Re: Today’s Creative Director, BBH’s Kevin Roddy gets it 90 percent right
I give Kevin Roddy a lot of credit for coming out and declaring that creative directors might actually be clueless when it comes to creating ideas for the post digital age.
In a guest column in Ad Age, Roddy suggests that traditional CD’s may still know a great idea when they see it, but he questions whether they can inspire or conceive complex digital ideas if their real comfort zone is in the media of TV, print and radio.
BBH New York’s CCO goes on to suggest that advertising creative directors whose experience comes from old media story telling should “admit that they don’t know enough about technology and start asking for help.
“Take down the walls and ask other people for suggestions about how to make the work better,” he smartly suggests.
I’m in total agreement with everything Kevin says. But I might go one step further. Knowing how most traditional CDs, writers and art directors work, I can confirm that there’s still a tendency among many to generate ad “ad idea” first and then go seek out their digital counterparts who might “make the work better,” to use Kevin’s words. In fact plenty of creative technologists will tell you that the question they usually get is, “Can you build this?” When the question they want to be asked is “What should we build?”
Kevin’s right that those of us who grew up on the traditional side of the business need help with the new complexities of technology. But we should make sure we get that help before we have an idea.
In fact we should be aggressively and proactively learning as much as we can about what’s possible with mobile, geo, APIs, social media and the very latest technology before we or anyone on our team closes the door to go and concept. Better yet, the people we concept with should be the techies themselves – creative technologists, UX professionals, social media enthusiasts.
I once had a CD tell me that he didn’t really need to know technology because, “No matter what I think up there’ll be someone who’ll know how to build it.” True, but my question back to him was, “But if you knew what was actually possible, wouldn’t you think up even more interesting ideas?”
Thanks again to Kevin for admitting and reinforcing what we all need to do. Let’s just make sure we get the help he recommends first. Then we can brief teams, look at ideas, and know we’ve picked the best one.
For my friends at Boulder Digital Works: books, blogs, people to follow
Today I am once again flattered to be speaking at Boulder Digital Works with the likes of Gareth Kay, Matt Howell and all the other incredibly smart folks who have welcomed me into the digital fold.
I think of myself as an advertising refugee and a digital immigrant. Not sure if I qualify yet for full citizenship (can’t really code) but I’m working on it. What’s amazing to me is the openness of the digital community. I have been embraced on Twitter, at SxSWi, at SoDa meetings, by IAB (where I’m hoping to make a contribution to the future of online advertising) and here at Boulder Digital Works.
Had the advertising community learned earlier to be as open and collaborative as their digital counterparts it would be in a lot better shape than it is now and all those people still spending their energy defending traditional messages could instead be focused on inventing and creating new experiences and ways to tell stories. “Hello Ladies.”
Anyway, back to Boulder. The session this week is called Making Digital Work. It’s a two-day workshop compromised of small lectures, group discussions, and projects all designed to give attendees a better understanding of their role in the digital age. Of course the real purpose of any learning isn’t what happens in the classroom, but rather what you do with the experience after the fact.
With that in mind, I offer you my list of lists – books, blogs, creative – something to take with you as you depart Boulder and continue your digital evolution.
Forgive me if it’s content, people and ideas with which you’re already familiar. Last time I was at Boulder there were people who’d never been on Ted.com and who had never even heard of Slideshare. Of course, this list of lists will be better still if you share yours, whether it’s decks, docs, or apps.
Five books you should read
Pick and choose from the list below. Some are already a few years old, but they lay out the background and cover a lot of the disruption we’ve been living through. Change by Design and Cognitive Surplus might be my favorites.
Groundswell, Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff
The Shallows, Nicholas Carr
You are not a Gadget, Jaron Lanier
Change by Design, Tim Brown
Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky
Five more books if you’re really determined
If you really want to download some ideas, keep going. Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead is fast and fun with a few useful tips. Free is controversial but worth the read. Anything by Jonah Lehrer will make you think. The Checklist Manifesto has nothing to do with digital, but it’s filled with rich ideas you can extend into your own business and behavior.
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, David Meerman Scott, Brian Halligan
Crowdsourcing, Jeff Howe
Free, Chris Anderson
How we Decide, Jonah Lehrer
The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande
Five big blogs you should have on your RSS
If your RSS is anything like mine it constantly grows until its out of hand and there’s more there than you can ever consume. My colleague Stuart Foster often reminds me to pare things down and focus on the content that matters. I admit to an inconsistent and erratic consumption of content, which is why I sometimes just visit the New York Times. They filter stuff for me.
