Social Nerdia » creativity

Empire Avenue CEO Dups talks about The Game Layer, Influence, Network Value and Foursquare

Esteban Contreras — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:07:51 +0000

The “Social Media Exchange” Empire Avenue has been getting a lot of buzz. While I heard about the site last year, people like Jeremiah Owyang, Peter Kim, Scott Monty, Robert Scoble, Caleb Storkey and David Armano have written very interesting thoughts in the past week or so, and the community seems to be thriving like never before.

I was going to write a few fun Empire Avenue predictions (e.g. A “Buy” button that’s like the Facebook “like” button), but instead I decided to ask CEO Duleepa Wijayawardhana (aka Dups) a few questions about the past, present and future of his company. I think you’ll find his answers, including a hint about Foursquare as the next network to be integrated, very interesting!

Follow @dups and make sure to add some “DUPS” and “ESTEBAN” shares to your social portfolio.

1. What do you think about Seth Priebatsch’s prediction about the next decade being the decade of games and the “Game Layer?”

To be honest, I happen to believe that most of what we do in real life reflects the human mind’s love affair with what we call games. In fact, in most cases a game takes aspects of what we do in life, things we can understand, and place finite scores, missions, obstacles and rewards into it and then allow us to “play” it.

What I will agree with is the notion that this decade will be the decade that the mainstream understands the use of games and gaming layers in more than just building crops and shooting enemies. I do believe we are seeing the start of a generation that has grown up with computer games and can see that games can actually teach us about Real Life and, indeed, ourselves and how we affect our environment. It’struly an exciting time in my opinion.

2. There have been a few applications/sites that simulate investing in people, websites and organizations. What do you think is the one thing that positions Empire Avenue for success?

We studied almost every single one of them :). What we realized almost immediately is that stock market sites are based on current stock market models, which, I hate to say, are complex and almost incomprehensible beasts. With Empire Avenue, we actually went backward in time to a simpler market system. We have a system of “Market Makers,” who are algorithmic”people” who analyse your content and engagement, and create share prices every night. People add to or subtract from that share price by buying and selling. In effect we have created a very simple BUY/SELL/Earnings system which is not at all a real stock market — something that has many more Bids and Asks and so on. We admit, it does take a little while to “get it,” but if you start with Buy and Sell and watch your money grow, the game mechanics should lead you in the right direction. We also have a long way to make the whole thing simpler and easier. The one thing that puts us ahead, in my mind, is our team and our community. The team is dedicated, the community equally so, and they have helped us move the site to what it has become.

3. The fact that Empire Avenue helps us measure and create influence has been getting a lot of attention recently. How does the system measure one’s influence?

We don’t like to use the word “influence” any more. Each of our Network Scores really gives you an idea of your “Network Value,” and we’ll expand on the stats that give you an understanding of your network use. (By “Network” I mean, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc.). The difference between an algorithmic score and the share price is that the share price takes all your scores and then adds the Buy/Sell mechanic to it, which does indicatesome element of reputation. Naturally, in early days people will buy for games and profit, but the same happens in real life; the difference is thatthat initial buy might lead to a valuable connection.

4. What are the benefits for a brand to join Empire Avenue, and more importantly, are there any risks?

The risks are as with any use of social media by anyone, regardless of whether you’re a brand or otherwise. If you are perceived as having done something bad, you could see a backlash against you. This is nothing new and is certainly one risk. The advantage is, in my mind, two-fold:

a. Depending on your ability to engage with users on Empire Avenue, you might just want to connect and use Empire Avenue to value your network interaction. This one is *easy* and requires little to no effort. In this way Empire Avenue can be seen as a training game for a business within social media. We are, after all, a “meta” social network, which connects to multiple networks including our own.

b. You can engage with users by buying and selling, using our search to find people who could be valuable to your brand (not necessarily the most popular, but the most engaged with your product or interest). For example, a search for Samsung: http://www.empireavenue.com/search/#users/samsung . This opens up a world of possibilities: we could create custom Luxury Items forpurchase and sharing with people, so that your brand name can spread; and certainly you get to speak to your Shareholders. The Shareholding concept is also one you can expand on, by rewarding those users who remain shareholders and more. The potential use of Empire Avenue for a brand, as with any individual, is endless.

