Velocity is a proud sponsor of our friend David Richert and Richert Racing. Last year, we had the opportunity to work with David, developing his brand, logo, website, and sponsorship packaging.
A few months back, David dropped by the office and the Velocity crew had the chance to sign his helmet and wish him luck before starting his tour of Italy in the Formula Renault Italia Championship in Imola. As the only Canadian among 25 international drivers, David finished 16th despite a considerable number of setbacks.
Photo by Grajewski Fotograph Inc.
David took a short break from speeding through the green hills and valleys of Bologna just long enough to appear on the cover of Winnipeg Men this month, with photos by another longtime friend and collaborator of ours, Jerry Grajewski of Grajewski Fotograph Inc. A great article by David Schmeichel, which digs into Richert’s past and his quest to position himself as Canada’s preeminent racer.
As he returns to Italy this month with Team Torino Motorsport at the Misano World Circuit, Velocity wishes David good luck, and good times! Voler Bene! Buona Fortuna!
Our Russian is now Canadian!
Today is a big day around here, Olga Gorelkina was sworn in as a Canadian Citizen and we couldn’t be prouder. Chris, Chris and Karla were in attendance and also took the oath with the new citizens. Listening to recently sworn in immigrants speak was a moving reminder of how much we take for granted and how lucky we really are to be Canadian.
Congrats to Olga, Canada is lucky to have you.
It’s Manitoba Time: The Future of Manitoba’s Advertising Industry
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about Travel Manitoba’s 2011 campaign themeline/slogan/tagline “It’s Manitoba Time.” Released in a PowerPoint presentation last week and causing a stir in Manitoba’s advertising community that hasn’t been seen since SpiritedEnergyGate, it seems this campaign is already being led to slaughter before we even know what we’re slaughtering.
The death knell for this campaign was sounded long before last week though, reaching back to August 2010 with the news that the Vancouver offices of DDB Canada, an agency owned by one of the largest advertising holding companies in the world, was chosen over a Manitoban agency. (“They took our jobs!” sums it up fairly well.) Travel Manitoba, a Crown corporation, had broken an unspoken contract. If an account funded by taxpayers isn’t safe, then what is? The assumption we’d held dear for so long had crumbled.
Velocity Branding was one of the agencies that bid on this campaign— twice, because we’re just that nice — and while DDB winning the account caused a swarm of complaints around our office, we now see this “debacle” as a strong lesson for not just our agency, but for every agency in Manitoba. Advertising is a global commodity, and we need to learn how to compete on a global scale. If we don’t, the corner office may soon be a cubicle.
Creativity, not postal codes
If we’re judging strictly based on merit, DDB won the account fairly. Our industry isn’t based on who’s geographically closest, but who does the best work. DDB Canada has produced a staggering amount of innovative work over the years, even earning last year’s “Agency of the Year” award from Strategy for the second year in a row. DDB consistently pushes boundaries for their clients— just look at their excellent “Locals Know” campaign for the Canadian Tourism Commission— and it would have been a mistake for Travel Manitoba to dismiss DDB’s creative capital because of geography.
Clients should be concerned about how an agency’s work will create a return on investment. Travel Manitoba may be a Crown corporation, but its most important stakeholders aren’t advertising executives. It’s the people involved in Manitoba’s tourism industry— those whose livelihoods depend on a steady flow of tourists— that have the most at stake. Travel Manitoba saw an opportunity in DDB to deliver significant results for Manitoba’s tourism industry. Manitoba’s ad executives may have felt entitled to that opportunity, but that entitlement was baseless.
Tick tock, you’re on the clock
Many agencies in this province have been built on one thing: the billable hour. For years, creativity has been second place to how many ticks on the office clock. The final destination— that is, effective creative — has taken a back seat to how long it takes to get there. If Manitoba’s agencies aren’t willing to take on some of the risk involved in producing outstanding creative— basing our effectiveness not just on the hours worked but on the product delivered— how can we expect clients to believe in us?
Does DDB bill by the hour? Probably— there are very few major ad agencies that have a value-based compensation model (though clients like Coca-Cola have been slowly adopting the model; so has agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky). It’d also be foolish to think this isn’t the industry standard. But DDB’s campaigns for Volkswagen during the 50s and 60s— created on an incredibly limited budget by today’s standards— weren’t the result of billing out hours; they were the result of brilliant creative that no one else was producing.
