The power of instinct

Written by Greg Porter, PLBR Operations Manager

If this blog was written on Sesame Street (which it often feels like it is when leftover cookies are to be found in the board room) it would be brought to you by the word ‘irony.’ Not due to any rainy wedding days or an excess of spoons when a knife is needed, but rather through your humble narrator’s struggle to find the words for this piece when over-thinking it. It was only when switching off my more critical faculties and letting the words flow that this blog started to take shape. It became clear that, while there is always a time and a place for scheduling, discussing and plotting, sometimes it pays to let the heart rule the head and just go with the flow.

We all know the power of acting on impulse – anybody who plays sport can wallow in the glorious memory of an instinctive swing of a boot, bat or racquet that reaped results. Though, how often in business has taking such a chance proved fruitful? It’s rare indeed that a true success story starts with rolling the dice, screwing the eyes shut and hoping for the best, but equally an ocean born of examination does not necessarily guarantee smooth sailing. Often times, the strongest ideas take years to build, nurture and tweak– and these are the concepts that frequently leave an indelible mark on the landscape of our industry and popular culture as a whole. However, following the heart is an equally appealing philosophy when the ‘right’ decision does not make itself immediately clear.

Gut instinct is appealing, but, of course, it’s not always to be trusted – just ask the A&R department of Decca Records, who infamously declined to sign The Beatles at the start of the ‘60s as they considered guitar music to be declining in popularity. On the other hand, consider the case of the Sporting Director who took a chance on a sickly child with growth hormone deficiency, bringing him to a new country and footing the bill for costly medical treatment. That child grew up to be Lionel Messi, widely considered the greatest player in the world’s most marketable sport. Or take the young American who dropped out of college prior to graduating with an idea and an instinct that it would all work out for the best – next time you look at your iPod you may remember that things didn’t work out too badly for Steve Jobs. It seems that combination of following gut instinct and relying on experience can be the best approach, both in life and in business – and yes, even in writing blogs.

The trouble with Bob Dylan

Matt Ross - Designer. A while ago I had a Bob Dylan phase. I say a while, maybe 10 years ago. Having had one, I think everyone should. Around that time I’d discovered that every other pop song that caught my ear was a cover of a Dylan classic. In fact everyone across all genres seems to have covered him at some time. A quick Google brought up this stat: “Current listings contain 5870 covers of 350 different Dylan songs by 2791 artists”.Personally, I just loved the fact that someone could be so successful with a singing voice that - to quote Bowie - sounds like ‘sand and glue’. It meant there may well be hope for me!Then I realised his output of albums was quite simply phenomenal. That really he has never stopped touring. That actually the lyrics to his songs were unbelievably poetic. That some of them were in fact entire stories. That it was incredibly hard work, and I wanted to know what inspired him to work so hard.And that’s what this blog is about. Not Bob - but inspiration.As a creative I have been asked in the past where I garner inspiration from. Who inspires me, and where a particular idea came from? But I don’t think inspiration is a Who, or a Where or even a What. The word itself is quite difficult to define. Think about it for a while. How would you define inspiration? I guess it is the stimulus, or inception of an idea. The falling apple of Newton’s theory of gravity. Mandela’s incredulity with the apartheid system. Ghandi’s sense of injustice. All these great people had a great cause. Our causes may not be so great, but still we need to search for and find our own inspiration. I read Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, searching to find where he drew his inspiration from. Was it a person? Was it an experience? But all I discovered was an incredibly engaging story about the travels and troubles of a musician struggling to find that break, and then continuing to struggle afterwards. In fact what struck me most was the incredible detail that was included throughout his autobiography. What people were wearing, what music was playing while he was in a back room, the books in a library, the headlines in the papers. Even if I kept a diary I’d struggle to remember these things from one day to the next. And then it struck me just what all these and other great people had in common - all of their inspiration came from one common denominator: Observation.

Every little helps

Shaheed Peera
Creative Director



Japan. 



You just have to see that one word. 



And your heart sinks.



Like most people, I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it must be to see your whole world torn apart.

Fundraiser.

One word that instils hope. 



And above all, shows we all still care.



So for our agency fundraiser day, we've come up with a simple thought. 



Next Friday, we're going to give our staff the option to add £1 to their bill in our canteen.



That £1 will be given directly to the Japan disaster fund.



And to spread the word we've made this poster.

When I thought about the simplicity of our idea and the ad.



It seemed a shame to not share this with the rest of the country.



There are a lot of businesses (of all shapes and sizes) out there, who could do exactly what we're doing.

So, I'm proud to say that today we’ve launched:

http://publicislifebrands.co.uk/japan

Anyone can go to the site, download the poster for free, and start raising money for the Japan disaster fund.

We'll keep you posted on how our day goes.

Big hugs,
Shaheed

Living in a digital world

Nick Bartlett
Digital Strategy Director

Sitting reading all the blogs, tweets, awards and press coverage of digital marketing in the pharmaceutical industry you might be led to believe that we’re actually at the forefront of this dynamic industry, showing other B2B industries and even some of those consumer wannabes how it’s done.

With so much back slapping going on it’s easy to get distracted. The bright lights of digital seem to have distracted many from the end game. Patient groups remain aggressively independent online and doctors groups highly cynical of pharma’s digital engagement. Strategies seem to evolve around the same old game of pushing information at an audience in the hope that some will engage. Luckily for us, the fact that it’s now on an ipad guarantees results!

Until we approach digital planning with a long term attitude, one that is based on a philosophy of engagement, listening and understanding we stand little chance of maximising the opportunity that digital offers.

