Punk Planning

@BevansighPro-duc-tion. Product: The result of a...

2008-11-20T22:06:00.000+08:00

@Bevan

*sigh*

Pro-duc-tion. Product: The result of a multiplication. Multiples. Value creation. Yeah?

Did you not read Umair's post about User-generated context?

http://www.havasmedialab.com/?p=27

At every touchpoint in your social 'media' contextual data is being created (at the very least).

The consumptive paradigm cannot explain next-gen social production business models like Google.

Service is just an interface.

Great post mate - links in with my whole 'move cul...

2008-11-19T10:01:00.000+08:00

Great post mate - links in with my whole 'move culture, not categories' philosophy - which is why adland needs to be more like the manufacturing industry than the communication one.

Infiltrating and motivating society needs more than just ads, even if they have a part to play. It's all about perspectives and too many in adland still think it's the only thing worth focusing on.

Fools. :)

Hey Charles...in a related post, would love to kno...

2008-11-19T06:50:00.000+08:00

Hey Charles...in a related post, would love to know what you think of this...
http://tinyurl.com/6qyeq2

it is great to hear the voice of reason seasoned w...

2008-11-19T00:48:00.000+08:00

it is great to hear the voice of reason seasoned with morality in this industry and world eaten by wanting more of everything. i wonder isn't it too late? didn't we all become a liquid mass (desperately trying to dfferentiate with various types of labels) deprived of morality and God...I hope not!

Nice words sir. Exactly why I became a service des...

2008-11-19T00:40:00.000+08:00

Nice words sir. Exactly why I became a service designer and not a salesman. Making services that are free or bundled into your main subscription that deliver way more value than you pay for is a rewarding business to be in.

As for social media, yes the first step has been made but be benefits haven't truly been felt by the masses. That will come through awareness of context. I have a post coming on this very soon...

Production.... no way... then you'd lose the joy o...

2008-11-18T23:57:00.000+08:00

Production.... no way... then you'd lose the joy of a word with such a rich latin root medium...collective, in the middle, between two extremes, a person who communicates between the dead and the living [which side of that dichotomy the audience and client of a TVC are on I would leave up to you], the layer between a blood vessel, the substance in which an organism lives or is cultured...[Charles is pretty cultured with media, agar or the internet], material used by an artist... yes... all these available in OED... to be replaced by a mechanistic word such as production, associated with factories and bloodless repetition.

Nice.We should be calling it social production rat...

2008-11-18T20:46:00.000+08:00

Nice.

We should be calling it social production rather than social media.

It makes things clearer and more purposeful.

Great post, Charles. Been around this sort of thin...

2008-11-18T20:27:00.000+08:00

Great post, Charles. Been around this sort of thing for a long time too and working something up. More on that soon. Anyways, good stuff.

Thanks Brian. This of courses diminishes my income...

2008-11-18T19:54:00.000+08:00

Thanks Brian. This of courses diminishes my income in the short run and increases it in the long run. I'm OK about that.

See, this is why I miss bending your ear in the En...

2008-11-18T19:50:00.000+08:00

See, this is why I miss bending your ear in the Endurance. Now can you send this to all the economists to take note and maybe just maybe, they will see that there is an alternative answer. Nice one x

Charles, good on you for laying it bare. Taking re...

2008-11-18T19:42:00.000+08:00

Charles, good on you for laying it bare. Taking responsibility for your work and it's impact on the planet is something we all need to do more of. As a photographer I did one job for a cigarette multinational and was right royally fucked over. I didn't agree with smoking then and even less so now.

Social media presents us with a chance to do things on much more personal and meaningful level, just as long as we don't screw it all up with greed. The future this time is truly in our hands, let's pass the torch on while we still have oil to burn.

Thanks Anjali. Just for fun though because I know ...

2008-11-03T20:08:00.000+08:00

Thanks Anjali. Just for fun though because I know you are a first class scholar, are there any bits of the post you really disagree with because I'd welcome that from you. :)

Anthropologists can explain a lot, including finan...

2008-11-03T18:19:00.000+08:00

Anthropologists can explain a lot, including financial crises: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/31/creditcrunch-gillian-tett-financial-times
And yes, Grant does provide a lot of insight into the advertising world :)

It's pure intellectual thuggery and I love it Dino...

2008-10-31T13:09:00.000+08:00

It's pure intellectual thuggery and I love it Dino :)

nice post charles. if i had to narrow down my blog...

2008-10-31T12:31:00.000+08:00

nice post charles. if i had to narrow down my blogs from 200 to 2 or 3, grant's would make the cut. he's really in a league of his own.

You're right John. There's a reason for the mistak...

2008-10-30T02:14:00.000+08:00

You're right John. There's a reason for the mistake that's awkward to explain on this mobile but thanks for letting me know.

