enjoy the weekend

Amongst the many things identified by Diamond, again we see the use of wrong analogies that frame our actions and perceptions of success, or lack thereof. The fact the talk is four years old, yet not dated, adds to its urgency, to me at least.

Howerever you like your tea, this talk should touch some of your interests/concerns. Again, it runs a bit long, but contains enough gems to keep you watching..

Rob has been writing some clear and precise posts about adlands problems..

Yet the core problem and possible solution seem simple, almost trivial (so most likely wrong). The industry has become one focused on Ideas of Succession, instead of Ideas of Progress.

The former is ” the act or process of following in order or sequence”, while the latter is focused on “A moving or going forward; a proceeding onward; an advance”.

Both have valid reasons for being, commercial value and require creativity/teamwork and effort. Yet one of them has time working against it, but until that time has run out it provides stable revenue and efficiency of scale and stability.

The other buys you more time, by letting past structures behind and looking for the next thing to become an idea of succession. More risk, less pay-off, but a chance for a seat at the table, because you are building the table.

Trick is indentifying what kind of work you are doing, so you can start planning for the inevitable change needed for things to remain sort of the same.

Quite long, but if you got the time, he makes quite a lot of sense.

herd, ideas that do, trickster and all that..

“Call me. I am horny”

Nike,
We all know what you stand for. Just do it, real stuff, pushing yourself etc etc.. So why Rick Ross aka Officer Ricky, for your “Boom campaing”  celebrating those great moments in sports, when shit comes together?

Let’s leave the obvious stuff, like his athletic prowess for what it is and focus on what you were probably going for, the transcending values that Rick Ross embodies..(pun intended, I mean..the guy is huge).

Hiring someone who is naming himself after a real drug dealer, while trying to hide his past as a correctional officer to capitalize on the trend of gangsta rap, does not scream Nike, does it?

It does kinda whisper, win by any means. If I were a cynical bastard, I could point to that being the transcending value you both share: at any cost. But let’s keep it civil.

Sure it is just one execution in a series. And you Nike will no doubt not feel any major backlash, but damn Nike…You used to be somebody, a contender..people’s champ..

You brought us Mars and Mike

Sir Charles…

Executions that not only reflected urban culture and their role in the USA, but were ahead of their time and actually broke ground, making it more than ok for urban America to be themselves (instead of the Cookie Cutter Magic Johnson and Dr J image that America wanted ).

If I was not cynical, I would say you again are hitting the nail on the head . Exposing the morals of America. It’s struggle to reconcile the love for winners with the greed that hides in their shadows..

That you are creating satire. Making us laugh, while also telling us to, in the end, be honest and fair winners, like the second part of the commercial implies. As I am writing this I almost sell it to myself.

Almost. If only it weren’t for the Tiger situation you so horrible handled with this whitewashing pandering effort, just to keep him selling…

Instead of letting him be himself and reflecting the realities of America (in terms of race, fidelity, double standards we have for public people, amongst other things).

I don’t know Nike..I guess we all change. Obviously being international, you got your eyes on the BRICK nations .

Perhaps they are bringing out the diplomat/CEO in you instead of the trailblazer. Path of least resistance, “tap-ins count as goals as well” type thinking. Perhaps I am just making to much of it and you caught me in a bad mood. I mean, it is just Ricky after all.

But still, I expect better, because you know better. You have a bond with urban America. Fuck that, a bond with underdogs around the world. Pay us some mind again.

Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t act like all of a sudden you’ve got something to lose. You just might lose something more valuable than a share of our of wallet. You know how big we are on respect and all that…

This is my mum. To be more precise, this my mum loving the internet. Full stop. Loving her new Vaio, even personalizing it to her.

A month before she was declaring (when she saw me working on mine) “ that is an addiction, I tell you. That internet is poisoning your brain.”

If the house was on fire and she had to choose, I think she would still choose me over the laptop. I am just saying, she loves her web and laptop.

My mum went  from a technophobic commited non-user, taking pride (somewhat) in not being online, to the complete opposite in less then a month.

And all it took was one thing: interaction in a way that reasonated with her.

From the time she first started using Skype to talk to her sister in New York, to her receiving her first email to being utterly blown away by pictures of her village in the old country.

She has transitioned from one point to another in a natural and for her comfortable way. Much like a child by playing and fooling around with the machine till it made tactile, emotional and mental sense.

It would have been to complicated for me to explain to her why she should have a laptop and internet. Yet once the thing was there, we got her to try out some stuff that resonated with her. She did the rest.

We learn to use by doing. And we appreciate what we learn to use. And as psychologists know, past behaviour is the best curren$y to predict future behaviour..