The second day of the festival was much more exciting, if not more exciting, than day one. After having a better idea of the lay of the land, I felt more comfortable navigating my sessions and looking at everything on display. To kick off our category assignment for Dr. Reichert, Maggie and I boarded the train early to check out the outdoor exhibitions. There were an overwhelming amount of entries, but all very interesting.
For the first seminar of the day, we attended BBDO. It was very interesting and related to today’s screens- TV, PC, mobile, and tablet. The metaphor was for Star Wars. The two speakers Richard Dunnall and Simon Bond, were very engaging and started off by describing the television as a long-time friend and a jester. It is an entertaining tool that is comparable to R2D2. The PC was described as an older sibling, an individual who is described as a sage and is full of wisdom. One would relate the PC to Hans Solo’s character. It is also has a slightly competitive flair. The mobile is compared to a lover. It is the first thing you reach for in the morning and is a device you are extremely intimate with. It is like a Princess Leia and there is no generational gap of being a trusted/intimate technological device compared to other technology devices. The fourth and final screen is the tablet. It is the wizard of the technology world. It goes anywhere and makes things in a mysterious way. It is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars. The seminar made me really reflect on the way we receive our information and how important it is to develop the right content for the right screen.
The second seminar of the day was Kraft Foods, with Malcolm Gladwell speaking. Although it was a little difficult to follow at the beginning, I found the whole concept of his lecture very interesting. The main idea of the discussion is that there is more value in being a tweeker and implementer than the innovator. If you are the innovator, you get the praise for being the first, but others will continue to improve and gain the profits. Gladwell used the metaphor of Friendster. Friendster was the first social media site, based solely on romance. And then came Myspace, adding a place to showcase music. And finally third to the party, Facebook, is the most successful and influential social media website of our time. So it pays to be third.
Draftfcb was the third seminar I attended and it was all about exploring the science of creativity. Jonah Lehrer and Matthew Wilcox spoke of how the mind reaches moments of insight, or “feelings of knowing”. They also harped on how alpha waves, or waves of relaxation are key in problem solving. Constant focus or obsessing over an issue without taking a break is not beneficial to solving a problem. It is better to take a step back and take your mind off of things and the moment of insight is bound to arrive.
The final seminar I attended was PHD. It was interesting, but it definitely seemed like more of a laundry list than a story. It was about the future technologies that will be unveiling. And by the year 2016, our society will be completely reliant on technology, even more so than now. But I won’t lie. Some of the upcoming technologies seem to be a little too intrusive, like the technology that lists exactly where you are, whom you are with, and what you are doing. I don’t think it is necessary to know that much about a person.
In addition to the interesting seminars I attended, our group was also given the privilege to tour the Microsoft Experience on the beach. Eric Opel, a senior salesman for the Microsoft, showed us around the Microsoft Experience. All of their new technology was on display, including the very large and innovative touch surface technology. It would be a great tool to use at the office for group projects and is very easy to use.
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