What's your word for 2011?

As we come to a close on the first business day for 2011 - I'd like to pose a question as to what will be your defining word this year?

What is the ONE word that will guide your journey through 2011.

Examples of this could be:

-Creativity
-Renew
-Invest
-Connect
-Passion
-Balance

OK you get the point. What is the one word that will define you in 2011?

My word for 2011 is "Authenticity". I want to focus on being real, true and genuine. In everything that I do professionally (and also personally) I want to true to who I am and not try to portray or communicate things that are no true to my soul.

So there it is - my word for 2011 is "Authenticity". What's yours?

Wishes for 2011

As we come to close of 2010 it is a time to think ahead to 2011. My wishes for 2011 will focus on the business world that we live in and not on broader issues like world peace - someone else will cover that off I'm sure.

So here goes my five wishes for 2011.

1) Continuing workplace collaboration - I truly believe that workplace collaboration is getting better and better each year and the benefits to all facets of business are very positive.

2) More authenticity - the longer I work in this business the more I appreciate working with people who are true to who they are. No pretenses and the focus is on the work and not all the other stuff that often gets in the way.

3) LAMSTAIH - this is "Look at more stuff. Think about it harder." The harder you work on something usually the better the outcome. So let's all take time to make sure that we are giving each project it's due.

4) Take more chances - keep pushing for new and different approaches. While it is easy to do it the same way - new successes happen only when people approach things differently.

5) Have more fun - everyone works hard and it is important to inject some fun into the day-to-day job. Hey if you don't like what you do - then it's time to turn the page and do something different.

So those are my five wishes for 2011 - what do you think? What are your wishes for 2011?

Top Three Business Books of 2010

We are at the time of year when everyone is talking about their favorite things of 2010 and lots of lists are created. So here goes my thoughts on my personal favorite business books of this year.

In no particular order they are:

-The Mesh by Lisa Gansky. This book highlights the importance of sharing in all that we do in what has become a very transparent world. Based on all the great digital media this book reinforces how business need to evolve and change in this new dynamic marketplace.

-Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. As the CEO of Zappos Tony has created an unbelievable culture of customer service. Very few companies can deliver this type of service and yet when Tony explains it - it all seems very easy to duplicate.

-The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo. Certainly considered one of the best business presenters of our time - this is a fascinating look at how Steve delivers such terrific engaging presentations.

These three books cover a diverse range of business topics and they are the ones that made a big impact with me in 2010.

One book that I didn't get to finish this year was "Spend Shift" by John Gerezma. It's next on my list to read in 2011.

What books inspired you in 2010? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2011?

Do you Groupon?

Did you see the headline this week that Google offered to buy Groupon for $6 Billion - yes $6 Billion. This for a company that started up in Chicago in 2008 and yet does not have national distribution covering the entire country. Wow is all I could say and especially after Groupon turned down the offer.

So what is the magic behind Groupon? I first starting using Groupon this spring when a friend alerted me to the service. I've bought about 10 Groupon offers and have truly enjoyed the experience. Basically I've been able to eat at some great restaurants for half price. Got $50 worth of clothes at Gap for the kids for $25. Same thing for some great bakery items and just recently some car washes - basically a buy one get four for free offer. These are terrific consumer offers and who doesn't like a deal.

I'm sold on this brand and have certainly noticed the copycats that are springing up all over the place from the local newspapers and broadcast outlets. Heck the more offers to get goods and services at a discounted rate is great for consumers.

But what about the companies putting out the offers? Is this a good deal or not? I'd love to get more information if the program is successful at driving repeat business. We know it drives trial but what about repeat which is necessary for a business to thrive and grow.

It will be interesting to see how Groupon evolves. Certainly they can expand geography to grow the business. But will they be able to be a long-term play? Certainly Google thinks they can be. And Groupon must be pretty confident given they turned down $6 Billion.

This will be a great case study to watch unfold. What do you think will happen to Groupon? Let's have a conversation.

Why I like the British TV Ad Awards

This past Friday night I braved the little snow storm that welcomed the first weekend in December here in the Twin Cities to once again venture over to the Walker Art Center to view the British Telly Ad Awards.


I've attended this show for many years at the Walker and for the past five years we've went as a group - the Preston Kelly team to view them on opening night. It's fun to view the awards as a group and to get everyone's perspective after the show. We have account people, production people, designers, creatives, connections team members and importantly our two partners. So indeed a cross section of the PK team takes part in this annual event.



