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PSFK Conference NYC (Part 7): City As Canvas
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. I’m using this multi-post series to share some of the highlights.
TALK: City As Canvas featuring Marc & Sara Schiller (Wooster Collective)
This was my favorite talk of the day. It hit on all the points of a great presentation:
1) It was interesting
2) It told a story
3) It left you wanting more
They began the talk by asking a question: What Is It About Street Art That Makes It So Infectious?
- Site specific
- Adds context and meaning
- Personal and intimate
- Reaction to the proliferation of Advertising
- Street art has impermanence — Advertising has a purpose
The Schillers went on to show examples of numerous street artists:
- Banksy
- Beehives
- Invader – spaceinvader Flickr set – spaceinvader site
- Mark Jenkins
- Darius & Downey – Darius & Downey Flickr set
- Dan Witz
- Roadsworth – Roadsworth on Flickr
- Brad Downey
- Laura Keebler
- JLove
- The Bubble Project – on Wooster Collective
- Decapitator – the decapitator’s Photostream on Flickr
- Dr. Gecko
- Sputnik – check out “Nike The Ripper“
- JR – his recent project in Kenya
- Filippo Minelli
- John Fekner
- Armsrock – on Wooster Collective – Armsrock’s blog
- Jan Vormann
- Ben Bostock
- The Bund
- Crateman – Crate Art in Melbourne (via Wooster Collective), The Return of Crateman (via Wooster Collective)
- Revs
- Jake Bronstein – on Wooster Collective
- Guerilla Knitters
- mosstika
- Ulrika Erdes
SUMMARY: There are a lot of incredible street artists out there doing amazing things. Their work isn’t just visually interesting – it’s often insightful and inspiring. There’s always a story behind each piece; great art will force you to think and look at the world differently, and maybe even question your own beliefs.
Looking back, I really enjoyed the PSFK Conference it was my 1st time). My only suggestion to improve the event was that there were so many terrific, interesting people and a limited amount of time to meet them. For the next conference I’d love PSFK to facilitate some kind of icebreaker so that we could get to know more of the attendees.
LINKS:
Constant Beta – Highlights from the PSFK Conference 2009
iamtheweather.com – PSFK Conference 09
Photos From PSFK Conference NYC
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner/Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) -email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 6): New Idea Agencies
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. I’m using this multi-post series to share some of the highlights.
PANEL: New Idea Agencies featuring Bart Haney (Fuse Project), Carl Johnson (Anomaly), Ben Malbon (BBH Labs), Robbie Vitrano (Trumpet)
This panel discussed Intellectual Property (IP) and it’s the one I was most excited about. They touched on the need to reassess the current agency business and compensation models.
Moderator Question: What Are The Current Challenges?
Carl: “The Ad industry is broken because it values crap ideas the same as good ideas.”
Moderator Question: How important is branding, when traditionally, it’s what an agency’s best at?
Carl: “You have to not care if you execute. The purpose is to make a business.”
“You have to understand media more than anything else.”
“You have to embrace collaboration.”
“You’re much more commercially aware…the retail environment is crucial.”
Robbie: “The ultimate integrity of the business (is most important).”
“The purest form of marketing is in product development.”
Moderator Question: How Do You Get Funding? What Are The Exit Strategies?
Robbie: We don’t want to own 100% – this ruins collaboration. “We’d rather own 10% of a big success than 100% of a failure.”
BREAK: Rethinking Recession
Sites to check out:
- MakerFaire.com
- NYCGarbage.com
- KrystalPersaud.wordpress.com
- Sylvia Earle’s TED Prize wish to protect our oceans | Video on TED.com.
LINKS:
Constant Beta – Highlights from the PSFK Conference 2009
iamtheweather.com – PSFK Conference NYC
Photos From PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner/Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) -email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 5): Reconnect
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. I’m using this multi-post series to share some of the highlights.
PANEL: Reconnect featuring Sarah Beatty (Green Depot), Simon Collins (Parsons), Ryan Jacoby (IDEO), Matthew Lush (Hecho Inc.)
Moderator Question: What does sustainability mean now?
Simon: It’s a journey, not a destination. It’s about buying intelligently. Blue jeans are a perfect example of sustainable design – they actually get better with age as you wash them (What if we could translate this concept to every product?)
