New York, January 1, 2010 —  Last Exit, LLC. has appointed Willie Mack as Executive Director of Engagement and Communications.

As an Executive Director will assume high level responsibilities for the growth of the company. Willie will assist in the business development and expansion of the agency into the Luxury, Fashion, Entertainment and Music industries, while forging strategic partnerships and alliances. He will also direct and mange client engagements utilizing his 15 years in client services and business consulting experience. He will provide the agency with a keen insight into the dynamics of brand-consumer behavior online and offline.

“As part of the pathway to growth, Last Exit has partnered with other companies to provide all the services our clients need. The relationship with Willie Mack from Mack Industries proved to be not only a step forward strategically but also a leap culturally. We’ve worked very successfully and very happily together on a few campaigns and being good friends simply make this good business sense.” said Nuri Djavit, Founder and CEO at Last Exit Group.

“Over the past 15 years I have had the pleasure of working with iconic and emerging brands to develop and execute integrated campaigns that engaged the media and consumers while increasing market-share and revenue for my clients. I am excited at the prospects helping to grow with Last Exit and increasing its services offering for our clients.” Mr. Mack stated.

Willie Mack will also expand the communications, social media and online PR services of the agency. “A brand has to be able to not just create a great product but also tell a relevant story to consumers in a compelling way. Digital provides countless platforms  to disseminate, track and measure these engagements and Last Exit is a leader in helping clients understand the best ways to capitalize on these platforms.” Willie said.

In 2003, Willie Mack founded MACK Industries a brand consulting and creative services agency. It was during this time he developed and executed numerous global campaigns, press/product launches, exhibitions, photo shoots and TV commercials for a range of clients such as: ABSOLUT, AMEX, Ben Sherman, Flavorpill, Persol, Ray Ban, TED, Icon, GOOD, and Wired Magazines and celebrities such as Gisele Bundchen, Common, Cirque du Soliel, Eve, Lenny Kravitz, The Roots, and The Police.

“We are truly delighted to have Willie join our team, it’s a pleasure to have someone of his caliber share our vision for Last Exit and its potential within the digital communications industry.” said Paul Newnes, Founding Partner & Commercial Director at Last Exit Group.

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New York, January 1, 2010 —  Last Exit, LLC. has appointed Adam Phillips as Director of Strategy and Media. Phillips will oversee consumer and media strategy development, connections planning and analytics.  “With Adam’s expertise, we will be able to expand our digital media services both on and offline. We are extremely excited to have him join the agency,” said Paul Newnes, Partner and Commercial Director.

Phillips has a keen insight into consumers and their interactions with technology, media and culture. Prior to Last Exit, he was a Strategic Planner at McCann Erickson, and a freelance strategic planner and media consultant working on brands, such as MasterCard Malibu, Ketel One, Avis, Applebee’s, William Grant and Sons, and RJ Reynolds.

Commenting on his appointment Phillips said, “I’m really excited about being in a place so on the front lines of where the communications industry is headed. Last Exit has a great team that consistently creates great work. I believe that in my new position as Director of Strategy and Media I can help add the cultural and behavioral insight that will inspire and direct that great work beyond simply a supporting role communications strategies, to being a foundation for communications that defines and elevates our clients brands.”

Adam has blended the roles of the account planner, the media strategist and the data analyst, into an approach to strategic planning tailored for the digital media world.  At Last Exit, he will expand the company’s capabilities and services on and offline by bringing these skills together to craft business solutions through human insights, cultural currents and behavioral analysis.

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A nice little article first published here was re-published a lot.   Doesn’t mean any of our trends for 2010 will be correct, but nice anyway.

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There seems to be a growing tension in the world of social media!

Almost every client brief now asks how we would place brands within the social environment. And I find myself questioning if there really is a place for every, or even any brand, within our personal pages online?

Aren’t the likes of Facebook and Twitter the realm of mates rather than marketing, of chat instead of commerce, of sharing, not shopping?

Perhaps it is for these very reasons that brands are so keen to be part of the social sphere? Marketing managers doubtless recognise this ‘emotional’ environment as very different from the “rational” destinations they create for their own brands online. They no doubt also note their own changed state of mind, when looking at their Facebook pages or writing their latest Tweet? These are times when we are all off-duty, open-minded, less cynical and potentially more receptive.

As an agency, we DO believe there is a place for brands within the social sphere, but only if a certain mindset and approach is applied:

• social media is a personal, emotional space – standard advertising and promotion isn’t appropriate
• context and personalisation are key, relating to users, their likes and dislikes, preferably on an individual basis, are likely to engage and, therefore, succeed
• considering and involving friends and groups is a powerful way to achieve relevant and timely interest
• overall, this is a pretty intolerant space – ‘road-blocking’ or ’spamming’ is guaranteed to create a negative brand reaction

In summary, our belief is that there is no problem combining brand messages with our personal spaces, as long as sensitivity and care are used.

Playing devil’s advocate now, allowing advertiser access to our beloved social media sites may be a necessity anyway! Facebook, Twitter and other social spaces operate under generally unsustainable revenue models today. Inviting brands to get more involved may be the only way we can hold on to these sites we have become so attached to.

Indeed, it would appear that Facebook’s recent news about imminent profitability is heavily driven by The Gift Shop, Facebook Connect, and other ways brands can engage on a deeper, better informed level with consumers, as opposed to monetisation of display advertising alone.

