Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Fifth Play Media Day will do its best to give the region the opportunity to hear the best presenters and trends when it comes to the creative industry. That is why this year, one of the presenters will also feature the excellent Danish crossmedia producer, concept developer and social storyteller Ole Huld, who has years of experience in various media.
This independent creative manager has worked on numerous projects with a wide spread range, and no matter if it is about art, literature, sport, history or politics, he always aims to get the most out of himself and the team he works with.
He started his own business, won numerous awards, and claims to enjoy his business, successfully bringing fun to his work days. It aims to inspire anyone who is not yet sure if they can start a new job on their own. Below we bring an interview that will confirm that 5th June you simply have to spend at a regional communication event in Banja Luka.
You are a crossmedia project manager. What exactly does this mean?
It means that I’m creating projects and content on all kinds of media. I’ll try to be where the users are. That can be TV, radio, web or in the real physical world. Screens are great but sometimes it makes more sense to put your content out in public space or on piece of chewing gum.
The project manager title doesn’t describe my role that well. I’m making the concepts, I’m talking to all the departments and external partners and I’m orchestrating the projects so all the included medias get the content that fits.
How did you get into your current field of work? Did you always want to be in it?
I guess it’s a mixture of skills, luck and circumstances. I never wanted to be a regular journalist, so from day 1 I’ve strived to make projects with a crossmedia-feel. Also before the term was used that much. My first job (after milking cow on my hillbilly hometown farm) was creating a Wikipedia before Wikipedia so I’ve always been a digital worker. After I got kids I kind a got a bit critical about watching too much on a screen. That turned me naturally towards more event-based projects. That’s where I found my love and my superhero-skills. Taking the best from the digital and the analog world and merging the two worlds and bringing in my quirky sense of humor and love for well-designed concepts. So it’s like a hobby with a job in (sounds more fun in Danish – hobby med et job i).
What is your typical day like?
It’s definitely not being in an office from 8-17. Especially not after I got independent and started my own company. I’ve been blessed with great bosses, that have understood, that my ideas works the best if I can plan my own day. Most great ideas come while I’m running, reading a book or cooking and not when I’m sitting at a desk. And then the ideas get qualified while I play ping-pong with good friends, colleagues and co-creatives. Sometimes I just need a person as a wall to throw ideas at. And most often it grows when I share my ideas.
But a typical day: Getting up, getting kids to school, drinking coffee and watching out the window half an hour, then I typically work 5 tomato-timed sessions (30 minutes), workout half an hour, eat, and then take some tomato-timed sessions until 3 o’clock where I try to focus on picking the kids up at school.
Most days don’t go that perfectly timed, since there are meetings, phone calls, creator’s block, creative crisis, life crisis, feelings of genius – you know the drill. But it’s a mix of freedom, concentrated work, silence, googling and coffee and music.
I’ve have tried to drop the smartphone to get my brain and life back. That’s actually a quite good life hack. It’s quite depressing to think about that you pick up your phone 75-90 times a day instead of thinking and creating cool projects.
What are the most important qualities that crossmedia project manager needs?
A great overview. And a brain that sees opportunity instead of problems. I’ve worked as a chef earlier and it’s much like this. Just keeping an eye on all the pots and pans and hope you don’t get burned while doing it. And I got 3 kids in 21 months some years ago. Compared to that the multitasking skills needed at work is nothing.
Can you tell us more about interesting concept „GrillTennis” ?
Don’t get me started here. Then I’ll never stop. GrillTennis is a sport-, art- and much more-concept I created when I was studying. A stupid game where to-mans-team are trying to get a small plastic ball in a cup placed in a grill. It started out really small, but 5 years ago I re-invented it and added some vintage 80’s-feel to the concept and then it kind of fired off. First I was hired 15 weeks by a TV-station to travel around with the sport and now we are making World Cups, have a Copenhagen-based league and are making all kind of events.
It’s not that big but I had become my interactive business-card and conversation-starter – and then it’s so fun to play. I guess I will use my visit to start at league in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
What can people expect from you on Play Media Day 05 conference?
A different look on how to make projects. In big and small scale. I will tell more about my method – which I call Social Storytelling – and hopefully giving some inspirations about how to do it yourself. I will use some examples from my work to describe it and if you’re lucky I’ll give some good advises at the end.
It’s a lot about merging work and having fun at the same time.
What are the current crossmedia trends?
People are getting tired of staring at their screen and people are finally realizing that the answer to everything isn’t an iPad. So It’s a lot about using technology clever while we are remembering that we are people of flesh and blood walking around in the real world.
I want to be avant-garde and want to be steps ahead of current trends. But we are all influenced by our surroundings. And I actually think the movement away from digital towards more analog meetings , that we want to re-connect with nature, that we buy a dumb phone and stuff like that is a trend.
Now it’s a bit class-divided. People with a lot of resources are aiming for more time with each other, for less screen time etc – while the people with fewer resources are dealing with all the bad digital habits… The zombie-life. I try to mix the two positions and think there’s a good market for that kind of ambitions.
More details about fifth regional communications event Play Media Day available on www.playmediaday.com. Get your tickets on time, among more than 1000 participants from creative industry, with 50% off until 1st of March. See you on Play Media Day 05! Communication is endless!
