Tim Gregory's posterous |
A blog of flashbulb moments |
Bradford Cox's psychedelic/ambient musical genius I've come to love since being introduced to Deerhunter earlier this year. Here, Jim Jarmusch, Bradford Cox, and No Age's Randy Randall do more than justice to Neil Young's (aka The Godfather's) Cortez the Killer. Oh to have been a fly on the wall...and there were a few of them by the sounds. Lucky buggers.
An excerpt from the final chapter of ‘Baked In’ by Alex Bogusky and John Winsor. “When we began this book, we saw design and innovation as great ways to gain a competitive business advantage. But in the ensuing months, we’ve come to realise that design and innovation are keys to the survival of this planet. Rapid innovation in the design of our transportation systems, our power systems, our health care systems, and even our economic systems is our path to sustainability.
The principles of effective innovation will have to be embraced by most of humanity for us to solve the problems we face. In this respect, we’ll have to change. This may be daunting, but isn't change what humankind is all about? We suspect more and more that static ideas and static institutions are an illusion – and the illusionists are losing their ability to distract us anymore. Perhaps the idea of “brand” itself is a distraction we no longer need or want. The idea that people can use a brand to tell others a little bit about themselves can’t survive in a world where people already understand their innate selves. The idea of a brand being used to help create a personal identity can’t survive in a world where identity is a given. As consciousness increases, we don’t need brands. We need something more real. The greatest examples of products that marketed themselves demonstrated that they had moved beyond being brands. The best companies are creating systems that answer entire aspects of our lives. Systems don’t ask you to know their story because you’re already part of their story. Systems don’t ask to be apart of your identity because they are already a part of how you live your life. And systems don’t hope for brand loyalty because they shape themselves to how you use them. You arn’t loyal to a brand. You’re loyal to what you’ve created. This is the power of systems” This all speaks very closely to my passion for brand led social innovation. That if a brand is really a social manifestation of a business, brands need to be a lot more involved socially, and start solving problems for people and society. And that this is the only way they can build true loyalty at a time that trust is at an all time low, and, let’s face it, brands are losing out to ‘something more real’ almost everywhere you look. Of course, Alex Bogusky and John Winsor suggest dropping ‘brand’ altogether – but the systems they are talking about that will solve the problems we face definitely sounds like social innovation. AllDayBuffet have launched their agency Lovely Day with the philosophy of Corporate Social Innovation which I believe is very much along the lines of what the guys talk about above. And brilliant as well. All very exciting stuff.
This will not be a blog of long winded posts. When I hear an idea or have a moment of clarity about something I really believe in that's what I plan to record here. This will likely be to do with my career in marketing and advertising, about business, and social innovation and change - and hopefully at times I will manage to combine the three as that's what I'm most interested in. Lester Bangs talks about a flashbulb moment, and though I don't have an exact definition I think flashbulb moments sounds pretty cool and about right for what I want to write about here..
Don't ask me why I obsessively look to Rock 'n' Roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it's just that I glimpsed at something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking its fulfillment ever since. - Lester Bangs, America's greatest Rock Critic.
