The bandwagon gets a rough ride. Jump on board and everyone thinks you’re being lazy. The bandwagon haters form their own to ride alongside you and throw insults in your path.

It’s a fad, a phase, the next big thing. The bandwagon is, they say, where the also-ran sits, the followers, the sheep. Don’t ride the bandwagon because you’ll never find your way home to the cool stuff.

So iPhones and social media are what to avoid, hate Flash and eBooks. They have none of those on the anti-bandwagon bandwagon. Go your own way and travel with us.

But you’re in Marketing, they say, so what can we expect. The things we like don’t need marketing. Paper books and cathode ray tellys, open source systems and food from the bins. These are a few of our favourite things.

They are wrong though. The bandwagon isn’t such a bad place to be. Sure it gets crowded but what’s wrong with that? If you’ve something to say you need people to hear. A wagon full of people enjoying a trend or a movement or a product isn’t such a bad place to be. We all have to spend our leisure time doing something and if other people are drawn to a particular thing then maybe, just maybe there’s something to it. Something worth participating in, something worth enjoying alongside others.

It’s not all bad, this like-minded thing.

Yes, the bandwagon is fine form of transport. Hitch yourself to it and see where it takes you.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

That’s the line blurted out by lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) in Cameron Crowe’s retro rockumentary, Almost Famous.

It’s a plea that cuts straight to the heart of the film, capturing the hopes and desires of boys everywhere as they make the transition into awkward adulthood.

For gamers and film-goers it holds resonance even after that transition is complete. The subject matter of many games, especially those with an 18 rating, is clearly designed to draw us back to our childhoods – but with an edge that makes it more acceptable, more adult to do so. So how do we explain the seemingly endless stream of “childish” games for sale that contribute, in general, to the view of gamers as childish and socially awkward?

It all revolves around archetypes of course and is linked to the idea that as creative people we draw our inspiration from what inspired us when we were young and most impressionable. It’s sort of a snake eating its own tail scenario and explains why we get rehash after rehash of watered down science fiction “ideas” like Babylon 5 – poor Star Trek retread if ever there was one.

Take one game, Red Dead Redemption, something currently being played by most of the people here at Head First. It plays directly into the hands of everyone who ever wanted to roam the Wild West. More than just making the lead character a cowboy, however, it lets you role play fully, bringing your own personality to the part just as a child would. I have a family relation who refuses to do anything bad and spends all of his time helping people. I know of someone else who takes every opportunity to drag strangers behind his horse.

It’s easy to build up a psychological profile of individuals as children.

It isn’t just games, however, it’s every form of media. The most mainstream (measured by commercial popularity) success stories are the ones which appeal most to children. Take Harry Potter or the Twilight series as an example. If, like me, you spend half your waking day sat on a train observing the commuting class spend half of their days glued into a book or watching a film on a two inch screen then you can’t help but notice the subject matter. It’s rarely Shakespeare.

Archetypes explain a little of what’s going on. We all (in Western culture at least) buy into the hero, the trickster etc. Yet to take GTAIV as an example we find that archetype only gets you so far. Listening to the buzz in the office surrounding games such as Red Dead, Mass Effect, GTAIV, Batman Arkham Asylum and Just Cause reveals audibly greater championing for the titles that are more linked to childhood than others. So as great as GTAIV undoubtedly is, it is a lot harder to associate (and relate) to an Eatern European gangster than it is to a cowboy or spaceman. Few children, one would hope, would yearn to become a gangster when they grow up.

To many of us, the notion of “cool” IS what we wanted to accomplish as a child. The hopes we had back then of emulating our grown-up heroes who, it has to be said, were probably caught in pursuit of their own childhood dreams.

Perhaps it is the remembrance of an unihibited childhood that draws us back to certain entertainment types but it is revealing that, back in Almost Famous, it is the adult rockstar pleading with the teenage reporter to make him look cool.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Somewhere in between all of this lies the duty of the outsider agency. Understanding where that buzz is created (and just how much money it can take to generate) is only a tiny part. In the vast, interconnected web of our consumer lives the real effort goes in knowing the many different faces of the gamer and seeing the product as they would see it rather than how the product manager would.

Yet being an outsider isn’t as easy as it might at first appear. In reality the outsider agency must not only be an outsider, but every outsider. And what a lot of outsiders there are.

A child, a teenager, a father, a mother, a single twenty-something – even that list, quickly generated, can spiral out of control and, in reality, tells us nothing. Take one: the father. Who is he? Why is he looking to play a game? What is he looking for? Does he go to the cinema? Does he buy books? Did he play games as a child and so is familiar with terms and conventions easily as complex as those of the Internet (and there’s a future article in itself)?

