Creativity - Servant of Chaos

Crowd sourcing Talent – Storytelling with Kseniya Simonova

In many ways, TV shows like Australian/American Idol operate in a way that is reminiscent of crowd sourcing. The judges and spotters are there in the beginning to set a benchmark, create some pressure against which the contestants will ply their creativity, and drive home the realisation that creativity is a business. But the most fascinating part of this style of reality TV (for me) is the random/chaotic nature of the contestants – it is never clear at the beginning just who (or what) will arrive on stage.

In this clip from Ukraine’s Got Talent, 24 year old artist, Kseniya Simonova, shows what happens when storytelling, artistry and performance come together. Please watch the clip as I don’t want to spoil it for you. As Jye Smith says, “Regardless of the state of the world, the latest technology and the next big thing: we’re human. Don’t ever forget.”

It’s Not Where You Take Things From – It’s Where You Take Them To

Creativity, Innovation

A reminder from two creative greats of the 20th Century – Jean-Luc Goddard and Jim Jarmusch – caught momentarily on one of my new favourite blogs.

Quotes from the Conversation Captured by the Conversation Agent

Creativity, Smart Bloggers

Sometimes it is handy to be able to pull a great quote out of the air and put it in front of a client. Or your boss.

Well, Valeria Maltoni has scoured the web and captured quotes from some of the marketing world’s leading thinkers – and me. Check out the quotes, and then check out their blogs:

Marian Salzman, Mitch Joel, Craig Newmark, Kathy Sierra, Gavin Heaton, Sonia Simone, Hugh MacLeod, Mark Earls, Olivier Blanchard, Christina Kerley, Eve Ensler, Chris Guillebeau, Avinash Kaushik, Seth Godin, Francois Gossieaux,Clay Shirky, Amber Naslund, Adrian Ho, Taylor Davidson.

Enjoy!

2009 Marketing Quotes

View more documents from Valeria Maltoni.

A Blast from the Past

Creativity

Many years ago, at the height of the dotcom failure, a site emerged that echoed the emotions and worries that many of us held. It was called OddTodd. On this site, Todd turned his hand to storytelling with a bit of Flash thrown in … he discussed the ups and downs of being "laid-off" via an animated series of flash cartoons.

Along the way, he explained what a day-in-the-life of a retrenched employee was like; discussed the difficulty of getting a job when you don't have a job; and battled with the concept of having a holiday (when you don't have a job or any money). He created characters, games and so on … essentially, Odd Todd was Clay Shirky's cognitive surplus in action — just 10 years early.

Interestingly, Todd is still going strong — and he still leads with the first five episodes that he ever produced. Perhaps, in these harder economic times, his stories will become once again, allegories for our daily desperations. While I hope this is not the case, his diligence in "creating a way through adversity" is a lesson for us all.

How to Collaborate

Creativity, Smart Bloggers

I have worked on and with teams for most of my career … and I have found that I am most productive (and creative) when I am in a team environment (ok I like to lead, but can play nicely with others!). But I know this is not the case for everybody – yet I am always surprised to learn that colleagues don’t understand the mechanics of collaboration. Even the basics of brainstorming seem foreign to some people. But now, Leisa Reichelt provides a solution that will get your collaborative process off to a flying start … with some great tips and techniques for brainstorming.

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2expoeu08 design)

The Stories Inside My Head

Creativity, Videos

The first spark can hit me like a revelation. It sizzles from synapse to synapse and in that instant, I am all tingling nerves and tunnel vision. There is no here and now, there is only this. ONE. idea. Burning like a fuse.

And before I can breathe, a lifetime passes. All tousled bed clothes, babies, bits of paper and smudges of ink. It is not the images I see, but rather, clarity emerging from the chaos. It is what Angela Maiers may call "making the connections" — but it feels more like creativity than learning. More like riding a bolting horse than sitting in a classroom.

And yet, I know, before my hearts pumps another beat, that the whole world has changed. I have learned something and have been transformed by it. The challenge now lays before me … you see the easy part is over. I have seen forever in a moment and the opportunities of a lifetime in a single glance; but now I am faced with a dilemma. To act or to demur.

When I write a blog post, work with a client or brainstorm with a team, my creativity is on tap. All I need is a starting connection (a word, a song) and it begins. Quickly. But the ideas are easy. Really, you can have them for free. The stories inside my mind can draw unexpected meanings, but they are straight and true. Of course, bringing them to life — transforming them into something that can change your business, delight your customers or motivate your staff is a longer haul. For while ideation runs like a sprint, execution requires stamina. And whether it is a blog post or a fully integrated marketing campaign — there are always tears ahead.

