Little Fixa: October 2011

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Inevitable Change for Retail

I’ve spoken about it before but we are now more then ever immersed by technology, how we go about our every day business is completely different to how we would of done it a decade ago. We are forever changing and adapting especially for the young generation. The article Change for the Better is a perfect example of how traditional retail shops need to keep up with the change around them.

One thing that is changing in retail is more shopping is done online, I know for myself that I shop more online then do in stores. I have a few reason why I do this. 1. I want things that I can’t get in Australia. 2. Most sites have free shipping. 3. The Aussie dollar is pretty good at the moment. 4. Generally its cheaper for me to buy internationally even if I have to pay for shipping (take for example my pair of J brand Jeans – I can buy them in Sydney at David Jones for nearly double the price then I can get them on Shopbop for with free shipping). There are other reason why I shop online but the main ones I listed.

The article is great as it compares The OrotonGroup and David Jones. The OrotonGroup is a perfect example of moving forward and not letting the inevitable change of competition and technology disadvantage it. David Jones however is making excuses for not doing well – my belief is move on, except that change is unavoidable and how we shop is different. Take action and make ways to improve and get people into your stores if business is slowing down.

The New Retail Blog is simple and straightforward. The article is set out nicely and is easy to read. I would like to see some links on the page to the suggested articles that the author read if they were available online. The article is very relevant to what’s going on right now. There has been constant talk on the news about the change of traditional retail stores. Its great to see people commenting on this topic because it will gradually start retails to change and compete with online stores. I know that if Australia stores lowered prices to that of the same as online retails I would buy it in the store.

What is your opinion on this? How do you shop?

Online News Article:

http://www.newretailblog.com/change-for-the-better/

Is the hacking term misused in this article?

I saw the title of thisarticle Can 50 Hackers HelpSave the World in One Day? and it immediately grabbedmy attention. I was thinking this sounds interesting what is it about. As Istarted to read the article I had a little grasp what they were trying toachieve but I was not 100% sure.

The article is lacking trulyexplaining what the event is really doing and how it is doing it? In the secondparagraph “The goal is to get coders, designers and other creative types tostart applying their talents to the non-profit and social good sector”. Itexplains what they want them to do but what exactly do they want to achievefrom this for the non-profit sector. I think it’s a great cause for thenon-profit sector but this article is missing crucial information. By using theterm hacking my view is that they are doing something illegal as hacking is aterm I know as used as breaking into a technology system either by lookingaround or taking something with out the users permission. The actual definitionfrom the dictionary ‘use acomputer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system’.

This article could do a lotbetter by giving examples of what they will be doing so the reader can reallyunderstand what they are trying achieve by this event. I think it’s a greatidea as they are taking hacking to the next level and using it for good. Ifpeople can use their hacking skills to help non-profit and the social sectorits amazing. Over the last decade we have become consumed by the internet andby using hackers skills for social justice is something very positive that generallyhas been seen as something frowned upon.

I often read articles onMashable but I have not noticed this before a disclosure down the bottom ofthis article “Disclosure: Mashable is a media partner of Hackfor Change”. So it gets methinking that this is advertising for the event which is great and wouldbenefit the event but the article is very misleading. Looking at the commentspeople seem to be just as confused as I am. As someone mentioned in the comments, Is it hacking or programming?

Againno one seems to know what they are doing. I believe the idea of this article isgreat but at the same time it is damaging to the cause. I think a lot of peoplewill disregard this article because its not clear and seems to be misusing thehacking term.

Whatdo you guys think?

Online News Article:

http://mashable.com/2011/05/25/hack-for-change/

Extra articles:

http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/431/Hacktivism?cid=23227#overview

Monday, October 17, 2011

Making life easier

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entry Steve Jobs view on "What He Loves". The reason I wrote the blog entry was because the article I came across inspired me. Since Jobs has passed I have read a number of articles praising him, mentioning how he changed the world and there are also some negative posts pretty much saying ‘what’s the big deal’. This article is not about my opinion on what he has done but a different look at someone else’s opinion on how he influenced their life. The recent blog post by Tim Carmody ‘This Stuff Doesn’t Change the World’: Disability and SteveJobs’ Legacy was very touching.

