Archive for August, 2010
August 30, 2010
8 Comments
[Originally posted October, 2006.]
One of the main reasons I never really pursued corporate blog consulting as a career, even though I’ve had some definite opportunities in this department, is because of what I call “The Cleopatra Effect”.
I remember when I was a kid watching this old black & white movie about Cleopatra.
I can’t remember the name of the movie, but one scene always stuck with me:
Cleopatra is walking through the palace, when she’s suddenly stopped by the sound of pretty music, being played off in the distance.
She follows the sound of the music through the palace, till eventually she finds one of her courtiers in the garden, playing the harp.
“What pretty music,” she says to the courtier. “You play beautifully.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” says the courtier, obviously flattered.
“I would love to play music like that,” says Cleopatra. “Do you think you could teach me?”
The courtier, now that he’s feeling flattered, tries to win even more of her favor.
“Well, yes,” he gushes. “I’m sure a Queen as talented as you in so many things, would be talented at this as well.”
“Oh, good,” says Cleopatra, obviously delighted. “Here’s the deal. You teach me to play the harp. If I cannot play as well as you within one month, I will have you flogged. If I cannot play as well as you within three months, I will have you executed.”
The courtier’s face turns white. Cleopatra gives the courtier an evil smirk and then turns and walks off.
Make of this what you will.
28 Comments
[Buy the “Create Or Die” print here etc.]
I believe that both our economic and spiritual future, good or bad, is directly related to our ability to unlock the latent creativity within us.
There. I’ve said it.
It’s been six years since I first started blogging what would eventually end up being my first book, Ignore Everybody.
The book didn’t really start off with a plan. Like I said at the very beginning,
“So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years.”
That was it. One person’s ramblings. No big, authoritative volume with lots of practical how-to’s, case studies and academic citations.
Some people didn’t care for that. “I paid $23.00 for a hardback edition and I expect RESULTS, dammit!”
Results!
Ah. But I never said anything about results. There was no plan, you see. That’s because there is no plan. There never is.
Writing about creativity is a messy business because creativity is a messy business.
Even using the word “creativity” in conversation is going to get you in trouble from some quarters. Stick your head above the parapet for just a few seconds and watch the arrows start flying at you.
Yet somewhere in the back of our minds, we all know it’s too important a subject to ignore, too important a reality not to confront.
Why? Because when I first started writing Ignore Everybody, I was coming at it from a very personal angle. Confronting one’s existential need to be “creative”, to express oneself etc. Which is why the book did so well with teenagers, college students and young adults just starting out in the working world. That’s the time of life to be thinking about all that.
But now, six years later I’m a bit older and bit more experienced. Maybe a lot more.
And time and experience has led me to conclude that even if we hate the word “creativity”, even if it’s a nasty, annoying, sophomoric, hipster-dipster, New Age gagfest that really should have no place among the serious, results-orientated world of equally serious, result-orientated grownups…
It’s where all meaningful growth is going to come from, both internal and external, whether we like it or not.
I don’t believe creativity can be taught, not really, but I do believe:
- That with a bit of prodding in the right places, individuals can train themselves to be more creative.
- That with a bit of prodding in the right places, individuals working as a team can train themselves to be more creative.
- That with a bit of prodding in the right places, companies and organizations can train themselves to be more creative.
- That with a bit of prodding in the right places, societies can train themselves to be more creative.
And that if they can do this, the value they create will be off the scale.
I’ll say it again: I believe that both our economic and spiritual future, good or bad, is directly related to our ability to unlock the latent creativity within us.
Let the journey begin…
August 20, 2010
7 Comments
[Welcome, PSFK visitors! I hope you’ll check out my “Daily Cartoon” newsletter, Thanks.]
From PSFK:
Every week, cartoonist Hugh MacLeod will draw an original cartoon about an idea from a popular or noteworthy PSFK post.
This week’s cartoon inspired by this PSFK article.
Yep, doing a small weekly gig over there. No reason, other than I like the blog (It’s one of my top three favorites) and I’ve known its founder, Piers Fawkes for a while now.
Just seemed like a fun idea. Note how I’ve used trademark “PSFK Purple” as my main background color etc.
Thanks Piers & Co for making it happen!
August 16, 2010
10 Comments
One evening Father Steven, the elderly priest who baptized more than one of my nephews and nieces, came over to my mother’s house for dinner. I was there, too.
Father Steven is a lovely guy. Deeply spiritual and very smart. Very learned in theology and the history of the Roman Catholic Church, though not Catholic myself I always looked forward to discussing “The Big Stuff” with Father Steven for hours on end.
