Entries Tagged 'Thoughts' ↓

It has been my intension to create a short advisory and discovery program called Interne(x)t for clients, marketers, ad agencies, etc. It would be a three hour meeting to discuss and present emerging internet applications and digital technologies, followed by a brainstorm on how these could potentially be used for the forces of good and evil (aka advertising, marketing, pr).

The most common reaction to a discussion with clients and agencies alike is, “How do you find out about all this stuff?” The answer is simple: I suffer from an addiction to change. The internet and digital technologies just happen to dovetail nicely with my affliction. While most people are relieved to come home from the office and leave their computer behind, I look forward to catching up on hundreds of feeds, emails, services, blogs, reports, updates, reviews, experiments, links, tweets…

I try to join everything. I must have over 500 logins to various services. I’ll always try them. If they’re not sticky, if they don’t keep me coming back, then the passwords just gather dust and I forget about them. But if they do stick, I will emerge myself in them. Then I will experiment by using them in different ways. My perspective is clouded by another sickness brought on by well over a decade in the advertising business: marketingitus. It is impossible for me to ignore the marketing perspective of, well, everything. I ask myself questions like, “How will this help build an audience?” “How could this be used to communicate with consumers in a surprising and delightful way?” “What promotions would be appreciated through this channel?” “Is there a way to strengthen a brand relationship using this technology?”

*sigh*

It’s tough being an internet change addict afflicted with marketingitus but somehow I manage. I don’t ask for your pity, only your attention.

All of it.

Right now.

I received an email from a former colleague of mine looking to break back into the creative online ad world. He sent me a few questions which I hammered out some answers to and sent back to him. I found my own answers very interesting– not because I am completely narcissistic and egotistical, but because it made me think about some simple things that I don’t normally consider in the rush of daily life and work. Try asking yourself a few simple questions like these, and see where you end up. It might surprise you. Here’s an excerpt of the Q & A:

Where do you see Interactive media/advertising going in the next couple of years?
The landscape is fragmented. No one has the right answers yet. Boutiques are growing into larger agencies, larger agencies are trying to break themselves into boutiques. Pure-plays (digital agencies) are trying to be more strategic on the brand side, and global full-service agencies are trying to figure out how to hang onto the business when they cost so much. Everything is in flux.

Why does the Interactive space excite/motivate you?
Because it changes every day. Because there are no rules. We aren’t entrenched in 50 years of how things have been done, like television and radio.

What is the most exciting trend you see coming up in the Interactive area?
Data portability. It doesn’t sound sexy, but it would allow you to move your data from one vender or service to another. You would own your information and content. You could move your videos from YouTube to Vimeo if you wanted. Or from Facebook to Orkut. It would be much like transferring a word document from MS Word to Simple Text.

I’m also excited by online applications (Like Google Docs) that are the beginning of de-centralization: where we just need an access point, and don’t need a big heavy laptop. Free ubiquitous wi-fi would be nice as well.

What examples (read ‘list of links’) can you suggest of fantastic work you’ve seen or been a part of online?
As strange as it may sound, I’m less interested in campaigns and advertising online as I used to be. I am far more interested in the personality of an online communication tool, and how individuals and businesses us that tool to their possible advantage. Take Twitter for instance: it is a simple SMS broadcasting tool, set up to let people know what they are doing at any given time with a strict character limit of 180. Yet the community surrounding it and the many different uses of it, are of great interest. Using an application like Twitterific, I can keep track of what my ‘friends’ and acquaintances are doing and saying in real time. It’s like having a mini telepathic receiver on my desktop. Breaking news and viral videos come to me first. Interesting sights and links come to me first. It’s faster (and less predictable) than email. It’s not as invasive as Instant Messaging. I also get my New York Times and CBC headlines on it. I get blog updates, and track some of geekdom’s biggest celebrities: what they are thinking, what they are up to. It’s an application that has changed the way I use my computer.

To see some of the things that inspire me, or that I find, I have my collaborative link site at 1over100.com. It is published by me and a few friends, and contains found videos, sites, things of interest.

Ffffound.com is a sight that bookmarks images. I can’t wait to see how they monetize it.

Plaxo.com is an interesting way to keep track of your contacts, and what they are doing online.

The fastest growing social network in the universe right now is for kids: Webkinz.com. You cannot get into it without a plush animal that comes with a unique PIN code. Once inside, there are games, a virtual version of the pet, peer-to-peer “safe” chat and play dates, and countless product extensions with their OWN unique codes to makes sure kids want to buy things in the store and come back online in a vicious and expensive cycle.

