I heard something interesting the other day about the early history of cinema. It started with technologists, people that knew how to make or use the cameras, or to keep them running. These were the geeks of more than a century ago, and they left a lasting record of early cinematic exploration. Films of trees blowing in the wind, horses running, buildings collapsing, people waving.
Directors – the artists – came much later. They came when the technology was more reliable so they didn’t need to be full-time technologists and could concentrate on artistic vision. The camera to them was just a tool. It did the job of capturing what they wanted in pictures.
This is the web today. While “Web 2.0” really refers to the social web – the blog and Facebook web – where people are more interested in what someone else says about your product than you do – 2.0 could just as easily mean the Director’s web. A second phase of web marketing where people have reached a new comfort level and most people involved in web marketing are Directors – not technologists.
The tools themselves have evolved to the point where it can do pretty much whatever you ask, you just need to know what to ask it to do. Want to build a community? It can do that. Send out audio podcasts to a targeted audience? No problem. Publish a diary of you’re the work your company is doing in foreign markets? Easy.
But which of these things is right for you strategically – and why?
And as a Director (of web marketing), the thing you need most of all is vision. That’s what ACIMA is for. To show you what others are doing so you can apply these new ideas and this powerful tool to your own needs and goals. And so you can take this information back to your company where the spotlight really is on you to make things happen. Because all directors in one form or another have been schooled in film. ACIMA’s goal is to be part of your schooling.
How can you benefit most? It all starts with one word: “Action!”
And in ACIMA’s case, the ‘action’ is easy – just show up. We’ll do the rest!
See you at the next event!
Rob Swick