Creative impact, change and the wisdom of separation

Vimeo's Outside the Frame newsletter is a regular dose of ideas, insights, and inspiration to help marketers think differently. Let's go!

1. A perfect example of…

Using creativity to highlight a huge issue. The D&AD Black Pencil is one of the creative world's highest accolades. Ad agency Leo Burnett won two for its work for Gun Safety group, Change the Ref.?

They created a graduation ceremony for the Lost Class of 2021 – the 3,044 students from that year group killed by guns across the US. It’s a stark, visually arresting project which underscores how creativity can contribute to society’s most vital conversations.

2. What’s changed the most for marketers?

Seth Matlins, Managing Director of the Forbes CMO Network, posed an interesting question on LinkedIn recently – “What 1-2 things do you consider among the most consequential changes to the marketing landscape and a CMO's job over the past decade?” Here are some of the responses he got:

"Speed! the pace at which one is now required to operate to create / connect to opportunity and be successful has accelerated 10x fold." Julian Jacobs, Co-head of UTA Marketing at United Talent Agency.?

"Trust is the new digital transformation, and therefore CMOs need to be chief trust officers." Tiffany Xingyu Wang, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Spectrum Labs.?

"A CMO’s purview has extended far beyond the traditional scope of marketing. CMO’s lead business strategy tied to data and consumer insights, they lead innovation and technology tied to the ever changing landscape and the early adoption of new tools and platforms, they are experts at risk management and risk resolution, they’ve also become the champion of change and culture within the organization. CMO’s are the new CEO’s." Angelic Vendette, VP Global Head of Marketing at Alo Yoga.

3. What sort of community do you want?

A lot of marketers are looking to build communities, but what does that mean for your organization? Alex Hillman draws a useful distinction between communities of interest and communities of practice. The first kind, based around a shared passion such as soccer or Game of Thrones, tend to form more quickly and grow bigger. But they’re more fragile, as the ties between members are weaker.?

The second type is built around “an element of mutual self improvement that pulls them closer together.” They tend to be smaller and form more slowly, but they’re potentially much more powerful.?

Are you clear on what sort of community you're building?

4. The future of video marketing is here (and it’s perfect)

As a company that eats, sleeps and breathes video, Vimeo has always been fascinated by what comes next. We believe the future of video will be interactive, giving audiences much more control of their viewing experience. Just yesterday, we rolled out our new interactive tools. Rather than tell you about them using stupid old words, enjoy this interactive (obvs) video introducing our new interactive suite.?

5. Separate your marketing strategy for success

Can brand awareness and selling happen in the same marketing activations? Absolutely not according to Mark Ritson in his much-shared Marketing Week op-ed. He suggests that almost always, by trying to pursue both outcomes, marketers end up succeeding on neither.???

“It’s not just the time scale for the marketing activity that separates one from the other. They are contradictory on so many levels as to be almost alien to each other…Trying to get a single ad of any variety to do both is, not impossible, but highly unlikely to be as effective as splitting up your budget and acknowledging the two connected games that need to be played. And then playing them differently.”

6. Three tips to improve your storytelling

Courtesy of Square CMO Lauren Weinberg. Make yourself smarter in one minute and seven seconds.?

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