April 2013
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Cultural authenticity and advertising
I was fascinated this morning to read documentary filmmaker Eric Chaikin who wrote to Bob Lefetz about the role Howard Stern has played in American pop culture.
He proposes a view of pop culture going through four eras of authenticity – a kind of dialectic.
I think brands can actually surf on any one of these four waves and I’ve added my thoughts on four brands that do this. The only one that’s...
March 2013
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An Amateur Brand Anthropologist goes to SXSW ’13
Insights from the cutting edge of marketing innovation
“We forget that we are amateurs…that’s right, amateurs - which means lovers. So, if you came all the way here, it’s because you’re an amateur.” Thus spoke the highly professional comic actor Jeffrey Tambour (Arrested Development, The Hangover) who hosted his second annual acting workshop not in LA but in Austin - the great alma mater...
February 2013
1 post
Everything you need to know about advertising in...
What could/should “advertising” look like in 2020? Check out my entry and others’ @Whartonfoa’s Advertising 2020 Project at http://wfoa.wharton.upenn.edu/ad2020/
January 2013
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Why Psy is "ending" Gangnam Style
Psy is a court jester who can sing better than the straight-up troubadour. He wants to keep us laughing as he purloins the next big pretension and he knows that Gangnam Style is his big opportunity or the end of his career. He makes us laugh at the things we most desire and I have no doubt that he will keep on making enjoyable and talented send-ups. It’s a revelation to watch K-Pop on...
December 2012
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November 2012
1 post
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September 2012
1 post
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The Problem of Pleasure - and what pleasurable...
How can once devil-may-care New York City now ban the sale of 16 oz servings of sugary beverages? Is this not a bellwether indicator of a brewing cultural crisis with all things pleasurable? Could it be linked to the way we have turned sex into a compulsively athletic activity, indeed a spectator sport, with its own set of performance-enhancing drugs and surgeries? What about the raging...
August 2012
3 posts
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July 2012
2 posts
June 2012
2 posts
“Most women have more intuitive social sense than men; tact comes more naturally...”
– http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/ladies-first-still-relevant-or-hopelessly-outdated/
Penning Perfumes: Tori Truslow vs Narcisse Noir →
penningperfumes:
Tori Truslow was born in Bangkok to British parents and writes surreal and speculative fiction and poetry. Her short stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies including Clockwork Phoenix 3: New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness, The Draft, Verge 2011 and Paraxis 02. She was…
May 2012
4 posts
How to Turn a Psychopathic Narcissist into a...
“Marketing is all about tapping into human insight,” said VW’s CMO Tim Mahoney when asked by Forbes to explain how his company had succeeded in making its brand the fastest-growing car company in the US. I think it’s telling that he brought it back to insight. Ah, insight, elusive friend. Everyone talks about you. Few actually know you.
I’ve worked in the “Insights” business for more than...
April 2012
2 posts
Six ways to future-proof your digital strategy
You don’t have to hire a futurist. Just read Mashable’s intelligent predictions for 2020 which include:
Virtual retail avatars
Intelligent agents and credit cards embedded in our mobile devices
Everything’s on the cloud
We’re using digital jewelry and video visors
Finally, cellphone service will stop sucking.
#1: move your consumer-facing content to a mobile platform and make it...
March 2012
6 posts
“I like rap music. But bragging about being rich to poor people is really...”
In Search of Next-Gen Marketing at SxSW 2012
The air was filled with digital innovation once again at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas where everybody-who’s-anybody-digital gathers every year to share insights, celebrate breakthroughs and scout out the next Twitter and Foursquare (both of which launched in previous SouthBys).
At SouthBy itself, over 15,000 hip young inventors, pioneers and visionaries teemed and...
February 2012
2 posts
“We have landed on a world where the faint sun glints off methane lakes, seen...”
– Brian Cox, Why Quantum Theory Is So Misunderstood (via cuckoocuckoo)
“As we awaken from sleep, our consciousness undergoes a radical transformation...”
– The science of waking up, from Antonio Damasio’s excellent Self Comes to Mind – an exploration of what makes us human. (via)
January 2012
2 posts
Leonardo's Wormholes and the true meaning of...
People in marketing routinely talk about “iconic” brands and “iconoclastic” personalities. I’m sure Richard Branson has at least once been referred to as “iconically iconoclastic.”
But what does it really mean to be iconic and iconoclastic? Ikenei in Greek means to “look like.” An icon is a likeness.
The oldest monastery in the world also...
Do we live in a sleep-disordered culture? →
Having just moved to London and, adjusting out of jet lag, I am acutely conscious of the all-powerful, easily neglected, restorative powers of sleep. Here’s a fabulous reminder infographic. Wow. Everybody get an extra hour of zzz’s tonight! Look at the benefits!
November 2011
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October 2011
7 posts
You knew me when. →
September 2011
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August 2011
3 posts
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The crisis of American culture in 2015 as foretold...
In 1991, Strauss & Howe published their landmark book, Generations, The History of America’s Future. Almost all generational insight today still owes them a considerable debt. Here is the prediction they wrote twenty years ago about where our culture is headed by 2015. Thought-provoking and startling, to say the least.
“The mood of a crisis era reflects society’s transitions...
July 2011
3 posts
