Category: Videos

Vibewire’s fastBREAK – like TEDtalks for young people

Entrepreneurs, Events, Vibewire, Videos

At Vibewire, where I serve as honorary president, we have a vision of inclusion and leadership for young people. We say it’s about ensuring young people participate in the “conversations that matter”.

A great example of this is our monthly fastBREAK event (last Friday of every month). It showcases the passions, ideas and often very personal motivations that inspire our young artists and innovators. Produced in partnership with the Powerhouse Museum, fastBREAK has become a vital event in Sydney’s cultural life – connecting young artists, innovators and entrepreneurs with like minds from the government, business and creative industries sectors.

Last month we had a stellar line up of speakers:

  • Luke Geary, managing partner of Salvos Legal
  • Annalie Killian, director of innovation at AMP
  • Nic Newling, youth mental health advocate with Bite Back
  • Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney
  • Marita Cheng, inventor and Young Australian of the Year

You can watch last month’s speakers in action using the playlist below (it will take about 30 minutes all-in-all). Or better yet, come along to the next event live. You’ll leave inspired, well-fed (thanks to the Black Star Pastry folks) and feeling part of a vibrant community. I hope to see you there!

Dodge Shows Startups the Power of Advertising

Branding, Startups, Storytelling, Videos

There is no doubt that Dodge and the team from Wieden + Kennedy have produced a great piece of advertising for the Dart. But as I was watching it … as I was listening to the sparce copy that was voiced with just the right amount of self-deprecation and assurance, I couldn’t help but think that it was describing the world of the startup entrepreneur.

Watch it – because it’s great. Then, play it again and listen with your eyes closed. Don’t think cars. Think startups.

What do you hear?

Start with a simple idea. Stop thinking. Start doing … Drink more coffee. Build a prototype. Mould it shape it. Hate it. Start over …

Now, despite the hype and energy around startups, I often wonder why they don’t take a small proportion of their often overblown valuations and invest in advertising. And I don’t mean advertising for themselves … I mean in brand building for the sector. Surely there are some grand stories to be told and some people to inspire.

If the car industry was the powerhouse innovator of the 20th Century economy, then surely we should look to the startup industry in the 21st. It’s about time we told some stories.

When a Kid’s Perspective Challenges Your Own

Innovation, Vibewire, Videos

As President of local youth non-profit organisation, Vibewire, I am constantly amazed at the energy, insight and passion of the young people that I come in contact with. But often, these opinions, ideas and insights are ignored by others – by the mainstream media, employers, opinion leaders and by those with “more experience”.

And yet, some of the most stimulating conversations that I have ever had have come from being inclusive – from asking for the input of others. So what happens when young people are given the skills and opportunity to lead discussion? How can it challenge us all? How can it open our minds?

These are some of the questions that are at the core of Vibewire’s regular monthly fastBREAK event, co-hosted at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. We give five people, five minutes to share their story and their passion.

It strikes me that these stories and these types of event are ever more important in a society where public opinion and media can be bought at market rates and exercised in the favour of those with the means beyond the dreams of the many. How do we take the “long view” when the bombardment of media narrows our vision to the next week, next budget or next election?

Maybe we need a new perspective – a fresh pair of eyes on the road to our shared futures. Take a few minutes to watch this great TEDx talk by 11 year old, Birke Baehr. His topic is the “food system” – but his vision is long and his message clear – “We can either pay the farmer or we can pay the hospital”. Apply the same thinking to the other industries that we see toppling – and think about the type of world you want to live in. How do you participate? You can start by joining us at the next fastBREAK. It might just amaze you.

You Are Not the President of the Communications System

Creativity, The Social Way, Videos

I often think we misunderstand the moment in which we are living. Sure technologies are transforming the way that we work. Sure these fancy mobile devices are making us more connected and connectable. And yes, all this data is allowing us to find, engage and even predictively sell to our customers.

But where are YOU in this moment? What is happening in your present moment – there between breaths and tweets?

When you work for a brand or an agency, you often spend a great deal of your creative energy on “cutting through” the noise of our everyday lives. It’s as if it is possible to excise your experience of life as a professional from everything else. But what if you were able to dissolve that distinction – and what if you were to open the imaginative floodgates between your different lives?

My view is that it is inevitable – and that it is happening whether you like it or not. It’s what I call The Social Way. But rather than being something to be feared, it’s something to be embraced.

To succeed in The Social Way we need to rethink a few things. Like customer relationships. And what it means to be innovative or creative. And we need to think about respect.

But don’t take my word for it – listen to Dan Wieden – founder of creative powerhouse Wieden + Kennedy. As he says, we need to rethink the way we use communications systems – after all, you’re not the president. Respect and storytelling – they go hand in hand. They both start by listening.

And thanks to Martin Weigel for sharing.

Adjacent Storytelling

Social Media, The Social Way, Videos

Often when I speak with other marketers, they complain that their brand, products or services are just not “sexy enough”. They are interested in social media and in producing content but simply cannot find the angle to make their brand shine. But this is not a problem of social media. And it’s not a problem of branding. It’s a problem of storytelling. And the only way to attack that problem is not with demographics and data (as much as I love them both). It’s with imagination.

Take a look at this “best job” video connecting a bunch of brands from the P&G stable. Not only is it interesting to see P&G stepping out from the long shadow of their powerful brands – it’s fascinating to see how “adjacent storytelling” can really showcase beauty and triumph in the mundane existence of our everyday lives.

So, what is “adjacent storytelling”? To me, it’s secret sauce.

How many times have you been asked to make the “logo bigger” or “more prominent”? How many times have you been pushed to mention a product or brand name three or more times in 30 seconds? This infantile understanding of branding comes from the triumph of data over imagination.

Adjacent storytelling is not about naming your brand. The adjacent story is there – the one that you see out of the corner of your eye. It’s the story that stays with you long after you have forgotten the wording. It’s the feeling that reminds you that your experience is not singular and that we are connected more by our commonalities than by our differences.

The adjacent story is the story of your brand in the hands and lives of your customers. Someone, somewhere, once had a problem that needed to be solved. This too, is the adjacent story. It’s the story of the problem, not the story of the solution.

Every brand – every product or service – has this story buried within. You need to scratch the surface to find the beating heart of your brand. But don’t stop there. It’s time to go deeper. Let’s hear less about you. Let’s hear how, together, we can change lives of those around us. Of those most important to us. Let’s explore how we can change this world.

That’s the adjacent story. And here you were thinking this was a blog post on social media!

It’s Not About the Logo. It’s About the Experience

Branding, Videos

When you work day-in, day-out in, on or for a business, it’s easy to get caught up. After all, every working moment you are absorbing the brand experience, drinking the kool-aid, deflecting and spouting management-speak and trying that little bit harder to humanise the brand.

But what you end up with is the inside-out view.

And what we really need … what we crave, fear and yearn for is the opposite. The outside-in view is always a jolt to the system – because it impacts what we believe. It throws our own reality into our faces.

It’s why I love this video. Dozens of logos are shown to a five year old and her response is recorded. It’s classic outside-in.

But the thing that really stands out for me is not which brands she recognises. It’s that the ONLY logos she recognises are those that she can associate with an experience – an experience that she can recall and articulate.

THAT is what we should be working towards. It’s not about the logo. We need to make all that we do about the EXPERIENCE. That way your expensive design work will stand in reference for something. And that’s worth paying for.