PSFK
Mashable
Read Write Web
Five small blogs you may want to include
There are many more I could have added here, but it strikes me that these may be more relevant to the audience attending the BDW digital workshop. Faris and BBHLabs will keep you up on digital and marketing trends and innovation. David Armano is a good source for social media. Joshua Porter offers insights on UX and design. And Rob Schwartz is great filter for cool creative, some of it digital, some not.
Talent Imitates, Genius Steals, Faris Yakob, Chief Innovation Officer, MDC
BBH Labs, Ben Malbon and Mel Exon, co-founders BBHLabs
Logic + Emotion, David Armano, SVP/Digital, Edelman
Bokardo, Joshua Porter, experience designer
Metal Potential, Rob Schwartz, TBWA/Chiat Day CCO
Five platforms worth knowing about
There are now 70,000-plus Twitter apps and new platforms being introduced daily. Some will burn out before they ever catch fire and the next big thing is hard to predict, but these all seem to have potential, or at least make you think about what’s possible.
Kickstarter: crowdfunding
Philo: Foursquare for TV
Placecast: opt in to receive mobile marketing
Plancast: announce and share your plans
Springpad: save the plethora stuff you find online via photo, geo, notes, url
Five creative ideas you should dissect
I suggest everyone master the skill of dissecting creative ideas. What makes them great? Technology? Story? Juxtapositions? Consumer participation? Viral technique? You don’t want to copy, but tear them apart and use some of the components.
The Colony: transmedia story telling
Art of the Trench: simple crowdsourced content creation
Chrome: interactive video
Olympus Augmented Reality: useful camera demo
Wheat Thins: social, TV, viral
Five small ideas that might inspire
What individuals and small teams are doing is way more interesting than what most big brands are doing. These are a few of my favorites at the moment. And yes, one of them is mine.
@BPglobalPR: reminder that consumers want to create, control, take over
The Uniform Project: new business model blending cause and fashion
The 3six5 blog: simple crowdsourcing project to generate year’s worth of content
Brandbowl: turn an analog event to a digital event
Bud Caddell on Kickstarter: new way to fund creative projects
Five Ted videos that will inspire you
Find your own, but these are five that I’ve watched more than once and find both motivating and thought-provoking.
Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce
Sir Ken Robinson on Finding Your Passion
Tim Brown on Creativity and Play
Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion
Steve Jobs on How to Live Before You Die
Five people to follow on Twitter
Everyone starts out following the people on the Twitter lists who have the most followers. But that’s an easy system to game. These are people who get it, who live it, who are digital natives. Most are young, interesting, opinionated and share some pretty good stuff. Hoping you don’t already know all of them.
@StuartFoster: social strategist, digital cool hunter
@thaz7: connected planner often the first to know
@lenkendall: smart, forward thinking digital guy
@mikearauz: he’s from the Internet
@conradlisco: mobile and emerging platforms
Five things you should do yourself
Be on Twitter
Have a Posterous or Tumblr
Make movies on an iPhone
Crowdsource something
Connect with five influential people you’ve never met in person
Hope these are useful. What about you? Got a list you want to share?
Four social media lessons from the New York Times
For years the doomsayers have predicted – and in some cases even rooted for – the demise of the New York Times. Print advertising revenues plummeted. Ownership of and overpayment for papers like the Boston Globe drained resources. Endless digital real estate diminished the value of every online property’s available ad space.
But the Times isn’t doing all that badly at the moment. For the first time in a long time total ad revenues stayed flat rather than falling. In fact in its most recent quarter, digital ad revenue jumped 21 percent. Operating profit doubled and an improved cash situation gives the paper more time to plot a strategy for real growth. Given that the recent good news comes in a miserable economy, I’m betting the venerable paper pulls it off.
If you look at the Times from another perspective – that of partnerships, social media behavior, and content – the company’s actually a shining example of how to hold onto core values and evolve at the same time.
Here are four things it’s done that serve as examples for any traditional company, including advertising agencies.
Get over the not invented here syndrome
For more than a couple of years now the Times has offered up content from a number of new sources that in earlier days would never have justified an appearance under the masthead. But there they are: ReadWriteWeb, GigaOm and other blogs’ content front and center on the Technology page. Stop there once a day and you practically have a centralized source of content. Granted it’s filtered by the Times, but there’s only so much filtering you want to do on your own anyway.
