The Marketing Briefing

Climbing the tower and Ted Danson

2006-05-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

Oh some very exciting things have been happening.

The CN Tower climb is over and, good googly moogly, it was insane. Looks like we raised over $800K. That's 17% over last year's event.

There was a 79-year old man who came from Scotland to climb. There was another guy who went up and down the tower 6 times. Someone went up the tower in a wheelchair. I dunno how that worked. I was registering people and didn't see the logistics.

My family and I went up at 6 am on Saturday. Our times looked like this...

Jeremy (14 years old) - 19 minutes
Brad (husband) and Chelsea (10 years old) - 28 minutes
Layne (13 years old) - 40 minutes
Me and Paige (10 years old) - 53 minutes (personal all-time best for both of us - tragic)

Paige and I stopped at every fifth landing so the "acid" could leave our legs. We'd go an extra flight if there was barf on the floor at our scheduled stop. People actually make themselves sick in their quest to break the record for speed (7 minutes and 52 seconds). This is gross and unnecessarily flamboyant.

And we raised $1,430 for climate change. Pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who sponsored us! (Anyone interested still can if you click here.)

In other news........

I have it on extremely good authority that Ted Danson has seen our Aquarium TV spot and thinks it's hot stuff and thinks it should be used in America to raise awareness of the plight of the world's oceans.

Though I suppose the rulebook of cool says I should remain unimpressed by such news, I was pretty schoolgirlish about the whole thing.

In more news..........

Next week I present the detailed marketing plan for our fiscal year '07 to the management committee.

I'm struggling with what to write about it here. Big stuff, big stuff! But I don't want to give away my big secrets. I'm always amazed by who and how many people read this blog. Anyone who thinks charities aren't competitive with one another would be mistaken. We're always helping each other in many ways, but there actually is a line. I figure laying out the marketing plan here is on the other side of it.

Suffice it to say that new channels will be a big part of what we're up to, as I've gone on and on about previously. More big national campaigns will be coming, too. And a lot of behind the scenes things that are operationally focused are planned.

Anyway, we'll see how the presentation goes.

They've slotted me as the first presentation of the day. I'm usually last and I like being last. At the end of the day they're mentally spent and don't give me too much guff. This time they'll be fresh and perky and full of questions.

I'm told I should be pleased with this change in the batting order because it allows me to set the standard for the rest of the presentations.

They are very cagey and know just the right thing to say to me.

M.I.A. (Pam)

2006-04-18T12:03:00.000-04:00

Wow. Two weeks have passed and I'm now back to work.

Let's see. What's been happening......

Got my motorcycle back from storage only to find that it needed a new head gasket...a thousand bucks later, it's now in the parking garage waiting for me to yell, "Yabba dadda doo" and beat it for home.

In more exciting news, I brought home a basset hound named Mona. I've been teaching her all about house breaking. Mona struggles mightily with her manners. She's cuter than hell, though. Here she is.

House training last week was interrupted by a trip to Ottawa to present a marketing/public outreach plan to the feds with the hope of attracting some sponsorship support.

I was most certainly a fish out of water. I am the first marketing person any of the meeting's attendees had really ever met with, so it was very easy to engage them and they were very receptive to our ideas. However, my ability to read the sub-text of what's really being said in meetings such as that is non-existent, having never worked on government business in the past. I'll know how things actually went in the next week or so.

I came in from my vaca to spend a couple days in planning sessions with all the fundraising directors. Absolutely fascinating. I spend my days asking millions of people for $20 or $40. The other directors ask dozens of people and corporations for tens of thousands of dollars. And those people actually say, 'Yes'! The skills they possess seem magical to me.

With the growth targets we've set to 2010 (double our overall revenue), we're really counting on fundraising from areas other than my group to lead the way. Marketing is simply too costly to bear the growth.

Speaking of which, my budget for FY'07 is due on Friday. I've been ruminating. I've been talking, asking, challenging, whining, selling. The plan is now in my head. I need to get it onto some paper.

Meeting with the big brains at FCB tomorrow to show them what I'm thinking. We'll see if they like it.

My first Marketing Awards (Pam)

2006-03-31T07:51:00.000-05:00

Not being one of the cool kids, I approached my first ever Marketing Awards Gala as an anthropological excursion. I've spent the last decade working in direct marketing, so I don't know a whole lot of advertising agency types. It's like going to a wedding and knowing only the happy couple.

What a fantastically weird evening.

Awesome venue, the Liberty Grand. There was a smoking room. Very civilized.

Finding food was a bit perilous. Like trying to fight a bunch of fat kids for the last Smartie. I did come away with a martini glass filled with Sunday dinner -- a carrot, mashed spuds and roast beef. Oddly cool. I saw servers walking around with paper cups filled with what looked like brown Special K. I passed.

The manner of dress varied wildly, from Holt's chic to same-thing-I-wore-yesterday-and-slept-in-it-too. It was a contest of cool. I lost. If only I'd try harder at these things. I'm a fashion tragedy.

I was quite surprised by the ceremony itself. Although it was very slick looking, so well put together, I couldn't hear it. People were talking...loudly. What's up with that?

Maybe this rudeness was a big passive/aggressive "up yours" to those same five agencies that seem to win everything every single year. I dunno, but it's not cool. I mean really, aren't we there to pay homage to the art? To give some credit where it's due? To lay some love on the people who, through their genius, make all of us involved in the profession look good? Can we not shut up for just one hour?

In order to hear the show, I was forced to cup my hand around my ear. It's not a good look and I resent being forced to resort to it. It contributed to my failure in the contest of cool.

Now, about those same five agencies. The Big Five Creative Shops. As I watched the same few people go back and forth between the dais and their seats, I had a thought.

This award show is about the power of brands -- agency brands. Could it be that these same five agencies win all the awards (not just Marketing Awards) every year because of their agency brand? Could the judges be influenced in the same manner that consumers are?

"I want a safe car, so I will buy a Volvo." "I must pick the best creative, so I must pick a Taxi piece."

I'm pretty sure no judge would acknowledge that there could be any truth in that. But that's the same thing as a consumer denying that they are affected by advertising.

It's just a fun thought upon which to ruminate for a few minutes. All the stuff that won was brilliant. What a bunch of rock stars they are.

I did share this fun thought with a friend of mine at the show who had her own thought that I thought was a very insightful thought.

She is a very senior person at a big multinational agency. She said that when the senior people at her agency have their regular meetings to review the business, they talk about financials. Only financials. They never talk about creative. When they review their accounts, it's about how much money comes in, not about the quality of work that's being done for them.

She thinks this emphasis is reversed at The Big Five Creative Shops. I think she's probably right.

In fact, in a couple of cases, I know first-hand that she is. I've spent time with a couple of The Big Five talking about WWF's business. There's no question that agencies like Taxi and Rethink are all about the creative in every aspect of how their business is managed.

It's like any brand. If you want to be about something, you must live that something. You can't fake it. Saying it doesn't make it so.

This is why the same five agencies wear a path on the carpet to the podium every year.

I bet if the awards were for the biggest bag of money couriered to New York, you'd see five different agencies winning every single year.

And good for them, too. I guess.

Who's next? (Pam)

2006-03-28T12:54:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break from putting the final touches on my CMA presentation. You know when you get to the part where you have to animate the thing? A boring task from which I need some reprieve.

So?

Who's going to take over this blog? Are you not bored with me by now and looking for some new tales of triumph, failure and motorcycles?

Surely there's someone out there pining to share with the world some great new marketing venture upon which they are about to embark?

If so, look no further. I think if you just email Paul Ferriss, a big cheese editor at Marketing Mag, he'll talk to you about it.

Why don't I share with you some thoughts as you ponder whether this is the thing for you?

DO THIS IF...

1. You have a story you think people can learn from.
2. You can commit to posting at least once a week. (Unlike, ahem, Bill Baker.)
3. You can write.
4. You have permission to reveal ancient Chinese secrets. Or at least some. It's no fun if you can't share results.

DON'T DO THIS IF...

1. You're crashingly boring. (Look deep within yourself to know the truth of this matter.)
2. You're afraid of people "judging" you. Confidence helps.
3. You think "nuclear" is spelled n-u-c-u-l-a-r.
4. You have a prob with strangers emailing you about their products/services/how they'd be so much better at your job than you are.

So!

Think about it. It's fun. Besides, everyone's dying to hear from someone new already.

(I'm guessing that's true. Maybe I need more confidence. Was it something I said? Did I say anything to offend anyone? Oh...my...gawd. What if people didn't get that I was joking when I said that Joe Piccolo wanted to punch me in the face? Cause I really was! Oh man. Now everyone might think I'm so awful that people want to hurt me. But it's not true! Chris Taciuk's shoes really are weird, but that doesn't make him a bad person. I didn't mean it! My good gravy, what have I done?!)

The friends you make (Pam)

2006-03-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

The first thing that I do when I join a company is to make friends in two places. One - the EA of the biggest cheese. (For access and any skinny one can get.) Two - the IT guys. (To find out how much snooping into my Internet activity goes on and access bitchin' new computers.)

