Brand / Belief. Paul Isakson: Taking Time To Get It Right. There are a lot of people talking about the importance of launching and iterating these days. Just put it out there and keep moving. Don't put off launching to make it perfect. It will never be perfect. Just make it good enough and go. While I agree with the spirit of these statements and the context in which people are talking about them, there is a balance. Nobody is dying to see your next ad, so why should you let yourself get caught up in rushing to get a new ad out there? It's important to get the idea right because attention is at a premium. Beyond that, every idea you release into the world determines how willing someone will be to spend time with your next idea.
If you want people to spend time with with your ideas, and even more, spread them for you, you shouldn't rush to get them out for the sake of getting them out. Whatever you're creating, give yourself time to get it right. How Playful Workplaces Will Change The Future Of Work. After analysis of hundreds of data points collected around the evolution of work and collaboration, the PSFK Consulting Team noticed that businesses are designing their work environments around the philosophy that play and fun can help inspire their employees to design more innovative ideas, products and services.
Companies are filling their spaces with vibrant colors, games, interior gardens and, in some cases, large slides as a way tomstimulate the imaginations of their employees and reduce the stresses associated with meeting goals and deadlines. Below we’ve included several of the best examples that supported the theme of ‘Playful Workplaces.’ Office Design Promotes Spontaneous, Playful Interaction Toy manufacturer LEGO’s new office in Denmark is a mixture of creativity, imagination and innovation in the workspace.
Game Company Creates Office That Is A Playful “Fantasy Land” Search Giants Boosts Worker Productivity With Office Space Design And Amenities. Planning the Future of Planning. A while back I wrote a paper to enter the ADMAP Future of Planning contest. I was shortlisted, which was nice. You can and should check out the winning papers. They are awesome and wise. Nick Hirst [DARE] GOLD wrote an excellent paper on the division in strategy and how [user] Experience Planning provide a model to both understand behavior and architect holistic brand experiences. His perspicacious analysis of the strengths, and corresponding weaknesses, of brand planning ['conceptual planners'] and media planning ['practical planners'] is enlightening and rings true to me, having been on both sides at various points.
If you have a hammer etc.. [As an aside {I feel like it's been a while since I've been paranthetical.} - I think everyone who works in advertising should spend time working at the other side of the fence if they can: creative, media, digital whatever. We need polymath thinkers to build holistic solutions in complex times. I'm aligned with this thinking. How does advertising work? Choose-the-future---faris---admap-prize. 10 Big Mistakes People Make in Thinking About the Future | Visions. Photo Credit: Frank Peters Being a working futurist means that I think a lot about how people think about the future. It also means spending a lot of time with people who are also thinking about their own futures. Typically, this involves a dialogue between three distinct groups. First, there's usually a small handful of very foresighted people, who are aware of their own blind spots and biases, and who are eager and open about the prospect of soaring into a wild blue sky to gather a lot of exciting new information.
Second, there's a larger group of people who don't usually think at 50,000 feet -- but are willing to go there if they're with people they trust. And then there's a third small group that's very resistant to the idea that anything could or should change. 1. But the gotcha is: research by academic futurists has found that this expected future really isn't the most likely outcome at all.
It's good to know what your expected future is. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. The Future Of TV Is Two Screens, One Held Firmly In Your Hands. The connected TV, sometimes called the smart TV (and even branded as such by Samsung) is a growing phenomenon: TV makers are adding limited apps, Net connectivity, and even streaming media powers to their newer TVs in the hope they'll persuade you to upgrade your newish LCD for a flatter, smarter unit. They're desperate to, given how flat this market is. But according to new research from Pew, the future of TV may actually be a little more closely aligned with the notion of a "connected TV viewer," an important distinction.
Pew spoke to over 2,200 U.S. adults a couple of months ago and discovered that 52% of all adult cell phone owners now "incorporate their mobile devices into their television watching experiences. " Here's more: It's a feast for social media marketers. That there's a 20% direct engagement from the audience to a simple website mention is a key fact for advertisers. [Image: Flickr user Mark Sebastian] Why Solving Problems Beats Marketing. I am looking out the window of my office seeing buildings with many dark windows, behind those tinted panes of glass are people working and living and they all have problems and challenges…every one.
