top fives: things i have learned

OK, so I failed to do my last in the top fives mini-series before the end of 2009. Oh well. The moment's probably passed to look at them in great detail but in case you were wondering what they were, here's my list. 1. treat it as a story 2. think of it as a game 3. i need to read faster 4. the agency doesn't always know best 5. do more, read less (as long as you don't read too little) The chances are that I'll be banging on about one or more of these things here very soon anyway.

keep pushing emotional buttons

Scamp published something interesting earlier this week. It's about how emotional advertising tends to be more effective than rational messaging. There are plenty of interesting presentations, blog posts and other opinion to be found on this idea. Like this, for example:

The Rise of the Happiness Brands

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: 2008 summit)

It's a preoccupation shared by Faris and by Asi too. I particularly love this:

Happiness as Your Business Model

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: magnolia worpress)

If you extrapolate from (or is that delve into?) happiness, and (fairly logically) end up thinking about interest and relevance, you get into Mark's territory too. All of these things make excellent reading, I think.

the direction of the digital agency?

Over on his excellent Dictionary of Specific Generalities, Dave has started a really interesting series of posts about the future of digital in the marketing mix. His contention is that digital thinking is now (or should now be) so interwoven with other disciplines that the nature of the digital agency is changing. Perhaps even becoming less of an ideas factory in its own right, and more of a production house for the ideas created by an above-the-line agency. Of course Dave's right that digital is, or should be, at the heart of any communications strategy nowadays. And Dave's a much wiser, more experienced head than me. But I felt a little dismayed at this kind of working model. I think it's because so many of the creatives I've met from above-the-line agencies still leap to TV or poster scamps as a means of expressing their ideas. I'm not convinced that all (or enough) of them do think particularly digitally. Yet. Right now, some of the best ideas are still coming from digital creatives, aren't they? Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. But whether you're above, below, through or sideways to the line it'll be worth staying tuned to Dave's blog for a series of golden tips about digital creativity.

good stuff on the telly

You wait for ages for a good TV spot, and then a few come along at once. There's also this, which I wasn't allowed to embed, for some reason.

think happy thoughts

I've found a new creative blog I quite like. It's Happy Thought, written by a creative geek/geeky creative at digital agency, AKQA. It contains the usual mix of self-promotional agency stuff, opinion on what makes for good/bad advertising and digital especially, and some homeless ideas. I especially liked his/her idea for a black ops advertising agency, doing bonkers pro bono work for the bravest clients out there.

a total absence of signs

This image, from a Flickr set of pictures of Sao Paulo without any outdoor advertising is decidedly odd. Stan Lee of Brand DNA thinks it makes the city look unloved. And it does look rather naked...I can't decide whether it does look like something is missing, or if it just looks starkly beautiful. Thanks to Brand DNA for this spot.