crashing silos
A Communication Revolution: Agency Evolution
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My thoughts from SXSWi, with David Erickson of Tunheim.
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Visualize to Communicate for the Future
The traditional PR or corp. comm. person and those that are successful have been good writers. Mostly PR pros debated over tactics or the spectrum of how to use words and leverage relationships. Tunheim at 21 years old isn’t different.
But now it’s time to start thinking in pictures, images, and graphic content. Journalists are doing it, as I am trying to illustrate over at Graphic Journalism. Now its time for communicators to do it. And they have to do it fast.
It was a problem our client Izzy’s addressed last year with their RFID-driven Flavor Up system.
At #sxsw, Oglivy via #OglivyNotes is doing an excellent job of literally illustrating the future of telling stories. They are using Image Think, as is Alcatel-Lucent.
Here’s one example:
Each presentation is captured as art. Understandable art. Art that communicates.
The day after the talks, Oglivy distributes posters of the art. I am trying to collect each one.
Design is of course a small element of the work any agency does, but the art of a corporate communicator should no longer only be words. It can be words and images.
This just amplifies the “infographic” phenomenon.
Just as we used to “design” the pitch, now we have to “design” the story and deliver it.
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If clients want engagement, look to games. Tunheim at #sxsw
SXSW is fun! I mean, work. Well, really it’s a game.
It is probably not just a coincidence that the first exhibition hall that I walked into was a gamers demo called “Screen Burn”. To sum up my first day, it’s about games. Real games that people are predicting will have real impact, and real engagement for brands, and people.
The first stop was Seth Priebatsch’s keynote where he made a compelling case that games can solve big issues. Education, customer acquisition and perhaps even climate change.
He called it the #gamelayer, and I posted a similar talk he gave from Ted earlier.
The next panel I hit was very insightful. Mike Sego and Manny Anekal Storytelling through Advertising. Anekal had the best insight as head of brand advertising for Zynga.
Zynga is that company that pollutes your Facebook feed with game requests from friends. Or so I thought.
Anekal laid out a series of case studies for McDonalds, Cascadian Farms, 7 Eleven and Farmers Insurance that were beyond impressive.
He cited a Cisco Security report that says:
Cisco Security Intelligence Operations research found that 7 percent of global sample of users accessing Facebook spend an average of 68 minutes per day playing the popular interactive game “FarmVille.” “Mafia Wars” was the second most popular game, with 5 percent of users each racking up 52 minutes of play daily, while “Café World,” played by 4 percent of users, accounted for 36 minutes of wasted time per day.
Now that might be browser time, but cut it in half and its still an impressive amount of time of engagement with someone.
Consider this chart from Inside Social Games:
Games are the modern day soap opera and brands should pay attention to them and c onsider them as a strategy. Games engage, and deepen the relationship.
Games do what PR, advertising and content all strive to do - in one place. But ultimately Zynga has shown they move product and that is what any agency should want to do for clients.
That’s real fun for our clients.
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This isn’t his #sxsw talk, but Seth Priebatsch gives agencies a lot to think about. His keynote today #gameslayer at #sxsw included a game with the 100’s in his audience given 180 seconds to win so that his company SCVNGR would donate $10K to the National Wildlife Foundation.
Here’s Mashable’s coverage of his keynote: http://mashable.com/2011/03/12/priebatsch-keynote/
More on Day 1 being all about games…later.
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Angry Birds: The Modern Agency
Sure it’s a game, but games require strategy. As a metaphor to the dynamic change that is occurring at creative agencies across the world, I find that the simple and juvenile video game Angry Birds sums it up.
If you haven’t played. Don’t worry it’s coming to Facebook soon.
Imagine you are launching birds, like messages and your targets (audience) are sometimes right in front of you, and other times, barricaded and impossible to hit. The birds you’re launching all have a special or not-so-special. Some are bombs. Some are boomerangs and others multiply in the air. Some drill right through wood, and others are just big bold bullies.
The targets are ugly, but you get points when you find a way to reach them. As you clear a board of all your targets you advance. You get to use new birds, you’re able to try new strategies. But in the end, it’s about tools - and that’s what the new revolution is about.
All of the channels, all of the platforms. From video, to pictures everyone’s a content company and distribution matters. That’s the new agency opportunity.
Just like Angry Birds where the launching of birds is the distribution and it makes all the difference.
the world of media and communications is changing fast. the silos are crumbling. the audiences are revolting. strategy, creativity and leveraging the new tools will shape a new generation of engagement. and this channel will observe, report and ideate.