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Joseph Jaffe was early to sound the social-media alarm with his book Join the Conversation. He parlayed his vision of a marketing world turned upside down by empowered customers into a social-media agency Crayon, which was acquired by Powered in January 2010. Now Jaffe’s back with a new type of marketing shop, Evol8tion, an agency that’s solely dedicated to connecting startups and brands. In Jaffe’s view, the divide between Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley is as wide as ever. Many startups fail because they run out of funding, which Jaffe believes wouldn’t be the case if they had found a brand patron earlier on.

It seems like lots of folks want to be brand-startup matchmakers. Where is the gap in the market that you feel Evol8tion can fill?
Ultimately, there are a few massive gaps. I looked at the typical life cycle of a startup. It began in a world of tech and finance and stumbled its way into marketing and brands. This has always been the way the model is. It’s get big fast, and then the rest follows. It’s then about advertising. A majority of startups are built on the premise of get big fast and then monetize that scale in terms of brand-advertising dollars. What would happen if we began with the brand and then worked our way backward? Start off with the business problem, the brand challenge and the consumer needs, and then work backward to a startup that exists — or maybe doesn’t yet exist. The funding would come from the brands. On the one hand, 97 percent of startups never get fully funded. Dollars for startups are drying up. You have a blue ocean of possibility. We believe every viable startup has a brand soulmate. We’re not saying they’re all are viable. We bet a majority are viable for a particular category or brand.

Where do startups miss the boat?
There’s a shortage of really big players that have the scale and influence to create something innovative, creative and transformational. When brands get an opportunity to work with startups, it is typically so far downstream in the process there’s very little ability to customize or create an original, impactful and innovative outcome — and do that cost-effectively. Our point is, by facilitating these matches of blue chip companies with innovative startups, brands will be able to clearly articulate what they need. Startups will be able to build revenu

e streams to adhere to what these brands are looking for.

How would it have benefited a company like Twitter to go this route?
Look at age-gating. One of our clients is InBev. Twitter doesn’t have an age-gating solution. Now, hindsight is 20/20. If Twitter had been working early in the process with the brand, potentially the age-gating hurdle would have been built into the process. We’re not talking about startups compromising who they are. We’re talking about startups that, in their business plans, have their revenue stream coming from brands. They typically don’t have access to brands; we do. There’s an ability to bring these worlds together earlier. You’re going to make fewer mistakes less often.

But shouldn’t clients’ regular agencies be doing this already?
We think this is a better way of spending these brand dollars. Where are all these dollars going? Brands are going to need to find new ways to invest their dollars to achieve their goals or risk losing them. You could be asking why agencies aren’t doing implementation of digital or social or mobile well. It’s another thing the agency is being asked to provide — and probably at a low cost. There’s a talent shortage. They’re expected to execute Web, mobile, social and earned media. Agencies can, and should, but it’s going to be difficult to do this. They’re going to focus downstream in the process. Lots have labs and startup-type departments. They’re not really looking to work with a startup that hasn’t launched yet, but one that has a certain amount of critical mass or scale. We’re looking at the 1,000 companies that didn’t become the next Foursquare and Twitter. We’re trying to map them to a specific company that can help them get to the next level. Sit or Squat is an app to find the nearest public restroom. For Charmin, how are you going to get anyone caring about your product? But being associated with that utility is a powerful value proposition. That’s something Charmin can own, and it delivers value in a clutter-free environment. There are a thousand equivalents for a thousand different brands.

Is the social-media era over?
I never made it about social media. I made it about communications, dialogue and partnership. We’ve seen community in the form of Arab Spring; dialogue in everything exists now with “McFail” and partnership in the form of crowdsourcing. I don’t think that’s going away. That’s humans connecting with other humans. We haven’t begun to realize the importance of that.

If you're familiar with Joe Jaffe, author, former agency guy, Jaffe Juice blogger and Crayon founder, then you know the man is passionate and has a lot to say about whatever's on his mind. And he's got quite a lot to say about his new venture, Evol8tion, an “innovation agency” that aims to bring the agencies of Madison Avenue together with the early stage technology startups of Mountain View in order to orchestrate “brand soul mates.”

What the hell does that mean? It mean that Joe firmly believes technology does and will play an important role in the future of advertising and that the fusion of creative ideas, story-telling and technology can make anything possible.

Positioning Evol8tion, Jaffe said, “The startup lives in the epicenter of technology-inspired innovation. But brands are often not brought into the picture until the startup is so far downstream in the process that it's too late to influence direction, pa

rtner or truly innovate.”

