It passed in a flash. It was great, it was hard, it was 2012.
Here is our definitive list of highlights, best books and music of 2012 and our predicted trends for 2013.
Top trends for 2013:
RHOD: Shared Value model will be adopted by Australian corporations.
KATE: Mobile is the new PC – we are on the web wherever we go.
AMY: 2013 will see brands realising the need to focus on developing better, more engaging content.
KAT: Businesses using social media more effectively to connect and respond to their customers more quickly, signalling the end of long waits on the phone.
CALLUM: Not Helvetica Neue, but Neue Haas Grotesk. Same, same but different.
REENI: The predicated boom in the number of people needing aged care in the next 10- 20 years.
Highlight of 2012:
RHOD: After a year of consultation, community campaigns and
KATE: Latrobe Story provided the opportunity for the entire agency to bring its skills to the fore with great design, strategy and campaign execution. The engagement from the Latrobe community was very exciting.
AMY: Winning Sustainable Melbourne Fund project and developing a framework for content creation. Also developing the Latrobe Story concept.
KAT: Definitely Latrobe Story was a big one for me. Lots of fun.
CALLUM: Joining this mob has been my highlight. Not many employers would take seriously my request for a cabin in the woods, and actually make it happen. Thanks Rhod!
REENI: Organising the Harmony Village community event.
TAMARA: Starting work at EJ.
Top album for 2012:
RHOD: I listened this to death – Shattered Dreams: Funky Blues 1967-78 – great compilation of raw blues tunes.
KATE: Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber
AMY: SBTRKT – SBTRKT
KAT: Pony Face – Hypnotised
CALLUM: Not an album, but hands-down the most consistently interesting music I listened to in 2012 was Miss Goldie’s Boss Action show on PBS. The finest in miserable soul 45s that failed to sell anymore than a few copies.
REENI: Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
TAMARA: Pomeya – Tropical
Best book for 2012:
RHOD: Simon Anholt – Competitive Identity: The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions – the year I immersed my self in place identity thinking!
KATE: Stephen Fry – The Fry Chronicles. I do love Stephen.
AMY: Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns. Not released this year, but I read it recently and it had a big impact.
KAT: David Sedaris – Naked (published 1997)
CALLUM: Nassim Nicholas Taleb – Antifragile. You wouldn’t read this for the prose, and I recommend a good dose of patience with Taleb’s irritating pomp, but once you manage to overlook that, the ideas in here are, to say the least, far-reaching.
REENI: Lorna Jane – Move, Nourish, Believe.
TAMARA: Jeffrey Eugenides – The Marriage Plot.
