A radical new way of media buying?

Philips Inc., the Dutch consumer electronics giant, has had very revolutionary media buys in the past year or so. Their model reflects their brand message of "sense and simplicity." What they do is buy up all the ad space in magazines or on a TV show thus allowing the consumer to have a more pure ad-free consumer experience. In the past, they bought up four magazines thus eliminating the "annoying subscription cards."

Their newest media buy is buying up all the ad space in the upcoming Texas vs. Oklahoma State game on TBS thus allowing viewers a more pure game experience of watching the Longhorns dominate the Cowboys. They would give the ad space back to TBS for more game related coverage and analysis.

Philips has done more "simple" media buys in the past but apparently they were not as successful or didn't gain as much attention. My question to you readers is does this media buying model a true extension of their "sense and simplicity" brand message? Do consumers even care that they see less commercials and print ads because of Philips "generosity?"

Like what Brad says in his post, could this be a way that media is the new creative?

update
They're taking over the internet! First, the NYTimes exclusive paid content, now ESPN.com insider content.

New Agency Models.

Advertising is not what it used to be. Media is changing, seemingly by the second and the consumer is evolving and becoming more complicated. Ads are popping up everywhere, and sometimes we might not even be able to recognize them as ads at all. With the culture of the world developing in so many new directions, traditional advertising agencies are faced with a decision: how does one evolve an agency to fit the future of the industry?

“While the incoming tide of consumer control and wave after wave of media fragmentation have left many large broadcast-dependent ad agencies looking slothful, defensive and ill-suited to marketer’s needs, a new generation of shops proves change can be opportunity” (Bloom). What Jonah Bloom discusses in his article is what is considered to be a movement contrasting the industry “sloths,” which are unofficially they “JWT’s” and “Grey’s” of the world. This movement is led by smaller agencies such as Amalgamated, Anomaly, Mother, Nitro, StrawberryFrog, Kaplan Thaler Group and TAXI. Each of these “hot start-ups” have sprung up and have held off from defining themselves with what Bloom refers to as a “meaningless brand statement.” In addition, these agencies have a small number of employees and are creatively driven, but they manage massive accounts that range from Coke, Miller and McDonald’s to Unilever, Verizon and Masterfoods (Bloom). The following is a spot done by TAXI for Viagra. TAXI is small, innovative and fresh, but are they a model to adopt for the future?




Any ideas on what the agency of the future looks like? Small and creative? Brand-centric? I have a few that I'll look at coming up, but I want to know what you think.

Here is the link to the Bloom Article: http://adage.com/article?article_id=45259

Is Media the New Creative?

In a recent article I read, the author said that "media is no longer a stepchild of creative. In fact, media is almost part of the creative function." The article goes on to discuss the fact that media people are now having to try and tackle this evolving market and come up with new ways for placement. The medium is just as important to the idea as this fragmented media world explodes.

But which came first, the chicken or the egg?

A lot of people think that media is, in fact, the new creative. I disagree. I think media is becoming creative, and I think it is as important as creative, but it is not going to replace creative. It can't.

At R/GA, there was a guy who flew a plasma screen in a balloon over Central Park and people could text messages to a number and have the message appear on the screen. That kicks ass.

But the creative people still play a vital role in creating floating balloon messages. A media person might think of a cool place to put a message, but what is the message going to be? That is where they work together. Not to say that creatives can't invent new media and others can't come up with creative messages. Scott Goodson says that "the borders are coming down on ideas." I believe this whole heartedly, and that means that ideas will be coming from everywhere. That is why agencies must continue to evolve in order to succeed (I'll probably make a post about this later on).

How the message is displayed is more important now than ever before, and inventing new ways to display it is the trend. But that doesn't mean that the idea is any less important.

Media may be newly creative, but it is not the new creative.

More to come on this subject November 17-18 in Austin, TX at the Conference. Come hear what the rockstars of the industry have to say about it.

Thoughts?

New Agendas in Advertising.

This is the the first of many posts regarding the conference that will be held in Austin, TX this coming November 17 and 18, sponsored by The University of Texas and GSD&M. What is this conference all about? Well, that's an interesting question. We've been discussing and building this conference for months now, and we have some insanely awesome speakers, amazing venues and an incredible agenda. What I myself havent done often enough, though, is take a step back and try and think about what this conference is really about.

To me, we are talking about the future, which is really yesterday. Advertising has so many new faces it's hard to recognize it anymore. That funny video on YouTube you saw the other day from an email forward might have been created by an agency looking to promote a product without making an ad. Gotcha!

Many people talk about advertising boiling down to a simple human truth, sparking emotion in the consumer. Well, the consumer is smarter, and he can do things on his own. So can she. So how do we reach them? We need to think of new ways to evolve these emerging media (a new medium for communication was just invented. And another one. And another one, etc) so that we can reach the consumers and make them feel as if they are a part of a something. Nobody wants to watch an ad, but do people mind experiencing one?

So we have new media, and smarter consumers. Another emerging trend in the industry is advertising education. How do we teach future industry people the industry? How do we teach ourselves? With things evolving daily, it has become impossible to figure out what to teach and how to teach it. Things I learned yesterday may be dated already. Still, we are working hard to evolve our learning and doing a good job of it, I think. Case in point: this conference.

It will be educational and inspirational. We will have men like Keith Reinhard, Bob Garfield and Joseph Jaffe talking about this, along with new, emerging industry stars. You don't want to miss it.

P.S. more new media was just invented.

Chaos 2006 Future of Advertising Conference at UT-Austin

You Must Go.

