In 2004 a very good friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer. This stunning news lead to our decision in 2005 to help launch Yard Sale for the Cure. Yard Sale for the Cure is now recognized by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation as second only to the Run for the Cure in order of priority. In fact, the endeavor has the full weight of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation behind it, adding real scale to the effort. As it stands, it’s already an incredible legacy for Rachael Smith and her husband Andrew Howard, who simply wanted to give back to the community that helped her successfully battle the disease.

Rachael has an incredible way of describing the impact cancer has had on her life. She refers to it as “the power of strangers,” meaning that it is entirely dependent on people you never know or will know, collectively working to make a massive contribution to her fight and the fight of others. People who yearly donate, run, ride, and (of course) hold yard sales in tribute to those fighting the good fight. Any way you slice it, it’s an amazing deployment of the power of the human spirit.

This weekend on May 26^th hundreds of people in communities across Canada will hold yard sales and donate some or all of the proceeds to the cause. Thousands will shop them. Thousands more will shop the many community sales being hosted by 1-800-Got-Junk and ReMax, the charity’s national sponsors. It’s our hope that the proceeds from this year’s Yard Sale for the Cure will eclipse 1.2 million dollars – that’s 1.2 million more steps towards ensuring that our daughters never have to hear the words “you have breast cancer.”

Yard Sale for the Cure is the only pro bono account we have at Grip. That is a very deliberate decision on our part. We do it because we believe in it and have been personally connected to it since the beginning. It’s that simple. I have been known to be critical of how this approach is not shared by many in our industry. In retrospect, that may not be entirely fair; at the end of the day, for whatever reason, there are still many who willingly donate their time, effort, resources and extensive knowledge to worthy causes that may not otherwise be able to afford those services. As an industry, we’re pretty good that way. Whatever the motive, at the end of the day, good people benefit.

Good people like Rachael.

So keep doing your bit, or start doing your bit. Remind yourself of the power of the industry you’re in. And while you’re at it, remind yourself of the kind of change you wanted to make when you got into this business in the first place.

Thanks to a massive product integration deal in the latest Bond film, Skyfall, James will pass on his archetypal martini as he orders up an ice-cold Heineken. For many fans, this change in the story could be a major disconnect and be something they have trouble believing.

The issue here is lack of authenticity. Both the Heineken and Bond brands have forgotten about the most important element of story telling – the audience. When a brand’s narrative gets out of sync with consumers’ experiences/perceptions, a brand’s ability to persuade and connect is diminished. This is especially true of global brands. Because of the corporate baggage they carry, they must maintain and nurture authenticity more diligently than their niche counterparts. For global brands, consumers are more wary and critical of anything that smells off (think Gap’s ill-fated logo redesign). Simply put, authenticity rules!

It’s imperative that brands work hard to consider their target audiences when moving forward with shared interest partnerships or significant brand-altering initiatives. While a big-name affiliation or brand re-positioning effort can have benefits, if handled without consumer input and careful consideration, the risk of target alienation is high. Time will tell how filmgoers will react to Bond’s new drink of choice, but in any case, authenticity should always be paramount.

Youth culture openly uses social networks to share, track or profile personal social successes. In fact, the more you profile yourself, the higher you drive your digital social profile. In a way, it’s social ROI: trendseekers seek to improve their social status by alerting their networks to their presence at cool/desirable events. However, a trendseeker’s peer group needs to be aware of the event, or the opportunity to elevate their social status through check ins is lost. Events need to be tough to attend, but sufficiently high profile to provide real social currency. This “social climbing in real time” driven by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. mean that trendseekers are increasingly feeling the effects of FOMO: the ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ on experiences that are considered interesting or exciting to one’s peer group.

The implication for brands is two-fold. First, marketers need to continue to generate FOMO buzz around branded experiences to optimize their success, for example, by creatively enabling young adults to get “in” on what’s new, hot and relevant. Meaning that a brand’s experiences should always be (don’t groan) “social by design.” It’s important to perpetuate buzz among status-hungry participants, in order to imbue an aspirational quality to a brand.

Second, a brand can foster FOMO by rewarding fans with unique experiences that are easily shared and discussed. Participants “re-market” these experiences by pushing out the cool content and evangelizing to their peers. It all ladders up to creating more demand within their peer group to try get “in” going forward.

A couple weeks back this video dominated my newsfeed’s usual barrage of George Takei reshares. You’ve probably already seen it – a “freelance art director” yelling something at someone on his laptop. He then throws said laptop. Then he storms away. Fin.

