This one's for the AEs out there. Last night I was watching "Modern Marvels" on The History Channel. This particular episode was about copper, and the portion that caught my attention was a visit to a bell foundry, where bells had been sand-cast from copper and tin (80/20, for a better sound) using methods that date back to the late 1800s.
"Cool. Get to the point. What does this have to do with interactive?"
Okay. What was exciting to me is the owners of this bell foundry knew everything about how the bells were made. They were salesmen, to be sure, but as I listened to them, I got the feeling that in a pinch, they could throw a hand in and help make a bell. Believe me, I do have a point.
The best salespeople know their product. Not just its benefits and features, but how it's made.
So as account folk, it's pretty easy to understand what happens when you create a print ad. You write the brief, it gets revised and approved, you present it to your creative team, and they create concepts. Those are presented, one gets approved and then the production magic happens. Photoshoots, final copywriting, editing, proofing, etc., depending on what type of ad you've got. Obviously, AEs aren't called upon to know the ins and outs of Adobe software, know how to write copy, know how to direct a photoshoot, or even how to resize an ad or make a PNG from an EPS.
But I've always felt it was essential--especially for interactive--to understand what is possible online. To do that, it helps to have a working knowledge of the technologies (and the applications) that are used to build websites, rich media ads, etc. If you want to understand the online world, spend time in it (as I said last week). If you want to understand what's possible, do some research. Spend some time watching the videos on Adobe TV (one linked-to above). Have a look at the fine sites featured on the FWA, or on the DesignCharts.
Be all you can be.