I have two pieces of advice for all you inquiring advertising people: While you try to keep up with the microblogs, cool new shit out of Sweden and Ashton Kushner, surround yourself with people who know their technology, especially if you are insecure about your own technological prowess. (I'm assuming that's just about everybody.)
Secondly, surround yourself with people who know how to persuade other people to do stuff. I'm talking idea people.
Some people make it sound like an either/or choice we have. It's not. You need both.
Let me illustrate.
When I was in my senior year of high school, I had a crush on a girl who one day seemed to come out of nowhere. How could this happen? I was a senior and I thought I knew or certainly knew of everyone. I asked around. The girl was new to our school, so meeting her would be a challenge.
We ran in different circles and I couldn't manage to arrange a party or find a party to attend in which we both would find ourselves. The challenge was to find a way of meeting that would appear accidental, because that's the key, isn't it––making it happen naturally, staging serendipity, trying to find a place where one could suavely approach your object of desire as if it was kismet. Standing near her locker and beating my chest probably wouldn't win her affection.
It turned out that I had a friend who knew her cousin, and he was able to find out where she had a couple of her classes. With that information, I could deduce which hallways she walked down to get to them. Mind you, other than gawking, I hadn't a clue what I would do once I saw her. All I knew was that I needed to see her more often, this would help me see her more often, and that seemed like progress.
Funny thing: sometimes you just have to be present. If you are present enough, some communication simply happens. One day you're standing there and smiling like a totally awkward asshole, desperately trying to be aw-shucks about stalking someone, and the next day you seem to have something to talk about, even if it is only about you having been so awkward and aw-shucks about stalking her.
Now, in advertising, you also have to figure out how to be where your target is. You're going to have to know the many hallways of technology. The thing is, in advertising, there is no succeeding without an idea. You're going to have to appear smart, otherwise, one of two things will happen: your target concludes that you are a totally annoying asshole or worse–-you remain invisible. No matter how good looking or clever or cool you think your product is, no one is going to care. In fact, some people will resent being doggedly pursued and there is no getting away with being adorable.
You see, way back then, there was no explaining why the girl actually talked to me––I was a bumbling idiot. Nevertheless, I ended up marrying the girl. I got lucky.
