Archive for the ‘Thought Leadership’ Category

New Directors Showcase: Meet Your Creator

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

We’re proud to shine a spotlight on Saatchi & Saatchi’s  ’Meet Your Creator‘ to introduce the 22nd New Directors’ Showcase. A troupe of 16 Quadrotors created by KMel Robotics danced to sound composed by Oneohtrix Point Never, and stimulated an incredible light show.

Tom Eslinger, Worldwide Creative Director Digital, commented on this year’s reel: “The 2012 Showcase shows how diverse media channels are bringing more and more content to the surface, making this a really exciting collection which reflects how we come in contact with ideas and all things visual. The influence of not only rapid-to-create technology, but also rapid-to-distribute channels, is seen in the quality and content, as well as where the work is connecting with people and communities.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cseTX_rW3uM

Credits:

The New Directors’ Showcase 2012

Brought to you by Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide

 

“MEET YOUR CREATOR”

Event concept created by

Jonathan Santana & Xander Smith, Saatchi & Saatchi

 

Producer

Juliette Larthe

juliette@prettybirduk.com

 

Production Supervisor

Holly Restieaux

 

Show Directors

Marshmallow Laser Feast

Memo Akten, Robin McNicholas, Barney Steel

www.marshmallowlaserfeast.com

 

MLF Team:
Raffael Ziegler
Devin Matthews
Rob Pybus
James Medcraft

 

Quadrotor Design & Development

KMel Robotics

http://kmelrobotics.com

 

Sound Design

Oneohtrix Point Never

http://pointnever.com

Intro Music

“Shine a Light”

Spiritualized®

 

Typography & Design

Farrow Design

http://www.farrowdesign.com

 

Set Design

Sam & Arthur

http://www.samandarthur.com

Production
Ben Larthe
Mike Tombeur
Gaspar

Thanks to Vicon for the tracking system.

And special thanks to

Johnny Milmer

Francois Wunshcel

Arturo

Andreas Muller, Marek Bereza, Erik Sjodin

The openFrameworks community

 

 

Category: Creative, Digital & Interactive, New York, Our People, Thought Leadership

Spin Sucks

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

 

 

In our weekly King St. Q&A we ask everyone the question – “What blogs/websites/etc. could you not live without.” It’s a way to find out what people here are reading, and in a perfect world, a place to find out about cool new stuff. Over time I’ve noticed that a lot of my favorite marketing & advertising blogs weren’t ever mentioned. To that point, we created this column devoted to great blogs you might not know (but should).

Aside from being a great read, you should add Spin Sucks to your blog roll for no other reason than the herculean task its authors take head-on: trying to prove that PR isn’t a profession of lying liars and the lies they tell. All jokes aside, that really isn’t what PR/marketing is all about! PR folks are good people (most of the time). It’s what I studied in college (so I’ve got a soft spot). We work with them regularly here at Saatchi and they tend to bring valuable skills to the table.

And since publicists make their living through pitching, we figured it would be fun to give Gini Dietrick, creator and author of Spin Sucks, the chance to pitch our readers on checking out their work.  So read it, be persuaded, and then go read Spin Sucks. Also – stop hating on the PR peeps!

Gini explains:

“Spin Sucks is the fight against destructive spin, which means we hate it when people call us spin doctors or state we must lie for a living. The truth of the matter is there is much more to public relations than publicity and it’s our vision to change the perception of our industry. We do this through education, case studies, professional development, and guest bloggers who have expertise where we do not. Our community adds value to each blog post, as they describe some of the things they’re doing every day in the comments section. Say it with me…Spin Sucks!”

Category: Thought Leadership

I love social media experts … Just don’t call them experts.

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

The great debate

Editors Note: This post originally appeared on Tim Leake’s (awesome) personal blog

There are a couple articles flying around the internet at the moment arguing whether we need “social media experts” or not. (This guy says no. This guy says yes.)

I think I agree more with the “yes” guy on the subject at hand. But there’s a lot I like about what the “no” guy says, too. (Particularly his ideas that it’s all about Transparency, Relevance, Brevity, and Knowing your customer.)

IT’S TOO NEW
My issue is really with the word “experts.” If you take the Malcolm Gladwell definition of an expert being someone who’s invested 10,000 hours (approximately ten years) in developing a skill, then it’s not even possible to have social media experts. The discipline hasn’t been around long enough. At least not the way it exists today.

Twitter is only five years old. YouTube is five and a half. Facebook, barely seven. And Facebook, as it works today, is a completely different animal than it was a few years ago.

Also, in my experience, “experts” like to act as if they know everything there is to know. They make themselves seem important and vital by throwing around declarations and buzzwords that nobody else feels empowered to question.

CONSTANTLY LEARNING IS BETTER
These days, I’m most attracted to the people who realize that knowing everything is impossible. The ones constantly on the search for a better way to do things. The ones who don’t claim to have all the answers, but know how to go find them for each unique set of circumstances.

