Tuesday 29 November 2011

Integrating product and communication

At Advance we believe in the full integration between the communication and the product (experience. The more built-in and seamless this connection can be the better.  This week-end I had an experience that was a seamless experience and a quite surprising one as well.

I was invited to taste a new wine from down under (they make great wine - try a McLaren Vale). This wine wasn't an ordinary wine. On the bottle they introduced the Molly Dooker Shake - a session you should perform before drinking the wine. To do the Shaker you need to scan a QR code to see a Molly Dooker Shake video. So far just a gimmic.

Introducing the Molly Dooker Shake on the bottle
























http://www.mollydookerwines.com.au/web/mollydooker_shake.cfm

But when I saw the video (try link above) I realized that the Molly Dooker Shake was part of the wine makers philosophy and actually was a very entertaining way of preparing the wine for drinking. Here is how they put it:

What Does the Mollydooker Shake do? The Shake releases the nitrogen gas which is in the wine. We use nitrogen to protect our wines from oxygen so that we can reduce the amount of sulphites, because some people are allergic to sulphites. When the wines are young, the nitrogen tends to flatten the fruit flavour of the wine (nitrogen effect). Shaking the wine releases the nitrogen (you can hear it hissing if you hold the bottle to your ear after doing the Shake) and the full flavour profile is restored.

Jan doing the Molly Dooker Shake




















The result was amazing and we all (the wine tasting party) agreed that the wine tasted excellent and much better than drinking with-out the Shake. Suddenly it's much more than a gimmic and trust me I will remember this wine for ever (and Peter Haahr, I know to you this will still be a gimmick!)

Thursday 24 November 2011

BETA Management

I was a bit in doubt wether the headline should be: Management of BETA or Management in BETA. Maybe it's the same.

The management challenge is that we (Advance and the industry) have moved from a more predictable proces and out-put with a final deadline (we drop dead just after crossing the line). But the fact that the processes are changing, the competencies needed are different and the idea of a deadline is changing, the entire ball game and thereby the management issues are changing. From a creative point of view that probably sounds great, but I believe the best creative ideas are created in some kind of proces. And if the old model doesn't work, what is the new one?

The IT metaphor of always being in BETA has the implication, that we create something and try it out live with-out knowing exactly if it works. Our clients are extremely focused on ROMI and almost want proof of things working before they go live. This truly represent a challenge. The solution could be that with a BETA approach you can actually guarantee a ROMI because you adjust the solution until it works. In the old model we hope that the solution will work and if it doesn't it will be the end of the MD or the agency or both. This new BETA approach opens up for new business models for agencies - something we have discussed for ages but not found the solutions to.

To succeed we also need to define a new terminology in the future. It doesn't make a lot of sense to talk about for instance "final artwork" since it will not be final. Maybe it's just BETA artwork?

The examples above is much about managing a BETA perspective. To handle it I think Management also needs to be more in BETA. We need to keep adjusting and change in a much higher speed than previously. My experience is that the Ad industry is quite conservative so it's quite a challenge. Especially because the financial climate is negative and that somehow calls for conservatism. At Advance we have turned it up side down and want to use the crisis (and our success in the market) to make the transition. This means new processes, new organizational structures, new competencies and a management team who doesn't have the answer to everything, but definitely has an obligation to find answers and keep trying until it works. That will require an open spirit from the all colleagues and willingness to try stuff.

It isn't easy. Below you see one of 6 descriptions of the current organizational structure made in a management work-session we had Wednesday. I can reveal that all 6 were quite different and gives us a great reason to revisit our structure for the future:-)


The current organizational structure reflects new competencies added step by step over time.
It's really time to look for a future flexible (BETA) structure


Tuesday 22 November 2011

The empty chair

In our industry we face a lot of time spent on waiting. Waiting for colleagues to finalize the job they are assigned to, clients to return with approvals or maybe new great ideas to appear from the brainstorm.

Some of this waiting is annoying and some is probably part of something maturing.

