Storytelling with Technology

| Art Director Nerd

Advertising has always tried to embrace the latest technology. Harking back to the early days of print, followed by the advent of radio and television.

However, early executions of these mediums often came up short. Many thought by having a brand advertising on these mediums it was enough to dazzle their audience.

In the late 1950’s there was a great deal of confusion on how best to advertise on television. Just have a look at the first ever TV ad broadcast in the UK and you’ll see how random and laboured the messaging was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g0P_ETSwko

Lessons were quickly learned, having your brand on the latest piece of technology was not enough. The audience may have been captivated by technology alone initially, but the novelty of it had quickly worn off, the message wasn’t getting across. It was time to get creative and use these new mediums to their best ability, to connect and engage with this new audience, appeal to their motivations and desires to tell brand stories.

What followed was an era of great print, radio and television advertising from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. Ads became more simple, more singular in their messaging, there was still a lot of rubbish. But the good work was really good.

Of course, along came – the internet, and that changed everything. In our ever-changing digital world, the audience is much more fragmented, more mobile and has shorter attention spans. Consumers are adopting technology at a much faster pace and it’s not slowing down.

There is more pressure than ever for us to adopt and innovate,  as advertising and technology businesses are more closely aligned than ever. In a lot of cases advertising has merged with or set-up innovation companies with the sole purpose of developing new technology to market brands.

Now when a new piece of technology comes along it’s followed by a great deal of hype and excitement – it’s the new kid on the block, it’s the flavour of the month, the talk of the town and there is huge pressure to attach a brand to it.

While it may be exciting to be an early adopter or first to market with some of these innovations, it’s important to do it for the right reasons. Some brands are scrambling to use the latest technology with little or no brand story. Yes, some of the technology is impressive, but does the audience recognise what the brand is trying to say?

As practitioners it’s up to us to find the best way to communicate the brand story to our audience, whether it’s using ink, data capture or virtual reality to make sure they are engaged with that story. Technology should enable the story, not be the story.

Of course technology will keep evolving and we will endeavour to keep up. However our audience will not change. They will still be human, will all that entails, with real lives, motivations and desires, ready to be told a story.

At ICAN, we do our utmost to be up to date with the latest technologies, and figure out how to apply them in a meaningful way to the brands we work with. This is a very different process to traditional advertising and often involves keeping our fingers on the pulse with the latest innovations. A great deal of time is spent researching, testing and even physically acquiring the technology to just to mess around with it to find its strengths and weaknesses.

We did just this in two recent projects. Collaborating heavily with our technology partners, we stress tested each piece of technology, questioned their developers about any potential pitfalls. Most importantly of all, educated them on what we would like it to do for the brand.

Tennents Lager was long associated with the music scene. However it’s target audience was now a younger digitally savvy audience, who are gradually tuning out of traditional advertising, but consuming more and more content via their mobile phone.

We researched heavily what piece of technology would be suitable to answer the client’s brief, yet engage this audience. The result was Tunetap, a web responsive mobile app that acted like a jukebox in music bars and clubs.

Tunetap events were advertised and users were encouraged to use the app with prizes embedded in the music playlists.

https://vimeo.com/103817552

permanent tsb wanted to engaged with the house hunter audience and associate it’s simple mortgage process with a piece of technology that would help house hunters find a home and reinforce its proposition that they were an ally to their customer.

We discovered that the Periscope App was ideal for the task. It provided house hunters who were too busy to visit every home with a tool to view properties they were interested in via their mobile.

We partnered with estate agents to carry out viewings through the app to a mobile audience. Each viewing was broadcast live on social media, then uploaded to a video hub on partner publisher.

https://vimeo.com/146644618

If you’re interested in some more recent international work that utilises new technology to tell brand stories, check this great work out!

NETFLIX – Socks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi6RLrJrjLQ

Pepsi – Unbelievable bus shelter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go9rf9GmYpM

Lockheed Martin – Field Trip to Mars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWClyQkA32s

Peruvian red Cross – hashtag for life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x56ss54WZs

ING – The Next Rembrandt

https://www.nextrembrandt.com/

Currys  – Christmas Hints

http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/781289/hints

BEATS BY DRE – Straight Out Compton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyDJNZH2kWo

Samsung – Blind Cap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caXvQpWFeo

Theraflu – thermoscanner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK7tioG-Rg4

Perception, a reality check

| Art Director Nerd

A few years ago on a cold January morning during rush hour a man walked in to a metro station in Washington DC. He was carrying a violin case. He stopped near the enterance were hundreds of busy commuters were being channeled in and out of the station.