5. How did your role at MySQL/Sun help you start EmpireAvenue?

Both my roles at MySQL/Sun and BioWare were essential in starting EmpireAvenue. The experience of building out sites for gamers in the millions is obviously an asset, and working at MySQL interfacing with those that produce the world’s biggest websites – from Google to Facebook – was also something I valued greatly.

However, in truth, the biggest help was in working with all the talented and wonderful people that make up our small, dedicated and incredibly passionate team. Without the team, we would not be here.

6. It seems like Empire Avenue depends on advertising and partnerships to provide “Eaves” for users. How have people responded to this business model?

At the moment, we’re earning revenue from the sale of virtual goods –Luxury Items and Eaves themselves — which is something that a lot of other social startups aren’t able to capitalize upon. So far the “freemium” model has paid off quite well for us, and we have other models we’ll roll out in the future.

7. Do you plan on adding other services to Empire Avenue (i.e. Foursquare, Gowalla, SCVNGR, Color)?

Absolutely. Our immediate goal is to simplify the interface some more, but we built a scalable algorithmic system to support any network or service given a certain number of inputs and parameters. Basically we can implement any network, with specific values assigned to various actions. Our next network is most likely going to be Foursquare, but it’s ultimately driven by what our users are asking for.

8. Will we be able to add multiple accounts in the future (e.g. I use both @SocialNerdia and @SamsungEsteban on Twitter)?

For now we haven’t offered that option, simply because of the complexity of the interface, both for managing but also understanding and connecting. Start simple, complicate life later :) We are now in the market to raise financing for our next round, and with that in hand we’ll be able to growthe product as planned and pursue future opportunities.

Bonus question: Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Believe in what you build, dream big, don’t give up, get a great team and founders around you, and be passionate. Life is short, so do exactly what you want to do, do it well, and do it with humility and respect for everyone else.

However, most importantly, don’t be afraid of failure; we all fail, but it’s a matter of how you get up when you get knocked down!

Storify Co-Founder Burt Herman talks about Stories, Curation and Facebook

Esteban Contreras — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 05:22:52 +0000

Burt Herman is a co-founder of real-time curation service Storify. I first heard about Storify on this Scobleizer post, and I’ve tested it for Samsung USA at SXSW and for myself at M2C (you can see an embeded example at the bottom of this post). I met with Burt at the Samsung Blogger Lounge at SXSWi and he was kind enough to answer my questions. You can follow Burt @burtherman

1. What’s the story of Storify?

Storify is founded by Burt Herman, a former Associated Press bureau chief and correspondent, and Xavier Damman, a Belgian engineer who was publisher of a crowdsourced student magazine. Both share a passion for media and technology, and about how to reinvent online publishing to embrace the social Web. They met early last year and joined together to launch Storify in private beta in September 2010. Storify is about enabling storytellers to find the best of social media to tell elegant stories that resonate and enlighten. We want to empower storytellers with simple tools that help them find the media that matters amid the flood of media.

2. Journalists have always been storytellers but they haven’t always been “curators” of social content. What does social curation mean for the future of journalism?

Curation is a buzzword that represents what journalists have always done: Finding sources for information and synthesizing it into concise stories that a general audience can understand. We now have more sources than ever due to social media empowering people to create content, so journalists now have a much richer pool of information to choose from. This is an opportunity and the start of a new golden age for journalism.

3. There are some people that have been “curating” since the beginning of the web. Are you targeting such curators or do you believe Storify is for the masses?

Storify is about empowering users to easily tell stories using social media, and it can be used by anyone — journalists, bloggers, companies or just regular people. Everyone has a story to tell, from serious news like the Japan tsunami to a personal story about a wedding or child’s birthday.

4. It seems like Facebook is always adding features that were pioneered by companies like Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, Groupon, and Disqus. Are you concerned about Facebook or other giants adding features similar to Storify’s?

We are at the intersection of other social networks and are agnostic about the sources for stories. We view companies like Facebook as potential partners.

5. What separates Storify from services like Curated.by and Keepstream?

We are about storytelling and helping our users find memorable and meaningful posts from social networks to tell stories.

6. What advice would you give to future tech startup CEOs?

Follow your passion!

