today, we can find little meaningful differentiation between brands.

For most people, a TV from one company is the same as a TV from another. Most insurance providers offer the same coverage as competitors at roughly the same price. And most people couldn’t tell you how their retail bank stacks up against the one next door.

In such cases, the real opportunity lies not in differentiation, but in how you market, sell, and put products and services in your customers’ hands.

CONVENIENCE APPEARS TO BE KING. The reasons for this are straightforward. When it comes to buying today, consumers have choices. For example, they can buy via chatbots or on social media with easy digital payments. They often frequent stores for certain items, but prefer ecommerce for others. As a result, brands that make it easy for customers to buy where they want are often the ones that come out on top.

To explore this, let’s look at a few purchase paths. In doing so, we’ll abandon our usual product categories and lump things together as consumers actually see them.

GRUDGE PURCHASES. This is the “bread, milk, and nappies” category. It consists of things we have to buy, but don’t enjoy shopping for. Winning brands in these areas often simplify the purchasing process. They have Amazon Dash buttons for reordering detergent, Facebook signups for insurance, or WeChat micro-payments for buying drinks from a street vendor in China. They know that the quicker and simpler they can make the transaction, the better their chances of conversion.

EQUAL STAKES PURCHASE. If you’re in a heavily regulated industry, chances are your products look remarkably like your competitors’. In most countries, for example, the price and quality differences between auto insurance providers are so small that it’s not worth anyone’s time to shop around. In such cases, customers simply go with the companies that are easiest to deal with. The winners tend to find a way to be in the right place at the right time.

HIGH STAKES PURCHASES. This category includes any considered (AKA expensive) purchase that the consumer wants to get right. When buying electronic goods or fashion items, for example, consumers have hundreds of options that can be hard to weigh against one another. Any brand that can streamline the decision-making process is welcomed with open arms.

That’s why we’re seeing a rise, for example, in fashion-selection service, such as Trunk Club, Chapar, and MTailor. Each one uses technology to connect potential customers with a range of experts who review their personal profiles—and helpfully narrow down their options.

That makes it much easier for the discerning, if initially bewildered, customer.

LOWEST PRICE PURCHASES. Sometimes, consumers simply want the lowest price. For example, most people booking flights for a vacation do not much care which airline ferries them from Point A to Point B. They want to pay the least possible for a reasonable seat. The travel industry has long been good at surfacing these options, but it’s recently gotten much better at keeping them at the top of their customers’ minds. Companies like Ctrip, Expedia, and countless others aggregate the possibilities and overlay them with data about customers, such as their location or purchasing history. They then cleverly retarget potential travelers across the Internet, so they are always one click away from the trip of their dreams.

In other words, while many brands think of themselves as differentiated, if they’re being honest, they know that the quality and products they offer are much the same as their competitors’. In such cases, transformation efforts should focus primarily on removing roadblocks and making the purchasing process as easy as possible.

Even if you’re making a great product at a good price, you should always remember that in today’s crowded and commoditized marketplace, convenience wins out in the end.

COMMERCE

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Imagine, for a moment, that you’re at an agency founded by 2 women, where the executive leadership team is 50 percent women, and 60 percent of 140 employees are women. Add to that a growing list of clients, an impressive body of work, leaders who value their people, transparency that goes a long way in retaining talent, and this seems too good to be true, right?

Wrong. It’s real. I go there every day.

Rebecca Bedrossian Global Content Director, POSSIBLE Portland 31

CULTURE

Don’t beat yourself up for thinking it’s a dream. We all know gender inequality runs rampant in this industry.

The 3% Conference was founded because of it. While the number of female creative directors is up to 11 percent, we’ve got a long way to go.

I’ve learned a lot simply by watching my surroundings. While Swift doesn’t like to play the “woman” card, in this industry I feel they are a stellar example of what does work—and works well. So I’m playing it for them.

That’s why I want you to see what I see.

