Yesterday - February 7, 2008, in case you are reading this in the far, distant future - Aquent hosted a webcast on changes in creative technology (like InDesign, Acrobat, etc.), that not only have an impact on the type of creative work that gets done but also on the way in which it gets done.
The trends discussed by the presenters, Chris Smith and Jennifer Smith of Aquent Graphics Institute, ranged from the growing need to repurpose content for multiple platforms and devices to the emerging possibilities for collaboration and process improvement in creative organizations.
We got a number of good questions during the call but one that surprised me the most was, "What is XML?" It took me back because five or six years ago I was frequently called on to explain XML to our internal staff, in spite of the fact that I had no technical background nor had ever consciously used XML (it's all around us, so I had probably used it without knowing).
I was on the call as the host, so I portrayed XML as a customizable mark-up language that works like a universal translator on Star Trek. With it, you can tag your content in a way that can then be read or understood by a variety of technologies. Chris Smith put it a little more simply by describing it as a mark-up language that allows you to make content platform independent.
Any other ideas about how to explain XML to non-technical designer types?
As part of the follow-up to webcast Aquent sponsored devoted to Seven Key Insights for Global Marketing and Brand Management, I called up Sarah Schuh who is general manager of Aquent's Multilingual Communications offering. Sarah has been working in the marketing translation and localization space for many years now and I thought she could help some of you out there with her experience and insights.
I recorded a podcast with Sarah and in our conversation she made one thing perfectly clear: when it comes to localization, translating copy from one language to the next is actually the easy part. Indeed, the real work happens well before any copy is handed over to the translators. That work involves clarification of your core marketing message, ensuring that this message meaningfully addresses a real audience in the target market, and planning for eventual localization when designing critical marketing instruments such as websites. There's nothing worse than having to add to the cost of translation the cost of redesigning your site to accommodate the expanded text produced by moving from English to, say, German.
To get down to the nitty gritty, you can hear the podcast by clicking on the device pictured below:
You can also download the mp3 by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) this link here, or check out all the Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
Highlights of the podcast can be found at the following time coordinates:
01:08 - Does your target audience even exist in another market?
03:18 - It's not just words: How do your visual elements translate?
05:20 - Take localization into account when creating the original message
07:20 - Define the use of company terminology
10:00 - Plan for expansion of foreign text
12:08 - The investment in planning vs. The cost of getting it wrong
13:33 - What companies should look for in their localization partner
17:35 - The cause of localization disasters
20:39 - Is "success" just the absence of "disaster"?
(Note: I had to repost this entry without the Odeo player due to a technical glitch. If I can fix it I will. - Matt)
William Lunderman is VP of Global Strategic Brand Design at Colgate-Palmolive. He's thus far led quite an illustrious career as a designer and design leader for well-known brands like Revlon and iconic brands like Campbell's Soup. I invite you to listen to our conversation. I went into it assuming, somewhat naively, I admit, that globalization was all about localization and tailoring your products and messages to the world's varied environs. While that is certainly part of multi-national marketing execution, this sort of endless variation is not the essence of global brand strategy.
From a strategic standpoint, as I learned, the key is, on the contrary, honing in on the universal need addressed by your brand's promise. The trick then becomes effectively translating that promise into a culturally relevant consumer language. At least that's how I understood the sage words of Mr. William Lunderman when we spoke.
If you would like to hear what I heard, you can download the mp3 by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) this link here (of course, if you just click on that link, it will play the file for you), or check out all the Talent Blog Podcasts on iTunes.
Highlights of the podcast can be found at the following time coordinates:
00:50 - What is "Global Strategic Brand Design?" 04:32 - The Emotional Aspect of the Brand 07:41 - Thinking about Consumers on a Universal Level 09:55 - "Children like to play in their food" 10:41 - AXE - as a Brand 12:16 - Kellogg's and "Owning the Morning" 15:13 - Package as "Delivery Mechanism" of Brand Design 17:08 - The Current Consumer Language 19:55 - The Consumer's Perception of "The Best" 24:23 - Brands at Home and Home Brands 28:09 - Why We Move to New Brands 30:22 - Design Careers: When You Move to the Next Level 32:59 - "Obsolete yourself" - On Evolving and Avoiding Extinction
In this third and final installment of our podcast mini-series, we speak with Carol Burke, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at AMN Healthcare. Carol discusses how she makes sure that her team is using the marketing channels most preferred by AMN's constituents and what she does to create marketing content with a life beyond marketing.
