thoughts from the brain of Zach Lieberman

A good blog, like anything really, needs to have a purpose. A direction, some type of guiding light, to ensure it remains true and focused. And so, with just a couple of entries under my belt, I figured it best to describe mine.

For those of you who prefer to read Twitter-esque entries to long-copy, I’ll leave you with the following:

To share my perspective on communication, technology and media and how their combination has, and will continue to impact, our lives.

For those who enjoy a little more depth and complexity, please read on.

As a kid, I always wanted to be in advertising (what a geek). While my friends would passively watch commercials and laugh, or ignore billboards as we drove by (sitting in the back seat of the car, on the way to hockey practice), I’d devour the content. And instead of leaving the room during commercial breaks, I’d tell people to keep quite to so I could listen. I did this not in the form of consumerism, but as an analyst – dissecting the words, the imagery, the emotive feeling – to discern the communication’s true intent. I’d ask myself the questions, “what are they trying to do?”, “why do we find that funny/sad/startling?”, “is that a good position for the product/service/brand?. And so I knew that one day, I wanted to be the guy that helped make it all happen.

During university I got a gig as an Intern at zig, and what unbelievable experience it was. Aside from working with some of the smartest brains in the biz and being there as the agency grew from 30 to 70+ people and opening a Chicago office, I figured out what specific aspect of advertising I wanted to pursue – Planning ¹.

At the end of my first summer (I ended up working there for 3, plus a freelance contract upon graduation), I was pulled into the Molson Canadian pitch. The iconic beer brand was suffering, sales were down, and its patriotic positioning and “I AM Canadian” campaign was no longer deemed relevant. So I was thrown into the trenches with Senior Planners: conducting primary and secondary market research, organizing brainstorm sessions, delving into consumer psychology, understanding the brand’s history (and of course the company’s business goals) and facilitating creative development. The result of all this teamwork was the pitch-winning “It Starts Here” campaign – a massive win for the agency and an eye-opening experience for me. I got to see, and be a part of the process, of bringing an idea to life. And I was hooked.

Throughout the next 2 summers and 4-month contract as a “Planning Intern”, I had the privilege of working on some amazing brands with great people. I was responsible for conducting research, preparing competitive reviews, developing creative briefs, presenting to Clients, and developing communication strategies (all under the guidance of some very smart people, of course) for some top-notch brands: IKEA, Virgin Mobile, Mr Sub, Unilever and Holt Renfrew, to name a few. And among the campaigns I was privileged to work on was one of the first-ever User-Generated Content initiatives for Unilever’s Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, entitled “Show Us Your Noodleface” (which, given what has won in award shows recently, was way ahead of its time – kudos to Leo Burnett on your James Ready campaign).

Currently, I’m an “Account Guy” at Proximity Canada – and there’s no shortage of amazing work here. From Doritos Guru & Viralocity, to Gillette “Body Shaving“, the Alka-Seltzer “Great American Road Trip“, and Campbell Canada [our work for Cook with Campbell’s is something I’m quite proud of…], we’re defining a whole new way for consumers to engage with brands. And I’m loving it. Not only do I work with some great people – Collin Douma, Dino Demopolous, Matt Di Paola, Cybelle Srour – but great partners (Google, Facebook), and the learning opportunities are fantastic.

Speaking of learning opportunities: Recently, I was privileged to attend a Social Media Marketing course, organized by the IAB and taught by Mitch Joel. Mitch was fantastic – and aside from all the great things he taught us, one thing really stood out for me, particularly in the context of this entry. He said, and I won’t quote him exactly:

I don’t care how many people read my blog. My target audience is CMOs. And if I can get six CMOs to read my blog a year, and connect with me for a business engagement as a result, then I’ve achieved my goal.

It was quite simple, yet profound. Mitch has a famous blog, was named the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing“, recently published a book and is definitely thought leader in the space. But the focus of his goal just made sense.

So back to this Planning thing. Knowing where my career aspirations lie, writing a blog is the logical thing to do. It’s also endorsed and recommended by some of the top Planners in the field. And yes, there are lots of Planning blogs out there. But that’s not the point. It’s a place for me to share ideas, synthesize my thoughts, and just type. And if one person reads this blog, at some point within the next year, thinks to themself, “you know what – this guy is good”, and offers me a job as a Planner, then I’ve done my job. For the time being at least.

¹ There are many definitions and types of Planners – Strategic, Digital, Engagement, Account, Communications – and the list goes on. But the overall, I believe the goal of a Planner is the same: to guide the agency in developing a solution to the Client’s business problem(s) through an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour, the brand and how we, as both individuals and groups, communicate and interact with our surroundings.