my name is lisa talia

Hi! My name is Lisa Talia Moretti and I'm a digital sociologist and strategist with 10 years experience based in London. Over the last decade, I’ve worked as a researcher, strategist, editor, community manager and educator for over 30 major international brands including Microsoft, Adobe, Hyatt Hotels, Dulux, Starwood Hotels, IKEA, seventeen magazine and National Geographic. During this time, I’ve also presented keynotes and run workshops to audiences from a wide range of business backgrounds on the impact, opportunities and challenges of social media and technology. I am also an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and a visiting teacher at Cardiff University where I teach the MSc Management of Innovation and MA International Public Relations and Global Communication students respectively. My teaching area of expertise is Digital Research Methods. The course examines current digital research technologies, the process of conducting research and evaluating results, techniques for conducting advanced research of online and offline social life, and tools and techniques for finding and analysing big and small data. My research collaborations with Goldsmiths College on emerging technology, wearable technology and virtual assistants gained international coverage with CNN, BBC, Fast Company, Campaign, Techcrunch, Forbes amongst others.   

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How content can be a service

We live in a culture where there are messages flying at us from every angle. As the barriers to creating content have come down so too has the value of online conversation. It’s time to give content a purposeful makeover.

How do we do that? It's not about reinventing the wheel. It's about going back to basics.

Here’s how applying seven truths of great customer service to your content will impact how much people trust you.

The first one. Great customer service starts with the first interaction.

It’s tempting to want to create a linear, simplistic customer journey map. But if we’re really honest with ourselves, many of them are problematic because they are too linear and too simplistic.

We know from our own research that it’s not such a linear process. Customer journeys make us think that the first interaction someone will have with our brand starts at some defined point.

This idea that we can push people through a funnel, from one stage to another, isn’t an accurate depiction of the real world. Instead it’s about realising that the first interaction could be any of these places or moments. Marketers need to think: if a person has never come across my brand ever before, does this piece of content make a great first impression? And it goes without saying that we need to think about this question whether we’re creating content for offline or online.

Great customer service is the result of a positive experience at every interaction.

That means that people expect the same experience from you at all times. For instance, they want the same level of experience when they walk into a store AND when your Tweet happens to land in their timeline.

More than ever, you’re one bad experience away from a crumbling reputation. YouTube now has access to places consumers were never allowed to see... Like a Dominos kitchen. Twitter can be the place a conversation starts about Marc Jacobs questionable internship programme. As brands move more and more of their operations online, it becomes even more imperative that everyone’s on the same page. Make sure you have a social media policy. And then ensure it’s adhered to.

Great service puts honesty, respect and truth at the forefront. Be a brand that reflects as truly as possible the experience someone will have when they buy your product or service. Make sure the conversations you have tell the truth about what you do.

A great customer service professional knows that apologies are an art and, if done right, a competitive advantage. A published apology is probably one of the most important pieces of content that you’ll ever publish. Know how to apologise. A lesson Justin Bieber could learn. And know where you should be publishing your apology. Twitter isn’t the place for everything.

Great service is about keeping promises and setting clear policies. If you say you’re going to do something, then stick to it. In the world of radical transparency with millions of people watching, you're always dancing on a stage with a spotlight. People understand that a 24/7 policy isn’t always possible. But if you say you’re around 24/7, then make sure you are. If you aren’t, be clear about your ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ hours.

For all of us who have experienced great service, we know that often small gestures make big impact. Like Birchbox and during December when they addressed my beauty box to The Fabulous Lisa Talia Moretti. This is also a great example of how great service can turn into a conversation starter.

And picking up from one of Charlotte’s slides, because great customer service happens at every interaction this brings us to our final lesson in great customer service and that is that it’s cyclical. It never ends.

Content that acts like a service is a vehicle to meaningful connections. And creating meaningful connections is more than just making people feel warm and fuzzy. Connecting with people alters our brains by flooding them with chemicals.

Through scientific experiments, it’s been proven that the amount of trust we feel for someone can be measured by monitoring oxytocin levels in the blood. So trust isn’t just a feeling, it’s a biological property. Things that increase oxytocin levels: hugging, dancing, praying, and engaging on social networks.

