The title “client’s are not the target audience, user’s are”, might be a bit heady, so, simply put, we explored the challenge of getting clients to move past traditional promotional advertising (aptly nicknamed ‘interuption’ by the smart folks at @rga ), and instead partner with clients to create truly unique and engaging digital experiences centered around their brand’s unique value.

So to the highlights…

to introduce the topic, I told a quick story of how this topic came to be burning within me: Last fall, I was in a agency internal meeting, discussing a client project mid way through, when a certain client request caused a riff among the team. My creative partner and I listened to the request, but strongly objected, for both conceptual and functional reasons. Another member of my team strongly pushed back, and eventually gave the reasoning “we have to do it. we’re to make the client happy”. At this point, I pretty much flipped. Almost instantly, I responded with “we’re not here to make the client happy. We’re here to help the client make a great digital experience. They may not be instantly happy everytime.” I probably could have had more tact, but it is a strong passion of mine, and ultimately inspired me to lead this talk. Now on with the actual talk.

We framed the conversation around two key phases in each project: how to begin a project well, and then how to keep focus midway through a project (when everything is bogging down) and finish well. With each phase, anton and I both gave a case study example from our own experiences. I’ll frame this write up in the same way.

how to begin a project well

I spoke about my experience at Springbox (an interactive agency in Austin) in leading the design for the 2010 complete re-design of http://www.Livestrong.org , the non-profit division of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, aimed at helping “all whose lives are affected by cancer. It is an amazing orginization, with an feircely loyal and supportive following. I focused on knowing exactly who your target audience is. Our team did this by creating an extremely helpful set of fictional personas, based on factual research.

While we looked at the traditional factor / demographics of the audience, such as age, sex, nationality, language, education level, etc.; what i found extremely helpful were some additional factors. These included: how are these people affected by cancer (they have just been diagnosed, their mom has cancer, etc.)? What are they trying to accomplish by coming to the site? What is their digital technology savviness? How do they use technology in their daily lives? What is their experience with the Livestrong brand?

After looking through these evolved personas, I was able to reason that people came to livestrong.org for two primary reasons: To either get help (as they or someone close to them is in immediate need of help), or they have come to take action, such as to participate in a livestrong marathon, bake sale, or one of a number of great events. After discovering this key insight, the whole project shifted from ‘how do i create a visually stunning site?’, and but instead to ‘how do craft the whole digital experience through these two priorities, in both aesthetic and heirarchy’. this finding made all the difference in creating an extremely useful, and easily navigable site.

On the first topic, Anton shared his recent experience in creating the HTC Sense website , a really playful and well done site! I will be much more brief here, as I do not want to misquote him, but I will share some of the highlights. In regards to the HTC site, Anton spoke of how the client had some really amazing features, called HTC Sense, but didn’t quite know how best to communicate them in a conversational and non-techy tone. To communicate these features in a fun and truly interactive way, @F_i crafted a series of interactive cartoon shorts, in which the viewer actually plays with the phone on the site, and experiences the aha moment through interaction, rather than just a observational video. Really cool stuff.

how to keep focus midway through a project (when everything is bogging down) and finish well.

or how to push through the “crap, just get it out the door moment”. Originally I had wanted the talk to focus on just the beginning of a project, but Anton had so many great insights on the latter that we had to include it. Honestly, I personally learned a ton on this topic, and found it extremely helpful in the day to day of running a creative services shop.

Here are a few highlights that really stuck out to me, in regards to finishing well:

As creatives, we have to be the expert, that’s why a client comes to us. you have to earn a client’s trust, and while a good portfolio is a good foundation, the details in a relationship really really matter. Things like: always be on time. heck, always be earlier. Always giving your client an idea of the contents of a meeting. Nothing elaborate, but start every meeting with a 30 sec – 1 min overview of what will be shown, discussed, what is new, old, etc. Always be organized. Ultimately, these might come across as trivial matters, but if the client is comfortable with you and can trust that your leading them well, they will let you control the project.

Educate the client. I know there is some opposition to this in the industry, but I agree with Anton. Most good clients are not creatives, or that experienced with the intricacies of the digital space, and they want to learn something. That’s a great opportunity for us, the digital creative professional. So own it, be on top of it, know your craft, know your industry. It should be something your passionate about, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.

And I save the best nugget for last: what do you do when the client has a request that they will not back down from, and you disagree strongly with? The grim reality, we are ultimately not fine artist or rock stars. we are in the service industry. The good news / wisdom from
Anton: find out what one section / page / feature matters most to the client, and make this amazing in their eyes! Then, find the other overlooked areas that most people never care much about, and freaking blow them out! For example, the login, contact, or about us page. Essentially, find out where you can play wide open, and where do you have to please. This is a huge encouragement and challenge at the same time.

