A man after my own heart

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Rob Campbell just said some amazing shit that I'm pretty sure I coincidentally said too this morning at a meeting with Anomaly.

Primarily this:

"Maybe if we just got on with what brands and society actually wanted and needed from us, we’d end producing more great commercially creative ideas than proprietary bullshit."

and this:

"Too many companies care more about the process than what the process delivers."

and this:

"I’m not talking about creative awards or effectiveness papers that have made a ‘degree of change’ sound like the second coming of Jesus … I’m talking about doing stuff that fundamentally – and undeniably – shifts the needle."

Digital pace

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The pace of business is working up to a phenomenal pace - faster and more "digital". But where are the results? I see only anxiety.

In an attention economy, tracking and targeting people faster than ever before and generating more clicks than ever before, it's almost certainly only making it harder to keep up - and with what exactly? The type of value typically created today is more incremental and less noticeable as the digital space expands seemingly into infinity. I see little space for genuine competitive advantage.

More pace, more precision, more frenetic promises to engage customers is not going to make the world a better place, I am certain of it.

The time to fix the roof is while the sun is shining. And so, as a strategist, I am therefore relentlessly focused on the message, the meaning of the brand and the product, and equally meaningful innovation. That's my deal.

Oh wait, Seth said that too

Ideas That Changed the World

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I was given this book many years back. The author, Felipe Fernandez Armesto, portrays human history in terms of a series of intellectual and conceptual discoveries, adopted and understood by civilizations over time. I think it almost works better than a regular history book in the sense that history as a discipline is too much of a backward narrative for me. One tends to think of history as

event-facts

. But events are almost entirely the result of ideas, or sub-ideas (like the idea that say, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand needs to die).

When I see the world in terms of ideas and ages, and ages made from ideas, then everything makes so much more sense. Something like the whole of religion looks like just another man made idea, like cooking one's food, or democratic rule.

As the book begins from prehistoric time, one already is given a sense of the

whole

of humanity and what it means to be a race that grows off/with/out of planet earth.

By understanding, in this way, the ages and every smaller increment of time possible, I believe one is in a far better position to make educated predictions about the cycles or ages of at least the relatively near future. At least that's how I see it.

Check it out on

Goodreads

License to Kill

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If you enjoy a quality turn of phrase as much as the next guy, or as I do, look no further than one of my favourite angry old men, Christopher Hitchens.

His book God is not Great is quite addictive and conveniently available as an audiobook. I like it not so much because I'm interested in the debate or the history, which is obviously highly engaging, but more because the debate is long gone and it's just nice to hear the burn. Listening to him read his own words is a treat not to be missed.

You should probably be somewhat of a fan already, though, and as one reviewer puts it, "he often delivers his ideas like he's trying to splash his martini across your face at a party." He is by no means for everyone.

While you may be inclined to listen while multitasking(!) you will likely find yourself stopping whatever you're doing and rewinding(!) certain parts over and over, just to bathe in his sparkling correctness. If you're not convinced yet, maybe this Amazon review will tip the scales:


Listen here

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Now here is a chap that you should follow on facebook (at the very least) for his illuminating and thought provoking ideas. I first read Fooled by Randomness about two years ago and was mightily impressed. I have since been following him on facebook and on his website. This is a sample of his interesting (and topical) thinking:

Nassim Taleb Kerrin Naude.jpg

For one of the smartest big-picture conversations out there, listen to this 45 min Interview. He talks mostly about the deleveraging of the banks, proper global finacial leadership, and risk in general, from the perspective of someone who truly has the survival of humanity at heart.

I like everywhere that this man's head is at. Nassim Taleb will make you smarter and more interesting

Music bits

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A couple of tracks have been on rotation on my ipod and in my head for quite some time now. I think there is definitely a certain creative thread through all of these...

I saw Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden last year and it was easily one of my top five gigs of all time. Started out slow, but by the end it was like being inside a circus. Unbelievable.

Love the 80s-ness but not quite-ness.

Just plain fookin creative. The man is a genius.

Air France is the business as it is. The first time I heard this I was in an apartment 49 floors up, in the middle of a snow storm. One of those how-did-this-turn-into-a-party-oh-wait-now-I-remember nights...

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And finally, this reminds me of closing time at the coolest hole-in-the-wall restaurant in NYC. Good times...

What's up with rugby fashion?

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As a former/part-time colony dweller, I've never been that impressed by the British. Except that one time when my mate Paul did a stand-up comedy set back in the Obz days and cracked some wicked-funny AIDS jokes. But that was then. So I'm a little curious as to the British shop aura about the intersection of Bleecker and Charles Streets in NYC. An intersection-aura, if you will.

Within about a 25m radius of one another there is a Ralph Lauren Rugby store, a Gant Rugger store (amusing) and a Burberry Brit store (in case Burberry wasn't British enough for you already it's now more British) . These are not seasonal clothing collections, they are fully fledged sub-brands. Actually Gant Rugger looks more like American-preppy-plaid-tending-toward-baseball but I nevertheless sense that there is some unspoken and rather permanent equity to being British right now, at least in the US.

I won't say it's a trend because I haven't really seen people adopting the look quite as much as I have seen stores popping up, so I can only describe this as a rather insistent aesthetic.


Try not to laugh... I mean, cool logo bro.


Nobody's laughing now


"Mine's just a few blocks from here - what do you say? Did I mention I'm British?"

Ben Kingsley for Santam Insurance - No no no no no no!

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click for video here

This ad actually caught my attention because of the voice-over copy alone.

It's some of the most contrived writing I've come across in a long time. I'm certain if I'd heard only muffled tones coming from a TV in the next room that I'd still be able to say how try-hard it is.

"It may look real, sound real, say all the right things. But how do you know you're getting the real mccoy?"

This is insurance. It's really a lot like selling toilet paper.

How does one know, Santam/KingJames? How do we know your insurance will live up to our expectation? For all the toney-tone we have to endure, this doesn't pose much of a logical case.

The concept, which as far as I can tell is: "Other people claim to be better but...[nothing]" well, this needs a bit of work.

The main issue I have with all this is that I know just how much publicity this spot will get simply because Sir Ben graced us with his presence, and that that will be deemed job well done. But this, does not good advertising constitute.

On top of that, my eyes are still burning from the grossly oversimplified blue/gray grade that South African commercial directors can't seem to get enough of.

Up with which I will not put.