NOTE: Below is an embedded Storify story made up of tweets about M2C.

Badgeville CEO Kris Duggan on Loyalty, Game Mechanics, and Launching at TechCrunch Disrupt

Esteban Contreras — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:04:12 +0000

Kris Duggan is the CEO of Badgeville, a social rewards and analytics platform. The company was officially announced at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt event, where it won the “Audience Choice Award.”

1. What’s the story of Badgeville and what’s your vision for the company?

We make it possible for any web or mobile publisher to reward users for behaviors that align with business metrics — site visits, pages read, photos uploaded, comments posted, links shared, and more. From the very beginning we wanted to design a clean API and turnkey widgets that could track and reward any behavior that occurs on a web or mobile site. We always wanted to include elements of game mechanics, but didn’t want to just add a game layer on top of a website. Instead, we see our offering as an interactive and real-time loyalty program.

Our vision for the company, which is largely a reality right now, is to partner with customers across many different verticals (publishing, travel, education, health/fitness, retail/ecommerce, and other sites with some community aspect) and continue to innovate in helping web managers increase user engagement and loyalty.

2. How would you define “engagement” on the web and why is it so important to have highly engaged audiences?

“Engagement” on the web means different things for different sites. For one site, engagement may be based on how many times a user returns to a site to shop for a product, and how long they spend on that site. For another site “engagement” might mean how many videos a user uploads to a community, or how many “liked” comments he posts. For any site, it’s imperative to have highly engaged audiences. Many quality sites obtain a certain level of traffic through SEO and other techniques to pull visitors into the site, but once they’re at the site, how do you keep them around and coming back? Adding social reward mechanisms to a site provides a quick and easy way to increase engagement in line with any web manager’s business metrics.

3. Game Mechanics (points, badges, achievements, leaderboards) have become increasingly popular. Are you taking all the different “technographics” into consideration or is Badgeville tailored for super users and advocates?

“Games” tend to have winners and losers, and this is why we don’t see Badgeville’s offerings as games. While if you really want your site to have winners and losers, you can do that with Badgeville’s highly-customizable API, for the most part, we recommend that the implementation lets all your visitors be winners. Part of the story is rewarding super users and advocates, and making them feel special as they continue to promote your brand. But another part of the story is rewarding new users and casual visitors for the actions they take on your site, and introducing them to a community of peers who are also taking these actions. In doing so, you’re more likely to convert your casual users to advocates and your first-time visitors into casual users, and so on.

4. Can you integrate with applications/systems that web sites are already working with?

One key element of the Badgeville API is that is was built to easily integrate into existing systems on the web. We work with a growing number of applications and systems that exist on the web already. We are fully integrated with Facebook (“Like” buttons, shares, friends, etc) and can be easily integrated into any commenting system.

5. Who are some of your current customers/partners and how are their implementations unique?

Some of current customers include Philly.com, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Comcast Sports Group, Buzz Media, SlideShare, Social Media Today and many others. We also have customers in the education and shopping spaces that we are not able to reveal quite yet. As far as the implementations go, we start by asking every customer what business metrics they want to increase. Of course, most of the sites want to increase visits, time on site, and page views, but that is where the similarities end. For our traditional publishing customers, our system is flexible enough to hook into their existing comment systems. Our shopping customers reward users for leaving reviews instead of “comments,” while our education customers reward users for completing a quiz. We designed Badgeville to be extremely flexible so the web manager can track any behavior or series of behaviors on a site and reward these behaviors in real time.

6. What are some of the initial results they are starting to see?

Our current live implementations of Badgeville are fast showing increasing engagement on our customer sites. For example, The Next Web is extremely happy with the use of Badgeville in their community. They have heard from many of their users that the rewards and light competition to be of the most loyal readers has increased retention and time between return visits. They also, of course, have data to support these qualitative results with the engagement analytics engine we provide as part of the Badgeville package.

