Great! RT @Schwartzie14: 1 of the smartest creatives in advertising gives u some excellent tips on expanding yr brain - http://bit.ly/9m5Y6S

• I love a good list and in this one from Edward Boches he shares a selection of books and blogs designed to help anyone in their digital evolution.

How do you top the Nike Chalkbot? Meet Precious – the bike with a brain… on DigitalBuzz Blog http://bit.ly/bntxiB

Good read… RT @BBHLabs: Interview w/ MDC & Partners Chief Innovation Officer @faris, check it out http://j.mp/agaeXb

• Faris Yakob from MDC & Partners is one of the many smart people driving our industry forward. So when he speaks you have to listen – especially when you see his hair.

Real world social – RT @adenhepburn: Facebook Integration At The Coca Cola Village http://bit.ly/9RsK63

• Digital and physical are becoming more and more intertwined. This beach party looks like hell on earth to me but presents some really interesting possibilities for making social networks more real world.

Do We Need a New Definition of Creativity? In Today’s Digital World, the Answer Is Yes – AdAge article…http://bit.ly/d7UETa

• In this article by Ana Andjelic she gives some tips about being creative in in the ad world today. She says that “the best creative is the creation of relationships, connections and interactions. It connects tools with behaviors, locations, and objects. It creates networks or systems. To be creative there, you need to be strategic: you need to figure out who connects to whom, when and why and to what result. Simply, you need to plan for a chain reaction. These networks then give way to a collective creativity that becomes visible to all to use it, build upon it, change it, and add to it”. Keep reading here.

Like… RT @adenhepburn: Sony: Media Monster Wars Facebook App http://bit.ly/aH68Eu (great example of branded social gaming!)

Great article… RT @Clickaholic: RT @LarryTolpin: 50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation - http://j.mp/ciUJZa

• Some great tips here such as having no fixed rules or templates, getting rid of fear, having fun, making mistakes and more…

Revenge of the Nerd: Great review by Scott Foundas of upcoming movie The Social Network. Must see it…http://tinyurl.com/2e9jqu2

• Will Mark Zuckerberg be queuing up to see this one? I doubt it.

Looking good… RT @chrisgrayson: VIDEO: Augmented Reality cosmetic virtual mirror kiosk by @IBM, demo for Clinique -http://is.gd/eRXdK

• We will definitely be seeing a lot more of this instore digital displays and interactive kiosks as the technology become cheaper. IBM seem to be investing a lot of money into it. The voice over on the demo is not very exciting but the possibilities are…

and to end on a lighter note as usual….

Apple take note – great sponsorship opportunity RT @robbiew: Sez my 4 yr old daughter: “I want to go to Paris and see the iPhone Tower”

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David urged people to recognise opportunities. It can be difficult when so many new developments in the digital space appear on a weekly basis. Some opportunities turn into dead ends but if you don’t take risks you will never get anywhere. He also said that failure is required which means that everyone will know about it thanks to Twitter and YouTube.  Take Chatroulette. Several brands saw an opportunity and grabbed it. It was a perfect platform to promote this movie:

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Another of Ogilvy’s tips for success was knowing how to make good presentations. We all hate Powerpoint but can’t seem to escape it. Even if your presentation is for a digital project why present it on a screen? Get tactile, engage in role play and a little theatre. Learn from the people who present with passion and intelligence. You can sell an idea purely with words. Just check out a few TED videos and you’ll soon see that Powerpoint is not required. And if you do need slides use them as a creative talking point…

David said don’t discuss your client’s business in elevators. Today it’s easier than ever to let slip agency or client secrets that should be kept to yourself. Be careful what you blog and tweet about. Don’t post project updates on Facebook and don’t complain about your boss.

Ogilvy recommended having a hobby – advertising. He believed that you had to live and breathe the business to succeed. He encouraged people to write articles, become an authority. It’s even easier today with the internet. So get a blog going even if you think you don’t have time. You need a voice if you want people to notice you. I took his advice myself and became Digitaladman and haven’t looked back:)

Iain Tait of Weiden + Kennedy has some good advice on his blog about getting the job that you really want.

His advice is mostly aimed at planners but it remains valid for any kind of position in an agency that focuses on digital.

Get yourself a portfolio that shows what you’ve been working on to create a talking point during your interview. Make sure that it’s not full of errors so get others to check it first and give valuable feedback.

Be honest and clear about your role on the projects you talk about. (this is me interjecting – I once interviewed someone who showed a very high profile project so I asked what they did on it… because it was my project from a previous agency. They had simply added a button to the site).

