Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint

I’ve been grinding like a mo’ fo’ on my startup for the last 8 months and it wore me down, but…

I took a long break (two weeks), from my ordinary hustle this holiday season and it opened my eyes to what’s important. I didn’t open my laptop for days at a time. I enjoyed doing things I haven’t done much of in nine months or so, things like cooking, running, and reading… for hours at a time. I kept thinking “this is the way it should always be”.

I’d apologize for not having blogged in so long, but no one really cares about that. So let’s get to it!

In June of 2012 when I launched a clothing line called Modern Nerd Apparel, I had no idea how successful it would be. The last eight months have been about crafting a cohesive brand that stands for something and then making it bullet proof through the copy, design, and marketing (the things I do best). I’ve got it running at a smooth little hum now and the sales are trickling in nice and steady. So, 2013 is about automating the business, which will allow me to focus on scaling the product line and really blow the roof off this puppy.

I did some things right and I did some things wrong – stay tuned for notes on that.

If you have any interest in running a fashion brand or becoming an entrepreneur I’d love to connect with you. I feel about ten years wiser than this time last year and I’m happy to share my experiences. Ping me on Twitter to introduce yourself.

The post Being Smarter With My Time in 2013 appeared first on Balind Sieber.

Why it’s Important (to Me) to be Constantly Producing Work

I feel like a fraud lately.

I’m realizing that I am first and foremost, a content creator. That means as long as I can remember, I’ve been producing either written, designed, or captured artwork. Pretty much for the past decade, non stop. But it’s slowed down lately… a lot.

Let me give you some background: my career began as an illustrator, then I kind of became a motion graphics designer and Flash developer, now I am… whatever I am – designer/writer/strategist. But the point is, back in the early days, I used to pump out media-intensive and highly interactive Flash micro-sites with about the frequency of a Kardashian’s cry for attention. At one point, when I was at Elastic, I looked back at how many websites we’d launched over the past year that I’d created from scratch – It ended up being something like nine – which is a little less than one every month. They weren’t all great but two of them won an FWA. I was a f*cking machine.

I get it now. Producing a ton of content is part of my DNA. It’s what makes me feel like a badass artist.

Why I’ve slowed down

The reality of my role and the evolution of the digital industry is that 60% of the work I do never sees the light of day. The projects are ef’ing big. The clients, as well, are big. It’s a double edge sword because I love, love, love working on big projects with big clients (it means more collaboration and an overall more epic product), but it also means that I only “publish” a few times a year.

The real problem is me – I’m a ball of energy. I thrive in a fast paced environment and I need to be continuously challenged at the edge of my skills or I lose fascination with what I’m working on. When I’m revising something (pivoting, iterating, etc…), I’m still learning a lot, but it’s much more passive than when I’m concepting (I know, it’s not a word)… definitely a far cry from my younger days when it seemed my overall ability doubled with every project I completed.

It’s never going to be like when I was an empty vessel just waiting to be filled, but I think it’s necessary for me to up the tempo of creative production to ensure that I stay in an artistic mental state.

My fix

Recently I watched a video by Colin Wright in which he (among other things), discusses why he decided to carry his camera with him everywhere for a year and take minimum one picture a day. He talks about how forcing himself to produce an image every day made him look at the world in a different way. This got me thinking… maybe I could apply that same mentality to the other artistic specialties that interest me, like design, and film.

So, in an effort to get back to my roots as a pure f*cking creative, I’ve taken a vow of content creation – I’m announcing it here to make it more official and ironclad.

It goes as such:

• Capture/publish (instagram) at least one photo every day
• Film/interview (vimeo) at least one video every two weeks
• Illustrate (dribble/behance) at least one design every two weeks
• Write/publish (WordPress) at least one blog post every month

My intention is to stay in a mentally creative state, and to be honest… keep that artistic edge to which I owe my entire career. I get bored fast and I need to keep myself working on new content at a high pace, or else… I’ll get dull.

Key to success

By far my biggest potential roadblock is finding a way to make these activities collaborative and social. Spring is springing and I have no intention of having my head buried in my computer all the time. My tablet helps make illustration more mobile, but still, It has to be social. I’m thinking for the videos, I may just interview random strangers about a topic like “How and why do you use Pinterest”, then string it together into something interesting.

Here are the activities listed in order of what I estimate will require the most attention from me (time and attention are essentially the same thing), to get to a minimum viable product:

• Writing
• Filming
• Illustrating
• Photography

The results that I’m hoping to achieve are - by applying the 80/20 rule, I’ll be able to create interesting, quality content… on a regular basis (again). I think it’s going to be fun, if a little stressful. But that’s the thing – I need a little stress in my life, because I spent years getting good at handling it and now I need that pressure.

Consider giving it a go

I work hard and a lot, but as weeks turn into months I don’t necessarily have a lot to show for it. I can be a bit of an extremist, so it’s not necessary to go as far as I have. Maybe start small, and play to your strengths. Regardless, in my quest to constantly shape myself into a stronger human, I think the exercise will be good, and if it works, I’m going to be a one-man wrecking crew of content creation again (Yesss).

