Brand Agency’s Head of Digital Simon Reid on Bladerunner and being perfect – or not

Simon Reid, The Brand Agency’s Head of Digital, is currently on a fact finding tour of Silicon Valley and some of San Francisco’s leading agencies with MD Steve Harris and a delegation from STW Group companies. Here is his report from Day 2.

The second day. And a chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.

This line from Bladerunner has stuck with me since I first saw this movie over 20 years ago.

It was blaring out from a zeppelin-like billboard and it is the first time I ever considered advertising and communications. Not as a career of course, but as a way to influence the masses.

Today we had the chance to interrogate two very influential companies, AKQA and the Berkley SkyDeck (business accelerator), and finished with a wander around the GooglePlex.

The innovative interactive and online experiences from AKQA have inspired me for the last 7 or 8 years. They were one of the first studios that really understood that connected experiences didn’t have to follow all the corporate restrictions that other mass media channels seem to be ‘stuck’ with. Not a case of throw out any semblance of brand equity earned over years, but rather evolve the brand message, tone and DNA to (re)define the brand within the medium.

I was intrigued by how this company of over 1500 employees continues to innovate – what frameworks are in place for these guys that provide building blocks to success, but also a safety net to catch those falls.

What is it, that must be present within this agency, that allows for repeated stellar digital/interactive experiences to emerge and then explode onto our tablets and handsets?

Over a 4 hour Q&A session, with a few case studies thrown in, three points resonated:

1.Digital is considered as an ‘ecosystem of contact with the consumer’. It’s not enough to simply produce a website as the destination for a campaign.

2. Clarity of thought and the speed of execution are the two most important attributes our creative and technology teams need. We all understand that a brief is essential, but is the definition of a specific channel architecture prior to a creative discussion where we fall down?

Creative and technology teams in SF seem to be presented simply with a problem to solve – the delivery channels to solve this problem are not set prior to the solution. Should the channel plan be defined by media or creative or both? And what of strategy? Does our current creative team mix really facilitate digital innovation? All very interesting questions that we as an agency will be asking ourselves over the coming months.

3. Start building stuff faster. Dismiss all those wireframes, functional specifications, persona development workshops and get on with it!

By the time you’re complete with rigid documentation the idea that sparked innovation is extinguished.

This seems to be a common and well established ‘rule’ of the ‘valley’. “DONE is better than PERFECT” – “Ship early and Review” (Yes I know that SF isn’t the Valley, but AKQA are intentionally trying to inject attributes of Valley companies – primarily to ensure they don’t lose too many people to the lure of cool offices, free food, and massive rewards).

An office tour followed which provided some real insight into the company DNA:

•  No formal lines of role delineation for the seating arrangement (except the finance team!)

•  LOTS of storyboards, vertical screens, and idea paint on walls

•  And an almighty rooftop garden with bonsai, fire pits and a view of down town San Francisco that is hard to beat.

From this roof top I counted over 60 billboards selling me a new life in a Chevy or Lexus or the chance of a better entertainment experience with a samsung device a Vertus or an Apple 5C. And a billboard bestowing the benefits of bit torrent – the peer to peer software that powers the ability of illegal file transfer!!

I was just waiting for the sun to set and the electro-blimp to appear over the horizon –  your chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.