The viral campaign for Cloverfield, the movie by JJ Abrams of “Lost” fame, was interesting. They created so much buzz online by not naming the movie or showing the monster. It made fans rabid for information, and Abrams’ team hid teasers online. These included pictures of a giant object on a Japanese radar screen, images of large chomped up fish washed up on a beach, etc. This fed the flames and created a monstrous opening week for the movie.

I’m fascinated by the viral videos being created for Barack Obama, as they all seem to stick in the top ten forever. Check out the ViralVideoChart.com to see what’s in the top 10 of videos shared online.

Hope that helps!

Well, it’s finally the Year of the Rat. I’ve been waiting 12 years for this. I want to take full advantage of the momentum and launch myself into the best year ever. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I have a brand new LifeFocus card made up, batch 6.3beta, and am going to test it here on this blog. Eventually I will get LifeFocusSystem.com up and running with the help of my friends Dré Labre and Jeff Cressman. We are going to create something bigger than all of us, we hope.

So this is my new card. I’m going to see how long I can push this one, and routinize 10 things I want to get out of my life. You can see that there is a balance of health, long term, short term, monetary, and creative goals.

The purpose of any LifeFocus System is to train yourself to remember to do the things you want to do. It is NOT a to do list. It does not cover your grocery list, or tell you who to call. It simply reminds you of the things you have identified as important. And it makes you accountable to record and track your progress. Since each card is the size of a business card (3.5″x2″), I like to print 7 together, fold them into an accordion, and carry a week at a time in my wallet.

Card Components:

TITLE:
I called my card Year of the Rat because that’s what I wanted to call it. I was born in 1972 and every 12 years my birth is celebrated by billions of people! It’s a great ego boost. Beside the title is a little space for an avatar, a small picture that represents you. I use a little chair that I drew in design school. To me this chair represents reflection, taking a break, listening, and balance.

TAGS:
This is a brand-new feature for the cards, and will mean more when the online version is brought to life. They are key words that reflect the types of LifeFocus items I am attempting to routinize.

NO.:
This is how many cards I have gone through. Today is day one, so it is the first card.

DATE:
This is the current date. Beside it are the days of the week (or more correctly, the first letter of the days of the week) to circle for your convenience.

TIMELINE:
I like to track my sleep patterns. Other people might want to track when or how long they do certain things (like practice the violin, write, jog, etc). The timeline starts at zero (midnight) and runs a full 24 hours to midnight the next day. Today I slept from 2am to 9am. So I put a small horizontal stroke through the 2nd dot, and another stroke through the 9th dot. Then I drew a longer vertical line to connect them. Beside the timeline I write “7hrs” so I wouldn’t have to add it up later.

LifeFocus Items:
There is enough space on the card for 10 different LifeFocus items, which are marked with a light-grey chevron (<) and the number to the far right of the text field. You do not need to fill every space, but it is not advised to exceed 10. Each LifeFocus item has a few sub-components.

Multi-box: This little grey box can be used to track the following:

1. Quantity - keep track of numbers. At the end of the day, hoe many glasses of water did you drink?
2. Yes/No - Use an “X” or a check-mark to indicate a task was completed or accomplished.
3. Percentages - Colour in half the box to indicate 50%, or a quarter of the box to indicate 25%

Notes (+):
This is a small space underneath the LifeFocus item to make a few notes. These will help to clarify things, give you some perspective, or just keep a (very) brief catalogue or diary of your progress.

LifeFocus Line Item:
This is the LifeFocus item itself. It is advised to write it in an ‘actionable’ fashion, in the great tradition of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. Make sure that the item begins with a verb so that you know what action to take. Follow that by an (optional) qualifier or adjective. Then a noun, or the object/goal itself. Try to be as specific as possible given the small amount of space.

Tomorrow I’ll go into a bit more detail on my LifeFocus choices, and where/how you can download your OWN set of LifeFocus System cards (6.3beta) to test along with me. I will also be moving this little LFS party to the LifeFocusSystem.com blog, and just posting short highlights here.

Obviously I need to update my About sections. On this site, and on everything else in the universe. How may ‘About’ sections do I have online? LinkedIn, Spock, Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Wordpress, just to name a few. MyBlogLog, Delicious, Upcoming.org, Doplr, Pownce, Twitter, Jaiku, Plaxo… the all have blurbs about me. And there are more: Ning, Mashable… It would be nice if there was just ONE place where I wrote all my details and it would be dispersed from there. Will OpenSocial take care of this for me?

In the meantime, if you want to know more about me, you can always visit my LinkedIn profile.