Even if you are not in a creative role have an opinion about design, interaction, sound etc. It shows you care about the end product.

Brand yourself by knowing what you stand for and do some detective work about the company you want to join.

You can read the full blog post here.

Once you are in your dream job you need to have a plan for how you’re going to rise to the top. Ultimately it’s about hard work. Ogilvy says in his book “put your shoulder to the wheel, but be careful to pick the right wheel”. Make sure that your personal vision matches the company you work for. Do you share the same values?

Watch the people who have made it to the top. It is so much easier now since most of them are blogging and tweeting. How do they look at the world? Understand their points of view. Read about them in the industry press to get a real picture of what makes them tick. It will teach you a lot about what it takes to be a leader and help you define your own unique style.

If you are starting out in the business then it is a great time. Digital is now a mature discipline and we need people who will define where it goes next. Enjoy the ride.

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I really liked this gold winner from Naked Communications and Frank PR where they encouraged people to pressure Richard Branson into giving community radio station FBi a million dollars. FBi Radio is an iconic, independent, Australian radio station based in Sydney. The financial crisis forced the station to the brink of closure. They needed over $500,000 to save the station, they had a $0.00 budget. Richard Branson had nothing to do with the station. He was just one rich person that the agency felt would appreciate the humour of being targeted this way. Branson became aware of the campaign, and Twittered to say he’d be calling in. Live on air he donated a massive prize pool, and his involvement generated more PR and social media activity. Check out the case video here.

Another gold winner from DDB Sydney was for McDonald’s Australia and Ronald McDonald House Charities. They needed to find a big idea for McHappy Day that would cut through charity fatigue so they developed a powerful message that all children, especially seriously ill ones, had the right to happiness. This helped them create a campaign where people felt they were contributing to the emotional well-being of sick children rather than just donating money. With a TVC, campaign website, digital in-store and packaging they were able to break the record for previous years with over AU$2 million donated. An amazing result.
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Check out all the winners here.

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What does a WW Interactive Creative Director do exactly? According to the Saatchi website “Tom spearheads Saatchi & Saatchi’s fast-growing worldwide interactive capability. He works from New Zealand and London with both a worldwide focus across network clients for interactive creative, strategy and operations, and a London focus with respect to UK and European clients to develop interactive and mobile initiatives and programs”.

Or in his own words: “I spend my day looking for opportunities to connect agency creation, media, planning and account management, with interactivity and keep it as close to the centre of the process as possible. I make way for great ideas to get made and I work on ideas for our clients around the world. I mentor and learn everyday. I celebrate our successes and make sure we learn from our defeats. I’m building teams around the world, so I keep track of talent and try to seduce the good ones to come over to our side. I think I’ve got the best job in the world and I remind myself everyday”.

Let’s take a look at how he got where he is today…

Originally from North Dakota, in May 1990 Tom graduated Minneapolis College of Art and Design with his thesis project: an interactive catalogue for clothing company The Gap. One of his professor’s there, Hazel Gamec, had set up a design school in Wanganui New Zealand and asked Tom to go there to teach. While there he co-developed the Wanganui Polytechnique design degree course, the Design Survival Camp student conference and worked on a CD-ROM (remember those?) project that won awards from Communication Arts magazine and Type Directors’ Club (USA). After moving from the academic world to the commercial one in 1995 it was not long until he found himself at Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive as an art director. A year later he was Creative Director and developed projects for Telecom New Zealand, New Zealand Rugby Union and Adidas. At the same time he was a contributing typeface designer to RayGun magazine (USA) 1994-96.

He also created the font BEAST, used for the Swatch International Halloween campaign (1999). It wouldn’t be long until he would be snatched from his beloved adopted home of New Zealand to move to London culminating in his current position as WW Interactive Creative Director.

He’s been a judge at Cannes 3 times including being the Cyber Lions jury president in 2007. Tom is a multiple Cannes Lion winner himself, most recently taking Gold in 2006 for online and mobile innovation with Rubbish Film Festival and receiving 4 Shortlists at Cannes in 2007 across Cyber and Titanium. In 2009 the standout win was for the T-Mobile Dance viral video/TV ad winning Gold in Direct, a Gold and Bronze in Film, Silver in Media, Silver in the Cyber and Bronze in the Titanium category. While Tom isn’t credited he no doubt played a role in making the project.

He remains quite an elusive guy and it’s hard to find out alot about him. We know that Tom lives in London (and as much time in New Zealand as possible), haunting local comic shops and snowfields, snowboard under arm. This interview with Tom for the 2010 Comic Con shows his passion for world of graphic art and scifi.

