Luxury is all about experiencing

Ad of the day: join the Creative Professionals Worldwide!

Vaness — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:58:19 +0200

Today, no post about the brand initiatives but a little bit of promotion for the network I'm the Founder of!

If you're part of my super large readership, I guess you're also part of the creative industry! So, why not joining the Creative Professionals Worldwide, a network dedicated to the professionals working in/with the creative industry? It's free! Plus, right now, we have a contest: invite your connections to join and become the next Featured Member!

Join us on www.creativeprofessionalsworldwide.com and move your career forward:

by participating to our online activities
or to our face-to-face activities in selected cities (so far, available in Paris, France, and Copenhagen, Denmark)
so that you can:
promote your work to the community of agencies, freelancers, brands and related companies
share and develop your professional knowledge
nourrish your inspiration
broaden your local and global network.

And should you be a brand, the Creative Professionals Worldwide are a great tool to promote your brand through brand content to an audience of prospects and intermediaries and:

increase your brand spontaneous notoriety
and get new business opportunities.

Discover how here:

Events at Creative Professionals Worldwide from Vanessa Moulédous on Vimeo.

So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up :-)

New social netwrok for the creative professionals: www.creativeprofessionalsworldwide.com !

Vaness — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:36:41 +0200

Big news of the day (for me at least if not for the whole world creative community ;-): the dedicated website of my network Creative Professionals Worldwide is now open!!!

After 2 years of existence in 3 cities (Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France) and Sydney (Australia) using a basic webpage to communicate with Members, it was time to get a real lively online community!

Brand-new website, brand-new features to:

- Sell yourself: Portfolio Space, the Featured Member of the Week, the Job Board and Your own page with feeds, blog and pics

- Learn: Forums, Private chats with Members all around the world and Tutorials by companies partnering with the Creative Professionals Worldwide

- Get inspired: Members feeds and activity.

- Your local community: a dedicated space for the Creative Professionals in Copnehagn, in Paris, in Sydney to communicate, share with the other Members and be part of a lively online local community !

To go with, soon any Member, whereever they are located, will be able to watch and participate live to events happening in Paris, France:

- Portfolio Nights,

- Talks by Expert Members,

- Exclusive Talks by key players,

- Round Tables.

If you are working in/with the creative industry, you should be interested in joining our social network for creative professionals!

Discover my (and hopefully soon your) network here!

Brand consistency in creative agencies: be innovative in your HRs!

Vaness — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:17:29 +0100

Spotted: two recent creative recruitment campaign by... creative agencies! Companies struggling to attract the best talents: a sign of crisis being over?

First campaign by French digital agency Plan.net: 7 not-so-common questions to answer to and be short-listed for an interview... http://bemytrainee.blogspot.com/ (in French only, sorry)

Second one by German communications agency Jung von Matt: a Trojan ad in top photographers portfolios to get attention from top creative directors of competitor agencies... A special congrats to that agency, I'm still wondering how they manage to convince 15 top photographers to integrate the agency Trojan ad in their portfolio...Anyone from Jung von Matt to help?

Source: www.docnews.fr

So you think you can become the next Nobel Prize?

Vaness — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0200

"Think out of the box" should be the leitmotiv of our creative industry (yes, should be since our industry can be one of the least creative and risk-taking sometimes; anyway).

This is exactly what two creative minds from advertising agency Saatchi&Saatchi Tel Aviv have done: to try to find a positive and final issue to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, they've decided to try a different approach and launched "The Impossible Brief". The call has been lnched to anyone having an idea on how to stop the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Might be a creative professional or the man in the street. You think you may have THE answer? Then post your idea here and try to win your ticket to the 2001 Cannes Lion advertising festival at least, and why not the Nobel Prize!

Source: www.influencia.net

How much a creative idea is worth?

Vaness — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0200

Today, I'd like to share with you that very true article written by Freddie Winckler, CEO of the Paris office of almost-150-year-old advertising agency JWT about how much a creative idea is worth. Do you know how much Nike's swoosh has been paid to its creator Carolyn Davidson? $35! Probably the time rate she spent to deliver it at that time. But how much is it worth now for the Nike brand? Unvaluable!!