Lesson: There are plenty of great sources of content outside your walls and beyond that generated by your staff. Why not take advantage of it, whether it’s for your company blog, the blogs you maintain for clients, a YouTube channel, or any of the other places you need content?
Embrace change and new technology as fast as you can
OK, perhaps the Times hasn’t always been lightning speedy at this, but in the last couple of years they’ve done a pretty decent job. Case in point is their iPad app. Not only were they among the very first publications to have one, it was well thought out with a clean, simple interface and just the right amount of content for a pad. All the sharing you need is built in. And while its elegant lacquer-black type on the iPad’s white linen background presents the ideal screen experience, their standby iPhone app’s not bad either. I’ve read 5000 word magazine articles on the thing.
Lesson: Create utility. Make your brand available everywhere. Consider the context in which the user is engaging.
Be social in every way possible
I like how the Times does this, too. Times People is what every brand with customers or subscribers should do: introduce them to each other. It’s a benefit to users. It helps to spread content around. And it gives readers an added reason to come back and share what they find. The Times also does a pretty good job on Twitter. They’ve created their own lists of writers by category, and even gathered recommended lists of other writers and bloggers by categories that include technology, the arts, opinion and more. They don’t always engage as much as they should, but it’s still a valuable feed to keep you informed. Need someone interesting to follow? Go grab a new list.
Lesson: Take advantage of all the social tools and tactics. Market your employees and their content. Gather your company’s social presence and make it easily accessible to customers and prospects.
Great content wins out in the end
Want to know the reason that properties like the Times along with other content creators of note (including great creative advertising agencies) will always prevail? Quality content. Not only does the Times continue to deliver stuff you want to read, they’ve done a damn good job covering the very topic we’re talking about right here: digital technology and social media. Consider two great examples from the last week alone. One on whether Twitter encourages a distortion of who we really are. A second on whether the digital age diminishes originality and encourages plagiarism. Great stuff that will keep you thinking.
Lesson: Don’t abandon the core values that got you where you are. Just bring them to life in new places and apply them to relevant subjects.
What do you think? Is the Times doing it right? Can you replicate any of their practices? Will the “paper” survive?
Digital ideas, platforms and eco-systems
For years, digital agencies have strived to distinguish themselves from traditional advertising agencies that practice digital with the claim that they build platforms – applications and utility that delivery functionality and integrate into people’s lives – while ad agencies come up with digital gimmicks. In fact it was in the news today. As the argument goes, the latter may generate awareness and buzz, but like all offline advertising campaign, they quickly lose their impact when the media buy comes to an end, calling for yet another campaign and then another.
This is true. It was true of Subservient Chicken, true of the Cadbury Gorilla, and true, inevitably, of Old Spice’s recent social media frenzy. In fact, once these campaigns end the only people who tend to remember them are agency types scrambling to replicate their temporary success while making it look as if they didn’t copy the idea.
Meanwhile platforms like Garmin Connect (bet you never even heard of it unless you’re a road cyclist and a Garmin user) and iPhone apps like Stylebook, Zipcar and Timberland Expeditions (one of ours) continue to attract users, generate downloads, and provide the kind of functionality that earns both loyalty and repeat business.
The fact is brands and marketers need both. Without awareness and buzz, the kind of utility that makes a brand indispensable (if that’s possible) never gets embraced. Nike Plus would be invisible if it weren’t for the brand equity built up with years of advertising.
However, the challenge now is more complicated than what’s implied by the debate between idea and platform. The new frontier is the ecosystem. (Yes I know that term gets used to mean a lot of things; but for this purpose it means the interdependency of a brand’s multiple digital properties.) Think about it. Most brands have an advertising campaign. They probably have a website that offers more than brochure-ware and delivers something of genuine use — either applications, commerce, customized user-experiences, community or how-to videos.
But with the proliferation of social media, chances are good that a brand also has a Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel and at least one if not three iPhone apps. (I recently had a prospect tell me, “We need apps, lots of apps. It’s important for you to know that we’re app happy around here, so whatever you do bring us apps.”) And since the pre iPhone craze was “build me a micro-site,” chances are good it also has half a dozen of those.
Years ago, John Wanamaker said he knew that half his advertising worked, he just wasn’t sure which half. Today, with all the metrics and analytics baked into everything we do there’s little doubt that we know which stuff works. But do you know whether it all works together?
My suggestion is that if digital agencies and traditional agencies continue fighting over the idea versus the platform they’re wasting words and energy. The new frontier will be the brand’s overall digital ecosystem and figuring out how to get advertising, platforms, social media, conversation strategy and a brand’s existing community of customers to reinforce each other in a way that generates awareness, allows prospects to enter a relationship on their own terms (whether they want to learn, connect, join, transact, share or simply watch) and then holds onto them, ideally turning them into advocates.
