Written by Mihai Dragan on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 ( One response )
Tags: campaign, interactive, launch, teaser, video
And here is the teaser for it:
The text goes:
“We don’t make pretty or perfect things. We make things that work. Reserve your place for the biggest romanian adventure in the last century”.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 ( 3 responses )
Tags: Analytics, guesswork, internet, online statistics, samples, statistics
Today I’ve received news of another statistic study. It stated 2 percent of romanians wish to relocate in rural areas. The study was conducted on a “representative sample” of 1100 people.
I will not talk about romanians relocating to rural areas. It’s boring. I will talk about the concept of statistics and the changes that need to be taken to reach the next level.
The “representative sample” of 1100 people is no more than 0.005% of the total population. So … how could this sample be “representative”?
The answer lies in the phisical ability to conduct the study. There is only that much a company can do. Back in the day, when Statistics was born as a science there was no way anyone can theoritize the appearence of something like the internet, the impact it had or the fast spread it gained.
I grew up learning on the internet. I failed once the Statistics class, not being one of my favourites in college. However, what I did learn on the internet is that samples can be way larger than the standard 1000, data can be collected easier and faster than by just “asking for answers” and many others.
Statistics need an upgrade. Because now it’s more guesswork than science.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: collective conscious, humanity, internet, jung, thinking, twitter
What are we thinking? I mean what are we ALL thinking? Jung theoratized that we may have all something that he called “collective unconscious”, a part of the unconscious, shared by all humanity, a result of previous experience.
It is ”a reservoir of the experiences of our species.” Something we inherit and pass on.
I was amazed to find this theory as I felt humanity tends to reach something I would call collective thinking (the sum and sinergy of all human information and intelligence). The concept is not new. Asimov, the SF writer, wrote about the concept in his well known Foundation Series. Others have thought and talked about it.
As unlikely as it may seem I think we are close to something of the kind. Twitter (yes, ha, ha … Twitter) is at the moment the concept most likely to reach something of the kind. People talking, thinking, communicating together may be the dawn of a new era for human kind.
The era of the collective conscious.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Monday, July 27th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: cycle, hype, hype cycle, media, rockstars, technology
You may have seen technologies come and go (remember back in 2000 – “Flash is the next big thing, man!”, followed by many other “next big things” ?). If you’ve been long enough in the industry you are aware that not all hyped technologies ever reach productivity.
This is Probably a Lead Programmer
Recently I came across a very interesting study regarding the hype cycles. Gartner uses this to show how hype evolves and transforms into productivity (not always actually).
1. Technology trigger
Some company or individual discovers some kind of technology or way of using technology that gets lots of press coverage, money, fame, rockstar tours and celebrity endorsments. While many skip all the “rockstar thing” they get geek fans all over the world excited over their discovery.
2. Overinflated Expectations
“Yes, the Google OS cures cancer and fights poverty”. “Of course the iPhone is our best attempt at time travel and teleportation”. You’ve heard these things. You may have even thought or said something like this. It’s either very good marketing or just plain ol’ hype.
3. Disillusionment
“Man, this Java thing is nothing… just a bunch of bull”. People get disillusioned when technology doesn’t live up to their own overinflated expectations so they just abandon the thing. Media does too.
4. Enlightnement
“Yes, maybe Flash is not the best thing but look how pretty video is rendered in it. Hey, YouTube uses it too”. People see that maybe the technology is actually good for something and they start using it. Medium press coverage. Come back tour. With the band.
5. Productivity
“Yes, it took us ten years but we got this show on a road” says the founder, which is now tired and bored. This is the point where the technology is widely accepted, it gets regular reviews, new ways of using it are found every day and it’s here to stay.
Most of those that work with technology expect to either be eternally rich and famous after the first stage or…the second. 99 percent fail because they give up at stage 3, the disillusionment.
It is in our nature to ask for approval from our fellow people. It is because of our short life we demand fast success. But it just doesn’t work that way.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Friday, July 24th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: augmented reality, experiment, flash, interactive
We did something for I Dare U, a campaign for one of the most popular music TV Stations in Romania, U TV.
Here is a demo:
Written by Mihai Dragan on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 ( One response )
Tags: advertising, direct mailing, ogilvy, targeting
In his legendary “Ogilvy on Advertising”, David Ogilvy had a very interesting opening sentence in his direct mail chapter:
“One day a man walked into a London agency and asked to see the boss. He had bought a country house and was about to open a hotel. Could the agency help him to get customers? He had $500 to spend. Not surprisingly, the head of the agency turned him over to the office boy, who append to be the author of this book. I invested money in penny postcards and mailed them to well-heeled people living in the neighborhood. Six weeks later the hotel opened to a full house. I had tasted blood.”
Ogilvy fell inlove with direct mailing and he later mentions the wonders he has witnessed over the years: computers. He shows enthusiasm in how can they be used to select names by demographic classification, by frequency or amount of purchase. The man is thrilled at the idea he can merge and purge lists, send personal mails and many others we now take for granted as the internet evolved. Have I mentioned we are talking about 1983?
He is also known for his clear and to the point copywriting, for inserting coupons encouraging readers to “buy now” or send feedback to companies.
With his focus on targeting, filtering, measuring and interacting with consumers Ogilvy built one of the biggest agencies in the world and probably the most popular.
But that was then …
[to be continued]
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 ( One response )
Tags: advertising history, giants of advertising, raymond rubicam
Back in the day (and by that I mean around 100 years ago) Raymond Rubicam (founder of the famous Young&Rubicam) had a hard time getting clients to admit or even understand his impact on their business. Business back then had more to do with production and assembly lines than it had to do with sales, marketing and others.
