My challenge from last week was to write a new joke.
Result: partial(?) success.
I worked on some jokes, but I won't say I really met the spirit of my challenge. I got a little derailed by having a show this weekend (tonight), so I spent some of my joke writing time building out a solid set for that. But I got some new directions together, and hopefully I can get a more complete joke worked out for another show I have this month.
Anyways, here is where my joke is (being accountable here):
"I think it's pretty uncool that Abraham Lincoln died. I feel like that guy had a lot going for him, including that world's best trump card:
'Abraham Lincoln! Are you still in bed at this hour?'
'Yes, Mary Todd. I guess I'm just still exhausted from FREEING ALL THE SLAVES.'
Can you imagine having that trump card today?
'Excuse me, sir, but do you know why I pulled you over?'
'Excuse me, sir, but do you know how many slaves I freed?'
'...My apologies, Mister President, I didn't know it was you. Looking back, the top hat probably should have been a giveaway. I guess I just didn't think you'd be able to fit in a Prius.'
To be honest, though, the whole "death" thing feels a little irresponsible. People get shot for doing a lot less, Abe really should have seen that one coming.
See, I'm the exact opposite. I live in constant fear of assassins. Like if I'm driving and the car behind me follows me through two turns, I automatically assume they are following me home to kill me."
Anyways, that's my joke so far. I obviously have a long way to go, but I feel like there are spots ready to be expanded. The point (and hope) of this is that as I try to stretch my creative ability, I will also be prepared to stretch my account planning ability. It was a fairly successful week at work, so maybe it's working?
I will still work on this challenge, because I have a show the end of May I'd like it to be finished for. I am, however, also starting a new challenge this week. I let a friend pick the next book I am going to read, hoping that it can also expand my thinking by introducing me to something I never would have read/considered otherwise.
It worked. This week, I'll begin to read "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde.
-Aaron
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Week 8: Caught
This is probably the most successful week of this blog so far. It's not that something really interesting happened, but the opposite-- nothing interesting happened. I sat down to think about my week and what to blog about, and I realized I had nothing.
I did
nothing
new
this week.
Which is a waste. One of the reasons I am in advertising is because I love the dynamic, constantly evolving nature of the work, and I love the constant quest for creative expression that is encouraged. Yet, given all of that, I did nothing new this week. I did my job, I went home, and I did just usual home stuff. Boring? Not entirely. Fulfilling? Not at all.
One of my personal values is growing and learning and doing something unique and different with my opportunities, so obviously this week represents a failure. BUT, importantly, I realized that. I've heard a quote that said the fastest path to improvement is measurement (or something like that, I'm more than willing to misinterpret a quote for my personal benefit here), and I think this is a good example. By taking the time to try and blog my progress weekly, I discovered the need to change something in my process.
Of course, this is only part of a successful blog. Taking this lesson, and finding a way to do something different this week, is critical to transform this lesson into a victory. So, this week, I'm adding a new challenge that will make me explore a new creative direction-- I am going to write a new joke. A long joke. I haven't done this in months as I've contemplated whether or not to continue with stand up, but this week I'm going to do it anyways to make me stretch my creative faculties.
And, hopefully, turn this lost week into an opportunity to pivot and better align myself with my goals. I'm thinking I might make this weekly creative adventure a part of my blog, and determine my new creative stretch every week on here. We'll see how it goes.
-Aaron
I did
nothing
new
this week.
Which is a waste. One of the reasons I am in advertising is because I love the dynamic, constantly evolving nature of the work, and I love the constant quest for creative expression that is encouraged. Yet, given all of that, I did nothing new this week. I did my job, I went home, and I did just usual home stuff. Boring? Not entirely. Fulfilling? Not at all.
One of my personal values is growing and learning and doing something unique and different with my opportunities, so obviously this week represents a failure. BUT, importantly, I realized that. I've heard a quote that said the fastest path to improvement is measurement (or something like that, I'm more than willing to misinterpret a quote for my personal benefit here), and I think this is a good example. By taking the time to try and blog my progress weekly, I discovered the need to change something in my process.
