David Sloly: Thinking Out Loud

Psychology meets Colour

2012-02-10T09:16:00.000Z

Psychology of Colour

Colour, acording to Wikipedia, is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others.

To you and me colour brings the world around us to life. Colour can make one thing seem dramatic and another look quite dull. But have you ever paused for a moment to consider the psychology of colour?

Here is a cool infographic designed to walk you through the meaning of colour.

Zoom: 3 Ideas for a faster business launch

2012-02-05T16:15:00.002Z

My writing partner Ian Sanders has posted a great article on the business card website MOO.com The article takes from our book three ways to make your business idea a reality.

1. Take your idea to market rapidly
We've seen too many business owners sit on their ideas for months or years without the courage to actually launch them. Stop procrastinating and start doing.

2. Try Salami-slicing
Taking your idea and making it real can be daunting. To avoid dealing with a herculean task in going from that light-bulb moment to launch, break down the process into salami-slice tasks and action points that are easier to execute. It will help you reach your destination quicker.

3. Prototype, experiment and test
If you wanted to quickly test a business idea a decade ago, it wouldn't be very easy. But today with online tools you can test and adjust your ideas as you go. You'll find real feedback from the marketplace is more valuable to an investor or partner than hypothetical models.

I’ll leave the last words to Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist and former chief evangelist of Apple. He told us that you'll never know what is great until you get your product into the hands of real life customers, "You'll learn more about your product in the first week after shipping than fifty two weeks thinking about and studying and doing focus groups. Your research is shipping, that's what market research is: ship"

The entire article on MOO.com is available here

Vision 2011: A creative Conference

2011-11-28T17:24:00.007Z

Vision 2011 is a yearly creative conference held in Bristol UK. This years speakers gave some awesome talks. Here are a few key thoughts from them...

Andrew Keen: "Web 3.0 is real identities generating massive amounts of data"

John Bunyard/founder The Newcomen Group: "The brain is interested in matching experience with expectation"

Dan Southern/Contagious Magazine: "... an endless market for simplicity..."

Rory Sutherland/Ogilvy: "Brand preference is not carried around in your head"

Mark Mason/Mubaloo: "Turnover is vanity. Profit is sanity"

Gail Parminter and Chris Arnold: "85% of purchase decisions are made by women. 85% of creative directors are men"

Dave Trott: "We are the media, channels are the delivery"

Where do you come up with ideas? David Sloly listens to LinkedIn creatives.

2011-03-31T16:16:00.013+01:00

I asked LinkedIn members working in the creative industries this question. Where do they feel most creative?

Interesting - collaboration is high on the list. You can click on the 'see results' link bellow the yellow 'Vote' button and view the full results.

Please feel free to add your vote first.

Brand positioning and strategic advertising. David Sloly talks to creative director Michelle Tripp.

2011-01-04T07:38:00.004Z

Michelle Tripp (on the right) is a creative director, writer, brand consultant, and marketing strategist at Idea Worldwide based in New York. Idea Worldwide is a full-service advertising agency and brand consultancy founded in Texas in 2000 that describes itself as an agency of doers. Idea Worldwide’s specialty is brand positioning and strategic advertising. Michelle is the recipient of some 200+ creative and marketing awards and Best of Shows, including 16 Tellys, an IECF Astrolabium (Japan), The Gold CASE Award, New York Globals, ADDYs, and more. Michelle also writes about the intersection of branding, social media, and emerging technologies on The BrandForward Blog.

INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE TRIPP.

DS: Some creatives will wonder what role they will have in a future filled with social media and automated marketing. What advice would you have for traditional creatives who want change with the times?

MT: In the future, being both creative and strategic will be in high demand at lower levels. Creatives that have a combination of creativity, strategic thinking, and an understanding of how consumers use technology won't have to worry about automation taking away career opportunities. They'll rise to the top. Recruiters and HR are still telling employees to be specialists, but that's not what's best for an employee who has the desire and potential to be a standout. The more perspective you have, the better your decisions and ideas will be, and the more effective you'll be. To achieve that, add a business and marketing foundation to your creative skill set. Be a big picture thinker. Read a lot. Be insatiably curious. And then hone your creative skills so you can execute at a world-class level no matter where you are. That mix will be unstoppable.

DS: Do you think we will see a change in the way brands use social media in the near future? 

 MT: Every day is like a whole different world than the day before. Technology evolves so fast that the way brands use social media shifts by the minute. When a consumer has access to something new, their interaction with a brand will change because they're consuming in a new way. As soon as a new app comes out, it changes how a consumer interacts and can even change what they value. Brands have to be ready to respond. Or more accurately, they need to be anticipating the change in the first place. Agencies of the future will be deeply social and digital — developing the apps in the first place. I think we'll increasingly see more technologists on advertising teams. But the key to making it work is a commitment to deeply understanding the consumer. That's what's going to determine the success or failure of those agency-originated technologies. It's also what will give agencies an advantage over software engineers in creating apps that consumers will love and adopt.

DS: What kind of mentoring is helpful for creatives?

 MT: I love mentoring. A high tide floats all boats. The trick is that everyone should have more than one mentor. Look for mentors who are more advanced in their career than you and mentors who are at earlier stages in their career. That way you're learning from both ends and sharing at both ends. When you meet someone who inspires you, whether younger or older, encourage a mentorship relationship. And be prepared to bring knowledge to it whether you're the mentor or mentee. And you're never too old for a mentor. You should always be developing relationships with people who have wisdom to share.  I've found that one of the most helpful activities in a mentoring relationship is the consistent sharing of articles and posts that you're reading, along with your initial reaction. Get into the habit of doing it often. It's a generous act and it creates topics to discuss and explore together. You'll both grow.

DS: Thank you Michelle     .

Design and Marketing: David Sloly talks to creative director Damian Connop

2010-11-07T18:29:00.009Z

Double Art is a design and marketing agency whose purpose is to create ideas; that capture imagination; that create desire; that change attitudes and behavior. Damian Connop is the creative director (that's him in the frame).

INTERVIEW WITH DAMIAN CONNOP.

DS: What makes a great design?

