Podcast: Joe Baratelli – Secrets of Staying Power as a Chief Creative Officer

EB Moss amp160You39ve had Honda as thirtyyear client What are your insights about how to evolve a client over time and how an agency has to evolve tooJoe Baratelli amp160We as an agency have grown to service our clients and Honda has been a big part of that As the industry has changed being an independent agency has allowed us to do what is right for our clients along the way As things have changed and become more digital and reliant upon analytics we have built a digital discipline including a website for Honda which happened to be one of the first car companies to even have a website When I first started at the agency we had 100 people and now we are at 700 people We39re always looking for people that are curious since we39re always in a constant state of change where there isn39t an end goal since everything is always evolving You need to have people that are curious about what the future holds as there is always something new and different in the media worldEB amp160You39ve had some pretty amazing innovations like how you used Airdrop at South by Southwest SxSWJoe amp160Our main focus this year was on recruitment and we opened it up to the entire agency to come up with ideas to help promote ourselves The idea was to get attention with the people we are trying to attract in an interesting way amp160For Airdrop you need to be in a physical proximity to be able to receive it amp160We Airdropped the invitation to a concert that we sponsored and people liked it so it created a bit of a buzz amp160It is great to offer these opportunities to people outside of the creative department because you never know where ideas will come fromEB amp160You oversee all of this so you39ve had to stay nimble and adaptable over the years amp160How do you maintain this expertise in quotInstagram over Snapchat for thisquot or the use of AirdropJoe amp160We have a team with a lot of smart people amp160I just try to stay abreast of things with things like MediaVillagecom amp160These days you have stuff constantly coming to you so it39s mostly about educating yourself amp160For specific things I rely on everyone else on the team because they have the skillsets and the disciplines to really understand since they are living it daytoday amp160I have an intuition about what I think will be successful but I give it up to the team amp160I really have a lot of trust in the people that work for usEB amp160Our chairman Jack Myers had an interesting interview with MDC39s Steve Farella who said that he feels like media agencies should be like artists amp160He also warned that buyers have to be careful and let the creativity through so that the campaigns can live worried that data and analytics can possibly smother creativity amp160How do you manage that in a creativeoriented and yet fullservice agencyJoe amp160I am a big believer in the fullservice agency model and we39ve always been that way amp160We emphasize having knowledge all under one roof It creates the nimbleness and thinking when everyone gets involved in the project amp160What we try and do is put the analytics research and strategic side of things with the creative team to talk about our goals amp160I always talk about what our angle is and how to achieve it amp160The best way is when all of that is in one place amp160A disadvantage is if an outside media buying and planning agency drops a project in our laps amp160I think that39s where having media planning and strategy under one roof helps the creative side of things amp160As far as data goes we love it amp160We39re always looking for a unique insight because that39s what39s going to empower a creative idea We have our own research analytics and insights group RAI that helps us with the insights that we are afterEB amp160We39re big believers in that amp160In fact this is called Insider Insites amp160We recently did a story on the power of emotions and brands and you also work with Southwest Airlines which in our recent article was the case study of an airline standing out with emotional branding How do you evoke emotionJoe amp160I learned that if you create a painting you want to create an emotion It could make you happy laugh or even cringe amp160But all those things are what we are trying to do to connect with people amp160These days with the proliferation of advertisingamp160 you need to be able to talk to someone on an emotional level amp160You39re going to get to the rational decision through emotion amp160Brands are living things so you have to take care to make sure you get the right tone and feel amp160Southwest is very unique in how they manage their folks amp160They talk about how they are a peoplecompany so our cultures fit quite well amp160I went into their headquarters for the final pitch and they had some mantras on their wall amp160One of them is service management which is what we talk about amp160I am in service as a manager I am in service to my reports amp160I want to make their job better and help them achieve what they need amp160That39s Southwest39s philosophy amp160It allows people to be in power and make the right decision on a human level amp160When we talk about trying to create emotion within the advertisement it39s trying to capture those intangible things that are important to companies like that amp160I think Honda feels the same way about how they treat their customers and the products they make amp160They really think about the individuals that are buying those vehicles We39re always trying to capture that emotion in the work that we doEB amp160Do you think humor works better or pathos and tears Joe amp160Humor is definitely powerful for us and we definitely see success with that amp160There39s also sincerity and honesty amp160I talk about tone a lot such as you can shout at people or you can put your arm around them and say something soft amp160I think it depends on the situation at the moment Sometimes cultural forces play into that like what is currently going on societyEB amp160There are a lot of publishers that are producing ad campaigns amp160How do you compete not only on a fast turn around like that but with the quality that you put into things versus the quantity of cranking out creativeJoeamp160 It39s always a dilemma amp160We39re staffed so we have people concentrating on those things amp160We talk about the hum and the pulse amp160There39s a hum out there that you need to be consistent with to tell the stories that are in line with the personalities of these brands amp160Being proactive about something cultural or taking advantage of calendar events is really the key amp160What I talk about is trying to get out in front of these things amp160However every client is different amp160It usually comes down to having the right people that have the right sensibility and understand those timing issues amp160You almost have to set it up systematically to a certain degree amp160You don39t want to make it too much about the process because you still want this creative freedom to be able to create those pulses which are really the things that break through the daytoday clutterEB amp160It also has to resonate with a whole new generation of media consumers amp160Theamp160Millennial generation pretty much hates