Niall Kelly

Recently, I watched a case study video showcasing a marketing stunt that was truly groundbreaking, advocating for positive change for all Canadians. I was blown away by the innovative thinking and am pretty sure this campaign will receive top honors around the globe. However, it was disheartening to see such ingenuity supporting a global brand notorious for #greenwashing. As marketers and stewards of our fragile planet, I urge the industry to prioritize doing the right thing and avoid championing brands that prioritize profit over the well-being of future generations. There will always be opportunities to win another award, but in the fight against climate change, we have one last chance to get it right. Learn how you can reshape the future of commerce here: https://lnkd.in/gmqidbsu #MarketingEthics #ClimateAction #SustainableMarketing #FutureGenerations #EthicalAdvertising #PlanetOverProfit #InnovativeMarketing #ClimateCrisis #PositiveChange #MarketingResponsibility #CreativeImpact #TimeIsRunningOut

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The great thing about being off for 4 weeks is that there's a bank of juicy new projects to share. 👟 Here's our latest work with Arc'teryx for Spring / Summer 2024. We created a visual language for the new products while ensuring it could be applied to future product launches too. We used the latest NERF technology and extracted footage to experiment converting CG renders into point cloud data to create a fresh and organic digital effect. Rather than posting the finals, here's our R&D cut which shows the process of getting to the super slick final outputs. As always, lots more to dive into in the project page in the comments 👇

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All awards are not created equally. At Cannes, I look out for the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix. It has been awarded to Kraft Heinz and their awesome creative agency Rethink in Toronto. Going through the award entry you just see a constant stream of excellent work that consistently builds on the message ‘It has to be Heinz’, reinforcing their category leadership position and driving business performance. This is what marketing should be about. Achieving a commercial business goal by driving changes in consumer behaviour by brilliantly executing strong plans with superb creative. It’s not rocket science. But sadly, too many businesses get distracted from the basics and the focus that make it possible. Businesses like Heinz have called out the critical role that marketing capability has played in getting them into the position to win awards like this. LockSmith can transform your marketing team into highly effective drivers of long-term profitable growth for your business. So, drop me a line if that sounds like what you need. And stay tuned for more updates and insights from Cannes. We’ll make it easy for you to Ketchup on the key take outs (couldn’t resist). #canneslions2024 #marketingeffectiveness

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For more information about lung cancer, continue smoking! 🚬 This was the headline for an anti-lung cancer awareness campaign launched by the Canadian Lung Association and created by TBWA. I'm not here to scare you, but to talk to you about creativity, from a slightly different view. ------------------------------------------------ How do you act when you get hit by a - creative block - ? 🧠 The day you want to write something or design something or prepare something and all you get is the blinking cursor on a blank page and all you have is: nothing... ------------------------------------------------ How do you write about nothing? 🚫 My English teacher played a significant role in motivating me to learn. He teacher used to ask us to write a weekly essay, and he would just give us a topic in one word. One week he told us: Our topic this week is: NOTHING! At that time, of course, the students would write a page and walk away, but I was committed to learning and I loved to do my best, so I didn't settle for writing less than a page and a half or two pages... Even though I was enjoying the learning experience, I felt helpless - how do I write about nothing? A topic that is difficult to write about in your native language, let alone a language you are learning? And I wrote about my story: The teacher asked us to write an essay about nothing. I thought a lot but all I came up with was nothing. I tried a lot and the result was nothing. I felt helpless but my feeling of helplessness resulted in nothing. I couldn't go to class and all I had was nothing. I thought I'd do something else to get rid of the case of nothing. Checking yesterday's leftovers, I opened the fridge and stared at nothing. No problem, I'll buy something to eat. I reached into my pocket and found nothing. I got a little annoyed and closed my eyes to focus and I discovered that when I close my eyes all I see is nothing. I've come to the conclusion that I definitely won't face the teacher with nothing. I will prove that I can write about any topic even if it was nothing. So I wrote about my strange story of how I wrote the assignment that was about nothing. ------------------------------------------------ It may not be rhetorical, but it was a creative solution for a high school student who needed to overcome creative block. What do you think? How do you overcome a creative block?

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Absolutely agree with Scot Keith. CMOs, take note: as mass media fragments, independent agencies are the places flexible and nimble enough to adapt. Todays conglomerate agencies are not well suited for the speed of change. It’s time to rethink and strategize for the future. Independent agencies offer dynamic, tailored solutions specific to niches in the market. Find one that matches your brand and your audience. It’s time to explore new possibilities and partner with agencies that have skin in the game. It’s time to kick the wheels on how independent strategically focussed shops like us at Swell Content or the great people at 123w (One Twenty Three West) can drive your brand forward. #Advertising #Marketing #Canada #IndependentAgencies

