How stuff goes viral

Jonah Peretti Viral Meetup Talk

Chuck Porter at Cannes interview

The Contagious Conversation

This is a visualisation of the debate that happened during Cannes at The Contagious Conversation... (click to enlarge)



More info on chat over at Contagious and the visual done by Scriberia

Skills of the rockstar planner

Nice series of chats with planners around lots of stuff. This one is about intuitive problem solving....



Watch others over at PSFK

Steve Powers at PSFK

"Who he?" you say. Shame on you. He be the man behind Love Letter in Philidelphia as previously blogged and also featured in top film Beautiful Losers. Check it:

Leadership Lessons

Read all about it - came from a Derek Sivers TED chat I think

87 Cool things

Nice presentation from Google Labs...

Dave Trott does UTI

Tues night we had the immense pleasure of entertaining the legend that is Dave Trott - CD over at CST at our monthly Under The Influence session.

So many people wanted to see Dave that we had to stage it in iris' new hang out space which worked rather well.

Dave's a great talker; he slices through the nonsense like a hot knife through bullshit; a good, honest down to earth bloke who keeps things simple and engaging - so much so that this blog post won't really reflect how good the talk was. So if you missed it, you really did miss out. I've actually seen most of it before at the IPA, and it was even better this time...

It started with a bit of chat about the way the brain works (Gestalt, etc) and then saturation of media, etc. All good stuff that I won't go into here... because it's really all about the chart that Dave drew - a pyramid chart which he used to explain why 89% of ads are shit and also how ads can be made so that they’re not shit.



According to all the surveys, the vast majority of advertising is either immediately forgotten or, worse, totally ignored by the public (this translates into £17 billion wasted by clients). It’s ignored because it’s shit. And if you're not ignored, only 7% is remembered positively, with 4% being remembered negatively - but at least remembered.

Consumers interact with an ad from the top of the pyramid down. Impact gets their attention, communication conveys information, persuasion prompts them to act upon that information.

Most ads are shit because agencies build them in the same way that consumers interact with them; from the top down. So although an ad may – if the creatives are good at their craft – have impact, it can’t communicate or persuade once it’s got the consumer’s attention.

This approach leads to a lot of what Dave calls ‘oddvertising’ - well-made, quirky bits of film or posters that catch the eyes and ears, but totally fail to engage the heart or mind.

Agencies should start with persuasion – what’s going to convince a consumer to buy this product? That’s the suits job. Then the planner and the creatives work out how to communicate this persuasive nugget. Then the creatives work out how to give this communication impact.

And that’s it.

Now if you're sat there reading this thinking something along the lines of "that's obvious" then well spotted. It is. But if it's so obvious and easy, then how come 90% of the time ad people ignore that model? They do. That's fact.

Then Dave showed 20 American TV ads from the 80's. He explored 10 different categories and compared work within each, hi-lighting why one ad was shit and why the other one was good.

For example. In relation to Dave's chart, this Nike 'Pump' ad is shit:



PS: it wasn't this particualr execution - it was the one that says 'Kick Some Butt' at the end which I can't find. But this is similar. It's all impact and execution, doesn't tell me whats good about the shoe, etc.

Whereas this Reebok 'Pump' ad is brilliant:



It tells you that it's not Nike (important as they own the market); it persuades you with the product benefit (they fit better); it's funnier and has high impact - you can't recount this ad to anyone without telling them what the product benefit is.

Or another category - use of celebrity. This Diet Coke add featuring Sugar Ray (get it!!??) Leonard is shit.



It's all about impact and not about persuasion and because of the bad use of celebrity, it's more an ad for the whole low-sugar category rather than Diet Coke specifically.

But this Diet Pepsi ad featuring Ray Charles is brilliant...



It's impactful, it's funny, it's clearly for Diet Pepsi, it's persuasive at it's core - Diet Pepsi tastes so much better even a blind man can taste it. Genius.

I could go on. It's amazing how good the two good ones still are today - whereas the other two don't stand up. There is nothing real in either, no truth, insight or reason to them.

Here is Dave in action - or posing by his flip chart...



Other bits and sound bites I remember (really should have taken notes)...

"You wanna be six months ahead of Campaign in terms of what they're talking about." on doing ads that gets the industry talking / winning awards.

"We should be doing work they don't have awards for yet." - that's Dave quoting his mate Vinny who did the Wassssssup! campaign

"Planning's influence has generally been negative on the ad biz. Too academic and knee-jerk into trying to find the 'right' answers - which are logical but don't work i nthe real world" Dave sticks the knife into bad planners

On shit briefs "Brand share or market growth? Ask yourself that question first, every time before you start - if you don't have extreme clarity on that, then reject the brief"

"There's nothing wrong with the hard sell, as long as it is done right. It can be funny, and it doesn't have to be boring" + "Webster was a master at doing the corny stylishly - which is why he won awards and the mind of the public" - Dave on 'fashionable' styles of advertising.

