Instantly Obsolete

I was in Portland last week to speak at DMI’s Design/Management Thinking Conference — Balancing Extremes: Tensions in Design. The two-day event, at the stunning Gerding Theatre, offered focused presentations, discussions, and interactive sessions with leading business and design leaders.

The program kicked off with John Hoke and Angela Snow, Nike’s VP of Global Design and Global Director of Creative Operations, who spoke about how tension in design fuels Nike’s breakthrough innovations. Thier big, bold keynote was peppered with high-energy videos featuring cutting-edge products and triumphal sports moments.

I immediately followed with my own session, Little ‘i’ Innovation, in which I proposed that committing to incremental improvements and pivoting on adjacent innovations are as critical to business success as the big breakthroughs ideas. It was a fitting juxtaposition. I was however compelled to employee the multi-talented Justin Timberlake to help me make my point.

A big thank you to the DMI and the conference organizers with a nod to co-chair Josh Levine of Great Monday.

In advance of my participation at the upcoming Storyworld Conference, I’ve found myself debating the meaning and usage of the term Transmedia. Sometimes with my colleagues and peers, and sometimes with myself.

Without a doubt the “T” word is frightfully overused—and with its growing popularity with marketers, and the like, it’s becoming increasingly misused. Or at least, contorted from it’s original definition.

In a recent post from Henry Jenkins, the Provost’s Professor of Communications, Journalism, and Cinematic Art at USC, the man who who first popularized the term, he outlines the range of uses, definitions and reflects on it’s continual evolution.

Transmedia 202.

I found it fascinating and thoroughly insightful.

More good reading on the “T” word:
Why Transmedia is Catching On — July 5, 2011
Transmedia Storytelling 101 — March 22, 2007

I’ve been having more and more conversations about the quickly evolving role of media in the marketing landscape. Specifically, the role of, and relationship between, “paid”, “owned” and “earned” media.  Not just in the digital realm, but also across every medium, channel and context that people are encountering it. It’s time to map this new landscape… so we get down to the business of blurring the boundaries even further.

Each with it’s own unique superpower.

Individually, these media types have can be extremely effective, however, they tend to do certain tasks better then others – a primary function, if you will.

Paid Media, such as broadcast, display, print or OOH is especially good for brand reach – garnering impressions and building awareness. It’s a great for seeding promotions, content and directing people to other media assets. In the case of search, paid is a critical component for lead generation.

Owned Media, such as sites, branded content, apps and events, is the lifeblood for creating engagement, fostering participation and driving consumer consideration.  It’s most effective when it leverages common interest with the audience, offering content that entertains, and/or provides utility.

Earned Media, such as editorial, reviews and the many forms social media, is the most influential of the three – providing social proof, which is so persuasive. Once dominated by P.R. firms, this space gone through a seismic shift with maturation of the social graph.

Ah, the lovely three-headed hydra.

More interestingly then how paid, owned and earn media function separately in the ecosystem, is how they work together. Not just as additive components, with one leading to the next, but as multipliers.

Recently, I’ve worked on some very successful programs in which we’ve bypassed established planning methodologies and rethought how launch a new product into the market.  They’ve come in a few different flavors so far, but they certainly have common threads.

One key has been creating branded content around audience interests in conjunction with, and designed to fit seamlessly with established content publishers. Another is partnering with genuine influencers, incenting them to create and disseminate participatory content.  Both of these generate organic engagement that’s authentic – and the roll of paid media is to supercharge spread.

It has required a mystical mix of traditional planning, digital savvy, classic PR as well as secret handshakes and slight of hand. Activities favoring nibble, scrappy agencies that are aware of, but unfazed by, what they don’t know.

It’s clear we’re at the midst of some big changes in the media planning landscape.

Long overdue if you ask me.

A childhood friend of mine, Xan McCurdy, is the guitar player the popular alt rock band Cake. Perhaps, you remember them from a their older hits, Never There or The Distance?

Obviously, you can imagine my excitement (and surprise) when a mutual friend of ours posted on Facebook that the band’s latest album, Showroom of Compassion, debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Ousting Tyler Swift.

I thought, “I wonder how many albums you need to sell to climb to number one”, so searched the interwebs for the answer.

44,000 albums.

That’s the lowest amount of album sales to ever send an album to No. 1 on Billboard charts in the history of Nielsen SoundScan (which began tracking sales in 1991). Funny enough, the 44K just beat the previous low of 52K, set only the week prior by, yep, Taylor Swift.

