Dang, it’s the 12th – I’m late!

I will be a panelist again this year at APPNATION in San Francisco. Like last year, we’ll be talking about Creative Technology, and specifically, the role of the creative developer. This is always a great conference – hope to see you next December 1st!

I had just finishing giving a presentation on multi-screen experiences at the Adobe MAX conference – it went really well. My colleague, Yasmin, had a good crowd of people coming up to us afterwards thanking us for the presentation – that always feels good. We tackled things less from the tech side, and more from the creative and strategic approach to solving business challenges (using multiple digital screens.)

After everyone cleared out of the room and I was able to catch my breath, I quickly turned on my iPhone to check my email. The first message I saw, at 4:54pm, read RIP: Steve Jobs. I didn’t believe it at first, but when I clicked on the link to apple.com, and saw the updated image (replacing the announcement of the 4S iPhone announcement), I knew it must be true. Clearly, still in denial, I quickly sent a text to my friend, The Force. Seeing as though he not only works at Apple, but also works on their website, I figured he’d know for sure. Sadly, he confirmed the news.

It sure feels strange knowing Steve is gone; I guess I always thought that one day I get to meet him (then again, I thought the same thing about George Harrison and Michael Jackson.) I love Apple products – I use them almost exclusively. And honestly, I don’t believe they are necessarily the “best;” in fact, I like elements of other products better, and Apple products are the most expensive. But, no product can touch the ease-of-use, and overall magical product ecosystem that IS Apple.

But, more than the products he created, Steve influenced me in his fierce pursuit of perfection and passion for what he did.

I once read an interview with Steve where he was responding to questions about his incredibly high standards. I’ll have to dig up the exact quote, but the essence of it was, “look, we only have this one life, and we spend most of it at work, doing our jobs; so why would you not want to spend this precious time being the best you can be?”

If you’re going to Adobe MAX this year, please come see my presentation and say “hi.” Yasmin and I will be giving a presentation on mulit-screen experiences (description below.) We’ll be talking about overall marketing strategies as well as user experience and technology concepts/best practices. Of course, we’ll be showing of some amazing R/GA work. Hope to see you there.

See how one of the world’s leading digital agencies, R/GA, delivers campaigns that scale across devices, screen resolutions, and operating platforms. This presentation will reveal the best practices and strategic approaches that R/GA deploys. R/GA will showcase successful initiatives and discuss the strategic thinking behind each project, as well as their overall impact.

I’m very tardy in updating my blog, but this time, I do have a good excuse: My beautiful daughter Mia was born just about 3 weeks ago, on July 27, 2011. Her Mom, Sonia and I are very excited (and a little tired) parents for the first time. Mia is only a few days old, but she already inspires everything I do!

Apple’s WWDC is happening right up the street – I’m bummed that I could not attend this year; I’m worried I might have missed my change to see Steve speak LIVE (unless Steve wants to invite me over for tea??) Some of the biggest news was the “no news” on the iPhone front. Dang, I guess I need to wait even longer than I thought for the next iPhone.

iCloud is a game-changer, for sure. I’m not surprised to see this come from Apple – more surprised that MobileMe was never able to “turn into this” sooner. As a MobileMe subscriber, I guess I’ll be able to check it out myself soon. Personally, I think this is huge, and I plan to use it passionately! I wonder how this will impact people like Dropbox or Mozy, just to name a few.

Another interesting item is the tight, OS integration of Twitter and the complete ignoring of Facebook. Not surprising, Facebook is a buddy of Microsoft and could, perhaps also threaten other “social” plans for Apple. As well, the functionality of Twitter seems to jive better with the Apple world. Interesting stuff!

Whew, last week was a busy one; I’m calling it my “PR Road Show.” It centered mostly around the AppNation conference in SF, but also included a trip to Facebook, a panel on Native vs Web mobile apps, and numerous parties.

Facebook.
Met with some very cool people at Facebook’s new HQ to discuss programs/plans for communications with agencies as well as tightening our technology relationship. Man, they have a great cafeteria. Google’s is much bigger, but the food at FB seems more healthy.

Mobile Marketing Panel: Native Apps vs. Mobile Web.
I spoke on a panel, moderated by AppNation founder, Drew Ianni, which raised the question: “Are Apps Just a Stop Along The Way To The Mobile Web?” I’m a huge fan of building web apps for mobile devices. Back when the iPhone first came out (literally, the week it came out) I was playing with the iUI framework and convincing clients to create we-based iPhone experiences. After the AppStore came along, the mobile “apps” didn’t seem so “hot” to people – but, they are making a come back! However, I still feel that discoverability for web apps is a key factor in their success; so, I’m not sure we are quite “there” yet.

AppNation
It was my second AppNation – this time I spoke on a panel (“The Rise of the Creative Technologist”). Like the last event, this year’s show was full a good info and great people. One of the things I enjoy the most about this conference, and what seems to set it apart from others, is the focus on business (vs. development or design). For example, it’s quite amazing to be able to hear top VCs get up and talk about how they see things from their side (how often do you hear that?)

See Me Speak at AppNation SF. April 28, 2011

I’m excited to be participating on a panel at AppNation in San Francisco next week. I attended the the very first AppNation last year and I really enjoyed it. It was one of the only conferences I’ve been to that has a cool lean towards product start-ups (even has presenters from VC firms speaking) as well as the creative and marketing side.

