Slideshow Business I've now got a new link/poor man's widget over on the right rail which links to all my decks in slideshare. This will be an easy way to access them if you need to jog your memory.
Citizen Everywhere Jackie Huba from Church of the Customer spoke at our Boston office last Friday. And who is that darling next to Jackie? Why none other than our very own Lori Magno. Big props to Jeff Flemmings, our fearless Account Planner lead for roping Jackie in and getting a boatload of books for Digitas employees to devour. Smart, smart, smart move. And iMedia connection did a big piece on the book recently. Good for Ben and Jackie!
IIT Institute of Design Strategy Conference '07 I'll be attending IIT's Strategy '07 conference in Chicago yet again. It's one of my favorites. BusinessWeek's Bruce Nussbaum will be there again as will Chris Anderson of the Long Tail fame. If you're coming, let me know and we'll find a way to run into each other.
You Help Sacrum Yes? Yes! Meet Sacrum. Sacrum make blog. Sacrum is European man with skills in Advertising. He like brand. He like pencils. He like to make brand with pencils. You help Sacrum get job in funky Ad agency yes?
Last Friday I wrote about our speaking engagement at Loyola University. The post generated what I think is some of the most interesting discussion on this blog. I'd like to share some of the thoughts as they deserve to exist outside of the comments area, but before doing so—here's a question (and answer):
What if we all live in our own bubbles? Each and every last one of us. We're not omnipotent beings—we are restricted by the boundaries of our own humanity. In short, we can only know as much as we can absorb. And in this age of information, there is a lot to absorb. Too much actually.
BUT
Our bubbles reflect what we know, don't know and what we need to know. If we claim to be marketers, advertisers, designers, public relations or communications professionals—we must take it upon ourselves to fully comprehend the significance of a lone consumer who takes on a huge company with nothing more than a blog and tape recorder. We must make the effort to search out these stories on a daily basis, especially when they are reported by mainstream media (or not). We must study, and learn from them. We must learn from each other.
WE ARE ALL STUDENTS
Teachers, professors, authors, managers, thought leaders, bloggers etc. can all help us learn. But making sure your personal bubble is where it needs to be is up to you, the individual.
[Stepping down from Soapbox now]
Enjoy the comments.
"School is, was and--unless the teaching profession wakes up and starts
embracing change even if it threatens their jobs--will always be
insular and inward looking. Theory, over practice." gabby
"I'm so surprised that a bunch of college students are better versed in
theory and buzzwords than in real world examples. On the other hand,
these kids are at (or at least near) the epicenter of the content
creation movement, so maybe it is surprising after all - not because
they should be learning about it in their marketing course but because
they should be living it." Greg Verdino
"It was not till I got outside and graduated that my eyes were opened to this whole new world.
" Matt Haverkamp
"Do you believe we are victims of our own myopia?" Cam Beck
"I can't tell you how many times I talk to agency marketers who have never heard of these 'classic' power consumer moments." jessica
"Professors need to get beyond the security of their assigned
readings and add new books and articles to their selections for every
new class. And then discussions need to center on what is happening in
today's marketing world." Lewis Green
"As I speak to other marketers, and even clients at big-name companies,
they are so busy with their own plans they are really not aware of
social media. It seems like a no-brainer to many of us because we spend
time tracking (or engaging in) it. My typical clients still don't even
have it on their radar screen." Becky Carroll
"When I was teaching business courses on the undergrad level, every
student had to go out and locate a busines, and it's owner, or manager,
or C-level person, to link up with once a week, every week" peter vajda
"Personally, I have learned a lot more practical knowledge through
blogs, social media, open source sharing, etc. than I have from most of
my courses. The classes provide a foundation, but unless you actively
engage in building upon that foundation, it all seems somewhat useless.
It’s like pouring concrete to start a house and then never returning to
continue construction." Ryan Karpeles
"Schools must change. Embrace Non-textbooks as a reliable learning
tools. Create "new-marketing" classes. Have classes dedicated to blogs.
Have marketing speakers on a weekly basis." Jonathan Chamberlin
"I think professors aught to
have a list of at least 10-20 marketing/biz blogs that students should
be reading daily. If the concern on reading a blog is too much, start
them off with Seth's "Small Is The New Big." Let them think out of the
box with Wozniak's book about design." Nathan
"My students are given reading lists equivalent to 'No one got fired for
recommending Microsoft': the dead hand of academe looms large, and
there is more emphasis on correct bibliographic referencing than on
imagination or even relevance." Vee
"Remember how at your Digitas NY prez only like 3 people (in interactive) knew who Seth Godin is? Yep, we live in a bubble." CK
"I've met with many high-profile marketing executives over the past few
months and I can assure you that you would be surprised by their narrow
marketing - and marketplace - knowledge, and hence, perspectives. They
are simply way too busy with their own "marketing bubbles" to care." Tom Asacker
"I did a presentation to an
advertising class at a large university last November...In a show of hands no one in the class knew who lonelygirl15 was and
when I stated talking about Second Life the looks I got were priceless." daniel9223
"I just started regularly reading several trend-watching, news-sharing,
marketing, and advertising blogs this year and it's really helped me to
think more creatively. I only wish I would have started sooner..." Amitha Raman
"I think this whole issue isn't about: "I can't believe you haven't heard of X." It's all about: "I can't believe you haven't TRIED to hear about X." Ryan Karpeles
When Arnold Schwarzenegger first came to the United States, he started a small bricklaying business with fellow bodybuilder and immigrant Franco Columbu. The business wasn't off to a good start. In fact, even though the pair undersold the competition—they were having a hard time finding work.
