What do you think about Fast Company's "The future of advertising?"

The most recent issue of Fast Company magazine is on the street. We were excited to see Danielle Sack's piece titled, "The Future of Advertising." Good fodder here for those of you beginning to think about the 2011 edition of CATFOA.

A couple of comments stick out for us. How about you?

"'The irony is that while there have never been more ways to reach consumers, it's never been harder to connect with consumers,' explains (Brad) Jakeman, chief creative officer at Activision. The death of mass marketing means the end of lazy marketing. At agencies, the new norm is doing exponentially complex work. Think of the 200 Old Spice YouTube videos whipped up by Wieden+Kennedy in 48 hours. 'Creating more work for less money is the big paradox,' says Matt Howell, president of the Boston agency Modernista."

Howell's quote is likely the most telling. It's noble to draft the new treatise and brave the edge, but ultimately people expect a fair paycheck for the effort. As Seth Godin stated recently, the challenge of the Internet is "either you do something I can't do myself (or get from someone else), or I pay you less than you'd like."

"At a time of shrinking budgets, chief marketing officers don't know where to turn. They have little confidence that old-world agencies know how to navigate the chaos, and they don't know which newcomers to trust.

With clients in a tailspin, the very role of agencies is in question.

Squeezed by clients, agencies are also beset by a host of new competitors attacking from every direction."

Sounds like fun! The quotes in Fast Company from Hyper Island convey these sentiments with greater emotion. We are in an era graced with great change and even greater creativity—but at a cost to old ways, comfortable assumptions and lazy habits. As the esteemed writer Robert Grudin put it back in 1991, “Creativity is dangerous. We can not open ourselves to new insights without endangering the security of our prior assumptions. We can not propose new ideas without risking disapproval and rejection.”

Great to see our friend and previous CATFOA presenter Edward Boches quoted heavily as well!

2011 CATFOA series coming soon

Hello, friends and fans of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising.

Good news! MCAD and MIMA have agreed to sponsor us again in 2011.

We'll be back with four awesome speakers, likely in February, March, April and May, 2011. Exact dates to be announced very soon.

We'll also be returning to the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis, because they're awesome.

Stay tuned. And thanks so much for your enthusiasm!

- Tim

Colleen DeCourcy, Monday, May 10, 2010: "The Rise of Craft and the Fall of the Campaign"

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UPDATED AGAIN: Video from the conversation with Robert Stephens and Dan Beranek embedded below.

UPDATE: We're calling an audible. Unfortunately Colleen had to cancel her appearance, so we're bringing in Robert Stephens (@rstephens), Founder & Chief Inspector at Geek Squad and Dan Beranek (@dantronic), Social Media Channel Planning Manager at Target, for a conversation around "Retail in the Age of Empowered Consumers." It's going to be awesome. Same date, same time, same location, same "free"—different speakers. See you there!

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It's time to talk about Technology as a Creative Craft.

Join us on Monday, May 10 for the final installment of the 2010 edition of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising—as we welcome Colleen DeCourcy (@decourcy), Chief Digital Officer at TBWA Worldwide.

Colleen notes, "Today we're immersed in social media and crowd sourcing, but those aren't the only futures of advertising." Her presentation will help us navigate where we are right now as a society trying to work together and process information. What do we do in this environment, as consumers and marketers, where "the big idea" is under siege? Colleen believes part of the answer is craft. Interfaces. Collaborative creativity. "We are looking at a future where the best thing we can do for a consumer is to make things for them that they can't make for themselves," she says.

This final CATFOA event for 2010 will take place, as usual, at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Colleen's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Hashem Bajwa, Monday, April 19, 2010: "Look out, the future is all around us!"

UPDATED--Video of Hashem's presentation embedded below.

Evidence abounds—300,000 iPads sold in one day, a seemingly endless proliferation of smart phones, the ubiquitous Facebook and Twitter networks, and whatever the mad scientists are cooking up next—which suggests we're living amidst the future, today. As Director of Digital Strategy for Droga5, Hashem Bajwa (@hashembajwa) is charged with living part of his life in the future, the better help his clients decide how to act today.

On Monday, April 19, Hashem will talk about his adventures as an agency professional that’s nurturing and cajoling organizational change, advising and leading brands, and attempting to figure out "what's next? (and why should we care?)." Hashem will discuss how agency structure and leadership can affect digital strategy positively and negatively; how and why clients are reacting to "digital" strategy; and his thoughts on the future of advertising and the ad agency.

Prior to joining Droga5, Hashem was Digital Strategy Director for Goodby Silverstein & Partners. At Goodby he was part of the central team that led the agency’s digital transformation and interactive work across all clients at the agency. His career began at the United Nations in 2000 working on global communications, and in 2003 he entered advertising at McCann Erickson as an account planner until joining Goodby in 2005.

Hashem studied international affairs at New School University in New York and brand strategy at Art Center College of Design. Hashem does not have any children or pets...but he does have a robotic dog.

This is our third event in the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. As usual, we'll be conversing at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Hashem's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

UPDATE: Here's the video of Hashem's presentation...

Faris Yakob, Monday, March 8, 2010: "Stuff that doesn't work properly: How technology changes the nature of advertising"

UPDATE: Video of Faris' presentation embedded below.

On Monday, March 8 Faris Yakob (@faris), the former Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson NYC, will be talking about what technology actually is [and what his job was], why it scares people, why everything changes this year, how advertising has to adapt to a post-scarcity media environment, and what cultural latency is.

Prior to McCann, Faris was the Senior Strategist and Digital Ninja at Naked Communications; a Speaker at the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium; and a Strategic Media Planner at OMD.

Learn more about Faris' many interests and endeavors here.

This is our second event in the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. As usual, we'll be conversing at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Faris' presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Edward Boches, Monday, February 8, 2010: "Re-Inventing The Ad Agency, Re-Inventing Yourself"

Update: Video of Edward's presentation at the bottom of this post.

This is how we'll kick-off the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising—with an impassioned presentation by Edward Boches (@edwardboches), Chief Creative Officer/Chief Social Media Officer, MULLEN (Boston) on his personal evolution as an agency leader in the face of historic change.

Edward believes everything has changed, but the real change is the individual's new power, influence, participation and control: both as a consumer and individual.

So, what does that mean for agencies and marketers in 2010? Edward will speak from 20+ years as an national agency creative director and executive on the classic innovator's dilemma—how do you change into something new without losing the value of something established?

All this and more will be wrestled to the ground on Monday, February 8, 2010 at the Fine Line Music Cafe 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Edward's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

BIO: Edward is one of Mullen’s four original partners. Over the last 26 years he has helped define the agency’s creative standards, established its public relations group, integrated digital design and production into all of the agency’s operations, and most recently launched its growing social media practice. The latter -- comprised of strategy, PR, content and analytics -- is both a department and a mindset working to master marketing in the new consumer-driven world. Along the way, Edward has been an award winning copywriter, a celebrated creative director, and a never-ending advocate for ideas that build businesses. His work has introduced new brands (Nextel, Monster.com, Lending Tree, Oxygen Media) and invigorated established companies (Timberland, GM Credit Card, Stanley, Four Seasons). During his tenure, Mullen has grown from a 12-person creative boutique to one of the country’s top 25 agencies, with 600 people in four offices. Edward is also the Editor in Chief of TheNextGreatGeneration.com.