I'm sure Dave wouldn't mind me calling his approach slightly old school. In fact he admitted it himself - but what he says is relevant today and will be in 20 years time and beyond - regardless of media, brand or what have you.

He positions creativity as so much more fundamental than words and pretty pictures - that's just cosmetic wrapping. I whole heartedly agree.

So thanks Dave. I'd had a nice note back from him the morning after saying he had a lot of fun doing it and that we're all nice people. Smart.

You can read Dave's blog or follow him on Twitter or read a recent Twitter interview by iBoy - and I reckon you should do all of those.

The Lids Are Off

Last Tues we had another UTI down at our local - The Garrison. This was essentially an illustration showcase and battle between Harry and Serge. Here's a blow by blow account of how it went. If you don't like nob gags and other rudities, best stop here...

Myself, Steiner and Shahnaz did this poster to promote it. Quick little thing - but did the trick - we had a full house of nearly 40 people crammed into the basement. Harry's the one on the right, Serge on the left.



First up was one of Debut's agents - Jono. He talked for about 20 minutes and showcased some amazing new work by a host of illustrators in numerous styles. They represent over 120 illustrators - all impressive stuff - check it here

Next up was Harry Malt showing off his work, talking about what he does, what inspires him and so on. I've known Harry for yonks - he's a very funny guy. Quick witted and doesn't take himself too seriously. You'll like his blog and his Debut Art folio

Whilst Harry talked, Serge drew this of him...





Next up was Serge Seidlitz who did a little showcase of his work and a talk. Again I've known Serge for while - from Camberwell College days - before bumping into him again randomly at Cartoon Network where he created the entire identity for the Toonami Channel back in the day. He's funny like Harry, pretty quick and had been locked out of his house all day so drank Pimms in the sun and got sun burnt all afternoon. Nice life. You'll like his amazingly choca block full site, his blog, and here's his Debut Art folio

So whilst Serge talked, Harry drew him...





Then we had a break whilst Harry and Serge got all greased and limbered up. The battle worked like this:

- 10 x 2 minute rounds.
- Items to draw pulled randomly from two hats.
- One hat had things to draw - the other how to draw them.
- At the end of the 2 minutes Harry and Serge show their work off to the audience
- We vote for which one made us laugh the most.



Ding Ding... Harry was in all black; Serge all white - had that been planned??

Here they are in action:



In the pictures below it's always Harry on the left / Serge on the right.

Round 1: Osama Bin Laden + In Robotic Form.



Harry wins - Harry 1 / Serge 0

Round 2: A Zoo + Being Sick.



Serge wins - Harry 1 / Serge 1 (Harry had drawn a Shitzu. Nice dog, but technically wrong)

Round 3: An audience member + taking drugs.



Harry wins - Harry 2 / Serge 1 (it's amazing how they both randomly drew Ben Steiner who happened to be drawing along with them who had in turn drawn our CD being anally injected which is certainly one way of furthering your career.)



Round 4: Cow + being jizzed on.



Serge wins - Harry 2 / Serge 2 (it's amazing what the random hats throw up. It's not amazing that Serge won Harry has drawn a cow of the human / female variety which is nearly illegal - but he's from Norfolk so hardly surprising).

Round 5: Cityscape + wearing high heels.



Serge wins - Harry 2 / Serge 3 (both guys had the same idea - sweet).

Round 6: Mermaid + Being Milked.



Serge wins - Harry 2 / Serge 4 (as Harry hadn't bothered to draw a Mermaid he couldn't really win although his was funnier in many ways).

Round 7: The Grim Reaper + with spiders legs.



Harry wins - Harry 3 / Serge 4 (the come back is on?)

Round 8: An Ad exec + made of meat.



Serge wins - Harry 3 / Serge 5 (no surprise as Harry insults half the room)

Round 9: A nob + doing a robbery.



Harry wins - Harry 4 / Serge 5 (that was a tight one - all down to the last one)

Round 10: The Delorean + gone wrong



Harry wins - Harry 5 / Serge 5 - tie break.

Round 11 - the decider: A wart + wearing a global hypercolour t-shirt (wtf??)



Serge wins!! Harry 5 / Serge 6. We have our winner. Luckily Serge and Harry have known each other for yonks and there isn't much bad feeling. If the trophy had been better (Serge - it's in the post), then maybe there would have been...





Then we had a bonus round where Serge took on Ben Steiner, an iris copywriter. They had to draw Stephen Hawkins + sick in his mouth. I seem to remember Steiner won it (left hand side)...