I had a prob with my computer (don't ask me what). My whining (executed with great charm) resulted in the awesome new machine upon which I am currently typing. It's so super fast that the IT guy was just in my office giggling, literally, about what a monster he has built just for me. I LOVE IT GUYS!

So. That latest. Well. Not much.

New changes to the site will go live end of day tomorrow, I hope. We'll get the MSN activity off hiatus and see what happens.

CN Tower Climb registrations are going insane. The trick is...are these new registrations, or just migration of paper registrations to on-line? Don't know yet. Haven't done the data work.

Can't do the data work because I've put our data guy into chains and have swallowed him up into a dark and enless pit of data queries and analysis so I can finish my initial planning for next year. Donor base composition by channel. Value by channel. Attrition. Retention. Gift values by type. Tenure. Acquisition spend analysis. All very nerdy, but endlessly fascinating.

The people in my group are tiring of me interrupting their work to regale them with obscure facts about our business.

"Did you know, my fair maiden, that while 61% of our donor acquisitions have come from DRTV over the past 5 years, this group represents only 31% of our current base? Have you any idea the implications?" (Seriously, that's huge.)

Over the next day, I'll have all this data pulled into one bad boy of a document that will point the way for planning. Then it's off to the marketing committee of our board with a straw dog of a marketing plan for them to tear through.

This is my favourite part of my job. Taking gobs of data and finding the nuggets of gold that I can use to move the business where it needs to go. Trick is to bring everyone along with me.

(Update on tummy turmoil from previous post. Daughter suffered from nothing that some Pepto Bismol and SpongeBob SquarePants couldn't cure.)

I'm back! (Pam)

2006-03-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

Okay. So I didn't quit smoking. But no children were injured by me on the 24-hour drive to and from Sarasota. Fair trade, I'd say.

Stopped for some Marlboro Lights in Ohio, right around the time I realised that I'd forgotten to charge my iPod.

So, I'm back. Got in on Monday to look at results and figure out what we're going to do with the site to improve conversions.

FCB has recommended some very smart creative tweaks that will be implemented next week.

The CN Tower climb is moving at a screaming pace with just 6-weeks left before d-day. We've doubled the numbers of climbers and teams registered by this time last year. Nothing new in the marketing approach for this event, so I just gotta believe we're benefitting from overall awareness due to the climate change campaign.

I'm presenting this whole campaign at the CMA's Not-For-Profit conference next week. Have you ever tried to condense a year and a half of your life into a power point presentation? It's not easy.

Was just interrupted by my cell phone...child sick at school with very bad tummy situation. Must leave. Will write more this evening.

Big swissy news (Pam)

2006-03-09T16:11:00.000-05:00

NEWS UPDATE: Turns out Joanna Wiseman has indeed been offered and accepted that on-line marketing job in Switzerland. I'm sad for us, so glad for her. And, I am officially on the hunt for a replacement.

When the news came through, there was a bunch of girlish squealing and such. We're all so thrilled for Joanna who's embarking on yet another life adventure. She came to us after an 18-month around-the-world bender. Maybe it was a year. Anyway, she travelled Africa (where she almost had to have her leg chopped off because of some sort of vile infection), Australia and all over South America. Now it's Europe she'll take on. Too great.

So, anyone know any smart, fun, on-line marketing types? Looking for someone at the manager level who wants to save the planet using the power of the net.

On another note, I don't think I've ever mentioned one big part of our climate change fundraising campaign.

It's the CN Tower climb that we do every year. This is our 16th year. Anywhere between 5,000 and 6,000 people climb 1,776 steps from the bottom to the top.

It's our biggest fundraising event. The ads for it just went up on the street-level recycling bins around Toronto. Eucan, CTV, Standard Radio and the Toronto Star are our big media sponsors.

We've been working on the event since August, but now my entire team is consumed by it full-time until it happens on April 29.

The web work for this event has been competing with the work we're doing on climate web site. Juggling our slim resources can be challenging, particularly on the web.

But the on-line pledging technology is up and running. It's pretty cool.

Check it out.

Where the campaign's concerned, we've perhaps had a breakthrough on the climate change web site front. Bill and his team are pretty convinced that we need to create more off-line awareness in channels we haven't addressed as yet. I'm not sure precisely where this leading, but have a wide-open mind, waiting to hear what they've got up their sleeve.

I'm going to have to wait for about a week to find out, though. I'm off to Florida tomorrow night...in a van...with four kids...with plans to quit smoking cold turkey on the trip. I'm told this is going to be fun. I'm fairly confident, however, that I'm being lied to.

I'll let you know...........

Conversion, polar bears and Phyllis Yaffe (Pam)

2006-03-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

Jeez, Louise. It's terrible, this sitting and waiting. Waiting for new things to work. Have made a few revisions to the site to see what is going to help our conversion rates.

With the new MSN deal, we're getting a ton of click-thrus. Problem is conversion.

Our best conversions seem to be led by messaging around the fact that polar bears are drowning. It pretty shocking actually. Because the ice has melted so fast up there where the polar bears live, they have to swim sometimes up to 100km to get to their food sources. Some of them just can't make it. Stunning, given that these animals are the best swimmers with four legs.

So, we're working on integrating this messaging into the opening animation on the site, making the link between the plight of the polar bears and putting one's name in the sky.

We'll see.

I met with the word-of-mouth guy. Very, very interesting conversation. I think about how I make purchase decisions and how so many of those decisions are made by with input from my friends and colleagues. It just seems like a no-brainer that if the power of personal influence can be harnessed to save the planet, well then, colour me interested.

Will be talking about this and a couple of other ideas I have up my sleeve with the marketing committee of our board of directors at the end of the month. At that time, I'll be presenting a straw dog of next year's marketing plan.

The chair of this group is Phyllis Yaffe, the smartest woman I've ever had the luck to work with. A giant in Canadian business, sufferer of no stupidity and all-around great lady. We'll see what she thinks.

FYI, we just finished the month of February up 14.6% over last year (July to end of Feb) for revenue for my team. Smashing, I say. It would appear that we're doing lots right.

It's going to be 11 degrees on Friday. I want my bike.

3 names went into the sky while I typed this (Pam)

2006-02-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a week since last I whined about my need for speed and breeze.

In the meantime, we've launched an online campaign with MSN using a variety of different channels and creative executions, all text-based. The impact has been interesting.

Our acquisition rate has quadrupled, which is fantastic. But, we need it to gajillion-uple. The process of optimization is quite interesting and terrifying, particularly if you've got tracking issues and don't have all the answers. Each day, results improve.

Apparently, I need to be more patient.

The response to our acquisition direct mail is insane. We've got 58% more monthly donors than we would have expected. All that action is coming from our house lists. Looks like the reason is some sort of combination of the urgency of the issue and the creative.

Overall, we've raised close to a couple hundred thousand dollars so far. Still a long way to go from here.

On another front, one of my staff is in Gland, Switzerland, trying to get a job at our international headquarters. I know that once they get a load of her, I can kiss her goodbye. Very sad for me. Very good for her. All she wants to do is save the world, and working for our international team gets her one step closer to Kofi Annan's job.

Looks like I'll be needing a mid-level on-line marketing-type person real soon.

Woeful longing for wind and nausea (Pam)

2006-02-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

This is a totally personal post, apropos of nothing except my longing for summer.

I miss my motorcycle. Was pretty bad on those days in January when people were jogging in shorts and I saw so many bikes on the road.

Mine is in storage, so I can't just wheel her out.

Just thought I'd share. My misery is in search of company.

This is me with my Vulcan 800 Classic in July last year. She's so pretty, all pimped out in chrome. Here, we're on our way to Orange County Choppers in New York (about a 10-hour ride from Toronto). Went to see them about commissioning a WWF chopper that we would auction. The money didn't make sense, though. I saw Paul Sr., but didn't talk to him. He's huge.

This is me on a rented Harley Fat Boy at the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park in California in October. My husband and I took this trip to celebrate our first anniversary. It was almost our last anniversary. Just a few hours after this pic was taken, we were up in the mountains where my concentration broke as we were riding through a blind, hairpin turn and I wandered into the on-coming lane. Right after, I pulled over to have a smoke and consider my immediate future as a motorcyclist - how the hell I'd get off that mountain without ever getting back on a motorcycle again. I wanted to cry, but chicks on Harleys don't cry, so I didn't. But, I did ride back down that mountain, only to relive the incident in my nightmares for some time after. I feel nauseous whenever I think about it.

Yet still, I long for the wind to make a bird's nest of my hair and my goggles to make big, red, semi-permanent indentations around my eyes as I ride my bitchin' machine.

Oh, and our big Internet push on MSN starts tomorrow. Having serious tracking issues on the net. Something's getting lost between our ads and Web Trends. A major worry that, I'm hopeful, will be sorted out one way or another tomorrow.

Consuming thoughts (Pam)

2006-02-17T15:19:00.000-05:00

As you might imagine, I get lots of calls from suppliers who think they can solve all of WWF's problems.