While it’s really just a matter of semantics, I prefer the word “specialist” over “expert.” Specialists (like my friend and colleague, Rosie Siman) dig deep into understanding the intricacies of social media that the rest of us don’t have the bandwidth for. And there are plenty of intricacies. Keeping up with changes at Facebook alone deserves having a Facebook Specialist. And “Social Media” is a lot more than just Facebook.

YOU’RE NOT OFF THE HOOK
Certainly, that doesn’t take the burden off the rest of us when it comes to making an effort to understand and immerse ourselves in social media. Imagine trying to write a TV spot if you’d never watched TV in your entire life. Imagine trying to produce a TV spot with an entire organization that had never done it before.

There’s a huge benefit to having people on your team with experience and a focus on social media. Just don’t call them experts. The world is changing too fast for that word to mean anything anymore.

Category: Digital & Interactive, Strategy, Thought Leadership

Tomato, Tomahto & Tangerine

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Tangerine tackles innovation

Jared Grant is a Participation Planner @ SaatchiNY. Last week he attended a panel hosted by Tangerine NY discussing the nature of innovation and how to market that to clients. Below are some of his thoughts on the evening.

Last week the NY-based talent recruitment firm Tangerine invited speakers from Google, Converse, Victors & Spoils, Bruce Mau Designs, and Grey NY to discuss what “innovation” means and how to sell it.  Everyone speaking had a different answer, and some even disagreed with what the other had to say.

NO RIGHT ANSWER
Listening to the discussion, my biggest takeaway was that innovation is very subjective, especially within the advertising community.  One panelist said it was about change, another said it was about being new, another said it was about inventing, another said it was about embracing a digital culture, and yet another said it was about recognizing your weakness and looking outside your company to fill in the gap.  I think everyone was right.  It’s a word I’ve personally thrown around, and am only now realizing that I haven’t thought too hard about. For me, innovation is kind of like irony; we know it when we see it, but sometimes fail to define it correctly.

IT’S ABOUT EMBRACING OPPORTUNITY
After hearing all of these different takes and perspectives, I tried to create my own definition for innovation. What is it? How do you recognize it? Why is it important?

My conclusion: innovation is about recognizing and embracing opportunity.  Google might recognize a brand new algorithm as innovative, and Converse might say it’s embracing a truth about their brand they haven’t explored before.  A big agency could say it’s about convincing a traditional client to shift their behavior to something more modern (even if that behavior isn’t new from the ad community’s perspective).  It can be creation of something new, leveraging something that was there all along, or simply shifting a behavior. It’s different for all of us.

Category: New York, Our People, Thought Leadership

Shut Up & Write 2

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

A unique way to brainstorm . . . and more

About a year and a half ago, I figured out a brainstorming technique that’s highly collaborative and produces tons of strong ideas in a short amount of time. It works amazingly well, and I’m quite fond of telling people about it.

A few months ago, I shared it with Edward Boches during the BDW Making Digital Work conference here in New York. And a few weeks ago he wrote a fantastic blog article of his own about the technique.

In fact, he made it even better by giving it a kick-ass name: “Shut up & Write.”

Then, this week, I was asked to write about it for Hudson/Houston. Which is great… but Edward already wrote that article.

So, I’m going to write the sequel instead.

IT’S NOT JUST FOR BRAINSTORMING ANYMORE.
Now that it’s got a super-catchy name (seriously, what I used to call it was lame-lame-lame), here’s another way to harness the power of “Shut up and Write” — use it AFTER a meeting.

Try it. After your next meeting, instead of doing what we always do (rush to check emails or rush to yet another meeting), set aside 5-10 minutes to shut up and write.

Grab a blank sheet of paper and write about what you just experienced.

What do you think? What was discussed? What did you learn? How can you implement it? What are your next steps? Who’s going to make those things happen? Did you see or hear anything inspiring? What are you going to do with that inspiration? Or, was the meeting a waste of your (and maybe everyone else’s) time? How could it have been better?

When you go through this process, things happen.

You have revelations.

You make decisions about where to go next.

When you don’t do it… you respond to emails.

And everything discussed in the meeting fades blissfully into the ether.

A simple 5-10 minute investment makes the previous 60-120 minutes more powerful.

It’s like a protein supplement for conference calls.

CHECKING FACEBOOK CAN WAIT.
If it was important enough for you to be there in the first place, it’s important enough to “shut up and write” about it afterward.

It works with more than just meetings, too. Try it after you’ve read an interesting article or blog post. Like this one, for instance.

Give it a shot and see what happens.

I offer a money-back guarantee.

Category: Our People, Thought Leadership

The Authentic Network

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

James Orsini on the Authentic Network

Looking for some great tips on professional networking? Look no further than Princeton’s Business Today. In it, our very own Director of Finance & Operations James Orsini has penned an article titled “The Authentic Network.” The issue will be hitting newsstands in the next week or so, but you can already check it out in the online edition. James’ piece starts on page 56.