It’s time, Manitoba
Will DDB’s “It’s Manitoba Time” be successful? It’s far too early to say; the only creative most of us have seen consists of preliminary sketches and a tagline. But even if it isn’t an effective campaign, even if it doesn’t bring in the number of tourists Travel Manitoba is hoping for, Manitoba’s advertising agencies have to realize that this is all besides the point.
As long as we continue to believe our worth is measured by hours instead of quality, larger agencies like DDB will continue to encroach on our “territory.” It’s up to Manitoba’s agencies to start taking risks that produce superior work so we can stop larger agencies from taking what is (apparently) ours. Because as we’ve seen, even “safe” accounts are no longer safe.
Could Velocity have done better a better job than DDB? It’s hard to tell. They say your first idea is always the worst, and we were probably on idea seven or eight by the time we delivered our first bid. But we have no doubt that DDB deserved the account. For years Velocity’s been moving toward a better agency model— one that sees equal value in output (creative) and input (hours). But getting there is a journey.
It’s time, Manitoba.
Factual Friday: Karla in Carmen, Chris in Toronto, ‘Other Chris’ Speaking Succinctly
Contrary to the catchy title, this isn’t going to be an ongoing series where we recap the week. OK, so we’re recapping the week, but whatever.
Chillin’ in Carmen
Karla, our Senior Art Director, was in Carmen on Monday talking to a group of 30 girls for a program called Girls in Gaming. The program’s pretty much what it sounds like: covering everything from animation to graphic design to video game development, Girls in Gaming helps girls get involved in the world of digital creativity.
What did Karla talk about? Oh, you know, the usual: what it’s like to work in the graphic design world, how to be successful in the graphic design world, the importance of making connections in the graphic design world; pretty much everything graphic design world related. The girls asked lots of great questions, and Karla had a great time seeing all the awesome stuff they’ve been coming up with.
The girls also spent the morning with Robin and Sandy Debreuil of Debreuil Digital Works. The brothers, from Miami, Manitoba, are really nice video game developers whose work can be viewed here. You can also check out this video profile New Media Manitoba did about them. Judgmental Juno
‘The Prez,’ Chris Clarke, is in Toronto. Leaving sometime yesterday, right now he’s probably passing judgement as co-chair of the ‘Best Album Packaging Judging Committee,’ which is responsible for awarding ‘Recording Package of the Year.’ Here’s last year’s winner:
To see some previous winners, click here. We wish him a safe return home and hope he doesn’t have too much fun in his ivory tower.
Speech! Speech! Speech!
Our marketing strategist, Chris Brown, had the honour of giving a speech this morning in front of members of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association. For the past year, Velocity’s been hard at work rebranding MHCA, and today we finally sent it out into the world. While feeling a little bit of Empty Nest Syndrome, we’re proud of the work we’ve done, and we’re looking forward to seeing MHCA becoming an even stronger voice in Manitoba because of it. Chris talked about this in his presentation, as well as showing off the new logo, tagline, and previewing the gorgeous new website.
In attendance were several other Velocity Branding members: Karla Burr, Colette Boisvert, and Lee Froese. Melody Richardsof OYA Creative, who was responsible for the brand strategy, also joined us for the lovely little breakfast. We’ll be posting the logo and website next week.
Here’s Chris presenting. Whenever you have a chance to put a cow into your presentation, do it.
Call of Duty’s “There’s a Soldier in All of Us” TV spot is perfectly executed. Which is exactly the problem.
Call of Duty’s “There’s a Soldier in All of Us” TV spot is a perfectly executed advertising concept: a war zone featuring ‘soldiers’ from all walks of life- from a multi-million dollar basketball player to a sometimes-funny talk show host, to a little girl and elegantly-moustachioed line cook- the spot powerfully highlights the appeal of Call of Duty: it’s a game that the young and old, famous and not so famous, moustachioed and non-moustachioed, can enjoy. And judging the spot solely on this, it’s a superb execution. However, nothing is created in a contextually void vacuum- especially advertising. Which is why the spot is troubling.
The spot, created by ad agency TBWA, should make every viewer uncomfortable: with its depiction of regular people acting as soldiers nonchalant about the destruction around them, the minute-long ad trivializes the reality of war. (And the usage The Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimmie Shelter’- a song written about the chaos of the Vietnam War- further solidifies this trivialness.)