Have a question? Contact me on Twitter. If you found this remotely useful, consider subscribing to my newsletter below.

How to Define a Digital Strategy

How to Navigate the Social Agency

3 Insights From PSFK Conference SF 2011

The post Becoming a Content Creator (again) appeared first on Balind Sieber.

A Guide to Writing a Strategy Proposal (for beginners)

This is gonna’ be fun. The formula I’m about to outline will consist of Six Steps. They look as follows:

1. Frame the Problem
2. Develop Personas
3. Uncover Insight
4. Use Step 1, 2, and 3 to come up with an idea
5. Write a kick *ss Strategy Statement
6. Deck it

You Need to Know this Sh*t

Designers, copywriters, technologists… why should you know how to write a strategy brief? In short, it makes you more f*cking awesome. To explain it a little more succinctly, let’s look at the creative process from a larger perspective.

The creative (executional) portion of a marketing campaign is one of the last pieces of the digital process. Prior to that there was research, planning, ideation, fleshing out of potential concepts, and so on – possibly many iterations of each. A lot of thinking goes into a digital campaign before the brief lands on your desk requiring copy, design, or build.

If you imagine a digital execution represented as a totem pole and every section of the pole equates to a phase in the creative process – design would be near the bottom, right above front-end and back-end development (which usually happen simultaneously). Digital strategy is near the top, where all the real collaboration takes place. That’s where you want to be. Why? Because it’s not, as they say, “lonely at the top”. In fact, it’s the opposite. (See below).

Fig. 01: Creative/Production Process

Being a fantastic creative is your foot in the door – It’s how you demonstrate that you walk the walk as well as talk it. However, if production level creative is the only contribution you can make, you’ll remain near the bottom… destined to work in isolation with many layers between you and the ultimate power player – the client.

The Scenario

Mr. Biz-Dev walks up to your desk one beautiful Monday morning and says: “Hey (insert your name), we have a new brief from client ‘X’. We need you, Jimmy, and Jenny (fictional), to come up with ideas and put together a presentation by Friday. In?”

“F*ck yeah” (You’re probably not a potty mouth like me but give it a try, you’ll find it puts people at ease) – So… what’s the best approach? Well, I’m going to lay that out for you as I understand it, in a sort of beginners guide to digital strategy. Grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. (Speaking of which, Ana Anjelic offers a beautiful primer to digital strategy here.)

Preparation

The smartest strategies are dead simple and writing a strategy document should be simple.

Yeah, people like to make it seem complicated in an effort to justify their salary (Using way too many buzzwords is the canary-in-the-coal-mine for this) – But, what you’re providing is essentially an opinion on where to take a brand – don’t be fooled into talking too much about statistics and data. They’re a guide, nothing more.

Let’s quickly define what Digital Strategy even is:

The “Digital” portion is pretty much everything that can be viewed on a screen, whether a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. The “Strategy” is how people interact with each other and your brand with those devices.

Digital strategy is an attempt to make a product socially useful. Dig?

Watch the below video to see where digital is heading in the future. Those are potential digital touch points – you can imagine how f*cking complex a Digital Strategy will be down the road.

Okay! Let’s use a sample client. Let’s pretend the NBA (National Basketball Association), has asked us to come up with a social/mobile strategy to keep fans engaged during the off-season (Q3). I’ll keep coming back to this client/theme to help provide context for each step.

Step 1) Frame the Problem

Find out why the brand exists and what they stand for.

That sounds simple but seriously, it’s not. Hopefully you’ll get a brief from the client, in which case this may be done for you, which is great. If not, you need to do keyword, website, and social research.

What problem is your digital campaign planning to solve?

Once you’ve got it (example below), define the problem in one succinct sentence from the customers point of view. Is it a sales problem, audience problem, or a brand perception problem? Ultimately you’re going to use this to uncover how to connect the audience with the brand (in the digital space).

I hope I haven’t lost you yet because we’re just scratching the surface. Here’s an example of a problem the NBA may have, that we can set out to solve (notice it’s stated from the customers point of view):

NBA Problem:
We (customer) are not aware of what NBA players are doing in the off-season, so we gradually lose interest in the sport during these months.

Once you’ve identified the problem, prep it for insight by asking, “What are the factors that influence the audience among their peers. Or, said another way: Why do people who watch the NBA even bother to interact with each other?

Here’s an imaginary example, again using our fictional NBA client:

Why do I (customer) interact with my peers?:
I feel validated by impressing friends with my knowledge of the NBA that can’t be found on mainstream sports shows (like SportsCenter).

Find a Budget Range

This is crucial yet so many clients are reluctant to show their cards – but, knowing the budget is critical to providing solid strategic thinking. If you don’t know the budget you’ll likely shoot for the stars and then it will be really disappointing when the client can’t afford any of your ideas. So, save yourself the hassle… find a budget.

