I spent my day at the PSFK New York Conference, soaking in lots of great ideas about trend watching, design and new marketing. And so tonight I begin the process of slo-blogging (tm) my thoughts. Slo-blogging? Well, it's the opposite of live-blogging (and it sounds better than dead-blogging.) Rather than fire off real time bursts of content as the event is going on, I have opted to digest the content and over the next few days I plan to write about the ideas and insights that resonate with me.
Since this was a conference about trends, let's start there. Toward the end of the day, cantankerous (but spot on) advertising consultant George Parker declared that,
"The issue with advertising agencies and the traditional media is [that] they see a trend and f*ck it up."
He points to NewsCorp's Foxification of MySpace as a case in point -- one of the world's largest media conglomerates bought what was, by a large margin, the most powerful online community (not "community site" but community - it's the people that matter, not the real estate) and is rapidly turning it into a place to hype its broadcast programming. I'm not sure that I think MySpace has gotten quite as bad as George does, but his overall point and his prediction that the notably fickle online youth audience will move on to other social sites when the experience gets unbearable, are well taken.
Earlier in the day, Simon Sinek also spoke out against reactive, corporate trend chasing. His advice (I'm paraphrasing here because he spoke faster than I could write):
Don't start with the outside trends; start inside your company's four walls. Find the core of what the company believes, its true essence. Once you've done that, then turn outward and look to capitalize on a trend that supports your company's core essence.
Sound advice that could help marketers and media companies escape the cycle of "shiny object chasing" and instead take considered steps toward building long term value for the people they aim to serve.
