One month in and there've been ups; downs; learning; re-learning; adjusting; adapting; getting the last train back and the first train in; long lunches; vastly more short stolen-slice-of-toast-at-the-desk lunches; gaffs; mistakes; work perfectly done; pitching; kareoke with the partners; getting drunk in the office; interviwing people in the street; and research done in the British Library.
What has become clear to me in this short space of time is that this is one of the most bizarre industries, riddled with contradictions and sometimes underpinned by the most outlandish of incidents and ideas. However, despite the twists and turns, tantrums and tears, I'm certain wouldn't want to work in any other industry.
Whilst stalking around the always excellent north-western America surf scene blog Sissyfish, I found the trailer to a new surf film "The Tyler Warren Experiment". It's looking like its going to be a good one, and although I can't say much more than has already been said on sissyfish, I'm particularly loving the music and art direction and I couldn't resist poaching it:
After an amazing few days away, during which we scored overhead hossegor surf and climbed mountains in the Pryennes, I'm back. I'll write up a few things about the trip later, suffice to say there is a lot to be written!
Anyway, it seems the UCLA has opened up their photo archive under Creative Commons licensing and there are some really great shots to be found...
Dr. Robert P. Gale in his molecular biology laboratory at UCLA Medical Center, 1988
Have been working loads in the local pub to save up enough cash to go on one final adventure before starting my job up in London. 10 days of surfing around France and Spain, can't wait!
A couple of drafts, mainly for Andy's benefit. Details are all TBC/obviously wrong so don't go turning up on the 22nd. If anybody wants any design/branding etc. doing give me a shout:
... and a prediction that that bloke who started to see codes in the bible would be proud of:
You've got to hang around until about 1:05 for the wierdly similar Beastie Boys bit (ok I know it's not that similar but it's a good excuse to throw some Futurama up on the blog [I also love the fact that there are 12 year olds out there putting stuff like this on youtube]).
The (Neurosonics) video is apparently a self promo for all those involved - check out the website here - including the post production and special effects juggernaut The Mill. Obviously this is one very excellent bit of film that can be appreciated fully just for the spectacle. However, the mighty Faris Yakob was inspired enough by it to write an insightful piece on the blending of technology with human biology and psychology that is well worth reading.
In another little production/technology/Futurama-prediction tidbit, Faris came up with the goods again yesterday with a tweet pointing to this rather amazing new video recording/viewing technique here. I give it about 6 months before it's being utilised by the adult films industry.
I'm sure that if you work in advertising then you probably already check Faris Yakob's blog, but if not then I'm finding it pretty essential reading. Even if you don't, his blog is well worth checking out from time to time for some interesting takes on technology, society and ideas in general: http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/
Putting this up not only 'cos the track is rad, (I've been hitting indie-electro pretty hard of late, Familjen, Passion Pit and Yuksek etc...) but this is one of the best music vid's I've seen in a long time. It looks like it was made by somebody with access to old stock footage, some card and a pair of scissors, simple but it all works together welll, even the juddery editing contributes to the playful DIY feel. It's a not so secret ambition of mine to make music videos and the simplicity and enthusiasm in this one is pretty inspiring. Enjoi.
I finally got round to watching Us Now recently.Apart from making Ed Milliband look a bit of a tit, it hit on something that I've been particularly interested in for a while now; the problem of good ol' home-baked user generated content (USC).
It seems that on the whole, USC is generally viewed by marketeers and internet users as a ‘good thing’. Now, my guess is that this is down to four key reasons: first are the libertarian principles underpinning much of the development of the internet; second are the pleasing connotations of democracy; and thirdly, marketers, advertisers and producers predelictions for slotting it into almost every media project.
Fourthly, and most importantly, USC picks up on an element unique to t’internet: interactivity. You put something out there on the web and it’s almost expected that some part of it you’ll be able to comment on, post a picture or upload a video. Interactivity has understandably been a fundemental byaw to the internet from it's inception and as a result it's become one of the main features that internet marketing uses to define itself.
Fine, but why do we are restrict USC to these same old categories? Indeed, we are starting to see the effectiveness and welcome for these USC 1.0 wane:
Now Jeremy Paxman’s gripe with his producer is not unreasonable; a news outlet like Newsnight is a specialist programme that you expect to be well written and researched, i.e. trustworthy. This trust is the show's most valuable asset, (arguably this trustworthiness is the most valuable asset for the whole of the BBC). USC is notoriously inconsistent, for every insightful comment there is another from somebody painfully dumb.