Of course, this is only part of a successful blog. Taking this lesson, and finding a way to do something different this week, is critical to transform this lesson into a victory. So, this week, I'm adding a new challenge that will make me explore a new creative direction-- I am going to write a new joke. A long joke. I haven't done this in months as I've contemplated whether or not to continue with stand up, but this week I'm going to do it anyways to make me stretch my creative faculties.
And, hopefully, turn this lost week into an opportunity to pivot and better align myself with my goals. I'm thinking I might make this weekly creative adventure a part of my blog, and determine my new creative stretch every week on here. We'll see how it goes.
-Aaron
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Week 7: USP
It is key for marketers to understand that there are two categories of features every product/service has: points of parity, and points of differentiation. When you are trying to build credibility in a market, you focus on your points of parity, or what your product/service has in common with market leaders. When you are trying to build consumer loyalty and advocacy, however, you focus on points of differentiation, or what makes your product/service unique from competitors'.
Perhaps the biggest turning point in my advertising career (however short it is) was the day I realized that these two qualities are equally important when you build your career.
The day I realized this was the day I was interviewing for my first agency internship. The strategy director interviewing me asked me, "If you could give me one writing sample that shows how you think, what would you give me?" I was prepared for something like this, and had a small stack of papers I had written to prove my qualifications. The problem, though, was that he only asked for one. I had several that I had written for advertising projects, like research summaries and media plans, but, when I had to pick one, I chose an essay I had written in a creative writing class about a funeral I had visited. That strategy director made it very clear that that decision made all the difference.
Other candidates interviewed had either 1) been unprepared, or 2) given him something like I had considered-- a marketing research paper. My decision had won because my decision had immediately separated me from the rest of the candidates. (It also helped that he really like my essay.)
What I didn't realize at the time was that I had already proved my points of parity, that's how I got the interview. He had seen my resume and my job application questions, he knew I had met the qualifications needed to compete in this category. What he needed then was to know that I had an added value, a point of differentiation that separated my offer from the competitors in this category. Because I had something that proved my point of differentiation, I got the only strategy planner internship for that summer.
Now, as I'm preparing my career goals and plans moving forward, I know that I need to keep my Unique Selling Proposition in mind. The act of doing my job and building my resume will prove my competency in this space, but to be really successful I also need to prove what makes me different from any other planner of equivalent experience. Developing my personal differentiation is as important as developing my actual job skills.
I guess you could call it branding.
-Aaron
Perhaps the biggest turning point in my advertising career (however short it is) was the day I realized that these two qualities are equally important when you build your career.
The day I realized this was the day I was interviewing for my first agency internship. The strategy director interviewing me asked me, "If you could give me one writing sample that shows how you think, what would you give me?" I was prepared for something like this, and had a small stack of papers I had written to prove my qualifications. The problem, though, was that he only asked for one. I had several that I had written for advertising projects, like research summaries and media plans, but, when I had to pick one, I chose an essay I had written in a creative writing class about a funeral I had visited. That strategy director made it very clear that that decision made all the difference.
Other candidates interviewed had either 1) been unprepared, or 2) given him something like I had considered-- a marketing research paper. My decision had won because my decision had immediately separated me from the rest of the candidates. (It also helped that he really like my essay.)
What I didn't realize at the time was that I had already proved my points of parity, that's how I got the interview. He had seen my resume and my job application questions, he knew I had met the qualifications needed to compete in this category. What he needed then was to know that I had an added value, a point of differentiation that separated my offer from the competitors in this category. Because I had something that proved my point of differentiation, I got the only strategy planner internship for that summer.
Now, as I'm preparing my career goals and plans moving forward, I know that I need to keep my Unique Selling Proposition in mind. The act of doing my job and building my resume will prove my competency in this space, but to be really successful I also need to prove what makes me different from any other planner of equivalent experience. Developing my personal differentiation is as important as developing my actual job skills.