Our 3D department has really been dealing with the annoying waiting experience. Not so much the waiting for lay-outs to be ready or basic LOD files to be delivered from clients or suppliers - somehow that goes with the territory. No, it's the waiting for 3D scenes to be rendered to go into the next work flows of 3D. Since we work with extremely detailed stills with a lot of layers and products in 3D with an incredible amount of data the files we render are enormous. And we don't have a full blow 3D render set-up. Therefore the render time has exploded and we have examples of render time of 50 hrs. because we had to deal with renders that didn´t work out as planned and we would have to do it all again.

Below you see Martin or rather his empty chair, empty because he had to spend time waiting to continue his work.




Fortunately Martin is a not only a 3D artist - he is a creative one and he set off to solve the problem. He (and we) invested 2 weeks of programming and another week of adjustment. His 3D colleagues were covering his back doing all 3D work during the period. Martin invented a new render principle were Martin and his 3D colleagues could divide the render into layers rendered individually. Thereby the render time could be reduced to app. 2 hrs. and a lot of frustration was removed from the proces.

To be honest it wasn't easy to find the 2 -3 weeks and Martin couldn't guarantee that it would work. But it did.

Martin took charge of a problem that could have been lost in a discussion of wether we have the right gear or software or not. And we all ran the risk of not knowing if it worked. That is how progress is made and creativity flourish. Thx Martin and the 3D team.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Data in everything

Data is the future creative gold. The amount of available data and the accessibility of data is currently creating a lot of new possibilities. And I hear data mentioned in almost any meeting now. For Advance Relations it is opening a door for them to move in as experts in data, since they have a strong understanding of how to use data to establish a relevant personalized 1 to 1 dialogue. And I learned recently that the largets agencies in the world are US Database companies. Not that size is a goal in itself. It just indicates where the market is going.

To be honest data sometimes seem a bit abstract to me, it's bits and bytes. Peter Stampe introduced me to a great presentation made by Dan Cobley, MD at Google UK: http://prezi.com/tfoibcor2ggc/final-iab-engage-everything-going-digital/?auth_key=f10657c352f3c4732298d7ed159dab2201077b0a

It really shows where you find data and how data can be transformed into viable digital solutions. And by the way, a beautiful example of a Prezi presso - a true benchmark.

Data can also be very simple. When I returned after HIMC, I received a mail from Sammy, the CEO of Triobike, a company that we as an agency own a share of, see www.triobike.com. Sammy was frustrated, because sales were down (or at least low) even though he had made a great initiative, having Triobike as the prize of a competition at a major "babysite" to create awareness. Sammy mentioned that he considered not doing sponsored activities like this again, because he feared that potential buyers would be reluctant to be buy, since they could win a bike. A good point and I almost agreed with him. Until I started thinking data. OK, 1 person is winning the prize, but what about the app 7000 people who signed up for the competition. And probably because they liked the product. The site owners had permission to mail the participants. Suddenly Sammy saw the potential, created a special offer to all 7000 prospects, thanking them for the interest they have shown, the site owners liked the idea of doing something for their customers and made a mail blast for free and did banners on their site as well.  I know it's not rocket sience and true CRM experts laugh by now - it's basic. But to Sammy (and me) it was a kick and a learning. It will be interesting to see how the new activity tracks.

This blog is data and the deeper you dive, the more data and understanding you generate and something you can react to.

Here are a few examples:

Number of page views per post
 It indicates what type of posts that interest the readers. But if you dig deeper and look over time (2 weeks) the picture changes and tell another story (the energy coefficient has the highest total number of readers). So you can easily get lost in data..
Total page views over time

This chart suggests that I should quit - declining interest.

Daily split of page views

And this chart indicates, that the succes depends on what I do to attract attention. The 12th in the morning I made an announcement at Fredagsmorgenmad and sent out an e-mail and the blog had the best tracking to date.

I could go on.