Sarah: High-quality. The challenge is to offer something better.
Dave: There’s a perception that sustainability means less…but this isn’t true.
Moderator Question: What will the world be like in 20-30 years?
Sarah: “It’s great that we can connect with people around the world, but how will we connect with people next door?”
Moderator Question: Who are the leaders in sustainability?
Ryan: Method, Amazon.com, Wal-mart
Sarah: Recyclebank – They encourage homeowners to recycle
Summary: Sustainability is really about reversing the trend of over- and hyper-consumption that has been a big part of this generation’s habits. This panel reminded me of something Thomas L. Friedman said on TV the other day about the Green movement.
He was asked when we would know that going Green has been successful.
His answer was that there will be no more “green” cars, “green” houses, or “green anything. A car will be a car and a house will just be a house. We won’t know the difference anymore when there’s nothing to differentiate against.
LINKS:
iamtheweather.com – PSFK Conference NYC
Constant Beta Highlights From the PSFK Conference 2009
Photos from PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner/Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) -email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 4): This Platform Called Everyday Life
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. I’m using this multi-post series to share some of the highlights.
TALK: This Platform Called Everyday Life featuring Kevin Slavin (Area/Code)
This was one of the best talks of the day. Kevin says that we’re heading towards a world where objects have online and offline entities. The lines are blurred.
He uses the cell phone as an example. Traditionally, phones were used for PEOPLE to call other people. Nowadays, the phone is still connecting us with the rest of the world, but, more importantly, the other rest of the world.
Here’s a few examples of using the online world to improve what’s going on in the offline world.
- Nike + “You are in an active communication relationship with your sneakers.”
- Kogi Taco Truck This Korean BBQ on wheels is famous for updating patrons on its location using Twitter
- Sharkrunners combines an online game with real life GPS tracked sharks. Events unfold in real time. You get an email or a text when you have reached an actual shark!
- Citysense.com
- Path Intelligence
Kevin gave a few more examples of how we can expect mobile technology to control environments, such as Project Blinkenlights:
The above pic is of Allianz Arena in Munich. The stadium can change colors depending on which teams are playing (think of a pro baseball and football team sharing the same field).
513-381-JERK is another example that represents the idea of using a phone not to talk, but to communicate with a thing to remove a person. A little crazy when you think about it.
SUMMARY: The idea of “Treating objects like people; regarding people as objects” was really interesting, and a great analysis of the future potential of mobile technology.
LINKS:
Constant Beta: Highlights From The PSFK Conference 2009
iamtheweather.com – PSFK Conference NYC
Photos from PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner/Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) -email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 3): Ghost in the Machine – Digital Multiculture
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. This is a multi-post series where I share some of the highlights.
TALK: Ghost In The Machine – Digital Multiculture featuring Celestine Arnold
Celestine was a terrific speaker, but there was so much info on her slides it was difficult to take adequate notes (I hope she will eventually post her slides online). She said that this was a talk about race & representation – NOT about racism (important distinction).
She went on to talk about the cultural/ethnic misrepresentation and exclusion of minorities from video games & virtual worlds. Gaming is mirrored by white culture when it’s in fact minorities that dominate the gaming market.
Various racial stereotypes also dominate the gaming landscape (white = good, black = evil, arab = terrorists, etc.).
SUMMARY: Celestine points out that embracing the multicultural demographic provides a highly untapped market for marketers.
BREAK: Death of Ownership
One of the predominant themes of the PSFK Conference has to do with consumerism and consumption. There’s a trend of people not just decreasing their purchases, but actually OWNING less stuff. Take a look at the following examples:
- Pandora (free music – no need for CDs)
- Netflix (renting movies – no need for DVDs)
- SmartBike DC – (renting bikes – no need to own transportation)
We’ re moving from a society that is used to accumulating things to a society that’s rejecting over-consumption and embracing simplicity:
“You buy furniture. You tell yourself this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple of years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.”
— Fight Club
As I write this I’m thinking about another movie I saw the other night that represents these ideas perfectly, “Into The Wild.” Check it out.
LINKS:
iamtheweather.com- PSFK Conference NYC
Constant Beta – Highlights from the PSFK Conference 2009
Photos from PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 2): Building Healthy Brands With Heart
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. This is a multi-post series where I share some of the highlights.