Some other interesting glimpses into the mind of Tom can be found in this interview on the MobiThinking website where he shares his views about mobile marketing. In AdAge, prior to the Cannes Lions, he gave his views about what he thought would do well in 2010.

But in the end it is the work he helps bring to the world that shows what kind of creative leader he is. This project for UK charity Childline was created to let young people know they can now express how they are feeling online as well as by phone. Their idea was to use music and words so they created a fully interactive campaign based around mash-ups. They got world famous musician Paul Hartnoll from Orbital to collaborate with hot digital film director Dennis Lui. Together they recorded real kids expressing themselves with just a single word or sound. From this Paul created a unique music track. Dennis then projected the track with accompanying images on an urban landscape. The footage was also turned into an ad. The ad drove kids to a website where they could create their very own mash-up and enter it into a competition where the winning entry would become a real TV ad. See the case below…

My next victim will be Michael Lebowitz of Big Spaceship. Unless I hear from his lawyer.

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“In the best-designed games, our human experience is optimized: We have important work to do, we’re surrounded by potential collaborators, and we learn quickly and in a low-risk environment. In her work as a game designer, she creates games that use mobile and digital technologies to turn everyday spaces into playing fields, and everyday people into teammates. Her game-world insights can explain — and improve — the way we learn, work, solve problems, and lead our real lives.”

via Game My Brand

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FOOD PRODUCTS

David Ogilvy’s tips were specific for print and TV, with suggestions for art direction and copywriting to bring out the best aspects of the product. In digital it is much more about building a preference for the product by enhancing the brand with useful or entertaining content, real facts that answer people’s burning questions or simply bring the product personality to life.

The recent Domino Pizza turnaround campaign was a great example of answering the questions people were asking. Questions about product quality & taste and responding the negativity around the infamous YouTube video of Domino staff messing with the food. Of course it is risky being so open as you will see on their campaign page. Not every customer comment coming in via Twitter is positive. They get quickly deleted of course.

http://www.pizzaturnaround.com

At the other end of the spectrum you’ve got the pure branded entertainment of Doritos and the Asylum626 campaign. After the succes of the Hotel 626 campaign, Doritos continued the experience with the Asylum 626. Created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and produced by B-Reel, the new website was just as scary and was divided into stages where you had goals to meet and puzzles to unravel. You could interact via microphones and webcams to live the experience more realistically and the integration with Facebook and Twitter was a good addition. With scenes that had horror movie-style quick cuts the game managed to scare even the toughest players.

TOURIST DESTINATIONS

In “Confessions of an Advertising Man”, Ogilvy says that ads for tourism should “convert dreams into action – transforming potential energy into kinetic energy”. This is still true in digital with the best online tourism campaigns truly engaging with the viewer so they already become virtually involved with the destination… a first step towards actually going there. The Queensland Tourism “Best job in the world” campaign is the obvious example of how successful you can be in this category online. But let’s look at some less well-known examples:

The Webby Award winner Snapshots of Provence is an experimental website for the local tourist board which you can navigate two ways. Pick pictures on the left to visit by regions which includes small video clips or use the wheel on the right for an alternate navigation. This comprehensive sound and visual experience is an excerpt from the travel book of photographer Thomas Duval and sound designer Tacteel and produced by UZIK. An immersive experience like this really can talk to the dreamer in everyone and make them want to start planning a trip.

http://www.snapshotsofprovence.com/

This next example may not be a tourist destination but it’s more about how you get there. Virgin Atlantic Upper Class was promoted online with this amusing Cannes award winning campaign that played on people’s fear of flying. Travelers on other airlines may suffer from a fear of flying, but someone who has flown Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class and experienced their unprecedented level of pampering may suffer from something much worse: The fear of not flying Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class.

Check out one of the banners here.

PROPRIETARY MEDICINES

When it comes to advertising pharmaceutical products Ogilvy was spot on when he wrote that it must be serious, authoritative and educational. This first example ticks all those boxes. A People’s Choice Webby Award winner by RAPP, this website promoted the first FDA-approved, over-the-counter weight-loss pill. The agency designed a site for people interested in understanding how to use the new drug, called ‘alli.’ Information and tools were provided to offer patients an alternative to current over-the-counter weight-loss options. Content/tools on the consumer sites included a BMI calculator and a readiness quiz. A ‘Commitment Letter’ feature enabled people to share past diet experiences. More than 1.5 million unique visitors logged on during the first four months.

http://www.myalli.com

Of course there are always times when you want to turn conventions upside down. You can be serious about incontinence or make fun of it by getting Whoopi Goldberg to be the front woman. As part of a large print and television advertising campaign for Poise, the adult diapers produced by Kimberly-Clark, Goldberg played the parts of several historical and mythical women, suggesting that light bladder leakage may have been a problem for Mona Lisa, the Statue of Liberty, Eve, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy etc. The films, a montage of which featured during the 2010 Oscars, also formed the heart of a dedicated website which provided a platform for women to learn about the problem and not to feel so alone.

http://1in3likeme.yahoo.com

So maybe there are no fixed rules today for advertising online. As long as you understand whom you are talking to and find an idea that connects with them then you’ve got a great chance of your campaign making a difference.