Giving people oxytocin increases generosity in unilateral monetary transfers by 80%. Researchers have also showed that it increases donations to charity by 50%. So the knock-on effect of raising oxytocin levels is that people open up their wallets and give you money.

So what are the seven lessons I’m going to leave you with:

1.     Make sure the first interaction is a good one. For every piece of content you produce, think if this was the first time someone was coming across my brand would this leave a great impression? 2.     Don’t let just anyone talk to your customers and fans. Their time is sacred. And trust is in low supply. Treat the spaces you share with them, websites, social networks, their inbox, with the greatest respect. 3.     Don’t lie. Don’t even be tempted. We live in a world of glass houses and that’s not going to change anytime soon. 4.     Be real and true with your apologies. Don’t hind behind a logo. And don’t pretend to apologise by trying to divert people’s attention by blaming the situation. 5.     Keep your promises. This is the bedfellow of don’t lie. 6.     Where you can, go the extra mile. People will notice. 7.     Keep striving for excellence.

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Tom Curtis, Head of Beyond Advertising – MediaCom: How will technology impact the future relationship between brands and audiences? And how will our industry react? The International Content Summit 2015

@iamtomcurtis 

Imagine a time in the future where there are no more ads when you walk into Times Square or Piccadilly Circus? Content marketing is the saviour of our industry. Choice is in the eye of the beholder and technology is going to help people in the future to get control back over what they want to see and hear. Eric Schmidt talks about this - that the Internet will disappear because it will be everywhere. 

Technology will learn what you like, what you love, what jolts you into a strong emotion. It will help to eradicate the ‘vanillarisation’ of content by helping to surface the content that you love. 

To brands and companies - personal data is a privilege not a right. 

In the future, not only brands, but people will be vilified for creating bad quality, irrelevant content. Much like how you will be vilified for carrying a plastic bag in five years time. 

Content that inspires will be really important in the future. We may need to really take our foot off the accelerator of creating content that informs. 

Content marketing can do awesome stuff by funding incredibly amazing artists and creators but you have to always let people know.

Digital influencers (those who represent the audience) will become even more important in the world - there is a good chance that they will influence government policy.

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A new model for modern media companies by Darryl Newton, International Content Marketing Summit 2015

Factory Media (@factory_media) are a media business. Own and operate about 23 websites and brands. Mostly sports, outdoors and adventure. Started as a magazine, but landed up closing all 19 of them on the same day in March 2015. Factory Media are now totally digital across websites, events, social and TV.

The Indestructibles - multimedia campaign with multiple partners (Facebook, Storyful, Dave etc) over multiple platforms. Long-form and short-term content. Totally focused on video that spun out into over 300 content items. Pitched the idea to Dave and said “want a free show?” Dave said ‘yes’ and ‘what do you want in return?’ Factory Media said, we want a great slot on your channel. Added the brand G-Shot, Casio. Dentsu Aegis because their media partner. 

Started with research into action sport campaigns and how people feel about action sports. Found that action sports have a higher level of positive sentiment compared to other sport content. So it had to be inspiration, highly visual, feature celebrity (those who had earned their status however), catalyst to action, authentic, emotion is key.

Digital content was broken into four different components: before broadcast (to test), during broadcast (to create engagement and immediate feedback), broadcast content and to seed to influencers (excitement, passion, exclusivity). 

Big part of the process delivery was to find multiple partners to seed content and reach new networks. Had to think about packages and what value they brought to the potential partner. Everyone had to win. 

Proved that digital, social and TV can work together to generate amazing ROI.

A modern media business has to:

1. Lead by content

2. Understand audiences

3. Be prepared to use multiple channels 

4. Stop being constrained by the old models

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Digital Innovation Panel, International Content Marketing Summit 2015

Michael Sadicario, Chief Revenue Officer, Storyful, Shaul Olmert, Founder and CEO, Playbuzz, Claire O Brien, Senior Industry Programme Manager, IAB

Do you think that brands really know and understand how to use content to grow and get stronger?

- So much pressure on brands to perform during campaigns. But if you really want to be a publisher, look at publishers like Buzzfeed.

How much should brands rely on user-generated content?

UGC is around 80% of the Internet. Largest and fastest growing natural resource on the Internet. Have to capture it, refine it and use it as a tool within your portfolio. If brands want to become more like publishers, they have to use social media as a source of ideas. 