ads amp160How do you create that seamless experience that they expect that will help enhance their experience with advertising or messaging instead of interrupting itJoe amp160This is something we talk about a lot because we want to be accepted amp160A lot of it comes down to tone and we want to make sure we are talking about the brands and messages in the appropriate manner depending on what media we39re using amp160A tweet is a lot different than a 30second television commercial amp160While we might be talking about the same end result how you talk about it is completely different amp160What we want to do is make sure that we understand how people use those tools in their lives and make sure what we do is appropriate for that amp160We rarely put logos on Instagram39s because we39ve discovered through data and research that those kinds of things are either acceptable or not acceptable in the media We are very conscious of that and we try to explain it to our clients amp160We advise our clients and prove how certain things work better than others Sometimes it39s counterintuitive to what you would expect amp160You read all the stories about the Facebooks of the world and the marketing companies that are ad driven and they are making a bunch of money off of that amp160But the consumer doesn39t see it that way amp160These are just conversation tools since they want to talk to their friends and families on these places amp160We need to treat the brands as friends and family when we insert ourselves into those worlds amp160We39ve all used social media and all of a sudden an ad pops up and you don39t want to deal with that amp160Television is a different manner since it has been around for 50 years and people know that if they want to see a show for free they are going to watch some ads amp160It is more accepted on television amp160It is most effective when you make sure you39re talking about things in the right place amp160To just put a logo in there isn39t going to be as effective as a storyEB amp160What do you think of the whole skipproof thing amp160YouTube TV has disabled skipping the 30second ad which really raises the bar to avoid the annoyance factor and help you collect the data that will inform your next round of creative Joe amp160I think this is going to be better for everybody amp160We39ve made a conscious effort throughout the agency to ban the word consumer amp160As a person going through my daily life I don39t want to look at the 30second ad more than anybody else does amp160I am always looking for that skip button as soon as it comes on amp160From a creativity and messaging standpoint I think it will be better for everybody including our clients because now the industry as a whole will be accepted and have the right tone for the media amp160A 30second ad before you watch another 30second video just isn39t fair I think they are talking about only 6 seconds which will be an interesting challenge amp160We39ve also found that peoples39 attention span especially younger generations are getting shorter and shorter amp160But that doesn39t mean we can39t be effective in getting our messages out there amp160There39s a difference between what a desktop version experience is like versus how you scroll through a mobile device amp160People are taking things in literally in less than twoamp160seconds So we need to start thinking about this and realize visuals will be more important amp160I think where things are going is to more visual which we39ve seen in the past couple of years amp160Being iconic in your visuals is very important amp160It is also important to be able to identify things like the Farmers mnemonic amp160It is key to a successful longstanding campaignEB amp160You talked about a through line and having to continue the message throughout whatever tactic or platform you are using amp160Is there an exampleJoe amp160Farmers is a good example amp160They came to us with a really interesting dilemma amp160They would run ads and State Farm Insurance would get the credit amp160The real issue was that they were just generic like we39ll get you back to where you belong after something bad happens amp160For years that was the message of the whole insurance industry amp160We needed to separate them from everyone else and be truthful to the company and how they operate amp160We found out that they actually have a worldclass training program for their agents amp160It is called the University of Farmers and it is a real school that all their agents go through amp160We took that as our unique insight to separate them and materialized the University with the bell song and professor amp160It goes through that lens which they have adopted internally for their own employees even at the corporate offices amp160At the golf tournament they sponsor they have a university day where they encourage the golfers to dress in their college colors amp160The fans do too amp160We try to build universes for our clients and create a language that everyone adopts and looks through amp160When it is successful like that it is very powerfulEB amp160What advice do you have for media sellers that come knocking on your door wanting that businessJoe amp160We always talk about what the end result is amp160If you have that vision of what the goals are and what we agreed to with our clients to try and achieve it then you find the tools and plug it in that way amp160It has to be right to what we are trying to do amp160We have some really smart people that can look at the big picture amp160It is almost like building a portfolio for our clients amp160We refer to the media group as our quotaudience investment groupquot because we39re trying to find the audiences that will be most effective to our clients39 growth to reach those folks whether they are on twitter or watching certain types of shows amp160All of it is researchbasedEB amp160What do you see on the horizon amp160What sandbox are you anxious to play inJoeamp160 It39s all so additive amp160We always talk about how quottelevision is going to be the death of radio and the Internet is going to be the death of televisionquot and so on amp160None of that has happened amp160As people living in the world we have to absorb all that amp160I think there areamp160just going to be more new things amp160There are two things that are on my mind amp160First forcing the cross discipline teams to work together sooner because we found that it really helps us figure these things out amp160If you put the media planner on a team with the designer and writer then we can get a solution a lot faster and have a lot less friction within the agency amp160Second developing programmatic design amp160There are so many different versions that it takes a lot of effort physical labor from people amp160Now there are tools that can help us automate manpower and set up the right formatClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Podcast: Joe Baratelli – Secrets of Staying Power as a Chief Creative Officer

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E.B. Moss

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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Podcast: Joe Baratelli – Secrets of Staying Power as a Chief Creative Officer

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