September 26, 2008
Jeff Steinhour Pushes Boundaries in his Berlin School President's Lecture
Managing Partner at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Jeff Steinhour, delivered his comments titled "Pushing beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing" to a full house at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership on September 25, 2008.
Jeff focused on the strategies of Crispin Porter + Bogusky and the success they have enjoyed working on major brands like VW, Burger King, Mircosoft, Best Buy, Domino's Pizza, American Express and Guitar Hero.
His talk focused on what makes the Crispin Porter + Bogusky approach different. While most marketers start with external communication and focus on brand and messaging, CP+B begins their work with the product. "We came to understand that, ultimately, we are a design company," said Jeff. "We want to play with the product a little bit." By unifying the product design, customer experience and advertising messages, CP+B has made their mark.
For Mini, CP+B worked on paint job designs and a line of clothing. They also created a CD rack for dealers so that people visiting the show room could pick out the music of their choice for their test-drive. Crafting the Mini experience was their goal.
Jeff also explained that he and his colleagues work with a holistic view of the relationship between the product, the customers and culture. As a result CP+B worked to create X-BOX games for Burger King and had a hand in redesigning food packaging. And then there was the hilarious and successful re-introduction of The Burger King himself.
Getting customers personally involved is another key strategy Jeff discussed. The "Simpsonizer" allowed web users to create images of themselves as Simpsons characters. See: http://simpsonizeme.com/
To do all this, Jeff explained, means "knowing your customers better than they know themselves through a lot of research." In the case of VW, CP+B built on the long tradition between Volkswagon and music. The result was a the VW bug equipped to amplify an electric guitar. "Plug into the stereo and rock just like Slash...if you are Slash."
Lastly, Jeff recommended that marketers shed the conventions of category. "There are several rules to advertising cars," Jeff said. "They are: use silver cars and winding or wet roads. Whenever possible, shoot on a dry lake bed or the desert.
Never show a white vehicle. Have a heavy print plan. A slow tracking side shot is a must and make sure to bore people to death with industry awards."
But CP+B did things differently when they produced their award winning advertisement. The ad shockingly shows a VW involved in a crash from inside the car. The airbags deploy and the driver and passenger emerge from the car unscathed. The add broke new ground while enforcing the safety of VW. Incredibly the last image is of the crumpled front end of the VW (and the car was white).
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Jeff Steinhour is Managing Partner, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he's also a member of the Board of Directors of VCU Brandcenter in Richmond, Virginia. He has been an EFFIES Finals Judge seven times.
Crispin Porter + Bogusky's client list includes Microsoft, Burger King, Coke Zero, Sprite, American Express, Domino's Pizza, Shimano American Corp., Giro Sport Design, Volkswagen and Best Buy. Crispin Porter + Bogusky are experts at leading product innovation for their clients brand's.
In 2006, CP+B was named Agency of the Year for the fourth time by Advertising Age's Creativity magazine as well as Agency of the Year by both ADWEEK and Shoot Magazine and is the only shop to win the Grand Prix at Cannes in every category.
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