The Amplified Present

June 17, 2011
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There’s a blog from Nick Burcher doing the rounds at the moment about how paid, owned and earned media are all interlinked.

In short, he talks about how broadcast TV can still be used to deliver a message, but how it also acts as a gateway to content (Owned) and drives participation and conversation (Earned.)

ZenithOptimedia have coined the phrase ‘the amplified present’ to broadly describe people twittering/talking/blogging about what’s happening – right now.

Twitter tends to go mad when Britain’s Got Talent is on or someone says something silly on The Apprentice…

It’s also often a more up-to-date news source than the news itself – only the other day, one of my friends started talking about a fire burning in Covent garden.

He’d read it on twitter hours before any of the online news websites picked up on it.

There’s obviously a wealth of data on this and lots of people sharing their opinions on what this means for agencies.

What’s the knock on for agencies?

What does this mean for how we operate?

There will be some huge changes in terms of data, analytics and evaluation with this evolving media landscape.

But actually our focus should still be where it’s always been. On creativity.

The fact people are now jumping from TV to computer more fluidly is a help to us, not a hindrance. But ultimately we need to make sure adverts have all the elements to be shareable.

If the new media landscape now involves the ‘amplified present’, then its guitar must be creativity.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

June 14, 2011
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So today is my 22nd birthday.
It’s rather an odd one as it feels like the start of my proper twenties – proper adulthood.
21 still felt young. 22 feels older.
Couple this with the fact I’ve now got friends that are engaged, friends with children and friends with houses and I’ve realised just how unattached I am…
I’ve got a blog. Does that count?

Anyway – in true marriage vs mixtape style, I’ve decided to commit to several (trivial) tasks to be completed during my 22nd year. Below.

1. Review 22 gigs.
2. Review 22 albums.
3. Talk about my 22 favourite brands.
4. Visit 22 London pubs (and take a photo).

I know – what a commitment.

Aren’t venn diagrams cool?

June 12, 2011
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In January we opened our graduate scheme applications. One of the things we asked the potential grads to do was attach a photo to their application form that excited them.
We had plenty of pictures from our applicants’ recent gap years, lots of images of lightbulbs and other creative symbols and all the other usual suspects you’d expect to see as an answer to this question.
However – one person attached the venn diagram below.
 
 
For some reason, it struck a chord with me. 
 
Not because it was particularly exciting, but simply because it’s a fact of life put across in an interesting way. 
 
You do HAVE to step out of your comfort zone if you’re going to do anything interesting or have any stories to tell.
You SHOULD try and use venn diagrams (and other charts) to express yourself.
It’s now stuck up on my wall at home. 
Aren’t venn diagrams cool?
 

The rock’n’roll lifestyle

June 11, 2011
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Before I got into advertising, I played bass in a band and ran my own music nights in Cardiff. 


With a degree under my belt, I applied to a couple of ad agencies and I was lucky enough to get offered an account handling job.

It didn’t take me long to realise that organising and running gigs was actually quite similar to account handling at an ad agency. 
The venue owner? They’re a bit like your client. 


They want your night to go well, they’ll help you out if you need it but ultimately they just need to make sure that what’s happening turns a profit and is good for the venue.
The musicians? They’re your agency creatives. They’re often eccentric, sometimes diva-ish and frequently unpredictable.


 But all this boils down to the reason the night’s happening, they’re the ones inventive enough to draw an audience into the venue. 
The audience? An easy one. They’re obviously your ad’s audience. 


Book a band that no one likes and you don’t get an audience. Book one that lots of people like and you’ve got a queue out the door.
And event organising is very similar to account handling. You have to make sure every group is happy. 

You have to make sure the venue owners are happy, the night is a financial success and it’s the kind of night they want held in their venue. 

You have to pick the right bands to play each venue and then make sure that they’re happy – that they’re treated well and that they get to play what they want to, how they want to. It’s also your job to make sure they sound the best they can do.

And finally (and most importantly) you have to make sure the audience are happy. 


You have to make sure they enjoy themselves, they like the music, they like the venue and that they will come back again.

