Most Trusted Brands

In honor of Advertising Week, I thought I'd post a recent list of the most trusted brands in America. Not the standard list that we are all accustomed to seeing - the one with Johnson & Johnson, Disney, and Coca-Cola all over it.

Now there are lots of compilations, ranked on all sorts of measures. But I thought I'd share a list of the most trusted brands for privacy, as compiled by TRUSTe. Given how we interact with brands, it seems to me that we are collectively redefining what we call trust, so I thought this list was especially newsworthy and important.

I have to say I was a bit surprised by the list, if not shocked. You can read it here: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/09/17/ebay-named-most-trusted-brand-in-america, and I'll also summarize it here:

1. eBay

2. Verizon

3. US Postal Service

4. WebMD

5. IBM

6. Procter & Gamble

7. Nationwide

8. Intuit

9. Yahoo!

10. Facebook


A few things to note, at least from my perspective:

- eBay! Wow. I had no idea of the importance of this property.

- No mention of Google, shockingly.

- US Postal Service? Interesting given that snail mail is in theory dying.

- WebMD is the only really "personal privacy" brand listed, other than maybe Nationwide which I imagine is more about the sales representatives than anything else (although Nationwide is "on your side")

- IBM instead of MAC, a little strange given the popularity of iTunes.

- Really only one traditional CPG "brand" per se, Procter & Gamble


I think the biggest wow for me out of this whole list is that we are changing what we value in brands. Our lives have become digital, mobile, and socially online. So it really should be no surprise that we are starting to value brands that help us in those areas, particularly when it comes to privacy.

Better renew my eBay account!

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

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Wellness Gaming

Here's a Saatchi Wellness blog first: we have a post from one of our fans from Facebook!

Bob Easley is feeling some inspiration from the Nintendo Wii Fit, and the new options in wellness that it presents. Pretty cool, actually, if you think about how gamers have gone from being couch potatoes to athletes.

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

Introducing our "friend", Bob Easley:

There was an article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal that’s another interesting example of how the world is evolving toward a new, ever widening perspective on Wellness:

A Pitcher's New Core Routine

The last time most of us looked, video-gaming brought forth thoughts of the marginally scary “Grand Theft Auto” or perhaps the latest version “Madden” -- and of teenage afternoons in front of the screen that might be better spent outdoors or in the library. Video games, it was said, were a root cause of the obesity epidemic.

Now a video game – the Nintendo Wii Fit – is part of a Major League Baseball player’s fitness routine! And it’s being covered in The Wall Street Journal, of all places! How things have changed!

It’s a reminder that “Wellness” is, or could be, just about anywhere. The innovators at Nintendo found their way into a gigantic new market when they rolled out the Fit version of the Wii.

Now the game is everywhere from Senior Centers to major league locker rooms (and some agency and client conference rooms as well). If video games can be thought of, developed, and marketed from a wellness perspective, is there a category that can’t be embraced? (Saatchi Wellness has certainly demonstrated once again that condoms are not off-limits!)

Much like the way marketers of every stripe and flavor have rushed to make sure they offer i-phone applications, all of us should be exploring how to connect our brands to consumers in new ways to bring wellness more fully into their lives. Product innovation, strategic focus, and messaging will all be better. It’s both a business opportunity for our clients, and a quality-of-life opportunity for the consumer. In the language of Wii baseball, that’s a home run!

- Bob Easley, fan of Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

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Advertising Week

Advertising Week is next week here in New York.

I have to admit that I've never paid that much attention to it (my apologies to the organizers). But for whatever reason, this year it is totally on my radar. Maybe I'm just more aware, or maybe the organizers have done a great job marketing Advertising Week this year. Not sure which it is, but I am totally pumped this year.


As part of my AdAge subscription, I received a complete guide to the week's activities which really got me going. Jammed pack with events. Plus it's all there on the event website at http://advertisingweek.com/. For a really simple registration fee of $49, you can enroll and then choose the events that interest you. There are a ton.



Helayne Spivak and I are certainly going to the opening gala in Times Square. It'll be great to catch up with colleagues old and new. And then I've literally circled all the events during the week that I'm planning to attend (clients permitting of course).

Topics include traditional issues like media planning and creative development. And of course "hotter" topics around social media and our evolving industry are covered as well.



One to highlight is Big Ad Gig -- it's a talent contest to help young talent get a start in the industry. Our very own Helayne is a judge, and we will be hosting one of the winners here at Saatchi Wellness for a month-long freelance gig. We are looking forward to it.



So if it's not on your radar this year, I encourage you to visit the website (http://advertisingweek.com/) and check out some of the events. See you there?!





Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

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Whitney, Re-Launched

My friends know that I love my Divas. Donna, Mariah, Beyonce. To the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left.

And of course, Whitney.

Ah, Whitney. Whether you love her or not, you have to appreciate what she has been through as a human being. The high high and the low lows (literally). And you have to acknowledge her incredible success, even if you're not a fan. 140 million albums sold and the most decorated female singer of all time.

