Storytelling at the Superbowl.
Entertainment is one thing, but what’s the moral of each brand story?

By Jeff Freedman, Founder and CEO, Small Army

Last night, we were entertained with stories from more than 30 brands trying to win the hearts and minds of game-watching consumers.    But, entertainment value alone doesn’t necessarily do that.  The most effective stories also convey a moral that enables the audience to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the brand.   Based on this criteria, here are the true winners and losers from the game.

The Winners:

Volkswagen:

Moral:  When things are built right, there’s no need to worry.

Although this ad has received some (IMO, unwarranted) criticism for being racist, this ad was not only entertaining, but also clearly conveyed a moral that caused the audience to make relevant assumptions about the brand – safe, reliable, well-built, etc.

Tide

Moral:  Stains are never wanted.

In this clever ad (also impeccably timed in the 4^th quarter) Tide told an entertaining story that appealed to fans of both team.  They did not tell use how they got rid of stains or claim why they were better than their competitors.  Instead, they confidently expressed that no stain is sacred.  As a result, we will assume they do a great job of getting rid of them.

Jeep:

Moral:  Appreciate the things that are best in life. 

With one of the few ads that pulled at heart strings instead of funny bones, Jeep demonstrated that they appreciate the best things in life – in this case, the troops who are fighting for our country.  By associating themselves with the troops and honoring them in the ad, they elevated their message far above gas mileage and style.  And we all walked away with a slightly greater appreciation for the brand.

The Losers:

Kia

Moral:  If the truth is touch to tell, make something up.

While many found this ad entertaining, it would be surprising to see people running to Kia dealers to buy their next car.  Who wants to buy a car from a company that believes you should avoid the truth.  Seems a bit fishy to me.

SodaStream

Moral:  We can all reduce waste

SodaStream had the opportunity to stand for something big, and get people excited about making their own carbonated drinks at home.  While the landfill/less plastic moral may be noble, it seems off the mark and not broad enough to make a real market impact (especially among the broad Superbowl audience.)

Go Daddy

Moral:  It’s fun to kiss a nerd?

Go Daddy clearly goes for shock value.  While SuperBowl fans are all aware of Go Daddy by this point, how comfortable are they with having Go Daddy manage their domain name for them?  Fortunately for Go Daddy, the competitors are relatively unknown, so consumers are often left without a choice – so, perhaps they got their value.  But, imagine if they actually told a story that made them look good?

Although many of this year’s stories were entertaining, it’s the moral of the story that will determine their ultimate effectiveness. That’s the moral to this story.

Oh the cool things I get to do at work. If you’ve read any of my blogs over the past few months, you know there are two things I love: sports and innovative marketing ideas. On November 29th, I sat at the intersection of these two passions at The Ad Club’s “Sports & Entertainment: A Marketing Summit".

If you weren’t there, check out this roster; you couldn’t ask for a better group of speakers. The event kicked off with Sports Marketing committee chairman Chip Rives discussing the landscape of an industry worth over $50 Billion annually. Chip is no stranger to sports or sports marketing, being both the CEO of TRP Sports and Entertainment and a former Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year during his football career at Wake Forest.

What I was most impressed with at the event was the depth and breadth of the speakers featured, as well as the consistently high caliber of their presentations.

Manny Rodriguez was, in my opinion, one of the surprise presentations of the day. Rodriguez is VP of Sponsorship at NRG Energy, a global leader in solar energy. Rodriguez discussed how NFL stadiums are increasingly incorporating solar into their construction. NRG has installed solar panels at 8 NFL stadiums across the country, including Gillette Stadium. At the beginning of Rodriguez’s presentation, only three hands went up when he asked if people thought about their energy bill. After he finished, more than half the room agreed they wanted to know more about solar energy.

Later on in the day, David Pace of Pace Sports Management discussed the sponsorship deal between UGG Australia and Tom Brady, providing very interesting insight into how a historically female-targeted brand came to partner with Tom Brady to promote luxury men’s footwear. It all came down to giving men permission to try a pair of UGGs. Pace shared a particularly funny story in the planning process in which an executive asked him to find the “Oprah of men.” The result was Tom Brady.

