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1. Old media vs. new media...and then some

   Hi Simon – thanks for the comment! Yes, I’ve spoken about quantifying emotions with many people, and here at Made by Many we speak about it regularly internally as well. I think there is serious potential for an algorithm that serves up quality tailored content – it’s going to be several levels better than Twitter. But I doubt it will be perfect, and it certainly won’t quantify emotions as well as we’d want it to. But unless someone tries, we won’t know. So I’m waiting, fingers crossed!

   February 1st, 2010 at 9:42 am

2. Wizards and haptic gestures

   If there was a ‘like’ button I would have ‘liked’ this post immediately. Here’s another nice opinion: http://www.theawl.com/2010/01/barack-obama-is-your-new-ipad

   You’re absolutely right when you say that it is meant for consumers of information rather than creators. They’ve targeted a niche consumer segment, and done it very well. Higgis actually mentioned this a couple of days ago: it’s for people like my mum who do some surfing, some emailing, some booking of train and plane tickets and that’s about it. Of course the iPad can do much more but you get what I mean.

   January 28th, 2010 at 1:59 pm

3. Awww... we were so analogue back then!

   Do you mean a 15-month old knows how to operate an iPod? Jeez!!!

   Thanks for sharing your lovely personal anecdotes. Very enjoyable read!

   January 20th, 2010 at 5:28 pm

4. It’s all about emotions, silly

   What a lovely, detailed comment Sara, thank you.

   I absolutely do believe that geolocational elements will be big next year. Foursquare is good but maybe people are looking for something bigger. You’re right about people wanting to know about ‘people near me’. I’m not quite sure what that geolocational app is that will do the trick like Facebook has done for social networks, but it’s got to be out there somewhere, and I think it will surface sooner rather than later.

   I don’t know about others but winter certainly brings out the feeling of wanting to associate myself with others more, in me – family and friends especially. So something that makes me see that others are experiencing snow, just the way I am – there’s something that speaks to our human instincts there. Let it snow indeed!

   December 17th, 2009 at 11:56 am

5. Personal Platforms and the Future Of Communication

   So I guess Nokia sanctions illicit affairs then. We have to come up with a better personal platform. Unless people don’t have a problem with it – who knows…….

   December 11th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

6. Branded food disasters

   some people LIKE the weird stuff. i remember we had vodka that was infused with scorpion at one office social. to some parts of the world, eating zebra and ostrich is weird as well.

   what about the legendary fried mars bars and fried pizza from scotland (which i have heard much of but never seen, not even on my last visit there a month ago!!)

   December 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

7. Personal Platforms and the Future Of Communication

   No the way I saw it they’re in a relationship. Committed – or at least I think so!!!

   December 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

8. Bookshops are not dead. Long may it remain so.

   Must now get myself copies of The Unfortunates and Alberto Angelo just for the playfulness of the objects. And the Daunt Books’ staff member knowing all that about the LRB and Folio Club write-ups: mindblowingly impressive, and a commitment to the trade one wouldn’t expect to see nowadays.

   On behalf of us readers: nice one, mate.

   November 25th, 2009 at 4:49 pm

9. Measuring

   Thanks Dani! Very well-put: adopting previously accepted measures of success does not work for forms of communication that are different. Everything has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis in my opinion :)

   November 25th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

10. Measuring

    Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. As you said, the problem is indeed deciding what is important and going after that. Having said that, I think those criteria will differ for every organisation, so trying to find an answer to this is like chasing one’s own tail. Value is definitely more important that volume, hopefully that will be the general direction that everyone will soon start to move in.

    November 25th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

11. Tear down this wall! Crowdsourcing comes of age

    @Mike that’s the thing – the companies behind top secret product development guard their IP rights very very closely, and if they leak out it could make a difference of millions of pounds, as you rightly said first. i met an FMCG company recently who were completely against being open because product development sometimes happen so slowly that any leakage during development could mean that years of research have to be stopped due to someone else getting to market first. i don’t think this mindset is easy to change. NDAs and incentives will NOT work for behemoth places, period. i think this idea is worthy of a blog post of its own!! because as Sara’s post says, they should make the process more transparent.