I guess you could call it branding.
-Aaron
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Week 6: Client Calls
It seems to me that the biggest, most pervasive problem in advertising, is poor communication between client and agency. And it is so hard for me to fathom why.
There are two consistent problems I see: 1) Lack of listening, 2) Assumed clarity.
One-- I think the root of this problem is, really, a lack of patience. Which makes sense in advertising and marketing because both sides live in worlds of short deadlines and quick turnarounds (and unfortunately so). And it happens on both sides, though I'm pretty sure both sides assume it is the others' fault. Nothing makes you feel more dumb as a presenter than to have your audience ask a question that you literally answered one slide ago. Another symptom I see often is the audience commenting on a part of the presentation you haven't reached yet, making it very clear that they have an agenda and the rest of what you are going to see is irrelevant until it is answered, and this, obviously, cheats the presenter out of setting up a proper context.
Two-- I think this is an extension of problem one, because it is what happens at the end of the meeting when we all agree on next steps only to find in the follow-up meeting that we never really did. And that is disheartening, too, because we always feel so empowered by having next steps, actually knowing what to do next; and feel equally wasted by learning none of that work will be appreciated. Again, I think we rush that end of the call because we were so impatient about the rest of it, and it often results in a lot of wasted effort.
I think the solution is simple-- marketers need to trust the agency more. They need to trust that we will get to where we need to and we will give them what they need, so that they will take the time to listen.
BUT, more importantly, that means agencies need to better develop trust with their marketing counterparts, because I think that responsibility rightly falls our way in a client-agency relationship. We need to prove that we can be reliable and give them exactly what they're looking for. And to do that, we need to take the first steps of being invested and engaged with the client's presentations to us. We need to show them that we are taking their requests seriously, and we need to put in the extra effort to make sure every call is effective and that we all really do agree on and understand the next steps. And we may hate it because doing that will require a lot of redundancy, but I think it would all be worth it in the time we save in between reviews.
So, in short, I think we all need to dumb down our conversations a bit. I think we all get a little too-caught up in flashing our big marketing words like "gamification" and "omnichannel" and, as a result, we all waste a little too much time not actually understanding one another. So my personal challenge, coming out of this week, is to take the time to review my communications and ask myself how I would say it differently to a 5-year-old. This doesn't mean treating people like children, but it means communicating with clarity as the first priority.
I think a little bit of clarity can take you a long way.
-Aaron
There are two consistent problems I see: 1) Lack of listening, 2) Assumed clarity.
One-- I think the root of this problem is, really, a lack of patience. Which makes sense in advertising and marketing because both sides live in worlds of short deadlines and quick turnarounds (and unfortunately so). And it happens on both sides, though I'm pretty sure both sides assume it is the others' fault. Nothing makes you feel more dumb as a presenter than to have your audience ask a question that you literally answered one slide ago. Another symptom I see often is the audience commenting on a part of the presentation you haven't reached yet, making it very clear that they have an agenda and the rest of what you are going to see is irrelevant until it is answered, and this, obviously, cheats the presenter out of setting up a proper context.
Two-- I think this is an extension of problem one, because it is what happens at the end of the meeting when we all agree on next steps only to find in the follow-up meeting that we never really did. And that is disheartening, too, because we always feel so empowered by having next steps, actually knowing what to do next; and feel equally wasted by learning none of that work will be appreciated. Again, I think we rush that end of the call because we were so impatient about the rest of it, and it often results in a lot of wasted effort.
I think the solution is simple-- marketers need to trust the agency more. They need to trust that we will get to where we need to and we will give them what they need, so that they will take the time to listen.
