Florencia Garcia Carcagno

I’m working on making a planning system for creators. In the process of developing the underlying philosophy, I made a list of 10 rules for creators. Drop a comment with your favorite rule! The 10 Rules Of Creators 1. Progress, not perfection. 2. Less, but better. 3. Monofocus. 4. Celebrate the wins. 5. KISS it. 6. If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist. 7. Eliminate distractions. 8. Track what you want to improve. 9. Give more, to get more. 10. Play and think in long-term games. 11. Start messy. Link to podcast episode in the comments.

3

3 Comments

Whenever I'm told by agency/client that we don't have the capacity to pull off a killer lil' campaign, I reference Liquid Death. Right now (09/04/24), they have 4 active mini-to-medium pieces running. Two separate merch collabs with NASCAR and Bad Birdie, a #HotFudgeSundae water with Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, and their summer giveaway of an L-39 Aerojet. Every can purchased gets you an entry at winning "The Dehydrator." I'm at 326 entries. All that to say: you/we don't have to giveaway a jet. Find an unconventional collaborator, create (and advertise) a short-run of t-shirts and merch to generate some buzz, win customers, and be fun. Good work doesn't take much.

97

13 Comments

From Overlooked to Recognized: The Impact of Targeted Social Media Content and Video Ads Earlier this year, I worked with a fashion tech company eager to make their mark. They had a product they believed in, but their social media wasn’t catching anyone’s attention, and their video ads weren’t generating result. They knew they had value to offer but weren’t sure how to convey it in a way that resonated. After collaborating closely, we developed a social media content strategy that focused on relatable stories, insights into their industry, and authentic messaging. Then, we created a series of video ads tailored to speak directly to their audience’s needs. With each ad and post, we highlighted the real-life solutions their product offered. Within weeks, they saw a dramatic increase in engagement and started getting the leads they were hoping for. Their story is one I’ve since seen repeated—showing how targeted content and videos aren’t just about visibility, but connection and conversion. Now, I help other brands do the same: engage meaningfully with their audience, generate leads, and grow. Ready to make your brand stand out and convert? Let’s chat! #SocialMediaGrowth #VideoMarketing #ContentThatConverts #DigitalBranding #brandbuilding #videoads #brandstrategy #leadsgeneration

6

Introducing CrowdSOURCE from Press Play: Creatives! Are you ready to capture every angle of your events like never before? CrowdSOURCE is here to revolutionize the way we experience and share moments. Whether you're a social media manager, marketing director, or just someone who loves creating amazing content, this platform will help you tap into the power of crowdsourced video, giving you control to curate and share your favorite moments. Sign up for our waitlist today and be among the first to access the beta version of CrowdSOURCE: https://lnkd.in/gvNxa_SZ Let's create something unforgettable together. #CrowdSOURCE #PressPlayCreatives #ContentCreation #SocialMediaMarketing #JoinTheWaitlist #CaptureEveryAngle

14

1 Comment

This handsome man has some wise words. In 2024 #sonicbranding remains the most powerful and most under-utilised brand asset. #brandmarketing #branddesign

6

A few months ago, a Fortune 500 brand asked us if we could clone the voice of their CEO. In our experiments (using ElevenLabs), it wasn't hard to get a sample that recreated the sound of their voice near perfectly. The challenge was more in the "performance" aspect of the generated audio. Much like #genai visual outputs, audio outputs can be inconsistent from generation to generation. A "stable" output can be flat, and increasing the variability increases the unpredictability. Knowing what words to emphasize and what emotion you want, much like working with a human voiceover artist, is key. Still, these tools are developing and consistent control remains an issue. The benefits of voice-cloning are many. A busy CEO (or sports broadcaster) doesn't have time to record thousands (or millions) of voiceovers personalized to each and every listener. But with #genai we're now capable of just that. Looking forward to Al Michaels calling me by my first name. https://lnkd.in/ejJGMzm8 #voiceclone #aiproduction #audio

