Music makes the bourgeosie and the rebel ;) (Taken with instagram)
“Digital is the means, not the end. Technology sometimes obscures this ultimate truth, and makes it easy to forget that at the far side of an app, a tweet, an anything, there’s a person.” — Respect human nature, The fifth law of ‘Velocity,’ as outlined in Ajaz Ahmed & Stefan Olander’s book.
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Big ideas are courageous, ambitious, revolutionary, and rare. But the ‘big idea’ is a cliché; an identikit term that’s become deprived of feeling.The only ideas that matter are the ones that people want to share, because the built-in digital infrastructure has accelerated the velocity of distribution, whether through social networks, e-commerce, or an app store.
Small ideas when nurtured well can go from being embryos to giants. What’s important is that agencies respect audiences and be artful. The magic is in the product, the values, and the spirit of the brand, so it must seek to amplify these truths in an interesting, consistent voice across all customer touch points.
” — Ajaz Ahmed, Founder, AKQA shares his views on the big idea vs. many small ideas debate.(Source: thinkwithgoogle.com)
“It’s never been easier to skip, filter or avoid advertising so the best ideas are the ones that respect that the audience needs to get something out of the work; it should inspire, satisfy, or motivate them. You can’t just bombard people with messages anymore.” — Ajaz Ahmed, Founder, AKQA
(Source: thinkwithgoogle.com)
Velocity is a book co-authored by AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed and his client, Stefan Olander, VP of Digital Sport at Nike.
Big names backed by awesome work in the digital space.
Click above and you get to the companion site for the book, which, lives up to AKQA standards.
In other words, its just brilliant. Especially love the “further reading for the law” recommendations.
I haven’t read the book yet but considering it comes from two of the most admired and awarded new media practitioners, it should be an eye opener. In an interview with Business sense, here’s how Ajaz Ahmed introduced the book:
“For about 10 years we’d have board meetings and people would say, ‘you should capture some of those thoughts and put them in a book.’ So we did.
What we found is that there are a lot of books that are how-to books, but ours is more about a mind-set and a philosophy. And, it’s the first book, as far as we know, that’s been written by a client and an agency. So it’s useful for clients, agencies and entrepreneurs. ”
A mindset book.
I like the sound of that because its so different from ___ in a week or Make ___work for you today genre.
Here’s how Contagious Magazine reviewed it:
Velocity is like a road map for the future of advertising. I defy you to read it without a highlighter pen in your hand.
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“Break things and move fast. The idea is that if you don’t break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.” — Mark Zuckerberg on “true hacker culture”
(Source: adage.com)
How creatives are working today -
The 99% Idea execution audit is out for the year and as always features a bag full of insights.
The one that stood out for me?
Most creatives iterate/ re-work their ideas at least 5 times. Found the above stat very surprising, and comforting :)
The other interesting stat?
Its time to get those walking shoes out because that’s when the eureka moment is likely to strike.
View/download the entire infographic here.