I'm officially a data addict and it's one of those addictions I believe to be healthy.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

And but

I have noticed a major change at the agency these days. It's a cultural thing I'm sure and relates to the use of two three letter words "and" and "but". A lot of "but's" have been substituted by "and" in the discussions and brainstorms we are seeing now and it truly adds to the creativity and spirit in the work relations. And now I wonder why we have made this small change in the Agency vocabularium.

I can easily envision myself eager to meet a creative idea or just a suggestion for let's say new chairs in one of our workspaces with a but. And I think it's no necessarily because I disagree, it's rather a safety measure I establish, so that I don't commit too much. And a way of avoiding mistakes and looking for the perfect. Deep down I also see it as a kind of intellectual exercise - looking at the solution, idea or problem from different angles, which is nice and relevant. At the right time in the proces of course.

BUT

I see a lot of our clients meet our work with a "but". It's almost as if you are waiting for this little word and it indicates anything from minor things to another way of saying, the idea sucks. And again it's a natural reaction because we very often present our work as a take it or leave it, not leaving enough room for the client to take ownership to the solution and maybe even build on it. Therefore a "but" opens a backdoor if you as a client are not completely sure if the solution is the best. The challenge is, that the "but" is just demotivating by nature and can turn a great meeting into a frustrating one.

AND

The change at Advance has come because we somehow have experienced that there isn't (or shouldn't be) a monopoly on ideas. They can come from anywhere and anyone. And the more we are able to push ideas further the better they get. And to get people motivated to throw in ideas on projects we need to be openminded and skip the but in the brainstorms and conceptualization.

Also keep in mind that the project owner often has a deep understanding and knowledge about the business and market - a powerful tool that can kill any idea used wrongly. And I have seen this happen even with the best of intensions. Used right a "but" can be used as a tool to predict reactions or shortfalls in the ideas after the ideation. Not to kill ideas, just to make them survive.

I realize that saying "and" to everything may seem a bit happy go lucky, From the experience lately and the positive reactions to the new processes and tools we are trying out I believe we don't need to return to a "but" culture. And at least I will keep trying. Just writing this text with-out a normal "but" was hard and nice at the same time.

Monday 14 November 2011

The Green dots

The green dots is a lovely metaphor that was introduced at HIMC. It basically describes the people and resources in your organisation or network, who can connect you to new insights and and understanding of things. Either because they are the experts or because they just jumped in first and have experience.

Green dot Monica presenting her Tweetdeck
In our organisation new Green dots have been turned on during the last couple of weeks. One example is Monica, who took up the challenge of giving a basic crash course in Twitter. I think most off us see the potential and have been motivated to get started. But how does retweets, hashtags and the rest really work?



If you are interested, see Monicas presentation here:
http://prezi.com/ekaizrffxfpu/twitter-101/
I promised Monica to tell that the presentation will be up-dated with examples and more explanation.

Mette Stuhr already did a twitter course two weeks ago with the first HIMC team. In my mind Mette had already established herself as a Green dot through her skills. And thats the interesting part right now, the Green dots are currently just being established by themselves. They are not promoted or established through official structures. It's about initiatives combined with the openness from all the colleagues searching for knowledge and thereby Green dots.

From a management perspective it's amazing to see people in the organisation flourish and add even more value. Another example is Chris, who gave an introduction to open API's (Application Programming Interface), building on the understanding we already got in Karlskrona. API's are something that can be a barrier because you don't get it, suddenly it becomes an opportunity. And the entire organisation knows exactly who to invite if they want to create a solution for clients based on existing API's.

Flightradar24 built on Google maps using flight data to show all planes in a region. It really fascinates me to see all the planes moving real-time with flight numbers and everything - and I could be in one of them:-) http://www.flightradar24.com/
Chris is now a Green dot as well and we have many more in the house, also Green dots that have existed for long.

When you establish this metaphor I think everybody is looking at the organisation with a new perspective and a lot of employees will be having a much more interesting workplace, because they can suddenly reach out and see new opportunities. And I'm wondering: where is the next Green dot? It's probably already there waiting to be turned on.

