Since the global economy tanked in 2008 things have been pretty gloomy for most of us. Inflation is soaring, unemployment is high, credit has all but vanished and the debt-laden government is cutting at a faster rate than happy hour in Sweeney Todd’s. Not great. However in an effort to try and look on the brighter side of life I thought I would examine how these economic conditions have actually helped progress the digital industry.

1. User Centric Design

I have worked in digital since 2001 and in that time one of the most frequently frustrating experiences has been persuading people to design for their users, not themselves.

Design solutions should be based on a thorough understanding of the core target audience and clear business objectives that you wish to convert on. However I have spent many hours in meeting rooms trying to persuade decision makers not to commit design hari-kari by letting personal preference dictate the path we took. I have tried everything from blunt refusal to regaling the fable of Homer’s Car but could never seem to surmount the issue.

However, when market conditions are tough and budgets need to work hard you cannot afford to risk losing valuable eyeballs and custom because you prefer pink to blue. Briefs have always pertained to place the user first but we have noticed clients like Channel 4, BBC, The British Library, Pearson Education and others I cannot directly mention put increasing emphasis and budget on analytical research, user focus groups and thorough usability testing during the design phase.

It is very illuminating that when budgets need to work harder you see increased investment in a particular area. You might think the trend would be to “best guess” and cut corners but when you have to get results, you can’t afford to muck around on design.

2. Wider adoption of new ideas and trends

Similarly I have also noticed corporate brands embracing and adopting fresh ideas and trends that I previously would have associated to forward thinking geeks and start-ups. Open source software is now pro-actively requested rather than suggested and a lot of the old wives tales about lack of accountability and support have been put to bed. Did anyone ever try calling Microsoft when their .Net site crashed anyway?

I no longer spend a significant portion of my week scanning signed NDAs as people have begun to appreciate that the best way to succeed online is to share and iterate your great idea rather than hide behind password protection for months whilst crafting the all-singing all-dancing solution. Instead I am pleased to see clients shipping the minimal viable product and holding budget for future iterations once real users have got their hands on it.

If the economy doesn’t sort itself out soon we might even see the Agile project process becoming a regular fixture but I think it will be a while before people can fully trust the cost effectiveness of that path.

3. Customer Service is fashionable again

About 10 years ago it was decided upon high that customer service units should be offshored to reduce costs and this would be a great deal for the consumer because of more competitive prices. I am not so sure the consumer agreed, or got a better deal, but it didn’t really matter, as they had no way of really being heard beyond mouthing off in the local pub to a few disinterested souls.

I guess the powers that be didn’t anticipate social media. When your margins are tight and undercutting on price is not viable customer service can be the differentiator. As consumers feeling the pinch we want to spend our pennies effectively and that means taking informed recommendations from others. It is near impossible for a brand to buy a good online reputation. Brands have to prove themselves if they want to build trust and loyalty. Simply put, they have to engage.

And many have! I have anecdotal evidence of BT sorting out a huge billing mess triggered by a frustrated tweet I sent out and I know of many others. It has spawned the Thank You Economy and has proved to be a champion bottom line strategy by guys like Tony Hsieh. It is a return to the principles of the local store where properly serving the community made all the difference between success and failure. Mass consumerism killed that off for a while but it is back now with a vengeance.

4. Death toll for IE6

Internet Explorer version 6 is over 10 years old and the time has come for it to take its place in the historical archives. In a tough environment you need to differentiate from the competition and maximise your budget reach. Neither of these is likely when you are catering to the low-tech needs of 2.9% of your user base (and it’s shrinking rapidly).

I was heartened to see that Google is dropping browser support on its products for anything beyond the previous two versions and the new Alpha Government Project spearheaded by Martha Lane Fox deviated from traditional Government website guidelines by ignoring IE6 and focussing on modern web standards to create delightful experiences for the vast majority. I highly recommend reading their design principles blog post.

5. Innovation in technology embraced

In much the same way we have noticed an embrace of new trends by previously conservative decision makers we have also seen dramatic shifts in how clients look at tech. Cloud platforms and virtualisation servers have been around for a while but have only been seen as acceptable solutions when the cost effectiveness of them became a determining factor on whether a project could happen or not.

Previously we were dreaming up physical dedicated server solutions housed in Central London using traditional (expensive) CDNs to distribute media. This often meant large up front costs to buy expensive licenses and kit. There used to be a sense that it was important to completely own and house your own web architecture, and there was a real distrust of using someone else’s platform, it felt that it even cheapened the offering.

