looks like we’re in a viral

you’re a fake

i’m a fake

everything is fake

Love this great little parody of a viral advert by Mini, which ironically is becoming viral…

Do schools kill creativity? talk by Sir Ken Robinson

I was just sifting through the TED annual conference website (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), lamenting how much I would love to be there, and i came across this wonderful talk titled “Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity”. The clip speaks for itself so I won’t go on about it too much other than to say it is articulate, funny, kind of poignant and well worth a watch.

View the movie on the TED website here

Great quotable quote

if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original – Sir Ken Robinson

Be sure to have a good look around the TED website – there is some fantastic stuff on there. But if you are short on time at least make sure you watch this clip. It’s a treat.

IE6 we need to break up… it’s not me… it’s you.

IE6 I am putting a restraining order on you

Don't you know when you're no longer welcome???

I was just lamenting why some of our clients insist on keeping on with IE6. A disproportionate bumber of our clients use it was thei main browser. You’re building a new site, everything looks great in IE7,  Firefox 3, Safari… then you test it in IE 6 and sweet Jesus it’s all over the show. I keep looking at the browser stats waiting for IE6 to disappear but it’s alarmingly popular (December 2008 showed 19.6% users). It’s dreadful at supporting standards, and has no support for PNGs… I mean come on!

When can we ditch the support for this browser. IE7 was released in October 2006 – what are these IT mangers actually doing? I think half the problem I personally have is that some of my clients have browser-based systems that aren’t supported by IE7, I know for example our webscanner software doesn’t work in IE7. Some Java applet issue. But seriously! This is a big fat pain in the butt. I remember years ago I used to put at the bottom of some websites “best viewed in….” maybe I need to go back to doing that?

The future of advertising just called – on your iPhone

I remember 8 years ago when I was in London that mobile advertising was being touted as the next big thing – well that and iTV. Haven’t really seen much of mobile advertising since then. But I just read this article in which Google CEO Eric Schmidt states “The next big wave in advertising is the mobile internet”.

Schmidt predicts that, although it may take some time, mobile business will be a larger business than the PC-Web. I can see the logic in this. After all, your phone is mobile and is almost always on you. The iPhone with it’s real web browser is providing new mobile advertising opportunities – with the likes of Nokia, Blackberry and Motorola all soon to follow. Soon advertisers will be able to deliver new and exciting targeted messages right into your… pocket!

“The advertising has to be more entertaining, more interesting, more immersive compared to what we have today” – Eric Schmidt

Soon you will be receiving advanced targeted advertisments straight to your phone (better than this one i hope!)

For anyone who is unsure what mobile web even is, it is where a phone or PDA has WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) capabillities, and this is used facilitate access to the Internet from your mobile. To date it’s been fairly lousy and not really worth bothering with despite what some pundits might say. But it seems it’s all about to change.

I’ll be interested to see what form mobile advertising starts to take. I guess it will be the likes of redeemable mobile coupons, opt-in competitions, a new mobile form of advanced banner advertising, campaigns based on video and so on. The only advertising I have had delivered to my phone so far was from my provider and it was some lame little animated gif. As it matures advertising campaigns will obviously become even more personal and hopefully more effective. In this article on AOL Working With iPhone on Mobile Advertising, Time Warner’s Internet business Platform A already boast being able to “…deliver banners optimized for display on the iPhone.”

Hand in hand with some kick arse content development, I would hope to see some best practices for the mobile Web advertising. I am already constantly moaning about the amount of web browsers – imagine designing ads for the gazillion of different sized handsets that are going out be out there. And as for how to book a mobile campaign, well I haven’t even considered that until just now…

Digital advertising – achieving your new integrated offering

With the triumphant resurgence of the web and its ability to talk directly to your customer, it seems every advertising agency around is wanting to provide digital services alongside their traditional methods. Not only this, but having realised that outsourcing is just not returning the level of brand control required, coupled with the shift in the way the web is being used in advertising, agencies are now looking to bring it in-house. With Internet catching up and in some places overtaking traditional media consumption they are quickly realising if they are not in this space they are going to be left behind.

The main hurdle I see in this development of the modern advertising agency is the convergence of cultures as companies merge and disciplines start to intertwine. Much has already been written on the effect a merger has on corporate culture. Whether the agency grows its digital offering organically or through a merger or acquisition, there is going to be an impact on the culture of the company.

Advertising 2.0

Growing your digital department organically means you can choose the right people for the positions you want to fill and control your growth, but on the downside there may not be the level of support and understanding these techy people require in order to operate effectively – in other words, their culture. The problem with the level of technical expertise needed to fill a digital role often means that, unlike conventional advertising roles where one employee can often wear many hats, your digital employee will normally be a specialist in one area and not have the expertise to cover several roles. You may need to hire several people just to provide the service properly.

If this is the case then maybe a merger with an exisitng digital company is a better idea. Although digital offers far more than just web design, for the sake of this article, I am going to theorise for argument’s sake that your agency and a web company have joined in what is envisaged to be a mutually beneficial merger. You want their technology, they need your client base. The difference in the way an agency operates and a web development company operates is problematic in itself, but the very professional mentality that each sector has is significantly different. Ad agencies have a culture based on creativity and flair, and taking risks. Web companies have a culture based on developing and implementing technology, and minimsing risks. Those are two vastly different headspaces. Getting these two cultures to gel and form a harmonious super-agency is going to take a considerable amount of work and management.

You will need to be inclusive and educate all your staff about what is happening, who the new people are, what their roles are, and what work they will be doing.

OK so you are talking the talk – you need to walk the walk. Digital is important to the future of the agency, and you need to back that up with action. This means having digital representatives in your upper management. Digital is not just an add-on service – it is an important resource, providing highly measurable marketing and media channels that deliver your brand message straight to the customer. Today it might be mainly websites and social media offerings you require, but tomorrow you might need to be offering in-game advertising and product placement, or supplying creative for bluetooth triggered dynamic digital billboards. Whatever you are positioned to offer, the complexity and often lengthy production times of digital projects dictate that a Digital Manager should be present from the very first sit-down with your client on any new campaign. Strategy and planning should be made a priority. Assign good digital managers who can interface between your exisiting agency staff, your new digital staff, and of course your clients. People who understand both the traditional advertising campaign process and the IT project development process. And whatever path you choose to take to achieve your new integrated approach, make sure that once you have put these key people in key positions, you then empower them to do the job for you.