Late Christmas Present
29 December 2006
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.(Yes, I know we are not officially back in the office until the 3rd... don't tell anyone... it can be our secret. Just you and me.)
Anyway, as Christmas recedes and the future approaches I thought it might be nice to share something I've been enjoying over the holidays... and that's TED.
The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference is held every year in California... and brings together creative, interesting people to talk and listen too each other... including presentations by all kinds of Big Hitters in all kinds of areas within science, arts and entertaiment. (The first TED conference introduced the Apple Macintosh and the Compact Disc).
Okay... so it's interesting people saying interesting things... but attending the conference would cost you over $4,000, plus travel and hotels etc... and that's assuming that you can get an invite. But fear not, the nice people at TED have provided online videos of many of the 20 minute presentations online (and as video podcasts on iTunes). There is loads of interesting stuff here... but if you are looking for a place to start see the presentation by Sir Ken Robinson on Education (which I mentioned to some of you earlier in the year). It's short, funny and best of all will make you think.
I'm working my way slowly thorough all the video-casts, but if you see something you like let me know...
Posted by Nick Warren at 12:35 PM
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Peace
21 December 2006
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... not a phone was trilling, not an email was pinging, not a text message was beeping... nothing.There is a moment each year, just before Christmas, that I love. It's the moment that peace descends on Semantic. All Christmas commitments are honored, all ongoing projects are safely tucked up for the holiday, all clients are happy.
It's a simple pleasure, but aren't they always the best?
There's plenty of things to love about Christmas; the lights, the taste of mulled wine, the scent of the tree, the sound of the kids coming down the stairs like a herd of elephants... but for me the moment peace descends on Semantic is right up there... and we are approaching it as I write.
Thanks to all of you who've made 2006 such so good for us. I think we've laughed more this year than any other, which is saying something. (I'd also like to add a big personal thank you to Mike and Chris... without whom (as they say) none of this would be possible.
There may not be peace on earth this Christmas, but there is peace at Semantic, and we heartily wish it for all of you. Merry Christmas.
Nick, Mike and Chris
Posted by Nick Warren at 8:51 AM
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Out to Lunch
14 December 2006
As today is my birthday (37 since you ask), we are all off for a slap up meal at lunchtime (midday)... cheese sandwiches with all the trimmings.Consequently Semantic HQ will be unmanned if at lunchtime, but I'll be on my mobile if anything urgent arises. Otherwise we'll be back at 2pm-ish :-)
Have a lovely day yourself.
Posted by Nick Warren at 10:47 AM
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Drawn Apart: Update
13 December 2006
It's been a while but here by popular demand is our latest Drawn Apart update.Drawn Apart, you may remember, is the game where we take turns adding elements to a picture on our whiteboard... each trying to subtly influence (read 'corrupt') the others vision. Originally a simple game, our whiteboard has recently featured guest players (thanks Laura) and has even spread to some of our Clients.
But here at the game's spiritual home, we are continuing to develop our unique style. The latest round started with a cube, and ended with...
Yesterday we started a new round... it and it was Mike's turn to break. Here's his opening gambit. Watch this space.
(Actually, it reminds me of the huge slides I saw at Tate Modern last week... but Chris goes next.).
Posted by Nick Warren at 9:07 AM
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But Is It Art?
11 December 2006
Modern art makes me smile, I just can't help it.A week ago I spent some time in Tate Modern, the world's busiest modern-art museum*. Actually it was my second visit, and as before I wandered around with a big old smile on my face. No choice. It's the audacity... the sheer bare-faced-tongue-in-cheek-getting-away-with-it-audacity of some artists... and what they do for a living. How can you not smile?
Tate Modern has plenty of wonderfully clever and technically brilliant works of art... but it's the others... the plastic cubes, or the totally black paintings, or the casually arranged piles of sticks that make me smile. "That's just bollocks. I could do that!"**
But of course I didn't do it. They did.
Sure we can argue about whether a pile of sticks is art... but we can't argue the fact that these artists got their stuff out there... into an environment where it could be viewed, used, praised, derided, loved, abhorred, made fun of, and perhaps enjoyed. In short, they did something.
