Wacky Inventions.

I think it could be fun to start posting some of the crazier inventions I come across and hear about. 

Here's the first I heard on the news the other morning: The Dog-O-Matic.

It was invented by Frenchman Romain Jerry and has gained popularity enough in his hometown that he is looking to expand to Britain. 

When you look it up, there's a ton of debate about the process and a lot of concern about the ethics. Some say it's a dog's worst nightmare and you'll even read a line or two comparing it to water-boarding for dogs. 

I can't help but wonder what the insight was that ignited this idea. I guess he'd heard one too many persons talking about the amount of time, expense and inconvenience of washing their dog(s). There's obvious, sincere concern about the safety which would no doubt be a barrier when entering a market like the US where pets, especially dogs, get treated like another member of the family. 

I have no idea... but from what little bit of digging I've done, it seems to have been set up with the safety of the dog in mind.

Beating the Pavement.

I've been away interviewing and have had hit and miss Internet opportunities. 

One quick mentionable: 

While sitting at JFK waiting for my delayed Jet Blue flight I noticed a small but pleasant, almost unnoticeable, copy change that resonated with me rather well. Instead of, "Last call for boarding," the overhead speaker now offers, "Last opportunity for boarding," instead. It's subtle but it's nonetheless new. I like it. 

Ok, until I land somewhere, look forward to updates soon!

A Master Looking for Job.

It's official. I'm a graduate of the VCU Brandcenter. Two years of tears, a bit of sweat and some blood in the mix. Those paper-cuts and humid Virginia weather. So much for a Sweet Virginia Breeze...

Anyways, I've learned a lot. Heard a lot of people talk about a lot. Formed a lot of opinions. Met a lot of people in the industry. Pulled a lot of all nighters. It's all been a lot. 

But a lot isn't enough. It's time to get a job.

Here's my thoughts:

The people are more important than the place. I want to work for someone who wants to see me grow, wants to hear my ideas and values my opinions. I also want to work for someone who believes that some rules were meant to be broken and has a renegade, risk taking spirit. Most importantly, I want to surround myself with people who are inspired by their jobs and carry that energy with them throughout their day. 

There's so much out there it's almost hard to focus. There are design firms that need planning, consulting firms that dabble in management, traditional advertising agencies, brand development agencies, experiential brand firms, firms that specialize in all things digital, product development firms that are human centered, research arms of companies, branding arms of companies, non-profits that need marketing, trend tracking firms, and qualitative consumer research firms. 

I'd be happy to put my foot in any one of those doors so long as the people who work there are interested in and actively trying to infuse their company, culture and end product with innovative services, products, philosophies that push creativity and provide end users with utility. 

Hopefully I'll find what I'm looking for. Wish me luck on my job search!

Quote of the Friday.

The man who knows something, knows he knows nothing at all.

-Originally said by Socrates, arguably sung better by Erykah Badu

*In honor of graduating with a Master's Degree tomorrow, this is my favorite quote and something we should all remember no matter how smart we think we've become, or how much we think we know.

Feeding the Brain.

In the past week, I've been catching up on entertainment that I've missed out on in the past two years while at school. I'll call it feeding the brain with interest that lay outside of advertising for now. It's important to have a vast set of interests to keep oneself interested and interesting. It's hard sometimes when you're engulfed in one discipline as intensely as Brandcenter kids are for 24 months. Anyways, I'll try to share what I'm doing to stay dynamic here and there and maybe even link it to brand where relevant (lucky, lucky you!).

Anyway... This past week I've feed my brain by watching the following:

The Great American Trailer Park Musical: An off-broadway theater production. A comedy for the sake of comedy. If you grew up watching Married with Children and The Simpsons and find Southpark and Family Guy funny, you'll enjoy this backwoods musical. It's funny if you like that "perpetuation of grossly exaggerated stereotypes for the sake of hilarity" kind of way. The program said it was about community and how we can find commonalities with the people we least expect. I think that it's a bit of a stretch to find seriousness in a play seemingly meant to be pure entertainment. Perhaps the beauty of the play is not found in the larger lesson, but that there really is no larger lesson to be learned.