Just got off the phone with a fella who does "word-of-mouth" marketing.

Here's the situation for WWF. We don't have a lot of money. (The bean counters at FCB have recently figured this out. Ahem.) So everything we do has to be smart, really smart. What that has meant for me in recent weeks, as I begin planning for our next fiscal year (which begins in July), is that I'm reconsidering every single channel we use.

Direct mail. DRTV. Advertising. Internet.

What are we doing and why? What's missing? What's on the decline? What's new out there that we need to investigate?

The sky has been falling on traditional marketing channels for a long time. Or so we've been told. (And have experienced in some cases.)

In a previous post, I talked briefly about these new/newish marketing channels called "viral," "experiential," "buzz," "word-of-mouth". Lots of hype. Lots of interesting little one-off case studies. But once you scratch the surface, you find, well, just some more surface.

This "new marketing" growth industry suffers from too much Anna Nicole Smith, not enough Einstein.

Yet, I remain intrigued. I feel that if I dismiss it, I do so at my peril. Seems to me, just intuitively, that there's something there. There has to be, right? Right?

Here's a scary thought. What if it's all bullshit? What if technology and how consumers use that technology eradicate our ability to get our message to our people?

(ponder....ponder....ponder)

Nah, can't happen. Just because the consumer is in control, doesn't mean they don't want to hear from us. I read Star Magazine. I read The Enquirer. Consumerism is alive and well. Consumers are called consumers because they consume stuff that we give them to consume. They're never going to stop. They'll just do it differently.

So those who figure out this "new marketing" will be the winners.

I think I'll give it a go and just hope for a little Einstein along the way.

Eyeballs needed (Pam)

2006-02-13T11:22:00.000-05:00

Something wonderful is happening.

Our direct mail responses are coming in at fairly good pace. What's interesting is that about half of them are for monthly donors. Usually, for every 20 one-time gifts, we get a monthly donor.

Not this time. At least, not so far. There aren't enough responses yet to know why, but I will. Is it the issue, climate change? Is it the creative? Who are these people who are donating monthly? Fascinating.

www.saveourclimate.ca is still seriously in need of eyeballs. To see what we can do about that, we've got a pretty cool little plan in place that starts on Thursday. All Internet-based.

Making our revenue targets for this fiscal year (ends June 30) now rests squarely on the shoulders of this site.

A magical moment in time (Pam)

2006-02-09T07:43:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am to work where I work at this particular time. There's this magical moment in time where every eye is on the same prize.

For about an hour or so I took the management team through the intricacies of my plan and budget and answered many, many pointed and smart questions. I was tested and challenged. There were many questions that I couldn't answer as I forgot my crystal ball at home. In those instances I relied on the fact that this group of people has vision and trusts me.

It was a good meeting. It looks like we're going to move ahead according to plan.

Circling the wagons (Pam)

2006-02-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

Well, today I go before the Management Committee in order to save my budget.

It's that time of the year. The end of the first half of our fiscal year.

I'm particularly concerned because I need approval to spend a fair amount of dough on getting some eyeballs to www.saveourclimate.ca. Still, the site is not getting enough activity. Conversion rates remain pretty solid. We're testing headlines and are seeing a bit of improvement.

So, I've built my case and am ready for them to bring it on. (And I'm wearing some kick ass footwear, so I feel good.)

Cagey creative (Pam)

2006-02-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

I drive our receptionist mental.

Every morning, at 10 or so, I call her to see if the mail has come in. She knows my next question will be, "How many you got there, lady?" She's aware of my mail count obsession. I think she might feel a bit sorry for me and wonder what in my life might make me happy aside from Canada Post. I can see it in her eyes sometimes.

Today our first responses to our climate change direct mail came in. The next four weeks will give me a pretty good read on how well we'll do.

The package for this campaign is the best of my career...at least I think so. We'll see what the results are. DM is so fickle. Just when you think you know how people will respond, they do something different.

(People who are direct mail specialists like to talk about how scientific DM is. Well, maybe measuring it is scientific, if you call spreadsheets and databases "science". Otherwise, I'm pretty convinced that it's no less art than brand advertising is.)

Anyway, check this bad boy out.

The outer envelope has a giant window through which a personalized brochure is showing. On the brochure are a bunch of name tags of people at an international global warming summit. In the foreground is a name tag on which is lasered the recipient's name...on an angle and centred in the middle of the tag. The personalized name tag image is repeated again on the letterhead.

Genius!

Believe me when I tell you that this kinda fancy lasering gets DM production wonks all hot and bothered.

Me, I think it's a real cagey use of personalization. The power of one's own name is actually very profound. Much as one might profess differently, it's all about oneself at some deep psychological level. The ego must be fed and seeing one's name on a full-colour hunk of mail gives the ego a belly full. Here, the use of a person's name paints a mental picture where the recipient can envision herself at an international summit. She wants to find out what the hell she is doing there.

That's right. People are going look inside this package.

It was the brain child of FCB Direct -- led by the best dressed creative directors in the city. (Dean Maruna and Scott Pinkney wear suits every single day. Abnormal. Vaguely unsettling. And the suit thing is weird, too.)

Check out the whole package.

The challenge here was to reinterpret the TV concept in direct mail. I had a very difficult time imagining how it was going to be possible and was quite anxious as we waited to see concepts. The second they unveiled it, I knew it was a winner.

This concept came to us in the middle of our struggles with the development of the print ads. I felt so strongly about this creative that the agency indulged me in working this up as a print ad. In the end, we chose to continue working with the original print concept that we had.

Credit to the agency for their lack of inter-departmental rivalry (or at least hiding any whiff of it from me...they kept it in Vegas, so to speak). It's an uncomfortable position for all involved. I've been agency side, I know what time it is.

So! Now we count the mail and see what this super sexy DM does. I'll keep you posted.

Elusive viralness (Pam)

2006-02-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

It's been two weeks since our launch. We don't have enough names in our sky at www.saveourclimate.ca.

Conversion rates are holding strong. Not getting enough traffic.

We're in market with TV (doing okay, not great, but okay, with our PSA pick-up), radio (doing very well with PSAs), transit in Toronto, magazine (full-page in Macleans election issue and a bunch of insertions in Dose, Today's Parent, etc.), some on-line ads.........all not driving to web in numbers that we need.

As we have experienced with our past campaigns this year, we're getting a lot of feedback from our donors and Canadians from all over. Almost all positive. People are seeing it and understanding it. It's building awareness, but it's not making people go to that web site.

So we have to look to the success of our Do Not Drill campaign (which just won at New York Festivals, ahem), where tens of thousands from all over the world went to the web site and signed a petition.

What made the difference for that campaign?

Well, there was a lot of coverage in the press about the U.S. legislators' vote on drilling in Alaska. In that coverage, our campaign was almost never mentioned, though. There's lots of press coverage right now about climate change, but it's not making a difference to our site visits. So press coverage doesn't seem to be the issue.

Offline media support for Do Not Drill was less than we've got for this campaign. So that's not a factor.

Creative. Well, the creative approach was very different. The Do Not Drill campaign was about the issue. The climate change campaign is about how WWF works to solve the issue. Very, very different. It was absolutely necessary to take a different approach this time for branding purposes. Canadians do not have any idea that we are active on climate change. We had to tell them that and tell them how we do it. Canadians already know about what climate change can do to the planet. We couldn't rationalize investing resources telling Canadians what they already know about climate change over telling them something about WWF and why they should donate to us.

It's an interesting question though. Would Canadians donate to us in greater numbers if we just scared the hell out of them? Or are they more rational and need a reason to donate to WWF specifically?

Or are we simply expecting this creative to do something it can never do -- drive traffic to the web?

We've always known that absolutely none of our offline creative units are built for direct response. We've always known that for www.saveourclimate.ca to succeed, it must have viral qualities. People have to tell their friends about it.

THAT'S what happened with the Do Not Drill campaign. It became viral. It did it on its own. This viral phenomenon is terribly disturbing to me because I can't control it. I don't know, for sure, why it happens, so I can't make it happen.

(Anyone who says they have the answer to this viral stuff is an artiste de merde boeuf, pardon my French. I've seen all those books out there about buzz, viral, experiential marketing. I admire these authors for their tremendous skill in packaging common marketing sense and making it look like it's something new. Props to them.)

Viralness (my new contribution to the industry's lexicon), as it is commonly defined, can only happen on the Internet, so the Internet it is.

Have set up a meeting of a SWAT team of Internet industry gurus who are going to help us get more names in the sky at our web site.

Will tell you what comes of it.

The truth about clients and their agencies (Pam)

2006-01-25T09:21:00.000-05:00

I’m going to take a break today from discussing our campaign for this public service announcement. I’ve got something on my mind.

I’ve had an awful lot of conversations lately about the nature of client and agency relationships. Lots gets whispered amongst just us girls, but noone's saying much out loud. So here goes.

The fact is, as I interpret the trends, agencies are on the precipice of becoming completely irrelevant to Canadian business, if they aren’t already.

