Friday, July 30, 2010

    Ad Execs, Part I: Christian Haas


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    An Airplane Magazine, Through Non-Profit Eyes: Part 1 of 5: Christian Haas

    I rarely read the airlines' magazines when flying because I'm generally doing one of the following: reading something I brought along for the flight, sleeping, or working on my computer. For some reason (even though I had the capability of doing any of these preferred activities), the July 2010 issue of Delta's Sky magazine caught my eye on a recent Baltimore-NYC-Boston trip. Well, not just "some reason," but the fact that the cover story was entitled The Mad, Mad World of Advertising. The magazine tied interviews with leading advertising professionals in with an article about the hit show, Mad Men.

    I found some great material from those interviewed in the magazine and bring you the following quotes, Through Non-Profit Eyes. The direct quotes are from Sky.

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    Christian Haas (@chaas), Group Creative Director & Associate Partner, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

    Sky: Since joining Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in 2006, Haas has worked on award-winning campaigns for clients such as Sprint, eBay, HP, General Electric and Adobe. Earlier this year, Advertising Age and Creativity recognized Haas as one of the 50 most influential and inspiring creative personalities of the year.

    Some of the firm's work:

    Haas: A guide for creating a successful viral campaign is as effective as a tutorial on how to win the lottery. Ok, you'll learn the basics like "you don't win if you don't play," but that's about it.

    More Donors Blog: The Old Spice Guy caused a stir recently with the viral nature of the campaign. Now that reports indicate a spike in sales for Old Spice, everyone - many non-profits included - want to know how to plan such a campaign. As @geoffliving and I tweeted back-and-forth about last week, trying to mimic the campaign is not the best plan. What non-profits need to know, though, is:
    • "You don't win if you don't play." Obviously, you'll never have a successful non-profit viral campaign if you don't have content online.
    • Don't anticipate a campaign going viral just because you really, really want it to.
    • Have fun.
    H: Advertisers need to break through not by pushing yet another ad, but by giving people something they actually would want to watch, interact with and share. That often involves approaching advertising differently, taking risks and not doing things that are proven to work.

    MD: I think this is partially true for non-profits, but this is one of the areas where fundraising and advertising differ. Coke wants to beat Pepsi. The average non-profit wants to earn your support. Sometimes the tried-and-true practices will do just find for non-profits - direct mail appeals, newsletters, email campaigns, phone campaigns, etc. But to stand out with new campaigns will also help your cause. So:
    • Be original. What makes your organization unique? How can you promote in a way that is unique to your organization and its mission?
    • Ask your constituents to get creative on your behalf. Ask for videos and promotional material from your followers and supporters.
    Quotable Tweet:


    photos courtesy of Sky, Twitter, Advertising Age, Creativity.


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