DC: Good question. I was tasked with writing 1,500 words on this very subject at university and, 15 years on, I still haven’t finished it. Early on I thought that challenging our perceptions of how typography and photography should exist within the boundaries of a page, screen, canvas or installation meant ‘great design’ - and, to some extent, this can often be the case. However, once out there in the commercial world I quickly started to understand how execution is just the vehicle to deliver and idea, an expression or feeling.

Once you have an idea, the means to communicate, and the confidence in your own judgement, then I think you can produce truly great design. And by ‘great design’ I mean something that extracts a response from those who interact with it. The least you’d want back is someone saying how much they hate it - at least you have engaged them and made them give something back. Furthermore, to know how to engage we must first know what it’s like to be engaged and to know when and why we react to art in the way that we do. That’s what really makes design exciting and meaningful.

DS: Any designs that truly repulse you?

DC: Yeah, plenty. I try not to dwell on such things as it makes me grumpy but whilst we’re at it the back of the Porsche Cayenne is a design crime of epic proportion. The 2012 London Olympics logo did, at one time, repulse me but I like it now. There are plenty of websites that literally turn me off but that’s their loss. I can’t abide sites that clearly haven’t been thought through, that’s just lazy. I’ll stop there. There are far too many positive things in design to be thinking and talking about.

DS: What do you do, or where do you go for inspiration?

DC: We don’t have do very much or go very far for inspiration these days which I think is great. I have never believed that inspiration and the artistic endeavour is reserved for the special few and that you need to be well read, cultured, or blessed by some higher power to produce inspiring work. Saying that, it can help! In my opinion, it’s about interest. We’d all be selling ourselves short in life if we weren’t interested in as many things as possible. I don’t mean that we have to partake in everything that comes along but take some time to know how it works, why it’s needed and why it makes us tick. For example, I am never really going to understand nuclear fusion but I like to have a rough idea of why people are dedicating their lives to it.

The nature of design and being a designer, to me, means I don’t ever switch off from finding a new or better way to do something. The inspiration to do this is all around all of the time. Often the most trivial and smallest of life’s influences can spark a huge idea.

DS: Knowing what you know now, what one genius snippet of advice (or two) would you give to someone looking to become a creative director?

DC: I have two, perhaps not genius but I think they’re important. Keep it personal and stay media neutral. I had many run ins at University because my work was ‘too personal’. I’m glad I stood my ground. There’s only one thing that makes design unique and that’s us. Being yourself not only makes your life easier and more integrous but inspires other people to be themselves too. Secondly, staying media neutral means you don’t narrow your view and miss out on doing what’s right for the client and their objective. If your idea is best served digitally then do it. If not, then don’t. From this, ideas will flourish and, as for the ‘direction’ part of things, that’s just leading by example.

DS: Thank you @DamianConnop

Online: David Sloly talk to creative director Daniel Pidcock

2010-08-13T11:29:00.006+01:00

That's Daniel Pidcock sticking his tongue out, and why shouldn't he. After all, he is the creative director of GLOW, a digital design and marketing agency. That means Daniel helps clients harness the power of the web and explore new ways of using emergent technologies.

INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL PIDCOCK.

DS: Traditionally creatives have been thought of as the people who create pictures and headlines – yet you speak of new ways of exploring the web. Does that mean you are concerned with more than just the look?

DP: The web is an incredibly powerful technology, more powerful than any of us can imagine. As such, no-one is using it's full potential.

When we speak of new thinking what we mean is that we try to forget the limitations of previous medias and not let those 'real world' preconceptions get in the way.

A very basic example, but a good way of explaining what I mean comes from a conversation I was having with a lady who had been put in charge of listing a companies products on their new ecommerce website. The site was broken down in to sections and she was listing a product that could fit equally into two.
"Which section should I put it in?" she asked.
"Both" I reply.
"But I don't want to list it twice" she said.
"You can have one listing with several tags," I explain, "and it will show up in multiple areas"

She was thinking of the site like shelves in a shop. You can only have one product in one place, whereas on the web there are no such constraints. As I said this is a fairly simple example but the fact is most people still think of the web as a series of pages rather than fluid data that can be used in any way you can imagine. Infact one of the new trends in web design is to do away with a menu. This isn't designer making life difficult for the user, actually it's the opposite. When you stop thinking of information as fixed a website doesn't need a set list of pages and the content can lead navigation.

I think on the web it is still easy to do something that hasn't been done before just because there is so much that is possible.

Of course the look is still important to any designer and in that area we're going though one of the most exciting times for web styling since they banned animated Gifs (unofficially of course). Most of the big changes in the web up to now have been technical and it's only now that pure aesthetics have given a chance so it will be exciting to see what happens over the next year.

DS: Does that mean that the role of the creative is becoming much broader now, taking in strategy for example?

DP: To an extent perhaps it has been for a while. One thing is for certain, as an agency we are being asked by clients to be a one-stop-shop. Rather than fitting digital in to their existing marketing strategy, digital is the main strategy and we have to work out how everything fits in around it. This is new to us and we know that we don't have a clue about, say offline PR or media buying so we've found we have to join forces with people who do. I think digital agencies are good at this anyway, sharing knowledge, working with others.

Thank you Daniel.

CGI: David Sloly talks to creative director Mark Miles

2010-05-06T13:15:00.003+01:00

Recently I got talking to Mark Miles (that's him on the right) who is the creative director at CGI company Rendermedia. He was busy making a tree house for his son but took some time out from nailing 2 by 4 to give me insight to the process from a client perspective and his thoughts on the future of CGI.

INTERVIEW WITH MARK MILES.

DS: A client comes to you with an idea of what they want to achieve, what is the process that follows.

MM: Well with CGI there’s many ways to skin a cat so to speak, the 1st most important thing for me to understand is the visual quality balanced with the types of budget that the client is looking to spend and to create a look and feel that ticks for boxes, depending on where we are in what I call the Darwin chain depends on how easily we can obtain the information we need to quickly deliver a response. Working with agencies we tend to over compensate and deliver a comprehensive package so the account manager can present a full range of options to the client with little comeback on us, and would usually ask for any idea of budget as sometimes for us it’s like costing up a piece of string.

