Ideasicle Blog & Podcast

If Newspapers Were Never Invented, They Would Be Now.

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:54:20 -0400

(NOTE: This article was not allowed on my Forbes.com blog, so I am posting it here.)
Newspapers are the new "buggy whip" when it comes to icons of bygone technologies. Most newspapers have been shedding subscribers at a 7-10% year-over-year clip. So it's just a matter of time before a newspaper starts its last fire in my fireplace.
Right?
Not so fast. I believe newspapers are more important today than they were when the first daily newspaper hit the American shores in the form of the Pennsylvania Evening Post back in 1783. And for dramatically different reasons.
The first newspapers were invented to bring the under-informed masses information in an efficient, relatively speedy way. The printing press, invented in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450, was the launchpad for newspaper proliferation for the next 500 years. Not a bad run. A profession was established, from reporters covering beats to editors selecting the stories above and below the fold. Integrity was built into the best newspapers. "All the news that's fit to print," is how the New York Times put it for many years.
But then the world changed.
The worldwide web has been steadily replacing the printing press as a far more flexible, inexpensive, and efficient way for information to reach the masses. In fact, now anyone from anywhere can reach anyone else, anywhere else, with all kinds of digitized content - videos, blog posts, "magazine" articles, even "newspaper" articles, to name a few.
We are inundated with information these days. From shaky (and surreal) videos shot from battlefields to Instagram pictures "from" brands to Facebook posts from politicians to Twitter feeds live from Afghanistan to LinkedIn Groups posts to mommy blog posts to cable channel web sites with RSS feeds to Anonymous videos threatening harm to institutions to Pinterest pages from small businesses to everything in-between.
If you think about it, it's the opposite situation the colonists faced back in the 1700s. Then, there wasn't enough information available and newspapers heroically filled the void. Today, there's too much information and I would argue newspapers could once again be the hero.
News, not noise.
Newspaper organizations are already built to bring not only information to us, but the important information to us. They have reporters in the field, editors in the newsrooms, attorneys to fight for document release, fact checkers at their desks, all working to filter out the noise, or the untrue, or the already reported. Newspapers have relationships and access to people and institutions that everyday citizens don't have. They have perspective from covering markets and topics for a long time. And all working to bring us not all that's fit to print, but all that matters.
It's for that reason that I would consider the newspaper a killer new business idea, if they hadn't been around for 400 years already.
Now, you could argue that getting your news from the web yourself or from your friends or followers are all better sources than the newspaper. There's no liberal bias or conservative bias. Just straight information. Throw it all into a Flipboard or Currents app to aggregate it and your point would be all the more compelling. But as much as I am entertained by, and respect, my friends and my social media followers with their blog posts and suggested articles, I would far sooner trust a professional with such things as what's "news" versus what's "noise" or, worse, what are outright lies.
Newspapers don't need to change. They need to change how we perceive them.
What newspapers do has never been more relevant. Let them trudge through all the AP articles. Let them send reporters out to the scene and decide if there's a story there. Let them make sure that, if there is a story, that it's a professional writer writing it. And let them make the hundreds of hierarchical decisions that give us a handy visualization for the relative importance of each story (e.g. above and below the fold, big headlines, sidebars, etc.). All of that expertise helps us navigate the news quickly and efficiently. All we have to do is open it up and read it.
At some point, people are going to break from the firehose of information and look for solutions. And they'll realize the answer has been right in the iTunes Newsstand all along. If you're worried about bias, pick the one you believe will filter the news the way you want. But pick one.
Newspapers have an opportunity to accelerate this resurgence by positioning themselves more overtly as a useful filter for the overwhelming noise that is our world today. It's not a reinvention, it's only a slight shift in our perception of the newspaper's role in our lives.
A broken clock is right twice a day. The newspaper industry, hundreds of years after its invention, is right again, right now.

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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #34: Mark Ray, Dave Allen: North Advertising

Fri, 8 Feb 2013 08:58:48 -0500

Music in advertising is something valued by the insiders. But what is it about music that can "make" a TV spot? How do you choose the right artist? What brands are using music in powerful ways, and what brands aren't?
These are the questions I put to the music experts at NORTH Advertising, Mark Ray and Dave Allen. Both are musicians first and advertising executives second. Which makes their brand of advertising special. I was fortunate to get some time with them both.
Note: the musical breaks are from Dave's band, "Gang of Four." The first is from the song, "Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time"; the second is from "Ether." Both are from Gang of Four's "Entertainment" album. Great stuff if you’re into Clash-like punk. They're on Spotify.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We begin by talking about North, the agency, and how music has been at the core of the culture there since the beginning.
➡ We discuss the parallels between composing music and "composing" advertising.
➡ Mark talks about the importance of execution (production) in creating both music and advertising.
➡ We talk at length about one of my favorite campaigns, North's the Deschuttes Brewery "River Recordings" campaign. Music was the centerpiece, of course. Great example of "Channeling the Brand."
➡ Mark and Dave talk about how music is the "great uniting language" in our culture, and brands should be taking advantage of that fact.
➡ We talk about great examples of brands using music: VW "Pink Moon," Coke "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing," Fidelity and Paul McCartney with "This Is Paul."
➡ The great examples respect the artist and what the artist needs to get out of the partnership, and the artist is used to create a vibe, and not for a convenient lyric in a song.
➡ But we also talk about the misuse of music in advertising. Like Nike using the Beatles' "Revolution," and John Lennon's "Instant Karma," or even Microsoft's use of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up."
➡ And we wrap up with some great tips when considering music, not the least of which is that, according to Mark and Dave, every brand should have, along with their visual identity (e.g. logo, color palette, etc.), a sound identity as well. What is your brand's sound identity?
BIOS:
Mark Ray:
Currently principal owner and executive creative director of NORTH, a boutique creative brand agency in Portland, Oregon, working to bring real and lasting brand value to purpose-driven companies including Clif Bar, Keen, Yakima, Deschutes Brewery and Subaru of America. Formerly Managing Partner and Executive Creative Director Arnold Worldwide, leading global, award-winning creative efforts from the Boston and St. Louis offices for brands including Jack Daniel's and Volkswagen.
In his musical life, he was the founder of the Undertow Music Collective, started in 1996 as an independent record label and artist management firm, dedicated to supporting independent artists with a ground-breaking business model that shared half of all net revenues with artists. One of the first indie labels to be invited in Apple's iTunes launch, Undertow abandoned the physical distribution model in favor of a digital platform in 2006. Undertow has released over forty records, launched careers, managed tours and brokered career-enhancing licensing for artists including Jesse Harris, David Bazan, Will Johnson and Centro-matic, Vic Chestnutt.
Dave Allen:
Professional musician - Gang of Four, Shriekback. Label owner, record producer. Early adopter to the web - first indie label to have a website in 1993, first label to have an artist broadcast live on the Internet with IUMA. Early member of the eMusic.com team, world's first paid download company. Biz dev director, Intel Corp. 12 years in the Portland advertising and tech world as Interactive Strategist Adjunct lecturer at University of Oregon and Pacific Northwest College of Art Serial blogger and Director of Interactive Strategies at North.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #33: Jim Harold

