We should all do a start-up project and change the world
A wonderful debate is raging. Can agencies make stuff? Stuff like products and services, that is, instead of ads. Or put another way, as London-based freelance mobile UX designer Murat put it:
“Do clients and agencies want to keep creating branded fluff or do they want to build temples?
Murat wrote this on his personal blog, Mobile Inc, and the title of his post was actually, “Can The Next Instagram/Hipstamatic/Klout/Angry Birds Be Born Within An Agency?”
It's an interesting question, kind of.
I'm sure it's *possible* that the next smash-hit social platform or game might come out of an agency, but don't hold your breath. Perhaps we should set our sights a little lower? Do we really need to create the next blockbuster success to feel the undoubted benefits of making? Going straight in at number one all feels a bit, well... 'advertising'.
Making something - anything - together, that’s not for a client and not an ad, but is meaningful, playful, useful, fun... well, that’s what we’re really talking about isn’t it?
And of course, this doesn't just apply to agencies.
No siree, it just happens that this conversation about making and experiential shift is happening within agencies, who are now wonderfully networked together thanks to good old social technology.
I know this may be hard for some to imagine, but this is a lot bigger than than ‘agencies’. Yeah, it's *that* big people... I'm going out on a bit of a limb here, but I think it's bigger even than agencies and brands.
OMFG. What?
It's about empowered people, human beings, citizens - and the things they can do together, and the unexpected side-effects of being networked together at an entirely new scale with awesome new super-powers of making and creating powerful shared experiences.
Heidi Hackemer’s brilliant blog post yesterday really made this click inside my head. Her Six Items Or Less initiative - just like Sheena Mathieken’s amazing Uniform Project, and @lacreid's super-human Don’t Feed the Planner project for 50/50 Make or Break - would not have worked in the same way without the Internet. Each of these projects is a little Internet start-up - of a kind. Each involves a community of contributors, participants and supporters. And each creates an intense and shared experience that shifts the way we all think and behave.
Heidi calls it, "An experiential shift to drive real empathy and change"
We may not all make the next Instagram, Tumblr or Angry Birds but we can now all make big changes that inspire and transform everyone around us, and our world.
It used to be a book that everyone had inside them, but today it's a collaborative, start-up project. What’s stopping you from starting?
14 comments
I definitely appreciate that agencies are now networked together due to social media, and I would love to collaborate with many of them to make something that’s not for a client or ad.
Nice post.
I’ll put this simply, many who hold the checkbooks don’t see the value yet. If it’s not client work and it’s not “fun time” team building ping pong bullshit then tell me what it is? Why should we be doing this my utopian planning director.
Hey this isn’t my voice saying this, I’m just repeating what that guy up there in the corner office says when it’s discussed. And that is why this isn’t happening (yet?).
………..so it has to happen offline (out of work) in many cases, for now anyway.
Hey Tim,
Thanks for the shout out.
I’m with you, it’s not so much about trying to make a sprawling smash hit, but more about ‘making nice stuff’ (Hollergram is the perfect example)
It’s about creating a environment where ideas don’t need to have a job number to get made and ultilsing the energy and ability of the people that work within agencies.
On your point of thinking bigger than brands and agencies – there’s no doubt in my mind that are becoming more entrepreneurial and excited about tech inside and outside of agencies (I’ve just got off the phone to a mate who works for the council and has a idea for a app for example)
It’s all about reaching out and bringing these people together – for a while I’ve had the idea of forming a mobile collaborative and slowly building up a network of people who despite being insanely busy with their day jobs, want to do more.
Exciting times ahead
With all the creative people who work in agencies, why not? Anything is possible.
@clweinfeld
@mutlu82 Thanks duder. Love the idea of a mobile collaboratory! I also really love this phrase:
“It’s about creating a environment where ideas don’t need to have a job number”
Awesome. Please stay in touch.
T
@clweinfeld Well – why do we think there haven’t been, like ANY
On paper, agencies were perfectly placed to RULE, but the truth is all they wanted to do with the Web was use it as a big new place to put all the same old shit – instead of a platform of services and products for adding real value and sustainable engagement…
A cluster of legacy cultural, organisational, political and financial barriers prevented agencies from getting on with the good stuff. Also, to be fair, the web was fairly shit for a long while. But having lots of creative people wasn’t/isn’t enough on its own.
Things are changing now. Although there is still so much awesome work to be done.
:)
@justonlyjohn A layer of Mubaraks and Gadaffis seized power a long time ago and sold their own revolutions for industrial production lines. This has ossified progress and prevented change. It’s up to all of us to blow this system up and make it work the way we want.Find your town square. Occupy it and demand changes.
;)
(I’m not being *entirely serious, but you get the point)
Hey Tim, Have you picked up a copy of This is Service Design Thinking? While not directly related, there are so many similarities to the way people, like yourself, are talking/thinking. Service Design is still in its infancy, but it’s all about utility, engagement and consideration for the way people interact with things (and brands). A designer friend put me on to it and it’s served a great resource for me recently.
The biggest take away for me in all of this “how the industry is going to change” talk is that if what you’re doing is not somehow servicing the people you’re brand cares about, you’re likely just wasting your time and their time. Hugh MacLeod said “If you talked to people the way advertising does, they’d punch you in the face.” I think most of the general public would agree. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s true for too many of the folks working in this industry.
http://thisisservicedesignthinking.com/
I alluded to this conversation in my recent post on the @sidekickstudios blog: http://sidekickstudios.net/blog/2011/09/starting-thoughts/
The big challenge for me is not just the actual building of something in the first place but more the question of what happens to it once it exists. Building something on the internet can happen in no time at all these days and may not even require any experienced devs to make it happen. Supporting users and developing a living product is much harder.
Not sure what happened to my link there. Should be this:
http://sidekickstudios.net/blog/2011/09/starting-thoughts/
@KPOPPER: I hear this. “If you build it, will they come?”
Utility: Check
Useful: Check
Desirable: ?
I guess before you build something you have to make sure that whatever you’re building is based on real human behavior. It also has to solve a real problem. I see so many projects and products and services out there that claim they solve a problem but it seems that they (the creators) have sort of manifested the problem themselves in order to justify the thing they’ve created. And then they wonder why their thing didn’t succeed.
Nothing particularly new here. But I feel like the people succeeding at “making things” that not only add value but are desirable, are the ones who truly understand this.
Making things that don’t really solve any real problem or attempt to get people to behave in an unnatural way seems like a waste of time and money. Like advertising that tries to tell people what to do.
Good article Tim. Have had this discussion with many before. Working mostly for startups we (at JRD Design) are always inspired to do our own projects & ideas.
I think most good ideas are born out of bad experiences that can be improved and expert knowledge. Most successful great ideas (for services) come from the competition not being very good, and the market not realising how easily and how much it can be improved.
As designers/agency-people, we are mostly experts in design, so have deep operational knowledge of our day-to-day taks. So the problems we are (generally) knowledgeable enough to solve are agency related services. As any agency has the ability to create their own service and do it well, the market is crowded (project management tools, timesheets, invoicing etc) and there is little scope for (justifiable) improvement.
The key to making a successful product is spotting the market gap and becoming an expert in that area. So lets all go looking and become experts! Lets build a better designed future.
Great post Tim. I think @mintdigital deserve special credit in this area. They’re forever innovating the agency business by building products without anyone’s permission or request.
It started with islandoo in 2006 and they’re most recent product @stickygram is an absolute joy. Bravo chaps.