The next step for us is to gather as much information on what the client would like to see or not see, this varies depending on the project, if we are creating CGI animations of a product due to be launched we would make enquiries as to whether there are any CAD files available to work on, or failing that pack shot photography, which we receive from the client or take ourselves, which, from these high res images we can build up the model in 3D prior to any animation or texturing. And whether you’re starting from CAD or photos, there’s still a fair amount of refinement to get the model to a stage that’s acceptable for rendering, like CAD files for example. Engineers created these and its like taking a trip in a weighted down balloon, you need to throw overboard & strip out any unnecessary data else you will get a bottle neck in the remainder of the CG pipeline in particular when it comes to rendering the individual frames that make up the animation.

We once received a CAD file of a house alarm that had as much polygonal data in prior to any adjustment as a flythru we did for the national trust of a Castle and surrounding estate.

Once the Models are created we revert back to the storyboard and create for the client animatics, an animatic is essentially a simple grayscale view of the CG shot question and allows the client to give feedback on the camera moves, product animation, and timings and composition, we take all the consolidated feedback and then revise the animatics and allow the client to feedback again, usually it takes about 2 rounds of feedback in the animatic stages for the client to be absolutely happy with the look and composition of the movie,

As the animatics are being created someone else is texturing up the models, this for me is one of the most interesting and varying stages along with lighting, one week you could be applying reflective changes in a CG studio lit mobile handset, the next it could be apply translucent gunk to the inner wall of an main artery in the human body, so its really varying but equally you have to have a good understanding of the surface elements in the real world to translate this across to CG, So Google and YouTube are great for that,

Once we have added lighting to the scene we can then render off a few still images for the client to see, usually we would render out images of a few key stages in the CG, this coupled with the animatic allows the client to get a really good feel of what the end result is likely to look like prior to rendering all the frames off the great thing about working like this is that there are no hidden surprises for either ourselves or the client and they have had a chance to approve the different stages before commencing to the next level so when the finished Animation comes off all composited together with audio or narration it ticks all the right boxes.

DS: What’s next in the future for CGI?

MM: I think that Hardware rendering is something interesting to watch out for, at the moment if a client wants to make changes after the rendering process you have to go back and re-render off that particular part and add it back into comp and edit, however with hardware accelerated rendering it appears to render near real-time and so isn’t always dependant on how fast is the processor in the machine, but things like the graphics card etc, at the moment it appears as more a different way of rendering rather than something that bolts on to your existing pipeline, and Nvidea are really pushing the real-time rendering arena.
Another aspect of CGI that really interests me at the moment is Augmented Reality, and the layering of information against the real world, and the way users can experience CGI on a completely different level than previous encountered, just typing into YouTube the term and there’s a whole host of different application s for this, one guy has even gone to create a hair app that places a different style on the users head and blends it in etc, as the person moves his head side to side it tracks over the head to reveal different sides etc…. quite a funny was of using it, I liked the optimums prime example as well where the kid looks really aw struck when the robot head appears over his own in real time.
We are currently looking at how we can use Augmented reality with a few existing clients and certain educational projects so will be back here to spill the beans when its all done.

DS: Thanks Mark

RADIO: David Sloly talks to creative director Natalie Griffiths.

2010-03-04T16:57:00.010Z

Natalie Griffiths is creative director at Sonique LTD. Sonique offer a range of media services including creating, writing, sourcing talent, producing and distributing radio commercials. PHEW. I worked with the guys a few years ago and the team are friendly and talented. Natalie, that's her on the right, parts with some useful insight to help both clients and agencies understand the art of making great radio ads.

INTERVIEW WITH NATALIE GRIFFITHS.

DS: What should client consider before choosing radio?

NG: Radio is a medium which reaches millions of people. While they’re working, driving or even going about their chores around the house. The media schedule (station choice based on target demographic and time of day) is crucial in targeting the audience you want to talk to. Once you’ve got the audience you need to make sure your message connects with them.

Firstly the advertiser needs to ask themselves, “Who is my target?” Radio is primarily a B to C medium and isn’t ideal for very niche markets. Sometimes radio isn’t the right choice because if the target market is too narrow there is just too much wastage talking to people who don’t have a need for what you are selling.

Secondly they need to weigh up the potential ROI. How many products would they need to sell in order to cover the cost of the campaign and make a profit? If the sums don’t add up then radio is probably not the best choice. I once met a hairdresser who wanted to go on air. But we worked out that even if she was booked solid as a result of the campaign, it still wouldn’t cover the cost of her campaign. A local car dealership advertising on a local station however would only need to sell one car a week as a result of the campaign to see a return. This is thinking on quite a local level, I am aware, but the same principle is relevant to bigger brands.

Thirdly, they should ask how radio would complement the rest of the ad campaign. If it ties into a bigger idea, which is reinforced across other media, then all the better. Radio is an excellent way to get extra mileage out of a TV campaign. When you think about it, you’re actually getting free ad space in listener’s mind because if your radio ad ties in with your campaign, the images they’ve already seen appear in the mind’s eye of the listener as soon as they hear the radio commercial. If advertisers took just 10% of their TV budget and put it into radio they’d actually get a lot more for their money if you think of it that way.

Our radio campaign for Love Food Hate Waste tied in with press ads which gives a result which is far greater than the sum of the parts.

DS: What makes a great radio commercial?

NG: A great radio commercial is a memorable one. We remember things for all sorts of reasons….they make us laugh, they are clever or even annoying! Most importantly it must resonate with the target and give them enough of a reason to respond to the call to action, which must also be clear. Humour is important. Cleverness is important. But by the same token it also needs to tie back to the brand or product. I’ve heard some hilarious ads but I can’t for the life of me remember what the commercial was advertising. That is when a commercial fails despite being memorable. To me “Compare the Meerkat” is one of the best creative executions ever. It is memorable and at the same time you can’t help but remember the brand – it is impossible to think, “Oh who was that meerkat ad for – was it gocompare.com?”. Extremely clever. And they use radio well. You hear Aleksander talking and immediately his cute little meerkat face from the TV commercial comes to mind.

DS: When a brief arrives what’s the process you follow to solve it?