The Wrestler: Darren Aronofsky, the producer who also did Requiem for a Dream, has some twisted artistic expressions that come from a place dark enough to ignite tears in anyone really paying attention. He's obviously coming from a dark place. I didn't expect to cry as much as I did but this movie was SAD. And, it made me wonder how anyone could support professional wrestling considering the way these people treat themselves and their bodies. It's almost as if you support self destruction when you support them. I'm sure a lot has changed since the days of Randy the The Ram but still.

Planet B-Boy: A 2007 documentary on The Battle of the Year, b-boying, aka break-dancing's, International stage. It follows the stories of some of the young men from Korea, Japan, France and America who partake in the world competition held in Munich. The feelings about dance expressed are so spiritual and so soulful, they will inspire you. It inspired me, but I'm pretty biased given dance is a passion of mine. Nothing too raw or rough around the edges with this documentary. Instead you'll watch an outpouring of passion, soul, thoughtfulness, pride, will and honor. Here are a two of my favorite quotes from guys representing Korea and Japan respectively: "I am not dancing to make money, I want to make money to dance," "The reason I dance is to explode and feel free." 

The Future of Food: A horrifying 2004 documentary on the genetic engineering of food. It will make you angry, it will frighten you to eat certain foods and it might even be the thing effects you so much you promise to only buy all natural and change where you grocery shop forever more. I had NO IDEA what was going on with agriculture, food, science, corporate America, greed, politics and cover up that affects this issue. We have no clue what we are putting in our bodies, scientists have no clue what the long term effects are and researchers have no means to find out. It's a horrible, screwed up system that is sure to make you question just how messed up the world must really be.

Ideas In The Raw: Single Servings.

Here's a problem I have. I am a single person household and I waste so much food and money having to buy such large portions for myself. Take for example, spaghetti sauce. I've never used a full jar. They make them so huge. The smallest size you can usually get is around 9.5 oz. It goes bad before I can get to it. Now I realize this isn't a HUGE problem in life but I hate being wasteful.

My solution in the past has been to a) freeze it (so much for fresh), b) cook it all at once (and I still end up wasting it) or c) throw out the rest. Sacrificing dietary variety is the only surefire way to assure I eat it all within its expiration date often times.

But here's an idea that centers around packaging. Make single servings for us singles. Please! You can sell a two pack of 4oz jars. They make single servings for people who have health concerns but the packaging industry could meet the needs of other people following that same concept with a different spin. 

If any of you packaging people out there have the urge to take my recommendation, please apply the concept to bread too. How many times has that huge loaf molded before I can eat 4 sandwiches?

Peace One Day + Google.

A couple of blogs ago, I wrote about a pitch presentation one of my branding classes gave to Google about Peace One Day and how they could participate. Out of the eight presentations, my group's was chosen by Google as one of two finalist to give the pitch to Peace One Day.

We present today via phone conference. Wish us luck! In the meantime we made a video to capture the campaign idea. It's a little long and a little rough but you get the point. Enjoy!

Campaign Video for Team Orchestra's Peace One Day Pitch from Tristan Smith on Vimeo.

On Vision Statments.

Last week was finals week and I saw 5am at least 3 times. I'm back and feeling great now. I'm about to be a master after all. But onto the topic at hand...

In the past couple of weeks I've done a ton of thinking about brand vision. I first learned about brand vision in my Leadership in Organizations class in undergrad at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. During my first year at the Brandcenter, the topic came up in one of my classes and it has played an even larger role in my experience branding during my second year.

Here's my opinion: I don't think a company should ever change their brand vision. I think it should be that one thing that is so lofty and so elevated it would be a mere dream to actually achieve. I think it should be set in stone, inspired and give meaning to the brand, but also to employees and everyone who experiences the brand and the company in any way. It should be the heart and soul and reason for being.

For example, I worked at the Richmond Ballet for a year and their vision statement inspired me so much that I taped it to my computer. It was, "To uplift and awaken the human spirit for audiences and dancers alike." I loved reading that every day. It gave my job meaning and made me believe that the company was committed to doing extraordinary things. It was big and it felt good to associate myself with just an elevated cause. I think I would be heartbroken they ever changed it. 

