Thanks to Promax BDA's Brief Magazine and to Daisy Whitney for the great article on next gen marketing.
Check out the issue online - Pages 68-71 - Be sure to check out the full issue. Lots of great content.
Included below is the full interview from Amy Miranda from which the excerpts of the article in Brief were taken.
The transition to digital, or any new skill set is daunting. I think with digital it seems more daunting because of the role of technology. There’s been a lot of negative connotations to the digital space and the medium in general has unfortunately been oversaturated with people communicating that the transition is difficult, that people will be “left behind” or there’s an implication that if you don’t have experience in one area you can’t possibly transition to another. To me, that’s not a reality. Making the transition to anything new requires one thing: Passion. A real interest in learning. I can say that because although I’ve been in this business since it became a business, I learned as I went. I didn’t wake up and have the skills, I wasn’t taught them in school, in fact, I wasn’t mentored by any one person. Ever. I think that’s why I’ve concentrated so much on training, sharing the things I’ve learned so that other people can hone it, and make it better, and not have to go through the same challenges I did. My entire career has been a transition. I began thinking I wanted to do one thing, and specializing, to exploring different roles and learning about what I liked and what I didn’t. I asked a lot of questions, and I always encourage people to do the same. If you can’t find resources or people who are willing to help, it just means you should keep looking. People who approach the digital shift or next generation with a closed fist will be left behind, the future of the next generation of marketers is in transparency. I’ve seen too many good ideas, suffer, and in effect suffocate because people held on too tight. It’s really a balance, and whether we always are cognoscente of it or not, marketing is an art, and it’s about that balance between art and commerce. It’s about thinking differently, and taking risks – conversations. In terms of skills it’s about agility, and again a keen interest. Being adaptable and wearing different hats is critical, because everything is really becoming more efficient. So it’s about finding those efficiencies and developing solutions based on that. That’s a skill set that a lot of people have, when I do training and consulting with my clients about making the shift, whether it’s shifting the operational structure, or themselves it’s about knowing what you’re interested in doing and identifying what parts you don’t know. It becomes simpler to backfill. It’s about demystifying all of the unknowns. Most people, figure out quite quickly that they’re not missing the kind of skills they thought they were. You can’t teach people that, people are either interested or they aren’t. The next generation marketer is required to think about everything holistically, not elements individually, So when making the transition I think it’s important to be able to identify people who are thinking that way in what they do currently, and if you’re looking to learn attaching yourself to those people or companies is a great way to learn. You may not necessarily end up working directly with those people, but you can spend time with them. That happens a lot in my business, where people will ask to spend time with me, shadowing, taking part in industry functions or just talking. To me, that’s the best thing to do, is create a network where there’s a trade of knowledge happening, it’s been critical to what I do, and it’s where great ideas and new thinking is born. It’s like a nebula of ideas when you get enough smart people together and share knowledge. You can be a “traditional” marketer, or a “digital” marketer, or a designer, or a broadcaster but the soft skills are the same. It’s the application of those skills that’s different. I think people become daunted by the transition, to me it’s about being excited about it, if you’re not learning or engaged in what might be coming next, I can’t imagine still wanting to be in this business. Our currency is ideas, you can’t be left behind when that’s your focus.
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We're very pleased to announce the addition of Ben&Julia to the lunch network.
Ben&Julia are a French-Swiss duo of multidisciplinary talented
Directors and Art Directors.
We're thrilled to have them, from their art to their puppets, to their incredible sense of whimsy Ben&Julia join the team and are now available for work in Canada through lunch.
Julia graduated from Central Saint Martins and worked as an associate producer and graphic designer for MTV and as an art director for TV and press.
Ben studied editing at CLCF and 3D animation at Isart Digital and worked as a director, editor and VFX artist for various agencies in Paris.
In 2006, Ben & Julia decided to join their forces in order to create colorful and creative work, mixing animations, live footage, drawings, puppetry for commercials, virals, music videos and animations.
This year they've created Ben&Julia Studio in Berlin.
