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Cooper Eating the Food Pyramid in 2004 (3 yrs old)

Just found this sweet MP3 while looking for something else. Wish i would have saved more. Here, he's leaving a VM for me at work, telling me what he ate that day for lunch: coop food pyramid.mp3 (501.1K)

All People Making "Creative" Need to be Technologists

From the Weiden & Kennedy Blog: 

I’ve pretty much had it with the term “Creative Technology”. I’m a “Creative Technology Director” myself, and even I’m over it: already it seems clichéd at best, and at worst, bordering on the meaningless. Here’s why.

Full story: Why We're Not Hiring Creative Technologists (via @daveknox)

Brand Promise vs. Brand Purpose

I spend a good part of my week working with brands trying to do more  and do it better in the social space. The vast majority of the brands I work with are well established, generally low consideration, but well-loved products. These are brands that have been built over years via TV, price promotions, and some couponing. They struggle, as you might imagine, with what to do and say in the social space. Mainly because they have no real purpose. 

I don't say that dismissively. But, it's true. There's not a really good reason a lot of these brands exist beyond generating incremental profits for the company that makes them (and who generously sends me money every other week! Thanks guys!). The best brands - or at least the ones that seem to have some real momentum in the minds of consumers - seem to have some clearly articulated purpose, are values driven, and see their role in society as integral to everything they do.   Without that purpose, it's hard to maintain quality interactions with consumers because - unless you are a wildly entertaining brand a la Skittles recently - it's hard to get consumers to care about much beyond your new flavor or your price. 

Brands need a purpose.Beyond a promise. A promise guides messsaging, it helps the consumer understand what they'll get from the brand or how the new features will work or what the benefits are. But, we humans care more about actions than words. In some cases - the best cases for brands -  we actually care about what the brand is doing, how it's living in the world, and what it's contributing into the network of connections we've all made with each other. And, when branding is really done well, we come to brands - we learn about them, we try them, add them to our consideration set - through the work in the real world that brands are doing. And, for the best brands, those actions are driven by a higher sense, a higher purpose. 

And, without that clear sense of purpose, the reason for existing, it's hard to generate real meangingful connections with people. And, without those, most of a brands social efforts will be kind of empty and, ultimately, not very valuable for people or the brand.  

 

Apple TV (Again)

There have been plenty of articles on the possibility of Apple making a TV. It's got to happen. It just makes so much sense. And i can't wait. 

Go Pack!

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/magazine/the-green-bay-packers-have-the-best-owners-in-football-10202011.html

9 Man Youth Football: Thinking about Next Year & www.smartfootball.com

I'm already starting to draw up the playbook for next year. I'll be leaning heavily on the concepts Chris Brown discusses at SmartFootball.com. The guys is a film nerd for film nerds. A great example of the best kinds of blogs: Fairly narrow subject, covered passionately, written in a clear, distinct voice with a POV to admire. 

I'm going to run this play next year with the 5th graders: 

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/6711/draw-it-up-the-49ers-and-the-wham-play

Branding/Naming: New Model Agencies

Here's a good example of how attention to detail and good copy writing can recast a tired topic. There's tons of stories in the press about how young agencies are strarting up to challenge the old agencies. A boring story would call them "new, young agencies". Smart copywrighting makes them "New Model Agencies", which works on a couple good levels. "New Model Army" was not only a great, punk-ish band that plenty of music weasels will remember, but it's a cool nod to military history, where Cromwell was responsible for putting the first real professional army into place in England. A little twist in copy makes a big difference. 

Shameless Plug: Magic Brownie (Ad)

General Mills has launched a really exciting and funny Magic Brownie video on Youtube and Fiberone.com to support the Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies that launched nationally this past June.  Here’s the link! http://www.youtube.com/magicbrowniemovie.

