Likemind Blends Perth’s Coffee and Creative Minds

New Yorkers Noah Brier and Piers Fawkes met online through their blogs and decided that given they had so much in common to meet up for a coffee. One thing lead to another and they started to invite other people along by posting details of their coffee mornings, gathering like-minded creative people in one place to talk and share ideas without the constraints of structured networking or formal topics for discussion.

“We never had a plan with likemind other than to get people together to enjoy a cup of coffee and a conversation. We did it in the morning because it was the only time we could meet that week, however, its turned out to be our best decision as the morning forces people out of their routine and those who come to likemind actually want to be there” said Noah.

By their fourth meeting, 30 people had joined the group. Since then, likemind groups have sprung up in 51 cities all over the world – including Paris, Tokyo, Cape Town and, since August last year, Perth.

Hashem Bajwa, who works as Worldwide Planning Director for agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners regularly attends likemind gatherings in San Francisco. When discussing likemind, Hashem cites Apple CEO Steve Jobs who described how “innovation requires like-minded people getting together and working on ideas together”. True innovation is when a person calls you at 3am with a random idea, or a small group getting together and working on a concept for its merits and faults. Likemind is certainly that."

Our Perth gatherings have so far been attended by creative people from organisations including The Brand Agency, Meerkats, RAC, Maxus and Block Branding and students from both ECU and Curtin University.

Together with Ronnie Duncan, I co-host Perth’s likemind gatherings. We, and the other groups around the world, meet on the third Friday of every month in our respective cities for coffee and a chat, sponsored by some of the companies that attend.

Over a coffee, we share creative ideas, collaborate on projects or discuss trends. The group provides a forum for networking, sharing and mentoring and is comprised of a mix of creative people including creative directors, architects, writers and even students who are just starting out in various creative disciplines.

Simon te Brinke of Gramercy Park consulting who regularly attends summarises the meaning of Likemind perfectly: “I’m someone who loves to be in the company of visionaries, creatives, creators and innovators. Once a month likemind gives me a fantastic start to the day simply by enjoying the company of these types of people, all of who are people I sincerely respect, both personally and professionally. Likemind is not about networking, business or creating opportunity. It’s about people with vision who like to enjoy the company of other likeminded individuals, all of who share the values of sincerity, mutual respect and trust.”

Dale Simmonds of The Brand Agency concurs. “Likemind is a reminder that there are a lot of talented people out there and gives you a slightly different take on things,” he said. “It’s great to have a laugh.”

Blogging and social media has really opened up a lot of opportunities for people to meet and share ideas, and likemind offers a way for creative people to meet face-to-face.

It’s amazing to see people chatting away like old friends even though they may have met only 10 minutes earlier. Seeing people from different companies, creative disciplines and levels of experience come together to share their creativity is really exciting – and so is bringing this kind of thinking to Perth’s creative space. Knowing that people are gathering in likemind groups around the world makes us part of a global community of creativity that we can tap into.

The types of people who gather at a likemind meeting also provide the perfect audience for authors and publishers wishing to promote their new books. In the US last month, publisher Random House paid for the coffee and gave each attendee a free copy of Rob Walker’s book Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We are.

We pay homage to formal groups in Perth such as FORM who lobby the government on important issues about creativity in our city and while we intentionally don’t have a structured agenda for likemind gatherings, we enjoy the possibilities created by bringing this group of people together.

When I asked Noah where likemind was headed he said he wasn’t sure at this stage. “We continue to expand to new cities as people volunteer to host. We are also working on some stuff to make the web experience a little more robust. Two years later it’s just nice to see what likemind has become”.

If you would like to attend the Perth Likemind coffee morning the details are posted here: http://likemind.us/

Moving Beyond Consistency is the Key to Brand Success

The ancient Greek philosophers had it right when they implored us to “Know Thyself”. This is as true for a brand as it is for an individual. Truly understanding who you are at an emotional level as an entity, in this case a brand, and what you promise will mean that there will be a coherence in everything you do.

It also means that you can do away with the slavish application of consistency in the look and feel of your brand and you can tailor your messages to a wider range of increasingly fragmented audiences. To illustrate my point, think of Cate Blanchett. She never wears exactly the same thing all the time but you can instantly describe her style. And your brand is your style, not the clothes themselves.

Consistency of look and feel has long been king. I’ve spent the last ten years on both sides of the fence insisting upon absolute consistency of communications and design – but I now believe the timing is right for us to let go a little.

Consistency also worked for us because of the cost efficiency of recycling the creative idea across a number of media vehicles. Marketing departments had to justify large advertising budgets (usually based around big TV production and media spends), so often the creative material would be used across the multiple brands you had.

Our customers were much easier to target with traditional mass media, which meant that this religiously consistent work was accepted – and it was effective. Back then.

Today, the communication landscape looks very different.