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:08:22 -0500

Okay, have you ever thought about creativity in a spiritual way? That at least some ideas are the result of divine, or some other, inspiration? Well, I know I have. And we’re going to talk to a bonafide expert on all things paranormal to find out what he thinks.
Jim Harold is the host of The Paranormal Podcast and Jim Harold's Campfire.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We begin by discussing what's real about the paranormal. Is it all real? Is some of it?
➡ Jim then gives us some incredible stories that could indicate where creativity comes from.
➡ He talks about a book called "The Wreck Of The Titan," which was written in 1898, yet almost perfectly describes the building and demise of the Titanic, which didn't set sail for years following the story.
➡ And Jules Verne's novel, "From Earth To The Moon," written in 1865 and describes almost perfectly the Apollo Mission of the 1960s. The parallels are truly amazing. Was it telling the future? Divine inspiration? Lucky guess?
➡ We then talk about ways to jujitsu the cosmos in a way to take pressure off of you, creatively, and discuss the possibility that creativity is actually a way of telling the future.
➡ What are angels? Real beings that can communicate with us? Or just a way of explaining that "aha!" moment?
➡ Is it possible that all of our thoughts, collectively, are connected together somehow?
➡ And Jim talks about technological innovation over the last half century and the dramatic increase that is totally unexplained and unprecedented.
BIO:
A life long interest in the paranormal, combined with his love of broadcasting and technology, resulted in the most successful podcasts of their type to date. He holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Communication Theory and Methodology and is accredited as a Certified Digital Media Consultant by the Radio Advertising Bureau. Jim has also taught at the university level.
Jim is a published author. His September 2011 New Page Books release Jim Harold’s Campfire: True Ghost Stories is available at Amazon.com and at bookstores nationwide.
Jim says he won’t dress up in alien costumes and doesn’t plan on buying that $19.99 Super Official Ghost Detector off of late night TV but believes there is more to life than what meets the eye.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #32: Mitch Joel

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:01:47 -0500

I've been following Mitch Joel for years now. His first book, "Six Pixels of Separation," was a huge inspiration to me when I started Ideasicle. Mitch studies the digital and social media space constantly, always learning, always helping us learn through his own content. If you’re new to Mitch, I’m fairly certain you’ll be following him after this podcast.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We begin by discussing whether the "act" of creativity has changed in the digital age of marketing. It's different when you can do anything.
➡ Mitch tells us about the nuances of blogging. Before writers would hold back and save the big ideas for the book. No longer. Now the blog actually helps formulate those big ideas.
➡ But he warns that blogging is a rope, one that you can hang yourself on if you're not careful.
➡ We talk at length about branding in the digital age. How it's the same. How it's different now.
➡ Mitch believes that Apple has multiple personalities, for example. And that's a good thing.
➡ Brands need to be both passive and active in order to be vital.
➡ I pushed Mitch to be a futurist for us. What's next? He brought up new technologies (ideas) like Uber, the new way to order a ride from here to there. And crowdfunding, as a category, as examples of optimizing people's lives. That's the future.
➡ Lastly, he gives us advice on staying sharp, creatively: read, write, and attend. Great explanation here, and great advice for us all.
BIO:
Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image, an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications company.
Marketing Magazine dubbed him the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." In 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada's Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40. Most recently, Mitch was named one of iMedia's 25 Internet Marketing Leaders and Innovators in the world.
His first book, "Six Pixels of Separation," named after his successful blog and podcast is a business and marketing bestseller. And his second book called “CTL ALT DEL” is coming out in May.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #31: Sally Thornton

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:56:00 -0500

Today we rethink work, and the act of working. Creativity is hard work. We all know that. But maybe there are things we're doing and cultural conventions companies are following that, if looked at differently, might not only yield better work, but happier creative people. As Founder & Chief Curator for innovative recruiting company, Forshay, Sally Thornton studies work, and working, for a living. And we caught up with her on the Ideasicle Podcast.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ Sally begins by giving us an overview of her company, Forshay, a very modern recruitment company. You'll see why the psychology of working is important to her.
➡ Then we turn her sights to creativity.
➡ Sally debunks the myth that more work is better. It's not necessarily true. Even if you think working all hours makes you look better politically.
➡ She describes the "ideal worker" as described by many unenlightened companies - and those are people with no lives who can devote themselves to the job. And then contrasts that convention with what makes for creativity. And it's not this so-called "ideal worker."
➡ Did you know that Ford established the 40-hour work week because Henry found that any more than that, productivity dropped off. Similarly, and more modernly, software companies that add software developers to a project hoping it'll get done more quickly are often disappointed that productivity decreases.
➡ She describes a fascinating concept called "predictable time off" and how it can help increase team productivity.
➡ GAP piloted a new way of working in response to losing their best people - they loved their jobs too much. So they tried an experiment - a results oriented workplace.
➡ Autonomy, mastery, and purpose, are what workers really want. Companies, take note.
➡ Sally gives us some tips - workers and the bosses - that can help us all be more creative. Like work more than 60 hours in a week and you'll start acting drunk (reference, the anchors covering the presidential election, Diane Sawyer), or the 90 minute rule, or the weakness of multi-tasking vs multiplayers, and many more.
➡ And, get this, the legal industry, by which the ad business built its compensation model (hours), might be the one paving the way to a new, value-based compensation model.
BIO:
Sally Thornton is the Founder + Chief Curator for a company called Forshay. Forshay is a new talent company that uses an on-demand model, providing ‘just enough’ structure to support their best work, or through direct-hire opportunities. Sally has extensive experience addressing the unique talent needs of the Bay Area’s most remarkable companies, having worked with iconic leaders such as Genentech and Levi Strauss, rapid-growth start ups including ngmoco:) and Sonos, and radically creative companies like Method Home and IDEO. As a thought leader on work and talent, Sally has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, KQED radio, Forbes, NBC11 News, ABC7 News, Entrepreneur.com, ABC’s View From the Bay, and BNET.com.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #30: Dr. Bob Deutsch

