Op 5 en 6 november brengt het collectief het evenement Brand Social voor het eerst naar Amsterdam, nadat dit eerder werd georganiseerd in Berlijn, Londen, New York, Parijs, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Shanghai en Tokyo.
Creative Social bestaat sinds 2004 en is hier nog onbekend.
Tijd voor een Q&A, in het Engels, met mede-oprichter Daniele Fiandaca, onder meer docent aan Hyper Island en hier vooral bekend van het boek ‘Hacker, Maker, Teacher, Thief; Advertising’s Next Generation’ dat hij schreef samen met Mark Chalmers, mede-oprichter van Creative Social en ECD bij Vice.
Creative Social is active since 2004. How come I didn’t know it until last year?
Fiandaca: 'For the first decade Creative Social was an extra-curricular passion for myself and my co-founder, Mark Chalmers, who is ECD at Vice, based out of Amsterdam. It’s been invite-only for some time. We’ve carefully curated everything from speakers and environment to attendees, to create the best possible breeding ground for creative leaders to innovate and explore. Some of our learnings are widely published, as books, for example. Ten years on, we’re now accelerating the business.
'When I was running the digital agency Profero, we got some fantastic advice from our Board who told us that after ten years running something, two things are most likely to happen: you either continue as it is and it will inevitably start to decline; or you do something to accelerate the business. We decided to do the latter, opening up our remit to the wider creative industries - design, fashion, film, music - as well as pulling in brands. We also hired James Kirk, a creative director himself, to help us drive the overall product forward under our guidance.'
What’s the mission and the purpose of Creative Social?
'Our purpose is to unleash creativity by connecting the most progressive brands and creative leaders with business and culture. Our mission is something we are still working on but currently it is to help build a better industry, which we hope we will do by continuing to challenge the current industry norms.'
How do you relate to the Dutch Digital agencies and, in Europe, to the SoDa network?
'The collaborative nature of SoDa was born out of Creative Social and we can thank Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz for that. We have always been defined by individuals rather than by agencies. This is still true, although at the beginning of the year we introduced Super Membership at a corporate level. Our Super Members include the likes of MediaMonks, Absolut, Converse, Razorfish and Sonos. In this way, we provide a much deeper support than is provided by the usual networks which encompasses brand projects, PR support and training.
Which innovations, in your opinion, are the most important for the next 5 years?
'If I knew that I would be a very rich man indeed. But what’s exciting me right now? On the technology front I think we have not yet seen the full potential of 3D printing and what it can do in terms of everyday use. I am hoping that as the technology becomes quicker and more cost effective, it is going to open up some new and amazing opportunities. Robots are of course going to dominate much of the discussion over the next five years; it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with IBM’s Watson. From what I understand they have opened up the product to over 50 start-ups around the world to see how they can find the best value for it.
'In terms of people, I am fascinated by neuroplasticity, and the impact of technology on our brains - how we utilize that extra space that Google is giving us, or whether it has a negative impact in terms of our ability to attach emotions to memories. On the marketing side, I’m fascinated by growth hacking and seeing how mainstream brands can bring it into their own marketing. I’m also curious to see how luxury brands react to a world in which experiences trump materialism.'
What role can creativity play in a world in which algorithms play a dominant role?
'I believe we are about to enter a new dawn of creativity, which is being fuelled by many of the things I have listed above. Ultimately it is creativity that is going to distinguish us as human beings from robots and it is the most creative brand that will be the most successful. In many cases data will simply help fuel that creativity.'
What other initiatives are you working on?
'In November we are launching Brand Social in Amsterdam, aiming to do for senior marketers what we have been doing for over a decade with creative leaders. Brand Social will be a melting pot of culture, start-ups, influencers, creativity, inspiration and innovation. If people are interested they should contact us or come join us for our pop-up on Wednesday 23rd September at ADCN.'
I understand that you have now run events in nearly 20 different cities. Why did you choose Amsterdam for your inaugural Brand Social event?
'We tend to choose cities because of their cultural relevancy as well as them being an inspirational city in their own right. Amsterdam is currently at the centre of global marketing with the likes of Bugaboo, Converse, Heineken, Nike, Philips and TomTom helping the city position itself as a centre of creativity. We are also going to be pulling start-ups into the mix at Brand Social and Amsterdam has a burgeoning start-up scene right now. Finally, my fellow co-founder Mark has lived in Amsterdam now for 15 years which always helps make sure that the inaugural event is a success.'
You also have you own consultancy, Mutant, which you describe as an innovation consultancy; can you explain what you mean by that? With examples?
'Mutant helps brands understand the impact technology is having on their business and helps deliver innovative ways to open up new revenue opportunities through creativity and collaboration. Very much inspired by Creative Social, Mutant is powered by a diverse set of small agencies and consultants who share the same values, but provide very different skillsets.'
Isn’t this what digital agencies already do? DigitasLBi, Sapient Nitro, to name a few; and what about ad agencies?
'Certainly some do this as part of their offering but it is not what they are focused on. And as for the ad industry, it is struggling to innovate its own business let alone its clients business.
'A good friend of mine Anders Sjostedt, Global Partnership Director at Hyper Island believes that agencies need to in fact refocus so they are delivering innovation, education and transformation. By understanding technology and its impact on people, agencies are in the perfect position to understand what impact it is going to have on their client’s business.
'The next step is education. If you know more than your client, then your client will naturally ask you to help them understand it better. And if you have enough knowledge in that area and have the methodology on how to deliver education, you will naturally move into the strategic discussion. All agencies want to be involved the in strategic discussion but don’t invest in what is needed. Agencies need to immerse themselves into the brand and understand what the future holds.
'Irrespective I believe that marketers are looking at new models to solve their problems and certainly a lot of that talent has ‘left’ the advertising industry, disillusioned by watching the industry they love fall behind as technology accelerates and the audience changes. With both Creative Social and Mutant we are simply looking at providing alternatives for brands.'