So, how come one of the most brilliant and efficient ideas of the century in the branding industry has been so cheap to buy? Because unfortunately, it's too often true that we, creative professionals, don't know how to give value to our ideas and above all to our outstanding ideas. Don't Microsoft, Sony or Toyota know how much their products are worth? Of course they do. Creative professionals not knowing how much their ideas are worth is a non-sense considering our basic fundamental work we're paid for is to find ideas! So, how do we do usually? Most of the time, we bill the client at the price of the time the team has spent on the client project to be completed. The concept of "idea" doesn't even exist in our commercial quotes. Of course we could move to a win-win quote; but can we really measure the weight of the creative idea in the client's global profit? Sure they are methods and theories but how widespread are they really in the creative agencies and their clients?

So, how much is an outstanding creative idea worth? And how much should a client pay for it? Here's food fothought by Freddie Winckler:

"How much for that Mick Jagger guy?

The joy of this crisis is that you now get some interesting questions, every other day. So here is the story of today. One simple question: how much does an idea cost?

Helping me back at the agency are a few people creating ideas, I’ll call them Mick Jagger, Clint Eastwood, Helmut Newton and their trainees. Fun group you’d say, and yes we do have enjoyable days, but god we make money for our clients.

Going back to the question for a second, the procurement experts smile avidly:
-’Let me help you’ they kindly offer.

- ‘How much time does it take to get an idea?’

-what kind of idea I reply?

-’a normal one, you know ‘ they answer.

-Goodness a normal idea, I’m not quite sure what that is, I normally look for a not normal idea…

-You’re not beeing helpul they say angered. Let’ s say it takes Mick 10 days to get an idea and that he needs 3 days of Clint to help and since we’re in a good mood, we’ll say another 5 days of Helmut. So 18 days in total. Is that doable they ask?

-Could be true, could also be half that time or double that time, but let’s say that this could be a good average,

-them reassured they have found interesting ground:’ now let’s be honest. You know that Mick is not very efficient. Comes in late, Helmut we know is sending emails to his facebook girlfriends. So if you managed them better, I’m sure we could save 10 or even 20 %.’

-Me: well you’re not totally wrong but you know creativity… It’s not always predictable.

-Them:’ good we agree, so 18 days less 2 that’s 16 rounded to 15 at 4000 dollars a day we’ll make it 60,000 for that idea.’

Two things that are ridiculous in this bizarre but true to life story.
No one has thought of what the idea will really deliver. How much will it bring in tomorrow and 10 years from now? Think about the rolling stones. It would be impossible to judge how much time they spent writing their songs, and to be honest nobody cares. How efficient were they, were the parties necessary? Does not matter.
We’re left with albums that have and will continue to make a lot of money while we all enjoy them.

So my first point is that ideas cannot be judged in time, but in how much they build. How much would Nike be worth without the just do it campaign, without the swoosh?

But the second absurdity is that in applying what seeem to be sensible rules: get Mick in early, shut down Helmut’s facebook, get them to work faster… We are likelly to get good ideas a couple of times but find that very quickly as we continue to press they become duller and duller. That’s because ideas are born from the collusion of associations. From throwing away 100 average ones before you get a great one.
So very soon we’re having Clint Eastwood feature in Star Academy, and Mick Jagger direct a tv series in dvcam for a senior tv channel-that lazy bastard only wanted to sing and dance before.

The reality is that the only thing that matter are good ideas, that people should be paid for the value they bring long term -only the good ones will survive- and that while lazyness complacency, and comfort have no space in an agency the hard edged efficiency rules bring mediocracy.

Have a look at the next commercial break on tv, watch the banners on your screen, and listen to the commercials that play in your car in the morning. And think. Why do we see less creativity? Could it be that it’s not actually what people are paying for?

Freddie Winckler"

So now, what do you think a creative idea should be worth?

Source: http://blog.aacc.fr

Are you aware of trends and do you use them to develop new ideas for your business?