THE ART OF NETWORKING
The article is chock-full of great advice and not too long, but if you want an immediately download, we’ve put together some key take-away points for you below.

  • Good networking is about three things – Credibility, Sincerity & Selflessness
  • Face-to-face interaction is the single most undervalued thing in the work place today.
  • Don’t’ wait until you need something! If you haven’t heard from someone in your network in a while, give them a call and invite them out to lunch.
  • What goes around comes around. Take the time to do a favor today, and it will come back ten-fold a year down the line.
  • There’s no face-time required for making an online connection. Where’s the authenticity in that?
  • At the end of the day, networking is about being genuine. Be open and honest with your contacts, listen when they’re speaking to you and go out of your way to be helpful (even when it doesn’t impact you directly).
Category: Our People, Thought Leadership

The Age of Now

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Kevin Roberts on Lovemarks - 10 years later

We are first and foremost a company built on the notion that “Nothing is Impossible.” We were founded that way, and our leadership has always been a driving force behind believing that if you think big enough, good things will happen. In 2001 our worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts delivered a speech announcing Lovemarks to the world. It invigorated the Saatchi & Saatchi network then, and is still painted on the walls of our Hudson/Houston offices today.

IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
Yesterday, Advertising Age released their first-ever “relationships issue,” focusing on the many relationships relevant to the industry (it’s worth noting that the cover of the issue is worth its weight in gold). Inside, they explore relationships between consumers and agencies, traditional agencies and digital ones, consumers and other consumers (social networks, etc.) and yes, consumers and brands.  Since it’s the ten year anniversary of Lovemarks, Kevin was asked to contribute an op-ed on the impact the idea’s had on the industry. The final result is a piece titled “Why Lovemarks are More Valid than Ever or, Welcome to the Age of Now.”

We know that you need a subscription to access the article on Ad Age’s website, but have no fear. We’ve put together some of the key takeaways to tide you over until you get your hands on a hard copy. You can also check out some of KR’s thoughts on his personal blog KR Connect

LOVEMARKS THEN

  • “The future would be won on relationships, not just transactions. Yet, the client world ran mostly on rational appeals and exchanges, pummeling people with “-er” words like whiter, brighter, cleaner, faster, newer and — the race-to-the-bottom word — cheaper.”
  • “I knew that if people loved something rather than merely liked it, they would be loyal beyond reason, beyond price, beyond recession. Lovemarks? The future beyond brands, infused with mystery, sensuality and intimacy. Delivering premium margins because people don’t merely like them, they love them.”

LOVEMARKS NOW

  • “In 1998, Google was a startup and Mark Zuckerberg was 14 years old. Today they have ushered in the Age of Now. New is effectively over; we’re not looking to some event horizon for change to come; it’s happening in real time. We live in the moment and we’re happier for it. Participation and involvement are the keys to success.”
  • “In the Era of New marketing, it was all about your product. In the Age of Now it’s all about the single question consumers have of you: “How will you improve my life?” Answering this is to deliver priceless value.”
  • “The way the world is heading, the future looks less calculating/reptilian, and more connective/emotional. We are seeing national indexes of happiness, insurrections against control, and revolts against materialism.”
Category: Lovemarks, Our People, Thought Leadership

DOT Charrette

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Aaron Schiller (Saatchi S Global Director of Sustainability) and Phillip Ma (Account Supervisor at SaatchiNY) were recently invited to Syracuse University to speak and participate in a two day charrette on the subject of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Do One Thing Program. Below is a recap of the two day event from Phillip.

WHAT’S A CHARRETTE?
So what’s a charrette? Basically, it’s a collaborative session in which a group of people draft solutions to a problem. The DOT charrette was organized by the SIFE and COLAB student groups at Syracuse, who then extended an invitation to some sustainability team members here in the SaatchiNY offices. We joined a group of Syracuse University students exploring creative solutions to spread DOTs not just on their own campus, but beyond. Saatchi had shared with the students their brief about the importance of sustainability and action, the students went away to brainstorm ideas.

INNOVATIVE IDEAS
We were blown away by the innovative and creative solutions that were developed for further expanding DOT. By the end of our charrette, the group had produced over 600 concepts for expanding DOT to more students, including an amazing final presentation. We both feel privileged to witness first hand the excitement around this project, and really wanted to share that energy with everyone at here at Saatchi.

We’re looking to really blow out DOT at Syracuse and other campuses, and if anyone at SaatchiNY is excited about the potential and is interested in volunteering, please feel free to reach out to us.  We can really make a difference, as students have shown at Syracuse their passion to embrace sustainability; we have an opportunity to create a DOT movement that reaches everyone.

FROM THE STUDENTS
For two days, 50 students were hard at work, brainstorming ideas on how to bring the concept of DOT to life on the Syracuse University Campus SU-SIFE would like to extend a very big thank you to Saatchi & Saatchi for making the DOT Charrette such a tremendous success.

- Joseph Hanko, SI-SIFE rep

Category: Our People, Sustainability, Thought Leadership