Do you know this guy on the left? Of course you do! The man, and in particular that photo, are icons. They represent creativity itself.
Yet Einstein is both an inspiration and an intimidation. His legend, unfortunately, has obscured much his story’s true value. He was, in many ways, unexceptional, but nevertheless managed to see the world differently and led others to do so as well.
Although obviously intelligent, he showed no special early aptitude. He was neither rich nor poor. While not tremendously popular as a child, he was no loner either. His extraordinarily genius was very much the product of a method and it is one which we can all follow.
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Do you have a big idea? Is it really, really, really big? Huge even?
We are idea machines. We come up with new ones constantly, usually at odd times and in strange places. There’s probably nothing more romantic than someone in love with an idea. We tend to glorify flashes of genius because it’s exciting and makes a good story.
However, many people with great ideas have been lost to history, while some have become famous for ideas that others had too. For better or worse, it takes more than just a clever notion to make a difference in the world.
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I recently met a cousin of mine who is starting out in his marketing career. He’s a very bright, enthusiastic young guy who is a bit frustrated with his job at a major publisher.
Previously, he had worked at small, innovative firms and now feels like just a cog in a big machine. Even worse, he believes that he’s not learning anything. All the exciting stuff seems to be passing him by.
It’s a shame that all the crap that gets hyped by mindless digital maniacs ends up having that effect. In reality, my bright young cousin is acquiring skills that much of the digital world still needs to develop – the essential elements of marketing craft.
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If you were to share a strong opinion what would it be? Not just any opinion, but one you believe in your bones, one that defines you. Surely, it wouldn’t be hard to find someone with the opposite view.
Our opinions are not inconsequential. They matter. We depend on them to make to decisions about who will lead our countries, where we work, what products we buy and how we raise our kids.
Strip away our beliefs, and we cease to be the people that we are. So how do we arrive at the principles on which we base our choices? That’s a question with some surprisingly uncomfortable answers.
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What is communications planning? I don’t mean to be cheeky, but I would assume that it should have something to do with communicating.
However, it seems clear that communications planning, as practiced, has focused mainly on targeting consumers and very little on communication. That’s quite an oversight.
In order to fully understand today’s communication environment, marketers need to rediscover media in it’s entirety and go beyond just what shows up in research databases. The transformation will mean a return to old skills long discarded.
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“Caesar’s wife must always be above suspicion” is an ancient, much repeated and deeply misunderstood phrase.
Today, it invokes the power of Rome’s famous emperor. However, at the time, it was uttered by an ambitious young Julius Caesar in order to sweep an adulterous scandal under the carpet, lest it hinder his upward rise.
Posterity is often like that. Stories of incredible success, told in retrospect, always carry an air of inevitability. So it is not surprising that we sanitize the stories of heroes, which often contain privation, hardship and humiliation. I, however, like the full versions, warts and all. They might not be as pleasant, but they are far more instructive.
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Marketing has changed a lot over the years. What used to be a field of dreams has become a battlefield in which massive armories of technology and data are brought to bear in a neverending quest for domination.
In other words it has become, supposedly, a serious enterprise.
However, confusion reigns. One of the main sources of disarray is a misunderstanding of marketing’s relation to numbers, math and science. Marketing, of course, is none of these, but a business function, and to be practiced seriously, it needs to be treated as one.
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Everybody loves a hot young tech company. They arrive as little bundles of joy, filled with excitement. They brim over with potential and we can imagine that one day they will rule the world.
As they grow older, they lose some of their charm. Their products seem less unique and amazing. We start seeing mistakes, even failures and become disappointed. How could it happen? Who’s to blame?
Ah! It must be bureaucracy! Those kafkaesque, small minded suits throwing wrenches into the gears of innovation!
It’s easy to blame bureaucrats. People who fill out forms for a living seem deserving of our ire. After all, they can’t code, sing or dance. However, the notion that they bring down tech companies is not only a myth, it’s a cop out.
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An American jurist once famously remarked that, although he couldn’t define pornography, he knows it when he sees it. In other words, porn looks like porn, seedy and crass (or so I’ve heard). Nobody would mistake it for anything else.
We often hear about misunderstood artists, but not misunderstood pornographers, which is probably one reason why pornography is so profitable (or so I’ve heard).
A starving artist? Sure. A starving pornographer? Never! It’s a shame that more products aren’t like pornography. All too often, they confuse us and they usually do it in a very foolish way. They want to show us how clever they are by making us think about how to use it. What could be more thoughtless?
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It feels good to be trendy. You can be sure that you’ll have a lot of company. And that’s exactly the problem. It’s easy to go wrong when everybody around you thinks it’s right.
Watch at a movie from the 80’s. See how ridiculous people looked? We all thought we were pretty cool back then. And the recent financial crises? Nobody thought they could lose money in real estate!
All trends fail at some point because they sow the seeds of their own demise. Here’s a quick guide to how it happens. Learn the signs and don’t be a sucker!
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