Dayvid Iannaci, Owner, Ghost Agency


Your idea about the perfect working day: It has to include new business. It’s all about the hunt and the kill. It could be a new concept, throwing Ideas against the wall and getting the big idea. This can apply to old business as well.

Your muse best comes when:  Hm, it’s really hard to say.  It could be a leaf falling off the tree, sour milk in the coffee or anything really.  Music can really get me in the right mindset but it has to be something without lyrics. I don’t know, but something about music with lyrics throws me off when I’m working.  I like ambient, although it could be some techno, but nothing too heavy, some classical or even some of the longer Floyd instrumental cuts can work.

What needs to be changed/improved in order to achieve ultimate engagement with users:  We’re heading towards a place where users are providing the content they want. They are the ones generating content. Look at Wikipedia. I think that’s the perfect example. It’s all about the interactive product and the user. We’ve reached a place where it is the user who creates products. Some aren’t professional and some are. It’s a wide open arena.  

The user generated content creates a great opportunity for dialogue. The technology is there, the limit is not the technology. It’s just a matter of seizing opportunities.

Favorite Brand Experience:  My favorite was for the campaign we ran for the Hulk movie. The things we were able to do with this campaign were impressive. We were able to schedule opt-in sound for the media buy and have the campaign be very disruptive, all in a good way. It was something they haven’t seen before. The screen shake was unexpected. It was a good one.

Kau Sern Hieu, Strategy Director at Starcom IP Malaysia (digital arm of Starcom MediaVest Group)

Your muse best comes when:  I’m in the shower. In fact, my best ideas come whenever I can clearly hear my thoughts - no distractions, no phones. I could be swimming and a eureka moment happens!

Your idea about the perfect working day:
- Start off my day with a set of breakfast for champions (eggs, sausage, toast and tea)
- Everything on my daily to-do list gets checked off.
- No emails or calls from my finance department.
- My team, especially the juniors, takes ownership and rise up to the challenge.
- I come across a kick @$$ strategy to solve an immediate problem. Bonus if it comes from my team!
- Being an inspiration to others and vice versa.

What needs to be changed/improved in order to achieve ultimate engagement with users?  Clearly defined engagement metrics even before the campaign begins. For this to happen, agency and client needs to work closer. If not, we will fall back to the unreliable click-through rates.
Also, the creative agency needs to start thinking from a user’s perspective rather than constantly coming up with intrusive ad placements ideas in the name of impact.  In summary, my perfect engagement campaign should be able to influence purchase or lead to purchase. 
 
Favourite brand experience:  HP TouchSmart PC

In terms of creative, it’s very fresh. Good use of 3D animation without over indulging in it. Plus, it makes full use of the space given especially when a user launches the tab functions.  Speaking of tabs, the tabs are very clearly labeled. More importantly, it’s functional and straight to the point. Best of all, it has a tab which leads users to a purchase opportunity.

Ideas for what could have been improved:
- To have a data capture form to capture leads eg. “I am interested. Please call me.”
- Users able to download a pdf file of the specs, right off the banner itself.

Nicola Rovetta (nickname: Woccia), Creative Director at Agency.Com

Your idea about the perfect working day: It’s when good ideas pop up from informal conversation, or innocent activities become business ideas.

Your muse best comes when: Driving, or in the shower.

What needs to be changed/improved in order to achieve ultimate engagement with users:  For me, ultimate engagement runs through digitalisation and “medialisation” of all the devices (outdoor, in-house, in-car, who knows?). So first, countries like Italy must overcome the digital divide. Too many people are not accessing or using computers or broadband the right way, and sure they prefer watching television! The second issue is that the infrastructure problem is not only physical, but also a cultural problem: publishers often prefer doing the same old things over and over again rather than experiment or support new media or new solutions. And last but not least, agencies and clients must have the courage to dive into the conversation, because each minute that you wait thinking about how to cope in the digital world is a year you lose in evolution. You know, as I often say to customers, in the digital world years are like dog’s years: one is worth seven!

Favorite Brand Experience:  Despite all rich videos about these days, what comes to mind first is Hancock’s “whale-throwing” game - part game, part widget.  For me, it is the right-sized addictive experience.

