The Economy Street Art Project

May 24, 2012 Leave a comment

An amazing piece of cause-based guerrilla art, called The Economy, created by an anonymous designer.  These stickers, placed throughout various public spaces, are meant to draw attention to the fact that GDP, our primary measure of abundance as a society, is an overly-simplistic, if not, downright irrelevant measurement of our prosperity.   I’ve talked about this in several posts, but I think Haque’s recent ebook, Betterness, sums up the dilemma we are facing as a society, rather nicely.  And, yes, when crime goes up, it benefits us economically.  When people are unhealthy, it benefits us economically, bearing in mind “us” is being used loosely here.

Adam Butler, of The Butler Brothers, sat down with the creator and asked him a few questions about the project.

So what spurred you to do this?

The source of many of my projects comes from a growing unease with how politicians (on both sides) create narratives to fit their agenda. We’re told what’s important, and why. At the end of the day, we actually believe that we have opinions. In this case, I was struck by the framing of any policy argument that it was “good” or it was “bad” for the economy. Rather, I’d like, just once, for us to make decisions based on what’s good for people. We are, after all, people. (Sorry, I keep forgetting that corporations are people, too).

Regardless of your intentions, do you feel like you changed anything with this series?

No. Yes. Maybe. I have such an overwhelming sense that we’re heading in the wrong direction. And I don’t mean this from a political leadership standpoint, but as a society. We. Us. We’re heading the wrong way. We measure GDP, but not happiness. We think we’re number one, but really, that’s just in average number of hours worked per week … we work the most of any industrialized country. Hooray.

We need to start defining prosperity in a new, broader (and also more specific) range of ways.  Economically, people are working harder and harder and yet, key outputs like jobs, net worth and net profit are shrinking.  This is because we need to re-evaluate what it means to ‘profit’ as a business to move beyond merely focusing on quarterly earnings.  In addition, how businesses (and our government) see themselves creating ‘wealth’ needs to evolve to more human-centric measures with outcomes that make us fitter, happier, healthier, truer, humbler, wiser, more educated, etc.

Overall, a great project that sums this mess up very succinctly.

[via @HSchum and Fast Co.Exist]

Filed under Art, Business, Culture, Design

What does the Instagram buy say about our culture?

April 9, 2012 1 Comment

In case you missed it, Instagram was just purchased by Facebook for a billion dollars (yes, billion).  This says one of two things to me.  A) the valuation of this tech start-up (which currently has no revenue model) is incredibly inflated or B) the values of Americans are rapidly shifting to prioritize the preservation and sharing of experiences over that of being informed on local, national and global issues.  What am I missing here?

Filed under Behavior, Brands, Business, Culture

Bureau of Trade

April 4, 2012 Leave a comment

I love this new site, Bureau of Trade.  It’s essentially a daily curation of the coolest, rarest, most man-centric stuff from Craigslist and ebay.  But, that’s just the half of it.  Each day, members get an email, a Daily Communique, as it were, that presents a handful of products that tie to a current culture theme or event.  The difference between BoT and JCrew’s incessant mailbombing? These guys write great content.  See below for a screengrab of today’s mailing.

Filed under Brands, Business, Culture

A Look Into Wolff Olins’ “Game Changers Report”

April 3, 2012 Leave a comment

Wolff Olins recently published what they’re calling the Game Changers report, an examination of the defining characteristics of today’s high-growth businesses.  When the work was done, the firm pinpointed (5) behaviors or traits embodied by these revolutionary brands. I’m in strong agreement with everything outlined in the report and wanted to take some time to summarize and build (as I often do) on the thinking of others.

Leading With Purpose

High growth businesses are not just commercially, but socially-focused as well.  They understand that to be successful in this transparent world, you must be enmeshed in the lifestyle and culture of your customers.  Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives are not enough, and actually undermine this point all together.  It’s about establishing a strong sense of purpose that ties back to why your business exists in the first place.

