Notes From PSFK London:Episode Two

(This is a continuation from my post yesterday about my musings from the PSFK conference in London)

Jeremy Ettinghausen – Penguin Books
Marketing now is at the heart of the publishing process, saying the product is too linear has been proven wrong.
The internet is more than just a sales channel.
Your product can do the marketing, if you open up opportunities for it do so.
Penguin are about enabling conversations about books, authors and stories.

(It was a real eye opener for me to hear about how Penguin have almost completely rebuilt their communications strategy to embrace all that the Internet and web 2.0 is about – really refreshing and inspiring for an admitted book junkie).

Dan Hon – Mind Candy
Humans are intrinsically a social species, we crave regular interaction.
Never underestimate or demean the power of good narrative.
Immersion breeds passion – narrative builds ties…
People yearn for a feeling of togetherness, an identity that binds them to others yet still lets them express themselves individually.

(How amazing and mind boggling is the reach of alternate reality games? Breathtakingly ipic and terrifying at the same time).

Iain Tait – Poke
Iain’s post on the 10 reasons why digital is better than advertising can be found on his blog, it’s better you hear it straight from him rather than have me make a mess of his excellent talk. The 10 main points he made are below.

1. You don’t have to do ‘Advertising’
2. You can just do things
3. A ‘just do it’ culture fosters entrepreneurialism – you can fail fast and cheap
4. Egos are (marginally) smaller in digital
5. Online audiences are great – they get ‘it’
6. You can be an inventor
7. There’s less to lose
8. You don’t have to work at a place with 4 middle aged guys’ names on the door
9. You get to work with people who live digital everyday
10. The rules change everyday

Panel: Are Planners the New Creatives? – Jessica Greenwood, Flo Heiss, Liz Sivell, Amelia Torode, Harry Fowler
Be useful to people.
Intelligent ideas are key, regardless of their origin.
Consumers don’t see online and offline as two worlds, they see the world.
We are all creating things, refining them to make them relevant is key.
Think about where your ideas are going, and where they are needed.
An idea is not always a good idea.
Share. Always.

(I felt sorry for Amelia on this panel, she was the only planner and held her own but the discussion often retreated into labels and making boxes to fit people into, rather than people defining their own roles. An unexpected surprise was running into Laurence Parkes when he was asked for his opinion by Jessica – I did work experience at BBH last year and did some work with Laurence, a great guy who’s always willing to listen).

Hugh MacLeod – Gaping Void
A brand should be seen as a social object.
If you wanna have a cool product, you gotta do cool shit.
Smarter conversations = better products.
Harness the power of Viral Mojo.

(Make sure you check out Gaping Void, Hugh’s cartoons are rockin’).

Martin Cole – WPP
Society is profoundly visual and always has been.
We spend more and more time in front of screens, but never really look at them, we scan.
Become a visual expert, make everything you do simple and elegant.
Beauty is key in everything, we gravitate towards beauty in all its forms.

Panel: Change The World – Piers Fawkes, George Parker, Stan Stalnaker, Johnny Vulkan, Russell Davies
The traditional buy/sell model is dead.
Marketing is a failed science.
Middle management at clients use agencies as a crutch.
Consume less, contribute more.
The internet has made the world a greenhouse, be genuine and don’t be a dick.
Creativity, by and large is not applied to business, when it is, everyone knows it.
After the next nuclear holocaust there’ll be cockroaches and ad people.
90% of agencies were always crap. It’s not like something has been changed by the arrival of the Internet.
Working faster is working smarter.
Believe in what you do. Always.
Be honest with yourself. Always.
Take responsibility for what you do. Always.

So there you have it, that’s the words from my notebook typed onto my notebook. Big thanks to Piers for inviting Anton and I to come and blog about the day, we definitely got the better end of the deal and met a bunch of great people and heard some great stuff. If you didn’t make it on the day, I hope this gives you a little flavor of what it was like. And make sure you go whenever the PSFK roadshow rolls into your town next. As the immortal words go, thank you and goodnight.