Try the life aquatic - don't know if that's what G...

2008-10-29T20:20:00.000+08:00

Try the life aquatic - don't know if that's what Grant meant.

I was reading the wonderful tome on Sketching User...

2008-10-27T02:45:00.000+08:00

I was reading the wonderful tome on Sketching User Experience by Bill Buxton and I believe he referenced a poignant story I had often heard but pretty much forgotten.

The story was about a ceramics professor who allegedly divided his advanced class into two groups at the beginning of the term. One was to be graded SOLELY on weight. The other on the quality of one pot of their selection.

So one group just had to produce over a certain specified volume target. The other had to determine how to best achieve as close to "perfection" as possible in one single pot.

As you may know, the volume group got higher grades. This was to be expected, as they had clear and known measurement critera - volume. What was a breakthrough in its day was that when the professor looked at the final pieces created by the volume group, they individually scored significantly higher from a quality point-of-view. ie: They made way better pots.

One thing that stands out for me is the context and intent. This was a class where everyone DESIRED to make or learn how to make great pottery - exceptional pottery, even. Had this experiment been run with random people, the results may have differed.

So both desired the same thing, but one group was given the freedom and the necessity to explore through quantity of ideas.

The second group COULD have explored through quantity but it was not expressed as a mandate and they suffered as a result.

It was interesting to see one comment saying that volume equates to low-cost crap. I think the opposite may actually be the case. Just reminded me of this story so thought I would share.

Are not agencies united by a common intent? What would happen if quantity was a mandate???

Food for thought indeed.I've been playing with the...

2008-10-22T20:00:00.000+08:00

Food for thought indeed.I've been playing with the Black Swan idea in my head ever since I started reading it thanks to you.

I like the thought of churning out multiple ideas in the quest of that brilliant one. But as Sam King said above, there should be some quality control. Agencies do need to revamp themselves, and most are scared to, without doubt, even if they don't say it themselves. What this industry needs now is bright, sparking ideas. Innovation. Mess. Chaos. The staid rules of planning from long ago no longer apply. Its up to the agency to convince the client. Out of 25, 5 may be ideas worth putting into action. And out of those, 2 are almost sure-fire hits. Better than 1 piece of crap for sure.

I'll wait to see how you expand on this idea in the coming months/weeks.

Absolutely awesome, Charles. I have been chewing o...

2008-10-22T19:53:00.000+08:00

Absolutely awesome, Charles. I have been chewing over this for days ;)

I agree with John. Clients are the challenge -- though the tough economy may provide a small window of opportunity. I have a feeling that we may need to embark on some serious business change programs before the client side are ready (or able) to comprehend what this means. Of course, Google may just step in and make the rest of us irrelevant ;)

Mr Dodds - I think putting this all back on the cl...

2008-10-22T08:04:00.000+08:00

Mr Dodds - I think putting this all back on the client is missing the point a little. It's the nature of the relationship that needs to change. Shifting this requires agencies (and consultants) to question what they're doing to keep the current dynamics in place as well... what is the pay off for us in things remaining the same? (There probably a post required on that subject alone!)

Bigger balls may well be (part of) the answer because if a relationship is going to change, someone has to take a risk shift it.

And the feeling isn't comfortable, it risks rejection and ridicule... ask anyone who has proposed to their significant other.

Evening Charles... just sent you an email with a n...

2008-10-22T01:39:00.000+08:00

Evening Charles... just sent you an email with a nice chompy Chomsky angle. Here tis as well

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/10-4

Hi John. It's our duty to impress upon our clients...

2008-10-21T23:38:00.000+08:00

Hi John. It's our duty to impress upon our clients that we absolutely must bring our value set to the table or we perpetuate the mediocrity. Bigger fucking balls. Purge those who master self survival but not client survival. Resign accounts that are only about P&L as soon as possible. OK :)

3 things:1. this is a lightweight contribution to ...

2008-10-21T21:00:00.000+08:00

3 things:

1. this is a lightweight contribution to a heavyweight topic, so look at it as some extra ketchup to dip your fries in.

2. I wrote a quick thingy about a high-frequency, lo-fi approach that you might find an interesting reference:
http://nowincolour.blogspot.com/2007/12/20-toy-ploy.html

3. I see a paradox in these conversations. (I think) your proposal is by its nature non-linear, complex, malleable and undefined - so when we try to button it down into a manageable thing we kill it. Isn't the point that if it could be distilled into a single formula then it would stop being what it is?

Like Lauren, I need to re-read. I may return with mustard later.

But won't it only happen if the client mentality c...

2008-10-21T18:06:00.000+08:00

But won't it only happen if the client mentality changes? And sadly when the going gets tough, the flight to playing it safe increases. It's not the agency model that needs to change, it's on their paymasters that we have to focus.