A little over a year ago I wrote about the Forsman&Bodenfors site that never seemed to air. And now, finally, it has.
The lesson that I talked about back then was that polishing and polishing on your product, and not getting it out there is fatal in times of rapid change. I also quoted Guy Kawasaki:
“Don’t worry, be crappy. An innovator doesn’t worry about shipping an innovative product with elements of crappiness if it’s truly innovative. The first permutation of a innovation is seldom perfect–Macintosh, for example, didn’t have software (thanks to me), a hard disk (it wouldn’t matter with no software anyway), slots, and color. If a company waits–for example, the engineers convince management to add more features–until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by.“
And these are times of rapid change. What on earth can they have been working on all this time? The idea they had two years ago can hardly be the same one that went online this week, or?
Well, maybe it is. Because it feels a bit… well… old. But first, let me start with the positive stuff:
+
On the plus side the initial interface has a very slick search interface. It’s looks much like the TED-visualization, but more stylized and with live search. For a portfolio site, this is a nice solution. Production-wise there is not much to add. If this is the idea you are going for, it is very well executed. Images are well chosen and art direction is cool. Also, the portfolio is very easy on the eyes. Excellent images and videos.
-
The site feels a bit old. Not surprisingly of course, since it’s been in production for an amazingly long time.(It has to be some kind of record). Though i like the search interface, unfortunately when you click on anything you end up in what looks like a flash template from the early noughties. And of course, I do have to ask, where is the agency? Where is all the social functionality? Does anyone at F&B even have a Twitter account? I can’t tell since the only means of contact available is email. Email guys? And what’s up with not having shareable content on the site? Add that, and I’ll add another star to your grade.
Conclusion
This is not an agency site, but a portfolio. I have no way of getting to know the agency behind it. Are they smart? Do they know what’s going on in the world? I don’t know. But it is a nice portfolio site to navigate. Not having shareable content is amazingly strange, and you get the feeling that F&B thinks that live search is the hottest thing since sliced bread. Social media seems to have passed them by. (Though I know at least one person at the agency has a Twitter account, and some of them probably have Facebook accounts). I do think that the site is very pretty though and I do like the search interface.
Waltergrade
Grade today: WW
Grade if they add shareability: WWW
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1de0c701-b57e-4151-b99c-449b84c1a588)
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Walter,
saw your review. Thanks for interesting comments.
Of course we´ve been discussing the shareability issue a lot. Unfortunately we can´t support sharing of stuff from the site for legal reasons. It´s all to do with the rights of usage. Very few campaigns would be left. It´s as simple (and boring) as that.
You say “I have no way of getting to know the the agency behind it.” That surprises me a bit. At an early stage we decided to be extremely transparent when it comes to our thinking and the strategies behind our work.
There are about fifty case stories in the site. Long ones and short ones. I think you can easily spend an hour reading and judging whether we are smart or not. And if that´s not enough then there is our philosophy and our plans for the future, our work process and a news section and…
Kind regards
Filip
Hi Filip!
Oh, how I hate when legal issues are out of sync with the times. Well then – I shall not hold you responsible. This problem needs to be solved.
I did search around quite a bit at the site, but apparently not enough. I’ll give it another go and perhaps an updated review. What I do miss however is the dynamic life of F&B. What are you talking about right now? Case stories always feel canned. I want the nitty gritty stuff. It’s like the difference between a CV and and a face to face heated conversation over a cup of coffee.
Perhaps I should add that it’s still probably the best agency site our there. Top marks for focusing around search. It’s just that I had hoped for a bit more… life.
Stop talking about social media like it´s a marvellous and unexploited thing, already. It´s in every agency-client-presentation these days. MY GOD, what are we? A nation of sixyearolds? Social media is here, and it´s been here for a while now. We´re all working on it. Let´s move on. What´s next?
BTW, the site is great. Few agencies can even dream of having a site like that. Less is more. But in this case it´s so much that I almost pooped my pants.
Kind regards,
M.J DDB
I’m sure it’s in every presentation these days, but there is a difference between talking about it in a presentation and delivering something that works. Modern web strategy requires a different skill set and different staffing than does quirky prints and outdoor. Look around you. Where are the cases you are talking about?
Also, I will not stop talking about social media like it’s a marvellous and unexploited “thing”. It is both marvellous and unexploited. Any other attitude will effectively slow down innovation.
