ad:tech SF: Steve Hayden Replaces Industry Fear with a Wee Bit O’ Wonder

Ogilvy Vice Chairman Steve Hayden conducted a keynote titled “Fear, Love and Advertising” at ad:tech SF last week. I livetweeted it; you can see some of the tweetage here.

Hayden kicked off by explaining the premise behind his talk: in this dire economic clime, when everybody’s castrating their own creativity, he hopes to encourage the industry to shelf their fears in favour of a little (well-informed) wonder.

He woke the muse by blasting us with iconic ads, like the Apple Newton stuff and “True Colors” from Dove’s Real Women campaign.

Then he gave us a long, colourful explanation of a hexagon he calls Hayden’s Mandala — a complex (and yet simple!) cycle of everything a person/brand goes through when facing a major growth trajectory or change. Here’s a video snapshot of that:

Then Hayden did something I’ve never seen a keynoter do before: he passed the floor to people whose products he thinks will change the media environment. I was awestruck, and only more so when I saw what came next.

Following Steve Hayden’s report that 25% of users watch TV and surf the web at the same time, Intelevision lets users bridge those worlds.

The online interface is generic enough: you can showcase your favourite shows, and see what your friends’ favourites are. It’s the interaction that differentiates it: Intelevision makes it possible to click on your favourite show on the ‘net — an action that switches on your TV and actually plays it. Ad interaction is fantastic too: during their demo, the Intelevision folk aired a Capri Sun ad on TV while engaging users with Capri Sun games from the online interface. Users could also see alternate endings to the spot.

Here’s some video of the Intelevision demo, using Lost and The Kids Choice Awards as examples:

And here’s more neat footage of Lost, coupled with American Express ad integration/interaction:

Pretty saucy, right?

Richard Chandler of Bunkspeed came next. Bunkspeed is this mildly incredible 3D imaging software that makes it possible to develop product packaging and compose print, TV and digital/Flash creative with as much ease as playing a video game.

Witness while Chandler creates packaging for a Dove product, then incorporates it into client-approved ad imagery. It’s downright magical:

He also built some Flash animation for Stolichnaya right before our eyes, and brought Ogilvy’s classic (PENCIL-DRAWN) Rolls Royce ad into the 21st century, with as much ease.

If you’re as razzle-dazzled as I was, visit the Bunkspeed website (linked above) for a free demo.