He opened the violin case, took out the violin and carefully placed the open case at his feet in front of him.

Over the course of an hour he played six of the most complex and intricate pieces of classical music ever written.

“Chaconne” Partita No. 2 in D Minor Johann Sebastian Bach

“Ave Maria” Franz Schubert

“Estrellita,” Manuel Ponce

“Meditation de Thais” Jules Massenet

“dour Violin Concerto in G Minor” Max Bruch

“Chaconne” (reprise) Johann Sebastian Bach

During that time’ six people stopped and listened’ including a young boy who force his mother to stop in her tracks.

A few more people tossed coins and notes as the quickly passed by. Once he was finished he packed away his violin and left the station with the $32 dollars he had collected in his case.

The man was Joshua Bell, one of the world’s finest classical musicians. He played each piece on a three hundred year old Stradivarius valued at 3.5 million dollars. A week earlier in Boston’s Symphony Hall, the cheapest seats at his concert cost $100.

This was an exercise sponsored by the Washington Post in to studying perception, priorities and awareness of people going about their daily lives.

It reminds us of how people are so wrapped up in the own lives and how little they take notice of the world around them. It’s also a reminder how difficult it is to interrupt our audience from whatever else they are doing and engage with them.

If six musical masterpieces played to perfection by Joshua Bell can only stop a few people in their tracks and out of their everyday routine, imagine how good your advertising has to be?

Failure is good.

| Art Director Nerd

Failure is good.

There is a building under construction near St Pancreas in London and it is somewhat unique in the modern world. It’s the culmination of investment by the UK government and six of the UK’s top scientific institutes to the tune of a billion euro and will operate on an annual budget of 150 million euro.

Its primary purpose is to create a working environment where thousands of scientists and researchers from all different backgrounds and specialties can work togther under the one roof and exchange ideas.

But what will make this building unique is that for the first time since the Second World War scientists will have the freedom to explore new ideas without commercial goals or pressures. But above all they will be allowed the freedom to fail.

If you can remember being taught in science class in school. That all your experiments should be recorded whether they where successful or a failure. This was considered good practice.

Most of the great scientific leaps have been built on failure. This was a process happened for years. If a failed experiment was recorded it could be referred back to later with a fresh perspective. Or others could learn from the failure and see where it went wrong and turn it into a success.

The discovery of penicillin and the microwave, the invention of dynamite, plastic and the pacemaker were all results of experiments that initially had failed.

In the post war period science has changed. Commercial pressures have resulted in the failures being abandoned and forgotten and the successes nurtured and developed. This has left huge gaps in certain fields of science.

At the Crick Institute they are taking a very long-term view. There will be little or no immediate return on the investment and some of the results of this process will take decades.

But by encouraging this way of working and accepting failure is part of the process that in the long term the results could be outstanding and revolutionise science.

We are less forgiving in modern business – including advertising. There is huge pressure to get it right first time and not much flexibility to allow for failure.

Should we learn from the philosophy they are adopting in the Crick Institute? That we work in a way that accepts the role of failure as part of the road to success?

The Eureka Moment

| Art Director Nerd

As a creative person working in an ideas business an important part of the job is to sit down, either on your own or with a colleague, and try to crack a brief to find that illusive idea or insight.

Most of us know the story. After many hours or days of stress and perspiration something happens. You go off take a break and do something completely different or just stare out the window. Then the answer for no apparent reason enters you head. You know it feels right, it feels good, and it’s the answer you have been looking for. A rush of euphoria and an aura of invincibility usually follow this Eureka moment.

It’s a mental process that most of us haven’t thought too much about. However, I was struck by an article by American Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer who was promoting his latest book ‘Imagine: How Creativity Works’. He thinks about this stuff a lot.

