CaT Conference

I really enjoyed attending the recent Creativity and Technology conference (CaT) sponsored by Creativity Magazine. Not only did I get to see clients I haven't talked to in a while and make some new connections but I learned a lot about the different ways technology is being used to tell brand stories.

Some highlights for me included a presentation by Nick Bilton and Derek Gottfrid who are technologists at the New York Times. They discussed how the Times has opened up a number of API's to outside developers who have created some interesting applications. For example, one app called Watch Instantly ties in Netflix with the Times movie reviewers' top picks. I think the way they're focusing on Times readers more as users rather than readers is a very clever and helpful way to drive traffic to the Times website.

And, of course, Firstborn's own Dan LaCivita was on a panel moderated by Nick Parish of Creativity with Winston Binch of Crispin Porter and Daniel Illic of North Kingdom. Each participant walked the audience through some recent work and how each company has used technology to communicate ideas. Dan showed the Puma project we did for Droga5 and how we combined live action video with 3-D elements. Seeing our work presented to an audience really reminds me just how cool and innovative the work is coming from Firstborn and our top competitors.