Dispatch from an advertising future #134

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX2XCBH-6zQ As we emerge into Normal 2.0, it is time to think again about our position in the new marketplace. As you know, from last week’s “fireside chat”, we have said goodbye to a number of valued friends as we have doubled down on leveraging our OmniAI system within the creative process. We have also …

Dispatch from an advertising future #131

https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/cannes-lions-offers-best-practices-for-lo-fi-content/44267 You’ll have seen Chris’ message after the client saw the work. I am sure you were as shocked as I was. To have such a stinging attack from a long-standing partner hurt us all. And it should. Chris was right. Message, story, idea: all great, but execution? The technical quality just was not there. …

Dispatch from an advertising future #111

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/24/21454872/amazon-ring-always-home-cam-flying-drone-ad-demo The profiles were nearly complete. The different dimensions were in place. Shopping JDoe was catalogued. Consuming JDoe was captured. Emotional JDoe was measured. Moving JDoe was tracked. There was no need to worry about the JDoe office space as there had been in The Before. The JDoe home space was visualised. The various dimensions …

Dispatches from an advertising future #110

https://www.engadget.com/oldest-computer-manual-zuse-z4-161214346.html It had been a themepark for a long time. Students came on fieldtrips and marvelled at the rows of desktop computers, giggled at the printers and looked puzzled at the meeting rooms. The guide was programmed as a Don Draper-style CD, from The Before. He talked about pitches and client meetings, and told tales …

Dispatches from an advertising future #109

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/09/traders-set-to-don-virtual-reality-headsets-in-their-home-offices/ He’d always been slightly envious of them, their corner of the office. It was just more… fun. They had paper, lots of it. Doodles and post-it notes with half-written jokes or quotes. Their screens always looked better too, their software exciting. And then there were the gadgets and games. They justified playing as work …

Dispatches from an advertising future #107

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/18/1008559/letter-writing-lockdown-loneliness-get-out-the-vote/ I imagine them opening it. You’ve seen feeds of them waiting by their new letterbox for my papergram to arrive: expectant, delighted. Sometimes they rip them open, sometimes they take endless time. I can almost feel it when I’m writing. Of course I’ve always had their profile to work with, but I think imagining …