This is for the Players with Playstation

#4ThePlayers.

#4ThePlayers.

Nostalgia can be a powerful storytelling device. Playstation have done a fantastic job of leveraging this in their new #4ThePlayers campaign. 

With the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association highlighting that the average age of the Australian gamer is 32 years old, and over 75% are over the age of 18, it's a pretty safe bet that a lot of them have been using consoles for quite some time.

Cue the clip. Developed out of the UK, the video captures the evolution of the Playstation brand beautifully through the eyes of a pair of friends as they build up to the excitement of playing the new PS4 for the first time.

I'm amazed by the attention to detail throughout, there must have been a fair bit of research involved to pull it off.

 

Check out our exclusive 'Making Of' right here: http://bit.ly/16sseo5 

See-Think-Do: A Digital Marketing Framework

See-Think-Do: A Digital Marketing Framework

Digital is adding a huge amount of complexity to marketing. While there have been a number of mental models thrown together to try and help simplify this experience, by far the best one I have seen recently is the See-Think-Do framework developed by Google Evangelist Avinash Kaushik.

The purpose of this model is simple:

  1. To generate a much simpler view of your digital marketing efforts.
  2. To provide a sense check against measurement strategies.
  3. To Identify any gaps in activity that could be utilised to generate higher profits.

The Project Management Triangle

The Project Management Triangle

In marketing and advertising, a mental model that gets referenced quite regularly is what's called the Project Management Triangle, or the "Iron Triangle". This is also one of the most polarising concepts I have seen, so remember to use it wisely.

The Project Management Triangle is essentially a positive trilemma, where there are three favourable options, but only two can be achieved at the expense of the other.

Traditionally, this was applied to the variables of Time, Cost and Scope. More recently however, scope is often interchanged with a sub variable; there is a tendency to utilise Quality, Product, Goals or Deliverables (with Quality utilised most often).

The Netflix Spoiler Foiler

As I talked about in my post 'Kevin Spacey on Innovation and the Future of Television' the way we consume media is fundamentally changing. With the water cooler moment moving online to platforms like Twitter, having a cliff hanger or television moment ruined can become a serious threat to your viewing habits.

That's why I love the Netflix Spoiler Foiler. 

A simple Twitter app, it scans your feed for designated danger words relating to the finale, and redacts them so you can check what's going on without ruining the ending.  

Just remember, Heisenberg should be the danger. Not your friends on Twitter. 

The Customer Experience Maturity Model

The Customer Experience Maturity Model

I recently stumbled upon the Sitecore Customer Experience Maturity Model. As the name suggests, this framework is a fantastic tool for not only assessing an organisations "digital maturity", but providing a planning roadmap for future innovation and investment.

While it has been designed with users of the Sitecore platform in mind, it has applications relevant to any business with an online presence, and for helping to shape ongoing platform strategy.

Kevin Spacey on Innovation and the Future of Television

After watching Kevin Spacey's recent keynote speech at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, I was absolutely blown away by the clarity in which he talked about how new technology was causing a disruption in this very traditional broadcast industry.  

The beauty about this speech is that it has some great lessons with implications outside of just television - it is very easy to apply these learnings to industries like Advertising and Marketing as a whole.

Generation C

Generation C

In the traditional Mass Media model, creating an audience target was a lot easier. Painting in broad strokes, we could very easily define the audience in terms like "Men 25-50 years old" without understanding the complexity of how they fit together through their social graph or via the Network Effect.

Digital has definitely flipped this on its head, which means we often have to rethink the traditional demographic modelling in place when we talk about and describe audience groups.

On of the more interesting expressions of this recently is 'Generation C', what Google likes to call the YouTube Generation (in order to drop in a nice product plug).

A Technique for Producing Ideas

A Technique for Producing Ideas

Ideas are the lifeblood of Advertising. While there are a huge range of material already written on the subject, I thought it would be interesting to go back to the one of the earliest sources on the matter.

 A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young was first presented to graduate students in advertising in Chicago in the 1940's before being published in the 1960's. More a long form essay, it outlines a simple five step process designed to kick start creativity.

Start With Why, And The Golden Circle

Start With Why, And The Golden Circle

In my post on the Chasm Diffusion Model, I outlined one of the theories on how mass-market success or acceptance of ideas occurs. But what strategy can be employed to reach the Early Adopters, and drive the 15% market share needed to cross the chasm?  

Simon Sinek has great theory around this called The Golden Circle on his TED Talk 'How Great Leaders Inspire Action'.

So let's break this theory down.

The first proposition is why do some organisations or people seem to be able to succeed or achieve things that defy all of our assumptions? They generally have the same access to talent, agencies, consultants and media. Why is it that they seem to have something different?