Tue, 2 Oct 2012 14:11:24 -0400

He's back. Cognitive anthropologist, Dr. Bob Deutsch, challenges us to consider his theory on "The Alchemy of Difference."
It’s a fascinating study into human nature, the role of paradox in all of our lives, and is at the crux of creativity itself.
PROGRAM NOTE: Dr. Bob removes a piece of paper from his microphone at about 13 minutes in and it sounds way better. So hang in there.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We live in a "world of too" - too fast, too complex, too competitive.
➡ The world has shifted from the world of choice ("or") to a world of "and." It's a much more complex world.
➡ Like tradition AND modernity. How can we take that seeming paradox and make it innovative? A new concept in which a person lives.
➡ We discuss this paradox as it relates to politics. A leader achieves emanence by being familiar AND mythic, accessible AND the one who knows the way. Being a leader is already a paradox.
➡ Famous people are paradoxes. Elvis - sacred and profane. Marlon Brando - tough and tender. Each of us is a "democracy of disparate voices" - we live in paradox, it's our self-narrative.
➡ Marketing makes a mistake - it tries to slice up existence so small that in that place and time is predictable and linear. But it's not reality. We think about people as "consumers." That's absurd. They are not stimulus/response machines.
➡ Dr. Bob interviewed jazz great, Wynton Marsalis, about improv. Great story. The role of trust, curiosity, openness, sensuality, and large doses of "directed serendipity."
➡ Creativity - you have to do it through your own self-system. Creativity is not about what you know. It's about passing what you know through the sieve of who you are.
➡ "There is no one alive who is youer than you" - Dr. Seuss
➡ We even get to the meaning of life. Did we crack it? That's up to you.
➡ It's about the co-authoring of you. Bob Dylan: "I was born very far away from where I was supposed to be born. I'm always on my way home."
➡ We discuss Bruce Springstein's SXSW speech. Dr. Bob has watched it 25 times it's so great. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbv0SUVQjM
➡ We discuss how brands can help people expand their conceptions of themselves in the world. Before you make money, you have to make magic. Brands are a venue for improvisational co-authoring between product and people.
➡ You Tools - Dr. Bob's upcoming new book about this entire topic.
BIO:
From contributing to Military Review magazine to portraying a college professor in a McDonald’s commercial, cognitive anthropologist Dr. Bob Deutsch (founder of consulting firm Brain Sells (www.Brain-Sells.com), Boston, MA), breaks the mold.
Bob has worked in the primeval forest and on Pennsylvania and Madison Avenues. His focus, since the mid-’70s, when he was living with pre-literate tribes and chimpanzees, has been understanding how ideas take hold in cultures. Since opening Brain Sells, in 1990, he has applied this understanding to how people attach to products, persons and performances. He is fond of saying, “Reasoned judgment about attributes is not the issue. The brain evolved to act, NOT to think.” Bran Sells’ retail clients include: Apple, MasterCard, American Express, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, Chanel.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #29: Mark St. Amant

Sat, 1 Sep 2012 15:40:59 -0400

We kick off this Labor Day weekend 2012 with one of the founders of new Boulder agency, Grenadier, Mark St. Amant. This guy's creative track record is impressive. He's creative-directed at Arnold, Crispin and Sterling-Rice. He's written two books, one about Fantasy Football, and another about his attempt to play semi-pro football, and plays guitar at Christmas parties. I've seen him.
He has a great sense of humor and some wise advice about creativity.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We begin by discussing Mark's new agency, Grenadier. His motivation in starting it and the role serendipity played in making it all happen.
➡ We talk about Barkley, the employee-owned agency and partner to Grenadier, and how being independent affects creativity in a positive way vs. the holding companies.
➡ I asked Mark flat out why all these agencies are spinning off CPB (Crispin) - first Goodness, then Victors & Spoils, then Made Movement, now Grenadier. Is something in the Boulder water? Or is Crispin a special place that is more of a creative incubator than anyone really knows? Listen and find out.
➡ We talk about the benefits of having a passion outside of advertising. In Mark's case, sports and Fantasy Football. But also how such a passion can actually help you in advertising to get a job.
➡ We discuss how creativity has changed over the years - Mark believes "the idea" needs to be bigger now. Bigger than just one medium. Related to that, Mark talks about Mark Moll's brilliant idea he's doing in Chicago, by himself, to build awareness for keeping pets safe in the summer heat.
➡ In bringing up how easy it is to execute some of these ideas when social media can magnify everything, we talk about how traditional agencies might be looking at this new trend.
➡ Mark then gives us some of his own tips on creativity - from reading, to living, to avoiding the brainstorm. Quote: "I hate brainstorms."
Bio:
Mark St. Amant is a Creative Director and author living in Boulder, Colorado. He's been in advertising since 1991 and been honored by virtually every awards show in the industry, including CLIO, Cannes, One Show, Kelly Awards, Effies, ADDYs, Hatch, and more. When not "moonlighting" in advertising, Mark has also written two books published by Scribner:
Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, the top-selling fantasy football book of all-time whose narrative prompted fellow author and pop culture guru Chuck Klosterman to facetiously dub St. Amant "the smartest man who's ever lived."
Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place, Semi-Pro Football Player, called "one of the best sports books of 2006" in a coveted starred review from Booklist.
He's also written for the Sunday New York Times, the New York Times.com "5th Down" NFL blog, NBC Sports’ Rotoworld.com, Salon.com, Boston Globe Magazine, and other digital/traditional publications; and he's appeared on various TV and radio programs from NPR, ESPN, and ESPN Classic, to Sirius XM Radio, Maxim Radio, and more.
After spending most of his career in Boston at Arnold Worldwide, Mark moved to Colorado in 2009 to work at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, but recently started his own shop called Grenadier, in partnership with Barkley, an employee owned agency.
Mark lives in Boulder with his wife and two kids.

