Your agency and you

Should we question loyalty

Well should we, when I ask this it's more directed In the work place.

I for one am commited to my company (not 100% but that's just experience for you) but how commited is the company to you.

How do you define a companies loyalty in you?

Some of the answers I've heard back are:

• Training
• Pay
• Promotions
• Involvement in company affairs
• Parties

All of these replies are based on selfish needs which I'm not against, infact all of these are valid needs and will benefit both sides in terms of skills and moral. But with everything going on a lot of these are only dreams, a lot of these don't even exist in 2009 due to budget freezes.

The only option that's left that we can do is to involve our selves more in the company, basically stuff that is beyond our own capacity. None of us want to lose our jobs or be in constant state of fear of losing our job. Or may be you're in the position where you want to learn more about the agency beyond your own department, either way this is a time to get into the areas you want to learn.

I for one love working on pitches and what interests me about pitching is also the process of getting new business, also doing spec work is also an interesting way of keeping your ideas flowing.

On top of this you should think about it this way, you'll have a direct hand in shaping the agency you're at, you'll get more business savvy.

Be prepared!

I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't had as much time to update the blog as I would've wanted. But if I wasn't then I probably wouldn't have had the idea to write this post in the first place.

Any way, the post is about being prepared for meetings and spending the time justifying you ideas, people in the industry will know at least one account manager/director which asks every question under the sun about your idea. This isn't a bad he/she is just covering all the bases that the client may query.

If you're not prepared to do this then go and become an artist, then you don't need to justify anything apart from to yourself.

I found that coming up with rationales for ideas is a bit of a pain on paper but in a conversational scenario it's a lot easier. Obviously a lot of us tend to choose visual or copy routes based on gut feeling but "I think it looks/sounds good" just isn't going to fly with some clients.

I think what I am getting at is look for the deeper meaning in why you came up with the idea. You know it's great now figure out why (colour, tone, target, etc.), this is what will give your accounts team the confidence to sell your idea if you can't sell it yourself.

The wonders of tilt shift photography

I don't know an awful lot about tilt shift to be honest but I know it looks cool, below is a time lapse video of the effect, thanks to GalvoGalvo for the link.

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

It's fun right? After having watched that video I looked in to how I could achieve the same type of thing but with out a tilt shift lens then low and behold I get an email with an answer.

So with out further a do, here is my photoshop attempt at tilt shift.

Thanks to Simone for being psychic. Click here to have a look at the guide.

Wireframes why we need them and why some of us hate them.

So here's one for all you interactive bods.

Wire frames, love them or hate them we do need them in the world of online, it gives us an idea of what content needs to be on the page at any time but what happens when this isn't the case.

Welcome to the post "When wire frames go bad!"

How do wire frames go bad? Well there are a couple of ways this could happen.

1. Account handlers take them as a layout
2. Project managers take them as a layout
3. Client takes them as a layout

To be honest any one that does in my opinion is an idiot but you can get all sorts in this industry, but bar this problem wire frames are very important they give visual references to sections of a website that functional specifications just wont give (and it's a slightly less dull.... slightly).

So for all people that are looking to go into online your creative development is just about to get a little bit more complicated.

Why?

Well as previous posts have pointed out; online has to work a lot harder. It has relies on more than just a good idea, as for this post we will see how wire frames effect the creative process.

When building most things that are online based a good idea of the content is always good, I suppose some might say that this is the interactive version of initial scamps.

So by creating a wire frame you now know roughly what type of functionality and experience you are going to get.

Pssst don't forget the first part of the post, always manage expectation and let people know it's a "wire frame/scamp".

Does online have a shorter shelf life than it's counter parts

In my view online is a bit hit and miss when it comes to shelf life, I do believe that in order for online work to have a better shelf life you need to make it work a lot harder for you.

What do I mean?

Well with and offline material you will have the users undivided attention (how ever long that may be) and it's at points where they can't really escape. With online you need to direct and entertain your user whilst not boring them, they want to see motion, they want sound and they want to be told.

Why is this the case?

This is the entertainment age we all want to see and hear something astounding, the message is clear it requires less effort for the user and to keep it fresh you need to be able the generate content.

So how does this relate back to the question. Simple. You have 20 seconds of my time, your job is to keep me interested past 20 seconds. What do you do?

How to deal with a client - For freelancers

Well it's been a quiet month for me, summers now arrived and a lot of clients are on holiday.

So that gives me time to write a bit about dealing with clients direct if you're freelancing.

As some of you are freelancing I am guessing from time to time you'll get clients approaching you directly. Well the usual courteous mannerisms are required, try to be very formal remember you're not on ground in which you can start making jokes that's not to say you shouldn't reciprocate if he does.

Insist on meeting, it's very important to put a face to the phone call for both yourself and the client, this will give the client more confidence that he's not dealing with a cowboy and also clients like to be serviced.

You should use the meeting to ask as many questions as you can about the brief or take the brief. A lot of things aren't done very well over the phone; briefing is one of them (probably a creative thing only).

Don't act like a poor man, offer your knowledge to your client, remember you're dealing with the client direct now and as such you need to need to be on side and offer him advice even if it's a 30 minute phone call. Chances are that if he likes your advice he'll give you the job any way.

Don't be optimistic with time lines, this is a big mistake I once made with the client. Dealing with the client is very different than dealing with agencies, agencies have people that are in charge of dealing with time lines clients and budgets. If you're new to the game give yourself as much time to do the work as possible, try and factor in at least a couple of days buffer just incase the client throws a curve ball at you and if you deliver a day early then the client will love you for it.