That is until the friends realized that they could turn their collective "weaknesses" in the form of thick accents and a "foreign first impression" into their strength. They quickly re-invented their business model into a service that was much more expensive than the competition and sold themselves in a way that played up their European heritage. They would seduce their LA customers by saying that their method of bricklaying was different because it was "Austrian Bricklaying".
During 1971, Los Angeles was hit with one of the biggest earthquakes in it's history and to keep the story short, let's just say that Arnold and Franco did very well before they pursued their fulltime bodybuilding dreams.
This is one of my favorite brand/marketing stories, because is demonstrates the following:
1. Sometimes the best marketing involves exaggerating certain "truths" 2. Occasionally brands are built not from strengths, but from turning perceived weakness into strength
What Arnold and Franco did was tell a story that the LA residents wanted to believe. Was it accurate? Well, not entirely. Was it compelling? Absolutely. I can imagine the owner of an expensive LA pad chatting to her friends about the "European Bricklayers" she just dropped a pretty coin for. That's a good story.
Similar to Arnold's story, the iPod Shuffle marketing strategy also turned a weakness into a strength. The "Life Is Random" concept was born from the lack of a visual display on the device. And like the "European Bricklayer" angle—it works.
Point is that we're ALL marketing ourselves even if we would like to think that we aren't. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I'm a much better creative leader than I am a visual designer. I figured this out early on in my career and pursued creative direction as a result. I now "market" myself as a "strategic creative thinker" able to go from concept to execution. Have you figured out what your weakness is? Is there a way to turn it into a differentiating strength?
Found this via Russell Davies. It's the road to hell according to graphic design legend Milton Glaser. Visually clever—but a little PC and maybe just a bit too serious. Anyone else want to add to the list?
Here's my vote for #13: 13. Designing a fake blog and working with frustrated copywriters who try desperately to sound "authentic" and "hip".
In the early 1700's—a curious, intelligent and good natured soul by the name of Ben Franklin was faced with a problem. In his time spent working with agriculture, he had made a simple discovery. He discovered that plaster made grains and grasses grow better. The problem was that his neighbors did not believe him.
So, Ben did the logical thing any resourceful individual would to. He fired up Powerpoint—called his local Forrester representative and started methodically making his case for plaster using charts and stats to back it all up.
No, actually he didn't. Microsoft and Forrester weren't around back then. What he did do was get his hands dirty. Literally. When spring arrived, he went to a field that was close to a path where people would walk by regularly. He then dug out some letters into the dirt with his hands, put plaster in the ruts and planted some seeds in them.
Time passed and as people walked by the field, they could see this message emerging in a brighter shade of grass that stood out from the rest of the field:
THIS HAS BEEN PLASTERED
Ben's neighbors got the point. Here's the sixty four thousand dollar question. If Ben were alive today, working for a large company with the typical corporate culture in place—would he have been asked to supply a research document/deck in spite of the fact that he had just proven his point? Don't get me wrong. We shouldn't do away with research. Quantitative and qualitative research is critical to pretty much any industry around. What I'm asking, is do we encourage enough demonstrating? Do we reward people when they take matters into their own hands to prove that an idea might be worth something? Our do we get upset that they've bypassed conventional procedures?
Digitas colleague Dave Marsey and I just wrapped up a joint presentation at Chicago’s Loyola University. It was great to get the invite and we had a blast presenting to an energetic group of well dressed grad students who gobbled up the information as quickly as we could spit it out. There were lots of excellent questions about how marketing is being impacted by empowered consumers and how social media is affecting our behavior. In short, we were pleased to be interacting with such a bright group of people.
But there were a few surprises, at least for me. With the exception of the Jet Blue YouTube apology, I brought up a couple of noteworthy events/names that symbolize some of the changes we see in our industry. And was surprisingly met with with a few blank stares. Here are some examples:
It is to me. I can see not knowing about Agency.com/Subway, but to not have a clue about Jeff Jarvis or Dell Hell? I was really impressed by the professionalism of the students and especially their enthusiasm. Most seemed interested and asked great questions. I only have one to ask them back. Are you mentally getting outside of your School walls on a regular basis? I ask this question respectfully and sincerely.
Students out there, hear me out. If you can come across as smart, professional, enthusiastic and optimistic—all these things will help you career wise. But also know what’s happening (in detail) both inside and outside of our industry, and have an opinion about them. We are witnessing seismic shifts in terms of how we define marketing, advertising, and PR. It’s not good enough to know that the shift is happening—you need to know about the everyday milestones which serve as telltale signs.
