CONTENTS

WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT

HOW I THINK

CASE STUDIES:

TIMBUK2MICROSOFT

DUNKIN DONUTSFAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND

AFTERWORD.

SYSTEMS TO CONTACT ME.

WHAT IS THIS THING

IN YOUR HANDS?

This is a collection of the modules of thought, or, examples of my thinking for the months of September to December of 2008 whilst attending Miami Ad School’s Account Planning Bootcamp.

With minimal pretension or shameless self-promotion, I invite you to step inside the inner workings of my mind. It’s not scary or overwhelming, which could be good or bad depending. It’s on the cooler side of things tempera-ture wise and attempts to archive pop culture through the ages in an effort to subvert it for the good of mankind.

Or something to that effect.

It can be messy, harsh, blunt, cynical, and defaming yet all in an effort to understand a recognizable truth about the time and place we’re living in. These truths, or insights, can lead to great advances on the product or brand-ing level. Advances that can empower the PC demographic over Mac brand leadership. Truths that sell more Ring Pops by taking a cue from Hip Hop culture and motivating kids to flash sugary bling on their fingers with pride. Creating market opportunity in hand-soaps? Method has it down, toting design based product packaging that can easily fit any interior aesthetic.

Such innovations were achieved through the cerebral gatherings of Account Planners; a career path with a dry name yet big job. Often glossed over by the shimmery greatness of creative executions by art directors or copywriters, Account Planners pour over trend reports and yet know how to argue Blek Le Rat’s relevance over Banksy in the art world to a creative director. How to stand up in new business pitches and sell an agency’s po-tential. Hosting briefings and keeping ends goals of creatives in mind whilst setting a controlled fire for branding innovation.

Being one step ahead of everyone else is imperative. This is the age of participation. This is twitter updates that change opinions in real time. This is beyond being connected; it’s about innovating ways to connect. This is ad-vertising in an age where traditional forms are becoming and more and more obsolete. A culture climate looking forward and backwards in time. Genres escape easy classification. Times are tough. To quote David Byrne:

YOUshould be

Concerned

Traditional marketing cannot solve the problems facing advertising today.

Good strategy can and is.

CP+B’s Dominio’s Pizza account flexed a design based approach to marketing by re-inventing how one orders pizza. From designing the pie in quarters online, to viewing it’s completion in real-time, to emailing you the name of the de-livery driver, they’ve created a satisfying user experience that goes beyond catchy buzz words and unique commer-cials. They’re not just touting “Domino’s Pizza is the best delivery experience around” they’ve made it so. Recently, Crispin has even taken the lead from companies such as IDEO, establishing a six person industrial design team on the product end; armed with the knowledge that great products don’t need marketing. They just need to be made.

Looking at a recent brand recognition report, the number one brand is Google. Have you ever seen a Google ad?

This is not to say traditional forms of advertising are completely bunk. Rather, to illustrate the importance of Account Planning and creative strategy outside of it’s predetermined conventions. As a profession that’s only 40 years old, there is plenty of growing room beyond writing briefs. Good planners should be ready to shift gears and become the glue that digs deep into the threads of culture and user experience; ready to inspire innovation in advertising.

I’d like to take Account Planning into many realms, most notably Design Thinking; where ideas are poured upon, tried and tested, giving clients a clear direction how their products and services can become indispens-able to consumers. Apple didn’t just make a nice phone that plays music. They designed a platform allowing Americans to Facebook from Dubai, play Katamari, browse Wikipedia, purchase the latest Beyonce album while drinking Starbucks, use GPS to find a Pinkberry, translate words French from to English and so much more. Case in point: Good design strategy adds value to both companies and consumers.

my brain. at work.

¡BRAND!

CASE //STUDIES

timbuk2

OVERVIEWTimbuk2 makes some darn fine messenger bags that are able to handle the rigor of urban transport. They were the first to popularize the messenger bag, being founded by an actual bike messenger in 1989 from his San Francisco apartment and have since dominated the messenger bag arena. Until recently...

With the advent of challenger brands gaining a foothold on culture vultures and urban nomads, Timbuk2 saw the need to grow their brand into a larger operation looking towards bigger waters while still catering to loyalists that have developed the brand with them.

Also to note-Timbuk2 has never advertised. Initial communication to their consumers would be crucial.

The challenge, though difficult, was compelling and became my favorite project at Miami Ad. With generous time to prepare, we were able to flex our Qualitative skills and put the creatives on a path that nailed the communication. I can safely say it was on this project I understood what it meant to be an Account Planner.

Step 1: ResearchStep 2: ThinkStep 3: Communicate

The Planning Team’s strategic break down:

RESEARCH: BRAND LANDSCAPE

“Who else is out there shlepping bags and who’s buying ‘em?”