Both audio and location were maddeningly opaque. Naturally, there was conjecture around the identity of the freelancer or the circumstances that lead to his mini blitzkrieg. I think I even saw a comment that ‘identified’ him.

It only took a day or so before the video receded back into the black maw of “yesterday’s news.” That is, until someone stepped up and took credit for it. Turns out the thing was a stunt spot for Asylum Artists – a teaser to a campaign that included a print, banner and email executions. According to Asylum Artists president Don Dixon, the spot was specifically intended to open agencies’ eyes to a brave new world of web content development.

If Facebook is any kind of judge, people were fooled. Hell, I was fooled. But does that make it an effective stunt?
Do you now see a clear association between a mystifying Art Director ragefest and the superior organizational skills of a motion/post-production facility?

Have at ‘er.

There are some questions that are so pressing – so fundamentally burning – they can no longer be ignored. In this, the Big Orange Slide’s latest series, we ask Grippers of all stripes to weigh in on one such question.

Share your own response in the comments section. It’ll be like our own personal round of “the more we get together” — but for advertising.

This week we ask: “Why did YOU get into advertising?”

“…It was either this or Marine Biology.”
- Bob Shanks, Managing Partner

“I needed a career that didn’t require me to wear a suit.  It’s true.”
- Randy Stein, Partner, Creative

“The founder of my university newspaper read a column I wrote and, while drunk, told me ‘You should go into advertising.’ I was drunk, and I dismissed him at the time. But 3 years later I (still drunk) decided maybe he was on to something.”
- Warren Haas, Copywriter

“It was the big time. It was exciting. It was fresh. It was a heck of a lot better than working at the local desktop publisher, getting drunk down at the pool hall with the locals, and living in my parent’s basement for the rest of my life.”
- AJ Quinlan, Print Producer

“I love sociology and human behaviour but realized I didn’t want to be a social worker. I deeply admire and respect creativity but realized I myself am not ‘an artist’. I’ve always been a very responsible, logical thinker who has a pretty good business sense…
So I guess when you merge all those things together you get an advertising account person :)”
- Michelle Czyzewski, Director, Business

“Bewitched! I watched reruns of Bewitched as a kid during the summers. After seeing how Darrin Stephens worked on ad ideas and how to influence people I knew I wanted to be part of it.”
- Steven Hudak, PHP Developer

“I get paid to be on Facebook. It’s not as glorious as it sounds. Okay, it is.”
- Patrick Tomasso, Community Engagement Manager

“Lots of different skills sets coming together into a creative fun force.”
- Lana Pawziuk, Manager, Business (Interactive)

“Completely by accident. My job on the client side was moving from Toronto to Montreal. I didn’t want to move, so my agency hired me. That was 11 years ago and I have loved it ever since.”
- Grace Debrabandere, Associate Partner, Business

April flowers may bring May glowers, owing to a degree of bloggerly genius near-impossible to recapture.

For the love of language: it’s “flesh” not “flush” – by Sara Vinten
Our delightful (and typically mild-mannered) Ms. Vinten addresses an issue dear to those who quietly mourn the erosion of the English language.

The rise and fall of the Blue Jays brand – by Randy Stein
Randy – an avid Jays baseball fan – details the phoenix-like reemergence of one of his favourite brands.

From sandbox to…just a box? – by Jon Finkelstein
Does social media pave the way to greater digital endeavours? Or does it paint us into a corner, repelling new talent?

Why are ad people so obsessed with Mad Men? – by Ben Steele
Seriously, why?

I’ve just returned from an extended trip to Bangladesh. As someone with family there, I find it particularly frustrating that aesthetics and a “built to last” mentality are largely ignored. Elaborate designs and bright colours are too often employed to mask poor quality, craftsmanship and lack of maintenance. Colours run, lights flicker, roads are pockmarked with potholes, taxis fall to shambles, stairs sit without railings, and you’re lucky if traffic signals work even half the time.

In a country where a vast majority of the population can barely meet the expenses of food and shelter on a daily basis, “good enough” is defined as “it will have to do for now.” Coming from a culture where “good enough” is defined as “meets rigid testing standards and is aesthetically agreeable,” it can be a frustrating leap to make.

But is it a leap in the end? I began to ask myself how I define ‘good enough’ in my own work, life and environment. I recognized that it’s often difficult to breach the divide between “functionally complete” and “perfectly flawless.” Deadlines, budgets and profit margins interfere, and ‘good enough’ suddenly means “it’ll live slightly longer than its warranty period.” My last two laptops barely outlived their warranties before the cost to repair them was greater than the cost to replace them, and my cell phone was obsolete and almost unusable a year before its contract life ended. It seems that ‘good enough’ is defined as “barely marketable.” And North Americans are just as culpable as any other culture.