7. What’s the process/relationship, from integration to design and reporting, once a company signs up with you?

We offer a few different packages with varying levels of support. For our large customers, we team up to understand their business metrics and design a system to integrate with their sites. For our current customers with the highest level of support, we start with business metrics and discuss what the top 3-5 business metrics are that the company wants to increase. Then we talk through the number of users on the site, and how many times each behavior must occur in order to merit a reward. Each behavior can also reward one point or more and points, when added up, move a user to a new status level. All of these elements are customizable, and we work with each customer to discover what factors will increase engagement aligned with business metrics. Once this is all decided, we build custom widgets and help the customer integrate the product into their sites. Badgeville also offers a package with API access only, and in this package we provide best practices and additional levels of support to make sure the implementation is easy and successful on any web or mobile site.

8. You received a lot of positive buzz during TechCrunch Disrupt. How would you describe the experience there?

TechCrunch was incredible. When we first came up with the idea for Badgeville, it felt like something that the market would support. As we started talking to customers, we knew it was. But launching any product can be a bit nerve wracking, especially when you are doing it in front of the renowned judges at the event. Making it to the top seven finalists and winning the Audience Choice award, along with many really positive comments from the judging panel of renowned investors and top tech experts, was an incredible way to launch the company.

9. What’s coming up next for Badgeville?

We’re very busy working with our new customers to get their sites up and running with Badgeville’s white label social rewards platform. Our customers Philly.com, Comcast Sports Group, SlideShare, TechCrunch, and many others will go live in Q4 ’10 or Q1 ’11. We’re also continuing to explore implementing Badgeville with website and mobile app owners across many verticals, including travel, education, shopping, and more. Of course in talking to various companies we learn a lot and continue to add features to our product and API offering. We’ll have some more customer announcements soon!

Guide to Samsung Galaxy Tab Initial Web Reactions and First TV Commercial

Esteban Contreras — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:56:39 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Tab was unveiled today at IFA in Berlin. As Samsung USA‘s Social Media Manager, I’m a bit biased about all things Samsung (and Android in general), but I’ve seen the Galaxy Tab myself and it is truly an impressive device. I’ll keep sharing my thoughts on Twitter @SamsungEsteban & @SocialNerdia, but here are links to initial reactions from around the web so you read some previews/reviews and watch some videos/photos.

Stay tuned to @SamsungTweets and facebook.com/samsungusa for the latest news about the Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

Disclaimer: While I am employed by Samsung, the views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Samsung.

SXSW 2011: How to get a Job Using Social Media and Samsung’s Social Media Journey Towards Customer-Centricity

Esteban Contreras — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:01:22 +0000

I’ve often said that if I could live in “SXSW Land,” I would.
I’m only joking when I say that, but where else in the world can you find such a cool gathering of people creating and changing the future of music, film, and all things interactive?

That’s why I’ve put together two SXSW Interactive panel proposals for 2011 that I believe people will find interesting and valuable:

1. Samsung’s Social Media Journey Towards Customer-Centricity with Cosmin Ghiurau @cosguru

2. How To Get A Job Using Social Media with Sarah Austin @pop17, Brandon Prebynski @Prebynski, Chris Kahle @chriskahle, Joel Cheeseman @cheezehead, myself @socialnerdia @samsungesteban, and moderator Ryan Paugh @paughginney

It would be great if you created a SXSW PanelPicker account to vote for and comment on both of them. Your votes make up 30% of the decision. SXSW has already told me that they like both topics so your votes are extremely valuable.

To help us spread the word, click here to retweet on Twitter and click here to share on Facebook.

While I created this blog as a creative exploration of the convergence of tech, marketing, and social media, I also had two secondary goals in mind: To speak at SXSW Interactive in 2010 and to work full-time in social media within one year. Speaking at SXSW Interactive earlier this year was a great experience and Social Nerdia was definitely the platform that enabled me to join Samsung USA as Social Media Manager. I’ m very grateful for the many opportunities that have come from this tiny spec of Internet data called Social Nerdia. Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope to see you at South By next year.

Metaio’s Lisa Murphy on the Latest Advancements of Augmented Reality

Esteban Contreras — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:58:37 +0000

Lisa Murphy is the Product Marketing Manager for Metaio, a company that develops software products for visual interactive solutions between the real and the virtual world.

Metaio is responsible for some of the coolest augmented reality implementations and they recently partnered with Time Out New York Kids to bring P.S.22′s famous YouTube video to your phone through mobile AR (via their Junaio browser). It’s a brave new AR world and Metaio is one of the companies leading the charge.