A person could sit down to a multiplayer game of Metro 2033 and be paired with a person they would all but despise in real life. The markers that resonate enough for them to choose something as simple as a shirt will be wildly different which leads to choices in design as to what terminology to employ, what nods to make, what visual cues to activate.

In such a world the question of how alien the main player character is takes a backseat. Indeed understanding the intricacies of the product itself can also take a backseat as our audience becomes as alien and unknowable as any blue skinned warrior robot could ever be.

Here, the outsider agency must arm itself with wit and a genuine interest in portraying the open, honest coolness of a product and fire it into the hearts of whoever walks on this strange digital battlefield.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Sengoku Basara began as another website job, showcasing the awesome imagery and video associated with the game.

Then it was casually mentioned that the characters were all taken from history and the project took on a new light as we discussed just how in touch with history many Japanese people are. Especially the feudal stuff.

Sengoku Basara’s characters are all shoguns who added to the rich tapestry of Japanese history. Shoguns such as Ieyasu Tokugawa, Masamune Date, Mitsunari Ishida (pictured above and much cooler here than on his Wikipedia page) and Yukimura Sanada.

Fascinating stories but it’s highly doubtful that any of them could punch through buildings or fly.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

The beautiful thing about working with video games is the sheer range of subjects you get to cover. One minute you are working on a sci-fi game and the next you are producing visuals for a cookery app. “Normal” agencies don’t get to flit around the product gamut as we do. It means that even though some companies see as as “specialist” others see the experience that we bring.

So when MBN Events came knocking we were pleased to put on our Sport Billy hat and begin producing the kind of exciting visuals that have helped sell games for UEFA, WWE, Race Pro and many other titles that in a normal world would take all the energies of top agencies.

Head First approach work in the same way, regardless of client size. We take a look at the consumer market in which such products rest and create imagery and ideas that measure up to the standard of quality expected whilst also standing out in terms of recognisable identity. Again, coming from the video game industry where every (for example) war game can look the same we have found that being distinctive can make all the difference.

For MBN we have begun producing high quality visuals to continue their already high quality approach for both print and video.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

I swore to myself when I was initiated into the Cub Scouts that I would never, ‘pon my honour, ever make a pun as bad as that one. As with most things in life, however, promises are made to be broken. Circumstances change and what seemed like a good idea at the time now looks dated and out of step.

Enter 2K Games, a company we’ve had dealings with in the past and for whom we have nothing but love and affection. OK, you can sidestep the client loving if you like and skip to the part where we say they came to us to request a new perspective on their International website. The world of HD video was passing them by and the amazing visuals they had in their games wasn’t being shown to full effect.

Head First came up with a new look which evolved the great work done previously and which would enable 2K to showcase their games in line with modern technology. Times continue to change, of course, and we’re aware that we’ll soon be beaming the demo packs straight to the cerebral cortex.

But we’ve got an App for that.

In addition to the design work, something within Head First just doesn’t stop thinking and we have also put in place several neat sub-branding opportunities for use in subsequent development.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Working with the new breed of developer publisher has been an exciting challenge. In a world of digital downloads how are you going to make your product stand out? Do you confine your promotions solely to the online world or do you learn from companies such as Google and utilise the power of old media and the attention it still attracts?

At Head First we ask all of these questions and help shape the creative campaign to suit the product and the client. With The Mysteries of Little Riddle we have been lucky enough to bring our skills to this issue and create a series of images that are sales focussed.

And luckily there is still great fun to be had in creating real world objects.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

I have read a bold claim.

An agency claimed that a piece of creative they were responsible for had led to an increase in sales.

It might be true.

But the claim came on the back of the information that sales rose after the ad was aired.

So was it the creative?

Or was it just the media buy?

How do we know where responsibility lies?

The problem with making a claim is that once made, it is open to question. A designer who claims their logo concept boosts sales has to do so with confidence that the rest of the activity isn’t also having an affect.

Regardless of this, however, is a deeper question: what does advertising do?

My feeling is that advertising doesn’t sell…

It creates the urge to buy.

There’s a big difference. I’ve had arguments as to the effectiveness of advertising. Friends not wrapped up in the world of advertising claim that an advert has no effect on them; that it doesn’t influence them. The fact that companies are spending billions each year to reach people like them has no effect on the argument. They just insist they aren’t influenced and that’s that. Then they go and buy a BMW.

Whilst there is little doubt that many companies waste huge amounts of money on ineffectual advertising, it’s certainly not true to say adverts have no effect. Even as a barrage of messages upon our collective consciousness they have a cumulative effect.

What matters to me is whether that effectiveness is selling or creating the urge to buy.

The difference may seem pedantic but it governs the way we approach the creation of advertising.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Any regular reader of this blog who ISN’T paid to read my ramblings may have noticed this. Whether I’m talking about the rise of the supermarket own brand and the way in which it elbows out brands who have spent the better part of a century worming their way into our homes; or the iPad with a gloomy eye to a single entertainment gateway and the way we will all willingly walk through it as a direct consequence of our genetic tendency to gather in mobs, choice is something that is often, in my mind, off the menu.