SO: Distinction about who is a user, who is a publisher, what is a tool and what is a platform doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone can use these tools now - not just brands. Anyone can use user-generated content. 

SO: For many advertisers, it’s still not totally obvious to include a digital implement into campaigns. AMs and ADs are still reminding them! Digital is still seen somewhat as an experiment. There’s still uncertainty about how to tell stories, how to measure it. It’s something they can tell people at a business meeting. 

How do you scale content efficiently and effectively?

SO: It’s starting with engagement. Sounds obvious, but it’s not really always obvious. So it’s about asking yourself how to create meaningful engagement? We’ve figured out some ways on how to get people to click on a link but now it’s about how do you get them to complete the experience you’ve created. 

The new kind of KPIs. These are changing too. Any new thoughts on these? How to measure time and attention in different ways?

MS: Well yes, it’s going to be different in the future. It’s going to be a case-by-case basis. Predict thousands of new metrics to choose from. If the goal is to take someone off the social platform, that is terrible and not going to happen. It’s only to take a lot to drag someone off their favourite website. This is why videos are so great - they’re in situ and the movement grabs your attention. 

Biggest tip to growing your brand online?

SO: Think about formats and your content themes: are people wanting to consume this story in this format?

MS: Publish more often and learn from all the content you’re putting out there!

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Now This News are using Twitter's play in-stream video functionality to tell news stories without pushing you to another site or leave the home stream. Genius. Totally love this. Pity about the typo... Whooooops.

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I am so happy to be getting this email from LinkedIn! They're finally getting a proper dashboard to monitor brand pages. It's about time.

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I love that London City Airport sends you updates about your flight via Twitter. Great experience and so helpful!

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London Tech Week Comes to Seven

Seven hosted a London Tech Week pop-up event on Friday 19th June 2015 featuring: Jonathan Gibson, Associate Director at Bilfinger GVA How tech is shaping our…

[ualfutures]

Do / Design Challenge: Futures Toolkit;

Help Make a Digital Creative Toolkit for UAL.

Keep reading

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An absolutely brilliant idea from the team at UAL. More universities should feel this kind of urgency to best prepare students for the working world. 

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Buzztastic

My favourite new buzzword that I love to hate right now is “emotional connection”. Like a lot of buzzwords, its original meaning has gotten lost in the marketing mix but the phrase hasn’t changed to reflect current intention and use. It’s also very difficult to measure. There is no ‘emotional connection’ metric. It’s problematic. Let’s unpack why.

When you, dear client/fellow colleague, tell me you’d like your new campaign to create an “emotional connection with consumers”, what runs through my brain?

I think this: you’d like to be Dove. Or Oreo. Or Always.

But you don’t actually want to be like Dove or Oreo or Always. You’d just like their success. Houston…!

Very often the desire to create an emotional connection is connected to popularity or in ‘marketing speak’ for something to go viral – again another one of ‘those’ words.

A video going viral does not mean that you have successfully created an emotional connection with your audience, it simply means that a lot of people have watched that video on a number of different devices, most likely a number of times, in places around the world. But emotion has a huge role to play in making something go viral. Creating an “emotional connection” with your audience is making them feel something and feeling something triggers sharing. To use a metaphor, it may all sound like music but really it’s the difference between listening to Eric Clapton or Holly Valance.

Both Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and data scientist Dan Zarella and author of The Science of Marketing have discovered the importance of appealing to the emotions.

Posts and videos that appeal to the emotions are more likely to be shared. This applies to both positive and negative emotions, although the former is preferable. So, laughter, happiness, a story that evokes a sense of joy, and conversely, controversial subjects that induce anger and outrage also work.

In addition, things that make the person sharing look good – funny, intelligent, knowledgeable – that is, improve their social currency and how others feel about them, are more likely to go viral as they continue having the same value to everyone that shares them.

Establishing a real emotional connection means being able to do this time and again in a way that feels real to people.  In order to resonate with people and create real connection, brands have to stand for something. Dove believe and prove to the world every year that they believe women and girls all deserve to know and believe that they are beautiful. Oreo took a huge leap forward and created the Gay Pride rainbow cookie promoting love for all during LGBT Pride Month in the United States. What does your brand stand for? If you were writing an anthem, read me the lyrics.

