Joining The Dots

I made a presentation to The Futures Company this morning called 'Joining The Dots'. It was about how some of that very powerful trend and insight work - whether it be desk or primary research - often gets lost in translation to the creative agency domain. It is a particular bugbear of mine as my career has crossed this divide. It was difficult for me to make the switch from enthusisatic and brainstorming researcher who thought he was being creative to being able to make a meaningful contribution to creative strategy and output. I have seen other people frustrated by the transition. It isn't easy and there is no manual to help you do it - perhaps that is a good idea for one - and my sense is that, inspite of my manuel idea, there is no substitute for the experience of doing it. It is a shame, as the very best ideas I have been involved with have been generated by looking 'outside', for insight or research or trends or some combination thereof. The trick is in bringing them to bear in a meaningful way that creative people can do something with.

It doesn't help that so much of this potentially good stuff gets handed across disciplines in the form of powerpoint and almost inevitably, it gets lost in translation. There is no substitute for talking rather than handing power point decks over. Because the recepient needs to internalise the nuggets of insight and somehow make it there own, in order to create from it, it is no wonder that a powerpoint slide just doesn't do it.

We have also become so specialist that in our process it has become rare for one person to champion insight all the way through the process. Back in the early days of account planning, planners did lots of groups on their own ideas. They were able to understand any creative work that was going into the groups and fed back to the creators in a language they understood. With more and more creative development work being put in the hands of research specialists the passage of good, clean, inspiring information is hampered.

I have more to say on this subject, but that will be for another day. The presentation seemed to go well. Whether the group take me up on the offer to have a further working session is another matter altogether.

Crowdsurfing

Martin Thomas, author of the book “Crowd Surfing”, paid a visit to Coley Porter Bell last week and spoke about how brands are dealing with the age of consumer empowerment.

His thesis is that, though it has become something of a marketing cliche that consumers own brands whilst brand owners merely control trademarks, in reality the way that companies and agencies talk about brand development and management is largely predicated on the notion of absolute control, a notion that runs counter to what is really happening in a consumer empowered and expressive world.

If you want proof, says Martin, try an Google image search for ‘MasterCard priceless’ or ‘McDonald’s.’ 

All to often the trademark owners don’t really know how to navigate this changed world and come down disproportionately heavily on consumers messing with their brands. Sure, there will be cases where empowered and creative consumers have crossed the line, but all too often the corporate giant gets too defensive too quickly.

My personal favourite is computer programmer, Jose Avila, when short of money and furniture when he moved to a new town, starting to create tables, chairs, a desk, shelves, and even a bed out of used FedEx boxes. 
He posted pictures of what he had done on www.fedexfurniture.com This could have been a brilliant story for FedEx. It is a very creative. And it is a recycling story par excellence. FedEx could have fanned this story and started a whole new strand of interesting PR coverage, stunts, events, etc. But instead of embracing what Jose was doing, the company brought a lawsuit to have the site taken down. The case seems to have gone back and forth, with Stanford lawyers working pro bono with Jose. As of January 2009, the site is down.

But there are people who are beginning to embrace the crowd. People such as Proctor & Gamble’s former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, A.G. Lafley, who describes how business leaders: “are operating in what is very much a ‘let go’ world”, Alex Marks at Microsoft Advertising who talks about “allowing your work to get ‘messed up’”, by which he means allowing consumers to get involved in the creation and dissemination of a brand message, suggesting that “You’ll not only save yourself money but you just might increase your share of voice.” Go to www.ideastorm.com and see how Dell are embracing the crowd and their ideas. Doritos has run a competition for people to send in their ideas for superbowl ads (the winner gets to make theirs and it is aired).

I wonder how long it will be before we create a ‘logo of parts’ and allow people to create their own versions of it, or have an open source brief with a global call for logo submissions for a new identity?

For more details on the book, the blog, Martin or to enroll for surf school, click here .

Coley Porter Bell Blog

A plug for the Coley Porter Bell blog that went live today. It is worth a look, here.

What's Cool

There are a lot of trends sites around. Here are a couple of goodies. First: The Cool Hunter at http://www.thecoolhunter.net/. The site, and the on-site blurb, below, is a little like a slightly overpowering perfume, but it interesting and looks nice nevertheless.

The Cool Hunter celebrates creativity in all of its modern manifestations. We are a leading online publication and an upmarket hub for what is the most creative, the most innovative, the newest, best and coolest. We value global relevance, not global trends, channeling what we find to our worldwide audience. The Cool Hunter brand is a natural fit for creative influencers, those who stay in the know and ahead of the curve. Global in outlook, culturally discerning.

I must say I rather like today's second offering, 2Modern Design Talk at http://blog.2modern.com/ blog/site. It feels a little more purposeful, a little less self-conscious and I like the fact that there is contributor commentary. Here is its blurb:

2Modern is a consortium of designers, artists, innovators, furniture connoisseurs and regular, everyday people. What is unique about 2Modern Design Talk? We provide a wide-range of views and commentary focused on contemporary design. Contributors to the blog are designers, manufacturers, editors, retailers, architects and consumers.

I suspect that 'CoolHunting', at http://www.coolhunting.com/ , served, at some point, as the inspiration for thecoolhunter.net (you clearly have to mind your "nets" and "coms" in all this). Its blurb:

Cool Hunting is a daily update on ideas and products in the intersection of art, design, culture and technology, and features weekly videos that get an inside look at the people who create them. Money can buy you a lot of things, but it can’t buy you coverage on Cool Hunting. All of our content is editorially based using the standard of “stuff we like".

The picture, in case you were wondering, was the first image that was served up to me on when I Googled "what's cool" in Google Images.