Authentic authenticity

Over the last few weeks I’ve kept coming back to the issue of authenticity, as discussed on YouTube and as advocated by Andy Beedle. Authenticity is my mantra, my corporate compass, but YouTube’s shock-schlock and Beedle’s quest for viral humor seem to me to be cheap substitutes for the real thing. Here’s a year-end reflection [...]

Doing different

Thanks to John Moore for another good year-end advice column on Brand Autopsy. My three favs:  14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort. 15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your [...]

New Year advice

Here’s some homespun humor with a kernel of wisdom:  ADVICE FROM AN OLD TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN MAN  Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. Words [...]

Whats your story by Dan Pink

Found this nearly decade-old article from Fast Company by one of my favorite writers. It’s about Dana Winslow Atchley III, who by 1998 was developing a business client list by promoting brand identity with a combination of one-man theatre and digital video storytelling. Mr. Atchley founded a digital storytelling film festival in Colorado, which lasted [...]

20-20 presentation brevity equals pecha-kucha

That’s the Japanese term pronounced pa-CHOTCH-ka. It’s like the visual presentation version of haiku — a standup that limits itself to 20 slides with 20 seconds each. Learn more about it at pecha-kucha dot org. This entertaining example is by Dan Pink: Emotionally Intelligent Signage.

Humor as perpetual emotion

An open letter to Andy Beedle… I’m an Andy Beedle fan. Love your sense of humor, admire your ability to assemble a creative staff and deliver a measurable marketing success to college clients. I share your commitment to the college market, and share your perspectives on many issues related to marketing to Millennials, including the [...]

Authenticity on YouTube: Q and A

Here’s another Becky Roth video, this one from her personal vlog: Authenticity Here are my “answers”: 1. If it’s produced can it be authentic? Yes, if the assembled moments are authentically “found moments” or else “realistic moments” which communicate a truth about some aspect of the human condition. 2. Can it be authentic if green [...]

Scott Adams on Creativity, Artistry

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” as quoted by John Moore of Brand Autopsy from Scott’s new book, Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! Boy, can I relate to that. Editors have to be compulsively mistake-prone in order to be good. Cameramen have to be clutsy on [...]

Authenticity on YouTube

From one of Mike Wesch’s students, Becky Roth, comes this documentary: Near the end a college-age student asks, “As long as you know it’s fake, what difference does it make?” He seems to be in the minority: most folks want to feel like what they are watching is authentic.

Maybe McLuhan was right

During the 90s my brand positioning statement was “The Medium is NOT the Message” — directly contradicting Marshall McLuhan’s famous apocalyptic remark about where we were headed. My point, then and now, was that the message is what’s important. Content trumps conveyances. Here’s a video by Mike Wesch, a cultural anthropology prof at KSU that [...]