Partner, Ell Creative http://ellcreative.com/
What site(s) do you have to visit every day for Marketing news?
adsoftheworld.com, adage.com, wsj.com, adweek.com
What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
Thoughtgadgets.com, edwardboches.com, texags.com
Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
Salesmanship. Marketing and advertising, I believe (and I’m, by no means the first), are simply the most inexpensive ways to sell a product or service. If you understand what’s going to make someone spend time or money on what you’re offering, you’ve got it.
What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and the marketplace?
Can’t get away from crowdsourcing right now. Oh, that and the reinvention of print ads on the iPad. I love that these folks in our business are pushing for reinvention and scouring for opportunity, but I’m admittedly a skeptic of both. But we need these trends and discussions. We need to generate new ideas whether they’re accepted for the long-term, the short-term or don’t even make it off the whiteboard. Without these discussions, none of us are accessing the internet on our phones right now and an entirely new medium doesn’t even open up.
There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
The invention and necessity of the choreographer (coined by Edward Boches of Mullen). We’ve always used certain mediums to communicate our (or our client’s) story. Now, the receivers of that message are also contributors of their own message—and their platform is often just as big. It’s the role of the choreographer to stay engaged in these platforms, responding to the comments and contributions of the crowd and feed those contributions back into the messaging. I’m not suggesting taking every idea your audience gives you and make it your tag—I’m suggesting that we now have to listen and respond. Nestle will tell you all about it.
What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of Marketing specialty? Okay I’m excited about this question because it taps into a huge insecurity of mine. Now running a small agency, my tendency is to try to be everything to everyone. Ironically enough, that’s EXACTLY what we tell our clients not to do. It’s incredibly tempting to think you can become a serviceable developer when you really need to just hire one and do what you do incredibly well, guard it and grow it. Our clients aren’t paying for a media buyer who knows a guy at the local radio station or a developer that only operates in Wordpress.
What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?
I would have to say additional media - note that I did not use the word “emerging” ;). Around every corner in our business are doomsday theories. “This won’t be around in 5 years.” “This media is going to be replaced with that media.” Social, cultural and technological changes certainly impact what we do, and we’re foolish to not adapt to those changes. But the majority of the time, these changes allow us to add another tool to the tool belt—rarely do they force us to take one out. This complicates our jobs and requires more diversified knowledge.
Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
I’m a little out of my league on this question, but I’ll take a stab at it. My instinct is that this is not a black and white answer. There are some global worldviews, and when we position our brands in agreement with those worldviews, why couldn’t it be consistent globally? But obviously, there are some stories we could tell in the US that we couldn’t tell in China. Some of the needs we have here are luxuries in other countries. In the same way we may target men one way and women another way, we can’t over-generalize our messaging geographically. But can the major elements of a product or brand stay consistent and succeed globally? Sure. Again, I need to emphasize that there are a lot of folks with much more global marketing experience who may feel that I’m being too lackadaisical, and I probably am. I just haven’t experienced this conflict in a way that wasn’t easily solved.
Best piece of advice you have received?
Treat people well. My dad and I couldn’t have more divergent skillsets and interests, but he’s told me this since I was maybe 10, and I’ve done my best to stick to it. Whether it’s a CMO or a receptionist, they deserve to be treated well. Will this lead to more business? Who knows, but I’m going to do it anyway.
Growing up, what was the first think you can remember wanting to be?
Either a veterinarian or a marine biologist. Then a test I took in middle school said I should be a heavy machine operator. Hmmm…be careful that you don’t pay too much attention to those.
What marketer do you admire most and why?
Alex Bogusky. We don’t have the same skills, and I know he’s become a bit of a poster boy as of late, but the guy just gets things done. To be honest, I probably admire the organization he’s developed as much as I admire his creative efforts. As the leader of internal culture and the personality of the agency, he’s created an organization filled with talent who will never leave unless asked to. I’m a huge believer in the power of people. An organization with the best people will smoke an organiztion with the best processes every time. He’s passionate about what we do and knows how to make that passion infectious. He hasn’t made the right call every time in his career, but he does a tremendous job of balancing what he knows and what he feels. As a sidenote, I can’t peg an individual, but Weiden & Kennedy’s work with Nike and Old Spice is bookmarked all over my computer right now. They’re almost exclusively using video on both accounts as their engagement medium – that’s allowing them to focus on nothing but the content, and the content is really top-notch. Tiger’s first spot post-PR debacle was pretty much perfect.
Is Marketing more of an art or science?
As I alluded to earlier, marketing is absolutely a blend of both. You could take “art” and “science” out of that question and replace them with “instinct” and “research” or “concept” and “fact”. There are some superheroes of our business like David Ogilvy who would probably say that marketing is a science with artistic elements. He was an incredibly successful copywriter. There are others who will tell you that science and research do nothing but hinder true creative thinking. This camp has generated some amazing products and campaigns. I don’t believe you can neglect either. If you neglect the research and psychology around what we do, you’re being irresponsible and potentially lazy. If you neglect the creative, artisitic, innovative expression you’re being stale and probably plagiarizing. Our clients deserve for us to heavily weigh both, and yes, sometimes one contradicts the other, and a decision has to be made.
nd how it is to work in a truly global team. 
