Kansas City Digital Agency | T2 + Back Alley Blog - Part 2

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Michael Ong
September 15th, 2010
by Michael Ong
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Gratitude

There aren’t enough words
to express my gratitude
in such short Haiku

– Michael Ong

Everything has its time. Sixteen years definitely flew by fast and, when you really love your job, it becomes part of you. T2 is definitely part of my DNA. As I’m looking back at this juncture, my heart is filled with gratitude. I am who I am today in large part because of Teri Rogers and T2. I owe it to everyone whose paths I’ve crossed while at T2 — mentors, co-workers, friends and clients. I’ve learned and grown, been challenged and encouraged, as well as recognized and rewarded. I have loved every moment of it! And rest assured, making the decision to leave T2 was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make. However, it was one of those rare occasions
when all the stars lined up, and I knew it was time for me to take that next step.

It’s been great working quietly behind the scenes to beef up the team at T2 with a wide variety of talented people and I’m confident the team we’ve assembled will continue to add fresh thinking, a collaborative mentality and forward-thinking design to the solutions T2 brings to its clients.

I know I’m going to miss everyone at T2. They are my family. But the nice thing about family is that you can work in different places and still continue to be very close. I¹m looking forward to that. I am going to miss the incomparable amazing workplace that can never be replaced and saying “goodbye” is hard. It is easier for me to say this: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the life experience you’ve given me.

Michael Ong

Teri Rogers
August 20th, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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Citizen Brand Ambassadors – The New Norm?

Gillette's Razor Guys
Gillette’s “Razor Guys” are the latest in a series of brands turning to consumers to help market or launch a product.

This isn’t new – other brands have done similar campaigns, but it is a new strategic move for P&G, which often taps famous athletes or other celebs to align with its products. For this particular product, the Fusion razor, the desire was to reach a younger demographic. By tapping a couple of young, hip, “every dude” kind of guys for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, P&G shows some savvy when it comes to buzz building and understanding how younger consumers both consume – and generate media. For P&G, the Gillette campaign is an example of a significant social media initiative. The Razor Guys (selected by winning a contest), traveled the country, did a ton of blogging and microblogging, posting reactions on the company’s microsite along the way and even tossed in some celebrity interviews for good measure. They created a lot of buzz, gave away over 10,000 samples and got the Gillette Fusion brand out there, in front of their desired audience, in a big way.

Creating campaigns that allow consumers to be a part of the brand experience is rapidly becoming a tactic that just makes sense. I think this kind of consumer outreach is but one of many “new norms.” More importantly, positioning your business – no matter what it is, so that you are open to change, and regularly adopting and testing different strategies is a critical component of growth and success. Especially when it comes to new media and a consumer group that is technically savvy and as used to creating their own content as they are consuming it.

Teri Rogers
July 30th, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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It’s Not About Then, It’s About Now

It's About NOW

The annual PromaxBDA conference is the largest entertainment marketing, promotion and design event in the world and attracts execs from top television networks, cable channels, media and creative agencies, design and emerging media and other industry leaders. PromaxBDA was held in late June in LA and it is, without question, an awesome conference. I went to the conference when it was held in Miami several years ago – and I wish I could have made it to this one. It’s always a gathering of some of the best strategists, marketers and true thought leaders in the creative fields.

This video features a snippet from a panel on inspiration, and what inspires leaders in the field. Moderated by Will Travis, Dentsu America, the panel included people like David Carson, David Carson Design; Timothy Fisher, CoFounder, Mk12; Mark Kudsi, Director, Motion Theory; Jakob Trollback, Trollback+Company; Garson Yu, President and Creative Director for yU+Co, along with several others.

I found their thoughts and challenges inspiring and thought you might, too. Under the jump, there’s a recap of some of their comments, in case you want to roll them around in your head like I did in mind.

Will Travis opens the clip talking about change and what scares him. He was challenged by having a big shop, one that helped change the way things were done in the industry – and what comes after that. “You can’t rely on your heritage, on who you were” he says. “It’s about who you are going to be – and how you are reforming that“ that matters now.

And then Trollback wonders, with the advent of the Internet and the fact that sources of inspiration now are so accessible, “are we better, because of that?” And he elaborates that it’s that process – the transformation of one piece of inspiration into another – that drives all of us.

