What Does Your Stream Look Like?

We make things too complicated.

And, while the list is long... I'm specifically referring to how we communicate. And that's not to say that we need to communicate more clearly or succinctly; after all, succinct communication takes effort, time and heavy filtering, which can ultimately lead to message alteration/loss of poignancy. We shouldn't create a mess of our words; but, we should be careful not to lose purity of meaning through our filters (let's learn a lesson from bottled water).

The above said. Here's the source of motivation: the work of artist Michal Kubacki, the man behind "timeless line" (note I'm not a fan of "branding" a technique, but I like the motivation behind this). Timeless line is an exploration of how the unfettered subconscious is expressed. It's direct, unfiltered art. And I dig it.

There's a lot to learn from an approach like Kubacki's. What happens when we deconstruct our filters? Are we, and our clients, doing ourselves an injustice by operating within the confines of social norms, tradition and the established service relationship? Does true synergy require the meeting of the subconscious?

Here's Kubacki's statement and a quick video. Thanks to Atielier29

It all began one day when I was drawing.

I began to realize that my subconscious, not my conscious self, was guiding my hand and I was merely holding the pen for my subconscious to draw through me. Upon this momentous realization, I began to notice life in different dimensions of time. This influenced me so much, that I could not deny absolute of being.

I draw "Alla prima" with ink, sometimes I use marker pen on paper. I invented a special technique which expresses my philosophy- TIMELESSLINE.'

Timeless drawing from Timelessline on Vimeo.

Instead of Starting to Do It Right, Let's Stop Doing it Wrong

I was listening to an interview with a retail manager at Macy's on NPR's Marketplace on my way home last week. They were discussing their new marketing strategy, which was in essence – listening to consumers, tracking what they purchased and holding events that were customized to the local demographic. Or, in other words, "looking for other ways to stand out...retailers are tailoring products to local shoppers."

In short, this particular Macy's had started to think and act like a community member instead of a mega corp. Fine and good, but what strikes me as odd is that we're talking about this strategy as if it's something new. If large corporations are just thinking of this strategy now (despite the fact that companies have been doing this for ages, not to mention the fact that the web is founded on customization) then...well shit, I'm at a loss for words.

It's time we, as consumers, demand more and we, as brand partners, help clients understand that the brand experience goes beyond logo and brand personality. It needs to be integrated into all facets of the business model from sourcing to web functionality to business process to how easy it is to open a package.

One Size Fits All Brand Strategy.

Name it Awesome.

Digital Distraction: What the F@ck Do I Care?

With Nicholas Carr's book, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," the ever persistent conversation about how new media channels are distracting, destroying and devolving us has chimed up again.

Here are my thoughts:

a) No one wanted to sit around and memorize poems, sonnets or biblical passages back in the day. There was nothing else to do. I guarantee you if there were Nielsen studies of home readership during the enlightenment, ratings would go way down if there was a really cool battle or something outside.

b) Now with sites like What the Fuck is My Social Media Strategy and What the Fuck Should I Make For Dinner I can afford to be distracted and waste time because these things do my work for me.

So stop bitching.

Spill Your Guts: Strategy & Intuition...Sitting in a Tree...

In a meeting earlier today, while discussing strategic direction for start-ups, someone chimed in "let's not plan to the point of perfection and sacrifice actually getting something done." It made me stop, smile, and remember that some of the greatest strategy is guided straight by the gut, influenced by opinion and cemented with passion.

I don't want to sit here pontificating on the reasons why this is the case; and sure enough, this is nothing new...the same "don't ignore your gut" advice is in every book on planning. However, at the end of the day, a strategy is only as good as its execution. And that's one huge advantage of a direction that the team is emotionally invested in...it's a hell of a lot easier to get excited about sound strategy built on sweat and love than reams of quantitative and piles of binary. Which begs the question, how good are you at selling the "unromantic."

Preposterous Propositions III: Personal Energy Meters // Bringing Energy Use Closer to Home

This installment of Preposterous Propositions is based observation, assumption and intuition (a winning combination).

The Preposterous Proposition.
Place "sub-meters" on all residential energy meters requiring consumers to purchase energy in small "installments." The meters act as "gas tanks" for home energy consumption (not large oil tanks filled once every few months). The digital meters would provide analytics on energy use and the current rate. Users would use a credit/debit card or online account to refill the "tank."

The Observation.
When gas prices go up, travel goes down. We self regulate when can directly we see the implications of our consumption on a small scale.

The Assumption.
Our current payment model for energy use is archaic and makes energy consumption an ambiguous number on a bill. Consumers are only concerned about the bottom line and keeping that number in an acceptable (aka affordable) realm.

The Intuition.
In order to change our behavior we need models that support our behavioral patterns. Asking consumers to change habits without providing proper support for doing so is like asking us to drive a 55 on the autobahn and enforcing the speed limit only using signs.