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For the "go woke, go broke" crowd that permeates through many brands across North America and beyond... ...I'm happy to say that you're wrong. A whopping *75%* of consumers globally say that "diversity and inclusion – or a lack thereof – influence their purchase decisions." This comes from Kantar’s 2024 Brand Inclusion Index - a survey of more than 23,000 people in 18 countries. Valeria Piaggio, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Kantar, expands on this: "It’s a myth that inclusion marketing is about marketing to minorities. Inclusion marketing is expansive marketing. One of the fundamental ways to grow your brand is to predispose more people to it. Yet when brands exclude consumers – whether that’s because people don’t feel welcomed when shopping in store or their advertising doesn’t reflect diverse communities – it’s an easy miss. Millennials and Gen Z prioritise diversity and inclusion even more than other groups, and as these populations grow in size and buying power these issues will carry more weight. Brands will be rewarded if they stand by their values – especially in the face of vocal communities which stoke the culture wars by pitting minority groups against one another.” So in the wake of so many brands cutting back on their #DEI staff and spend, treating inclusion like a checkbox that can be layered in whenever convenient, or just deprioritizing #DEI to pre-2020-like conditions, this is your wake-up call. It's time to get back on track. Your customers want it. Many are even demanding it. What are you waiting for? #JEDI #EDI #DEI #DEIA #InclusiveMarketing #InclusiveCommunications #InclusiveBranding #InclusiveAdvertising #InclusiveResearch #InclusionMatters #InclusiveWorkplace #InclusiveCulture

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Advertising/Marketing/PR/Comms as an industry is absolutely unrelenting. About a month ago, I had a lengthy conversation with Denise Gorgosilich about the day-to-day schedules of folks in the industry, and how it's mostly just focused on survival. People within the industry and outside of it expect us to be up to date on the newest thing and newest trend, when we haven't even fully learned the last thing. If it's not the next date of significance, it's the next technology, or the next SaaS tool. When I talk to people about this issue, I'm often met with, "it's not just your industry...accountants, lawyers, doctors, etc. all deal with this". But as per this brilliant IPRA International Public Relations Association article shared to me by Iselin Klev (thank you!), our industry is different mainly because it's extremely undervalued. Here's an excerpt from the article: "We live in a world that demands as much professionally from us as lawyers, management consultants, and business leaders. Yet, our contributions are not recognized at the same level as these three categories of professionals. And there lies one of our fundamental problems: The recognition of and willingness to pay for the value of our services has not kept pace with the increased complexity of our everyday life. We are relatively underpaid for deliveries that require more from us. The reason is that even in a world where companies live and die by their reputation, PR still does not have the same recognition as finance or law among the buyers of our services." As Deyra Jaye Fontaine mentioned before to me, a lot of this is self-inflicted by industry folks themselves, but when everyone else around you is doing it and expecting it, it's hard to change. We need more conversations around this sooner as more and more professionals are leaving the industry, while less and less of the younger generation is interested in working in it. And I don't blame them. Article: https://lnkd.in/gPTFNMaa #WorkLifeBalance #WellBeing #MentalHealth

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For #Marketers and #Communicators... Here is question 16 of my #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries ✋🏻✋🏼✋🏽✋🏾✋🏿: Q: "I'm trying to be inclusive in our upcoming campaign TV ad. How can I tell if the commercial is tokenizing or not?" A: "Although there are a lot more layers and nuance to it, a simple way to test if your commercial script is tokenizing underrepresented communities or not is as follows; replace all the underrepresented individuals in your script with people from the dominant culture. If you do that and your script still "makes sense" ie. the story doesn't change, then likely you're tokenizing these individuals. Why? Well, people with different lived experience should experience your script's story in a different way. If they don't, likely, the inclusion of these individuals is very surface-level, and doesn't have the deep cultural nuance required to be authentically inclusive. Remember, diversity =/= inclusion" What are your thoughts? I invite you to discuss and ask more questions in the comments! --- Follow me next week for question 17 of my #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries! What is the #FrequentlyAskedQuestionSeries? Every week I'll answer common questions that we receive at AndHumanity, Inclusive Marketing Agency on #InclusiveMarketing and #InclusiveCommunications. --- #JEDI #EDI #InclusionMatters #InclusiveBusiness #InclusiveLeadership 

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Again, what you're not, can be more differentiating than what you are! This example from Burger King, from 4 years ago, is boldly different, and rooted in what they're not, producers of food loaded with preservatives. This bold move led to a 14% increase in sales, 8.4 billion impressions, $40 million in Earned Media Value, and an 88% boost in positive brand sentiment. #brandstory #brandstorytelling #differentiation #videomarketing https://lnkd.in/gsEGx_ib

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CANADIAN CONSUMER INSIGHTS: Our latest Canadian Marketing Association podcast shares many new insights on how Canadians are feeling and what brands can do to help and deliver on their needs. I thoroughly enjoyed my latest CMA Connect conversation with Ben Tarr, President, and Tahir Ahmad, Chief Strategy Officer of Leo Burnett Canada about their HumanKind Study. 💡 After two years where the tough economy and other challenges had Canadians feeling beaten down and like we lost a lot of control, we've now decided to re-emerge and take back control. It's an encouraging mindshift and powerful insight for brands. 💡 The study now includes data from the U.S, which led to interesting learning on differences between Canadians and Americans. You can learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gkdQe5kg #canadianconsumers #cmaconnect #marketing #research #consumerinsights #brands

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An enormous challenge for companies, industries and organizations. To stay ahead it requires a strategic approach, diligence and consistency. #Communications #yeg #yyc #marketing #digital #misinformation