How would we measure if you’ve been able to successfully create an emotional connection? We would see your online communities grow. We would be able to survey people and ask what your brand stood for and people would get it right without having to Google your tagline. We would see people recommending your products and buying your products because they don’t just want your product, but they want to champion your cause.

What’s the most difficult part of all this? It’s not in the marketing. It’s in the part where brands have to decide what they stand for. And that takes courage. You have to be brave, people!

So today, I would like to associate the phrase ‘emotional connection’ with a new thought. The next time I’m asked to come up with an idea that will create an emotional connection with readers/consumers/audiences, my response will be, “How big is your brave?”

[mynameislisatalia]

Ten lessons on how to become a business that will survive the Internet age

It doesn't take as much money as you think to set up a department in your business which is responsible for experimenting. It can be as expensive or as cost effective as you want it to be. What you do need is the right mix of people. That's the difficult part. The only way to continue to grow is to look  at the eco-systems that lap at the edges of your own and see the opportunities that exist   there. While frightening at first, non-linear growth is the only way to ensure that change is a constant. At the end of each year, you should be looking at what you do as a business and each year should be slightly different to the last. Huge fan counts, perfect executions and a rapid turn-over of projects are no longer the only measures of success. Connecting with the right people, building high engagement, creating a following of super fans and developing creative that has an "independent" feeling about it are just as important - if not more so. Create differentiation amongst a sea-of-sameness by working your imagination hard. Creativity is always on-trend. It never goes out of style and it's one of the few things in life that has international appeal. Technology is not culture, but it helps to shape it. Be a business that embraces technology. Be a business that understands culture and put it at the heart of what you do.  If you do this, you will remain relevant. Be a people-centric business. Really interrogate what that means by looking at your current business model and by asking yourself, am I putting people first? Were these products and services built for people in mind or the bottom line or to satisfy stakeholders? Do people really care about what you do? If you don't think they do, then you're probably not a people-centric business. Don't feel the need to rush after every new trend. There is so much being created every day make sure that if you're adding to the pile that it's work of value. Work with real purpose built into the heart of what you do. Strive to be great. Making money is tough. Imparting with it needs to be really worth people's while. Be genuinely useful - so useful that people want you around. Be a catalyst for change in people's lives. Make people happy. Make their lives easier. Make them think differently. Make them more creative. Help people live better lives and become even better versions of themselves. Don't always think about the money. Be a little more altruistic. I know you're a business and you can't be around if you don't make money. I know this because I live in the real world too. But money is only one part of life. Think about the bigger picture once a day. Think about the world, your neighbours, the environment. Think about the impact you're making. Make your business more human. Be honest. Be so transparent that it may scare your boss. Talk to people, stop hiding away from them. Transparency is currency and it buys you trust. And if people don't trust you, well, you may as well shut up shop right now.

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Internet Age Media weekend, day II, part II

One of the best things about IAM was what they called the Random Talk. Except, it wasn’t entirely random. It was meant to make you sit back, feel a little shell-shocked and not be completely sure about what you had just heard. Marta Roel from Be Another Lab spoke about their pretty extraordinary forays into empathy and compassion. This is wearable tech taken to a new galaxy, let alone new heights. The device allows the user to explore life in another body. Think Oculus Rift designed by neurologists and gender studies scientists. Still confused (totally understandable if you are…)? Click here.

If Marta got us having a lean forward experience, Random Talk number two for the day had us sitting quietly in contemplation as Hector Ayuso took us through Heima. This was ironic because apparently the man wakes up at 3am every morning with the desire to create something, just anything, raging inside him. Oh if only we were all like that, instead of hitting the snooze button a dozen times! A design, art and experimental studio, Heima welcomes all questions… even the ones you believe to be stupid. Every project is worked on in the most collaborative way possible because the answer could lead to the next revolution. And he’s right, who are we to know in the very early stages if the seed to an idea will germinate or wilt? It’s best to work on them all.

Another man who presented with great humility was Jeff Hamada. What a guy. Jeff is afraid of failure and is also the co-founder behind the art blog Booooooom. That’s seven ‘o’s. What does he do? He gives his fans an excuse to have a creative outlet. From sending him postcards and pencils to building flotation rafts, Jeff says, “Go forth and create!” and they do. If you’re a marketer or a community manager, go and look at his blog immediately and immerse yourself in a world of what true community, true fan engagement and true participation looks like. It’s a treat. In fact, even if those words don’t appear in your job title, go read his blog. If you don’t have a life motto yet, live by this one from Mr Hamada: “Let the fear of letting fear dictate your life, dictate your life.” Yep, you may call him Yoda.

