Well, now that February has officially come to an end, we’ve got lots to share with you all. Kicked off a handful of new projects as well as launched a handful of others!
First up is the new Pabst Blue Ribbon website. We spent the last couple months fine tuning this beauty for our lovely clients down at the PBR headquarters. Chock full of constantly produced, sortable content from their Field Marketing Reps in cities across the country and hidden surprises, this new look has been a long time coming, and a well deserved launch for a great brand.
Up next is a fancy little number we did with our friends over at Mono, entitled Increase Your Chances (.org). This was a great piece, with an amazing concept, all revolving around infertility awareness. A full featured flash site with sharable video spots and a mobile site to boot, it doesn’t get much better than this!
Last, but by no means least, we have Voltage Fashion Amplified. Yet another rock-tastic year of Minneapolis’s finest fashions ruling the runways at First Ave during April’s fashion week. Going to be another spectacular event and we’re proud to have been involved once again.
JCPenney medaled in many categories, but we’re all very excited to see our efforts achieve a medal in a new category. Congrats to all involved, especially our boys down at The Nerdery who moved mountains at the 11th hour many a time during the pre-holiday build up.
Lets talk creative. Creative, creative, creative. There’s an epic struggle around creative right now that seems to have us all confused. There really is no reason for us all to struggle with this notion, but what’s happening is the idea of “creative” being exclusive and not intermingled with “technology” is mucking it all up. Creative has been seen, for incredibly far too long, as being confined to a couple categories (TV/Radio) and everything that isn’t in those categories falls into the realm of just campaign execution/production. So now, marketing initiatives are being shifted and are focusing heavily on new and emerging technologies, as they discover their audience rapidly shifting into these mediums while responding less to the otherwise traditional creative mediums… thus requiring the concept of creative to shift as well.
TELLING THE STORY
As we’ve talked before, telling a story will never die. Its the story that engages the audience in the first place. Its that connection they feel with the brand. Today, the technology has given users an even more direct connection with a brand. They’re still moved through the story, but they’re now part of the story. They’re no longer prone to being spoken to, but spoken with. So the success of social mediums like Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps, etc, make it easy to see why people flock to them, but how do we transition our story into these mediums appropriately. The story falls apart when you take the old mediums and just push them into the new ones, you need to think on two levels now. What works for social media or mobile does not work for TV or Print. How can we tell a story, but also involve the users IN that story. Start with this simple question: “Does our idea get users involved?” Once you’ve answered that question, adapting the pieces of the story to work in other mediums is fairly simple.
One classic example of this (and as much as I hate to use this example because it clearly points to my obsessive nerdy side) was the first few seasons of LOST on ABC. Yeah, its a TV show, so you’d promote it with commercials during other TV shows, right? WRONG! ABC went to great lengths to generate a HUGE buzz online across many platforms. There were mysterious games, there were microsites for brands only found in the LOST series, there were Facebook pages AND there were commercials that cleverly drove people into these other mediums. The story was cohesive and the fans flocked to these experiences like ants to a picnic basket. The shows ratings grew like wildfire and it became one of the strongest TV shows in years. They took a look at the WHOLE picture, they crafted a brilliant story, modified it appropriately for each medium, and got their fans involved in that story.
So, to summarize, the story’s the same… its all about the story. HOWEVER, the execution of that story has changed. You can’t stuff a square peg into a round hole, and you can’t jam a TV commercial into Facebook and expect it to work the same. Your creative is key, but its got to be smart enough to adapt to ALL the mediums we’re facing today.
These are interesting times, that’s for sure. Our industry is changing at a lightning pace, which is a good thing, but it often brings about the same discussion that happens every time there’s a drastic change in our industry. That epic philosophical conversation surrounding the preservation of our art form or its bastardization through the advancement of technology. Well believe me, being the type of shop we are, we’re constantly on the forefront of that conversation. So, that leads us to today’s post, which will be one of three posts in a series, about today’s dilemma of gracefully wandering the line between the importance of design practice, striving towards beautiful excellence all while keeping up with the rapid growth of technology and the restrictions they ultimately impose upon your vision. Here we go!
THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN
Its both glaringly obvious, yet often undermined by the ever changing landscape, but those that succeed in this technological revolution are those who genuinely believe in the value of the creative solution. Very rarely are people rallied to a cause or become passionate about something because it has a 1GHz thingamajig and an OLED screen. They fall in love with the idea behind it all and the execution that calls to them in a meaningful way. They are drawn to the appealing visuals that grab their eye. They engage with an effective, yet intriguing user interface that makes interacting with an experience unique and inspiring.
THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY
Its no surprise that technology is clearly dominating our daily lives. The lure of each shiny new gadget and the race to be the first to support it from a creative standpoint is overpowering. Naturally, each new technological advancement brings a whole new set of standards, and in some cases, restrictions that will ultimately be imposed upon anyone entering that realm. The technology can wow us, we can get caught up in the brilliance of each new device and how its breaking new ground or making life so much more amazing.
WALKING THE LINE
That balancing act between pushing the creative solution and accommodating the limitations of whatever the new piece of technology may be is always a tricky rope to walk. It requires not only the commitment to the creative solution, but the constant passion to delve into the unknown with whatever piece of technology that bursts through the doors that week. This is no easy task. It often takes a team of people or a weird hybrid creative nerd who loves artsy films and the hi-tech new cameras they were shot on. But its not impossible, in today’s world, its essential.
Next week we’ll talk more about some specific examples and how we walk the line here at Sevnthsin. Would love to hear stories/see examples of how you’re all accomplishing this balancing act. Send away!
Google Buzz, in case you haven’t heard yet, is Google’s new “Social” tool that wraps into all their other tools. So what, you may ask, well so WHAT is right. Google buzz isn’t just some wishy washy additional social tool, its a literal add on to all of Google’s products… you know, the one’s you’re already using. Maps, Gmail, etc, etc. Buzz from anywhere!
The basic idea is a combo of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare all in one. Make a post, add a picture, share a link… but from any Google product you’re using. Say you’re at Sevnthsin (for example) and you’re just having an amazing time, you can post about it through Maps and it’ll show your post on the Sevnthsin location in Maps. How cool is that? Its like all your favorite social tools combined into one and are usable everywhere.
Its so big, in fact, Google released stats from the first two days Buzz was open to the public. Get this, 9 million+ posts averaging 200+ posts per minute from mobile devices. That’s some pretty impressive usage for a brand new product. Also a pretty impressive stat for the argument of Mobile usage today.
There’s some flaws in the Buzz right now, like you can’t use it with Google Apps on your own domain, has to be a GMail based account, there are also some privacy bugs right now, as in emails being displayed publicly. Sounds like Google is all over these issues and will have fixes for them all in the coming days, which is nice to see them being proactive.
Now these are just plain cool. Rumored to be available on Feb 10th over at Dyzplastic, these little buggers are sure to sell like hotcakes. We first shot these out on Twitter yesterday and were met with a couple of folks that’ll be selling them at their stores (thanks @hello_robotlove), and we’ll most likely be making a handful of purchases.
“What happened to iMated 1, and why don’t I see an update in my queue?” you may ask. Well, its a bit of a long story, but what it all comes down to is a minor flaw in the iTunes system, not allowing one developer to show apps under different artist names. So, we had to hop into a new dev agreement with Apple and re-release iMated (with a few new features, mind you) under this new account. We’ve got some new, fun things brewing on the iMated front, so get your app up to date and expect that updates to start coming real soon!
They’re back at it again, only this time it looks like there’s nothing Apple can do to stop Google from making Google Voice available on the iPhone. If everyone remembers last summer’s debacle where the Google Voice app was rejected from the App Store, and the FCC got involved, and lots of people got all up in a fuss over it, then forgot it ever happened. Well Google didn’t forget, and today will be unveiling a new user interface that will allow users of the Palm Pre/Pixi and iPhone to be able to use their Google Voice accounts directly through the web browser.
Again, another bold step forward by Google (through a loophole, however) in an effort to make technology better. Exciting stuff.
