Burning Hot

The Dumbfounded and the Dumbminded

Such a cliche statement that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing but that's what the advertising industry is living with right now with the digital conversation.

It has many implications. I want to focus on two:

Talent Frustration
People coming in with digital in their title but being miscast and ending up being fired because they are not delivering on what people think they should be doing. The agency world generally refuses to understand what's not working here and repeats the same thing again and again. It's not the fault of the digital person because they are invariably entering a new world of advertising, so they have no clue how things should work. The end result is the agencies continue to fail at digital and pay exorbitant rates for outside resources to solve the problem. This is a problem I have only seen in the States so far. There's a pattern here of laziness that feels very familiar - I'm thinking of Detroit. A refusal to change behavior here is going to lead agencies in one direction and one that's all too familiar. My recommendation: Get someone to go and speak to digital experts and understand the different roles needed to deliver digital. Then get that person to present their findings to the management team. In my experience, you need at least three digital skill sets to get the basics of digital going in your company. I could tell who those three are but if I do, i may just be helping you to continue being lazy.

The Wall of Misunderstanding
I guess this is what stimulated my title for this post. I've had lots of discussions recently with digital experts in a wide spectrum of offerings and the consistent feedback from all of them is how they are dumbfounded by how agencies are just not getting digital. What's worse is that they are coming across agency people who think they know stuff. They present ideas to clients that cannot be executed. They come up with ideas for apps that already exist. They present ideas that are based around old functionality. The worst part is that they are driven by a shiny box syndrome where consumer engagement isn't even considered. Coolness supersedes usefulness. My recommendation: Surprisingly to some of you is that my recommendation isn't to leave the digital experts to do their job because that doesn't solve a longer term problem. We have to find where the breakdown in understanding is occurring. When we did a study with Cisco in trying to understand the breakdown in understanding between CTOs and CEOs we found that it wasn't in the words used - they were using the same words - it was in the meaning of the words. Without understanding the meaning behind words, which comes from learning, asking questions, not fearing embarrassment and being opportunistic in getting together with digital experts as often as possible, you will start to have synergy in meaning. Both parties need to help each other here and this means in my experience that advertising agency people in particular need to stop being arrogant and start admitting how little they know.

Plastic

Raf Simons has brought immense color to Jil Sander as the JS has left and now designs for Uniqlo.

Having driven through the deserts of Morocco, I for one hope the plastic bag never sees another day - all the plastic bags of Europe seem to get blown south to the deserts of Morocco. However, the use of this simple icon is brilliant in capturing the spirit of realism that's going on in fashion right now. Shows are presenting stuff you could actually wear. Reading reviews of the recent NY show, there's an interesting debate about whether fashion exists within culture and is itself a generator of culture or whether culture exists as a backdrop - an influence and canvas - to the fashion itself. Some miss the McQueen shows that were art in their own right, while others miss the clean backgrounds of the Bryant Park fashion shows where there was no distraction - the clothes were the focus.

While the moans of the past about not being able to wear anything from the shows may have been silenced, I for one am concerned that with the accessibility comes a dilution of fashion's role in pushing to the edges of culture. I have no doubt of fashion's role in culture and can't wait to see the ridiculous again on the catwalks.

Dancing Digits

Touch screens are amazing, except of course if you have the Torch - sorry BB but you f$&ked up royally on that one.

The other exception is if you happen to be a thick fingered man who refuses to reconfigure to feminine expression. Am I the only guy who hits the n every time instead of the space bar on the iPhone? Am I the only guy who finds part of my sentence has been continued on from my signature? The bottom line is that I haven't got the touch. Who has the touch? The French guy sitting with his Hermes case, petite expresso cup and delicate Mikli glasses. It's ballet of the fingers. A beautifully choreographed movement across the touch screen. Let's at least hope what he says is deeply philosophical and therefore completely redundant in today's execution obsessed culture.

Contrasts of Paris

The space between in Paris.

(download)

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Contrasts_of_Paris.zip (3.01 MB)

Colette Cafe

NY on 9/11

We based ourselves this weekend near the World Trade Center, which meant Charlie's walk included experiencing the day close up.

(download)

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NY_on_911.zip (1.65 MB)

Color Play

Also known as an experiment with noise reduction.

(download)

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Color_Play.zip (942 KB)

23:20 Milan

Fashion night in Milan at close to midnight. A retailers dream except people have champagne glasses in their hands not shopping bags.

Stunning Displays in Milan

Just walking down Spiga last night and this caught my eye. Stunning furniture but without the right lighting and art direction, this would have been less impressive. Creating a positive experience whatever the interaction may be is one thing we can all learn from the Italians.