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So like a lot of geeks today I read the tweets and live blogs about the rumor that a new iPhone would appear.  No disappointment – Apple smacked the ball out of the park.  They reacted perfectly to the market conditions:  keep innovating through the recession, drop prices where you can and provide lower cost entry points into the product families.

I owned the first gen iPhone, bought the 3G last year and was about to buy the new iPhone 3G S.  $299 for the new one? No problem.  One small problem though, the at&t small print:

For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).

So my reward for having been an at&t customer for 6 years and bought both iPhones?  A $400 premium.

F**k you at&t.  This is why as soon as Verizon get’s iPhone, you are toast.

For more understanding of why this happens read this Wikipedia article on Monopoly Rent.  Essentially certain economic conditions allow companies to take the piss out of consumers.  The problem is that whilst they have tremendous leverage over the consumer with the demand this device will draw, we still have a choice.

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“Above all else, getting serious about digital means getting serious about creative, whether you’re talking about a simple banner ad or a cutting-edge viral campaign. After all, big ideas move successful campaigns in any medium, and the web is no exception.

But as larger agencies struggle to redefine themselves in the lean-and-mean digital ecosystem, a grassroots army of smaller, specialty shops is raising eyebrows. Some work on assignment from larger agencies, but others have begun taking ownership of the client relationship for themselves. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, these are some of the independent agencies that made us stand up and take notice with campaigns and ideas that push web creative forward.”

Full article on iMedia Connection.

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Considering the sophistication of humans as mammals, it is still interesting how we are doomed to repeat the same behavioral patterns as our primate ancestors, even when is comes to social media.

Full story published on Marketing Daily here.

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Last Exit is very proud to announce the launch of a brand, spanking new website for Inlet Technologies. Inlet develops cutting edge video encoding technologies and methodologies and needed a digital strategy partner to lead their online asset planning and development.

Video encoding has moved from a darkened-room, heavily technological function to something that now touches many different types of businesses.

Our initial insight was that the buyer of Inlet’s services is no longer purely technical, but may hold commercial or marketing responsibility within an organization.   This presented a challenge insofar as we couldn’t find a common language to adequately satisfy the purchasers’ completely different need for how the products’ benefits should be described.   Compromising between the two languages would seriously compromise the site’s main purposes — to inform the audiences and generate qualified leads.  Thus all product information is presented in the guise of ‘real talk’ for those uninitiated in the bits and bytes of video encoding, and ‘tech talk’ for those how want the precise technical details.

The secondary effect of this is SEO.  The product disambiguation leads to more relevant content which again is practically impossible to achieve through a compromise of natural language, therefore increasing the chances of the real or tech talk matching the prospective purchasers’ search term.

Easy job done! Now we’ll be using analytics tools to track user behavior and continue to refine the persuasion/conversion process of the site to ensure we meet, and hopefully exceed, our brief.

Click the above image to go to the site or the following URL: http://www.inlethd.com/

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Virgin Atlantic advert

As the resident retro geek at Last Exit, it will come as no surprise that I enjoyed the Virgin Atlantic ‘25 years and still red hot’ advert a great deal. Our Price records, Wimpy and a brick mobile phone – sadly destroyed in the making of the clip and therefore not available as an exhibit in the Last Exit collection – all set to the thumping tunes of Frankie goes to Hollywood. There is much to love here. And there is much to love here, to – your correspondent writing to you from (sadly) seat 42H on their VS001 flight to New York. It seems incredible that it all began so long ago – or that those of us who grew up with Virgin have now grown up. It was and remains my favourite airline, and I have flown on most of them. Us brand people sometimes have a hard time convincing sceptics of the value of branding – but you only have to look at Zavvi (closed for business 15 months after buying Virgin Records) and Absolute Radio (20% drop in listeners since changing from Virgin Radio) to see the power. I think the key to the Virgin brand is the ability to inspire and motivate both customers and their own people. The crew aboard this A340 all look just a touch over 25 themselves, but red hot? You bet.

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Cool Hunting just wrote a piece about the new Vespa site we recently launched which has, in turn, inspired more posts about both Vespa and Piaggio. Even though many of the motorcycle firms have recently relaunched sites, the general perception is that most are still doing a poor job of exploiting the vast array of interactive marketing opportunities and worse,  not representing their brands well online. Their websites seem like after thoughts and do little to speak their audiences (beyond existing, loyal customers). Most brands have something to offer everyone, from high powered super bikes to capable commuters and, therefore, they should be doing what they can to tackle some of the key questions people have when purchasing their first bike – or perhaps returning to biking after a long break – namely the following:

1. Safety: how safe is riding a bike and how safe can I make it?
2. Training: where can i go to get basic through to advanced training?
3. Licensing: how do I get my license and is it difficult?
4. Parking: where can I park (and what can I get away with)?
5. Security: what can I do to secure my bike?
6. Community: where and how do I hook up with other people in my area who ride the same/similar machines, share ideas and get tips/advice?

We’ve begun the process with the Why, Where, How section on both sites as well as the Community Rides tools and this is just scratching the surface. There’s still more that can be done to build brand loyalty and community action. As a lifelong motorcycle rider myself, I believe it’s a very viable, fun and safe method of transportation and mostly this can be achieved through simple education and training. By far, I think the opportunity for many motorcycle brands is to promote the high level of design and engineering their bikes display and capping it off, the innate sexiness they exude and the attachment riders soon develop with their machines.

I would agree with Wes Stiller in Hell For Leather that very few have done anything to reflect the pride of ownership people have or will have upon making the right purchase. Hopefully, the work we’ve done for Vespa and Piaggio has gone some way to do that. We rather think it has.

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