The Emerging Times

Moving the bar

Moving the bar: Interview with Jeff Benjamin

Here's a great interview with someone who has forever impacted both my career and perspective on interactivity—Jeff Benjamin from CPB. I think you'll find his thoughts on 'what it makes to make the best interactive work' to be simple, clear yet very insightful. Not everyone gets the opportunity to work with brilliant people like Jeff—i'm sure lucky I did. There's a lot of other insightful videos out there, some of them can be found here on One Show TV—check it out.

Click here to see Jeff's interview with the One Show.

 

 

ERA OF TRANSFORMATION

We are in the era of great transformation. Practically 5 seconds ago...Myspace was replaced by Facebook, iTunes overtook the record industry, the sit-down internet was replaced by the on-the-go internet, a 'bagillion' apps were downloaded, and 15-million iPads were purchased. (We can go on for hours here.)

In a split second things can (and will) change. Each time faster than the one before. Innovation, ideas technology are requiring our companies and brands to adapt, or die. There's just one very big problem here: change doesn't come easy. It's not exactly easy to change your staff. And certainly it's even harder to move the entire 'Mothership'.

So. How might you be able to cause such a dynamic transformation for the better? That shift in your organization that allows you to compete? How are you going to develop a fresh approach to motivating your team? How will you actually be able to change your client and suceed the next era?

If we're going to 'boom' in the next era we have to change with it.

Maybe if we started by changing ourselves, our own individual thinking, might we be able to implement a new approach and surpass survival. And who knows, perhaps just after we succeed with changing ourselves, might we be able to start to cause a greater transformation in all those other areas on-board.

We are in the era of great transformation. Don't blink or forget about it even for a second. Whoops...you missed it. It just happened 5-seconds ago. Oh look, here it comes again...Ready? 1.2.3.

Images. Ideas. Words.

Images. Ideas. Words.

That's what we're all dealing with here. As advertisers we concoct and apply these three powerful things to create the stuff people see and eventually buy. It's the product, the personality, the ad campaign, the music video.

If your ever lost in the business, wondering what exactly it is that you do or make, simply remember these three things. Consider them your ingredients. They're what the world sees and (hopefully) remembers. If your missing one of them, well then you're probably not doing it right. And if your thinking that an app or technology will do the trick, well you're wrong again.

The unique and consistent impact of images, ideas and words are what makes us remember messages. So when your building your next campaign, remember your simple tool set here. They're your simple building blocks to making advertising.

Images, ideas, and words.

Derivative of Goodness

Derivative of Goodness

When your seeking inspiration for a new idea, songs can always be inspiring. As my musician friend Jamie once said, "Music changes every mood. Instantly."

But when is a hit song so good that it inspires a trend, a passion, a position, an story, and a feeling so good that it makes people take action. To react, to even want to recreate it?

What inspires the cover?

I'll let the musicians give you that answer. But one thing I can say is that musicians and producers focus on a string of sounds, emotions, things made to move you. To connect with you.

Advertising is no different.

Musiciains like real dedicated companies want to express themselves too. Possibly inspire you like Apple does. It's either the words, the vibrations, the honesty or simply the beat.

Musicians are feeling magicians. Good songs like ideas have stories. They're taken and reused. It's only human nature. In the case of this song, it's reused and reinvented over and over again. Perhaps because it's able to inspire anyone. It's cultural magic. When things are good, they inspire. And when they inspire, they're meaningful for people. Here are three version's of Jason Mraz's song I'm Yours.

(Bash it all you want—it has over 90 million views for a reason.)

Version 1: Jason Mraz
Version 2: Christina Perri
Version 3: Jonus Brothers

Full lyrics

Inspiration: Andy Pratt Design

 
Inspiration: Andy Pratt Design
Here's a little inspiration from Andy Pratt Design. Andy's not only an amazing creative director, he's an amazingly talented illustrator and close friend of mine. His work always seems to make people smile. Here's a quick snap shot of my wintertime favorites. Check out all of his work (tons to see) or check out his latest notebook collection at AndyPratt.net

Smart, Funny or both.

I recently started teaching a portfolio class at the Miami Ad School in New York.

Here's one thing I told my class of talented, young creative marketers.

Ideas and executions in the advertising business generally land in one of two areas.
They are: smart or fun.

Half of young people starting off in the business have the technical skills and bold-minded courage to do stuff that's simply fun. Why not, that's what the business is all about. Doing "cool" stuff. The other half of young people are simply smart. They can logically break down a problem, approach it in an intelligent way and work off of the paths that have been set before. Insight is what drives them, not images and words. Either way, BOTH are equally important.

So which are you? Where do your ideas typically land? Can you be the other? What if you practiced?

Remember one thing—it's about range.

The best-lasting ideas in the world, the ones that last a generation, are both fun and smart. You can be both.

When partnerships work

When partnerships work

With enough space and responsibility we'll perform our best.

Today our relationships are formed across screens, emails, status reports and meetings. Underneath all this stuff is the greater intent to push each other to deliver our part of the deal.

Perhaps we don't even need this stuff. Maybe we only need to give the right people the mic and enough power to stir the ship.

That's how I think you'll get that perfect partnership.

The Process of Creation

"The creation of the art is as much a part of the final product as the art itself."
-Christo and Jeanne-Claude 

After 25 years of pitching, these artists erected The Gates. Imagine dedicating 25 years to your work and life, all to make your mark on the world.

How much does process matter to you? Does it have value? Does it make you happy? Or does it take you down every time? Do you know why? The best way to enjoy the process (and what you do) is to produce work that matters.

PS. Every week Wednesday is about a little inspiration—a little drive. Is this what you want? Please give me some of your feedback. I've been planning on a new blog format/schedule and would like to start gathering feedback. Email me some

Inspiration: Ed Ruscha

Inspiration: Ed Ruscha

I hope you're inspired this Saturday with some great masterpieces from the famous artist—Ed Ruscha. I've recently really gotten excited about his work (believe it or not) after watching an episode of Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel on my iPhone.

Right now, you have two options-you can a)Google him and explore the endless discussions about his work, or you can b) simply forget about all of that and sit back and soak in his canvas for a while-let yourself respond to his great art.

(And let's not forget, with all art there is no right or wrong answer to what you feel-it just is what it is.)

Start to learn more about Ed Ruscha here.

Unwire what is wired

Here's a free, 15 minute podcast from Sara Green from HBR and Gregory Burns, a Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory. Yes, Neuroeconomics. He's also the author of Iconoclast. Not only is it great, but it costs about $11 on Amazon. That's less than that fancy drink at your local bar—so just get it already. It's a real building block of knowledge, and a priceless read.

Here's his free interview podcast within the Harvard Business IdeaCast series. It's a nice way to refuel your thinking through this intelligent, simple breakdown on how and why we make the decisions we do—and how those decisions effect our decisions both as business people and as creative-types.

In fact, you should subscribe to the entire Harvard podcast series. It's intelligent, topical and insightful. Digital gems.

Click here to link, listen, download, save it. Or, grab it and play it for later. (Gregory's podcast is #4)