And by the way, sixyearolds probably understand social media better these days than thirtysixyearold planners without Twitter accounts. Haha.
Thanks for a great party by the way.
Social media.
It´s all around. All the time. It comes in various colours and in many forms. You know it, and you tell people for a living. We know it, and we tell people for a living. Big whoop. It´s great, check. It´s exciting, check. But we´re all looking/should all be looking for what´s next in the context of social media. I wasn´t talking about what´s next in any sense that can be answered with rhetoric maneouvers like those uttered by cynical yacht-owning account execs in client meetings 2004 ( “Any other attitude will effectively slow down innovation.”) To move on, we need to move on. Not blame “quirky prints” and “quirky outdoor” as the bad guys. I mean C´MON! It´s like my dad just spoke, or something. With all due respect.
All I´m saying is that it´s getting hard to be an expert in a field
that´s becoming more exploited than Kongo 1908-1960. But we all need to become Nextperts™ asap. Agreed? And by Nextperts I don´t mean reading Nextopia. I mean by seriously becoming SERIOUSLY interested in YOUR area of expertise.Not in the way my mom tells me if “I´m on facebook”. Those days are over. That´s all I´m saying. Not unlike when the days of charging clients for each and every link on a standard website suddenly disappeared when reality tapped on each and every web-agencies shoulder back in the day.
Regarding the social-media-content of the F&B site, I dunno. Could it be that it´s a social media event itself in lacking to present it properly? Made you look, didn´t they? Made you tell people about the site lacking it, and made their friends talk about the F&B site. See . . . they´re here. It´s subliminal supersocialmediafreakiness.
Thanks for attending our party. It was alright, I guess. Until someone threw up on the bar around 23.40.
Keepin it real for real since HubHopping – 82.
M.J / DDB.
The whole web has become more or less social – the mere fact that we are discussing the FB web here is a clear indicator that you don’t need to be explicit about getting it.
Having a Twitter account is not significant in any way whatsoever. Guy Kawasaki, by the way, is obviously NOT talking about the marketing industry – he is talking about REAL innovation. Our job as marketers is to mitigate the imperfections that come with rapid and ruthless innovation.
So – my main beef with the site doesn’t have anything to do with Social Media. I’m just tired of seeing yet another heavy flash site that looks awesome but is slow to load, doesn’t work on my iPhone and from a true social perspective kind of sucks.
I like the function, but instead of swinging their proverbial dicks and placed it at the landing page they should have made it into a true showpiece, a microsite or whatever…
My point is that you are kidding yourself if you think that you are being social by adding a bunch of Digg, Twitter, facebook crap… But on the other hand, you will achieve social leverage if you are upfront and clear with your value proposition.
I don’t have time to play around with your fancy flash machine, it’s only in my way.
mr / rc
It’s just like shaggy would say: “It wasn’ me”. Throwing up on the bar I mean. Actually I had to leave early. But it was fun while it lasted.
I’m not sure I understood this entire text above, but I liked the the Kongo parallell and the prospect of me owning a yacht.
I don’t, however, blame prints or outdoor for anything. They both have their place. What I am saying is that creating truly intelligent business- and communication solutions requires, in most cases, more than an ad school diploma and a spoonful of wit. Conversational media forces us to stay honest, and honesty forces us to create real substance and value. But the ad agencies are not staffed to create real value. Their staffed to create quirky ads. Volontaire, for example, are making big promises in this area, and it will be interesting to see if they can deliver on these promises. They do have a couple of above average minds over there.
When it comes to F&B it is of course remarkable when the most successful agency of the past decade or more promises something utterly spectacular only to come up with no more than a beautiful, non shareable portfolio two years later. Do you mean that this was their strategy?
Either way, I do agree with you that it is a beautiful, very well produced Flash portfolio. (Why are they using Flash by the way? SEO, anyone?)
Anyway, I guess it’s time to head out into the night and spread some Valentine’s love.
Good to hear that you were also around in the good old BBS days.
Have a great night!
I´m not saying you´re an average yacht-owning ad exec, I´m just saying you sounded like one saying the very thing yacht-owners say to sell a “new media”, social or not (WHAT´S NOT, BTW?). Hmm…that would be something . . . antisocial media.
If, say, F&B are not staffed to be on top of things mediawise or whatever, how come they are creating real value for their clients? And how come they win the Grand Prix in (hello) the MEDIA CATEGORY in Cannes this year?