Glenn Brown, Director of Brand Strategy for Twitter (@GOB for us prolific twitter users), spoke about new uses for Twitter in sports marketing, including Brad Keselowski tweeting live from NASCAR’s Daytona 500, and gaining over 100,000 twitter followers in the process. Brown also shared stories about objects that tweet, such as the NBA backboard cam at the Slam Dunk Competition this year, and the London 2012 pool cam.

In a stats filled presentation, Clifton Ma, Yahoo! Head of Fantasy Sports, discussed the business behind the game. Did you know more people play fantasy sports in America than live in Canada? While we all love playing Fantasy Football, here’s why marketers love us playing fantasy sports. The average player is a male (80% of all players), will be on their league site or app for 500 minutes a month, and spend $468 dollars a year on fantasy sports. His average income will be $93,000! 40% of them will remember an ad that is on their fantasy page, as opposed to 31% normal ad recall. Oh the power of fantasy!

The keynote for the night might have been my favorite presentation from a sports lover’s standpoint. Peter King, the legendary Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback writer shared stories from inside the world of the NFL with us. One of his best stories really illustrated the change in the sports economy over the course of his career. King told us (and I’m paraphrasing of course) of a phone call between him and legendary Packers QB Brett Favre in 1996 the night before Favre went into rehab for painkillers. Over the course of 45 minutes, in what Favre said was his last phone call before rehab, Favre discussed how “everybody wants to be Brett” and how miserable it really was, how he was destroying his life by popping painkillers just to get out of bed, and how he really needed to take care of himself.

King recalled getting off the phone with Favre, on a Tuesday night, knowing the Sports Illustrated publication deadline was Monday night. In a pre-internet environment, King just hoped this bombshell of a story would hold until the following Monday to go to press, and until the following Thursday when it would release. So he waited, and he read newspapers, and he hoped. And shockingly, at least to us in a instant information society, the story held, and Peter King broke one of the great personal stories in football.

In today’s world, says King, he would have immediately tweeted out two quotes from Favre teasing of a story to come, posted the story to SI.com shortly after, and been on ten TV and radio programs by the morning. That is how much sports has changed in 15 years. From a world in which 15 reporters show up to the NFL combine, to a world in which 700+ show up and the event is televised live.

King wrapped up his presentation with one of his famous lightning rounds of questions from the audience, in which both the question and his answer must take one minute to complete. It was during one of these rounds that my favorite quote from the event came out. Again, paraphrasing; King said of his access to the NFL “I love my job because I get to take people places they can’t go”.

What did you think about the event? Tell us in the Sports & Entertainment Marketing survey, we appreciate your feedback. Connect with us on Twitter @TheAdClub and tell us what you enjoyed most!

When the office first started kicking around the idea of an Ad Club “sports and entertainment marketing” event this year, I was thrilled. Being a life long sports fan (Lets Go Kings!), the idea of working on an event centered on sports stirred fantasies of listening to local sports legends such as Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, or, dare I say, Tom Brady speaking at an Ad Club Event.

While that would be amazing, I quickly realized I was focusing on the “sports” part and neglecting the “marketing” aspect; which may actually be even more interesting given the time we live in. Sports have existed as long as men have wanted to prove their superiority to each other…so basically as long as humans have existed. But never have we been able to consume sport in the way we do today.

The ways we consume sports is as wide as the world of sports itself. We’ve got social media breaking news of trades before the media, and sometimes before even the players involved know about it. As fans, we can use our mobile devices to stream 24/7 sports, or connect with fans around the globe with tools like Liverpool’s LFC Connect app. Fans are talking to their favorite athletes via social media, and in many cases, the players are even talking back and meeting their fans. And how can we forget fantasy sports (Although I may want to forget this season)? It’s a whole new game out there!

Sports & Entertainment: A Marketing Summit, The Ad Club’s premier sports and entertainment event on November 29th , will explore the fast-changing marketing landscape of sport and entertainment, both on the global and local level. Join fans, brands, and marketers to examine the business, identify opportunities for advertisers, and assess the major trends and issues influencing the wide world of sports + entertainment, media and marketing at The Ad Club’s Sports & Entertainment: A Marketing Summit on November 29th.