“There is no control over quality anymore” when you put your creative work out there to the public, says Mark Kudsi from Motion Theory. “You lose the details that you put into something.” But then, sometimes, it’s so great to see what the public does when they see a message that you created, and it’s interesting to see how they modify it to suit their own message or their own needs.

David Carson talks about the fact that everybody is influenced by some thing or some body and says “the trick (as a designer) is to take what got you into this field and make it your own.” I like that. And he mentions the creative’s perpetual lament “the tighter the boundaries imposed by a client, the harder it is” to deliver something that will really work for them. Alas. If only clients really understood that.

Bottom line, PromaxBDA is on my list of conferences I should attend whenever I can. It would be great to see you there, too.

Teri Rogers
June 1st, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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These Days, I’m An Online Content Producer

Online Content Producer Image

As the CEO of a creative services company, there are no shortages of networking events or conferences or even cocktail parties that I attend where the conversation inevitably goes the route of: “So, tell me what you do.” As my business has grown and evolved, so have my responses to that question. If it’s local to Kansas City, T2 (taketwo) is pretty well known — so I inevitably say that I’m sure you know us best for film and video production — both corporate, commercial and entertainment projects — but you may not know how we have evolved in the past few years into a multi-platform creative services company.

These days, what I say I do is — “I’m an online content producer.” Sometimes they look at me blankly — but my guess is that they won’t for long.

With the advent of Google TV, which I mentioned in a post last week) and Apple TV and other online viewing options, consumers can have online content delivered via their television set. As a result, being an online content producer is where it’s at. The Diffusion Group did a recent study called The Economics of Over-the-Top TV Delivery: How Television Networks Can Shift to Online Content Delivery predicting that by 2020 more Americans will be watching online video than TV. There’s more, in a recent study by Edelman, the Internet IS entertainment – especially among 18-34 year olds, rising from 27% in 2009 to a whopping 42% thus far in 2010. These days, the Web is literally where people go for entertainment, information, gaming and more – and Edelman’s study supports that. In the U.S., 32% of 18-54 year olds head to the Web for entertainment, which compares to 58% of that same age group watching TV. As an aside, a weekend poll called Will You Buy a Google TV, indicates that some 30.9% of respondents are at least interested in investing in the opportunity to stream the web to TV, which is a trend smart marketers – and smart business people will be paying attention to.

Bottom line — it’s clear that consumers are interested in online content and, whether they view it online or opt for Google TV or some other solution, I’m happy to be in the business of creating and providing it to them. For years, we’ve been in the business of telling stories through beautiful imagery and strong messages and, ultimately, compelling consumers to action. We still do that –- and lots of other things – but we also are in the business of producing content – for any platform out there. Things are now changing faster than we can come up with ways to describe it. Anybody think it might slow down anytime soon? Hmmm.

Teri Rogers
April 27th, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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Publishers: Go Digital or Go Away

Apple iPad

Isn’t that the truth for all of us? Go digital or go away. It happened to advertising – in large part because of the change in publishing and broadcast – and so, the circle gets wider. Now books and newspapers and magazines have to give it up to the digital age.

That’s what we’ve done – and it really hasn’t been all that bad. Some days I might even say it’s been fun. We have spent the last year refocusing our business and integrating digital technology, interactive design and innovative strategic thinking into our arsenal of creative offerings. As a result, we have created a business model that allows us to offer our clients more services and more strategic solutions, all under the same roof. And one of those services is in the world of publishing. We have begun to create trailers for books – and it’s a growing business segment. Publishing houses are in the business of creating content – content that is moving to the iPad and mobile platforms. We can help them not only sell books, but downloads as well.

Al DiGuido of Zeta Interactive, wrote a terrific piece in this week’s AdAge on this issue, and I think his insights are right on target. His post addresses the rumors circulating about Hearst’s potential purchase of interactive shop iCrossing. There is no shortage of people willing to knock this idea, but DiGuido makes a compelling argument for the publishing industry’s move into the digital realm.

I still buy books and newspapers but, like many consumers today, I also get them delivered to my iPad. The transition is happening, like it or not. As the world of consumption of media has changed, the world of publication must change with it. Whether that means publishing houses acquire digital agencies to help them accomplish that or hire interactive agencies like ours, the paradigm is definitely shifting and it’s time for the industry to embrace that shift.

What do you think?