The reason for this – lack of perceived value. When agency/client relationships are broken, which most are, clients feel like they're being taken for a ride and, as often as not, it's their own fault. Let me qualify this by stating unequivocally that there are exceptions. But, they are few.

Here’s what I see and it’s a vicious circle. Like two cats in a bag.

At least that's how I've seen things play out in my many years in this biz, working on both sides.

Solutions? Yeah, there are lots.

Clients must recognize that agencies require a reasonable margin. They are businesses with shareholders. Agencies must earn that margin by actually providing value. Stop promoting kids before they're ready. How about investing in training and mentoring? Agency staff, particularly junior staff, must accept that earning your chops takes time and it's a mistake to try to rise before it's time. Clients must truly partner with their agencies. They are key to strategic planning. How can agencies have any kind of impact on the growth and direction of a business if they're only briefed project by project? Agencies need the big picture but have to demonstrate that they are good enough to be at the strategy table.

Oh, and then there's having fun. This business is a grinding one. On some days, there's very little to recommend it. So finding moments of pleasure, together, is important. It's pretty easy to do and doesn't have to cost anyone anything.

Okay, that's what I think. Let's discuss.

(NOTE: This discussion bears no reference to WWF's relationship with FCB. In fact, we don't have these problems because we work hard not to. Well, except to say that WWF doesn't pay FCB enough -- but, come on, we're a charity. We do offer lots of other benefits to the partnership aside from money.)

Buzzzzzz (Pam)

2006-01-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

Looks like the site is hovering around 8.5% conversion. Highly respectable. Most people are putting more than one name in the sky.

The majority of users are entering the site directly. 20% are coming from wwf.ca and 3% are coming from this here blog. Inneresting.

Thanks so much for your support, people!

What we need now are just more people going to the site. We learned, particularly for our hugely successful Do Not Drill campaign (80,000 petition signatures), is that awareness takes time to build. We've only just begun, really.

The buzz does seem to be building. One of our staff members was at the CBC studios for the election night coverage. She said that more than a few people were talking about the campaign.

Pretty cool.

How I spent my Friday night (Bill)

2006-01-21T17:59:00.000-05:00

On Boxing Day I finally ditched my six year old computer and replaced it with one with a blistering fast processor. Does it ever change the online experience. I didn't know what i was missing.

Last night I added the names of my three nieces to the sky at saveourclimate.ca for two reasons. First and most importantly, because it supports a great cause; but in close second, because the site experience is awesome.

As I was watching the virtual sky last night I recognized a number of last, but not first names. Clearly, a lot of my co workers and some of my friends are making their contributions in the names of family members. When we were working through the web creative early in the process, we talked about offering special sentiments for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day. Based on what I’m seeing now, it might have been a big idea.

Watching and waiting (Pam)

2006-01-19T20:13:00.000-05:00

Names are going up in the sky! People from right across Canada.

There are also names from the U.S. There's someone from Spain and someone from Poland. (People from over 40 countries participated in our Do Not Drill campaign.)

Challenges so far include:

Very little media coverage of our press conference. We knew this would be a problem because of the election. Our campaign was planned in July. It just wasn't possible to move the launch once the writ was dropped.

For some reason, almost none of the TV weight we'd expected in the first three days of the campaign has actually aired. I get a report every morning that details the stations and shows on which the spot airs and the times. Lots missing. Trying to figure out why.

The site itself had a problem when a donor used a weird character and caused all the names in the sky to temporarily disappear. The good news is that people were still able to sign up during this technical glitch. It's fixed.

Wins so far include:

Transit is up and looks great.

Our MSN (we love MSN) deal has an ad and content on the first page of the Home and Lifestyle sections.

The viral potential of the web site seems to be gaining traction given that we're seeing sign-ups at a rate we wouldn't have expected based on very little press coverage and media activity.

We keep receiving a great deal of very positive and enthusiastic feedback from people who have seen and/or used the site.

We'll analyze site activity and conversion rates tomorrow and every day after that. Follow up PR efforts are also in the works.

Tense times as we wait and watch. But no huge warning signs as yet. Early days.

It's like crack (Bill)

2006-01-17T23:11:00.000-05:00

I watched over Pam's shoulder as she was checking out the reporting site that gives her real time analytics on the Climate Change Microsite - saveourclimate.ca. During the one hour period when she was presenting the campaign and the Climate Change programs to her organization, thirty donations were made; earlier in the day a Skywriter contributed $500. And Pam knew about within minutes.

We thought we had it good when I was at ATT+T Canada Long Distance and we got each day's sales results by noon the next day - it allowed us to optimize our media placement on the fly (at least in theory). With real-time reporting, Pam could practically pick up the phone and personally thank each donor before they had a chance to put their credit card back in their wallet.

There were moments when the real time reporting was tough to watch - the times when Pam refreshed the screen and there hadn't been any activity; but more often than not, it seemed like it would be addictive. Like crack to a Direct Marketer.

That said, there is definitely a buzz at WWF and at the Agency over this, and the online guys are getting the recognition they deserve - this is a world class website.

And as professionally gratifying as it is to be part of world class work like this, it's even more gratifying to see it deliver results.

Check it out (Pam)

2006-01-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

I just realised that I've never told you where you can find all the work we've been doing for the past four months.

www.saveourclimate.ca

When you get to the home page, roll your cursor over the stuff flying in the sky and click on it and see what happens.

You can see all the creative in the section called "Our Campaign"

Sign the petition in the section called "Do Your Part"

Put your name in the sky by clicking on "Donate"

Advertising people need to fight climate change, too, ya know.

When the going gets tough, the tough think about shoes (Pam)

2006-01-17T08:47:00.000-05:00

The media conference, she is done. I would have written sooner, but I was having beer.

Where to begin? All guests arrived on time and were in great spirits. Logistics were flawless. Content was flawless. What was less flawless was the technology.

When Mike Russill, the prez, introduced the web site, the computer froze. That's right - it didn't work. Worked fine the four times we tried it before.

No worries. Show must go on. Mike explains what the site does and the speaking continues. As that's happening, the computer gets rebooted and the site then performs as previously advertised.

Funny. I wasn't speaking at the conference, but it's amazing how it was I who riveted the audience when the computer crashed. Everyone looking for my reaction. Feeling my pain.

What can a person do at a moment such as this? Grace is what's called for. Grace comes from knowing that no matter what's going on around oneself, if one is wearing great shoes, one can deal with anything.

I was wearing great shoes. The elevator lady at the Tower told me so.

Launch Day II (Pam)

2006-01-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

Everyone's getting ready to leave for the media conference. It's happening.

Looked at the web site demo for the conference at 9:00 this morning. It was wrong. No idea how that happened. Will worry about it later. It's correct now.

Nothing like dangling off the side of a cliff to get the blood moving first thing in the morning.

Had a chat with the prez this morning about his speech. We need a rousing, emotional delivery. Not his usual style.

Talked to him about something he said to me when we were reviewing the direct mail copy.

He said that all the work that WWF has done over the past decades -- protecting forests and oceans and our endangered species work -- will be lost if we don't stop climate change.

That brings it home. Talking about that gave him a real spark. He'll do what we need him to do.

I'm going to drink some Diet Coke and medidate over a cigarette.

We have a show to put on. Wish us luck.

Launch Day (Bill)

2006-01-16T08:43:00.000-05:00

I just went to SaveOurClimate.ca to see if the Website is up yet. It is not, but there is a holding page announcing the launch today.

It feels like opening night.

Pre-launch psychosis (Pam)

2006-01-14T11:53:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning and the media event to launch the campaign is on Monday.

This is it. Stomach is in knots.

These are the dark hours of silent introspection. I can't talk to anyone. Don't want to talk to anyone. I am obsessing over every detail. Every word that's been chosen. Every image that's been selected. Every decision we've made over the past four months.

I am responsible. I am accountable. The prez, my boss, the other VPs at WWF leave me free to do my job without interference. They ask tough questions and probe deeply into my strategy and my decisions. I answer to their satisfaction and they trust that I've got it right.

This freedom weighs down on me heavily in these moments. The payback for this freedom is very, very expensive.

I am sick with anxiety.

Have been testing the web site and giving feedback for the past 24-hours. Just looked at the latest iteration. If the site doesn't raise money, I don't know what will.

The media conference is the next hurdle. The speech that Mike Russill, our prez, will say is up to draft seven, could be eight.

This morning emails have been flying between me, Tara, the public relations guru, and Wiseman. Briefing materials for our celebs. DVDs of the creative for the press that attend. The structure for the special web site demo that we'll show.

Logistics in the CN Tower are intimidating. Security, elevators, special passes. We've got high profile people to wrangle through this gauntlet. Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. Margaret Atwood and, her husband, Graeme Gibson. Farley Flex, Canadian Idol judge and music industry impressario. Adam van Koeverden, kayaker and Olympic medalist. All generously giving us their time and influence, but don't need to be hassled and stressed through the process.

