For those of us who were not able to make it across the ocean or country to see the newly famous David Armano’s presentations in New York or Boston, Ann Handley has kindly provided a great summation here.
As usual, it sounds like David was at his thought provoking best, working from personal insight through to practical methods for engaging your clients. As David’s own post explains, he wrapped up his presentation with three words — Empathy. Experience. Curiosity. — all of which came to him at the last minute.
I am particularly fascinated by the word "curiosity". This, to me, seems one of the chief roles of an agency … to ignite the curiosity of your client AND their customers. You do this by empathising (with both the client’s misapprehension of new media and the customers who join the conversation), and by dimensionalising the experience … providing many open doors from a single entry point.
Ann provides a nice step-by-step explanation of some of David’s points. In particular, she focuses on the steps that we all must take to help soothe the concerns of brand owners who are concerned at placing their brands in the hands of their consumers — the Five Bs:
- Be transparent — let your client and all the stakeholders know what they are signing up for
- Be prepared — what happens when things go REALLY good or really BAD
- Be honest — admit that you are new to it all too
- Be authentic — don’t provide a canned response
- Be diligent — watch what goes on in the community as it grows
Remember, it is all very well to open the door for your clients … but you also need to help them negotiate what they find inside.
S.
Nice Gavin. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person one day. I know you are out in Chicago every once in a while, so let’s try to figure something out.
I think curiosity is a very under utilised term in advertising.
How many briefs have a little box marked ‘What do we want them to do/think/feel?’
How much more interesting could our work be if those type of boxes were replaced with a box marked ‘How can we spark their curiosity?’
Just a thought. Stan.
DA … it’s only a matter of time — we WILL get together at some stage.
Stan … thanks for dropping by! Too often we are briefed to deliver creative, not to deliver an experience or a transformative event. Perhaps it is time to bring curiosity back into the equation 😉
I’ll never forget when, in elementary school, we had to use an adjective that started with the first letter of our first name to introduce ourselves…I proudly exclaimed, “I’m curious Christina!”. And all the class laughed at me (story of my life).
I agree with Stan: curiosity is underutilized…and underrated!
Curious Christina! It is funny how those off-the-cuff connections stay with us! I was galloping Gavin and that certainly feels like it has stayed with me all this time. Slowing down? Hell no.