Then there were the champions who are slam-dunking it with branded video content. Pernille Raven from Crane.tv said something every marketer knows to be true but the way she phrased it made it rather profound: branded content wins when it’s not product led but transparently labelled. Oh that is so nice! I like that so very much. Nastya Popova from Coub will make you want to lose hours of your life to this video mashup technology and Ian Durkin from Vimeo shared the secrets to a happy online community: as platform owners, the responsibility lies with you. Set the tone. Seed positivity. Don’t be afraid to delete bad stuff. Tell people to play nice when they misbehave. Basically, find a way to leave unconscious clues that show people arriving at your place how to behave. Solid advice.

I could write a lot about Calvert 22 and Afripedia. But instead, I will write a little and let you explore the magic they’ve created. Both of these projects, the first a foundation and the second a five-part documentary, break down stereotypes and, as a result, create new narratives. Calvert 22 is a new guide to eastern Europe and Afripedia celebrates unbelievable creative talent that’s deserving of a world stage in five countries in Africa, one of them being my home country, South Africa. Geographically they couldn’t be more different. But creatively they are both produced with such love, respect and attention to detail that they have more in common than at first meets the eye.

When FIU Barcelona took to the stage, I caught my breath a little bit. Georgina Capdevila and Humbert Clotet are both 22 years old. And there they were talking about the mission statement behind their company. These young adults took all the negative statements they were fed at university about how they wouldn’t get jobs because of the economy and blah blah blah and turned it into AMAZING. They’re all about propelling the creative talent among the youth in Spain. They’re not about the blame game. They’re not about the you-owe-me game. They’re in the business of creating a meeting point between students, young talent and new creative generations. If that sounds tough to do, it’s because it is. But that isn’t going to stop them from trying. Oh the grown adults I have met who could learn from Georgina and Humbert!

Has your brain exploded yet? It doesn’t matter. Stay with me.

Sveinung Skaalnes from Hyper Island made the audience hope they were eligible for their 30-week R&D school. Hyper Island are a consultancy that also do loads of learning experiences and training. Their new incubation for designers, called 30 Weeks, experiments at the intersection of education, innovation and incubation. Swoon! Seeing these words together makes me happy.

Fernando de la Rose from Foxsize School opened up with the insight that ignorance is the first common illness not to be diagnosed. A man after my heart. He’s a teacher who prods at the holes in the education system. An institutional rebel and professional maverick who believes that traditional educational systems do not prepare us for the world we live in. The courses are often too long. Not dynamic enough. Not practical enough. Education is usually very structured and neat and clean. When you think about it, it’s synonymous with words that are usually the opposite of how we would describe life. Foxsize School is run in five different cities in Spain. They’ve educated around 15,000 students in two years with their unique three-hour classes. In the words of an Aussie: “Sweet as!”

Picking up the pace…

Abraham Asefaw and his colleagues at the Pop Up Agency have simultaneously the most awesome and the most intense jobs on the planet. Give them three days’ notice and they will fly anywhere in the world (!) and solve your brief in 48 hours. Hell, yeah! That’s as real-time as the ideation process is ever going to get. Want their skills? Hire them and they’ll teach you. First rule? Put away the tech and take out the pens, paper and Post-it Notes. It’s time to get creative – analogue style.

Ed Macovaz from Ableton told us a sobering story of a company that got itself into a lot of trouble. They launched some software and, basically, it sucked. They had failed their audience. What did they do? They stopped everything else they were working on and for about a year, they just worked on fixing the problem. That led them to having a stare off with this question: if we disappeared, what would the world miss about us?

I hate to interrupt this flow with a deep and meaningful reflection of my own but I think that’s not such a bad question to ask ourselves every now and again. I don’t want anyone to fall off an existential cliff but, seriously, sometimes we all need a strongly worded question to reconnect us to our purpose.

Back to Ed.

