John Drake

The Tech We Bring In

When Genevieve Bell was studying the car industry, one of the things she reportedly discovered what that the technology in the car wasn't as important as the technology that people brought into the car.

Our music, podcasts, address books and recent destinations are with us everywhere, so why try to duplicate that in the car? Just create the ability to hook up the phone.

Which makes sense. Our cars are full of personal items we brought in.

It's a very smart piece of ethno research. And it might be the philosophy that helps retail, too.

What if instead of a retailer investing huge amounts of money into physical things, location by location, they focus their attention on reacting to a phone once it arrives? I think this goes beyond apps and beacons. Target and Starbucks and more could tie together on one platform, not separate ones that they each have to build, market and grow an audience for. Like our playlists of hundreds of bands that share a channel. 

Maybe the answer is something like MyShop Companion?

What The Web Was Supposed To Be

"It was not supposed to be a publishing medium. It was supposed to be a collaborative space."

Real Time Outdoor

Here's an artificially intelligent billboard with an algorithm attached. The board evolves over time to show the most effective ads that it can based on people's reactions. Copy, layout, font and image can all be mixed and matched, automatically, in real time. The point is that it gets smarter, choosing less and less solutions until it finds the best mix...

"We are not suggesting a diminished role for creative but we know technology will be playing a greater part in what we do." 

 

There's an important nuance to monitor with this particular approach for creativity. It's one thing to have various executions and then optimize to the highest performing one; that's wonderful. And there's a beauty in taking design elements that prove to work in one area and trying to spread them across others.

 

But this AI creative design approach starts to get close to literal group design without guidance. Incorporating everyone together and then spitting out one idea is a risk. Like what GM did with their initiative to "give the people what they want" and use extensive focus groups to arrive at the design of the quickly-pulled Aztek.

 

Said one company exec back then: "By the time it was done, it came out as this horrible, least-common-denominator vehicle where everyone said, 'How could you put that on the road?'" 

We're Really Here To Tell A Story

“We’re really here to tell a story,” Townsend said. “That’s the constant in what we do.” The imagery is stunning, but it wouldn’t have nearly the same effect if its disseminators weren’t experts at adding context, developing narratives, and heightening suspense."

Which is how a bunch of government space geeks won the internet.

 

Jay Chiat on Web Ads

Why do you think no one has figured out a way to make traditional ads work on the Web?

"It’s the same problem we originally had with television. We had the new technicians doing it first, you didn’t have the artists. That’s where we are now. We’re just beginning to get the artists. Once they get a hold of it, and grasp it and understand how to use it, it will get better."

-Jay Chiat, 1999

 

Machines Are For Answers; Humans Are For Questions

Machines are for answers; humans are for questions. The world that Google is constructing—a world of cheap and free answers—having answers is not going to be very significant or important. Having a really great question will be where all the value is.

A good quote that might sit with you for a bit, from Kevin Kelly.

Brand As Soluions Provider

This is well done. Seven excellent ways to approach brand content. One of those that's good to review and re-acquaint with prior to content brief assignments. Like cooking a familiar recipe; checking the card beforehand to make sure things are just right.

Here's Your Internet Of Things

Liked this. Especially the bit around 18:39. It's easy for some companies to become distant from their customers. And then they start to do things, which can be bold, and a little off.

And then, later on towards the end of this podcast, perhaps IOT does have a branding issue...

Re-Imagining Twitter

He's right about this. Nearly one billion users have tried Twitter and not stuck around. One billion. Lots of interest, hard to understand. These changes, or ones like them, could help turn the platform into a place of more global conversation and reaction. Which doesn't really exist today on a wide scale. Thanks Nick.

Dancing Disney

When you have large social channels you can really invest in things like this. Especially true for Disney. Donald Duck on his own has an audience of 4.2 million on Facebook.