A bastards guide to: skepticism

June 25, 2010 in Business, Social Media, advertising | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 comments

Hi, my name is Joel and I’m a bastard.

I’m that guy that sits in your presentation and then at the end asks you for the sources of the various stats as well as what the exact question asked was and the who/when/where’s of the sample group. I know this annoys you, I can see it in your eyes. That mixture of anger, irritation and ever-so-slight fear that you will be caught flogging off your biased and untrustworthy data.

The thing that bothers me is that a lot of people in digital media (in particular social) seem to immediately forget the most basic elements of statistical analysis, the kind of basic stuff that should be common sense for anyone who sits and actually thinks about what they’re looking at, things like the difference between correlation and causality. Recently I have been having a bit of a rant about the sheer volume of misleading ‘research’ that has been published about Facebook in an attempt to give clear monetary value to “fans,” an effort that will never make sense anyway because each ‘fan’ is unique, it is not the same as a conversion/sale. I was going to write about why their study was deeply flawed in every way, but The Adcontrarian did it for me.

It wouldn’t be such an issue if they admitted fault when people call bullshit on their stupid buzz-videos (side note: reading the comments below this video will actually cause hemorrhaging of the brain, the stupidity is that dense) but instead they try to argue that the figures have value by referring to “research” that backs up the numbers, however this “research” is usually highly biased and funded by interested parties, not only this but the figures they quote are taken dramatically out of context.

If digital media as an industry really wants to start seeing significant investment from brands we need to step up to the table and be honest with advertisers, we need to tell them realistic information, not a bunch of pseudo-scientific stats that immediately set off the bullshit detector of everyone in the room. This current approach is akin to a kid telling you he caught a fish thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big, no one believes them, but its cute that they try to trick you.

A new series of guest posts: My Start in the Media Industry by Daniel Cravero

May 26, 2010 in Business, Media, advertising, lessons | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Daniel Cravero is a friend of mine who very recently started his first role in the industry as a Media Assistant at the GroupM owned MindShare. I approached Daniel and asked if he would be interested in sharing his experience of being a new person in the industry in order to capture the full process as he grows from these beginnings as a bright-eyed, hopeful, junior.

Daniel kicking arse and taking names

Outside of media Daniel plays drums in some bands and generally kicks arse.

I’ll do some disclosure and say that while Daniel and I work for competing agencies the opinions expressed by both he and I represent only our own. They should in no way be related to our agencies, clients, or anybody with common sense.

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My first foray into media has been something like what a kid in a candy store feels like. To those seasoned individuals reading this thinking “wait till the hard cold truth hits him” I’m already one step ahead of you – I only need to look at some of the other assistants I work with to get an idea of things to come!

So what about first impressions? I really like what I’ve seen so far. This is now my 3rd week and I am learning a great deal about what it means to be working in a media agency. To be perfectly honest, it’s very exciting stuff! I took a good look at one of the media plans and thought to myself “wow, this really makes sense, I can totally see the vision behind this plan, when do I start planning?”

It turns out I may be lacking some essential skills I need to develop before I get to this stage.

Speaking of training, in house training to develop my skills has so far been out of this world. I have been so impressed with the level of coaching and training available at my agency. I couldn’t help but notice, however, certain publisher based training “seminars” include very little training content and end up turning into a selling exercise. I have worked in sales before – I can smell a sales pitch from a mile away! (But who can really complain when there are French pastries on offer).

Am I keen to stay? Absolutely. Do I enjoy the fact there are long lunches, numerous freebies, after work drinks sponsored by media owners and plenty of after hours events throughout the year? Without a doubt. Will it all come crashing down in a fiery ball of flames once reality sinks in? Stay tuned…

Music Review: Mike Fielding AKA Naboo (Mighty Boosh) Dj set @ Qbar

May 22, 2010 in Music, review | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 comments

Lets precede this post by saying at the time of attendance I had been out with publishers and at various media events and was already fairly intoxicated at the time of arrival (obviously this was followed with drinks at the venue). With that said I have run the below review via friends who were with me (and hadn’t been out for a day of drinking) and they agree with it completely.