Got eco-system?
Will reading this blog post decay your brain?
Reading this short blog post – or worse, simply skimming it so that you can justify RT-ing it – may cause real damage to your brain. At least according to Nicholas Carr, whose provocative Atlantic article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” has been expanded into a just released book titled The Shallows.
In his new treatise Carr claims that as we twiddle on Twitter and diddle on Facebook, absorbed in repetitive and addictive activities, our brains are getting rewired. And not for the better.
Because the Internet encourages and reinforces “cursory reading, hurried and disparate thinking and worse, superficial learning,” it significantly diminishes our capacity for sustained concentration, deep thinking, and long-term memory.
To make his point Carr cites his own vanishing attention span, recent neuroscience findings, and an undeniable study of academic research that shows scholars are taking the easy way out when it comes to citing sources. They apparently do what we all do: search Google and use whatever comes up at the top. “We live in a world of abundance but all read the same thing,” concludes Carr.
He offers more of his opinion in a column in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.
The picture emerging from the research is deeply troubling, at least to anyone who values the depth, rather than just the velocity, of human thought. People who read text studded with links, the studies show, comprehend less than those who read traditional linear text. People who watch busy multimedia presentations remember less than those who take in information in a more sedate and focused manner. People who are continually distracted by emails, alerts and other messages understand less than those who are able to concentrate. And people who juggle many tasks are less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time.
He argues for the deeper reflection and exercises that give us greater control over our attention.
Reading a long sequence of pages helps us develop a rare kind of mental discipline. The innate bias of the human brain, after all, is to be distracted. Our predisposition is to be aware of as much of what’s going on around us as possible. Our fast-paced, reflexive shifts in focus were once crucial to our survival. They reduced the odds that a predator would take us by surprise or that we’d overlook a nearby source of food.
However, in his New York Times review today, Jonah Lehrer isn’t totally convinced. The author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist (both of which I highly recommend you read; good ways to up your concentration) reminds us that change in media habits and technology has always brought criticism. Socrates lamented books for creating a “forgetfulness of the soul”; telegrams were initially condemned for their pelting speed; radio and television poisoned our minds.
Lehrer, himself a highly regarded neuroscientist, further enlightens us to the fact that everything changes the brain. Countering Carr’s claims he points to other studies that conclude the Internet makes us smarter. They’ve shown that gaming improves our performance in cognitive tasks and that searching on Google, by forcing our selective attention and deliberate analysis, leads to increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Clay Shirky (how can we have this discussion without Clay weighing in) offered his thoughts in a counter essay to Carr yesterday. Shirky reminds us that returning to the pre-Internet era of the 1980s, isn’t all that desirable. During that decade “we actually spent a lot more time watching Diff’rent Strokes than reading Proust.”
Shirky also reminds us that the mindless nonsense populating much of the web will give way to more thoughtful and meaningful content:
Of course, not everything people care about is a high-minded project. Whenever media become more abundant, average quality falls quickly, while new institutional models for quality arise slowly. Today we have The World’s Funniest Home Videos running 24/7 on YouTube, while the potentially world-changing uses of cognitive surplus are still early and special cases.
He goes on:
The response to distraction, then as now, was social structure. Reading is an unnatural act; we are no more evolved to read books than we are to use computers. Literate societies become literate by investing extraordinary resources, every year, training children to read. Now it’s our turn to figure out what response we need to shape our use of digital tools.
I guess I’m with Lehrer and Shirky. True, the more time I spend online, the less time I spend reading lengthy narratives, committing the ideas within them to memory, and thinking critically about their meaning.
But consider that I discovered Nicholas Carr’s new book online. My search led me to multiple reviews, to Cory Doctorow’s essay on Writing in an Age of Distraction, and to the Clay Shirky/Nicholas Carr debate in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.
This two-hour exercise inspired this post, enabled me to synthesize and organize links and sources (sorry if they distract you) and left me with a number of pieces to read, review and think about once I’m done writing this.
I think I’ll go offline now and concentrate on something really important. Your thoughts? Please share. And if you got this far, feel good about it. You actually concentrated on something.
Want to read up and think on your own? Here are some links.
Boston Globe Review of The Shallows
In Search of Memory by Erik Kandel
Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis? by Patricia Greenfield
Paper Cuts: Stray Questions for Nicholas Carr
