Lights, Camera, Ideas!
Three episodes from the Worldwide Partners global summit in Los Angeles, The Currency of Ideas.
While Game of Thrones was coming to an end, one of our Creative Directors Simone Jacelon, and our Finance Director Mary Fullerton were just getting started on their own exciting series – The Currency of Ideas.
This was the theme for the Worldwide Partners Network global meeting in Silicon Beach – the heart of the Los Angeles start-up and creative scene. The Buzz joined its partners from all over the globe for a three-day series of exciting meetings, presentations and collaboration discussions.
Worldwide Partners is a global network of more than 70 independent and diversified market services agencies in over 40 countries, with Trinidad and Tobago represented by The Buzz. Here are 3 key stories about how creativity is evolving our world and creating a Currency of Ideas.
Episode 1 – The Great Digital Distraction
The digital world is making our brain ‘digital’ – rewriting how we think, talk and interact. With so much digital distraction, ideas remain the currency of brands, but consumers pay with their attention. And this attention should be thought of as a gift. This was the position brought forward by Brian Solis – principal analyst at Altimeter Group, an award-winning author, anthropologist, and futurist.
In this era of distraction, companies can’t just put a marketing message out there and assume consumers will pay up. We have to earn their attention. And we earn it through designing for experiences, not designing for the brand. With the traditional sales funnel being unravelled, and the consumer threshold very thin, it’s up to brands to reinvent consumer touchpoints to attract the distracted, fragmented mind. How can this be done? Through true customer empathy, challenging convention though learning and ‘unlearning’, and human-centred creativity and innovation.
Episode 2 – Creativity in the Future
Who Will Succeed and Rule With Creativity in the Future?What are the forces that are changing the nature, role and leaders of creativity? How can we deliver a more transformative application of creativity in all aspects of business?
These were just some of the questions answered by a diverse panel of experts at a presentation titled Creativity Meets Game Of Thrones: Who Will Succeed and Rule With Creativity in the Future?
One of the key points made is that creative shouldn’t just be considered an agency or a department but a culture. Because today’s problems more than ever require creative solutions, it was pointed out that more Agency Creative Departments, are increasingly used to solve a number of business problems – not just marketing ones.
Another hot topic was creativity in an era of cost-cutting. One solution was to create marketing ideas that the press will write about. Mark Taylor, Chief Creative Officer with WPI Partner Agency MeringCarson explained that if your marketing is compelling enough to get the media talking, coverage increases without increasing costs.
Remember that Starbucks cup in Game of Thrones?
Episode 3 – We Googled it!
The Buzz team enjoyed a truly unique experience – a private tour of Google’s new Playa Vista office. During the day Google executives dived into the digital landscape with discussions on AI, voice, video, and Internet-of-things. And in case you’re wondering – yes all attendees had to sign an NDA to attend this event 🙂 But there are a couple things we can talk about.
Tech is replacing tasks, not jobs
For those still not convinced that technology will take over all of our jobs, Google’s Head of Agencies Tim Reis offered some comfort. Citing hyperbolic headlines of job-stealing technology dating back to 1812, Tim explained the difference between tasks and jobs.
A task is one single thing a person does that makes up their job, like the task of chopping vegetables as a chef. “If you gave Julia Child a Cuisinart it didn’t make her less of a chef, it made her a more efficient one.” Technology is making tasks simpler and more efficient, but it is not eliminating jobs. Our role is to ‘accept and adapt’.
The Story Arc has changed
One custom that has changed, thanks to new devices and shortened attention spans, is the story arc of videos and advertising. Traditionally the story starts slow, moving through increasingly intense crises that culminate in a climax, then wrapping clean with a denouement. Meggie Coates, Head of Unskippable Labs at Google, provided the data to back up this changing arc theory.
Through numerous examples of YouTube ad testing, Meggie showed how the arc now has more of a heart-beat shape–starting high, small growth to some brand cues, dropping to an unexpected shift, growing again with several peaks of interest, then dropping again with more information for those that want to see it.
