“Everything is based on the Burden of Interactivity,” Juan Antonio stated during the August, 13th MIMA event on video marketing.  As interactive marketers, this is where the rubber meets the road.  New and creative ways to attract and ultimately engage users with our online brand(s) is what we all strive to achieve and are held responsible for.  Video marketing is one force pushing that boundary of interactivity as video viewing and sharing continues to become increasingly popular.  This surge of online viewership is evident in the statistics discussed during the event.  Ciceron CEO and MIMA presenter Andrew Eklund states that nearly 33.7 percent of males age 18-24 view a video at least once per day.  Even more impressive is nearly 75 percent of people receive links to videos.  Even large brands such as Minnesota based 3M are looking for new and creative ways to take advantage of this surge.  For this they turn to video marketing creative firms such as Jake Nyberg’s Threevolts, who was responsible for 3M’s Protect Your Walls campaign, a viral spoof on NBC’s The More You Know campaign.   

As if video marketing isn’t cutting edge enough, video pioneers such as Christina Cordova are taking it one step further.  She is working on an interactive product placement video that would allow users to interact with the video and actually click on the product.  Chuck Olsen, a video journalist and MIMA presenter, is learning to embrace new video technologies that allow him to break news simply using his laptop web camera.  Video bloggers and journalists are learning to take advantage of new technologies such as Quik.  Quik is a piece of software that integrates into certain Nokia phones transforming your mobile phone into a streaming mobile phone camcorder.

As we all can appreciate, it is difficult to forecast/monetize the results of a particular viral video campaign. However, firms’ ROI expectations are still present.  With the surge of video creation, viewing and sharing the “Burden of Interactivity” already felt by interactive marketers is rapidly shifting to video marketers.  Firms such as 3M are becoming more understanding of the potential power of video marketing, but still strive to track and expect to achieve results.  Video marketers such as Juan, Jake and Christina are facing the “Burden of Interactivity” head-on, and their solutions are changing the face of marketing as we know it.

Is breakthrough creativity driven by one person? Or is it the happy result of collaboration and cross fertilization?

I’m sure you have an opinion. I’m also sure your September calendar is filling up fast, but this is one event that’s bound to be interesting and informative. Blu Dot, the award-winning Minneapolis furniture company, will be presenting their design philosophy as part of the CVA Leaders of Design Series.

Not familiar with Blu Dot? If you’ve been to the Walker Art Center (and what good MIMA member hasn’t?), you’ve seen and possibly sat on sleek, simplified Blu Dot couches set off by watermelon red steel tables.

Okay, so what does designing couches and tables and chairs and beds have to do with designing digital experiences? If the lecture title is any indication — “There’s No ‘I’ in Des gn” — the process for Blu Dot is not about ego or individual grandeur. It’s all about collaboration, cooperation, and camaraderie.

Isn’t that the same with interactive marketing?

Yes, of course, we’ve all encountered the strutting, self-important designer, interactive strategist, project lead, SEO consultant, and so on, but really, when you come right down to it, isn’t some of the best creative work borne of collaboration? Almost everyone I work with believes that welcoming multiple contributors (on the client and agency side) improves outcomes and engenders success.

“Get designers, writers, strategists, information architects, developers, publicists, business analysts, and customers working together. Connect the MBAs with the MFAs. Ask the attorneys to collaborate with the creatives. Pair the scientist with the art director — and see what happens.

It’s certainly true too many people working on an idea can be messy and cumbersome, but it can also open the door to wildly exciting possibilities.”

— Excerpted from Your Marketing Campaign: What’s the Big Idea?

Another way to encourage creativity is to stop running directly at the problem and seek inspiration in a sideways manner: So perhaps furniture design can illuminate digital design?

You can register for the September 24th lecture here through AIGA Minnesota. The lecture features Blu Dot founders John Christakos and Maurice Blanks. The next day, Thursday, September 25, there’s an opening night exhibition party and a Blu Dot furniture auction (both free and open to the public) at the CVA Gallery.

Tickets for the Blu Dot lecture will go fast. Last year’s CVA Leaders of Design Series featured Steven Heller, and it sold out weeks in advance. See you there!