Now we are not only seeing powerful and scalable cloud services becoming common for site hosting but within offices virtualised documents, file sharing, and other software as a service is being widely adopted. We are using a more diverse and tailored toolset to increase efficiency as team sizes shrink, budgets reduce and competition intensifies.

In conclusion...

I do think all of these trends were coming regardless of the economic situation we faced but the recession has certainly brought focus to what is important, killed off a few ridiculous old wives tales that were holding us back and opened our minds to new and improved ways of working.

Would you add any other items to the list? Let me know in the comments below.

I was reading Vikki Chowney’s blog on Reputation Online about the Mobile World Congress (MWC) and she made a really good point. She was speaking specifically about how all the shouting going on at this event makes it hard to find the best information.

And MWC isn’t, of course, the only event going on where people are launching new products and ideas. Chowney asks, “Is there anyone doing anything interesting with digital that doesn’t rely solely on attendees reporting on the announcements in one way or another?”

There’s not a day goes by when I’m not invited to an event. Either a conference, a networking event, a seminar, a business dinner, a panel debate… in fact I found myself speaking at one earlier this month. Every one of these events seems to attract the most remarkable, recognised and respected industry luminaries, according to the organisers. Even I was described as an ‘expert’ at the panel debate.

It got me thinking about events more generally. The best I have ever been to aren’t where everyone is trying to sell their wares to everyone else; it’s where I’ve met people who have a similar set of challenges to me. We found our creative director that way. We changed the way we bill our work that way. We got advice about late payers that way. And I’ve even made some great friends along the way. But we’ve never sold a website that way.

A decade ago, I was part of a team that raised £15m in seed funding and a further £45m on AIM. We used this money to invest in agencies and dotcoms. Like many of us at the time, we went to First Tuesday: an event where investors, entrepreneurs and journalists all came together to talk about, and do deals. Maybe some actually did deals. But did I want to hear someone, stinking of red wine, bark their dotcom start-up innovation down my ear? No. I just wanted to meet up with some of my friends.

In my experience, the networking “roll up, roll up, get your lovely tickets here first-come-first-served” type events are mainly full of 20-somethings telling you they are famous on Twitter (no offence @jlcoassin). Let’s not pretend it’s anything other than a social. But events like Robert Loch’s YesAndClub are different because it feels like it has a reason beyond getting drunk. For a start, you have to be invited: which means that you have to know someone, which in turn means that the people there have probably actually done something interesting in the first place. Secondly, the concept is more about having an idea, running with it and seeing what happens. You don’t meet potential clients, but you do meet people who are like you. And what you share are nuggets of advice, support and reassurance – all the things that we all need as we direct our careers or new business ideas forward.

Anyway – back to Vikki’s blog. Mark is on Digital Mission’s trip to SXSWi where we are due to “launch” a new app. It’s a pretty big deal and we don’t want to blow it by relying solely on attendees Tweeting about it. We have identified different groups: some will be resellers, some collaborators, some end-users and some will just think it’s cool. We need to work out a way of getting people to share what they have seen not just because we exist, but because we are giving people something to improve their lives.

This is just a small step in terms of launch and gaining a name in the marketplace. As with Tepilo, we will have to make a constant level of noise in the press, on TV, email, Twitter and by leveraging existing users to gain critical mass. The advantage of launching at an event though, is that you get to see how a user reacts to your product first hand.

Digital platforms may be measurable, but they can also be fairly blind.

Well... actually a Vice Chair. At the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) AGM last week, David was successfully elected to Vice Chair and will serve with Justin Cooke as Chair. Justin is Managing Director of agency, Fortune Cookie. The executive committee saw 9 new members joining the team.

David said: "We were amazed at the calibre of people standing for election for this year's executive committee. The experience and the will is there to enable us to make some significant changes and re-engage with everyone involved in the industry. This year we want to really push the idea of the UK being a world-class centre for digital innovation and build on the superb work that has been done by BIMA already in fostering future talent among schools. We're also going to really look at how we can bring more benefits to members in the areas of publicity, networking and education."

David joined the BIMA executive committee a year ago. It's great that one of our own has received this accolade from his peers and whilst it means that he'll have to spend less time doing Codegent stuff, we all think that improving the industry in which we all work is a worthy cause and well worth the effort.

BIMA

Wow! We are one of only a few UK based agencies to be included in this year's prestigious Webby Awards for our work on 40|30 at The Gherkin.

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet.

"Nominees like Codegent are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year."

In a similar vein to our FITC Award nomination, we also eligible to win a Webby People's Voice Award, which is voted online by the global community. From now until 30 April, you can cast your vote at http://pv.webbyawards.com.