In closing, I was truly blown away by the turn out and lively conversation. A huge thanks to everyone that was there, and a huge thanks to Anton for making the journey down south to join us! If you were with us, or even if your just digesting all of this now, I would love to continue the conversation here, so don’t hold back your thoughts!

passion

You may be tempted to skip over this part. I mean really, who wants to talk about passion, right? we’re in a business, an industry, who’s really passionate about the 9-5 anyway. Wrong. Above any thing else, the driving force of passion came up again and again for me while at south by. Though I can easily be distracted by the latest and greatest shiny gadget / idea / startup, ( what self respecting nerd can’t ;} ), the people and conversations that i consider most memorable are ones centered on whatever it is someone’s passionate about.

I’ll get to the offical business of the festival soon, but I wanted to first highlight the passion I found outside of the convention center halls. Whether it be conversations over pints at the gingerman, or over tacos at la condesca, the greatest moments for me were not spent leaning back gazing at slides or the next twittbookspace idea, but rather leaning intently into conversations about fatherhood, adoption, architecture, clients, pricing, camping, cylcing, and a handful of other topics. If we need more of anything at sxsw next year, it’s not opinions, technology, or parties. we (including myself) need more passion for the projects that fill up our moments, days, and lives.

a festival

I read that there were over 19,000 paying attendees this year, the greatest number in sxsw history. I also read that there was somewhere close to 1000 panels. Though at times the shear number of attendees and panels felt overwhelming, I’m thrilled overall to see both my city and my industry grow.

I was fortunate enough to make some outstanding panels, but I also missed a few, as to be expected with so many options at every turn. A few of my favorite in particular, were @rga ‘s “congratulations your brand is about to become obsolete”, Blake ( founder and chief shoe giver at Tom’s shoes, @blakemycoskie ) Mycoskie’s keynote, and john ( @jkolko ) kolko and dennis ( @dennis_littky ) littky ‘s panel “will technology save education” . Different subject matter for each, but the same theme of passion in each. These people are smart, but more importantly they are extremely passionate!

Overall, some of the panels were extremely basic, or mundane, but I did find some real gems! Sometimes you just have to dig! As far as value, I would say the conference is valuable, but I can not see myself ever paying for a badge. If in the future my company is paying, or if I get the honor to speak again and have my badge comped, I would love to come back. But I just can’t honestly say that the festival is worth $500 admission. I would pay $100, and consider $200. But not $500, at least at sxsw current state. which leads me to a challenge of where the festival can go!

Also, I am writing a summary of my own panel, “clients are not the target audience, users are”, co-led by the extremely smart and talented Anton @repponen, an associate creative director from fantasy interactive in new York, New York, and will post this shortly here on the kreathaus blog.

A Challenge

One of great individuals that I met this year, Ted @Boda , recently tweeted

“The best way to complain is to make things.” -James Murphy

This is the best summary for my thoughts on the possible future of sxswi. Over the course of the festival, I heard far too many complaints on how lame this or that panel / keynote / talk was. It was almost the standard way to start a conversation. And though I won’t deny that many of the panels were hit or miss, we can’t stop there.

We have to craft the future we want to live in. do you want sxsw to be amazing next year? well, how are you going to make it happen then?

so let’s drop the cynicism, evaluate what we’re passionate about, what we’re spending our lives on, and how those two things can intertwine.

So here’s my challenge for next year: Determine what your passionate about. What keeps you up at night? What project / business / app / idea do you day dream about? What project will you have invested so much time / sweat / and blood into by march of next year, that by the time I see you, you can’t help but tell me about it?

And if a couple thousand of us gather again next year in this fair city, with a passion for whatever it is we’re spending out lives on, I think we will alI be blown away.

So get to it. And I can’t wait to run into you next year!

Until next year, what were your thoughts on sxsw this year? how can we make it better? I’d love to hear other takes on the subject!

So this past friday was the last day of my first stab at a “100 day plan”, as inspired by Fahrenheit 212.

to put it softly, i failed miserably. in every category, i fell below 50% of the goal.

so i could just keep moving, forget about the goals all together. they were too tough, i had too much to do, blah, blah, blah. the excuses could go on forever.

No.

No excuses. I was just lazy in many areas.

So here’s to round two. Some of the goals have been reworked and a few new ones added.

What have you done in the last 100 days? What goals have you met? What audacious dreams have you dreamed?

But I have to end the post here, as I’m off to log in a few miles on the mountain bike for lunch.