If you’re a student reading this and you find yourself relating, I’ll give you the same advice I gave them. Go out and read Citizen Marketers for starters (we included a slide with the book on it). Basically, keep up with what’s going on in marketing-related spaces in addition to what’s on your curriculum. And to the school and organizers, thank you for having us, it was an honor!
Did you know that before the movie Office Space, it was impossible to get a Red Swingline stapler? That's because they didn't exist. They do now. And they've become a desirable object, highly sought after by cube dwelling office lackeys across the globe. For proof, just do a search on Flickr for "Red Swingline stapler".
Fact is that during the making of Office Space, production designer Edward T. McAvoy had a problem to solve. He needed to find a Stapler that was so special—the film's quirky character Milton would covet and reclaim at all costs if taken from him. McAvoy decided that a Swingline Red stapler would be the perfect object. Only problem was that after calling Swingline, he was told they didn't make Staplers in Red. So what did he do?
He painted one himself.
Now here's where it gets really interesting. After the infamous Red stapler made it's debut in the film, Swingline started getting scores of requests to purchase the Red staplers (which didn't exist). So they did what any good business would do.
They started producing them.
I've always loved this story for a couple of reasons. I'm a big fan of Office Space, but even more importantly I am amazed at the powerful and unexpected result from what seemed to be just a detail. After all, it was only painting a stapler. It's not like McAvoy was coming up with the next "big thing".
But ironically he did.
His simple gesture created the symbol for that movie. It's the one thing that almost everyone who sees it remembers. It's become an icon of corporate culture and maybe even a statement of rebellion against it. I was thinking about this recently because I realized that I haven't created any Red Swingline staplers lately. In fact, probably the last thing that came close to it was Blogger Anonymous, which was meant to be an inside joke, but before I knew it was getting more traffic and link backs way faster than this blog. And it was all a goof!
Why is it so hard to make Red staplers?
I wish I were creating more Red staplers both in my day job and here. Why does it seem so difficult? It's hard because sometimes we don't know when to do the right thing—what measures to take to see our ideas through the way we intended them to be. What if someone approached McAvoy and said "look! I found a Red stapler. It's not a Swingline, but who will notice"? Not good enough. For reasons not known, McAvoy wanted a Swingline. So when he found out that Swingline didn't make a Red product, he asked them if he could have one painted. When they agreed, he wasted no time taking the ordinary black stapler to the auto body shop for it's makeover.
Speaking of painting—anyone remember Bob Ross? Bob was the guy on TV with the spectacular Afro-like hairdo—who effortlessly painted outdoor scenes of "happy little trees" and "happy little clouds". When Bob would make a boo-boo on canvas, he called it a "happy accident" and he would magically make the "mistake" into an integral part of his painting. Maybe what it comes down to is that we underestimate the power of Red staplers and happy accidents. We become so obsessed with pleasing others that we forget to please ourselves.
The world needs more Red staplers and happy accidents. I need them. Crap. Where's my can of paint?
Time to put some principles from Made to Stick into practice. Last year, I posted a visual of The Holy Trinity of Experience Design. I've been wanting to update this for a while. Basically it was inspired by Kevin Mullet's Essence of Rich Internet Applications with my own touches added to it. But it was missing a few things. Namely that the experiences we create need to stand the test of time, adapt and evolve. In other words—be sustainable (See Don Norman's comment on the trinity post). Also, while I like the idea and sound of the word Storytelling, I think what we're really doing is Storyswapping. So, I also made a change there to stress sharing.
But the reason why I reference Made to Stick is because I wanted a simple way to recall this. And since I envisioned it being a diamond vs. the original triangle—ED (Experience Diamond) was conceived.
So, meet Ed. Hope you make his acquaintance. (and hope I can too!)
Well, here's another treasure I found while rummaging through my junk e-mail folder recently. Actually, more like a Turd. And the same guys link to the Z-list, which I don't think does it any favors. This is why I don't like overt Buzz Marketing efforts. Yuck, I need to take a shower. Delete.
I've made some significant updates to the blog if you haven't noticed. In addition to the Twitter Widget (sorry Asi), I've extended the width of the Template to cater to those of us who have moved beyond 800x600. It had to be done. But with this change comes a huge benefit of the experience here. You will be able to see thumbnails of my visuals and slideshows at a much bigger size (see last post).
I've also trimmed back both my categories and the number of links to post in the right rail.
Lastly, but not leastly for the uber-observant, I have updated what I say in my header. Creativity, innovation, design has been replaced with:
creativity. insights. ideas.
At first glance this seems trivial, but I put some considerable thought into it and realized that it better reflects the things we talk about here. While I still view design in a very broad sense, I think what's covered here is more about ideas, and how we get to them. And of course it's always been about creativity. Have no fear, design is still in my blood and you can be sure it will come through in the writing.