After asking ourselves this, we compared Timbuk2 to the brand, Crumpler, a similar brand in the sense it also had a store in San Francisco and a hold on a similar group ofconsumers.

Crumpler consumers are comprised of mostly photog-raphers. Thus, the bag design is based around this specific lifestyle. Because of their domi-nance in such a niche market, they aren’t large enough to provide a serious threat to Timbuk2’s market share.

We made a simple but compre-hensive deck of these findings, then went off to construct our brief.

RESEARCH: QUALITATIVE

Lucky for us, man on the street interviews of Timbuk2 consumers are easily found in San Francisco as most people have one. Beyond that they’re really easy to talk to. These findings were weighed against similarities from an af-ternoon hanging out at the Timbuk2 flagship store in Hayes Valley, observing who was buying what, what clothing brands they aligned themselves with, shoes they wore, which bags they bought, etc. Emersed in the in-store ex-perience, I noticed a subtle aspect of brand identity from a photo (above) that cued me in on existing values for the brand. This paved the way for the complete fruition of our brief.

I really wanted to hone in on some quality or nuance about who the Timbuk2 users were and a uni-versal truth they shared. We thought qualitative interviews from a variety of Timbuk2 owners would provide the best insight so off we went.

THINK: INSIGHTS

In our brief we wanted to show the creatives who the Timbuk2 owner actually was. So, we wrote our target descriptions as personas that made sense in a real way. We didn’t need to use specifics or demographics, just the es-sence of where these people are in life, con-veyed in a meangingful way:

“She was a vegetarian in college, ate schnitzel from an Oktoberfest street vendor in grad school and now surprises heself with her knowledge of or-ganic baby food and eco-friendly diapers. Though she’s getting older, she hasn’t fallen victim to keep-ing up with the Joneses or searching for eternal youth. This free spirit believes her individualist atti-tude defies the conventions of age and unflattering stereotypes of motherhood.

Our brief was based on the insight that Tim-buk2 consumers have a 9-5 job they balance with outdoor activities and city lifestyles that travel with them. Timbk2 bags last forever as we found out and each bag could tell a story about its owner. This product intimacy that allows users to trust their bags. Their bags don’t judge them.

MAIN IDEATimbuk2 let’s you be you.

TARGET AUDIENCEGrad Students/Young ProfessionalsNew MomsEstablished Lesbians

COMMUNICATE: EXECUTIONS/PRESENTATION

To communicate the strategy in our brief in a compelling way to the client, I drew upon my skills as a video editor to construct an idea video that took the client on a journey from the problem to key insights about their audience.

Our creatives understood the personal values of Timbuk2’s liberating friendship with its user, and had a field day constructing ads for print, airports, mini-sites, a complete store re-design and a microsite.

¡IDEA VIDEO!

The presentation went more than well and the client took away a lot of directions from us, namely our comprehensive research on their audience and what would cue them into buy-ing Timbuk2. Our dedicated art director and copywriter’s skill injected attitude into the bag in a way that avoided being self celebratory, instead illuminating the duality of its user, the kinship of the bag and Timbuk2’s trustworthy attitude that lends itself to a variety of con-sumer groups.

The client liked us so much we won the Best Overall Presentation Award, in addition to custom Timbuk2 bags and a tour of their factory in the Mission district of San Francisco.

RESULTS

BEST

OVERALL

TIMBUK2

I’m a PC.and I’ve been made into a stereotype.

MICROSOFT

the problem:With Apple leading a global brand war and Microsoft perceived as uncool, technically inefficient, and lacking human values, where do we go after uniting our users, “I’m a PC”? How do we make PC users proud of their machines despite the bugs, faults and crashes plagued by Windows?

This was an exciting campaign that involved Microsoft account heads at CP + B excited to see our work come alive for them, and gain insight to where Microsoft should go in branding themselves in the post “I’m a PC” environment. Since CP + B are their cur-rent agency, we had a lot to think about in choosing a direction that would stay true to groundwork laid for before us and yet innovate Microsoft Windows as an attractive platform.

Our first step in analyzing this problem was to look at the existing consumer habits and where technology would be 3-5 years from now. From a Mac oriented atmosphere such as Miami Ad School, PC usage was frowned upon, however after doing deep dives on where Microsoft is at and where they’re going, I actually want to get one soon. Their hardware advantages and versatility were selling points but what really stood out is the unbridled potential of the PC, only limited to the power of its user.

The MAC

VS.People use Macs for their entertainment value, creative brand equity, and simple user interface. Macs are indeed sleek and intuitive machines, but their value stops there. They lack the ability to cater to a variety of professions, have little to no 3rd party software support, and customization is sparse if any.

