Resolutions

Resolutions pretty much suck. Most of them don't survive the first week and by February you have forgotten 99% of them.

Christine Kane came up with a good idea: Instead of having multiple resolutions, just focus on one word.
She writes:

"For instance, let’s take one of the examples above. Let’s say you are one of the many people who would normally choose “Get Organized.” You look around to see clutter and crap all over your life. You’re tired of the chaos. So, you think, “I need to get organized. That should be my Resolution this year.”

But then you read this blog. You decide to try it.

You sit with your clutter. You spend a few days pondering words that will inspire you. You realize in an “Ah-Ha!” moment that you tend to cling to lots of things. You’re scared to let go. So you choose the word “Release” because it inspires you in a bigger way than “Get organized.”

So, every time you approach your clutter you remind yourself of that word. “Release,” you say softly. You start to let the clutter go. Eventually, you realize that you’re still holding on to lots more than just physical clutter. You realize that you hold onto resentment at old relationships. “Release,” you remind yourself. You realize that holding on is affecting your diet and health. “Release” applies to some of the extra weight you’ve gained as well. Throughout the year, you can see clearly how much you hold on. “Release” is your touchstone. It grows you throughout the year. It becomes your guiding force, not your harsh standard.

Your clutter became your teacher simply because you shifted your intent towards it. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d opted only to “Get Organized.”

Looking at her list, I'm torn between Courage and Discipline.

On one hand, Courage is needed if you want to be a change agent. Courage is needed to make a difference. Courage is needed to stand out in a sea of mediocrity.

On the other hand, discipline is necessary to be more things done, stick to a healthier diet, abolish unhealthy habits, work out more often, find a better balance between work and family.

Well, what the heck, I won't stick to Christie's idea 100% and call my resolution for 2008: Discipline & Courage.
See me stick to that resolution in 2008.

Until then, enjoy the last day of 2007.

One 'H' might kill your business

Not sure, if the correct spelling is important for Asphalt Services companies. I'm too much of a spelling stickler.

Crazy

We're painting the house. Well, in typical post-post-modern fashion, we pay for the service and someone else does it. These are the colors we chose: Orange for the majority of the house, blue for the sidings. Every time I evaluate the progress, the lyrics from Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' come to mind:

Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably

Peace on Earth

These two have domination issues: Who is eating first? Who sleeps on what pillow? Who is the king of the house?
Yesterday afternoon they cleared up all their issues and took a nap together.
Is it the holiday spirit?

Inspirations

The Watts Towers are an ode to the power of the human spirit.
Quoting Simon Rodia, the builder:

"I had in mind to do something big and I did it."

It's sometimes that easy.

Frohe Weihnachten

In case you need to follow Santa, please start here. NORAD has tracked Santa's flight for years and new features have been added.

And, if you need a good laugh, Platform A created this masterpiece for its media partners. Listening to lyrics about BT supported by a Xmas theme made me shiver.

Last but not least, if you need some traditional Christmas inspiration, explore here.

Or just go here.

Merry Christmas.

Pretty, peas

Want to make a difference? Instead buying the fourth present for your loved ones, spend the money for a worthy cause:

Susan Reynolds underwent surgery yesterday, seems to be doing well and can now continue her fight against breast cancer.

Susan shared her story a few weeks ago, explaining how she calmed herself and her body down with a bag of peas after the initial biopsy. And this initial story started a whole movement. It involved many , many people sharing and spreading that story through email, IM and Twitter. Suddenly, people showed their support through various incarnations of peas.

There's a lot of hope because cancer treatments have become very sophisticated. And there's even more hope because there's a community that cares. And that community is growing. So, maybe save that umptenth present for another year and do something to change the world. One pea at a time. Start here.


P.S.: Many of us have lost loved ones through cancer. My parents are currently battling it and a good friend of mine lost his fight more than 4 years ago. Stephan Geesing was a talented writer, speech therapist and plain idea man. I've spent many evenings with him and his wife discussing politics, culture or plain life. His son was just born when he discovered the brain tumor, he battled for months, having exhausting surgeries after surgeries until his body had to give in.
I think a lot about him, how he never met my kid and how I'll never be able to speak to him again. But I'm with him right now in thoughts.