Only 596 miles left to go.

the creative agency

Though I have had the privilege of working at two great digital agencies, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Springbox, I am still very interested in hearing from other leading shops, to find out the struggles, unique viewpoints, and victories that they have discovered. Whether it’s exploring the digital pod / team concept from R/GA, or a radically new compensation model from Fahrenheit 212, or hopefully a dozen of other innovative agency models / structures, I am looking forward to hearing other’s thoughts on forming and unleashing creative teams, adjusting and finessing the creative process, and the evolving digital agency in general.

the good, the bad, and the ugly role of digital in our daily life

how is the ever present stream of information and connectability helping / hurting our lives? our relationships? our family? our health? our careers? our neighborhoods? what are the psychological affects of always being connected / on / checking in? Specifically for me, as a new dad, and young husband, what precautions do I need to take to keep my own and my families digital intake at a healthy ebb and flow?

technology for the greater good

how can we move past shiny gadgets and time wasting games, and use technology for the greater good of our community, and ultimately our world? how can we use technology to provide basic necessities such as clean water / food / dignity / freedom from slavery to those daily affected by these issues? Much closer to home, how can we restore wonder and play to a dilapidated education system? What can be done to improve easy access to locally grown foods? The possibilities are endless. I know this one is a bit vague, but I have a feeling that there is so much that COULD be done, but is currently being trumped by angry birds and shiny plastic. I mention this topic, not as one who is an expert or even currently active in creating solutions, but rather as an area that I want to invest more of my time and energy into.

So those are my top interest for #sxswi 2011. What about you?

yep, seven years, three states, and 35,892 psd files later, I’m finally staring down the joy of taking part in the sxsw interactive festival this year. oh joy.

so to give this monumentous event the care and energy it deserves, I will be sharing a bit of my preparation on the blog here, with a desire to facilitate a conversation, more than prescribe a plan of attack for others. if 2011 will be your first year attending as well, welcome fellow newby! or maybe your a veteran and could recite the last ten years keynotes in your speech. if so, i would love to hear tips and advice, as well as what your looking forward to as this year’s shindig. or maybe your in the same boat as i have been up until this point, and you can’t make it to tehas this year. even so, i’d love to hear your thought on the topics and have you join in from afar!

Enough preamble, here’s a rough look at the topics I want to cover in this series of posts:

Topics I’m interested in

Reading list in preperation for #sxswi

People I’d like to share a pint with

hidden gems to find while in Austin

daily thougths (during the conference)

post-conference wrap up

I hope you join me in my preparation. And as always, if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or gems of wisdom to contribute here, share away!

i know it. you know it.

we experience it everyday.

so if your reading this. i’m genuinely honored. thank you.

so in a time when there is never a shortage of things to read, watch, or play with, how does an individual, brand, or organization measure their own influence on the world?

how do we know the difference between adding to the noise, or actually contributing to a greater conversation?

a two way conversation.

i know, by just using the over hyped word “conversation”, you might be extremely tempted to stop reading.

but that’s exactly what i’m aiming for when i communicate. and i hope you are too.

though i’m not the best at it. i want to engage, listen to, contemplate, and thoughtfully communicate with others.

so i’m not really interested in a popularity contest, whether measured by twitter followers, friends, retweets, or any other number.

it’s cliche, but it truly is about quality. it has never been about quantity.

but maybe your thinking, it’s really hard to measure quality, especially in the digitally social spheres that we are daily engaged with.

how can we measure the meaningful influence we have? is your brand / organization actually communicating with customers? or just using a bullhorn to annoy the masses?

enter a sweet new website i found recently, http://www.klout.com

though not perfect, i’m finding it really useful and interesting. sure, it’s easy to see that so and so has 1,000 followers, or a brand has 13k followers. But again, how much of that is noise?

i’m excited to see this service, along with others yet to be launched, grow and evolve into a deeper way to look into this tricky subject.

before jumping into my early favorites, i do want to note one choice that the sxsw organizers took, that i thought was really classy and cool: there is no vote count or leaderboard for the proposed panels! very very cool, and a great attempt at keeping this from becoming a bandwagon ready popularity contest. thanks sxswi!

that being said, here is an early list of my favorite panels i’ve found so far, and as always i would love to hear your thoughts on these and / or other panels:

Interaction Jones and the Template of Doom
Organizer Naz Hamid, http://www.weightshift.com

Collaboration Nation: How Side-Projects Can Keep You Relevant
Organizer Phil Coffman, http://springbox.com , http://methodandcraft.com

Crazy, Cool, and Interesting Uses of GeoData
By Elad Gil, http://twitter.com

Congratulations! Your Brand Is About to Become Obsolete.
Organizer Andrea Ring, http://www.rga.com

How to Whup ‘Em with the Leroy Stick
By Hawk Thompson, http://www.springbox.com/

Branding Reinvented: Creating Engagement in the Digital World
By david lai, http://www.hellodesign.com/

Listen To Me Dammit! I’m An Expert!
Organizer Chris Mayfield, http://springbox.com

