Trend: Methaphors were/are/will be the triggers that enable primed systems/segments/societies to collectively move at an accelerated pace in the direction they were moving already unconciously.

The above talk with George Soros also bring to light something obvious, yet very interesting. The fact that false positive stories (ineffective stories – who for whatever reason, be it through distribution, interpretation take on different meaning- measured against the goal the story was suppose the help pave action and thinking) can actually succeeded, and become triggers for unintented action.

Worse even is the fact that false positive stories, also increase ‘false negative’ stories. Stories that showed promise of becoming internalized in the intended manner, but who get ignored, or stopped, due to the force of action the more succesfull false positives take up.

Am even inclined to call the end of marketing and advertising that does. Meta strategy (getting the thought right, that sparked a thousand thoughts that drive actions to flow from them) is (again, nothing new to it, really) where it will be at, in an world of oversupply of solutions, initiatives and people wanting to act (as seen in the rise of impact philanthropy.

Think Slow Food or transition towns as it begets entire markets, social, commercial, academic, practical, instead of Make.Believe.

Even recent event is Tunisia are an example of how trigger stories (in this case combined) can become an infrastructure for an primed system to break out..combine documents, with food prices, faulty self amplifiyng stories that the system wants to hear and decades old year systems breaks.

Though just to play devil’s advocate to all this abstraction, the Ipad Youtube and Twitter seem like the first in what is likely to be very disprutive inverse antropomorphic tools.

Tools (though the name tool does not quite fit as a tool implies a preset function, perhaps object comes closer) that create infrastructures out of thoughts so that primed systems can achieve enough leverage to break through the robustness of said system. Be it a business like Flipboard or a social change as discribed above.

Sidenote: This could be the achilles heel of Facebook. It is to defined, to controlled, to arrogantly unaware of its coming demise, to survive. It can’t be rewritten so it will stop being read at some point?

The issue of control (and implicit responsability for how it is used ), which these tools still (need to) have will be an interesting point of future friction between users and provider, just as humans struggle with their own mortality and morality, whether it be man against Maker or man against nature.

The increasing power of frames is something I touched upon here a bit, but did not push the thought to its most logical concuslusion: becoming compost. At ease with being disbanded when it has served own needs, so it can become the catalyst for more, different ideas. This seems like the minimum on which we must judge the potential of an idea, both for good and bad outcomes.

Spotting actual and mood movement of people so that false negative stories don’t die and false postive frames don’t get a chance in ever anger primed societal systems is going to be the next thing for strategist, and researchers, because in our urge for ever faster and ever tranparenter collective actions, time for thought is decreasing.

All in all the above is nowhere near a finished thought..just wanted it written to get back to as it seems fertile ground for thought as we enter a period of volitile complex (not complicated) times with a growing need for resilience and patience .

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…

He you. How are things? You did not get into an agency…again? Kiddo, I think it is time we had a talk. You don’t think I can help? Silly child.

Now go tell your mother to hurry up and stop worring about what dress makes her ass look fat. It’s her fat ass that makes it look fat in all of them.

I was born in a snow storm at Camp Kilmer my mother having trudged to the dispensary through the drifting snow to be delivered of her burden by a psychiatrist — hey, he was the only doctor available. I was trouble from the start.

Autobiography. JLM

the context of these words is found here

Have a great weekend.

“My dream job would be…uhhmm..I know…it would be dictator” he said. “If you ever become a dictator” she said, ”I will drop everything and be with you”.

I once read that Howard Hughes bought a local television station so he could watch his favorite movies whenever he wanted. A decision made purely on the basis of love. Crackpot love for movies, but love nonetheless. No other factors played a part.

For them it is not that simple. There’s distance, different cultures, excpectations of others, significant others, on top of the what-ifs and risks that come with every new relationship.

Stuff, he naively said, had nothing to do with them. The idea of them being together. Yet stuff, she knew, did have an influence on their situation and decisions.

Work is no different in this regard. Talking to the business owner, or whoever who makes the business/money decisions, knowing their real agenda, taking these factors into account, is the best way to lower the odds of getting rejected.

Unless this is the case, we have to, at every step, look at the current situation, reason back and ask the same question over again: ” What is or what would stop them from moving forward ?”

Because while most people love most ideas, reality shows that the majority of ideas doesn’t get realised (or realised to their full potential). Like it or not, there is a gap between loving something and acting on that love. And the reasons behind this gap are not always the obvious ones we only thought about.

“If you ever become a dictator” she said, ”I will drop everything and be with you”.

Better keep that promise.

It struck me as some cliche rich folks tell. Turns out he was right. Kind of. I just could not see it. Blinded by the lights, as the song goes.

We see him party, spend money, carry bling and have all the girls.  All wish to be him. But..not the entire him. Just the guy on the red carpet. Sexy money.

Which brings me to…me…and you.

Sexy or money. Time to choose.

Going after the first could mean you will have some great experiences, read great stuff, end up discussing the future of businesses, even may mean you will advice companies, go to Cannes to collect some awards and party like rockstars.