1) From movie posters to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, augmented reality marketing is generating a lot of buzz. However, the usage and awareness of AR is still not very high. Is buzz the ultimate goal in AR marketing today?

Buzz is definitely a goal for brands and it sometimes is the ultimate goal. But for many others, brands are looking beyond the buzz to deliver an interactive brand engagement experience or help drive sales of their products. For example, LEGO, a partner of ours, created the LEGO Digital Kiosk installation at their retail stores. The LEGO Digital Kiosk allowed shoppers to see a 3D model of the actual LEGO toy with animations and sound right on top of the product package when held to the kiosk. ( )In this execution, LEGO not only created a buzz, a great brand experience, but also sold more products as a result of the experience.

2) Time Out New York Kids and Metaio recently partnered to create a mag cover with AR using the Junaio browser, similar to Esquire’s AR cover some months ago. Now that AR is becoming a reality on print, do you think AR is going to become a trend in the print industry?

Print industry is a great fit for augmented reality. As we see a more steady push toward digital ebooks and wide consumption of articles online, publishers are looking for creative and innovative ways to engage their traditional magazine readers beyond just text in a magazine. We definitely see more publishers using augmented reality to create this mixed and interactive experience for their readers and drive more sale of the magazines on newstands. For Time Out New York Kids, having a feature cover and an editorial on PS22 definitely pointed out how talented the Chorus was, but to be able to connect the reader to a video of their performance is instant and engaging.

3) One of my favorite examples of AR is the Adidas Originals 3D Neighborhood sneakers. Where did that idea come from and how successful has it been?

The idea of creating an AR shoe that serves as a game controller for the Star Wars game came from Sid Lee Marketing Agency. They approached us with the concept and we jointly implemented the AR experience using our Unifeye software. The campaign has been very successful and generated much press coverage and buzz. I am not able to disclose any statistics regarding usage as they belong to the client. However, the campaign for the user was successful because it extended beyond just a simple AR campaign, incorporating interactions and social media features to make it engaging and fun. We have heard a lot of good feedback.

4) Apps like Tweepsaround (based on Layar) have been able to give us a hint of the integration of AR and the social web. Is Metaio doing anything in the social networking space?

Yes we are. Junaio, our augmented reality browser, has a social focus that allows users to leave “geo-tags” at locations to share with friends. For example, any user can create a “user augmented channel” and leave photos, comments, notes, or 3D objects at locations for friends to discover. Recently, I created a channel called “Lisa’s Adventures” and it’s full of my favorite places to go in the city. My friends can tune into my channel and see my recommendations just by pointing their phone. We have also embedded features such as adding friends, news to create a fun and social experience for our users.

On the channel side, Foursquare and Youtube are some of the social networking AR channels that we make available for users to discover.

5) Going back to TONY Kids, what do you think this will do for PS 22, the YouTube sensation and Webby Award-winning fifth-grade chorus from Staten Island?

When we told PS22 about the AR cover, they were very excited. Part of the reason why they were so successful was their viral YouTube videos that garnered more than 2 million hits. Using augmented reality, we were able to connect those videos to the magazine article that allowed the readers to experience the magic as they were reading. More readers are able to see their performance.

6) It seems like kids these days are born knowing how to operate computers and smartphones. What about education? Is there an area in which AR could be helpful in the classroom?

Yes! Augmented reality is making books more interactive and fun to read. We did a project with Bertlesmann in 2008 where we turned a couple of pages in their Atlas to 3D AR pages. The AR experience with visual, audio supplement allowed a reader to better understand the content of the book. Learning by watching a video or having a 3D construction of the terrains vastly improves the intake of information. Future is Wild is another example project.

7) Industrial AR is another interesting use case. Any examples of companies doing this effectively?

Yes, Peugeot, Opel, VolksWagen are some of the pioneers in factory planning and prototyping.

8) In what other ways could the world benefit from increased use of AR?

Augmented reality creates a simple interface to data and information that is available in the world. By a simple point of the phone, users can get information immediately. For example, if I am a tourist in San Francisco and looking for places to go, I can use AR to discover landmarks around me. No more searching through a map or reading a guide, you now can get instant information that is relevant and location-based.

