I just watched a great short video that does the best job I've seen define Web 2.0. You should check it out and I'd love to hear anyone's comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Creatives and Technologists, Oil and Water?
The last time we got together for breakfast, Don and I were talking about the place where Marketing and Technology meet. After trashing the table and each other, we came up with the question, “What if we offered our clients not only brilliant strategy and kick-ass creative, but could actually build the systems that enable this kind of technology-enabled marketing?” This week we promised to be neater, but try to tackle the thorny question of whether “creative” agency types can co-exist with “technology” types. Is it oil and water?
Today we were joined by David, a Creative Director at one of the most award winning advertising shops in the city and Karen, who teaches technology management at a nearby university. We hadn’t even had our first cup of coffee before the opinions started to fly. “The heart of a creative agency is its ability to come up with big ideas,” said David. “We’re afraid that if we align ourselves too closely with right-brained technologists, the power of the ‘big idea’ will be diluted.”
“Coming up with big ideas shouldn’t be all that different than finding technology solutions,” replied Karen. “The key is to get everyone is a room together, come up with an idea and then work through it iteratively, that’s why I like Agile methodology so much. Plus, if you find the right people in the first place, you should be able to rely on them to produce the right ideas in a fairly predictable way.”
“That’s just the problem, being creative isn’t about being predictable, it’s about, well,,, being creative,” blurted out David. “Sometimes ideas come in minutes, sometimes days. You see, we just think differently and that’s exactly why creative and technology is like oil and water. You can bring them together, but they will never mix.
Before I could jump in, Don asked, “what if we concede that creative and technology people are wired differently and that their thought processes just don’t work them same. Does that mean they can’t collaborate to achieve a single purpose?” “Exactly!” I exclaimed. We’re not talking about the chess and drama clubs in high school, we’re talking about business professionals in the service sector. Our common purpose is to help our clients reach out and communicate with their customers. Without a platform, the big idea goes nowhere and without a big idea, there’s nothing to communicate.
Most marketing clients are tired of being the manager at best and the referee at worst, when it comes to working with multiple vendors. If I think back over my roles as a marketing Director, I shudder at the amount of money I spent or the time I wasted trying to get the technology consultants and the creative agency to speak the same language. In fact, I never even cared that they spoke the same language, all I cared about was that they figured out some way to work together and provided me with what I asked for; marketing programs that not only looked good, but delivered the results I was looking for to make my business (and me personally succeed).
“So maybe it’s not oil and water, we’re talking about at all,” said Don. “It’s really oil and vinegar. Together they’re delicious, but let them sit too long and not only do they separate, but they eventually go rancid as well.” Thankfully we had all finished our breakfast before we ended on a picture of rancid salad dressing. Don was always good at creating lasting images.
Today we were joined by David, a Creative Director at one of the most award winning advertising shops in the city and Karen, who teaches technology management at a nearby university. We hadn’t even had our first cup of coffee before the opinions started to fly. “The heart of a creative agency is its ability to come up with big ideas,” said David. “We’re afraid that if we align ourselves too closely with right-brained technologists, the power of the ‘big idea’ will be diluted.”
“Coming up with big ideas shouldn’t be all that different than finding technology solutions,” replied Karen. “The key is to get everyone is a room together, come up with an idea and then work through it iteratively, that’s why I like Agile methodology so much. Plus, if you find the right people in the first place, you should be able to rely on them to produce the right ideas in a fairly predictable way.”
“That’s just the problem, being creative isn’t about being predictable, it’s about, well,,, being creative,” blurted out David. “Sometimes ideas come in minutes, sometimes days. You see, we just think differently and that’s exactly why creative and technology is like oil and water. You can bring them together, but they will never mix.
Before I could jump in, Don asked, “what if we concede that creative and technology people are wired differently and that their thought processes just don’t work them same. Does that mean they can’t collaborate to achieve a single purpose?” “Exactly!” I exclaimed. We’re not talking about the chess and drama clubs in high school, we’re talking about business professionals in the service sector. Our common purpose is to help our clients reach out and communicate with their customers. Without a platform, the big idea goes nowhere and without a big idea, there’s nothing to communicate.
Most marketing clients are tired of being the manager at best and the referee at worst, when it comes to working with multiple vendors. If I think back over my roles as a marketing Director, I shudder at the amount of money I spent or the time I wasted trying to get the technology consultants and the creative agency to speak the same language. In fact, I never even cared that they spoke the same language, all I cared about was that they figured out some way to work together and provided me with what I asked for; marketing programs that not only looked good, but delivered the results I was looking for to make my business (and me personally succeed).
“So maybe it’s not oil and water, we’re talking about at all,” said Don. “It’s really oil and vinegar. Together they’re delicious, but let them sit too long and not only do they separate, but they eventually go rancid as well.” Thankfully we had all finished our breakfast before we ended on a picture of rancid salad dressing. Don was always good at creating lasting images.
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