Scoping it out, it may mean you get to go to TED to listen to great men of action, dance at presidential inaugurations, participate in celebrity telethons for humanitarian causes.

Going after money means the opposite. Accepting accolades, being sworn in, speaking at TED, being the face of a cause. Only after you have achieved something. Or failing without anybody ever noticing, or worse: failing in the public eye.

I guess most of us want sexy money. We humans are like that. But if we admit that, let’s admit something else: It is not going to happen, until we choose to be/get money first. To make things happen, earn that success. Until we go out and do shit.

So…there is this idea for a business. Getting more and more concrete. Operational progress is being made. Commercial success lurks around the corner. Might be good, might not.

Only one way to find out.

His life is turned upside down when a young MBA (played by Anna Kendrick) comes in and figures out that by doing the firing online and from one central location, the cost of business can be reduced by 85%. Clooney tries to convince her that this is not as clearcut as Kendrick thinks it is.

The contrast between Clooney and Kendrick serves as a nice backdrop for some practices we all know but sometimes need reminding of*:

Culture vs category Culture leads to better understanding of category

There are many problems in the lives of people, that may not directly relate to our products, but offer a chance to solve problems with tangible solutions.

Kendrick came in and saw one thing from her limited exposure and training. ” If we can cut the cost of flying by doing it via internet, we can make a killing”. Of course she is right.

Cutting cost would have made the fictional company more money. Yet what she had not experienced, was the stuff that happens all around the product they offer (in this case the firing of people).

There are issues that play a big part in the lives of the fired ones that have no relation to getting fired. Yet could have offered her company opportunities to be of bigger additional value to clients and customers than just being cheaper.

Culture (or let me rephrase that large word: an understanding of the wider lives of customers other than their behaviour when interacting with our clients catergory product) can be a fertile place for cash. But it means widening our scope.

There is this story about the public service system in Mexico around the 1950’s. It was notorious for its ineffectiveness. But gradually the productivity went up, without active involvement of the Gov. Nobody could, on the surface find a reason for this change. Turns out it was the aircondtitioning.

The siesta was something very strongly engraved in Mecixan live. Whether they be public servants, bankers, mechanics or farmers. The practice was part of the country.

So when the Mexican governement started installing airconditioning machines in city halls and other places where the servants worked, it had unexpected results.

The siesta was used for killing downtime around the hottest time of day, because it was dangerous to be outside (or that was the orginal practice, which carried over even when not entirely true for civil servants in the 1950’s anymore). Now the temperture was being kept steady at a workable one with the help of airco’s.

Slowly but surely this had an effect on the behaviour of the servants that led them not to take siestas and thus upping productivity.

Imagine if the sellers of the airco had pitched it as a means to up productivity or effectiveness, based on this insight and possible new use of product? Would that have been better than just a device to keep people cool?

I don’t know (all history tells us is, that they were bought on the strenght of other considerations), but if we had to sell airco in this day and age it would be an interesting, appealing and memorable pitch compared to standard pitches of just keeping cool.

People are influenced by all kinds of things: the context of interaction, people we look to/at, folklore, the physical world around us, previous experiences, fears, insecurities, much more… and the category product. Use it all to be of better service and ultimately more profitable.

This concludes this series of posts.

*For arguments sake I leave the morality of working for/with a company that fires people for a living out of the equation. Same goes for the actual movie. No accounting for taste.

After having some lunch, I have come to the following conclusion. Yes and No.

It’s time we (?) learned a lesson from the restaurant industry. Chefs are in many ways a great inspiration for me as they are the ultimate advertising men. They have to do the planning and the creative execution all in one. Plus making sure that they do it on a budget , like good Account Handlers(well most have to), and advancing the craft further. All the while they never lose sight of the strategic anker of their proffession: serving up great food that customers want to eat.

That’s the trick. Serving up food that people wanna eat. Some do it via the classical French Cuisine, some do fusion cooking.

Another small trick is that the majority of the Chefs with 1 or more Michelin star have been trained in the classic French cuisine, the basis of modern cooking, at some point or another in their career. Some have chosen to move on to do different styles and explore different cuisines, some have choses to perfect it. But the root understanding and appreciation of the craft is there.

So why not have digital agencies. there could well be a market for it. That is not the real question.

One could argue that Nike did the right thing by not having Wieden do all the Nike+ stuff. Their strength is with emotional stuff in print and telly (bit of a generalisation, but for arguments sake, let’s play along). You don’t go to a restaurant to eat tapas with your coq au vine? why should you demand McDonald style service from your agency but that’s a client problem and a post for another time.

The question is: Do planners understand the root of their craft, the consumer and what drives him? If they do, well than there is no reason why they should not serve up their food in a digital form. If their is not, well than it’s time to re-evaluate the relevancy. For if you can not meet the never changing demand for consumer insight (but taken to a new medium) you should go back to school.

P.S. what if there was a Cordon Blue with a “Classis Cycle” for planning? I’d sign up. Just like mr King’s book should be read by all.