Apps are all the rage these days, right? Of course they are! Mobile devices are rapidly becoming the primary mode of communication (who has a home phone these days), computing (when was the last time you popped open your laptop at a starbucks to connect to their WiFi and check your email) and even social interactions (you know you just updated your status while reading this.. don’t lie to yourself). Of course this leads to the ever present argument of who’s phone is doing it better than the other… which will continue to be a never ending argument for as long as we live (which I’m fine with, as it’ll keep driving competition, right?). But lets get back on track here. Apps. Ah yes, today’s biggest marketing buzz word. At first, just being in the game was enough. Every brand and their mother had some sort of branded app out there, whether it was actually worthwhile or not (Target’s Snow Globe anyone… hey, at least they got in the game early). Then things changed, and for the better. Now people actually expect your app to DO something for you, and rightfully so.
So that leads me to today’s point (finally… get on with it): Android and its home screen. Now Google’s approach has always been one of “Let the users have at it,” which is all fine and good, but what about the folks out there who just want a clean, organized, precise home screen. Something that just delivers what they want in a concise manner? This whole notion was rumored on the iPhone about 4 months ago, but we all know it’ll never come to life as Apple will never approve an app that alters its user interface (both a good/bad thing. There’s some great things in the iPhone UI, but there are a handful of downsides, too), but Larva Labs has actually taken the initiative to make it happen on the Android platform. Their newest app, SlideScreen, does exactly that. After completing the setup, SlideScreen ties into much of the Android core, by bringing calls, SMS, email, weather, twitter, Google Reader, Stocks, etc to your home screen in a nifty little slide up/down interface. Soft clicking opens the item either in the SlideScreen interface (in the instance of tweets, also allowing for native retweet/reply/share functionality) or in the phone’s native app (in the instance of Calendar events and email). Long clicks allow you to add new items to the list in their respective category. The menu button now serves as a device to trigger the old menu drawer and brings up the apps you otherwise had stored on your home screen in a neat little overlay.
Larva Labs offers both a free and paid version of the app. So far we’ve only played with the free version, but will be upgrading to the Pro version shortly to get a feel for what additional features it bring to the table. Either way, its pretty impressive so far and seems to work nicely on all the different devices we have floating around here.
Unless you’re living under a rock, you all know the big launch of the Google Nexus One happened this week. Exciting news as the world of smart phones gets better and better. But what’s even more exciting than simply the launch of its own device from mega-power Google, is the quiet unveiling of their online store.
So what, you say? Well, on first glance, yeah, so what… So Google is selling their phone themselves, unlocked. WELL, the big picture here is that THEY are selling the phone, THEN you pick the carrier you want. To date, the traditional protocol is to sign up with a carrier, then pick what device that carrier sells. They may have what you like, or they may have something that suits you, if not, you need to switch to a new carrier, which is often difficult to do because you’re locked into a long term (approximately 2 year) contract every time you buy a new phone. Well that’s all about to change.
Apple really laid the ground work here, and I don’t think anyone will dispute that. Prior to the iPhone, no one really got overly excited about a device. Every carrier had some form of Blackberry and that seemed to fill anyone who needed a smartphone’s needs. Well when the iPhone hit, overnight millions of people dropped their coverage and flocked to AT&T to get it… because lets be honest, it wasn’t for the AT&T service, that’s for sure. So now the idea that was initially paved by Apple, however still executed in a somewhat traditional fashion (carrier provides device) is not being capitalized on by Google… and rightfully so.
Google has always been a game changer, whether it be search (RIP Webcrawler), Mapping (RIP Mapquest), Email (RIP Hotmail), web browsing (RIP Firefox… to be noted, the jury’s still out on this one, but we’ve got a good guess at the outcome) and now Mobile operating systems and devices (RIP RIM/Blackberry), Google has always been out to reinvent. So who better to take the concept of “Pick your phone, THEN pick your carrier” and run wild with it.
Ultimately, this represents a huge shift in the dynamic of the mobile model in the US, as well as the rest of the world. Its exciting to see such a dramatic shift as it now places greater emphasis on the carriers themselves to provide a better service as opposed to just lure you in with whatever the hottest device is. Should make for an interesting next couple of years as more manufacturers adopt this model and the carriers make moves to accommodate.