Thursday 10 November 2011

The Klout CV

During the last couple of weeks we have really have had some great and interesting discussion regarding the Social Media (SM) impact on our industry as well as on the advertisers and on a larger scale the global impact of "The one".

I joined a discussion between Kurt and Martin, two experienced creative guys at Advance. The topic was: "Is it expected by management that all employees are active in social media and how much".

I think after experiencing Hyper Island it is evident that we need to be aware, try and understand SM - all of us. And I also believe it requires time spent professionally and also as a private person. The latter is of course a personal priority. But I do believe it impacts the level of understanding if you only dip your toes now and then - I'm saying this from personal experience - I have really been trying to UNDERSTAND, but I think I really understood when I truly FELT the emotional value. And it's almost as if you 20 years ago decided that you didn't want to try out personal computers as a principle. Sooner or later you had to.

We as an organization have to constantly push a culture of constant curiosity (not only when it comes to Social Media). And if we personally feel something is rubbish - skip it and move on to something new or talk to someone who's an expert or fan of this particular feature and learn from her.

The above discussion moved onto the future value of employees if they are SM savvy or not. I can confirm that it will matter. A lot of other things also matter, but it will be an important part of the CV's companies are looking for in the future - also at Advance. Not as in the extreme of judging an employee by their Klout Score and picking the one with a K85 - I find the concept interesting, but know now that the algorithm sucks and that will definitely devaluate it. But maybe another way of measurement will appear. At the end of the day the true skills will be the ability to apply the experience and knowledge on clients problems. To judge that I will still need a personal interview and see the guy in the eyes K85 or not.

5 steps in the wrong direction

In my last post I mentioned the new danish law that tells me to put up a new mail box by the street by Jan. 1st, 2012. As with The Yellow pages it's really a case study in old structures trying to cope with new patterns.

To save cost and mind you physical exhaustion of the Post personnel we are forced to put up a mail box, which is an extra box, since I have one through the door. That's a waste.

But it also bothers me that I have to pick up my snail mail in the morning. OK in the Summer, but quite annoying in the winter. Of course I don't walk around naked (it did spark a conversation with the neighbour though), but I have to "dress up" every morning. And of course the newspaper guy he has also decided to save 5 steps. But don't feel sorry for me.

We should feel sorry for the thinking that we add extra cost to a transaction, not only financially (the mail box cost 1700 DKK = 320 US$), but also reducing the attractiveness of the product (snail mail) by making it a hassle to consume (also a transaction cost in my mind). That can't be the right solution although Danish Postal or somebody else convinced the government to issue a new legislation.

If it has become more expensive to distribute the letters and other traditional mail the Danish Postal needs to increase the postage. And yes it may lead to less mail to distribute, but that is a basic value/cost consideration. But don't throw it at me.

It all becomes even more bizarre, when I in the newspaper (picked up in the box 5 steps away) see the same Danish Postal try to convince me that real letters offer so much more than a @, tweets or FB almost next to an article focusing on the new Mail Box law. That's another waste - of marketing money.

By the way, a good thing in recession, just in my close neighbourhood the law has generated a 300.000 DKK business to the producer and installer of the Mail Boxes. And we have app 1,1 million houses in Denmark. If 25% of these need Mail Boxes at let's say 1.000 DKK a piece it's a 250 million DKK industry. Waste generated business?

And yes, I know, I shouldn't have skipped the last weeks of spinning.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

All In

This morning I picked up my mail (snail that is) in my post box which now by law has to be 5m outside of my front door - a pain in the morning, when you are used to get it indoor. In the mail I found the latest up-dated edition of The Yellow pages - the well known printed format. Year after year I get a new and updated version.

