August 27, 2004
the creative age
A blogger I’m enjoying a lot these days is Evelyn Rodriguez.
She’s in sync with a lot of my current thinking, namely, that we’re entering into what is known as “The Creative Age”. Good-bye white collar, hello black collar.
What are the implications of living in The Creative Age? This is my take on it:
As I get older, what becomes more interesting to me is not what my clients make, but why they make it. There are lots of possible reasons: To make money. To make a dent in the universe. To enhance their attractiveness to women. To allow themselves to become the person they were born to be. To sell more junk than the guy down the street. To serve God & Man. To get revenge on their father. To have the biggest boat in the yacht club. The list is endless.
Experience has taught me– the more interesting the brand, the more higher up the spiritual food chain the people behind it are.
Which leads me to conclude: Branding is a spiritual exercise.
All you marketing and brand mavens out there: Forget the fancy buzzwords. The future of business is spiritual. “Creative” is just a subset.
UPDATE: Evelyn mentions this post here. Thanks, Ev!
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Thanks for the kind words. I especially agree especially about the better the brand, the higher up the spiritual food chain the people behind it are.
Living in the Bay Area I get the chance for some opportunities to see successful — by my def — Silicon Valley CEOs and visiting Himalayan yogis alike. Funny, they often say the same things in slightly different language.
Just yesterday I heard this yesterday at a talk given by an Silicon Valley CEO whose company was acquired:
“If I’ve been persuasive, it’s only because I speak from my heart.“
“Jim Clark is a billionaire because he trusts his gut.“
“There’s a richer dividend from learning from your mistakes and failures. It’s a given you’ll learn from your success; but not so with failure. Make the effort.“
“Be vulnerable [not a know-it-all] with your board members. Ask for help.“
“Welcome outside influences, but don’t take it all in verbatim.“
“You’d be surprised where you find mentors — sometimes even your wife is your mentor.“
“Of the top 3 reasons you do a start-up is to change the world, to make an impact. It can’t just be about money.”
Somebody has to say it:
Wal-Mart.
Interesting? Sure. But why?
Better? Consumers love ‘em. So do analysts. And brand gurus.
Spiritual? Um…
but wal-mart is spiritual. i mean, the devil is a spiritual entity, aint he?
seriously, wal-mart is pushing their version of the spiritual. it’s a very middle-america, we love jesus and guns and great values and little yellow happy faces with cowboy hats on lower prices kind of spirituality, sure, but the higher power aspect is there.
in fact, in this scenario, wal-mart *is* the higher power, providing mercy and bounty to its loyal adherents.