They work worldwide with clients such as: MTV, Swatch, St Michel, Tissot, RATP, Olympic Museum, Atari, Microsoft, Sega, EA.
Their work has been featured in books, magazines and websites such as Pictoplasma’s Characters in Motion vol.3, Digital Arts, Promo News, Motionographer, Videos Antville, Computer Arts, Computerlove and IdN.
This, comes the first in our series of Lunchentach. An opportunity for members of the lunch network to "officially" provide commentary on anything they'd like pertaining to the world of integrated production. First up, as usual it's me, because everyone else is too busy making stuff.
Talking about digital is our favorite thing next to making stuff. Training and educating people on best practices is something the entire lunch network takes very seriously. We're a network of close to 100 developers, and I can assure you that harnessing that brainpower can be a challenge, mostly because there's so much to know, and because they've been in the game for decades, it's important to share, because not one person can know everything there is to know.
At the end of the day we're in the business of production, and having been in that business specifically for the past 12 years - there's something I get asked - a lot.
What does it take to get up to speed? How does one make the transition? Recently I was asked that very same question by Promax|BDA. The article will be appearing soon, but in the interim here's the unedited response I provided to that question.
The transition to digital, or any new skill set is daunting. I think with digital it seems more daunting because of the role of technology. There’s been a lot of negative connotations to the digital space and the medium in general has unfortunately been oversaturated with people communicating that the transition is difficult, that people will be “left behind” or there’s an implication that if you don’t have experience in one area you can’t possibly transition to another. To me, that’s not a reality. Making the transition to anything new requires one thing: Passion. A real interest in learning. I can say that because although I’ve been in this business since it became a business, I learned as I went. I didn’t wake up and have the skills, I wasn’t taught them in school, in fact, I wasn’t mentored by any one person. Ever. I think that’s why I’ve concentrated so much on training, sharing the things I’ve learned so that other people can hone it, and make it better, and not have to go through the same challenges I did. My entire career has been a transition. I began thinking I wanted to do one thing, and specializing, to exploring different roles and learning about what I liked and what I didn’t. I asked a lot of questions, and I always encourage people to do the same. If you can’t find resources or people who are willing to help, it just means you should keep looking. People who approach the digital shift or next generation with a closed fist will be left behind, the future of the next generation of marketers is in transparency. I’ve seen too many good ideas, suffer, and in effect suffocate because people held on too tight. It’s really a balance, and whether we always are cognoscente of it or not, marketing is an art, and it’s about that balance between art and commerce. It’s about thinking differently, and taking risks – conversations. In terms of skills it’s about agility, and again a keen interest. Being adaptable and wearing different hats is critical, because everything is really becoming more efficient. So it’s about finding those efficiencies and developing solutions based on that. That’s a skill set that a lot of people have, when I do training and consulting with my clients about making the shift, whether it’s shifting the operational structure, or themselves it’s about knowing what you’re interested in doing and identifying what parts you don’t know. It becomes simpler to backfill. It’s about demystifying all of the unknowns. Most people, figure out quite quickly that they’re not missing the kind of skills they thought they were. You can’t teach people that, people are either interested or they aren’t. The next generation marketer is required to think about everything holistically, not elements individually, So when making the transition I think it’s important to be able to identify people who are thinking that way in what they do currently, and if you’re looking to learn attaching yourself to those people or companies is a great way to learn. You may not necessarily end up working directly with those people, but you can spend time with them. That happens a lot in my business, where people will ask to spend time with me, shadowing, taking part in industry functions or just talking. To me, that’s the best thing to do, is create a network where there’s a trade of knowledge happening, it’s been critical to what I do, and it’s where great ideas and new thinking is born. It’s like a nebula of ideas when you get enough smart people together and share knowledge. You can be a “traditional” marketer, or a “digital” marketer, or a designer, or a broadcaster but the soft skills are the same. It’s the application of those skills that’s different. I think people become daunted by the transition, to me it’s about being excited about it, if you’re not learning or engaged in what might be coming next, I can’t imagine still wanting to be in this business. Our currency is ideas, you can’t be left behind when that’s your focus.
