DennisDemori.com

FYI – I already graduated from Miami Ad School on March 19th. I wanted to be a lot more timely in posting about MAS each week, but especially at the end of the program it got really difficult, so some of the upcoming posts about MAS were originally drafted a few weeks ago. 

We had two terrific speakers for this week (end).

Cliff Courtney from Zimmerman Advertising

Domenico Vitale from PI&C

They were both very generous in sharing information, so I’m just going to sum up some nuggets of wisdom they shared with us.

Cliff:

• Clients care about 2 things: 1) Cash flow 2) Shareholder value. As much as art, design and creativity have a place in this industry, we need to remember that it’s a business
• When you walk into a room you need to know the most about trends, both macro and micro
• In our strategies, we’ll be speaking with moms quite a bit since they control the majority of purchases
• We’re in the business of behavior modification
• As a Planner, start thinking about your language and how you use it; what is your personal brand?
• The opposite of love is not hate – it’s apathy
• “There are no facts – only interpretations.”
• As a Planner, always question everything
• in Qualitative research, don’t interview people with a clipboard – it creates a barrier to the truth. Be personable instead.
• “Brief creatives in the contextual moment.”
• “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
• What makes a great Planner? Three things: 1) Creativity 2) Courage 3) Curiosity

Domenico:

One of the best things we got out of Domenico was that it’s ridiculous to think that Planners can’t be creative and Creatives can’t be strategic. Ideas can come from anywhere and it’s important to draw them from everyone on the team, regardless of title or department.