NG: There are three important questions to ask when taking a brief for radio. Who? What and Why? Who are you talking to? What do you want them to do as a result of hearing this radio commercial. And most importantly, why should they? Once we know these things the creative brainstorming process begins. Within the creative we need to make sure what we are saying will resonate with the target. If you’re talking to mums for example, then using a child’s voice or a woman’s voice might be a good choice.

The benefits and call to action need to be simple and clear. If you throw one ball at someone, they’re much more likely to catch it. Throw two and chances are they’ll drop both. The other rule is to never try to talk to two different audiences in one commercial. Chances are you won’t connect with either of them. One message, one audience. If you try to cram too much in the whole message is a waste and it’s a false economy. I once helped a plumber’s merchant with his radio campaign. He wanted to “save money” by talking to plumbers but also trying to get a message in there to DIYers doing up their bathrooms. In the end he realized he’d be far better off spending a little more and having two separate commercials made which were specific to each target audience.

DS: Radio, you got to tell stories without pictures. How do you do that?

NG: In the same way radio plays and books do. It’s theatre of the mind. Books use descriptive words to paint images in the reader’s mind. In radio we use sound design and effects, descriptive language along with actors to create scene in the same way. If you can create images in the listeners mind you are in effect getting to two senses (hearing and sight) instead of just the ears which can only be a good thing.

DS: Thank you Natalie.

MOVING IMAGE PART TWO: David Sloly interviews creative director Matt Golding

2010-01-29T15:38:00.006Z

Matt Golding (that's him on the right) is creative director at Team Rubber who produce lots of high quality moving image content as part of the Rubber offering.

In my last posting Matt spoke about audience, expressing client passion on film and seeding video online. More questions for Matt now in part two...

INTERVIEW WITH MATT GOLDING PART TWO:

DS: Some clients may see online video as a cheap option, what's your thoughts Matt?

MG: Don't try to rush or economise on web video. The web is a fantastic medium, in that your audience can reach huge sizes if you do good work, and because you can target a niche audience better than in almost any other medium. But its also user controlled. People have to choose to watch your video, so it needs to appeal and look interesting, and people have to choose to keep watching after they've started. So your video has more reason to be good and engaging online than it ever did on TV, DVD or in cinema's. In those places people were largely a captive audience. Online they're not. While production costs for the web can be lower than for TV, video standards are getting loads better all the time, so the idea that its easy to always bash out an idea more quickly and cheaply for the web that people actually WANT to watch than you did on TV / DVD / Cinema where they HAD to watch doesn't make sense. But do good work that respects its audience, and they'll love you for it, and watch it happily.

DS: So, what you are... (Matt hasn't finished)

MG: ... GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE SOMETHING. On TV you bought their attention. Online the only thing you can give them is something of value to them that happens between the start of your film and the end of your film. This could be an idea, some entertainment, laughter, visual pleasure, inspiration, or information that will make their lives better or easier in some way. You could educate. You could move them. Or you could be downright daft and put a smile on their face. But you must do one of these things. Use a test case of someone you actually care about - would they enjoy watching this? Be honest with yourself, and if you're not delivering enough - rewrite it until you are.

DS: So what must clients be aware of before they engage with online video?

MG: The biggest problem people face when getting into online video is trying to do it using old advertising rules. In fact the web is far more human than the traditional advertising world has become. Far more honest, straightforward and interesting. So be those things, and you'll be fine.

DS: Thank you Matt.

MG: Those are my tips. Feel free to pick me up, question me, or argue that I'm wrong. I'm all up for a discussion!

MOVING IMAGE: David Sloly interviews creative director Matt Golding

2010-01-08T14:39:00.010Z

Matt Golding (that's him on the right) is creative director at Team Rubber. Team Rubber produce lots of high quality moving image content for online as part of Rubber offering. Matt is the kind of guy that can tell you a thing or two about how to shoot online moving image content and so he will... Matt!

INTERVIEW WITH MATT GOLDING:

MG: Before you shoot, make sure you know what you're trying to say, to who, why (what are you going to expect them to do because of it?) and how you're going to get the video into places that your audience can find it.

DS: When should the seeding be thought about?

MG: Seeding and distribution should be planned at the same time as the creative idea is written, and then delivered on with integrity, to make sure your video reaches those you want it to.

DS: How about some tips on what to include and what not to include?

MG: Be honest, straightforward and interesting. I could add be daring, dramatic, funny or innovative. Don't try to make out that your product or service will do things it won't, don't try and pack every product benefit into a video and assume your audience will be interested enough to watch it, and don't make claims you can't back up. Often we find its good to use the analogy of a party. How would you make someone want to talk to you further and possibly work with you, if you met them at a party? Probably by being genuinely interesting, honest, passionate, engaging and by LISTENING as well as talking. Probably not by walking in there with your CV on your arm, and advert for your business on your T-Shirt, and by telling them directly how great you are. People don't tend to trust people who tell them how great they are. They don't tend to trust brands who do it either. Work out a more interesting way to get people's interest. Walk the walk don't just talk the talk. So you want to tell people you are about joy and happiness? Then make a film that gives them some joy and happiness. And don't ask for anything in return. Want to express that your company is all about innovation? Then why not make some innovative advertising, rather than making some traditional advertising that tells people how innovative you are?

DS: How do show a clients passion?

MG: Small brands and companies don't struggle to communicate their passion and values, as the founders are normally passionate and can talk directly to customers and other staff about their values. The problem with a bigger company or brand is that it becomes hard to maintain the sense of passion and the underlying values in a growing workforce. By the time you become a huge brand this has often completely gone out of the window. The thing is the audience are the same group of people they always were, and they respond to the same things they always did. So work out how to BE the thing you always were, even as you grow. Don't just tell them you are. As its too easy to see through this kind of posturing online. Find a core team. Set up internal practices. Whatever is needed to actually BE the thing you want to be, and then make films about or inspired by the actual things that drive you.
A great example of this is Relentless www.relentlessenergy.com/films/view/powers-of-three 's current work in the Extreme Sports area. Rather than spending a few hundred grand making a TV ad by hiring some snowboarders for 24 hours then turfing them back out onto the slopes while taking a lovely 30 second spot to the media agency to go and show people how cool they are, they've actually gone and made some genuinely good films about extreme sports, and given them to their audience for free via their website. They're currently making more and actually facilitating top extreme sports stars to do things they wouldn't have been able to do without brand money. That is walking the walk.