So when you have a moment, leave your aggregator and come to the site. Then do a hard refresh on your browser. That's it. You'll be good to go.
Special thanks to Ray for help with the CSS. Ray, you are the man!
Now that I’ve been getting in a groove on Twitter, it has me wondering. Could advertisers swoop in and taint a very grassroots movement? My disclaimer to this post is that I haven’t been using Twitter for very long and I haven’t worked at a big traditional Ad shop, so this perspective may indeed be naïve. However, I’m wondering if what we’ve seen with Advertisers intruding on YouTube and in Second life could happen on Twitter (assuming it’s not already).
Why? If you think about how Twitter is used, it’s always nice to throw in some quick details to add context and tell a better short story. For example, take a look at two ways I could say something on Twitter:
1. Reading a bedtime story to my six year old... 2. Reading “Where the Wild Things Are" to a very sleepy 4-year-old but he’s loving it...
The second blurb provides a little more detail, and naming the book helps paint the scene. Here’s where advertising could potentially come in. A classic model for advertising is to make an arrangement with a celebrity to talk about their stuff—maybe in an Ad or promotion. Or there’s always the option to pay for product placement. So let’s look at a hypothetical situation. Let’s say a popular celeb who is a symbol of the Attention Economy and maybe even has a blog starts Twittering. And let’s say that celeb X makes several agreements with a number of brands to mention their products/services by name in their Twitters. It could be something as seemingly innocent as this.
“Out with friends, sipping on Bacardi and Coke. Gotta go, Justin just pulled up in his hot new S-Class...”
There. Three brands/products all mentioned by name from an influential celeb. Now this little message could be picked up in the following ways: Online, Instant Message, Mobile, and through the use of Widgets. All of a sudden you’ve got a highly influential person talking about your products in context. And it’s getting picked on a variety of highly relevant media channels which cost NOTHING. And think about how interested everyday people would be to know what a celeb is doing “right now”. Think about why all the celeb rags and gossip columns are so popular.
Like I said, I’m coming at this a bit naïve. So if you are a Twitter pro and can cite reasons why this fictional scenerio could or would never happen, I would love to hear it. Or if you are in the Ad industry and can articulate why this would never work, I would like to hear that as well. And there’s nothing to say that a celeb can’t use Twitter. What I’m talking about here are deliberate ways to integrate a product or service where a celeb is given some kind of payment in return.
Personally, I hope it never happens. Twitter’s magic is that it helps us celebrate the “mundane” through the sharing of short stories. I hope this never becomes commercialized.
Look. The rules have changed. Anyone can blog. Anyone can have a voice. But having a voice and being heard are two different things. You have a blog—but is it "remarkable"? Is it breaking through the clutter? You want to take it to the next level. You want to break through. You want conversations to convert into relationships. You want to bring your business or brand closer to the people who matter.
SOBCon 07 is happening in Chicago on May 11-12 and I'm speaking at it. It's the brainchild of Successful Blogger Liz Strauss and a few of her friends. Here's how it's billed: Overview An evening and a day of community, strategy, and information about the art, technology, and science of relationship blogging for 250 experienced bloggers.
Purpose We will demonstrate to 250 bloggers how to take their existing blogs to the next level through interactive presentations on publishing, design and branding, tools, analytics, social networking, marketing, and coaching, from the perspectives of the blogger and the audience.
Attendees Attendees are bloggers with a serious intent to improve their blogs. Seating is limited to 250 sold seats, plus guests.
You'll learn the secrets of success from professionals who have made their blogs "remarkable". Liz Strauss has dubbed us the Brat Pack of the blogging world. We're not Seth, Scoble, Steve, Sierra, Searls or any other big time bloggers with an "S" in their name. OK, fine we do have Sansone, Strauss and Starbucker—cut me some slack will ya? :)
Point is, we made our own rules—and blogged by them. Here's who's speaking:
Now here's where it gets pretty cool. On Friday night there will be an open mic and live performance by singer/songwriter Christine Kane and Rumor has it that Sansone is bringing the likes of Mike Wagner and Drew McLellen among others. I'll FINALLY get to meet some of you.
And here's a shout out to my friends in the Design & User Experience worlds who only go to AIGA and IA conferences. Get out of your sandbox and mix it up with people who don't do what you do. I come across plenty of design/UX blogs out there that seem "dead". No signs of life. Nada. Skip the AIGA event and try something different for a change. Find out how developing relationships both inside and outside your discipline can help amplify the contributions you make to your profession.
If we only talk to our peers, then it's like talking to ourselves. And talking to ourselves is a one way conversation.
Yup. I've gone all Twittery on you. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not an early adopter. I take my time with technology until I decide how it fits into my life. So when I noticed Twitter's snazzy looking widgets combined with the fact that I think blogs make us look much more glamorous than we really are—I decided that this was for me.
So, here's what you can expect. The widget is on my right rail directly above the blogroll buffett. I'll probably be doing most of my Twitters from my mobile. You can expect to get a few glimpses of the quirky, non glamorous moments in life that we all share. But don't expect anything too deep (or personal). Well, we'll see. If blogging is like a box of chocolates, maybe Twitter is a shot of espresso.
