Dave

Image from Stéfan's Flickr

2010 has started with a bang for the worlds biggest search engine. Firstly, on Sunday, at the most watched Superbowl in history, Google paid $5 million to screen it's 60 second 'Parisian Love' ad. Probably one of the best of the Superbowl ads, it's simplicity showed the power and scope of Google's search engine business. It was significant in other ways too. It was the first time Google had ever advertised it's search engine. This was pounced on by commentators, bloggers and Google watchers as an admission of the pressures Google find's itself under from Facebook in one corner and the emerging Microsoft Bing search engine.

Events this week have in fact revealed the opposite to be true. Yes, the facts remain Google has lost some market share to it's rivals, but like any huge global corporation, Google's not just got it's finger firmly inserted in one pie, it's sticky fingers are everywhere, and just like the after the opening credits of Star Wars have rolled, Google's advancement into almost every single area of your web experience starts to look alot more like the Star Destroyer looming into view.

Why the Star Wars analogy? Well, apart from the fact it's quite cool, it's also quite apt. Google increasingly resembles less the plucky Rebel Alliance, fighting to overthrow a the bloated titans of the dark side, and more like the Galactic Empire itself, all shiny white stormtrooper with bad aim but a big old Death Star to back it up, wiping out smaller worlds that come into its path.

Lets' take a look at the two other announcements that Google dropped last week. First up; Buzz. Buzz is Google's foray into social networking, (and bad naming strategy) its goal? To challenge the real time power of Twitter (but still linking into it) and the social networking ubiquity of Facebook. On Buzz, you can do all the things that these two giants do, but somehow not the same. The key difference, and the highly touted lead in PR line was that Buzz unlike Facebook and Twitter which grew as much by word of mouth primarily,  has the added advantage that it is built into the Gmail network. Current user base; 176 million active accounts. This provides a stunning pop up platform to build Buzz through. It's partial success would almost certainly dwarf Twitter in number of users and get close enough to Facebook's 400 million users to make it a genuine threat. In classic Google style, this gigantic challenge to their rivals all hosted through the Google network,  is presented in a style that would make Cheech And Chong blush. A languid, Silicon Valley upbeat style that is sleepily disarming, relentlessly positive and more importantly totally glossing over it's deficiancies.

Following Buzz the next day was Google's announcement via Mashable that it was intending to get into the (albeit limited) ISP business. Trailing a super fast ISP network for between 500 and 500,000 US residents. The big selling point here is speed, Goggle ostensibly wants to provide a fast network to see what developers can do with it and pioneer the next generations of apps and programs that as the (strangely weird voiceover guy) says; "allowing applications that would be impossible today" this is like sticking a Bugatti Veyron next to a Volvo,  with Google boasting that it could conceivably get speeds of up to 1 Gigabyte off its network.  While this is still in RFI, it's a massive development for Google taking them into a totally new arena and gives them a significant advantage not only on the web but with the physical internet itself. It is the final piece of the puzzle for Google to penetrate every single orifice of your online world.

If you take a minute to think about it, they are already pretty much there in one way or another.

Want to find a cheap online store? Google it. Want to know where the pub is? Google Map it. Want to map a route from London to Lisbon? Google Earth it. Email someone? Gmail it. Get blogging? Blogger. Check the hits on your blog? Google Analytics it. Browse the web? Chrome. Buy a phone? Check the Nexus One. Want to watch a documentary? Google Videos. Write a letter? Google Docs.

I'm not even including the Android OS system that is in a number of the most popular smart phones around, the damp squib of Google Wave, as well as the much hyped launch of the Chrome OS system later on in the year.

So we have the makings of a virtual monopoly, something not seen since Mircosoft's attempted dominance of the Web in the 1990's with it's brutal Internet Explorer throwdown. The only barriers to this seem to be a potent mixture of hype and hubris. Take the example of Google Wave. Touted throughout last year as everything from the  'email killer' to the second coming of Christ (possibly) an in-depth launch film from 2009 whetted many peoples appetite for a truly revolutionary application. Even though if you admitted it, you didn't quite get it.

Its (relative) failure so far to find any traction among users is as much of problem of the technology not living up to the promise and the hype (sound familiar iPad watchers?) but also a failure from Google to manage expectations of the Wave concept itself. Caught up in it's own omnipotent bubble, Google actively courted this 'wave' of hype. The hunt for invites started to resemble more the geeks equivalent of finding Willy Wonka's golden ticket.