That evening over wine and cheese, I was telling Father Steven how during a particularly rough patch in my twenties, somehow I got into the habit of carrying a small Bible around with me everywhere in my day pack. Not quite sure why. Being the good former choirboy, I’ve always read the Bible in bits and bobs, here and there, all my life. I told Father Steven I thought it was rather odd, even though at the time the Bible accompanied me everywhere, I didn’t read it any more than I did in my non-day-pack days. I just liked having it around, as it were.
“Ah, that’s quite common,” said Father Steven. “People have always carried The Bible around as a talisman.”
From Wikipedia: A talisman (from Arabic طلاسم tilasm, ultimately from Greek telesma or from the Greek word “telein” which means “to initiate into the mysteries”) is an amulet or other object considered to possess supernatural or magical powers.
Basically, a talisman is an object that has been given meaning that far exceeds any actual function. A good luck charm. Or a crucifix. A St. Christopher’s medal. A Star of David. Or that friendship bracelet your girlfriend gave you when you took off to France without her for six months “in order to find yourself” or whatever. A reminder of an idea or an identity.
As is that $150 pair of sneakers that you think are going make your exercise more often, that too is a talisman; that too has totemic power. Or that $400 smartphone that’s going to get you more organized and focused about your career. Or the author’s signature inside the jacket of your favorite book. Or yes, that gapingvoid print that’s going to hang in your office and help you to stay upbeat and motivated when you’re having a blah day. Or getting “Linchpin” tattooed on your arm.
And this is no different than watching some well known tech blogger like Scoble walking out of an iStore, waving his latest Apple gizmo to the video phones and cheering crowd, after he spent three night waiting in line, in order to be fist in the store to buy one. Right then and there, the Apple gizmo has tremendous talismanic power.
And of course, so does your “Object-Idea”, if you’re fortunate enough to have one. Huge power.
Why do we seem to have this insatiable and irrational desire to surround ourselves with talismans, totems and Object-Ideas? Because they represent meaning to us. And like the the cartoon above says, we have an infinite need for that.
[The Object-Idea archive is here.]
August 15, 2010
37 Comments
I’ve been working on a problem lately…
“Purpose Idea” plus “Social Object” equals…????
The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.
[Quoting Mark Earls:] Put really simply, the Purpose-Idea is the “What For?” of a business, or any kind of community. What exists to change (or protect) in the world, why employees get out of bed in the morning, what difference the business seeks to make on behalf of customers and employees and everyone else? BTW this is not “mission, vision, values” territory – it’s about real drives, passions and beliefs. The stuff that men in suits tend to get embarrassed about because it’s personal. But it’s the stuff that makes the difference between success and failure, because this kind of stuff brings folk together in all aspects of human life.
In his brilliant book, “Welcome to The Creative Age,” Mark Earls, then one of the top advertising planners in London, coined to term “Purpose-Idea”, as a more interesting, engaging and human term to replace the word, “Brand”. The latter he viewed as an outdated, overused and mostly meaningless concept.
Though I loved the book [“Purpose-Idea” is one of the most explosive “A-Ha!” moments I’ve had in my entire career], it soon became apparent to me that a Purpose-Idea doesn’t live in a vacuum. It needs to be articulated via a Social Object, so the idea can spread. Ideas spread not on their own steam, but as social objects. “Hey Gang, what do y’all think of this idea” etc etc. The Microsoft Blue Monster was a good example.
After the success of The Blue Monster, I wanted to create more of these…
i.e. “Social Objects that Articulate a Purpose-Idea” etc.
So I started drawing Cube Grenades with EXACTLY THAT in mind.
But in order to explain what I was talking about, it needed a name. Something more descriptive than say, “Blue Monster” or “Cube Grenade”, terms which are both utterly meaningless without a lot of backstory and context.
So recently I’ve been using the term, “Object-Idea”. A bit of a mouthful, maybe, but it works for now.
So what does this have to do with anything?
Well basically, I’ve been telling the ad agency world for while now, “Guys, you’re no longer in the Message business, you’re in the Social Object business.”
Yes, TV commercials can be social objects [“Dude, did you see that crazy new Progressive Insurance commercial? WTF??!!!”].
In fact, they must be, if the ad is to work. The “Whassuup” campaign for Budweiser [which was actually written by my old advertising buddy, Vinny Warren] didn’t work because the ad was THAT great artistically or convinced you of the beer’s quality.
It worked because suddenly millions of young adults the world over started saying ““Whassssuuuup” to each other. The advertising message, “Whassuup” had become a social object. An utterly massive one.
In the advertising & marketing world, successful social objects [Often called “virals”, especially when talking online] are a good thing. Every brand manger and his uncle dreams of one day creating the next Cadbury’s Gorilla.
But a social object on steroids i.e. an Object-Idea, is far more powerful.
