citizenbay

Promise & Delivery - Carat wants to 'Transform Businesses'...not like this they won't.

I have been looking around the media agency sites recently to get a better grip on how they are all positioning themselves during these exciting yet tough times.

I came across the Carat UK site, which proudly states that they can:

help transform your business

Sounds good.

Then I spotted a section called Aca Demy, which is: 

designed as a shared space to understand the increasingly complex world of media and marketing communications. To arm us with the information we need to understand the media revolution. To provide a forum for debate, comment and advice, free to all.

Intrigued, I headed off there to find a menu that includes a section called 'Jargon'.

In this world of folksonomies, taxonomies, ARGs, BITs, GRPs, RABs and even DPSs, any help is appreciated.

So I clicked expecting a mass of jargon explained...and instead I got this:

 

 

Under A is Mediatel. Under F is FAME. Digital TV and JICIMS appear in 'View All', but don't appear under any letter at all.

And that  is it. Across the whole alphabet, Carat UK has managed to rustle up a total of 4 pieces of jargon that they thought worthy of clarifying, only one of which sits under the right letter.

Now there must be one of three reasons for this somewhat surprising result:

1    There is a temporary bug in the site, hiding the vast number of words/phrases laid out in the jargon busting dictionary (aka Academy JBD).

2    The Academy JBD is sponsored by the research/regulatory bodies mentioned.

3    Carat UK have not bothered to fill it in.

If the answer is number 1, then cool. Things happen. I will go back and check.

If the answer is number 2, then I clearly have missed the joke/point.

If the answer is number 3, then it is another example of a Media Agency failing on the Promise - Delivery Equation.

Delivery needs to equal or exceed Promise, if agencies are to build trust with clients. That's the simple equation.

Carat are a great agency doing fantastic work for their clients. However they promised to deliver a helpful resource to understand complex jargon, and then seemed to have given up on it before it really got going.

And that's a missed opportunity.

 

Making Sense of a Digital World: The Visualisation of Data

I recently saw one of the IBM Smarter Planet ads that has the catchy title: Data Energy - Analysing Data from Energy Sources.

The core message of the ad was about harnessing data generated from energy sources to help increase organisational efficiency and seek alternative energy sources. All good stuff.

However, what particularly intrigued me was the beautiful opening shot of the ad, which showcase a feast of colour, with the voiceover announcing:

"This Is Data"

 

The ability to visualise data was a theme that I covered in a recent presentation. I was invited by those nice people at Hyper-Island to be a Guest Speaker at one of their Master Classes, and speak about 'The Anthropology of Digital'.

So after I had looked up the word anthropology, I decided to frame my talk around its four pillars - the Cultural, the Physical, Archaeology, and Linguistics. Next step was to take a swim amongst the inspirational stories, insights and threads that I could access digitally.

But where do I start? There is so much inspirational and insightful stuff out there, how can I process all the information and inspiration to help me shape my story?

Sometimes, it feels like a huge struggle to keep our heads above the deluge of data, rather than a relaxing swim. When jumping in, we soon realise it's the deep end we've jumped into, not the shallow end.

 

Which is where the visual superiority effect comes into play.

 

Visuals help convey complex issues rapidly, as this example from 1924 does:

 

One favourite of mine is the genius in the simplicity of the London Underground Map. Here is a little video I filmed at the London Transport Museum, of how the London Underground grew over the years. Fantastic.

 

 

So it makes sense that we are seeing a rise in utilisation of data visualisation to help us make sense of the world, thanks in part to the celebrated Edward Tufte and his book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

 

 

One recent example that highlighted this trend towards Data Visualisation was the brilliant Sea Levels piece by the equally brilliant David McCandless (found in his engrossing book/blog: Information is Beautiful)

 

I am not suggesting that we give up the written word and just draw. It is that we are faced with a rising tide of data.

The visualisation of that data can be a powerful force to make us sit up and take notice...before we all drown.