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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #28: Court Crandall

Wed, 1 Aug 2012 19:58:57 -0400

Remember last month we talked to theologian, Dr. Sean McDonough, about whether creativity was divine and how it was part of god’s plan?
Needle rip.
This month we are going to talk about the movie “Old School,” with the screenplay writer himself, Court Crandall.
But Court is much more than the writer of a Will Ferrell movie. He’s a creative director, director, writer of a children's book, and a dad. This guy, I was delighted to find out, knows a thing or two about creativity. Click Court’s picture above to listen.
Show Notes:
➡ We start at Court's beginning, his childhood. How his dad's creativity (he was also in advertising) influenced Court's creative abilities.
➡ He uses his children's book "Hugville" as an example of his own flavor of creativity, which he describes as "problem solving."
➡ We talk about learned helplessness and how it can defeat creativity if we let it.
➡ I ask Court flat out - what is creativity? And I get an answer I hadn't heard before.
➡ We discuss the childhood effects of the democratization of production tools - like video cameras, editing software, publishing - and what it's doing (good and bad) for childhood creativity.
➡ We shift gears to talk about WDCW, Court's advertising agency in LA, and how "encouragement" is an important ingredient.
➡ Court talks about the "new practicality" in advertising these days, in that it demands much more than clever headlines and art direction.
➡ We get very deep into the writing of "Old School," the challenges of writing a screenplay, dealing with Hollywood, and even the inspiration for the movie (hint: it was a lame wine and cheese party with a harp that Court went to).
➡ We talk about Court's new movie, "Free Throw," and how important it was for him, for the people in the movie and, ultimately, for his agency.
➡ Finally, Court gives us all very tangible advice to improve our own creativity every single day.
Bio:
A partner and Executive Creative Director at WDCW out near LA, Court has both created and shepherded award-winning advertising for a variety of clients including ESPN, Beck’s, Virgin, 2K and the anti-smoking effort for California. He has produced a children’s book called Hugville released by Random House, two actual children (Chase 17 & Zane 14), the Dreamworks movie, Old School, and the independent film, A Lobster Tale. And most recently, through WDCW, he created and directed an independent film called Free Throw that has attracted international PR over the last few months and was recently featured in Bing's "Decisions That Shaped 2011."
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #27: Dr. Sean McDonough

Sun, 1 Jul 2012 15:51:38 -0400

Is creativity divine?
Or, better yet, is human creativity part of God's plan? Did He just get the ball rolling "in the beginning" and now it's our job to keep it rolling? What does the Bible say about creativity?
Talk about untangling the mysteries of the elusive idea.
We went straight to the source this time. And you might be surprised at some of the answers.
Dr. Sean McDonough, Professor of New Testament at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, talks to us about spirituality, The Bible, and creativity, in this fascinating interview.
Show Notes:
➡ We begin by defining creativity from the Christian standpoint.
➡ We discuss the first creative act (God's biggie) and the fact that act didn't end in seven days. That was just the beginning, if you will, of creativity in the world.
➡ The Old Testament is full of references to creativity, but the New Testament has very few direct references. Dr. McDonough explains why.
➡ Is there "good creativity" and "bad creativity" from the perspective of Christianity? Hint: Eve had a very bad idea one day in the Garden of Eden.
➡ In fact, Jesus' acts were largely creative acts that "restore" God's plan - e.g. giving sight to the blind man.
➡ We talk about the purpose of creativity. That creativity may be a means, not an end. That love is always the "end" of any good creative act.
➡ Dr. McDonough uses the Beatles and The Beach Boys as examples of tapping into a "love vibe" through their creativity.
➡ We wrap up with a discussion about God's role in everyday creativity. Can God have influence in the seeming "randomness" that creative solutions often appear from? E.g. "out of the blue"?
Bio:
Dr. McDonough came to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2000 from the Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji, where he had served as the Chair of the Biblical Studies Department and as a lecturer in New Testament. His research interests include creation/cosmology in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy and religion and the Book of Revelation.
Degree at B.A. (Harvard College). A degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Ph.D. (University of St. Andrews).
Dr. McDonough remains active in ministry. He is a Sunday School teacher and occasional preacher at First Congregational Church in Hamilton. He is also a speaker for Medair, a Christian relief organization based in Switzerland.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #26: Leslie Ehm

Fri, 1 Jun 2012 10:04:40 -0400

As a former TV host, Creative Director and ideation specialist turned training diva, Leslie Ehm knows a thing or two about creativity. And has made a career out of making others more creative.
She was a Group Creative Director at Canada’s largest ad agency, MacLaren McCann, with clients like Nestlé, GM, Rogers, Microsoft, Bacardi, and McNeil.
In 2009, she focused on the areas of study she found were truly moving her clients’ businesses forward – ideation, collaboration and presentation skills. In 2010, Leslie launched Three Training and it's been unstoppable ever since.
She trains many of the world’s top ad agencies (Leo Burnett, draftFCB, JWT, Venables Bell & Partners, Taxi to name a few) as well as leading innovators like Disney, Pepsico, Mark Anthony, Boston Scientific and more.
In addition to Three Training, Leslie delivers workshops all over the U.S for the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), develops and delivers part of the Institute for Communications Agencies’ (ICA) CAAP course, is certified by the Creative Problem Solving Institute, and is a sought-after keynote speaker.
And is about to launch a company focusing on creativity within larger Fortune 500 type companies.
Today, she’s going to train us.
SHOW NOTES:
➡ We begin at the beginning - Leslie's childhood and the importance of her mom in fostering Leslie's creativity. Let's just say purple hair is involved.
➡ As a creative director, Leslie realized that agency creativity is not a natural way to be creative, so she started a company to train creatives to handle this unnatural act.
➡ Three Training focuses on ideation, collaboration and presentation.
➡ We discuss the problem agency's have by designating some people as "creative" and others not.
➡ We talk a lot about fear and how it blocks creativity. Leslie suggests, among other things, that we not listen to that little scared inner voice.
➡ Group brianstorms require rules of engagement, and she shares many with us.
➡ Then we wrap up with some specific tips on how we can all be more creative: from barfing out ideas, to avoid judging, to avoiding preciousness. Good stuff.
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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #25b AMC’s “The Pitch”: Tracy Wong