Commenting on his perception of the relationship between brands and technology startups, Jaffe added, “Startups are dominated by technology and finance, but instead of ending on Madison Avenue's doorstep, what if we began with the business problem, brand truth, and consumer insight, and worked backward into development and funding? We believe that by collaborating upstream, significant learnings, growth and accelerated pathways to success will be inevitably realized.”

Evol8tion's first product is MatchMaker, a database of early stage startups which Jaffe will use to help brands connect with technology companies.

And, of course, there's a blog. It's called…wait for it…Madison and Mountain View.

Back in the day when agency search firms reared their heads acting as middle men for brands seeking an agency, many people scoffed at the idea. Why in the world would we need such an entity? Jaffe's offering could be said to be analogous. Will he succeed? Is he filling a hole? WIll his firm help “marry” technology firms with brands?

By Kiran Aditham on January 24, 2012 10:36 AM

Joseph Jaffe, the man behind the Jaffe Juice blog and Crayon, the latter of which was acquired by Powered two years ago, is back in the agency biz with his new operation called  Make A Marimba

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k”>Evol8tion. The idea behind the one-time TBWA\Chiat\Day and OMD staffer’s new shop is to bring start-ups and brands as well as Madison Ave and Mountain View together. According to the man himself, “The startup lives in the epicenter of technology-inspired innovation. But brands are often not brought into the picture until the startup is so far downstream in the process that it’s too late to influence direction, partner or truly innovate.”

Jaffe is kickstarting Evol8tion with a product called “Matchmaker,” which, wait for it, helps start-ups find their “brand soul mate.” Anyhow, you can find out more from the link above about Evl8tion, which has attracted clients like AB-InBev and Kraft to the fold.

by Joe Mandese

Digital agency impresario Joe Jaffe continues to adapt, and the latest step in his evolution is, well, Evol8tion, the alliterative name of a new shop focusing on matching “early stage startups” with “blue chip brands,” something many of Madison Avenue’s biggest agencies also seem to be focused on these days.

Jaffe, who is well known for his blog “Jaffe Juice,” books and sound bites about marketers “joining the conversation,” may be best known for Crayon, the social-focused shop he created just as the conversation was beginning to explode, and which he sold to Powered in 2010. Before that, he was director of interactive media at Omnicom’s TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA units.

Another thing Jaffe is known for, is his access to and influence over the way big brands evolve their use of new technologies and digit

al marketing platforms, and it should come as no revelation that he play casino online announced the launch of Evol8tion with a couple of biggies in his back pocket, including quotes in his release from Kraft Foods’ Ed Kaczmarek and ABInBev’s Maarten Albarda, which implied they are working with the new shop.

“The startup lives in the epicenter of technology-inspired innovation,” Jaffe stated, adding, “But brands are often not brought into the picture until the startup is so far downstream in the process that it’s too late to influence direction, partner or truly innovate.”

To help make the right matches between big brands and innovative startup models, Jaffe not surprisingly also is launching a new proprietary, and aptly named tool dubbed MatchMaker, which he described as a means of helping marketers find their “brand soul mate” by using a database to match brand goals and attributes with startup technologies.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/166358/joe-jaffe-launches-evol8tion-focuses-on-matching.html#ixzz1kOBp2qTM

WESTPORT, Connecticut – January 24, 2012 – Thought Leader, Author and Entrepreneur Joseph Jaffe, today announced the launch of his new company, Evol8tion, LLC (www.startupsforbrands.com).

Evol8tion is an innovation agency that matches early stage startups to blue chip brands to partner via mentoring, pilot programs and/or investment.  Evol8tion aims to change the way brands work with technology-based startups via early stage participation with early stage ventures.

Evol8tion is Jaffe’s latest breakthrough for the marketing world, following his firm, crayon, one of the industry’s first social media agencies, which was acquired by Powered, and again by Dachis Group. Before that, Jaffe was Director of Interactive Media at TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA.  He is also a three time author of best selling books, hosts a blog and audio podcast, “Jaffe Juice,” and a video show called Jaffe Juice TV.

“The startup lives in the epicenter of technology-inspired innovation,” said Jaffe. “But brands are often not brought into the picture until the startup is so far downstream in the process that it’s too late to influence direction, partner or truly innovate.”

“Startups are dominated by technology and finance, but instead of ending on Madison Avenue’s doorstep, what if we began with the business problem, brand truth, and consumer insight, and worked backward into development and funding?” added Jaffe. “We believe that by collaborating upstream, significant learnings, growth and accelerated pathways to success will be inevitably realized.”