Success Metric

Surmise a proposed goal. This could be anything from Facebook likes to a revenue target. Whatever it is, it’s important to have some sort of yardstick for measurement. Your main focus throughout this process should always be on providing an ROI for your client. Eyes on the prize people. It’s cool to keep it loose at this point – you’re just gathering information (you’ll take another pass and tighten all this up once you have some ideas).

Step 2) Develop Personas

Based on your research in Step 1, define 2-5 fictional representations of your brand’ customers.

That’s right. You get to create make-believe people. Clarify their goals, behavior, pre-occupations, beliefs, passions, pain-points. Discovering these aspects of a demographic can help you uncover how the brand is perceived and barriers to potential adoption.

Have fun with it. Name them. Call one “Billy the Baller”, or “Gary the Gambler”, or… “Arnold the Armchair Coach”… for example. There’s no need to include all the details about a persona, you could just describe them in one sentence. Example:

For ‘Billy the Baller”, it might look like:
As an active player myself (type of user), I want to track my favorite players training methods (some goal), so that I can shape my lifestyle to be more like theirs (user benefit).

Damn.

I “get” Billy the Baller. I know what he’s about. Now, what does he have in common with the other personas? Leading us to…

Step 3) Uncover Insight

I used to suck at this.

A few years ago I struggled with finding ideas for creative projects, especially cross-platform. I’d sit and stare out the window, or I’d aimlessly search the web hoping for something to pop out at me. One day my friend Peter was describing his idea to me and flatly stated “it’s your standard idea, based on an insight”. I then stopped looking for ideas and started looking for insights, once I found the insight, the idea (or several of them) would start to roll out.

An insight is an unspoken human truth – you’re looking for an aspect of the product that’s both unique and motivating to its customers. Write it short and interestingly. Don’t be lazy. Write it well.

An exercise my friend Mark (Product Manager at RED) showed me, helps identify potential insights in products (and btw, if it’s a service that you’re marketing on the internet, it’s a product):

Imagine the brand is something physical that sits on a shelf. What does it look like? Is it a box, is it a jar, is it a bottle? What color is it and what might be written on it?

What you want to discover through this exercise is how customers think about the category, how do they talk about the brand, and how they perceive the product?

Okay here’s where you finally feel creative – uncover two insights:

1. Something truly unique and motivating about the brand/product. Again, I’m going to use our fictional NBA client as an example:

Brand/product insight:
A lot of NBA players are close personal friends and often play/train with each other casually during the summer.

2. Next, find something that the entire audience has in common that helps them relate to each other.

Example of audience commonality:
All researched personas actively use their smartphones to watch and share NBA videos.

This sh*t is going to come in very f*cking handy in the next step, so don’t be a douche bag. Make ‘em smart.

Step 4) Ideation

Create a Board of Advisors

Without writing an entirely new post, the best advice I can give you is to rally some buds – use and reward them. (Speaking of which, here’s a great post on How to make social ideas, by Ben Phillips)

Usually only a few people work on a pitch at once because pitches are often not billable – however, collaboration is the key to finding great ideas, so, outside of the team assigned to the brief – find 2-3 people in the agency who’s skills overlap your own. They will become your Board of Advisors. Most agency creatives are happy to dedicate some time off the clock to help come up with ideas for an interesting pitch (Especially if they’re slogging through the mundane portion of a project). Keep them looped in so that you can run ideas past them without having to re-explain the background of the project. These people are doing you a favor, treat them as such (cookies are good, breakfast burritos – better).

Issue a short brief consisting of the above three steps to your Board of Advisors with a call for ideas, push to a communal forum like google docs or Evernote to collect those ideas. Vet the best ones with your assigned team and run them past your advisors on a routine basis to keep them involved in how they shape. They don’t want to be forgotten, keep them involved.

I’ll do another post dedicated specifically to coming up with ideas, but for now, here’s my advice: Think about how to create a relationship between the customer and the brand that doesn’t benefit the client only. (read that two more times. Questions? tweet me.)

Deck the best versions of each idea – title and one paragraph description (simple, simple, simple). They don’t have to be fully fleshed out, it’s okay if there are still leaps needed, but make sure the core thinking is solid enough that when explained – they can be easily understood. (explain them to your dog. If he gets them, you’re good.)

Remember, the ideas should be based on your product and audience insights (Step 3), and solve the problem (Step 1).

Once that’s done, this is a good time to check them against your research. Maybe combine two strong ideas into one. Generally get feedback and iterate until you feel like you have one solid f*cking idea (it may have sub ideas), that you can base a campaign around. (I’m resisting urge to say “big” idea)

Here’s an example idea for our fictional NBA client:

NBA Off-Season Digital Strategy:
Behind the Scenes Training Videos - We film 7 NBA players in a relaxed and casual manner during the offseason, focussing on their training and preparation. We create weekly videos around one specific aspect of their training (could be family relationships). We release one a day through a twitter account called @NbaOffSeasonTraining. Our success metric is the Klout score of our Twitter account.

