Last year, I busted out a few guest posts for the blog Please Feed The Animals. When I asked Erik Proulx (the curator of the place turned film director and inspiration for me and countless others to have the courage to just friggin’ do stuff that’s important) how many words he thought worked best on PFTA, he said “between 30 and 3000.” There’s this famous scene from Amadeus. I don’t understand. There are just as many notes as I required. Neither more no less. And then this nice article from the ever-reposeful Pico Iyer quotes Thoreau: “the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.” All reminders for me today: It’s the […]
Shame on the brand? Or shame on the agency?
By Aaron Templer
Are values solely the domain of the client? The brand? Watch this video. Maybe not new to many of you, but important. I can’t ever remember hearing about the agencies responsible for this kind of work coming under criticism. Can somebody point me to an instance? Because I’m wondering why. Is it wrong to keep the agencies responsible for this stuff out scrutiny? Why are they immune from criticism? Can’t they say no to the work? Arthur Anderson wasn’t exactly excused in the Eron’s misdeeds. Values matter. We make decisions based on them. Those decisions create good, spread ideas, move us forward. Or they contribute to the dynamics in our world we know aren’t of value. I bet that there’re […]
How artists can make the rest of the world listen
By Aaron Templer
We need to listen to artists. If you’re an artist this isn’t news. But it is, apparently, a fully baffling notion to the non-art world. It’s clear that the non-art world needs artists more than artists need it. Since the non-art world has gone out of its way over the years to make itself a downright despicable place for artists, artists have had to find (and have found, thank you very much) plenty of creative ways to survive in and around the non-art world. So at a time when the non-art world is in desperate need for the kind of proclivity that a creative mind or two can bring to bear in solving the challenges of our times, the last […]
3-3-1 Brand Strategy
By Aaron Templer
Let’s get to the simple side of complexity. Try this on for size, fellow branding geeks. Branding happens in three stages: What you think you’re gonna get What you actually get What you’re gonna do about it Building a brand is about asking and answering three questions: What do I/we do well? How I/do we do it differently? Why does it matter? And managing a brand is about one thing: Inspiring a shared vision. Will that work? cute little milk / CC BY 2.0
Remarkable, thy hair is red
By Aaron Templer
A remarkable person has just landed a guest columnist gig with Entrepreneur Magazine. Erika Napolefuckintano. The Readhead. I say Entrepreneur is lucky to have her. For anyone who’s attended one of my presentations – Branding for the Rest of Us or Leading in a Social World – you’ve probably heard me talk about Erika. I often use her as an example of remarkability – a section where I mash-up Jim Collins and Seth Godin to talk about declaring and being that thing that sets you apart.
Three ways a creative mind can help you communicate
By Aaron Templer
I spent some time with Nicole today, one of my favorite designers in the universe. It reminded me why I (all of us) need to be surrounded by the creative mind more. I’ve written about this before, but there’s some simplicity in my take-aways today.
Apologizing when you’re Groupon, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, or Married
By Aaron Templer
If you feel like you need to apologize more in your life, here are three suggestions. 1) Hold a public office 2) Run a Super Bowl ad 3) Get married I’ve never held a public office and I’ve never run a Super Bowl ad. This would make me, you might suggest, exceptionally unqualified to offer an opinion about how to apologize following a gaffe in either position. I am married though. And I apologize quite a bit. Given the success rate of these apologies I suppose I’m even less qualified to give advice from that position. So I figure why not opine on the first two?
Is that a little idea in your pocket?
By Aaron Templer
Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past. – Gilbert Keith Chesterton Jim Collins or Seth Godin. Take your pick. The small stuff matters, and it’s what makes change. I’ve even blogged about it before. Ever thought that this law works across many other areas in life and work? Is this idea like gravity?
Good branding is a croc
By Aaron Templer
Every now and then we’re reminded that the Niwot, Colorado-based fashion company Crocs is about to die. On their last legs in 2009, a failed brand 2010. This comes around every now and then for Crocs. I guess the remarkable aesthetic of their first shoe has polarized them in our minds. Which is a good thing for a brand if you want people to talk about it. We respond to these predictions of Croc’s demise predictably. Like any other kind of polarizing thing. Sara Palin has nothing or everything to offer. Nothing in between. Crocs isn’t dying at all, of course. They weren’t in 2009 and they aren’t today. Seems like they’re kinda like their namesake. One of the more adaptable […]