Supporting this, is Apple’s miniscule 13.8% share of the consumer PC market. They are the David to Microsoft’s Goliath and garner praise from the tech community that aligns themselves with the their values of “think different”.

thePC

Imagine you’re at a four star restaurant. The decor is sleek and modern, the hostess clicks away at a iMac before taking you to your seats and serving the finest in gastronomic cuisine. All is well with you and your experience, but little do you know, in the back, stained with sauce and yellowed over years of unforgiv-ing use, is a trusty PC that processes orders, bank statements, keeps track of pay time, and is crucial to your experience whether you know it or not.

Mac’s are entertainment. PC’s are workhorses.

With this in mind, we knew we had to leverage the PC’s humble faults with its powerful benefits and versatility. We knew that our audience was comprised of goal oriented people, who’s choice of a PC was to compliment their life, not necessarily be an object of their identity. What could we say then, to celebrate their use of Windows in tandem with injecting confidence in their PC personalities?

THE STRATEGY:

CREATE YOUR OWN MONSTER

MAIN IDEA:

WHY SHOULD THEY BELIEVE THIS?

VIEWING PC’S AS MONSTERS PROVIDES THE NECESSARY LEVERAGE TO EMBRACE THE BRAND’S FAULTS AND YET SIMULTANEOUSLY PLAY UP THEIR ABILITY TO BE MUTANTS THAT ARE POWERFUL, VERSATILE, AND COMPLETELY UNIQUE TO THEIR USER’S DIVERSE PERSONALITY AND NEEDS. A MONSTER CAN BE BOTH LOVABLE AND BEASTLY; A PERSONALITY OF ECCENTRICITIES, QUIPS AND THE POTENCY FOR SUCCESS. A MONSTER CAN BE AN INTERNAL STRUGGLE ON PART OF THE PC USER, A COMPLEX PREDICAMENT FOR THE USER TO STRIVE AND CONQUER: EINSTEIN HAD A PENCIL, BUT WHAT IF HE HAD A PC?

WHAT DOES YOUR MONSTER LOOK LIKE?When briefing our creative team, who struggled to narrow down the various possibilities of executions, we suggested they draw just what their monsters would look like on paper. From

there, they got a real understanding of the passions and interests their monsters would be composed of-and where they should take the main idea.

:CreativeStaying in line with their “I’m a PC” campaign, our creatives fleshed out what current Windows celeb-rities monsters would look like, starting with Phar-rell Williams. Then they created a micro-site that al-lows users to use “the monster generator” to create monsters that were unique to their own personali-ties.

IDEA VIDEOI made another cool idea video, this time incor-porating three TV screens that underscored the life without walls campaign, and illustrated our ideas about the Windows Monster, and where it could go.

The team at Crispin Porter were pleased with our strategy and where the idea of a monster could go. Though they had issues with the cre-ative directions, they loved how we leveraged the negative perceptions of windows.

So, out of 10 teams, our group won the Best overall big idea, recieving some cool CP+B swag, and a chance to pitch it to the planning director in Boulder.

RESULTS

BEST

BIG IDEA

MicrosoftBEST

BIG IDEA

MICROSOFT

AMERICA RUNS ON DUNKIN

Dunkin Donuts

The Assignment

Despite myself being American, I had never eaten or been to a Dunkin Donuts franchise in my life. I grew up on the West Coast, and so never had the oppritunity to dine on their wares. However, after doing pages of quant research, watching all their ads, and holding heavy discus-sions with my planning partner (from Austria, so we were both in the same boat), we got a good hold on their consumer.

This wasn’t a full client pitch, so the problem structure was different, and illustrated 3 kinds of advertising:

•Creative Executions dictated by the planning team.•Creative Executions dictated by the creative team.•Creative Executions dictated by both creatives/planners.

Changed many times over the course of my working with my planner. After much number crunching and data combing, we discovered an interesting finding: 77% of Americans drink their coffee at home in the morning, instead of grabbing it on the way to work/school/etc.

so we asked ourselves:

how can we get more Americans into Dunkin Donuts instead of making their own brew?

The Brief

the solutionChallenge Americans and promise a bigger bang for their buck for turning to Dunkin in the morning.

the executionsSince I knew our creatives would be busy with their own executions, I asked if I may be respon-sible for creating an animatic for a mock commercial that would follow the planning strategy. They were excited about the idea, so donning my hat as a motion graphics editor, I sat down with Illustrator, drew up some vector renderings and arranged them in After Effects to some cool music.

The following page is a step by step on the process of a young professional looking guy, wak-ing up hazy eyed and needing a boost-bad. Instead of turning to his home brew, he hits up a local Dunkin for a recharge. I was also responsible for the tag-line “Wake Up. Harder.” which decidedly fought for despite my group’s hesitance.

other executions

Our combined strategy with our creatives led to a shared vision of global aware-ness, fair trade, and high quality-seldom associated with the Dunkin Donuts brand. Every cup of Dunkin Donuts is fair trade certified and their coffee beat Starbucks in taste tests across America.

