Write the fiction and the science will follow, according to Google Glass marketing supremo Ed Sanders. Creativity should come first for brands, he said, and agencies and marketers should not just rely on the oldest creative in the room. They should seek out the youngest.
Sanders, director of marketing, Google Glass, was in Sydney speaking to marketers at the Global Marketer Conference. He said that when Google announced it was developing Glass, it didn't actually have a product. More companies should take that approach, he suggested.
The idea was already there, he said, and Glass came from looking around, in the street, bus stops, cafes, at people with their heads buried in their phones. “That is really depressing. So in getting tech closer to you, how do you get it out of the way? Life is not something that should happen to you when you are on your smartphone.” Hence Glass. “So write the fiction of the science and the science will follow on,” he said.
Sanders said Glass was thought out initially with “no technological parameters, not with engineers in the room, but [a discussion around] what should it be. What is the North Star we should follow? Developing the creative around that gives something for the engineers to run to. So [innovation] has to lead with creative and [be based around] what people want.”
Part of any good creative process, he said, “is not having a process. Innovation doesn't necessarily equal invention. It doesn't have to be brand new, but different. It all goes back to the user. Is it useful? If not, it is broken from day one”.
That creative solution, said Sanders, was now more likely to come from the youngest person in the room, rather than the oldest, because of the nature of digital technology and its natives. Marketers, agencies and brands needed to do break from tradition and bridge that gap, he said.
"The problem is that the decision makers are at the top and the builders are at the bottom. The people who [know where these things are going] get paid for pizza and beer.”
The industry had yet to make the switch, suggested Sanders.
“CMOs and agencies always go to the oldest in the room. The guy that has delivered the gold nugget before. The problem is that those [more likely] to deliver great digital creative are at the bottom."
“How do we bridge that gap? I walk into meetings and tell them I don't care how junior they are, throw it at the wall and see what sticks. Some of the youngest people in the room have the best ideas and have been behind our most successful campaigns.”
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