One of the things that I admire about Whitney, aside from her soulful voice, is the way that she has been marketed. Right from her first launch.

Flash back circa 1986ish. Suddenly we hear this powerful voice on the radio and us fans of pop music literally can't believe our ears. A little princess with royal roots and a voice that could only be described as magical.

Hit song after hit song, the next one even better than the last. A breakthrough music video with just the right dress, How Will I Know, and a cameo of Aretha. An album that becomes not only the second largest selling album from a female artist (second only to Carol King's Tapestry), but also the largest selling debut album from anyone.

Perfectly packaged to sell, and boy did she sell.

As we get to know Whitney, we start to see the musical connections and the marketing machine behind the launch. Daughter of legendary gospel singer, Cissy Houston. Niece of another Diva, Dionne Warwick. Close close friend of a living legend, Aretha Franklin. Backed by music mogul, Clive Davis.

An entire infrastructure put into place to make this girl famous.

When Whitney's second album came out, there was a collective sigh of relief. It wasn't just a fluke! This girl really can sing! We were in Whitney heaven, and so was the record company.

I was living in Boston at the time, and when she came to town to do a concert, she was sighted all over the city doing charity work at the public schools. Brilliant, what can this girl do wrong?

Enter The Bodyguard. Just when maybe we might might might be getting bored, Whitney throws herself onto the big screen with great fanfare and a tremendously successful movie soundtrack. Biggest one since Saturday Night Fever.

I saw some clips last night from Whitney's interview this week with Oprah. Evidently The Bodyguard was a turning point in her marriage and subsequently a downturn in her career. Everything started unravelling at that moment. Did you see her husband's reality tv show? Grimace.

But now we have her back. Whitney, Re-launched. The voice is still there, yes a little more mature and perhaps a little worn, but it's still there. And the marketing machine has kicked in again. Clive Davis is engineering his little princess back into the spotlight and we are loving it.

Big time intimate interview with Oprah. Inspirational song, I Didn't Know My Own Strength, perfect for the moment.

Celebrity-filled album release event at the Time Warner Center. Free concert in Central Park. Appearances on MTV. Hit single written by Alicia Keyes, in tribute to her inspiration as an artist.

The result? Album debuts at number one, and a huge collection of fans have their Diva back.

I love marketing.

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

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Ageless Icons

As a society we are fortunate to have a number of pop culture icons who remain ageless. They remind us that as long as we still have it, we should flaunt it. Look at Cher, look at Tina, look at Jack. Still doing their thing, and serving as inspiration that we should still be doing ours when we are their age.

Johanna Skilling, our head of Strategic Planning, had the chance to see one of our ageless icons this past weekend. And she still has the sparkle in her eye from it.

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

Johanna:

What will you be doing when you’re 83?

If you’re Chuck Berry, you’re dressing in your blue sequined shirt and captain’s hat, picking up your favorite axe, and getting your groove on in front of folks who love you, just like you’ve always done.

I had the great good fortune to see Chuck in concert this past weekend. The man looks good. Actually, he looks great: tall and well built, with a fun-loving face that would suit a man 20 years younger.

I’ll grant you, the concert got off to a slow start, with an extended demonstration of on-stage tuning and a mild hissy fit by the star himself ("Get the manager out here! I want the manager out on stage!") but that’s one reason to go to live shows: to see a real person doing what they do, the way they do it.

And did I mention he’s 83? So while he was stopping the show and tuning up, he said, "I’m old enough to do things the way I want ‘em done." Love that – he was making sure his music came out right. And he didn’t ignore the fact there were paying customers in the room – in fact, he acknowledged us cheerfully, saying we hadn’t come to hear him play anything but his best.

And if his best is that of a man slightly past his prime? I don’t think anyone cared – quite the opposite, judging from all the hollering and cheering and clapping going on. It was real. It was vintage. And it was fun.

By the end of the set, when Chuck invited "4 or 5 young ladies to come right up here. Well, you don’t have to be young," and 20 or more women of all ages stormed onstage to dance, we were all in rock ‘n’ roll heaven. Chuck was playing Johnny B. Goode, by now with a broken string, and we were all singing along.

In a long (long) career – did I mention the man is 83? – it’s easy to guess that Chuck has had his ups and downs. But seeing him in action was a great reminder that life is all about seizing the moment – and not letting a few sour strings hold you back.

And that it’s ok to wear spangles after 80.

Go Johnny, go, go!

- Johanna Skilling, Director of Strategic Planning at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

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When is a "Friend" a Friend?

Facebook has certainly changed our network of friends and our social relationships. A huge amount has been written about it lately and I know that all of my "friends" are talking about it.

This is a world where William Martino thrives (you should follow him on Twitter at @wmartino) so I asked for his thoughts.

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

William:

Perhaps it's a coincidence, but I noticed two articles last week which discuss a "backlash" against Facebook.

