Shai Idelson’s UXcamp Debut Deals with Evil Ad People

Sid Lee’s Shai Idelson will bring a personal perspective to a delicate subject: UX and advertising

UX Lessons from Evil Ad People
Oct 13, 2:15pm / 30 MINUTES

This session started from an argument I had with a UXer friend about 2 years ago. An argument about user experience work and advertising agencies. Oh yes, I know what you’re thinking but it wasn’t that argument. This was a fruitful one. My friend had the point of view that there is little UXers can learn from advertising people. Ad people are in a fundamentally different business than UX people. Plus, they’re evil and are only in the game to sell shit.

Being a contrarian, I took the opposite point of view and argued passionately that there are many things UX people can learn from ad people. Advertising and UX are both in the business of behavior modification and no one asks ad people to explain what they do. Problem is, at the time I couldn’t name a single tangible lesson. And that’s how that ended.

As my career path took me closer and closer to advertising, this question came up again. I knew that the answer had to be in the works and words of the greats. The ones who conceived of ads that people loved. The ones who created campaigns that changed companies and became a part of modern culture.

This session is a long overdue retort. It contains 10 UX lessons from 10 advertising giants based on 10 great ad campaigns.

Is advertising evil? That’s the wrong question.
Can UXers learn from ad men? You’ll be the judge.
And then we can argue.

Speaker Bio: Shai Idelson

Shai Idelson is a strategist with Sid Lee. Based out of Montreal, he’s part of a team working with an international sporting goods brand. In the past, he worked with brands like HP, Best Buy, Clorox, and USAA.

Shai believes that advertising and marketing in the 21st century have more in common with the essence of experience design than some would have us believe. We’re all in the behavior business; we just have different ways to go about doing business.

His 2011 talk at the IA Summit called Creating A Navigation System For Your Career received rave reviews and hopefully inspired people to take charge of their own careers and vie for that elusive seat at the strategy table.

For his part, Shai is continuing his journey toward a seat at said table…
You can follow Shai on Twitter @shaidelson

*Image credit: C2 Montreal