DS: Thanks Matt. More insight from Matt Golding next week.

DIGITAL AGENCY: David Sloly talks to creative director Darius Pocha

2009-11-23T17:38:00.014Z

Darius Pocha (shown in the photo about to sing perhaps?) is creative director at Enable, an interactive agency that designs and develops bright, digital ideas. They're pretty good at it too – Revolution magazine ranked them the UK no. 1 digital agency, based on client satisfaction. The Enable differentiator is "If you use us, you’ll never be working with anyone mediocre."

So I'm curious to find out how this creative director embraces a pitch.

INTERVIEW WITH DARIUS POCHA.

DS: For a pitch do you prefer to power dress or arrive casual?

DP: In my head Power Dressing = suited and booted, Casual = chinos. I don't have either of those items in my wardrobe, so neither probably. If pushed, I would like an excuse to dress up in either a full Maharaja's silks or an Edwardian gentlemans outfit as those neatly express the two sides of my personality. Or a '30s Chicago Mobster. I reckon I could rock some spats. Or a South American revolutionary. Or an astronaut.

DS: That said, what's the weirdest thing you have ever worn to a pitch?

DP: I'm going to one right now wearing a Mexican pornstar moustache. Really.

DS: Do you lead with your strategy or the creative?

DP: Always strategy. Save the best bit till last...

DS: What presenting tips can you share with us?

DP: Tell the truth, even if it's going to make you look like a dick. Unless you're wearing a silly moustache in which case you already look like a dick.

DS: Thank you Darius and good luck with the pitch.

PART4 ADVERTISING: David Sloly talks to creative director Patrick Collister.

2009-10-16T21:44:00.007+01:00

Previously in the Creative Dialogue: ex Ogilvy executive creative director and vice chairman Patrick Collister (that’s him in the photo standing very still) talked about matching creative work with the wants of the client, The role of the creative director and most recently collaboration. In this, the final episode, Patrick reiterates the importance of letting creatives be involved in strategy and planning.

Patrick Collister on creatives, planning and strategy.

PC: A successful pitch is when you are able to convince a client that your creative execution dovetails into an idea that is on brief and fits their marketing strategy that is going to overall enhance their business objectives for the year and you, the agency, can tell that entire story and it all joins up. Now the trouble with lots of agencies is that the creative people are entirely divorced from all of those things. They have no idea what the clients business plan is, no idea what the marketing plan is they’re vaguely aware of the strategy but essentially they are told “don’t you worry your pretty little heads about anything you just do us a really nice advert, do us a really nice website” and it’s crazy because these people have particular skills in making connections. Why don’t we use creative people at the beginning of the creative process instead of at the very end of it? It’s just insane.

DS: Thank you Patrick.

PART3 ADVERTISING: David Sloly talks to creative director Patrick Collister.

2009-09-25T23:30:00.014+01:00

Previously in the Creative Dialogue: ex Ogilvy executive creative director and vice chairman Patrick Collister (that’s him in the photo holding a staring competition with a camerman) talked about matching creative work with the wants of the client. and the role of the creative director. In this, the third of four installments, Patrick talks about collaboration.

Patrick Collister on collaboration

PC: The big London agencies are absurdly structured, the departmentalism is just bonkers and there are creative people, writers and art directors treated as if they’re different to planners. Planners have creative ideas and actually the best ‘suits’ are creative people too. And when clients walk into an agency they don’t see one part of it as being creative, they see the whole agency as their creative department.

And inside agencies, it drives me bloody crazy that, actually the so-called creative people are treated like children. You know if you infantilise people like that then they will behave badly. I see creative people behaving really badly at a lot of agencies because they’re invited to. Our structures and procedures are really crass, one person takes a brief from a client, hands that onto another individual then writes a brief, that is then signed off by the client before it is given to one or two people to develop creatively. This is fucking insane. The Simpsons, the most successful creative product on this planet is written by a team of 16 people every week so I really do believe in collaboration right from the beginning.

I think the entire team should be present when the client is briefing so that you really get an understanding of what the problem is, and you all get a chance, especially the creative people who are often lateral to say to the client “yes but why? Why do you want that? Why do you think a website or banner campaign or a microsite is the answer?" Maybe it isn’t. I think all those people ought to be involved in structuring the brief too because there are some really fundamental questions that are left up to one person to decide. The proposition should be discussed, this is where you can have big ideas, but actually one bloke, a planner has written the proposition.

Agency process is all about handing on the baton and it is just bloody bonkers.

DS: Thank you Patrick.

The forth installment will be available at the same time next week. Don't want to miss it? Enter your email in the box on the right for blog updates or follow me on Twitter for alerts.

PART2 ADVERTISING: David Sloly talks to creative director Patrick Collister.

2009-09-15T22:36:00.011+01:00

Previously in the Creative Dialogue: ex Ogilvy executive creative director and vice chairman Patrick Collister (that’s him in the photo standing near trees) talked about matching creative work with the wants of the client. In this, the second of four installments, Patrick explains how he views the role of the modern creative director.

INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK COLLISTER.

DS: So do you see the creative director job as an editorial role?

PC: That’s a really interesting question actually, the whole role of the creative director started life in the editors chair, agencies were started alongside fleet street to create the content to fill the space that the advertises were buying and agencies were structured exactly like newspapers, so the creative director was in fact the editor. And I did get terribly excited ten years ago when I thought the new kind of creative was going to be like an editorial guardian, so yes. I think you’re right.

DS: So if the creative director is playing the editorial role, how do you see the future of creative directors?