Then there are the final grooming details. Hair cut. Done. Eyebrows waxed. Not yet. Need to go see the smiling and sadistic lady over on Coxwell, who speaks to me in a mix of English and Korean. Manicure. Will do myself. New suit. Will get tomorrow.

Sneak preview of the ads

2006-01-13T16:31:00.000-05:00

the horror......the horror (Pam)

2006-01-11T08:14:00.000-05:00

In the past two days, our launch event has changed date, time and venue....twice. Anxiety. Nausea. Man-ish levels of perspiration. Many, many cigarettes.

More big names have signed on for the press conference. It's remarkable what you get if you just ask. People care more than I realised from my vantage point in the weeds.

TV is done. Radio is done. Print is done.

Web site is not done, but it's out of the shower and drying its hair. Direct mail is calling the cab.

I'm not sleeping at night but am having the time of my life.

Will great work sell itself? (Bill)

2006-01-05T09:03:00.000-05:00

We got approval to the final picture last night, and the output is another example of a Client and an Agency working together to make the product better. Without exception, at least in my experience, a collaborative approach to creative development and production always results in the best work.

I remember starting in this business and being told I had to know my Clients' business better than they know their business. I never bought into it. I have been on the Client side, a couple times, so I have a sense for how they spend their day, and I know it is impossible - impossible - to know the the nuance and dynamics of their business better than them. So how can we possibly build strategic communications engineered to deliver business results without their expertise and input into the process?

With our Climate Change creative moving close to completion, we're feeling as though we are three for three. (And by "we," of course, I mean the Client/Agency team.) So the question is, will this great work help us secure incremental media beyond what we have planned?

This new spot is nothing if not cinematic, so our next BHAG is to figure out how to get this spot on the big screens at Cineplex/Famous Players. The pre-show is great, but we'd like to be on-screen after the lights go down. The problem is, it costs a fortune to advertise in this medium - apparently the Dolby license alone is over $1000 per screen.

But this is the fun part: pulling together an innovative program that will get the spot the attention it deserves.

At this point, every incremental bit of media we secure inches WWF closer to the tipping point; and given the profile of the Global Warming issue, the tipping point seems to be getting closer and closer.

Back with a bang (Pam)

2006-01-03T22:29:00.000-05:00

That's right. First day back and today we secured a big name for our campaign launch on January 16. Only 8 more biz days left to get a few more big names lined up.

Actually, it's worse than that. Only 8 more biz days in order to get the web site finished. It's some crazy cool technology FCBi is building and it has its challenges. They're telling me they're confident the site will work for launch day. I hope they're right considering that the site will be used for the first time in front of the media with our big names doing the demonstration. Good lord. What have I gotten all of us into?

Believe me when I tell you that every possible contingency will be planned and replanned. I'm primarily motivated by an overwhelming aversion to looking stupid. I'm not going to look stupid.

Lots of copy editing needs to be done on the site. When isn't there too much copy? It has got to go. This will not go over well with Julia, climate change guru. She is already irritated by our need to simplify complicated stuff. To her, nuance is lost in simplification. Without simplification, the information is too much work to digest and understand. Who cares what the thing says if no one will be bothered to read it?

Also due for the launch date - the TV spots and the radio. Going to look at supers tomorrow afternoon, this time will final timing and graphic treatment. TV and radio voices will be recorded on Thursday at RMW.

Bad news. Seems we've lost one of our creative guys. A junior art director. He went over to Cossette to get lost in a sea of other junior art directors. I'm very disappointed, but look forward to giving another junior person the chance to do some really fantastic work. It's very, very important to me that our account be a "teaching" account, where young kids have access to a meaningful creative canvas in a positive environment where they have a voice and can learn not only the nuts and bolts of how creative gets done, but how to persuade a client and defend their work, to be big thinkers, not just typists. That was a long sentence.

Twas two days before Xmas (Pam)

2005-12-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

My yearning for ginger cookies, a pail of Baileys, the National Enquirer and my overstuffed leather chair is now palpable.

Alas, I am in my office with my dog at my feet and Christmas carols playing on the radio.

It's a good moment to look back on the year and rejoice of the bounty given unto WWF over the past year.

Our revenues are up almost 13% for the year. This in a time when most charities not dealing with natural disasters are significantly down for the year.

Why the success, I ask myself? Because much of our efforts have been focused on advertising versus direct marketing, we're now in the same boat as so many other marketers who can't put a finger on exactly what is causing what.

I do know that two national campaigns in six months is having a profound effect. But, I'm getting lots of questions about how a charity can afford to be doing what we are.

It's pretty simple, really. Not easy, but simple.

The production and media industries are making it happen. We can't afford the creative that FCB has been pumping out. Production houses like Brown and Spy and Ruckus are the ones that allow us to do this work. And then the media companies put it on the air and in their magazines and on their garbage cans and in the subway stations.

So as I count down the last hours before I go home with my dog to drink a pail of Baileys and read the paper, I give thanks for the stuff we've been given so we can make a difference for the planet.

I'm feeling pretty good.

Accha and peace out.

Trying not to check out (Pam)

2005-12-20T20:27:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that I'm exhausted?

Three more sleeps until I'm off until the new year. The pace has never been more frenetic. Trying not to check out early for the holidays.

In the past 36 hours, I have given approvals/feedback to the following:

- radio scripts (too funny, the spot is)
- television supers (just the type...waiting to see it in place with sound and proper timing)
- direct mail (RED folder - the final round of revisions)
- web site architecture and copy
- public relations backgrounders

I, along with our PR guru, Tara, have also been trying to recruit famous people for our campaign launch on January 16. It will be terribly embarrassing if I can't find any famous people to help us out. Does anyone know any famous people who are into stopping climate change?

The big thing I was holding my breath over was whether or not we'd get the CN Tower as the venue for our press conference. That was secured this morning.

Had a group Xmas lunch at my house yesterday. My team gave me this awesome Baileys gift set. Booze and cool mugs from which to drink it. Love it. A shout out to my posse. (I'm SO street.)

Had my first TV interview today on CITY TV in Toronto. The show is called "Animal House Calls". The host, Ann Rohmer, made me wear a WWF toque through the entire interview. At no time could I actually see myself. I am blessed. My husband, the famous Brad Ross, city of Toronto spokesperson, says I didn't look like a female Trailer Park Boy. I choose to believe him.

Three more sleeps. Just three more sleeps.

Great Clients = Great Advertising (Bill)

2005-12-18T08:54:00.000-05:00

Pam really is a remarkable client. There is a unique creative treatment in the :60 version of the spot that Pam was not going to approve. We had both strategic and creative rationale for using the treatment, but it wasn't doing it for Pam. When she showed it to her colleagues, however, many of them liked the treatment - some liked it a lot. So when we got together to discuss the issue on Friday, Pam completely backed down, and approved the spot as presented. I should probably repeat that: Pam approved the :60 fine cut without a single change - that never happens.

Pam is very quick to heap praise on the Agency for all the great work, but the truth of the situation is this: there are numerous creative people involved in the process - our creative team, our creative directors, the director, the editor, the producer, and even a few account people - but there is one person responsible for the integrity of this campaign. If not for Pam saying the three most important words in advertising, "it is approved," we would be nowhere.

Clients get the advertising they deserve, and with Pam at the helm, WWF deserves some great advertising.

Approved! (Pam)

2005-12-16T19:01:00.000-05:00

That's right. TV is approved. Staff loved it. Still have to work on supers.

Big debate re: cool creative treatment on the picture in a couple places that I felt hurt the message. Apparently, it's just me who has a prob with it.

My staff thought my decision was "sick". Piccolo and Taciuk had a bird. Even Bill was unaligned with me. (Bill never really outright disagrees with me, per se. He just hammers me with profoundly articulate arguments phrased in a manner that makes me go, "Yeah, what he said." It's creepy.)

I think what we've been through over the past couple of months is tiring all of us out. When we met this morning to discuss my feedback, we agreed to the parameters of what we're going to argue about. If it's something that hurts the communication value, it's fair game for me. If it's a creative decision, then I leave it alone. Fine.

Am fried. Waiting for the weekend and my Chinese food delivery.

So far, so good on TV approvals (Pam)

2005-12-15T09:50:00.000-05:00

Showed fine cuts to Mike (the prez), Yves (my boss) and Shawn (comms cheese)this morning. So far, so good. Mike says, "I think this is brilliant."

In fact, Mike wants me to present it to all staff right before we go out for our Christmas party this evening. It will make everyone very excited. Our staff take a lot of pride in the marketing work and the fact that we've been so visible over the past six months. Is an excellent morale booster right before we go off and get overly refreshed.

Still need to show it to Julia (climate change guru) and her boss, Arlin (conservation cheese). These two will be my toughest audience.

The fine cut is soooo fine (Pam)

2005-12-14T19:46:00.000-05:00

Saw the fine cut of the :60 and :30 TV spots this evening. Heavens to Betsy. It's hot stuff.

My biggest worry was that the story we were telling wouldn't come through clearly. If you've looked at the concept script, you'll know that it looks good on paper, but once you sign off on a concept you can only hope that it works in practice.