Using the Starbucks comparison as a model for a piece of market share we’d go after, we concepted the story that every cup of coffee goes through to get to the consumer.

resultsOur instructors enjoyed our insight to gain market share from home brew brands and especially enjoyed the conceptualized animatic and corresponding tagline. Though this wasn’t a competition, our group felt more than satisfied that we had reached our target and conveyed our message effectively.

family violencepreventionfund

the

Overview:The Family Violence Prevention Fund.Hard to roll off the tongue, eh? Hence the problem: Re-brand a dynamic non-profit that pictures a world without violence, helping women and children escape harmful situa-tions where their well beings are threatened and empowering young boys to become men.

With a 150 Million dollar a year operating budget, the FVPF is huge compared to most other non-profits, but their business front was scattered and lacked a solid, global direction they badly needed.

With only two weeks, our task was to rebuild their strategy and outfit the FVPF with a new name, mission and positioning statements, and stronger direction to cut through the competitive non-profit landscape riddled with recession woes.

Problem Solving:Taking a hard look at the non-profit land-scape, our team weeded through the many competing organizations. We studied brand awareness for organizations that work with women and children. Looking at platforms such as UNICEF, we wanted something that aspired towards a global attitude and banner of hope.

We really wanted to understand consumer’s minds’ about non-profits. What names stuck? Which didn’t? Why? Through various quali-tative interviews we found that non-profit awareness is incredibly low across the board and many people, if placed in abusive situa-tions, would not reach out to them. Instead, calling the police. Such findings led us to question how the FVPF could seize the vio-lence prevention awareness gap existing in the social conscious.

In regards to a new name, we noticed awareness worked best with acronyms that conveyed unity and positive destiny. After many brainstorms, we finally felt excited about:

Qual Interviews

ResearchEducationAdvocacyLeadership

With our acronym in place we wanted to create a positive for-ward vision by the addition of “future”. Our thought was that the FVPF creates futures for those that can’t envision one for them-selves currently. Incorporating this idea of change, we charged forward to flesh out our brief and write the mission and positioning statements:

Brief Main Idea:REAL is the formula for achieving a violence-free society.

Positioning StatementA premiere international organization employing Research, Edu-cation, Advocacy, and Leadership development in an effort to halt violence in the home before it harms the world.

Mission Statement:REAL Future is a thought-leader, working to achieve a violence-free society. Our Research, Education, Advocacy, and Leader-ship development strategies stimulate positive change at home and in the world.

Creative Executions From the brief strategy, the creatives went for a subtle yet powerful message that dealt with a touchy subject . Print campaigns illustrated the plight of abused women and children with respect and solemnity.

WebsiteThe current FVPF’s website was great for the late

90’s, but definatly needed a facelift. Our art director was kind enough to call upon my web design skills

to come up with a design in congress with our vision. Placing compelling images, and testamonials in sleek,

easy to use interface created a more visceral brand experience their current site lacked.

RESULTS:The clients were excited about our ideas and how far we dove into their cause. Key elements they enjoyed were our consideration of the market landscape and recession fears. We had a solid hold on their target audience (donors) that would further their efforts and how best to approach them with compelling brand structure. They enjoyed the executions in their contrast of simplicity and power though wished the name was a bit stronger. After presenting our deck and small discussion afterwards,we were awarded Best Strategy.

Afterword.I hope you enjoyed the cases I worked on, my insights on the kind of planner I am and the planner I’d like to become. My ideas,though incipient, are ignited by a passion for thinking through problems, inventing solutions that aid people and a down right love of brands.

To the right is an informal resumes of my experiences. Though I’m happy about where I’ve been, I’m way more excited about where I’m going.

Turn the page to contact me and drop a line to share your own opinion on branding, beautiful displays of quantitative data, cultural phenomena in ways of new consumer groups, new types of food blends (went to a Japanese/Mexican restaurant the other day!) and anything else that involves the cultural mish-mash we’re all in.

Education

2001}St. John Bosco College Prepratory2006}Dominican University of California//English Literature with a Creative Writing Emphasis2007}San Francisco State Multimedia Studies Program//Flash Design & After Effects2008}Miami Ad School//Account Planning Bootcamp

Work

2006}Bridgeway Interactive//Video Editor2008}Creating Your Space//Image Author2008}Colexico//Web Designer & Flash Developer2008}Terrorbird//Marketing Intern

Experience.

MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY.

CONTACTING SYSTEMS:

TELEPHONE: 415.717.6133

EMAIL: CHRIS@COLEXICO.COM

WEB: http://www.chris-callahan.com/

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TWITTER: http://twitter.com/colexico

DOPPLR: http://www.dopplr.com/traveller/Colexico