Mon, 7 May 2012 17:49:31 -0400

Part 2 of my interviews with AMC’s “The Pitch” contestants. This time with WDCW’s Tracy Wong.
You may have seen my article on AMC’s “The Pitch” in Forbes recently. If not, check it out here. I challenged the presumption by many that the reason most agencies chose not to participate was because they were worried about revealing their “fancy pants” proprietary processes. I speculated that it was more about their fear of exposing the fact they have no secret sauces whatsoever.
So to watch the first episode of the show, which pitted Tracy’s agency, WDCW, against McKinney’s, was a very interesting experience.
We got some great behind the scenes stuff from Tracy, including where he got those hot “Ideasicle Yellow” shoes.

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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #25 AMC’s “The Pitch” Winner: Jonathan Cude

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:02:13 -0400

Well look at that. Another video podcast. This time through my friends at Forbes.
You may have seen my article on AMC’s “The Pitch” in Forbes recently. If not, check it out here. I challenged the presumption by many that the reason most agencies chose not to participate was because they were worried about revealing their “fancy pants” proprietary processes. I speculated that it was more about their fear of exposing the fact they have no secret sauces whatsoever.
So to watch the first episode of the show, which pitted Jonathan’s agency, McKinney, against WDCW, was a very interesting experience. I had so many questions.
And Jonathan, to his credit, has just as many answers.

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Ideasicle Podcast Episode #24: Russell Davies

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 11:51:15 -0400

Though he admits he still doesn’t really know what a planner is supposed to do, Russell Davies is one of the most influential planners in the world.
He spent several years at Wieden & Kennedy (both Portland and London offices), before joining Ogilvy, where he served as head of planning for EMEA. Russell is currently head of planning at R/GA London. A frequent public speaker and well respected writer, his blog is one of the most widely read in the industry. He also writes a weekly column for Campaign Magazine and is a contributing editor for Wired UK.
Subscribe to the Ideasicle Podcast on iTunes.
Show Notes:
Note: sound quality a bit off on this one due to negligence on the host’s part. But you can hear Russell well, which is the important part.
➡ We open by discussing agency "culture" versus "habit," and whether there even is such a thing as culture at an agency.
➡ What is planning to Russell Davies? Well, no one knows what you're supposed to be doing, for starters.
➡ We discuss creativity and whether it's even worthwhile to discuss.
➡ With easier publishing comes more creativity, right? Maybe not.
➡ The democratization of production tools means professional creatives will soon find out just how special they are.
➡ Crowdsourcing is dumb.
➡ Russell shares with us how he keeps himself inspired. It's all about discovering new things.
➡ As it relates to agencies complaining all the time, Russell says stop complaining about things you volunteered to do.
➡ Lastly, and perhaps most profoundly, Russell explains his view that companies have been so obsessed with honing their marketing, they've forgotten how to make great products (unlike Apple).
References:
We discuss Russell’s Wired talk, which you can see here: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-10/13/russell-davies-wired-2011
Russell's blog: http://russelldavies.typepad.com/home/

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Free Idea For Mitt Romney: Vow To Serve One Term

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:31:13 -0400

I don’t often dabble in politics publicly. Bad for business. But since I’m in the idea business, and I had an idea that is political in nature, I don’t care. I feel compelled to share this one.
It’s an idea inspired by President Obama’s recent comment to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, caught by a live mic, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
He’s right. He will have more flexibility. And that got me thinking about Mitt Romney, who, if elected, will not have the luxury of this “flexibility.”
The problem with Mitt Romney is well known: while people feel confident with his capabilities as a business man, no one, including me, is entirely confident with anything else about the man. Conservatives, liberals, nobody. But one little act by Romney could disarm us all and get him elected for sure in November.
Vow to serve one term, and one term only.
As in, tomorrow, look into the cameras and make the vow. Maybe create a legal document that you sign in front of the Statue of Liberty (and a notary). Have your kids sign it too. Sign it in blood. Put $100,000,000 in a bank account that will go to the Democratic National Committee if you change your mind. Whatever. Just make it absolutely clear that part of your plan for the country is to be a one-term president.
Here’s why. He will not only “have more flexibility,” but will be more focused. From day one, not in four years.
What our country needs right now is a business-consultant-in-chief. We need someone, like Romney, who can sweep in, bring out his inner-Bain, and pull an Olympic move. We need someone to analyze the country’s financial problems, recommend specific ideas to fix those problems (as difficult as they may be for us to swallow), push them through Congress, and then get the hell out.
By vowing to serve only one term, Romney will eliminate the poisonous pressures of re-election. He will be able to make the hard decisions without political calculation, and even graciously take 100% of any political fall-out for all the pansies in Congress, most of whom have proven they are more worried about their own re-elections than the future of the country (Republicans and Democrats, to be clear). Special interests will, for four years anyway, not be special nor interesting to this president because he will be armed with a mandate - fix the place.
Further, by vowing to serve only one term, Americans who respect his fiscal skills and nothing else will be given “permission” to vote for him. Hey, it’s only four years of intense focus.
If along the way Romney proves to be a great president overall, then that’s icing on the four-layer cake. And, because he’ll be out in one term, he’ll certainly tee up his VP to continue the momentum. If he fails miserably in those four years, well, he wouldn’t have won re-election anyway.
Our personal politics aside, if our government (not just Obama, but the entire broken, idiotic, frustrating mess) continues to spend more than it generates in revenue, and does so at the current rate, it won’t matter who our next president is.

