Recently, my wife Sue and I attended the NSAC District 8 awards dinner (National Student Advertising Competition, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation).  Campbell Mithun sponsored the event.  And the organizers asked me to speak.

“What’s NSAC?” Sue asked.

Her question sparked an idea.  Now I had my speech.

“NSAC is like the Hunger Games of advertising,” I said to her, and then told the 200 or so students that evening, which included one of our just-hired Lucky 13 summer interns:

As it did to Katniss -- and that blond guy who just doesn’t seem right for her -- stress and competition does weird and amazing things, turning your normal everyday teammates into mommy and daddy figures, dead-eyed strategists, creative problem solvers and fearless but artful performers.

Each of you has had your own Haymitches, maybe themselves winning tributes from advertising’s real Hunger Games, wily mentors whose instincts and experience can give you that edge.  (Our own Earl Herzog played that role for the University of Minnesota team.)

And like our young heroes, by now you’ve probably experienced long days, tired nights, sketchy food; and witnessed cold-hearted back stabbing, nerve-wracking drama, and, if you’re lucky, maybe at least one or two passionate kisses.

But the big difference is that just by competing in the NSAC games, you’ve already won.

Agencies like ours and many others look at the experience you’ve gained as giving you a leg up versus others competing for jobs in our industry.  Debbie Fischer, our HR director, is always keen to know why any recruit from an NSAC school hasn’t competed.

Our business is fueled by passion, creativity and competition.  And NSAC brings out the best of all of that.

So I congratulate all of you for having the courage and commitment to compete.

The evening was a blast. And in a close contest, Minnesota State University Moorhead won the District 8 crown and will advance to the national NSAC competition during the AAF’s National Conference, the annual ADMERICA!, held in Austin, Texas from June 2-5, 2012. 

Congrats to them.  And may the odds be ever in their favor.

-- Steve Wehrenberg, CEO  

Note: this post presents content from a speech given by Steve Wehrenberg at Augsburg College on November 17.

Some don't believe it, but "truth" and "advertising" do belong in the same sentence. Even though the general public and many in the business community itself disagree, you can find truth in advertising. And more importantly, there should be more truth in advertising. Because, actually, in advertising nothing works better than the truth.

Your skepticism is documented: Surveys show that nearly one third of people "don't trust the information in any kind of ads" (Mintel Attitudes Toward Traditional Media Advertising and Promotion, Sept. 2010) and that 38 percent of folks would rate as "very low" the honesty and ethical standards of ad industry professionals (Gallop Honesty and Ethics Ranking, 2008).

But truth – universal truth, human truth and not lying for a higher truth – actually shapes really great advertising. You know what I'm talking about. You've been affected by a truth-tapping ad yourself. It's what makes brilliant creative work so brilliant.

Steve Wehrenberg presents “Can you find truth in advertising?” at Augsburg College Strommen Executive Speaker Series. (Video courtesy of Augsburg College.)

Before we talk about how that kind of truth lives in advertising, and how advertising captures truth, let's start with a basic definition. Webster defines truth as "fidelity, constancy; sincerity in action or character; fact." The definition appears rational.

But in the real world truth is much more complex, because people are complex and truth is personal. One person's truth is another's lie. People constantly frame and re-frame truth. We marketers call this "positioning" – the presentation of something based not on objective external factors but, rather, on selected factors chosen to shape a reality.

Language gives marketers power to construct positioning: consider the difference between using the following terms to describe the exact same house: "executive home" or "McMansion." The descriptors shape a relative interpretation and even can deliver a value judgment.

All this relativity provides lots of fodder for creativity. So back to truth in advertising. Let's explore three manifestations:

Advertisers and marketers, we can hold our heads high when our work taps truth, shares truth and sticks to the truth. When we are truth-telling leaders, our work and our industry will prosper.

One hundred years ago, advertising legend H. K. McCann linked truth to everything that matters in our business with his agency slogan: Truth Well Told. Our own positioning statement at Campbell Mithun is a version of that: Everything Talks.

When Everything Talks, and everyone talks, the story should be true.

-- Steve Wehrenberg, CEO 

Around 30 years ago I began my career in advertising as a copywriter at a small, local agency.  I wrote everything, from TV and radio commercials to newspaper ads to PR releases and even annual report copy for one client. I wasn’t a big home-run hitter, like a Reid Holmes, but more of a rookie utility player, kind of like the guy they bring up from the minors who’s coachable, versatile and cheap.

Given my background, a recent review in the Wall Street Journal for a new book, The Idea Writers, caught my eye.  I breezed through the book over the holiday break.  It’s a great read, I must say, not only for ex copywriters like me, but for anyone trying to make sense of the metamorphosis happening in our business.  I highly recommend it.

