Content vs Context - The Future of Advertising

This video from the Cannes Young Lions series poses an interesting question that gets at the heart of what advertising will look like in 20 years: is great storytelling the key to getting people to pay attention, or is the new model all about providing something useful? If you agree that brilliant storytelling and great content drives people to pay attention to brands, then really nothing will have changed except for an exponential growth in the number of communication channels. However, if Nick Law is right, then people will be annoyed by storytelling and just want brands to give them tools that make their lives easier. Personally, I think the debate here is too black and white. Yes, great storytelling makes people more likely to pay attention, especially in the case of brands that are selling emotional/image based benefits. However, if your product has more functional benefits, or is complex (e.g. technology, cars, a mortgage) then storytelling is not the primary thing - you want information and helpful tools first, engaging content and narrative comes second. What do you think advertising will look like in 2028?

Hilarious Critique on Agency Process

Thanks to Alan Wolk's blog for turning me on to this brilliant critique on how messed up the creative development process can be. If only it weren't so close to the truth!

Who Deserves the Credit?

Great post by the COO of The Barbarian Group on multi-agency collaboration, and who deserves the credit. This issue has been in the press recently after BBDO's Cannes win for HBO "Voyeur" despite the fact that much of the digital work was done by Big Spaceship. I don't know the answer to this complex issue, but it's another clear sign that the current agency model is broken. And another sign that those that play well with others will be more likely to succeed.

http://www.barbariangroup.com/posts/742-awards_shows_and_credit

Are Companies Ready for Social Media?

Most of my clients are eager to do more with social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. They are atttracted to the opportunity to better connect with consumers and the possibility that their brand message will be shared at almost no cost to them. However, I'm not sure many companies are truly prepared to enter into one-2-one conversations with individuals. Brands can't blog or answer Twitter posts, only people at the companies can. If companies really want to let consumers participate in a conversation about their brands/products/services, they are doing to have to dramatically increase the resources they put in place to listening and responding to consumers in a human and timely fashion.

Radiohead + Google

Really interesting new effort from Radiohead. The video for "House of Cards" is done without any film - all laser scanning. They also teamed up with Google to allow people access to the code, and created a downloadable widget with a built in application, and deeper layers of content. Good stuff.

Content is King?

This new song/video from ad hoc super group including Pharrell, Santogold, and Julian Casablancas is pretty cool. But is it a good advertising idea? Apparently, Converse commissioned the song for the anniversary of Chuck Taylor shoes. I am a believer that the future of brands is providing content that people don't want to live without, but I don't know that this video really says anything about Converse worth saying. Is just wearing the shoes enough? Is the fact that Converse is giving it to me for free gonna make me feel like buying a new pair of shoes? Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

New Cohen Bros Film

I'm late on this one, but this looks amazing. Can't wait to see it!