The RAF is always looking for ways to strengthen the creative community through events and programs that educate and inspire great work.  The Ad Council of Rochester works on behalf of the non-profits to bring them advertising, marketing, planning and communications know-how.

That being said, this seems like a no-brainer.
 
The Ad Council of Rochester turns 60 this year. And in honor of this landmark year they are looking for feedback from supporters, volunteers and anyone in the nonprofit or marketing / ad fields – Todd Butler and the Ad Council are trying to better understand what the perceptions are of their organization.
 
The Advertising and Marketing community has been a long time supporter of the Ad Council efforts.  Chances are if you are a creative in this town you have done the work on behalf of the Ad Council for a local non-profit.  Or perhaps you were a marketer on the receiving end of some of the services the Ad Council provides.  Whichever the case, they want to know what the Rochester community thinks about the Ad Council, so they can continue to offer relevant services in this ever changing profession for the next 60 years and beyond. And that’s where you come in.  

The survey takes about 10 minutes and is relatively painless (I have already taken it!). The link is embedded in this blog here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/adcouncilsurvey

On behalf of the Ad Council and the RAF, thank you for your help in advance.  Also please purchase your tickets to the RAF Addy Awards by March 5th. Remember, no tickets will be sold at the door.
 
GYFO!
 
JOE

Hey, thanks again to all you who made it out to Tap & Mallet last night. It’s cool that we’re seeing new faces at every event. Prez Joe just emailed me and asked me to do a quick recap, so here goes:

My talk was about creating websites with great user experience. While “user experience” doesn’t sound sexy (many people don’t even know what it means), it’s a critical part of any website development. At its most basic level, it’s about having good organization and solid content. More specifically, I focus on three things:

1. Great content
2. Easy Navigation
3. A Little Mind Reading

What it all boils down to is asking yourself what your user’s main needs might be and going over the top to deliver on that. Whether it’s letting them embed your videos on their Facebook page, linking them to research that supports buying your product or making your navigation foolproof. The mind reading comes in when you anticipate something they haven’t even thought of yet that delivers even better customer service.

We had some great questions about the value of usability studies (I am an advocate) and about how to talk clients out of their bad navigation ideas . A good time was had by all. Hope to see you next time.

Andrea Zuegel

Be judgmental. We insist. That’s what I told the 6 judges from various disciplines that judged the work for the 2010 Addy Awards. And well RAF members, we had a very successful first day here in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. They combed through all the print work and were very impressed. We are poised for another solid showing. But our, and their, job is not done. Sunday is the second day where broadcast, interactive, and campaigns will be judged. Pictures from the day one and two festivities will come on Sunday.

Remember to purchase your tickets by March 5th. No tickets will be sold at the door. No matter how much we like you. GYFO!

JOE

The entries are in. The judging set. The Addy night is being planned. But there is still one more very important piece to this year’s Addy Awards show. The Silver Award.

Last year’s Addy Awards show saw one of Rochester’s most energetic and infectious laughs be honored. Under the theme of “Mad Men” we gave the Silver award to Rochester’s own “Mad Woman”, Sharon Napier from Partners + Napier.

We’re pulling out all the stops again in 2010 with another red carpet, black-tie optional event. An event that celebrates the uniqueness we must have to be successful in this business. Celebrating creativity that challenges. Opportunities with vision, or commitment to crafting a small marketing budget to achieve large results. And we’re looking for your nomination for Rochester’s recipient of the 2010 RAF Silver Award to round out the night.

Established by the American Advertising Federation in 1959, the Silver Award recognizes those who’ve made outstanding contributions to advertising and who’ve been active in furthering industry standards, creative excellence, social responsibility, and community service.

Just take a look at our own roster of past winners:
Jack Kraushaar. Jim Gallery. Chris Pulleyn. Bob Conge. Jerry Flynn. Bill Buckett. Ferdinand Jay Smith. Bob Young. Walt Roberts. And last year’s winner Sharon Napier. It’s a who’s who of Rochester advertising and creativity…and we wouldn’t be here without them. Now it’s time to submit your nomination for this year’s award.