Our nomination section is Website » Ballot » Marketplace » Restaurant or click this link to go direct (you have to login first)

I can't believe it's the second time I am asking this in a month but if you could take a few minutes out to vote for us then I think you improve your chances of a place in Heaven ever so slightly :)

It's an amazing time for us right now and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate our 5th birthday on 1 May! We are so proud of the team that worked on this project.

We fly out to Toronto on Monday for the FITC awards...

The following email snippet was joyous music to our ears...

Congratulations!

You are one of the finalists for the FITC 2009 Awards!

Your project: 40|30, The Gherkin, 30 St Mary Axe
Has been nominated in the Category: Flash Motion Graphics

Our Awards show is on April 27th in Toronto and it will be during the show that the winners will be announced. So good luck!

To say we are a bit pleased would be an understatement. It's a great honour to be shortlisted at the awards for such a major flash event but we are up against some pretty stiff competition in Coca-Cola and Warner Bros. Fingers firmly crossed!

But you can help!

In addition to the formally judged categories there is a people's choice award - you could do us a massive favour and vote for us here. We will love you forever and ever if you do!

Self-made man Max Clifford, appears on Enterpreneur TV, speaking about launching the Beatles, Gerald Ratner, Engelbert Humperdinck and the British Media.

He talks about investing in PR, our culture change towards stars, how to crisis manage and how to change public perception. A really great insight into PR and marketing.

Entrepreneur TV is a part of cmypitch.com, an online venture that we branded and built which provides services and networking for UK small businesses.

We have just given Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry's latest online project Chiconomise a quick web make-over to coincide with her increased PR exposure this week.

Chiconomise is a weekly mailshot aimed at women with exclusive deals and offers on fashion, beauty, dining, travel and socialising. The plan is to grow the subscriber base whilst development occurs on a full website which, "will be your one stop shop for all things desirable at fantastic prices. It will be bursting with sample sales listings, beautylicious deals, promotional codes, thrifty tips and expert advice."
Her words not mine, I rarely say beautylicious.

It looks like the client is pretty pleased with what we managed to turn around in 1 day! She tweeted...

"A massive THANK YOU to @davidhart @codegent for building @chiconomise micro site. I highly recommend these guys for anyone needing a site."

You can follow her @MichelleDewbs

We have just launched our latest CBS Outdoor campaign promoting Bus advertising. You have probably seen promotional adverts for it driving around!

The 2009 Creative Challenge runs until July and features a different creative agency every two weeks. Each agency showcases their best work on some actual buses, in Campaign Magazine and our site. Users can review and vote on the designs and influence which pieces will feature in the "Grand Prix" final, where the winner will then be selected.

This campaign is the latest in a series promoting the benefits of bus advertising that we have worked on for CBS Outdoor and so far the results have been really encouraging with some great ROI for the client.

We are also busily working on a large international project for CBS Outdoor's main website so look out for that when we launch in the Spring.

Up Everyone's Street »

Well there has been no slacking at codegent towers over the holiday season. Even on New Year's Eve half the office is still here finishing off bits and bobs for the various January campaign launches we are doing for our clients. Dedication to the cause!

2009 looks like an interesting and tough challenge for us all, but one we are relishing. We expect clients to be looking very hard at what they are getting for their money. It's something we've always believed is important but never more so than now. We're an ideas-led agency but we always make sure that they relate back to the client's commercial requirements. We call this process a "Return on Ideas" and it's something we're looking to refine over the next few months.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone
Mark, David and Luke

PS We couldn't sign off without giving you a little pressie now could we?

Feel free to play with Youth Music's Elf band and slap down your very own remix of Jingle Bells whilst you catch up on what Youth Music have been up to in 2008.
http://seasonsgreetings.youthmusic.org.uk/ »

And if you have experienced the embarrassment of a card turning up from someone who failed to make your own list all is not lost! We knocked this little app together in one day as a proof of concept for our latest gizmo, the "Snapper"... more on that one in January :)
http://lastminutexmascards.appspot.com/ »

Our work on Ben10 - My Favourite Alien was showcased as part of Cartoon Network's showreel entry into the shortlist of this year's BAFTA Kids' vote. The showreel highlighted the best creative work from across Cartoon Network this year so it was an honour for our project to be included.

The BAFTA Kids' Vote embraced all media platforms and celebrated the rich diversity of children's media. For the first time, children got to have their say in a nationwide poll to choose their favourite film, television programme, website and video game.

A big shout should also go to the glorious Aidan from Sheffield whose "flaming" antics in his back garden were the standout highlight of the campaign :)