On the Wings of a Dream: Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Kevin Roberts, the flamboyant CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, returned to Ad:tech this year after his last appearance at Ad:tech five years ago. His message then was that emotion is at the heart of all successful innovation, and that coincided with the publication of his book “Lovemarks: the Future beyond Brands”. This year at Ad:tech Roberts previewed his new book “sisomo: the future on screen”, which is officially scheduled to be published in February 2006 (attendees at his keynote were given a copy).
Roberts maintains that we’ve now moved into the age of the idea. It’s also the screen age, where screens are omnipresent in our lives. It’s the age of “sisomo”: sight, sound and motion. His presentation built on the Lovemarks concept, and it was punctuated with entertaining videos of ads by Saatchi, starting with the All Blacks, New Zealand’s rugby team (Roberts is a total fan) doing a Maori dance threatening to disembowel the opposing team. Pretty intimidating for the other guys…
Roberts believes that we’re now in the attraction economy, and people are 80% emotional, 20% rational. The attraction economy is a paradox, and we now live in the land of “and/and” instead of “either/or”. Human emotion is the principal currency of the attraction economy. Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion, on the other hand, leads to action.
read more...More on Engagement from BBH and The New Yorker
Tuesday, 9 a.m., Keynote: A two-parter. It started with Cindy Gallop, former BBH chairman, presenting on “I’m Engaged, You’re Engaged, We’re All Engaged: A Point of View on the Age of Engagement.” This was followed by James Surowiecki, New Yorker writer and author of The Wisdom of Crowds. The two were both interesting presentations, though they had nothing to do with each other, and both were only tangentially related to interactive marketing. At least with these broader approaches, the speakers were more than competent, and they challenged some conventional thinking.
Gallop started off with a dash of controversy, saying, “The consumer is not in control.” She was referring to control over their feelings, noting that engaging experiences never make consumers feel like they’re giving up control. She also spoke about “collective engagement,” defining this as building “a sense of inclusivity and community with your message.” She demonstrated some brands’ attempts at engagement with two campaigns: a porn-style reel from Virgin Atlantic promoting their business, and Rainier beer’s attempt to resurrect its brand in Seattle.
Surowiecki spoke about the wisdom of crowds. While I haven’t read the book, you can probably find the examples he gave in it.
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Experiential Marketing Topic of Opening ad:tech Keynote
Opening the show, ad:tech Chair Susan Bratton appeared on stage wearing a pair of wings in a nod to an event later in the day called ad:tech Connect Live, where attendees can engage in some serious interaction. Bratton told the audience this year’s ad:tech is the largest yet with 8,300 people expected to attend and over 230 exhibitors vying for attendees attention.
Bratton introduced the first keynote speaker, Lexus Marketing VP Deborah Wahl-Meyer who explained Lexus’ approach to marketing embraces the notion that customers are like quests in one’s own home and should be treated with dignity. Wahl-Meyer acknowledge the consumer is in the driver’s seat today and calls many of the shots when it comes to marketing communication. With technology like TiVo and weblogs, consumers have far more control and voice then they ever had before.
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