Hey, how y’all doin. Holding up ok? Nearly there, mid term break’s 😳 around the corner. Hope you’re booking something nice 🏨 🛫. Ok, onwards and upwards.
“Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.”
Howard Zinn (historian, playwright, philosopher).
culture // mcmindfulness
This is a short piece about mental health 🧠 💪 . A little heavy, but it needs to be continually discussed. This was a very personal and insightful piece by Matt Klein on the rising mental health crisis. He talks about the fetish-ization of mental illness and how clichéd and surface level most comms are about it. As he says “mental health is so omnipresent that we’re just numb to it. McMindfulness.”. We need meaningful, personal, relatable conversations on the subject. There’s no doubt our digital addictions are drowning us in dopamine and creating Generation Panic 😨 . So maybe, as the piece says, dopamine fasting is the right prescription. And hopefully, working environments aren’t contributing. This piece by nabs in Canada (health & well-being charity for the media, marketing & comms industry) brilliantly talks about how the job will break you if you let it, as a young woman burns the midnight oil 🏢 . Which is sad 😔 and hopefully not a reality for too many people. Less of this 💩 , please. Mind yourselves and take care of each other 🤗 .
brands // purpose wars
Lots bobbling about on brand purpose. You know, social or environmental justice stuff. Peter Field suggested purpose led campaigns are more effective. Richard Shotton, shot that down (pun intended) by pointing out the flaws in the study. Poorly executed ads, are shit, whether they’ve purpose or not. And as Phil Barden outlines, in his book 📖 Decoded, there’s an important difference between liking something, and wanting it. Patagonia got it right recently with their They/Them campaign on gender identity. A beautiful story of a non binary climber finding their authentic self. Product, purpose and brand colliding well. Lego did it well, with their recent International Day of Girl 👱🏼♀️ campaign. Continuing their "Rebuild The World” brand platform and supported by a pledge to remove gender bias from their toys (a study they conducted found that 71% of boys still feared being made fun of, if they played with “girls’ toys”). There’s lots of purpose haters but we think #goodisgold, if it’s effectively linked to desire, persuasion and ultimately sales.
technology // ctv’s
The race to connect things in your life with technology is on. "One ring to rule them all…. and in the darkness bind them” etc. Bit grim but that’s what we really want. Choice is bad, we know that. Sky Glass launched last week with their connected tv 📺 . A big move and a huge launch. The dish-less offer, not only moves them into making TV’s, but also repositions the business for the streaming age. They, along with others, want to own the access point, the OS for TV. Amazon's TV launched recently too and they also want it. It’s a big prize. Like Android or IOS, the OS for TV is exceptionally valuable and software will increasingly decide which TV you choose. Meanwhile, Netflix moves into gaming, expanding “entertainment” ownership. I remember reading that Elon Musk realised his goal to produce an affordable mass market EV, hinged on building “an ecosystem of mobility and energy”. TV’s, similarly, will need an ecosystem. Perhaps of hardware, software and content, including broader entertainment integration (like gaming). Interesting times for the telly box .
creativity // the way
Curiosity and creativity rock 🤘 . Apple was built on both. This was a wonderfully written, moving tribute by Jony Ives, to that and to the incredibly creative mind of Steve Jobs and his discipline to stay curious and to explore. He had an obsession with simplicity, truth & purity, which brought order to chaos. And, he had a real respect for ideas and the creative process, which are both fragile and demand respect. This was a good podcast from the Knowledge Project on the same topic of creativity and curiosity, with Walter Isaacson. And if it’s a meaningful creative and curious life you want, then stay on the f'in bus 🚎. . Love that analogy from Oliver Burkeman. Persistence, as he demonstrates, is a creative superpower. But, wtf is creativity anyway. Nice post from Damon Stapleton, with brilliant examples of creative comms. As he says “don’t look at creativity as a thing. Look at it as a way. Instead of being obsessed with what it is, let’s look at what it does and how it does it”. Which is good advice. Creativity is the way 👍 .
five random (ish) things:
Every bank ad, heh 😂 .
You are enough. You have enough. Enough is enough👌 .
Shut the f#*k up. The many gifts of awkward silence 🤫 .
Ritson says 90% of marketers never develop a marketing strategy 😱 .
Very, very, very, clever Squid Game agile marketing 🦑 .
watching 📺 // burrito blues
This is incredible. What a raw creative force Bo Burnham is. Amazing to see what he achieves, with so little. And what an emotional thump 🥊 . Watch it till the end, trust us 🤯 and 😢 . Catchy song 🎤 too. Stay safe y’all.