But who should we blame for our discomfort? The advertising agency that produced the spot? The client that approved it (Activision)? Unfortunately, neither. The blame, it seems, rests on the consumer.
“There’s a Soldier in All of Us” is a reflection of what war has become to us today: a concept so far removed from our daily lives that it can be seen as a commodity of enjoyment. TBWA’s Chief Creative Officer described the spot as dramatizing “what it’s like to play the game.” He’s right: Call of Duty is about people from every walk of life converging online to engage in simulated warfare for pure entertainment. But this simulation of destruction isn’t TBWA’s fault, the spot’s fault, or even Activision’s fault. Consumers want to play Call of Duty, Activision wants to make money by consumers playing Call of Duty, and TBWA wants to make money by helping Activision. If consumers didn’t want play the game, there’d be no ad, there’d be no game, and there’d be no release date the week of Remembrance Day.
The role of advertising is often misunderstood, with the industry being accused of manipulating consumers. But at its core, advertising is a reflection of a society’s values. As such, it’s very rare to see an advertising concept that isn’t trying to connect positively with a receptive audience. (Why would advertisers alienate groups that keep them in business?) For example, if IKEA comes out with a TV spot that has a same-sex couple shopping for furniture, it’s not because they’re trying to be ‘edgy’- it’s because they know there’s enough same-sex couples shopping at IKEA to rationalize the marketing strategy. Likewise, Molson Canadian’s famous “I Am Canadian” campaign targeted Canadians because Molson realized that, well, Canadians drink Molson Canadian. And it worked. Why? Because the campaign reflects everything that Canadians think they are: smart, peaceful, and fun-loving people.
“There’s a Soldier in All of Us” is very much the same: TBWA was probably working with research that suggested some (but not all) who play Call of Duty feel like a soldier when they play. Is the experience of Call of Duty the same as real warfare? Of course not. But not all Canadians are smart, peaceful, and fun-loving either, and yet Molson’s campaign is one of the greatest in Canadian marketing. Advertising is more about reflecting back at us what we want to be and less about what we actually are. Whether that’s good or bad is another article.
The release of Call of Duty and its troubling TV spot before Remembrance Day was inappropriately timed. But gamers will be playing Call of Duty next week, next month and next year. Shouldn’t that be the real source of our discomfort?
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Some Favourite Twitter Accounts Right Now
If you’re interested in marketing, branding, advertising, technology- or anything else that we’re interested in- here are a few accounts to add to your Twitter. They’ll either make you laugh or inform you- or, in the first case, make you laugh while informing you.
The Hulk’s apparently got himself a Graphic Design job and is rocking a life of dark-rimmed glasses and flannel. His good design advice is made extra authoritative by ALL CAPS. A great replacement of the now-defunct Angry Rand Paul.
This post was written in 15 minutes: Why good is better than nothing
This post was written in 15 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. It was looked over once, maybe twice, then uploaded onto our server and displayed for the world to see.
This post isn’t perfect- in fact, we’d argue the prose is very robotic, which makes it sound like we’re angry or constructing some sort of revolutionary document. But in 15 minutes, it’s hard to work out all the kinks of style and structure. (And maybe we wanted to sound like a revolutionary, anyway.)
Too often, the thought of creating something that will be judged by others (a necessary occurrence in our industry) is met with destructive paralysis. We put off doing a project because we’re scared it’s not going to be perfect; we delay writing that first paragraph because we know it’s going to be rejected by whoever’s in charge of rejection. But creativity never stops. And even if it’s not perfect, ‘creatives’ have to create.
This post might have bad grammar in it, or one too many words. But we’ll argue that you can still get the message. And what’s the message? Sometimes we’re too focused on perfectionism when we need to be focused on getting our ideas out there. You may have the greatest outline for the greatest article, but until you write it, edit it, and submit to the world, all you have are empty intentions.
Your business might have a product that will change the world, but until you file a patent for it and get it in front of a consumer’s face, all you have is an unrealized dream. And everyone has a brain full of those.
Our heads are full of countless ideas that we’ll never get out into the world because we’re too afraid: of rejection; of the constant tweaking and refining; of the vulnerableness we expose ourselves to when we share what we’re passionate about. In a creative world, fear is our greatest enemy.
This post isn’t perfect. But you’re reading it. You may not have learned anything from it, but it’s here. And that’s more than we can say about all the other ideas that sit in our head, delicately tucked away until they’re ‘just perfect.’