The article is about how the technology and devices that Jobs invented has improved someone’s life. Carmody has an autistic son “He has a thoroughly well-loved iPod Touch, filled with videos and apps that have helped him learn to speak and augment his ability to communicate”. It was great to see a different side of praise for Steve Jobs not just the normal ones I have been reading about how he changed how we use phones, computers, computer graphic programs etc.

The article has a lot to offer: the writers opinion on how Jobs has influenced his life, quotes about how devices are helping people with disabilities, I particularly like the interview referenced that Jobs had with Wired in 1996. The article also has comments that are quite interesting and related topics are also listed. What I did find misleading was the first picture it made me think that a mother was writing the article until I looked at the author did I realise it was coming from a fathers perspective. This is not a huge deal and I’m sure they were showing how we use iPhones to communicate but maybe they need to reconsider this for next time.

Online News Article:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/steve-jobs-disability/

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Was it ever like Mad Men?

Things have changed since the Mad Men Era according to the article HAS THE ERAOF THE ECD COME TO AN END? The role of the Executive Creative Director (ECD) is taking on a new form thanks to realm of media having changed dramatically in the last decade. Though after some research I’m starting to wonder if this is even the case.

Just in case you are not familiar with Mad Men I’ve posted a YouTube video for the trailer of the fictional lead character Don Draper by Exeter Street.

The role of the creative director was coming up with The Big Idea, they were the forefront and had their creative teams working behind them. The creative director could then lead into a role of the ECD being responsible for the whole creative department so did this mean that they came up with ‘The Big Idea’ or would just oversee ‘The Big Idea’. In the full article Kennedy refers to “BWM's Belgiovane, ECDs are without question more business focused now, and the fiscal performance of the agency is just as important for the ECD as it is for the CEO”.

The article is well written and is a sum up of the full length story DEATH OF THE ECD? I do believe that the sum up could have been a bit longer to focus on what the ECD does now compared to what it did in the 80’s and 90’s. The comment in the sum up article is interesting in the readers version on why the ECD was created. The author can take this into consideration, would be great to see a response from the author. The layout and design of the B&T news part on the website is very straightforward. There is not much to distract the reader from reading the article which I find myself benefitting from as I am able to concentrate a lot more compared to other news sites. It includes one picture in the style of the Mad men show. On the right hand column the article has two advertisements one for subscription to B&T and the other by an outside company, it has a comments section on what other articles have been recently commented on – this is a good idea because it takes the reader to other news related articles. There is also a twitter following and newsletter section. I enjoy reading articles on B&T because it is generally topics that I am interested in.

Online News Article:
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/has-the-era-of-the-ecd-come-to-an-end

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Am I an artist or advertiser?

Is advertising Art?

I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts and soon to be a Masters in PR and Advertising, I worked as a graphic designer for the largest in-house advertising agency in Australia. Is there a conflict of interest. Am I an artist or an advertiser? This latest article Cansomething as commercial as advertising be considered art? By Peter Biggs (CEO of Clemenger BBDO and Clemenger Proximity Melbourne) has made me think about what I do and in some sort of way am I selling out via advertising.

What I really loved about this article was how Biggs referred to advertising from the 1950’s and 1960’s is now considered art “…They’re not hanging to sell product, but to create a mood and atmosphere. Or, you could argue, as art”.

As time goes by, change happens and people grow older, what was an advertisement to my parents generation is now a artwork for my generation. I believe that art and advertisement overlap. I agree with the cases stated on the YouTube video that advertisement is to sell something and to get consumers to buy or participate in something, but isn’t art the same thing. Art is for sale, artist want a reaction from people and in the end if they don’t admit it they too also want to make money from the art they have created.

Would it be wrong to say that Advertising stems from Art? (After writing this question i came across this article Is advertising Art? Pretty interesting.)

The article on Mumbrella was very interesting for me as I come from an artist background but have gone down the advertising path. It is well written and in all ways grabs my attention. Mumbrella is a very crowded website but I think if the news article is interesting enough it doesn’t bother you. It includes subscription to the top social media networks on the right hand side, the latest comments to other news articles are also on the right hand side which seems to be a growing trend on websites now. It also has other news article being featured on the left hand side and of course advertisement on the page and a comments section down the bottom

Online News Article:

http://mumbrella.com.au/can-something-as-commercial-as-advertising-be-considered-art-59350