The Latest from Red Square
Welcome to our blog. It's a place where we post stuff we like. Latest work, inspiration, pop culture minutiae, you get the idea. Enjoy.
A read on Facebook.
There’s been plenty of coverage on Facebook’s IPO, specifically on the riches soon to be distributed to various early investors in the company.
More interesting reading on the subject exists, and it comes directly from Facebook’s S-1 registration statement. A close study of the filing reveals insight into the company’s culture, their revenue model, the value delivered to end users and advertisers, and their view of the future. It’s the best read on Facebook yet.
Punctuated equilibrium.
Conventional thinking in regards to Charlie Darwin’s theory of evolution is that biological change is the cumulative result of slow, continual and incremental processes. Think of changes happening in several, barely-perceivable units.
Another change model, punctuated equilibrium, states that species exhibit little change for long periods of time (stasis) interrupted by sudden and radical clusters or bursts of change.
Punctuated equilibrium has been applied to explain how change occurs in economics, organizational behavior and politics. And while an esoteric thought, it certainly seems applicable to the advertising business right now. Technological advances are revolutionizing the way people consume information, and those tasked with creating content for consumption are having to figure out how to adapt. Profoundly and at lightning speed.
Just a thought.
Orchestrating perfection.
When it comes to a symphony, I prefer the playfulness of Ravel or Debussy to the ponderous progress of a Beethoven Symphony—like No. 5’s DAH, DAH, DAH, DAAAH. (You know, the heavy stuff.) But whether our hearts flutter to the flute or the sudden drop of an imposing bass note, I am captivated by the seamlessness of great music.
The difference between good music and great music—true for all art forms—is the attention paid by the creator to the details which illuminate the whole. Effect and affect are both in the details.
The quick, playful interactions between the fingers of a pianist and the keys. The harpist’s hands tracing back and forth over the strings like they were skimming water, appearing to do nothing. It’s a kind of behind-the-scenes magic happening right in front of you. And every piece of it determines the whole.
Think of the Traffic Department as the agency maestro. Except we’re not ensuring that every piece is played in the right chord. We leave that to the players. (Also, there are ACDs and CDs for that.) We don’t tune anyone’s instruments or clean anyone’s spit valves. What we do is move the creative parts to the players to let them apply their expertise before returning it to us where it can be exchanged for the next motion. Some people say their door is always open to the agency. Ours is always revolving. The process has to be seamless. God forbid it moves like DAH, DAH, DAH, DAAAH.
Going mobile for Full Sail.
The mobile revolution is upon us. We all walk around with these devices practically sewn into our hands, and smart marketers are beginning to realize implications of the tectonic shift happening in the digital world. According to Gartner Research, by 2013 mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide.
So when Full Sail University, one of the most prestigious entertainment-media schools in the country, picked us to design and produce the mobile site for their mobile development program, we ran around high-fiving. Then we sat down and got serious.
The site’s purpose is simple: generate prospective student interest. But in order to attract the minds that will architect the future of mobile, we needed to innovate rather than simply build.
The result is a mobile site that performs like a native application. Clean iconography, sophisticated navigation movement and sliding infographics deliver a fresh experience. However, the feature we’re most proud of is the “content shift.” We designed the site such that the content changes upon shifting from portrait to landscape mode. Why not create an alternate path of information that the visitor can discover? The landscape mode also allows us scale to flow in additional content, such as graduate profiles and videos, as the site grows.
Here’s a little overview of the project. Results have been great so far—we’ll share some stats soon.
Hilton called.
We’re very excited to announce that we’ve been selected to work with Hilton Hotels & Resorts on a global creative assignment. The work will cover more than 550 Hilton properties in 78 countries across six continents.
Red Square is honored to be partnering with one of the most famous hotel brands in the world. We’ll share more soon. In the meantime, you can quote us as saying this.
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