Tag Archives

Creativity

Takeaways from the 4A’s

Bill A.
3.10.2011
1 Comment

The following are some thoughts I jotted down coming out of three days spent at the American Association of Advertising Agencies conference in Austin, Texas. It’s not meant to be a summary, rather three personal takeaways I thought I’d share to help continue the dialogue. I’m interested to hear your thoughts…
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Technology-Driven Interactions Can’t Replace Genuine Listening

1.20.2011
2 Comments
Julie W.S.

Years ago, I read about two attempts to explore the possibilities and limitations of human-computer interactions. Back in the ‘70s, somebody at MIT programmed a computer to behave like a psychoanalyst. After you logged in, this system (named Eliza) would calmly and quietly display some amber text on the screen, asking, “How are you feeling today?”

Perhaps mildly taken aback, but definitely intrigued, you’d type in an answer – oh, say, “Okay, I guess. A little hassled,” (because people were hassled back then, not stressed-out), “but okay.”MORE…

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(Please Get) Out of My Mind

Julie W.S.
12.9.2010
4 Comments

I’m not a Libertarian, and had vowed not to write any more curmudgeonly blog posts about privacy for a while. But within the past few weeks, several things have happened that have led me to abandon that promise:MORE…

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Beware the Shiny New Thing

10.20.2010
2 Comments
Bill A.

There is a human fascination with the shiny new thing. We are attracted to it in every facet of our lives – from politics to business, from the grocery aisle to a used car lot, from Eve’s shiny apple to Heidi Montag’s new, well, everything. Shiny new things grab headlines and our attention by wooing us. By drawing us in and appealing to our innate fascination with all things new and shiny.

The proposition of the shiny new thing is that it’s better. Cooler than what you’ve seen or experienced to date. The shiny new thing does something different. And with that difference comes greater utility. The shiny new thing is usually a functional enhancement or difference, but the very nature of it being shiny and new works to elicit an emotional response.MORE…

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What Do You Know?

Rebecca M.
10.14.2010
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My role requires me to spend a good deal of time thinking about what I don’t know, which is more fun than it may sound. I investigate new tools which have the potential to be used with our communities to uncover members’ insights in new ways. This exposes me to a world of innovative developers, apps and ideas that are constantly changing to keep up with the increasingly technology-centric consumer, which I think is pretty damn cool.

Learning to think about problems and potential solutions in entirely new ways has been both exciting and humbling. Our innovative process has made me more and more aware of what I don’t know—converting “unknown unknowns” into “known unknowns.”MORE…

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Why GLEE is a Metaphor for New Marketing

9.22.2010
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Debi K.

Did you get your GLEE on last night? I sure did and it was quite satisfying. If you haven’t watched GLEE, it’s a hit TV show about a high school glee club who sing and dance like the coolest, sexiest bunch of misfits ever.

After I fully savored the season premier, sopping it up like gravy with a biscuit, a connection occurred to me. Yesterday AdAge ran a piece about the Creative Exodus in Adland, in which famous creatives complained that the ad biz was just not much fun anymore. To which Edward Boches, Chief Creative Officer and Chief Social Media Officer of Mullen wrote an amazing response. He talked about how, actually, marketing and advertising is more fun than it’s ever been. Why? Because innovation and technology has allowed us to connect with customers in ways we never could before – social and digital marketing are the new kings of the marketing and ad world, and that stuff is REALLY fun.MORE…

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Robots Building Robots?

Julie W.S.
9.16.2010
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While doing “secondary research” (i.e., procrastinating) on an ESOMAR conference paper I’m writing on customer-driven innovation, I came across this weirdly mesmerizing video from Fanuc Robotics, a leading supplier of industrial robotic automation, narrated by this voice that is, well, robotic:MORE…

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The 30,000 Foot View: How KLM stays “in-touch” with customers

8.17.2010
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Jennifer A.

I have always loved flying. Now, I don’t mean just the hurtling through space in a comfortable cabin with movies, wine and dinner at my discretion. I mean everything about it—from the preflight wandering of airport bookstores and people-watching—to the in-flight blissfully out-of-time, disconnected from the world, “me time” with no chiming BlackBerry or demanding email—to my ultimate safe arrival somewhere across the globe that always has me marveling things like: “Seven hours ago I was in London, now I am in New York—that is crazy!”MORE…

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