PC: The idea of a creative director simply doesn’t exist any longer. When I started in the business my boss signed off the tv commercials as scripts and as rough cuts it would never occur to a client to start messing around, I mean now every client thinks it’s his or her right to re-edit a film and that’s partly technology that they can but they make terrible changes so the creative director was superseded by the client at least twenty years ago and even then creative judgement had been rested out of the creative directors hands and given to six housewives in Warplesdon, research determined exactly what was going to happen and what wasn’t going to happen, I mean when I was running Ogilvy, my job was a cross between traffic manager and a benevolent uncle. I defined my own role as being a creative coach. What I was there to do was actually try and coach the best performance out of each of my teams. I wasn’t there to make judgements. In fact the really interesting thing I did was to not approve work creatively, most creative directors think their job is to sign it off, I said no I’m not going to do that, you do that, if its crap I’m going to fire you. You operate to your own standards and lets hope our standards agree with each other. It was really fascinating because what happened is that all the creative people started talking to their teams ‘what do you think the client will think of this’ much more productive conversation than just handing it over and saying “the creative director has signed it off so fuck off”. Suddenly you’ve got discussion, teams working together and the quality of creative work rocketed up and we were hugely successful for a few years and naturally I took all the credit. So I was a really successful creative director by letting go of everything a creative director thought the job was about.

Thank you Patrick.

The forth installment will be available at the same time next week. Don't want to miss it? Enter your email in the box on the right for blog updates or follow me on Twitter for alerts.

PART1 ADVERTISING: David Sloly talks to creative director Patrick Collister

2009-09-07T21:40:00.006+01:00

Patrick Colister (That’s him in the photo looking at you) started at Ogilvy Benson and Mather as a trainee copywriter and via a few of the greatest agencies in the world worked his way back to Ogilvy as the Executive creative director and then Vice Chairman. In 2000 Patrick left to start up his own virtual agency and now runs training workshops for clients and agencies on marketing and advertising. Patrick and I grabbed lunch at a local coffee shop, I spoke about twenty-seven words during lunch, whilst Patrick got in a cool 2329 (word count). Good job I had my handy voice recorder app on me.

Because Patrick delivered lots of quality content I am going to spread the interview over four episodes. So if you don’t want to miss out on Patrick’s insight and wisdom it maybe a good idea to join me on twitter for updates to find out when the next episode is out!

INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK COLLISTER

DS: You’re preparing for pitch day. Your creative team have delivered a beautifully crafted piece of work, what happens next?

PC: Well I need to know where it fits, I’ve got an idea but actually the application of that idea is the really important thing. Too often agencies get completely carried away with the execution and forget where does this fit in terms of the marketing plan and where does the marketing fit in terms of the overall business plan that the client will have. They don’t always tell you that because a lot of client companies don’t take advertising seriously. They think they have to have it so trying to find out what there business objectives are for the year ahead, sometimes is like trying to get blood out of a stone, but you have to do that because in order to be able to pitch the idea successfully you have to tell them what it means to the future of their business so that’s what you do, you look for where does it fit and then you start testing the idea against that and start adapting and modifying it in terms of what there specific business needs are going to be and then you hope that those coincide with your creative persons.

DS: And you get to that point where the two match, business objectives, creatives…

PC: The trouble with ideas is that we use this word really indiscriminately in our business but actually in any one moment a creative person is capable of having either a big business changing idea, a strategic idea or lastly an executional idea and we’re not always very clear about which one we’ve had. I’ll give you an example. A Danish agency I worked with pitched for Interflora’s business and they said ‘Guys, we’ve had a game-changing idea…we’ve noticed your business is spread across Denmark and actually you’re missing out on 50% of your potential market. You’re by and large selling flowers to men who buy them for women so we think you should start selling wine so that women can buy it for men’. Interflora said “What the fuck are you on, we’re in the business of selling flowers. We haven’t got licences to sell alcohol…our entire business model is based on FLOWERS!’ So there was an agency that had seen a business idea that’s actually a really good idea, it was just completely inappropriate for that group of people at that time. So they got smacked around the ear and they didn’t win the pitch. Sometimes agencies will go in with fantastic creative exceptional ideas for business ideas that the client simply don’t need.

So going back to your question, I look at the creative idea and say ‘Well where does this fit?’ Because if we’ve been briefed for a game-changing idea, does our client want his business changed? Because I got to tell you most of them don’t. Are they looking for a new strategy? And a strategy is who are we talking to, what are we trying to say to them and pretty often I got to tell you they’re not looking for that either, because they’ve agreed that with their media agency already. What they’re looking for you to do is to fill the media gap whatever that might be, online or offline. But of course being creative people we often don’t want to do what we are told. So my role as creative director is to look at that idea, to look at the images and go yeah this is fantastic BUT…

New installment next week. Don't want to miss it? Enter your email in the box on the right for blog updates or follow me on twitter for alerts

MOTION GRAPHICS: David Sloly talks to creative directors Buddy and Christy.

2009-08-21T12:00:00.009+01:00

Buddy and Christy (that's the happy couple in the photo) are the husband and wife creative team at Motion Bug. Motion Bug, based out of Oklahoma, produce content using a mix of live footage, animation, motion graphics and visual effects.

INTERVIEW WITH CREATIVE DIRECTORS BUDDY AND CHRISTY.

DS: Creativity, free expression, artistic look, they are some of the things cds are passionate about. But then along comes a client and says "make my logo bigger and show more product". Looking at your work I imagine you come up against this a lot, how do you walk that fine line that enables you to retain some artistic integrity?

B&C: It drives us crazy, and makes us very mad at times. As designers, we are some of the most insecure people on the planet. So when we produce something we are proud of and the client decides to ruin it, we have to try to react properly. We do our best to not let it hurt our confidence so we can continually get better at what we do. We try everything we can to alleviate the client making poor design choices by giving them ownership in the process, limiting the amount of people involved on their side, and doing our best to turn their bad suggestions into something good. However, depending on the client, sometimes nothing works and the project you have worked so hard on gets turned into a piece of crap. In that case, we take the money, deliver what they want, and move on.

DS: Three quarters way through a project you have a moment of inspiration and a better idea comes to you, would you tell the client at the risk of upsetting the apple cart?

B&C: It really depends on the client and how well we know them. However, most of the time I would say yes. We are more interested in doing things that inspire us, than worrying about the apple cart. If we work on things that inspire us, we are more likely to produce something that works - and that is always better for the client.

