Tom Fishburne: Brand Camp cartoonist and marketing guy

the csr fashion show

I just started reading John Grant's Green Marketing Manifesto, a thought-provoking book on how marketers like us should approach the green marketplace.  I'm only 56 pages into it, but I recommend it and the accompanying blog too.

We're at an interesting turning point.  Greenies and marketers used to be diametrically opposed, because the traditional eco mantra was "consume less" and the traditional marketing mantra was "consume more".

But now, it's more about "consume smarter".  And the roles of the greenies and marketers are blurring.  Marketers play an important role in helping explain all of this to consumers.  Instead of dragging the mainstream kicking and screaming to green, it's about bringing green to the mainstream (through smart products and marketing).  Making it seem "normal", in the same way that Apple has made computers normal and accessible.

A lot of this is already starting to happen, which is great.  But as more and more jump on the eco bandwagon, there's a whole heap of greenwashing too.  This is dangerous, because it risks turning consumers off of the whole thing, making them suspicious and sceptical. 

"You can't just decide 'ethical is in' and treat it like a fashion."  I read this line in John's book and it prompted this cartoon idea.  It's been interesting to watch so many companies trot out their CSR plans recently.  This is great when it's serious, but a problem when it's superficial and publicity-driven.  Because consumers can see right through it.  Sooner or later.

we're so eco-friendly

I came across an article on the environmental ills of outdoor media: lots of paper, lots of fuel to drive to media sites, toxic glues, etc. The next time I rode the tube, I was struck by how many outdoor ads were touting some environmental benefit.  I put the two together and it felt very ironic, and inspired this cartoon.

The trouble with much of the environmental grand-standing right now is that it tends to focus on one attribute or another, not a holistic approach of making a company more sustainable over time.  So, there's often more than a bit of hypocracy if you look hard enough.  The same company that garnered a packaging reduction is printing out masses of paper to tell the world about it, which kind of defeats the purpose.

(out of) control freak

It's been a while since I poked fun at senior management.  I heard someone described as a "control freak" recently, and it struck me that there was actually another type, the "out-of-control-freak".  A senior manager who assumes total control of a project or area, but actually doesn't have the time or interest to really understand it. 

It made me think of this funny dynamic that happens when a project becomes either a raging success or a dismal failure.   People seem to climb out of the woodwork to claim partial credit for a successful project.  Yet a failed project is often pinned to a few scapegoats.

When I was at General Mills, it seemed like everyone I talked to had played a hand in the launch of Go-Gurt (which was the posterchild of successful innovation).  But, I never found anyone who worked on Wahoos (which cratered soon after launch).  It's human nature of course.  It just cracks me up how some senior managers can be removed enough to escape retribution from the failures yet still take personal credit for the successes.  When, of course, you can learn from both (often you learn more from the failures than the successes).

poser marketing

I've been enjoying Seth Godin's latest book, Meatball Sundae.  He writes about the rush of companies jumping on the "new marketing" bandwagon.  Some companies are leaping into myspace, youtube, blogging, etc. in exactly the same self-serving way they approach TV advertising -- by trying to "interupt" consumers from what they were doing.  This obviously misses the point.  Consumers are gravitating to "new marketing" channels exactly because they are in control, not the brands.  And certain brands are mismatched completely with new marketing ... just like, say, meatballs and sundaes.

I've been amazed recently how often I hear of brands adding a myspace program like it's just another FSI.

Anyway, it got me thinking of current teenagers and how resistant they are to old-school brands and ways of marketing.  I think they can see right through attempts of stodgy brands to "get hip" and set up a myspace profile or something.  Which led to this cartoon.

the process pendulum

I once worked in an Internet startup that grew from 25 employees to 2,500 in 3 years.  Much of that was through acquisition -- basically 30 startups rolled up into one.  The resulting patchwork company then went public (and filed for Chapter 11 about a year after that).  Kind of a crazy rollercoaster.

Anyway, the midst of it all, I first started thinking about "the process pendulum".  Our process swung erratically from non-existant to command-and-control.  We were scrappy and entrepreneurial in year one, and then we added layer after layer of bureaucracy to restrain the chaos of so much growth. 

We wanted to upgrade our project management, so we hired this guy to run our project management group who had only project-managed large-scale, 5-year construction projects for the military.  It was such a bad cultural fit, it was kind of funny.  We literally had to print off emails we wanted to send him, walk them to his desk, and stamp them with a timestamp he kept there before he would read them.  At an internet company no less.  I swear I'm not making this up.

