Pretentious – moi?

Leading ad and design agencies invariably call upon the cream of talent for their solutions, but sometimes even they get it wrong. It’s a very fine balance between self-indulgence of an idea and an esoteric approach.

At the Cannes Lions ad festival this week, AKQA won the Grand Prix in online advertising/innovative ideas for its Fiat eco:Drive campaign: a delightful and charming video introducing the benefits of this new technology. Meanwhile, CumminsNitro picked up three Grand Prixs for “The Best Job in the World” – an explosive delivery of viral marketing. But, in relation to the point made above, Nike Battlefield took the Design prize. All I can see is pretentious copywriting, over-the-top music and school-boy locker room melodrama in the battlefield analogy. I’m suspicious that the creator/s are a bit lacking in drama in their real life and this was the best they could do to simulate it. Nice prints though…

Entry: T Rochester

From sketching to circuitry

I cast a glance towards my old life-drawing of a model who posed for me when I was at art college, and I realised how out of practice I am with this skill. At one point I recall being almost addicted to drawing everything I saw, which resulted in a frenzied kind of energy in all my work. So where did all that talent go?? It made me consider the processes involved in artistic endeavours – especially professional ones, and how my own industry has evolved. Let me explain …

As part of our foundation course, and graphics degree we quite simply had to learn to draw. Then, on taking a job as a graphic designer (assistant in my first post), I realised my role was to use edited text and pre-commissioned imagery by illustrators and photographers, sourced by a picture editor. Also, in those days, we would lay out our pages and they would be sent off and returned as artwork-ready paper, which we would cut and paste most diligently if a sub-editor didn’t like the wording or there was an error at the eleventh hour, but their discipline was tight and they knew this was laboursome and costly, so they were generally accurate in word length. Once pasted into position, the camera-ready sheets would be sent off for reproduction and then print. The art editor, editor and creative director would then proof the job.

Nowadays, a client expects designers to source imagery (formerly done by the picture researcher / editor), or actually DO the illustration work and TAKE the photographs, enhance the imagery (formerly perfectly shot by the photographer, or perfectly rendered by the illustrator); write copy (formerly done by the editorial team); play around with copy until it fits (formerly done by the sub-editors and production editors); and do all of this error-free (without the services of the production editor) – without paying for any of the specialists’ services. Oh – I forgot to mention that this is all in addition to being computer wizards.

In summary: a designer’s remit is far, far greater, and yet financial reward far less, than 20 years ago.

How will the  next 10 years pan out, I wonder …

Entry: Traci Rochester

Turning over a new leaf

Just a quick one to say: check out our NEW ”Scrapbook” page, which features miscellaneous inspirational sources …

“The same, but different.”

We often hear these words from clients who know (roughly) where their target audience lies, and what they want, but who are afraid to rock the boat with their marketing material. The fact they say “the same” indicates their desire to align with the competition and fear of taking risks. And for “different”, read “better”. 

I am a numismatic (cough, cough). As any collector will tell you, it’s the unusual attributes that make an item more valuable. Take banknotes for example: sometimes there’s a serendipitous flaw (e.g. a spelling error), sometimes there’s a planned special treatment (e.g. unique design with a limited print run), and sometimes life just puts a spanner in the works (the chief cashier dies, rendering the signature a rarity): I tend to think of these as the banknote’s own USPs.

I wish I could tell you that I am a nerdy collector. By that I mean I wish I knew every factual detail behind every banknote and coin I possess. My brain struggles to crystallise information that’s presented in cold facts and figures such as print circulation dates, monarch reign dates etc. But my visual and experiential memory is very strong, so I will recall the design, the visual detail and the anecdotal history of a piece much more readily (for a definition of FLUID v CRYSTALLISED intelligence, visit Wikipedia). My mind will start to imagine … How many hands has this banknote passed through to reach me (if any)? Was it a payment of a debt, or a bet, or given as a gift on a 10 year old’s birthday? Did it buy the last loaf of bread for a family? [Any of you who've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance will know where I'm heading with these ideas. ]

As you know, I often digress with my musings (can you be in a creative profession without doing this constantly?), but today I can bring the text back to my original point: much of Robert Persig’s writing discusses quality and context, and those two key aspects affect – in fact drive – what we do: we present online and offline communications that fit well into a context that is economically, socially and empirically based, but the true ‘quality’ is the thing that separates the product from the rest; that makes it stand up and be counted. Sometimes that takes courage, particularly in the shooting season.