To build on this, Nike’s might sound like, “If you have a body, you’re an athlete and Nike exists to build happier, healthier, more fully-supported human beings, through the development of products and communities that put people and planet in balance.”  The company’s GreenXchange, N7 Fund, and Nike Foundation are all examples of this purpose being put into action.

This ties closely to what Umair Haque discusses in his recent ebook, Betterness, specifically, the evolution from Visions to Ambitions as a means of transcending merely striving to increase returns for shareholders.

Thinking of Customers As Users

The fragmentation of communication channels has created an opportunity for brands to move beyond broadcasting to their customers and instead begin engaging in a dialogue with them.  This has powerful implications in that it enables brands to create products and services that are more useful in the lives of customers.

A great example of this, shared in the study, comes from the branchless banking service, M-Pesa, which noticed that people in developing countries lacked traditional banking systems and were trading cell phone minutes as a means of fostering transactions.  The brand decided to create a mobile phone-based banking system that allows users to pay bills, transfer money, and buy products all via the system.  Simply put, the brand is building their business model around creating a useful service, rather than a revenue stream.

The question we must always be asking as brand strategists is how can we add greater value to the lives of our users.  This extends past what they’re buying from us, and instead starts to look at what they’re capable of achieving as a result.

Being In A State Of Perpetual Beta

At a time when innovation is happening at more and more rapid rates, it’s crucial to look at R&D in new ways.  Google was one of the first with their now infamous 20% rule; by enacting this, they created a corporate culture that was less constrained and free from the need to roll out products that were already ‘perfect’.

In fact, the accelerating rate of innovation means none of us really know what ‘perfect’ looks like in our respective industries at all.  We need consumers and real-life use to help us figure that out, and Google has always been comfortable with this fact.

What’s key is for businesses to create cultures with the right conditions for experimentation.  This means encouraging employees to take risks and supporting them to continue doing so even as they fail…again, and again.  It’s also important to keep in mind that this doesn’t just apply to R&D in the traditional sense, but to the processes, habits and ways of doing things that departments solidify as ‘the way’ after a period of time.

Experimentation needs to be a constant practice, and it must be led by the values established in section 1, Leading With Purpose.  Companies who take this to heart will find that their employees attain the intrinsic fulfillment that traditional bonuses and incentives can never truly deliver.

Live Without Walls

In the old world, it was all about establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage.  Innovation and intellectual property were heavily guarded.  However, the fragmentation of the marketplace and its available communication channels as well as the pace of technological innovation have taken what was a closed system and completely opened it up.

Intelligent brands have a firm understanding of what they do well, but aren’t afraid to partner with others to achieve larger goals, creating entirely new markets supported by more comprehensive services.  The collaboration between Nike and Apple on Nike+ is still one of the most groundbreaking examples out there.  But, brands like (RED) built a philanthropic business model solely based on the notion of collaboration and partnership.  Today they’ve helped raise millions together with brands like Starbucks, Gap, Dell, Apple and more.

Perhaps the best line in Wolff Olin’s report is this: “…the brands that will have the greatest impact on all our lives are those that see themselves not as citadels that need defending, but as causes that need joining.”

Game Changing brands will develop an always growing ecosystem of collaborators that allow them to create value in new ways.  Again, we’re moving from closed systems to open ones, simply because achieving our maximum potential depends on it.

Change The Game

In the past, organizations succeeded by pursing a single business strategy with unwavering confidence.  But, today a new type of growth potential is taking shape.  Game Changing companies are exploring new sectors, revenue streams, and markets with an admirable conviction.  To reinforce this, a PWC Global CEO Survey found that over half of U.S. CEO’s strongly agree that creating new business models is now a priority for their company’s innovation portfolios.

LEGO is perhaps the most startling example presented in the study.  In 2003, the brand was a beloved, but dated toy block manufacturer.  Ten years later, they’re posting nearly a billion dollars in pre-tax profits, made possible through expansion into sectors like video gaming, theme parks, retail stores, clothing and even business consultancy.  And if that wasn’t enough, they’re harnessing the power of co-creation with consumers through sites like CUUSOO and DesignByMe.