Vaness — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:30:16 +0200

Yesterday at the Library, I've fallen upon an article published by the Harvard Business Review which I think any professional of the creative industry and any professional working at the Marketing, Communication, Innovation or Strategic Department of a brand should read and most likely learn from: "Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business?"

Aand not "How do you use trends?". Which probably means a lot of professionals of any field do consider trends are not for them or their business. Absolutetly wrong: trends do shape any business and any position. Think about the advent of the internet: hasn't your job changed after that once-upon-a-time trend that transfomed into a hard trend to finally make a revolution? You may think you know the topic, but I'm pretty sure you are never analysing trends and trying to make the most of it for your business or your client's one. Right?

The article is currently available online (to be purchased). You may have a little more time since it's holidays time in many countries. After reading that article, you would probably been shaken and want to do some homework while you have stille time for! Coincidence is the network of creative professionals, the Creative Professionals Worldwide, I'm the founder of is gathering in two days to discuss the same issue: "How to stay tuned to our world"! Funny, isn't it?

You can start reading the article here.

Source: Harvard Business Review, July/August 2010 and http://hbr.org

What does the 2010 consumer want?

Vaness — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0200

Every year, French advertising agency publishes a state of the current evolution of the consumer society for brands to better understand their clients and better answer to their expectations.

Here's their "Briefing 2010" issue. Only in French.

Always dreamt to understand what an advertising agency does? Check it out!

Vaness — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0200

I just discovered the website of French advertising agency Being: it's just so great and different!

No word on their offer, no word of their references, no word on their people, but a lot of creativity to express who they are, their core personality. Enough to understand they are a creative agency with creative people working for (creative?) brands. Do you need more? To be honnest, you brands, what makes you call an agency rather than their competitor?

I like it! Check it out here. And for the people that do understand French, I would recommend to watch some of the videos about the "life of the agency", it's worth a look.

www.being.fr

Desperate day: please, do understand how your creative agency works!

Vaness — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:31:26 +0200

And here I am again! Desperate by the lack of knowledge and too low understanding of too many clients in the creative industry!

That time, it came from an industry news: a French region is launching a design contest to design the visual identity of the region. The ad says: "Competitors, please submit concept boards and finalized creations"!!! Not to mention that the agencies ranked 2 and 3 will receive...1500 and 1000 euros. For a finalized work.

In case some representatives of the client side would read my blog and would not understand why I'm desesperate at it, let's explain in a few lines why:
- you can't expect concept-boards and finalized creations at the same time: concept-boards give you the general idea of the creative concept, tells you a story, when the finalized creation gives you the details of the concept and even the precise design of some applications
- at first stage of a design contest, you can't expect finalized work. Just for the sake of your final visual identity. A designer/design agency is not a machine. Design is not a scientific industry. And it's not art either. The right design for your brand won't come in a one-shot process. It will come up after a good brief and intermediary talks to choose the creative concept and then confirm the details of it.

Sometimes, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be relevant to educate the client teams. No offence. But after all, most of them never worked in the other side of the business, most of them don't know the creative process in details, from client briefing to the final product. A French advertising agency did so a few years ago and invite Communication Directors of major companies to a "Take my seat" day. Conclusions from the C.Ds: "I acknowledge I didn't know about the creative process". A good way to become more time- and cost-efficient for a client in their design projects. Don't you think so?

Design salaries 2010

Vaness — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:36:01 +0200

An interested survey has just been issued by the AIGA (the professional association for design in the US) and Aquent (recruitment company) about the US salaries in design for year 2009.

A part of the survey is dedicated to key positions in the design industry and the evolution of their revenues; another part interviews main players of the US design market to give advice on how to improve your prospects being a designer. A good benchmark to make up your mind about the evolution of the crisis and how to better overcome it.

However, I'm always surprised to see that the position of Project Manager is never considered as being a typical position in the design market. But why after all taking into account that position about being the middle-man of the design agency, the one to be the link between the client and the creative teams, the one to ensure the project requirements are fullfilled and the project goes well on time and budget?

Read the survey here.