Dear Humanity, Good Job.

Dear Humanity,

You’ve proven yourself this week, good job.

This has been an incredibly tragic week for America, and it’s only Wednesday. First, some asshole chose to ruin the lives of many at the Boston Marathon through an atrocious act of violence on Monday. Today, an explosion in West, Texas has left many families incomplete, without homes, and without power. Already five firefighters and one police officer have sacrificed their lives while aiding victims of this explosion.

These are horrible events that have left a large number of people devastated. But what can we take away from all of this?

People have come through this week. Humanity has really proven it is alive and well and is asking for absolutely nothing in return. When the explosions occurred at the finish line at the Boston Marathon, people immediately responded by running TOWARDS the smoke! Fear did not stop them; they instantly ran to help in disregard of their own safety. They could have stood by and watched from afar, but instead they ran to the aid of fellow human beings for absolutely no other reason than that it was the right thing to do. In the wake of the explosion at the West Texas fertilizer plant, emergency crews from all over the region rushed to the aid of those caught in the explosion’s destruction.

There’s also this: someone created a Google doc for Texans in the area to post their contact information offering a place to stay for anyone in need. Way to go, humanity. Way to go.

Google Release’s “Art, Copy & Code” at SXSW

Google’s big hit at SXSW was their talking shoes that they produced with Adidas. The shoe talks in association to how active your feet are. They have a total of 250 slogans and post on your behalf to social media sights. While Google or Adidas has no intentions on selling these shoes, they have talked about making their technology available for everyone. 

This shoe was released solely as a promotion for the overall picture of Google’s “Art, Copy & Code” An example that will actually be used is Volkswagens “Smileage App,” which also connects to social media and tracks how many miles you have driven on a road trip and other features that would be necessary on a road trip.

“Art, Copy & Code” is Google’s way of redefining advertising. Creative has always been about having and Art Director and a Copywriter. But with technology playing a vital role in advertising these days, Google says it is vital to have someone who can code.

While it has never really shown, Google has always stayed prominent within the advertising world. AdWords has been a huge department within Google. Now, this helps show Google’s forward thinking even more in the ad world. 

But one question to take into account is will agencies even consider “Art, Copy & Code?” Could it change the dynamics of the relationships between art directors and copywriters? While the coder is necessary, does he have to be a part of the team? Overall, it is a change that will become necessary with time.