Very interesting article here at TechCrunch showing that there are ways for old media to change. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/30/what-if-the-new-new-york-times/
Keith Jeffrey
Archive for July, 2009
Maybe content is king after all
Thursday, July 30th, 2009More Fun Outside the Mainstream
Monday, July 27th, 2009Part of our job at QUAD is to bring the best of world cinema to Derby. Normally audiences are smaller than for mainstream blockbusters for obvious reasons. But mainstream audiences are missing a trick. If seat of the pants, visceral thrills are what cinema audiences want then they are there in world cinema. Take my two favourite films of the year and “The Good the Bad & the Weird” and “Flame & Citron” one a Korean western, the other a WWII movie of spies and hitmen and betrayal. Each had more tension excitement than probably the best block buster of the year Star Trek. So who’s missing out? Is reading sub titles that much of a deterrent to watching great films?
Keith Jeffrey
What is a Creative Industry?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009I just heard Greg Dyke interviewed on Radio 5. He’s been commissioned by the Conservative Party to look at the needs of ‘The Creative Industries’ for their next election manifesto. He was asked to define ‘The Creative Industries’ and his response surprised me. He said “ we are only really talking about those industries affected by the digital boom, so are not really looking at Fashion and the like”
This statement led me back to where I was last week when I attended the first CIN Board meeting (which I have to say was very enjoyable). I wondered if anyone had dared to fix this down and define what ‘The Creative Industries’ are? The other week I was doing some work for a provider who wanted me to treat ‘The Creative Industries’ as any business where a creative process was involved, although I suspect that this was because it meant a wider client base for their particular contract!
At CIN we define ‘The Creative Industries’ as the 13 areas listed by the DCMS at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/creative_industries/default.aspx
These are:
- Advertising
- Film and video
- Architecture
- Music
- Art and antiques markets
- Performing arts
- Computer and video games
- Publishing
- Crafts
- Software
- Design
- Television and radio
- Designer fashion
But it strikes me that as The Creative Industries continue to enjoy considerable growth there is a tendency to jump on the CI bandwagon and use the term as a replacement for innovation, which surely exists in all areas of business.
In his book entitled ‘Creative Industries: Contracts Between Art And Commerce’ Richard Caves attempts to identify some distinguishing characteristics that creative industries have in common. He ties it down to seven economic properties:
1. Nobody knows principle: Demand uncertainty exists because the consumers’ reaction to a product are neither known beforehand, nor easily understood afterward.
2. Art for art’s sake: Workers care about originality, technical professional skill, harmony, etc. of creative goods and are willing to settle for lower wages than offered by ‘humdrum’ jobs.
3. Motley crew principle: For relatively complex creative products (e.g., films), the production requires diversely skilled inputs. Each skilled input must be present and perform at some minimum level to produce a valuable outcome.
4. Infinite variety: Products are differentiated by quality and uniqueness; each product is a distinct combination of inputs leading to infinite variety options (e.g., works of creative writing, whether poetry, novel, screenplays or otherwise).
5. A list/B list: Skills are vertically differentiated. Artists are ranked on their skills, originality, and proficiency in creative processes and/or products. Small differences in skills and talent may yield huge differences in (financial) success.
6. Time flies: When coordinating complex projects with diversely skilled inputs, time is of the essence.
7. Ars longa: Some creative products have durability aspects that invoke copyright protection, allowing a creator or performer to collect rents.
I found these ‘criteria’ very interesting and wonder if we apply them to our own businesses whether we still consider ourselves to be in the Creative Industries or not. I’d be really interested in your thoughts on this. Maybe the criteria set down by Caves are a little rigid,, I’m sure we will all be able to think of exceptions, but they are a good starting point for discussion me thinks!……or Not?
John Hart
Independent labels lobby to get played
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009A proposal for the UK independent music companies’ trade body has been approved by the AIM (Association of Independent Music) members today – They intend to lobby the BBC to play a wider selection of music from independents on Radio 1 and AC network Radio 2.
The vote was given the go ahead in the “Your Big Ideas” section of this year’s AGM at the O2 in London. Not only did it represent the 10th anniversary of AIM but it paved the way for independents to put a foot firmly in the Radio giant’s door.
Alison Wenham (AIM’s chairman and Chief Executive) said the playlist issue would be raised at a scheduled meeting next month with Andy Parfitt, controller of Radio 1.
Wez Wesley, co-owner of UK indie Full Time Hobby, spearheaded the proposal to lobby the BBC on this pressing issue. “We sell alot of records”, however, have only been successful in getting one record on the BBC playlist in the last five years, said Wesley.
The proposal was also backed by Mission Control Production and Publishing MD, Harry Cowell. “It’s unbelievable that on the A-list on Radio 1 there was not one independent record last week,” he told the audience.
“We aim to play music our listeners will enjoy, irrespective of what label the artists are on, but independent labels are well represented in both our playlists – Radio 1 currently features 10 independent artists on a playlist of 48, while Radio 2 has seven out of 30 – and across our schedules, particularly in Radio 2 shows like Bob Harris, Janice Long and Radcliffe & Maconie, and in Radio 1′s specialist output where only a quarter of the music played is from major labels,” said a BBC spokesman in a statement.
“We talk to representatives from all areas of the industry on an ongoing basis and value their input, and we will continue to support and nurture new British artists.”
In terms of what this means for the local artists trying to break into the main stream is yet to emerge; however, with such bold moves being displayed by such an influential group it can only be positive.