As always happens, some copy that was written the morning of the shoot is what brings the whole thing home.

It's a tough thing we're doing. We're taking the hard road. We're not talking about death and destruction that can be so emotional. We're talking about how WWF-Canada works. It's a positioning exercise. Essentially, we're selling a process -- how we do our business.

Anyway, once the thing is finished, I'll post it for a sneak preview. It's H-O-T hot, I tell you!

Print is done and out the door. Don't have a final PDF yet, but when I do, I'll post it.

Direct mail is in progress. We're on the YELLOW round of copy revisions -- revision #2. Shot the photography with the brilliant Robert Lear.

The web stuff is killer. Ha! Can't wait for something to show you on that. Bit of a scare on that yesterday, though. Got a whiff that Julia, climate change guru, was not happy with the concept after I'd presented it to her and she appeared to be very happy.

Funny how some executional details can threaten to skuttle a concept. Lesson: sweat the small stuff.

Anyway, is solved and all is well.

Approved a radio script the other day. Very funny stuff. Will put that up here, too.

Press conference is a bit of a challenge. Trying to get some super secret celebrities on board for the event. Having probs getting our venue nailed. Messaging is finished, though. At least I think it's finished. You never seem to know when anything's actually finished around here.

We've gotten massive press from the international climate change conference that just ended in Montreal. We've got a lot of momentum leading up to the launch on Jan. 16.

The shoot, in pictures

2005-12-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

Pam (can you believe we got a helicopter!?) Davis

Frozen agency people, with Wiseman on the left

Noble Jones: Director in a funny hat

Joe Piccolo and Chris Taciuk: Creative team and super-great friends!

Frozen talent

On the brink of a breakthrough (Bill)

2005-12-08T14:53:00.000-05:00

I’m a big believer in the philosophy of Good to Great. In fact, people I work with are probably sick of me talking about it all the time. But the parallels between the process outlined in Collins’ book and the process WWF is in the midst of, are remarkable. The past 12 months have seen numerous small steps forward, which are starting to add up to one big difference. It’s the Flywheel Effect – there isn’t one moment in time or one event we can point to that is making the difference in the performance of the brand; it is the cumulative effect of EVERY moment and EVERY event that is starting to create the momentum.

And the timing of this campaign couldn’t be better -- Global Warming is a top of mind issue for Canadians, and WWF Canada is going to be first to market with a compelling proposition to address the problem.

I bet that if WWF stays on the Good to Great track they’re on today, Climate Change is going to be the breakthrough campaign.

The trouble with talent (Bill)

2005-12-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

The trouble with talent is that you never really know what you're going to get until the day of the shoot. We all agreed our hero woman was absolutely the right choice for the Climate Change spot - she gave us exactly what we were looking for in the auditions. But in the real world, with lights, cameras, a huge crew, clients, agency and 50 extras all staring at the actor, we had a tough time getting what we were looking for.

The good news is, we have a patient client who understands the process -- and the magic of post production. We know we'll have a killer spot when it's all said and done.

Pam's digs about me not being on the set aside, we're in great shape.

We shoot....we score! (Pam)

2005-12-07T13:46:00.000-05:00

With a helicopter flying overhead, I stood in the -12 degree breeze at the base of a rigged out cherry picker and surveyed the controlled chaos around me.

Fifty talent, walking from their "diplomatic limosines" to a house, were choreographed as keenly as a Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes public petting session. It was magic.

I'll tell you what else was magic -- a 16-hour shoot day that did not end with tears, stitches or resignation.

There was some stress.

There was shocking purility (mostly from Chris Taciuk) that is so often the unfortunate product of boredom.

There were those special moments of theatrical climax as you wordlessly watch the battle of wills between director, producer and creative team.

Those are the most interesting exchanges, once distanced by 24 hours. The raging civility that masks the fury of creative will. Who's going to win? The Hollywood director who knows Steven Spielburg (or whomever) or the Cannes-winning creative team? Then the producer John-Waynes himself into the fray and lays the hammer down. Ba-bam! Crisis over. We breathe. We return to eating M&Ms.

Witnessing it is one thing. Having to participate in it is another.

It's an intimidating situation, particularly for a client. There's stuff happening that you just aren't down with. You know what you want, but because you're in foreign territory -- creative --what you want is sometimes difficult to get. Because the intangible must be articulated. It has to be defended with logic and words. Mental swashbucklery when you're tired and gassy from sitting all day. It's a bitch.

Anyway, we got 'er done. Ruckus Films ponied up a major production on our behalf. Generous, generous, generous.

Our principal talent was suffering from a brutal bout of temporary brain atrophy but pulled it out a couple times to give some stellar moments. I swear to Buddha, I thought I was going to have to get in there and do it myself. Literally, I was on the verge of tears at some points. Alas, even tears would not have helped this poor woman of plethoric mental seizures. I chose to silently curse her instead. Then wildly blessed her when she got it right. Man, I felt so sorry for her and for me, too. She was a rollercoaster, baby!

And where was Bill Baker through all of this? I don't know. Probably cheating on me with some other client. Typical agency client-izer.

Wardrobe malfunctions avoided (Pam)

2005-12-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

While Bill Baker was cozy at home, his right hand, Jennnifer Lee, accompanied me to a review of wardrobe this fine Sunday evening.

All's well. Saw almost all of it. Some military uniforms are en route from Vancouver.

Pre-pro in the morning.

Great way to end the week (Pam)

2005-12-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

Holy guacamole.

Had a great day. Saw the media plan. It's awesome. Did you know that there are free phone booths that play videos? I did not know this.

Saw final casting for the TV. There are........get ready for it.......50 talent involved in this shoot. 50 people who said, "Yeah, I think I'll spend a day working for no pay." I can't believe it. It's so incredibly humbling when stuff like this happens. I think I might have already said this before, but, man, I just am amazed by the generousity of people. We'd be absolutely nowhere without people like this.

Did I mention that there's a helicopter involved, too?

Saw the location. The exterior is great. A regular house on a regular street in Etobicoke. The interior is the exact opposite of what I wanted. After some 'discussion', I've agreed to just chill out and let the set designer/prop guru make it all fine.

(The lamps in the living room have giant jewels hanging from them. The kind that, when I was a kid, my grandma had on her lamps and I fantasized about stealing them and selling them and being a rich princess who sleeps on 10 mattresses and can feel a pea under them. Those kinda jewels.)

Had a convo about the big web site idea previously hinted at. Just sorting out the flow of action and architecture. Is going to be big, I tell you!

Had a big team meeting to review exactly where we're at with the whole campaign. Julia, the conservationist, has been in Montreal at the international climate change conference. She's really kicking ass, getting our message out, working the politics.

So much has changed, so quickly, that not everyone on the team even knew what was going on. For a day, there was little communication to the broader team so that some people didn't even know that the launch date had been pushed back by a week.

Everyone's back on board and in the loop. Going to try to sleep tonight.

Crazy things are happening (Pam)

2005-12-01T21:16:00.000-05:00

Our whole public relations launch plan has changed. Guess why? I'll tell you why.

Because the FCBi people have an idea that's so huge, I haven't even calculated all the ways we can use this idea.

So, we push back the launch date by a week to accommodate the time they'll need for the tech work needed to build this crazy thing they've recommended.

More on that when I figure it all out. (Teaser: Big celebrities are involved. Uh, if we can get some on board really, really fast.)

Now we're talkin' (Pam)

2005-11-29T19:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the island in my kitchen is covered in all sorts of ads, web concepts and direct mail concepts. Need a break from looking at it all.

This campaign has been the most consuming of my career. It's been awhile since I lost sleep over work stuff. That's been happening for the past three weeks.

The print is now and forever solved. Done. We've added copy that really drives home the core message...WWF will do the big stuff on climate change that the average Jane can't do on her own. At the same time, it fixes the disconnect between the imagery and the call-to-action.

Like I said, it was tense times, but it's done and we're all alive. Joe Picollo read some previous posts and swears that he's never once thought of punching me right in the head. Perhaps I was projecting. Ha!

(By the way, this is what Joe says in meetings now - "Be careful what you say. She's going to write it in her blog." I've decided to write only what HE says.)

Listen to me when I say that we've got something so huge on the web side of things.

Check out our other campaign sites by FCBi, if you're interested: www.stopthenet.ca and www.donotdrill.ca

You'll see they're pretty cool. But FCBi has taken this new one right over the top with some crazy interactivity that I'm convinced will not only inspire people to donate, but will keep them coming back to the site over and over again. Colour me stupefied by how they come up with this stuff. Must be the brilliant brief we gave them.

And the direct mail. Great stuff. Right on brief, smart as hell and uses personalization in the way it was invented to be used.

In the past we've been a tad, uh, high maintenance when it comes to rounds of revisions on our direct mail. FCB Direct now has us on this coloured file folder system so that we only get three rounds of changes.

Green folder for 1st round. Yellow folder for 2nd round. Red folder for final changes.

Fairly embarrassing, when you think about it. It's like they're weening a third-grader off crack. Very strict, they need to be with us.

