Comments on: 10 Reasons Why There’s Not More Great Work in the Interactive Space

By: joseph

joseph — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:31:36 +0000

By: OCD Advice

OCD Advice — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:03:00 +0000

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By: Keena Markum

Keena Markum — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:42:26 +0000

great stuff. Do you have a RSS feed? And will it be cool if I put in your feed to a blog of mine? I have a site which draws content via RSS feeds through a several sites and I’d like to include yours, most folks don’t mind because I link back and everything but I like to get consent first. Anyway let me know if you can, thanks.

By: A Quick Glance Back - 10 of Our Favourite Posts From 2009 « BBH Labs

A Quick Glance Back - 10 of Our Favourite Posts From 2009 « BBH Labs — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:22:09 +0000

[...] 10 Reasons Why There’s Not More Great Work in the Interactive Space 37 comment(s) | 8344 view(s) [...]

By: Why isn’t there more good work in digital? « What 3Sixty Knows…

Why isn’t there more good work in digital? « What 3Sixty Knows… — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:38:35 +0000

[...] This guy from BBH Labs has written an article for why he thinks this is and I think he actually has quite a few valid points and links to a few other big thinkers, it is well worth a read. [...]

By: Craig Elimeliah

Craig Elimeliah — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:17:49 +0000

So true Ben, the turf war is infectious and its become more about who can grab up the most fruit rather than making sure that the layer of production that this industry goes to thrives with great creative and innovative solutions.

Thanks for the insight, love this blog!

By: Ben Malbon

Ben Malbon — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:36:23 +0000

Craig, thanks so much for your comments and post. I think humility is a key concept that I hinted at but didn’t touch on overtly in my original post; it’s critical.

There seems to be nothing short of a turf war going on between various factions of the industry, almost certainly driven by a dangerous and inflammable mixture of fear and pride (see, for example, this extraordinary exchange: http://bit.ly/hDRUw). Those obsessed with margins and / or credit will surely have to come to terms that they’ll end up empty-handed on both fronts if they don’t change their attitude. We start with that simple mantra that I’ve mentioned elsewhere: ‘no matter where you are, most of the smart people are somewhere else’. We believe it’s not possible (& probably not wise, even if it were) for a single company to ‘own’ all the skills required to produce greatness. So to ‘content’ and ‘context’, we’d add ‘collaboration’.

Cheers for the comments. Watch this space for the next chapter on this theme. Ben

By: Craig Elimeliah

Craig Elimeliah — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:31:08 +0000

I loved this post for so many reasons. Digital has suffered because of the relationships that have been formed in the production process. Smaller digital shops have been feeding off of the low hanging fruits that the agencies have dangled for so many years and have been able to get away with delivering what you so beautifully referred to as MICROWAVED solutions. These shops have always lacked real creative minds and have stockpiled on flash developers who produce absolutely wonderful work but add very little to the BIG IDEA. The problem was that in order to execute something online that was compelling, the Idea Folks fooled themselves into thinking that it was the Flash folks who were the only ones to bring those ideas to life because there were so few really good ones and they were all stockpiled in these digital shops. As we all know that is no longer the case. Now that social media, WP, HTML, Video and other venues have emerged, Flash is no longer the only sexy kid on the block. Digital shops now need to rethink how they do business and either completely submit to the larger agencies or to offer up real idea based solutions as a supplement to the agency offerings. We all knew this was coming and that in order to create good work we would need to be strategic and think along the lines that our MAD FATHERS thought and to get back to the foot in the door and the fedora peddler roots that advertising originated from. A used car salesman wakes up every day, knowing he has to put on his A game, get his ass in gear and sell the shit out of his lot, to seduce the moms, college kids, down and outs and up and comers that his product is what they need and will provide them with value and usage. We have all succumbed to the thinking that we are any better than that guy, we are not, we need to realize this in order to set things straight. There is a humility to what he does and we need to adopt that same humility when selling our clients products. The web is a very big place, tons of room for everyone to thrive, lets not pollute it with empty ideas. Interactive is revolutionary, it now gives us the ability to get immediate feedback and then act upon that just as immediately. It lets us interface directly with our audiences in a so much more intimate way than every before. I agree that the narrative and story telling is what will breathe life into the web and what it desperately lacks. the code/narrative ratio is way off. There is just as much importance for a great story teller as there is for a great coder or designer, but show me one interactive shop that employs a great copy writer, I have met very very few. So lets not let the technology of our new medium cloud our notion that old school disciplines like writing and selling are no longer needed, sometimes youth’s ego is its greatest downfall.

By: David

David — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:42:25 +0000

And, I would like to mention some great digital work – I’m amazed noone has pitched in with any.

Here’s a few that have stuck in my head.

AKQAs Nike iD site which allowed you to create and customize your trainers online and get them sent to you. I spent hours on this and bought a pair at the end of it.

Agency Republic’s BBC Music Cubes. Super smart I thought to give people customizable badges to flaunt on their myspace pages. This meant all their friends saw it and it snowballed like mad.

Glue’s Mini ‘Ave a Word’ – I saw a friend receive a personalized message and literally turn pale with shock and amazement.

Subservient Chicken – This delivered a product proposition (Chicken done your way) in the most surprising and seemingly magical way I can remember. It’s still receiving millions of hits every year.

Starburst ‘Berries and Cream’ – This understood it’s audience and the youtube environment and delivered relentless surreal stoner humor in a film that was passed on millions of times and imitated countless times out of sheer affection.

Deadmau5 released his latest album as an iphone app as a kit of parts making it easy for his fans to play bedroom producer.

Anyone else seen anything they like?

By: David

David — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:26:09 +0000

That’s a vary good point Neil.

And I believe, in ‘digital’ or ‘the interactive space’ or whatever, we’re trying to break new ground much of the time. Otherwise we’d just carry on making films and ramming them down people’s throats through the telly.

The work will just keep getting better in the same way that poster, press and TV have done over the decades, and we’ll probably also grow to better appreciate it.