If your idea was inspired by something you’ve seen, don’t be afraid to provide it as reference if you think it will help get the point across. Only fakers pretend they’re not inspired by other work. Here’s a quick reminder of why it’s okay to copy.

If an idea requires multiple touch points (as they often do), like mobile, social, microsite, blogger outreach, banner ads (remember the futuristic video above?)… it’s a good idea to provide an experience model (sometimes called use-cases), where you outline how you see the audience interacting with the product at these various channels and the different sub-layers of their engagement. Meaning: “Gary the Gambler” checks his twitter account from his phone when he first wakes up, but then hits the Facebook page mid afternoon from his laptop. You need to account for every point of contact.

Step 5) Strategy Statement

This is the value proposition (Concept borrowed from Mark Pollard).

It’s not an idea, it’s the statement that the idea is based on, which can often reveal itself after finding commonality in the best thoughts that keep springing up (We’re kind of cheating by writing this after we’ve come up with our ideas, but who cares… it makes it easier).

This should be a creatively written sentence where you link the problem to the insight. Buzzwords don’t belong. (Note: If you’ve ever wondered what the benefits of becoming a good writer are, just remember – the best advertising you’ve experienced was likely the brainchild of a copywriter.) Here’s some tips on writing.

Example Strategy Statement:
NBA fans engage highly with behind-the-scenes training and actively share what they perceive as exclusive content.

Genius!

6) The Deck

Before putting the final document together, walk the outline around the office. Make sure people other than the team that’s spent the last week on it are able to provide perspective. When you’re so focussed on details, sometimes you miss the big picture.

Start with an introduction defining the brands goals and expectations, devised from Step 1 and 2. If they provided you with a Creative Brief, try to flip the perspective on the problem. Don’t just repeat the information given to you, instead, reveal the insight to demonstrate your understanding of their brand – prep them for the strategy statement and idea.

Hit them with the strategy statement, then the idea (or ideas if there’s more than one). As a creative I like to provide supporting visuals. Often these are sketches, if they’re comps they’re usually of specific modules rather than the full layout. If I have enough time and I think it’s worth it, I might build a quick Proof of Concept (After Effects animation).

The Presentation

If you can, present in person, but over the phone works almost as well.

Keep it all about the client. I recommend using slides with one or two sentences and speaking to the rest, ensuring the client isn’t reading rather than listening to you.

People make decisions based on emotion, then they justify them with logic. If you can present your strategy with passion and authenticity, you’re 90% of the way there. That’s not a joke. If I show people my creative and I don’t seem “in” to it, I guarantee they won’t be either. Watch this video for full disclosure on System 1 (emotion) and System 2 (logic), thinking.

Presentation Tip: You’re likely talking to a few people. Look each person in the eye and connect with them for 10-30 seconds each. Make everyone feel like its a personal conversation. Stay in the moment. Never get caught up in your own head (not a good look).

Final Thought

This is one way of going about it and it’s a loose one, there’s quite a bit more specifics that I’ve left out in order to keep this post simple. Many people work differently and they all have value. Whomever is leading the pitch is probably going to dictate the process.

If at all possible, work with creators. You don’t want to be the only member of the team who is actually working on the deck while everyone else is simply discussing it. Be an Architect and a Carpenter (see My Ethos) – work with others of the same pedigree.

Have a question? Contact me on Twitter. If you found this remotely useful, consider subscribing to my newsletter below.

How to Navigate the Social Agency

3 Insights From PSFK Conference

Preparing for the Future of Digital Design

The post How to Define a Digital Strategy appeared first on Balind Sieber.

A Brief Tutorial on How to Collaborate at a Creative Agency

I used to be a jock so I tend to pounce on peoples insecurities as a form of humor. It turns out, most non-jocks don’t really like this, especially young women… who knew?

This is one of the many things I’ve learned from being a part of a creative agency that’s grown from 20 to 80+ in the four years I’ve been here. Something else I’ve learned is that the key to remaining engaged with your projects is to pool resources collaboratively.

Collaboration is not showing your design to others for their feedback. 

Collaboration is working with people that contribute similar or complimenting skills to build something together.

A Tale of Two Designers

There’s two young designers at a creative agency, John and Jane (fictional). Both equally talented.

John and Jane get briefed over the phone from a potential client. Jane pays close attention as the client lists the requirements. She asks a couple well-timed questions. John watches and listens.

Jane pulls up a site she saw last week and explains the concept. It’s a good thought starter. John saw the same site with Jane, but didn’t connect its relevance to the moment.

The client shares a few thoughts of their own. Jane takes one and describes it from a new perspective, then suggests potential ways to develop it further. John looks for ways to contribute, but he’s stuck in his own head. He hasn’t opened his mouth yet so if he says something now it has to be really clever.

They’re the same age and work on the same projects. One day John will be a slightly more senior version of what he already is and Jane will be a Creative Director. The reason is because Jane is more socially aware and collaborative.