The RAF Board, based upon the following criteria, selects the Silver Award recipient:

• Contribution to his/her company: notable success in one of the following areas of work: advertising agency, advertiser, media or advertising service.
• Creative accomplishment: a consistently high level of original thinking in his or her field.
• Contributions to the general advancement of advertising: has worked to increase the stature of the advertising profession.
• Contributions to the community: has been active in civic, humanitarian, religious, or other groups dedicated to human or social welfare.

To nominate someone, please click on the link below. Your email should include the name of your nominee, some background information about him or her, and why you think he or she deserves the award.

The winner will be honored with a special tribute at the Addy Awards Show & Party and his or her family will be VIP guests for the evening’s festivities. It’s truly a night to remember—for both the honoree as well as our creative community at large.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Oh one more thing. Please take advantage of the early bird pricing when purchasing your tickets. Just make sure you buy them before the event. There are no tickets sold at the door (no matter how much we like you).

Cheers,

Joseph Mayernik
2010 RAF President

20 minutes and a Beer was again a very successful night. Chris Lyons gave a very inspirational, and motivating talk about the business of freelance. In case you missed it here are the main points of his talk:

1. — Establish a manageable and efficient Business Process:
Discipline is the key, capture and organize contact information, and anticipate the expenses

2. — Professional Support:
Line up your Legal, Financial and IT experts so that they are in place to help you manage through the inevitable disasters that will pop up.

3. — Shameless Self Promotion:
Be relentless promoting yourself. This is no time for stealth marketing.

Thanks Chris! Next talk will be on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. Our very own RAF Communications Chair Andrea Zuegel will present on the topic of Web Design/Usability. See you there! Information on us, beer on you.

And don’t forget, Addy submissions are due this Friday the 29th. You can bet Chris has his in… see point #3.

JOE
Mr. RAF Prez.

Well a new year brings new resolutions. That one time a year where we get on our soap box and say “I will exercise more,” “I will eat better,” or “I won’t engage in road rage behavior on 590.” Whatever it is, let’s not forget the New Year is a good time to reacquaint ourselves with our brands we have been entrusted with. To maybe look upon the media plan with fresh eyes, or reconsider the concepts behind your next campaign. Are they solid, or are they overweight and in need of a diet?
So what’s your New Year’s Resolution for your brand?

From all of us at the RAF. Happy New Year and here’s to a prosperous 2010. I look forward to the upcoming events like the 20 Minutes & a Beer event with Chris Lyons on the 19th, and of course the Addy Award show on March 12th!

Joe
Mr. RAF Prez.

Last Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Jeff Gabel from Partners + Napier gave a very motivating talk to a packed house at the Tap & Mallet on, “The common constructs of great ideas.” After Jeff’s talk several of RAF members in attendance wanted to know if they could get the list for inspiration. Well, here it is. Thanks Jeff!

Common Creative Constructs:
Work without words,
Combine things,
Use comparative juxtapositions,
Exaggerate,
Convert the benefit to a disadvantage,
Have fun with omission,
Change the perspective,
Change 1 element,
Tell a story,
Alter the product,
Show alternative uses,
Play with words,
Have a few meanings,
Change the medium,
Consider the context.

Now, are there any others you would add? Comment back and let’s see how long this list can go.

Please join us for our next 20 Minutes & A Beer on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.
Chris Lyons presents, “The business of freelance.” Information on us, beer on you.

JOE

Have you checked out the new “Marketers’ Constitution” which the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recently unveiled?

Their goal: Make sure the marketing profession continues to thrive and that it contributes meaninfully to society.

Here are the 10 principles they suggested:

1. Marketing must become increasingly targeted, focused, and personal.

2. Marketing must build real, tangible, and enduring brand value.

3. Marketing must become more effective, creative, insightful, and accountable.

4. Marketing must become more integrated and proficient in managing expanding media platforms.

5. The marketing supply chain must become more efficient and productive.

6. The marketing ecosystem—including agencies, media, and suppliers—must become increasingly capable.

7. Marketing professionals must become better, highly skilled, diverse leaders.

8. Marketing must be indisputably socially responsible.

9. Marketing must be unencumbered by inappropriate legislation or regulation.

10. The marketing discipline must be elevated and respected.

Sounds like a good set of mantras to me. I particularly like # 1, 3, 7, 8 and 10. Wouldn’t it be nice if all clients and agencies lived by these simple, yet profound rules? I’d like to add a few:

11. Marketing people need to have fun and not over-think—in order to stay in touch with real consumer behavior, thoughts and motivations.