All of this underscores the importance of creativity in the workplace, as well as being open to experimentation (discussed earlier).  Most important, again, is that the value-creative behavior that Wolff Olins identifies must ladder up to a brand’s purpose (section 1) – why it exists in the marketplace.  This is the cornerstone of developing new competencies.

Brands should make it their goal to develop one new revenue stream each year based on the over-arching brand purpose and values.

Overall, a great study that defines, supports and provides examples for five of the most crucial trends affecting innovation among brands.  If, somehow, this wasn’t enough detail, head on over to Wolff Olins for the full download.

[Image via Thomas Hawk]

Filed under Brands, Business, Marketing, Strategy

How Brands Can Tell Great Stories

March 19, 2012 Leave a comment

So, I just watched a keynote presentation from Greg Owsley, former marketing chief for the fabled New Belgium Brewery. The talk he gave was at The Statewide Sustainability Roundtable in Colorado Springs last November, and focuses on what he calls the “6 R’s of Storied Social Change Marketing.”

Essentially, they represent a set of guidelines that will help marketers tell more compelling stories through their campaigns. I’ve embedded the videos from his talk, but have written this post as a succinct summary that adds a few thoughts of my own on the subject of storytelling as brand marketing, specifically because I think it supports my stance that marketers need to be building more human brands.

 

 

Greg’s first point, which is one of his best, is that brands (especially big ones) get tied to the idea of selling these big ideals, like “Freedom” or “Empowerment.” But, in reality, these are often ineffective because they’re extremely conceptual making them difficult for people grasp and relate to their own lives. Furthermore, we all have different definitions and associations for words like “Freedom” and “Empowerment.” What brands must do, instead, is tell specific and compelling stories, containing the following elements:

  • Roots: must have a foundation built on key “truths”
  • Relevancy: must express the facts in a compelling manner – one that grips the intended audience
  • Reverb: must latch the relevancy to a greater social tension or cultural myth
  • Remarkable: the message and its imagery must stand out, by being remarkable, memorable, provocative and disruptive
  • Rally Cry: there must be a call to action that gives the subject an objective
  • Ripple: must integrate marketing streams to create a supportive or additive framework for the campaign or story

I love everything Greg is saying here and think that he uses great case studies to illustrate his point. However, there’s some elements that, perhaps lie a little bit deeper, that brands can gain tremendous benefit from understanding how to incorporate into their storytelling and identity formation.

First, because brands focus on crafting these highly polished stories and identities for themselves, they don’t connect with people because they don’t feel human or real. This goes back to my notion of building more human brands.  Humans are incredibly multidimensional, experiencing varying states and levels of emotion on a minute-by-minute basis of every day. This state of constant emotional flux defines our lives, yet brands avoid it like the plague, instead, trying to tell stories that are overly-polished, fit and clean. Except the problem is that these don’t connect with consumers, because our wiring tells us, very clearly, that they’re manufactured.

Instead brands need to be turning to elements of paradox, creative tension, conflict and even unknowing as a means to develop their identities and tell their stories, because it’s how people experience the world. Just think of how many times you feel ‘conflicted’ throughout the day? Yet brands rarely incorporate elements like this into their stories.

To use Apple as an example, which I hate doing, they have taken the notion of ‘unknowing’ and incorporated it brilliantly into their identity. On a practical level, no one ever knows anything about their products until the day they’re released. This unknowing creates tremendous enthusiasm and anticipation, just like a great writer does with the climax of their story. On a more subtle level, this secrecy and unknowing allows us to form our own beliefs about how the brand’s products will impact our lives. Suddenly, Apple becomes more things to more people – in many cases a gateway to connect with one’s own inner child by enabling creative pursuits.

In any case, these messier components of unique human experience – conflict, unknowing, tension, paradox, etc. are the meat for great stories, and brands would be wise to leverage them in this convoluted marketplace as a means of authentically connecting with their customers.

Big thanks to Steve Wilton for sending me these talks and engaging in a stimulating conversation about the ideas!