Those of you who know Amy know, that she enjoys a good story. Lunch's founder Amy Miranda, has been confirmed to speak at NXNEi (June 14-16) and will be discussing The Lost Art of Storytelling. Amy believes that without a story, there's nothing to produce and on the heels of just wrapping up a semester teaching Interactive Storytelling @ Centennial College, she'll be discussing the lost art of Storytelling at NXNEi.
The Lost Art of Storytelling
Humans have been telling stories for thousands of years, but the earliest mode of communication was oral, supported by hand gestures and expressions. Over time visual mediums were introduced to help tell stories as well. While the art of the storyteller has persisted over generations, the interactive world is often quick to re-invent the wheel, or loses site of the fundamentals in the quest to develop new ways to make the consumer an active part of the story.
What can we learn from the people who carry on the basics of oral storytelling, be they radio hosts, comedians or anyone else who still relies on their words, sounds and movements to tell a tale? A mix of old and new will aim to take you back to the basics in an attempt to inform your visions for new narrative forms.
Recently for Icograda's Design Week in Vancouver Rethink came up with a pretty amazing idea to actually enable attendees, speakers and designers alike to weigh in on great design. We were lucky enough to help execute, STEM, General Metrics, Fatbox and Lunch came together to help launch the Design Currency Counter.
The symbol represents the value of design calculated by its impact on communication, culture and commerce.
Use the site to help define, debate and expand your understanding of design value.
I recently uncovered this - back in September 2005 (click the graphic for the original post) I was asked by Hyper Island in Sweden if they could ask me some questions. Of course I said yes. When I read this, I realized that even though it was close to 2 years ago, I feel exactly the same way. I guess thats how you know you're on the right track.
September 2, 2005
I got an email last week from Hyper Island. If you haven’t heard of them and are in the digital space - check them out. They pride themselves on creating freethinking digital idealists. Something that I think more of us should be taking the opportunity and initiative to do.
Pretty cool. They asked me about whether I might be able to answer some questions about what Digital Trends/Influences might be.
Of course I was happy to share some ideas on my favorite topic. Digital. I’ve included the questions and my responses below.
> 1a. In the upcoming 2-5 years what do think the biggest digital trends/influences will be?
I’d like to see people get out from behind their computers. I know I’d certainly like to be able to engage outside of the traditional “digital” experience. More development and innovation in terms of interactive projections, the graffiti research lab stuff, more interaction between communities in general. I think consumers are finally ready to have the
kinds of experiences we’re now able to produce. I think we’ll see a lot more installations and digital production as art. It’s what’s next in my mind. Websites and banner ads will become a necessary component in terms of media-
but I truly believe that open source/guerilla style technology will turn the industry on it’s ear. It has to get beyond desktop. The future is multi-tasking, anything that enables people to do this more easily is going to be a key influencer.
> b. What kind of industry research does your company do regarding future trends?
To be honest, I’m not sure we do enough of this. I think a lot of companies get caught up in the day-to-day work and it’s hard to stay involved/in the loop as a company. I think it comes down to individuals keeping themselves informed and up to date on what’s out there, what can be done, and what’s coming next. The interest has to be there at the individual level. I rely heavily on my team in addition to my own network to stay engaged on what’s next.
> c. What does your company do to keep up to date with industry trends?
>
It really comes down to working groups within the company. I think individuals do their own research and networking to stay involved in emerging trends. I learn most about what’s next by just keeping an ear to the ground and trying to stay as up to speed as possible with what everyone else is working on. Dialogue between companies is important. I think we have to get past the idea that sharing erodes the industry - I think not sharing is eroding it.
> 2. In your opinion what is missing in the industry today?
Production Management training in addition to cross training of creatives.