But of course they were both winners:



So that was that. Then we got a bit drunk. Was a great night - the format worked well and it was pretty funny + we got close to two decent, quick minded illustrators... and loads of content for the blog.

Thanks to all those who came down, who drew along and who made it what it was - piss funny. Thanks to Jono and Debut and massive thanks to Harry and Serge.

Old skills, new styles

Last Tues we shared the evening with Ben Wilson and Benedict Radcliffe. This pair of industrial, product, interior designers and makers of many 'stuffs' were great company as they delivered a talk at UTI down at The Garrison.

We (Luke P) made this poster to advertise their talk within the agency. "Old Skills, New Styles" - because these guys are properly trained makers of stuff, real heavy old school craft skills - but their output is so diverse and at times out there.



Ben was up first. He's bike crazy, massively influenced by all forms of human transportation. Here he is on the left when well young.



This is one of the first bikes he designed and made (he's done over 30 now)



And here is one of those 30 - commissioned by Swarovski, this one is covered in crystals and is worth a cool £30k.



Not just bikes - it's chairs too. Here the Chairfix (one of many designs, this one commissioned and sold by Eley Kishimoto) and below that, a stool for Stussy.





Ben met Benedict at the Art Car Boot Fair - and afterwards they collaborated and made this pedal power wire frame Lamborghini...



And here are both together, Ben on the left, Benedict on the right, riding/driving it around Manchester...



Another of Ben's 'bikes'...



I could go on. Ben's made some serious stuff - check his site for more. One of my personal favourites is a tilting trike that can be pedaled manually by foot or hand and gives people with limited mobility the thrill of a ride. Watch the movie here.

Next up was Benedict. He's got the same influences as Ben - bikes, BMX, skating, vehicles and so on. A trained Architect, he's a bit more hands on than Ben and really likes making it happen. Let's see some of his stuff

He makes bikes...



Motorbikes made out of wire as decor in a restaurant:



Marilyn Monroe on the bonnet of a Beamer - with badge as mole



A huge old spanner - anyone whoever owned a BMW will recognise these



This old Honda 90 was made and adapted for an exhibition in Glasgow...



This gypsy style caravan made for Red Bull as a chill out area:



The Lamborghini gets a new paint job - cool



This cut and shut job of the two back ends of VW Golf's to create an internal space inside where 4 seats face each other



And this bull Beamer



There is so much more on their sites - take a look.

Next up for Ben is an exciting new Bike project that he showed a sneak preview of and we're sworn to secrecy. And Benedict is making a garden installation at the Nike 1948 store out in Shoreditch (Ben, with his brother Oscar, has already done a job on the interior).

So there you have it - 2 1/2 hours of talk in one post - can't really do it justice.

Thanks guys for coming down.

UTI goes Manc

iris Manchester hosted their very first UTI event last week in The Atlas Bar in the Deansgate area of the city.

As you'll see the logo has been all flat-capped up by our northern friends. Smart.



‘The thinking man’s pub crawl’ was attended by a mixture of agency people, TV companies, creatives, entrepreneurs, and marketing directors from Manchester businesses.



Si Scott, who chatted at out first UTI in London, was first up. His legendary work has been used in campaigns for Audi, Nike, Orange, MTV, Guinness and Hugo Boss. Si talked about the evolution of his work and how he thinks the rise of digital has led to a lack of attention to detail in design. He also recounted the countless times that his intricate hand drawn work been mistaken for computer-generated artwork.

Here is Si mid-chat...



Next up was new media expert Mirage Islam. As a contributing editor to industry bible Contagious, Islam gave some insights into ‘two-track branding’, whereby advertisers continue to use mass marketing but support it with ‘niche’ marketing. This bespoke approach strengthens one-to-one relationships through channels like digital with examples ranging from ABC & Unilever’s joint site, ‘In The Motherhood’, to Fiat’s EcoDrive and O2’s ‘The Blueroom’. Use of digital channels such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as Search Engine Optimisation, were discussed with reference to the Compare the Market’s ‘Compare the Meerkat’ campaign.

Mirage has a word...



Peter Draper, former marketing director of Manchester United, wrapped up the evening. He discussed the rapid change witnessed in the world of football over the past 20-25 years. He cited the catalysts as stadium disasters that prompted review of all stadia and investment into the sport by Sky in the early 90s.

Pete works the floor...



Draper drew on his experience with Manchester United during this time and how the club was quick to recognize that fans should expect great customer service rather than take fans for granted, just as any other business would recognize the importance of customer service. He believes this can be applied to business in all sectors with an emphasis on a great customer experience right through, so that brands can convert customers into fans.



The night went down a storm - as UTI tends to. The next one in Manchester is in July so check here for more details and to register - and I'm told there will be footage of the talks uploaded here soon.