Perfect doesn’t always see the light of day. But good enough always will. You’re reading this, aren’t you?
Make it a conversation, not a declaration.
How your company says something is as important as what your company says.
If all writing were created equal, a dense, poorly-written document would be read with as much vim and vigour as the latest paperback thriller. And if that were the case, we’d see John Grisham sharing the bestseller’s list with our inept 9th grade essay on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
But we don’t, and for a simple reason: how you say something is as important as what you say. And just because something’s written in English, doesn’t mean it’s interesting, or that people are going to read it. (Which may mean you’re not moving past this sentence, right?)
Without good writing, your company isn’t telling a story. And if it’s not telling a story, it doesn’t have a brand. And if it doesn’t have a brand, well, why are you in business? Good writing is a conversation, not a declaration, and how you write is a huge factor in your business’s success.
I, Robot or I, Person?
It’s a myth that professional writing needs to be formal (boring) and use as many pompous words as possible. (See: every office memo ever written.) This kind of writing is often created by those who lack knowledge about a subject or enjoy a false sense of sophistication through their writing skills. Not surprisingly, this style of writing’s bad for business: your company needs to sell itself, and to sell itself, it needs writing that doesn’t obscure its message.
Conversational writing speaks to your audience directly and clearly. Unprofessional writing- the stuff some would consider ‘professional’- alienates your audience through murky meaning and unnecessary verbiage.
For example, which of these companies would you rather buy from?
“Comfy Pillows is a factory direct manufacturer of polyester, feather, and down pillows that meet the highest standards of quality and that ensure a satisfactory sleep for all of our customers.”
“Sleepy Pillows makes comfy pillows out of really great materials. But if we’re being honest, what we really make is a good night’s sleep- our pillows are just the comfy means to a comfy end.”
For us, it’s Sleepy Pillows. They’ve got personality. They’ve got a story. And, most importantly, they realize that conversational writing creates an experience that customers can embrace. (And this is just their “About Us”-imagine all the other great things they’d say if they were a real company.)
Comfy Pillows, on the other hand, is trying too hard to impress: by clouding their message with unnecessary and overused words, (every company has ‘high standards’ and ‘quality,’ right?) they’re not saying anything meaningful. This kind of writing may satisfy the owners of Comfy Pillows, but it leaves the customer- the one who needs to be satisfied- empty and cold.
Let’s converse about conversational writing.
Conversational writing isn’t something learned overnight, or that anyone can do easily. It’s a craft, and one that’s perfected by copywriters every day. Copywriters like… OK, we aren’t going to hard-sell you. But you get it. Conversational writing is a learned ability that strengthens a company’s brand and engages its customers, and its something we approach seriously.
To learn more about the beauty of conversational writing, check out these articles:
And to see just how intricate conversational writing can get, try The Economist’s Style Quiz
Dylan, Bowie, and 2Pac all sang a song of change. Now it’s our turn.
For the past few months, Velocity Branding’s been hard at work creating a well-rounded branding experience for the people we work for. Because when we look at everything we do, it all comes back to one thing: creating business opportunities for our clients. And to create those business opportunities, we’ve been building and improving the services that deliver those opportunities. So if things seemed at a standstill on our website, we’re sorry. We’ve just been getting our affairs in order to offer more value than we’ve ever before.
Change is good, and this year’s had a lot. We have two new designers, a writer, a stack of awards and a stable of projects we’re proud of. We’ve also have a delightful new group photo, taken by the charmingly talented Jerry Grajewski
And while the past year’s seen a lot of change, the next year’s going to see even more: from a redesigned website to more blogging to expanded services, we’re getting things moving- in the real world, and on ‘the Internets.’
To keep up to date, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or just type velocitybranding.com into your browser address. Whatever works for you.
And if you have a project you’re interested working with us on, email Chris or give us a call: 989-8433. We’d love to hear from you.
Velocity Now on Twitter; Considers ICQ Account Next
Velocity has created a Twitter account to, well, “tweet”. (Just joking- we know how to tweet.) Along with tweeting about the comings and goings in our office- and perhaps anything else that occurs up and down the street outside our window- we’ll also post funny and informative things, like why cow-tipping isn’t a meaningful pursuit, the best way to make a ham sandwich, and how Europe can fix its ailing economy.
Here’s our Twitter account: www.twitter.com/velocity_brand