Much emphasis is put on the education and training of
development/programming talent, and creative skils like design, copywriting etc, with comparatively little emphasis being placed on the overall management of the production. As projects become increasingly complex, it’s essential to have talent who have a general understanding of the actual
production. I’d love to see Producers become a greater segment of the market. Broadcast producers have long been a creative asset and resource in execution of a project, I’d like to see the same emphasis on Interactive/Digital Producers. I think to some extent the idea of an
Interactive Producer or Project manager brings with it the idea of pencil pushing and a pretty rigid perspective. I’d like to see the term Project Manager be eliminated from our vocabulary as it pertains to production management. The last thing I think that’s missing - or that could be done
better is communication. I think the industry in Europe has done a much better job of staying in contact with each other and keeping an open dialogue that we have in North America. I’ve been working towards trying to get the industry in Toronto talking again. I think it’s imperative to the evolution of the industry.
> 3. What skills are you looking for in future employees?
I tend look for 3 things. Multifaceted Creativity, Innovative thinking, and Passion. You can’t be a true contributor, whether on a development, creative or production level without being engaged and passionate about the work.
It’s really a spark. I usually know right away whether I think someone is going to be able to be a contributor. I think of what first got me into the industry, and it was really my desire to produce cool work on whatever level. I think that helped me to stay involved and engaged all of these
years. It’s an industry that’s ever changing, evolving, the job I did 3 years ago, although the same in title, is completely different in execution due to the evolving nature of the business and industry. There’s something inspiring about that.
Really, really proud of this one, during my time at Grip LimitedI executive produced this fantastic piece for Honda's Insight working with their incredible creative (Jon, Stephen, Heung, Pete, Ian, Haley) and internal development team (Heung again), Jen Mete working her magic to help pull together the shoot- and a slew of production partners including Lunch partner The Radke Film Group. and stellar director Robin Hays. We discussed with children what the future would be like, and they told us. This is one of my favorite projects to date and "Yesterday" - the FWA recognized Blue Skies. Check out Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today.
So, this week we completed our first (of hopefully many more) Interactive Production workshop, which was attended by clients, partners, and agencies.
It was a long day of discussion, questions and guests including our very own, Jason Zada.
It was fantastic to see and hear the thoughts of producers across the board. We don't get together enough, the questions, comments and insights were stellar.
Some of my favorite comments to come out of the day are included below.
We'll be hosting more events like this moving forward, if you're interested in taking part in an upcoming workshop, please drop us a line.
So far, the interest has been fantastic. Thanks to everyone for their support, discussion, and feedback. It's extremely exciting to see the engagement of producers in these sessions.
"It's not "No", It's How" - Jason Zada on what's important from a producer.
"Being involved earlier can change everything" Pretty much every developer who joined us. :)
"The worst thing we can hear is "Just do it" or "I don't care what you think" - Adrian Busschaert
In the next few sessions we'll be focusing on client and agency production again, as well as doing a few sessions on interactive production for post production partners.
So, everyone seems to want a Google Wave invite, but when you ask people why they want one, there seems to be some confusion. Other than it being the next big thing on the internet, and the track record of Google's existing product suite, what's so great about Google Wave?
I'll tell you, and so will Google, and so on and so on. As someone who believes in the power of networks and collaboration Google Wave makes total sense to me. After all it's what the internet is. A network, open source, a dialogue. As someone who bases their entire business and life around collaboration and networks I have been waiting with baited breath for the release of Wave.
There's something bigger in this in terms of a concept, Google has the ability to do what a lot of other companies don't. Stay collaborative and grow at the same time. They stick to the center, and we as consumers and users follow.
So it only makes sense that they'd open this up to us all, because that's what makes an idea better, collaboration.
I could say it until I'm blue in the face, and I often do, but the internet would be nothing without sharing, discussion and collaboration. A monopoly. Instead we have this incredible pipeline to information, to each other. Wave will change the face of both how we communicate online and how we do business. I'm sure of it.
I'm excited to get going, and I can't wait to see how Wave is going to change not only my user experience but my business.
Lunch is about collaboration within a network. Stay in touch, make it feel like it's a family no matter how big it gets. That's something I learned from Google.