7

3 Comments

I recently wrote a post with AI. And I’m not ashamed of myself. (Well, maybe a little.) Here’s the prompt I gave Claude 3 Opus: > The worst taglines in the history of advertising are: Immediately, Claude gave me a list of 8 of the worst lines in advertising history, with commentary, including: "Exxon: We Don't Cause Accidents. People Do." - This tagline from Exxon came shortly after the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster in 1989, seeming to deflect blame. "Ayds: Lose Weight Deliciously with the Ayds Plan." - This unfortunate product name and tagline for an appetite-suppressing candy became inappropriate with the rise of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. And so on. You can read the whole post here: https://lnkd.in/gVREzQ_T Then I asked for 10 more. I kept all but 1 of those 10. Then I edited the commentary so it wasn’t so … robotic. Like this: "Exxon: We Don't Cause Accidents. People Do." - In rotation shortly after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster in 1989. ‘Nuff said. "Ayds: Lose Weight Deliciously with the Ayds Plan." - Again, timing is everything. Launched during the 1980s AIDS crisis. And so on. The whole thing took about 20 minutes. Why am I telling you this? Because if we copywriters are to continue to thrive in our profession with increasingly capable AIs. And if CMOs and other execs, who write the checks, increasingly believe (rightly or wrongly) that AI is not only cheaper and faster — but also better and/or comparable at writing than humans. And if copywriters are more and more replaced by AI. (Just last week I talked to a marketing lead who is using AI to write all their company’s emails.) Then we must face up to reality. And learn how to use AI. Because at the end of the post, I mean day, who is going to be able to use it better than we can? Are you with me? Or did I just lose all your respect?

18

22 Comments

There's one question I'm asked above all by the hundreds of designers I mentor each year. Which, when you consider the creativity and ingenuity of these incredibly talented professionals, is starkly baffling. That question is just five words: How do I stand out? You look at their work, and it slaps you in the face. The thought that goes into their projects is incredible. But somehow, in a classic case of cobbler's shoes syndrome, they overlook the genius within. There are three things I always ask of my designer mentees: 1. Record a video showing you working. Sportscast the session - talk us through your thinking, tools, tricks, tips, tactics, and techniques. Help us get to know both you, and your expertise. 2. Create a portfolio as a story. Talk us through your passions and ambitions, what got you here, and where you're headed to achieve them. 3. Be authentically you. Because everyone else is taken - and when given the chance and permission, you're simply brilliant at being yourself. Get more tips on standing out in a crowded market over at Creative Boom. Read phyl terry's book, Never Search Alone, to define your candidate-market fit. And never shirk an opportunity to be the real you. https://lnkd.in/daYAYzEg

5

Ever felt like sharing your ideas might risk your future success? This fear is somewhat crippling because I’ve been burned by companies who asked me to create mock posts, campaigns, etc. I start to feel like if I share my idea and someone steals it, that person is messing with my future. What is this and how do I get over it? Have you ever felt like this? Would love your insights! Follow Kyle Harris for more posts like this! ♻️ #ideas #credit #anxiety #success #growthmindset #fear

1

Focus on the problems you solve for them. They’ll pay for the value you provide. But if you only talk about yourself? They’ll probably unsubscribe. 📌 Quick case study for you: Market Beat's newsletter. It's not winning any design awards. But it's bringing in a cool $30 million a year. So, what's the secret sauce? It all comes down to three key principles: 1. Niche down and provide real talk tips. Market Beat's newsletter is laser-focused on finance and investing, and it delivers timely, actionable insights that help subscribers make money. The goal here? Helps them MAKE MONEY. Every tip is geared to that one core action. They stay hyyyper focused on this one topic in every send. 2. Invest in paid media to grow your audience. Market Beat spends $100k per month on ads and pays just $1 per subscriber (the average is $6). That's some serious ROI. Stop thinking your newsletter needs to only grow organically. Paid is one of the fastest ways to level up your subscriber base. 3. Focus on a single call-to-action Every article pushes readers to subscribe to the $15/month premium newsletter. By keeping it simple, they've grown to over 4 million subscribers. Too many options? Your audience will tune you out. Stay focused on the ONE thing you want them to do next. Then? → R E P E A T → over and over and over. The takeaway for B2B marketers? Don't get hung up on design. Focus on your content. If you deliver value? It can look ugly. And still convert like crazy for you. P.S. You can watch the full B2B Growth podcast ep here: https://lnkd.in/e6BukQcV -- 👋 Follow James Carbary for more B2B content. ♻️ Repost to share!

