There is no doubt that one of the highlights of the Festival of Media was Chuck Porter’s short but sweet and very funny presentation on how agencies can best succeed in this downturn. Well first he made the point that the easiest thing would be to marry someone very rich. However assuming you cannot do it then we all need to become more flexible, more nimble and more efficient.
As a side note this was something that was also noted by PJ Pereira at the Dubai Lynx who communicated this point by showing this video which I think really communicates it very well:
Beyond this Chuck Top Tips were as follows:
Swim Upstream
Chuck used the example of CPB inventing chicken fries so that people can eat chicken while driving:

Don’t be afraid to cheat
What he meant by this was to try and use the equity the brand has now. They did this in the superbowl ad this year where they combined the iconic Mean Jo Green ad used during the 1980 superbowl (seen above) with the lawyers from the Coke Zero ads:
Buy Unzappable Media
Example given was the sponsorship of 30 Rock by Verizon which is certainly not subtle but I am assuming fits nicely with the humour of 30 Rock (which is sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched).
The Revolution isn’t about writers and art directors. Ideas can come from anywhere
For those that have been to Creative Social you will probably recognise that this is a topic which definitely does not have universal agreement across Digital Creative Directors. From my personal perspective though it was certainly music to my ears and I hope that if Chuck Porter at Crispin Porter can say it then people will not be so dismissive to the idea. Anyway he gave the fact that the IT department came up with the idea of the Domino’s Pizza tracker as a case in point. From his perspective he is not just seeing some great ideas from the wider team, he has a far happier:
A big move to digital
I am sure I do not need to make a comment on this one.