I am a young man, it is not often I feel elderly in a crowd and yet as our night at Qbar began at 10:30pm I sensed that the crowd would invariably be of the “fresh out of school/fake ID/I’m studying arts to appease my parents and avoid work” variety. Upon entry to the venue we were greeted by a heaving bar and an extremely full room (requiring 20+ minute lines for drinks) comprised of many a young person all dressed to the nines in Boosh related costumes. The opening DJ in the main room was playing a general mix of commercial hits, both new and old (e.g. Blur/Daft Punk/Usher/etc). Needless to say my stay in this room was short lived. In the second room the DJ was playing a set that varied from amazing tech/minimal/electro of the awesome2themax variety ala Elite Force/Meat Katie through to tracks that crossed the line by a mile to end up as straight up cheese.

As Mike Fielding aka Naboo the enigma aka That short fucker AKA Noel Fielding‘s less attractive, less talented and much, much shorter little brother took the stage the crowd filtered out off the second room towards the main room, there was a palpable excitement in the air, everyone was keen to see what the little man would deliver (I, personally was somewhat disheartened having read Andrew McMillen’s review over at the vine which as it turns out, was accurate to a tee). Mike opened with “Gay Bar” over an audio system that was not in any way close to being loud enough to fill the room (I was able to carry on a standard volume conversation in the middle of the room). I stayed for MAYBE two more songs before retreating from the fade-out fade-in blend of schizophrenia that made up Fielding’s set before retreating to the second room in which a DJ was playing a pretty acceptable set comprised of dance floor friendly electro/tech re-edits of pop, jazz and Boosh tracks. This last point is essential, for while punter and DJ alike were dressed in costume, paying homage to The Mighty Boosh and expressing their love for its unique humour, Fielding was dressed like any other Hipster douche, outfit complete with bad 80′s-esque moustache. I floated back and forth between the two rooms over the next couple of hours, with very little interest in the bland hum drum music that was being played. During this period I notice Fielding having some sound problems with a tech leaning over, seemingly instructing him on how the mixer works. (this once more was scarily close to Andrew’s experience). In addition to this over the period I was there (I got fed up and headed home at about 1:30am) he didn’t drop a single Boosh related track. Potentially the whole no-costume, no boosh tracks thing is his way of trying to maintain some level of independence (it cant be easy constantly living in Noel’s shadow). However when an event is marketed as a Boosh based event with Fielding literally titled as Naboo it is probably not unreasonable to expect that the interest that brought the punters together would be recognised and acknowledged by the headline act. At the time I left (1:30/2am-ish) the punters were dwindling, those that remained seemed disinterested in the music being played and more interested in the bar / picking up wasted hipsters / doing their drugs.
All in all it was a complete waste of money, a massive disappointment and a Friday night in which I could have received a root canal and still had a less irritating night. The big issue wasn’t that he couldn’t mix, nor that the sound was poorly levelled, nor that the crowd was skewing very young. The big issue was that Fielding didn’t seem to give a fuck. Nothing about the set he played had any sense of him wanting to make an impression. He had no stage presence, no charisma and no willingness to even take the minor effort to put on a costume to give the punters exactly what they paid for. At the end of the day I think everyone, even those that had an amazing time, will remember it as a mediocre night in which they were let down by a character they once cherished. I sincerely hope that Fielding counts his blessings on a daily basis. Because despite being a short, unattractive and mediocre little talent, thanks to his brilliant brother Noel he will likely be able to ride this cash cow for years to come.

But everyone’s doing it?!?

May 13, 2010 in Business, Personal, Social Media | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 comments

It seems to me that businesses have lost a bit of that discerning nature that makes them the long term successes they want to be.

Every decision should be made for the good of the company. This is a fact of business and often the key factor that can make the difference between a mediocre leader and a great one. Where the difficulty lies is that a lot of people only think of the good of the company as ensuring that their monthly/quarterly/yearly profits are as high as possible and that in the public eye there are sweeping positive reviews, but there is so much more to it than that. It is inevitable that there will be some level of negative sentiment about a business, be it from past employees, a negative event that occurred or a current employee that has had a bad day and is having a vent. The issue is with seeing all of this as a completely negative thing that is to be controlled. People expect employees to have bad days, nobody is happy all the time, work is stressful and at times depressing. This is the way things are in even the best of companies.