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Tags: idea, ideas, creativity, innovation, innovate, Will Burns, Ideasicle, advertising, marketing, client, experts, expert sourcing, creativity, creative, politics, obama, mitt romney, republican, democrat, independent, economy, election, president

What Do You Think Of The New Ideasicle Content Strategy?

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:36:26 -0400

Ideasicle has never marketed itself through paid marketing. Our success to date has been through the intellectual “elbow grease” of content. Content that celebrates the space we’re in - that of ideas - and content that gives insight into how we think in this fast changing idea world. We do it for you, of course, but we mostly do it for ourselves. The interaction with experts in creativity, blogging about it, and otherwise obsessing over ideas is good for the Ideasicle soul. It makes us better.

But I would like to take a minute and explain Ideasicle’s new content strategy and get your valuable feedback.

Up through December, 2011, we had two content outlets: one, this blog; two, the Ideasicle Podcast. Both of which were unified by by the theme, “Untangling the mysteries of the elusive idea.”

But then I got the gig as a contributor to Forbes.com within the Leadership/CMO section. My angle is about creativity in business. Don’t get me wrong, the exposure through Forbes has been amazing for Ideasicle. But the amount of content I’m creating across all three outlets (not to mention the Ideasicle Facebook page) is close to getting in the way of actual Ideasicle business. There isn’t some intern behind the scenes cranking it out for me. It’s just me.

So, let me run this by you.

We are not going to eliminate any of the three content outlets, but we are going to change the nature of the Ideasicle Blog, and reduce the frequency of posts. Specifically, the mission for each will be as follows:

1. Ideasicle Blog (1-2 posts per month): insights into crowdsourcing, expert sourcing and interesting happenings on the Ideasicle front. Maybe even some agency pitch stuff, since I’m doing more of that now.
2. Ideasicle Podcast (1 interview per month, on iTunes): nothing will change here, I’ll try to have more amazing people who have insight into the inner workings of creativity, the brain, being more creative, tips, tricks, everything. All about untangling that mystery.
3. Forbes.com (3-4 per month): again, it’ll be about creativity in business, where I see brands being creative, and where I see major misses. Also will intertwine those real examples with articles about branding, evaluating creative, being more creative, or fostering a more creative environment (stuff I used to do only on the Ideasicle Blog).

So, attempting to give each content bucket a clear reason for being, but one that is complimentary to the other two.

What do you think?

I’d really like your feedback and suggestions. Even if it’s to say something sucks or isn’t working or to say you’d like to see more of THIS and little less of THAT.

No point in doing any of this without your input.

Thanks!

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Tags: idea, ideas, creativity, innovation, innovate, Will Burns, Ideasicle, advertising, marketing, client, experts, expert sourcing, creativity, creative, Forbes, forbes.com, itunes, ideasicle podcast, ideasicle blog

Ideasicle Podcast Episode #23: Tauntr’s Marc Gallucci

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 16:31:37 -0500

Welcome to our first (and probably only) video podcast, courtesy of the guy we’re interviewing. On with the show.
A lot of marketers and agencies talk about "real time" this and "real time" that. But few are actually doing it. And then there's Tauntr, a company built specifically to create real time digital creative. Born a digital content company mocking the sports world (hence the name) in real time, they are now applying that digital might on behalf of brands. And that's what got me interested in exploring more with CEO, Marc Gallucci.
It's a simple formula, really:
today's headline
+ your brand idea
+ Tauntr's creative magic
= Real Time Relevance.
They call it "Real Time Relevance" for a reason. The creative comes literally out of the headlines that day, so it's got relevance baked right in. No agency on earth has figured out how to do this yet.
Are your creative curiosities peaked?
Listen in and find out how they pull this off (every day).
Show Notes:
➡ Marc explains the concept of Tauntr.
➡ He takes us through the nimble company's staffing - it's not what you think - to scour the news every day, morning meetings to talk about the right headlines for the right brands, and then go execute...all that day.
➡ Marc sets expectations for clients, too, as to what to expect. This ain't your father's traditional agency process.
➡ And finally he reveals the proprietary distribution Tauntr has built to amplify the viralness of their work.
➡ Oh, and we get animated towards the end, too.
Contact Marc:
To email Marc Gallucci and learn more about how Tauntr defies gravity, click here.

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Ideasicle Announces New Products And Pricing.

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:46:54 -0500

We have been continually honing our virtual “Expert Sourcing” model at Ideasicle for almost two years now. Along the way we have completed over 50 ideation projects for brands such as Warner Music Group, The New York Times, Brand USA, AMD, and Chevrolet, among others. And for agencies like MMB/Boston, Baldwin&, Think Conservatory and North, again, among others.

Over 700 Ideas (And Counting).

We’ve done brand positioning work, promotional work, named a music channel, come up with go-to-market ideas to woo co-op dollars from OEMs, helped brands retain customers, acquire new ones, and even re-acquire lapsed customers. We’ve come up with tag lines, named features within products, concepted complex retail promotions, devised elaborate events, provided agencies with fast-turn-around ideas to blow out a pitch.

We even recruited guest-Experts in Dubai to work with our own domestic Experts to concept a promotion for the United Arab Emirates.

Along the way, we’ve learned something important about the nature of ideation relative to the complexity of the assignments.

Not All Ideas Are Created Equally.

When we started Ideasicle, our desire was to project extreme simplicity. As such, our pricing was extremely simple, as well: one price ($15,000) for pretty much any kind of idea. However, because of the vast array of projects we’ve worked on we’ve learned one important thing about our virtual model: not all ideas are created equally. For example, the task of coming up with tag lines, where the tag line is the only object of our focus, is quite different from coming up with an elaborate promotion, where we must come up with the promotional idea first and then the components of that promotion to bring it to life.