Wanting to “own” a brand’s digital space crops up in far too many briefing conversations and is indicative of the approach that needs to change. Digital marketing is not about the brand owning anything, it’s about what that brand can do for its customers using the digital tools available.

Getting to grips with your brand’s Online Value Proposition is the key to unlocking its potential and to do that you need to take a breath, listen, think and then act. What can your digital strategy offer that no other marketing avenue can? The old adage of “ready, fire, aim” still holds true in pharmaceutical digital marketing, hence we have a lot of great looking tactical outcomes but few that add long term value to the brand, its customers or indeed its patients to.

The secret equity in digital marketing is for brands to get to grips with the language of its online self. When a brand takes its time to understand the meaning of its digital language, the words, their meaning to all groups, its context, the gaps in conversations, connections, grammar, negatives, syntaxes, then your every strategic move is built on a foundation of knowledge and strength.

There’s no awards for language, no apps, no widgets but then our online communities aren’t interested in that. Pharmaceutical digital marketing needs to decide what it’s most interested in.

Two Become One

Greg Porter
Operations Manager

It’s February, and that always provides two reasons to be cheerful – the fact that it’s no longer January and of course that magical date that comes but once a year. No, not Christmas (unless you’re a divorce lawyer) – we refer of course to Valentine’s Day. Such a celebration of successful partnerships got us thinking about duos that have proved so fruitful in the past – from Torville and Dean to Batman and Robin via Cameron and Clegg, history shows us that more often than not, two heads are indeed better than one.

The same can surely be said of business partnerships and collaborations. Though a thriving working relationship between client and agency might not involve cupid’s arrow and a previously-untapped longing to listen to The Carpenters, many of the fundaments remain the same as a successful personal affiliation. Striving for the same end goal, plenty of open discussion, patience and understanding, positive reinforcement and advice on matters that need to be worked on and, perhaps most important of all, honesty and trust are all familiar bedrocks, and are equally essential in any successful working relationship. Plus any agency worth their salt will not turn down a request on the grounds of a headache.

Like the course of true love, a successful industry alliance will not always be smooth plain sailing. The satisfaction that can be gained from a rewarding collaboration make any teething issues worthwhile though – after all, what good is accomplishment if you have nobody share the moment of triumph with?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Greg Porter
Operations Manager

Really, it is … the PLBR team have been braced to deck the halls and jingle their bells for a while now, and now it seems the festive season is well and truly upon us again. The Christmas party has been and gone (and, once again, without a single fatality – a record your humble narrator remains proud of, despite a few close shaves over the years). Those of us who originate from more exotic locales than Essex and Surrey have began stumbling into the office laden down with suitcases prepared for their trips back to infinitely sunnier climes. Public transport in and around London has gone into meltdown as somebody heard it may by snowing somewhere in mainland Europe. Is it just me who wouldn’t have it any other way?

This time of year is the final stretch, the home straight, the big push over the top before the luxury of a lengthy December break. It’s a time sit back and bask in the successes of another business year, while keeping both eyes on lesson learned that can be implemented during the next twelve months. It’s a time to ponder aloud how the time goes by so fast and the festive season has crept up on us, while smiling inwardly at how we remembered to get those train tickets booked months ago. It’s a time for every man who would ordinarily burn a Pop Tart when attempting to cook suddenly turns into a domestic king, and a bona fide expert on poultry manufacture and seasoning. Most of all, it’s a time when the challenges, successes and adventures of work take a back seat for a short period to be superseded by concerns about the Boxing Day football results, just how Mr. Blobby got to be Christmas Number One and who gave Great-Aunt Ermintrude one sweet sherry too many that has somehow led to her getting up on the roof.

Good luck to all our colleagues, clients, friends and followers for their own big push for the final week of the business year, and please allow the PLBR team to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We’re already looking forward to another challenging and prosperous working relationship starting up in January – but until then, take it easy.

MOVEMBER – The Power of a Good Idea

Greg Porter
Operations Manager

We live in a world where Bad Ideas can be prevalent, and in this digital age impossible to erase from the landscape. HD-DVD? Expensive flop, by all accounts. Investing a lifetime of hard-earned savings in your local branch of Northern Rock? You may be ruing that as a bad judgement call. Continually allowing Bono access to a microphone in public places? Don’t even get me started. Even our own industry has been known to drop a clanger – just how many advertising high-fliers at major corporations were left with their heads in their hands this June as the national team they had invested so much jingoistic branding to capitulated at the World Cup?

The good thing about a bad idea is that it makes a good one that much more prominent, and the now-famous Movember campaign belongs firmly in the latter camp. For the uninitiated, Movember is a worldwide charitable occasion so blissfully simple but effective it’s a wonder that nobody thought of it sooner – throughout the eleventh month of the year, gentleman the world over fight off the winter chill by growing moustaches to raise awareness for the Prostate Cancer cause. After a quick straw poll to ensure there are no pogonophobics among our ranks, PLBR have embraced this concept whole-heartedly – the men (and a couple of the ladies, but we find it politic not to comment on that) of our agencies have been sporting soup catchers in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the noble handlebar to the elegant Fu Manchu, via the lampshade and the chevron.

With celebrities, executives, students and royalty all getting in on the act, Movember has started as a devastatingly simple idea that has grown into a cultural phenomenon – all in the name of charity. So when you’re tucking into dinner this evening and pondering why your waiter looks like a Freddy Mercury tribute act or you step into a meeting and wonder why Magnum PI is taking the minutes, resist the urge to smirk –Movember is proof that just sometimes, the quirky little ideas are the ones that can run and run.