Thomas Fearn – Founder and Director, OOiZiT Plc
Getting a job in graphic design: 7 tips for contacting employers
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009I have recently been getting rather a lot of emails from newly graduated design hopefuls. People looking to take their first tentative steps on the road of creative fulfillment. I remember what it was like trying to find my first job; it can be a little daunting. So I’d like to offer some advice, if I may?
Many of the job-seeking emails I receive make some basic mistakes. If you’re reading this as a job seeker, that is a good thing as you have the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. It’s just going to take a few minutes of planning, that’s all. I have prepared 7 simple tips to help you when contacting a prospective employer. Using these suggestions could seriously boost your chances of getting to interview, and reduce the risk of your email being deleted. Neat eh?
Tip 1: Find out the name of the person you are contacting.
If I get an email without my name at the top, I feel like it isn’t really to me. This means I don’t feel bad about not replying. If you can’t find a contact name on the company’s website, phone them. ‘Phone’ is a bonus feature that comes built in to most texting machines these days.
Tip 2: Send work examples.
Be careful here; it’s important not to clog up the inbox of your prospective employer with a 12mb PDF, but a couple of well chosen images can generate interest. You might also include a link to your website, incase the reader wants to see more. When you attach work examples, send a single file (PDF is best) and give it a name like ‘peteclark-work.pdf’. Avoid sending Word documents – this may sound like design snobbery, but Word is not the right tool to showcase your design skills. Nor is Publisher. Ever.
Tip 3: Spell check and READ your email before you send it.
I’m aware that many graphic designers aren’t too hot on spelling and grammar. But, and I cannot stress this enough, sending an email that is riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and bizarre changes in tense will make you look amateur. If you struggle in this area, get some help. At the very least, don’t make claims that could undermine you. I recently got an email from someone with a “Keen eye for detail” who managed to spell our company name wrong.
Tip 4: Don’t send an email at all.
People are going to think I’m nuts for suggesting this, but you could always post a letter. Yes, a paper letter! These days almost everything is emailed – however, important documents still tend to be sent through the post. A well typeset, letter and printed work examples (on good paper) will command a certain respect that an email never could. You know how many job seekers have posted me a letter? None. So anyone who did that would stand out.
Tip 5: State why you want the job.
If I’m going to give someone a job, they need to prove that they really want it. I want to hear from people who can’t go more than a couple of days without creating something. I would sooner hire someone who is “a little obsessed with typography” than someone who “really enjoyed being at uni”.
Tip 6: Explain why you are a good choice.
I care about your ideas, enthusiasm, desire to learn, commitment, ethics and software skills. In that order. Don’t list all the software you can use without saying why that matters. Graphic design is about ideas, not software skills. Imagine a doctor who is an expert with a stethoscope but has no interest in curing people. That doctor, would be a BAD doctor.
Tip 7: Put some effort in.
I once received the following email:
Hello
I wanted to ask if there is any Graphic Designer Vacancy Available?
Thank you
Ralph
I actually did reply to this one, because it made me laugh. I sent back the following:
Hi
No there isn’t I’m Afraid
Cheers
Pete
So there you have it, my top tips for getting noticed. Obviously this is really just a starting point, but these are things that you can start doing right now, without much effort. And remember: The best jobs go to the best people. So start doing everything you can to be one of the best people. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has tips of their own to add to the ones above. Good luck!
Pete Clark
Director of CCT Creative
pete@cctcreative.co.uk
Online marketing is just like trading back in medieval times
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009Allow me to shatter a myth - online media if approached properly has nothing at all to do with the technologies that currently deliver it.
I always ask people to think of online marketing as simply stepping back into a medieval village! Once they have picked themselves up off the floor, I explain that it’s a simple analogy to should stick to if they really want to succeed.
The very sexy technologies involved in online marketing can be distracting, making you lose focus on what you are actually planning to achieve online. In a medieval village, you pretty much knew or could easily find out about everyone else. You knew what they did/sold to make a living, whether they were trustworthy and you knew if they could keep their word and deliver on their claims. Of course this is basically what you can do now in your global village on the web – with the help of some trusted social media tools.
You can quickly tap into a search engine what you are looking for and through some clever stuff (search engine optimisation, link building, key word, on-line advertising, metatags etc.) undertaken by agencies like mine your site immediately comes up on the search and, so a lot of people believe, if you’ve done your job well – all will be fine.
Yes? No! Because listed underneath your site is every other piece of information about the thing you are looking for, through such tools as review sites, and more increasingly - individual point of view sites (blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc.) you’ll also see the truth about the organisation you where considering trading with.
So you see, it’s all back to the ways of the village, your reputation is key. Therefore I’d like to introduce what I believe will be a new buzz phrase to you, forget CRM, at BCS we believe ORM (Online Reputation Management) will be the killer strategy for organisations moving forward.
Murray Carmichael-Smith – BCS-PR
The first post
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009Hi there! I’m a bit stuck… You see, thinking of a subject worthy of my first blog post as a board member is a little tricky. There are many things that I could talk about, but I don’t know what people are interested in reading yet. I could write about my experience of dealing with tricky client situations; my top ten tips for overcoming creative block; something I’ve noticed that’s amused me. What’s the answer? (Actually, I did just notice that M&S has a special 3 for 2 offer on Wedding cakes. Who is that promotion aimed at!?)
I think I’m going to give it some more thought. In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas of what they’d like to read about, drop me a line.
Pete Clark
Director of CCT Creative
pete@cctcreative.co.uk