DS: An over talkative client asks to sit in on your four day edit Yes or No?

B&C: NO NO NO! We do everything we can to keep the client out of the edit room. Most of the time we charge on a per-project basis, not by the hour. Once we tell the client the cost to sit with us while we edit, they usually decide otherwise. You have to set some limits, and the best way to do that is to charge a lot for things you want to avoid.

DS: Finally, your dream of dream jobs comes in; it's going to be a three way pitch - just how far would Motion Bug go to win the pitch?

B&C: We believe in our ideas and storytelling ability. We would do our best to make a proper presentation, but we are also doing our best to be a responsible "green" company. We don't use any print materials to pitch, everything is digital, and we are doing more online pitches. Free pitching is a joke anyway, so we are trying to make it as efficient and "green" as possible.

DS: Thank you Buddy and Christy.

WEATHER CHANNEL: David Sloly talks to creative director Ray Sams

2009-08-04T19:54:00.013+01:00

Ray Sams (That's Ray in the photo) is an award winning creative director at The Weather Channel and he is based in Atlanta. Ray is skilled in computer generated animation so he makes all those cool graphics that bring telling the American weather forecasts to life.

INTERVIEW WITH CREATIVE DIRECTOR RAY SAMS.

DS: How's the weather?

RS: Usually the heat is unbearable...but we are having a mild summer. High 80’s low 90s. Cant explain the British Summer!

DS: How do you apply your creative skills to weather?

RS: Glad you asked. I once had a friend that told me “ You could do so much more than work for The Weather Channel” I laughed the scrutiny off, however, it has been my desire for the past 6 years to make Weather look cool. I am surrounded by great people who have a similar goal. In 2008 we converted our entire graphics inventory into a very cool HD experience. We came up with some interesting effects for TV packaging etc, but you know what...when you boil it all down...we will always have a wo/man standing next to a map. My job is to make the maps and packaging look like Megan Fox. Know what I mean?

DS: What’s the biggest challenge you are dealing with at present:

RS: I think timing is the biggest challenge. Working for a “news” agency with a weather slant has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in quite some time. However, my programming partners take our “miraculous work” as status quo. We have a talented staff, but if we had a week or more to work on packaging we would have a FANTASTIC LOOKING NETWORK. So, timing is everything. But one consistent challenge that all Creative Directors have is: How to get stuff done in the time provided.

DS: Have you ever lied to someone about what you do for a living because the weather sucked?

RS: During our Hurricane Katrina coverage, I lied to my girlfriend at the time. I told her I couldn’t join her on a pre-planned trip, because I had to work. When in reality...I just wanted to be around the Storm experience and contribute to our coverage. When we are covering storms...NO ONE CAN TOUCH US!!! I just love TV!!!

DS: What's a double doppler?

RS: Yeah, each doppler radar has a fancy Marketing tag, but they all perform the same function; analogous to vacuum cleaners. Doppler radar systems scans the atmosphere for precipitation. Here’s the best link to describe doppler radar: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/science/doppler/index.php

DS: If you could have any A list celebrity present the weather for you who would you chose?

RS: Fiendishly, I would have to ask for Halle Berry or Megan Fox to present the weather. Do you really want to know why? We’d get a ratings boost if either were on our air.

DS: Thanks Ray.

VIDEO: David Sloly tweets with creative director Kris Simmons

2009-07-28T15:50:00.008+01:00

Kris Simmons is a doer. (that's Kris in the photo). No long chat, no stroking of the chin, no procrastination.

His company Fire Eye Productions, Inc was founded in 2000. They produce video content for the marketing industry and as such Kris wears many hats including CEO and CD.

Reading his twitter posts one day (thevideoguru) I began to wonder if it is possible to take a string of his tweets and add questions to them thus creating an interview. After all, Kris is too busy to engage in mindless banter across the pond.

Well here goes, a reverse twitter interview, his tweets, my questions added afterwards...

REVERSE TWEET INTERVIEW WITH CREATIVE DIRECTOR KRIS SIMMONS

DS: What are you doing right now?
twitter.com/thevideoguru: Just got back in town with a truck load of work to deliver by the morning. Yes, even the video business guru has to slave over deadlines :)

DS: What is on your mind?
twitter.com/thevideoguru: I'm pissed that so many video business owners are working for cheap. Charge what you're worth so you don't have to worry about paying bills!

DS: You are very busy, how do you relax?
twitter.com/thevideoguru: Going to wilderness at the smokies

DS: When?
twitter.com/thevideoguru: Getting ready to leave for vacation. I need it!

DS: What were you doing on the 4th of June at 1:53AM?
twitter.com/thevideoguru: Researching the new Sony Z7U high-definition camcorder. Looks like the best deal for the money but still not completely convinced.

Kris can be followed on twitter here

TV: David Sloly talks to creative director Duncan Western

2009-07-21T08:06:00.003+01:00

I’ve known creative director Duncan Western (that's him in the photo) for a few years now. I’ve been camping in his dads field, danced drunk in Poland with him around a1970’s Fiat 123 fitted with an alarmingly loud stereo and watched him edit the life back into otherwise standard footage. He made his name working on award wining documentaries such as South Bank Show's 'John Lennon’s Juke Box', 'Gill Scott Heron' and 'Sunra for Splice. Duncan also works on creative for Jackbox.tv producing content for TV and web.

INTERVIEW WITH DUNCAN WESTERN

DS: What’s going on in your life right now?

DW: OB’s, commercials and web based work. Everyone wants content on the web, bands and brands, they got an event they want it filmed and placed online. We’re seeing a lot more agencies coming to us with a brief, so my job is to interpret the text brief and make it compelling.

DS: You do a lot of outside broadcasts, how much technical skill do you need as creative director?

DW: It depends on budget; if they have lots of money then you don’t need to know that much as you can pay someone else to take care of it. If they have a small budget you need to know everything from cameras to lighting.

DS: What does the future for TV look like?

DW: people who have been in the industry for ten years or more may have to consider taking a pay cut if they want to stay employed. Why? You have students coming out of University and they know kit, they can do this stuff and do it well and cheap. So the old timers have real competition now. On the plus side, more content is required for online so that means more jobs that will keep everyone busy.