So direct mail creative is working it's way to the Green folder now that we've given feedback to the concept. We're working on the data right now, as well.

Waiting on the media plan. Should see that on Friday. Can't wait for that. We have very little money for media and count on the generousity of our media partners to get the creative in front of our potential donors. GM spends more in one day on media than we spend in a couple years.

That's it for now. Sorry for the long entry but there's lots goin on!

Welcome to my casting couch (Pam)

2005-11-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

TV moves along. Have approved the casting and location specs. I love this part. You put the call out and just when you think you know what you're going to get, you get something else and it's always better.

We're shooting on December 6. Don't know where yet. Not excited about shooting in the cold of Toronto for 12 hours or so, but beggars can't be whiners.

Will be meeting with director again to review his vision one more time. I'm not exactly sure that our visions are one and the same. Would be really great to make sure we sort that out before I end up with "Scarface" when I thought we were getting "The Sound of Music," if you know what I'm saying.

Alright, alright. I'm avoiding talking about print. Still working it out.

The tyranny of the clock (Bill)

2005-11-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

The timing on Climate Change is very tight – we can’t afford to be late to market because January and February are the best DM response months and we need to raise money. But it is less than two months to air, and the creative guys have asked for more time. Pam is nervous, but she trusts us, so the stakes are high. We don’t want to let her down.

Fun, fortitude and print (Pam)

2005-11-23T13:02:00.000-05:00

Not a good day yesterday.

Remember how I raved about the copy tweak on the print ads that had saved the day? Well, I showed the ads around my office yesterday. 11 out of 12 people don’t understand them.

Interestingly, the creative guys took the ads around FCB and found that everyone they showed totally “got” the ads.

Just goes to show you that focus groups, formal or informal, are useless for creative evaluation.

Regardless, when a dude with a Phd from Oxford can’t tell me what an ad is trying to say, something’s not working.

We’re missing the right connection between the visual and the call-to-action. Essentially, people are coming away from the ads asking, “Why are you showing me this particular picture?”

Here’s our problem. Photography is done – about $50K or so worth that we got for practically nothing. (The pictures are works of art in their own right. A visual feast. Love them, love them, love them.)

Deadline for creative is tomorrow in order to make the February magazines. This media is essentially free. It’s not an option to miss this deadline.

Creative is such a fickle thing. Its iterative nature means precisely that we’ll have these crisis moments. It’s takes the crisis to make the work better sometimes. It’s painful and frustrating and so tense. But it is necessary.

Too bad there’s no such thing as an epidural for creative development. In the meantime, you have to keep the team together and motivated. And, most importantly, having fun where you can find it.

Fortitude. That’s what’s required.

Creative guys are on it. They’ll crack it.

Am....so...ver...y...tired (Pam)

2005-11-18T17:55:00.000-05:00

Gave feedback to the TV script today. Am intellectually spent. Can’t write.

TV moves forward (Pam)

2005-11-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

Met the TV producer and the director (on the phone because he’s in Los Angeles) to discuss the director’s vision and give some inputs on casting, location, treatment, etc.

I am endlessly amazed and honestly humbled that so many incredibly talented people want to work with WWF-Canada. We are the beneficiaries of some of the country’s (and the world’s in the case of this spot and the last one we did) best talents. These people make no money on our work. They do it anyway.

Oh! And I found out that Ted Rosnick is going to do our music and audio…AGAIN. He’s done our last three spots. Too generous. I love Ted.

Blown Away (Bill)

2005-11-16T14:27:00.000-05:00

We were blown away by the success of the WWF ANWR program. For a ridiculously small budget, we delivered a campaign that achieved doubled our objectives. It speaks not only to the power of a well-integrated campaign, but more importantly we think, to the power of an emotional appeal.

I think we bettered ourselves on the Bycatch campaign, the program highlighting the issues associated with over-fishing on the Grand Banks. Somehow we lucked into a couple of hot young Directors from Germany who were willing to fly to Vancouver Aquarium for us. But the magic was delivered after they headed home. These two guys computer generated the entire contents of the tank – a dolphin, fish, coral, a turtle. We held our breath until we saw the fine-cut because the idea sounded great on paper, but none of us had ever done this much CGI. People are blown away when they find out we shot an empty tank.

More print "discussions" (Pam)

2005-11-11T17:53:00.000-05:00

More arguing…pardon me, I mean, spirited debate…over the copy on the print ads. I’m so tired. So very tired.

It was an intense meeting. I was still having problems with the copy on the ads. I gave feedback that the creative guys weren’t particularly liking. There was a point in the meeting where I almost torpedoed the print concept altogether.

Joe Piccolo, the senior writer on the business, was apoplectic but did a good job of controlling himself. Very professional, as always, but pissed off nonetheless. It’s funny to watch him when he gets angry with me. I can see he wants to punch me right in the head, but he knows that I’d just get up and repeat myself.

Chris Taciuk, Joe’s writing partner, always the voice of reason and referee between Joe and I, suggested that another half-hour of concentrated effort would resolve my issues. (Chris wears these weird covers on his shoes…whitey tighties for running shoes. He thinks they’re cool. They’re not.)

Needless to say, I was completely dubious. Afterall, they’d just finished telling me that they’d spent countless hours and the current state of copy was the best there was in the offing.

So, they took their extra half-hour.

I worked on my budgets.

I answered some emails.

I drank some Diet Coke.

I went back into the meeting room and, holy guacamole, they did it. They came up with an ingenious tweak that saved the entire concept.

God, they’re good. I am SO relieved. I can get behind the print concept now. Great way to start a weekend…confident that this stuff is coming together. At least for now.

Print payoff (Pam)

2005-11-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

Apparently, I was wrong. Apparently, ads that are too smart are good.

If you’ve seen the TV concept that we chose, you know that basically, the story we’re telling is that climate change is a monster thing that an individual can’t solve on his or her own. That’s where WWF-Canada, with our ability to partner with local people, businesses and governments at every level, comes in. We can tackle the big stuff.

Well, the print essentially takes this same approach, but in different way. I’ll throw a preview of the ad up as soon as I get something that would make sense to you.

Anyway, it takes a lot of thinking to get the pay off for the ads. Once you get it, it’s worth the effort. But, are people going to make the effort? The creative guys say emphatically, “YES!”

We’re betting on them being right. They have to be right. The stuff is very smart and says exactly what we need it to say. This is a test of my faith in the idea that people can respond to advertising that makes them think.

Repositioning the Brand (Bill)

2005-11-09T14:13:00.000-05:00

We were hired to help WWF completely reposition themselves. People who know what this organization really does; think they’re the best kept secret in the country. The problem is, nobody really knows what they do. We sent an intern to the corner of Yonge and Eglinton with a camcorder and some cue cards to see what people thought of when they saw the famous panda logo along and the WWF word-mark. Out of more than twenty people, we got about 2 right answers. From the others, we got blank stares, something about saving animals, or the “Wrestling Federation.” One woman who claimed to be a donor didn't even know what WWF was really all about.

What we discovered when we started working with WWF was an organization of scientists, marine biologists and world-renowned environmentalists spending 95 cents of every dollar raised in Canada to conserve natural spaces in Canada. And a leadership team and Board of Directors that would make a Fortune 500 company jealous. If these guys can get WWF on the map, nobody can.

Contemplating Concepts (Pam)

2005-11-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

Forgive me, gentle reader, for my lapse in corresponding. I’ve been in the midst of concept debate.

This is a long story, so allow me to begin at the beginning.

Some time ago, I don’t recall the day, we were presented with three TV concepts and 2 print concepts. I’m sure there are some instructions somewhere to tell you where to click to see each of the concepts.

(Reader’s Note: Should you care to understand what you’re about to read, you should probably check out the concepts, cause I don’t have the fortitude, nor the skill, to describe these concepts on my own here.)

So, Concept #1 didn’t get very far, as the net take-away seemed to be that throwing money at the climate change problem would solve it. If you read the concept fully through, you’ll see that the copy doesn’t say that, but the imagery is so powerful that, really, that’s what the consumer would be left with. Alas, Concept #1 was poo-pooed.

Then we were left with two.

Concept #2…the infamous Gas Station script. This was the concept that we chose. It is radical. It is funny. It’s brilliant. It will be talked about.

Concept #3…the Picket Fence Summit, as we’re affectionately calling it these days. We did not select this concept, even though it brilliantly illustrates exactly what WWF-Canada does. Regretfully, we bid adieu this brainy concept in favour of the sexy, funny Gas Station.

And then we slept on it.

Then we had doubts that seemed to grow with the passing of the hours.

And then we slept on it again.

And then we killed it. All of us. Agency and client together.

It’s risky. Too risky. We’re not afraid of risk. We’re not even afraid of being too risky. Thing is, if we’re going to put out our necks, we’re going to do it on a conservation issue, not on something that has nothing to do with our work.

Many, many hours of tense deliberations brought us back to the Picket Fence Summit. It lives.