Entry: Traci Rochester

Meaning …?

Valueless.
Worthless.
Costless.

Priceless.

The cost of everything, the value of nothing

It’s a constant lament of mine that I come across people all the time who decide to ‘knock up’ their own leaflets and flyers because they’re counting their pennies. “Recession or not”, I tell them, “You’ll resent the time it takes away from the other important tasks in your work schedule, and time is money. But most importantly: you’ll get nothing back for your efforts.” Another lament is that they brief a college leaver to do the job: a freelancer, who can do “whizzy pretty stuff” and do it CHEAPLY.

Design and marketing is not about making things look pretty. ’Pretty’ as the overriding feature generally implies ‘vacuous’, i.e. nothing to say. For design and marketing to be effective, communication must be the primary function: it is not art. To open a dialogue – a relationship with – a selected target, key issues must be addressed:

• What are you selling?
• To whom are you selling?
• What core values do you want to impress upon customers?
• What do you hope to achieve through your campaign of action?
• And the golden question: what are your USPs? 

Without good and proper design and marketing, you’ve spent time, effort and money on nothing, rendering the exercise valueless.

The concept of value and meaning takes me off on a slight tangent …

As I was clearing away the table from another rushed breakfast before getting the kids to school, the word “carnage” sprang to mind. I considered this. If I were at a crash scene, THIS would be carnage. Were I caught up in a battle with civilians dying at my feet, THIS would be carnage. I’m not alone in exaggerating for dramtic effect. Interestingly, the British masses shifted the English language towards vocabulary with greater impact (i.e. higher drama) long before texting became common practice. Gone are the days of good old British understatement, which lost popularity in advertising decades ago, lacking the action required to save itself; while superlatives and breathless exclamations now fight to be recognised for their excitement content. You don’t believe me? What I’m saying isn’t convincing enough? “Honest! It is SO true!!!!” 

Our news programmes feed us doom-laden features about wars, terrorists, and climate change because the fear excites us, no matter how far removed we are, and because our threshold of fear constantly rises. [This results in a very modern kind of stress: witnessing so much horror while remaining generally powerless, but I digress]. My point is mainly that even horrific events have to compete with one another to be heard. Saturation cheapens. 

This is why when one has something to communicate, one must choose powerful, select words, methods and gestures and choose them wisely. And when that is for the purpose of marketing, skill, insight and experience are essential. Otherwise all those wonderful things you have to say about your company will compete with each other and become – in Thomas Hardy’s words – a loud “babbling brook” of white noise.

Quality, not quantity. Unique, not en masse.

Entry: Traci Rochester

A slight shift in perception

As 2009 chimed in, I leapt outside my house and stood in the front garden, determined to be my own first foot this year (minus the dark looks and male anatomy). I was amazed by the number of fireworks lighting up the sky in all directions around the neighbourhood. It is very moving to witness a point in time when most people look forward with positive mind and steely determination to improve their lives or the lives of others in some way. The feeling was very uplifting and swept through me as if I was enjoying my favourite song at a huge gig in Wembley, or seeing England football team win the World Cup (some things you can only imagine!).

I closed my eyes.

Somehow, without warning, I heard the sounds differently. The harmony of explosion and colour, and the whirrs of Catherine wheels became loud bangs and terrifying trails that echoed around my head, bouncing like ammunition from house to house in no predictable direction. My mind transported me to the Gaza strip and how that must feel – the sheer fear of every minute of every day. I lack the ability to describe similarities in more detail: I have never experienced live warfare, nor the fear of knowing nowhere safe; nor did I ever feel as a child that even my parents could not keep me safe. I am exceptionally lucky, as most of my generation are.

I can (and do) wish for greater success in my business in 2009: that Boost continues to move from strength to strength as our brand becomes more established. But more than this, I hope 2009 sees the world become a more understanding, tolerant and peaceful place. And most of all, I dream that all the bombs become fireworks, the colours of which light up the hopes of humankind beneath them, reminding us all of our humanity and love.

Happy 70th Birthday to my darling father, James Rochester, who is a great dad, mentor and friend, as well as being a brilliant strategist and manager. He has helped move Boost Multimedia forward in a sure and systematic way.

