by Rob Deutsche 05/29/09
Wiredrive recently flew out to the Windy City to attend the Boards Creative Workshop and to meet attending clients. We were lucky to have beautiful weather and warm sun the whole week, which made for high spirits and cheerful people at the event. The workshop was held at the Park West, a beautiful theater in Lincoln Park that has been in the same spot since the 1920’s.
by Bill Sewell 05/17/09
Nick Law from R/GA delivered an elegant and concise 30 minute keynote presentation explaining the DNA of a modern agency. I’m a sucker for historical background, so I naturally loved how he described the evolution of agencies. He asked a simple question, “What should we be making?”
At it’s core, advertising delivers basic information about a product. Before TV, print ads were simple explanations of product features. Then along came TV and advertising agencies learned that if you interrupt entertainment, you also need to make the product message entertaining. People viewed TV advertising as having a salesperson in your living room delivering pitches in 30, 60 or 90 second blasts. The goal was to make ads memorable enough so consumers would act on the information when they went to the store. The premise works well If you have someone’s time and attention. If you don’t have their attention, you are talking to yourself . . . expensively.
by Bill Sewell 05/14/09
If only the Clios had come before Digital Hollywood. On the surface, the Clios event schedule looks incredibly thin (lunch to 4) compared to the 9 to 6 wall-to-wall panels of Digital Hollywood. The Clios provided a missing ingredient to the dialogue of the present and future of advertising – the actual work.
by Bill Sewell 05/13/09
Day two at the Clios was simply great. It started off with a lifetime achievement award luncheon honoring Dan Wieden of Wieden + Kennedy. It felt like being invited to a family gathering. Dan is incredibly kind, loves what he does and runs a culture that inspires people and makes them feel needed. I learned a lot from Dan’s favorite quote from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey:
by Bill Sewell 05/09/09
I just came back from watching Star Trek at the IMAX with the Wiredrive team after spending four days attending the Digital Hollywood conference, which really put the week into perspective. Here goes.