howard | 
07 28th, 2007| 
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Jul
28
Jul
26
I’ve noticed a couple of things recently that made me think about the whole relationship that digital types have in an integrated agency environment, and which in turn reminded me of my theory (probably too grand a title!) about what this intrinsic “difference” often is.
A post the other day over on one of the Brand Republic blogs commented on a recent survey about the leisure time habits of young people, and the general theme for it was that kids are not interested in tech, and would rather do real world things. What was interesting for me was that whilst the majority of them said they used the internet as a means to setup face-to-face meetings and so forth, and for generally keeping in touch, only around 2% of them said that they “preferred” the web as a way to spend their time, and that in general the top interests of kids is listening to music and watching TV or DVDs.
I find this interesting for two reasons. Firstly, whilst it’s not their preferred activity, almost all of the kids were at least using the web/internet in some kind of social network/software fashion - be it IM, Bebo or whatever - so as a contact method it’s pretty much universally accepted.
Secondly, the clear distinction that was made between activities such as listening to music, or DVD watching, versus (terrible phrase coming up) “surfing the web”. Whilst at the moment it’s still pretty obvious that sitting in front of a computer versus sitting in front of a tv are very seperate activities, how long do we all think that’s going to last as? Whilst I still don’t believe we’ll all be switching to watching TV on a 19″ LCT as opposed to a 42″ LCD with a beer in hand, the fact of the matter is that TV itself is going to be delivered on an IP network within a matter of a few years or so (regardless of the soon-to-be obsolete path to digital broadcast that freeview and the government have us all set out on) - joost and others are proof that this transition is happening without waiting for labour to switch off the analogue signal in 2012! Other hardware items such as the Apple TV, BT’s offering or even Tivo and it’s on-demand movie service in the USA will keep blurring the boundaries more and more.
As for music, the meer fact that earlier this week I read and article in The Guardian which asked the question whether CD singles were a dead medium, with sales of them down by 47% at the start of 2007, as opposed to “downloads” going from strength to strength reinforces the non-tech side image of actually highly tech activities (it was only a few years ago that if you’d said MP3 to the man on the street they’d have thought you a looney).
OK, so this isn’t news, and certainly i’ve blogged about this trend before. But what it reminded me of, is something which happens in my day to day life as a digital evangelist trying to grow a business inside an integrated, predominantly offline environment, and that is that people of a certain generation (and it’s younger than mine of mid-thirties grunge reminiscing years!) still see computers, and anything to do with them, i.e. the web/internet, as a “techy” or even geeky pass time. The countless times that I’ve heard people refer to digital marketing, digital marketing types, or even a plain old banner add as “ok, this is the techy bit where I step aside” infuriates me each time - and reminds me that the age old “us and them” gap still exists between the trendy kids and the kids (yes, like me) who had a spectrum/C64 and loved nothing more than inserting hundreds of lines of basic into the machine, without saving, only for it to not work at the end of a fruitless two hours typing on a rubber keyboard.
“That’s why we have the digital guys” the offline types will say. “I don’t get all this techy stuff”. There’s many more, and I am sure that if you work on the same side of the fence as me you’ve heard them all. Let’s not get into the fact that offline types have just as much geeky techy knowledge which I have no idea about as I do digital terms. SLP? PDP? they’ve got more TLAs than we do - swings and roundabouts.
I had a conversation with the creative director the other day and a few others, where I tried to explain that digital and offline are in many ways the same and need to be treated as such. Creatively, an art director doesn’t know how a TV camera of edit suite works, but I bet most of them can draw a storyboard and write a script. Why do they then get all confused when working online? Just because you don’t know how ActionScript works, or what the compression differences are between a GIF and JPG doesn’t mean you can’t draw a black & white scamp or write copy.
There is hope though. Even though the kids referred to in the article on Brand Republic still draw that distinction between browsing the web, watching “movies” (i deliberately don’t use DVD) and listening to music, the very fact that the music and films they’re watching are delivered in a highly technical manner and yet they don’t recognise that as being the same as using a computer means that slowly, and in a very indirect fashion, that geek-vs-non-geek gap, the view of what is techy stuff and what isn’t, is disappearing and matters less and less.