Obviously if, like Newsnight, your brand or product relies on trust putting inconsistent and potentially damaging USC into your output is risking the foundations of the shows success. Newsnights producer exhibited a classic example of the urge to adopt technology for the sake of it. A sort of summit-fever for media professionals.
An arguably more sophisticated form of USC is now well established in the form of social media, and this is reflected in brands eagerness to adopt it. Cue, branded Facebook pages and brand twittering (does anybody apart from people who work in advertising and self promoting celebs actually use twitter?).
A few brands have done well out of this: Dell, Wispa and Apple come off the top of my head. Two technology companies (an industry that has traditionally enjoyed a huge DIY audience straining at the leash to interact with manufacturers) and a well loved chocolate bar (that just so happened to capture the nostalgia of the main generation of social media users). But many brands are just chucking up social media apps because their marketing directors son spends all day on Bebo.
My point is this: the adoption of USC should first of all not be considered necessary, but viewed with respect to the rest of the branding efforts. Once the informed decision has been made to use USC it has got to viewed as a concept not as a tool. I.e. In what way can people interact with our brand/digital presence rather than where does the forum or profile pages go.
There are plenty of websites (and brands) out there that employ USC in more creative ways (Last.fm, Nike ID, Vimeo etc...). Once USC is viewed as a concept rather than a tool, it opens up tremendous opportunities that I'm looking forward to investigating. So yeah.
This is a pretty simple idea, not using any breaking technology, just linking existing applications already being used by skateboarders and adding a competitive and fun element. It nicely picks up on the strong traditions of filming and photographing, competitive one-up-man-ship and the strong connections with locations inherent in skateboarding. As a mountain biker and surfer those are things I can relate to quite easily, infact it makes me want to brush off my old skateboard and graze my palms all over again.
I'm not so sure how well some people are going to take their secret spots being published for all to see on Google maps but on the whole this is pretty hard to fault.
Spent the arvo in the Wellcome Trust gallery and library, part of the medical science exhibition was the entire human genome published in book form. The instructions to the human race. A powerful artwork celebrating an immense achievement. Can't recommend seeing this enough. The rest of the exhibition is excellent too, as is the library.
Twitter pointed me in the direction of the latest Electrik Sheep exhibition in Newcastle. Pretty tasty typography and graphic design from Seb Lester. As a part time graphic designer with my bootleg copy of Illustrator slowly gibbering into senility, I'm sick with jealousy.
Obscenely brilliant artist Mayer Hawthorne may look like the lead singer from the latest indie band fresh from the We Are Scientists and Young Knives mould via Fitzgerald's finishing school, but his music is soul so sweet it could melt through an iceberg.
A really informative article by Peter Preston at the Guardian on the Basque separatists Euskadi Ta Askatasuna's (ETA) recent bombings.
The Basque country is a fascinatingly enigmatic corner of Europe, it captured my attention during university, initially due to its connections to surfing (the region is home to some of the worlds best waves, Mundaka, Les Estagnots etc.) and since visiting last year I was lucky enough to study the region in one of my final politics modules taught by the mighty Prof. Jon Tonge. The Basque country is the black sheep of Europe, almost everything about the region is somehow skewed from the norm. Even the Basque language, Euskadi, has puzzled linguists for years with its muddled history seemingly pointing to an anthropological connection with the Celts of the British Isles and the Berbers of North Africa rather than with the Spanish or continental Europeans.
The regions violent struggle for independence, by no means exceptional in Spanish history, took off under General Franco's oppressive efforts to homogenize and unite Spain under his dictatorship. In the face of violent reprisals by Franco's secret police and military and with their language outlawed they understandably took up arms. The account of several brave fishermen fighting a heavily armed battleship in the Biscay is a pretty stirring read, here.
However, since the demise of Franco, the efforts of the Basque separatists seem increasingly desperate. Admittedly, the violent and illegal murder of leading Basque separatist activists, terrorists and sympathisers by the Spanish government did not stop with the end of Franco's regime. However, recently the region has enjoyed almost complete autonomy, wielding its own powers over tax and police force. This lurch towards constitutionally framed autonomy is reflected in the current trend amongst the population in erring towards unionism and consociation with Spain, finding political expression in the election of a coalition of the mainstream, unionist Spanish Socialist Party and the conservative Partido Popular. An unprecedented shift towards acceptance of Spanish rule.
