May 2008 Archives

The debut episode of The Gruen Transfer, an ABC television program about advertising, screened last night in Australia. It’s hosted by Wil Anderson, and features two teams of advertising professionals, each consisting of two regulars and two guests. The show features several segments that give the panelists an opportunity to dissect and comment on advertisements.

The concept, which was originally thought up in part by Andrew Denton of “Enough Rope” fame, is a good one. However, it’s let down by the panel format. The participants try too hard to make the audience laugh, rather than getting into a great deal of depth.

Another irritant is that the advertisements — some of which are outstanding — are not full screen, and therefore lose considerable impact. Perhaps they’ve done this so that channel surfers don’t think they’ve stumbled on to an ad break, and keep surfing.

Still, advertising makes for a fascinating subject, and with any luck the show will mature into something with some more substance over time. You can watch the debut episode on the ABC’s website.

And now, a word from our sponsor…

The author of Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky, with a thoughtful essay on the “cognitive surplus” that television has been absorbing since the industrial revolution. He maintains that we’re on the cusp of another revolution, as we begin to participate online and thereby channel our cognition elsewhere:

Here’s something four-year-olds know: A screen that ships without a mouse ships broken. Here’s something four-year-olds know: Media that’s targeted at you but doesn’t include you may not be worth sitting still for. Those are things that make me believe that this is a one-way change. Because four year olds, the people who are soaking most deeply in the current environment, who won’t have to go through the trauma that I have to go through of trying to unlearn a childhood spent watching Gilligan’s Island, they just assume that media includes consuming, producing and sharing.

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus.

Very interesting observations from Brad Bird on stimulating creativity.

It seems counterintuitive, but for imagination-based companies to succeed in the long run, making money can’t be the focus.

Via Daring Fireball.