PANEL: Building Healthy Brands With Heart featuring Richard Fine (Help Remedies), Sean Khozin & Jay Parkinson (Hello Health)
There’s a number of flaws with the current Healthcare model. According to iamweather.com,
“Both Help Remedies and HelloHealth have identified the shortcomings of a medical system that has placed the continued success of the medical business machine ahead of the care of patients. Medications are developed to satisfy marketing departments and product schedules and don’t have any connection to actually making you feel better.”
- One of the 1st statistics the panel pointed out was that we’ve doubled our life expectancy since 1900, but its flattened over the past several years.It costs $10,000 to treat asthma, but $3,000 to cure it
- The current customers of Doctors aren’t the patients – it’s the Insurance companies that pay Doctors
- The Insurance companies end up increasing the Doctors’ overhead (and raising our costs)
HELP REMEDIES:
- Richard said he launched Help Remedies to simplify medication from ingredients to packaging.
- He also said that we need to get innovation around the Doctor/Patient relationship instead of around who can sell the cheapest insurance
- Rich said we should check out the Yellow Tail wine case study to get a better idea of how Help Remedies has structured their marketing and their business (Yellow Tail took a category that was confusing to most people – wine – and simplified it in a way that made people comfortable purchasing it).
Jinal Shah has some interesting thoughts on her Constant Beta blog about Re-inventing Healthcare.
HELLO HEALTH
- Jay gave us a great Clay Shirky quote: “When we change the way we communicate, we change society.”
- The Hello Health guys went on to talk about how they wanted to make simplify Healthcare the way companies like Etsy, Amazon, and ZipCar have simplified their industries.
- Hello Health helps you connect w/ your doctor online: Doctors have online profiles to humanize them.
- Any Dr. in the US can sign up.
- You can use videochat w/ your Doctor and the chat functions like a blog post so you can keep track of your discussions (be honest – do you remember everything your Doctor tells you?)
- Hello Health also acts as a social network for Doctors – it’s a platform just like Facebook (they’re going to open up API) – it’s about removing the middleman
- Sean added that “(technology) should not be a barrier between patient and Doctor.”
LINK: Jay on Tumblr – Jay Parkinson + MD + MPH
SUMMARY: The main idea here is that the Healthcare industry (along with music, newspaper, auto, etc.) has been operating on an outdated business model for far too long. It’s time to get back to basics. Life is complicated enough – healthcare should be simple.
BREAK: Open Source Education
We were introduced to some interesting things going on in the world of education, including:
LINKS:
iamtheweather.com- PSFK Conference NYC
Constant Beta – Highlights from the PSFK Conference 2009
The Barbarian Group – Interactive Advertising and Media Placement Companies Don’t Mix
The Barbarian Group – Hello Health Marketing Campaign
Photos from PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner/Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) -email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
PSFK Conference NYC (Part 1): When Ideas Create Good
On April 2nd I attended the PSFK Conference NYC. This is a multi-post series where I share some of the highlights.
TALK: When Ideas Create Good presented by Graham Hill (Treehugger) – Twitter: @ghill
Graham used the Pecha Kucha method of presenting to cover 3 topics:
1) People – A couple ecologically-forward people Graham highlighted were:
- Colin Beaven – Writes the No Impact Man blog
- Willie Smits – A biologist who has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo (video below)
2) Stuff
- Referred to Ponoko.com , where you can shop for individualized goods in the greenest way possible
- Recommended the NatureMill Automatic Indoor Composter
3) Concepts
- One of the things Graham emphasized was bringing back repairability. We live in a society that has, for several years now, bought and purged. It looks like the new trend is Unconsumption. Dave Armano just had an interesting post on Marketing in A Post-Consumer Era.
- “Small is sexy” – this applies to everything from cars, houses, and products. Generally, the bigger something is, the larger its footprint
- From ZipCars to Heliostats, there are a number of products out there that can make us all more eco-friendly
- Green Power is one of the quickest ways to reduce your carbon footprint
BREAK: Informed Choices
The 1st talk was followed by a break that pointed us to some useful websites:
The main idea we can take from this panel is that there’s a lot of things people are doing in the world to move the green movement forward without forcing us to somehow lower our standard of living. People can effectively embrace technology and commonsense living to improve their lives and the environment.
