Maybe I'm Gravy

The Big Idea Isn’t What It Used To Be

This is another post I wrote for Creative Week.

THE BIG IDEA ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE

By NATHAN ARCHAMBAULT

I went to a Creative Week session last Monday at City Winery called THE IDEA MATTERS….STILL. It opened with the panel (a bunch of Deutsch dudes: Jerome Austria, Bud Caddell, Morgan Carroll, Steve Nesle and Liz Gumbinner) talking about what they thought of their topic. 

They asked themselves if it was bullshit. 

And they concluded – spoiler alert! – yes and no. 

Yes, because if you’re a creative, you know that “The Big Idea” still matters. 

No, because while the importance of “The Big Idea” hasn’t changed, what it isabsolutely has.

So how do you know if you’ve come up with “The Next Big Idea”…or something else? 

Here are some new rules for nailing it. 

Don’t mistake a tactic for an idea. This is hard to do with so many gimmicky technologies out there. Lots of so-called Big Ideas are simply cool uses of technology. And these projects can be cool and successful and groundbreaking. While that’s great for technology, it’s not so great if you’re trying to be a conceptual creative.

Remove the glitter. You can reduce the best ideas down to a single sentence – the Deutsch guys talked about writing it down and leaving out the strategy, the visuals, really everything except the thought. Without all the glitter, does is still feel like a Big Idea? Or is it really an average idea wearing too much makeup?

Don’t perfect your Big Idea. It’s more important to get it out there for people to play with. Then, based on how people interact with it, figure out how to make it better. In digital, it’s easier to experiment with an idea and iterate. The important thing isn’t polishing your idea to perfection. It’s putting it in people’s hands and creating the experience that people want. Look at how Instagram and Twitter and Facebook change every few months. That’s because they’re not worried about being perfect. They’re looking for the feedback it takes to make their experience a better one.

Don’t put it all out there. Now that everything can be viewed or visited over and over again, give people a reason to spend more time with your idea. People are looking for experiences they can play with or learn from. They don’t want everything placed on a silver, pixelated platter. People like to debate online, so let them. Hold something back and give them something to talk about. The Deutsch guys talked about their online VW video The Bark Side – the one with dogs barking The Imperial March from Star Wars. The script called for dressing up all the dogs as Star Wars characters. At the last minute they decided to leave costumes off half the dogs. Instead of making it obvious which dogs were which characters, they let people debate who was who. There’s an Ewok, and Chewbacca, but is that Obi Wan or the Emperor? If you can’t tell, watch it again!

We’re still creatives looking for the next Big Idea. 

But as you go hunting for it, remember that it’s not just “The Big Idea” that matters – it’s how you get to it.

 

What Week Is This?

I wrote this piece for Creative Week. Check it out on their blog.

 

I think it’s Creative Week. 

Or maybe it’s Advertising Week. 

It’s definitely not Internet Week – that’s coming up next week. 

SXSW Interactive happened two months ago, so it can’t be that – and I’m pretty sure Cannes is still a month away. Is there an award show this week? Maybe someone will win a Clio or a Webby or a Pencil or an Addy or an Innie or an Outtie.  

What week isn’t Creative Week? 

Last week, this week, next week. They’re all creative weeks. 

We’re not creative because we’re in advertising; we’re in advertising because we’re creative. 

Because 99 percent of advertising really isn’t all that great – and it’s up to us to make it better. Maybe we can add to the 1 percent of advertising that’s truly amazing. Start by building it to 2 percent. Then 5. Then 20. 

Then who knows? 

Anything’s possible.

Because we never stop being creative. And creating. And coming up with ideas. And coming up with cool new ways to bring those ideas to life.

We don’t need more Weeks with a capital W. We need more time in the day to make things happen.

Here’s to Creative Week.

This week and every week.

 

What I Learned at SXSW Interactive 2012

This year I went to SXSW Interactive for the first time. While there, I talked to people and I saw people speak. Then I crammed what I could into a lightweight, handy Keynote. This is what I learned.

SXSW Interactive 2012: a collection of learnings, summaries and takeaways

View more presentations from Nathan Archambault

The keynotes, presentations and panels covered in this deck:

Ambient Location and the Future of the Interface
Presenter: Amber Case
Summary: We’re already cyborgs. But the technology isn’t inside of us. It’s in our pockets.

How to Harvest Consumer Intent from the Social Web
Presenters: Mullen CIO Edward Boches, Difference Engine Founder Farrah Bostic, Vayner Media co-founder AJ Vaynerchuk, and Springpad co-founder Jeff Janer
Summary: Brands try to insert themselves into our social graphs. But there’s a much more seamless and natural fit into our lives: interest graphs.

