Creativity - Servant of Chaos

Ejaculating Ideas

We’ve all been there. The dark room. Intense. Shallow breathing followed by a gulp of breath. For the first timer, the virgin, it’s daunting. There’s new terrain to explore and new opportunities laid bare. There’s also risk.

The tension builds. There’s nervousness, trepidation and excitement. Even the more experienced person can falter right about now. After all, you just don’t know how this will play out …

And then, you’re committed. You swallow. You bark out a few unintelligible words.

And it’s over. You’re spent.

Welcome to the messy world of the creative process.

There was a time when I thought coming up with an idea was the hard part. I thought they were the hard work of the creative process. And I saw the fabled “big idea” as the money shot. The one that counts. The moment that the game changes and the clients/bosses fall over themselves.

But I don’t see this anymore.

We now live in a time of abundance. Where once there was the luxury of time, we now only have urgency. And this urgency now acts as a meta-filter for all our experiences. We all ask the same questions. When can I have it? How quickly? How big?

Perhaps it was ever so. Maybe I am viewing creativity through the rose coloured tints of nostalgia.

But one thing is clear. Ideas come and go. They are spurted out left right and centre by anyone with a keyboard and a Twitter account. These orphans are left gasping for life at the edge of the information torrents that pause for no ego. After all, today’s Britney meltdown is tomorrow’s Charlie Sheen triumph.

The challenge for the marketer is not in identifying the next big idea. Our challenge is to commit to something we can BELIEVE in. That’s right, we need to find a concept, a grain of truth … something that we can trust-in and drive. We have to put ourselves on the line for these ideas – not the other way around.

The time for ejaculating ideas is over. It’s time for the Social Way.

Three Things I Learned Judging the Digital AWARD Awards

Awards, Conferences, Creativity

A couple of months ago, I asked to sit on the Digital Panel for the Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) Awards. I met with with Co-Chairman of Publicis Mojo and Chairman of AWARD, Craig Davis and was fascinated to hear first-hand about where AWARDs were heading and why. As he explained to Campaign Brief:

Our mission is to champion commercial creativity and we're very ambitious about it. We want to build far greater value into being an AWARD member.

But I was interested to see how this vision would play out in reality. What would it mean to participate on a judging panel? Would there be conflicts? How would we all deal with uneven perspectives and our own expectations? Would there be any hissy fits and who would be the first to throw down the tiara and head home? I just hoped it wouldn’t be me.

1. Great work is clearly, great work

Over two days (including a weekend) in February we all met to review and assess the short list containing around 200 pieces of content. Iain McDonald was the gracious and proactive jury chairman encouraged us all to focus on the work submitted and to fearlessly champion what we loved.

Over the course of two intense days, I came to greatly admire my fellow judges: Iain McDonald from Amnesia Razorfish, Andy DiLallo from Leo Burnett, Dave Whittle from M&C Saatchi, Tiphereth Gloria from GPY&R, Chris Gillespie from Future Buro, Bob Mackintosh from The Jamboree, Paul Bruty from the Glue Society and Ashley Ringrose from Soap.

Everyone was able to recall the campaigns, what happened when, and what their initial reactions were. It was very clear that everyone lived and breathed this work – but perhaps, most importantly, they all took their responsibilities personally – standing up for the great work that they saw and arguing the case as appropriate.

Each of the pieces that were to be included in the AWARDS book for 2011 deserved to be there. And those that received silver or bronze awards went that step beyond. The great work stood out – and that made our job easier.

2. Be an advocate for great work

While the judges pretty-much agreed on the works which would be included in the AWARDS book, the panel is small. With nine judges in all, one vote can swing the outcome. And when one of the judges would abstain from voting on work that they were connected to, it became even more intense.

When we reviewed and re-reviewed each category and discussed the merits of the work and awarding of the “gongs”, we could often be swayed by the arguments of the other judges. Those judges who were passionate about a particular entry would put forward their views. They’d advocate their position and explain their thinking. Sometimes that meant a piece would be voted up, and sometimes it meant that a piece was voted down.

