Catfoa Musings

Tonight's CATFOA got me thinking enough to actually write down more than 140 char.

Like most good self help, rousing speeches or pep talks, Michael Lebowitz didn't tell us much we didn't already know. He did reawaken the groggy throughts, and made a few things a little stickier in their articulation. While there were other yeah!yeah! moments, these stuck out to me.

STICKY 1: Advertising is the business of growing business.
Sometimes it thinks it's in the biz of winning awards, getting noticed or making the "rock stars" he talked about.

STICKY 2: "If I tell someone about your brand.. it's [because I like them, not your brand]"
Like he said, when's the last time someone repeated a tagline to you?

STICKY 3: A brand is the sum of its actions.
Most still talk incessantly about themselves, too much and too loud. Granted, in Mpls that probably wouldn't get you punched in the face, but it would make for lonely happy hours.

STICKY 4: Marketing is a value exchange.
A Zeus Jonesian observation about how the process should be looking at what people care about and trying to make it better.

STICKY 5: People appreciate complexity.
How I wish clients embraced this one. Like he said, no one walks out of a movie and marvels at how clear it was. I'd add, unless you're unhappy about how predictable it was.

STICKY 6: Don't try to solve a problem that never existed.
In the race to create content, apps, etc. a lot of needless things are being created. Good point - just because it's digital and it's not a print ad doesn't mean it matters.

STICKY 7: Don't outsource
This seems a bit controversial, as the legacy agencies tried to build capabilities, fail, and point to Crispin & Barbarian or Sierra Bravo and Mpls. I wonder if this came up after I left in Q&A

STICKY 8: You can't really get mgmt to care.
That was my net in the Q-n-A. Maybe you really do need to cut bait.

Scary, but I realized the last two CATFOA guys don't have deep, gilded resumes with rock star pedigree.

To paraphrase a tagline that many briefs and ad people HAVE repeated over the years -- they just did it.