The Lunchbox 2017, an Atomic 212° production chock full of bite-sized snacks for the modern marketer, is about to hit the shelves. The 2017 edition is crammed with insightful trends and analysis from agency chief and the book's author Jason Dooris, as well as heaps of big players in the media and marketing industry.
The theme of this year's book: revolution. Dooris, says of the modern consumer landscape: "People are just saying no. No to brands lying. No to government white noise. No to promises not met. No to dishonesty. No to slowness to act. No to boring and dull. No to wankers in shiny suits. No to greed.
"There's a revolution afoot, and it's driven by the youth of the world and facilitated by social media."
In this year's take-no-prisoners edition, some of the biggest hitters in
the industry have weighed in, providing their own view on the
challenges, opportunities and major trends affecting the industry and
society in general. Just a few of these people include:
• Michael Stevenson, Nine Entertainment Co Chief Sales Officer
• Kim Portrate, Think TV Chief Executive
• Tony Kendall, ARN Chief Executive
• Nick Chan, Bauer Media Group Chief Executive
• Wendy Glasgow and Martin Bertlisson, Google's Head of Data Consulting
and Head of Data Platforms and Partnerships respectively
• Kylie Rogers, Mamamia Women's Network Managing Director
• Rob Atkinson, AdShel Chief Executive
• Adam Elliot, Seven Network Limited Network Director of Sales
• Peter Switzer, TV presenter, author and entrepreneur
• Claire Murphy, Tabcorp Chief Marketing Officer
• Stevan Premutico, Dimmi Chief Executive
• Damian Cotchett, AGL Head of Customer Experience
• Sam Smith, Tube Mogul Managing Director
• Adam Furness, RadiumOne Managing Director ANZ
That's
just a taste. There are heaps more, and plenty of analysis from Dooris.
This is a must-read for anyone who works in the digital, creative,
media, marketing or related industries.
The Lunchbox 2017 covers
all the major issues that are affecting our industry and a range of
conversation starters, from the precipice of programmatic to the
untapped potential of virtual reality; from the democratisation of
creativity to the model for a future-proofed agency; from Donald Trump
to Kanye West.
The 2017 edition follows the launch of the highly
successful Digital Lunchbox 2016, but this year it is bigger and better
than ever.
Included below, award winning Atomic 212° ECD Jonas
Lembke (pictured left), provides readers with some telling insights about the creative
industry in this Q&A, exclusive to CB.
Data and analytics are becoming increasingly important in marketing. What does this mean for the modern creative?
As
we just saw in the US election, you can have all the data in the world
and have no idea about the future. Having said that, anything we can do
to ask a better question, or to have a better, more relevant insight to
work from, is good. And data can be a big part of that.
How is the modern creative department changing?
The
biggest change is that creative departments are not always found in
agencies. Sometimes they are small independent creative shops, sometimes
entrenched on client side or as part of a startup. We see creatives
integrated as part of tech, gaming or media companies. The fact that
creativity is manifesting itself outside of traditional agencies, means
that we are getting new ways to look at being a creative. And that is
exciting.
Is there still a place for gut and intuition in the creative process?
Always.
But that's not the same as random guessing. A well informed creative
thinker solves challenges. And in most cases when there is a step-change
in any industry, it is off the back of someone pushing based on their
personal convictions. Convictions informed by a combination of
intellectual ability, creative agility and pigheadedness. Briefly,
people hate change, and that makes innovation hard. I read this quote
the other day. "The electric light was not the result of simply evolving
the candle".
Creative agencies are undergoing increasing
pressure, in terms of lower production budgets and retainers, and
pressure on the traditional model. How can creative businesses adapt in
this changing environment?
Creative thinking does not work
the same as production or processing. Certainly, experience allows us to
get to things faster, but I would argue that the challenge is to
reassert the value of creative thinking. And the key there is to broaden
its remit. It is not a commodity that can simply scale. There is no
formula for creativity that can be applied and guarantee results. It's
about people. It's messy and hard work, but that's what makes it so
interesting.
What are the winning attributes of the modern creative director?
You
have to be interested. In people, in behavior, technology, art and in
brands and business. And you have to understand and respect the value of
great ideas and great people.
Is it difficult to find and retain good creative talent?
Creative
people can now choose between a whole number of different fields. What
we can do is provide interesting challenges and the means to be part of
solving them. I would add that there is nothing wrong with people moving
on and learning new things. There is lots to do and every time someone
new comes in to our agency, that's an opportunity for us to learn
something new.
In the modern agency landscape, agencies are
increasingly encroaching on each other's territory. What does this mean
for creative agencies and media agencies? Will we see a move towards a
full service model?
The pendulum will always swing. But I
think right now, the market seems to favor the bigger, full service
agencies. Big brands want someone who can have a much more qualified
conversation and deliver in more ways than before. Interestingly, when
you look at smaller, fledgling brands, they have creative in house from
the start. The brand is their IP. And agencies are struggling to find
ways to deliver their skills in a meaningful way to this segment. At the
same time, Google, Facebook and Über are turning to big agencies for
TV. It's an interesting time.
What is your favourite piece of creative of all time and why?
Historically,
there is a lot of work that I still go to, from time to time. But I'll
say the ICA work from agency KING in Sweden. For years they have
produced, effectively, a soap opera that airs on TV. It's in the 30
second format and drives a narrative that, over the years, has
established characters and various topical storylines. It's now an
institution. And these spots are still full of in-store offers. Always
seamlessly integrated. In fact, that have made it a sort of gimmick. The
quality over time is amazing. We talk about content and storytelling.
This is all that, going back over 10 years. The main media is still TV,
but these stories are shared and loved by millions of people every day.
What are the biggest changes you are seeing in marketing?
We
are seeing lots of new skills coming into traditional creative and
shaking things up. Technology and behavior is shifting the ways in which
we engage. At the same time, our mandate as marketers and brand
builders is growing to encompass service and even product development.
All this makes for a fantastic future for creative thinkers.
From the perspective of a creative director, what is the key to a successful relationship between agency and client?
Being
able to challenge the client to innovate and spend some money on the
unknown. That is the only way to add real value. There should be mutual
respect and a sense that you are collaborating to move things forward.
If the work is exciting, and we are breaking new ground together, then
the relationship stays strong.
Can you give us your most 'far out' prediction about how the creative industry will change in the next ten years?
Certainly,
there is a lot of evidence that AI, automation and robotics will be
brought to bare on many industries. I think ours is no exception. But I
also think that the creative spark is a uniquely human quality and that
creative industries will always be relevant and keep attracting talented
practitioners and patrons.
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