The following are five observations which will ultimately lead to working with more people, more often. The more people you work with, the more you learn and the more presence you have at your agency.

01: Getting Stuck in the Zone

No creative role is mentally stimulating all the time.

It usually works in waves. There’s portions of the process that require lateral thinking intermixed with portions that require headphones and being in the zone. The problem is that when you stay in the zone for too long you become two people; you and your ego. Your mind becomes your ego talking to you.

A socially aware person is focused on work or focused on people, never in-between. The key is to be able to shift out of the zone when its time to be mentally present.

(There are a lot of creatives that never reach their potential because their mind remains at their computer rather than in the moment.)

02: Incorporate Strategy into Your Process

Creative agencies are split into two groups no matter what your role. Architects and carpenters. Architects are the thinkers who work collaboratively across departments while carpenters are the doers who work in silo’d environments.

If you want to enjoy a balance of collaborating versus being in the zone, you need to have a head for digital strategy coupled with the ability to design (and prototype) your ideas. An idea is nothing without a strong execution, and strategy informs creative, so the two are intimately linked.

People that only design are carpenters, destined to work in isolation. People that come up with ideas are architects, they work with everyone.

(If you can do both then you get to work with both.)

03: Lifestyle Begets Social Skills

(Back to Jane and John.)

Jane blogs in her spare time. She reads and shares articles related to digital advertising. She does Yoga and takes an improv class. She tends to gravitate toward other creative professionals and meets friends for dinner at least once a week. She makes people feel comfortable.

John mostly plays video games and watches TV with his girlfriend. John talks about taking up hobbies but ends up complaining that he’s too tired or doesn’t have time. He has a lot on his mind and generally likes to be left alone at work. When he speaks up in client meetings, the entire team is scared he’ll say something awkward.

John could have twice the talent as Jane but without those social skills, he’s going nowhere. A few years from now when he’s not feeling challenged as a designer he’ll be lonely, while Jane continues to work with new and interesting people.

04: Prepare by Being Curious

Steve Nash is a small man in the sport of basketball. Yet he managed to win the league MVP twice and was an all-star seven times. He was too small to take over the game, but when he had the opportunity, he made smart decisions. If the competition dropped their guard for a moment, he made them pay.

A collaborative creative doesn’t need to lead the brainstorm, he/she is prepared for when the time is right. When someone hands them the ball, they know when to pass, shoot, or drive. Nothing will keep you feeling more comfortable in client meetings than being prepared.

Devour your passion… blogs, books, social media. Develop a style of speaking that’s clear and explanatory. When you read something insightful, take notes in your head. Get in the habit of chunking your ideas into bite sized bits so they can be easily digested by others.

(Everything you do is like Steve Nash practicing for that moment you’re open.)

05: Make People at Every Level Feel Important

If you’re a creative at an agency, you’re in an interesting position because everyone kind of wants your job. Not the hard part, the fun part. The leadership portion that gives us a sense of ownership over the work. Everyone wants to feel that.

You need to balance your responsibility of leading the creative vision with allowing others the opportunity to shape it, without railroading it. This is an absolute art form.

The trick is to ask people what they think and then really listen. Discuss it, adjust it and if its valuable, use it. If not, the process helps to form a bond.

I’ve been known to get consumed by my work and become unintentionally introverted. Over time I feel isolated and it sucks, so I have a couple guidelines to remind myself to stay in a social state of mind.

• Give yourself a reason to impress. Have a meeting every day. This could be with several people or just one person. The point is to be impressive, face-to-face, at least once per day. Humans are social be nature and we feed off interaction with each other.
• Stay in touch. When you’re done working with a team, circle back with the Producer, Dev, UX guy, whomever… keep a dialogue going. This will keep you more tapped in to what’s happening around the agency which is key to being a leader.

The key to collaboration in a creative environment is to set yourself apart with your ideas and social skills. Remain prepared by actively living a curious lifestyle and fixating on the people around you, not yourself. Don’t allow your internal dialogue to dominate your thoughts.

(Whatever you do, try not to pounce on people’s insecurities as a form of humor. Trust me.)

How to Navigate the Social Agency
 

The Formula for Great F*cking Ideas
 

Remapping the Creative Mindset
 

The post How to Navigate the Social Agency appeared first on Balind Sieber.

For Thinkers and Doers

I don’t like being labelled a designer.

I’ve shied away from describing myself as a designer for the simple reason I don’t want to be viewed as a living/breathing copy of photoshop. At PSFK SF ’11 I met a variety of creatives that brought the breadth back to the term.

1. Stories Sell Ideas:

Joe Gebbia of Airbnb profiled his two passion projects, Critbuns and Airbnb. Both had very interesting narratives and proved they were partially successful because of the story behind them. People buy in and share a compelling story. Every brand  should have an anecdote that people can relate to.

2. Allow Design to Drive your Business

Eric Ryan of Method suggested we create products for ourselves and prototype them constantly. His session was a blueprint for how to craft a product and then build a business around it. He took a bold risk by making a statement in design. This guy was a pure entrepreneur and very inspiring.

