I remember the day I first met the original Toyota Swagger Wagon family. I was working at my old agency at the time, and I went from department to department introducing them to coworkers via YouTube. I cried tears of laughter on the first video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4), and then launched every other piece of content the Toyota team produced. Let’s be clear. I hate minivans. But I couldn’t get enough of those people. (Confession: this may be because I am those people). When they rapped about the pride their ride instilled in them, I felt validated. They knew about the part inside of me and my peers that wished to scream, “I may be covered in drool, but I still rule!” For a moment the cliché that was my life was awesomely entertaining, and for an even briefer moment, I thought, “hmmmm….minivan?”
And then there’s Hot Pockets (which I don’t generally eat) and the first time I saw Snoop Dogg (who I don’t generally listen to) pitch their wondrous pastry-wrapped meats to the parody, “Pocket Like It’s Hot”. I should have alerted the Hot Pockets brand team to remove traffic from my IP address from their reports, because I’m pretty sure that I messed up at least one month’s count of total views. Every time I watched the video, I thought to myself, “how on earth did this concept not only get out of the brainstorming session, but then get through the brand team, and then management reviews…with no one watering it down or (worse yet) killing it?”. What did the agency team do or say in the conference room so that this piece of creative would get funded, and eventually see the light of day?
American Standard’s “Will It Flush?” Kmart’s “Ship My Pants”. Newcastle’s “If We Made It”. Old Spice’s “Mr. Wolfdog”. In my book, every concept was a winner. I also have a file of marketing emails I love…screenshots of banner ads I love… bookmarks of websites I love. I cheer when marketers absolutely nail the insights. I dig it when they create a customer experience that connects. Read my mind in your navigation and I will sing your praises. Nail the results – obliterate the objectives – and you’ve got my respect.
Respect. Praise. Love. Expect them all from us in the months and years to come, because this will be increasingly part of what we do on the Gartner for Marketing Leaders team. We’re going to be watching you. And from time to time, you’re going to get a shoutout. You may see yourself in our webinars…at conferences…on Twitter…in research notes. When you do something wow-worthy – when you use a technology in a new way, when you connect with your target, when you’re clearly blowing the doors off your numbers, when you create art in advertising, or when your mastery of data is so obvious that you leave us saying, “how on earth did they KNOW that,” you will find us increasingly giving you high-fives.
One day there will likely be a ceremony. There may even be a trophy or plaque for those of you who still have space in the glass cabinets in the office lobby. But saying “good job” shouldn’t be conditional on our delivery of ceramics, or our ability to imprint gold letters on black lacquer. We want to start fist-bumping digital jobs well done, and most importantly do it in the moment. Our analyst team will each have their own criteria in their mind of what they seek to recognize, no doubt influenced by their coverage areas. As such, there will be more opportunity rather than less to be recognized. This is not “The Highlander” where “there can be only one.”
When great work is delivered, Gartner kudos will come. Our team will be sharing some favorites this week, via our client portal, as well as through our individual analyst blogs (start with Marty Kihn’s blog, which never disappoints, featuring his top 10 digital moments of the last 20 years). So show us your wild and wacky…your creative but cost effective…your radical results and ROI. Hashstag them (#wowworthydigital anyone?), email them to us, or just make sure I’m in your media target when you’re launching something great. Bring it on, mighty marketers. And in honor of all you’ve done already, I say WOW!
The post Things That Make You Say Wow appeared first on Julie Hopkins.