I believe in “if you cannot see it, you cannot be it.” Let’s urge trade publications to feature more womenfounded companies, women-focused stories, and demand that juries and speaker panels have equal numbers of men and women. We are 50 percent of the population, we need 50 percent representation.

I want to shine a light on how a women-founded agency is thriving, as a counterpoint to all the stories we read that highlight too many white males at the top, the gender wage gap, and sexual harassment.

Full disclosure: I am the global content director of the agency that acquired Swift two years ago, and I sit there on most days. I must admit, it’s an odd place to be; I’m there, somewhat related but mostly not. But what this proximity affords me is a front row seat. And every day I see many women with a place at the table. So much so, it’s the norm. It’s not a bubble. It just is. And now that I’ve seen the culture and the work firsthand, I want others to know it too. Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it—and that’s the first step in making this the norm everywhere.

Don’t just take it from me, a fellow woman. According to a new Pew Research Center survey on women and leadership, “Most Americans find women indistinguishable

from men on key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with many saying they’re stronger than men in terms of being compassionate and organized leaders.” There

In Cindy Gallop’s closing keynote at the 2016 3% Conference, she presented a 10-point plan to start your own agency. And she gave shout-outs to women-founded agencies that had started in the past year, such as New York-based Joan and Wolf & Wilhelmine. It was only then that I truly realized what an anomaly a women-founded agency is—because Swift is not celebrating its first anniversary, but rather

its tenth.

I’ve seen the future of advertising. I want you to see it too.

are countless articles touting the benefits of working for women, who are typically more engaged than their male counterparts. And more engagement leads to a more productive workforce.

It makes business sense. And this is what I see.

CULTURE

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Pablo Marques Executive Creative Director, POSSIBLE London

BREAKING THE PATTERN. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS A BRAND’S ONLY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. FOOTBALL, SOCCER, SPORT— WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, ADIDAS LIVES AND BREATHES IT.

THE SUM OF THIS IS GLITCH. Startup culture thrives on identifying pain points in the customer experience and using those as a catalyst for innovation and new ways of doing things. Inspired by this startup mentality and the huge momentum behind its in-line products, adidas introduced GLITCH, a revolutionary new football boot, to market in autumn 2016. Developed in collaboration with a group of “football creators” in London, GLITCH leverages adidas football technologies in a unique, two-piece design that focuses on the adaptability of the modern game and will evolve with the input of its early adopters. The boot allows players to change them on the go, a feature that consumers have been dreaming about for a while.

Initially, adidas identified 30 young players to direct the development of the boot and eventually grew that group to 250 football creators who helped design and test the boot in secret over the course of 30 months. This group wasn’t a focus group that provided reactions, but rather strategic partners who guided and invented features that eventually came to characterize the design.

Not only has adidas turned boot design on its head, but also m-commerce and influencer marketing. It stepped away from the “normal” way of doing things—based on years of traditional experience—and instead tried something very distinct. The product can only be purchased through the GLITCH mobile app with a secret code distributed to the initial group of football creators and five professional players. Adidas chose London as its incubator because it is the heartbeat of UK football.

The app, also designed together with the football creators, allows footballers to interact with the boot, explore different designs, book a fitting and—amazingly—get hold of a pair within just four hours. The catch? You need a referral to get it—perfect for the die-hard fan.

As of the end of January, the GLITCH community has grown to 6,500 players—steady growth that balances exclusivity and accessibility. GLITCH has shown that breaking the pattern of how sports brands launch products by building a product in collaboration with your consumers can successfully drive brand lift and transform consumers into marketers.

Markus Baumann, general manager of adidas Football, said; “GLITCH is a totally new way to create and play football.

We’ve involved players like never before and we have the opportunity with this product to try things never seen before. The exciting thing for adidas is that GLITCH is not only a market-leading innovation, it’s also a chance for us to challenge, change, and break the existing pattern in the football boot business.”

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CREATIVE

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CREATIVE CREATIVE

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POSSIBLE is a WPP Digital agency.

pov@possible.com possible.com