3. Your Strategy should be your Obsession

Again, Eric Ryan’s session was filled with pearls that you already knew but it was just awesome to see it in action. He didn’t have a big idea, he simply saw a need for a product to be different. He had a social mission and requested participation from his networks. He wasn’t the biggest, so he was the fastest. He described his business strategies as obsessions, because you have to obsess about them to be successful.

Notable Features

• I loved the format. 20-30 minute sessions where everyone shares the same experience.
• Good mix of panels. Some were about digital advertising and others simply bold ideas for products that combine a social good.

Suggestions

• Some sessions felt a bit like a pitch. I don’t mind a swift call to action, but I prefer when it feels like the presenter wants to help me, rather than convince me to help him.
• It would be nice if attendees received a database of Twitter handles to help everyone more effectively meet each other.
• I personally like when a Conferences branding has a unique design to it. Something more than just the logo on a solid background.

Highly recommended for creative professionals interested in social culture and are looking for tools and ideas to inspire their creative thinking.

PSFK Conference SF 2011 rekindled my appreciation for the word designer.

Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

The post 3 Insights From PSFK Conference SF 2011 appeared first on Balind Sieber.

There was a Time when Advertising was about Brainwashing the Consumer…

Hey there. How’s it going? — No need to answer that. I won’t hear you.

Not true! You could leave a comment, you could tweet or post your response to pretty much any social platform. You don’t simply have to take what I tell you. You can reformat it, expand it, quote it, pass it on, and on… and on.

This is the difference between traditional and contemporary marketing. Brands have adapted the conversation to their customers because they’re operating in a medium built for people. It’s a very exciting time and because it’s early on, anyone who takes an interest has the opportunity to become a part of it.

I’ve actively studied this shift in culture over the past few years, and I’ve comprised five key insights that should help anyone developing a digital strategy.

First… we need to cover the core principle:

The Concept of Value Exchange

The fundamental principle of contemporary marketing strategy is that brands must offer some kind of reward to those spending time with them. Value exchange promotes brand advocacy, which is, people doing the advertising for you by telling their friends. Brand Advocacy has become the most powerful form of marketing, due to the socialized web.

Now then, let’s address the fundamental insights that are wrapped around this principle.

01: Everyone is Now a Netizen

The internet used to be a place for subcultures, back when it was an underground movement. The internet revolution is over and it’s fully integrated with our lives, as much a part of mainstream media as TV and Radio.

The teenage girl on Facebook is more adept at using the internet now than you were five years ago. Living digital isn’t particularly identity forming, because everyone is doing it. Internet marketers now need to take an interest in human psychology and mobile culture to really understand how to leverage their client’s brand.

02: We Are All Creators

The ‘user’ has evolved into someone that can no longer be defined, as they don’t simply consume, they now contribute.

Tools are making it easier to become a journalist, developer, musician, photographer, and so on. Artists are being born through exposure to media, thanks to the internet. Pretty soon everyone that uses the internet is going to be some form of publisher.

The opinions, thoughts, and feelings of the former ‘user’, are replacing traditional advertising. Good creatives understand that, and create content that’s free, new, useful, and funny. Something that people like to talk about.

03: New Ideas are Hiding in New Channels

A digital channel is everything from a mobile phone to an interactive display. Digital has many sub-channels where data can be easily transferred from one to the other. Over the next decade we’re going to see new digital channels pop up frequently, as technology keeps pushing.

If you’re just getting into the game and are worried that all the good digital ideas have been taken, don’t be. New ideas will be found as new channels gain popularity.

Remember though, brands need to earn consumer attention, rather than pay for it. No matter what channel you use, the challenge will always lie in making content that is worth sharing.

04: Smart Phones are the Primary Touch Point.

The average person’s phone is at the heart of all their communication, and is quickly becoming their dominant form of media consumption. Brands no longer seek a database, they want to curate a fan base, and smart phone data gives them detailed information about consumer habits.

Depending on how much privacy you share, marketers are quickly going to know almost everything about you. Mobile is gradually becoming the bridge between the virtual and the real world (remember Wall-E?). They will know what you read, what you search for, where you go, and a whole lot more.

Consumers are going to receive ads no matter what, but behavior targeting means more relevant ads, that they’re likely to find useful rather than annoying. Don’t be scared of this though… sharing certain personal information will enhance our digital lifestyles.

05: Much More Collaboration across Disciplines

Strategy, creative, and technology are all overlapping. The days of different teams working on a project during different phases are gone. The entire team needs to work on a campaign from front to back and every member of that teams needs to be cross-disciplinary. Those who are territorial will get ostracized.

With so many technologies involved, the production process can’t be separated from the conceptual stage as it used to be. The killer idea will just as likely be a technical solution as it is a marketing concept.

Hierarchy will disappear as teams begin to work as a matrix.