The first, from Elizabeth Bernstein at the Wall Street Journal, wants us to think before we post—all of the useless/silly/boring/"too-much" information we share in our status updates are ruining the relationships people have with each other. Over at the New York Times, Virginia Heffernan points to things like privacy concerns, losses in productivity, and yes, even us marketers, as reasons why people are abandoning Facebook.

Whether you agree with the sentiment in those articles or not, it's clear that social technologies like Facebook are making us question the nature of our friendships and radically changing what that label means. People who we've lost contact with—whether intentional or not—are coming back into our lives, loose acquaintances are now privy to the sometimes intimate thoughts and actions of our day, and we are coming to realize that "six degrees of separation" is probably more like three or four.

Our circles of friendship are suddenly a lot larger than they used to be, but are the relationships we have with all these people the same?

British anthropologist Robin Dunbar theorized that there is a limit to the number of people that we can maintain a stable relationship with, based on the size of our neocortex. This number—Dunbar's number—is about 150 people. I don't know about you, but most people that I know on Facebook have at least that many friends in their network.

Facebook themselves have conducted research to better understand our growing social graphs, including the number of friends we have, how tightly we're connected, and how often we communicate with each other. The results are quite interesting:

• The average network size is about 120 people, with women typically having more friends than men (of course, the range is quite large—some people have networks in the teens, others in the thousands).


• In a network of that size, most people only "maintain a relationship" with less than 20 of them (this number goes up as the network gets larger).
  


• The number of people you passively communicate with (browsing status updates or photos, for example) is between 2 and 2.5 times as many as the number of people you actively communicate with (exchanging email, for example).
  

Clearly, there are multiple meanings in how people define a friend. On one end of the spectrum, there are the casual connections that are causing our networks to swell (friend-of-a-friend, co-worker, etc...). But on the other end are our "classic" friends—the people with whom, even without technology, we would still have deep relationships.

Our wellness is greatly influenced by the people we surround ourselves with, and this mix of different types of friends is a key component. There is strength and reassurance (and maybe a bit of ego) in large numbers—we feel a sense of security in knowing that we are (or at least can be) in touch with so many people, if necessary. But volume can't compensate for quality, and we still need a core handful of people that we know we can trust and rely upon.

Brands that are engaging in social media need to understand this mix as well. Chances are, they are a casual connection and not in the "inner circle" of friendship. They need to respect where they are in the social graph (understanding boundaries, levels of intimacy, when it's OK to intervene, etc...), otherwise they will lose their friendship altogether.

- William Martino, Digital Strategist at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

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Masking Your Disapproval

It was the shout-out heard 'round the world that evidently can hit pretty close to home.

I love this blog post from Stu Fink, our ACD, because he watches someone else's big time "mistake" and learns from it. We'll call it a "coaching moment".

Hope this finds you well -- Jim.

What's up, Stu?

So, even before Rep. Joe Wilson shouted, “you lie!” during President Obama’s address Wednesday night, I was sickened by the sight of many of our elected officials behaving like petulant children unaccustomed to not getting their way.

There they sat, many of them stone-faced or grimacing. Some were shaking their heads in mock-disbelief. Others were busy typing away on their blackberries while the President spoke. Many flailed their arms in the air, jockeying for both the president and the camera’s eye. It was a shameful and immature display.

And all I could think was, “is that what my co-workers and clients see when they’re sitting across the table from me? I wasn’t sick to my stomach because I was watching politicians behave like brats. I was sick to my stomach because I looked into my TV and feared I saw myself staring back at me.

Lest you think, I’m the only one within the halls of our agency with a terrible poker face, think again. I’ve been on the receiving end of withering looks of disapproval more often than I care to remember. And they’ve come from account people, planners, clients, fellow creatives, project managers, hell, even the guy who runs the newsstand once eviscerated me with a scowl and arched eyebrow. I think I tried to buy The Post with a fifty.

I guess my point is this: I’ve never had a client respond to one my of patented eye-rolls by saying, “hey, you know what, thanks for showing me how stupid you think I am. Let’s do it your way.” Now one can argue – and I’ve tried and failed to make this argument with my bosses – that outwardly showing your displeasure is a sign of passion and dedication. It shows clients and colleagues that you “care.” But it doesn’t. It shows clients and colleagues that you’re an jerk (note from Jim: Stu didn't use the word "jerk").

I am a work-in-progress. I’m trying to get better. Stabbing your thigh with a pencil under the table is a good way to covertly work out your aggression, by the way. Now, I wish I could say I’m trying to get better because it’s the responsible, mature thing to do. But the truth is, I’m trying to get better because I keep losing arguments I badly want to win.

Whether it’s trying to convince a client to make the logo smaller or, perhaps slightly more importantly, trying to achieve bi-partisan support for universal health care, you’re not going to win by behaving like a jerk (note from Jim: Stu didn't use the word "jerk"). So, lets stop holding our politicians to a higher standard than the standard we set for ourselves.

I’m doing my best. I encourage all of you to do the same. Now try and read that last sentence without rolling your eyes. It ain’t easy, but it’s worth the effort. (note from Jim: you taught me something today, Stu)

- Stu Fink, Associate Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

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