Lehrer is a bit of a genius. He’s only 32, he’s a Rhodes Scholar and has already written three books on Neuroscience. He’s a contributing editor to Wired Magazine and to the New Yorker Magazine. He frequently lectures around the world too.

Now if you’re thinking John has gone off on one of his science benders please bear with me. Lehrer is just casting a bit of light on something we do everyday. So I thought I’d share it.

He believes there are number of factors in us arriving at a moment creative insight or idea. He backs this up with anecdotal evidence and experiments from the science lab. He uses a simple example of how our brain works coming up with an idea. It is called Compound Remote Association Problem – CRAP for short. In the video in the link below he asks the audience a CRAP problem.

Experiments have shown that during this process of Compound Remote Association Problem our brain uses same patterns when we go through the brainstorming process to arrive at an idea or insight. These brain patterns or waves are called Alpha waves.

We produce the most Alpha waves when we‘re relaxed and calm, or simply daydreaming.

Bob Dylan wrote his best music when he decided to quit the music business. Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while staring out the patents office window daydreaming. And Isaac Newton took long walks in his garden while mulling over gravity.

So, daydreaming is good.

However Lehrer is not saying we should all go out, lie in the grass, and chill out. The moment of insight usually follows a lot of hard work and is followed by more hard work. ‘Grit’ as he calls it.

Lehrer describes Grit as being single-minded in our focus to succeed and our willingness to learn from failure. Great ideas are still 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/45162748

If you’re engaged by all this stuff you can also read about how experience and environment also affect the way we come up with ideas. Some of the examples he uses in this area seem to contradict his observations about being relaxed and calm. Moments of extreme stress, like a life and death situation can result in an insight.

He has been accused by other Neuroscientists of trying to simplify how the mind works. They point out many processes of the mind are still a mystery and undefined.

I have highlighted the area that is of most relevant to us. But if you want to know more you can read and see a bit more of him in action on the links below. Or, if you’re really impressed you can buy the books.

http://www.jonahlehrer.com/

http://www.thelavinagency.com/speaker-jonah-lehrer.html

What is it about Instagram?

| Art Director Nerd

Like many addicts I have been busily snapping away at almost most anything of interest or even things of no interest at all.

From shooting cute snaps of the family to taking highfaluting images of the seat covers on the bus, or moody reportage shots of chewing gum on the pavement, my iphone is nearly full of them. Why? Well like the 7 million other users Instagram addictiveness is probably down to a couple of things. One is its ease of use and the other it is social.

You can either select an existing photo from your camera roll or shoot a picture from Instagram itself. Once a shot is selected you have a choice of 16 filters to add effects to your shot. Some effects give a Polaroid style like 1977; others give a black and white graphic style effect like Gotham. Others randomly enhance the colours like Lomo-fi – which is my favourite.


You can also add in a ‘tilt shift’ effect that works really well with subjects shot from a height that makes everything look in miniature.

Once you’ve finished being all Robert Mapplethorpe, you can then share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Posterous. You can also connect to Foursquare and it will allow you to geotag your shot and check in at the same time.

Some of the functionality is a bit clunky. More effect filters like a pop art effect or a mosaic effect would be a great addition. Better cropping, zooming and rotating tools would also be useful. For some reason rather than keeping the resolution of the phones camera it reduces it. I’m sure many users would like to print their shots, the quality at the moment isn’t really up to scratch.

On the up side, up 150 million shots have been upload to Instagram so far. Even a few celebs have got in on the act, Justin Biebre, Jamie Oliver, Snoop Dog and Rosie O’Donnell. There is a even Flickr group devoted to it with over 4 thousand members.

There is a daily photo competition. Anyone can enter by posting the #instadaily with their shot. Other ‘Gramers’ can then vote on who they think has the best shot of the day. There are no prizes, but plenty of kudos.

If you experiencing Instagram cold turkey you can always download a cool screensaver from Screenstagram for you computer (Mac only I’m afraid) and you can watch your follower’s shots all sliding around on the screen together.

