Exposing all I learned during the 2014 Miami Ad School Account Planning Boot Camp.

2. Twelve and a
Half Weeks
NY Advertising Week
04 Understanding the Idea
08 Brand Experience
02 Understanding The Issue
06 Quantitative Research
10 Judging Effectiveness
week 01 Account Planning 101
05 Qualitative Research
09 Exploring New Business
03 Creative Brief and Briefing
07 Planners as Change-Makers
11 Portfolio Review
12 Knock Knock, Agency Visits
12½

3. Twelve and a
Half Insights
For a little over three months, I had the pleasure of stepping
back into education; studying with some of the brightest
teachers, peers and industry heroes in advertising. All with
an incredible view of the media capital of the world.
The following pages include a few insights from the material
covered in such a short amount of time. From the thought
provoking, to the mundane. From the ‘of course’, to the ‘you
don’t say.’
Whether you agree or disagree with any of these points, I’d
love to hear your opinion.

4. Don’t just come up with good ideas, help me solve a problem.
Construct an argument that makes people comfortable with
the work. Strategy is that handle you grab when you’re
nervous in a speeding car.
Dig through research, brush off cobwebs, ruffle some
feathers, and sift through the relevant and irrelevant: all for
the promise of finding the one insight that makes consumers
gasp in delight.
Turn this insight into an inspiring brief; A brief that will act as a
launching pad for the people who are tasked to solve it. The
brief is not a set in stone document. It’s living, breathing and
changing. “The brief is irrelevant the minute you read it,
because from that moment on, everything has changed.”
1. Write Briefs That Inspire
“Your job isn’t to figure it all out in the brief”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist
Video
Learn how execs from multiple
agencies approach the brief
Briefly - Basset & Partners

5. If you can, on a consistent basis, uncover a problem that is
equal parts true, relevant and interesting, you will always
stay in business.
Tension, human truths, tangible and current cultural divides;
this is where good advertising lives. Being able to
breakthrough the noise with a disruptive and relevant idea will
lead to better business results and campaigns that stick.
McGarryBowen goes as far as including an “Arch Enemy” in
their creative briefs. They position their brand and find who/
what they are up against; their challenger. This ability to find
and grab on to the tension is the difference between a good
brief and an inspiring strategy.
2. Life Is Better With Enemies
Article
Read how disruption is the
new strategy for taking down
your competitors
Disruptive Change - Harvard Business Review
“Find problems, problems keep you in business”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

6. It’s always a good idea to remain intellectually curious, but
curiosity only gets you so far. You have to be a little brave.
Attack company annual reports. It is full of summaries, stats,
and juicy back-office insights. Read P&L’s, investor reports,
and interview current employees. The client will respect you
more if you really know their business. Focus groups can be
helpful, but ethnographies can be game changing. Immerse
yourself in the unknown and never assume you know anyone.
The world’s best research won’t always be there for you, so
don’t be afraid to get dirty and creative on your hunt.
3. Get Way Out Of Your Comfort Zone
“Read the brief, then question everything”
Website
A useful tool for all strategists
looking for new resources and new
research methods
OpenStrategy - It’s Not Rocket Science
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

7. No matter how hard we try, or how well we do our jobs, no
one will ever love the brands we are paid to push.
No one will love their detergent, their toothpaste, even their
phone. While brand managers are thinking about their brands
24/7...their customers are unfortunately not. All we can do is
create brands that make life better, help reduce the cognitive
load, and offer a quality experience in the process. In return,
we get their hearts on loan, and more importantly, their
wallets. Then we hang on tight until something better comes
along.
This isn’t to say that a brand can’t create a personal
connection with consumers. We, in fact, should strive to
develop small emotional rewards that trigger a feeling. Brand
engagement like this is the gateway to salient messaging.
4. We Don’t Love Our Brands
Website
For an alternative view, learn
more about Lovemarks: the future
beyond brands. Let me know
where you stand.
Lovemarks - Saatchi & Saatchi
“We all loved our BlackBerry…until we didn’t”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

8. What’s a dinosaur? Old, outdated, and destined to die off,
because they never learned know how to adapt.
With new technology and changing consumers, advertising
seems to be more like a newsroom than a traditional agency.
Speed is not a choice anymore. Fast-paced, real-time/right-
time, out the door marketing is the new standard.
This change in content has forced a shift in the way agencies
work between teams. Those who succeed will be the ones
who bring in more minds early-on in the process.
5. Don’t Be A Dinosaur
“Digital, social, channel...all need a seat at the table”
Case Study
The best example of right-time
marketing goes to this creative
Super Bowl success story.
Oreo “Blackout Tweet” - 360i
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

9. Be a mutant, and depending on the day of the week, morph
and change what that means, and the hat you wear to work.
We had a guest speaker explain, “I don’t know video editing
because I want to do it better than everyone in the agency. I
do it to make me a better planner. So I know what is possible,
and I know what to ask for.” The shifting dynamic in the way
agencies function has altered the typical employee into more
of a hybrid. Knowing what goes into the creative process,
what’s possible, and what are the pain points only makes for
a stronger planner.
A good creative and a good strategist should go hand-in-
hand; working best when both understand each other and
engage in meaningful conversations along the way.
6. Be A Mutant
Video
A trailer for the 2013 movie about a
man and his unorthodox creativity
Tim’s Vermeer - Penn & Teller Film
“Have a mind for strategy and a tool box for creative”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

