Joseph Jaffe's "Battle for the Heart" roadshow came to L.A. with creatives discussing new definitions of creativity.
Where's you heART? Joseph Jaffe's is in promoting creativity. The iMedia editor at large and author of "Life After the 30-Second Spot" has taken his passion on the road, talking with both left and right brainers from Chicago, to the west coast, and back to the east in what he's calling "Battle for the Heart."
On Tuesday, the roadshow landed in Santa Monica, California at the beachfront Shutters hotel. Jaffe expected more than 150 people -- I didn't count, but there were few empty seats in the room.
The theme is "A new definition of creativity." However, Jaffe's first keynote speaker called that concept "bullshit. History is littered with people thinking they were rewriting their industries," said Court Crandall, partner of agency Ground Zero and someone that Master of Ceremonies Doug Schumacher called both a left and right brainer.
The 30-second spot isn't the problem, he said. "This industry is obsessed with different tools. But rather than fumbling around the toolbox, we need to be thinking about what we are trying to build."
Being pragmatic is his definition of creativity. "We're not in the ad business; we're in the client solutions business," he said.
He shared several solutions his company came up with that used various tools and media, ranging from a print campaign for BMG (aimed toward game developers and written in a programmer language only they could read) to a 12-city event for "rejuveniles" put on by Toyota that featured such games as vehicular dodgeball and high octane red light, green light.
A campaign he shared from the digital front was one created for a Sega online military game, "Heat." The premise: because people have a primal urge to kill, the only way to save humanity is to create a cyber diversion. The campaign included handmade looking print ads, direct mail packets sent to media people, a faux documentary and several websites talking about cyber diversion. A year after the campaign, Crandall said, a search for cyber diversion turned up 84 destinations.
What did the campaigns (which also included ads for the Women's World Cup on ESPN that were invitations for then President Clinton to attend, and a four-part, long-form "movie" for ESPN and Miller Light) have in common? Not much, said Crandall. They were created over a number of years, for different categories of clients and using different media. But, "they all represent a better solution," said Crandall. "The only way to redefine for sure is know what the client needs to succeed."
His pointers: Use traditional, or walk away from it. Know what's available, but don't be a slave to any technology or medium. "Be problem solvers and be valued," he said.
Jaffe, the next keynoter up, said Crandall's campaigns had more in common than he mentioned. "They all had originality, and action," said Jaffe. "They weren't ads for the sake of ads; they had reason for being, and they moved people."
In keeping with the theme, Jaffe then outlined definitions of creativity, pulled first from dictionary.com (which uses the "old" American Heritage reference book as source) and then from "new media source" Wikipedia.
Among the definitions: generating something wholly new, combining ideas in new ways, and news uses for old ideas.
"Can we use traditional media in nontraditional ways?" Jaffe asked.
He then asked: "What if reach is not the problem?" We're continuously trying to reach a mass audience, he said, but the key is to connect and affect.
There is now a fourth dimension for accomplishing this, he said. Beyond listening, reading, and watching, we can now touch and interact. This provides the opportunity to tell non-linear stories. "We haven't begun to master the potential of the web," he added.
What excites Jaffe about the web? He listed several opportunites:
Madison + Mountain View: the intersection between pull advertising and search. He cited an American Express ad as an example, in which consumers could calculate how much they wanted to spend on a person's gift, and purchase a gift, all within a banner. "It's where intrusion, engagement and permission come together," he said.
Collaborative or communal marketing: Jaffe showed a GE ad that enabled online viewers to create a picture with their mouse, as well as collaborate on the picture with friends. Other examples included a Coca Cola ad from which consumers could create and print out their own posters, and a Virgin ad in which people could upload their own pictures and then play with the image. Jaffe pointed out that people spent as much as seven and a half minutes with Burger King's Subservient Chicken ad.
Consumer generated content: "If you believe creativity is changing, you have to believe that the process of creation is changing as well," said Jaffe. Consumers want to be creative and participate in the process, he said. He showed as examples a Nike ad he created from a spectacular Tiger Woods shot, and a spoof of the Paris Hilton Carl's Jr. ad. "Great ads and bad ads will be spoofed," he said.
The Nike ad he posted on his blog received more than 150,000 impressions, and sparked a lengthy conversation. A major point of contention: What should Nike have done? Sued Jaffe? Used the ad and credit it to a consumer? Hire Jaffe? Do nothing? The company chose to do nothing, but Jaffe wondered if that's the best decision. He cited an American Airlines campaign in which the company controlled consumer-generated content, having them send in their own movies and choosing which to run.
From ads to experiences: Recent examples of interactive experiences are Burger King's Sith Sense ad, in which Darth Vader plays 20 questions with the viewer and with help from the Burger King, and the "Trailer Crashers" campaign for the "Wedding Crashers" movie that enables viewers to become a part of the scene.
Click to full screen: Jaffe believes this should be the gold standard as it brings permission, sight, sound and interactivity together, while allowing for just one ad to be viewed at a time.
Jaffe's final words on the definition of creativity: "Whether new definition or old, be true to yourselves, do good work, don't let technology be a distraction, and great creative knows no boundaries."
His recipe for success:
Step one: Pour in a healthy amount of permission
Step two: Add involvement to taste
Step three: Decorate with experience -- "We're in the experience business."
Dawn Anfuso is editor of iMedia Connection.