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2011 a short look back

This past year has been an interesting one which on the eve of the new year, could sooner be forgotten if it weren’t for some really significant events.

Steve Jobs
Online it must have been the most significant event in history when Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th. He seriously left a huge dent in the universe and I think people are waiting to see the first significant Apple release without the creative genius driving the company.

Facebook Timeline
Love it or hate it, as of the December 22nd, Facebook officially rolled out Timeline. As an early adopter it took me very little time to really start appreciating the life event display of my personal information. While there are some people who aren’t as happy about the changes, personally I look forward to further enhancements and also seeing Timeline used for page profiles.

Google+
New to social media was the much hyped release of Google’s latest social platform Google+ which has been released publicly, but to date is still very much a geek network. Google also rolled out a really significant UI redesign across most of its platforms, which has significantly improved the look and feel and unified many of their online spaces.

Twitter
Twitter redesigned.

Digital Monarchy
Marianna and I decided we were taking the leap from full-time employment and started our own little digital studio. We were originally going to call our company Harakiri, but the timing was too close to the Tsunami which hit Japan, so we settled on Digital Monarchy. We have no plans of taking over the world, we simply want to do good work. While only being in business for 9 months, we have worked on some great brands with some brilliant people.

FWA
I spent my December holiday in 2010 redesigning my personal website, choosing to try my hand at a responsive html5 design, which won me FWA  Mobile Site of the Day on March 16th. Digiguru has now existed for over a decade and will continue to improve while showcasing my ever-increasing portfolio.

2012
With the new year, brings with it new optimism, may your 2012 be full of fun, excitement, success, laughter, good health, peace, love and happiness!

Thank you

Digital Copywriting

One of things I got to really appreciate while working at Ogilvy was the role of Copywriters. They pair Copywriters and Art Directors to not only visualise ideas, but to put it into words. The copywriters are also quite theatrical and can really pitch an idea, putting into words what Art Directors only know how to say with pictures.

In the digital industry, copywriters are few and far between and I believe they are a crucial addition to any team. Content is king and given that data is made up by text, it just makes perfect sense to have someone on board who can string a sentence together. Below is a list of the type of qualities we look for when hiring a Digital Copywriter

  • Write for search engines
  • Short one liners for banners etc
  • Edit large amounts of copy for sites
  • Explain what seems like technology overload for technophobes
  • Think and write conceptually
  • Spelling & Grammar
  • Write for social platforms like Twitter
  • Understand the personality of different brands and write accordingly
  • Be able to offer options

There aren’t many (if any) Digital Creative Directors who have a copywriting background, so giving a variety of options will help as it makes it easier if there is choice. Your CD will narrow the choice down to present to clients. Being a blogger does not make you a copywriter any more than a social media ‘expert’, so if you can, get some formal training, work with traditional agency writers who you can learn from and then read lots, so you know a little about everything and can hold your own when it comes to cutting edge technology and campaigns. There aren’t many Digital Copywriters, so if you can learn this skill, you could be in very high demand.

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