Swan Dive (The Man Your Man Could Smell Like)

| Art Director Nerd

Swan Dive (The Man Your Man Could Smell Like)

If (like me) you’re old enough, you’ll remember the Old Spice ads from the 1970’s. The one with the surfer confidently conquering giant waves to the sound of ‘Oh Fortuna’ while on a beach a pretty young woman looks on and gets all aroused at the whiff of Old Spice in the air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbZr7YoqK0&feature=related

However the reality of Old Spice was quite different. It was the sight of your dad first thing in the morning shaving in front of the mirror with his face full of soap. Once finished he’d splash the whole sorry mess in Old Spice before rushing to work looking like he’d been in a fight in a germaline factory.

Back then Old Spice was something you bought for your dad for Christmas. And he probably didn’t care what he smelt like. So any thing that covered up the odour of a hard days work would do.

But the world has moved on, Dads are now cooler, they wear deordorant. Everyday! Their razor blades are now sharp, they’re even parcial to designer clothes. And now they have wealth of smelly products to choose from with exotic sounding names like Aramis.

Your Dad could now smell like David Beckham if he wanted to. He could use a manly anti-aging cream, eye wrinkle cream and freshen up with a rejuvenating facial spritzer.

The 70’s surfer dude and his bottle of Old Spice were in retirement home in Lahinch. Old Spice had to catch up big time.

Old Spice scented body wash was launched in America on TV on Superbowl Night. The ads featured former American Football Star Isaiah Mustafa. Standing in a bathroom, dressed only in a white bath towel, with his defined torso in a confident pose he says in a deep, captivating voice,  “Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me. Now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly he isn’t me,”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZOm2YhOI4c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYvQ9jgXzIk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e_igiPIUI


The reaction was huge, in America and across the world. Women swooned. Men sucked in their stomachs and went back to the gym. The ads went up on YouTube. Mustafa had a fan page on Facebook. He posted on twitter, he was even interviewed on Oprah.

Following the success of the TV campaign and its huge following online, the campaign was taken to the next stage. Isaiah Mustafa invited users to ask him questions or do requests online. His responses were posted on YouTube, almost immediately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTIowBF0kE

Behind the scenes must have been intense. Choosing requests, writing and shooting the responses and uploading it to YouTube. Mustafa had to act out up to two hundred replays over the course of one day.

The result was massive. Word spread like wildfire across dozens of social media sites. The hits on YouTube were record-breaking, sales went through the roof, and Isaiah Mustafa became a worldwide phenomenon.

Now I’m thinking I might smell like a man, man.

My friend Dave

| Art Director Nerd

For two years now I’ve been an avid follower of Dave. He has become a mentor a advisor and a friend of sorts. The funny thing is I have never met him.

I was reading an article on blogging in the Sunday Times and at the end of the piece there was a list of what they thought was the best blogs. And since I work in advertising low-and-behold there was big complement for one blog by Dave Trott.

So I logged on and was immediately hooked. There are anecdotes, experiences, accidents, incidents, quotes moments from history. He even imparts everyday experiences from his private life, as well has dozens of stories from his years working as a copywriter. There are some gems of advice that have been past down from generations of creatives.

He’s a big fan of Bill Bernbach (every creatives mentor) but admires the all thinkers and dreamers who broke the mould and had to fight to get their ideas believed. Darwin, Newton, Plato, Picasso, Hirst, Hitchcock, Spielberg, to name a few.

He loves the fighting spirit of Winston Churchill, Brian Clough, Mohammed Ali and his big sister who once looked an armed mugger in the eye, dared him to nick her handbag and then scared him off.

His blog imparts the importance of creative thinking, being different, being a bit of an  odd ball. But realise the importance of been the rebel, being fearless and never giving up.

Reading his blog is empowering stuff. But it’s not just for creative folk, it’s good advice for having a good attitude to life. So here’s a humorous anecdote below.

When I worked at BMP, the head of Television commuted in from Brighton ever day.

He started reading The Exorcist on the train.

He said he thought it was the most evil book he’d ever read.

In fact, he said it was so evil he couldn’t finish it.

So at the weekend, he went to the end of Brighton Pier and threw it as far as he could.

So I went to the bookshop.

I bought another copy.

Then I ran it under the tap.

And left it in his desk drawer.

For him to find.

You can find Dave’s blog at     http://www.cstadvertising.com/blog/

You can buy his book Creative Mischief  – somewhere online