POST DIGITAL

on: cannes week

as many of you know i attended cannes ad fest and represented nyc creative at the wunderman annual creative directors meeting.  it was a week of learning, meeting new people, running into a few of the old and getting inspired to do fantastic work in the coming year.  here are a few of my snaps.

on: the road to cannes

Over the next week I will be attending the Wunderman Global Creative Directors Meeting at this years Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival! If you will be there tweet with me #wmanGCDM! 

Here are a few hastags to follow: #CannesLions, #wmanGCDM! #wman, #cannesbaby #jpbCannes

I will be video blogging from the meetings, beaches and night clubs.  catch it all here.

on: taking back my lunch

Did you know that the average American worker takes 20 mins or less for lunch? When I heard that stat from Allison Hemming @thehiredguns I said "OMG that's me!"  Is this you too? Did you eat while working at your desk yesterday?

Most days, I do not leave the office to eat my lunch.  I usually sit at my desk, eat, work and answer emails.  When the weather changed in the spring, I took my first trip down the street to Bryan Park.  While sitting on the grass with lunch, I realized that I was loosing sight of how important it was to remove myself from my desk to find an hour of calm and inspiration. 

Help me stop the madness! Join in on a growing movement to Take Back Your Lunch. The Take Back Your Lunch movement is a simple idea about reclaiming something that's rightfully yours... LUNCH.  

Every Wednesday this summer, starting June 23rd at noon, in Manhattan's Bryant Park and in public parks nationwide, workers across America will be taking a collective lunch break. 

Rip yourself from those arduous emails and join me on June 29th for an hour of people watching and conversation in the park. Don't forget to bring a friend and a lunch.

To get more information about the Take Back Your Lunch movement  Check this link out http://t.co/6TXHiGP or search this hashtag #tbyl on Twitter.

ON: Your Creative Process

Do our clients pay for our process? Or do they pay for the best creative output for their brands?  I would be the first to say clients don't care how its made as long as what you make works for their brands.  They typically have hired us to build their brand and sell more products.  So do your self a favor in your next pitch or client meeting - get rid of that process slide! You know which one I am talking about.  The one with a 4 linear arrows - or my personal favorite is the circular arrows. It only serves to undermine all the hard work that goes into creativity.

The manner of an artist is essentially individual; The method of an artist is absolutely universal.  The first is personality which no one should copy; The second is perfection, which all should aim at. - Oscar Wilde

"Creative Process" is a bit of an oxymoron - like jumbo shrimp or black light.  It's like Jackson Pollock splattering by numbers.  However an oxymoron, it's not.  "Process" is the logical part of creativity.  For all Pollock's random gesturing he had a process. He worked on white canvass with four square corners.  He picked particular brushes and colors.  And most of all, though his splatters seem random when taken individually, together, his works coalesce into a definitive pattern and style.

Your creative process is your secret sauce, trump card and trade secret all rolled into one.  Teach your team how to care for it; you'll need help raising it.  But that's it.  Don't reveal your creative process to outsiders, especially clients.  If the method works, they'll see the results soon enough in their bottom line and in yours.

Don't sell the process, build the brand with your creativity.

ON: Blogging The Now

I recently heard a wise man say something absurd.  "Blogging is dead!"  

WRONG!

We are the new media - and blogging allows us to do it now.

Blogging has just evolved. The vast majority of bloggers are thought leaders who have pushed the medium forward.  These influencers have moved the bar and migrated to smarter platforms that allow the broadcast of their thought leadership. 

One of new my favorites social/blogging apps happens to be posterous.com.  Easy, connected and portable.  Here is a fantastic video that highlights why real bloggers have migrated and adopted this new service.

Visit the ñ stream at http://joannapenabickley.posterous.com/

ON: The Latest DRTV Spot

via vimeo.com

This is the latest from our Wunderman NYC team.  Direct Response Television Spot for Nationwide Insurance.

Posted via web from joannapenabickley's posterous

ON: NYC's Digi-rati

It has been a while since I have had the time to join the ranks of my peers, the early digital practitioners. Tonight I made the time to meet up with a number of old and new friends.  The night was hosted by Dachis Group.

I joined Peter Kim (@peterkim), Jeff Dachis (@jeffdachis), Kate Niederhoffer (@katenieder), David Armano (@armano) and Jevon MacDonald (@jevon) at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.  The crowd was diverse and reflected much of New York's "Media Now" world.

Much of the talk tonight was from people who live a digitally transparent life and who have become influential innovators.  The topics ranged from content creation opportunities to tech talk to using social networks to mine for basic behavioral insights.  All fascinating.  Nice to see the NYC Digi-Scene still alive. Pictures from the event at: http://picasaweb.google.com/annemaibertelsen/DachisSocialBusinessMeetup#

What was particularly interesting was the amount of former "agency" people who have left the business to create directly for fortune 500 companies.  It begs the question, is there a real future in social media for agencies or will the influential practitioner be the new voice of the brand?

ON: The Big 89 - Happy Birthday Lester #WMAN

One of my favorite parts of working at Wunderman in NY is running into Lester Wunderman in the elevator.  His humble demeanor and ability to strike up a conversation with anyone who asks him a question has kept the last year incredibly exciting. 

Today is Lester's 89th B-Day. Happy Birthday Lester!  89 years ago, Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States. You could buy a Ford for $290! Switzerland had joined the League Of Nations. Pancho Villa surrendered to the Mexican government. The Summer Olympics are held in Antwerp, Belgium.  Agatha Christie published The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing Hercule Poirot.  And… Lester Wunderman, the father of our industry, and the beloved founder of our agency was born!

In observance of Lester's B-day you can follow some of his best gems on twitter at twitter.com/wunderman or by searching the #WMAN hashtag.  Here are a few of my favorites!

• Consumer's Communication Bill of Rights, excerpt from Lester's book Being Direct http://bit.ly/9V9Zw
• The consumer is offered more and more self-service -- a euphemism for no service at all.
• Nov. 29, 1967, Lester spoke at MIT. His topic was "Direct Marketing: The New Revolution in Selling" http://bit.ly/4oapWS
• Accountable Creativity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRG0Wmhrfsk

I recently had the chance to ask a few questions in a NY creative forum.  Here is Lester unplugged.

Feel free to wish Lester Wunderman a Happy Birthday on twitter today by using the #WMAN hashtag!

ON: Brand JP-B

After attending a number of digital conferences during Internet week and preparing for OMMA Social,  I was inspired to refresh my digital brand.  The update began with the one simple idea: We are living in a Media NOW world and our work must be created with context and NOW relevance.

After unraveling myself from the presentation layer updates, running a few tests and converging my most used social media feeds, I started the brand refresh by relaunching my site at  http://www.joannapenabickley.net.

Click around. I would love to get your opinion! 

What would a JP-B brand launch be without a feel good music video???  Well it wouldn't be my launch if there was not video content that demonstrated how I do my thang!

Joanna Pena-Bickley - Creative Director from Joanna Pena-Bickley on Vimeo.

2009 is indeed a year of change. Change does not need to be somber.  It does have to be transparent, democratic and portable to keep it real.  What about your brand will you change this year?

ON: The Conversation Prism

Source : Brian Solis & Jess3 :
www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/2735401175/