Further, we listened to our clients. The immediate value of some ideas is higher than others and our pricing now reflects that. In fact, one of our clients invented a new product for Ideasicle. Something he called a “Creative Gut Check,” where he could send us some existing ideas for review and evaluation with the Ideasicle Experts. Clearly, that’s a different ask than coming up with a brand positioning, say, so our pricing needed to be updated.

Price Now Correlates To Complexity: $5,000 - $45,000

As result of all this learning, we are now offering an array of distinct Ideasicle products and pricing that corresponds to the complexity of each assignment. Some projects now cost less than the original $15,000. Some are more expensive. Some take three days, some take five weeks. The chart is a description of our offerings, ascending from the lower end of the pricing scale to the higher end.
We are very excited about this news. And we hope you are too. Whether you’re a client, a potential client or just an interested observer from the sidelines. Our goal is to offer less expensive products for more frequent purchase while also providing robust ideation products for the more complex issues you might face.

Ideasicle is still a relatively new concept, but that doesn’t mean we don’t constantly hone our model and its offerings. We do. And, in the end, all we want to do is come up with more ideas for our clients.

And pricing that reflects a project’s complexity seems like a good idea to us.

Please let us know what you think down below, on our Facebook Page, or simply contact us directly. Many thanks in advance.

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Tags: idea, ideas, creativity, innovation, innovate, Will Burns, Ideasicle, advertising, marketing, client, experts, expert sourcing, pricing, price, Warner, Brand USA, Chevy, David Baldwin, MMB, North, Mark Ray, nyse:AMD, nyse:gm, nyse:nyt, advanced micro devices, creativity, creative

Ideasicle Podcast Episode #22: Three Real Live Ideasicle Experts

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 15:36:49 -0500

Welcome to another episode of the Ideasicle Podcast, where we attempt to untangle the mysteries of the elusive idea.
For the first time ever. Two Ideasicle Experts go public with their identities in one Ideasicle Podcast. Listen to find out who they are.
And another Expert stays incognito ("The Kernal").
But all of them, through great conversation and debate, give you a window into the minds of all of the Ideasicle Experts, and we work to untangle those mysteries along the way.
Show Notes:
➡ The big reveal of two Ideasicle Experts.
➡ We do a quick roundtable on some great ideas out there that the Experts feel are worth noting.
➡ We talk about the ideation process - better to be alone or in a group?
➡ We debate the idea versus execution - which is more important?
➡ We get a little deep by asking, "Are there any new ideas anymore?"
➡ Then my favorite part: the Experts let loose and describe what it's like to be an Ideasicle Expert, working virtually and with each other for Ideasicle Clients. Trust us, this ain't no crowdsourcing.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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Force The Coincidence. Part II.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:57:15 -0500

I’m a big believer in paying attention to coincidences when they happen. Coincidences, in my opinion, are nature’s way of smacking you upside the head and saying, “Pay attention!” In fact, I wrote about it last year in my post, “Force The Coincidence,” as a philosophy for spinning your own personal progress-machine a little faster simply by getting out there, meeting more people, exposing yourself to more perspectives, etc.

But recently I stumbled upon something that could be, in my estimation, your own personal, automatic, electronic, coincidence generator for idea generation. I’m serious. It’s a product I’ve been using for about six months now because, whether or not the inventors intended it to, it forces wonderful “idea collisions” that Steven Johnson speaks so eloquently about in his book, “Where Good Ideas Come From.”

What I stumbled upon was StumbleUpon, the app.

Here’s what it claims to do.
Perhaps you’ve heard of it or tried it? It’s billed as follows on their web site: “We help you explore new and interesting things from every corner of the Web.” And it definitely does that by allowing you to build a profile of categories you’re interested in reading about (psychology, science, UFOs, etc.) and then serving up articles, sometimes published that very day on the subject that you can then give a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” That way, you can customize your experience over time as it gets to know you. You can even suggest articles you’ve stumbled upon without StumbleUpon to be included in the app’s logs for others.

All great, but doesn’t even scratch the surface of StumbleUpon’s sheer creative potency.

Here’s it’s hidden power for idea people.
How many times have you agency folks caught yourself thumbing through award shows for inspiration? Or, as Jon Steel wisely suggested in a recent Ideasicle Podcast, go to a museum or a mall for inspiration? Or even as Edward Boches admitted in another recent podcast, “We all steal our ideas from somewhere...a poem, a movie, something out there.”

Fact is, new ideas are the result of two seemingly disparate thoughts “colliding.”

Well, there’s no better way to subject all of your thoughts and experiences, the ones already bouncing around in your head, to meaningful collisions with all kinds of outside ideas than through StumbleUpon’s gently organized, randomly served, articles from the vast depths of the worldwide web.

Try this and you’ll see.
Sign up for StumbleUpon, if you haven’t already. Choose your categories. But before you start stumbling, write down the creative problem you’re working on this week. Even if you have a brief printed on your desk, write down the creative problem to lift it out of your unconscious through the fine motor skills of writing. Now, start Stumbling. Doesn’t matter which category. There’s an advertising category, but I actually find that one less helpful than the non-marketing categories. We’re looking for new connections and not just a hodgepodge of stuff that’s already been done.

Keep a pen handy because you’ll need it.

The psychology study reviewed in a Psychology Today article by Jeffrey Davis might just give you a fresh angle on an idea you’ve been exploring. Or the Gadgets category may reveal a new way to project content onto a wall, which could inspire a retail idea. Hell, the Paranormal category might just give you a creative idea inspired by the hollow earth!

The magic of StumbleUpon is that it forces coincidences that lead to great ideas. I highly recommend it as a tool in your creative shed. It’s free, you can use it on your PC, an iPad or iPhone.

(And, no, I’m not getting paid for this plug. I just love StumbleUpon.)

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Tags: idea, ideas, creativity, innovation, innovate, Will Burns, Ideasicle, advertising, marketing, client, experts, expert sourcing, stumble, stumbleupon, coincidences, creativity, creative

Screw You, Mayans. 2012 Is Just The Beginning.

