iShift

I was planning to hold this post till sunday night when I would have blogged my departure from Mudra/ Tribal DDB.(Not that 48 hrs makes much difference:-) But since DigitalMedia already got wind here...here are the details!

Sometimes, mid-way through a job, your role starts mutating in a way which may not be to your liking! So, I decided to hang my digital boots which were getting a bit sooted(I hope there is a word like that) with analog dust.

I am joining The Futures Company as Principal Consultant. The Futures Company has been formed by the coming together of Henley Centre HeadlightVision and Yankelovich. This WPP entity is a pretty cool global trends, futures research and consultancy company. Got offices in the US, UK and India!

And am shifting base to Delhi/ Gurgaon. Will start the Delhi innings from July 1st week.

The blog stays, the rants stay...even though I may not be privy to agency insider information:-) Banking on my small group of friends inside agencies. And while I don this new hat of a consultant, I think I will remain an account planner(in spirit). The hats are quite interchangeable!

Room 16

Have been away in 43deg heat of Delhi and then the much cooler environs of Bangalore over the past two weeks...Away from the keyboard and therefore Room 16 has had to wait!

Essentially, it was a chance comment from a young friend of mine at BBH India that has led to this post. Apparently, BBH internationally has a day when John(Hegarty) and Simon (Sherwood) meet the youngsters in the agency and discuss the business, the future, trends, technology, life and more...

It's the day when grey hair learns from young grey matter. In fact at RMG(David) Josy, Kumar and I regularly used to interact with young students(mostly from Xaviers) and used to discuss new business pitches, difficult campaigns and other stuff...

All of 'us' learnt a lot from 'them'. I remember using our David play-school to crack the Flying Machine and Excalibur campaigns and even a couple of new business pitches.

At the rate at which technology is changing and stuff is happening around us, it now pays even more to learn from the 21 and the 16 year olds. And therefore Room 16 or 21 is a must for the Rooms 36, 46 and 56...

So what are the thumb rules for interacting with Room 16/21.

1. Experience needs to learn a lot from curiosity and play. Today the flow of knowledge between experience and the inexperienced can almost be the same. Agencies can learn a lot from a formal Room 16 day! Unfortunately the sr. management at many agencies at most times is insulated from the Room 16/21 guys!

2. It's okay for Room 36/46/56 to admit "I don't know!" Can you teach me? At work I continue to learn a lot from junior planners and young students. Young bloggers and designers. Often they are more connected. They come across more 'cool stuff'. They are invariably closer to the 'edge', the stuff at the periphery!!

3. Access to Room 16 is not restricted to a room. Even if one is running a very small agency, today one can connect with Room 16 virtually. Room 16 is available on gmail, fb, linkedin...It just needs an honest ear and some patience...

4. Room 16 Yellow pages. The folks in HR must have a sort of yellow pages for the diverse and invaluable talent of the Room 16 to 21 guys. Imagine the gains that the company can make if it taps into this for client projects and more. And believe me it is not a very costly affair to manage this! But of course it costs a lot of time and precious attention.

5. Room 16 are digital natives. This fact alone makes interacting with them a big plus for Room 36 and beyond. In fact recently I got sound advice from Room 6( my son Neo) who proudly stated that - "Papa ko toh computer game khelne ke liye kitaab padhna padta hai, lekin humko toh khelne se hi pata chal jaata hai!!"

While I was putting this post, read this article by Rishad Tobacowala in Brand Equity today. Do read it here if you haven't already!

Rishad makes a couple of very important points.(Putting him almost at the top of my growing interview list)
(a) (the Room 16/21 guys)are highly energetic, motivated, and driven individuals who are creative, accountable and hungry to learn and they have very high standards they hold themselves to.

They want the answer to three questions on any assignment.
Q1. What are we hoping to achieve?

Q2. Is there a better or cheaper way to get the same outcome?

And Q3. How can results, outcomes and they themselves get better? Answering these with a) because we have always done it this way, or b) we cannot do it that way because that is too much work and will change our business or c) the boss says so, are not considered answers worth considering.

(b) Provide access to information and tools.The Room 16/21 guys can access information and opinion with one click on their web browser or phone in their personal lives and they expect this open access to information and empowering tools at work. Anything that slows down or anyone that hoards is resented while those that provide access are celebrated.

(c) Run the workplace in some ways as a model University. There is a reason that more and more companies call their physical locations “campuses”.

This is because in many ways an ideal workplace for the Room 16 generation represents a continuation of their University days. It is a place for them to continue to learn, to contribute and to grow. And like any great University they want access to superb facilities, good mentors and teachers and strong fellow students.

In school the end result may have been grades, passing examinations, dissertations and learning. While at work it is revenue, profits, new products, patents and more. They want an environment that is challenging but also one where they can challenge the status quo.

The Room 16 generation thinks differently, behaves differently and has already started to demand big changes in the way society, business and individuals interact. Is your company/ agency prepared for the Room 16 generation? Is mine:-)

How many 16 year olds do you know/ understand? How many do I know/ understand!!!