Better Ideas Faster: Effective Brainstorming for Interactive Design
Organizer David Sherwin, http://www.frogdesign.com

Apps or Mobile Site: How to Choose
By Adrian Taylor, http://www.springbox.com

Design as Lifestyle: An Honest Day’s Work
Organizer Duane King http://www.kingduane.com

Interactive Branding and the Built Environment
Organizer Jamie Monberg, http://www.hornallanderson.com/

Let’s Go: The Evolution of JetBlue.com
Organizer Michal Pasternak, http://www.hugeinc.com

Can Design and Technology Fix America’s Education Problem?
Organizer John Kolko, http://www.frogdesign.com

Switch: from Freelancer to Entrepreneur
Organizer Matthew Smith, http://www.squaredeye.com

From Storytelling to Technology and Back Again
Organizer Barry Wacksman, http://www.rga.com

Stop Talking, Start Making
Organizer Will Turnage http://www.rga.com

How Does Scifi Influence Our Future Cities?
Organizer Igor Schwarzmann, http://www.cognitivecities.com

Storytelling in an Age of Industrialized Content
Organizer Upendra Shardanand, http://www.daylife.com

Digital Bookmaking for Designers & Developers
Organizer Brian warren, http://begoodnotbad.com/

Websites Aren’t Enough: the New Interaction Design
Organizer @danielmall

The New Loyalists: Measuring Brand Advocacy Today
Organizer Luane Kohnke, http://www.rga.com

by alex bogusky and john windsor

If advertising is not your chosen profession in life, why the heck would you want to read a book written by two of the top leaders in the advertising world? (alex bogusky, @bogusky , longtime creative director at crispin porter + bogusky; and John Winsor, @jtwinsor , former head of product innovation & cognitive research at cp+b)

Because I believe the authors are on to something. And it’s not advertising. I want to say it’s way past advertising, but it’s actually pre advertsing.

What?? Sound confusing? Let’s jump into the meat of the book.

Though I passionately disagree with both authors on the value and practice of crowdsourcing, here are a few of their points from @bakedin that stuck with me:

+ Let’s cut the crap of lying and false promises about products, and instead design a useful & beautiful product / experience that meets the users exact needs & wants.

+ Stop spending 3,4, or 8 years in r & d, and instead prototype and test early, and revise what works and throw away the rest.

+ Listen to and know your audience, and make a product that fits, instead making a mediocre product and then trying to advertise the crap out of it.

+ Incrementally changing a mediocre product each year to be (slightly) new & improved is a flawed business plan. Let’s innovate! Let’s create something new! Let’s create something beautiful! Let’s create something useful!!

So if you have any interest in providing a useful / beautiful / wow product or service, do your future self a favor and pick this book up!

Also, a big thanks to @jtwinsor for sending me a copy of the book to review!

I remember the first time I saw a video of @garyvee giving a keynote talk ( if you haven’t watched one, you should, right now! here ), and I really didn’t know what to think.

1st – is this guy on crack?

2nd – whoa, I’ve never thought about ______ that way. Or that. Or that…

3rd – this might be half way insane, but he’s passionate, driven, and genuine.

So naturally when I heard he was writing a book, I was eager to check it out, although I was skeptical that it would be engaging all the way to the end.

I’m happy to say I read the whole thing, and enjoyed all of it! Know that it was a nice and brief weighing in under 140 pages!

The content was a really good mix of gary’s personal story, a motivational punch in the mouth ( the good kind of course, that get you riled up and in arms ), and practical real life advice on how to use specific tools like Twitter and facebook to share your passion.

Although I enjoyed hearing his story most, running a close second was the honesty with which Gary approaches advice on using social media tools. Instead of claiming to be a “social media expert”, he starts with the fundamentals of one knowing your passion & your DNA, and then offers some take them or leave them tips / best practices on specific tools.

Though I don’t agree with Gary on a number of finer points, I could not agree more with his core message:

Find your passion. Craft your presentation medium. And never forget that content is king.

I eneded up not browsing the collection but rather chatted with the attendant instead. We talked about the museum, austin culture, and eventually what I’m doing with my life.

I mentioned I worked downtown at a design agency, and as soon as I said design.. The seemingly calm individual went on and on about his experience with a different local design office and their recent collaboration with the museum. He told me in detail how he was blown away by their laser focus, creative problem solving, and wholistic approach to each project.

He reminisced about his experience with such passion, awe, and gratitude.

I couldn’t get him to quite down for a good 5 minutes straight.

Wow.

It made me wonder, what do people say about their experience working with me? Do they rave about my attention to craft? Do they tell stories of my drive to create the exact solution they uniquely needed?

Or do they even recall working with me at all?

I want people to rant about my craft, my care, and my creativity. I guess sometimes it is good to care about what people think.