Q&A: David Shing, digital profit, AOL New York HQ and speaker at recent ADMA Creative Fuel

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david_shing2 (1).jpgQ&A with David Shing AKA ‘Shingy’, digital profit at AOL NY HQ, who spoke at the recent ADMA Creative Fuel event on August 6

As AOL’s Digital Prophet, a lot of your time is spent talking at conferences around the world. You travel something like 260 days of the year right?  What keeps you connected and inspired?

While my travel is varied in terms of what I do, it is indeed aggressive and speaking is only a part of the gig. Connection is critical when you spend so much time in space.  I feel connection needs to be personal.  It seems obvious, however it takes effort to practice this. Email is still the business vocabulary of choice of given the agonistic nature of time zone independence. Texting or group messaging for more intimate communication and of course social for a quick burst of updates. In terms of reading, I am a fan of Engadget, Techcrunch and HuffPost Tech.  Audio books also help me keep up with authors I enjoy.

In terms of inspiration, I attempt to keep my network of friends varied from musicians to artists to architects to designers to entrepreneurs, etc. It keeps the conversations grounded.  Speaking of grounded-ness, real-life experiences inspire me. I love to visit art galleries and museums and spend time with organic work.  I play guitar and write songs to stay inspired. Speaking with school or university students also allows me to see what behaviors are emerging and get a real sense of what these groups care about.

You recently spoke and interview some really cool people including Mary J Blige at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and I’m wondering what are the best examples of creativity on show?

Brilliant question. Cannes Lions is really a creative carnival. There is over 300 hours of content with so many inspiring people gracing the stage and delivering inspiration. You can see creative trends first hand and relate that back to how marketers converse with audiences. For example the biggest takeaway for me this year was shown by the smart marketers who identify cultural movements quickly and reflect that back in their brand. Done correctly this delivers an authentic dialogue with people. P&G’s Always  “like a girl” is a perfect example of addressing a surge in insecurity.  Apple, the winner for Outdoor, perfectly reflects the democratization of photography through their “Shot on an iPhone 6”.

The winner of Innovation went way beyond advertising and into solving real-world issues. What3Words has mapped the entire world to 3×3 metre coordinates and provides everyone with a postcode. Use cases include say a tent at a festival or a postcode for people in developing countries who do not have a physical address.

Surprisingly there were no Grand Prix winners for both “Branded Content” or “Data” categories. Both themes are what brands are fixated on today as part of their overall marketing mix.

I feel privileged to have access to some incredible people in our industry through my Shingerview video series. Mary J Blige taught me to lean into inspiration which is everywhere and make it unique, Wendy Clark taught me the remarkable responsibility it is to keep an iconic brand like Coca-cola fresh by learning from their fans and reflecting their love for the brand, celebrated through their wonderful work on 100th birthday of the contour bottle. 

Any predictions on where technology is going, say in the next five years?

Predictions, especially reliant on technology are always an interesting challenge. In 5 years we will see some categories really evolve as oppose to disrupt. Some things will take off, some won’t and that’s the beauty of emerging technology. It’s often the ones you least expect to take off and surprise the masses. I mean who would have thought UGC appointment video would be a “thing”. However, this example for innovative technology will only improve when it becomes clear what its purpose will be in the future. The “purpose” cycles are shorter.

IOT (Internet of Things) will have a few operating standards with the smart phone being the smart device controller.

Wearables will be less about self-quant and more about multi-quant, meaning instead of collecting data on yourself, use this data in a more open way to become more useful. As more wearables have screens the “information architecture” of these devices will evolve. It’s a brand new landscape with differing formats (square, round, rectangle) combined with different use-cases.

The connected car is fascinating. Beyond driverless (which is a brilliant idea), I think the combination of driver and driver assisted is where the innovation will happen. We have onscreen lookup technology today, but I imagine augmented mapping and the potential integration of brands in cars will be fascinating to watch.

Partnerships to solve solutions will be interesting to watch with a combination of membranes, sensors and printed materials creating new applications.

But I think disruption happens with a combination of technology and business, not technology alone.  The winners are those technologies that reflect the change in culture and provide purpose and perhaps integrate brands if they are useful along the way.

What’s the best thing about the creative industry?

Everyone is now a creative. Everyone with a smartphone is now a publisher. Everything that is new is news. The challenge for us is to start with enquiry and move people through the senses of sight, sound and motion.

What’s your biggest fear?

If Artificial intelligence is taking over the world, I am scared! LOL

How would you describe yourself?

Passionate

Favourite media?

Mixed

Best advice you’ve ever been given?

Best career advice was, look at the leader of a business and decide if you want their life (work and personal). In life, it’s Katherine Hepburns “if you obey all the rules you miss all the fun” – amen.