Laurel, this great stop motion video by Carlos Lascano actually comes close to capturing the way my mind works. Enjoy.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

It’s Not Time to Cut Through But to Cut Out

Blogging, Branding, Co-creation, Community, Creativity, Digital Strategy, Facts & Figures, Measurement, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

As I have grown older, I have been amazed to realise that the more I know, the greater is my capacity to learn. Not only can I quickly absorb new information and transform it into knowledge, I can also direct this towards business and branding opportunities. Even where I come in contact with some completely foreign information, my brain scrambles to find a connection that allows me to contextualise it.

But what about you? Do you find that your capacity has increased over time?

Angela Maiers provides a great explanation in this 30 minute class. She leads us through the different types of connections that we can make so that our memories can be stimulated:

Easy – the simple connection can be made because of our exposure to a topic. There is no work involved here. A common topic will add a new layer over the knowledge schema that we already possess – and the information will be readily accessible to you in an instant.

Dig – while a piece of information may not have an instantly recognisable hook on which you can make a connection, a small amount of digging into your own knowledge will help you. This will require some effort, but will also help turn a piece of new information into actionable knowledge.

Impossible – when we are introduced to an alien concept, we are faced with an impossible situation. There are no EASY ways to make sense of the information. Digging provides no context and no prism for understanding. When faced with the impossible piece of information, our natural instinct is to begin to memorise, to rote learn – but this is a mistake, for without providing some personal context to this information you will not be able to retain and apply this knowledge. It will gradually fade from memory.

In the last 10 minutes of this video, Angela shares an approach that allows us to begin creating NEW memories. She explains the technique for creating the first thread of retained knowledge upon which you can build additional context.

Chunking: After reading/absorbing a piece of information, the main ideas are categorised by the ideas that they invoke. This is not about collecting facts. It is about finding one or two words that connect and explain the overall concepts.
Joining the dots: Once you have the “big ideas” you then need to make connections between them. You need to write them down. You need to establish a narrative between them.

Now, think about this from a branding and marketing perspective. Have you ever wondered why some things stick and some don’t? In general, the information that comes to us through advertising is “impossible”. We are hit by facts and assaulted by images. These all seek to CONVINCE us.

However, if we are each subjected to 5000 marketing messages per day, the blink of an eye that acknowledges each new message will instantly erase the previous one. This means that those marketing messages that are mediated, that come with BUILT-IN context, are more likely to anchor in our memory (hence the use of popular music/spokespersons) – and this plays particularly strongly for digital/social media.

And in a time of increasing financial uncertainty, brands will be looking not to CUT THROUGH but to CUT OUT. It won’t be a matter of your brand standing out in a crowd, but of eeking out some space in which it can create meaningful context in which your consumers can participate. Those brands who have begun experimenting with social media will have an advantage in these tougher times; and those who have not will need to accelerate their engagement by hiring agencies and consultants who have a deep understanding of hands-on brand activation in the digital/social media space.

Interesting times? Sure … but really, as Angela Maiers says, it’s about making connections.

Reversing the Launch

Creativity, Digital Strategy, Storytelling, Strategy

We all shuffle into the meeting and take our chairs. We greet one another, sip our coffee and lift our pens in silent readiness — after all, one never knows when an action point will be thrust across the room.

Before long, even the most strategic of strategy sessions will be punctuated by tactics (and let me admit I am as guilty of this as anyone). In a bizarre twist on meeting bingo, marketing bingo is littered with words such as "viral", "youtube", "facebook" — and increasingly, "social media". Much of this is driven by short-term, campaign oriented thinking and a focus on short-term objectives. However, when it comes to advising our clients (whether they be internal or external), it is important to remember that campaigns (and microsites) are no longer stand-alone. Google has seen to that.

Where once we built our discrete campaigns around various plans to raise awareness, generate demand, build brand, stimulate sales, accelerate trial etc, brand custodians now need to consider a longer term narrative line that incorporates the way that consumers engage with the brand over time. We no longer have disconnected brand campaigns but discontinuous brand interactions. The crucial link between each of these campaigns is a combination of social media powered by Google. That is:

The articles or references that bloggers make about your campaign (whether it is digital or not)
The perspectives published by the media (advertising media as well as other publishers
User generated content that riffs off your campaign

All of this can be found by Google. More importantly, it can be found by Google well into the future — long after your campaign has ended. For example, when I search on some of my old projects, I can find all the pointers, the conversations and the discussions AROUND them, but the project has passed. The microsite has gone. All we are left with are traces leading nowhere. This is brand equity being squandered.

In the future, we need to think about brand lifecycles. We need to think about brand "through lines" — and design experiences with entry and exit strategies. We need to start putting as much thinking into "reversing the launch" as we put into the start of a campaign.

When we reverse the launch, we can draw upon the P-L-A-Y framework, delivering an experience that enhances and continues the conversations that evolve around your campaign. In fact, part of your strategy could be to build upon some of these user generated conversations as a catalyst for ongoing dialogue. After all, creating the talking point is one of the early challenges, maintaining or stoking that conversation requires much less effort and attention.