Strategists that can’t draw, designers that don’t understand code, and programmers that can’t come up with ideas, won’t exist. The people that will succeed in the modern agency will have complimentary expertise mixed in with their core discipline, and blisteringly strong communication skills.

All team members will be conversational, transparent, and expert at extracting a contribution from their peers.

The Bottom Line

Good creative strategy should be like a friend who you invite over for dinner, rather than an annoying salesperson who sticks his foot in the door.

Mass approach to advertising is dead. Brands can’t stand on a soapbox, shout their message, and expect everyone to listen. They now need to tap into individual behaviors.

When in doubt, think of the ancient chinese proverb:

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.”

Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

Referenced:

• “Digital Advertising: Past, Present, and Future” by: Creative Social,
• “The Thank You Economy” by: Gary Vaynerchuck
• “Socialnomics” by: Eric Qualman

The post Preparing for the Future of Digital Design appeared first on Balind Sieber.

You Need to Give a Sh*t, or the Project Will Suffer

I’m like a grown up baby. If I don’t get enough attention, I get bored.

While wrapping a recent project I noticed that during the home stretch my feeling of ownership was starting to wane. I was having to remind myself to stay focussed and fired up. Very odd, because at one point I was the nucleus of this project. I lived and breathed the brand like it was my own… and only a short time later I’m having to remind myself to keep my head in the game.

WTF?

The More I Care About the Client, the More I Care About the Project

During reflective coffee breaks, I pinpointed the issue and evolved it into a clear understanding that this wasn’t specific to me, it must apply to all creatives at every agency. The culprit it turns out, was that I was much less involved with the client. There was no fresh creative to pitch and no real need for me to be in the small daily meetings.

I went from having a direct relationship with our client to hearing about our interaction with them second hand.

I wasn’t as connected and therefore my bond with them began to dissolve.

Relationships Require Effort

At our agency, we’ve long understood the value of having our entire team involved with the client from the beginning. My moment of clarity came when I realized that the same is true with maintaining that connection right down the stretch.

It’s worth being involved in most client meetings throughout the lifespan of a project. If you have a busy day and want to leave midway through a meeting, great, go for it. As long as you have the ability to maintain the bond you’ve developed.

If someone’s only working on one project and tells me “Hey, I don’t want to be in meetings that don’t directly require me, I could spend that time working.” I’m concerned about that person. I’m thinking they need to unplug and join us for a few minutes each day. In fact, I’m wondering if they’re totally focused on the project or if they spend half their time on auto-pilot.

Hit Your Sweet Spot

I recommend having a presence in client meetings by listening carefully and asking appropriately timed questions. Before you know it you’ll be consistently contributing ideas. It might seem like extra work at first but when you still want to deliver something meaningful to a client that you care about, even down the home stretch, it will be worth it.

Even if you’re a weird introvert, one of the ways you’ll derive your passion for creative projects is through yours relationship with the client.

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It’s not only okay, it’s important to copy other work, especially when you’re first starting out.

I read a quote from independent film director Jim jarmusch recently:

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.”

Copy and Evolve it

My formal education in Visual Communication taught me that only people without talent actually duplicate. If you have talent and you’re directly inspired by something, you will evolve it into something that’s true to yourself.

Holding on to reference files for later inspiration is a necessity. Only once you have a true understanding of what works can you take a completely original approach, and even then it’s pretty rare to come up with something that is totally unique.

Inventor or Tweaker?

Inventors start with a blank sheet of paper and create things, usually very flawed. Tweakers make them better through iterations. If you look at the history of invention the most brilliant minds are the tweakers, Steve Jobs being a perfect example.

Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

Referenced:

• How To Steal Like an Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) by: Austin Kleon

The post Why It’s Okay to Copy appeared first on Balind Sieber.

Where Can I Go to Unplug and get Inspired while expanding my Network?

Micro Vacations Don’t Work

I looked into a few options like Spain, Costa Rica, etc., and each time landed back to the same realizations:

• For me, un-winding is not a priority. Burn-out is nowhere in sight yet boredom is always around the corner.
• I see enough nature here in California. Waterfalls and hiking are great, but I don’t need to fly around the world for them.
• I want to go somewhere different, but… that stems from a desire to integrate into the local culture, which can’t be done in a short time period.

Then, I was reminded of…

One of the Best Times I’ve Had for Work

A couple years ago my company sent a group of about six of us to the Adobe Max Conference. It was so much fun that I still get a glow when I think about it today. I didn’t learn a ton from the panels themselves, but I was incredibly inspired simply by being in the environment. I felt closer to the creative community and I bonded with the peeps I was there with. It was only two days and it was right here in L.A, but it was so experience packed that I may as well have been on the other side of the world.

It was awesome and I didn’t even use it to one tenth the degree that I could have. However, because it was a work thing, I never really considered doing something like that on my own time and with my own dime. Which leads me to…

The SXSW Tsunami

A few weeks ago, the buzz began about this year’s SXSW annual conference in Austin. I remembered it from last year and briefly considered going but, I didn’t have a specific enough goal to achieve by being there. I suppose I could try to find potential clients for RED, but if I’m paying for the trip myself that seems weird. And, even though there would be a lot of people there that I’d know, I was insecure I’d feel compelled to find a crew, to avoid hanging out by myself.