Because it’s actually talking about stuff that actually matters to people. It’s not enough for people to like your product. For them to really LOVE it, somehow they’ve got to connect and empathize with the basic, primal human drives that compelled you create your product in the first place. The Purpose. The Idea. Otherwise you’re just one more piece of clutter to them.
The Object-Idea might catch on within the advertising & marketing world, it might not. It might need refining on my part– maybe a lot, maybe a little– we’ll see. But I sincerely believe that the people who really get it will have a considerable advantage over their peers who don’t.
The Object-Idea. You heard it here first, Folks. Rock on.
[N.B. “Social Objects” is a term I did not coin myself, but was turned onto by the anthropolgist and Jaiku founder, Jyri Engestrom.]
3 Comments
[“Wings”, which I sent out in the newsletter recently. You can get the print here etc.]
[Originally published November, 2005:]
I was having a long conversation with a friend last night about “Business Porn”:
Business Porn is just like Ordinary Porn or Real Estate Porn, except instead of it being about the women we wished we could sleep with, or the houses we wish we owned, it’s about all those cool, lucrative, exciting jobs and businesses that we wish we had, instead of the normal, tedious, schleppy crap most of us end up doing to pay the bills.
Does your blog suffer from low traffic? It’s probably because there’s not enough porn on it. Sex Porn, Real Estate Porn, Wine Porn, Biz Porn, Emotional Porn, it doesn’t matter.
Porn = Traffic.
Porn = Marketing.
Porn = Sales.
With Porn, all things are possible.
So now you know.
August 10, 2010
20 Comments
[Cartoon inspired by: “Take This Blog and Shove It!”]
Evidence of this ennui is everywhere. Amateur blogs, the original embodiment of Web democracy, are showing signs of decline. While professional bloggers are “a rising class,” according to Technorati, hobbyists are in retreat, and about 95 percent of blogs are launched and quickly abandoned. A recent Pew study found that blogging has withered as a pastime, with the number of 18– to 24-year-olds who identify themselves as bloggers declining by half between 2006 and 2009.
[Update] In the comments: “It’s not that blogging is the problem, it’s that people stop at blogging without doing the rest of the great work needed to make a living.”
[commission gapingvoid]
2 Comments
Ross over at Zerocelsius Wealth Studio commissioned this one from me.
Ross’ goal with all his clients is to get them to that point where “They just know”.
Where they’re at. Where they need to be. Where they have to go first in order to get there.
And when they finally reach that point mentally, they tend to experience a feeling of what I call “Calm Catharsis”. I wanted to capture that in the drawing; I think I succeeded.
Thanks, Ross, for the great gig. It was a fun!
[Commission your own Cube Grenade.]
[The Cube Grenade archive is here.]
August 6, 2010
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[That’s me in the armchair with the laptop, looking very serious etc.]
Thanks to Piers at PSFK for allowing me to speak at yesterday’s PSFK LA conference. I had lots of fun. You can see the pictures here at PSFK.com.
August 5, 2010
4 Comments
[Originally posted Sept., 2004]
There are a lot of great marketing books and blogs out there. That being said, I still think the best marketing stories come from personal, first-hand experience.
Here’s a favorite one of mine:
Back when I lived in New York there was this fabulous, crazy-ass juice bar on West Houston called Lucky’s Juice Joint. I think it’s no longer there. I hear it’s moved.
It was the most out-of-place business south of 14th Street. Hard to descibe, except as a “hardcore hippie haven”. Just had this weird, crazy, psychedelic-rainforest vibe. But damn, it had the best juice in town. It was amazing stuff. Tasted like the fruits and vegetables were picked that morning. Fresher than anything else I found in New York. And yes, I had searched high and low for even better alternatives, but never found one. In New York, this was really it.
The boss was this crazy looking tie-dye wearing guy who looked and talked like he had done too many drugs back in the ’sixties. A big ol’ middle aged, acid-head teddy bear. One day we struck up a brief conversation. I complimented the hell out of his product. “Wow,” I quietly gushed, “Your stuff is the best. It really is…”
“Sure it is,” said the guy. “That’s because we make it with reverence.”
You don’t have to get a job with a famous company or hot-shot industry in order to have a spectacular career. You just have to do what you do with reverence.
August 4, 2010
3 Comments
Very cool. The Techcrunch Party poster I mentioned the other day (and in the newsletter this morning) is now available as a print.
Also, for today only there’s a wee offer code that knocks 45% off the normal price etc.
I’m writing this from my hotel in West Hollywood. I’m in LA for the PSFK Conference tomorrow.
The title of my PSFK talk is, “How Culture Will Un-Break Itself”.
Culture? Broken? WTF?
