STRATSCRAPS_v99

Easier done than said.

This is what an ideal Strategy/Creative relationship looks like.

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Every now and then, you read a book that changes how you see and exist in the world. They are rare, I can probably count them on one hand…

1. Man’s search for meaning, Viktor Frankel

2. Selfie, Will Storr

3. Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber

4. Feck Perfunction, James Victore

And having finally finished “Offline Matters” (after losing it for a few months), I will absolutely be adding it to the pantheon.

5. Offline Matters, Jess Henderson. (link)

Some excerpts;

“I want something better than a life tethered to consumer culture”

“Our offline surroundings, people, and conversations are the cues that show us what is culturally relevant. This is where the dialogue of the zeitgeist happens, and where we get in on it. Cultural imprinting is the mechanic for relevance that gets brands/organisations/people/movements into consensus reality, and thus become part of the cultural landscape.

So, what to do?

Poster a city instead of buying online banners. Throw an event rather than paying for a social campaign. Get over ‘influencers’ and prioritise face time with an audience you care about. Empathise. Question. Make art and call it marketing. Make marketing that gets mistaken for art. Earn respect. Build an altruistic space within the cultural landscape. Focus on offline and enter the dialogue of what’s relevant.”

DIGITAL MARKETING OVERLOOKS SIGNALLING IN ITS PREOCCUPATION WITH TARGETING. THEY SAY THAT TARGETABILITY IS THE KEY ATTRIBUTE THEY SEEK FROM AN ADVERTISING MEDIUM, BUT IT IS MASS SIGNALLING NOT MASS MEDIA THAT BUILDS BRANDS.

We are nervous ofpressing theoffswitch on our machines and minds, as though fearing the void that may be made visible.

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Next week will be vol 100. As a celebration, I’m compiling 100 questions to ask yourself and others.

Or don’t. We’re just a blip in the history of the universe.

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This fundamental truth is easy to grasp in theory and hard to use in practice, every day. It takes a substantial deprogramming to realize that life is all grey, that all reality lies on a continuum. This is why quantitative and scale-based thinking is so important. But most don't realize that quantitative thinking isn't really about math; it's about the idea that The dose makes the poison. 

The dose/poison idea is the opposite of the slippery slope argument favored by the ideologue. It starts with this, and then the whole thing goes to hell. Well, maybe, but not necessarily and not usually. Nearly all things are OK in some dose but not OK in another dose. That is the way of the world, and why almost everything connected to practical reality must be quantified, at least roughly. 

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Find a balance between accuracy and expression, between tradition and experimentation, between direction and discovery

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This is important to understand:

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Insights can distract from solutions right in front of you.

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You are completely replaceable at work.

You are not replaceable at home.

Home is your real life.

Always keep this in mind.

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Relevant to briefs and feedback and most of the work-experience:

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Another way to think about briefs:

“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”

— R. Buckminster Fuller

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Maybe the system is wrong?

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'Do the things you make touch you back?'

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“Limit everything to the essential but do not remove the poetry.”

— Dieter Rams, quoted in Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

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When we talk about culture, we’re really talking about context. 

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Here is a download link to a folder I have on dropbox called “Strat Screenshots” – it is over 200 accumulated screenshots of varying worth.

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WEEKLY MONSTER

One of the very first.