Filed under Brands, Business, Culture, Marketing, Media, Strategy

From Business to Betterness

March 15, 2012 2 Comments

Just finished reading Umair Haque’s new ebook, Betterness and I’m thoroughly inspired.  Anyone working in business whether it be small, independent shop or massive multi-national corporation, could benefit from hearing about the shift in thinking that Haque advocates.

The economist turned humanist argues that our current capitalist system is in need of a substantial overhaul, a paradigm shift as he puts it.  He argues that our economy is at a point of diminishing returns, specifically in regards to the value, jobs, income, net worth and overall fulfillment it returns to the people and communities that fuel it.

Instead, Haque believes that businesses have a greater potential to live up to, namely, one built on maximizing human potential through the generation of real Wealth.  Haque calls this evolution “Betterness.”

Where Business says, “I’ll offer you a product or service in exchange for your currency.”  Betterness says, “Through the act of exchange, I’ll ignite your human potential.  You will become better – fitter, smarter, closer, wiser, tougher, humbler, truer, wealthier in terms that add up to a life meaningfully well lived.”

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Filed under Brands, Business, Culture, Marketing, Strategy

This Is How The Future of Retail Looks

February 15, 2012 1 Comment

 

Totally inspired by 718 Cyclery.  This is what the future of the retail business looks like. A rock solid understanding of their purpose: “we build bikes with people.” Total collaboration on the end product that takes place both within the shop and then via online file sharing. An environment that allows consumers to completely connect with the product they are purchasing, in this case by actually playing a role in its assembly.

People want to be involved in the process of understanding and making the things they purchase. Bruce Nussbaum has recently begun calling this movement “indie capitalism” and 718C fits beautifully within his description of being a locally-minded social businesses that builds community and places a heightened focus on materials, value creation and the sharing of information.  But, it’s really just the result of the very reason owner, Joe, began the business in the first place: to reconnect with humanity.

The key fundamental truth about human behavior here is that we need to be able to exercise our ability to shape and change our world, in tangible ways, especially as more of us transition into the knowledge economy, where our contributions to the world cannot be easily touched or felt.  In this case, people are playing a role in the design and fabrication of a mode of transportation.  It’s fulfilling something very real by giving them ownership over the product their purchasing while forming connections through the process.

Filed under Brands, Business, Culture

Expanding Our Definition of the Artist

February 14, 2012 Leave a comment

[Full disclaimer: I wrote this post over a year ago on another blog, and just had to re-post.  It's still fresh, timely, and of the utmost importance for individuals and brands to fully realize.  Enjoy and comment if you feel so inclined.]

I recently had the pleasure of reading Seth Godin’s newest book, Linchpin and I must say, it was a worthwhile read.  The premise of the book is that our economy is changing to reflect a marketplace in which goods can no longer be made smaller, cheaper and more efficiently (we’ve maxed this out).  Rather, what today’s consumer is more interested in is products, services and brands that are extraordinarily unique, and help them to portray the complex story of their lives as they ideally see it playing out.  As a result, Seth argues that those workers (in any industry) who are capable of producing new ideas and ways of doing things are the individuals who are most likely to become ‘linchpins’ or indispensable employees in their own company.

The book then goes on to explain how a linchpin must think and act in her given field, as well as the obstacles that she can expect to encounter.  Overall, Godin’s Linchpin can best be described as motivating, remind us all that we have a responsibility to go into our jobs ready to produce new ideas, services and ways of getting things done, all things that Seth describes as ‘art’.

This brings me to the topic of this post.  The most inspiring and beneficial chapter of the book is rather inaptly called, “Is it Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle?”.  The chapter successfully urges us to consider that, as Roy Simmons put it, “most artists can’t draw”.  More specifically creating great art isn’t really about drawing, painting or sculpting.  It’s about paving new ground, by doing, thinking or producing something “that resonates with the viewer, not just the creator”.  Being an artist is about developing insight and being brave enough to communicate it to the world, without concern over how it will be received.