Hint: Social Objects and The Purpose-Idea, Baby… with a bit of Cognitive Surplus thrown in for good measure. Rock on.
August 3, 2010
3 Comments
[Recently I completed one of my most ambitious pieces in a while– a private commission from Tara, for her boyfriend, Remi’s birthday. Go here to check out all the photos and the complete backstory.]
Though I haven’t talked about it too much on the blog, yes, I do private commissions. Feel free to contact me at gapingvoid@gmail.com if you want to discuss further, Thanks.
August 2, 2010
7 Comments
[“Die Trying”, which I sent out in the newsletter recently etc.]
Blessed is She who gets to say, “I’m going to make this damn thing work, or die trying”.
And ACTUALLY means it.
I get that feeling from a lot of the Cube Grenade competition people. Feels good to know that I’m not alone, that I’m not the only crazy person out there.
P.S. Today was MEANT to be the final day to submit an idea, but I’m extending it for another week, till next Monday, 9th August. The reason being that I’ve been traveling so much the last couple of weeks, I’ve not had time to tend to it properly. So I’m giving myself some slack.
Re. Recent submissions. Here are a couple that made me smile. Hard.
1. Noah Fleming and his wife are expecting. So instead of wanting a Cube Grenade for his business or whatever, he wants one for all the unborn children of the world. Wow. Hard to argue with that sentiment.
2. Somebody nominated his wife, unfazed by the possibility that this might be against the rules [it’s not, as it happens]. “She’s now working hard to blaze her own path with an artisan pecan candy she calls Blazin Brittle, a spicey brittle she thinks perfect for the Texas tongue.” Folksy traditional Texas treats are very dear to my heart [Beef jerky, Anyone?], so that resonated with me. Of course it did.
3. Race Face gets the the Upscale Bicycle Geekery Award. Hurrah!
So what do these three ideas [and the others] all have in common?
That’s right. They all have a VERY strong “Purpose-Idea”. To quote Mark Earls for the second time today:
Put really simply, the Purpose-Idea is the “What For?” of a business, or any kind of community. What exists to change (or protect) in the world, why employees get out of bed in the morning, what difference the business seeks to make on behalf of customers and employees and everyone else? BTW this is not “mission, vision, values” territory – it’s about real drives, passions and beliefs. The stuff that men in suits tend to get embarrassed about because it’s personal. But it’s the stuff that makes the difference between success and failure, because this kind of stuff brings folk together in all aspects of human life.
WHY we do something is ALWAYS a more interesting question than WHAT we do.
i.e. “Meaning Scales”. That’s what Cube Grenades is all about. And I intend to get that point across to the world, even if it kills me.
I can think of worse ways to “Die Trying”. You?
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[“Wings”, which I sent out in the newsletter recently etc.]
It was when I first stumbled up Mark Earls’ “Purpose-Idea” back in 2004 that I realized, that after more than decade in the business, I REALLY didn’t want to be in advertising anymore.
Besides the usual reasons– yes, it REALLY IS that stressed out, neurotic and empty– I thought there must be some way I could create more value for clients, more quickly, cheaply and hassle-free.
So after a few years of looking around, I created the Cube Grenade concept. “Art as Social Object as Purpose-Idea” etc.
I liked the idea because it was cheap, easy and disruptive. As opposed to expensive, complicated and calcifying [which is what most advertising is].
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It’s been over six years since I first stumbled upon Mark Earls’ “Purpose-Idea”:
Put really simply, the Purpose-Idea is the “What For?” of a business, or any kind of community. What exists to change (or protect) in the world, why employees get out of bed in the morning, what difference the business seeks to make on behalf of customers and employees and everyone else? BTW this is not “mission, vision, values” territory – it’s about real drives, passions and beliefs. The stuff that men in suits tend to get embarrassed about because it’s personal. But it’s the stuff that makes the difference between success and failure, because this kind of stuff brings folk together in all aspects of human life.
Like the print says, “Love is all we have. Or ever wanted.” To separate that from your work [“It’s just a paycheck” etc.] is more than a shame, it’s almost criminal.
The Purpose-Idea is more than just a clever branding exercise. It’s a useful metal device where, if you can get it right, Love and Work can be unified, either on an individual or collective level.
And why not try to unify them? Life is short.
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Last week I was in Silicon Valley for the annual Techcrunch Party. As usual (this is my fifth year in a row doing it) I designed the commemorative poster for them, which I hand-signed at the event. I thought my “delusional” motif would be perfect for it.
I also attended the CrunchUp conference earlier that day. You can go read all about both events on Techcrunch here.
Congrats and Thanks to Mike, Heather and the whole Techcrunch team for putting on a great show!
[P.S. I’ve already added this design to the Cube Grenade main page…]