Walmart is another great example. They went back to Sam Walton and his original intent for the company in order to revive and refocus the brand. There, at the company's inception they found their reason for being, the vision. It worked. Save Money. Live Better. might be the tag, but it's also an inspired vision.

I have been adamant in my beliefs about brand vision but it has been difficult to maintain confidence at the Brandcenter with so many differing opinions flying at me at all times. There are definitely people, even some professors at the Brandcenter who generally disagree with my opinion on this topic. In fact, I was feeling  most deflated about the entire concept of the vision being the unchanging heart and soul of a brand after one of my professors recently casually mentioned that my ideas on the matter were immature thinking on my part lead by lack of experience. It felt personal and I don't know when opinions became immature, but I know she meant well and she is obviously entitled to her opinion too.

The good news is, I stopped feeling deflated after I sat in on a presentation by the brilliantly inspiring Dan Cherry from Anomaly. He is a partner and strategist with a degree from the prestigious Wharton School. In his presentation, I  saw my rejected thoughts (questionably immature thoughts) realized in his own philosophies. I must admit, it felt good.

One of the most passionate points in his speech was about Brand Conviction (just another way of saying brand vision). He said at the top of every Anomaly brief was Brand Conviction. It's what should be etched in stone and is unchanging. He said that brand conviction is a brand's most basic belief philosophy, their reason for being that influences process, service and general brand behavior. He mentioned that Nike's is Human Potential and that typically you can find the brand conviction from the visionary who started the company.

I'm sure we all have our own opinion on what a brand vision should be. Those differing opinions are what makes this industry interesting after-all. Hearing Dan speak gave me renewed confidence in what I have always believed a vision statement should be. Now I realize, the only thing immature was me questioning and losing confidence in my own philosophies, and allowing someone else to make me feel like my ideas were immature just because of their personal and differing opinions, ideas, and critique. Lesson learned. Thanks Dan!

CULTURE DUNK: Gamer Enthusiasm

For me gaming was something that I did when I was 8 years old in my brothers room on a bean bag in front of his play-station. It was my sole goal in life to beat Sonic the Hedgehog and I must admit, I wanted to be Chun Li. In fact she made her way into my third grade novel where a prince had to choose between a princess and Chun Li. He picked Chun Li. Obviously. But that's another story. 

Since the 6th grade or so my only interaction with gaming was buying Christmas presents in the form of video games for my 30 year old brother. I neither understood nor empathized. 

That's why, when I heard the Richmond Symphony was playing a special show of only video games called Video Games Live, I jumped at the opportunity to attend and understand once and for all the fascination. Its original intent was to attract a different audience, including young kids, to help them appreciate the symphony. As a person who already appreciates the symphony, my intent was to appreciate gaming and gamers instead. They are an important segment and gaming is an important, growing, media channel. 

The crowd was full of children, pre-pubescent boys, and also, a lot of other more middle aged couples. The show was a bit interactive. There were projectors that showed the video games, a chorus and the symphony that played popular scores. I have NEVER seen the Landmark Theater so packed in all the different shows I've attended. 

I've actually never been around such an energetic, enthusiastic, participatory crowd. I had no idea what was going on but there was humor and drama and stories and nostalgia and innovation. I enjoyed the music and the energy from the crowd was infectious. I actually almost cried once. It was really incredible. 

I won't be a gamer anytime soon but I will be able to appreciate this important segment a bit more. 

Culture Dunk.

In the creative industry you always hear how important it is to stay on top of culture. To engage in, to immerse yourself in, or to simply observe culture. 

I think it's best to do that with culture outside the one that you call your own. To make yourself uncomfortable in one situation just to learn how to be more comfortable in all situations is an incredible exercise in developing and cultivating empathy, a must for strategists. 

I've decided to include culture dives, immersions and observations I conduct like the aforementioned in this blog in a series called Culture Dunk. 

Be on the lookout!

Quote of the Friday.

"If you always do what you've always done, 

you'll always get what you've always got."

-unknown