Why The New CP+B Site Matters

There are plenty of opinions on the new Crispin Porter + Bogusky site. Not shocking really for an agency that prides itself on creating work that gets talked about. Now we can more easily see just how much it's getting talked about and by whom.

The opinions vary, of course. People who have been using social media tools and platforms for a while think it's "soooooo 6 months ago" or maybe even longer. Others like to say they got there first, or some other agency did. This isn't new. It's an old game. When Skittles created their new site, people said they copied Modernista! When Modernista! changed their site, people said they copied Zeus Jones. And so on, and so forth.

While all of that is true, it doesn't matter really.

What matters is that Crispin has now done it. Arguably the world's top creative agency, and one of significant size, has turned their site into a dashboard of what people say about them—and if you follow what people say about them, you'll know it's not nearly all kind words. The good, the bad and the ugly, all right there for the world to read. Why this matters further is that now, other big companies and agencies will consider it. Some will even tell their agencies they want it.

If everyone really wants to create the kind of change that we all keep talking about, we need big, well-known companies and agencies to start doing things like this. If it's only the small shops, consultants and the like, we'll never get there. Most big companies and agencies need to see other big companies and agencies doing new things before they are willing to give it a try. It's another game that never changes—a handful of companies lead the way for the rest of the world to follow.

No matter what you think of it, just be glad they did it. It's one step toward making a lot of what several of us have been pushing for a whole lot easer.

Comments

[eaon]

i'm probably very late to the party but the ebay auction of intern services was another cute touch.

[Todd Walker]

More than just pulling in the standard set of social apps into a dashboard, I think the most important part of this CP+B effort is they are soliciting feedback. Hopefully visitors will take that as an invitation to participate and not just give it a thumbs up/thumbs down. It'll be more interesting to see what they do with the suggestions.

(Disclaimer, I used to work there.)

[Bryan Jones]

Perhaps this will lead to the end of FLASHtastic agency sites. Viva transparency! Viva honesty!

[Chris Wiggins]

Very nice post, Paul. Way to put things in perspective. Simply put, the way the web works is fundamentally shifting. It's a little silly (to me) to criticize those who are shifting with it simply because they're not the first to have done so, any more than it made sense in the 90s to crit agencies for making web 1.0 sites because it had "already been done."

[Tim Brunelle]

I dig it. And you're spot on, Paul, in illuminating exactly why it matters that CP+B has done it. I wonder, however, if we all would have had the same reaction had a very large agency--maybe Grey, or even JWT--had done the same thing. The benefit of this iteration of websites being adopted by CP+B is precisely that CP+B has done it. Their brand alone generates (and can take) the heat.

I'm grateful to them for the effort because it does make the conversation so much easier. It's a rich example.

Now what else can we encourage CP+B to adopt, so the rest of the world will take notice? Hmmmmm.

[Charles]

Ditto Viva transparency

[Sean Scott]

The true value of what CP+B did probably lies somewhere in the middle of the hate and adoration they are getting in response to their beta site. The feat is in getting approval from their client to post unfiltered streams based on their keywords. But not the concept itself is not revolutionary or incredible, two qualities we've come to expect from CP+B work.

Interestingly enough some of the more forward thinking parts of the site haven't been mentioned widely. For example the open source release of the site code, coupled with the crowdsourcing of modules based on that code is very cool and perhaps hint at what really matters.

My 2 cents

[Rick Williams]

Nice post Paul. There has been a great deal of talk from agencies but not a great deal of putting your money where your mouth is.

One of the greatest strengths of CP+B's new site is summed up best when you click on the 'Developers' button in the bottom left hand corner of the site. It shows they really get both digital and developers and they do so by being creative - kudos to that.

That truly says more to me about who CP+B are (a bunch of very clever creative people) and what they understand digital to be and I think it's a really insightful touch. It deserves to move things forward. Thank you CP+B.