It’s easy to see this effect in the shops we use. Amazon, iTunes, ebay – the giants have set up store not so much along our most popular bus routes and busiest retail spaces in the way M&S did, but right in front of our eyes. They are hard to avoid and the lazy majority (guilty) don’t even bother trying.

Less easy to see, perhaps, is the same effect in products.

As a company, Head First are hired to promote video games, books, films and other entertainment products (all of which, increasingly, are sharing the same digital and promotional spaces using many of the same techniques to make them more visible to the consumer, quick-eyed as she is). In ten years of business, we have shepherded a large number of these products through our creative process and, from the middle of the forest, it rarely feels as though we are repeating ourselves.

I say this not to brag of the way in which we find unique solutions to our projects but to highlight the range and flow of product; and it’s apparent diversity.

Yes. Apparent diversity.

On the face of things you only have to walk into Game to see a wide array of products. Game after game lines the shelving, a barrage of action shots vying for your attention. But split these down into genre and choice begins to lessen.

Advertising is about finding a compelling reason to buy that the consumer can latch onto. As products seek to compete with each other these reasons often become marginalised. It may be a slight improvement in taste, a tweak of image or a reduction in price but the obsession with becoming the next big thing in Genre A takes over and genuine innovation takes a backseat.

It’s inevitable. Risk costs money. It costs more money to launch a new IP than to issue a sequel. With films this risk is lessened by the inclusion of a Star. Bruce Willis may be starring in the same old action flick time after time but hey, it’s Bruce Willis and we like him. So that succeeds. Bring in an unknown star and the film better have something unique about it for advertisers to sell us the concept. Think back to The Matrix and yes, Keanu was a star but the concept was something new(ish). So the marketing looked fresh, taking its cues not from the genre (sci-fi) but from the concept. The stylistic approach entered the lexicon and today we see parodies in all forms of product lines (Money Supermarket being the one that most springs to mind).

Just asking yourself how often this happens provides the clue as to the extent of diversity within what we consume. Books are wonderful at providing cutting edge graphic design for certain genres but they also know when to piggy-back another style. Because book marketing understands what some other products don’t – that people like their choice in one flavour: limited. Movie marketers know this as well of course which is why we all fall for the same old poster with the goofy guy and the gorgeous girl when it comes to finding a simple movie which EVERYONE will like (but which nobody really does).

As someone who writes advertising, this apparent contradiction intrigues and challenges me. It demands that I be blunt in the face of a brief’s assumptions of what is the product’s unique selling point and prepared to find new ways of helping make a product noticeable.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

A few nights ago I was reading a book to my son. This isn’t, in itself, unusual enough to write about but, after writing about how much I think the iPad will change the book buying market it did make me think more than usual about the process I was going through in reading the book.

Earlier that day I’d been discussing e-books with an author as we outlined plans to help him promote his first book. Creating eye-catching advertisements is a large part of what we do here at Head First and our experience in games has given us a pretty (I’ll resist saying unique) appropriate perspective in promoting certain types of products. As books increasingly vy for attention against games (which is intensifying in the face of the e-book) we all felt that our knowledge could be put to good use.

The upshot (after many preambles like that) is our discussion. We both agreed that e-books are here to stay but that print was where the real joy was.

As the wide format book opened in my hands that night I found myself enjoying its shape, weight and texture just as much as the marvellous writing. This, I thought, was what books were all about: the pleasure of the format and the joy of reading it outloud to someone too young to walk away. Every author desires a captive audience, every father no less so.

This, I felt, could never be lost. The amazing shapes (and sometimes sounds) built into the idea of a book are infinite. Wide books, tall books, flap books and pop-up books – all of these are part of teaching a child not so much to read but to feel; to engage in their tactile world. As enchanting as the words on the page are, as charming as the illustrations are, a book is so much more. How could an e-book ever threaten this?

They won’t. They will offer something different. As they mature, writers and artists will explore the format in the same way they have explored new printing process. New ideas will be born from the potential of e-books but the role of print will not disappear.

There are many migivings about the rise of digital books. Adjacent business models in games, music and even films offer glimpses of what could be around the corner and clues as to how to deal with the changes. Totalitarian regimes and corporate anti-trust cases should serve to remind us of the power and dangers of allowing a single entity to control a communication gateway and new threats will no doubt arise that must be dealt with from the perspective of what is beneficial to society rather than propitious for commerce.

We must never forget that a book isn’t solely the material from which it is made. The paper, the card, the vinyl or the silicon offers writers and artists a format to work in and explore but the ideas they invest in that format are altogether bigger.

©2010 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.