The clamor for Wave invites and the subsequent disappointment shows that hubris is a huge danger for Google. Microsoft, although still a hugely profitable and innovative company, has spent decade's trying to overcome it's stigma as a company that is arrogant and ruthless. Poor software releases have damaged it's reputation and only with the recent launch of Windows 7 have more people seemingly softened their stance on Microsoft and it's products. Buzz could suffer the same fate if it is felt that it's ill conceived and pointless. (Already Gizmodo has spotted serious flaws in Buzz) UPDATE: The Guardian and New York Times have damming pieces on the launch (and effects) of Buzz. Both great reads.

Microsoft found to it's cost, that trying to control access can have hugely detrimental consequences, combine that with poorly executed launches which is both what Wave and Buzz are and you have bubbling recipe for resentment and suspicion. This botched land grab also flies in the face of the most basic ethos of the internet. A point brilliantly  illustrated in the BBC documentary 'The Virtual Revolution' the web, adapts and mutates, it is in essence 'unconquerable'

'Don't be evil' is a lovely mantra. It's inspiring, and promises much. But each time Google shuts down a blog, (whatever your opinion on music blogging) or launches a product without thinking twice about the privacy implications, or builds a network closed off, or uses data in more and more intrusive ways because the more doors it closes, the closer it will move to being the Internet's equivalent of the Dark Side, with it's own fully operational Death Star in tow.

(This post also appears on thesocietyofthespectacle.com)

We are very pleased to announce that Dave is recruiting once again. To help us grow we’re seeking junior designers, junior and senior posts in project management, consultancy and business development. Specifically we’re looking to hire:

Senior Consultant
Senior Consultants in Dave take the strategic lead in client projects. Your job would be to develop ‘trusted advisor’ status with a variety of clients right up to CEO-level.  You will be responsible for the overall design of projects, helping senior clients articulate what they’re trying to achieve, and then define how they’ll realise it. Also, helping the Dave team understand the client and their issues is key. You’ll design workshops, run interviews, appoint agencies, write proposals and lead pitches. Big responsibilities, but all good fun. Our Senior Consultants will have at least 7 years experience in winning, running and developing large projects in a consultancy, at an agency or client-side. On top of all this, you’ll be central to the development of Dave’s thought leadership, developing new ‘products’, and tools and helping to make Dave famous through awards and PR.

Junior Consultants
Junior Consultants help support the team and Senior Consultants by understanding our clients, looking for market insight, developing and making presentations, participating in workshops and briefing the creative team. Most of your time will be spent on client work, but you’ll also find yourself working on pitches and helping develop Dave’s offer. A degree education is essential with a year or more work experience a clear benefit. We’re really looking for an effective and clear communicator with a positive, proactive attitude and down to earth personality. Most of all we need someone who’s a ‘doer’ with ability to think laterally around problems and present ideas in a clear, concise and convincing way.

New Business Manager
New Business in a project-based business requires energy, discipline and tenacity. ‘Thick skinned’ is a term we often use. It requires a good eye to spot opportunities, which often result from a significant business change within client organisations, combined with the ability to act on that information quickly to secure a meeting. The role is split into three key areas – identifying and progressing leads, managing and developing all Dave’s marketing activity and content and thirdly managing and administering the new business approach and budget for the business. The person will report to the CEO and will work closely with the Management Team.

Junior Project Manager
Our Junior project managers help to ensure the smooth running of all projects learning the ropes quickly by working closely with senior project managers, creatives and consultants. Running projects on time, on budget and accurate to brief is the key to delivering the high standard of work we demand for our clients. You will liaise on a daily basis with our clients building strong, lasting relationships. We’re looking for people with at least 6 months experience in a marketing or agency position. You’ll also need to be an effective communicator with a positive, proactive attitude and a friendly, down to earth personality.  

Junior Designers
Junior designers in Dave don’t make the tea or do errands to the shops but are given the opportunity to be highly creative, meet clients and to develop their skills. Ideally we are looking for a designer with around one years experience in industry with the ability to generate ideas and do great design work. Mac skills are essential. Junior designers have to be good team players working with senior creatives, project managers and consultants. Dave is a lively place to work and welcomes outgoing personalities that would bring something to the party.

Freelance copywriters and specialist designers
We’re always on the look out for copywriters with a wide range of styles and designers who are able to offer highly specialist skills. Please get in touch.

More information…

For more information or to submit a CV for any of these positions please contact:

Clare Ashmeade

clare.ashmeade@dave.biz

Dave picked up a gold award for Direct Marketing at this year's Marketing Design Awards.

Last April we were asked to take part in the Channel 4 programme, Battlefronts. A documentary series about young people trying to change the world by campaigning for issues they care deeply about.

We were asked to help Holly Shaw raise awareness about organ donation and, more importantly, get more people to sign the organ donor register.