9) We’ve gone from webcam/printout examples of AR to all kinds of AR-enabled games and mobile applications. What’s next in Augmented Reality?

The growing area is definitely on the mobile side. Everything that we have seen about AR can now be done on a smart phone.

What’s next is mobile AR games? Check out Zoombie Shooter.

Glenn Griffin & Deb Morrisson on the Creative Process and Brilliant Advertising Ideas like Old Spice Man

Esteban Contreras — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:52:57 +0000

Big ideas have been essential to advertising since it’s early beginnings, and they are often the subject of great admiration and inspiration. Many have become interested in the process of identifying big ideas, executing them, and measuring their success, but what about the process of coming up with those ideas? Where do big ideas really come from?

Glenn Griffin and Deb Morrison are the authors of “The Creative Process: Illustrated,” a fantastic book about how advertising’s big ideas are born. They are also university professors and scholars who have built great ad programs; Glenn at SMU, and Deb at UT and the University of Oregon. On the most recent “The Social Nerdia Show!” we talked about creativity, education, the brilliance of Old Spice Man, award shows, BP’s advertisements, and of course, the release of their book, which includes insights from some of the ad industry’s greatest (ie. David Kennedy himself).

Listen to this entire episode of “The Social Nerdia Show!” with Glenn and Deb on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe on iTunes, stream from your phone on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming shows LIVE on blogtalkradio.

While there has been some debate about whether education has an impact on creativity, Glenn’s research as a PHD student showed that there is ”largely a positive and significant influence.” It was as a PHD student that Deborah became Glenn’s mentor and their conversations about the source of creativity, particularly in advertising, is where the idea for the book became implanted in their minds.

The Creative Process: Illustrated

Deb told me that “process matters“ and “process is beautiful” so their book is an exploration of “how people think about thinking.”

She told me that one of the most amazing things about working on the book was seeing ”writers using no words to visualize their process and art directors describing theirs.”

Metacognition is a concept that human being leverage their own understanding of how their own brains work and advertisers are “metacognitive powerhouses,” Glenn explained to me. There is a lot of ”personalization and pride in peoples’ creative process,” he added.

Glenn: “This is a whole area that is largely missing in the scholarship in our discipline. It’s not observable. Developing this technique of visualization and drawing meaning is a really cool way of capturing process in a way that hasn’t been done before.”

Artistry, Brilliance, and Old Spice Man

I asked them if creatives in advertising were similar to artists like dancers. While there are similarities because creatives are using their minds as their tool, they explained some big difference. Deb expressed that those in advertising are “artists who always have to be cognisant of whether it will help the brand and solve a particular problem.”

Glenn said the biggest difference was “anonimity. The people in advertising are anonymous.” He gave the example of Isaiah Mustafa from the Old Spice commercials because “they’ve made him a superstar overnight.. a lot of people know that guy’s name, but nobody knows Eric Kallman and Craig Allen, the guys who write every word he says. They are artists that don’t get to sign the canvas.”

We continue talking about Old Spice’s campaign and Deb said ”I love that Old Spice is such a story. My 16 year old loves it, my husband gets it, we can all watch and say ‘yes.’ Humor can be a great tool. The Old Spice campaign is a grand slam”

Part of what made the story so big was that they decided to “talk to guys but let’s also talk to women. I know Craig and Eric, and I know, I know that they were writing and concepting that to make themselves laugh. It was just brilliant insight, and from a brilliant insight of ‘the man your man could be.’ I’m sure Craig, the art director, came up with ‘look at me, look at him,’ and Eric is thinking of ‘I am on a horse.”

The idea of the Old Spice Man commercials and the YouTube videos addressed to specific people but meant to be watched by millions is one that anyone can appreciate. But what is its long-term impact?

Deb: “This will be long-lasting and the interesting is we don’t know how long these memes will last. They’ve created something that will be a very high benchmark for that team. For the culture they’ve re-established Old Spice as one of those brand that will have to out-do itself.”

”Also, Wieden has an amazing media group. Weiden is one of those agencies where the creative has to be brilliant. Brilliant media, brilliant writing. Brilliant creative.”

Everyone Works in a Creative Field

In the book, Deb and Glenn go into how everyone has the potential to be creative and the importance in passion so I asked why not everyone worked in a creative field.