Create More Value Than You Capture
Presenters: Andrew Mcafee Principal Research Scientist MIT and Tim O'Reilly Founder, CEO O'Reilly Media
Summary: Jobs are being outsourced not just to low-wage countries, but to machines. We need to rethink how our economy works.  

The End of Business as Usual
Presenters: Rock God Billy Corgan and Altimeter Group Principal Brian Solis
Summary: People have made the model change. But business leaders can’t bitch about it. They have to do something about it.

Why Your Car Will Be the 5th Screen in Your Life
Presenters: Tina Unterlaender, Director of Mobile, AKQA and Anupam Malhotra Manager, Connected Vehicle Audi Of America Inc
Summary: The time we spend in our cars shouldn't be wasted time connectivity-wise but it can't disrupt the driving experience.

Epic Battle: Creativity vs. Discipline in Social
Panelists: Mekanism CEO Jason Harris, 140 Proof Founder John Manoogian III, Barbarian Group Director of Earned Media Kristin Maverick and Story Labs Founder Sarahjane Sacchetti 
Summary: There’s creativity. And there’s analytics. It seems like they don’t like each other. But we can make them get along.

Why Ad Agencies Should Act More Like Tech Startups
Presenter: AKQA CCO Rei Inamoto
Summary: The agency model isn’t working. So what can we learn from successful start-ups that would revitalize the advertising business?

 

10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy

Here's some wisdom from advertising legend David Ogilvy. On September 7th, 1982, Ogilvy sent the following internal memo to all agency employees, titled “How to Write":

 

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

 

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

 

David

Advice that's short, concise and useful. This, and much more of Ogilvy’s timeless advice, can be found in The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners,

Create More Value Than You Capture

Jobs are being outsourced not just to low-wage countries, but to machines. Machines! We need to rethink how the economy works.
 

I went to see Andrew Mcafee, Principal Research Scientist MIT, and Tim O'Reilly, Founder & CEO of O'Reilly Media talk about Create More Value Than You Capture. This is what I got out of it.

We’re all part of one machine. The one where we clock in from 9 to 5 or 10 to 7 or however long it takes us to work. We earn money then we spend it on clothes, vacations, old fashioneds and a place to live. We go to sleep at night then we wake up the next day to do it all over again. Exhausting, but worth it, right?

Not quite. This theoretical machine we’re part of has a small problem. The reason a system like this works is because the world needs us to work. There are jobs that need to be done. But what if the world didn’t need us to work? If we didn’t work, then we couldn’t make money, then we couldn’t buy the things that people who do work are making... then more people would be out of work. Almost hurts the head to think about, doesn’t it? I need an old fashioned.

So what's the problem? Efficiency is making too much of our labor pool obsolete. Our world is full of companies that care about cutting costs in order to make shareholders happy. Too many of today’s companies are founded off good exit plans and money, not added value for our society. Jobs are already being outsourced overseas and in the next few years more and more jobs are going to be outsourced to machines. We lost toll booths and dinnertime sales calls to the machines long ago. Now we’re up against cars that drive themselves, drones that patrol the skies and vending machines that dispense cupcakes. Soon enough, most of what we do will be done slightly better by a fine-tuned machine.

And it's happening sooner than later. Moore’s Law says technologies like Siri will be 16 times better within 6 years. More of our lives are being automated and as this happens, more jobs are being handled by machines that don’t take personal days or watch March Madness on their iPhone. Within the next few years, machines might be applying for your job. You better brush up that resume and make friendly with the finicky coffee maker. Just in case.

Our world is full of businesses that want to take and don’t want to give, but the economy is a two-way street. The cycle of capitalism depends on consumers as well as producers. For society as we know it to survive, we need a system that puts people to work rather than puts them out of work. To start, we can retire the current venture model. It's not sustainable. Which means we need leaders and policy makers to realize what’s going on and start taking action to protect our future. Going back to what worked in the past is not an option. Figuring out how we can live harmoniously with machines performing our jobs is.

Companies that figure out new economic models need to make a stand. While too many companies aren’t worried about adding value to society, we need forward-thinking companies that have hairy, audacious goals. Goals that go beyond the balance sheet. Economic progression is possible, just look at platforms like Kickstarter and Etsy. These are new ways of conducting business that put the emphasis back on the people and reward individuals for hard, unique work. The world needs more platforms that do this, giving more people the chance to become producers. Doesn't hurt that this lowers the chances that our jobs will be consumed by machines. For the world as we know it to survive, we need the companies with hairier goals to outnumber the ones who are just in it for the fat bank account. We can’t let the machines win. Not until the singularity, anyway.
 