Two Minute Heroes was our campaign idea, based around a basic key insight: 90% of people in the UK agree with the concept of organ donation, yet only 27% have actually registered as a donor. We set about debunking the misconception that registering is both time consuming and a hassle. Our message was simple: it takes less time to sign up online than it does to make a cup of tea.

The mailer offered a free tea bag with a simple message, be a hero and put the kettle on (and sign the donor register whilst it brews).
A huge success which captured the imagination of the press, the media and even the Prime Minister!

Well done to everyone involved.

Taking pride in your work has become a luxury, something available to the incurably naive but definitely not the pragmatic, successful business person.

There’s a very easy, convenient story which tells us that machines have pushed out craftsmanship. Richard Sennett traces the much deeper relationships between physical touch, tools, how we work together and how we relate to the things we create.

Understanding craftsmanship is particularly important for the marketing industry which is inherently craft based. One challenge for the profession is that as a society we have lost the underlying understanding of what it means to be a craftsman. Marketing professionals cannot help but bring into their work assumptions of more mechanistic management, of command and competition.

We have allowed what Sennett convincingly portrays as a deeper human need to be bartered away as we have adapted to industrialised production. In place of mutual respect for skills, our teamwork is more often driven by command structures and competition. These management approaches suit mechanistic production but undermine the workshop culture necessary for developing craft skills. 

Its easy to make the link with obviously craft based businesses, but this thinking may have far broader relevance. Crowd-sourced development which is being applied in so many industries is a crafts based management approach. 

As global supply changes, putting more emphasis on local production, suppliers will be less able to rely on lower cost production to create differentiation and will need to relearn a crafts based approach.

There is a lot up for grabs as we come out of the credit crunch. Much of the commentary is about how quickly banks are returning to ‘business as usual’. There’s a lot of reason to believe that craft skills will remain to be seen by capitalists as something difficult to scale and monetise, and therefore of little value. On the other hand, there’s good reason to believe that despite this, the tide is inexorable.

It could be that the major industrial and social shift of the coming period is towards a renewed understanding of craftsmanship. There is no sense of judgement from the author who offers no simple answers. Craftsmanship itself is thoroughly described and we are left to decide whether this is a quaint part of history, or something vital for our future.

It doesn't take big business to make a big impact.  Dave's work for Only Connect (OC) - a London-based charity for offenders and ex-offenders - is a case in point.

I insisted that the team here at Dave posted their latest work for OC - the "Freedom Project Scratch Nites".  It's a perfect example of clever design - memorable, witty and gets the point across perfectly.

The Freedom Project is a new initiative from OC, the arts company working with prisoners, ex-offenders and young people at risk of crime.

Actors on the Freedom Project were recruited in March and April 2009 as they approached release from HMP Pentonville. Untrained and unpaid, they are working with professional writers to develop a 45-minute performance about the lives they lead.

The Freedom Project is directed by Emma Kruger, artistic director of Only Connect, and Maggie Norris, who directed OC's production of Any Which Way in 2008 and the West End production of Bad Girls: The Musical in 2007

Certain brands polarise opinions and play on this to increase their profile, the best example being Marmite. Other brands and products simply end up down a cul-de-sac where they are talking to the converts and the rest of the world seems perfectly happy to leave them to it. A little like the Star Trek franchise, having boldy gone where it had in the sixties, it limped on to a series of geriatric powered movies in the 1980s before entrusting the helm of the Enterprise to bluff Yorkshireman Patrick Stewart. The spin offs went into hyperspace and everyone except the die hard trekkies lost interest.

Until Stardate 2009, when Lost creater JJ Abrams reignites the franchise. The new film is exactly what was needed to make Star Trek relevant and contemporary. Instead of pushing further into the future, the new film goes back to the start, strips away the preconceptions and begins to build the story afresh, imagining the young crew and their first meeting, and wrapping it all around the best action in a movie so far this year. I could say something poor like - ‘boldy go and see it’ - but I won’t.

Last friday we welcomed illustrator and all round nice chap Marcus Oakley in to brighten up one of our internal meeting rooms. Armed with a head full of ideas and a bag full of paint pens, he spent a day turning the blank walls into something altogether more interesting.  From now on conference calls and powerpoint presentations will be held among smiling pencils, fields of mushrooms and clouds.

Check out more of Marcus’s work for Pointer Shoes, Howies, and Channel 4 among others at marcusoakley.com.

Dave's Sean McKnight appears in The Marketer magazine this month talking about managing multi-disciplinary teams.