In my experience doing something almost always beats doing nothing... because whatever else happens, you learn. Of course we can all find reasons to hold back, but sooner or later, if we are serious, we have to put ourselves out there. Even at the risk of having our work called names... or worse... laughed at.
However you feel about it a visit to Tate Modern will make you smile. And that can't be bad.
*According to Time Magazine.
Posted by Nick Warren at 11:07 PM
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Christmas Opening at Semantic
06 December 2006
A quick note to let you know about our plans for the Christmas break here at Semantic... and your "last posting date" for pre-Christmas delivery.Normal business ends at lunchtime on Wednesday 20th December, to make way for Semantic's legendary Office Christmas Party*.
We are back in the office the next day (Thursday 21st) to clear up and take care of any remaining business before the holidays... although, as it's the last day of term, we bring in cakes to eat and toys to play with. Thereafter we are out of the office until Wednesday 3rd January... when we return refreshed and reinvigorated for 2007.
As tradition dictates we have a "Last Post" date for guaranteed pre-Christmas amends. It's Friday 15th December. Any requests received after this will be handled on a best efforts/most urgent basis... or tabled until the New Year. As usual we will each be monitoring email over the holiday in case of emergencies... and full service resumes on the 3rd January.
If any of you have any concerns about the timetable (over and above our shocking slackness) do let me know, and we'll sort out a solution :-)
*half a bottle of sherry and a vicious game of charades
(with thanks to Chris Brown for the suggestion)
Posted by Nick Warren at 9:43 PM
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On Telling Stories
04 December 2006
Last week a hero of mine walked right past me in the street... as close to me as you are now.The chances are that you won't know the name Joss Whedon, but you'll likely know his work. He co-wrote Toy Story, created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel, and the brilliant Firefly. He's currently writing the forthcoming Wonder Woman movie... which he will also direct. Mr Whedon is a guy who likes to tell stories... and in the end almost everything is about stories really... isn't it?
At Semantic we tell a lot of stories, and my guess is that you do too. Of course we tell each other stories about what happened over the weekend or the evening before... but we also tell a lot of stories about Semantic. Here are a few of our Best Sellers.
1) The story about how and why I resigned from IBM on the spur of the moment, to start Semantic.
2) The story of how one handshake in 1997 has led to 75% of our business over the last six years.
3) The story about how Mike and I have been friends for 25 years, and how he got me kicked out of 'O' Level French.
(Mike might argue the detail of that a little)
4) The story about the time we decided to amputate 60% of our clients in 2004... on a point of principle.
5) ... and the story of how we won them back!
And on it goes.
Stories are powerful. Each of the stories above tells the listener something about Semantic, about who we are and how we work. Of course I can tell you that we offer 'great service' to Clients... but doesn't everyone say that. It's much better to tell you the true story of this past weekend (2nd-3rd December 2006).
One of our Clients was in serious trouble. Bad weather was ruining a major launch... and she needed her web site updated continually over the weekend. 'No problem' I said, 'here's my home number, just give me a call and I'll do it from home'. We did the updates on Saturday no problem, but on Sunday the same bad weather caused a 15 hour power failure at my home. No computers, no internet... no nothing... except a Client who still needed some lines of copy changed on her web site!
At that stage a lot of people who offer 'great service' would have apologised about circumstances outside their control. "One of those things... nothing we can do blah blah blah". But not here. We came back into the office on a Sunday to make the change.
There you go, a simple true story about the kind of service you'll get from Semantic. It's not War and Peace, but it's part of a larger story we've been telling for almost ten years. We've got hundreds like it... and they speak far more powerfully than marketing copy or mission statements. When I'm talking to potential Clients I'm not selling in the conventional sense (I'm a rubbish salesman)... but I do spend a lot of time telling stories.
And good stories spread.
Our Client will tell other people about her horrible weekend (it's human nature), and if we are lucky she'll throw in a reference to Semantic... "as usual they were fantastic." And if we are even luckier that story will lodge in the listeners mind until, perhaps months from now, they need help with a web project.
Of course most stories don't spread... they are not big enough, funny enough or remarkable enough to be passed on. But if you tell good, consistent and true stories consistently enough it does work. We have seen it often over the last nine years... in fact we've built a business on it.
(For more on this see All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin.)
Posted by Nick Warren at 8:25 AM
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