Farewell to Sliced Carrots

I have recently had an inspiring chat with my colleagues at umbrella.tv. We talked about how the changing media landscape and consumer behavior influences communications strategy, and how that drains down to creative and finally production. Quite a lot of brands have already embraced the idea of a new digital era and they are ready to focus their communication strategy on integrated efforts. But the closer we get to production itself the more we witness a need for old-school structures and fossil-like methodology. So we decided to start a conversation about this by saying goodbye to sliced carrots.

Speaking Ads vs. Google Glass

As covered by MIT Tech Review, Nuance created a tool that enables customers to interact with mobile ads by voice, in other words, from now on you can speak with ads. I guess artificial intelligence still has a long way to go before we face the famous dilemma of Blade Runner (human or not?), so don't expect complicated conversations from this platform. But some consequences can definitely be drawn, one of them possibly influencing the future of Google Glass and similar gadgets. And the key to this issue is the difference between your car and the subway.

The secret of making data visualization more impactful

One of the things I am working on is introducing a new approach to data visualization. The reason I decided to explore this territory is simple: as data is getting more important, many companies want to provide employees and customers with some facts and some consequences of the data analysis they conclude. But do you think putting numbers in colorful charts is the most effective solution? No. You always want to send a message, convince your target group about your point. Your data is only the reasoning. So, what you need is a story that is based on your numbers. A story that will engage your listeners and viewers, a story that can be remembered, a story that is not about charts but much more about what your data means for your audience. We have recently made two pieces with a similar way of thinking for the Hungarian National Bank.

Big Data: curse or blessing?

An interesting debate is taking shape after John Hegarty's harsh opinion on big data. The founder of BBH says big data is just the latest magic phrase that agencies put on their flags because they do not have good enough ideas. I think he is more or less right about a new trend in bullshitting, but I would like to prove why he is fundamentally wrong about big data.

Hegarty states "I'm not sure I want people to know who I am. I find that slightly Orwellian and I object to it. I don't want people to know what I drink in the morning and what I drink at night. I think there's a great problem here - throughout history we have fought for our freedom to be an individual, and you're taking it away from us.".

Will digital revolution kill learning?

A few years ago I thought that mobile app developers would soon rule the communication business and investors would push all their money into app startups. It happened for a while, indeed, but today investments seem to move  from app creation to development tools creation. I will now deal with only one of the reasons, the most important one in my view.

The undisputable responsibility of a rap song writer

Once upon a time I wrote a rap song for a candy bar commercial. It was quite a nice job but I never thought it would be a campaign that defines my approach to marketing communication.

Don Draper and the French Revolution

When was the last time you went up to someone with an important plan in your mind? Do you remember the first sentence? You probably do, because it's crucial. And the same applies to your hairstyle, clothes and non-verbal communication. But what about brands?