Publicis Worldwide Wants LIONS. With HEARTS. And SPIRIT

Get a load of the repositioning memo:

Not so long ago in our industry, the holy grail was an ad that "broke through the clutter," was "attention getting," "memorable," "persuasive" (ads usually measure by a copy test of an ad unit).

Today, in the new world of the internet, digital video recorders, mobile devices and myriad other technology -- all in the hands of an empowered consumer -- the new holy grail is maximized presence and multiplied exposure as a result of having an idea picked up, shared, played with, assimilated into the consumer's life.

Some call it viral; some call it buzz. Leading agencies must redefine their end goals in line with this fundamental new end game.

For the last six months, Comex (the Executive Committee for Publicis Worldwide) and an expanded group including smart and creative Publicis people from around the world, have been working on a new Publicis Worldwide Purpose and Positioning that will help put Publicis Worldwide on top of the new end game.

Here are some of the core assumptions that were the underpinning of this new purpose and position:

Creativity has been unleashed; Brands have been set free.

Consumers are co-creators.

Consumer communities are "channels" of influence.

We want to engage in conversations not communications.

Listening and learning is preeminent.

Based on these and a few other core tenets, we developed a new purpose:

To become the destination where the best and brightest (people and clients) go to co-create the most talked about brands on the planet.

The spirit that defines the essential character that Publicis people need to bring to this purpose is - LIONHEARTED - a blend of courage and humanity.

The key focus of what we try to do every day, for every client, across every discipline is to - Create Contagious Ideas.

Ideas that get talked about.

Ideas that instigate and change conversations.

Ideas that spiral, resonate, reverberate.

Ideas that take on lives of their own and are taken in to the lives of our target consumer.

Ideas that ultimately help brands become a much bigger, more important, more interesting part of people's lives.

You will be hearing much more about this is the coming weeks and months.

For now, I just wanted to headline the new purpose and positioning and to ask you to start thinking about it, working with it, holding it up as the new Publicis standard.

Contagious Ideas

Talked about Brands

Instigating and Changing Conversations

Lionhearted Spirit

We will be starting our own conversation about contagious ideas inside Publicis.

More to come,

Susan

Right now what we're wondering is, is it prerequisite to learn how to talk like a transcendental coke addict before an agency promotes you to exec status?

As it was, David Ogilvy was iffy about using the word "creative" -- he'd have a conniption fit if he had to sit through this "contagious ideas" and "lionhearted spirit" crap.

Here's a contagious idea: what if we just focus on selling stuff and staying real? What works for hustlers will work for agencies too.