Hasta La Creative!

Microsoft is back with the latest installment in its “Productivity Future Vision” series—and this time, it’s drifting through the story of a marine biologist, Kat, and a corporate executive, Lola, who collaborate on a complex undersea project. Naturally, thanks to Microsoft, they get thoroughly immersed in their work.

The goal of the six-minute film is to whet viewers’ appetites for Microsoft products and services that are roughly five to ten years away. In this regard, the impressive video—with visual storytelling that puts some sci-fi epics to shame—makes a big splash. Sexy tech on display includes scuba gear that generates holograms for oceanographic study and a segmented bracelet that’s also a computer (it forms a larger display when its pieces are joined). There’s also a hyper-flexible magazine-like digital device that works with a stylus. One especially cool demo even shows hologram Lola “beaming” into a meeting, and interacting with data on a wall-size blackboard-screen, just as if she was in the room.

As in Microsoft’s previous productivity plays, as well as its home-of-the-future clip a ways back, the new video assures a shimmering techtopia of endless endeavor, achievement and connectivity. In this particular clip, there’s an emphasis on seamlessly “fluid” communications and information sharing—hence the aquatic theme. In effect, though, all that water reminds me of the blue screen of death… but I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong.

And frankly, Microsoft’s notion of the future has always seemed kind of fishy, anyways. Everyone’s toiling all the time. Even the future house is overstimulating, with its motion-activated wallpaper and tweets dancing through the halls. Watching this stuff gives me a sinking feeling that we’ll be drowning in technology, with no time to come up for air. Maybe the company should develop an inflatable device that helps us float around the pool as we unplug and decompress.

On the bright side, Internet Explorer’s finally capsized. We’ll see if its successor, code-named Project Spartan, is really such a catch.

Après l’initiative d’Adele Enersen avec Mila’s Daydreams, c’est au tour du photographe Malo, de prendre en photo son bébé. Dans sa série « Un jour, mon enfant tu seras », il imagine le futur métier de son enfant : de boucher, catcheur à curé en passant par boxeur. Une série amusante à découvrir dans la suite.

Portfolio d’Eric Maloberti
Exposition jusqu’à fin février à la Bettina à Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Dans la lignée de l’excellent travail de la photographe Irina Werning avec Back to the Future, voici la très belle série de Chino Otsuka qui s’est imaginé et incrusté elle-même dans ses photos d’enfance : une pose à coté de l’enfant qu’elle était. Plus d’images de son projet intitulé « Imagine Finding Me » dans la suite de l’article.

Le studio « Is this it » a réalisé cette superbe vidéo appelée Outlines suivant le champion du monde de Wingsuit, Espen Fadnes. Avec des images magnifiques, cette création s’interroge avec passion sur l’avenir de cette pratique très impressionnante. A découvrir en vidéo dans la suite de l’article.

Google a dévoilé aujourd’hui une nouvelle vidéo de présentation de ses lunettes intelligentes. Proposant une multitude de possibilités qui font rêver comme visioconférence, GPS, recherches internet, traduction ou enregistrement vidéo. Ce projet incroyable Google Glass annoncé depuis avril 2012 est à découvrir en vidéo.

Voici la nouvelle campagne de Lacoste en exclusivité sur Fubiz, par l’agence MNSTR sur une réalisation du duo Fleur et Manu. A l’occasion de leur 80 ans, le film met en scène le futur du polo et propose des interactions avec une nouvelle génération de vêtement. Un concept à découvrir en vidéo dans la suite.

Voici ce projet de table de ping-pong futuriste imaginé par Robert Lindström. En effet, la table répond au toucher des joueurs et de la balle. Utilisant un processeur ainsi que la reconnaissance vocale d’Apple, cette table voit et entend la partie, jusqu’à pouvoir discuter d’un point et rappeler au joueur leurs coups.

La voiture de Renault Alpine fête ses 50 ans. Pour célébrer cet évènement, la marque lui offre un concept-car baptisé Renault Alpine A110-50, alliant performance et design dans un film magnifique de Julien Rocher, produit par l’Ecurie et tourné avec la participation des célèbres pilotes Jean Ragnotti et Erik Coma

Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture of himself in front of his computer, and an eagle-eyed blogger noticed that his version of Facebook sports a larger-than-usual search box. An unintended leak or not, Facebook competing in search is only a matter of time just as, in retrospect, it was inevitable that Google would integrate social elements deeper into its main product.

This is why.

It wouldn’t be a revelation to say that no large-scale ad delivery system is perfect.

Reason one is that, at any given moment, only a fraction of the exposed audience is actively on the market for the benefit that the advertised product delivers.  Yes, I actually might be interested in switching to your cell phone plan, but talk to me in 15 months when my contract is about to expire. This is the efficiency problem of advertising: in order to reach the few people who are interested right now, the delivery systems by necessity overshoot and spam the crap bejesus out of thousands who promptly tune out.

Reason two is that few would admit they believe advertising. People consider the source and recognize the nature of the claims as self-serving and discount them accordingly.  This is the effectiveness problem. The advertisers’ typical recourse is to bypass rational thought altogether and to beat the claim into the audience’s subconscious through incessant repetition.

(Now is a good time to note that we are are talking only about ad delivery here. Effectiveness of creative is a different topic.)

That’s what the main media planning principles of “reach” and “frequency” are about — solving for efficiency and effectiveness. In the picture above, this situation is illustrated by the undesirable lower-left quadrant that says “You Are Here.” You are there because most of the existing large ad delivery systems are both inefficient and ineffective.

Except for two.

Google with all its imperfections is the most efficient way to deliver ads — only people who need something now would actively look for something and see an ad for it.

And even though it took them awhile, Facebook is figuring out that they have this whole effectiveness thing down. According to many studies (the one below, and others, including my own), friends are the most trusted source of product information. Facebook has hundreds of millions of friends, and Facebook also sells advertising, and now Facebook is putting two and two together to make advertising that comes from friends.

But Google and Facebook each solve only half of the efficiency/effectiveness problem.  The impeccably timed search ads Google delivers are still self-serving. And the perfectly trustworthy social ads on Facebook still show up at the wrong time. In other words,  Facebook and Google each have what the other doesn’t, and they are going to fight for it.

On Google’s end, this is what the whole Search Plus Your World business is about — fixing the source problem.  That’s why the push to get people to +1 stuff, and then connect people into social graphs via Gmail and Google+, and then use +1ers as implicit endorsers. Not, you might notice, unlike Facebook.

And Facebook needs to fix its targeting. “Interests” have an expiry date and “likes” of pop-culture icons are only tangential indicators of predisposition towards, say, vacuum cleaners. Facebook does have several more precise mechanisms for intent targeting useful for certain categories (a recent change of status to “engaged” is a reliable signal for the wedding industry), but by and large nothing as precise of an intent indicator as search.

Hence the picture of Zuck in front of an extra-large search box.

Not science fiction anymore, this: “Once chairs and other things become content, the prospect of rampant chair piracy turns from unimaginable into very real.”  The Pirate Bay is opening a new category for the new kind of piratable stuff: “We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”

In the world where all merchandise is either basic materials or data about how to arrange them, what is the role of brands?