Congrats! Agencies and Clients Think Differently

It's not every day that a side-by-side comparison illustrates how agencies and clients operate on separate wavelengths. The latest issue of AdWeek, the one with AKQA CCO Rei Inamoto on the cover, provides just such a reminder.

This issue features Young Influentials, aka wicked smart people in media, marketing and technology. With JWT's new CCO Jeff Benjamin featured, both JWT and their client Macy's placed congratulatory ads in the issue. So we have two ads that come from the same brief, that serve the exact same purpose, that are two page turns apart. That's the control part of the experiment. The variable? The client for one ad was the agency, the client for the other ad was... a client. The end result is two very different ads. Let's look at the evidence.

Item A: JWT's ad

Way to go, JWT. Great piece of print. It's creative, funny, unexpected and even mildly useful in case a number of improbable scenarios play out and go horrendously wrong. (Hey, this is advertising, you never know.)

Item B: Macy's ad

 

OK, Macy's, I get it. You're trying to make a funny. But there's no twist and the humor isn't catered to the audience. As the old saying goes, comedy is based on truth. The truth here is pretty obvious. What's less obvious is that the ad doesn't quite make sense. When Macy's tells Jeff to get back to work, why do they assume he's not working? Is he too busy reading AdWeek all day? Was he given extra time off because he's young and influential? This ad could have been anything, but in the end it's a client talking like a client.

Thank you, JWT, for churning out a nice little print ad. Thank you, Macy's, for being a client. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. We love clients. But with the Macy's congrats ad positioned so close to JWT's, the different mindsets of agencies and clients couldn't be more obvious. Of course, both ads were probably made by junior teams at JWT, but that's an issue for another time.

What Brands Have to Gain From SXSW Interactive

 Part 3 of 4 on the value that creatives, agencies, brands and clients can find in being at SXSWi.
Part 1: What Agencies Have to Gain From SXSWi
Part 2: What Creatives Have to Gain From SXSWi 

Can a brand party their way to a profit?
This year at SXSWi, a lot of brands went all in. A lot of brands tried to inebriate their way to a successful SXSWi 2012. It’s borderline appalling how much money was spent supplying free booze. But the tech geeks who invade Austin are smarter than that. Just showing up with a keg isn't enough. For a brand to get something out of their South By investment, they need a game plan. They need to offer something useful. And while free beer certainly falls into this category, the big winners are the brands that did more than fill cups.

 

Here are a few examples of what brands did and why.
 

 

Catch A Chevy

WHAT: Chevy offered free rides and test drives in the Volt, part of their Catch a Chevy program.

WHY: With cabs hard to come by, everyone in Austin either needed a ride or was interested in what's up with electric cars.    

 

 

 

Nike FuelBand

WHAT: Nike threw events all week, from concerts to skateboard competitions to concerts to their FuelBand presentation moderated by Jimmy Fallon. They had so much going on that they added a SXSW section to their mobile site. Lighting up Austin's most iconic building in a FuelBand-inspired gradient helped, too.

WHY: The FuelBand is a huge launch for Nike and it's far from a sure thing. They need the tech community on board to become early adopters and help it go mainstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AT&T Recharging Stations

WHAT: AT&T placed recharging lockers in the convention center, letting people charge up without having to sit and wait by a rogue outlet.

WHY: Running out of battery at SXSWi is a matter of time. At any given panel, over 80% of people would have their faces glued to a smartphone or iPad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foursquare Office Hours

WHAT: Foursquare held Office Hours for one-on-one conversations. It was a chance to meet the people behind Foursquare. Being able to play foursquare was also a good time.

WHY: One of the best parts about SXSWi is access to people, and Office Hours provided easy accessibility to the people behind Foursquare.  

 

 

 

Google Village

WHAT: Google took over a street behind the convention center and filled it with four houses - Discovery, Android, Development and Maps - each complete with hosts, demonstrations and a well-stocked bar.

WHY: Google provided access to their latest projects, their view of the future and swarms of friendly and informative employees. Here's a summary of Google Village to see everything they were up to..


 

 

 MOFILM Registrant's Lounge

WHAT: MOFILM was an official partner of SXSWi. A free drink ticket came with every badge, making the MOFILM tent right across the street from the convention center the obvious place to meet up for a drink.