10. Power is no longer in the hands of the brand. A company can
no longer speak and expect to be heard. The world is no
longer ready to be talked to, but instead they look to have a
conversation.
Ever been to a party with the guy who only talks about
himself the whole time? Ever notice how quickly you try and
get away from him? Today’s advertising can be very similar.
Share stories, share opinions, start conversations, but don’t
continue to try and drive a stake in the ground when no one
wants you to mess up the grass.
Publishing a story used to be the end point, but today,
publishing a story is really just the beginning.
7. The Positioning Statement Is Dead
“A brand is just ownership, an icon you can get behind”
Video
When news happens, it happens
on Twitter.
#LIVE - TwitterHQ
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

11. With countless platforms at our disposal, there is no reason
to tell your story without allowing other’s to experience along
with you. Invite the audience into your world, and create
something really compelling.
When you walk into an Apple store, the laptops are partially
closed because they want you to touch them. They want you
to interact.
Once you can feel a brand you are no longer afraid of it.
Create an experience that awakens and grabs the consumer,
because as soon as they are comfortable, they slip back into
the feeling of not being alive.
8. Good Storytelling Is Immersive
Video
A great look at examples from
The Future of Storytelling Summit
- October 2014
Connected Immersion - Susan Bonds
“Don’t speak rational when there’s room for romance”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

12. Cookies have troubled advertisers for years, constantly
disrupting the analytics from the buyer journey. While some
search for a solution, others decided to focus on “People
Based Marketing.”
Now, in 2015, we can track offline purchases, track user
accounts, monetize visits from matched users (BIZO) or pair
content to a relevant persona (TwelveFold).
Perhaps one day, when iPhone 9 and iOS 12 come out, our
cell phones will act as our all-in-one computer/TV/whatever,
where cookies won’t be a concern. Until that time, we live in a
world that’s adapted well; just find the tools that work for you.
9. The Cookies Won’t Crumble
“Future of tech may mean going back to one device” Video
One example of a company
turning customer journey data
into actionable intelligence
Live Nation - Salesforce
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

13. As brands tunnel vision on the next incremental
improvement, they are often blind-sided by being too caught
up in “Big Data.”
The problem with data is it can only tell you what already
exists. It can’t tell you where the white space opportunities
live, or where the next untapped market may be. That is up to
planners.
Instead of allowing the client to focus on the data, switch the
conversation to digital strategy. Digital strategy is about
creating a sense of how the brand behaves, how the brand
would speak/act/interact in the world. Brand strategy finds a
purpose, but digital is about engagement and how this
affects the bigger society.
10. Digital Strategy Is Not Just Big Data
Presentation
Salmon vs Lamposts: The Use
and Abuse of Research
Martin Weigel - Wieden & Kennedy
“Don’t tunnel vision on the data, find the blind spot”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

14. Today’s constantly changing, always-on consumer is difficult
to reach with traditional advertising. As we produce content,
we are challenged with creating work that is more interesting
than EVERYTHING else on the internet. That is extremely
difficult and dense competition.
As planners, we should be fighting for the more interesting
content; not just what the data tells us will work. When we
push out our ideas we call it content, but when consumers
see it, they should call it entertainment.
To break away from the mundane, you need to take chances.
Fortune will favor the bold. Fortune will favor the brands that
take risks and embrace a culture that is not only more
connected, but more knowledgeable than ever before.
11. Nothing Is Taboo for Millennials
“Myth: every campaign has to succeed”
Video
A glimpse into AdvertisingWeek
NYC, and a good discussion on
content and advertising
Economist Creative Summit - AdvertisingWeek
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

15. The old Coke model: a system of vertical or horizontal
integration, where you succeed by either buying all the
production or buying all the competition. This worked great
for the last 100 years, but today’s businesses require a new
model of success.
Functional integration is the concept that consumers gain
more benefit from your product if they purchase/subscribe to
another product from your company, and so on and so on.
For example, how Apple connects all their devices via iCloud,
or how McCormick developed FlavorPrint, which pairs aspiring
chefs with other spices they might enjoy. Turning your brand
into a utility creates an ecosystem of value; encouraging, if
not guaranteeing, future purchases with your product.
12. Learn Functional Integration
Case Study
Find out how McCormick
reinvented themselves by helping
consumers reinvent their palettes
FlavorPrint - R/GA
“Replace the old Coke model with utility”
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

16. Although only an opinion and only worthy of half a credit, it is
still very accurate in my mind. “Things used to be simple, but
now they’re complicated.” Back in the day, you would go to
the store for a bar of soap. Then one day there were two.
Now, there are thousands.
We exist in a time where we move fast, we think faster, and
bold ambitious ideas can be shared between millions of
people without spending a dime.
This changing world requires a constant stream of innovation.
There's a demand for someone to turn these new ideas into
results, and it’s definitely the best time to be in advertising.
12½. It’s the Best Time to be in Advertising
Video
My experience at Miami Ad School
culminated in a brief graduation
video; check it out.
Graduation - Miami Ad School
12½ Insights from 12½ Weeks
Matt McLaren | Creative Strategist

17. About Me
I’m a bit of a hybrid, a “Swiss Army strategist,” with a mind
for planning and a toolbox for creative.
@mattbuildsit
Whether it’s building a web
page or building a brand: I
bring a smart, perceptive and
enthusiastic approach to
whatever challenge lays in
front of me. I’m a people-
pleasing, bagel-eating, dart-
playing, family and friends as
my desktop background kind-
of-guy. Let’s chat.
http://mattbuilds.it