And yes, heaven help me. We just burned through 2 videos of Ninja Turtles and I don't know what to do next...
"Inspiration. Where do ideas come from? Insights are the fuel of
inspiration. You don’t get ideas from sitting at your desk. Use the
world as a source of inspiration (not as a source of validation). It
starts with empathy and seeing things from other people’s viewpoints,
not yours. Aim to understand people on multiple levels: physically,
cognitively, emotionally, socially, and culturally." ~IDEO's Tim Brown from MXSF 2007
"If you're a blogger and you got an Nseries “multimedia computer” in the
mail what would you do with it? How would you feel about it? Obligated?
Bribed? Important? Valued?"
I'm going to answer this question as honestly as I can:
First off, I would disclose that I know Karl who happens to work at Nokia—we've been in touch over the past year.
So now let's go through Karl's question in more depth:
Obligated? Yes, I would feel obligated to write about using the device simply because I've been given something of value. I think that's the least thing I could do. However, I would not feel obliged to say positive things unless they were true. I would express honest opinions because that's worth more to me than any gadget. Also, since I'm not a professional reviewer and this is not Consumer Reports, I would probably talk about what I know and avoid things I don't know enough about. I know a thing or two about product and user interface design, so if anyone were to send me a tech gadget, this is what I would talk about most.
Bribed? No, I would not feel bribed unless there was some condition that came along with it that implied that I had to say only nice things. That's how bribes work. You don't pay someone unless you know for sure that they will do what you want. If I'm sent a product, there is no guarantee that I might not critique it.
Important? I'm going to be very honest here. Yes, absolutely it would make me feel important. I am after all only human and sometimes having a blog with steady readership goes straight to my big head. The good news is that it doesn't stay there too long because I've lived long enough to know that although I enjoy this—there are much more precious and important things in life. But yes, I think receiving something of value would make me feel special.
Valued? No , I would not feel valued. If I were sent a product from a large company—I know it's all business and not because I'm being sent something because the company "likes" me. That said, I have received some very thoughtful items recently including A Whole New Mind which was sent to me from Kevin and a signed copy of Mavericks at Work which Valeria sent my way. I felt really valued when Tom sent me his book Sandbox Wisdom because it was like he was talking to me through it. I felt valued because in all cases they read this blog and knew I would appreciate the books. This is different than getting a freebie from a company.
Lastly I would add this for any company with a formal seeding program. I for one would be happy to accept an item with full disclosures, but I would ask you to ask yourself if this is the right forum or not. If it were Nokia to use Karl's example—I would say yes because they are a design-driven organization who's products deliver a user experience. This is something I talk about here.
OK Karl, all that said you can now have Nokia send me an Internet tablet since I'm probably not buying an iPhone and wouldn't mind moblogging on something other than my Sidekick. :)
Ever go weeks without checking through your "junk e-mail" folder? If that's the case, why don't you take this as an opportunity to go ahead and do so. I randomly went through mine and was surprised to see a bunch of e-mails that got caught up in there from people I know. I missed an invitation from Clay Parker Jones to attend a Chicago Coffee event where Katie Chatfield from Get Shouty showed up. And I missed these two wonderful "blog anniversary" gifts from Roger von Oech. Roger was in Berlin when he took these photos and of course he knew I would love them.
So lesson learned. Sometimes we need to rummage through our virtual "junk draws" to see if there is a little gem mixed in with all the toothpicks, matches, key chains, pencils, and old business cards.
Update: "Joseph Stalin" just claimed the lense. Well,—we'll see what happens next...
I was recently given a heads up by Seth that I've been featured on Squidoo in an area labeled "People That Matter". OK... cool I guess. However this part of how it works caught my attention:
The page needs to be "claimed". Right now mine is "unclaimed". I didn't create this page, someone at Squidoo did and it's got some limited generic background information on me.
So let's try an experiment. If anyone wants to claim it, go ahead. Between my blog/website and Google, you can find out pretty much everything you need to know about me.
I guess I'm curious to see what happens if you open something like this up. Will it be accurate? Can we trust people other than ourselves to represent us? Or will it be abused? If you recall, the Z-List didn't translate very well on Squidoo, (at least initially) but is this a different application of the service entirely?
I suppose if it gets abused (meaning there is inaccurate information about me), I can always take it down. But either way, the results of this little experiment may tell us a thing or two about Social Media. Well, if anyone's in the mood to try something here—have at it. Let's see what happens.
"innovation and talent is coming from the edges. The means to try, the
means to invent, the means to fail and try again is available to anyone
with an internet connection and increasingly they are ones willing to
try new things." ~Karl Long
"
Brands that surf culture have to choose their moment with exquisite
timing. If they are a moment too soon, they look like reckless "kooks"
way out ahead of the trend. " ~Grant McCracken
"It’s fun to learn about (or visit) other galaxies on occasion though.
