PALM TREES, PRODUCT AND PUNDITS AMONG BIG AGENCY NEWS

It’s takes vision to be successful in a world that’s in a state of constant transformation. Talking about transformation is the easy part – just look at the #transformLA hashtag on Twitter that tracked this week’s Transformation event from the 4A’s.

Having the humility, imagination and nerve to embrace transformation is an altogether different thing.

Prompted by one major CEO’s vision of a simpler future, two advertising super-powers are demonstrating the willingness to do things a whole new way.

If you missed it, The Wall Street Journal ran an article this week about the GM global account.

Here’s an excerpt:

GM To Consolidate Chevrolet Advertising With OMC And IPG

Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Interpublic’s McCann Erickson are forming Commonwealth, a joint venture that will handle the account, these people said. The new agency, which is expected to be announced Tuesday, will be based in Detroit and have offices in about a dozen markets around the world, they added.

Last year, GM’s Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson told The Wall Street Journal that the company was working to shore up its advertising and marketing operations. “The company has far too many advertising agencies which drives up costs and complexity. Multiple agencies lead to inconsistency and a dilution of our message,” he said.

CREATING NEW SANDBOXES

I love that GM is embracing a less complex model. This is a company that has had about 70 agencies handling its business around the world. As someone who’s personally had to collaborate with over a dozen other agencies at times for a global financial client, the process is not only unwieldy for those involved, but the client often can’t be effective at managing the collaboration process and thus the issue that Dan Akerson so astutely understands and describes. So, GM, kudos for paving the way to better, smarter collaboration.

I reached out to Nick Brien, Chairman & CEO of McCann to help put this amazing win into perspective. Clearly, there were many brilliant decision makers involved in making an important decision like this – afterall, GM spent $4.7 billion on advertising last year – so it has huge implications any way you slice it. In a matter of months, an agency stood out with a fresh solution, one that presented clarity in a world of overwhelming variables and possibilities! Lucky for me and the readers of this blog, Nick was happy to give us some key insights:

 

BuzzCloud: Nick, it’s been widely known that GM put its account in review late last year. Here we are about six months later with a huge success for you, McCann and your GS&P colleagues, and a new joint venture Commonwealth. What does this mean for McCann?

 

Nick: It demonstrates that McCann is committed to delivering its clients real innovation in building global brand equity through alliances and partnerships that capitalize on creative talent and category experience.

 

Since taking the helm at McCann in April, 2010, you are known for being relentlessly focused on collaborating in ways that transform the agency communications model. How will this new collaboration impact GM’s business?

 

GM has many of the best car brands in the global auto industry and the challenge is to optimize marketing impact whilst reducing costs. Commonwealth will streamline Chevrolet’s marketing activities across all markets whilst providing one global voice and consistent brand vision.

 

As we know, a brand no matter how big or small now sits on a global stage thanks to low cost barrier channels that social media platforms provide. Is all this connectedness bringing us closer or farther apart? And if I can add, has it made marketers smarter because the stakes are higher?

 

The new channels offer brands tremendous opportunity for creating deeper, better targeted and more creative engagement with consumers. The nature of brand building today demands a smarter blend of strategic innovation and content creativity. McCann has been the ‘Truth Well Told’ agency for 100 years and today’s digital channels and technology platforms simply extend the opportunities available to us.

Well done, Nick. Whomever had the initial thought that led to not “overthinking” it but resulted in coming up with a clever, powerful, creative, innovative solution that gained momentum and support on multiple levels is to be commended. This kind of bold leadership and innovation is what the Brand World needs.

Transformation is heady stuff. It requires taking risk and thinking differently, and it gets really messy along the way. You’ve got to be willing to surrender to the “Power of Thinking Without Thinking” that Malcom Gladwell introduced in his amazing book “Blink.”

For a brand like GM, global marketing is anything but simple, sitting smack in the middle of this new “experiential,” digital economy. The solution masterminded by the chiefs at Omnicom and McCann was to solve the client’s real problem: How do we streamline our process but keep as many smart voices in the mix as possible. This is the goal of every iconic brand like as Coke, Ford, Chevy, MasterCard, Nike, McDonald’s, Apple: to be relevant, connected and efficient and successful in every market.

A cynic will ask: Can this possibly work?

I, for one, am rooting for this to. I’ll tell you that I’ve witnessed it in the real world. My 1^st grader attends a school where children are taught to become responsible citizens. They are given the space to collaborate, engage and, believe it or not, disagree. Two simple principles inform their actions: they are responsible for their own learning and they are responsible for their own actions.

You would be amazed at how cooperative, efficient and creative that classroom is. I often wonder whether they’ll be able to transfer those skills to their adult lives. It’s nice to see that there are already pockets of the world, like GM and McCann, that embrace the principles my son is being taught: you can come up with a creative approach to a problem, work through the complexity, collaborate, innovate, and solve it…or in this case, win!

McCann has been dubbed an “agency to watch” in 2012. Let me know your thoughts on how today’s digital channels and new technology are helping brands like GM extend their voices globally, and how agencies like McCann are guiding them strategically — perhaps heroically- through that creative and visionary process.