Since then, every company I've been involved in has been somewhere on this swinging pendulum.   It's really tricky, because in the search for the right balance of process that's not too restrictive, I've found that the pendulum invariably swings too far, and then has to be brought back.

I've always liked that Steve Jobs' quote, "it's more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy".  But what do you do when the pirate ship grows to the size and complexity of a navy ship?  How do you keep small even as you grow big?

criticism sandwich

I always struggle with giving creative feedback.  I can only imagine what's it's like to be a creative director and have your work (which is inherently personal) continually critiqued in front of you.  I guess you learn to grow really thick skin (or plug your ears discretely).

This last week, I gave a cartoon talk to 200 people at Unilever, and it was surreal to flip through my cartoons on a jumbo screen waiting for the audience to get the joke and start laughing.  Usually, I send out my cartoons alone and I'm not there when people get them.  So, it was a little nerve-wracking to be on a stage hoping (and praying) that people would start laughing (anyone, anyone, Bueller, Bueller).  A bit like that old dream of showing up to school without your clothes.  Anyway, that's what I imagine it's like to be a creative director in a client meeting.

So, I always try to dose my creative feedback to others with plenty of ego stroking.  An early manager of mine described it as a "criticism sandwich", which led to this cartoon. 

ideation nation

I like ideations as much as the next guy.  Particularly when there are good snacks.  I just think they are too often treated as a cure-all.  Need an innovation? Just hold an ideation.  I don't think that an isolated brainstorm once a year is the best approach for coming up with innovations.  I think it works better when innovation is a constant, continuous process involving everyone. 

We have something at work we call a "wikiwall", which is this massive magnetic whiteboard where we're all constantly tacking up new ideas and building on old ones.  It's always there and ideas are inspired by all sorts of things at random times throughout the year.

There's also this funny "find your inner hippy" dynamic that often happens in setting up an ideation.  It often feels that if you set the right mood (room, props, music, snacks, etc.), the ideas will just come.  This environment can feel really superficial, because when you leave the room the dynamic is often different.  In the cold light of the day-to-day office, it easier and more acceptable to criticize and squash ideas, rather than find creative ways to grow and adapt them.

Anyway, I visited another company's ideation not long ago and they'd rented jumbo beanbag chairs to place all around the room.  It got me thinking of the whole ideation phenomenon, and led to this cartoon.

dance of the retail partners

I've been involved in some kooky one-sided retailer negotiations lately, including thorny topics like exclusivity.  The retail market is more concentrated in the UK than in the US, so it's pretty clear where the power lies here.  But, I think the basic dynamic holds true in the US too. 

Of course, in this one-sided dynamic, it takes extra creativity (and fast two-stepping) to turn it into something like a partnership.  Instead of submitting to pressure, it's possible to create something unique and powerful even when you're much, much smaller than the retailer.

And then, last night, my daughter's school hosted a Gaelic Scottish dance called a Céilidh, which involved a lot of dance instruction (not to mention a lot of kilts). As everyone danced around the room, my mind wandered to cartoons.  Retailer relationships struck me as a sort of elaborate dance.

how to come up with a product name

An old colleague emailed me recently to ask if I'd ever done a cartoon on product naming.  She was helping a friend start a naming company called Spark.  Good name for a naming company.

Anyone, I was surprised to discover that I'd never covered product naming.  I have certainly been in lots and lots of ridiculous naming sessions over the years, but for some reason had never turned those into a cartoon.

So, Janine, this one's for you.

free prize inside

I was thinking recently how many package promotions seem a little gratuitous. 

I actually love the idea of a "Free Prize Inside", and found Seth Godin's book by that name really inspiring.  But I think that often the "free prize" just doesn't connect as well to the product as it could.  It could be any prize and any product.

I remember someone at General Mills comparing two promotions that had run with Cheerios.  In one, they gave away $5 off of a Dominos Pizza delivery.  And, in another, they gave away a free children's book that mothers could read with their kids.  Given that the Cheerios brand promise was "nurturing", it's pretty clear why one was the better and more memorable fit.

Anyway, I tried to take the idea of gratuitous promotion to the extreme and for some reason the image of a birthday cake stripper coming out of a box of cereal seemed appropriate.