In a post titled, “Why Do You Do What You Do; Why Should I Care?” from Oct. 12, I introduced Simon Sinek’s TED talk based on his book: Start with Why.

Frankly, I find his book helpful. Creative Professionals (like me) are caught in a cycle of showing first, what we do, then sometimes, how we do it in an effort to differentiate ourselves from competition. We hope to sell others on our value but can easily forget what value our work has to us personally.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek

Call it our passion but if you’re anything like me, it’s mostly taken for granted until discovering a void.  But, if I’m selling my value and forget my “WHY”, then my cause is lost.  Actions without a cause won’t accumulate passionate followers.

Here’s Me Starting with Why

I photograph because I see something with which I want to spend more time and of which I want to make partially mine.  It’s a quest of surprises; I surprise myself when I frame something that stirs my emotion; a feeling much more than a thought. It’s that moment of surprise that makes me want to do it again and again.

Camera in front of my face, I’m bracing for it. I feel it when it’s there and disappointed when it’s not. So potent is the anticipation of the surprise moment that the senses surrounding a shutter release becomes a jolt of electricity as though feeding an addiction. More please. It’s how you know you’re a photographer.  If you don’t feel it, you’re probably not one.

I’m opinionated. My opinion is expressed at the moment I press the shutter. Just like that person on the bus that won’t stop talking about their politics, I’m showing my photographs except you can’t tell me to shut up. My visuals are much more persuasive than my rant. Like passing a car wreck or a promised glimpse of George Clooney, I hope to lure you in.

Simultaneously, at the moment of surprise, I want share my discovery. Post capture it’s the profundity of the find along with the clarity of vision that dictates whether it gets shared or I move on to the next sighting. Can I make you feel my surprise?  Can I draw you into the emotional story?

It’s as simple as seeing an unusual shape, color or texture juxtaposed – or as complex as combining an emotional memory with what is happening in front of the camera as an unusual turn of a story.  It’s what I see and you don’t until I tell you to look.

I look for beauty but not always conventional beauty [I’m not one of those image makers who can capture horrific human failures and long for more].  Found in stories, moments, emotions and character, beauty is that which I want to make mine.

I produce the media for the joy of making. The fine craft of selective lighting, composition, and tonality rewards my personal expression. The making is often the only path to closure.

I work with advertising, design and editorial businesses for the collaborative creative community that surrounds the industry, while at the same time, it’s what allows me to finance deeper exploration. Like a back stage pass to the world, I can often gain access to opportunities unavailable to those outside the business.  -  Bruce DeBoer, Photographer

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My how and what varies, but the why is remarkably stable.

Care to give it a shot?  It may not be as easy as you think: Why do you do what you do?

What does Samuel Taylor Coleridge have to do with advertising and branding?  Well, in 1817 he wrote a phrase that’s endured for 190 years.

A good brand constitutes “poetic faith”. They tell a “semblance of the truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief”.  The critical word here being: “willing“.

“In this idea originated the plan of the ‘Lyrical Ballads’; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” – Coleridge from Biographia literaria

Have you ever fallen victim to a good lie?  A liar’s skill is one that weaves fantasy into truth in such a way that no difference can be found.  They tell us what we want to hear with evidence that proves a true but ancillary element in the story. We hear it in politics all the time, often followed by “I misspoke”. We suspend our disbelief and buy the story. Call it our unwilling suspension of disbelief.

Marketers spend small fortunes asking targets what they want to hear. They ask through focus groups, questionnaires, interviews, or whatever, assembling quantitative, qualitative and anecdotal evidence because they want to seem authentic; do you believe this story? Do you want to be the Marlboro Man?

Brands are encountering authenticity when disbelief isn’t willingly suspended. Authenticity happens when we boast of ducking sniper fire that never existed and get busted.

Authenticity is the wizard behind the curtain. Good is done only after the big reveal. Discover a good authentic message after faux sniper fire and all is forgiven; human frailty is grounding because we all understand it. The good stuff comes when we  make up for frailties with actions that prove our authenticity.