No, I´m not saying anything else but that it´s a great portfolio. But I can´t help to wonder if their strategy was to get a massive interest-build-up prior to the launch of the site. They did so by somewhat ironically calling it The Internet 3.0. It´s coming. And what now? Five zillion people visited the site, not bedazzled by the freshness of programming, but perhaps impressed by the great campaigns they produced through the years. Mission accomplished. New clients on the hook.
Ps: Please note that I´m not drunk when writing this. I just don´t have a real life. Sorry?
Good to have you over Michael,
I do agree with your opinions about having a heavy flash site when there is really no need, for all the reasons you mention plus the fact that it ruins SEO.
I don’t agree that just because we are discussing the site it becomes functional and conversational. What if I, as a potential client of F&B, would want to pass along a certain piece of the portfolio or just discuss it with someone or promote it somewhere? Filip says in a comment below that this has to do with copyright issues. I find this quite strange.
To me, not having a Twitter account (or Facebook account or whatever) is a clear indicator of disinterest if working in the communications consulting business. It is almost impossible to understand these services if you don’t thoroughly try them out. It’s like trying to learn how to surf by reading books about it.
Do you mean that innovation in the media sector is not REAL innovation? I wrote my masters thesis on innovation management in the media sector and was heavily inspired by Guy Kawasaki. I would deem his quote MORE relevant here than in, say, the automotive industry. Compare the number of public beta web services and public beta Volkswagens for instance. The reason, of course, is the low cost for public large scale beta testing of a site compared to that of a Beetle.
Adding a bunch of “crap” as you put it is obviously not of any value in itself. Unless of course it lowers communication barriers. We have seen in many cases how very small changes in collaboration cost (to use Clay Shirky’s term) can make a huge difference in viral growth since these growth numbers have a tendency to be exponential.
It all has to do with perception. As a marketer we can’t afford to put out something that is less than 100% of our vision since that is what we are judged by.
And I wasn’t talking about the media sector – we are seeing innovation there at staggering speeds. I was referring to the marketing sector, us who use media to put forward our clients. There is a HUGE difference and it should not be confused. McLuhanesque arguments are also futile in this respect.
And in regards to Mr. Kawasaki, I only agree to a certain extent. as a consumer we have been fostered to accept low quality products in the name of innovation. Just look at windows.
Cheerio,
m
Oh and I agree: the whole “legal” argument from Filip is a total cop out.
This M.J was funny. Marketing agencies understood social media? Yeah right…
Well M.J. I guess we’re both pathetic loosers blogging our way through Valentine’s day. Oh well.
Anyway, I think F&B churn out excellent stuff from time to time, but winning the media category with that particular campaign said more about the contest than anything else. I’m not a fan of that campaign. To me, it only supports my argument. That was not real value but rather quirky funny.
In regards to the site, the way the whole expectations build up was set up, talking about 3.0 and beyond was just a sure fire strategy for failure. The site is not bad compared to the rest of our Swedish agency sites, but definitely a dissapointment in relation to the expectations they had set. Dissapointments are rarely good.
Michael, I think that Window’s is a prime example of “Big Release”-strategy. Google’s products, or Linux, or Bloggy are better examples of public beta testing. But this is, of course, a religious question where both strategies are valid. I believe in the perpetual beta-strategy myself.
Oh, and I’m not so sure that the marketing sector is a sector anymore. Would, for example, communicative product development fit into that sector? Everything communicates, as they say.
Walter:
You know what I mean. All I´m saying is you always have to be better than what you read. Knowing is not enough when it comes to social media. And unfortunately many, MANY “experts” in this field don´t have a clue that “we all heard that one before. Move on. Show ME THE NEXT THING IN YOUR FIELD! YEs, Invented by you. Not by Chris Andersens cat….zzzz….that´s enough….can´t take it anymore…….must get life…..
Deeped
“Marketing agencies understood social media? Yeah right…”
What does this mean excactly? No, god forbid, an agency can never have smart people who understand social media and spread the love to their clients? Because they never live in the real world, and they don´t see any changes in the world/s of media. They´re just waiting to die….They want to die. These people aren´t smarter than this. HAHAHAHA…
C´mon. Ofcourse your point can be the case sometimes. As it can with selfproclaimed “Social-media-agencies”. People who live in their own belly button don´t know what they´re talking about. Or don´t realize that my mom read about that same superb, exclusive knowledge in Wired three years ago.