When I first looked at it I had this feeling of seeing an old friend. But then it got me thinking - this is a complete waste of paper and money. I haven't used it for many years and I never will again. It's almost as if The Yellow pages are ignoring the Google-reality that I'm living in. But then again they are not, because they have their own specialized search engine www.degulesider.dk known by most Danes. Then back to the question, why are they sending this stuff. Ohh of course my Mom and a lot of older people like to receive it because they are not on-line or they just like the "old friend". But still that doesn't explain why they send it to me. The reason is money, they can charge a higher price - directly or indirectly for the adverts based on their distribution numbers. Almost fraud I would say, even though they claim efficiency on their site. No matter what I can not be part of that equation, because I don't look at it. I'm just annoyed!

My point is not the frustration this can cause. The Yellow pages know that their printed version will die - of course they can do their math, but I believe it used to be a major cash-cow and they don't dare kill it. Although they can paint a picture of a digital future and they have a solution at hand for this (including apps, and more than 20 mill searches) they keep annoying me and even cheat the advertisers.

It's a question of facing reality and go All In. And with the experience I just had with The Yellow pages I feel they don't go All In. It's hard when they basically need to let go of something that used to work for you.

This is also the case for my company transforming from a traditional Ad Agency to an agile problem solver and change agent in a digital world. Especially when the clients are not completely there yet and the business is still based on an old value definition (we charge mainly by the hour). It's really hard not to look back at what used to be your business and compare it with a future that is still unclear and unpredictable

I constantly try to remind myself to go All In and maybe the experience I just had with The Yellow pages helps me go further. And while I'm at it, I will contact them and tell them not to send it again and save some forrest.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

What's your energy coefficient?

It's no secret: the entire agency is completely rebooted and full of energy. And so am I.

It's not that I'm surprised given the fact that 75 employees have been away on HIMC. But I started wonder how and why it happens, why is it that I felt sorry that I had to go home last night (sorry family), why is it that I got up at 5 AM and why did I rush to work today - I admit I didn't a week ago! I have set off to understand it, not from a deep psychological view, but more from a personal perspective.

One reason for my energy level is that I'm interacting much more now than a week ago and with more people. And it's a much deeper interaction - not so much in time, but the topics (more than hallo and how are you, or let's get this meeting done so that we can have the next meeting)

Secondly I meet more energetic people all the time. It contributes to my level of energy. That also means that somehow I also get energized by people that I'm sharing an intimate sphere with.

The third factor I believe could be the level of "newness" in what I and we do. The outcome is not given - that fact provokes my curiosity.

A forth dimension is the trust (or maybe just lack of scepticism) that is involved in the interaction.

I imagine a lot of other aspects can influence, but to keep it simple my Energy Coefficient is something like:

a = the number of people I interact with
b = the level of interaction
c = the level of energy in the people I meet
d = the level of routine in the interaction
e = the level of trust

EC = ((a*b) + c - d)*e

I realize that our EC is an individual thing. A great former colleague of mine (AP) once told me (me being a bit un-energetic) that whenever she felt a bit down, she would find her absolutely best cloth and wear it and feel energetic. I tried it and somehow it worked. My only problem was to define my best cloth from my worst!

Time for reflection - what's your EC?

Disclaimer: I realize that if I'm all alone one day  my EC will by definition be zero. So don't loose faith although you have a day on your own!

Monday 7 November 2011

Hyper Island - the future of learning

I have just left a 3 day masterclass in Karlskrona at Hyper Island. And it made me start this blog focusing on what fascinate me digitally - from a personal and professional perspective.

Hyper Island has proven (to me) that the way we try to learn needs to change. It's not a revolution they represent, but they inspire people to learn through reflection and actively work with new insights - apply right away.

Today is day one after HIMC and our company is charged with curiosity and the eager to learn more. And the fact that the entire organization has gone through the same experience enables to make a true change.

And we will apply all the new learning techniques and share them with our clients. We have learned to learn and in a time of change where everybody is telling that we need to educate I think thats the best skills you could ever have

As a CEO of a company HIMC also let me see the employees in a completely new light and I'm actually embarrassed that I haven't noticed the great potential sitting next to me