Hybrid Culture

Advertising Agency of the Future

As the shift in people’s attention from mass to niche media continues to erode advertising budgets, the existing role of advertising is continually being put to the test. To address this, advertising agencies are trying to compensate by bolstering digital capabilities. But there’s a serious clash of cultures as people with a classic background talk down to interactive people and interactive people shake their heads at the perceived ignorance of the classic people. A clear lack of empathy for one another means history repeating itself as it did in the first wave of attempted integration. Is it possible to avoid this? What is the future of the advertising agency?

Some open questions I plan to address include:

• Who can lead the way to this shift in thinking and execution?
• What is the least disruptive way for an integration of cultures?
• When is the right time to execute an idea (i.e.: film production model or software model)?
• Why do agencies base bonuses on industry awards?
• Where/who is the most innovative agency?

Goodbye Michael and Farrah

Pop-culture idols will never be the same as they were in the 20th Century. While newspapers are still around, view the Michael Jackson newspaper covers from around the world.

VW x Twitter

I am not a pro-active believer in banners for various reasons, but once in a while there is a nugget among the stream of mud. And this is one of them: a banner that finds a VW best suited to you based on your tweets. Engaging while it is personal, and therefore, to a certain degree relevant.

Built by Grupo W (please confirm) for Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

[via Nico]

Super Keyboard Cat Bros.

Yes, it’s a meme.

Tokyo

Michel Gondry has a vision all his own. And now, a collaboration with Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho in a place that is crazy to start with: Tokyo. The anticipation is building.

Tokyo from John Aubrey on Vimeo.

Found via momodomo.

Sorry I’m Late

A stop motion extravaganza

Sorry I’m Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.

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via (NSFW)

Woodstock Hero

via

Gawker Media

Built by Brit Nick Denton, Gawker is not going down a 40% spiral in advertising spending as predicted by Nick himself. Instead, the spendings are up 27% in the middle of a recession. How do they do it? By focusing on the influencers according to an Advertising Age interview:

Nielsen research shows that nearly 34% of Gawker readers have their own blogs, a key influencer statistic. Gawker readers, it turns out, have their own audience.

Which brings me to the point that Gary Vaynerchuk made a while ago: all viewers/users/customers are not the same. The word-of-mouth factor of viewers/users/customers leveraging the interwebs and social platforms is worth 100x’s more of those that are not. It’s not about how many you reach, but the quality of those you reach. And you can only reach quality with great strategists that lead you to the honeypot along with a client that is savvy enough to know the difference.

Make the Girl Dance x Bob Dylan

Did you notice all the signage on the building, as well as everything, is horizontally flipped?

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Classic Bob Dylan video, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

A Few of My Favorite Things

Julie Andrews, as Maria, singing “My Favorite Things” in “The Sound of Music” is one of my favorite things this Friday. The lyrics themselves are a delight:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

Then follow this up with the following covers: Andre 3000, Gary Hoey, Hiromi’s Sonicbloom, John Coltrane, Automaton Destructo, Negativeland, Novica tuyera, and Tori Amos. And lastly, Björk’s version in “Dancer in the Dark” is a heart-wrenching rendition to watch which is the complete opposite of Julie Andrews’ version.