tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55432635515324357212009-10-13T01:17:05.628-04:00I am Mark Waldo, an interactive strategist working in Philadelphia. My primary focus is on how to lead client and internal teams in creating innovative solutions for the web and interactive technologies. My web development career started in '95 with Laura LeMay's HTML book. My interactive/ multi-media career started earlier with the design of interactive systems embedded in architecture and the development of cross media marketing plans for internal corporate communications.Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-80386980700867235612009-08-11T12:22:00.001-04:002009-08-11T12:22:59.822-04:00

Amazing that both Digitas and Razorfish are now under one roof.Today Microsoft and Publicis confirmed the rumors that Microsoft would sell its digital agency Razorfish to Publicis.  This is great news for Razorfish as it will provide them access to services and capabilities they do not currently have to further solidify their leadership position in the industry.  Details of the announcement can

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-42495188796745238002009-08-11T08:25:00.002-04:002009-08-11T08:28:57.391-04:00

Regarding technology and Web 2.0 -I wonder if we are just picking up where we left off in social intensity? Up until, say, post WW2 we lived in compressed social worlds. After WW2 we got suburbs which threw us far away from each other and TVs which pulled us inside and alone. Now maybe we are recovering and getting back to the front porch conversations we left off in 1948...--Thanks to MaryLynn

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-9050757624044492122009-08-10T14:28:00.003-04:002009-08-10T14:40:53.332-04:00

I want to find the people who delight in what we can do in the interactive space.I'm not interested in the early adopters. That role seems to be more about a pissing match than really loving the interactive space.I'm not interested in the guys who only see this space as just another business opportunity. They are too serious and can't fit their hearts into it. Business is an important element of

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-88938959209457196772009-06-23T16:33:00.003-04:002009-08-10T14:28:30.415-04:00

Identified as an interactive shop, how do you seize opportunities to engage the client in discussions about core brand and strategic planning so you can move yourself more squarely into the field occupied by the traditional agency of record?

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-3345516174508865352009-06-02T13:05:00.005-04:002009-06-02T13:21:27.762-04:00

Looking at the redesign of Craigslist by DesignEye, I can see why Craig Newmark never implemented it. The design is without voices. As Gawker says, "The new design is gorgeous, slick, ..." Behind the design of the existing Craigslist you can hear the rabble. It's interesting. craigslist.org's design speaks well for what it is. What DesignEye has done IS gorgeous and slick. But is that good? Is

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-16257188283243378842009-04-30T17:22:00.004-04:002009-07-08T23:13:53.600-04:00

I think this is so fascinating. Apple decided that they like the label "1-Click" so much that they pay Amazon for the rights to use it."1-CLICK®. 1-Click is a registered service mark of Amazon.com, Inc., used under license. All App Store transactions use 1-Click, a convenient feature that allows you to license Products from the Service with a single click of your mouse or other input device." -

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-18487229605288989612009-04-29T19:23:00.002-04:002009-04-29T19:27:49.064-04:00

I think I may have just stumbled across the most copied line of copy ever. And it's being done by design studios claiming to be creative. Google this fragment:we knew it was never destined to be a typicalIt's just awesome!One studio (not sure which one) not only copied the line but an entire website.gravitate designcouture solutionsMan, oh man. Do you laugh or what?

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-41710782957372962182009-02-12T06:19:00.005-05:002009-02-12T06:53:59.700-05:00

Here is a schedule for handling an RFP that contains the process from my post "A Process for Creating a Proposal for Interactive Projects".This is based on actual schedules I've made for managing teams in the RFP process - so it has been tested.

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-14211768766407410372009-01-29T16:28:00.006-05:002009-01-29T16:48:56.714-05:00

I received a request for clarification from Dave Cooksey of PhillyCHI on what I meant by "IDEO style" in my recent post A Process for Creating a Proposal for Interactive Projects."Mark - Thanks for sharing this with the group. I have lots of questions, but want to start by asking what you mean when you state in your blog entry:"Additionally it relies on a leader who is facilitating a team IDEO

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-79507636758169252122009-01-22T13:46:00.005-05:002009-01-22T17:30:44.885-05:00

If you believe in the power of brand to significantly impact how people relate to a companyANDIf you believe you don't have to be a company to have a brand - you could be a countryThen Obama's decision today to close Guantánamo Bay may be the greatest rebranding effort of the year and essential for national security.The NYT Article : Obama Orders Secret Prisons and Detention Camps Closed It's

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-90828329899265565002009-01-21T13:18:00.011-05:002009-01-27T22:21:00.180-05:00

The process of creating a proposal that requires some strategy work to prepare, or is for a client who isn't at all clear about what they want, is a difficult one for most studios and agencies to get a handle on. Many start ideation too soon, leave out key internal subject matter experts, fail to create actionable project plans and produce unrealistic estimates.Basically they implode.Reflecting

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-66136660554246151862009-01-21T12:56:00.007-05:002009-01-27T22:18:46.031-05:00

Recently I was asked by an interactive agency to help improve its overall processes including strategic consulting processes. They were unclear exactly how to begin ideation and when.I have always been on the creative side of things; coming up with ideas for my own companies and others. Along the way, I have learned that to be a successful idea person you also need to be proficient at getting

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-53098147663124836772009-01-05T14:09:00.007-05:002009-01-27T22:19:24.906-05:00