Here's an extract:

...Sean McKnight, senior consultant at brand consultancy Dave, insists it’s essential to have one clear lead. Traditionally this tended to be the advertising agency, but today this bias is often unnecessary. As long as the client communicates which agency or consultancy is the lead, and what that means for project governance, they’re on to a winner, believes McKnight. “The client should also nominate a senior individual, who we call the client MD. The client MD role is to get the best from the consortium of agencies on behalf of the client.”...

Read the full article in The Marketer

Last week DAVE took part in Battlefronts – Channel 4’s documentary series about young people trying to change the world by campaigning for issues they care deeply about.  We were asked to help Holly Shaw raise awareness about organ donation and, more importantly, get more people to sign the organ donor register.

Two Minute Heroes was our campaign idea, based around a basic key insight: 90% of people in the UK agree with the concept of organ donation, yet only 23% have actually registered as a donor. We set about debunking the misconception that registering is both time consuming and a hassle. Our message is simple: it takes less time to sign up online than it does to make a cup of tea.

The campaign was hugely successful with GMTV, The Guardian and even The Prime Minister picking up on the key message!

“I want to give my support and thanks to Holly Shaw and all those involved in her campaign. Joining the organ donation register is a selfless act of kindness which only takes two minutes, can save many lives and offers new hope for potentially thousands of families across the country.”
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown

So why not do something heroic today – put the kettle on.

Dan Bobby says that broadcasters’ attempts to shore up their lame content with snazzy brands are a temporary fix at best.  I agree.  He’s also right that fans of the Premier League or Sex and the City will seek out that content wherever it is. And it’s true that an easy-to-use electronic programme guide will be essential in making sense of masses of content.  But this won’t render channel brands redundant for one simple fact: the vast majority of content is unwatchable.

Because of this, people will always need mechanisms to select, edit and enhance content.  Not just today, but throughout the history of commercial entertainment.  There have always been aspiring musicians, comedians, filmmakers and footballers.  But most are useless.  So there has always been a need for talent scouts, theatre managers, investors, producers, and reviewers to choose and promote the best.  We will always need someone to sort the wheat from the chaff.

This is the role of the ‘channel brand’.  It is simply something or someone who regularly selects and presents a range of content based on some sort of reasonably consistent criteria: critical, thematic, political or just plain commercial.

Today it is mostly broadcasters who fill the role of ‘channel brand’.  For historical reasons – mainly because they owned or had access to the means of distribution – they have become pretty good at finding, selecting, commissioning, exploiting and marketing content.

But that won’t be the case for long.  Think about it; if you wanted to discover and select the best new music or film, you would turn to magazines, pundits, critics, bloggers or even knowledgeable friends.  All of these sources would become the new channel brands – trusted editors who can package and promote great content to exactly the right audience.  It’s not the content that we will buy from these brands, but their editorial choices, their opinion, their ability to sift through the rubbish and bring us something both reliably consistent with our expectations of that brand and occasionally surprising.  Since today’s technology allows anyone to produce content and the internet provides free distribution, the amount of content is increasingly rapidly.  That also means a torrent (pardon the pun) of rubbish.  So channel brands will be needed more than ever.

New ‘channel brands’ are already a fixture on traditional TV; MUTV, Teachers TV, even Girls Aloud T4 takeovers: but all these rely on the linear TV model and broadcaster support so they will always be limited in number and can’t exploit the openness and rapid natural selection of the internet.  It’s been happening widely online too; Mark Ronson podcasts, YouTube channels and video news from newspapers like The Telegraph.  But all these still feel quite limited in their ambition and are created for the ‘sit-up’ version of the internet (as opposed to a ‘sit-back’ TV experience).  I think the closest parallels are found in traditional media from confident brands: there is a TopMan magazine that runs fashion stories that include other high street retailers’ clothing – one could easily imagine that being turned into a complete channel.  The same is true of the Red Bull magazine.

So, all sorts of brands could do a great job of selecting and packaging relevant content.  They have multiple means of distribution online. As for the marketing, there are many tools that will rapidly help these new channel brands be adopted, promoted or dismissed; social bookmarking, RSS feeds, peer networks, blogging and tweeting are just a few of the tools where big audiences can be reached quickly.

So, the three ingredients for the new channel brands?

• First, have a clear point of view: use this to keep content consistent, but of course occasionally surprise. 
• Second, look for mechanisms to distribute the channel that allow an enjoyable TV-like experience – if you can’t do this make sure the presentation works for a sit-forward PC-experience. 
• Finally, make the content compatible with all the social media tools available to you to ensure your audience can find you.

But above all, never forget the oldest rule of all: content is indeed king.  Although we’ll never be able to account for taste.  According to viral video experts, Unruly Media, the most popular clip ever with over 130 million views is “The Evolution of Dance”.  And apparently 80 million of us watched Susan Boyle!