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Come hear Moxie’s Ted Boezaart this Wednesday, January 30 at the monthly AiMA meeting! “AiMA Monthly Meeting: How are Brands and Agencies Engaging their Tablet Audiences?”

About Ted: http://moxieinteractive.com/tedboezaart

photo credit: Vlad Gorenshteyn

Originally published in MediaPost. Also, see Q&A here.

The Death Of Subjectivity: How Real-Time Analytics Can Actually Bolster Creativity

by Tina Chadwick, Creative Director | Moxie

Focus Groups. Testing. Polls. Market Research. It used to be that these terms would send a creative person over the edge. The everpresent argument -- to think that 10 people in a room, who volunteered to be there because they got paid and fed, could represent true consumer behavior toward advertising concepts that we usually not even fully formed -- was maddening.

But things changed.

The explosion of real-time analytics brings us tangible facts on how consumers actually react to almost anything. And that learning is now used to shape our communication across all advertising channels. Dwindling are the days of subjectivity and pure creative opinion. Enter proof. The inarguable facts of what consumers will and won’t do or buy according to action and not intention.

The above may sound like the death of creativity. It may sound like everything is now based only on fact and that Willy Wonka’s coat might need to change from purple to red because consumers pick red coats 3.5% more often. Or that Mickey Mouse should actually be a hamster because consumers resonate 4.03% more with hamsters.

Let’s not get crazy.

How many times have you read research findings that begin “Surprisingly, ….”? That’s because humans are only predictable to a certain degree of, well, certainty. The way to find the nuances and intricacies in human behavior is to uncover them through testing.

True creativity comes with finding a strategically sound hypothesis to test in the face of current learnings. Notice I didn’t say “works in the face of current learnings." While it would be fantastic to have every new idea outperform the previous one, the creative objective should be to exhaust the variables. The job of analytics is to measure and translate those combinations into learning. It’s a co-dependent relationship, yet a healthy one. If you don’t have new hypotheses, you don’t have new analytics and learning stops there.

What that means is that creative people have to think harder -- have to look at what is known and find the unexplored territory that still makes sense to the strategy. True creativity is finding freedom within a framework. That is exactly where we are now. There are frameworks of what we know about consumers. What we have to do is find new questions to ask -- new ways to say things that consumers want to hear. This has always been the job of creative -- it just now has more information to use for that process.

That’s why it important for creatives to be able to “read” the results. Our creative freedom lies in being able to understand what is defined by current learnings. Then we need to be able to find the soft spots and areas where there are potentially better ways to reach the target or, even different targets. We have to understand which targets are already defined and possibly identify a critical mass of potential new ones who may respond differently (and better) to an alternate concept. There is more fertile ground for creativity.

Or you dig a little deeper into the results and realize that although more general consumers pick red coats themselves, that doesn’t mean they want Wonka to alter his wardrobe. You test that even though consumers may have a personal propensity for red coats, they like purple on public characters. Even more, you might only want to be talking to a smaller segment of the group, the “Dreamers”, and they are just fine with purple coats and Oopa Loompas.

Variables can also be a key to creativity. The “what ifs…” still exist; we just know the answers to a lot of them now. But keep in mind that changes in external variables can alter human behavior. Things such as the economy, fashion, which party is in office and who our pop icons are all affect consumer behavior. Each time an influential cultural change takes root, a previous concept that did not test well could have its day in the sun. And results that have been true for years may wither.

Remember, Ford gave us one of the best quotes for not always following what we know: “If you would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” There is still plenty of room for surprise, delight and magic. It’s up to us to find it. “We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams.” Willy Wonka/Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy.

photo credit: Felipe Buccianti pr & graphics: Vlad Gorenshteyn

#tina chadwick #moxie #media post #analytics #big data #creativity

Thanks for the mention Michael @adage!

#2013ces #Marc Speichert #ces #l'oreal #loreal #moxied #bigideas

#bizcard #moxied (at Moxie)

#moxied #bizcard

What’s the forecast for digital? Tour the 2013 landscape with Moxie Pulse and create trends into real opportunity. Start your jorney here: http://moxietrendsreport.com

#digital trends #2013 #innovation #moxie pulse #forecast #moxie trends

#moxied

'IT'S NOT WORTH IT': Ad Exec's Brutal Rant Before He Died Of Cancer Is Absolutely Chilling

Interesting piece about perspective on life, work, and the things that should be important to you. Whether you're in the advertising industry, a corporation, or work for yourself, you should read this.

Our advice? Work smarter. Be mindful about the finite nature of your and other people's time, don't put your family on the back burner. Be truthful, first and foremost with yourself then your client, boss, family, friends.

Do you have any tips on balancing happiness, life, and work? Please post below...

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/its-not-worth-it-linds-reddings-short-lesson-in-perspective-2012-11#ixzz2C7X6I2gF

#worklife balance #perspective #advertising industry #agency life #Linds Redding

Come hear Moxie's Simeon Spearman this Wednesday, November 14 at the monthly AiMA meeting! "How Traditional Media Companies are Becoming Digital First"

About Simeon: http://moxieinteractive.com/simeonspearman

#simeon sparman #atlantaima

Check out how we announced Moxie's new CTO & EVP Creative! http://bignewsfrommoxie.com

#new hires #creative #cto

vladgorenshteyn

@youvegotmoxie bled themselves today to help #Sandy relief efforts via #redcross What did YOU do today? #moxied (at Red Cross Blood Drive)

Walking dead? Check!

#halloween

Fellow Moxian Barry Sands was recently featured in Huffington Post (Advertising Week edition) on the topic of "Brand Storytelling." Very interesting piece on archetypal components that make up any marketing story. Read it here: http://goo.gl/IdHWC

About Barry

Barry Sands is VP/Group Media Director at Moxie, where he leads digital media planning and buying for L'Oreal Paris.

Barry has spent over 10 years building brands in CPG marketing. During this time, he worked at both Unilever and Kraft, marketing iconic brands that include Bertolli, Knorr, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, LifeSavers and Oreo. Most recently, he led a $500MM portfolio of Refrigerated Spreads.

Barry has been recognized for his breakthrough work in digital creative/media, social media and traditional communications, earning three Unilever global marketing communication awards, as well as the Word of Mouth Marketing Association WOMMY Award. Innovations he has led have been highlighted in Adweek,Brandweek, ClickZ, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Most recently, he was featured in Huffington Post in the Advertising Week special edition. Barry was also selected as a founding member of Unilever's Digital Innovation Board of Directors.

Prior to earning his MBA in Marketing and Finance at NYU Stern School of Business, Barry worked in advertising sales for a division of Dun & Bradstreet.

#awix #huffington post #advertising week #brand storytelling #barry sands