Stephan, I miss you a lot. This pea is for you.

Last day in the office

The year comes to a close, offices will be deserted and people will rest. But are they really resting?

Writing for the NY Times, Lisa Belkin explored the need for white space,places outside of the typical environment, to get real work done in her column titled: You won't find me in my office working.

Lisa Belkins believes many of us are

“looking for “white space,” a term creeping into the language of work to describe a place where the actual work gets done. Desks suffice for answering phones and filing forms, but when it comes to the creative or introspective aspects of a job, desks can be uninspiring at best, or formidable obstacles at worst.

So we leave those desks. Because we can. We take our laptops and seek shelter (and WiFi) either elsewhere in the building, as Mr. Judkins does, or farther away in libraries and bookstores.

The term “white space” implies a place set apart, physically and mentally. It is not only used by graphic artists to describe the empty space in a layout, but also by time managers to explain the minutes frittered away between appointments on office calendars.

Andy Hines, who studies the future of work at the Washington office of Social Technologies, a global consulting firm, said white space is “what we are looking for when we have thinking to do.”

My white space is a room filled with good music and the TV on in the background. Hey, everybody is different.

Or as Belkin says: "That in the end might be ultimate purpose of white space: The choosing, the control."

May you find many opportunities to enjoy your white space during the holidays.

Mobile Marketing that works

That's what you see when you drive through Los Angeles during the day.(And, yes, these are clouds and there was even rain afterwards...imagine!)
Marketing the sleeper Juno, this truck features the bedroom of Juno MacGuff. You can't see the details but this bedroom was as close to a teenager's bedroom as you've ever seen.

Al Gore wouldn't this kind of promotion but it makes you look again. And risk your life to take a picture with your iPhone (maybe the worst integrated phone in the market) while driving.

Taglines

When I started in advertising, taglines were everything. We sat in our offices for hours, days, weeks, even months to come up with a tagline. The tagline was the centerpiece of the campaign - once we established it, everything else fell into place: Commercials, Print, Billboards, Stickers, etc.

Things have changed dramatically: Michael Jackson tapes his face with weird stickers, a cowboy became president (oops, I guess it's not the first time) and taglines are now on life support, according to this article from Brandweek:

“Too often, taglines are used as safety nets out of a fear that the rest of the campaign isn’t communicating well enough, he said.

Taglines are often more utilitarian and less emotional, experts say. They tend to be fed through the focus group mill until they’re watered down beyond recognition. That process does not produce “Think Different,” “Got Milk?” or “Just Do It.”

“If the Nike tagline were suggested today, the question back would probably be, ‘Just do what?’” said Wolfsohn. “There’s a level of trepidation now that people won’t get it and they won’t be able to parrot the idea back to you. So, taglines get over-defined.”

That’s when they lose strength and become meaningless, he said.
For a slogan to stick, it’s not just coming up with five catchy words or less, said Landor & Associates’ managing director Allen Adamson. It’s vital to weave that message through all the communications and the very brand DNA itself.

“It has to be the right promise, with the brand living up to it, expressed in a sticky, unexpected way,” Adamson said. “And then you have to spend money and stay with it for the long haul.”

He points to GE’s “Imagination at Work” as a breakthrough tagline because it’s more than a slogan. “It’s the business strategy,” he said. “It’s the mission of the company.”

It's a good article and I would like to add one important factor:

Taglines reflect the brand promise. Looking at today's taglines, the promise is very mediocre at best, horrendous at worst: (With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good. It's a new morning. Brew something good) Just pointless lines that serve no purpose except to fill up the pockets of agencies.

Consumers don't buy promises anymore. They buy great product and brand experiences. Big ideas don't come out of advertising, they come out of R&D labs and consumer insights. Great products need low advertising support and high-involvement in conversational marketing. Mediocre product need the advertising idea but these ideas will fall shirt in the end because product experience is king.

