Looking for a new England

New Media Age - 9th September 1997

A distillation has been occurring over the last couple of years as our fledgling industry, new media communications, struggles to its feet. We have seen a thousand start-ups fail, a few millions ventured and lost, and a few millions made. This distillation has come about in exactly the way that our capitalist culture dictates - survival of the fittest. Since 1994, when CD-Rom and the world wide Web appeared in our commercial conscious, we've been witness to accelerated commercial evolution. The survivors have been the ones that guessed right in the beginning, and given the number of us that believed then that we had a formula for success, it was inevitable that some should be fortunate.

Recently we have seen a spate of consolidations and culls. Entrepreneurs and creatives have formed second-wave alliances, some famous names have tried and failed, and the agency groups have won and lost a number of times - first there were the agency offshoots, doomed to failure, then the agency alliances, then the agency take-overs. And the independents still lead with imaginative bleeding-edge solutions and unformulaic creative excellence. And those independents that have grown organically have succeeded where those top-heavy with city cash have tripped and fallen.

We are now exploring the edge of the century. We have visions of the future in new media that would have surprised most back in `94, and great commercial hopes of the new century and its definition in terms of interactive communication and corporate responsiveness. Some of us have seen in the coming years the inevitable conjoining of the various streams of digital media.

My own company develops solutions for brands on the Web and operating systems for broadcasters of interactive TV - selling itself, to an extent on the convergence of digital media, whichever route (Web, satellite-driven kiosks or interactive TV) clients decide to adopt as their entry point.As this media revolution takes place, it does so as the political world changes. The new media age will be exemplified by the politics of communication, not domination, implies Negroponte. And this, over the last few weeks, has been particularly brought home to me by the gentle democracy at force in the creation of a real Scottish parliament.

We live in a real world where Great Britain no longer exists. With its inescapable overtones of imperialism and its over-long existence as some kind of 19th century brand, the description has had its day. In the 20th century, we become The United Kingdom. This time is also (fascinatingly and ironically) over. No longer will we be able to lay claim on our 'glorious heritage' - as a nation we are no longer unquestioned leaders in the world, nor can we carry the baggage of our past with us into the future with credibility. As Scotland, Wales and Ireland head towards their own independent destinies over the next few years, in the new century we will be England, left on our own to compete anew on a global playing field levelled by the technology that this country helped to foster 150 years ago. Thanking history clog politics didn't prevail then, we have a new chance to lead.

So what do we have to offer in our new age of competition unhindered by heritage? Gibson foresaw the new global ground of digital capitalism, indeed his vision was an important influence on me, in his cyberpunk tales. And even he harked back to the last century and its digital clairvoyance in his and Sterling's 'The Difference Engine'. He wrote of the new capitalism based on the zaibatsu philosophy - the succession to de facto leadership based on corporate success. In his writings, nationalism had been replaced by co-operatism. But the reality is that we have the opportunity still to make use of the national brand.

As a country we no longer have anything to offer save our skills, and over the last twenty years we have shifted from the 19th century model of manufacturing industry towards one of service.

Now the century turns and we are building a reputation around the world in new media. Our recent past has given us a wonderful stepping stone - standards have been set by people like Vaughan Oliver, Nevill Brody, Fitch. BBH, AMV and so on, creating a platform of captivating creative skills in the media with which we have been familiar for the last hundred years.

Today we have the creations of Jason Holland, Attik, Tomato, Davide deAngelis at DeNovo and others in this country providing multi-national clients with global commercial success in the new media. So maybe our new industry can begin to create a new brand. A splinter from the English commercial world that no longer revolves around manufacturing or naval strength; one that can bridge the gap of England's lack of heritage appropriate to the new century, of old brand and new. We are in the unique position of having witnessed the States' early commercial exploitation of media. Maybe we can turn this model into something that is well-presented, well-designed and therefore successful. Something that will set the standards of communications for the world to aspire to. We do, I think, have the ability to help create something that is positive for the coming time. Perhaps the product of creativity, imagination, and independence: England, the designer brand of the new millennium.

Felix Velarde

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