What is the yardstick for ‘good enough’? Is it just a feeling, like when artists know when to stop painting, or programmers know when to stop refactoring? At what point do we proclaim something finished – or maintained – to a superior standard? Or is it a question of pride; it’s ‘good enough’ when I’m willing to stake my name and reputation on its level of repair and visual appeal. That, surely, should amplify ‘good enough’ from merely being ‘good enough’ to ‘a point of personal pride.’

As Facebook aims to go public on May 17 2012, the company is facing unprecedented scrutiny to prove its earning potential. To appeal to brands and open up ad dollars, marketing terms like reach, awareness and stories are now replacing the old “likes and comments” focus of the past in Facebook’s presentations to agencies.

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most credible forms of advertising but its reach and measurement potential are typically limited. An unpaid recommendation from a trusted friend trumps the power of a one-way message received over any medium. With 830 million Facebook users sharing billions of personal and brand-related stories with friends, the platform provides a remarkably powerful new advertising option: word of mouth “at scale”.

Many agencies miss out on this potential as they continue to farm fans through incentives and simply broadcast their messages to the masses. Brands in turn are questioning the value of their Facebook ad spend–a concern for any pre-IPO company. So what is Facebook telling agencies today?

Don’t Build Connections. Build For Connections

Gokul Rajaram, Facebook’s Director of Program Management, gave this crowd-raising impassioned plea to all partners*: Let stories tell your story. While it’s true that everything begins with a connection and community size does matter, the race for fans using gimmicks and incentives is a misguided one. Use many different, highly targeted ads to get fans and make sure you’re attracting consumers. Then give them something worthwhile.

Grow Business Value Through User Value

“We are moving from ads to stories” said Chris Cox, VP Product at fMC earlier this year. “Lots of ads add up to noise. Lots of stories are how we build our relationships.” In Facebook’s early days we depended on ads because we couldn’t build enough connections to tell stories on the scale that large brands needed. With 830 million fans this has changed. Give fans something they want to share–something they find valuable–and they’ll build your brand for you.

Master Social Discovery

Engaging your connections depends on frequent, high-quality publishing. The Community Manager role has shifted dramatically toward a need for skilled copywriters who understand the brand voice. At Grip Limited our Community Managers now spend less than half their time responding to fan comments on behalf of brands like Stella Artois, KFC and Honda, down from close to 100% a year ago. The greater focus today–and real challenge for agencies–is in creative copywriting and image sourcing.

In summary, stories are the currency. Getting your content seen in newsfeeds, timelines and tickers is the most powerful aspect of Facebook and the most underutilized by marketers. Brands and agencies have a wealth of options at their disposal: Smart paid campaigns using Sponsored Stories and targeted ads; Well placed Like Buttons and Social Plugins; Compelling Page and Timeline Apps. But in the end it all comes down to meaningful, valuable content and it’s up to brands and agencies to let this one key question guide them:

How will people share your stories?

*Facebook gathered Preferred Marketing Developers from 35 countries at their new Palo Alto campus to provide best practices for building brands. The author attended representing Grip Limited.

In addition to his full time role as Group Director at Grip, Andrew is also a Huffington Post columnist providing digital-related advertising insights. This post and others can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-cherwenka.

First of all, I’ll admit: I’m a fan of Mad Men. However, just because I work in advertising doesn’t mean I have to like it, and have to watch it. I find it strange when advertising professionals look at each other as if they have a third head if they haven’t watched the show. Why? Because they work in advertising? Apparently.

I understand you should be proud of what you do and support the industry you work in. But it’s a little ridiculous how the advertising community has leeched on to Mad Men. Advertising Age overtly fuels this obsession – “Mad Men” is even a nav item on their “Media” dropdown. Here you’ll find a litany of previous articles, including their regular weekly article: “What you missed this week on Mad Men.” Are you serious? That’s like going to the American Medical Association website and seeing an article “What you missed this week on Grey’s Anatomy.”

Mad Men is in its fifth season. It’s not like this is a new phenomenon. So why are we so obsessed? Do we need an tv content outlet that we can relate to? Is it because there’s finally a show that explains what we do to our parents? Do we feel like the show remystifies the business? Do we all actually wish we were Don Draper?

What do you think? Have we pushed this obsession over the shark?

PS. It’s Monday, so if you missed last night’s episode, you know where to get your fix.