Really interesting news this morning from PSFK, announcing that Will.i.Am has become Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation. Its quite a bold move from Intel and potentially a strange one from Will.i.Am, but like the collaborations we have seen between Victoria Beckham and Range Rover, Josh Rubin and Gap, it lays down markers for our industry.
I think the collaboration between Will.i.am and Intel isn’t as big an impact as VB and Range Rover, but may have the same effect. For the creative crowd, music musos, and designers this could be seen to be a worthwile collaboration, but the developer base that use Intel chips may be wondering what the f is going on. Potentially, they might believe a collaboration with MIT may have been better, someone that can add real value to the development of technology rather than its creative uses.
Whatever people’s opinion its got me questioning where is the value? What value will Intel get out of Will.i.am apart from simple column inches. Yes, he is certainly popular on Twitter, but until we understand the genuine value a tweet brings what does this actually mean. I could kind of understand this if it was a move from Apple, or Microsoft, but Intel build chips. Chips which drive machines. Machines which produce creative. It seems a bit of a stretch for Will.i.am to be this person for Intel, so where is the value? how will a musician aid creativity within tablets or phones?
Collaborations are clearly becoming a much more interesting and visible area. However, until we really understand the actual value of this person to our business from a sales perspective, then we have to constantly ask, what value does it bring?
Don’t get me wrong though I love Will.i.am, but what the f was that “had the time of my life” single all about?!
It seems clear to me that many current agency models simply don’t work. As clients push for bottom-dollar in periods of recession many agency models have become little more than a commodity. Media is one area where agencies are continually being driven down in terms of commission or fee and many have looked to change. MediaCom, my old agency, launched MediaCom Beyond Advertising to look at better models for driving revenue through website builds, social media, and mobile. In reality, it was probably launched just in time and ahead of the curve, but there are a host of many different models that new agencies could and will look at.
In an interview screened on PSFK (see bottom of post), Piers Fawkes, founder of said company, talks about why PSFK could provide a new agency type for adventurous clients. I think Piers has some really interesing points, which are seconded by Mario Gamper the interviewer. For example, if as we are predicting and in alot of cases seeing, that advertising will become more about branded content, then those agencies with the best writers, producers and inspiring thinkers should win through.
Piers believes inspiration comes from not literal thinking e.g. copying what someone else has done, I would probably define this more as literal productivity, but from lateral thinking (and lateral production). By this Piers says:
“See what else is going on, what else is exciting.” …………..“We pick ideas that would challenge you, [that] aren’t very easy to translate into advertising.”
It is pretty simply put and certainly not new, I think all agencies would want to be inspirational. However, where PSFK come into their own is the filtration they provide to good ideas meaning that any creative can go to PSFK and be inspired by the things that they believe are game changing, shape shifting and influentially inspiring. In other words, by giving inspiration up for free, PSFK get opportunities on clients and business that others do not.
I really like Piers and PSFK, they provide a great selection of content firstly, but also have incredibly inspirational people working for them; Jeff Weiner, Paloma Vazquez, Dan Gould, Dave Pinter and Naresh. I think their model works for that very reason and people want to work with them.
Next Up in Future Agency Models: Victor and Spoils.
Footnote: I should have added that at the end of this series, I will be picking out my own ideal for a model for the agency of the future. I’m pretty excited by this all and will be interviewing relevant people to see where they think the future lies. If you’d like to join in or contribute, let me know.
