Sharing the Love for Producers, Node.js and… Love

MediaMonks didn’t ask for much this Christmas. After all, we were already suitably merry from the year's achievements: 2013 saw us win more awards than we had ever humbly hoped for, we opened our third overseas office (in Singapore), and last but certainly not least – were inducted into the FWA Hall of Fame. That said, whilst we may still be festively drunk on our digital endeavours, and nursing a full stomach from the MotherMonk’s MediaMonks Company Christmas Dinner; we do of course have some hopes, expectations and resolutions for the coming year that we’d like to share with you. So please indulge our production-oriented perspectives on 2014 for just a moment, starting with a pledge:

 

MediaMonks New Year’s Resolution

 We promise to play outside (of the Internet) at least once a week

 

We will try to stop throwing so many parties

 

We will give interactive producers the recognition they deserve.

 

Digital technologies have become so central to everyday life that reading this on a screen small enough to pull from your pocket is unremarkable. With their increased popularity, we now see the creative output of these technologies being commonly celebrated. However, the hard work and essential input by the people that produce such celebrated projects is continuously ignored. Unlike film producers (who are lauded as superstars), interactive producers often struggle to even get their names entered in the credits of a campaign. Yet like their counterparts in the film industry, they spend most of their working life (and much of their personal life) keeping projects and teams on track, on budget and on time; all the while ensuring creative output lives up to artistic vision.

 

The plight of the interactive producer may not tug at the heart-strings of most people, but more and more are experiencing similar feelings from the digital work that they produce. It is this sentiment that marks one of our hopes for 2014:

 

We hope that agencies keep nurturing the emotional appeal of digital concepts.

 

This is something we feel is intimately bound to the industry’s sustained success. Digital campaigns used to rely solely on technically complex and extremely innovative elements to enlist engagement. However – following the well-trodden path of its traditional big brother (that’s you, broadcast and print!) – the digital industry has started to wake up to the need for their campaigns to be evocative, if they are to continue capturing the attention of its expanding audiences. Those requiring reference need only look to recent work by the wizards of Oslo: SMFB, in their 7 Days of Rain campaign for GEOX. Produced by MediaMonks, this project was both technologically and emotionally intelligent, and its recent success (nine awards, including a Promo & Activation Grand Prix at Eurobest) is testament to this. The 7 Days of Rain interactive film documents the highs and lows of our waterproof footwear-tester, Tom, as he endures a week of nonstop rain from a personal, omnipresent cloud. The film was integrated into the GEOX Amphibiox website (also designed and developed by MediaMonks), cleverly watering down the distinction between interactive product site and emotional experience in the process.

 

The strength of emotional engagement within digital experiences is the potential to incorporate a layer of interactivity that can’t be achieved elsewhere. The third and final entry on our wishlist therefore takes the form of a technical expectation (read: desire) for 2014:

 

We will see more real-time web applications built using Node.js.

 

Agencies take note! Due to its scalability, lightweight nature and speed, Node.js is enabling brands across the entire spectrum to increasingly (and affordably) offer real-time, brand-to-user and user-to-user engagement. Outside of the typical Twitter and Facebook Feeds. What’s more, Node.js is incredibly cross-compatible: users can access web applications built using this software platform across a huge amount of devices. If you’re keen on a campaign that requires real-time responses, updates and dialogues, we’d love to see Node.js – not to mention, MediaMonks – make this happen.

 

So that sums up the MediaMonks worldwide wish list for 2014. A pledge to resolve the lack of recognition for interactive producers; A hope to see more emotion in interactive stories; and an expectation to see node.js used in more interactive, real-time web builds. A short, yet well-rounded list covering digital producers, digital product and digital production: Everything that’s important to a digital prodco!