OK, so there was no sniper fire. Please take a look at who I really am, I have good qualities, and I’ll prove it to you. I’m sorry for the deception – I was a fool.

Authenticity is the old GAP logo or the taste of Classic Coke. The good news: both companies learned that they own an authentic brand.  The bad news: you can’t attempted to close the curtain after your family spent holidays with the wizard; it is silly to suspend disbelief when so few are willing.

The bottom line is that we must be willing to suspend our disbelief about authenticity that we experience. Halloween is authentic; we know its fantasy. On the other hand,  the brand “John McCain”,  is not. His brand is a mess. Our experience needs to match the story, or we must know the story is fantasy and share that knowledge with the story teller with a wink and/or nod.

Reality meets fantasy on a global scale pretty damn fast.  The modern communication channels hammer that point daily.  Society no longer tolerates manipulation the way it once did.  Brands start with authenticity; all else is fluff at best.  At worse it’s unwilling suspension of disbelief.  If you don’t know your brand’s authenticity you’ll never control in and probably won’t sell it.

I’m screwed. The flight is full. I need to go where I’m going but there are only middle seats. The guy in the middle is in no man’s land and no one wants to be associated with “no man”. Aisle seat gate keepers refuse to look me in the eye. The strategy seems to be: block the entrance with a briefcase.

No man’s land is a term for land that is not occupied or is in dispute between parties that will not occupy it because of fear or uncertainty.

You’re fighting for real estate with no ability to define your space. There are no clear boundaries; no arm rests dedicated to your seat. Action appears to be at the fringes but the fringes aren’t accessible on your boarding pass; you’re a middle seat guy for this trip.

Without a pass one can only play at the fringes for short periods. You can sit on the aisle but if it’s not indicated on the boarding pass you’ll soon get busted back to the middle. In the middle you are unrecognizable, uncomfortable, ignored, assigned token worth, or dismissed out of hand no matter how very good you are.

Some how you need to reserve that aisle seat; get in that exit row with A/B choices.  Ride the middle for a while but if your a traveler and get the middle seat on every trip, I may suggest you use the exit slide. You’ll need to create an authentic story of a fringe player and live it.

Here are some of the famous “middles”:

Middle America is beloved but horribly abused, misunderstood and misquoted.

Middle class is a proud group but one whose definition is unclear and shifty. My father was one and so am I, but there couldn’t be two more different people in the same category.

Middle Management, even the name sounds unimportant. “Hi, I’m a middle manager” – I can’t imaging a greeting more apt to inspire escape. Having been one once, I know what a lonely position this is. You have all the responsibility with none of the position power or ability to directly affect things on the ground.

Middle Name: It’s rarely used and less often recognized as you. Those without one don’t miss it all that much.

The Middle Aged are typically lost in a crisis of neither starting nor finishing. They’re stereotypically on a bridge to nowhere, upset by their aimlessness while lamenting dreams unfulfilled.

Middle of the Road has a firm reputation for boredom and a dead lock on the inadequately mundane result.

Middle Ground is impossible to defend, but then, no one will attack you anyway since you have nothing remarkable to offer. Well, that is unless you are in the way of some fringe element trying to cross your path.

Middle Passage: Synonymous with death to would be slaves. At the very best it meant months of torture followed by a lifetime of servitude.

The Middle Man is always in danger of being squeezed out; Rumored as worthless. There is even a word for eliminating him: Disintermediation [an economic term for cutting out intermediaries] and is considered a method for gaining efficiencies.

Middle Child: There is a syndrome attached to this position, one defined by a sense of not belonging. Need I say more?

Middle Urinal: As the middle airline seat is to travel, it’s the last resort for queued personal relief. There is an instant calculation upon entering a men’s room: “Which of the remaining spots is least likely to attract a neighbor?”

Everyone should know Seth Godin – there is no disputing he’s perpetually reserving an aisle seat.  If you haven’t seen his presentation from 2003 you must view it. If you have it’s worth a revisit – I’ve viewed it half a dozen times at least.  It’s seven years old but will remain fresh in seven more, with the possible exception of the Hummer – it may not be here but the message is still dead on accurate. He speaks of the middle brilliantly and is guaranteed to make you laugh.

