Today my guest is also a countryman of mine, Giuseppe Mayer, Managing Director Interactive @ Saatchi & Saatchi Italy.
1) Which is the digital project that has impressed you most this year and why?
I would say the Nokia Nonstop Living project and the Wilkinson Fight For Kisses campaign ()... and, of course, Zoogam :-)
Even so, I think we've still got a long way to go. In Europe - to say nothing of Italy - I can't see any projects like Nike Plus which is really able to integrate technology, strategy and creativity in a truly innovative way, giving all these elements the same dignity. On the one hand, iì's a pity, for it means we still haven't fully understood the potential that digital media can offer us. On the other, it's a great opportunity for growth, which I believe our clients can't wait to take up. Let's get it on :-)
2) In your job, what is the most important thing you've learnt this year?
I've learnt that you can't play safe - not daring for fear of taking risks is the riskiest thing you can do in this business. We need to go beyond the old models; there aren't any barriers any more between creativity and media, between online and off-line. There's no "business as usual" any more, and the magic 30-seconds recipe is just a dim memory - creativity without a strategic lever to direct it and without the technology it needs is just idle play - after a single visit, the users get bored and, basically, clients don't need it.
We have to go out into the field to learn how to use these new tools, how to coordinate them and create the emotional connections that are key to developing a relationship between client and brand, and end up by making it a lovemark.
3) As a digital marketer/creative person what's on top of your agenda for 2008?
I think the mobile world still has unexpressed potential that's just waiting to be tapped. The iPhone has given us a glimpse of potential future development, but the greatest challenge will be to imagine a device that sits in the pockets of millions of people and that can be integrated and play an active role in a communication project. I haven't got a solution, unfortunately, but it's something we'll be focusing on in 2008.
4) What, in your opinion, will be a killer application / key trend in interactive marketing in 2008?
I can't see a technological killer app for 2008, though I'm quite prepared to be proved wrong by Google. I do believe, though, that the trend will increasingly be towards "open" communication projects like Jeep Have Fun Out There (http://www.havefunoutthere.com/), in which the role of advertising will not be to inform about a product, but rather to give an idea of the experience it offers, sharing one's own passions with other people, possibly also by bringing together relevant content that's already out there online.
5) Which book would you give as a Christmas present to Adverblog's readers?
Life After the 30Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe and Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger - to be read in that order.
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