In our panel next week, we’ll be talking about a subject near and dear to my heart: The Rise of the Creative Technologist. Having been part of the creation of the title, Creative Developer, and the department, Creative Development, at AKQA way back in the year 2000, I’ve always been a keen believer that we must push digital agencies to see that creativity comes from more than visual designs or copywriting alone. We don’t have to look far to find that some of the most creative and innovative companies in the world (Google, Apple, Facebook, etc), are known more for the creativity of their technology than for their visual creations (well, maybe Apple is known for both

Hope to see you at AppNation next week!

I was fortunate to be able to join in for part of the annual Web 2.0 Conference this year in San Francisco. The Moscone Center, where the event took place, is only a 5-10 minute walk from my office at R/GA, so that is always handy. It was great to be around so many smart people, talking about the future – and the start-ups? There were tons of new start-ups showing off everywhere.

Although I did catch some good presentations (the keynotes were particularly good), overall, I was a little underwhelmed by the event; I just didn’t hear anything new or exciting. I spent most of my time waiting around to hear “experts” offer advice like “your application needs to be easy to use;” and, “your website needs to be fast;” and, “your design has to be good.” Wow, great words of wisdom, thank you so much. I’d never thought of this before! It always reminds me of the sports announcer who offers his insightful advice to teams: “What the Jets need to do, is move the ball and get some points on the board.” It’s too bad that the coach for the Jets can’t learn from these geniuses. Also annoying, was the endless self promotion from presenters this year. One presenter spent more than half of his talk focused entirely on his own business (only loosely related to the subject of the presentation); and, even he even went the extra step to request “volunteers” to help him!

My snarky-ness aside, there were some good takeaways for me.

Game Theory.
My favorite keynote was “Beyond Gamification” by Amy Jo Kim, the CEO and Cofounder of ShuffleBrain. She gave a great talk that was both organize and fun. Although focused on “games,” it is not difficult to imagine how many of these game mechanics can apply to all kinds of digital experiences. Some of the note headlines I was able to jot down:

1. Know your players – design for their personal and social needs.
For example, some people like to seriously compete (taunt, points, “win”), while others prefer to collaborate (share, join, gift) – big difference! Some like to explore while others want to express.

2. Build Fun, Pleasure, Satisfaction
Cultivating your crops in Farmville is a good example of a game that provides satisfaction of a job well done.

3. Design for 3 Key stages of the Player
(1) Novice: needs on-boarding
(2) Regular: needs fresh content and challenges
(3) Enthusiast: needs recognition, and to see his/her impact

4. Make your game easy to learn, but hard to master
It must be easy to jump in, but a user needs to feel that he/she is developing their skills over time.

5. Use games mechanics to “light the way” towards mastery.
Provide support for the user to develop and master her skills; don’t just “give it away.” The coach in Nike+ (developed by R/GA) was given as an example of this.

6. “Find the Flow”: As players progress, create greater challenges.
IMO, this one adds to #4 and #5. The idea is to continue to challenge the user by rewarding him with access to more advanced tools (additional UI elements, badges, VIP areas, power tools, etc.)

7. Embrace Intrinsic Human Values (love, need to belong, accomplishment, etc.)
The task completion “progress bar” used by LinkedIn and other applications, is an example of providing the feeling of accomplishment. (Social media apps play to the need to “belong”.)

This “game talk” is getting super hip. Although I missed it, my colleagues said that their favorite Web 2.0 presentation was Gabe Zichermann’s Gamification. As well, as I mentioned before, one of my favorite presentations at SXSW this year was SCVNGR CEO Seth Priebatsch’s talk about the “game layer” and how game theories can be brought into web applications to engage, and, in some cases, help to acquire new users.

I’m telling you people, this game stuff is gonna be huge.

I had another great time at SXSW this year. Dang, there was a lot of people; I hear that there was 40% more people over last year! Overall, I felt more hype and buzz words hitting me and did not learn anything too exciting and new. What were some of the “big things” this year?

Group Messaging
Apparently, group messaging was the hot thing at SXSW this year. GroupMe was everywhere, and we used them to keep in touch with a group of friends while running around Austin. Prior to leaving for the event, I’ve been part of a “pod” on Beluga, which was just acquired by Facebook. These services are pretty cool and helpful. Personally, I always feel a little awkward sending out a message that I know will be seen by a bunch of people (maybe even people I’m not aware have been added to my “group”), but, I’d imagine that the folks who love playing with their Twitter and Facebook status all day long would love these tools.

SCVNGR CEO Seth Priebatsch’s Keynote
Seth’s keynote was one of my favorite parts of the event. I liked his ideas a lot, but I mostly liked him enthusiasm! Seth talked mostly about the last decade was the decade of the “social layer”, driven by connections (relationships) between people. What’s coming now is the “game layer,” which will be driven by influence. He talked about ways to incorporate game theory concepts to help solve problems ranging from acquiring repeat customers to improving the educational system in the U.S. !!! At a high level, I thought he had some really cool ideas – albeit rather lose and idealistic. I can see how designers of new products and services could incorporate game mechanics to improve or enhance aspects of their business (rewards, points, challenges, etc.) Still, I’m not sure if a full-blown “game layer” will suddenly take over all aspects of our world; might be a little more subtle and focused in practice.

Blake Mycoskie (found of Tom’s Shoes)
This was one of the most inspiring presentations I’ve seen in a long time. As SXSW was a blur of VC-funded start-ups, techno-mumbo-jumbo, and fancy buzzwords, Blake took the stage to talk about the power of giving. He told the full story of how he started Tom’s shoes from scratch and how the power of his “One for One” giving has not only inspired his work, but has also been a great business model! Highly recommend watching this one.