LINKS:
Highlights From The PSFK Conference 2009 by Jinal Shah
PSFK Conference NYC on iamtheweather.com
Photos from PSFK Conference NYC 09
Gareth Kay – Looking Back at PSFK New York
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to comment or re-tweet it. Oh yeah, and if you’re looking for a Junior Planner or Strategist in NYC (or know someone who is) – email me at DennisDemori [at] Gmail [dot] com.
Nine Inch Nails Builds Brand with New iPhone App
Nine Inch Nails has released an iPhone app that does a great job of showing brands how they’ve created an integrated and carefully structured brand experience. This is also a great plug for the iPhone and its myriad of capabilities.
“It does a very good job of mobilizing the web experience and allowing users to access all the content, but it also has a pretty cool messaging feature that allows fans to discover the location of fellow messengers. In addition, the application also allows for fans to participate and engage in conversations around the band. For example, when a concert is happening, outsiders can get a glimpse of what’s going on by accessing messages and photos in real time.”
via Influx Insights
UPDATE (April 9th, 2009)
In other music/iPhone news, Coachella has released a really cool iPhone app. From the PSFK site:
“The massive Coachella festival is coming up next week, featuring an extensive line-up of musicians playing over the course of three days. For attendees daunted by the task of trying to figure out who’s playing where – and when, the Coachella organization has developed an iPhone application that will tell you the exact times and locations of all performances. Interactive maps of the festival will show the best possible routes to pack in as much as possible, and live updates can keep you informed of any delays or changes.”
The Death of Voicemail
Image via PSFK
Interesting post from PSFK this week about the demise of phone messages. I started to drastically cut down on voicemails – both listening to and leaving them – over a year ago. It just doesn’t really make sense anymore with its inherent lack of efficiency.
Whoever I’ve just called can see the missed call, and if I do leave a message, I always end up re-capping it anyway. I’ve changed my voicemail message to say that the fastest way to reach me is via email or text (I’m tempted to add a 3rd option – Twitter).
One of the biggest problems with any audio format is that is takes considerably longer to hear the information than it does to read it – this is one of the reasons I don’t like audio books.
Another issue I have is that companies like Jott will provide you with audio recordings of all your RSS feeds as one of their features. So, for example, let’s say it is going to “read me” a recent post from noahbrier.com. Initially, I thought this feature sounded great (pun not intended), but I’m not able to:
1) share the with anyone if I like it
2) take notes
3) comment
4) bookmark it to Delicious (or Read It Later on Firefox) if I want it as a reference
5) check the links in the post
A service that I was testing out last year, YouMail, offered transcribed voicemails, which help me navigate and scan through my messages more quickly, but unfortunately, the quality of the transcrptions was very poor and I wasn’t willing to pay for better transcriptions.
My biggest problem today isn’t getting messages (I have everything practically synced up to go through my email and/or my phone), it’s knowing WHERE to contact people.
Seriously, it used to be not that long ago that if you wanted to get a hold of someone you would just call them (and leave a voicemail) or email them. Now, I don’t always know whether I should call the cell, Skype call, Skype video chat, IM (AOL, GChat, Facebook, Skype), text, Blackberry Messenger, email, email through Facebook, Tweet, etc.
The future of communication isn’t have enough opportunities to connect with people, it’s knowing WHERE to connect with them. As some point, I suspect we’ll have a centralized source (like Google Voice), but for now, this also poses the obvious challenge for marketers to understand their targets’ communications habits.
Further info:
PSFK.com: Death of Voicemail
NYTimes.com: You’ve Got Voicemail, but Do You Care?
Miami Ad Schools: Agency Tours (Part 2)
Continuing the theme of the last post, we spent the week after graduation (March 24th-27th) visiting agencies all over NYC. As I listened to various senior level Planners talk about their company philosophies/cultures, their work, their approach to planning, etc., I began to notice some major themes:
1) The shift from AUDIENCE —> PARTICIPANTS. Agencies are starting to realize that they need to get people INVOLVED if they want them to buy into the brands they are building.
2) The shift from DIALOGUE —> MONOLOGUE. Agencies have come to understand that the days of shouting at people has passed; we need to encourage a conversation.
