Hasta La Ideas

James Jarvis can currently be found (well, videos of him) drawing on a website called New London, which aims to promote the UK capital to a cool French audience…

Sponsored by Eurostar and created by ad agency Sid Lee, New London shows Jarvis completing a large mural artwork on the site. Visitors can view videos of different stages of completion, while a clock at the bottom of the screen shows how long he has been at work.

Alongside this insight into Jarvis’ working practice is a set of listings that reveal the site’s ultimate purpose: to get French creative types to visit London. The listings include bars, restaurants, shops and galleries, all of which will appeal to a hip creative audience. See more at newlondon.fr.



This brutally funny take on a rather familiar scenario has been doing the rounds recently (thanks Gary Cook for the tip). Given the subject matter and its suggestion of a lack of value being placed on design skills, perhaps it’s a little ironic that it was made using xtranormal, a ‘text-to-movie’ service that turns users’ scripts into mini-films using its predesigned characters and backgrounds.

It’s a lot of fun and has potentially exciting uses in education as well as in the “dicking about at work making funny stuff to send your mates” sector, but here’s what the makers have to say: “Xtranormal’s mission is to bring movie-making to the people. Everyone watches movies and we believe everyone can make movies.”

Hmmmm, just like everyone can design a logo, right?

Tom Anjello of Poke New York (check out their live agency webcam here) raised an intriguing idea here at Click New York: that commenting online has become a competitive activity

So you know how people will comment ferociously on YouTube, then end up arguing with one another over whether or not Coldplay sucks, that activity is increasingly becoming competitive. People go on YouTube spoiling for a fight, looking to emerge victorious over their fellow commenters. Commenting has become a game and people are playing to win.

Look at how people delight in being the first to post a comment on, say, a newspaper story online. And now that papers like The Guardian provide data on commenters such as how many posts they’ve made or how many of their comments have been recommended, we can all compare one to the other and soon find the identity of the most prolific – the champion commenters.

Likewise, people have begun to talk about “winning” Facebook. Getting more friends than anyone else. I know that even here, at CR, there’s some healthy competition over whose stories get the most comments here on the blog.

So the whole aspect of social media is becoming competitive – something that is being exploited by Tengaged, an online game based on Big Brother: “Tengaged allows you to play a less invasive version of Big Brother with other people online. Each game involves ten people and lasts seven days, each day one member of the group getting voted off starting from day 2. People are nominated for eviction based on the comments that they submit to the group and their amount of activity participating in the game on a regular basis.”

Expect savvy brands to start exploiting this soon too – in a way, Crispin already touched on it with Whopper Sacrifice.

Anjello also made the point that one of the few constants in digital work right now is a gaming aspect, however that plays out. Some kind of game or competition holds a fundamental appeal to us as humans. He pointed out that some things work as games even though we may not have thought of them as such eg Weight Watchers. Anjello pointed out that Weight Watchers actually shares many of the characteristics of role playing games – transformation (in this case into a thinner version of yourself); winning points; specialist tools and competition between participants.

So losing weight, instead of being a daily grind, becomes a series of small, intriguing challenges.

I’m here in New York at our Click NY conference on digital creativity. Our chair, Michael Lebowitz of Big Spaceship (above) has just kicked things off: regular updates through the day

Our first speaker is Chloe Gottlieb who is executive creative director, interaction design at R/GA. She’s talking about the importance of data, how data is what really makes things like Nike+ come alive, or AKQA’s Fiat EcoDrive or NIke Head2Head which allows American football players to comapre their performance with others’.

It’s about making data more human – tracking grocery receipts over time to give people info about shopping habits for example. How can we get a better sense of how much energy our house is using? How can we track our emotions?

Some good points from the audience – isn’t entering data a chore? How do we make a system that collects useful data without the user having to do it? Also, we have so many things to keep trackof now – FaceBook, Nike+ etc etc, isn’t it a problem that we get bored very quickly? How do you ensure people stick with it? Chloe says it’s by thinking of it like software – continually issuing updates and new features to keep people interested. She also says it’s about designing the data – visualising it so that it’s easy to follow and inetresting to look at.

My other question would be – how much data do we want to divulge? Are we giving up too many details of our lives to corporations?

Good point – Chloe says, yes it’s an opportunity for brands, but data can be used to solve bigger problems such as carbon footprints and water usage. If we know more about what people are doing, we may be able to effect change better.

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We now have a panel discussion on developing digital products – so if agencies are developing digital products, is that still advertising?

Lars Bastholm of Ogilvy makes the point the MadMen is the most time-shifted show on TV. Even ad people don’t want to watch TV ads anymore…

Vivian Rosenthal of Tronic makes the point that, although clients want agencies to make digital products, they want them to generate revenue also. Do they need to do that or can they be something you give back to consumer in order to forge a relationship?

Companies are starting to realise that the power is with us – the consumers – not them. Putting out platforms that people can adapt to their own needs and ends.

Another new development, Lebowitz notes, is agencies producing their own products, without clients. Half of what he shows to potential clients is not commercial work but projects developed by Big Spaceship for their own research.

Lars says it’s the ‘reverse field of dreams” theory. No longer, “if you build it, they will come” but, “build it, see if they come, then go further with it”.

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Lots of tweeting in the room – see here

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We Should Do It All onstage now. You might remember their work from our Annual this year (they did the New Practices architecture exhibition signage) – check out their work here

Stuck for ideas on how to crank up the fun at your Windows 7 launch party? Well, luckily, Microsoft has produced a brilliant guide to throwing a bash in their honour…

Between 22-29 October, thousands of House Parties (yes, it’s trademarked) are set to happen across the world in support of the new Microsoft 7 package.

If you’re unaccustomed to having friends around, getting the drinks and nibbles flowing, hey, even getting your iPod set to a great playlist, Microsoft has kindly put a short film up on YouTube that will set you right.

Then you can happily go about promoting their products from the comfort of your own kitchen! PAAAARRRTAAAY!

Enjoy this. If you can get through it.

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