This is ideally what conferences are for: bringing ambassadors from
different galaxies together. But like any good tourist, you need a
strong stomach and an open mind. People you’ve heard rumors of turn out
to be different than you expected and the customs are, well, just weird." ~Dan Saffer
Today is a great day to ponder how we feel about the color Red. For those of you who love Red—you may be in your glory as every product/greeting you can imagine is sporting the color. For those of you who aren't a big fan of Red, you may be looking forward to tomorrow when it's all over.
Red is a passionate color. Most people have fairly strong feelings about it either way (positive or negative). If you think about it—it makes perfect sense. Aside from being one of the primary color choices—Red can be symbolic of both life or death (blood), power, passion and intensity (fire), or violence (bloodshed).
Red is the color of passion.
Think about the base definition of the word passion. Passion can describe enthusiasm. It can describe violence (crimes of passion). It's an excellent word to describe very strong and intense feelings of some kind.
Passion is the opposite of neutrality
Now here is something interesting. Think about what happens when you take a passionate color like Red and add another color to it? What happens?
For me personally, I feel this:
Red + Black: aggression and power (Darth Maul) Red + White: romance, and the smell of peppermint (candy canes) Red + Yellow: Energy, and for some strange reason—Ronald McDonald
How do the color combinations make you feel? How do you feel about Red?
Thoughts about using Red in your brand, product or design should include this: -Are you trying to make a statement? What is it? -Are you passionate about something? What? -If Red represents the heart of your brand—what color represents the soul? -Why Red?
Think about the "Red" global campaign against AIDS—where the color IS the campaign. Think about the power and passion associated with the movement to rid the world of a horrible disease. Bottom line, if Red is the color of passion as opposed to the color of neutrality—know why you are using it.
February 12th, 2006: My wife had taken the kids to Michigan to visit family. I had the weekend to myself and decided this was going to be the time and place that I would launch my blog. I had no idea what the heck I was doing—but a little voice inside my head said “why not?—let’s see what happens...” What I did next is the same thing that over 55 million people now do on a regular basis. I clicked this innocent-looking button:
Over time, this seemingly insignificant action would alter what I do for a living as well as how I live. If I were asked to come up with a slogan for blogging, it would be this: Blogging is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
In many ways I approached personal publishing the way Forrest Gump approached living. I didn’t do a lot of research studying the space other than reading a handful of blogs—and I certainly didn't overthink things. At the time, I didn’t subscribe to feeds or even know what Technorati was. I had never heard of the Cluetrain Manifesto, Naked Conversations or Creating Passionate Users. I began blogging with what Roger von Oech calls a “Beginners Mind”. And perhaps this is what has served me most faithfully over the past year.
Blogging, much like life—is a big box of assorted chocolates. An international collection of different shapes, sizes and flavors ready to be sampled at any given moment. We’re sharing ideas, creating, co-creating, mixing, mashing, interacting and even forming lots of chocolatey communities along the way. I didn’t expect this part of blogging, but have been very pleasantly surprised that true community exists and is a tangible thing. I’ve connected with many of you over the past year. Some I’ve metinperson and othersthroughe-mail and even overthephone.
But there was another take-away for me through this whole experience. A validation of a theory which I had no idea would go this far. To be frank—I’m shocked (and delighted) that Logic + Emotion has picked up this much momentum in such little time. I thought I would be communicating primarily to creative/design professionals but what ended up happening was that the audience here began defining itself. Planners, Librarians, Marketers, Anthropologists, Technologists, Businesspeople, Entrepreneurs,—folks from all different kinds of bakgrounds (and countries) which I never expected would care about the content here started showing up and coming back. Below is a simple visual which summarizes the current state of L+E if you go by the “numbers”:
Though it’s not just about numbers of course. My theory was that the social network just might be the ultimate manifestation of a “free market of ideas” meaning that anyone had a shot at being heard. But with 55+ million blogs out there, chances are still slim that you will be "heard" by a sizable audience. However, as I’ve said before—something funny happened on the way to the blogoshpere. An average Joe like me—someone who has never written a formal whitepaper, nevermind a book can also have a say in things. And neither permission nor a PHD is required. This in my opinion is the true power of social media. If you have something valuable to add to the conversation—you will be heard. It's that simple. And once you are heard—it then becomes your choice to either stay connected to the communities who live in this space, or participate from afar.
To some extent, I’ve chosen to stay connected because it feels right. It’s meaningful and adds value to my life. Though it doesn’t replace physical relationships—our digital interactions are all still very human. And speaking of humanity, blogging has been a very human experience—at least for me it has.
No doubt many of you can relate to the story I am telling on this “birthday post”. That’s the glue which holds participatory media together—we all go through similar phases though maybe at different times. If you are reading this story as an “observer” rather than participant, you may only be grasping what I'm saying here with your head. I’m confident you are an intelligent individual, so none of this is news to you. But the core distinction between observation and participation is this:
Unless you experience something for yourself, you will only understand with your head and not your heart.