But the process was fascinating. The insights of the judges were brilliant. And sometimes that advocacy changed the way we looked at everything else.

3. Be critical but not mean

One of the mantras we followed was to “be critical but not mean”. I liked the intelligence behind this. And, particularly for an industry which lives and dies by its “creativity”, focusing on critique, analysis and advocacy meant that the works being judged were given a fair hearing.

What about you?

After spending many, many hours reviewing entries, reading submissions and watching videos, I have a new respect for those who judge awards. A lot of time, energy, focus and even creativity goes into the process. In a way, I would have loved to make this more open – where those who were involved in the creating the work were able to receive the feedback from the panel. Of course, that would bring a new level of intensity to the judging process, but quality feedback is an essential ingredient for creative growth. Getting this sort of unbiased and unvarnished feedback would be immensely valuable (even if it was confronting).

But what about you? Do these lessons resonate with you? Did you see the digital AWARDS finalists? What did you love?

I can see easily how to apply these three lessons in my everyday work:

Great work: you know it when you see it. If you work on the client side, hold out for great work from your agency. Push for it. If you are on the agency side, drive your teams to deliver. Grasp the idea and drag it kicking and screaming to life.
Advocate: if you have a great idea, tell the world. Tell your clients. Tell your boss. If you believe in it, don’t let others dissuade you. For agencies: don’t let your client chip away at its integrity. For client-side: articulate, cajole and win support. Sell it in.
Critical, not mean: you’re in the business of communication. Use those finely honed skills to articulate what you don’t like. Or better yet, explain how you can make an idea better. When you’re mean, no one wins. You look petty and everyone else thinks your a dirtbag.

Now, it’s your turn.

Ideas, Innovation and the Danger of Networked Group Thinking

Creativity, Innovation, The Social Way

Last year, when Steve Rubel looked into the figures from Compete.com and realised that Facebook is driving more traffic to news portals than Google is, it appeared that we were witnessing the beginning of a trend, not the end of one.

Since that time, there has been a lot of hype and discussion about Facebook’s 500 million members. Some claim it’s a landmark and that Facebook will just continue to swallow the internet whole. In fact, for some people that I know, Facebook IS their entire experience of the world wide web.

This seems to be confirmed by the following graph from Compete.com which shows the traffic trends for Google and Facebook seem to be converging. Or more precisely, Google is dipping down and Facebook is ascending.

Now, I have written about this as a phenomenon before. Social judgement not only happens online – it has been happening in every social interaction since the dawn of time. But increasingly it seems, we are relying on who-we-know to know what we know. This sounds great in theory – smart people filtering, curating and sharing their knowledge and expertise – bringing order to the chaos of abundant information.

But I wonder …

Are we limiting the gene pool of our ideas?

Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From reminds is that innovation, invention – or what he calls “the slow hunch” – require the time and space to collide with other ideas. (HT to Chris Noble for the video.)

What if social networks reach a certain point and then begin to shrink? What if the noise to signal ratio becomes so large that we begin to partition ourselves and our interactions to those of “like mind”. Steven Johnson says “Chance favours the connected mind” – which I love. But what if those ideas swim around in ever shrinking ponds starved of oxygen by the blue-green algae of group think?

I don’t know about you, but this is not the internet I want to play in. It’s not the internet that I want to do business in.

Get out of your internet comfort zone

Years ago when I ran a creative team, I used to regularly drag them away from their desks to visit cultural spaces. We’d go to the Museum of Contemporary Art. We’d catch buses or trains. We’d experience the day-in-the-life of everyone else. I saw it as fuelling their creativity, and it worked.

It worked because it reminded people to be social. To be social in their experience and in the work. It brought a social connection and a context to their creativity. It’s part of what I am calling “The Social Way”.

But now I feel we need to increasingly push ourselves outside of our internet comfort zones. We need to click those links randomly. We need to visit, search and read sites that are outside our narrow focused expertise.