Follow us on Twitter @TheAdClub
Connect with me on Twitter @GreggOberg

Rules of Employee Engagement

According to Forbes, “employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.” There are many different theories and rules on how to have a successful employee engagement program, and the challenge is figuring out which approach is best for individual companies.

“5 Companies, 5 Different Takes on Employee Engagement,” from GreenBiz.com gives an in-depth look at different companies and their uses of employee engagement. Each company focused on one very specific aspect of employee engagement instead of a list of rules. SAP AG tried to implement a “shared vision” regarding their employee commuting which led to an increase in “SAPs green commute program.” The companies saw success with their emphasis on particular pieces of employee engagement theories, but I think employee engagement is much longer of a process than just a one-step quick fix.

BI WORLDWIDE, a company that focuses on helping businesses with employee engagement believes that the rules of employee engagement have changed. After extensive research, BI WORLDWIDE has developed ten new rules of engagement that take a deeper look into what makes employees the most successful.

• 1) Get Inside Their Heads
• 2) Make Them Fearless
• 3) Make Money a Non-Issue
• 4) Give it Meaning
• 5) Be Boldly Transparent
• 6) Keel Them Healthy
• 7) Make it Cool
• 8) Let Them Lead
• 9) Magnify Their Success
• 10) Take it to Extremes

“The New Rules are a contemporary approach stemming from BI WORLDWIDE’s extensive experience in behavioral economics and our latest research into the drive of today’s employee,” says BI WORLDWIDE.

I think the ten new rules cover everything about employee engagement and are a foolproof plan for a successful engagement program. They put emphasis on every aspect of an employee and how to engage them, not just how to "make them happy." Employee engagement is always changing and BI WORLDWIDE'S new rules are the most modern example of this.

For more information on The New Rules of Engagement by BI WORLDWIDE, check out Rodd Wagner, VP of Employee Engagement and Rick Pulito, VP of Marketing Development at The Ad Club’s Under The Dome Event on November 7th, 2012.

52nd Annual Hatch Awards
Sports, Recognition & an Earthquake

As I was checking my twitter feed during the 52nd Annual Hatch Awards to examine a picture The Ad Club tweeted of me (I needed to make sure I was looking my best before presenting awards on stage, obviously), I discovered there had been a 4.6 magnitude earthquake out of Maine. I felt nothing from the quake and wasn’t worried about it because, to be honest, there were much more important things going on in my life; like figuring out how many hatch bowls needed to be presented on stage and stuffing name tags.

The Hatch Awards was my first major event with The Ad Club, and I was thrilled to get a behind-the-scenes experience and witness some of the most highly respected creatives in New England win hatch bowls, enjoy good food, drinks, and the company of their community. It was very rewarding watching art directors, copywriters, designers and other creatives win hatch bowls. For some it was their first win, others, their tenth; either way there was an overall sense of accomplishment as each winner walked off the stage.

Recounting his experiences with Hatch, Lance Jensen, EVP and Chief Creative Officer of Hill Holliday said, “I don't remember specifically what I won my first Hatch Award for, but I do know that I worked very hard to try to win one. Very Hard. It's very motivating for people just starting out especially to know that your peers recognize the late nights and weekends that go into the work we do. It's no fun going to Hatch and not winning. Trust me. I've been there. Hatch is a tough show, maybe the toughest. There’s major talent in New England. You never know how things are going to shake out. Thankfully, the ad gods smiled up on us this year. Next year, it's a whole new show.”

Towards the end of the evening, I overheard some of the staff talking about how they felt like Hatch was their baby, and when the night was over it was all grown up. What people don’t see at the Hatch Awards is the incredible amount of hard work that goes into planning all things Hatch. It begins well before the summer, and is put into high gear during Judging Weekend. In July, the judges are flown in for two days of non-stop meetings, meals, and judging, of course. The staff is responsible for planning this weekend, the show, and everything in between. As you can imagine, there are hundreds of details that go into a ceremony like Hatch, and it was incredible to see it all play out over the past few months.

Because this was my first Hatch Awards, I truly had NO idea how important and historically renowned the event was. After the awards were presented and everyone went into the reception area, I took a step back and observed the crowd. I was finally able to understand what Hatch and The Ad Club were really about: networking, appreciation, entertainment, and extremely smart and creative individuals. I couldn’t have had a better first Hatch experience and am looking forward to the next – minus the whole earthquake thing.