540

48 Comments

Why did WPP and Cannes invite Elon Musk to speak at Cannes? Musk has shown nothing but contempt for the advertising industry, expressed racist views, peddled dangerous conspiracy theories, and allowed hate speech and disinformation to run amok on the website formerly known as Twitter. At the beginning of their discussion, Read lamely said that he “didn’t agree with Elon on everything” which is about as hard-hitting as it got. You can watch the whole painful interview, which consists entirely of Read lobbing softball after softball to Musk, on YouTube. Here's the thing. If you’re going to put a malign figure like Musk on a stage—especially if you lead a company that claims to value diversity—you should hold him to account. So these are 10 questions Read should've asked. 1.       You wrote that “DEI is just another word for racism.” I couldn’t disagree more, and at WPP, we are strong proponents of DEI, and have invested heavily in it. Why do you believe it’s racist? 2.       Regarding DEI programs, you also wrote, “It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE [sic].” What evidence do you have that DEI initiatives make airline travel less safe? 3.       Your post about airline safety was a reply to a post that claimed, without evidence, that Black HBCU graduates have low IQs (“borderline intellectual impairment”). Do you think your amplification of racist views like that is responsible? 4.       Since Tesla is currently being sued both by the US Equal Opportunity Commission and by 200 Black employees for racial discrimination, don’t you think your company would benefit from more diverse representation and perspectives? 5.       You accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), one of the world’s most well-regarded organizations committed to fighting hatred—and one we have supported at WPP— of being “the biggest generators of anti-Semitism” on X. What is the evidence that this is true? 6.       You agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people, writing, “You have said the actual truth.” Why did you agree with that? 7.       You posted a video that promoted "the great replacement" theory, writing "This is actually happening!" Can you explain that? 8.       You often claim you are a “free speech absolutist.” But according to Bloomberg, you ordered a team to search Twitter employees’ Slack and social media postings and fired those who made “snarky comments” about you. How do you square that? 9.       Multiple independent studies, including by the EU, the ADL, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and Montclair State University have shown that hate speech and disinformation on X have increased dramatically since you bought the company. Why has that happened? 10. Why should brands advertise on X when the CEO amplifies content that almost no brands want to be associated with? #CannesLions2024 #WPP #Advertising #X

733

240 Comments

Read this piece on our own James Brownstein of Poster Child and Brownstein Group.

2

I never get tired of new challenges. The lump in the throat, the slight churning of the stomach, the anxious thoughts of "am I good enough, can I pull this off?" and "do I even know what I'm doing here?" make me excited. For some that may sound like bad excited. But for this art and design director, it gets me up the morning. I've learned many things in the last 10 years. But one of the most important is that when an opportunity comes up that makes you somewhat nervous and afraid, you should move toward it and not shy away. I've done many things in the last 20 years of my life, in addition to being a designer, project manager and creative director. I've boxed, been a beekeeper, gardened, been a loving pet owner for both cats and dogs, embraced being a cartoonist, became a club organizer, started playing the piano again, taught myself elementary playing of the mandolin, taught myself how to play bass guitar, and learned how to sing and play an instrument with feeling and confidence. At every one of these challenges I was uncomfortable. My pastor calls it "holy discomfort". Whatever is holding you back, especially if its design- and creative-related, jump in. Don't hold back. Whatever your first thought is, pick up your sketchbook and draw out that idea in pen and ink, no going back, no erasures. Let it settle for a bit, then begin anew and reinvent what you started with. Examine it later with a fresh pair of eyes, and repeat the reinvention. Then look where you are. I bet you're more confident and knowledgeable about the challenge than when you first began.