Why then are we still seeing the bombing of civic buildings and the murder of local government officials? I naively thought we were starting to get over nationalist terrorism in Europe with increased regional and international globalisation, and with new found moderation of nationalist political parties a la Scotland's SNP. After my brief study of the Basque country at uni I'm willing to place a large amount of blame on ETA's distorted view on the IRA's campaign in Northen Ireland: viewing Sinn Fein's acceptance into mainstream politics and the concessions it won as the direct result of the IRA's violent campaign, rather than as a result of their political defeat. A dangerous interpretation that needs to be rectified asap.
A really brilliant bit of documentary by Orson Welles, with his trademark deadpan humour and inventive direction on the Basque region is one of the best bits of TV I've seen in a long time:
I'm always up for a bit of dark, brooding and disturbing art, combine it with an old Eastern European country and its going to be a winner. Adrian Ghenie from Romania paints psychologically disturbing paintings of a new EU member state and it's inhabitants. The paintings remind me of films or memories, with the drips of paint, superimposed frames and layered transparencies like static; bits lost and distorted by trauma and the bluntness of life in the former Soviet Bloc. Well worth checking out, here.
It's tickling my fancy partly because I love James Jarvis' work and the animation is captivating in an MC Escher/Mobius strip kinda way. But, moreover, I'm smitten because it is the one of the first ads to bring running out from either the eccentric and slightly older image of the 118 man, or from the slightly technical and 'jockier' side that typified much of the previous advertising centered on running. Instead, it makes me feel an ounce cooler about running, a feeling that is often quickly dispelled by the onset of cramp!
Another that springs to mind (interestingly another Nike idea) is LCD Soundsystem's 45:33, the soundtrack to a good few of my runs over the North Downs.
In trying to pin down my thoughts on the job I'm about to take up, I noted out briefly how I see this tricky digital beast and its applications...
Digital as a communications channel that is offers more accountability, more accurate targeting and better value for money than traditional advertising, all sound (and popularly lauded), if rather bland, reasons for brands to use it in their marketing strategy.
Yet the advent of digital has the capacity for changing marketing much more profoundly. Previously, all marketing has been a one-way process, the consumer only present as an audience or, at best, sat in front of the one-way mirrors of research agencies. The opportunities offered by digital go way beyond just being another platform for a brand to commence another monologue. It presents a massive opportunity for creating broader and stronger relationships with customers.
Digital is unlike any other media; democratic, inconsistent and powerful but most importantly it is rapidly growing in popularity, ubiquity and size. This growth means that it is in a constant state of development, heading in a myriad of different directions at a dozen different speeds. This presents a big opportunity for us as advertisers; it gives us a huge degree of freedom when it comes to communicating with its customers beyond traditional methods. Social networking, mobile technology, and any other number of innovations in digital technology all offer their own unique advantages for brands. NikeID, Apple iTunes and BBC iPlayer are all old, well worn examples of innovative marketing tools that go beyond traditional digital banner advertising and branded facebook groups. It seems that to really succeed in digital, marketers need to not just adopt technology and methods they need to be at the forefront of their creation.
Google’s massive project to catalogue and open up the world’s information exemplifies another major point related to digital marketing: we are getting smart. We can log onto the Adbusters website and explore a brand’s dirty secrets; use product search engines to tell us where we can find a product for the cheapest price; and reading a friend’s opinions about a brand on his blog is more persuasive than a drumming gorilla. Brands have to acknowledge this and start to communicate more intelligently and openly to manage their relationship with their customers.
Change, the prospect of it, the pre-empting of it, the creation of it, is personally the most attractive aspect of a career in marketing. Advertising and marketing reacts to cultural, sociological and technological changes far more rapidly than any other industry. Indeed, good marketing pre-empts and creates change rather than just reacting to it. Digital is the area that is changing the fastest and offering the most exciting new opportunities for doing genuinely creative and innovative work and as a result is beginning not just to change marketing but to empower it.
One month in and there've been ups; downs; learning; re-learning; adjusting; adapting; getting the last train back and the first train in; long lunches; vastly more short stolen-slice-of-toast-at-the-desk lunches; gaffs; mistakes; work perfectly done; pitching; kareoke with the partners; getting drunk in the office; interviwing people in the street; and research done in the British Library.