SXSW is here, and the digital community is going bonkers. Suddenly, I went from feeling indifferent about the Conference to feeling like a kid who lost at musical chairs. I’m watching friends of mine from all different walks of life tweet about how they enjoyed meeting each other, neither of them knowing that they have me in common.

It’s very clear I’d never be stuck alone for too long, and the goal of the trip could simply be to connect with friend, make new ones, and get inspired.

So, as I sit here, watching wave after wave of tweets about all the ideas and networking everyone’s having, it seems so obvious that not only would SXSW have been a great mini-vacation for me, it was already staring me in the face. I only had to go back a year or so for reference.

Find People I Can Work With

SXSW will be over soon and I’ll definitely be attending next year, but now that I’m convinced a conference is the right type of vacation for me, I’m looking forward to finding other events that would be just as rewarding.

Here’s the formula for what I’m looking for in a conference:

• Panel Types. I’d prefer panels that share creative thinking and start conversations rather than tutorials or How-to’s.
• Crowd. I want it to draw the kind of people I can potentially collaborate with someday on something creative, whether we ever do or not.
• Location. Preferably in a major city or somewhere unique, so I can soak up the culture in my down time.

I’ve put together a list of my top three options for this article, but they’ll probably change. Please leave a comment if you have any insider information or know of any better ones, and definitely drop me a line if you’re planning on attending any of these.

01

02

03

Honorable Mention Goes to…

• “The 99 Percent” New York, May 5-6, 2011. Sold Out.
• “Future of Web Apps” Las Vegas, June 27-29, 2011. $795.00.
• “Creative UnConference“.

Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

The post Defining the Ideal Working Vacation appeared first on Balind Sieber.

Anyone can be a Creative Thinker, without putting down their Playstation Controller.

I almost failed grade five.

When I was in grade five, my participation in Middle School curriculum started slipping. The teachers were mystified. They were so confused, there was even talk of holding me back a year. I was given an I.Q. test for kids. One that every kid, in every grade had taken the previous year, except for me because I had moved from a different city.

When the test score came back I was placed in a special class for one afternoon a week, comprising of about a dozen kids of all ages. We studied an alternative curriculum, consisting of activities like playing chess and conducting debates.

The class was called “Enrichment”, and it was for kids that were bored.

My participation in regular studies thrived because school had become interesting again. From then on I’ve always juggled challenging hobbies, usually ones that combine mental, physical, and social aspects. I went on to have my college education paid for by scholarships in both Visual Arts and Varsity Basketball at the same school.

Here’s why…

Autopilot is Your Enemy

The same thing that happened with me in Middle School can happen to me today, and I doubt it’s much of a stretch to think that it happens to every designer as well.

Like a race car that needs to hit the track every so often… your mind is a muscle that needs consistent exercise to stay tuned-up or it will begin to atrophy.

This is why I love working in digital advertising. Because it’s a never-ending learning process, and remaining in a constant state of evolution is the secret to tapping in to the full extent of your brains power. If I just sat in front of my computer all day designing interfaces my mind would start to melt. Instead I take an interest in all areas of the creative process. I’m also interested in nutrition, tennis, beach volleyball, motorcycles… and a whole host of hobbies that have nothing to do with digital advertising. In turn, I’m always coming up with ideas on how to improve or enjoy these interests. It keeps me in a passionate state of mind.

That’s why those kids in school that participated in extra clubs, debate teams, varsity sports, etc., managed to also get really good grades.

It’s also why the highest performers at your job are usually juggling the most projects.

The Self Feeding Circle

A perfect example of the Self Feeding circle is Leonardo DiCaprio’s career. He presents a compelling performance, he’s rewarded with another amazing opportunity to perform. Here’s how it looks when you’re a designer at an advertising agency…

• Example 1: I look to help my peers in ways that fall outside of the projects that I’m responsible for. I’m then rewarded with more responsibility by management. The extra responsibility challenges me to perform at a higher level. I’m then rewarded with resources to maintain that level. So on, and so on.
• Example 2: I sit at my desk and remain focused on my one project. I become bored. I then become distracted and my performance drops. Management reacts by never giving me enough work to challenge me at the edge of my skills.

The circle can gain momentum in either direction.

Fortunately we have some inspired people considering the next generation. Viktor Venson co-founded a project called No Right Brain Left Behind, which challenges the advertising industry to craft solutions that will help bring creativity back to U.S schools.

Friends of mine put together some solid thinking. The whole thing reminded me of the little secret a certain portion of our society learns at a young age that allows them to think creatively, about everything, all the time.

Here’s a good read along the same lines: Question the Situation, not the Person

Referenced:

• Game Frame, by Aaron Dignan.

Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

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