That’s the impact of participation through experience, and this brings me to the irony of the blog title—Logic + Emotion. Initially, the title came from a blurb on my personal site. I used that blurb as broad statement which applies to good design principals. The hammer on my personal site represents an object which functions very effectively but is also appealing at the emotional level. Logic + Emotion now has a entirely new meaning to me—as I’ve been influenced, educated, inspired, and touched in significant if not emotional ways through participation in this thing we call Social Media.
In short,2006 hasbeen a monumental year in many ways. I can only say thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to read my words (and pictures), while sharing both their thoughts and hearts.
Gump was right. I never knew what I was gonna get.
So if it's is a Birthday Party, here’s a little party favor. I’ve gone through the bulk of my visuals and put them on PowerPoint slides which you can download here. They’re ready to use in your presentations. I only ask that you do the right thing in return, and provide a credit in some way that you deem appropriate. And a special thank you to everyone who has used a visual and linked back here.
I have no definitive plans for 2007. If the past year has taught me
anything, it’s reminded me that blogging, like life has a way of
working out differently from how you plan it. It’s always good to
plan, but you also need to improvise. The magic happens somewhere in the middle.
I just finished watching CBS Sunday Morning. A fine program. But when it came time for one of the journalists to enlighten us as to why we shouldn't care about Anna Nicole, my eyes started to glaze over real quick. I don't need to be lectured about why we all need to pay attention to the massive events going on in the world, and why news rooms need to play down this event. I know exactly why Anna Nicole is such a big deal and it's astonishing that our highly sophisticated media can't get their collective heads around this.
Anna Nicole wasn't just a person, she was an idea. In fact, she was an idea that stuck. Yes, I'm applying language from the book Made To Stick, which I am working my way through right now. In it—the Heath brothers tell the story of how Bill Clinton's tendency to over complicate was his Achilles heel. That is until James Carville came up with this little sticky idea:
"It's the economy stupid"
Anna Nicole's life, legacy and now legend can be summed up in similar fashion:
"It's the bombshell stupid"
Whether we agree with Anna's lifestyle choices, appearance or celebrity is irrelevant. For the record, I didn't agree with any of it and I have heaps of sympathy for any soul who is that lost—but none of this really matters when we ponder if this is newsworthy.
Anna was a symbol.
A comprehensive symbol of human imperfection, glamor, excess, over-indulgence, and to the bombshell label—explosive life which never stopped detonating.
So, as we attempt to over-complicate Anna's passing and whether we should be paying attention or not—you might as well face this fact. Anna's persona stuck—whether we like it or not.
"I used to worry about people "stealing" my ideas. Now I know that turning them into something is hard. Ideas are the easy part. And sharing is good for the spirit." ~Gavin Heaton
"If websites were houses, IA would be the plumbing. It's there, everyone
understands conceptually it's there, but it's hidden, out of the way,
taken for granted, and to be honest, no one wants to think too deeply
about where it all goes after they flush, anyway. The only time it's
really noticed is if it doesn't work. And then everyone gets upset." ~Cam Beck
"Is this how some alternative marketing firms interpret "new marketing"?
Blinking lights and wired boxes on bridge overpasses? Isn't this worse
than traditional advertising? I hope we put laws in place like they did
in Brazil (I think it was there) legislating against urban spam." ~Dino Demopoulus
The two gentlemen in this picture are the Heath brothers. Chip and Dan Heath to be more specific. I met them briefly on this chilly February evening at a bookstore where they were promoting their first book—Made to Stick. They hosted a quick chat and signed some books (I bought a copy on the spot and got it signed). This post obviously is not a book review as I haven't read their book yet—but bear with me...
Why was I there?
I opted to skip coming home and seeing Chip and Dan in person primarily because of this, this, and this. And it was worth the detour. The first thing I noticed while taking my seat, was that the small audience at the bookstore was surprisingly diverse in age. There were folks in their 20s right up to folks in their 60's and 70s (and even a couple of toddlers!). The next thing I noticed was how effective their communication and storytelling was especially to this group of people ranging in ages. There's a lesson here for all aspiring writers and communicators (connecting with your audience regardless of age or background).
Ironically, this is the core subject matter outlined in their book—getting ideas to stick. Much of what they discussed in the bookstore had to do with the use of effective storytelling in our messages in order to get them to stick—to resonate and become memorable. This is how they outline the key traits of sticky ideas:
The book actually begins with the well known urban legend of the "Kidney Thieves"—making the point that successful urban legends contain these qualities. As I watched and listened to the brothers speak and entertain questions—I couldn't help but think about Roger von Oech's headline to his related post:
"Chip Heath: the Next Malcolm Gladwell?"
And while I don't have the answer to the suggestive headline—I will say that Chip does appear to have "it". What is "it"? "It" is hard to describe, but you know "it" when you see "it" and he's got it. I'm looking forward to digging into the book.
Take a look at what Guy Kawasaki does here. Now take a look at what Kathy Sierra does here. And most recently—what I’ve done here. I have a question: is the end of knowledge hoarding coming to an end?