In this episode, I speak with Jim Hauptman, Creative Director and Managing Editor at LL Bean. Jim addresses the complexities of "multi-channel" marketing, an approach that seeks to leverage the specific advantages of diverse channels, as opposed to "multiple channel" marketing, which tends to push the same message or content through many channels. He also reveals how winter camping off-sites can lead to great marketing insights.
In conjunction with the webcast we're presenting today, I interviewed a few folks we work with and asked them how they coordinate their marketing messages and programs across a variety of media from print to web and beyond. I then created a three episode podcast mini-series of these interviews.
In this episode Dave Harrell, the Director of Advertising at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, talks about some of the grassroots, infotainment marketing efforts that his group has undertaken recently. In doing so, he also discusses the processes they follow to keep messages and branding consistent from channel to channel and audience to audience.
Terence Thompson and Katie Kenney are in-house creative services managers who utilize Aquent resources. Terence, who has specialized in consumer packaging for over 25 years and is an Aquent contractor himself, is a studio manager of internal design resources at Colgate. In addition to creative supervision, he is responsible for the intake of all new projects, billing estimates, and hiring. Katie, who has close to 25 years of experience in print design and branding, is one of 10 studio managers at the in-house studio of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Her specific team of designers is responsible for the overall look and brand of individual pharmaceutical drugs during their clinical trials phase.
Running an in-house creative services function can be uniquely challenging for several reasons, but the most pressing is this: You've got to provide creative solutions and customer service at levels comparable to those of external agencies while saving your clients and your parent organization money, and those cost savings can be substantial!
Terence and Katie describe a three-pronged strategy for addressing this challenge:
1. Provide structured account management
2. Attract talented people
3. Employ efficient processes
A few months back I created and posted a podcast here on producing successful creative briefs. Now I've returned to the podcasting arena with another podcast on the tensions between Marketing and Finance.
As you can hear for yourself, I initiated the conversation by asking if there is in actual fact a tension between marketing and finance. Mark Anderson, CFO of Granite City Electric Supply Company, responded, "If you define 'tension,' as 'people coming after each other with hatchets,' then yes, there is tension."
While there was no actual bloodshed during the conversation, it became clear that the tension is very real, has several causes, and is somewhat entrenched. The good news is, the tension can be resolved and the two functions can work together productively.
The basic message of this podcast, which echoes the work of MarketingNPV's Pat LaPointe, is that Marketing and Finance are best served when they collaborate to create a common set of metrics and a shared understanding of their respective goals and cultures.
To hear how our panelists articulated this message you can do one of two things.
A few years back, Aquent began producing videos featuring expert opinions on issues faced by designers and marketers. One of those videos, which we created to coincide with Halloween, was called, "Transformational Marketing," and lovingly parodied a certain vulpine form of executive arrogance.
Richard at adliteratereally hates brainstorming. He believes it is the enemy of creativity and a time-wasting generator of bad ideas. I think he's got a point.
Andy Epstein - Director of Graphic Design and Print Production at BMS Studio, the in-house design agency at Bristol-Myers Squibb David Haskell - Senior Writer at Digitas, a leading interactive and direct marketing agency Michael Hunter - Marketing Director for Whirlpool's KitchenAid brand Sheri L. Koetting - Principal/co-founder of MSLK, an award-winning graphic design agency
I moderated the discussion, which lasted a little over half an hour. For your listening convenience, I split the entire thing into three parts as noted below.
Part 1 - Best Practices: Thoughts on Putting Together Great Creative Briefs
Yesterday - February 7, 2008, in case you are reading this in the far, distant future - Aquent hosted a webcast on changes in creative technology (like InDesign, Acrobat, etc.), that not only have an impact on the type of creative work that gets done but also on the way in which it gets done.
Terence Thompson and Katie Kenney are in-house creative services managers who utilize Aquent resources. Terence, who has specialized in consumer packaging for over 25 years and is an Aquent contractor himself, is a studio manager of internal design resources at Colgate. In addition to creative supervision, he is responsible for the intake of all new projects, billing estimates, and hiring. Katie, who has close to 25 years of experience in print design and branding, is one of 10 studio managers at the in-house studio of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Her specific team of designers is responsible for the overall look and brand of individual pharmaceutical drugs during their clinical trials phase.
