spotted owl

Multi-tasking

The day after I decided upon the name Spotted Owl for this blog (spotted = things, owl = smarter), I came across this ad to the right of my facebook page:

Obviously it was a sign. While this blog has nothing to do with actual spotted owls, I think it's only fair to chip in and try to save the little guys. This was posted about a week before the election, so luckily Bush is no longer. We can do our part by donating to save their home as the message says. I'm starting off with a $20 donation, please feel free to join the cause. On a side note, I'm not sure that picture is helping much - it's a bit menacing.

God Grew Tired of Us

Just finished watching an amazing film, one that's been on my list (or queu) for a long time. The film follows a handful of the Sudanese Lost Boys as they come to the U.S. to start a new life.

It was incredible to see everyday things - a light switch, a freezer, a donut, a shower - through the eyes of the Lost Boys. While their first days in the U.S. were full of anticipation and wonder, the more the boys assimilated into our culture the lonelier they seemed to get. Compared to village life in Sudan, our lifestyle does feel pretty isolated. Overall, it's fascinating/heartbreaking story that reminded me how lucky I am and what a big world we live in.

Quantity vs. Quality

  

It's rare that I come across something that completely changes how I think about and approach my job. This post from Russell Davies back in February of 2007 was one of those times.

From Dave Trott

Lots of clients want to say lots of things in their ads. I've always struggled to make the argument that ads tend to work better when you say just the one thing really well. Today I  came across an analogy that's short, simple and makes perfect sense:

John Pearce (the P in CDP) always used an analogy to explain how advertising works.
He would say, “If I throw six tennis balls to you, you won’t catch them all. 
You may catch one, but the chances are six to one against you catching the most important one.
In advertising we know you can only catch one message.
So it’s our job to decide which is the most important message and only throw that one.”

This is from Dave Trott, the legendary creative director in London whose blog is a fantastic read for creatives and planners alike. Check out scamp too.

This Takes the Biscuit

Oh how I love the hilarious complaint letter. First, there was that United passenger who wrote about his horrific seat next to the bathroom and the stink shield he was forced to construct. Then there's this one about the credit card company and the spider drawing, a definite favorite. There's even a recorded phone call from the Jimmy Dean hotline which is too good to pass up as well.

But the clear winner for me is the one I came across in the past hour, a letter from a Virgin customer to Sir Richard Branson (sirs always make me laugh too).

Hilarious, right? However, I was underwhelmed by Sir Richard's response (noted at the end of the letter). While it's great to see companies finally getting on the twitter bandwagon, there's nothing quite as impactful as reading an actual letter. It's a little like a diary entry since it wasn't meant for you but you get to read it anyhow. If companies could respond to these complaint letters in a way that makes them seem human - perhaps a mix of apologetic & good natured - they could get in on the action. Their responses should be just as well-crafted, interesting & viral as the original.

Do Stuff

If I could read only one thing per week, I would go with the Sunday NY Times (thanks to Larry for encouraging this early on). My favorite article today was about Shepard Fairey & Banksy & the growing influence of street art:  "One thing they’re doing is simply adhering to an old graffiti work ethic: get your work up anywhere, everywhere, any way you can, as long as you don’t get caught."

Basically it's all about making things happen.

Then later in the day, I came across this from Paul Isakson about how we should leverage social media: Quit trying to "join the conversation."

 

And just now, @susanpowers offered this flash mob viral dance thing at the Liverpool Street Station from T-Mobile. Nothing gets passed around quicker than unexpected dance routines (prison thriller anyone?). It's fun though and ties back to T-Mobile and what they believe.

And finally, even great entertainment can't compete with what Apple is doing with the iPhone and all the thousands of applications. It's dizzying, isn't it? The biggest thing I took away from the street art article, the dancing and the iPhone was to be interesting, do stuff, repeat. Seems to be working for some.

Business Time

Not quite sure how I missed this Flight of the Conchords bit, as it's been out for 2 years and viewed by 13 million+ people, but I had. While cracking up with my boss Clay, he quickly pointed out what a sad commentary it was on marriage, which made it both more hilarious and cringe-inducing at the same time.

I'm not quite sure if the Conchords are making me smarter, but I'm pretty sure that some other favorites have (Everything Bad Is Good For You). Especially The Wire. Still looking to fill the void in my life from this show. Any suggestions?

Dodging Irrelevance

 

A few months ago, Gareth at M! spoke at the Brazilian APG about the state of planning. His presentation starts off like this:

"Advertising, primarily due to the failure of planning, is complacently coasting into irrelevance." (the optimism comes later)

It's a brilliant interrogation and I come back to it often. It's made me less comfortable in my job and a better planner because of it. Read here.

The End of an Error

It felt surreal to watch Obama get sworn in today on a seemingly normal Tuesday. Three things hit me as I watched on our huge conference room TV.

1) The people. The incredible mass filling every pocket of D.C. space, it was overwhelming in the best possible way.
2) The slip-up. Two seemingly perfect men stumble over words w/the world watching - so endearing (and a reminder that no one's perfect).
3) The speech. Wow. New day indeed.

Walking out of the conference room, my co-worker Britton looked at me and said 'twitter?' He knew. I couldn't wait to see what everyone was saying. Interesting media thoughts from @akispicer, fun stuff from @herdmeister (like my header quote) and a nod to @mashable for directing me to my latest follow:

Other People's Blogs

So, the purpose of this blog is to write about things making me smarter. Conversations, books, movies, articles, experiences - anything that makes me a better planner and/or dinner guest. I'm starting with a few blogs that I've been following, many for years. These are actually the blogs that kept me from starting my own. Excuse: "my time is better spent reading their blogs than writing my own."  Apparently, it is possible to do both.

(in order of appearance) russell davies, brains on fire, zeus jones, influx insights, fallon, talent imitates genius steals, herd, brand new, experience freak, misentropy, social hallucinations, logic + emotion