In a few years time, when a new generation of bebo savvy kids who grew up with firefox graduate from uni and start their careers in marketing the cries of “I don’t know how a banner works” will be long, long gone, and it’s really not that far away - so offline types get thinking because digital is no longer creeping up - it’s sprinting up behind you with a mouse in one hand and a stack of scratched blue-ray discs in another. there won’t be on and offline marketing. there will just be marketing, and trust me, those kids we’re talking about - they’ll just get it and hit the ground running.
Kids aren’t interested in tech claims the post. Really? OK - so in a few years time when they’re watching a movie download on their mobile, or listening to a DRM-free MP3 on their iPhone that they got via bittorrent and a wifi connection you come back to me and tell me they’re not interested in tech or the internet, and then we’ll have another chat.
Howard
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Blogged with Flock
Tags: digital, divide, technology, normality, geek
Jul
26
Why aren’t there more techy planners?
We all know planning is the buzzy side of the industry at the moment - everywhere you look someone is saying something about planning. Whether it’s bringing it into the fold with creative earlier on (good idea by the way) or how much bad planners are simply good bloggers (I am neither) it’s the topic on a lot of peoples lips.
So, why are planners who get technology so thin on the ground?
Come on! We need planners who know why face-book is the new Dr Evil.
We need planners who know not just what twitter is, but why it’s seen by many as so revolutionary.
We need planners who understand technology, live with it, love it, and know how it works, as well as knowing all the other stuff planners need to know.
I know a few of them, or know of, but I know a hell of a lot more who are just plain disinterested.
There’s a shed load of cash in the planosphere right now. But I tell you what, if it were me hiring, I’d be giving you a shed load more if you could have a conversation with me about pownce’s implementation of AIR vs Twitter and twitterific!
Howard
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Blogged with Flock
Tags: digital, planning, planners, planosphere, technology, integrated
Jul
24
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Twitter, with file sending. Seems a little bare at the moment.
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Plaxo release version 3.0 of their service. I find plaxo a must-have, but I’m really not sure about this new interface. Seems a little chuggy to me on my dualcore macbook with 2gb, and that’s not right!
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Soocial finally release their software into Alpha!
Jul
11
Blogged with Flock
Tags: bringthe love back, microsoft, digital, marketing, advertising, consumer, dialogue, conversation, transparency
Jul
10
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Consumers getting more and more used to interacting with brands online, according to Shiny Red, but they have to use it wisely.
Jul
6
I’ve been a big fan of the beautiful line rider app since it first came out and had a huge explosion of video content on youtube, some of which is really impressive (of which the best has to be the great Jagged Peak Adventure).
I tried making my own videos, but the poor little guy just kept wiping out - a bit like me snowboarding in real life.
And since it came out I thought it would make for a great ad online, but I could never work it in.
Well, looks like someone managed to persuade adidas as they’ve got an overlay execution out entitled Line Runner, which works on the same principle and allows you to draw over the page (link goes to banner blog).
Now, arguments on whether overlays are just plain intrusive or not, it’s a nice enough execution, but for me it lets itself down as the action of the runner simply isn’t fluid or nice enough. Compared with the real line rider, where the physics were the big pull, it feels clunky and awkward.
Still, it’s a nice enough execution.
Howard
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Jul
6
Last night was the Chinwag Big Summer 07 party, held at the Union building on Imperial college. Fair play to the chinwag team for putting on a good show, and whilst it didn’t quite capture the debauched aspects of the dotcom era (I didn’t see any naked bucking bronco riding at this bash for example!) it was a good night, and there was plenty to keep people occupied and the free beer helped i guess 
I left early, as is often the case, but I did hear an excellent quote from two young women at the bar. Queues were quite long, and they tried to get served quickly by saying to the barman "Hey! We work for agency.com - serve us first please"
Nice try!
Bumped into Suw and Kevin on the train home where we had a short chat about various things including Simon Pegg. Never met Kevin before - are you always that brown and sun tanned?
Oh, and thanks to Deirdre for sorting out my entry.
Howard
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