What are we looking for? Our next great idea. I’m hoping to collide with one today.

A Spot of Cat-Sourcing

Creativity, Crowdsourcing, Videos

We all love the idea of crowd sourcing – getting ordinary people to use their creativity, energy and skills to complete a task. But how does that apply to non-people based brands and products? What if you are, say, a pet food company like Purina Friskies and wanted to apply the principles of crowd sourcing? Maybe you could get the cats of the world to don cameras and shoot A Day in the Life of Mitzy. Well, that’s kind of what they have done.

Check it out.

Oh, and if you really are a cat person, don’t forget to download a cat ringtone from their website.

The Wilderness Where You Live

Creativity, Life, Social Media, Storytelling, Web/Tech

When I arrive at this site, The Wilderness Downtown, I have no idea what to expect. I know it’s a “chrome experiment” and that it uses Google Maps but that’s pretty much it. The site asks for only one thing – the place where you live (or more precisely, the place where you lived). Already I’m settling in for an experience. I can already feel the powerful pull of nostalgia deep in my gut.

On a whim I decide to enter the childhood address of my grandmother. I am interested to see what this experiment may yield – especially considering what Google Streetview was able to yield in my genealogical enquiries. I am hoping for a different kind of story, perhaps a visual panorama – a mashing of time lapsed images that recreate the emotional landscapes that we once inhabited. Expectantly, I click the Play Movie button and turn up the sound.

The soundtrack pumps and browser windows spawn across my screen. There’s a man running down the street. He’s hooded and he’s pounding the tarmac as though the music is driving him forward. It could be the same street. It could be any street in any city.

In another window I see the street where my grandmother lived. I’m flying with a flock of birds, cruising what is now the high density fringe of the inner city of Sydney. I don’t recognise it from up here – it’s all warehouses and flat roof buildings. Then, on the ground, at street level, I recognise the brickwork, the panorama. Suddenly the aerial view matches up and I recognise the still existing row of slum terraces clinging to their city purchase.

The man’s still running. He’s not looking back. But in a way, that’s what I am doing. I am struck by the changes on the landscapes in which we have lived for generations. I am reminded of the personal stories and current dramas of close friends and family – of unexpected and almost fatal accidents and their aftermath; of diagnoses of cancer and the challenge of its treatment; of chronic pain and helplessness; and of the growing awareness of ageing and what it means to see your own history fade before your eyes.

There is wilderness downtown – and this amazing web experience leads beyond my description. Experience it for yourself – you’ll be surprised – or click here to see what I saw. But there is also the wilderness where you live – where you must live – where you can only live. There is a wilderness in our own hearts.

Be sure to explore it while you can.

Green Envy – Vibewire Election Coverage Hits Ten News

Creativity, Crowdsourcing, Politics

During last weekend’s election, Vibewire, the not-for-profit youth media organisation, sent their electionWIRE teams out to polling booths to capture the mood of voters at the sharp end of the election campaign. While visiting the seat of Bennelong – the seat where Maxine McKew was ousted by John Alexander – Austin Mackell found Liberal campaigners dressed at the “green army” handing out how to vote cards which preferenced the Liberals rather than Labor as was the Greens’ stated policy.

This story was picked up as part of the Channel Ten news coverage and was also featured on ABC's The Drum.

In the clip from Channel Ten, Austin is interviewed at the Vibewire Enterprise Hub. He explain his surprise at the polling booth activities described by an AEC official as “dirty but legal”.

It is great to see the mainstream media picking up on some of the great stories unearthed by the electionWIRE teams. Be sure to checkout the electionWIRE channel for the type of coverage you just don’t get to see anywhere else. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time you see these young journalists on your screens.

Oh, and if you are looking to add your voice to the media mix, be sure to get in contact with the Vibewire team.

