Yes the ipad is noteworthy

- also fun, exciting and intriguing. Looking at what it can do brought out so many thoughts about its possibilities, most of which were not in the apps on show this week. I am sure that if Apple are right and this is a new category of device then the true worth of it will come when designers stop designing for a big iTouch and start thinking about New from New - motion and action process's. 

I feel mapping and tutorials are key human interactions for a digital device like this. Should also be noted that with all Apple first gen' products there are teething issues, at least two of the demo models i used this week had 'issues'

After a couple of days playing I like the size and hand feel of the device. The controls are almost familiar with a small amount of learning, (mind you zero time spent reading any instructions) You feel a certain joy with the interface because it just keeps doing things for you!Philip Slade & t7F London on an iPad

The Final Countdown

The final stage of the general election is upon us. Really looking forward to see how the clash of advertising styles works out. The Labour party had been doing well with its under funded campaign being boosted with Internet japes. However it all came unstuck this week when its user generated poster back fired. The issue of using figures from popular culture is all very well, its just no one seems to have thought it through, that people actually like Gene Hunt and his 1980’s style of command, that’s why it’s a popular icon. How the Labour Part thought this was going to appose rather than attract(see comments) is bizarre. I do hope however that it does not put them off seeking crowd sourced creative. The theory is sound and keeps the campaign alive. A few more calm heads needed for the reality checks however.

 

Still looking for a better use of Facebook from the parties. There is so much that could be done with Facebook targeting, messages and friend groups. There is too much broadcasting at present and not enough under the skin cohesion. The other thing that’s missing at present is an app for campaigning. Either party could have an AR app that tells you how much has/hasn’t been spent on hospitals/police stations/schools as you walk past. Now the Ordnance Survey have open up their code, an easy mash-up of local authority spending on very pretty maps would appeal greatly. Philip Slade.

Another cracking chart, plus a lesson in internet tom foolery

Now we have all cocked-up online at some point. But the Conservatives seem to be making a career out of it at present. The chart below sets out the speed with which some Tory bright sparks Twitter adventure ended after just two hours. Full story HERE. Fuller list of Twitter responces HERE. The news that Saatchi are back on board (after the David Cameron air brush debacle) we presumed was steadying the ship, obviously not!

 

Empire building, Google

A while back I gave a presentation about brands and there online shadows. I used the analogy of digital donuts that came in a box owned by Google. Sample charts HERE. When this chart popped up it was a good time to adlib gags about the Evil empire/Big brother (Google) and how we were all owned. The Beast File (Google) is a lovely bit of animation currently doing the rounds that sums this thought up in a much funnier manner and includes a better Star Wars reference. Graphics by Patrick Clair, written/presented by Elmo Keep. Seen on http://www.geekfill.com 

THE BEAST FILE: GOOGLE ('HUNGRY BEAST', ABC TV) from Hungry Beast on Vimeo.

 

Getting out what you put in.

Seems obvious, but the clear issue with under performing digital campaigns is analogue thinking. Social networks suit a continuum of stuff rather than a big burst of noise. Again you would have thought obvious, but the nature of a consumers interaction with chums online puts a premium on regular, relevant content, that does not bore.

Highlighted by Alan Mitchell of www.ctrl-shift.co.uk. The harsh realties of Social Media in a nutshell. Full presentation by Bart De Waele below.  

  1. Nobody reads your blog
  2. Your Twitterstream is boring
  3. Your Facebook fan page is empty
  4. Your new social network site isn’t used
  5. Your great idea doesn’t go viral
  6. Your users do not generate content
  7. Your employees do not help



7 harsh realities in Social Media
"philip slade"

Perfect working enviroment? -there isn't one.

Because we are people, (not cliche office drones) we each respond in different ways to our environment. Once a company grows beyond the dream team sized start-up of 9**. Any attempt to create the 'perfect' environment, how ever funky, will always leave some poor soul at odds with there work space. Corperatised fun environments are exactly the oxymoron they sound like. Slides and fake grass in reception are as bad as grey cubicles and strip lighting. It all smacks of a lack of innovation within the work force. Natural light, decent coffee and fast internet connection normally does the trick. -oh and a cracking place to bitch/gossip/flirt. Best if the latter is the same place as the decent coffee, bananas and free toast. The agency kitchen therefore should be the most homely, most useful place for a company to invest in.

Personally I love noise/loud music and am unable to work tidy. I also feel the ability to change where you sit in an office frequently, stops staleness. Actually the only time I had to work in a regimented office environment was at Saatchi's in the late 80's. The resultant chaos (and occasional fire) led to my nickname of Professor Piehead (Viz character)

This is the reason I get so excited about innovation, its unplanned, unexpected and often ludicrously funny

re-Chatroulette. There is a huge storm of Daily Mail style angst building about this site. (it twins random web cams, with hilarious results) Including a Newsnight debate that came across as a Chris Morris/Brass Eye style parody. But in all this outrage about the morals of the country. I really think these commentator's are missing the point. Tim Malbon of Made by Many summed it up best I thought;

"...It was brilliant to be reminded of how subversive and mad the Web is. In our increasingly settled, sanitised and locked down Web era Chatroulette is a timely warning to us all that we must hold on to the crazy stuff, because what it really represents is the Internet’s culture of freedom and culture of innovation..."

