The Culture of Code

Brands need to stop making apps that are toys. Make tools that provide value to build a brand.

Most iPhone apps are pretty disposable. Are they just the new version of the microsite? Is that a bad thing?
It’s a little different. Microsites were somewhat internally focused. They got talked about within the client and agency, but not many consumers looked at them. It was a useful thing to please bosses. The difference between utility apps and toys is toys can be a short-term thing. You use it once or twice and get a laugh and then forget about it. Applications are something you use for a period of time. It’s this shift from creating a short-term campaign or burst of interest to more of a long-term desire that’s the challenge. I was reading that less than 1 percent of branded apps have been downloaded 1 million times. Eighty percent less than 1,000 times. Just because you’re creating an app doesn’t mean the audience will eat it up. It’s thinking about a short-term engagement and not enough about long-term audience building.

Advertising” as “brand-building” is overrated. Focus on building better products & services.

Fair enough, advertising can’t do much (at least nowadays) with a crappy product. But I guess the real question for advertising is what role agencies will play in building brands?
Advertising agencies have been around a long time. Fifty years ago for an agency to provide an advertising campaign was pretty simple. Moving forward, it’s not simple. I’d like to merge communications and product innovation and find an engagement platform for the audience to be attracted to. I don’t think there’s going to be one thing the agencies will provide. For us, innovation has always been a big theme and bringing ideas made possible by innovation. The two questions we ask are what’s the idea and what’s innovative.

In order for agencies to stay relevant, they must embrace the Culture of Code.

This is an issue you talked about in a Fast Company piece. There’s been a lot of talk of Silicon Valley meets Madison Avenue. Is it happening?
I have a biased point of view. One third of our agency is tech-minded people. A lot of solutions and ideas we provide and make happen are tech-enabled ideas, whether it’s storytelling or utility. A lot of agencies, especially traditional agencies, are still treating technology as a production function as opposed to a strategic function. When it comes to ideas that are either supported by or integrated with technology, the line between ideas and execution is much more blurred as opposed to in the traditional days where the line between concept and production was clear. You could base your production decision on cost and which director you can get. When it comes to software, you have to use it to be able to use it. Without a prototype, it’s very difficult to understand what it’s going to be like. A lot of times it takes iteration after iteration to be successful. Instagram the idea isn’t new but they just did it really, really well.