Groundbreaking work and an earthquake… all part of the 52nd Annual Hatch Awards.

“While many guests reported being moved by the aftershock of Tuesday’s earthquake, most were moved by the quality and the edginess of the branding work at the 2012 Hatch Awards,” reported Kathy Kiely, President, The Ad Club.

CONTACT

Kathy Kiely / President, The Ad Club

Cell: 617 413 1104 / Kathy@adclub.org

BOSTON, MA (October 17, 2012) – The Ad Club presented the 52nd Annual Francis W. Hatch Awards Tuesday Night at the Seaport World Trade Center. Lil’ Phunk, the explosive hip-hop dance group and junior dance team for the Boston Celtics, kicked off the Awards Presentation.

Close to 900 attendees gathered to honor the most creative agencies, advertising professionals, and clients building brands in Boston. With over 1000 submissions in 36 categories, The Hatch Awards have become the premier New England Award show for branding and marketing. Every major Fortune 500 brand handled by a New England agency was represented, including Jet Blue, Liberty Mutual, Major League Baseball, Dunkin Donuts, Newsweek, John Hancock and Barnes & Noble to name a few.

Boston-based advertising agency Hill Holliday won the coveted “Best of Show” award, for their client Newsweek. Kathy Kiely commented, “Best of Show was in the Innovative use of Media category, really showing that the relationship between creative directors and media directors has never been more important and that media and creative departments are becoming powerful creative allies.”

336 Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards were presented to ad agencies, in house creative shops, and students. The Hatch Awards Steering Committee was Chaired by Steve Curran, Founder, Chief Creative Officer, Pod Design and, as always, the entries were judged by a jury of creative leaders flown in from around the country including agencies such as Droga5, Victors and Spoils, 72andSunny, R/GA, and Wieden+Kennedy.

This years top winners who took home the most iconic Hatch Bowls included: Arnold Worldwide with 60 awards, Hill Holliday with 39, Allen & Gerritsen with 24, Mullen with 22, Full Contact with 21, Brand Content with 16, NAIL with 16 and, SapientNitro with 13.

The Marketer of the Year Award was presented to Shawn Sullivan, CMO of the Boston Celtics. “The multi-faceted ‘I AM A CELTIC’ campaign was inspired by Doc Rivers’ passion and leadership, but its effort extends off the court as well,” said Allen & Gerritsen CEO and Ad Club Chairman Andrew Graff. “Shawn Sullivan is the 2012 Marketer of the Year because of his team leadership, commitment to creative excellence, and ability to consistently expand the international reach of the Boston Celtics brand.”

An up and coming creative, Nathan Clapp, a studio designer and rising star at PJA Advertising and Marketing, won the “Just Hatched” Award. Major sponsors included Cramer, Unigraphic, Mammoth Media, Staples and the Creative Group.

ABOUT THE AD CLUB

The Ad Club is the trade group for the New England communications Industry.
Focused on networking, professional development, advocacy, and diversity, The Ad Club organizes over 40 events and programs every year. Legacy events like the Hatch Awards, The Edge Conference, and Rosoff Awards run side-by-side with the latest in new media and the digital landscape. The Ad Club's membership represents the best in class advertising agencies, media companies, and brands in the New England region. For more information on The Ad Club, visit www.adclub.org.

The Ad Club CMO Breakfast With Patron Spirits

Tuesday morning, The Ad Club hosted John McDonnell, COO Patrón Spirits at the monthly CMO Breakfast Series, at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center. As a social media guy, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of this CMO Breakfast (they don’t have a Twitter handle or Facebook page). But I would be proven wrong over the course of the hour presentation John gave. 

Now I’m a sucker for cheap humor, and John hit the perfect note with his opening remarks. “How many of you have had a bad tequila experience?” John asked the crowd. Awkward half hand hands went up across the room, as we quickly realized 90% of the room had spent at least one night getting acquainted with the bathroom floor, hugging the toilet to keep from falling off the earth. 