News sites currently awash with stats on this, but From Read Write Web has a neat set of quotes= In December 2009, Chatroulette had 500 users. Today, just four months later, the site sees 1.5 million daily visitors. That statistic alone is enough to inspire investors to beat down the door of its creator, Russian high school student Andrey Ternovskiy. "the purest form" of the Internet and its userbase, and "a great way to kill time," one of the most common uses of the social web. (Muhammad Saleem, authority on engineering virality) "I've frequently described it as a box of game pieces with no rules. Users are invited to create any kind of experience they choose given a simple set of constraints. It's inherently viral, addictive, imaginative and essentially human"



We get around

Back in October we made a short demo film for Harman International. (produced by the excellent Th1ng.co.uk) The film was a demonstration of new sound synthesis technology developed in conjunction with Lotus engineering. The aim being to demonstrate how electric cars of the future could be made safer by emitting various sounds to alert pedestrians. I just did a Google search on it to find the film has made its way onto over 60 web sites, weirdly its had some of its most views on the Pistonheads web site, I never took those TVR boys for being keen on hybrids

Farmville or why we're diffrent from the Americans

Came across an interesting stat with regards Facebook breaking the 400 million user barrier last month. On both sides of the Atlantic a prime driver has been the playing of Sim type games like Farmville. Both US and UK players are manily proffesional women. However the age differences are really telling. Average of 31 here in Britain and +55 in the States

Farmville Explanation
View more presentations from Philip Slade.

General Election warming up (in a one sided way)

Well so far, apart from the Tories most of the pre-election communications have been rather dull and unremarkable. The Conservatives on the other hand are proving to be such a gift to the spoofers, HERE, and HERE you almost can't wait for their next mind boggling missive. Some of the regional David Cameron supporter groups have taken to Flickr with (unintentionally) hilarious results, really no spoof required.

Big Potatoes a manifesto for innovation

An interesting view on the current debate about innovation (i.e. there isn't any) A group of writers (Norman Lewis, Nico Macdonald, Alan Patrick, Martyn Perks, Mitchell Sava and James Woudhuysen) have published a paper called: Big Potatoes, A new 14 point Manifesto for Innovation. I really like the insight that the Great Depression saw real innovations from companies that have gone on to be durable brands of the new century; Nestlé, Penguin Books, General Electric and Texas Instruments. But so far the credit crunch has seen almost the opposite level of thinking.

"..The Big Potatoes Manifesto is call to arms: for leadership and risk taking, for accepting failure and unexpected outcomes as the necessary and inevitable path to success, for bold and ambitious experimentation and an end to the instrumentalist short-termism which has institutionalised a culture of limits..." MORE

  1. Think big!
  2. Go beyond the post-war legacy of innovation
  3. Principles, not models!
  4. In praise of ‘useless’ research
  5. Innovation is hard work
  6. For success, expect lots of failures
  7. Regard chance and surprise as allies
  8. Take risks
  9. Innovation demands leadership
  10. Innovation is every body’s responsibility
  11. Trust the people, not regulation
  12. Think global, act global
  13. The spirit of innovation knows no limits
  14. By, with and for humanity

Change is good

I feel energised by change. Doing the same as before has never held great appeal, even when you are not quite sure where change is going to take you. What you do know is that its going to be different and maybe involve a bit of work getting things right. Yesterdays launch of the Apple iPad is very much a case in point. The web is teetering on melt down so many people are expressing there opinions as to its potential success or failure. There are some extreme Luddite comments filling the forums, pick any, or start HERE with the Twitter stats. Even if against all the odds it does turn out to be a turkey -this century's Newton. The fact is they tried, Apple have taken a huge step in thinking. It is this ambition for change that I so like. Sure version 2 or 3 of the iPad are going to be way better, and the price will be half its current $800, particularly the school friendly Wi-Fi only $499 version.

Yes I am a Mac fan and I can't wait to use one, But more than any of that what I feel invigorated by is that here are a bunch of people for whom the option of a better Netbook or Kindle was never going to be good enough. Change is good.

Neat debates currently rolling.

Two ongoing debates have caught my eye at present. The first relates to my last post below. The air brushed David Cameron. Not only is the web now awash with versions of it, but you can now download your own poster builder app HERE. Brand Republic have a good discussion on the subject HERE. Not least becasue the Labour Party appears to have adopted one of them as an official poster HERE - a really new move in UK politics.

Next, the Pepsi; Super Bowl Vs Social networks campaign. Some very good thoughts and ideas about measurement (or lack of it) HERE. Plus quite a few neat asides about brand building with fuzzy logic.

An election of commuincation

I know I get excited by the smallest things, but the up coming general election in the UK is really going to be something. Not for all the reasons of potential regime change, but the cascade of communications. The very nature of the state of politics in the UK at present means fractural opinions are being considered.

The main parties being so frighten of an original or different view. Even mainstream press are considering the whitterings of the nuttiest blogger as light relief from the blandness of central office party line. I quite warm to Gordan Browns inept PR skills, his advisors attempt to lighten his image are so ham fisted its got to be some kind of massive double bluff, surely he can't really be that way? If David Cameron does become PM at least we should get some decent satire from the left at last. Those of us who remember how good comedy was under the last Conservative government know that really British humour only works when we moan about stuff, as for music,  protest and anger songs have only ever worked under the Tories.

Social networks. The lack of American style fund raising will probably mean we won't see the cleverness of the Obama style social network activity. I would be surprised however if we don't see some pretty heavy weight SEO spending. What Obama did with Fox news misinformation so Labour should do with Cameron's media chums, However and its a big however. The modern Labour party is a world away from common sense and logical actions.

Humour

The early rounds of tit for tat ads are shaping up nicely. I do hope we'll see more of this. The ones shown on this page are all from the excellent Beau Bo D'Or