First, let me loosely define what knowledge hoarding is. Knowledge hoarding is when someone knows something but is either unwilling to share what they know—or at least disclose the source of their knowledge. In other words, knowledge hoarding is the absence of the word how.
How did you do that? How do you know that? How can I apply what you know to what I do?
Knowledge hoarders are really good at soaking up knowledge. They can also be very good at expressing what they know in an engaging fashion—but what makes them hoarders is that they don’t always disclose the how. Speaking of—how do I know all this? Because prior to blogging, I probably was a knowledge hoarder to some extent (even if I didn’t realize it). But blogging and Social Media in the broader sense has a way of inviting and rewarding the sharing of “how”—if you choose to do so. It also promotes a certain sense of accountability as we link to and quote each other and our sources.
The next time you have to hand over your e-mail address in return for a whitepaper... The next time you pay good money to attend a conference or workshop... The next time you give of your time and attention... The next time someone demonstrates what they know—ask yourself this question: How?
If you've been loving up your blog but still have a static Website that you've been neglecting if not ignoring completely, here are a few simple ways you can "2.0-fy" your site with a very minor investment in time (updates took me about 45 minutes).
1. Get something up on your homepage that drives traffic to your blog These days even if a well-designed self promotional site serves it's purpose—it doesn't offer the same degree of conversation and "life" that your blog may be exhibiting. A simple update on your homepage can take only minutes.
2. Update what you've been up to If you already have a space on your site created for latest news, go ahead and update it. Make sure that the content is relevant to how you've been evolving what you do.
3. Breath life into your static 1.0 site with a widget Setting up a widget on your site that pulls live content from your blogs takes nothing more than a few short steps and some copy and pasting. It's a no-brainer.
Of course you can totally overhaul your site, refresh stylesheets and integrate in many effective ways—but the purpose of this post is to explore what can be done in a very short amount of time with minimum effort. I was dreading updating my site and haven't touched it in over a year and I don't have the time to re-think what I want to do with it. Making these simple changes better align my site with the blog and I didn't even break a sweat.
"Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but
that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging
as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills,"
the author says."
I saw the article a few days back and didn't think much of it until I read CK's take on it. First off, let me say that the good professor gets one thing right. Bloggers ARE a lonely bunch. That's because ALL human beings are. We all feel lonely at times and we're all are hired-wired for companionship and meaningful connectivity in some capacity. You don't need a textbook to know that. Bloggers are human beings the last time I checked—so the same rules apply.
Rather than going on a rant about the article, I'm going to share one simple link to provide some food for thought here.
It's a growing list of executives and CEO's who just happen to blog. Real people. People with lives. People who manage other people and work for very real companies with very real results. Many of which you have heard of—some are household names. This is a list of people who are tapped to inspire, lead, negotiate and interact with others on a daily basis. Many of the names on the list are people who are actively driving change both inside and outside of their organizations.
This is but one example to add another dimension to this discussion. So if you like, go ahead and believe that human beings who choose to express their views through personal publishing are oddities. But do so at your own risk.
Fellow Digitasian Crystal Smith was wandering around the frigid streets of Chicago taking pictures of all the landmarks lit up in Blue and Orange in honor of the big game this Sunday. Shows you the gritty loyalty of a Bears fan—who's afraid of a little frost bite? Of course colors don't make the brand, but in this case—Chicago's got both the Blues and (Orange) fever. Go Bears!
Buzz Buzz Buzz Acouple of goodtakesonthe latest "Guerrilla/Word of Mouth Marketing" debacle. I have one thing to say about these kinds of gimmicks:
Was it a good experience?
For Boston? For consumers? For the client? For the agency? Is Buzz worth it at all costs? In his post Seth says we won't see the last of this kind of thing. He's probably correct. On a personal note, I was in a Boston cab at the time this was going on and saw all of the police cars on full alert scrambling around town—it didn't seem like anyone was having a good experience that day.
My Time Greg Verdino has a good take on You Tube in the current issue of OMMA—but you can get the full article complete with a visual off his blog. IA Summit Disambiguity's Leisa Reichelt will be on a panel discussing where IA fits into the design process. If you ask me—it is part of the design process (or at least needs to be).
When first starting at Digitas, I was part of a small group tasked with coming up with new ways to approach our work. After many sessions—we ended up with a simple set of high-level principals. Uncover, Define, Ideate. Each principal housed a subset of techniques we could apply to an initiative. The techniques could be varied based on how we would approach each problem. In essence it was a toolkit.
However, the group dissolved and we went on with our everyday work. But before we did, I mocked up this little set of cards and recently came across it again. There's something here that's worth re-exploring and having this as an artifact helps reinforce the thought more than scribbled notes, an excel document or a bulleted powerpoint slide ever could.
That's the power of an artifact. Even if you don't take the idea to full execution, it leaves you with something tangible which can inspire future ideas. Maybe it's time to come back to the approach we began outlining here. Even if we don't—it's still nice to have the artifact.