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With the news of DDB, BBDO and TBWA Canada merging into “Omnicom Advertising Services”, it’s officially a new era in the industry. These were three of the most dominant advertising agencies in the country for decades. Anyone working at or with these companies around the world - this is what’s coming. It’s not if, it’s when. So please prepare yourselves. Play chess not checkers with your career and livelihood. You’ve got to look after yourself and your family and you need to start planning what’s best for you right now. To all CEO’s, Boards of Governors, CMO’s, VP Marketing, Director of Marketing, Marketing Managers, CFO’s, COO’s and so on: The agency world is being massively disrupted (it has been for a while but it’s now in high gear) and I highly recommend you start looking at Plan B to protect your brand and put it into a position to thrive. Independent agencies around the world are thriving. They’re doing great work for clients because the people running those companies have skin in the game. If you do really well - they do well. Independent agencies are just hustling more. Independent agencies are running circles around the bigger, slower moving international companies. They’re doing really great work that’s working. Many of the most talented people in our industry have now moved over to working at an independent agency. When you hire an independent agency, the money goes back into the business. A great independent agency will hire the very best people. They’ll invest in tech. They’ll invest in things that will help your business thrive. They win if you win. Reach out and meet an independent agency or two and see if they’re the right fit for your brand and your team. If so, just try them on a project and let them earn their work. Don’t ask them for any free speculative work because that’s unethical. But sample them on a project. It’s the perfect time to try something new. There are many great independent agencies in cities and countries all over the world who are doing fantastic work. We at One Twenty Three West are just one of them and we’d be happy to connect. 123w.ca ***People from all over the world are going to read this post. All independent agencies are welcome to promote their business in the comments. Share the thread.

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“Fast-vertising” is a concept we leveraged at /newsrooms, merging marketing with the pace of breaking news. It’s still a concept many marketers stuggle with, trying to keep up with content production across all their owned channels, citing lack of resources, approvals and compliance as roadblocks. Little do they know the vast majority of this content can be pre-planned and engrained in corporate processes so you’re able to remain compliant but still react strategically……it is possible and successful.

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PRE-SALE TILL JULY 2nd In one week, Target 10's friends at Chronicle Cinema will release “CONVERSION,” a story of survival and hope that follows three survivors as they shed light on the secretive and often deadly practices of conversion “therapy.” The film takes viewers on a personal and cinematic journey as a filmmaker, an ex-Mormon mom, and a famous drag queen unite to overcome the mental and physical impacts of enduring conversion “therapy.” With interviews from doctors, experts, and the founder of one of the most expansive conversion “therapy” networks in the US, “CONVERSION” is a thought provoking insight into a dangerous underground industry that is constantly rebranding, adapting and growing to this day. Ultimately a film about strength and hope, “CONVERSION” aims to give a voice to survivors of conversion “therapy,” who are often left out of the conversation, and speak to the next generation who may not have a voice, choice or pathway out of the trauma being inflicted on them. Let’s support our friends at Chronicle Cinema and help spread the word about this cruel and deadly industry. Order now. “CONVERSION is more than a film,it’s a catalyst for change.” -- INTO MAGAZINE https://lnkd.in/eT28d87W

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Here are 3 important reflective question for #Marketers, #Communicators, and #Advertisers etc. who want to be more #inclusive in their work... Take a look at a current brand campaign for your own org or your client's... 1. Do they merely include underrepresented voices or do they feature them? 2. And if they're featured, is the story created by someone with the same lived experience? If not, is it based on cultural insights that are gathered and generated with someone of the same lived experience? 3. And lastly - this is one that's often overlooked - are you sharing a story that is deeply culturally nuanced enough that it breaks through stereotypes and provides diversity within that culture? (A diversity that underrepresented voices are often not afforded at the same level the dominant culture is) #JEDI #EDI #DEI #DEIA #InclusiveMarketing #InclusiveCommunications #InclusiveBranding #InclusiveAdvertising #InclusionMatters #InclusiveWorkplace #InclusiveCulture #InclusiveHiring #DiverseTalent

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Brands are too hesitant to sound conversational in their brand voice, yet when asked about what sets them apart, they'll often say, "we're approachable". Then your brand voice should reflect that. No need for buzz words in your brand voice. Be who you are inside and out.

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The Pre-Packaged Life can also apply to the "Pre-Packaged Career". An advertising typographer was in a band with David Bowie. He said Bowie didn’t really fit in with the rest of the band. See, they were all listening to the current rock music, but Bowie was listening to everything from Tibetan throat music to German brass bands and whale-songs. He didn’t fit in because he wasn’t listening to what was expected. So his influences came from the world outside rock & roll, a much broader world. The same can be said from OUR experiences as business leaders. If you really want to expand your horizons you need to get outside that bubble. Look beyond what you already know you don’t know. Investigate what you DON’T know you don’t know.

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When's the last time your brand had its crown jewels polished? Professional, playful, polished, or preposterous—all brands need to maintain their sparkle. Helix Design: Refreshing! #logodesign #branding #corporateidentity #logos #blueleafelectric

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