I had a chance to talk with Creative Director and Copywriter Mike Allen about his career in Advertising and get some of his thoughts on branding and creativity.  Here are 10 minutes from that discussion.

As this embedded spot for American Airlines demonstrates, Mike gives voice to a brand’s essence.  This spot and two others in the campaign ran shortly after the 9/11 tragedy.  Worried that the country didn’t need a reminder of plane flight or the of who’s company mark was stenciled to the side of the terrorist weapon, American Airlines was on the verge of canceling all Advertising for 6 months.

The alternative was to show the emotion of what plane flight means to those who chose to travel; don’t show planes, show what planes can do besides fly into buildings. It’s easy to see how the “We know why you fly” campaign was born from these early spots written by Mike.

Additional 30 sec. spots in the Campaign from American Airlines 2001:
“Friends”
“Family”

Summery of Mike Allen’s Advertising History:

His 24-year advertising career includes creating brand-building work for American Airlines, Bank of America, Nortel Networks, Subaru of America, the U.S. Air Force, Bell Helicopter, Terminix and Bennigan’s while at Temerlin McClain in Dallas, TX.

From 2003-2009, He was ACD, then VP/Managing Creative Director at Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow (RBW) in Raleigh, NC, overseeing work and writing for BB&T, Biscuitville, Wavecom, Queens University of Charlotte, CORT Furniture and Old Dominion Freight Line across all media channels.

What is the street artist’s intent? Anti-social pop art with an extreme satirical point intended for consumption across all socioeconomic barriers, or is it hype driven brandalism by an artistic terrorist bent on pulling one over on a naïve culture?  Tagging is clearly vandalism but the line of intent is vague and does mere intent define vandals as artists?

Exit Through the Gift Shop is an extremely thought provoking film by Banksy, one of the more notorious street artists in the UK. I was no more than tenuously aware of Banksy or street art beyond the mundanely obvious, but the fascination button has been pressed.

My fascination is not as much with the art as it is with its place in culture; it’s acceptance or failure, it’s hype driven value and its democratic canvas. I relate stronger to the street artist than I do with his work.

Street art can be beautiful but from my extremely limited surveillance, so far I see its beauty as mostly unconventionally embedded in the “of the people essence” found in the act. Yet street art crosses over and when it does the artist is there to embrace success in the most conventional way; think Shepard Fairey. Which brings us back to intent; was the original intent to gain lucrative artistic notoriety through cheap illegal stunts?

Shepard Fairey (who has a role in the film), for example, was ready to lie about the origin of his work to bolster personal profit. It drives the innocence of illegal art into the ground like a paper airplane; beautiful in its short flight.

In Banksy too, there is a contradiction to his art: a street rebel but also a gallery artist and book publisher making a strong living and building his brand legacy; he’s a (s)pray-on provocateur seen from multiple angles.

The film is filled with anti-heros but the main character is more like an anti-anti-anti hero; he bites back. I’ll pass on to you the favor from a friend who guided me last week by repeating one of the loudest lines in the film:  GO!

Kevin McKeon via StrawberryFrog.com

Your product launch offers awareness for its unique value. This accounts for most advertising.  Ok, now we know your product is there; you have my attention, educate me. It’s been repeated 1000 + times: “nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.” But I’ll change it a little for the internet age: “nothing kills a product like a bad product.”

There. I’ve summed up conventional advertising in one paragraph, and brought it into the crowded, abundant, consumer centric internet years. Now it’s all about ME, keep your damn interruption marketing to yourself, I’ll find you when I want something you got. Unless ….

Unless you give me something authentic of real value for free, like say … social equity? I’m my own broadcaster on the social network and I want social media love. I want to be the guy for whom others create a “bring back [your name here]” fan page if I disappear for a while.

With infinite choice comes a need to embed your product  into culture. If you’re really successful you become the culture, like #43 is to NASCAR. Hint: Start with quality.

In my campaign I’m going to give away personal brand equity – touch my brand and your perceived social value goes up in your tribe.  Touch my quality and you are quality – nice!   I know you want it – who wouldn’t?

