Creating community online

I did 10 years in the air force, latterly as captain of a Hercules aircraft. In that career I did some quite astounding things with really basic technology. The aeroplanes I flew were delivered in 1966 or 1969, so I got used to making use of the tools I had.

I’m far more interested in doing something astounding with a text message or an email or a basic HTML web page than with an iPhone app or a big, flash-based production, because it allows people to focus on the content rather than be hypnotised by the technologies.

When technologies like iPhone apps are new, their main purpose is to be shown off to other people at lunch. But when you see through the technology and start looking at the content, that’s where it’s more interesting to me. I just like doing stuff with tools. I have built boats before but I don’t sit in my garage looking at my hammer.

Using technology to be cool is a perfectly valid use, but you need to know whether you’re trying to do measurable work, to reach a certain number of customers and lead to a sale, or if you’re trying to be cool.

I’m a writer by background and have a history in direct marketing, so I’m more comfortable with things you can pump out text with. A well written email is a powerful thing, and I have gravitated towards Twitter because it forces you to distil your thoughts into a tight frame, which is a fantastic discipline.

Every creative is an absolute egotist and just wants to be told they are good. In direct marketing you have to wait a couple of weeks to get the results of your letter but on Twitter you can see straight away if you’ve been re-tweeted or followed, and it’s quite addictive.

It’s got a real power because it creates connections and a community of like-minded people, purely through the things you talk about. It’s the flip side of Facebook, which is about connecting with people you used to know, whereas Twitter is about connecting with people you don’t know yet.

The internet is a way of filling the bucket of facts in your brain, and doing it more quickly than you once would. Where once we had to go to a bookshop or an art gallery or a concert, now we can be exposed to a lot more things in one day.

The worst thing I could fill my bucket with, as an advertising person, is facts about ads, because everything just tends towards an average grey tone and becomes a downwards spiral. You have to be curious in a diverse way.

Things like viral marketing and TradeMe have made the delivery of online content far more accessible than it ever was. The barriers to entry are zero for anyone with the talent to tell a good story. It’s similar with YouTube and HD video cameras. All these things are really easy to do now and I think that’s fantastic. It means you can’t hide behind production values anymore and it becomes a far more level playing field. If someone’s YouTube video is more compelling than the ad you just produced for $500,000, you lose.

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