They don’t care about you or your company all they care about is finding a solution to their daily life challenges and issues. Problems come to people in many forms and it creates nagging and ongoing pain and dissonance that they wake up with every day and it bounces around in their heads as they toss and turn at night. The pain could be that they are overweight or they don’t have enough money, their business sales are slow or their relationship is so distracting that they can’t concentrate at work.
People just want those problems to go away and find solutions to them so they can enjoy life. So the main question to ask is… what answers and solutions can I provide today to prospective clients that will ease their pain? Some of the specific questions that you should be asking yourself are.
Why Agencies Will Double Down on Strategy. Agencies confront a vastly different media landscape. In a platform world, many marketers are taking control of functions like social media and even media buying. Creative can come from all corners, as evidenced by Microsoft’s new work for the Surface tablet, which wasn’t done by one of its agencies. Where does that leave agencies? Probably falling back on their strategic chops. According to a study conducted by agency business-development consultants RSW/US, more agencies are now putting their apples in the “strategic counsel” service bucket than were doing so in 2009, despite the fact that marketers for the most part still aren’t really making use of them.
As their traditional revenue streams come under increased pressure, agencies are stocking their strategic arsenals in the hope they’ll still be relevant to clients five or 10 years down the line, albeit in a different way. The research suggests 76 percent of agencies now provide strategic services, up from 59 percent in 2009. Why Agencies Must Bet on Content. Last week on Digiday, Jack Marshall wrote about the need for agencies to start “stocking their strategic arsenals in the hope they’ll still be relevant to clients five or 10 years down the line.” While I certainly wouldn’t argue with Marshall on the need for agencies to provide strategic counsel, I’m not sure that’s what will set them apart, nor keep them in the good graces of their clients. I believe this to be the case for two reasons, the first of which Marshall states in his article: “The research suggests 76 percent of agencies now provide strategic services, up from 59 percent in 2009.
Only 16 percent of marketer clients surveyed, however, say they make use of them.” I’m not certain why that is, but my hunch would be that most agencies needlessly over-complicate their strategic counsel in the hopes of making themselves look like all-knowing wizards. The 6 People You Need in Your Corner. Don't think | Management Thinking. Seth's Blog: The circles of marketing. David Ogilvy On Creating The Ideal Agency Culture: Branding Strategy Insider. The 6 Personalities Every Startup Needs To Thrive. Assembling your team is like putting together a puzzle. To succeed, you need to find the proper combination of complementary talents.
A desire to change the world, think creatively, and to work in a culture of innovation, are all reasons people pursue careers in startups over big companies. America's best and brightest are no longer seeking the corner office--instead, they're offering up their talents to technology companies in the hope of building something better. Most startups come with a caveat: the agile, fast-paced nature of a newborn business isn't for everyone. The risk-adverse, status quo, complacent-types need not apply. Yet, hiring a bunch of go-getters is not the sole solution to creating a successful team. Instead, strive for balance as you hire. 1. Every startup needs a dreamer.
Don't rely solely on your own leadership. 2. The manager takes a dream and makes it happen. 3. The builder thinks like an architect and acts like a tradesman. 4. 5. 6. [Image: Flickr user I,Timmy] Why Agencies Must Bet on Content. Shake It Up. I have three suggestions for you to tackle 2012: Power it Up Heat it Up Speed it Up Why are these three things important? Because in this facebook era of sharing and connecting and friending and liking and all these soft power touches, we have lost the edge of winning. And these three directions will put us back on track. Coach of the Century Vince Lombardi said “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”
And wanting to win has never been more important, because we live in a VUCA world. I learnt this at the Pentagon. We live in a world that is VOLATILE. We live in a world that is UNCERTAIN. We live in a world that is COMPLEX: How can 7 billion people all have shelter, secure food, stay healthy, get along, feel great, be happy, pay for it all – and fight off aliens!!? We live in a world that is AMBIGUOUS. To win in a VUCA world, you must reframe it - to “superVUCA”. Usain Bolt is superVUCA. He wants to win.
The winning M.O. is Fail Fast, Learn fast, Fix fast. Management is dead. Mystery.
R/GA's Bob Greenberg and Nick Law at MIXX 2009 discussing how they were developing their new agency model - Mitch Ado About Much. Agencies.