I can be kind of a dork, where in my spare time I like to read business strategy books and view marketing/advertising sites. This post is about some of the interesting things I've come across in my latest readings and web surfing.

First off, I'm intrigued by what industries are doing, consumer behavior and business trends. One of the best sources of information on this topic is Trendhunter.com. They are great at making quick, entertaining and educational videos. Here's one on the Top 20 Trends in 2010:

Another couple of sites I like to visit regularly are Cool Hunting and The Cool Hunter. Both are similar in content and do a great job stimulating my mind. They both follow trends in design, art, architecture, furniture, travel, music, gadgets, fashion, ads, bars, food and events. If you're into those things, you'll want to bookmark these sites. Here's a couple shots of what you'd find there.

Check out this hotel, the top floor looks similar to a cruise ship.

I'm a big fan of digital media and utilizing it as a marketing tool. I'm constantly trying to find the latest information on the subject. I believe the most successful companies in the future will have a mastery of marketing with digital media (I know, huge revelation huh). Flash in the Can put out this video to promote their upcoming technology + art + advertising event called, "The Last Advertising Agency on Earth." The film asks what will the future of advertising look like? The answer depends on whether or not traditional advertising agencies truly embrace the power of digital to reach consumers and build brands in new, exciting ways.

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.

It's super wide format, so best viewed on vimeo or click on the video link in the paragraph above. My blog is kind of skinny for embedding vid's.

Another one of my monthly web visits is to the Razorfish site called "The Feed." I think it's mostly written by an employee named Garrick Schmitt. At least he's the only person who seems to post anything. Razorfish is an agency in Seattle that specializes in the digital arena. The other thing I think is cool is that you can embed a Keynote or Powerpoint presentation. Man I wished I had utilized this functionality in my past work. Check out this first presentation, "The 2009 Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report."

When a lot of people think about digital media, they just think about online and forget about mobile. Mobile phones or devices, or more accurately smart phones, are an ever increasing communication vehicle to reach the masses. It's still evolving, but there's no debating the value of creating a good mobile application if their are enough users. Here is another presentation by Garrick Schmitt on whether "App-vertising Is The Answer."

I was recently cruising around Barnes & Noble in the business section and found a bunch of new reading material. The first you should check out is Futuretainment by Mike Walsh. Have you ever had a strategy or vision that you've thought about and put down on paper? Well, after doing the Nimbus business plan I found this book, which pretty much touched on the Nimbus business plan. Reading it just reinforced my theory. If you are interested in the future of media, be sure to click on the books website and order a copy. It's an easy read with pretty cool layout.

I actually stocked up at Barnes & Noble. I also bought: "The Art of Client Service", by Robert Solomon; the classic, "Marketing Warfare" by Al Ries and Jack Trout; "Ogilvy On Advertising," and "Ad Land" by Mark Tungate. I also got the magazines "Archive" and "CMYK." Lastly, I ordered a book online called "How to Get the Advertising Job You Want" by Dave Hollaway. For inspirational purposes, I'm reading "The Alchemist" for about the 10th time. Love that book. Hmm, there was a lot of punctuation in that paragraph that I'm not sure if I got right...

Another oddity of mine is that I like to read like I eat. I enjoy mixing up the material. It's kind of like changing channels on the TV. I read a couple chapters of one book, then I grab another and read a couple more chapters before I go back to the first one. I'll read up to four books at one time. Is that weird?

Besides what I bought at Barnes & Noble and my online viewing habits, I have subscriptions to: Newsweek, Dwell, Wired, Details, Esquire, Entrepreneur, Inc., and I like to skim the Seattle Times every morning. I also get a bunch of wintersports mags as promo, but I don't read them much, just The Ski Journal. Anyway, this is the info I've been consuming in my spare time. I think it's all real interesting stuff, but then again, I am kind of a dork.

Posted by Gary at 12:08 AM | Permalink

Have you ever been driving south on I-99 and as you come into downtown Seattle, wondered what the building on the left with the big SVC sign was? I did, but just recently found out it's a school for graphic design, web design, ad art direction and copywriting. It's called the School of Visual Concepts. After checking the school out online, I decided to take a couple courses. They have ten, five and one day classes available. What drew me in is that it's taught by people who are actively working in advertising and design, not regular full-time professors.

I just finished my first course, called Project Management for Design, which was taught by Matt Diefenbach of Turnstyle. Matt was a cool dude, both very knowledgeable and personable. Proving once again that it's a small world, upon chatting we discovered we had mutual friends. His presentation included a lot of work from Turnstyle, which seems like a great up and coming firm. Afterward I checked out their website and really love their design aesthetic/style.

The following are topics Matt covered:

> Writing great scope-of-work documents for design and advertising projects
> Getting buy-ins from project sponsors
> Writing creative briefs that are actually useful for designers and writers
> Setting up communication expectations for clients and co-workers
> Maintaining production schedules
> Successful client and team meetings
> Building relationships that lead to satisfied clients and more buisness

An interesting component was class participation and interaction. We had case studies where we worked in groups and shared our thoughts. I enjoyed the group activities, but in retrospect realize the quality of the course somewhat depends on the skill level of students in attendance. We had a good group that ranged from people working at agencies or internal creative and marketing teams at manufacturers.

Another highlight was finding out about Onehub.com. Be sure to check it out when you have time. It's a great alternative to using an FTP site to share files. I wish I would have used something like it with Nimbus. I could have just uploaded the webisode communication tools: banner ads, imagery, editorial, videos, link graphics, etc to Onehub.com and provided all the media and sponsors with their own login info. Would have saved me so much time. There are a lot of similar applications out there like Basecamp, but I really like the Onehub UI. Will be using it in the future.

Now that I've found my first course beneficial, it's time to sign up for more. Next will be Design and Build HTML Emails and Brand Strategy for Creatives. Eventually I may step up from one day classes to multiple, maybe some Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign stuff. I know the basics but am self taught and would love to be better. In another life I could be a graphic designer. Overall, I would highly recommend SVC. Maybe I'll see you there...

Posted by Gary at 2:47 PM | Permalink

Have you seen the videos on Vimeo? Wow. I was just creating an account and uploading a bunch of videos for my portfolio, when I started having a look around. I could spend hours watching their content. Made me question if what I was uploading was worthy. I would compare MySpace to Facebook and YouTube to Vimeo. Vimeo is just such higher quality.

So this first video I'm embedding caught my eye because a lot of advertising right now is using the same effect. Where you shoot imagery so that it appears miniature. This is one of the coolest time lapses, shot in Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York. Be sure to go full-screen, it's that much better. This is called The Sandpit.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

This next video is for us nature lovers. It's an amazing film shot from May to November of 2009 in this guys fathers garden. Have some patience and watch the entire thing, as it builds throughout. Also be sure to go full-screen, it really does improve the viewing experience. Enjoy this film called My Fathers Garden.

My Father's Garden from Mirko Faienza on Vimeo.

I found one more video I have to share with you. Remember the band OK Go? They did that viral YouTube music video on treadmills. Well, whether you like their music or not, you have to give it to them for their creativity. Apparently they had some sort of blockage from their record label, EMI, that wouldn't allow them to post the video on more sites than google. Some sort of profit sharing deal. Then State Farm came in and sponsored the video so the rest of the world could see it. State Farm really picked a good one. Check it out!

Posted by Gary at 4:06 PM | Permalink