(note: I work for GMI, and this video is essentially an Ad)

Staying Motivated, Staying Ambitious

Early yesterday morning, after an hour of cranking on a deck, i realized it was my 5 year anniversay at my employer. I threw out a quick post on Twitter suggesting a new "law". Basically, it's this: The longer you stay in corporate america, the harder it is to make great things.

It got a bit of reaction, mostly negative. I shouldn't have posted it without context, in hindsight. I think it's real, and to me it's an important motivator, a watchout, a warning sign, which is why i posted it in the first place.

"Great" is a key term. And, i think "great" is relative to the culture/environment you're in. Company ABC has very different expectations and strategies and goals compared to Company XYZ, just like what's "great" in Niger or Chad may not be "great" in Tokyo or Silicon Valley. The challenge to anyone in a well established corporate culture? Stay focused on external benchmarks, on the innovators, on the dudes in a garage with 10K from YCombinator that are coming to decimate your "strategic advantage".  Don't let your cultural blinders keep you focused on your corporate navel or your boss, or this quarter's objectives, or that single metric. Keep on eye on how the state of "great" keeps changing.

The other term is "make something". When you've been in one place for sooooooo long, it's easy to just keep the wheel moving. Its a lot easier to keep the current machine - no matter how shaky or out of  date -  operating smoothly. We can make Incremental improvements, but still be proud of efficiencies, productivity, etc. instead of starting something new that's vitally needed for longer term personal, professional, corporate or cultural success. Change, when it's meaningful and innovative, is hard. Really hard, especially when there's heavy, long term investment in a status quo that's been quite successful.

Finally, "make something great" doesn't just mean "make something that exists better". To me, i still believe that those that have been given talent, resources, opportunities and tools should have ambitions to make the world a better place. "Great" means having a social and historical impact. It's not cool these days to be nakedly ambitious, but i'll say it: I don't want to leave the planet without trying to do something historically noteworthy. Even if it's just in the company where i work, i want to leave a mark. I believe we should be shooting at making something, something that's noteworthy, something that people will remember because it had a lot of impact or helped others, something that is great.

So, i'm staying motivated, staying ambitious. I'm fighting the hypothetical "laws" of corporate physics.

 

MineCon 2011

Celebrate the official launch of Minecraft with your friends from around the world and the Mojang Team. Get ready for a fun weekend of everything Minecraft. The first MineCon is sure to blow away all of your expectations. Set in the fantastic city of Las Vegas, we are ready to have the ultimate “block” party.

Minecrafters will enjoy

• Official Minecraft launch
• Keynote speeches (including one by our very own Notch)
• Build contests
• Breakout classes with all different Minecraft topics
• Costume contests
• Exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft related companies
• Meeting friends from around the world
• Commemorative merchandise

More activities will be announced soon… these are just the ones we can tell you already. The ones we can’t yet disclose are going to blow your mind!

via minecon.mojang.com

If i was a cool dad, i'd bring Cooper out to this...

Because You Need to Understand LBJ: LBJ Buys Pants on Vimeo

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson needed pants, so he called the Haggar clothing company and asked for some. The call was recorded (like all White House calls at the time), and has since become the stuff of legend. Johnson’s anatomically specific directions to Mr. Haggar are some of the most intimate words we’ve ever heard from the mouth of a President.

We at Put This On took the historic original audio and gave it to animator Tawd Dorenfeld, who created this majestic fantasia of bungholiana.

Enjoy this special treat from Put This On: LBJ Orders Pants. Then share it with a friend who loves pants.

via vimeo.com

Wow, this is good. Please check out putthison.com to see some great stories about clothes, too.

The Beauty of Pandora

Hows this for a well tuned pandora station? My last seven songs:

"Lovers Cry" - Freedy Johnson

"Into Your Arms" - The Lemon Heads

"I melt with You" - Modern English

"There she Goes Again" - The Las

"Welcome to the Working Week" - Elvis Costello

"Drive8" - REM

"Porchlight" - Buffalo Tom

 

All of those are awesome songs. 3 are in my all-time, top 25 songs.