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Jonah Peretti, the guy behind New York start-up BuzzFeed, put together this presentation on how web content goes viral. According to Jonah the key to success is taking advantage and successful tapping the BWN – that’s the Bored at Work Network. They are the millions and millions of us who sit behind our screens, tweeting, blogging and generally sharing all kinds of stuff we stumble across. While we should be working! via the Wall Blog UK.

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The results have been pretty amazing:

• On day 1 the campaign received almost 6 million views
  (more than Obama’s victory speech)
• On day 2 old spice had 8 of the 11 most popular videos online
• On day 3 the campaign had reached over 20 million views
• After the first week old spice had over 40 million views
• Old Spice Twitter following increased 2700%
• Facebook fan interaction was up 800%
• Oldspice.com website traffic was up 300%
• The old spice YouTube channel became the all time most viewed channel
• The campaign has generated 1.4 billion impressions since launching the ads 6 months ago
• The campaign increased sales by 27% over 6 months since launching (year on year)
• In the last 3 months sales were up 55%
• During the social media Responses campaign sales were up 107%
• Old spice is now the #1 body wash brand for men

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Avant garde or deja vu? RT @chiatdaynight RT @jbhester: Madison Avenue’s World of Tomorrow http://nyti.ms/931tG6

• The Media Kitchen agency and Popular Science opened the Test Kitchen, a living room of sorts where employees can test the latest technology. Is this big enough news to appear on the NY Times? Probably not… they just have great PR people. Ogilvy have had Digital Labs for years and other agencies no doubt have done the same. I do like the idea of making it look like a living room though. Slippers anyone?

RT @LarryTolpin: ‘What Makes A Good Creative Director?’ – via @BHHLabs – http://j.mp/cN46me

• Great article by Felix Unger on the Design Taxi blog. Those of us who’ve held that title for a while could do with a reality check from time to time to see if we are really living up to the expectations of the CD role (and not just cruising). Topics include: The creative director should produce work (not just post-it scribbles), should know every creative brief intimately, should be a shepherd and more…

Amazing. RT @simonmainwaring: crazy and inspiring new devices coming out of MIT give a hint of what might be possible. http://ow.ly/2fTF6

• I’ve always been a bit of a geek when it comes to future technologies.  This article shows what kind of tech we could be using everyday in the near future.

Reading NYTimes: Will Zynga Become the Google of Games? http://nyti.ms/dzJhFQ

• Casual gaming has been buzz word for some time. But with Farmville and social networks it truly exploded. This article shows where it could go next.

Great post on the evolution of digital. RT @edwardboches: Digital ideas, platforms and eco-systems: http://bit.ly/aI3261

• “For years, digital agencies have strived to distinguish themselves from traditional advertising agencies that practice digital with the claim that they build platforms – applications and utility that delivery functionality and integrate into people’s lives – while ad agencies come up with digital gimmicks”. Read on…

Great read! RT @digicynic: A new (controversial?) blog post: How to sell better work. What’s your inspiration strategy? http://bit.ly/bjYmTY

• A must read article by Jerome Courtial that covers such topics as: refiningwhat the account team stands for, integrating innovation specialists into the day to day of client servicing, being creative to get more client face time and more…

Movie trailer for horror movie with your Facebook friends. “Lost in Val Sinestra” Brilliantly done: http://bit.ly/bsCNAz via @daanvanrossum

How they shine so bright..RT @AdHack: Pixar’s tips for creative success – mastery, depth, communication, collaboration:

Amazing work… Future vision: Augmented City – Keiichi Matsuda’s 3D vision. http://tinyurl.com/36wpaq4

• Unfortunately you need some old-fashioned green and red glasses to enjoy this properly…

and finally…

Love it! RT @ChristianHughes: Great fake vintage ads for Facebook, YouTube and Skype – http://short.ie/bpblog060810 (via @Betapond Blog)

• I’ve seen a few of these things floating around the web. Are people yearning for simpler times?

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