These notions were not too popular with the big guys at the time but Raymond knew what he was doing. He knew his impact on the business he advertised was huge.
So he helped his clients hire the best sales managers around. He helped them see a new way of doing business. He opened their eyes. How did he do it? He trusted what he did. He left his mark on the clients he advertised. He helped them evolve. Most important – he didn’t quit. He did not settle for the second place either.
“Resist the usual” Raymond used to say. He encouraged copywriters and art directors in his company to change whenever needed. He was a genius and an innovator.
But that was than…
[to be continued]
Written by Mihai Dragan on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 ( 4 responses )
Tags: brain to computer, brainwave computer, camspace, future, interaction, interactivity, motion detection, video
Several years ago, before the iPhone was launched I was thinking about the current man-machine interaction methods. Most of them are built around touch. Buttons for example or the latest trend – the multitouch interface popularized by Apple.
But is this as good as it gets? Probably not. Enter motion detection and processing.
Imagine having a huge screen in front of you. How would you interact with it? With a remote? Pressing buttons? Why not waving your hands around?
Funny? Maybe. Easy to use? For sure. We use gestures to communicate. Actually nonverbal communication amounts to almost 60% of meaning. And most of nonverbal communication is based on gestures. So why not really talk to computers?
About 3 years ago I was building a team focused on the study of video interaction based solely on gestures. The project was meant to run on Flash platforms and later used on mobile phones as a revolutionary way of interaction with mobile devices. Remember – that was previous to the iPhone. The project got canned due to lack of finance and I moved on.
This year I was thrilled when CamSpace launched. The technology is simply amazing not only by what it does but by what it can do. Imagine interacting with any device without keyboard, mouse or even touch. Here’s a quick demo:
I expect this kind of interactive processing mainstream in the next 5-10 years, used in entertainment, advertising, communication and even home appliances.
Throughout the centuries mankind has learned to control animals, tools and the world around it with physical gestures. Means of control got restricted to push, pull, touch etc. The time has come to redefine that.
Scientists and technology companies are working on developing brain-to-computer interfaces. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are working on the mind-reading computer. Better yet – the device that lets us communicate to computers in a way we could not before.
What you have there is one way we can use this. This man was paralyzed from the neck down. He managed to get 90% of the tasks he was supposed to correctly. Using only his brain. This kind of technology can offer paralyzed people, people that are trapped in their bodies the freedom they’ve once lost.
But it can do much more. Using it we can one day achieve instant connectivity to anyone on the planet. We can drive complicated machines without any prior training. We can communicate like never before with computers and humans and much more…
…But that will take time. My bet is the close future belongs to touch. And for those embracing this new interaction method – here are a few tips on designing touch user interfaces.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: brain download, digital, digital human, future, mind, robots
…and I really mean digital.
Soon we will be able to download our ego on hard drives, back-up our conscience or be a part of the network.
What will this lead to?
Immortality is one the things humans have long been looking for. They have dreamed about it, studied it and even built religions around it.
We dream of immortality when we are kids, when we grow up and even as old people hoping our death can be a step farther from our current existence. Not an end.
What if we would break down a human being to its very core – the mind? Is this all we are? Brains connected to an outer body, helping our mind work in its way around the world. Then that should mean we will have no problem adapting to being a machine computing our thoughts, decisions, lifestyle and others.
We will live in computers, have electric arms and legs, behave almost as if we were alive.
The internet is not only a web of computers interconnected. It’s probably the greatest thing humans have ever constructed. It’s made of information. Information gathered by our culture in thousands and thousands of years.
All a second away for the downloaded mind. The digital human can access this information almost instant. It can stay connected with every new discovery, it can process problems at a speed we haven’t thought of, it can learn a new language in the blink of an eye.
Humans, as we are today have been like this for the last 100 000 years. Quite a long time. Something like this, a mix between biology and technology can lead to a new breed of humans. One that are what we call today robots. But with a conscience, brain and the possibility to make decisions.
How far would this race go? We, humans, are better than any species at communicating, inventing, building. At least this is what we like to think of ourselves. We are also pretty good with things like war, destroying, killing.
How far would we go if we were intellectually omnipotent? Would we understand our actions or continue to act like Earth’s plague? Would we evolve or destroy ourselves and everything around?
I had a short debate with one of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure of coming across. He said we are just information and we can be very well digitized.
I would say we are something else. Something we can’t yet comprehend. I say that because beyond our thoughts there are feelings, decisions we are not “aware” of. We love and hate. We are glad to see the sun and enjoy the company of friends. We are thrilled by our children. We dream, we hope.
Would a set of digitized information be able to do all this things? Would it be able to doubt itself? Would it be able to know when wrong and reprogram itself?
And if so – if it were what we are today – wouldn’t it feel anger, sorrow and hate towards the one that made it what it is? Someone imprisoning it in a computer. After all – we all treasure our freedom.
At this point – the digital human, having all the power it can access, hating it’s creators and masters – wouldn’t it rebel against it?
And this is were we should think twice before choosing immortality. For it may cost us more than we are willing to pay for.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: Mobile, pc, reading
I have noticed that I find it much easier to read articles, posts and others on my iPhone (previously I had a Nokia, and I found it just as easy) than on a PC or laptop.
Might it be the larger screen size that allows me to have less focus, the smaller text or the feeling that things are not really in my control that makes me hate reading things on computer screens? Who knows…
What are your opinions on this?
