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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
My earliest memories involve shops. My grandparent’s beauty salon. My paternal grandfather’s clothes factory. My father’s laboratory. Thomas Edison’s workshop, just a short walk from that beauty salon in Menlo Park, then and now part of Edison, New Jersey.
I remember the statuettes lined up – all the awards my Grandfather had won for his hairdressing – so that they could be noted or admired by patrons on the way down into the salon proper. My grandfather was the old master by then. The awards seemed dusty and old to me. Something about the salon seemed forlorn. Old ladies flying down from Canada to have their hair done by the one man in the world who they trusted to do it right (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
If you want to look at the downsides and limits of “market category thinking,” the slide rule category provides some excellent examples. Keuffel & Esser Corporation, a company founded in 1867 in Manhattan is a good place to start. In 1962, the company introduced it’s DECILON slide rule into the booming market for slide rules, and on the strength of this line was able to go public on NASDAQ in 1965. But by 1982, the firm was forced to declare chapter 11 bankruptcy. This same year, AZON corp buys ownership of K&E Trademarks and K&E is no more. [1]
ARISTO had over a century of slide rule production, but was forced to close in 1978. [2] (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
When I started my agency, I reached out to someone I had been working with to gage his interest in being my partner. At the time, he said he was intrigued, but was just not ready to make the leap.
I would have liked to start my business with a partner, to share the weight and to make the growing easier. But, I knew that partnership was like marriage, challenging even with the best match, so I decided to make a start as a sole proprietor (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
We can’t see the world as static. Conceptual boxes can be helpful as long as we realize we have invented them ourselves to help us understand things. The moment we forget that we can uninvent them, we’re stuck.
There is a tendency to view market categories as a given. We think we’re in the “server hardware” category. Or the fitness club category. Or the E-commerce category. Like Blackberry (Research In Motion) was in the smartphone category and Apple was in the personal computer category. Oops.
Or Starbucks was in the coffee shop category and McDonald’s was in the Fast Food category. If categories tell us which competitors to ignore and which competitors to track, than category thinking is dangerous. You won’t see them coming!
If category thinking limits your imagination about how to expand and grow your brand and business, then category thinking can be deadly (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
Intel founder, tech genius and billionaire Andy Grove titled his book, Only the Paranoid Survive.
Since we can’t see everything, the truth is that we make decisions based on our biases. Most of us don’t question our biases, they are just “the way we are.”
Grove developed a set of biases that propelled him to the top of the digital world. Where did he get them? Nazi Germany (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 06/01/2012 | in
If you understand the value of the content you create to your audience, then you’ll have a much better idea of what’s worth doing and how to do it.
Let’s start with the current norm. Those of us who are doing this because we think thought leadership or content management is a good thing to be doing. We think we’re helping people make a product decision. Or we think we’re simply building the reputation of our company. And perhaps we also think we’re creating inexpensive ways to expand the potential for prospective customers to engage with us, and then perhaps be converted to customers down the line. Maybe we also think we’re arming our brand advocates with information and data they can use to advocate for us with others (more…)
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DIGOWorkSection | 05/24/2012 | in
Proove(sm) powers brand-driven growth with accountable media planning and buying. Led by digital media pioneer Adam Lutz, who has successfully deployed hundreds of millions of media dollars for top advertisers, we seek tangible business results in everything we recommend. Key performance metrics are focused on engagement of the right audiences in most cost-effective ways. The latest technology and offerings provide our clients the most efficient and strategic media plans and buys. And we are first in line to learn about the latest innovations, technology and data to help drive our clients business, driving the standard of proof into pioneering territory such as social, mobile, owned and earned media.
Learn more about Proove Accountable Media: adam@prooveny.com
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DIGOWorkSection | 05/24/2012 | in
Q: Let’s start with the name. Proove.
A. Proove is our twist on prove, which is a value we live by. It is a hard word for some people to commit to…I mean it is quite a word to live up to. That’s why I like it. It says everything we are: accountable, actionable and measurable. And we’re willing to prove it, not just say it. We live and die by our performance, and we’re willing to commit, right there in the name — in the very first thing you learn about us — to standing behind our work. And the extra “O”, that’s because it’s not all science. There’s some magic required too. Some art.
Q: Accountable, actionable, measurable. Can you tell me more about how you do that?
A: What got me excited and challenged about Proove is how we can not only provide service but also drive differentiation. Here is an example: our reporting that we deliver to our clients is robust, but we’ve taken it a step further. We look at factors outside of paid media that could potentially impact media performance, which typically leads to unique insights into our clients business. It’s about the story behind the numbers, the real story. We believe in numbers but we want to go beyond the numbers and offer actionable analysis.
Q: The media landscape is changing so fast. There’s the rise of social, the ever-changing world of SEO, new media outlets, shifting demographics, the rise of mobile and other connected devices and on and on. In the face of all this and more, how should a marketing executive view the planning process?
A: The planning process doesn’t change, but the consideration set when evaluating media channels certainly does. A key piece to staying on top of the landscape is to be aligned with the latest technological and targeting advancements that are being introduced. I don’t want to tell a client that he or she should be doing social, SEO, mobile, etc., just based on content — that was what happened 1-2 years ago and agencies are still making these broad recommendations. I want to tell the client that he or she should have media presence across mobile, social, etc., aligned with relevant content & with “X” level of targeting across these tactics. The cutting edge targeting advancements is what is exciting and what to pay attention to. The planning process will stay the same as the landscape evolves, but targeting is what is truly evolving. We develop a matrix of channels, targets and understand how they work together in an integrated fashion. It’s not just the channel that changes but the messaging needs to be aligned both for that channel, for the target and for the way the channel fits into the target’s life.
Q: You spent many years working at some of the world’s biggest agencies. Why did you start Proove with DIGO Brands, a mid-size firm?
A: Large agencies have their own model, which works for certain clients. I am excited about being at a mid-size agency because we are able to respond to our client’s needs with more nimbleness, flexibility and speed. In my first few months here, I’ve witnessed many examples of creative work, problem solving and innovation happen much faster than the large agencies. I’ve seen things that take literally 6 months at a big agency happen here in a matter of a couple of weeks. At a firm of this size, we’re able to bring our best minds to the table and to think proactively about the client’s business, not just their media. It’s a completely different mind-set and level of customer service.
Q: What keeps you up at night?
A: There is a popular advertising phrase that goes: “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; The trouble is, I don’t know which half”. Proove is about putting that cliche to rest. We are here to eliminate the waste and being able to show the client exactly what happened. We’re not offering guess work. We’re offering to Proove it.