A general guide:
1) Find out why they’re there and want to be associated with your brand?
2) Understand who you’re talking to and contribute to their experience by adding authentic value.
3) Remember that in the new landscape, everything is social – no one likes to be sold to, interrupted, or be the subject of a marketing prank.
4) And – now here’s the hard part – keep the social equity your giving prospects immersed in yours.

Repeat after me: real value, authentic value, social value.  Additionally, remember that the value is for your tribal prospect, not you.  In my tribe people come over to eat, not watch YOU eat, and they’re proud to have eaten my food.  Build personal brand equity for participants, immerse your brand into the culture to build advocacy within the tribe, and – if possible – add material reward that is portable all while generating real social brand equity for individual tribe members.

Fast Company Magazine has a nice simple article describing what successful and not so successful brands are doing to create advocates. “Five Steps for Consumer Brands to Earn Social Currency” by Ben Paynter

1) Advocates Trump Followers
2) Context Matters
3) Not Every Brand Should Be Social
4) Social Tools are a Means Not an End
5) Gimmicks Marginalize Trust

Embedded is a short video with boutique ad agency, Strawberry Frog’s Executive Creative Director Kevin McKeon explaining why he considers everything they do to be social.

StrawberryFrog Creative Director: “I Consider Everything We D… – The funniest videos clips are here

Brilliant. This takes a giant step toward rebuilding Tiger Woods as a brand by reuniting him with a feeling of authenticity. It’ll make some folks uncomfortable and it won’t make immediate sense to others, but in the long haul it makes Tiger Woods human which may make him even more valuable in the future than he was before the fiasco.

“… the artists, idea merchants and marketers that are having the most success are ignoring those that would rubberneck and drive on, focusing instead on cadres of fans that matter.”  [via Seth Godin]

The entire post focuses on our “drive by” short attention span culture and how more and more content producers and companies are pandering to statistics that are so readily available online.  It’s easy to follow stats and change content to raise the number of visitors.

His point is an important one for Creative Professionals who wring their hands during tough economic times.  Our culture is getting faster and more shallow but in agreement with Seth Godin, those people successful in changing minds and moving culture generally don’t follow suit.

“In the race between ‘who’ and ‘how many’, who usually wins–if action is your goal. Find the right people, those that are willing to listen to what you have to say, and ignore the masses that are just going to race on, unchanged.”        [via Seth Godin]

In an oddly unrelated but relevant post, Edward Boches at Creativity_Unbound asks these questions: “So what is abundance doing to brand consistency? Will the proliferation of user-generated content make it unachievable? Does it even matter? “

My take is that by “abundance” he, and others in the social media space, are referring to the consumer’s ability to find and have whatever they want, whenever they want, and many times for free or near free.  Edward’s post brings with it some great points regarding brand and consistency.

My thought is that brand is not your logo mark, packaging, or ad design but is and always has been what you do and how you do it.  Great branding happens when you do everything else right, that is, everything your customer interacts with across all aspects of your product and services.  Great branding is about you and the deep relationship you create with the customers you have.  Design matters but brand control is not found in how you package your product but in the product itself.

Read more from Edward Boches here.

There’s no faulting authentic cause marketing.   Doing the right thing by committing funds is inspiring.  A perfect example is the Ronald McDonald House supporting families of hospitalized children.  It represents everything we’d like a corporation to do with their profits: give some back to the community that buys the product.  All positive public relations are genuinely well deserved.

Pepsi Refresh feels similar.  The soft drink company uses the internet to field ideas and award favorites monthly with large sums of cash to finance a cause.  Excellent.  Spread the love and the goodness of a brand.  The Publicity is good; the causes are great and they used new social networking techniques to make it even more powerful – awesome.  Much better than a one run Superbowl networks 30 sec. spot.

Let’s take a moment to sincerely thank them for this approach.  Honest – no sarcasm intended but it’s hard to write this stuff without it sounding that way.