Kuch Aur ZooZoo...

My friend Reshma sent me these making of the ZooZoo pix and Shubho wrote a note on the Zoozoos on fb which triggered some more zoozoo-istic thots!

- Conversations once started have a life of their own. You can't CONTROL them anymore...You can only(maybe) guide their course. You can't own the beta tape of the conversation. Nobody can...

- The more content you give-away, the more they get used, recycled/ threaded back/ enmeshed into the conversation. Here we need to think like Bollywood. The trivia around the actors/ stars, the shooting, the making of the ZooZoo DVD all become a part of the conversation.

- But why the hell would a brand(in this case Vodafone) with stuff to sell and a life beyond this one campaign to be lived invest so much thought into sth which would have a short shelf life in the larger scheme of things?

- Maybe in this converged increasingly digital-at-the-upper-crust era, there is space for small ancillary companies that can make a living out of fanning the branded conversations - the T shirt makers, the zoozoo-sodes guys, the zoozoo-phics(graphics maker), the zoozoo short films, the zoozoo games/ widgets.
It's like the ipod and it's eco-system...

- What we are witnessing is a mass ripple of adulation. Not so much for the brand but for the cute quotient of these funny characters, which can be digitally aggregated at digital hang-outs like facebook, youtube, etc. We now need companies and smart people to make use of this hanging out.

- What's the paid-for-coffee in the zoozoo barista? What's the top-up:-)

Next post - Room 16!

Sorry, Not Much Fizz!!

Read the write-up on Appy Vs. Grappo Fizz at afaqs...

Quite like the on-air TVC, the digital effort is trying a bit too hard to be cool. You can check the site here at appyvsgrappo.com! (BTW, my friend Russell tells me it should have been Grappy and not Grappo; somewhere the sound of Grappo is not quite right and I agree with him)

I find it has a done-in48hrs-to-add-onto-mere-pass-bhi-digital-hai kind of feel! Creating engaging digital content requires far greater thought and craft skills...Or perhaps I am a bit too harsh on the effort.

While on the subject, stumbled upon this raging debate on the BBH Labs site - Why isn’t there more great work in the interactive space? and a response post by Tim Malbon - How to be Better at Digital or Interactive or New Media or WhateverTF it's called here...

New Heads for New Hats

Read this post on New Roles in Advertising at Scott Goodson's blog...Am reproducing the 'new heads' with a few comments of mine...

Digital Presence Strategist
This person is a hybrid web strategist with curiosity about new technologies and a familiarity with mobility applications. This is not a media strategist or a technologist.

I have played this role to some extent at Tribal. But then again, a lot more can be done. A lot more conversations need to happen between the agencies and the technology companies. The tech companies are ready and raring to go, the agencies are sadly not...

Let me add the hat of Synthesizer to the list- Last Sunday, was having a chat with my friend Josy(Paul) over breakfast and I did share with him this need for a synthesizer. This guy, has to be a creative strategist who has this ability to both look at things from a helicopter view and also should be able to handle the micro details. But most importantly, he can synthesize the brand idea, the social/ cultural environment and the available new technology to create impactful communication and to engage people. Synthesis skills perhaps need to replace/ augment the traditional planning skills.

Idearator
This is an idea generator who has a legacy in the digital space but is broad enough to come up with ideas that live in all media. This person must play across many disciplines. This role will become increasingly important because the emphasis, the value, and the fundamental business model for agencies has shifted away from a focus predominantly on execution to a focus on ideas.

The way I look at things the art-copy team of the past will gradually get replaced by the Idearator-Synthesizer duo in the future facing agencies!! Of course, in India it's still conceptual. The creative fiefdoms at legacy agencies(and we have mostly those) will stomp the idea in the womb.

Partnership Director
Partnering with ‘best-in-class’ individuals and firms is what enables agencies like StrawberryFrog to leapfrog the traditional legacy corporate agencies. This person’s role is to continuously manage the agency’s partnerships and be able to draw on the world’s best talent, tailored to a client’s specific needs. While all agencies work with outsourced talent in some shape of form (some more openly and overtly than others who hide this fact), this is now becoming a mainstream way of working in the evolving media revolution.

I had written about 'the networking quotient' of employees here. I totally agree with Scott, just like great product/ brand ideas like the ipod evolve an eco-system of ancillary companies, ideas around itself - accessories, itunes, docking stations even massage chairs with ipod holders!! The partnership director must focus on evolving an eco-system of small and big ideas/ products/ marketing around the starting idea.

Social media-whatever
But anyone with any expertise in social media has been important for some time now, and this area of expertise will only keep growing.

I think generally the guys who can translate any piece of communication into conversation will be invaluable.

I was having lunch with Madhu Mantena, the producer of Ghajini, sometime back. And he mentioned that once the movie was ready, he and his team looked at creating a 100 conversation points for the content. And lo we had a 250cr block-buster. Maybe, folks from Bollywood, the avant-garde PR guys and people with large personal and professional networks could be tapped for this role.

Thanks Scott, once again you got me thinking...