That's it for now, your next instalment on this will be either new business or servicing the client. It really depends on how I feel unless somebody comments on how they really wants to read a particular title of course.

Presenting, who should do it?

The question is presenting, who should present creative work?

There are plenty of mixed views about this scamp believes that no creative should present. Where as Yutaro (DYR) and Ivy (Dentsu) both believe that creatives should present the work.

Here's argument for presenting to the client. As a creative you are pretty much resigned to the fact the client always has to add his 2 pence worth to your creative no matter how solid you may feel it is. Presenting to the client is my way to get first hand what the client wants.

I think the reason creatives aren't allowed to present is the fear that account handlers have of us questioning or trying to get reasons for amends from the client. Perhaps it's more of a trust thing (I suppose acting like creative never wins you any points on the mature meter), but regardless of this the questions that need to be asked are still valid as it may effect the integrity of the overall creative.

There is also the arguement a client will find it hard to feed back on creative he/she doesn't like as the creative is the one presenting it. In my opinion that's bollocks, this is a business; if your client doesn't have the balls to communicate feedback properly then it would be a surprise you could get anywork done on time with all the work that get un-signed.

The polar opposite of this is that worry that the creative will not take rejection very well. This could be true in the case of juniors or graduates but lets be honest people that have been in the game for 5+ years would've been shot down by account guys, creative directers etc. If you're a sensitive creative then I would simply tell you to grow some balls and deal with it.

Simply for me I prefer to present my own work, it's more of a trust issue for me. I don't trust account handlers to present my work as they may not understand the thinking behind it, I also don't belive they will answer the correct questions to get the feedback I require.

This is not true of all account handlers but we can't all work in a business where you have a team that is 100% top grade account men in the agency (or can we?).

The final thing I would say on this matter is also 'confidence' , if you're not confident at presenting then don't, you'll only make it worse for yourself and the agency.

The client wants it red

How online advertising should be done - part 5

Part 5 - The follow through

So you've sold in your idea and now it's time to farm it out to designers and developers, so what do you do?

Be part of the process, it's more hard work I'm sure and yes I'm sure you're busy like the rest of us but lets take the point of view of the people that work around you. For everyone else it's just taking something and making it pretty.

I've been a designer and developer and it's frustrating, when all is said and done they are working to make you or the company look good so involve them, get people as excited as you are and make them work for you.

This seems like a very patronising statement but it does depend on how you look at it. You want the designers and developers to understand your idea and like how you would direct a TV ad or an animation you would work with the director and show them how you want the end user to react to your 'master piece'.

Let's be honest here a good designer will be able to make a master piece out of anything but I suppose what I am getting at is transferring the passion you have to the designer so that he/she knows what to do.

The same goes for developers, whether it is lines of code or user experience. I didn’t want to use this term but ‘any one can build a website’ but not everyone can build a website to engage a user. Developers know the latest and greatest in accessibility and user involvement on a site, describe the journey and direct them.

Well not sure what the next"How online advertising should be done" post will be. If any one would like any insight into the world of interactive leave me a comment.

Uninspired?

Today I think I'll write about one of my experiences as a creative, the topic is inspiration.

I'm sure most of you have one time or another felt this strain. When I talk about uninspired I don't mean coming up against a block where you can't come up with an idea, what I mean is when you wake up and you've lost that spark that gets you into work.

Well I have two techniques to get out of that:

• Change your job
  Chances are you're probably used to the surroundings and nothing seems like a challenge anymore.
  
  An observation I have made is that some agencies have a set style, if you've fallen into that style an you're constantly doing work for that style then your not going to be pushed, find somewhere that will push you creatively and don't be afraid to do the work you want to do, if you want to do it.
• Get involved
  Ed Morris once wrote "your not here to join the club, there isn't one" this is true but there is never any harm mingling with your colleagues. The reason for this is to grow your understanding of your industry.
  
  Learn what each department does in the process:
  
  • Accounts - Learn more about the client, alot of the time there may be something about a client (quirks, likes etc), it might be insignificant but these are the guys that'll know how far you can push the boundaries.
  • Traffic - Always the people to know, they control the work. You want the good projects? Get to know traffic
  • IT - the guys everyone curses but why? Doesn't really effect every one on a day to day basis but when trouble comes and you don't have a mac. IT could be the difference between a half arsed scamped and a beautiful mac up.
  • Accounts - they pay your wages so be nice
  • Media (if you are lucky to have one) - These guys know where prime locations are to place your ads on TV, press, poster, online well just about everywhere. Also they will know what new formats are out, utilise this knowledge and be the first to use it.

Well this is my take. If you have different ways please post them up.

How online advertising should be done - part 4

Never underestimate the importance of a good strategy, as creative's we tend to pass this responsibility over to planners or to media buyer to roll out (mediums).

DON'T.

Nobody knows your idea better than you, put the leg work into your ideas and run journeys (campaign) through your mind this will help you cover all bases.

Now this won't work for every creative director either, most see the strategy as garnish and a sign of a weak idea.

Me? Well regardless of this I would stick by this process, any one that believes that strategy is not part of the creative process is naive sure people have planners for a reason but to completely discount it in the thinking process is lazy and irresponsible.

I will post our strategy that got us second in "push the brief" on the next post.