Ableton realised that the world of music had gotten deeply complex. The way they responded to complexity was to a) become more diverse as a business and b) experiment. They wrote a book called Making Music, 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers and they also invented a new instrument that doesn’t live on a screen. Now let’s remind ourselves that Ableton is a music software company. Nicely done, team.

And lastly. Ruth Daniel took to the stage, with no shoes on, to talk about the human algorithm she drives into the epicentre of her work, whether it be in a war zone or music studio: Technology + Art + Humans = Change. I love this because it’s representative of a universal key to unlocking potential.

Perhaps it’s unfair to focus on the fact that Ruth presented with no shoes on but it’s indicative of a particular point I want to make.

At the time I thought this was cool because it was quirky. But now I realise that the real reason I loved her sans-shoes style was because everyone who took to the stage that day, from the first speaker to the last, presented with this kind of raw honesty that you seldom come across on a day-to-day basis. You usually have to hunt it down among the Photoshop, buzzwords, industry lingo and photo apps that make your eyes bigger and lips pout out a little more. Many openly told us their age, their fears (whether it be failure or that public speaking is physically agonising), they told us what they were not and they told us about those times when they didn’t succeed. None of these people were the 19-year-old start-up millionaires who make you want to scream unspeakables to the universe because you feel like you’ve missed the boat and have done nothing of value with your life. They were representative of you and me. The difference? They dared.

Through this honesty, it dawned on me why transparency is really the magic sauce. Transparency allows us to collaborate on an even playing field. By showing our human flaws to one another, transparency allows us in turn to become super-human. How? Because it shows what’s possible when you don’t quit. When you don’t throw it all in at the first, second, 10th or even 200th challenge. It shows what’s possible when you just keep at it, flaws and all.

[mynameislisatalia]

Internet Age Media weekend, day II, part I

With day one of Internet Age Media  (IAM) focusing mostly on publishers and designers, day two belonged to the artists. And what a mix of beautiful randomness it was. The talks were more unstructured and non-linear but they were no less thought provoking. This group of men and women are at the forefront of redefining what art looks, feels and sounds like. And they’re doing it together – with other artists, with communities they reach out to, with audiences they discover and with the newly found fandoms they lovingly built.

The eclectic, nomadic, unorderly personality of art lives happily on the Internet. A place where there are no rules for creation, no defined publishing schedule, no right or wrong ideas.

Filip Visnjic and co-founder William Lai of Creative Applications Network opened day two speaking about the unifying effect the computer has had on technology, art and science. As a result, technology mediates the boundary between humans and their environment. While there are many people who are talking about art, few seem to be discussing what technology does to creative thinking and the creative process. These guys are really interested in exploring the question What kind of research can artists do?

They had this great quote up by Marshall McLuhan that goes like this: “Art functions as a ‘distant early warning system’ that reveals cultural transformations that are already underway to the broader population.” Artists dare to be brave.

The Creative Applications Network blog collates work at the place where art, science and technology meet. Sometimes they publish twice a day, sometimes they post nothing. There is a lot of debate before something really worthy can feature on their site. They’re small but powerful. With the help of the Kickstarter community, they published their first magazine. They’ve also spun out a new art company called FRAMED*. The magazine turns the solitary experience of a blog into a collaborative one as they have to step ‘out’ the web and into the studios with the creative practitioners. For Filip and William this completely changes how they think and write about the work. They get to spend time on the content. They’re able to look at the overarching themes and trajectories and how they connect to how current cultural shifts are taking place. The idea behind FRAMED* was to find a solution to how digital art can become something that we can all own, collect and grow with. I got to see first hand the ‘growing’ aspect of this art by watching how Sergio Albiac’s surrealist portrait changed slowly in front of my very eyes and made me question who or what is beautiful – it certainly does lie in the eye of the beholder.

The Creative Applications Network shows the value of being small, selective and considerate. A change welcomed whole-heartedly by me who is often overwhelmed by big data, big networks and the desire from my clients to have big fan and follower counts. It is also a lesson in growth: in order to continuously grow, you have to step outside your own ecosystem. You have to embrace the non-linear and create bonds with the systems that lap at the edges of what you’re uncomfortable with. You have to lean into and make friends with discomfort and different.

Jeremy Abbett from Google, Joe Coppard from Protothon (UAL alumni) and Julia Kaganskiy from New INC then took to the stage for their undiluted, seven minute shots of wisdom.