The author, Teressa Iezzi, edits Ad Age’s Creativity.  And with the broad view of a journalist, she chronicles, from an ad writer’s perspective, the current state of the agency business.  What hasn’t changed from when I banged out copy, according to Iezzi, is that today’s agency writers, more than ever, need to be craftsmen and women.  “Even, in a digital world, writers write,” she says.     

But, even more important, today’s Idea Writers must be brand storytellers across multiple platforms.  And the big new skills are having the ability to involve the end target customer in the story, to introduce design thinking, to introduce digital thinking and to be collaborative.  A great dialog writer today, for example, must be able to sustain the conversation and get everyone talking. 

I breathed a sigh of relief after finishing The Idea Writers.  Why?  Because we’ve got some great idea writers here, authors of multiplatform brand ideas like Make Today Famous, an idea that has made Everything Talk for Famous Footwear in broadcast, in-store, on Facebook, even through iTunes.  And we have reshaped our organization within the last six months to bring Idea Writers — brand storytellers, first and foremost — together in a collaborative environment with new friends beside their old art director buddies:  experience planners, creative technologists and interactive producers.

The bottom line, according to Iezzi:  There has never been a more exciting time to be an advertising copywriter.  It almost makes me feel like finding my first IBM Selectric and starting my career all over.

Steve Wehrenberg, CEO 

In 1958, Ray Mithun’s growing agency pioneered an artful and creative holiday tradition:  angels as holiday gifts for friends of Campbell Mithun.  This year we gave out more than 800. 

For the first three and one-half decades, we sent our angels mostly to clients.  In 1985 or so,  I remember my client, a junior product manager at Land O’Lakes, pointing out half a dozen or more in our lobby display case that his domineering dad, one of our top Pillsbury clients at the time, brought into their family’s home.  Apparently our angels mellowed one of Minneapolis’ most feared marketing men of that time.

There was only one exception during those years of client-only angels:  1983.  Every employee got an angel to commemorate our 50^th anniversary.   That’s my favorite.  Every year when I put it on our mantel it conjures up my Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Christmas programs, “Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy.”

In 1995 we started giving angels to our employees as well.  My kids couldn’t wait each year to see the new design.  A few years ago we let each of them, now adults, pick their favorite to display in their own homes.

Now we also send angels to many of our former employees to thank them for growing our agency, mentoring our careers and being a part of our never ending community.  And for the CEO, the response can be immeasurably gratifying, complete with pictures, like this one: 

“Tell Steve I LOVE him and thank him so very much.  

These angels mean more to me (and my family) than he will ever know.    

Wonderful tradition, so honored to be included!”

-- Steve Wehrenberg, CEO

I met Ray Mithun.  And, believe me, I’m no Ray Mithun.  But I sure do agree with a lot of the stuff he said.  Peg, from our library, found this quote of his:  “There is no lasting success, happiness or reward unless a man [and by that we mean person] is truly useful—useful to his family, to his business and to his community.”

Ray was saying that giving back means getting back.  This year I had the honor of joining the board of the Greater Twin Cities United Way.  My involvement has helped shine a new light on the importance of business giving back to the community.  And the rewards that come with it. 

I am proud of our commitment as an organization.  For the past six years, we have supported the Greater Twin Cities United Way by developing its annual advertising.  This year’s “When you can’t do, donate” campaign is designed to help the organization achieve an aggressive goal:  $87 million.

We also have had a tremendously energetic and successful internal giving campaign, historically driven by the great people of our Compass Point Media group.  Last year CM was a United Way Silver award winner for per capita employee giving (between $200-299).

We have done a lot of cool things over the years, like donating and building playground equipment at a local women’s shelter.  A new twist this year will be our “Minute to Win It” all-agency competition October 27 at Hell’s Kitchen.   Here’s a promo-video peek at the fun (and yes that’s me in the beginning balancing a cookie on my forehead):  http://bit.ly/CMcares

This year, more than ever, we need to give back.  As Ray said, to feel useful we need to be useful. 

-          Steve Wehrenberg, CEO

Welcome to our new Everything Talks web site.

I teach a grad school class in strategic communications at the University of Minnesota.  One day recently I was thunderstruck by a display in the hallway down from my classroom honoring Ray Mithun and his endowed chair in the School of Journalism.

First, I thought what an honor it is to lead the place that bears his name.  Second, I thought that this taciturn Norwegian’s philosophies about strategic communications seem even more relevant today than they were when he founded our agency on this day in 1933.

In 1956 (the year I was born, by the way), Ray said, “We had better try to help in every part of the communications job.  Because everything talks.  The display.  The colors.  The price.  Not just the advertising.” (See “Philosophy.”)

And today we help make Everything Talk for our clients’ brands.  And when we do it right, Everybody Talks about them.

In an age of mass confusion about effective marketing communications, I love working for a place that has a history of thinking right.