WHY: I hadn't been very familiar with MOFILM but they did a great job taking advantage of SXSWi. They had a photo booth stocked with props, but they didn't just snap away. They drove you to Facebook to “Like” their page in order to see your photo booth pics. This is smart because it provides an instant tutorial to anyone unfamiliar with MOFILM.

 

American Express Social Integrations

WHAT: American Express, which had already partnered with Foursquare to offer deals based on check-ins, had recently launched a Twitter integration for even more deals. So they brought in Jay-Z to put on a free show.

WHY: Going big at SXSWi was just another way for them to maintain their newfound stranglehold as the credit card for the tech savvy. They key here is that they're not just talking. They're integrating with social in unprecedented ways.
 

 

 

Strategize before you spend.
So what's a brand to do? Going to SXSWi isn’t right for everyone. Your product needs to appeal to the tech-hungry audience, so showing off the FuelBand and the Volt made sense. Being in Austin can be good for exposure amongst early adopters, but it's a bubble down there. Sure, some platforms have nailed it, We've seen platforms nail it, like Twitter in 2007 or Foursquare in 2009, but there's no guarantee SXSWi success will translate to big things in the outside world. If your audience is there, go there with something they could use (like umbrellas this year). But just tossing out flyers for an open bar, while one hell of a good time, isn't going to have much return on investment. The brands that do something unique and provide a service will be the ones that walk away from SXSWi with more than a hangover.

Of course, I didn't see everything that brands did at SXSWi. Let me know what you liked and what I missed.

Brands, Forget the Social Graph. It's the Interest Graph That Matters.

Last week at SXSWi I saw Edward Boches, Farrah Bostic, AJ Vaynerchuck and Jeff Janer talk about How to Harvest Consumer Intent from the Social Web. Here's what I got out of it.

 

Brands are trying to insert themselves into the social graph. But they're posting on the wrong tree. They fit much more seamlessly and naturally into the interest graph.

Brands, listen up. You’ve been forcing your way into the social graph for too long. Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate you, but the social graph isn’t about you. It’s about who we know. Friends, family and coworkers and the things they’re doing. It’s for posting pics of babies and saying happy birthday and complaining about first world problems. You’ve tried working your way into the social graph, brands, but it’s time to move on. It’s time to wake up and smell the interest graph.

For brands, that’s the place to be. It’s where brands can integrate more seamlessly and naturally with our lives and take advantage of intent. That’s why you should be excited about interest-based platforms like Pinterest, Fab and Get Glue. When I categorize my interests, my intent becomes more obvious. You can see that I’m into skiing, graphic novels, sneakers and lamps and do something about it. When you connect with us over common interests, our intent rises. There’s increased trust. Take Mad Men for example. It could be more than a show but AMC isn’t taking advantage. They could be promoting not just Mad Men the series, but Mad Men the lifestyle. Drinks, shoes, books. As a brand, you can demonstrate that you understand what your consumers want. People are more than transactions.

Farrah Bostic summed it up this way: “If all you do is show, all people are going to do is look.” That’s great for keeping up with Aunt Eileen without having to call her. But not so great for pushing product. Communities can still serve a purpose if they're used correctly. Don’t look at them as an engagement platform, but as a way to collect data. Take American Express, for example. AMEX knows how Edward Boches has spent his money for 35 years. And not once has he spent money on Cheesecake Factory or a cruise, yet AMEX still sends him offers for these things. If they tapped into his interests, they’d know to send him useful information on cycling and hotels. But they haven't connected the dots. The data is there but they're not taking advantage. They’re not tailoring super-specific and relevant programs based on our interests, but they could be. They should be.

So what can agencies do to help you? We can educate you, and not sell you. We can teach you the value of each platform and how to use it and help you make the decision on whether to apply resources to new platforms like Google+ and Pinterest. Listen, brands, we know you’re confused. It’s crazy out there on the internet. But we’re here for you. Let’s work it out together.

Just know this: whatever you do as a brand, social or otherwise, should be all about data. Conversations should be used to gather information, not just for the sake of conversation. Use a platform to create relationships then use those relationships to learn about what your customers want and give it to them. Learn more about us and how we behave. Not just age and location but interests and preferences. Forget about likes and follows and RTs. They're useless when it comes to understanding us. But get on board with what we're into and let's go for a ride. Am I making my intent clear?

 

For more on harvesting intent from the social web, check out the panel summary from Edward Boches.