OK – that said, let me risk more by sounding overly cynical and ask about statistics regarding ROI for cause marketing.  It must be impossible to measure.  Maybe it’s not necessary to measure.  Building a brand by making members of a cause and their benefactors love it, how can that fail?  Pay it forward, right? Everyone will love Pepsi and buy their product because they’re doing the right thing. [Well, that’s a little sarcastic]

While Pepsi’s approach was inspired, it feels like a dead end and outside the brand to me.  Each cause is individually separate and disconnected from anything to do with Pepsi as a refreshment maker other than cash outlay, a brand mark, and a slogan.

I think about those times my parents gave me money for college.  I am eternally grateful but that’s not why I love them.  I also received a partial scholarship from someone but I’d have to go back and dig through papers to find out whom… I forget.  In fact, attach strings to payments and recipients may get resentful: a girlfriend’s Dad once offered $1000 to her for quitting cigarettes – you can guess how that turned out.

A better approach would be to create a product that inspired it’s own cause and its own marketing.  Let’s pretend Pepsi Co. created a delicious tablet that, when dropped in water would give a day’s worth of nutrition in a thirst quenching drink while simultaneously clearing foul water of harmful bacteria.

• The tablet tasted better than sports drinks of the wealthiest fit minded communities.
• The tablets are so effective that it could be distributed to earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile to help solve drinking water shortages.
• Pepsi would be marketing the same tablet everywhere; one which would give 50% profits to groups dedicated to quench the thirst of the world.  [Insert Pepsi Refresh cause marketing here].
• Track profits from areas of the globe and where they go through online mapping – create a competition between shopping segments – who can generate more thirst quenching for drought stricken areas.
• Perhaps a live video feeds from the areas being helped or of people buying the product that will be shipped to the truly thirsty.

These thoughts are incomplete and raw but I think you get the idea.  Everything from the product to the financing to the cause and the outcome are all Pepsi.  The product is the marketing and everything to do with it perpetuates the brand and its thirst quenching essence.  It offers consumers something genuinely healthy to purchase and one that did good tangible things across the globe as well as an opportunity to pick up another Pepsi products sold next to the tablet while at the store.

I know, I know,  the tablet may be a technological fantasy but something isn’t that would fit the scheme.  I’m just sayin’ – Pepsi is doing good stuff but I think they missed an opportunity on this one.

Just in case you were wondering about my opinion, Volkswagen is the ad winner – for my money (not that it has anything to do with my money) – of the 2010 Superbowl spots and here’s why:

1. It is centered around the brand showing its depth and breadth and not simply a funny spot where you remember nothing about the product.
2. It reminds their primary target how VW is immersed in our culture and renews an old road game; nostalgia is a powerful draw.
3. The slapstick keeps our attention and makes us laugh
4. Makes us tell stories among ourselves and enhances our love for the brand even if we’ve never owned one.
5. The spot was crafted well enough to make us want to test drive a VW; the cars looked beautiful.
6. The payoff was gratifying with Stevie Wonder and Tracy Morgan; two beloved celebrities.
7. The campaign is easily integrated across all media; its story is easy to share on Social Media and at the Water Cooler.
8. It has legs: visit Sluggy Patterson on Twitter and Posterous.

I can go on but you get the point.  Add to its draw is the fact it was superb among many awful ads we had to sit through this year.  My second choice was the Google’s Love Story ad but I’m still trying to figure out why they bothered, what did they gain exactly?

Go here for the video of Sluggy’s story and here for Punch Dub the game and on FaceBook here.

[update] Barbara Lippert’s Critique in Adweek gave the nod to Google and mentioned Betty White and the Snickers Spot. Both are solid in my opinion but Google on TV seemed gratuitous and without purpose; exactly what were they expecting, more awareness or increased user-ship? The Betty White/Snickers spot was a solid pick but we’ll remember their clever casting of Betty White and Abe Vigota before we’ll recall the brand name; it wasn’t “of the brand” the way the VW spot is.  Both spots – Snickers’ and Google’s – are more limited than “Punch Dub” in their integration across media channels as well.

FYI – Here’s how Stevie Wonder knows it’s a “Red One”.

Full Credits

Agency: Deutsch, Los Angeles

Client: Volkswagen

Director: Frank Todaro

Production Company: Moxie