There they are all standing in a row
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head “
As far back as 1983 Ogilvy himself wrote,
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes (Proust)
I am growing to love the time between Christmas and New Year. Not so long ago, I looked forward to those days between Christmas and New Year when the office was open, and I could convince myself that I definitely needed to go in and catch-up on work. As we grow older, and hopefully a little wiser, we begin to appreciate and cherish the quiet times, whether we spend them with our families or in quiet contemplation - or something in between.
Whilst I am not the most dedicated user of all social media (I can't bring myself to l share my daily experiences on facebook) I am totally enthralled by following the tweets and blogs of those I admire, both in a professional and personal context. This last week therefore has been a combination of family celebration, quiet moments, and lots of (on and offline) reading and video watching.
As the year has come to an end I have been particularly struck by the extent to which many people are aware of significant changes happening in the world at large and in more personal ways. I'm old enough to remember 5th Dimension's " Age of Aquarius" from the 60s, and some of my friends (who know more about such things than I) suggest we are in a period of transition to more enlightened times. In as much as it seems to be part of the human condition to feel discomfort with change, it seems probable that we are in for a bit more of a bumpy ride on our way to something better.
There seem already many signs of a move away from rampant consumerism, towards a more understanding way of responding to the world. Trendwatching refer to some of these under their trend of "Generation G" (which formerly may have referred to greed, but now covers a movement towards increased 'generosity'). As they observe, our desire for companies to care more...
"beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers".
The sharing and giving nature of much of the web enables us to continually find sources of inspiration and stimulation. In that spirit, here are few things that I have inspired by the last (reflective) week.
The first ones come from the ever fascinating and challenging TED conference videos.
William Ury, whose main work is helping to resolve conflicts (and he's been involved in most of the major ones of the last 25 years), demonstrates that 'the secret to peace is us' and that we all have a responsibility, as he says, as representatives of 'the third side' to contribute to the process of reconciliation. He calls on us all to help find and bring "the 18th camel" to the world's many difficult situations.
World famous conductor, Benjamin Zander, humorously shows us, through the vehicle of a Chopin Prelude, that by seeing individual experiences in the context of a broader vision we can more fully experience them. He also encourages us to believe that we all have the ability to awaken possibilities in others - to do something that makes others eyes shine. This ability comes with a responsibility to regularly ask ourselves "who am I being" (in this situation, and what is the effect on others around me?)
Yesterday saw two significant launches from Google. The ground for both had been well prepared, with pre-announcements, and slight delays probably designed to heighten anticipation.
The most significant (expected) move is Google’s unveiling of it’s own Operating System (OS) – Chrome OS. This sees ‘the big G’ take on Microsoft, Mac, and Linux in providing a software operating system that is targets both large enterprises, and individual PC users. Interestingly Google will be sticking with the successful Android platform for both mobiles and tablet devices.
The key feature of Chrome OS is that it is entirely web based. The first Chrome OS machines (from Acer and Samsung) will be cloud computing devices, with no spinning hard drive. A key advantage of this is that users will have the option to always stay connected (with 3G and wireless connectivity built in.)
As is ‘de rigeur’ these days, the OS is open source, and Google are actively encouraging hackers to adapt it as they see fit – on their own devices. Google will use what they call Google switch to test any hardware hacks, to ensure they are compatible with the parent OS, before allowing access.
In their understated way Google are hailing Chrome as the ‘first viable competitor’ to Windows and Mac, which will come as a big surprise to Linux fans.
The second launch is arguably more interesting from a communications viewpoint – the ‘Chrome Web Store’, originally announced in May of this year.
Google has already developed its own range of apps Google docs, Calendar, Groups, Voice etc.), and now they have gone open source on this too. The online service is designed to let Chrome and Chrome OS users find, install and potentially buy web applications, similar in concept to what Google has done with its Android Market and to what Apple has done with its App Store.
Within hours of the opening of the Chrome Web Store, there were hundreds of apps available to use, the vast majority created by ‘non-G’ developers. Some are merely bookmarks to existing web apps, but there are already a number that really push the boundaries of what we expect from a web app.
2 prime examples stand out on day 1.
SlideRocket lets you create robust, rich-media presentations in your web browser; and build these collaboratively with other users (if they are in your Google address book). Being web based, you can access real time feeds and integrate them into your slide deck, and you can ask questions or conduct polls within a presentation.
Vyew bills itself as “Beyond web conferencing”, and as a collaboration app it’s pretty impressive. The thing about collaboration, is that you sometimes do it remotely in real time, but more often in your own time, for other people to pick up and add-to or comment. Vyew enables you to ‘share your view in a continuous meeting room in real-time or any time’.
One can see many uses for this app, from ’collaborative war room for businesses , or an ‘always-accessible virtual classroom’ to an ’all-purpose collaborative organiser’. You can upload almost any type of file, and leave edits/comments, or video/tele-conference to discuss content.
Vyew is not new (ooh that rhymes!) but its appearance as an app will hopefully move it out of the shadows, where it has likely remained property of a well-informed few.
What is the significance of all this for communicators?
These Google initiatives are both Cloud based, and point towards a future where we will have 24/7 access to all our data, ultimately via almost any device.
This ‘always on’ phenomena is likely to have an impact on how we all live and work (blurring still further the division); but more importantly from a marketing viewpoint it will mean that consumers will increasingly be able to choose to access (or not) an infinite amount of information/entertainment from anywhere at anytime. We are only just beginning to get a glimpse of the degree of audience fragmentation this is likely to lead to. The challenges for brands to attract and maintain consumer engagement will get harder. Increasingly the ad industry is exploring the importance and power of storytelling. Even (indeed especially) in this digital age, the human need and love for stories, and the instinct to engage with and retell them, is being identified as being key to how brands express themselves.
Given the plethora of devices, platforms and sources, it is perhaps not surprising that, in what Henry Jenkins describes as our ‘Convergence Culture’, brands are beginning to recognise that the opportunity for transmedia storytelling, where
‘stories unfold across multiple media platforms with each new text making a unique and valuable contribution to the whole’ (Jenkins) provides a great opportunity for consumers to engage with a brand’s story and potentially help shape it, or engage with other consumers around/through it.
Transparency and freedom of information are a current hot topic with Wikileaks making headlines almost every day. This issue will again prove a challenge for communicators. We no longer trust many institutions and brands, as much as we used to, preferring the advice and recommendation of our peers, who rarely repeat our carefully crafted brand mantras. This openness will be exacerbated by our greater always-on access to information that has hitherto not been available.
Web apps, such as those mentioned above, facilitate and encourage collaboration, which until more recent times may have been confined to an organisation. Now ‘collaboration’ is becoming a clarion call for progressive marketers. Brands are called upon to work with their consumers in developing anything from product to messaging – Crowdsourcing seems widespread in marketing circles. Such collaboration is becoming easier and less costly, and this is likely to be better facilitated and quicker with ‘the cloud’, particularly through slimmed down and simple to use apps.
In summary it’s essential that developments such as those announced by Google, are not seen purely as technological developments, but ones that reflect, and to an extent, will help shape our positive human social instincts, that Mark Earls describes so well in Herd, to be connected, to be part of something that we admire.
It’s time for brands to get out their own tins of polish, and start buffing.
What do you think?