I've moved

To my own site.

Also, check out my photo site jimmygilmorephotography.com.

TV is still King of all media?

There's been a lot of debate around the office regarding the role of television in our lives as professionals and our relationship with it as private citizens. This same discussion is happening, in the industry rags, blogs and even Twitter.

Arguments usually go one or two ways:
Nielsen says numbers have never been stronger. All this about the death of TV is a bunch of hooey.

Or:

I never watch TV anymore and my kids don't watch it either. They're too busy on Facebook to even pay attention to it.

I think both of these arguments are too simplistic.

As a society our relationship with television has changed. Just a few years ago, my wife had appointment TV viewing with friends coming over to watch Six Feet Under. Life is more complicated now with kids and me to contend with. Fortunately she can now watch everything on the DVR or her iPhone. And she does. My kids don't even understand that TV shows are only broadcast at specific times. "Dora isn't on now" doesn't compute.

My role at the agency is primarily as a copywriter. My job is to create communication based on the brief first. Then to think about adding value to the equation. Frankly, I find myself looking to new ways to communicate a message whenever I can. Because in today's fractured environment you never know which communication is going to stick.

Social Media Confusing? Maybe This Dead Guy Can Help

A friend of mine who's brother worked at Goodby Berlin and Silverstein (yeah, it was awhile ago) turned me on to a book about a someone who was sort of a hero around there. He quickly became one of mine too. The guy was dead already but the work that he'd done that inspired folks around there. Enough to put his quotes on the wall and, well, even write a book about him.

Reading The Book of Gossage was literally a turning point for my thinking about advertising and how communication relates to media. Gossage was not only a copywriter but an individual thinker and the promoter of rather outlandish professor from Canada named Marshall McLuhan. If you haven't heard of him, maybe you've heard the phrase "The medium is the message." McLuhan felt that all media were extension of the human body and as such carried their own innate messages. Like hands and and feet have their own message so do all media. For example email, sending an HTML coded email has a much different meaning than leaving a hand written note for a spouse on a kitchen counter - even if they have the same message. But they are both extensions of the person who created them.

Gossage not only helped introduce this man to America but let his own work be informed by McLuhan's teachings. Take for instance his early interactive thinking for Scientific American: The Great International Paper Airplane Contest. Gossage asked his readers to interact with the brand instead of providing them yet another ad to read. He actaully let his client's media become the contest instead of simply running a print ad. Sure, brand sponsored events are common place now, but this was the 60s and his contest was far more brand relevant than most things you see today.

Magazines are shrinking, TV viewership is down and people, especially digital natives, will only engage what interests them or at least offers them value. McLuhan and Gossage believed even then, that media would become all immersive and that it would become impossible to be a media specialist. We are in that state now. Soon it will be utterly impossible to function only as ad agency or digital agency or be a traditional creative or digital creative. More will be demanded of both agencies and creatives.

It's obvious the future of advertising is beyond print and TV. But the future of new media is no longer "wow they did that really cool thing @ www. coolthing dot com." With digital natives running their lives online, having a future there requires real value. Howard worked hard to create value for his readers, the consumer, beyond bullet points in a brief. Read his book with an open mind about the future.

"More with Less"

"More with Less." Clients say it, bosses say it, the Media says it. And we all feel it.

These days were asked to go to the well more often and in a quicker time frame than ever before.

But it's not just the work load. Agency employees are expected to be able to fill in gaps as others are laid off and new technology emerges. If you're not learning the newest media and technology, you're not ensuring your value to your employer.

Today, we can't expect our employers to send us to a conference to get smart on the latest technology. We must develop skills ourselves and be able to display knowledge or at least an opinion when a boss or client asks, "what do you think about Twitter?"

This isn't all bad. If you're reading this, you must be a curious person. And there's never been a better time for the curious to set themselves apart from crowd. So learn how to program flash, become a Twitterati and find out how to produce digital. You'll make yourself more valuable and keep yourself engaged at the same time. That's what I'm doing. Keeping the portfolio fresh just isn't enough anymore.

Good thoughts on media and Twitter. Even better response to Dowd

Great comeback to Maureen Dowd's moronic assault on Twitter. Unfortunatly, he could give an education to many of America's ad executives. It's not that folks don't care about it. Clients are asking. And agency types are formulating responses. Unfortunately, much of it negative. "Why would anyone care what you're having for lunch?"

Geoff hits the nail on the head we he says it's a new media that people have the possibility to do whatever they want with it. Maybe Maureen is just angry cause her media is evolving, withering.

I'm a fan of Marshall McLuhan and a point he makes is that different media create different perceptions of the communicator and also have different effects on individuals and societies. One example he used was once a person gets in a car, to another driver the person has become a car (yes, he belived a car was media). Remember saying, "that car just cut me off."

OK. I'll get to the point. It's just that Twitter isn't just a new version of a ballpoint pen or a typewriter - it's a new way of relating to one another that's not fully understand. The telephone bent time and space. Twitter is fracturing social boundaries, creating conversations and distributing information in a giant global conversation.

Don't believe me. Spend some time with it. Really spend some time with it.

Super Cool Video

What do you get when you attach a video camera to an eagle? Some really cool video.

Oh, Anderson

You just can't write this stuff. The clients won't buy it.

Twitter Can Make You Immoral? Well, where the heck is our moral compass?

In our rush to get brands in front of eyeballs sometimes we miss the implications of the media we use. As Marshall McLuhan said, "The Medium is the Message."

This isn't to say that Twitter could make a brand immoral, but it Twitter or Blogger no doubt alters the perception of a brand by a consumer. Something we need to be aware of when crafting messages.

Good luck enforcing this

Seems the FTC is considering regulation bloggers. Ha.

The same way illegal down loaders have been cracked down on?

It should be noted, that the most influential media is media that is trusted by consumers. This is the same for blogs.

A few great points about the unbiquitos iPhone app concept

Guess you marketing directors sure are seeing a lot of iPhone apps in presentations these days. It funny how when when creatives types are asked to think outside of the box, we often go to the same place.
"Let's hire some actors"
"Let's paint something on the street"
"What you really need is a Facebook Application"
"Are you on Twitter?"
"I've got it, a flash mob"
All are valid ideas if done correctly and for the right reasons.

Hope

Writing like this gives me hope there will always been someone in need of another copywriter out there.

It's the economy stupid

How can we innovate out of this one?

For starters, I'm going to Twitter. Not really sure how it's going to sell any more cars for my clients but damned if I'm going to be accused of being a Luddite in today's market. Anyway, we creatives need to realize it's our own brand we need to worried about these days. Right?

Also, I'm refreshing this blog. Blog were all the rage in 2001 when I created this thing. Not so "hot" anymore. But it can't hurt to be on last years cutting edge.

I was thinking about creating my own site. But isn't that so last year?

Better yet, maybe I could create my own iPhone app.