Enthusiastic but uninformed

June 6, 2011
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I recently read W&K’s Honda effectiveness paper from 2005. They raise a really interesting point regarding the hypocrisy of how we look at brands.
On the one hand we try our hardest to talk about brands as if they are a living person. We talk about their personality, their beliefs, their values and the conversations and interactions they have with consumers.
On the other, we try and describe brands in just a couple of words – ‘witty & irreverent’ ‘enthusiastic & informed’ ‘sophisticated & optimistic’.
They argue we wouldn’t talk about a real person in this way. If brands are like people, we need to embrace the fact there is more to them than a couple of words. 
In many ways I think they’re right. 
We do need to embrace the complexity of brands. Whilst a single ad execution may communicate a single message, it is still jam packed with nuances and subtleties that add up to a bigger picture. A more complex picture. And with lots of executions across lots of channels over many years, that’s one complex picture!
And I also agree – two or three words to describe a brands personality clearly isn’t enough. 
But a couple of sentences would probably do it wouldn’t it? I think all of us could describe a person we know reasonably well in a two or three hard working sentences. 
So why not a brand?
Then when we actually produce the ads, they’ll fill in all of the gaps.
 

Culture Group Work

May 7, 2010
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Here you can spy just some of the work we did for Culture Group and Live Unltd over the last couple of weeks. Huge congratulations to Peter, who worked to extremely tight deadlines to make sure these vids made it on time.

Here’s number one: UMBRELLA SALESMAN
Number two for yall: SPACEMAN SAUCE
An agressive number three: GANG WARFARE
Fourth and final: RATTLEGATE
Not much else going on other than revision here… Lotsa fun – can’t wait to get my finals out of the way…
Later gator x

16th – 26th April

April 26, 2010
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So I was a little late doing this blog as I had my final pitch for the entrepreneurship module a Uni on Friday, and was not in the mood to write once I got back from it.
Think I’m going to stop the weekly updates for now and instead update as and when I have something to say, as revision is in full swing and there is very little movement on projects elsewhere.
What CAN i fill you in on?
Acoustic Attic: was a great success! Here are a couple of (dark & blurry) photos…
Huge thanks to Ten Feet Tall for giving us a reduced room hire fee and for serving some amazing cocktails…
Flaming Zombie…!
Here’s Kadesha, our fantastic opening act…
and here’s Three Pairs of Shoes…
Finally here’s our headliner, Stokes William…

Overall we raised £110 for charity. Not a huge amount but we’re still pretty happy with that considering the gig was slap bang in the revision period…
Castlecake: The Culture Group/Unltd videos are finally all finished! Waheey!
We also did a little rotoscoping over some of their video files, which were delivered yesterday!
The youtube links will appear on here shortly…!
The focus is back on our own website for a little while – fantastic news!
Publicis: I’ve just been accepted on to the Publicis summer school ‘ADcademy’! Wahey!
Runs between the 28th June and the 9th July. Exciting stuff!
Stay lucky,
Ant x

10th – 16th April

April 16, 2010
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Hey’o,
1) Acoustic Attic: CHARITY FOLK SPECIAL THIS SUNDAY!
Only a couple of days to go until the event… Everything’s in place – just gotta make sure we get people through the door now… If you’re reading this (and in Cardiff ) (or fancy a roadtrip) on Sunday please please come down… Doors at 8.30pm, 3 Great bands and 241 Cocktails!!
2) Castlecake: Culture Group work is moving quickly. Foley audio will be added to the animatics within the next week… Lots to do!
Here’s another frame from the animatic for you to feast your eyes on..


3) Istartedthefire: Frustrating work! Couple of leads to follow up but very thin on the ground.

3rd April – 9th April

April 9, 2010
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Yo yo yo…

Pretty hectic week! (revision still hasn’t started. ouch.)

1) Acoustic Attic –

Somehow ended up with TWO groups for the event on facebook… not a completely bad thing?! – but makes communication & promotion a little harder… apologies if anyone gets the same message twice.

Here’s the first CLICK ME and here’s the second OR ME

You’re welcome to attend either. They’re both at the same time. At the same place.

2) Castlecake –

Just got back from an exciting pitch at The Culture Group in Cardiff. Our storyboards were approved and we were given the all clear to continue to production. Producing what??

We’ll be producing a series of viral shorts for their client ‘Live UnLtd.‘

Here’s a quick preview from our pre-production.

3) Istartedthefire Booking –

Still very slow. Venue promoters just won’t take risks!

Currently speaking to Brian at the Marrs Bar. Hopefully will be able to secure a Worcestershire gig with him…

AND FINALLY: I like this piano riff