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:46:45 -0500

Doesn’t 2012 feel great? I’m sorry, Mayans, but it truly does feel like a new beginning. People seem to be in a better mood, the economy is improving slightly, there’s no snow to contend with in the Northeast.

Not a bad start.

It’s in that spirit that I give you a detailed, but informal, report on this great experiment I call “Ideasicle.” You know, to kick the new year off right.

The State of the Virtual Union Is Strong.
We had a good year last year despite the crappy economy and the fact that Ideasicle is so weird. I mean, really, I admit it’s not a normal way of doing business, but our clients immediately see that it’s also our strength. Clients can’t believe we don’t care about our own PR (we don’t), they love that we are willing to be their secret weapon (we do), and, most of all, they are in dire need of great ideas without retainers.

The “Expert Sourcing” model we are pioneering continues to blow me away. Every time. And big brands and great agencies are jumping in with both feet. Though I must savagely respect our “secret weapon” status with most clients, I can tell you that in 2011 we’ve named new products, conceived of major national promotions, provided big ideas for several agency pitches, came up with campaign-extension ideas and segmented go-to-market ideas, we’ve written tag lines, positioning statements, and countless others. And we’ve done these things for brands like:

Warner Music Group

The New York Times

MMB Advertising

Miranda Technologies

Chevrolet

Advanced Micro Devices

Baldwin& Advertising

North Advertising

Think Conservatory

Brand USA

The Harvard Center On The Developing Child (our pro bono)

Always fun to say that the United States of America is one of our clients (Brand USA). But we couldn’t be more proud of our entire client list in 2011. We hope they’ll keep coming back for more in 2012. And who knows who else we’ll meet?

Three New Ideasicle Experts
We needed to add a few Experts to our pool for two reasons: one, to increase capacity; two, I wanted to add some specialties to our mix:

WONDER WOMAN: Here we have an award-winning creative director/writer by trade. So there’s that. But this Wonder Woman has secret skilz: she’s a well-known Moms expert. Been interviewed by Katie Couric, the TODAY Show, CBS The Early Show, and others. We’ll put her on any kind of project, but when we’re targeting Moms, she’s our woman.

STUNT MAN: Stunts, events, social blitzes, this guy aims way higher than measly media relations and that's why we recruited him. A twenty-year veteran of risk-taking PR with general creative-agency experience, Stunt Man is currently the head dude of a major, award-winning PR firm.

MR. CONNECTOR: This guy's super powers have super powers. The power of invention. Of reinvention. He's a writer, a creative director, an innovations specialist. But his greatest power is his mastery of the social media space. He's so good at it, in fact, I bet you a buck you’ve heard of him.

The Idea Movement Continues
I spoke at several marketing events this year with my “Three Keys To The Ideation Age” presentation: one at the Magnet Global Network Conference in Miami; another at the American Marketing Association/Dallas; and another webinar with the In-house Agency Forum.

We’ve continued to “untangle the mysteries of the elusive idea” with the Ideasicle Blog & Podcast, and done so with a fury. In fact, I have broadened my obsession with creativity and ideas to two new forums:

1. Forbes Magazine - I am now a contributor to Forbes.com and will write roughly five original articles a month about creativity in marketing. More from a CMO standpoint than an agency standpoint (it’s in the CMO section of Forbes.com), but don’t worry, it’ll be all about fighting the good idea fight. Please “follow” me there and you’ll never miss a post. My first two articles are below:

“The Marketing Power Of The Super Bowl Could Happen On Any Given Sunday. Are You Ready?”

“When Reviewing A New Idea, Never Forget Its First Impression”

1. B2C - Business 2 Community Blog - Great marketing blog that picks up this Ideasicle Blog & Podcast and reposts it to their blog. Nothing new, but just so you’re aware.

Amazing Guests On The Ideasicle Podcast in 2011
I had promised one per month last January and somehow stuck to that. Here’s a complete list:

January - Episode #9 Nick Egan

February - Episode #10 Tom Butta

March - Episode #11 George Parker

April - Episode #12 Sir Ken Robinson

May - Episode #13 Jeffrey Davis

June - Episode #14 Vivian Rosenthal

July - Episode #15 Jamie Cat Callan

August - Episode #16 Jon Steel

September - Episode #17 Dr. Synthia Andrews

October - Episode #18 Edward Boches

November - Episode #19 Jonathan Fields

December - Episode #20 Sian Beilock

Hard to pick favorite episodes - I learned so much from every one - but if you were only going to listen to two, I’d choose Sir Ken, Jon Steel and Edward Boches. Wait, that’s three.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Big plans for 2012.

2012 Initiatives
In a word: ideas.

Ideas are all we care about at Ideasicle. And we will continue to provide our clients with the the most creative marketing ideas we can possibly muster. We never know what we’re going to be asked to do, or by whom, and we thrive on this element of surprise. Maybe it’ll be you.

Personally, I plan to do what I can to push the marketing world towards better ideas. The world needs better ideas to get through this crazy economy and, hell, advance civilization. I’m going to continue my research into what creativity is, how it happens, and how we can all be more creative ourselves. It’s primarily selfish, of course, but I’m making it a public quest via this blog so you can learn along with me. In fact, if you have ideas and/or connections for podcast interviews, please let me know. Also, a big thanks for all your Tweeting and Facebook “liking” of my posts. It matters. A lot.

As a quick aside, I was asked this year to be on the advisory board of Tauntr.com, an amazing content creation company in Boston. Can’t wait to see where that goes. Check them out.

I also hope to have the time between Ideasicle projects to be doing more speaking engagements this year. It’s really fun for me and helps get the word out, albeit indirectly, about Ideasicle. I have one planned in Toronto in May at a Worldwide Partners conference. Very excited about that. If interested in having me speak, or know someone who might be, check out this little site. Maybe we can work something out.

But since the Mayans have told us the world will end on December 21, 2012, Ideasicle’s biggest initiative for 2012 is to be here (and thriving) on December 22, 2012.

Take that, Mayans!

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Tags: idea, ideas, creativity, innovation, innovate, Will Burns, Ideasicle, advertising, marketing, client, experts, expert sourcing, annual report, speaking series, ideation age, podcast, blog