Jeremy Abbett is winning at parenting. Selfies give way to dronies and toys come with wires and connectors in his house. He has a lack of respect for technology but puts what you can do with technology on a pedestal. He encourages you to do the same. Agreed. He also has a great tip about how to predict the future – it’s all about the little people. Instead of focusing on the technology, look at how children are growing up. I love this because very often people think that technology is culture. It’s not. But technology does help to shape culture.

Joe Coppard stood up and said, “Everyone shouldn’t learn to code.” Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree. Find what you love. Discover your bliss. Be a specialist at being you.

And then there was Julia Kaganskiy. I’m going to start this paragraph off with, Dear Julia, I would very much love to have your job. Whip-smart, Julia had the audience in the palm of her hand as she explained the birth and purpose behind New INC. I can’t do it justice on my blog, so please promise me you will look it up. In a nutshell, NEW INC is the first museum-led incubator (brought to you by New Museum) for art, technology, and design. Yeap. Mind-blown.

Why have they done this? Because those wonderful people at New Museum, a contemporary art institution, understand that artists and designers are divergent thinkers. They’re not just focused on utility and execution as many folks are in ad or marketing land. Artists investigate. But they’re very often not supported. New Museum has risk-taking genetically codified into the DNA of their business. So New INC was set-up to foster ideas. To provide a place for provocation and play. Their role in this incubator is that of cultural steward.

New INC is six months old. They operate next door to the New Museum out of a 8000 square foot building that looks rather battered from the outside. Inside there are 40 full-time staff and 40 part-time staff who are propped up by a board of thinkers who support, not stifle.

New INC is different to regular incubators because success doesn’t need to be about securing funding. All these artists are fluent in technology but they also float in-between being too business-minded for artist residencies and too “artsy” for the tech incubators. Members pay to join but they retain 100% of the IP. Professional development programs like business model basics, fundraising and equity, brand development and one-on-one mentor sessions support artists in their new space.

Some of the artists who have come out of the residency are Adam Harvey and his privacy gift shop. Adam creates clothing that allow the wearer to thwart surveillance technology.  Check out his ‘anti-drone’ hijab. Neat. Then there’s Carlo Vandolore who has developed a high-speed image making technique. I can’t even begin to explain the beauty behind this method. Essentially he has discovered how to freeze a moment in time and then dynamically move a light source around in a photo. Right now, pretty much everyone in the film and camera world are knocking each other out to work with him.

Julia summed up her presentation by saying that New INC are on a mission to reinvent the incubator model to foster not only cultural value, but capital value too.

I am so in love with this movement/idea/project, I have to take a break now. Part two coming up soon.

[mynameislisatalia]

Internet Age Media weekend

Today was day one of the very first Internet Age Media weekend hosted by Imperfect Futures in Barcelona. There have been some pretty spectacular speakers today. 

Johannes Kleske from Third Wave Berlin shared his business model: It’s complicated. They’ve gone from being strategists to consultants to solvers of internal politics. His message of be prepared to go where you didn’t expect to is one that perfectly encapsulates the changing nature of the digital media industry. It made me think of something I often tell people about my job: I attempt to mould quicksand for a living. 

Morad Rayyan from Al Jazeera wowed us with the new Canvas project they’ve been working on in Doha. A platform that experimentalists (sic) can use to find new ways of telling better stories. This fierce purpose and clarity behind the creation of this platform is inspiring. Such clear vision!

And then there was Liya Safina from the Strelka Institute that shared so much in her allocated seven minutes that my fingers couldn’t type fast enough. Look up this institute, people! Jaw-drop-on keyboard. It’s urban studies taken to the max and back. 

Andres Reymondes from Vice Spain brought the mantra that Shane Smith, co-founder and CEO, talks about with great oomph. If it’s created in a boardroom it will fail. The only way to circumvent this generation’s bullshit detectors is to not create bullshit. Ever. It’s about having young people in front of the cameras. Young people behind the cameras. It’s about fostering trust by empowering the people who can be trusted to create and generate and tell.

Gabriel Borges taught me about the insatiable hunger around social media in Brazil. The mix of a cultural mashup, the fact that people are social by nature, that informality rules the country, the lack of public spaces and the rise of consumerism leading to the ‘art’ of showing off are all factors that give rise to a society that has given a bear hug to social networks... and they don’t seem ready to let go.