DS: Thank you Duncan.

MOTION GRAPHICS: David Sloly talks to creative director Dan Mellor.

2009-07-14T10:35:00.012+01:00

Dan Mellor occasionally lobs insults in my general direction via LinkedIn (that's Dan represented as a jar of green gel on the right) But his time is mainly spent being creative director of Brighton based bliink.tv, a design and motion graphics company with an impressive list of clients. (really worth clicking on that bliink.tv link if you love graphics)

For the record the interview was conducted via LinkedIn, which is very 2.0.

INTERVIEW WITH DAN MELLOR.

DS: Where is your first port of call for new talent?

DM: Hiring new staff is always a bit of a task for any small company. I tend to go off recommendations from colleagues and failing that I begin trawling the community sites for great showreels. It goes without saying that an ad on any community site will bring in hundreds of applications so wording the vacancy ad is crucial and how they respond to that ad will help to hone down the applicants to a shortlist.

DS: Do you prefer, life skills or academic ability?

DM: I dont have a preference as long as the individual is easy to work with, excels at the given task and takes direction or criticism well. I guess you need both to fulfill that.

DS: Presenting work, do you prefer laptop or in a book?

DM: If someone is presenting to me I prefer digital not just for green reasons but because I like to zoom in and out of images to catch the detail. It is sort of a no-brainer if you are applying for a position as an animator or motion graphics artist as a showreel is imperative so digital is the only way. When presenting to clients I think a book can often make work feel more 'expensive' than it is but it really depends on the project and client which format should be used.
If in doubt do both so all bases are covered!

DS: Would you hire a great creative with a positive attitude over a brilliant sulky creative?

DM: This is a tough decision but I think being positive does win out in the end.
I am aware that creative people are often unstable (yours truly!) but seeing as we spend most of our lives at work I think a good working enviroment is much more important for everyone concerned. If the office is full of sulkers then no-one is going to want to be there!

DS: Your top tip(s) for people looking for work in motion graphics?

DM: Learn as much as you can whenever you can and have a good mix of abilities both technical and artistic.Your reel should reflect this but be a piece of great editing in itself. If you are using music on your reel make it interesting please and not a droning repetitive library music track. Edit to the music whenever possible.
3D spaceships and monsters in heavy metal gear should not be included unless they are completely out of this world or part of a commercial project!
Have a good online presence so when an employer Googles you it turns up some results.
Join graphics and animation communities and build your profile with work examples.
When creating personal pieces for your showreel make sure it reflects your style and is not just a re-hash of some popular or current trend.
Have integrity and be honest about your abilities and experience or it may come back to bite you.

DS: Thank you Dan;)

DIGITAL: David Sloly talks to creative director Jon Waring

2009-07-07T11:15:00.002+01:00

Bristol is the kind of city that you can bump into the same person more than once in a week. Jon Waring (that's him in the photo) is creative director at digital marketing agency 3sixty and I seem to bump into him at least twice a day! Costa coffee, "Hello Jon", Park Street, "Hi mate", random talks around town, "Fancy seeing you here."

So getting an audience with Jon was, well, pretty easy :)

INTERVIEW WITH JON WARING.

DS: So, tell me your journey from school to creative director?

JW: I got the chance to do two weeks work placement whilst I was at school and the guy in charge of placing students asked what I wanted to do, and I told him, I want to work in advertising. Basically they didn't have any placements in agencies so he tried to palm me off with an insurance company - so I went to work at an insurance company. I lasted exactly two days and I walked out, which is unlike me as I am a cooperative human being. So off my own back I went to the local advertising company and asked if I could do a placement with them and they said fine, you can work with our art director and copywriter. From that point on everything was geared toward working in advertising. I got a degree in graphic design, and then went traveling around India on a motorbike. When I got back I spoke to an old client and he asked me “are you ready to be CD?” and I didn’t actually know what CD stood for, so I just said yes!

DS: Do you have a set methodology that you use for solving a creative problem?

JW: In terms of ideas, I ring-fence a bit of space and get as many stakeholders in as possible I don’t care if it’s the janitor, the MD, coder, I know a lot of people pay lip service to this idea that creative answers can come from anywhere but I think it is more true in digital then it is anywhere else. I go through a relatively formal brainstorming process employing all the kind of Edward De Bono lateral thinking ideas and have some fun.

DS: How do you see the future for creative directors.

JW: In the past it has been about typography, colour, composition, about technical things. Now it’s about understanding people, a human understanding, so that whenever we do something it resonates.

DS: Thanks Jon, see you around.

VIRALS: David Sloly talks to creative director David Watson

2009-07-01T14:02:00.007+01:00

We are playing ping-pong and I'm going for spin, Watson is taking the maximum impact approach and going for smash hits.

David Watson (that's him in the photo) is cd at Rebel Virals and Aspect Film and Video.

We have worked together extensively on viral marketing campaigns (we are taking a break from writing material for a client to do this interview). I think I know Watson quite well... So what questions should I ask him for my interview?

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID WATSON.

DS: What’s the process for working on a viral.

DW: It begins with a clear idea about the audience, the proposition and any insight and angles. Then we explore that from metaphorical points of view, how can we express that sentiment... what's the home truth behind that.

DS: Do you have a checklist to ensure that an idea is really viral?

DW: You cant always be to scientific about it, but use a crude list which would be, what does it do for the viewer in terms of social currency, does it create debate and does it have a clear message.

DS: Work at the desk or pop out for a walk?

DW: Get out, clear the mind and start thinking of ideas then go through a process of self-editing. Every idea that doesn’t work just leads you closer to the one that does. And then just forget about work for a bit and do something else (like play ping-pong) and open your mind up.

DS: What's the most violent thing you would do to ensure you came up with the right idea... you know, imagine the pressure is really on... like it is now with this current project?

DW: (sharp intake of breath) Kill an old lady, with poison, so much of it that she vomits, then I'd push her over in it. Definitely poison, no fingerprints. But i would pay her medical bills... anonymously.

DS: Thank you David, shall we get back to work now?

DW: Yes, my serve?