In recent years the show tended to be a little depressing due to economic themes and a lot of public service announcements. This year as a whole I walked out of the event feeling that the spots had more humor and some great story telling. And the production values were quite simple in some cases.



Anchor Free Range Butter used a very simple technique of a cow on a "velvet" type background - kind of like some stuff my daughter plays with. And Schweppes had a very simple - hard to describe format - very flat background with some human arms creating motion in a series of wonderfully crafted :15's. Some funny and very good writing.



And there was the annual Honda spot done very well and punctuated with the voice-over of one Minnesotan Mr. Garrison Keillor.



As more and more digital/viral videos come into the awards they in fact are retiring the name the British Television Ad Awards and renaming the program the British Arrow Ad Awards to recognize the broader spectrum of how and where ads run these days.



One spot that has really stuck with me was a 6 minute video for Johnnie Walker Whisky as it told the story of the man who walked around the world and did tell the story of how the brand came to be. Very, very well done.



I truly enjoyed the show and especially the humor this year. Making people feel good about a product/service is not a bad thing to do and humor can certainly capture your attention if done right and in the right tone.



So another year and some great work from across the Atlantic to admire. It's an inspiring show and makes you want to reach out and do better more inspiring work for our clients. So here we go as we start thinking about 2011 for our clients. And if you get a chance head over to the Walker to get inspired.

Holiday Shopping

Will you do more of your holiday shopping on-line or at retail outlets this year?

While I've been an on-line shopper for years - this year is the tipping point in which our family will be doing more on-line shopping versus visiting the retail store. Free shipping and great deals seem to be the rage this year for on-line shopping outlets.

The convenience of sitting on your laptop at home and picking stuff out has always been the draw for on-line shopping. But with all the incentives and free shipping this year - it is the year where on-line shopping will dominant in the Jenson household. Just last night on "Cyber Monday" we made some purchases on Land's End and got $20 off a purchase of $75 and received free shipping. With this benefit why would you even consider going out to a store and battle the crowds?

So this year we just put some Christmas music on the old iPod and shop away on the laptop. It's the future and for us this year we will be making the majority of our purchases on-line.

So how about you - are you going to be more of an on-line shopper or do you need to hit the stores to do your shopping? Let me know what your plans are.

How Goodby got back on track

When people in the advertising industry think about agencies that do great television advertising the usual names that come up are Fallon, BBDO, Crispin and Goodby Silverstein.

So I was excited to hear Derek Robson the Managing Director of Goodby talk about "Agency Evolution - Reinventing Goodby, Silverstein & Partners" at a Minnesota AdFed Breakfast this past Wednesday.

Derek was on the front line of the Agency Evolution at Goodby when he was brought in 2005 by Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein to change the course of the agency. The agency was fearful of becoming "irrelevant". This from an agency that typically churned out the best television creative year after year for clients like Saturn and Budweiser. But with tidal shift of interactive the leaders at Goodby felt that they were not ready for this shift.

Derek an Account Planner by trade from BBH in London set up a thorough assessment of GSP from clients, consultants, the trade press and from employees. His findings were pretty eye-opening. He heard often from the trade press they didn't align GSP with integration - ouch. And when visiting consultants he was able to see the video materials that other agencies sent out - very impressive "stories" about the integrated work that they did. He found that Goodby just had a TV reel and nothing else to show consultants. So clearly this was one thing that they needed to change - the "perception" that GSP was not just a TV shop but showing the other work that they indeed did.

His assessment was that things needed to change because in May '05 the creative work was 82% in traditional media and 18% interactive. Just one year later in May '06 it had changed to 58% traditional media and 42% interactive. So while the tidal wave of change was happening with the shift to increasing amounts of interactive work the creative department was staffed with more than half of the team being considered more traditional in their orientation. They started to shift this by pairing up a traditional and interactive creatives - and certainly there was turnover with those who were not willing to jump on the interactive bandwagon.

And since this shift in agency focus started five years ago - 75% of the staffed has turned over. They have recruited from areas like improv, gaming developers to content curators. It's a very impressive story and gives notice to all agencies out there to continue to evolve and change into a more digital mindset.

He closed with a great quote "Agencies of the future may not be the Agencies that have dominated in the past." How true this will be.

What do you think? Share your thoughts.