— Respect human nature, The fifth law of ‘Velocity,’ as outlined in Ajaz Ahmed & Stefan Olander’s book.
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)
— 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.
The next generation digital book
Is this the future of the book, and therefore by default, reading?
Software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad — with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is “Our Choice,” Al Gore’s sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.”
A lot of us, me included, believe that the joy of reading a book lies as much in the sensory experience (touch, smell, flip of pages) as in the written content on each page. Consequently, we believe that an e-book/digital version is an impostor, an innovation dreamed up by some evil tech genius out to make a quick buck :)
But what if an e-book was like Matas’ demo, layering information cleverly that made the content of the book richer?
Think about it. And while you’re at it, get yourself an iPad ;)
Simplify Digital
These aren’t just the big themes at SXSW this year. These are the biggest trends in the digital/interactive industry today. So read them carefully.
The one that stood out for me: the need to simplify digital.
Its a challenge that all of us in the digital fraternity need to address sooner, rather than later.
There are too many standards without a uniform one. There are too many “buzzwords.” Too many “experts,” rather than evangelists. Too many do’s & don’ts already.
As a consequence, the people who matter the most, clients and users, get peppered with too much information, from far too many sources. Its confusing. It takes away credibility. It pitches the medium wrong.
Instead we need to tell them that its all so new, still evolving. There are no experts, no gurus. Mistakes will be made. All of us need to learn from those mistakes and navigate this journey together.
We need to give them just enough to want to discover for themselves what all of us have loved about new media and the web.
And that is its ability to surprise us.
(Source: blog.360i.com)
“I still think it’s worth encouraging teams doing digital work to come up with good ideas – emphasis on good rather than big, and plural rather than singular. I have a speech slide with a picture of Madden 2010, World of Warcraft, the iPad, and Nike+ and I challenge people in the audience to come up with the “big idea” behind each of these products. While people invariably come up with a high-level descriptor, they usually wind up discovering that there are dozens and dozens of big ideas in them; design details, executions, lots of ideas that all add up to its market appeal. When I had the Nike account in 2002, Nike kept asking us, “What is the big idea of this site, this app, this page?” An art director finally got exasperated at this ongoing request and said “Don’t you get it? I have to come up with dozens of great ideas to make a great digital experience. If you make me focus on only one, you’ll have an experience with one great moment followed by dozens of mediocre ones.”
Kip Voytek.
Great post on how brands should focus on creating stories rather than executing ideas, even if it be that hallowed “big idea” ;)
(Source: heywhipple.com)
How does an agency attract the best talent? Here’s how
Edward Boches, Chief Innovation officer, Mullen, shares his blueprint on how an agency could imbibe and implement a more digital outlook.
Its not just about hiring the right talent, but re-looking & re-tooling your culture, focus, influence and mindset.
Must read for all ad folks.
Curating the web, one meme at a time
We don’t do advertising anymore - Nike
What to drink with your music
Look Behind the Camera of a Two-Minute Steadicam Shot in “Hugo”
This is amazing. It’s like a beautiful, perfectly coordinated ballet.
Space Poster Series by Michael Gottschalk
How Famous Brands Got Their Names and Logos
Part -1