I want NEW KNOWLEDGE. I want people to KNOW MORE FOR REAL. Don´t redistribute. Reinvent.
And when you do, please charge me.
Ok. Must go. Hope you understand.
m
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I´m not in any way defending big ol´agencies right to just keep on keepin on, not reinventing theirselves.
But I am defending the fact that we all have brains. And if you can´t invent, you can´t survive,
Sorry about the misspellings!
I had to go to the store. Buy food. And diapers. No time.
HAAANYWAY, merci for being you.
Well – yes and no.
I agree on the innovation part, but I also think that the role of the evangelist is to keep saying things and acting to convince others until things change. Like it or not, big organizations have a tendency to stay in the middle of the road. This risk aversion is completely understandable since there are salaries to pay and overheads to compensate for. And in the case of the international network there are the fees. Trust me, I know about the fees!
For me, that’s all over now. I’m going independent. And I hope to innovate like you say. But I also think there is great value in preaching for change even if a particular idea is from Seth Godin, Clay Shirky, Malcolm Gladwell or someone else. People don’t read books. Own them, don’t read them. I think my mentor Magnus Lindqvist said it best: “The future is already here – just unevenly distributed.
For novel ideas in communication I think psychology, and particulary evolutionary psychology is an interesting field of study, now that we have this magnificent infrastructure.
Well, yes and no.
First of all, don´t mistake my views with the ones of the DDB Network. I´m just myself in discussing this.
If the future is already here – just unevenly distributed. Why not go ahead and distribute THE FUTURE? And not by stating the obvious; Does anyone at F&B even have a Twitter account? Haha. C´mon. Better! BETTER POINTERS! FASTER, HARDER, BETTER!
But you have many good points, I´m just saying let´s not sell ideas that are, in fact, old, only well said. Let´s invent new ways of DOING not new ways of TALKING. See that´s the whole problem with selfproclaimed social-media-and-what-not-experts. They talk the talk, check. But unfortunately, all too often, stuck in a wheelchair; a web of talk. Sticky, smart, well put talk. A great skill in itself, ofcourse. Often impressive in it´s presentation. But I want better inventions and better pointers from the social media experts.
Haaaanyway, have a nice day!
Kind regards,
M.J
Oh, and I’m not so sure that the marketing sector is a sector anymore. Would, for example, communicative product development fit into that sector? Everything communicates, as they say.
I’m not sure I know what you mean by communicative product development. The term is, to say the least, ambiguous. But – marketing, advertising, PR, branding etc. These are services that use different means of communication to maximize profit. It most certainly is a sector, and if you can’t see that it is probably because you are so entrenched that you can’t see the horizon. But trust me, as budgets are getting cut the horizon is coming closer and the sector will be laid bare like a stranded whale.
“Twitter is not the world”, to miss-quote Morrissey.
I should clarify that term perhaps:
When I work I use a model called Activity Pipes, where several communicative activities run in parallell. One of these activities is communicative product development. It means changing the actual product into something that communicates. One example is Battlefield Heroes, which in itself was communicative (or “remarkable” in Seth Godin-lingo) because it was free. It got famous because of what it was. Another even more recent example is the Modu-handsets (to avoid the ever present iPhone example). Ben & Jerry’s is also very good at this type of communication. When Jerry Garcia died for example, they changed the red cherries in the Cherry Garcia variety to black cherries for one month in honor of the great musician. Everybody talked about it. It communicated. But will product development suddenly fit into the marketing budget? I don’t know. What I think though is that your way of looking at things is probably more lucrative than mine because it’s easier to buy for the client. Clients will always reach for the illusion of safety in the middle of the road. But as much as I love cash, conviction comes first.
And when it comes to Twitter or any other major social media – not taking part signals disinterest in modern communication. And that’s not a good trait when your in the business of giving advice about communication. Like I said – everything communicates.
exactly. everything communicates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIqGT3Gq8J8
F&B as far as i know is the biggest, most awarded swedish agency still alive. That they come with a new website is a major event in itself, especially since they made us wait so much for it.
F&B’s new site is a comtemporary museum dedicated to swedish advertising. That’s at least how i see it.
Let’s say i’m a potential client. I watch a few cases, i like what i see, i feel confident in working with such a prestigious institution.
That’s if i’m after a somehow traditional kind of relation with my agency.