Respect for the Community Builders

Blogging, Creativity, Strategy

Some years ago, when I first started blogging, I loved the way that people would creatively think through what it would mean to contribute to a global community. Often this involved the creation of lists – like Mack Collier’s collection of relative unknown bloggers – the z-list, or Todd Andrlik’s Power 150 which eventually transformed into the AdAge Power150. I’d even class Ann Handley’s clever curation of MarketingProfs daily fix bloggers in the same way.

In the world of strategic/creative planners, a number of people have been continuously building and engaging their professional communities. Iqbal Mohammed has been regularly publishing his Plannersphere lists for years, and Neil Perkin provides a valuable conversation point (and light competition) around the “post of the month”, complete with voting. In a more complicated twist on community building, Rob Campbell challenges the veterans, the wannabes and the up-and-comers with his Advertising Planning School of the Web assignments, veering between scorn and applause depending on what’s submitted and it’s quality.

These examples stand out as beacons – not just because they have been doing this work consistently, but because they are generous. They are inclusive. They stand out because much of what we now see on the web is based on one-up-man-ship. It’s like a pissing match between row after row of intellectual dwarfs. And it’s a shame, because it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s a shame because we are all impoverished by it.

So, it is with some joy I came across Heather LeFevre’s Planner Survey for 2010. It covers the industry from top to tail – sharing details of salaries, roles, locations and so on. It captures what planners think of their jobs, why they stay, why they go – and who they think is doing the best work. It also lists a bunch of people who the community rate – not because they are famous, but because they get on with the challenge of producing good work. Check it out.

The Planner Survey 2010

View more documents from Heather LeFevre.

Change Your Briefs

Creativity, Digital Strategy, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

I can remember hand coding my first “proper” website. It was for a small business that I was running out of an artists’ studio on a dilapidated pier. We specialised in helping publishers move from the print to the new web-ready world. Well, it was almost web-ready – it was the days when there was “an Internet” and a “World Wide Web” – and they were two different things. They were completely different experiences.

Being impatient and a risk taker, I bet my money on the graphical world wide web and created a website. It felt like I was working at the edge of the world – and in a way it was.

Fast forward to 2010 and it is a vastly different world. Knowledge of “the web” and how it works is far more widespread. Indeed, it has spread far beyond my own meagre expertise. There has been a massive transformation in the shape, technology and the platforms that enable our polyphonic internets – perhaps matched only by the huge shift in the way in which we use it. (And I do mean “use” in a very loose way.)

However, the way in which digital agencies are “briefed” has remained relatively static. Gareth Kay suggests that it is time that we changed our briefs – and has put together a great presentation, PostDigitalBriefs, that challenges us to do just that. But best of all, Gareth provides us with a way forward.

Take a good look through the presentation yourself, but my key takeouts are:

Know what we want people to do
Understand which behaviours we want to shift
Differentiate and articulate your social mission vs the commercial proposition
Identify the triggers that will prompt people to share
Make it easy for people to participate
Know where your constituents are and the social rules that operate there

Postdigitalbriefs2 – August 2010

View more presentations from Gareth Kay.

Lead Generation, Community, ROI and Other Games of Chance

Conferences, Creativity, Crowdsourcing, Digital Strategy, Flaneurs, Innovation, Social Judgement, Social Media, Storytelling, Strategy

Back in April I had the opportunity to speak at the ConnectNow conference. It was quite a daunting situation as I was the first speaker at the three day event featuring people such as Tara Hunt, Darren Rowse, Brian Solis, Katie Chatfield, Jim Stewart, Debs Shultz, Stephen Johnson, Hau Man Chow, Laurel Papworth and Gary Vaynerchuck, but I saw my role as setting the scene – creating a platform for the following days.

I looked at lead generation, community, ROI, discussing:

What works
How to sustain it
What to expect

Along the way, I pick up on the recurring themes that I write about here on my blog. Topics such as how audiences are changing (the new B2C), the Auchterlonie Effect and why it is the future of your brand, continuous digital strategy, influence and fat value.