a strategy should be thought of as a means with which to improve the (metaphorical) odds of a desired outcome. That is it.
TL;DR of Rory Sutherland’s “11 rules of alchemy”
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It’s nice when people treat their social media accounts as extensions of themselves, rather than as ads for themselves.
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Quick Links:
I still thnk the original NASA design manual is the best in class example of a brand book (link)
A history of graphic design (video)
The notion of a personal ‘Carbon Footprint’ was invented by Ogilvy & Mather for BP in the early 2000s. [Mark Kaufman]
Adding nature imagery (grass, trees, rainbows) to a pitch document seems to increase the likelihood of investment a little. [Koen van Boxel & co, via Ed Curwen]
The Khmer language has 74 characters, making it annoying to type on a phone keyboard. That may be why half of Facebook Messenger’s voice traffic comes from Cambodia. [Vittoria Elliot & Bopha Phorn]
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Strategy Frameworks: there are too many.
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That said, JP Castlin of Strategy in Praxis did recently share the first framework in a long time that might change how I approach some of my briefs…
“Where will we play” is a really great, focused way to force a strategic choice.
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Medium as a client portal?
I fell off using medium a long time ago, but I always thought the intention was good. I wanted it to work.
They recently bought a company called Projector. It’s like a better google slides. But the two in conjunction is a really interesting concept. Imagine password protected client “publications” on medium where you could have presentations, docs, notes, comments, highlights, etc. Becomes a really easy way to create a client portal.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Copywriters: feel free to use when asking for a raise…
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Do you remember when the internet was a place you logged on to?
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The Medium is the Massage: I honestly recommend most people read breakdowns of McLuhan. Or at least consume in small snippets. But this is one of the ones you should struggle all the way through… Plus the layout/design is cool as hell.
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A list of things I’ve written down to remember for next time:
Good Strategy is simple. Great Strategy is memorable
Don’t be blinded by the now
Often, looking is more important then finding
Have a strong point of view before touching slideware
“Cool” is the wrong pursuit
Cut back until it hurts
Don’t mistake clever for interesting
Every time you sit down to work on something, remind yourself of the ask.
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Hickam’s Dictum:
The opposite of Occam’s Razor. In a complex system, problems usually have more than one cause. For example, in medicine, people can have many diseases at the same time.
(Often forgotten, hugely important, and hilarious to say out loud)
WEEKLY MONSTER
Prototype of the first character I’m planning to turn into a vinyl toy.