Entry: Traci Rochester

When all those around you behave the same …

Anyone working in a service-based sector will already be familiar with the ‘quality’ debate. In other words, if you want to set your business apart from, and above, the rest, you need to market yourself in a highly crafted way, and you will be looking to charge handsome prices for the fine detail. The current recession – and let’s face it, we haven’t plumbed the depths of it yet – mean that a lot of product-based companies are having to slash prices on products to win back custom, or clear out stock etc. Customer databases all over the country will be shifting like sand, as loyalties dwindle and economy comes to the fore. And as we well know, some will thrive as the others crash and burn around them.

But how quickly will we tire of email marketing that reads something along the lines of “To support our customers during this period, we’re making huge reductions …”? I’ve already reached my limit.

Clearly this kind of marketing is a thin cloak for a deeply embedded fear that if one doesn’t move with the tide, business will cease.

With service-based companies, there is more of a quandary. If what you offer is quality of service, what are you offering the customer at half-price? 

Expert opinion seems split on this age-old debate: do you drop your prices, knowing it’ll take you some 3 to 4 years to recover, or do you drop half your clients who start looking elsewhere to appease the CEO?

It is Boost’s intention to fly against the trend. We will always offer strong solutions and excellent work. No price cuts here, though we do offer a “fewer frills” design and branding package for start-ups, just as we always have. This is because many start-ups simply require a presence / ‘toe in the water’ branding, until they have established themselves more fully and ’settled into’ their own company values. 

And we would say “Remember: just because most people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s wise. Isn’t that how the economy went awry in the first place?”

Entry: Traci Rochester, MD, Boost

You value your business HOW much?

As you may know, we specialise in graphic solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. We spend a lot of client-based time understanding the businesses we’re representing and adopting their passions as our own, to help us ‘get our mind’ into the job. Now and then however, it amazes me how few business owners see design and marketing as an investment. I’m talking about those who consider minimising their expenditure by signing up their friend’s son or daughter to do it because “they’re creative, and cheap”.

I ask them, would they commission an architect fresh out of college to design their house? No. Because their house is too precious to them. So why ask a newly qualified (assuming they ARE qualified) freelance designer, with such a narrow field of reference of the commercial world to ‘rustle up’ their website, logo or business card? Shouldn’t everything the company produces be treated with absolute seriousness? Shouldn’t every detail effuse company values and target audience, rather than simply being pretty to look at?

If you’re serious about business, you need heavy-weight professionals on the job. Design and marketing will not go away – every company needs them, and they need them done well. One little slip, one slight misrepresentation can drop sales from the black to the red. So remember, any of you who think you’re doing yourselves a favour by cutting costs in this area of your budget: your company is worth as much as you invest in it, and cheap short-term solutions will catch up with you eventually.

Entry: Traci Rochester

One I made earlier …

This month: one smug story, and one foolish.

Early October saw our system crash big time. It began as the occasional kernel panic and having to restart, but soon escalated into a full system closure, where the office suddenly became free of gamma rays and the like (a rare and strangely beautiful sensation). Now, you can imagine the havoc that can ensue: your entire system goes down one day and needs serious hardware repair which renders the machines fairly useless for the next three … it’s time-consuming and inconvenient, to say the least.

However, I am pleased to say that we really do practice what we preach, and we make very regular system back ups, so we were barely affected by the fault [it turned out to be a video card problem which failed to allow the main server to start up]. So, don’t forget: do those back-ups REGULARLY and don’t wait for a situation like ours to bite you in the proverbial before you act.

So … the foolish story. Well, I personally had my mobile phone stolen, from the security area at Bristol International Airport (yes, the irony has not escaped me). No matter how distracted you are putting your belt and boots back on, make sure you have taken all valuables off the belt and back on your person before you do anything else and certainly before you proceed to departures. Or, like me, you could have a nice little string of international premium-rate phone calls to add to your next bill – awaiting your return, and costing some £3-400.

My only cause to smile: the fact that the handset was old and only half-charged and the camera no longer worked, so once used I dare say the mobile ended its days in a bin somewhere exotic. Incredibly, I was due to invest in a new phone this week, so I consider myself prompted to do so.

As my father would say, some lessons are free in life, and some a little pricier.

Entry: Traci Rochester