AGENDA

DAY 1 - Friday, November 17

Welcome: Neal M. Burns, University of Texas at Austin, Conference Chair

"It's all about the story. It always was."
Introduction: Mark Yudof, Chancellor, The University of Texas System
Keynote: Keith Reinhard, CEO Emeritus, DDB World Wide and President, Business for Diplomatic Action

If, as research continues to show, customers are leaving newspapers, TV sets and magazines behind and turning instead to handheld mobile devices for the latest news, football scores, weather info, viewing of favorite shows and access to bookmarked blogs and webcasts - advertisers are probably not too far behind. Keith Reinhard brings a lifetime of experience including campaigns that defined eras and the vision needed for creating a world-wide creative service organization. His guidance for agencies of the 21st century builds upon his past - know your client's business and understand their customers.

DAY 2 -Saturday, November 18

New Media: What is New, What is Not
Allen Rosenshine, Chairman, BBDO Worldwide, New York
Panel Presentation 1

Getting The Big Idea Right. Fast!

The demands of current practice - from dealing with competitive tactical moves to the need to find comfort with media neutral decisions - call for faster ways to get to ideas and solutions, prioritize them, build consensus and set a strategy. Equally important is the addition and acceptance of qualitative information collected in new ways by agencies, advertisers and the academic community. Presentations and discussion by leaders in the field will describe new methods.

Panel Moderator:
J.W. Pennebaker, University of Texas at Austin
Presentation:
Roy Spence and Joseph Jaffe, GSD&M, Austin
Discussion:
Oscar Jamhouri, Integration-IMC, Nicosia and Singapore
Jonathan Carson, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, NYC


Lunch Presentation
"Education During a Time of Revolution"
Introduction: Roy Spence, Founding Partner, GSD&M, Austin
Keynote: Bob Garfield, Columnist, Advertising Age/Co-Host NPR's On the Media

Advertising education and practice were developed during times of long-term stability, where the lessons of yesterday had some applicability to today and tomorrow. The lessons of the past � and even current best practices � may not contain the answers we need now. And even if its not a full blown revolution, things are changing awfully fast. What will clients� expect? How will agencies respond? And what do we teach during this time of change? Bob continues the voyage initiated by his column and radio show and the threats to and concerns about sustaining the practice of advertising in this new cultural and technological milieu.


Panel Presentation 2

"Consumer Content and Ad Agency and Client Response"

Word-of-mouth (whose power we always knew) and then E-WOM began to clearly reduce the value of print and electronic media. Search engines gave way to personal websites that morphed to message boards, blogs and podcasts - overlaid by rss technology and a number of technical issues poorly understood by anyone over 40. Add to that a complex discussion of digital displays and the decline of up-front buys and newspaper ad inches. Consumers have redefined relevance - some think they have taken over and will soon give up; others think the change is here to stay - and apart from contests asking them to give us their best ad - most of us seem bereft. The differences between the last century and this time are profound and have spawned new and successful agency models. It's time to talk.

Panel Moderator:
Erik Hauser, Founder and President, Swivel Media, San Francisco
Panel Participants:
Cynthia Currence, American Cancer Society, Atlanta
Steve Hardwick, President and Managing Partner, Strawberry Frog
Joel Greenberg, GSD&M, Austin
Karl Spangenberg, ATT, New York
Todd "Turbo"Watson, IBM

Panel Presentation 3

Media Meltdown - Metrics, Models, and Margins
These, and other "M" terms will be reviewed along with a full list of the issues that are on the table.

It's about the ratings, the up front buys, and all the other changes facing media executives on both sides of the negotiating table. Presenting new achievements and challenges in the complex media environment that has developed is the theme of this panel. Several of those changing the face of media planning compose this exciting new group of advertising thinkers.

Panel Moderator:
Terry Daugherty, University of Texas at Austin
Panel Participants:
Frank Mulhern, Northwestern University, Evanston
Oscar Jamhouri, Integration-IMC, Nicosia and Singapore
Kate Niederhoffer, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, NYC
Maury Giles, GSD&M, Austin
Gary Stein, Ammo Marketing, San Francisco

Panel Presentation 4

The Tales We Tell. The Songs We Sing

The industry dictates creativity as king. And now a growing concern on effectiveness and ROI. Is it still about stories . . . Stories that are compelling and relevant? We need to understand the current culture that promotes consumer-generated content as well as brand building. How? Educators and industry experts will bring forth a lively discussion on the subject of teaching creativity, strategy and building plots.

Panel Moderator:
Nick Law, EVP, Chief Creative Officer, N.A., R/GA, New York
Panel Participants:
Sergio Alcocer, Latin Works, Austin
Sean Thompson, University of Texas at Austin
Mick McCabe, Leo Burnett, Chicago
Anne Benvenuto, R/GA
Jae Goodman, San Francisco
Tom Gabriel, Gabriel De Groot, Minneapolis


Panel Presentation 5

The Advertising Industry and Advertising Education: Bridging The Chasm

Why do these two parts of the equation seem so wide apart in terms of substantial involvement and significant financial support? Compared to traditional business and professional practice disciplines - law, medicine, engineering, physics - advertising departments throughout the country rarely receive the support from their industry colleagues needed for growth and well targeted instruction. The number of advertising and PR professorships established by industry can be counted on one hand and the efforts of Universities to bring industry experts to their campus for a semester of interaction and improved understanding are rare - if occurring at all. This large panel of educators and industry leaders explores why - candidly and without finger-pointing. Promise.

Panel Moderator:
Keith Reinhard, DDB World Wide, NYC
Panel Participants:
Stan Richards, TRG, Dallas
Janet Bustin, TracyLocke, Dallas
Steve Hardwick, Strawberry Frog, NYC
Tom Gabriel, Gabriel, de Grood, Bendt, Minneapolis
Manny Flores, Latin Works, Austin
Joseph Plummer, ARF / Columbia University, NYC
Roy Spence, GSD&M, Austin
McGhee Williams Osse. Burrell, Chicago