OK, well played John, you’ve got our attention; now onto the brand. First shocker; Patrón was started by this guy. That’s right, John Paul Dejoria, founder of Paul Mitchell. Who knew? OK most of you probably did, but not being a tequila drinker I didn’t. What’s more shocking is that Patrón, this globally recognized luxury brand, was founded just 23 years ago (same as me!) in 1989. Now I’m completely captivated John, tell me how in just 23 years, Patrón has taken a spirit associated with words such as “cheap” “harsh” and “foul” into the 18^th best selling retail spirits brand worldwide.

How do you manage such an amazing turn around? They literally took a product considered to be an inferior good, and made it a globally recognized luxury brand, and status symbol. Short answer: “Perfection” in product and promotion. Each and very bottle of Patrón Tequila is touched by no less than 60 hands from start to finish. From harvesting, to distilling, to hand blowing the glass for each bottle! Every small batch (and don’t you dare tell John Patrón is mass produced, it’s NOT!) is tasted by the master distiller!

As John explains it, Patrón is an affordable luxury. You may not have that $100,000 BMW, or the house on the Cape, but when you order Patrón, you can feel like you do. Put it this way, you see a pretty girl in a bar and want to impress her, do you walk up to the bartender and say “Bartender! I’ll have the cheapest shit you’ve got!” or do you proudly order Patrón? You are what you drink!

Well now I’m impressed, but again, I’m a social media guy. What have you got cooking in that department John? No Facebook, no Twitter; clearly you have no idea what your doing…right? Wrong. Just when you think Patrón Spirits is a cold luxury brand isolated from its consumers, John throws the Ultimat Vodka Social Life Audit at us.

This application, which requires a Facebook Login (brilliant!), takes your social check-ins into account and spits out a Pass/Fail grade on your work-life balance. So they DO get social. They’re interacting, they’re providing real content, and they’re getting your all-important information! Remember, marketers prefer to use Facebook for awareness, not just likes and fans. 

After the breakfast, Ad Club President Kathy Kiely sat down with John on the Big Orange Couch and asked him about some of the ongoing experiential campaigns Patrón is doing, including the NYC “Window Washer”. That video will be coming in a week or so in our next post, keep an eye out for it.

For those of you who were at The CMO Breakfast, what was your favorite part? Connect with us on Twitter or comment below and let us know! 

The Ad Club is proud to announce that our President, Kathy Kiely,was appointed to serve the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston as the Board Vice President. Kathy has been a board member with Big Sister since 2010, and will serve in a support role for newly appointed Board President Sharon McNally, Chief of Staff at Connors Family Office.

Prior to joining The Ad Club as President in 2005, Kathy built a name for herself within Boston’s marketing and advertising communities, holding the title of Vice President of Marketing for Bertucci’s Restaurants and Partner and Executive Vice President of Arnold Worldwide. Throughout her 25+ year career, Kathy has worked on brands including Talbots, McDonalds, The Hartford, Hershey’s, and many more.

Founded in 1951, Big Sister Association of Greater Boston has been dedicated to helping girls reach their full potential through the guidance and mentorship of women in the community. Big Sister, the largest mentoring organization in Greater Boston, works exclusively with girls in 69 different cities and towns in the area, serving 2,956 girls in 2011.

“I am very passionate about the Big Sister’s mission of helping local girls reach their potential, and am always honored to give my time and effort to this wonderful organization. If you know me, I’ll be seeking you out soon to ask for your support!” said Kathy. To get involved, contact Kathy on Twitter.

Over the last two months, we've had the pleasure of interacting with hundreds of amazing students from universities and colleges across New England. All of us at The Ad Club and George P. Johnson Experience Marketing are thrilled with the level of work these students submitted.

From the creative, to the strategy, to the execution at the pitch night Monday, we've simply been blown away. Winners will be announced Thursday night, but we wanted to share the top 5 finalists with all of you so you could see the work each of these teams did. Check back with us Friday to see the team who won the $5,000 cash prize and PAID internships with GPJ. In no particular order, here are your 2012 #IveGotGame Student Brand Experience Finalists!

Editors Note: Today's guest blogger is Diane Hessan, President and CEO of Communispace. Connect with Diane on Twitter @CommunispaceCEO.