Tag Archives: Future

Judge Me By Results Not Methods

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Nine to five is an arbitrary time frame for work.  Our internal clocks are all different and we all get work done in different ways.  An office culture is important but there is no doubt that it has been over- valued.  Just us consumers are looking for customized everything – we not apply the same patterns for work flow?  If my results are solid and I am not hurting anybody then why can’t I work 4 days a week for longer hours?  Also, who says being busy means you are being effective?  The amount of hours you put in does not always dictate the quality of your work.  Rather, it’s the focus and creativity that propels great work.  I think I will take an early lunch…

Early Branded Collaboration

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Getting brands integrated into films or TV shows can be done thoughtfully and without distraction.  The key is to get the brands involved in the creative process at an earlier entry point.  This gives the principal creatives time to figure out how to incorporate it.  The worst is when a brand gets shoved down the throats of the creative team and then the integration is unsightly and distracting.  Most brands only want to get involved in ‘winners’ and are afraid to get involved in the messy creative process because it involves loosening the grip on their brands.  Brands should take some more chances and understand that failing is part of the process of getting that perfect integration.  Because when someone cool in a movie or TV show uses your product – that can be worth a generation of advertising budgets.

Food Revolution

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Check out Jamie Oliver’s fantastic new show on ABC.  TV is still the most powerful medium to getting your message out and Jamie has created a new hybrid muckraker reality show..  This show takes the worst of our eating habits – personified in Huntington, West Virginia and aims to re-educate our food beliefs.  While cities like NYC have fully embraced ideas of organic vs. processed, or locavore or even the ‘outrageous’ belief in vegetables – many parts of our country have lost their most basic skill of feeding their kids and themselves.  Our ancestors would be shocked at the loss of culinary skill.  Just because we are more technologically savvy does not make us advanced.  I support the move towards slow and right instead of fast and now.

Mattelwood and Transmedia

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Toys have long been thought of as the after effect of a franchise.  Its an additional revenue stream after TV and movies established the characters or its been a longstanding toy that is turned into a movie.  But in the new age of toy companies leveraging their assets in savvier ways – Mattel is revolutionizing their R+D process.  Instead of relying on Hollywood to drive the ship – Mattel is taking matters into their own hands.  They asked their developers for new toy ideas that can be turned into properties – took the top five and picked the best one.  By creating a new line of toys with its own back story and hiring  producer Neal Mortiz (Fast and the Furious), Mattel is taking control of their ‘transmedia’ options.  Transmedia being the ability to spinoff their product into every conceivable market. – play with, see, hear and eat.  Now they can control all parts of the process.  By exercising more control over the creative – Mattel will enjoy more equity and more financial responsibility for the product.

The Sound of Your Writing

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Easier than organizing a table read – this site reads your script…with readers appropriate to the role.  This is just another way to hustle.  A writer’s toughest task after finishing a script is to get someone to read it.  And as someone who has read my share of scripts over the year – it’s an uphill climb.  Might be easy to get your friend to read something but industry folks is another story.  The moral of this – be creative.

If you wrote something amazing do whatever you can to get it in front of someone – including making it an audio file.  That way someone might be able to consume it in the car or on a run.  Tee it up when you’re asking someone to do something for you.   Make it easy and make it fun.  Also, not a bad idea to hear your characters come to life… I am sure there will be some lines you want to change!

Interactive Fashion Show

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Brilliant marketing by Ralph Lauren.  This is a fashion show online with commentary and the ability to purchase items as they walk towards you.  There is a big trend across all industries of cutting out the middle men or the ‘arbiters’ and going straight to the consumer.  Online shopping first made its mark because of the convenience factor but now retailers are realizing that creating an embedded experience for online shopping is important.

Content Factory

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Demand Media has found a system and are exploiting it.  The reason everyone continues to say that ‘Content is king’ is because there are so many thrones these days.  24/7 news cycle needs content and it needs it fast.  A well thought out article, written by someone with detail, scholarship and elegant prose – cannot sustain itself on a factory styled system.

Furthermore,  outlets refuse to pay for that quality.  The price of valuable journalism is going down and that is forcing writers into other jobs and while we still get our quantity we lose our quality.  I admire Demand Media for feeding the system and using its data analytics but I still buy magazines off the rack sometimes to support a solid 12 page feature on something interesting.  Good writing takes time – be patient.  Go read the Ebert article posted several days ago and you will agree.

Wearable Technology

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It started with the Nike shoes that linked up with IPODs and online training.  This is the infancy.  Of course, Apple is leading the charge.

We have been focused on increasing the power and capabilities of our technologies but now we will focus on how they integrate into our life and with our physical constitutions.  Glasses will soon have Terminator capabilities and most clothing will come with new ways to dock your technology.

As the cost of basic computing goes down – more and more wearable technologies will surface.

Praying for a Miracle

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It’s all about energy.  You want to rule the 21st century?  Create clean energy.  Here’s to hoping that a philanthropist does it ahead of a corporation – otherwise the world’s poor are in trouble.

I am a big fan of the metrics related philanthropy that Bill Gates has fostered.  Running philanthropy like a business.  I like how there are more smart people than ever committed to creating change.  Big dollars hopefully followed by big changes.