Note: Both have more then a long way reach Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which sold somewhere between 70 and 110 million copies.

All of this is yet more indications of the seismic shifts we’ve been witnessing regarding media consumption in the digital age – and, well past the canary in the coalmine for the gasping music industry.

What is abundantly clear is that the CD, and the concept of ‘the album’, are all but dead. Today, it’s all about à la carte song purchases, singles, with digital distribution. Ironically, this is a bit of a return to the good ol’ days, when radio hit records were all singles, and everyone bought those vinyl 45s. I do miss the b-sides (at least now we have Jack White’s Triple-Decker Vinyl).

That said, I would venture to guess that more music is being consumed then ever before – both legally and illegally.  In fact, it’s not clear that Gen Z kids even care about ‘owning’ music (if they can listen to it on demand).

What’s so frustrating is that the music industry just hasn’t figured anything out.

If today’s ‘baby bands’ are finding an audience, it’s pretty much on their own. Some in fact have gotten extremely adept at using the social web to find, engage and transact directly with their fan base.

While MySpace is DOA, there is a glimmer of hope. Burgeoning online music discovery services such as Hype Machine, Grooveshark and Pandora are making inroads. And others like We Are Hunted and The Sixty One are offering a fresh alternative.

But back to Cake… As of right now, they have the No. 1 album in America. That’s pretty freakin’ rad. And what’s more, they self-produced the album and recorded the whole thing their own solar-powered recording studio in Sacramento.

Top that.

I don’t think most product companies, or self-appointed visionaries, will ever fully understand Steve Job’s uncompromising commitment to design excellence and unrelenting pursuit of the ultimate user experience.

Thank you and get well Mr. Jobs.

Nice portrait Mr. Tsevis.

Ah, the business card. Evolving from the calling (or visiting) card, made popular by 17^th Century European aristocrats, they’re truly one of the oldest tools for social networking and most basic examples of marketing collateral.

By the late 20^th century, business cards had transformed into a real art form – becoming the topic of countless design books and a true capitalistic status symbol.

I’ve certainly belonged to the cult of the business card. I’ve designed more business then anyone I know. In fact, it was my first paid design job in high school. Since then I’ve designed cards for just about every business I’ve been associated with, sometimes a multiple versions for the same agencies. One of these days I’ll publish the collection.

But times, they’re a changing – and it’s time for the business card to be reconsidered. And, no, I don’t mean like this!

Recently the app 3-UP caught my eye. Today, it’s an event-based social networking game, but I like the territory and certainly hope they continue to develop it.

While I’ve have yet to see an application that makes my heart flutter like beautiful type, deeply letter pressed on a fine-toothed heavyweight cardstock, it is easy to imagine how the digital calling card could evolve into an art form all it’s own.

I’m ready to take my experience into the digital age. Any developers game to take on the challenge with me?

In the meantime, here are five, not so amazing, solutions:

1. SnapDat

2. beamME

3. twtBizCard

4. Bump

5. BusinessCard2

A few years ago I gave up my car. I’ve always owned one since high school. Mostly VWs and BMWs. They were all smallish, and always fast-ish. My decision was mostly political – specifically my distress with the global catastrophes connected to our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.

Since then I’ve been utilizing all modes of available transportation to compensate. My bike, my friends cars, zipcars, BART – even the, gulp, bus on a few (ok, two) occasions. For the most part, it’s worked out pretty well. But, I do miss the thrill of letting loose on the highway with a zippy little car, and the freedom that car ownership affords me.

I’m giving in. But now, how do I find the right car? One that meets all my needs – fun to drive, fuel-efficient and designer style. Tesla comes to mind. As does aforeblogged Porsche 918 Spyder. But I have a couple of children that I’d like to send to college someday, and I’d really like to retire before I’m 165.

Recently I’ve started looking around, and I keep coming back to the Fiat 500. Which is odd, because my dad owned Fiat Spyder when I was a kid, and that thing bummed me out. It was always breaking down and sat in our driveway many more days then it hit the streets. In fact, people use to say Fiat stood for “Fix It Again, Tony”.

But I’ve done a bit of research and I’m feeling encouraged. So much so that I’ve signed up for, get this… the waiting list to put a $500 deposit down for a reservation.

Tell me, am I making a terrible decision here?