7

HOT TAKE INCOMING!! Look at Liquid Death. Started by an ad creative. Now a billion dollar brand most creatives in advertising wish they could do work for. (Kudos Mike Cessario and Andy Pearson) Jason G. started Illicit Elixirs. Jan Livingston started Gray Whale Gin. (Who else?) Imagine if MORE advertising creatives started a brand and showed the industry what advertising is supposed to be? Maybe then we could get back to making work that's fun and not marketing from a place of fear. We could raise our own creative bar and force clients to play on the level we all know they should. Here's an idea I came up with while writing this: What if we all pitched in $150 a year to help build a brand from nothing to Liquid Death status. (that's one less coffee a week in LA.) We'd all be owners and share in its success. We could call it "Go F This Biz" (Fund) It's a Go Fund Me platform for ad creatives who have ideas for companies and want to get out of advertising but still make great advertising. I'm in. Who's in?? If my network pitched in that'd be 1.3MM to start. Not bad. Just a thought. Have a great holiday weekend ya'll! #Stayhungrymyfriends

219

58 Comments

Very interesting take on Brand vs Character marketing.

3

1 Comment

🤔 💡 😱 ...Are clients going to ask for something creatively dangerous? Is Accounts going to ask for something that might make the client uncomfortable? Are Brand Managers going to ask for something outside of their defined parameters? It's up to the thought creators to shake thing up. Consider this a reminder to all creatives: color outside the lines and think a little crazy about your work. Things can get real stale, real fast in our industry. It's our job to remind everyone else we work with, the ideas that might scare some are the ideas that can excite and motivate the market. Because sometimes pushing the envelope is the same thing as raising the bar. Be fearless. #10minutedesignchallenge #designchallenge #designerslife #graphicdesign #design #advertising #marketing #branding #befearless #creativity #pushtheenvelope #raisethebar

17

1 Comment

Strategists and creatives are REALLY not meant to work in silos. We need constant exposure to people and ideas in order to do our jobs well. And yet most brand strategists and creatives have jobs without teams, roles without freedom, and workdays without inspiration. We held our second ever Exposure Therapy dinner, "Supper for Your Second Life", to cap off last month's topic of Eternal Youth and it was an awesome evening. After so many incredible speakers, a very fun neuroplasticity challenge, understanding how the future of brands might unfold as we all live longer and our cultural obsession with youth takes new forms, my perspective on youth culture is totally different than when we started at the beginning of the month. And all of this made me realize how important this community has become for me, and what it's really about. Exposure Therapy is a place where people get the deep intellectual stimulation they need - the stimulation that made them love their jobs in the first place - in order to uplevel their skills. Thank you to Mary Severson and Meghan (Kane) McCollum who flew in from Minnesota and Molly O'Connor who flew in from New York for the night, and our other members Margarita Arriagada, Laura Bernier, Allison Dobkin, Danielle Buerli, Brandon Noah Kleinman, Raj S., Laura Fitzpatrick, Arielle Jackson, Valerie Bisharat as well as Noran Eid and Les Karpas. I learn so much from this group. I really do. Next stop, New York! #branding #brandstrategy #strategy

69

25 Comments

Requested: your opinions about me. Here's the thing: My creative capabilities (and interests) have always somewhat been at odds with each other, from an employment perspective. I don't think anybody else in the world has the same combined expertise and experience as I do in (1) branded content, (2) vertical & microbudget filmmaking, and (3) good ol' generalist copywriting. And I've been enjoying the fruits of freelancing across all three these last six months. But these three passion-skills don't really go together to form a nice, neat ikigai. Unless... am I missing something? Am I, too deep in my own weeds, missing the forest for the trees? Do you see a career pivot that combines all three? Or perhaps you - friends, rivals, colleagues, coplotters - have an opinion about which I should focus on, or run from. If so, I am all ears and will buy you beverages of your choice (virtual or otherwise) for said opinion.

3

3 Comments