BUT, more importantly, that means agencies need to better develop trust with their marketing counterparts, because I think that responsibility rightly falls our way in a client-agency relationship. We need to prove that we can be reliable and give them exactly what they're looking for. And to do that, we need to take the first steps of being invested and engaged with the client's presentations to us. We need to show them that we are taking their requests seriously, and we need to put in the extra effort to make sure every call is effective and that we all really do agree on and understand the next steps. And we may hate it because doing that will require a lot of redundancy, but I think it would all be worth it in the time we save in between reviews.
So, in short, I think we all need to dumb down our conversations a bit. I think we all get a little too-caught up in flashing our big marketing words like "gamification" and "omnichannel" and, as a result, we all waste a little too much time not actually understanding one another. So my personal challenge, coming out of this week, is to take the time to review my communications and ask myself how I would say it differently to a 5-year-old. This doesn't mean treating people like children, but it means communicating with clarity as the first priority.
I think a little bit of clarity can take you a long way.
-Aaron
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Week 5: TED Talks and Briefings
This was a slow week at work, which I think is a thing in advertising. I had a few of them as an intern, and I have an occasional one now. I think this is especially true when you are in an entry-level position, some projects just need a higher pay-grade so you move in and out of them for the areas in which you're relevant. At least that is what happens to me.
Anyways, this came up during my internship. One of my mentors brought it up with me; he said something like: "I don't always give you something to do, because I think this job requires a lot of personal initiative. You have to find ways to be productive on your own." (That's 100% paraphrased, but it gets the idea of it)
The real foundation idea, I think, is autonomy. As an account planner you get a lot of freedom and trust, or autonomy, and so I think an intangible job skill is learning how to use it productively. This week, I decided to use my free time to focus on another intangible job skill-- leading inspiring presentations.
As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can lead a more effective creative briefing. One of my concerns is, "How can I become more inspiring?" An inspiring briefing is a scary goal to set and go for, because it isn't a measurable goal. Like I said, it's an intangible. So I was left with the problem of how I can improve. My solution? I started watching TED Talks, specifically, the most popular TED Talks of all time.
And, conclusion: they are awesome, and they are great benchmarks to try and shoot for. But, so far, I haven't seen a strong pattern emerge. These people all crafted incredibly inspiring briefings, but they all did them in different ways. This is both promising and disappointing. Disappointing because it would be so much easier if there was an easy equation to implement; promising because that leaves the door open for any idea to be made into an inspiring presentation (it doesn't have to fit the mold).
The key, I think, is that each idea needs to be presented differently. Finding the right way to present an insight is as important as finding the right insight. Sometimes an idea (or a creative team) is good enough to survive a sub-par brief, but the role of the account planner is to remove that margin of error as best we can.
-Aaron
Anyways, this came up during my internship. One of my mentors brought it up with me; he said something like: "I don't always give you something to do, because I think this job requires a lot of personal initiative. You have to find ways to be productive on your own." (That's 100% paraphrased, but it gets the idea of it)
The real foundation idea, I think, is autonomy. As an account planner you get a lot of freedom and trust, or autonomy, and so I think an intangible job skill is learning how to use it productively. This week, I decided to use my free time to focus on another intangible job skill-- leading inspiring presentations.
As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can lead a more effective creative briefing. One of my concerns is, "How can I become more inspiring?" An inspiring briefing is a scary goal to set and go for, because it isn't a measurable goal. Like I said, it's an intangible. So I was left with the problem of how I can improve. My solution? I started watching TED Talks, specifically, the most popular TED Talks of all time.
And, conclusion: they are awesome, and they are great benchmarks to try and shoot for. But, so far, I haven't seen a strong pattern emerge. These people all crafted incredibly inspiring briefings, but they all did them in different ways. This is both promising and disappointing. Disappointing because it would be so much easier if there was an easy equation to implement; promising because that leaves the door open for any idea to be made into an inspiring presentation (it doesn't have to fit the mold).
The key, I think, is that each idea needs to be presented differently. Finding the right way to present an insight is as important as finding the right insight. Sometimes an idea (or a creative team) is good enough to survive a sub-par brief, but the role of the account planner is to remove that margin of error as best we can.
-Aaron
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