One of the things I loved about R/GA was they were one of the few agencies who truly understood creative tech.
It was never an add on. It was never just about the ‘shiny, new thing’. It was central to the creative process … enabling ideas to explore places you may never have thought about.
It was one place where I really felt I might be able to be part of something that outlived me and while I’m not there anymore, I still think that’s pretty cool.
I say this because in the world of innovation – and I mean this in the broadest sense of the word, not just within the marketing industry – so much of it seems small.
Yes, I know innovation can be executed in multiple ways.
The process.
The technology.
The integration.
But for the people on the street, if innovation doesn’t result in an experience or product they’ve never seen before, too often they end up dismissing it out of hand.
That’s hard for companies.
Especially when the moment they do make something new, the public fawn in delight for half a second, then go off in search for the next new thing.
It’s this situation that paralyses a lot of companies.
They know they have to innovate to keep moving forward but the financial risks involved – both in terms of development, application, competition and audience adoption – mean it’s far more ‘sensible’ to make degrees of change.
So we end up with ‘new features’ that serve little or no purpose because they’re not innovative enough to make people pay attention and not useful enough to make people value what it does for them.
And it’s for this reason why I bloody love this piece of tech madness from Amazon/Ring.
Yes, I know it’s an evolution – albeit an evolution on steroids – of a home security cam.
Yes, I know it’s being sold as a solid and sensible piece of technology.
BUT IT’S A SECURITY CAM ON A DRONE!!!
How nuts is that?
I would have loved to have been in the meeting where that idea came about.
Not to mention the meeting where they had to ask for R&D funding from Bezos.
I wonder if it was a brainstorm and someone just threw the idea out there as a pisstake and then, after everyone laughed, someone said, “that could work”.
Do I think it’s a good idea?
Yeah … maybe.
I mean, they do make other security products that, arguably, are much better protection for the home because [1] you can see them outside the house which [2] acts as a deterrent, so a criminal is less likely to smash a window or door to get in.
But even then I still love it.
Even with one of the worst product demo films I’ve ever seen.
Because at the end of the day, the idea it got made.
An idea, that is frankly utterly bonkers, got produced … and in this world where too many companies are putting the no into innovation, that’s infectiously intoxicating.
But before you accuse me of celebrating creative tech security indulgence … there’s another important thing here.
Because almost regardless how well this sells – though I think it will do brilliantly, simply on ridiculous novelty – it has just opened the door to so many more things.
Not just in terms of what the next iteration of that product will be.
Not just in terms of what the competition will now create.
But in terms of what is possible.
From home security to medical supervision to stuff we haven’t considered yet.
A few years ago I read an article by a tech journalist who said the biggest thing he needed to remember was to not judge new technology by the standards of the established. He had to acknowledge things may not be seamless. That products may not be perfect. Because if he didn’t, he may contribute to killing an idea before it’s had a chance to become what it could be.
It’s an important lesson because all ideas start off fragile.
They need space and time to grow. To get strong. To evolve.
They need nurturing, crafting.
Hell, in some cases, they need humanity to catch up to where the idea already is.
While I fully expect Amazon/Ring to cop a load of piss-taking from people and the media, it’s worth remembering that Fuel Band – another product widely questioned by media and society when it came out – opened the door to creative uses of tech that directly led to NIKE being able to make products that are now relied upon – and loved – by millions of athletes all around the World.
Or said another way.
Without Fuel Band – developed by R/GA – we may be living in the athletic dark ages.
So here’s to more crazy creative tech ideas.
Because as mad as they may seem at the beginning, they might just be the things that push us all to somewhere greater.