Here is one of the equations for making your margin in an interactive project.A web development team which understands the vision of a project -> creates better project requirements.A team that wrote the project requirements -> creates project plans that are more feasible.A team that created the plan that it is building within -> creates projects that hit their margin.Account Management teams

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-43931373064821498962009-01-05T13:55:00.010-05:002009-01-27T22:20:24.383-05:00

A team where everyone feels that the work they are doing is meaningful is ideal and not impossible to create.Meaning for most web people I have worked with starts with knowing the purpose of the things they are building.So why then do many of the account managers I have encountered in Philadelphia treat their team like Kinkos? Rather than bringing them in to participate with them and the client

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-36105125573766976732008-10-28T09:34:00.000-04:002008-10-28T09:34:47.528-04:00

If we value innovation in Philadelphia, it would be interesting for Philadelphia based design agencies (or studios) to not just sell innovation individually, but band together and sell Philadelphia web and ID studios as being innovative because they are Philadelphian.So I have a vision: An area wide marketing effort: "Philadelphia - 200 Years of Innovation".I am prompted to this thought having

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-30846018233967042082008-10-19T20:56:00.007-04:002008-10-19T21:24:15.933-04:00

Still hot - and very defunct - is Construct Internet Design. In the 90's some of the most innovative work in the web was being done there. Browse through their products page to get an idea for what they were doing. I was lucky enough to work there for a time.They did a lot of advanced interface design including virtual worlds work. Two memorable projects were the ZKM Difference Engine and the

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-88699324898387366432008-09-28T09:40:00.010-04:002008-10-28T09:54:54.986-04:00

"...boundaries of organizations are less clear, the ownership is much more community-based...."-Dion HinchcliffeDion hits the nail on the head in his Web 2.0 blog . And this may be the greatest challenge for those of us working to create interactive agencys that offer better strategic consulting and innovative ideas . Most of the legacy processes that I have found which inhibit this are fed by an

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-61806073048101598542008-09-11T10:22:00.000-04:002008-09-11T10:23:12.974-04:00

Hmm… at the Cyber Monday store, http://www.cybermonday.com, it turns out that “garden” and “pets” belong on the same line in the nav bar as “Garden & Pets”. You UX guys out there always catch me off guard. This must be, like, "para-contextual-associative navigation” or something…I have to pause to think what causal relationships drove that one. Do they see pets as most likely in gardens? Wow.

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-70825041624249432762008-08-04T07:55:00.005-04:002009-01-27T22:17:23.495-05:00

Implementing a new development methodology in an interactive agency is not a top down thing. It's not about cracking heads. It is the coordination of the processes of each discipline within the studio. And so it sometimes means working with people within each discipline to nurture and grow their way of working first so that it is mature enough to be integrated into the overall methodology of the

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-69504649574185928422008-05-05T14:56:00.007-04:002008-05-05T15:14:38.189-04:00

I am going back through my Microsoft Project Templates and editing them. Next week I am officially rolling out interactive development timeline templates that integrate analytics, SEO, banners etc. (the artifacts of internet marketing) into the olde web development methodology.In the late 90's web development was so easy. vivid studios captures the iconic methodology on their old site. The

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-90676289132723966652008-04-12T09:01:00.013-04:002008-04-12T10:43:15.820-04:00

Sitting with one of the studio dogs, Connor, and coffee this morning, I was reading Tom Kelley's "The Art of Innovation". Written in 2001 it still creates a compelling vision for an innovative company.His book misses something though.The message of innovation CAN NOT be introduced to the client after the fact. This is a law. If your clients don't already value innovation and are as passionate

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-60441526876873960012008-04-09T13:30:00.009-04:002008-08-04T12:44:53.318-04:00

Information Architects (IAs) used to own website organization and strategy. They also had very specific tools for doing this work. In ’97, a web studio’s IA would probably be putting together the feature set for the site based on an understanding of user needs, profiles (personas) and usage scenarios. We didn’t really have that many separate standing strategists in ’97. But the times have

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-20151393040034377902008-04-02T08:35:00.005-04:002008-04-02T09:17:13.202-04:00

Sitting at the main studio table this morning, cup of Peet's coffee in hand, I'm putting down more thoughts on branding in the interactive space. It's not all that easy, given the damage done to me at last night's meeting with some of Philadelphia's digerati. I like the Black Sheep Pub where we met as much as the next guy, but a dinner comprised solely of hummus, nacho's, fried calamari and

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-34360542239089629752008-04-02T08:30:00.003-04:002008-04-02T08:35:05.599-04:00

1. Interaction puts more emphasis on proximity TO the brand, rather than perception OF what is inside the brand than traditional media have. Following this then: 2. Use of social media technologies means that as much emphasis in developing a brand needs to be put on PERCEPTION OF SELF by the self and others while interacting with brand as on the product’s traditional BRAND ATTRIBUTES which are

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543263551532435721.post-8094889524577073242008-03-25T08:25:00.008-04:002008-04-09T17:12:29.521-04:00

Why did I talk about IDEO and the Eames as if they are/were "agencies" in my last post? They are really industrial design studios not internet marketing agencies, I know . But they are closer to being internet marketing agencies than most ad agencies – and here’s why.Internet Marketing is not Advertising.Internet marketing is the outcome of building an interactive mechanism that engages people

Mark Waldonoreply@blogger.com0