Next week I’ll be joining a group of designers with broad spectrum of backgrounds to discuss the future of design. The event is part of SFMOMA’s Open Space Thursdays.

Below is a description of the event:

Technology is evolving more quickly than ever. The planet can’t sustain our consuming ways anymore. We’re still in a deep economic recession. And 40,000 design students are graduating every year across the country. Is a new golden age of creativity upon us? Or is it the end of design as we know it? (Or both?) Many are touting design as the primary catalyst towards meaningful societal change, but will we all just be designing mobile apps in 5 years instead? And what about the rest of us who still just want to make cool posters?

On October 21, Volume Inc. founder, CCA design professor, and Open Space contributor, Eric Heiman will assemble 5 designers/design teams to address these issues in “Pecha Kucha” format—20 slides, 20 seconds each, 400 seconds total—and then moderate a discussion between them. And because this is an after hours event at SFMOMA, San Francisco’s premier Hip-Hop (M)istress of (C)eremonies, Melina Jones, will be introducing each guest’s credentials with a freestyle rap performance of her own composition (just for starters).

Guests:
Shawn Allen, Stamen
Bob Aufuldish, Aufuldish & Warinner, Associate Professor of Design at CCA
Guthrie Dolin, Odopod
Mike Simonian & Maaike Evers, Mike and Maaike
Joshua To, Brute Labs

Details:
Thursday, October 21 · 7:00pm – 8:30pm
SFMOMA, Koret Visitor Education Center, 2nd floor
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA

Facebook invite here.

A little Monday rant. And, why advertising won’t change the way you smell.

Last week, Tim Barber and I sat on two separate panels at Creative Review’s Click event in SF. There were some notable industry folks participating (representing the likes of R/GA, GS&P, AKQA, W+K), however, the panel discussions seemed to devolve into the same-old conversations.

The two topics, “Agency Landscape of Tomorrow” and “The Future of Online Advertising” both quickly became feeble debates about what agencies were best positioned to “win” out in the future – Traditional or Digital. And, as Mr. Zada added to the mix, “Tradigital” (a mix of traditional and digital).

The fact that we even engaged in this dialog seems ridiculous. First of all, you must have a common definition of success. What do you mean by “win”? Is it about being named AOR in the trade press? Is it about the most PR or industry awards? Is about whose controlling the production budget? Or which agency has the highest annual billings?

I would argue that it should be none of the above. In fact, it shouldn’t be focused on the agencies position at all, but instead be focused on our client’s standing – assessing the value we deliver by the value we generate.

At Odopod, generally we have three types of assignments for our clients: online marketing (or campaign driven work), platform development (the highly-functional sites and delivery systems) and product innovation (on mobile devices, TV or wherever people are encountering the web). More and more, it’s our product-focused work that’s generating the greatest impact for our clients and garnering the most influence. Primarily because product experiences are the most direct extension of the brand and are directly tied to our client’s business model.

Marketing’s role is to speak for the brand when the product or service isn’t there to speak for itself. And it’s clear that many agencies enjoy the ongoing cycle of communication initiatives that are great for their own bottom-line, but often very short-term fixes for their clients most pressing issues.

My case and point from last Thursday evening – great advertising is most critical when the product and/or service are suspect. Take the Old Spice case for an example – no matter how fantastic the current campaign is; it hasn’t changed the way the product smells. In contrast, Apple’s current ads are completely unremarkable – essentially glorified product demos. The difference is that people love the Apple products.

It’s long past time to stop comparing traditional vs. digital agency models and start discussing what we need to do to move the needle for our clients.

Ours is a brand-new world of allatonceness*. “Time” has ceased, “space” has vanished. We now live in a global village…a simultaneous happening. We are back in acoustic space. We have begun again to structure the primordial feeling, the tribal emotions from which a few centuries of literacy divorced us.

We have to shift our stress of attention from action to reaction. We must now know in advance the consequences of any policy or action, since the results are experienced without delay. Because with electronic speed, we can no longer wait and see.

—

Prolific words about the state of our digital world from media analysts Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore in 1967 – taken from The Medium is the Massage. Yes, “the massage”, as in Swedish body manipulation.

I never tire of reviewing this book and seeing just how relevant the concepts still are 43  years (and counting) later.

* McLuhan’s term for the cultural condition leading to the global village, wherein mass communication allows geographically separated communities to experience events and receive knowledge in unison.