Consistency is virtually impossible with the increasing number of communication channels and those ever-shifting, fragmenting audiences. Today, customers are congregations of like-minded people, with no common language, geographical, demographical, age or gender boundaries who are multi-channel users. They are also becoming more and more successful at filtering out information that doesn’t ring true for them.

So while consistency of look and feel becomes less important, the authenticities of the brand message and the emotion or promise that message delivers becomes more and more crucial. You don’t need the logo in the same place and size, the consistency comes in how the brand acts and what the brand actually does.

To talk to these congregations authentically, I feel we might need to loosen our collective stronghold on look and feel and give them a context through which they can understand our story in their own way.

We’re talking about Virgin again
Virgin is so different across so many markets – from planes to mobile phones – but in all cases, the heart of the Virgin brand promise remains the same. Each element of Virgin is different, but the consistency of the brand lies in their context – the emotion attached to all of their products and services. When you’re buying from Virgin, you know what to expect from every touch point.

They’re completely inconsistent in their communication – they’re always trying new ideas and launching new products and services – but there’s still the context of Virgin attached to everything they do.

As a client, sometimes consistency is seen as a triumph over chaos. But now, we need to accept that it’s ok for a brand to be in chaos if the emotional promise or message is coherent. If the context is there and coherence is there, it doesn’t matter what it looks like the takeout will be the same.

What are you hiding?
I have often seen clients hide behind consistent looking marketing communications. Sometimes it’s easier to be visually consistent than really taking the time to explore the DNA of your brand. But trust me, even if your message is visually consistent, the logo is in the right place and in the right colours with the right headline and supporting copy, it still needs the context of your organisation’s values and the emotional elements to make sense for customers.

Exploring a multi-agency approach
I am a big believer in collaboration across agencies. Not every agency will express your brand in the same way, but then nor do you customers think the same way.

If you, as a brand manager, can let go of the need for absolute consistency, a more collaborative approach with your agencies may just be an effective way of creating ideas that will let you engage in a genuine way with your consumers.

As a marketer, you want your agency partners focused on your business, and not focused on fighting off attacks from the other agencies in the mix. Hashem Bajwa, Digital Strategy Director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco says, "you want the best possible creative talent, and that means listening, learning, experimenting and collaborating together. It also means giving them the trust and clear stewardship they need to do brilliant work."

True brand success is achieved when, irrespective of language, culture or historical background, a diverse range of individuals can articulate what you stand for. It doesn’t matter what your message looks like, who’s saying it or what medium it’s coming through – the brand’s authenticity will shine through.

2 seconds before midnight

Everything we consider traditional media was invented in the last 2 seconds before midnight (if you condense all history into a single day) — June Cohen, TED Media, speaking at Le Web conference

I had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful Lynette Web when I was in London. Her interesting snippets are inspiring. You can catch her stuff here.

Can innovation prevent a looming recession?

Another great article from Adrian Ho at Zeus Jones.  I am sure my very good friend Hashem at GSP would agree.  They key, I believe, as Adrian has clearly stated is: 

"Create excitement around the marketplace of marketing channels by innovating".

You can read the article here.

coherence and context

More and more I am realising my function in the organisation is to provide two key roles. One of context (why, at a group strategic level we are doing what we do, and how that will impact everyone in the company) and one of coherence (how the multitude of messages and actions give the people that buy our products clarity around who we are, no matter how they interact with us).

One of my mentors, Joe Plummer, a truly brilliant and funny man, talked to me at length about the importance, not of consistency, but coherence. Only now as a client am I beginning to really get it.

It's been a silly week work wise. I am off to the US and Europe next week for five weeks and plan to write a lot more. I am also very happy to have a real Thanksgiving with friends and loved ones in NYC.

Measurement

I have just come back from Sydney where I was attending the NINEMSN digital summit. Interesting stuff. One thing I did take note of was the many conversations around measurability of media spend. Sure we have all talked about it before, but this time it seemed different.

This is something that I have been thinking of a lot lately given I have begun to reduce my media and agency spend, but still want the same, if not more. I cannot, any longer, approve large media buys without solid quantification.

I am very aware now that marketing is becoming more strategic to our organization. First and foremost I am being asked to improve revenue generation, decrease costs and reduce marketing waste.

I read recently that by 2012, the role of the CMO will shift from one of creative brand builders to one of accountable, business oriented strategic managers with customer loyalty as their main focus.

I have more meetings these days with the CFO than I do with any other “C” in the company.

Very different from a couple of years ago.

Who's creative is it anyway?

My wonderful friend Hashem at GSP pointed out this article from Adweek around how creative differences came between Motorola and their agency. I think it also talks to how the various Motorola marketing groups came between themselves and used the agency as the scapegoat.

Check out this link: Moto Magic from Adweek. Below you will find the TVC in question.