Here is a naïve hope for the future.
That our personal and intimate involvement in the social media revolution will stop us making the mistakes of the past when it comes to applying the many and varied techniques, tools and applications of web 2.0 and beyond to our clients’ brands.
A while ago Gavin Heaton and Drew Mc Lellan asked a bunch of us bloggers to contribute to an e-book about the Age of Conversation. We were each to contribute a chapter of 400 words about our take on the subject. As more people got excited about the project and spurred on by the idea that the profits would go to a children’s charity more bloggers got involved, with just over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators finally co-authoring the book.
Not only is this likely to be a bit of a ground breaking read (I certainly liked my 1/100th of it) but its also a fascinating experiment in the wisdom of the crowd and and ferocious speed of collective self publishing. A book that is about half the length of an average novel has been conceived, the authors found, written, edited and published in hardback, softback and e-book formats in about 3 months.
And if it is all nonsense (which I would really suggest quite strongly it is not) then Variety gets stacks of dosh out of it.
Buy a copy now.
No really buy a copy now!
You can get the link to buy and all full list of the authors by continuing to read below.
The word monologue has acquired a rather pejorative meaning in the world of marketing.
Monologue, where the brand addresses an audience and puts forward its point of view (as happens in traditional one to many advertising), is seen to be out of step with the idea that markets are conversations and depend on a dialogue of equals between brands and customers.
More than that, brand monologues are assumed to narcissistic, self referential, and disrespectful of empowered consumers that don’t have to or want to take that kind of shit from anyone least of all businesses.
Well I want to make a stand for brand monologues – right here and right now. Indeed I am going to insist that great dialogues start with a passionate monologue.
I know this is way off topic but I can’t help myself.
I got given a Wacom tablet for my birthday recently and I think I am in love.
It looks fantastic, its brilliant for drawing and as a way to zip around the screen it kicks seven types of shit out of my trackpad. It even comes with a mouse that gives my mac a right click – weird.
Go and get one and love yourself forever.
I recently gave a talk at which I harangued the attentive and no doubt hugely appreciative audience about the enduring power of advertising – the things that it does that the other marketing disciplines can’t touch.
One of the more unfortunate characteristics of the advertising business is that every generation believes itself to be the first.
I was talking to an eminent chap from the media world recently.
I was giving him my impression of media planners that was almost completely incorrect. He was giving me his impression of what we used to call account planners.
And I was rather shocked at what he said.
I have just had to get myself a mobile phone contract.
I guess that dates me since mobiles/cellphones happened after I started work and so I have never had one of my own.
So as a matter of course I went to the Carphone Warehouse (The UK’s largest cellphone intermediary).
Needless to say it was a pretty grim experience.
HHCL finally has a proper entry on Wikipedia.
So if you are currently thinking about the future shape of a communications company save yourself the trouble and copy down what HHCL did a decade ago.
It has of late become awfully fashionable to lay the many and varied problems of the advertising industry at the feet of creatives.
They are accused of many things including introspection, arrogance, irrelevance and rank stupidity.
And of all their crimes the ultimate is that they simply ‘don’t get it’.
Neither planners nor suits are collectively damned in this way.
Indeed in some circles, particularly the blogosphere, the ridicule meted out to above-the-line creatives borders on a kind of blood sport like hare coursing or bear baiting. In particular it is practiced by members of the new marketing mafia who never made it in proper advertising and consequently have a massive chip on their shoulders.
Well I’m getting a little fed up of this.
This is a kind of mash up of a post.
It is part trip into the HHCL vaults, part celebration of radio and part a feel for the idea of a teaming a planner and creative.
And it is about some radio ads we made for the Wales Tourist Board a little while ago.
Image courtesy of Jacob Botter
I hate brainstorms.
I hate running them, I hate contributing to them and I hate using them to solve problems.
They waste huge amounts of time and talent and they are no fucking good at delivering decent ideas.
And so six months ago I cleansed my professional life of this trojan horse of mediocrity, favouring aggregated individual working or two person thinking sessions.
I suggest it’s time you gave them the boot too.
Death the the brainstorm. Long live great ideas.
