Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

If you didn’t take how to write a press release 101 in college or work in agency, the term boilerplate may be foreign in this context… "Do we have any boilerplate content on usability?"

The term originated from sheets of steel, originally used to build steam boilers, used as printing plates for widespread reproduced content, like advertisements of syndicated columns. Today boilerplate is text that can be reused in new ways and stays the same or changes slightly from the original. You see boilerplate information on the bottom of press releases or in legal documents.

Our interactive group uses boilerplate information in our strategy documents, Situation Analysis and Blueprint. Our standard definitions and terms have been evolving since our conception and with each new hire or project launch we learn something new and things change. A year ago we hardly mentioned the word SEO (search engine optimization) and with addition of a new developer that had a passion for the concept, we added an interior section to our strategy documents.

Some may think that having standard copy speeds up our process or leaves room for the dreaded cookie cutter experience. But with every new project we reexamine our meaning of usability, RSS, SEO, accessibility, global navigation, user experience best practices, etc, and bring a bit more knowledge to the table. Our team deals with these terms daily and sees them through different colored glasses, so why would we want to deprive our clients of this cumulative thinking.

Earlier this week, I published a commentary  piece in The News & Observer that attempted to capture the commoditization of the political process in the term ‘branditics.' 

In a nutshell, branditics is the fusion of branding and politics that often results in over-simplified messages, bigger-than-life promises and, if the current administration is any indication, a brutal hangover the next morning. 

You may be able sell politicians as brands, but at some point successful candidates have to lead by negotiation and consensus - and that's where being boxed into a brand can cause trouble. 

What does New Hampshire add to this picture?  Well, an oldie but goodie has roared back onto the branditics stage - John McCain driving his Straight Talk Express. 

But the big news is that the fierce back-and-forth of the primary so far is working against branditics.  Obama, Clinton and Edwards will hold each others' poor, sore feet to the fire - making sure there's substance to back up the style.  Ditto the Republicans, who will probably be playing a tough game of catch-up all the way up to election day.      

"Shock waves" is an overused term in the news media and politics. But that's the only way to describe Hillary's win in New Hampshire.  Just hours before voting ended, polls indicated that Obama was running as much as 10 percentage points ahead.  

What happened, especially in light of John McCain's big win in the Republican primary?  How could the polls have been so right in the GOP race, and so wrong in the Democratic primary?

They weren't.

And there are several reasons why.

The support for Obama in New Hampshire polls was soft and fluid.  Much of the large-scale movement toward Obama was a reflection of his big win in the Iowa caucuses and the tidal wave of favorable media coverage in the days that followed.  The Obama campaign in New Hampshire violated one of Abraham Lincoln's cardinal rules of politics:  don't start believing your own press clippings.

New Hampshire voters are famously irascible, and the Democrats didn't want the race to be over.  Neither did the Republicans, by the way, because they were stingy toward the GOP winner in Iowa, Huckabee.

More than ever, there is more information for voters until the very last minute.  Contrast the 24/7 cable news coverage, not to mention Internet and other communications channels.  Then compare it to elections even four or eight years ago.  Voters get more and later information.  And in this case, whatever late breaking information they absorbed about the Democrat race changed their minds.

Finally, some evidence from exit polls showed that Hillary made some good adjustments between Iowa and new Hampshire.  She attracted a greater share of female and younger voters.

New Hampshire's Democratic outcome is a good reminder of what polls are: a snapshot at a specific time.  Polls are nt a predictor of outcome in a fast-moving, dynamic election campaign where voters are getting multiple messages until decision time.

The polls were right - when they were conducted.  

On to Michigan and South Carolina!

However, with each new iPhone and gadget that comes out the need is increasing and the limitations are endless. Imagine a phone that is your credit card, public transportation tickets, photo editing software and live TV? This isn't happening in other galaxies, but just a hop skip and a jump across either pond. Thinking outside the box when it comes to phone technology has been happening in Europe and Asia for the last 10 - 15 years.

Thanks to a head start on broadband mobile wireless, dependency on cell phone internet use and unified system networks, users demand their providers innovate...and their Web designs too. In the states providers are working with multiple networks, lots of laptops and poor network quality, the need isn't there.

However, in just a few years I could use my phone to: take me to work, watch a live TV show where I see an actor wearing a t-shirt that I can click on and go to the designers site, then find their local sellers, get directions from my final metro stop and then pay for it...without ever setting down the phone. Oh and find out what the restaurant across the shop is having for lunch just with a point of the phone and click. Who needs a laptop when you have a phone?

I am guessing that might change our clients and our answer on designing for PDAs. When your primary tool for accessing the internet has a screen smaller than a deck of cards it changes the playing field. Our designs will have to get smarter and development will have to evolve as well.

One of our most important goals at Capstrat is to be a step ahead. To a senior developer, part of being a step ahead is knowing what the tools are capable of. As we craft a story, some of us are constantly looking forward to how an idea will be built. While limitations of technology may close down some ideas, the capabilities of technology open up new ones. The ideas and the technology often play off each other and drive ideas forward in exciting and new ways.

Adobe, Apple, and the open source community are out there creating tools for this new media landscape. This software allows "creatives" to develop innovative communications. Good tools have been, and always needs to be, a step ahead of the people who are a step ahead. They allow us to be creative, make promises, dream big, innovate, and deliver.