Glenn: “I think everyone does work in a creative field. We have a wrong sense about what creativity is. Every human being is creative. The problem is that the term has been wrapped up in the performing arts and that warm and fuzzy place that’s for poets and musicians. Creativity is fundamentally problem-solving and everyone of us engages in problem solving.”

“I tell my students, I don’t care what you’re passionate about, but be passionate about something because life is too short. That part of being a human being is essential.”

While, as Deb pointed out, ”our educational system forces us into looking for linear and very logical answers.. instead of a multitude of answers,” educators are starting to re-think education to enhance collaboration and creative thinking. Both Deb and Glenn agree that the art director plus copywriter team is a great example of something that is taught well in their programs and prepares them for real world collaboration and ideation.

Deb: “Collaboration is a must. A good advertising program makes sure people are working together, not just the art director and the writer, but the planner comes in, the account person comes in; doing big work trying not to segregate anyone, but let everyone be creative and strategic. The best agencies are doing exactly that.”

Building a Great Advertising University Program

So what else do you need to create a great ad program? Deb said it starts with ”good people” and a “mission statement that is blissfully optimistic.”

Glenn: “You also need students that buy into it. The key is to give them tools, frameworks, and advice, and let them do the amazing things that they’re capable of doing. When they see the fruits of their own hard work, that’s the seed that germinates. It mushrooms from there.”

Deb: “Let’s face it, advertising gets a deserving very bad rap at times. I tell students that what we’re here to do is to change that. There are ways to be bright, brave, heroic and help people with what we do, and do work of meaning.”

Glenn: “We spend so much time with our students that we get to know them probably better than most professors get to know their students. A lot of times you sit and talk, and you do more listening, than speaking back.”

Since “The Social Nerdia Show!” is a live podcast on BlogTalkRadio, someone in the chat asked about students who might simply don’t have it to be successful in the the creative side of advertising. Glenn shared that he often helps students find out what else they could do. He also provided insights on preparing students for the difficult aspects of the industry, Glenn said:

”There is no way to prepare someone to get fired. I tell students not to work in advertising if they could imagine themselves enjoying something else more. The people that are the biggest successes are the ones that can’t imagine doing anything else. That passion is what can take you through anything.”

Deb: “I talk a lot about agency culture. It might take some time, but it’s important to find a place that fits your values.”

Awards and Award Shows

Deb sits on the board of the One Club and she believes in awards as “benchmarking. I don’t like the greed that comes along with awards. If that’s all you’re doing it for then priorities get mixed up. But when you see good work.. it’s a lovely thing.”

Glenn: “Sometimes stuff that I don’t want to hold up to students will win awards; from a students’ perspective awards equal success so you have to train them to see awards with some perspectives. I love it when my students win awards, but I also want that to be tempered with the ideas that it’s not about that.”

Overblown green claims and BP’s failures

I asked Deb about some of the things she dislikes int he industry and she said ”there’s so much hyperbole and overblown claims towards what is green. I don’t like that. I want adv to be honest and authentic. Telling the truth and using our powerful tools in the best way.”

“Many of the oil companies grab on to this sense of hyperbole. They look at 10% good that they do and claim that. BP is in a special place, they are in one of the rings of hell right now.. they have not done authentic work, they’ve claimed a lot of things they shouldn’t, and now of course they can’t claim anything. They can’t save face at this point.”

Despite BP’s huge fail, Deb agreed with me that the company is going to be fine due to the nature of their business. “They are in the ‘too big to fail’ category. My head spins about that. That’s awful for the culture, and awful for our sense of selves,” she said.

Living in an Anything is Possible World

Despite failures and problems in the industry, it is an exciting time. Technology has truly converged with marketing and advertising in a way that has brought much excitement to creative thinkers. And the opportunities don’t exist just in technology and the social web, but in all kinds of places.

Deb: “Right now we are living in an ‘Anything is possible world.’ It’s such a wonderful place to begin a career.. immense possibilities to do film, books, art exhibits, events, and beautiful brand thinking at a 360 degree level. A few years ago it was just print, television and maybe a billboard. Now we have incredible opportunities to do work of meaning at so many different levels.”