Written by David Moffatt, Managing Director, HelloComputer, April 2010:
A growing anomoly, almost as spectacular as the speed with which social media has gained traction, is the number of social media experts following in its wake. Have you ever wondered about the emergence of this surplus of experts? Well, as the genre suggests their experience, in many instances, is largely accumulated through socializing on these very platforms.
In the ordinary course of business I have encountered a regular theme from prospective clients. Their heads are spinning from the constant flow of web statistics, and the bombardment by emarketing tactics available to them.
Ivan loves little more than a fistful of markers, big white pages, blank whiteboards and a good web connection. He lives for ideas and meeting new people and introducing them to people he has already met. Ivan is interested in everything, and he wants to meet you.
– Design Exchange and Upliftment in the Third World –
A small sea of like minded, creative individuals gathered at Rondebosch Boys High School on the weekend to hear from some of the most forward thinking and highly respected illustrators in the global, creative industry.
The talks were informative and inspiring and judging by the vast amount of questions posed after every speech, it would seem that local creative’s are eager to breakthrough international boundaries. As with many things in South Africa, the creative industry is incorrectly perceived to be in a transition period. It’s a natural development for creatives to aspire to be on an international level and an event like “Toffie” helps local designers to get in touch with like-minded individuals and one step closer to achieving this. Individuals who have emerged in the international scene shed light on journeys through various circumstances and really provided accountable answers as to how the industry should be thinking and working. Many South African artists are quite capable of producing some of the best work in the world.
There is a lot to learn from the international powerhouse that is Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B). They were the first agency to rise to fame during the digital age and have a list of clients that any agency in the world would be honoured to work with. The likes of Nike, Burger King, Guitar Hero, Volkswagen, Coke Zero, Sprite and Microsoft to name but a few. It is not easy to be an innovator and Bogusky confirms this sentiment by commenting that, “It’s been pretty wild because we haven’t had anybody to model ourselves after when things get bumpy.” As a result they have set the bar and given the chance for the rest of the field to learn, adapt and innovate.
In this day and age there is a demand for methods of renewable waste and to stop wasting precious resources. Society and popular cultures alike are embracing anyone who can do this and create products that don’t rely on cutting down trees, polluting the ozone or preventing used products from being thrown into bins.
The seismic shift taking place in the communications industry is well documented. As is the number of traditional agencies attempting to bridle the interest in digital media characterized by a critical shift in how consumers consume media. The coup de tat is being staged by various digital channels, platforms, devices and phenomena.
With so much in common with the traditional success factors that measure advertising, why are traditional brand agencies not dominating the digital arena? Indeed, the principles that have sustained marketing and advertising since the genesis of the communications industry are still completely relevant in digital. Successful advertising builds brands and persuades purchasing behavior. There has been an emergence of brand strategists operating strictly in the digital realm - an ever expanding universe - so where do the differences in approach exist?
Written by David Moffatt, Managing Director, HelloComputer, January 2010.
While getting my daily coffee fix yesterday I noticed this clever marketing tactic by Vida and Adidas. I think the concept is fantastic although it could definitely have been enhanced by tagging yourself and posting to Facebook and/or posting to Twitter? I am sure we’ll see many more of these interactive, viral maketing ideas happening around town in future but congrats to them for taking the step.
Inside the Intel booth at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, the Internet was displayed in double HD. Running on an Intel Core i7 processor, the touchscreen measures 9×9 feet and vividly displayed in 1920 x 1920 resolution, dynamically pulling in 500 nuggets of information, photos, tweets and blog posts from the Internet.
