Agencies and Change: Shifts and Whatnot

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Frith-article1Piggybacking Sean’s comments on Charles’ article about what the future of the advertising agency holds, in which Charles essentially asserts is the combination of transmedia planning and the black swan theory, combined with a shitload of experimentation and the acceptance of failure.

(But first, a quick aside on failure. It seems like there are two ideas of what failure should be. First, there’s the shotgun approach with the hope that one actually hits the target and becomes the next big viral win. The second is a more scientific, iterative process. I think some people are little too quick to only push quantity at the possible sacrifice of quality, rather than using failure as a tool to increase future chances of success. It’s why strategic planning is becoming so much more important. Although in reality, good failure is probably a little of both)

As I wrote about in the AOC – I believe our collective fate lies in our ability to adapt. It’s the key to experimentation. If you only have a bunch of people used to making television, the likelihood of actual experimentation over just hedging is pretty low. It’s important that we fill up our agencies with people who easily adapt to new ideas, technologies, audiences, or at least have a pretty strong hunger for new information.

So – the new agency will do three things.

1) Shift from the single idea told multiple ways to broader cross media narratives. 
2) Get better at experimentation. 
3) Employ more adaptable people.

But I would also add a few trends that are forcing these changes:

First, we’re finally making the shift away from a consumer culture back to a more participatory one. Or better said, one of doing things rather than just consuming them.

Clay Shirky described this in his discussion of cognitive surplus (what you do when you have nothing to do). He cites a British historian who described the urbanization of society in London in the late 18th century due to the Industrial Revolution. Essentially, people couldn’t handle the shift, so they collectively chose to get shitfaced on gin for a few years instead. But when they adjusted, when they started to wake up from that stupor, that’s when they got all the good parts of the move to the cities. The public libraries, the museums, public education, etc.

Then we began to make our move away from a wholly manufacturing society. With the inception of the 5 day work week, we got something we had never dealt with before, free time. And television was our gin.

But now, the pendulum is swinging back. We’re going back to doing things with our hands, just this time there’s a keyboard and a mouse in between, not necessarily a shovel or a hammer. We’re waking back up. That’s the first shift.

Secondly, telling these broader transmedia narratives requires an audience that gives a shit. The entirety of the point of the tagline, the 360 degree branding, whatever your agency calls it, is the repetition of a single idea forcing its way into the subconscious of an unengaged receptacle. But now that this isn’t really working anymore, we’ve seen the rise of the very buzzy and very misunderstood engagement metric. Most equate this brief attention with caring, but we all know better.

So the second requirement of the new agency is defining purpose. And selling more of X product generally isn’t enough of a purpose. And there simply aren’t many products like iPod’s that have caring already in the bag, so we have to find ways to make this so. And, gasp, this could actually mean using our influence and our money as a force for social good. Dove is a great example of this. It’s brands finding a rallying cry that makes them matter.

And last thing is the shift from brands as a monolithic thing to brands as a more human entity. I think this is mostly an offshoot of number 2, combined with the growth of corporate blogging, the changing nature of customer service, etc. Either way, we expect brands to behave more human, whether that’s by taking on simple human characteristics like empathy and nuance, or by being defined by the sum of the people who represent it.

So that’s it my sort of long winded version of Charles’ future for agencies.

Brands will begin to get better at transmedia narratives and experimentation by becoming more adaptable. And, I believe these changes are happening because the pendulum is swinging back towards participation, the need to make people care and the requirement of brands to have a few manners.

Tune In Saturdays: Shibboleth

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ShibbolethFor whatever reason, I don't often get too suckered in by the instrumental band. But the mixture of jazz, funk, soul, big band and porno makes Dallas' Shibboleth absolutely irresistible. 

"If soundtracks for Spaghetti Westerns and '60s sex comedies were free from cinematic distractions, or the Stax recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee hadn't been torn down and replaced by a museum, their resulting music might compare to Experiment in Error, the second full-length recording from Dallas' Shibboleth. This instrumental trio features three of Dallas' hardest-working and most critically-acclaimed musicians: Rich Martin on keys, James Driscoll on bass, and Don Cento on guitar. Their new release features a full band sound augmented by drums, percussion, horns, and — on "The 1912 Horsey Rebellion" — vocals! Still no lyrics though — the aforementioned track (which is #1 on the disc) instead offers super-catchy "ooo"s."

Home.MySpace.YouTube.

Bobby Patterson (w/Shibboleth) - Digging Up Bones (mp3) 

Shibboleth - Bill Cosby (mp3)

Shibboleth - Collapse of the Boney Horseman (video)

Deep Thoughts

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Mediaspending2008As we adjust the definition of what advertising is from saying things to doing things, do charts like these tell us anything of any use?

Most of these charts include some combination of display, search, sponsorships and email. Obviously all valid, but we're also disincluding just about anything remotely interesting that's happening on the web. I'd also take issue with using an "internet" bucket, anyway, but still. Seems like we're tying the entirety of the fate of the digital industry to whether or not we can sell a friggin' banner. No thanks.

On the other hand, your guess is as good as mine on how to measure all the rest of it.

Another Trip Around the Internets

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A Giant Beach Ball.

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as something that isn't cool even if you made it really, really big. Except for monsters. That would not be cool. Apparently this happened in Dallas and I fucking missed it.

Gladwell with a few examples from his new book, Outliers, starting with the creative struggle of Fleetwood Mac, and on to the 10,000 hour rule. The rule essentially states that to be an expert at anything you have to do it for 10,000 hours. The crazy thing is, it's actually applicable to just about everybody. Probably more on this later. (ps - make your video embeddable AIGA. Jeez.)


A website from Jack McKee dedicated to the 90-9-1 principle. As in, in a website ecosystem 90% of the audience is passive, 9% are editors (or critics) and 1% are creating original content.


Kickass new iPhone app. Basically, take a picture of any book, dvd, cd - and get pricing and reviews from competitors. Pretty cool.


...in a way only she could. Fantastic.


Creative Director from Frog Design coins the next annoyingly overused term, this time to describe the act of changing spaces to disrupt perceptions of that space, basically. 

The brilliant Richard Huntington challenges the notion that good ideas come from anywhere. Or basically says that they could, just don't bet on it.

A Couple Good Quotes

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Both far better than the headline...

CPJ from Exit Creative.

"here’s a tip on the social media thing: just go try it. You’ll figure it out. Why? It’s not magic, it’s a goddamn network where people talk and share things. You’ve seen this before in the real world. It’s a market. Or a cafe. Or two people talking to each other at home over a cup of coffee and a newspaper. You don’t need me or anyone else to tell you how this works. Just act like a normal human (indoor voices, don’t be an asshole) and you’ll do fine."


The newly, and intimidatingly jobbed, Faris from TIGS.

"I'm always a little skeptical of my own tendency to believe that things are changing for the awesome."


I could get all bloggy on you and tell you why these two are related, but it's late. So I'll just say they're a couple good thoughts said well, and go to bed. 

The Return of Tune In Saturdays: Little Joy

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LittlejoyFor a band including a member of the Strokes, there are only rare moments that would actually make you consider the connection. A mish mash of quiet melodies and utter randomness (in the best of ways), Little Joy's self-titled debut is a trip between folksy reggae and goog 'ol' indie rockin'. Lots of gems in there though. I only wish we'd hear more from the fantastic female vox unfortunately named Binki.

From the LA Times:


"Little Joy's charmingly lazy songwriting makes no gesture at becoming anything beyond an excellent dinner-party soundtrack. But in these trying times for art and political life, such warm-hearted mood music will at least make your headaches go away."


Little Joy - Unattainable (Dumbo Session) (video)