Archive for the ‘Detailed Analysis’ Category

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web 2.0 – universal appeal

December 1, 2008

The cool thing about web 2.0 is that it can transcend age, appealing in some way to all generations.  Here’s a short two-part story to that end:

Part 1.  Over the recent holiday I gave some friends and family (who happen to over the age of 50) a tour of a great web 2.0 site, Threadless.com. 

Before we visited I provided a verbal overview (t-shirt design contest site, consumer voting, limited quantity production of the winning designs) and they seemed luke warm on the concept.   However, after about 5 minutes of being inspired by some of the cool designs they became really keen on the idea, mentioning they’d even wear few of the designs.  It was fascinating to see their enthusiasm for this site go from zero to sixty in a matter of minutes.

Part 2.  With full confidence in my digital marketing knowledge and background I recently visited Threadless sister site TypeTees and took a crack at creating my own T-shirt slogan.  I felt really confident that I had published a winner.  An automatic email from TypeTees provided a link to pass around to all my friends, telling them to vote for my slogan, which I excitedly did.    I knew it was just a matter of time and the bragging rights of creating a winning tshirt slogan via the site user community was mine.  4 days later I login to find out that only 6% of the 33 total votes liked my slogan.

typetees 

I was crushed.  My ego bruised and pride damaged – all by the web 2.0 community.  Life will go on, but what a fun ride it was while it lasted.

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The Music Effect

November 16, 2008

Today I started to wonder what is it about music that connects with me?  From my point of view, it’s the following:

Pleasing Hook. This is critical and sets the stage for the rest of the music effect.  The beat, rhythm, repetitive melody or “chorus” (whatever you call it) has got to grab my attention.  If it doesn’t I will skip/forward, change the station or mentally tune it out so it becomes background noise.  The hook could be the led by either guitar, bass, vocals, other instruments or a combination of all, but it’s a must.  Going deep, I think the best songs are so because of this underlying hook.  In my mind, a song is like a poem, and the ones that make the most sense and connect with me, are the ones that are built around rhyme.  Sorry haiku aficionados.

Engaging Lyrics.  If I’m passed the hook stage, the next step on the path to the full music effect is engaging lyrics that tell a good story.  Lifehouse and 3 Doors Down do an amazing job with this.  However, Sting is THE lyrical genius and takes song lyrics to a new level.  I’d put Eminem on the same elite pedestal with Sting, too.  Anyway, if I like a song enough to listen closely to the lyrics and figure them out, engagement has set in.

Extra Credit – Killer Music Video.  This is the cherry on top which brings that lyrical story to life.  The best are Hollywood feature films (actors, sets, plots) compressed to three or so minutes.  They move the story from your minds eye to your eyes and mind, the way the artist envisions it.  Examples:

A great music video can compensate for a not so great song, but the inverse is not true because a lousy video usually doesn’t detract that much from a great song.  And usually when the song is just so damn good that a video doesn’t matter even a live performance can rock too.

When you deconstruct this multi-layer process like I’ve done here, it’s amazing that any song can really meet all of the criteria.  Fortunately, however, each  of us have different tastes and that makes any song a potential great song.

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Hooked into the Community

October 18, 2008

We just came back from a local fair or carnival (unsure of proper terminology) that was actually a lot of fun for parents with a 2 year old.  Ryan took 3 rides, smiling ear to ear, on a merry go round outfitted with ATV’s instead of horses.  On the way home I started thinking that if he could talk to friends his age he’d be advocating that ride, telling them to check it out because it’s so much fun.  That’s probably similar to how we wound up at the fair in the first place – another Mom telling Di about it.  In fact, I’m willing to wager that is how most of the families wound up there today.  Sometimes we get our news by being hooked into a community to which we belong.

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Fear & Desire

September 15, 2008

These are two emotions that drive most of us.  For example the fear of losing something important to you makes a person do anything and everything to prevent that from happening.  Desire on the other hand, can, as an example, lead a person onto great accomplishments (think alexander the great or napoleon), or into complicated and compromising situations (think Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky or Hugh Grant and the call girl). 

So is it OK for fear and/or desire to be a guiding force in your life?  Or, would it be better if those two emotions were regulated by clear and rational thought?  If you’ve ever reacted out of emotion you know what I am talking about (think about a quick reply to an inflammatory email or a verbal jab from someone you respect and/or love).  The emotional reaction is the path of least resistance and often is accompanied by immediate gratification.  Then the emotional equivalent of buyers remorse kicks in…regret, because often this was not the right decision.   

Compare those experiences with others where you have acknowledged those emotions, but contained yourself, thought a bit and then calmly spoke or acted.  My experiences have shown me the calm thoughtful response always feel better in retrospect.  So I guess the skill is in catching yourself before the emotions guide action.  That way we can save the remorse for after holiday dinners when we’ve eaten too much and wonder why we did it to ourselves! 

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A good group to emulate

September 1, 2008

This post is about pressure and the idea that it can produce brilliance.  I think a great example of this is how creative people, which encounter pressure in the form of constraints on a daily basis, can produce their best work.  Constraints are usually imposed by the client or account team, but it could even be self imposed (i.e.  the look or style they’re trying to acheive).  Despite constraints the best in the business seem to find the right openings to go deep and wide.

I think the one constraint you can’t cheat, though, is time.  Procrastinate, put yourself up against a deadline, rush through the work, take a step back and have a look.  It won’t be pretty, and if it is, there is a good chance you’ll need a long nap.

Anyway, I like to keep the creative guys in mind as I assess my challenges.  Constraints and all, they can be good inspiration.

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Appreciation

August 30, 2008

How do you show appreciation for the things you are thankful for?  What’s the best thing others can do to show you they appreciate you, or care?  I subscribe to notion that the most sincere type of appreciation is in the form of attention.    

If you appreciate or value something (your health, spouse, child, parents, job, friends, hobbies, etc) then pay attention to it.  When you don’t see the value or truly appreciate something, we as humans move on and so does our attention.  This isn’t new news, but it’s important to remember this from time to time as life has the tendency to whisk you and your attention away from the things that you truly appreciate, value and care about.

A quick list of things I appreciate, in priority order:

  1. my family
  2. my health
  3. my job & career
  4. playing golf (more specifically, playing golf well, even more specifically, a dynamic, powerful on-plan and rythmic golf swing!)
  5. intellectual development
  6. friends

With so many things on my list (and yours) you know that it’s hard to pay 100% attention to these important things all the time.  But keep that list nearby and make a conscious effort to pay attention to these things.  It’s worth it.

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