Dialogue with Clay Langdon

AlixCompany Dialogue Clay Langdon

(Recorded Dialogue is 23 minutes)

Our second Dialogue has been completed and this takes us beyond the one hit wonder. I am so very excited to share with you the Alix Co. Consulting Dialogue with Clay Langdon, Brand Strategy and Experience Development Director at McGarrah Jessee in Austin, Texas.

Clay and I have chatted on a couple of occasions outside of Dialogue regarding the opportunities in our business today and the opportunity for strategic planning given the social behaviors of consumers in the marketplace. He has been kind enough to offer time for Dialogue and I’m just thrilled that we have connected.

The recorded Dialogue shares Clay’s POV and perspective on the following:

1.  I understand that McGarrah Jessee is about strategically grounded ideas and creative craftsmanship. However, one might argue that our industry has largely become a factory for production and efficiencies. All things considered, how would you describe the opportunity for agencies today?

2.  I’ve mentioned on Dialogue that we’re building ‘latent connections’. That is, the value of social media connections (and other ‘social’ entities) has yet to be realized. We are connecting, but not necessary in value/benefit driven ways. Would you agree with this insight? If yes, what do you see as today’s value of these connections? What would you say are the future, yet to be tapped, opportunities?

3.  Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was recently quoted by TechCrunch as saying, “Our strategy is very horizontal. We’re trying to build a social layer for everything.” Do you think ‘everything’ has the potential of being social? In your opinion, are there lines or guardrails for social connections?

4.  Lastly, in this realm of social is the idea of crowdsourcing. One definition of crowdsourcing is (Jeff Howe) the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. I’ve seen some cool things coming out of 99 designs and a friend and I recently discussed John Winsor’s Planningness presentation on the topic. What would you say is the value of crowdsourcing?