scott goodson's writings

Pick up Glimmer

There's a new book that is worth your time. It's called "Glimmer" and is a new way of looking at design -- as a way of helping business, but also tackling some of the world's problems.

In the business part of the book, it also argues that "design is the new advertising" -- meaning marketing today has to be treated more like a cohesive design project than a series of one-off ads. Something StrawberryFrog has been aligned with since we started ten years ago.  

Here's a link to a blog all about the book.

Glimmer is written by Warren Berger who is a respected scribe who's written about our industry for a long while and is famous for capturing cutting edge agencies and campaigns for magazines such as Business 2.0 and Communications Arts. 

Glimmer spends time getting to know the designer Bruce Mau. Warren spent two years hanging around Mau and a dozen other of the world's top designers, studying how they think and solve problems. I spoke with Warren and asked him what he'd glimmered from Mau after all the time they spent together.

You have to read the book to find out the answer. His secret is probably just recognizing that advertising is not about graphics or how things look, etc. It's about "the human capacity to plan and produce desired outcomes." (Mau's definition of design).  And Glimmer tries to break it all down to plain English -- what is design, how does it work, what can the rest of us learn from how designers think. 

Morgan Stanley's "World Wise" campaign by StrawberryFrog wins BMA Award

 
Morgan Stanley's "World Wise" campaign was acknowledged by the Business Marketing Association of New York City. Morgan Stanley was presented with its Communicator of the Year award.

The 48th annual presentation of the award was made at Tavern on the Green during the 2009 Advertising Week in New York. The financial services company is being recognized for its "World Wise" campaign, according to BtoBOnline. 

What shape will the wireless Web take?

I was treated to Jacques Bughin's conversation starter about the fast evolving wireless web. If you have not read Jacques' piece, click here and spend ten minutes reading his vision about the not so distant future. 

His point of view is simple: the era of the nomadic Web is upon us.  And he makes his case by answering a few self-posed questions:

Will the mobile Web become a substitute for wired access?

Will mobile match the performance of fixed access?

Where will people go for the best content and Web applications?

Which mobile Web are we talking about?

The Web is constantly in flux, and the latest shift toward a world untethered from broadband networks could have huge implications and create new opportunities. The questions raised above only begin to scratch the surface.

2016 Olympics Vote: Chicago Eliminated In First Round, Rio the City to Beat.

According to the BBC, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid are vying to be the host of the 2016 Olympic Games, after Chicago and Tokyo are eliminated in the first ballot of voting for the 2016 Olympics on Friday.

Not even the presence of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama – nor a long list of celebrities – was enough to help the United States' third-largest city.

The Huffington Post described the Chicago as having picked up momentum in the last few days, with many International Olympic Committee members seemingly charmed by Mrs. Obama. But when IOC president Jacques Rogge announced the results of the first vote, Chicago was the city that fell out.

Rio in my mind has the strongest bid. Never before has the Olympics been held in South America. Never before has Rio had such a strong proposal for how they would hold the games, and never before have they had the kind of experience they've mustered over the past few years, having held numerous international sporting events such as the pan-American games in 2007. Chicago made a valiant attempt and they had a great bid.

A few years back, I was the Creative Director for the 2004 Stockholm Olympic Bid, and Rio was one of the contenders. The Rio bid was very good, though the city remained risky and unproven. The bid process is an enduring multi-year marathon, with an unending list of marketing communications and elements that must be developed and honed, produced and disseminated.

Stockholm 2004, Olympic bid film

Vote for best carved pumpkin

The intricacy of pumpkin caring is becoming a new art form. Who would have thought this perishable gourd-like squash was such an inspiring canvass? Look through some extraordinarily carved pumpkins and vote for your favorites here.

LOOKING UP: MOBILE FROM 2010-2015

Just finished reading an extraordinary article by Josh Lovinson, entitled "Looking up: Mobile from 2010-2015", about where the mobile phone is headed as a media tool in this month's Media magazine. His vision is realistic and inspiring for those of us developing ideas for multiple platforms. "The true impact of changes" he says will happen with the introduction of 4G, which is around the corner. The impact of a truly open system will be the new white space. The only thing missing from the wonderful piece is the potential impact of other countries technologies and content carrying systems which eventually will become border-less by companies such as Nokia and which may start to have greater impact on US consumers.

Josh also suggests that one of the biggest stand outs to come will be augmented reality. I would also add various applications of holography which are underdevelopment.