When we start to open up these terms, we naturally begin to feel a sense of responsibility to produce art, regardless of our specialty.  However, doing so requires us to overcome what Seth and others before him deem to be ‘the resistance’, otherwise known as fear – fear of being rejected, fired, laughed at or otherwise failing at life.

If fear can be overcome then we become free to produce beautiful art, that extends beyond the visual, taking on the power to change it’s recipient for the better.  Many of you may be thinking that there isn’t room for this in your job, and I would argue against that.  Being an artist can be as simple as being the catalyst in a successful brainstorm session or finding a more efficient system for completing expense reports on time or mentoring a new employee as they learn the ropes at a new company – all actions that have the capacity to change an individual or organization for the better (the true essence of artwork).

Seth carefully goes on to point out that there is no map or set of directions for becoming an artist.  Some are born with the creative fire inside themselves, others must learn to cultivate it.  But, as our increasingly divergent culture continues to infiltrate every aspect of commerce, those individuals who produce art in their own right, will be the most highly valued, the most likely to succeed and (in my opinion) the most fulfilled.

[Photo by: Christophe Kiciak]

Filed under Art, Business, Culture, Ideas

Your Healthy Diet of Content

January 16, 2012 Leave a comment

I talked about Todd Henry’s, Accidental Creative in a post about defining your work style not that long ago.  Having completed the book, I am now going back to indentify the areas in my own creative, strategic and on-going learning process that need the most work.

A section that I found to be particularly useful was Henry’s chapter on “Stimuli”. It goes about the way you’d expect. You are what you consume.  If you read and watch garbage, your mind will be filled with the same.

So, given the overwhelming flow of fantastic books, articles, blog posts and research studies baiting the curious mind, how do we sift through it all to ensure optimal inspiration and benefit across a variety of disciplines, relevant both to our professional and personal interests? Furthermore, how do knowledge workers consume the material that will benefit them the most at solving the critical problems they’re faced with everyday?

Ultimately we’re looking to expand the mental framework with which we use to understand and interpret the world. So, as Henry points out, make the box bigger, and you’ll be more likely to synthesize information from disparate reaches of our world in your own problem solving.

Henry offers some helpful recommendations which I’ll supplement with some of what I’ve come across during my own research and personal experience.

First, what’s the basic blocking and tackling you need to do to stay up to date in your field?  Henry refers to this as the mental vegetables in your content diet. These are the websites, magazines and writers that you need to be following weekly or even daily to ensure you’ve got all the information you need. For me, being a strategist in marketing, these are sites like PSFK, Harvard Business Review, Ad Age, Mashable, etc.  This should account for around 25% of your reading.

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Filed under Behavior, Business, Ideas

Key Tech Trends for 2012

January 12, 2012 Leave a comment

frog design published a nice piece two days ago on their blog, compiling the thoughts of many of their top creatives, strategists and executives regarding key technology trends for the coming year.  Few firms have the credibility right now of frog, so I encourage you to head on over and read the post in it’s entirety.  A few of the trends they identified stand out as being particularly salient for businesses and agencies, across a variety of specialties, so I’ll summarize and build-on a few here.

Many theorists speculated that our sense of “Place” would diminish in significance with the rise of digital technologies, however, as many of the trends tip toe around, “Place” has never been more important. Cities are obviously in vogue (perhaps permanently) and our digital devices make unlocking their ultimate potential more accessible than ever. Innovations that expand the connection between our digital device and the physical space will continue to grow faster than we can imagine.

As Ficklin, Tuttle and Richardson attest, the computing experience will continue to become more personal or “human” as it were.  The obvious developments from 2011, as they identify were Apple’s Siri and Ford’s Microsoft Sync, both imperfect in many ways but no less, important steps in the development of a more sensitive interaction between human and computer.

One trend of particular interest, is Thomas Sutton’s identification of the Quantified Self.  Made possible by data aggregation platforms that will couple information from technologies like Nike+ and Jawbone’s Up band, providing users with a more integrated understanding of things like their overall health, in this case, further enabling insights and suggestions that are more and more specific, nuanced and in turn useful.

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Filed under Business, Design, Marketing, Strategy

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