Recently released in the APAC market Eyeblaster TV is a high impact advertising format that appears over the page.  Eyeblaster TV contains video that displays automatically for up to 30 seconds with audio on or off and scrolls with the page.  Here’s five reasons why I think Eyeblaster TV will be a success for both advertisers and publishers ..

1. It works for advertisers because it provides a simple solution to TV advertisers in the face of constantly declining TV reach. Eyeblaster TV uses their existing TVC and extends reach online. The high investment involved in TVC production can be amortised across the digital channel.

2. It works for publishers because it gives them new inventory to sell which equals a new revenue stream. Eyeblaster TV does not use existing ad space allowing publishers to monetise their pages more effectively.

3. Eyeblaster TV is measured in traditional media terms - reach and frequency. Death to the click!

4. Opens up opportunities with prized verticals, as Pippa Leary, Managing Director of Fairfax Digital - Media, notes … “Encouraged by technology innovations like FDTV and the growing consumption rates of online video in Australia, we are seeing more categories, including FMCG, move their brand advertising online. Marketers are harnessing the incremental reach garnered through a predominantly light commercial TV viewing audience on our network.

5. You can run customised skins to enhance the brand impact, my favourite example of this:

Pioneer - Custom Skin



Ross McNab | Sales Director APAC

Tom Buchok - Interactive Producer at Preston Kelly

My muse best comes when:  Listening to music.  When I’m jamming out to Rhapsody with my Sennheiser HD-280 headphones ,  I’m able to get my best work done. Lately, I’ve been listening to Delta Spirit and Pela .  I’m always looking for new tunes; if you have any recommendations, leave a note in the comments section.

Your idea about the perfect working day: We’ve got this great coffee shop, Taraccino, near the agency.  Good days start with a large coffee from there.
As an interactive producer, the perfect work day includes any of the following:
- Helping scope out a brand new online strategy
- Working with my developers to solve a tough problem
- Seeing fresh, innovative designs that accomplish all of the campaign objectives
- Getting everything done early

I’d say that’d be a pretty good day!

Your favorite interactive campaign : 

 Lean Mean Fighting Machine’s “Non-Stop Fernando” for Emirates.  The concept was brilliant - Fernando talks for 14:40:00 about his home town of Sao Paolo, the amount of time of the new direct flights from Dubai to Sao Paolo.  The rich media banners did a fantastic job of delivering the idea - and tied-in perfectly to the campaign website.  Social media was used to connected to Fernando, as well.

And the attempt to get a Guinness World Record was a smart add-on.  In terms of design, there is a nice continuity between the overall campaign concept and the continuous  hand-written-looking motif.  It is no surprise such a great campaign came from Lean Mean Fighting Machine - they are rockstars in the digital space.



Other sites I visit for inspiration:  By far, the most inspirational site for me is Bannerblog .  The founders and site moderators are dedicated to finding the absolute best online ads and posting them to Bannerblog.  I visit Bannerblog often because they keep it fresh, interesting and current.  It’s a great site.  (And also where I saw Non-Stop Fernando for the first time.)

Some other sites that I find helpful are: A List Apart,- Gary Vaynerchuk’s site,  37Signals’ blog - Signal vs. Noise ..and all of the wonderful people I follow on Twitter give me inspiration daily

Changes that need to take place in the industry: Dean Donaldson wrote a post on this blog about moving away from click-through rates - I think that’s an important aspect to the evolution of the online ad industry.

I think the industry is doing a good job working towards online-specific content, and I want to see that continue.  It’s no secret that content meant for a :30 spot or full-page magazine insertion doesn’t necessarily translate into online advertising. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the publishers’ role and I’d love to see some comments about it:

Publisher websites need to do more to improve display advertising.  There are just too many websites out there selling low-impact, derelict placements.  How can advertisers feel confident about their media buys if many sites aren’t optimized for ad visibility and engagement?

Over time, we’ve seen major players improve their sites: CNN.com is a good example.  They’ve added that 336×280 placement to their homepage over the past 18 months or so.  That’s smart.  Silicon Alley Insider has similar, high-impact 300×250 placements on its site.

The smaller sites need to follow this lead. I see too many sites selling placements that are 728×90s in the footer, or 160×600’s below-the-fold, etc.  While these smaller sites may offer nice targeting - especially geographic - the media they’re selling isn’t as powerful as it could be.

What do you think?