Piers North paints a positive picture of the future of creativity online
"We are in art business," said Piers North, Head of UK Strategy, Yahoo! UK, at Internet Week Europe's third Yahoo! Academy session. "Despite all the technological innovations that are happening we still believe that art is at the centre of this industry."
Piers showed a timeline that visualised the evolution of the digital canvas — from the first banner ad (AT&T in 1994) to the launch of Facebook in 2004. There were peaks and troughs throughout, but in the last few years digital innovation has plateaued. Piers recommends looking to other, more traditional mediums to continue moving forward. "We need to take some of the great stuff that is done offline and bring it into the online space," he said.
The Art in Science + Art + Scale
The second way that Piers proposed that brands kickstart digital creativity is through content partnerships — such as Yahoo! and Nokia's "Bumps, Babies & Beyond" video series. "With great content comes great traffic. But eight times out of 10 brands make terrible content — they need to partner with media owners," he said.
Piers ended his presentation with a preview of Yahoo! Living Ads for iPad — "where motion and emotion meet" and a positive prediction for digital creativity: "I passionately believe that art is here to stay — digital is not the end of the human element in media," he said. Yahoo! Scene caught him after the event to get some practical tips for bringing brand experiences to life online.
Yahoo! Scene: What advice would you give to creatives looking to keep "art" at the forefront of their digital work?
Piers North: Make sure you're looking at the digital canvas, you're doing things in scale, and you're picking the right partners. And don't be sucked in by the hype around digital — it's very easy to think that everything should revolve around a facebook group.
Scene: The Yahoo! PROVOKE Summit today questions whether the digital age has forgotten the art of storytelling. How can advertisers make sure that they don't get bogged down by technology?
PN: Agencies struggle to grow this part of their business because — with android apps, and blackberry apps and so on — it's so complex. But it's all about looking at the broader creative canvas. A great creative will take care of itself and online is just one part of the amplification.
Scene: Why are partnerships with media owners so important for brands?
PN: Brand managers get very obsessed with their brand attributes and that can overtake the content. When you work with brands there is always temptation to cross the line and move towards brand advertorial rather than branded content; the best collaborations happen when you can say "no". We've faced these challenges in our own partnerships but we're not going to make the content rubbish just to put some product placement in. But at the same time, online has the advantage of not being encumbered with the regulations of TV. You have to find a balance between the two.
-- Fiona McKenzie
Fiona McKenzie is a freelance writer in London and a contributor to Contagious magazine.
