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17.10.2008 by Zoltan 
Pastures old for yours truly…
Its been just over 2 years since I joined de-construct London back in the heady summer of 2006. Remember, the only decent summer in northern europe this century? At the start of this year I was given the opportunity to creatively lead and help startup de-construct’s Amsterdam office.
The experience has been fantastic, and I have learnt so much about the ‘business’ of advertising but after 8 months I’ve decided that this city is just not for me.
So it’s back to Ol’ Blighty for me as of next Monday. I am extremely fortunate to be taking up the position of Associate Creative Director of R/GA London. They are doing work that is quite simply unlike any other agency I’ve ever met and I’ll be working on some amazing clients. The combination of (relative) youth and raw desire in the management team was too-good to refuse. Well, that and the fact that they walk away from well paying jobs when the client wants to dilute the idea beyond recognition. These are the type of people everyone should work for, but not many do…
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15.10.2008 by Zoltan BAD08 - Poverty of ideas
Today is Blog Action Day, and this year’s theme is poverty. Rather than comment on financial poverty and helping the under-priviledged, I thought I would write a bit about poverty of truly original ideas in advertising because that is what I know (something) about.
Known politely as ‘inspiration’, and not so politely as plagiarism - largely depending on whether you’re the originator or not - our industry is driven by the fuzzy grey line between the two. There are countless examples, from Fallon’s bunnies to today’s news that BMB is being sued by the makers of iBeer for stealing their awesome idea and ‘recontextualising’ it as a piece of branded content.
The fact is that lot of good, even perhaps great, advertising is the recontextualisation or mashing-up of other people’s ideas for commercial purpose. Contrary to what most practitioners believe, advertising is not often at the cutting edges of creativity, characterised by a few flashes of brilliance in between long periods of failure (being anything but one of these flashes). We’re too concerned with the commerical imperatives of the client to be in the lucky position of being able to fail until we get it right.
In itself this is not necessarily a bad thing. What is a terrible shame is that the industry as a whole is just not very good at giving credit where credit is due. It could be fearful creatives desperately trying to defend their positions/process, or account men and women being good at their jobs to assuage the client’s distress, or project managers trying to manage their never-big-enough budgets. Or it just might be that the person who’s idea you are appropriating just isn’t interested in commercialising their work. And this must also be respected. But whatever the reason, this poverty of ideas - and in their vacuum, poverty of legitimate credit - has to stop.
I don’t have any magic pills that can change any of this, and I don’t think anyone does. Sure longer timelines would help. As well as not working with pedestrian clients wanting just a-n-other “one of those”.
All comments welcome on how we might address this? I’d love to know your thoughts…
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08.10.2008 by Zoltan Terrifyingly close to reality
Still off-topic on the political tip, but at least this comes courtesy of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. They’ve made a whole bunch of ads against McCain, but this is the pick IMHO. And like Tina Fey’s hilarious Palin impressions, its unbelievably scary because the humour is actually just the reality.
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08.10.2008 by Zoltan “A really bad Disney movie”
I loved Matt Damon in ‘Team America’ and didn’t think he could actually do anything better. But he’s back with some succinct observations on Palin’s nomination. A sad indictment indeed on the general state of American apathy and I can only hope that his celebrity will convince some people to get up and vote this November…
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07.09.2008 by Zoltan If we cannot play, we cannot begin to be fully human
In March I wrote about the launch of Analog Folk, and the seemingly unbelievable situation of a new agency - with digital at its core - not having their (excellent) content embed-able.
At the time it seemed to me a gross oversight, so I’m happy to report that Ed Ling, from Analog Folk, has just written to say that they’ve updated the functionality. Sorry Ed, but you could’ve done a bit more with the graphic design.
Anyway here it is. Sit back and enjoy Matt Dyke’s insights on gaming and the rediscovery of analog play. He charts the evolution of game-play from the button mashing of the 80’s and 90’s through Xbox Live and the connection of real humans, past the Wii and into the future of biofeedback and the thought-interface.
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07.09.2008 by Zoltan Out intellectual-ise your mates with bkkeeper
I’m not really a big twitterer yet (but I think my new iPhone will change that), but I just came across this ingenious bolt-on idea called bkkeeper, which turns your twitter into a broadcast of your book reading habits.
But apart from sharing the titles you’re currently reading, they’ve also built a system which allows you to digitally dog-ear / bookmark pages. Its a great way of sharing with people in real-time what was previously only a solo experience.
Apart from the fact that I haven’t figured out how to get an account there yet (am I just completely stupid/blind?), the only thing that could improve this would be some webcam integration to read the ISBN number for you - you know, like Delicious Library.
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07.09.2008 by Zoltan The One
Watch this through and you’ll think the Wachowski’s were perhaps more than just a little prescient. Kevin Kelly from Wired looks at the fact that the current web is only 5000 days old, and posits what the coming 5000 days will bring.