3) The shift away from TV spots as the central hub of communication. R/GA said that, “The digital periphery is now the core.” I don’t completely agree with this, but I do think that the days of building every communications campaign around a :30 second spot are over.
In my opinion, the future of advertising doesn’t have a centralized soapbox to promote your product/service. Instead, we’ll have a series of super-targeted communications spread out amongst various channels to build a “brand story” that will engage consumers.
4) The shift from Advertising solutions —> creative Business solutions. When I used to work in the lending business, Mortgage Brokers would rarely tell their customers they could get a better deal from their local bank. Direct lenders, on the other hand, would rarely recommend a Mortgage Broker. Why? Because each side was trying to preserve their own self-interests instead of focusing on what was best for the customer.
It’s the same thing with Advertising: if you go to an Ad agency with a problem – surprise! surprise! – an Ad campaign will be the solution 10 times out of 10.
While some companies have begun to make this transition, others, like Naked, have built their business on this media-neutral method of prescribing business solutions.
5) The shift from logical/rational decision-making to emotionally-based choices. I’ve been noticing more and more Planners talk about the importance of understanding peoples’ emotions and behavioral economics, suggesting books like Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational” as Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “The Black Swan“.
When I worked in sales, I learned that “selling is the transference of emotion.” The same is true in the Advertising world. If you want to get people to act a certain way, you’re not going to get very far by trying to logic them to death. You just can’t underestimate the power of influencing people through emotion to guide their actions.
To anyone who’s been reading the Advertising/Marketing/Planning blogs, none of these themes are new news. If you’re new to these concepts, however, it’s important to familiarize yourself with them because this is the future of the business. Not only that, you should know WHY the industry is going through these shifts, since “past is prologue.”
Miami Ad School: Agency Tours (Part 1)
The week after graduation from Miami Ad School we had the option to visit a dozen agencies in NYC.
BBH
AKQA
Wieden + Kennedy
Euro RSCG
R/GA
JWT
Y&R
TBWA/Chiat/Day
Digitas
Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners
Anomaly
Naked
Deutsch (#13 – we set this visit up ourselves)
I can’t stress enough how valuable it was to have the option to visit so many well-known agencies AND meet with so many Planners in such a short period of time.
I’m going to provide some of the highlights of our visits, and the next post is going to round up some overall themes I noticed.
BBH – “Where is an audience without a brand?” The idea that communities already exist – it’s up to brands to harness them.
AKQA – “Planning is creating a story with a series of communications.”
W+K – When building your book/in interviews, “Show perspective of your ideas, your strategic insights, and POV of every project you work on.” Also, memorize your best case study.
R/GA – You never want to have a dead end – if you have enough (or keep uncovering) data you can continue to build on a campaign.
JWT – “Don’t interrupt what people are interested in. BE what people are interested in. Time is the new currency.”
Y&R – “Resist the usual.”
Digitas – “The biology of decision-making is always the same, so don’t discount emotion.”
Anomaly – “It makes no sense to develop theory and pass it on to someone else. If you can create…CREATE.”
“Every piece of communication you have is media.”
“Conviction is standing up for your authenticity when it matters most.”
Naked – “Unsexy is the new sexy.”
The Rise of Netbooks
I was reading a NYTimes.com article this morning, “Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry,” and I think netbooks have a huge opportunity to strike a largely untapped market. They’re still in the early stages, but I can’t help but think this is a perfect product for people like my parents, who primarily use the Internet and don’t have any need for the bells and whistles most laptops provide.
Aside from the low cost (under $100), the article says that, “By the end of the year, consumers are likely to see laptops the size of thin paperback books that can run all day on a single charge and are equipped with touch screens or slide-out keyboards.”
Furthermore, sales are “…predicted to double this year, even as overall PC sales fall 12 percent, according to the research firm Gartner. By the end of 2009, netbooks could account for close to 10 percent of the PC market, an astonishing rise in a short span.”
I think that the potential for netbooks is especially interesting if you consider the fact that mobile phones (with internet access) are outselling computers in many parts of the world, such as Africa and China.
PSFK Conference
Heading to the PSFK Conference in NYC tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the interesting attendees and checking out the panels. Haven’t decided yet if I’m going to live tweet it, but I’ll definitely post about it at some point this weekend.
From the website:
DennisDemoriBlog.com 