Trick is that that print concepts that were presented aren’t working. At least that’s my position. Turns out that the creative guys don’t agree with me. They rarely agree with me. They wear me down with all their clever arguments.

Here’s the thing. When you work with smart people, you get smart work. The problem is that it’s a very painful and frustrating process. Sometimes, when I’m feeling very weak and tired, I silently wish that I was working with stupid people. My life would be easier. I could just boss them around and get my way and not be so tired mentally. But then where would we be?

So, at 3:00 pm today, I get to listen to the creative guys tell me why I’m so wrong about the print concepts. Truth be told, I do hope I’m wrong, cause we are seriously behind schedule and going back to the drawing board will screw us up large.

WE WILL NOT BE LATE WITH THIS CAMPAIGN. (I figure if I say this enough times, and loudly and bitchy enough, it will be true.)

Concepts & briefs

2005-11-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

The concepts and briefs can be found here:

Climate Change Creative Brief

Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3

Round 3 (Bill)

2005-11-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

We went from a stand still to a sprint five months ago, and we haven’t slowed since.
Our Agency turned the first WWF program, for the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, around from brief to shipping materials, in 6 weeks. We barely caught our breath and delivered the Bycatch campaign. Both covered literally every medium – tv, a microsite, online advertising, a viral email campaign, national and local newspapers, magazines, urban weeklies, commuter papers, interior transit, TSAs, radio, pixel boards – even the euphemistically named “silver boxes.” And for Bycatch we threw in a direct mail appeal, a DM membership drive, and another entirely separate integrated campaign for WWF's annual “Adoption” program. We have never worked harder, and we have never been part of better work.

We have a brief (Pam)

2005-10-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

Received creative brief. Is interesting how a bunch of people can experience the very same conversation, yet retain it in such different ways. Seriously, I’m endlessly fascinated by this.

After some noodling around various words, it’s good to go. Can’t wait for concepts.

This stage of the process is really very annoying for me. Mostly because the stuff is totally out of my control at this point.

It’s like Christmas. I can’t tell you what is the perfect gift for me, but I sure know a crappy gift once I’ve unwrapped it. You can’t wait to open it, but you’re dreading what’s in there. What if it’s one of those sweater shavers? Or a book of inspirational cat poetry? Or a hole puncher with rhinestones glued on it in the shape of a yin/yang symbol?

But, no. It’s not possible for this to happen because the brief is brilliant. It has no mention of rhinestones whatsoever. Why do I get like this?

Who cares? (Pam)

2005-10-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

Interesting conversation with Bill and Jennifer today. As they develop the creative brief, they wanted to talk to me about a consumer insight that was pretty interesting.

Essentially, here’s how it goes.

You know, gentle reader, people have problems. Their lives are complicated and stressful and tiring and basically unreasonable. So it’s not too likely you’ll find many folks sitting around after a long day at work contemplating climate change and its global economic, security and livelihood implications. Not any normal people, at least. Um, not even me.

Pretty much, everyone knows what climate change is and are likely familiar with all the nasty scenarios that have been predicted if we don’t get it together. Seriously expensive research shows that, for the most part, people actually do care about this.

How do we move them from caring at the vaguely-disturbing-but-I-don’t-necessarily-need-to-worry-today-cause-I-have-to-get-this-kid-to-hockey level to actually doing something about it, i.e. making a donation to WWF-Canada?

Knowing that they’re busy, but also care about climate change, it seems to us, after some discussion, that if we provide an easy solution, they’ll go for it.

As in, the best way to do something about climate change is to support the work of WWF-Canada because we’re best positioned to actually have a global impact. (This is quite true, by the way.)

Makes sense. There’s very little point in talking about the doomsday scenarios. Not that these scenarios lack any relevance. There’s just no point in it, because people already know it. It’s beating a dead horse.*

It also ignores an important part of the equation…hope.

There is hope. No smart person is going to spend money to fix a problem that is hopeless. In order to inspire people to donate, there must be a demonstrable need, yes. But, there must also be a solution.

So there you go – focus on the solution because everyone knows about the need. And we’ve only got 30-seconds. It all works out nicely for everyone. Errr, well, we’ll see when the concepts come in.
* Let me vehemently declare that I in no way condone such behaviour. Beating horses, whether alive or dead, is profoundly abhorrent. I use this colourful and historied metaphor (arguably a simile, but I didn’t use “like” or “as”) simply to lend emphasis to my point. Believe me when I tell you that it’s necessary for someone who works for WWF-Canada to make this qualification.

2005-10-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

Got some timelines for the campaign. Already behind schedule by a week. How is that even possible?

Pizza & briefs (Pam)

2005-10-03T13:35:00.000-04:00

We briefed FCB. There was pizza. I wonder if we have to pay for that or if FCB donates it to us. I wonder if our studio costs will mysteriously go up by the cost of 6 pizzas. For some reason, pizza seems to have a very positive effect on the morale of my team. It’s comfort food for the overly stressed.

There must have been about 20 people in the briefing session. Julia, our conservation director, was surprised when she saw how many people were there. I don’t think she’s ever worked with an agency before, so it’s all new to her.

Pretty much every division of FCB was represented. On-line, media, advertising, direct marketing. There were suits and creatives from each division, too. Quite something, really.

You know, we’ve found over our last two campaigns that integration is a lot easier to say you do than to actually do it. But each time, we get better at it. I mean, the simplest things can kill you. Even things like status reports. Really, it goes right to the fundamentals. It can be so tedious sometimes, the information sharing and making sure that everyone knows what everyone’s doing.

I took everyone through the brief with the agency people asking tons of questions. We did get into a fair amount of the science involved.

We’ve agreed that none of us is interested in a campaign about what the earth will be like in 60 years. Sure people care, but only when they’re up really late and can’t get to sleep and have nothing else to think about.

The agency is now working on the creative brief. Not sure when they’re presenting it to us. Waiting for a timeline for the whole campaign. I hope we get that today.

I’ll post the brief once we get it and it’s finalized.

This is the point in the process when I get nervous. Nervous, as in, can’t-eat-cause-I-have-no-appetite-cause-if-they-don’t-nail-this-insight-we’re-dead kind of nervous. Pretty much, that never goes away, now that I think about it.

Pam

Meet the players

2005-09-27T12:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I’m a quasi-ludite and have never “blogged” before. I have looked at blogs every now and again. If a blog is mentioned on the Daily Show, I’ll almost always look at it, but that’s about the extent of my blogging experience. So I beg your patience as I find my blogging voice.

Seems to me if I’m going to keep you riveted by the soap opera that will be this campaign, you need to know the cast of characters. I’ll cover off my peeps and Bill can tell you all about the agency types.

Well, there’s me, Pam Davis. I’m the director of marketing and am responsible for keeping the thing together.

My boss, his name is Yves Gadler. He is responsible for all fundraising at WWF-Canada. Mostly, he leaves me to do my thing. I love him. He went away on vacation not long ago and when he returned, I realised that I had missed him. Weird.

The big cheese, the president and CEO, is Mike Russill. A great guy. Formerly in oil and gas, ironically enough. But also a marketing guy. He gets it and he likes to push the boundaries. Truly a pleasure for someone like me.

Julia is the conservation person on this campaign. She is the equivalent of a product person at a bank, for example. Julia’s perspective is the science. She’s responsible for our conservation strategy – how we’re going to tackle climate change. She’s also the one who can make or break the campaign – just like any other product person. I’ve never worked with Julia on a campaign before. If she doesn’t “get” what the marketing and agency people need to make a great campaign, we’re going to be screwed. Fingers crossed.

Wiseman works for me and she’s the integrator and overall day-to-day-keep-stuff-going person. Her first name is Joanna, but there are too many Joanna’s here, so we just call her Wiseman. She’s smart. Too smart, sometimes. Constantly argues with me and thinks she’s always right. She usually is right, which is the only thing that stops me from firing her. That and the fact that I love her. She understands me.

J.B. is responsible for the direct marketing bit on this campaign. She’s another Joanna. Serious keener. She’s doing some post-graduate stuff on environmental education. Great at what she does, seriously smart. A bit strange in her own way, as well. Says “sick” all the time. As in, “It is so so hot in here. It’s sick.” Doesn’t make any sense.

There are a lot more people, but those are the main ones you’ll be hearing about.

We’re briefing on the campaign this week. I pretty much have the thing written, but it’s with Julia right now in order to make sure that the science stuff is accurate and puts focus right where it needs to be based on the actual climate change work that she and her team will be doing.

Climate change is such a colossal subject. Between Bill and I, we have to figure out what particular aspect of climate change is going to be compelling to the consumer. Is it the planet we’re going to leave for our kids? Is it the effects that we’re experiencing right now, like the insane hurricanes? Is it the plight of some species? Is it the fact that we’re not going to be able to have outdoor ice rinks?

We have tons of research, but it’s just that…numbers. All of us have figured out by now that research does not a great ad campaign make. The trick is in finding the right nugget of consumer insight and turning that insight into something that captures the attention of people who are normally too busy to pay any attention.

We better get it right, or my ass is grass.