If you don’t have the time, then it pretty much goes like this -
“There is only One machine.
The web is its OS.
All screens look into the One.
No bits will live outside the web.
To share is to gain.
Let the One read it.
The One is us.”Word.
via in my atmosphere
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07.09.2008 by Zoltan Lateral thinking
In Australia, Stella Artois is the king of premium beers. But like any brand, they wanted to sell more (of course). They needed to up their game, and created a new sales team to focus on it. And of course, they needed some marketing materials to help them do the selling. So far, so traditional.
But the sales team didn’t really know about the legacy of the brand and the long association with film, especially in the UK. Instead of a series of sleep-worthy PowerPoints, they were each given a customised PSP loaded with film content. Not only could they educate themselves, but they could educate the bar owners as well. And importantly, have some fun doing it.
And it worked (from after the jump) - “analysis has shown that every sales representative who was given a PSP met all their sales targets for the relevant quarter. Anecdotal feedback also confirmed that without exception, the PSP was regarded as the best sales presenter ever received. As a result, Foster’s is now reviewing further rollout of the tool.”
This is a great example of an agency, in this case Lowe Rivet, stepping back from the brief and thinking about what needs to be achieved and by whom. Again, in digital we’re often too proud to offer clients ready-made solutions. But custom is not always king. Often - and increasingly more so as every single facet of digital possibility has a web 2.0 offering - it just makes sense to take something pre-engineered, and tweak it as required.
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07.09.2008 by Zoltan A (digital) tendency to overwork ideas…
In digital, I often feel that there is a tendency to overwork ideas. Longer non-linear time frames, coupled with clients who were sound alseep during the single-minded proposition part of their marketing degrees, don’t help the situation. Many many times I’ve sat in meetings that were overcomplicating an idea for on other reason than habit.
But not all ideas need to be ground breaking. Some just need to be simple, timely and well executed. And this new press campaign for Sony Walkman is a perfect case in point. Its not a new idea by any stretch, but its executed with a sense of calm elegance that elevates it above the clutter.
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02.09.2008 by Zoltan Everything Matters wins the FWA
Warning! More shameless self-promotion… 2 days after it launched and Everything Matters has already won the FWA! That’s gotta be a record turnaround!
UPDATE! Everything Matters makes the front page of Creativity Online as the Interactive Pick of the Day 05.09.2008
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30.08.2008 by Zoltan He’s just that good.
Brilliant piece of work responding to the gamers who posted a glitch in the EA game Tiger Woods that allowed you to play from the water like a modern-day Jesus. Rather than issue a patch to the game, they hit the problem head-on without fear in this simply awesome viral . “It’s not a glitch. He’s just that good.”, and frankly so are the agency and client behind this.
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30.08.2008 by Zoltan Everything Matters by Panasonic
Warning! Shameless self-promotion!
Everything Matters is much more than a consumer-facing website. It is the entire comms platform for Panasonic Europe through to 2010. At its most basic Everything Matters is a content portal or hub, created to be a central repository for the various amazing brand stories that Panasonic has to tell, but has yet to do so.
The content was conceptualised to be varied in both form and depth - sitting somewhere between a print ad and a website. In other words, some information but with the visceral impact and simplicity of a print ad, aided where possible by interactivity.
Both in style and approach, it is a radical departure for Panasonic. There is very little product detail on the site and the soft gradients on white were dispensed with for a more tactile and human art direction. Major battles that we fought very hard to win.
Created by de-construct.
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30.08.2008 by Zoltan Global Rich List
It might be about 5 years old now, but the Global Rich List is one of those ideas that just gets better with age - aided by the unfortunate growth in the rich/poor divide.
But what makes this such a brilliant piece of communication is the irony inherent in the mechanic. It makes you feel both good (rich) and bad (selfish) by ranking you against everyone else on the entire planet. And it is this duality that compels action. A very clever way to cut through the constant pressure of “keeping up with the Joneses” and highlight what a little change from your pocket could do for the world’s poorest.
An almost perfect gem from Poke London.
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30.08.2008 by Zoltan Imperial Fleet Week SF
Someone has mixed politics and geek-ism to perfection in this wonderfully poignant film about ‘Imperial Fleet Week’. I wonder if any of the Americans watching this made the leap into empathising for the Iraqis? Or if it was just a really good bit of motion tracking?
via andreas
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15.08.2008 by Zoltan LHC Rap
I’m currently reading Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku. Though credited with making theoretical physics accessible, its clearly a relative concept because I don’t understand even the half of it. Thankfully some crazy cats at the LHC do, and what better way to connect with the disenfranchised youf than to rap about it? This is so geeky its beyond awesome :)
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