What we are seeing at the moment is companies rushing to control this output through monitoring of employees online activity and then taking action off the back of it the problem with this is that it is in no way a cost efficient use of anybodies time. If employees are complaining en-mass a standard level of brand monitoring throughout social channels should pick this up, there is no need to monitor employees specifically. Furthermore the way in which businesses are treating employees that do complain is counter-productive, in fact if an employee that is typically happy complains online they are just as likely to promote the business through the same channel when they have a good day. If there are high levels of complaints occurring from employees throughout the business, or even from within particular business teams the issue is not that people are complaining, it is that they are unhappy at work. This, whether businesses like it or not is a management/leadership issue.

If businesses put the same amount of time, effort and money into leadership training, employee reward and recognition programs and talent development that they put into attempting to control their employees online behaviour they would not only see the amount of negative sentiment from employees fade, they would additionally be left with a more engaged and productive workforce. This is the largest issue with businesses rushing to get on board the latest trend, they are not thinking about the long term cost associated with this behaviour. When you lose an employee t it costs the business on average a minimum of 2x their salary to recruit, train and replace the employee. Add to this the damage and cost of having dis-engaged employees to begin with and what you are left with is an extremely detrimental cost to the business, so instead of punishing and restricting the expression of employees who will only feel further unhappy about their situation knowing that work is now encroaching on their personal space, businesses should look internally at employee engagement (there are a multitude of providers who run assessments around this) and figuring out how they can improve the workplace for everyone. Hypothetically speaking you could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars saved annually in turnover and productivity.

It’s just smart business.

For more information about the benefits of investing in employees you can look at my lovely partner Jessica’s site: HR Club Sydney

The ultimate idea killer

April 21, 2010 in Business, advertising, lessons | Tags: , , , , , , | 7 comments

Ideas can come from anywhere. They are not limited by age, race, status or education. A good idea can come from the mind of a 5 year or in the ramblings of a 90 year old. These are facts that are universally accepted, and yet in an industry built on ideas many people allow their ego and sense of entitlement to hinder this process.

The ultimate enemy of ideas is the ego.

More accurately, it is ego which leads to poor leadership that in turn impacts the creative process.

Confidence and self-assurance can be great qualities in a creative thinker, they allow them to be vocal and forward with their thinking, free from the self doubt that can kill an idea before it begins. However these same traits that can make a great thinker can make a person a lousy people manager. Their ego and the feeling that they have earned their way to their current position of power and authority can make them hypercritical and short with those below them. There is an immediate dismissal that anybody with less experience and a lower paycheck could ever possibly come up with an idea that they could not top.

While the immediate impact of this will simply be dis-engaged and unmotivated staff, the long term ramifications for the agency are massive. Firstly, key talent are likely to go elsewhere if they feel they are being unrecognized and under acknowledged. This in turn will lead to a lack of up and coming talent from within the agency leading to the highly expensive need to recruit top talent from outside the business when your mid-top level employees move on. Secondly, the employees who do stay will likely be unhappy and unmotivated, this leads to increased sick days, lower levels of productivity, a generally lower level of moral in the workplace and higher turnover.

These problems are not limited to creative careers such as Advertising and Design, they are however more baffling in these industries as they impact not only the overall mood and moral but they inhibit the very thing that businesses pay for.

I have been fortunate enough to have been nurtured greatly and as such I have been lucky to have had incredible opportunities arise numerous times in my short career. This is perhaps the reason for my passion to help those that are new to the industry flourish and grow their passion. However many I know have not been so lucky, a lot of people will only last 6-12 months in their first role before leaving the industry all together, still more will go sales or client side out of frustration with the way they are treated and a lack of visibility into their future.

There needs to be a resolute and sound focus over the next few years within the media, advertising and marketing industry to check our egos (amazing though they be) at the door and really concentrate on building our people and talent management skills in order to ensure that creativity and free thinking thrive and that agencies are able to retain talent.