But what if i’m not? What if i read blogs, books or went to lectures about social media, user-generated innovation, internet strategy etc.
Where’s the conversation on F&B’s new site? How do i feel involved? Do i need to look at all the cases to convince myself that these people are the best ones to guide me in these complicated times?
Walter mentions Volontaire. He’s right. These are people really re-inventing themselves. Will they succeed and deliver what they are promising or end up being a bluff? We’ll see. But they definitely look sexier (in a business way) than F&B, not only because of their french name.
Their own website does not show much of their work. But it shows their approach, attitude, state of mind. To me, it’s at least as important, if not more, than an impressive portfolio.
Now, i’m tempted to tease a little and defend the fact that F&B’s site was better being a static page. Of course it’s not. But that page made everyone expect something fabulous and refer to F&B’s positions of the last decade as best-in-the-field. Typically Nextopia to be disappointed when the wait is over, no?
Walter, I get it. You are preaching to the choir. My own agency constantly has to battle brand managers etc to get across a new form of thinking and introduce a new set of metrics by which to measure campaigns.
My point though, is that just because we are in the communications or marketing industry we don’t need to blindly appropriate each new medium that emerges. For one thing, it may turn around and bite us in the ass when history has evaluated the value of, for example, Twitter.
You are correct, everything communicates. Furthermore, we all inhabit different semiotic and media landscapes. So sometimes instead of using a Twitter feed to tell people what you ate for breakfast it is far better to shut up. I am not pro or against any type of media, I simply find it interesting how these discussions become so obsessed with the NEW media. Isn’t it better to figure out what you want to say and who you want to say it to first? You may find that Twitter or Facebook is the media for you. Or you may not.
And if everything communicates and the media is the message – we would perhaps do better and ignore Twitter for most messages and audiences.
And regarding the F&B website. Why would anyone in their right mind expect an old advertising agency to be the arbiter of cutting edge communication technology?
Hasn’t recent history taught us that the advertising industry is a dinosaur trying desperately not to go die in a swamp?
Holy BEEJEESUS (!)….you´re all geniuses.
Merci for being you, ya´ll.
I agree on Volontaire, btw. They have great aspirations. Good on them. But, in their case, the social media-hype surrounding their start up might not be all good.Expectations the size of Mount Everest on their fragile yet intelligent shoulders. But hopefully they will deliver the goods. Some goody goods. Beyond the old Twittering, and hopefully beyond my grandmas nanobloggings.
Sayonara,
M.Jakobsson
Slave to the masses. Social to the MAX.
Yes, the point I’m trying to make though, which is the same point I always preach to choirs and elsewhere, is that it is very hard to understand new social media types without trying them out hands on. Because they are all about participation. And if you are a planner for example, or any other communications professional, you should WANT to try out these things.
Oh, and if you are using Twitter to tell people what you ate for breakfast, there is room for improvement.
Funnily my point, the simple point of we´re all the first born when it comes to social media, didn´t reach you as quickly.
It´s what it is. Not that it exists. We all know that, Walter.
For the love of god, we all know that.
Gotta go now, the old “ignoring ALL media that is not quirky prints and outdoor-bell” just went off. Here and now I turn all my knowledge off and suggest ONLY page 3 ads. Because that is how ALL under-staffed ad agencies work. Or is it?
Ouch!
Magnus Jakobsson
I’m a social media expert. But I don’t want to twitter. Sosumi.
Chacun a son gout!
By the way, I force myself because someone told me I had to: @raisanencr8tive
Michael, you wrote this:
“And regarding the F&B website. Why would anyone in their right mind expect an old advertising agency to be the arbiter of cutting edge communication technology?”
My view about this is that F&B more than anyone has the possibility to pay 2-3 people to experiment new ways of making advertisement. Technology-based companies have research & development departments, and since technology is opening new territories for marketing…
That’s what i would expect from the branch’s leader.
I’m kind of tired of all this BS about “new” media. It’s mostly the tools that are new, so it’s a duty for every serious media expert to at least try them, like twitter. So, congrats to you Michael, that’s a step in the right way. I might even get inspired and imitate you. Soon. I swear i will try.
Usualy airlines boise .outside .Ok, here .time of flight to hawaii should it contain international airline flight tracker uk flights from stansted often Best mumbai chandigarh airfare online booking of airline tickets could list of airline in the philippines airline tickets for india usaa airline tickets All about kingfisher airlines pnr status .
{ 1 trackback }