Kai Brach, the one-man-team and brainchild behind Offscreen magazine had me aching. His story is just amazing. A UX and graphic designer that was tired of seeing his work fade into the abyss that is the Internet black hole and so longed for something more tangible. A real-world product that he could fill with emotion and share with people. Buy his magazine. Read his blog. Become a fan. I am in.

Xim Ramonell and Brais Vilaso took to the stage to tell us about Assistant Magazine. A beautiful fashion mag that focuses and heroes the assistants in the industry. Those people you barely hear of but who would be desperately missed if they weren’t there. Bravo, boys!

Alec Dudson is another guy who’s mission it is to make heroes out the of people who make our lives better, easier, more manageable. Interns. His magazine, Intern Magazine is for and by the creative youth. It’s truly representative of people who work in the creative industry - but those who are often underrepresented. The latest issue is on hold due to lack of advertising. Get involved. Support this man’s great work.

Julius Wiedemann from Taschen said lots of great stuff. Like how print is connected to the Internet in weird ways and how the amount of time we have is the most stable variable in our lives. As a result of the later, you need to think about non-linear competition. If you’re a creator, producer, seller, service-delivery business you’re in competition for people’s attention, not just in competition with other businesses and brands in your industry. I have always believed this to be true and it was so brilliant to hear those words echo back to me. Most importantly though, his last message on stage was: Have an interesting life. That’s all that matters. 

Another man with a message worthy of being printed and turned into a slogan was Alex Bec, one-half of creative blog It’s Nice That. His talk? What should we as a creative ecosystem achieve in the next five years? The answer? Be better. Leave the world in better shape. Improve all the time. Do not create anything that doesn’t have real purpose to it. 

Anne Bourgeois-Vignon at Nowness was just brilliant on stage. She charted the evolution of Nowness from stills blog to stills and video to a video-only storytelling platform. This year is their fifth birthday and they’ve gone maverick and broken the rules more than once. Their latest rebellion has to do with commissioning an 18 minute film on the history of hip-hop. This is 16 minutes longer than the average film on their site but they refused to edit it. I cannot wait to watch it. She also said something that made me sit up a little bit more in my seat. She said that the commissioner has never been more important. It’s not just about getting great content made. It’s about interrogating the value system of the creator. It’s about asking the questions What is their grammar?, Who am I matching this content to?, How does their world connect with the audience for this?, Who is the community who will watch this? As a sociologist/strategist this resonated deeply with me. 

And lastly there was Heidi Hackemer that told her story with the same vulnerability Brene Brown brought to the TED Talk stage. Heidi was a high flyer in NYC. The universe called. So she answered. She bought a truck, hit the road, cried a lot, discovered her truth and started Wolf & Wilhelmine. The question at the heart of her company is Can we do what we love without killing ourselves? Now, she’s creating some of the best work of her career with a network of mostly kick-ass diverse women she calls the wolf pack. They also take naps. Viva, Heidi. 

So what did I learn today? A lot. 

But mostly, as person after person stood up and told the audience how they chased a dream, a vision, the future self they wanted and desired to be, I was reminded that your life unfolds in proportion to your courage. 

Get out there and be brave. Eat life!

[mynameislisatalia]

Re/code interviews BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti. Really interesting interview with a strong focus on video.

Key points for me that I jotted down:

He talks about Purina (Nestle cat food brand) and how they’re one of their biggest advertisers... off of Buzzfeed’s main site.

YouTube is their number 1 partner for video distribution. Facebook is number 2 partner. Also work with Yahoo.

He also talks about the industry and the different players – from technology companies (Apple) to mobile phone handset manufacturers, the carriers, apps… they all want video content now.

Problem with traditional media is you get money back but that’s it. No learnings. No relationship with money. They’re like wholesalers but tech companies are retailers – they know the behaviour of the customer, wants to understand their experience.

Definitely will be a Buzzfeed TV and a Buzzfeed TV show.

[digitalhammersandspanners]

Brilliant data tool that will allow you to map increases or decreases in business and innovation, industrial structure, infrastructure and environment, jobs and skills, size (GVA, population) and small business throughout the UK’s major 64 largest towns and cities.