    November 18th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

12. Brand fiction and the case of Mad Men

    Thanks for your comment, Giulia. I think SOME digital natives (not all), do in fact understand how technology is breaking new barriers. There are of course those who focus on using the technology with scant attention to how it is changing behavioural patterns, but the former breed do exist and I like to think that I am one of them. Maybe you are too. It is definitely easier to create narratives around a product that is based on characters like Mad Men, but that’s why it should be immensely satisfying if someone can pull it off successfully for a brand without that advantage. I’ll wait with bated breath!

    October 29th, 2009 at 11:30 am

13. Brand fiction and the case of Mad Men

    Hi Leo – the Art of the Heist is an interesting example indeed, thanks for bringing it up. And you’ve summarised the preconditions very well. I think it doesn’t really matter where it is done – digital/traditional agency or a place like the Brand Fiction Factory – what is important is that these ideas come to life and thrive. It’s what excites me about working in this industry (broadly) – seeing so many new ideas (with some crap ones, but let’s dwell on the positive) come to life. A brand like Nike which has a fandom arguably, as you say, or Apple, would probably lend themselves to this smoothly – but I somehow feel that it could even work for a smaller unknown brand, because they can build the fandom from scratch, just like Mad Men did. Thanks for the comment!

    October 29th, 2009 at 11:26 am

14. Death to the banner ad, long live brand stories

    One of the biggest drivers for this post is the fact that I haven’t seen any banner stories, ever. If you could point me in the direction of one, I’d be very interested to take a look :) I don’t think a banner is the right platform for a story, in general, which is perhaps why none have been done?

    October 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am

15. Death to the banner ad, long live brand stories

    Thanks for your comment Nick – completely agree. Has to be relevant.

    October 27th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

16. Death to the banner ad, long live brand stories

    OK saw it, thanks.

    I don’t deny that it is important to make money (and I like your example of the chuggers on the street) – but the question then is does creativity have a place in the whole ’social’ makeup of things? Do you like being approached by the chuggers? I doubt it. Similarly I don’t like banner ads. I’m much more inclined to notice something that speaks TO me rather than AT me. And that’s a choice brands need to make – or perhaps a happy medium of sorts.

    October 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

17. Death to the banner ad, long live brand stories

    Hi Mike – couldn’t see an actual example of the ad, though I found multiple press releases, so I’m not sure how effective it is. I know there are SOME ads that are creative, and in the case of a nonprofit like UNICEF it is likely to evoke some emotion and hence possibly response, but it is unlikely even then that it will have a long-standing impact. Banner ads are one-offs, and in terms of truly engaging the reader, their reach is very limited.

    October 27th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

18. We love you Spotify, but wouldn't it be great if...

    Brilliant post. I especially like the ‘how are you feeling’ bit. The ‘discover other artists’ bit is a lot like Pandora but it’s one of the bits about that service (which is not accessible in the UK anyway) that I used to like best.

    If only I knew Spotify were listening. We should do this for more services!!

    September 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am

19. The future of the social web

    Hijack? hardly. It isn’t saying other people’s content is their own, it just makes it available for others to see. You do need to install the Google toolbar but if I use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader & Google Calendar anyway it’s not a big deal for me :-) Who knows – it may take off or it may sink, like any other product.

    September 28th, 2009 at 1:45 pm

20. Engagement vs. measurement

    Mike – I’m still unsure about what exactly is the best measure of engagement, certainly not, as you say, cocking about on a website for a bit longer than usual. But increasingly i feel most measures of engagement are likely to be better than measuring the number of hits on a site. Re: questionnaires, I seriously doubt how many people actually have the patience to fill them in – I do myself, when I’ve had a particularly good experience with a website or brand – but I can honestly say that 80% of those questionnaires go straight to the trash bin or if it’s on a site (’fill in our survey and be entered into a prize draw’), i just close the window.

    Rick – 100% with you on working on what the return to the consumer is. The days of the selfish brand (’what’s in it for me’) are over.

    Jared – Thanks! Yup, I don’t want to see a sock-brand on Twitter either and am increasingly getting tired of seeing irrelevant brands pop up on Twitter and Facebook. What you said about not all brand needing to be online is true – in the rush to jump on the bandwagon, people sometimes forget to think whether another mode of transport may be much better suited instead. :)

    Pats – great point. This is something that agencies & brands need to think about before saying ‘this is a great idea, let’s do it’. I think targeting consumer behaviour is key to a project, rather than saying ‘if my site gets 100,000 hits I consider it a success’. There’s some fodder here for constructing a new model altogether. Must explore that!

    September 28th, 2009 at 11:06 am