I'm glad to see the mind-numbing taglines leave the market and head to the traditional marketing graveyard. Taglines based on the heart and soul of a brand and product experience will continue to live and thrive. Because they are not based on a promise, they are based on facts.

Trust is everything

While working with an amazing design agency, I was again reminded how important trust is:

- Trust in your gust
- Trust in trust
- Trust in empowerment

Think about it: Somebody outside of your area of expertise shows your their work. Your only job when looking at their work is to trust your gut. Does it feel good? Does it get you excited? Don't argue about details because, frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. Exceptional artists require that trust: If you didn't trust David Lynch, more than likely you will Mulholland Falls. Trust doesn't mean you follow them blindly, you can question anything. But you should only question because of your gut feeling.

Rely on your gut. And trust. You might change your opinion at one point but for now, stick with it. You can question everything. All day long. rely on your trust to avoid this human desire. Questioning everything gets you nowhere.

Last but not least, trust in empowerment. If you hired somebody to do a good job, trust them. Sure, ask good questions, initiate a dialogue but never, ever question the power you gave them. It will result in the Russian doll syndrome: You will hire smaller people than yourself, and these small peopel will hire even smaller people until you end up with intellectual dwarfs.

Collaboration and innovative ideas need a giant amongst giants, not a giant amongst dwarfs.

Inspiration

We all look for inspirations. It's very easy to find. But we often close our eyes to the inspirations surrounding us.
It's a Catch 22: If you're not open for inspiration, you won't find it. Sorry, dude, it's all on you to be inspired.

My advice: keep moving. Being stuck in an office, at home in front of the computer or TV won't inspire you. Get up, move your legs and find your inspiration outside of your own little world.

My wife is inspired by Joshua Tree. Her dream is a small house close to the National Park. Walking around the desert, soaking in the heat, smell and colors inspires her to move forward.

I'm inspired by traveling as well. But traveling doesn't mean foreign cultures. Travel might mean visiting museums exploring the Murakami exhibition, eating at the weirdest restaurant in Los Angeles or just listen to music that's pretty much out there.

Inspiration happens when you shift from your head to your body. Holiday time might be the right time for introspection. I'd rather keep moving and get inspired. George Clinton released an album years ago called: Move your mind...and your ass will follow. Sorry, George.

I'd rather move my ass and my mind will follow.

And, once you're done moving, just watch the worst movie ever. At least it's not the most mediocre movie ever. There's a lot to say about that.
The movie below might give you the inspiration you're looking for.

Banner Ad of the year

It's the time of the year when you go to a Xmas party, drink one or two too many and end up driving drunk. The consequences can be dire: ranging from loss of your license to killing yourself, or even worse, others. The UK Department for Transport and Leo Burnett wanted to creatively communicate above sermon and worked with Weapon 7 on the execution.

They came up with such a clever ad, it just floored me: An ad in rewind.
So, whenever you head out to your party and need a little reminder to keep it to two glasses of wine, just click here.

Hat Tip to 30gms.

Quote of the day

"Allow yourself to want things, no matter the disappointment. Desire is never the mistake."

Paula McLain, writing in today's NY Times: The Holiday of my dreams was just that.

I want a scarf for Christmas

Moving Brands, an innovative corporate identity design agency out of the UK, developed a fascinating project focused on one idea: Fashion should be done by the people and not just a few select fashion designers.

Introducing Weare, an outstanding idea that merges fashion and technology with social networking.
As the Weare site explains:

"Last Christmas we set up a screen made of fairy lights in the Moving Brands window.

We then invited people to send messages and drawings, via a simple web-interface, to be shown in sequence in the window. The window was captured by webcam and broadcast live to the internet.

We stored everything sent to the window in a gallery, and the full sequence has been used to create this scarf."


You can buy the limited edition scarf online through the site or in selected shops in London. I tried to purchase it but since I live in the US, I wasn't able to input my info.

And, while you're shopping, you can create the next Weare product by contributing designs or visuals. And vote for what the next Weare product should be. I contributed an unrecognizable heart and smiley face. Props to me!

So simple and fascinating. I wish I would have come up with this idea.

Hat tip to Russel Davies.