12. Creativity should be celebrated and revered—it accelerates the connection between brands and consumers.

What do you think? What other “write in” bylaws should be added to the marketing constitution?

I had just about given up on Twitter for the 2nd time. My tweets have been inconsitent and lame (though not inconsistently lame) and I’ve generally found little value. Though I do know the exact travel schedule of many a branding exec. Which is obviously helpful.

Then I came across Lee Clow’s Beard. It’s a steady flow of insight of the “wish I said it that way” variety. Today’s: “Most people don’t have enough time to interact with their kids, let alone your brand. Respect that.”

Who on Twitter do you find uniquely worthwhile?

mj

Coming to you live from Minnesota, where we’ve been in production on 6 new spots for one of our healthcare clients. Shooting and editing is easily my favorite part of my job. You’re finally giving birth to something that (in this case) has been nothing but an idea for months. There’s a confluence of creative energy between agency, clients and crew that you can’t find in any other job. It’s electric, it’s emotional, it’s challenging, and it’s never boring. And that’s what makes it great.

This shoot had several tricky aspects. First, they’re testimonials. I’m not anti-testimonial, because if they’re done right, they work. But I think it’s easier to do them wrong than to get them right. And when they’re wrong, they’re really, really bad. Painfully bad. Bad to the point where they do infinitely more harm to a brand than good. Sometimes, real people have their lines scripted for them, which makes them sound like robots instead of real people. Other times, actors get passed off as real people. Note to agencies and production companies considering this: it never works. Ever. And again, the lack of authenticity is devastating to both the commercial and the advertiser. Charm becomes smarm, and any interest I might have had in what you have to offer vanishes long before your 30 seconds with me are up.

In our case, we’re using real people, and we’re not scripting their lines. So while we knew we would get some great, authentic stuff on film, we also knew the real work would start when it came time to compress it down to 30 memorable seconds. When real people talk, they don’t do it in soundbytes. I’ve never worked so closely with a script supervisor as I have for the last two days. Every time we heard something we thought we might be able to use, we gave our “scriptie” a nudge so she could mark it and try to get a time length on it. We’re going to have to use her notes and a full transcription of conversations that lasted about a half an hour to find our final edits. Oh, and we still have to maintain a sense of linear narrative to the stories.

(deep breath)

Our people for this campaign were chosen because they’ve lost weight, and a lot of it. One woman we spoke with has lost 198 pounds since 2005. One guy dropped 100 pounds in a little more than a year. We also have someone who lost “just” 48 pounds in a little less than a year. Each person did something unique to take the weight off, but that’s not the part of the story we’re after. We’ve been probing the reasons they got heavy and stayed that way before deciding to make a lifestyle change. Each person had lifestyle barriers to overcome, and each person made excuses (sometimes for years) for why they couldn’t do anything about their weight. Since our people are more accustomed to talking about what they did to lose weight and their results, it’s been a highly emotional process asking them to reflect on being heavy and what they were feeling at that time in their lives. Most of our takes were 20 minutes or longer to allow the conversation to unfold naturally between our talent and our director (thank God for RED CAM). Credit to our clients for understanding that we were searching for audio nuggets like pigs hunting for truffles, which required us to allow our talent to spend a fair amount of time talking about things that we had no intention of using.

So now, it’s on to the edit, where we’ll be cutting :30s, :60s and full-length webisodes. In many ways, the work is just beginning, because there are at least 50 ways we could tell each person’s story. A combination of agency strategy, client considerations, and the realities of what we have on film will determine the final product. With so many variables, I’m actually happy to have a hard (and fast-approaching) launch date for the campaign staring us in the face.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more from the edit suite.

getting ready for the next shot

the set

applying makeup to a lieutenant in the National Guard

we heart monitors