What Creatives Have to Gain From SXSW Interactive

Where's the value in SXSWi?
In years past I’d heard things. I’d seen tweets. I’d read blogs. But in 2012 I went to SXSWi for myself. While there, I heard things. I tweeted. And I took notes for my blog. This is Part 2 of 4 on what creatives, agencies, brands and clients have to gain from being there. Check out Part 1, What Agencies Have to Gain From SXSWi, and the Introduction to the series.

The right and wrong way to expand your knowledge.
To get the obvious out of the way: alcohol poisoning, 10 pounds in BBQ, 20 pounds in swag and, if the whole thing isn’t fronted by an agency, an equally bloated credit card bill. Of course, if you’re looking to expand your knowledge, there’s something called sessions going on, too, in the form of panels and keynotes and presentations.

But before you pick a panel, remember what you already know. My friend @DanielLammon summed it up this way: “My biggest complaint from last year: I went to hear what was next and I got a rundown of the last 6 months.” It’s true. If you work at a digital agency, there’s a ceiling in what you can learn from panels about advertising. But you can still find inspiration if you know where to look. The most value can be had in going to sessions outside of our industry. See a neurologist talk about multitasking. Or an anthropologist break down technology. Or a security analyst explain how drug lords use social media. And then think about how what they do in their industry could be applied to what you do in ours. Walk away from the people in advertising. There’s a good chance they'll do little more than reinforce stuff you already know.

SXSW isn't about the panels. It’s not about the parties. It's about the people.
For five straight booze and BBQ soaked days, most of the brightest minds in interactive are in one location. This is the highest concentration of like-minded interactive geeks you're ever going to have easy access to. This is your chance to meet the people you’ve been chatting with on Twitter. To run into randoms with your same digital mindset. To shake the hands of speakers who had provocative things to say. And even meet new people from other offices of your own agency. One of the highlights for me was hanging out with people from other AKQA offices. Remember, an agency that drinks together, stays together.

What Agencies Have to Gain From SXSW Interactive

Where's the value in SXSWi?
In years past I’d heard things. I’d seen tweets. I’d read blogs. But in 2012 I went to SXSWi for myself. While there, I heard things. I tweeted. And I took notes for my blog. This is Part 1 of 4 on what creatives, agencies, brands and clients have to gain from being there.

Introduction: Looking for value at the industry event everyone is trying to figure out.
Even before getting to Austin, I kept asking myself what’s the point? Who is going to SXSWi and why are they going there? Is there anything to gain asides from an industry-sponsored hangover? And for panelists to boost their own already inflated egos? Is it just a far-away bad networking event on steroids? What’s up with all the free drinks? Who are you trying to sell here? Most importantly, is anybody actually getting anything out of this?

SXSWi is that indie band that exploded into the spotlight. Everybody’s talking about them. Everyone loves them and wants to see their next show. And the people who’ve been listening to them all along bitch about how they’ve gotten too big and sold out. As much as everyone there seemed to love SXSWi 2012, I couldn’t saunter 10 feet without overhearing someone complain about bad panels, big crowds, too much noise and not enough substance, the endless partying. But people who complain about SXSWi are missing the point. There is something to gain from being at SXSWi if you know what you’re looking for.

What agencies have to gain from SXSWi.
A large expense, for one. For agencies to get something out of SXSWi, they have to invest resources, people, money, and time. If an agency just shows up, they’re not going to get much return on investment. So it’s not for every agency. An agency needs a game plan. Are they there to recruit and network? To promote their brand? To build client relationships and chemistry? To show off thought leadership? If you want to make an impression, do something that provides utility. Offer a service, like RGA’s double decker wifi enabled shuttle or Ogilvy Notes or BBH’s Homeless Hotspots. But don’t just show up because everyone else is.

Building tolerance and building relationships.
Austin is more than a great place for building your tolerance for Lone Star and brown liquor. It's a great place for building client relationships. Boiled down, our industry is all about relationships and chemistry. Getting tighter with clients and being inspired to create better work together is the most value an agency can get out of SXSWi. Especially when it's on nuetral territory.

At the end of the day, it's about business. So any agency's goal should be to get more of it. So agencies should send clients. Promote clients going on their own. Meet up with clients who are there. Schedule a follow-up with clients once they get back. Figure out how to keep the ball rolling. Don't let the inspiration die when you check in at Austin Bergstrom airport for the long flight home. Clients are going to walk away wanting to do better work and they'll be armed with new proof points, data and insights that can be used to move forward with riskier work. An inspired, well-informed client is a good client. And if you throw back a few beers and compare your favorite panels along the way, even better. Cheers to that.