With its first branded product called “MatchMaker,” Evol8tion will represent viable startups and help them find their “brand soul mate.” Using a proprietary database of categorized early stage startups, Evol8tion will make introductions to its client base of brands and present a suite of participation opportunities, including – but not limited to – mentoring, pilot programs and even investment.  On board already are two blue chip companies that will serve as launch partners, Kraft Foods and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“Innovation is no longer a nice to have for brands, it's now become imperative to stimulate a deeper and more meaningful connection with consumers,” said Ed Kaczmarek, Director of Innovation, Consumer Experiences at Kraft Foods. “We’ve been doing just that with initiatives like our iFood Assistant and Big Fork Little Fork apps, as well as our partnerships with Intel and Shopkick. Through our collaboration with Evol8tion, we are looking to accelerate our innovation pipeline even further.”

“Innovation has been long thought of as a function of product development, packaging and distribution,” says Maarten Albarda, Vice President of Global Connections at ABInBev. “We are excited to demonstrate that innovation can and should include marketing itself in its wheelhouse.”

“This is – simply put – an efficiency and effectiveness 1-2 punch,” explained Jaffe. “Move from being media dependent to media discerning with significantly less waste, whilst simultaneously attempting to build the “better mousetrap.”

The bridge between Madison Avenue and Mountain View is literally represented by a thought leadership portal and community hub of the same name (www.madisonandmountainview.com), which will contain interviews, profiles, guest posts, research and much more focusing on the fusion between advertising and technology.  Madisonandmountainview.com also launches today as an independent and standalone platform.

Interested brands, startups and partners can visit www.startupsforbrands.com to find out more, read the manifesto and view the vision videos (also available on www.youtube.com/mplusmv)

About Evol8tion, LLC:

Evol8tion, LLC is an innovation agency that attempts to put

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brands back in control by reverse engineering the startup to create technology solutions to business problems.  Through its MatchMaker™ offering, Evol8tion matches early stage startups with established brands to partner via mentoring, pilot programs and/or investment.  Find out more at www.startupsforbrands.com or @Evol8tion 

About Anheuser-Busch InBev:

Anheuser-Busch InBev is a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with an American Depositary Receipt secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD).

It is the leading global brewer and one of the world's top five consumer products companies. A true consumer-centric, sales driven organization, AB InBev manages a portfolio of well over 200 beer brands that includes global flagship brands Budweiser®, Stella Artois® and Beck’s®, fast growing multi-country brands like Leffe® and Hoegaarden®, and strong “local champions” such as Bud Light®, Skol®, Brahma®, Quilmes®, Michelob®, Harbin®, Sedrin®, Klinskoye®, Sibirskaya Korona®, Chernigivske®, and Jupiler®, among others. In addition, the company owns a 50 percent equity interest in the operating subsidiary of Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer and owner of the global Corona® brand.

AB InBev’s dedication to heritage and quality is rooted in brewing traditions that originate from the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium, dating back to 1366 and the pioneering spirit of the Anheuser & Co brewery, which traces its origins back to 1852 in St. Louis, USA.

Geographically diversified with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets, AB InBev leverages the collective strengths of its approximately 114 000 employees based in operations in 23 countries across the world.

The company strives to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World.

In 2010, AB InBev realized 36.3 billion US dollar revenue.

About Kraft Foods:

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is a global snacks powerhouse with an unrivaled portfolio of brands people love. Proudly marketing delicious biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals in approximately 170 countries, Kraft Foods had 2010 revenue of $49.2 billion. Twelve of the company’s iconic brands – Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Tang and Trident – generate revenue of more than $1 billion annually. On Aug. 4, 2011, Kraft Foods announced plans to divide and create two independent public companies: a high-growth global snacks business and a high-margin North American grocery business. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of 2012. A leader in innovation, marketing, health & wellness and sustainability, Kraft Foods is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Ethibel Sustainability Index. Visit www.kraftfoodscompany.com and www.facebook.com/kraftfoodscorporate.

About Joseph Jaffe:

One of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on marketing innovation, new media and social media, Joseph Jaffe is founder and partner of Evol8tion, LLC, an innovation agency, focusing on fusing the worlds of Madison Avenue and Mountain View to create startups for brands.

Prior to launching Evol8tion, Joseph founded and ran a strategic consultancy, crayon, until it was acquired by Powered in January of 2010. Before that, Joseph was Director of Interactive Media at TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA, where he worked on Kmart, ABSOLUT Vodka, Embassy Suites and Samsonite.

Jaffe is author of three best selling books: Life after the 30-second spot, Join the Conversation and Flip the Funnel. His popular blog and audio podcast, “Jaffe Juice”, provides daily and weekly commentary respectively on all things new marketing. You can join the conversation at www.jaffejuice.com. He also has a video show called Jaffe Juice TV (www.jaffejuice.tv)