Po

Lateral thinking guru, Edward De Bono, invented the word Po, to be used as a device to move ideas forward in a creative session.

The idea was that if someone starts a sentence with the word Po, all judgment needs to be suspended as there may or may not be a reason for the thing being said.

The point here is to use what is spoken to provide movement to the idea in any direction…

David Ogilvy quote on ideas

“No idea is big unless it will work for 30 years” – David Ogilvy

$10k in free advertising from Google every month

For a company that makes its billions from advertising, the Google Grant is possibly the worst advertised marketing service available today.

In summary, the Google Grant:

* Gives Non-Profits $10,000 of free Google Search Ads every month
* Has a maximum Cost Per Click bid of $2.00 (previously $1.00)
* Can be upgraded to GrantsPro which provides …

Sell them what they want, give them what they need

If we only ever cater to people’s whats-in-it-for-me filter, won’t we just be feeding an ever increasingly self-centered consumerist society?

In the one-way, broadcast Industrial Age, the answer is yes.

The opportunity that the Connection Economy brings is…

Happy Ruckusmaker Day

60 years ago today, a certain Steve Paul Jobs was born.

As I write this blog post on my Macbook tethered to my iPhone, its clear that this man I’ve never met from halfway across the globe has somehow managed to influence my life.

As incredible as his creations are, perhaps the biggest gift he gave the world was …

Lowest Common Denominator

Most businesses are consumed with one question:

“How can we sell more widgets to more people at less cost to us?”

This single question has driven scale, innovation and profits since the start of the Industrial Age and inevitably leads to a second Industrial Age question …

The Disappearing Middle

In the past, value was added in being the Middle Man – the one who connects large scale supply with volume demand.

Some supply chains even have multiple Middle Men, each adding their margin to the cost of goods.

However in today’s economy where everyone is connected, technology now advantages suppliers to bypass middle men and …

Buckminster Fuller quote on childlike artistry

Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once he grows up – Buckminster…

How old are you?

Every 5 year old is an artist – they can’t help but create, explore, experiment, adapt.

By the time they are 10, few believe they are artists anymore thanks to a school system skewed towards rewarding intelligence and killing creativity.

On the one hand, I’m talking about kids and the school system, but I’m actually talking about …

Toile

Toile is the word used by dressmakers & costume designers to describe the first wearable prototype of their design.

Just like prototyping in any industry, there is a journey from Toile to finished product – a journey of trials, failures, successes and unexpected discoveries.

And therein lies the art of this craft: on this journey, what do you say ‘yes’ to and what do you say ‘no’ to… and why?

YouTube killed the Video Star

Just as video killed the radio star, so too has YouTube killed the video star.

Back in 1981, MTV launched and provided a generation with a whole new way of experiencing music – 24/7 music videos.

The music video irrevocably changed the way artists got surfaced – music was now no longer for the ears, but now for the eyes also.

When YouTube launched, it changed the game for ‘artists‘ in every field …

Fail Like Mike

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

Every year, social media has given every brand at least 365 opportunities to ‘take a shot’ in front of …

Can’t buy me love

Curiously, while doing Adwords marketing for certain clients, we get to see what the market is searching for on other platforms.

In the social media space, a classic example is where we see (and have to negative) an un-ending stream of queries around:

* How to buy fans
* Apps that get followers
* Tricks to get fans
* Instant followers
* Followers hacks, etc, etc

Peter Diamandis quote on becoming a billionaire

The best way to become a billionaire is to help a billion people Peter Diamandis, Founder of the…

Don’t go viral, go Fractal

Whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever who does not have, even what they have will be taken from them – Matthew 25:29

Every day we see the 80/20 rule at work inside our client’s advertising accounts.

Firstly it’s already fascinating that this principle holds true, regardless of client or industry.

What’s even more fascinating is that …

Wii-FM

Our brains are bombarded with 11 million bits of data every second.

The only way we cope with such a barrage of information is for our brains to be constantly tuned to one radio station: Wii-FM, or, What’s in it for me?

Feed your winners, starve your losers

Traditional, one way broadcast industrial marketing relied on The Plan.

The Plan was the bible that was prepared months in advance of launch, that everyone was working towards and from which there was no deviation.

This is all well and good… unless The Plan itself is wrong…

Quote on copywriting for headlines

Headlines In Capital Letters Retard Reading. They Have No Ascenders And Descenders To Help You Recognise Words, And…

The Unattainable Quality, Speed, Cost Triangle

In my first paid online marketing role for a local architectural firm, I blogged about the unattainable Quality, Speed, Cost triangle.

Namely, that as a client engaging our services, you can have any two of the three, but you must choose …

The Impossible Brief

Our target audience is all males and females, in all age brackets, all over the world and we want them to take action on a campaign that we want to go viral over social media – The Impossible Brief

The Impossible Brief is actually the worst (communication) for the most (people) for the least (result to you).

By attempting to target everybody, you’re actually reaching nobody.

The Social Contract

Fashion does provide extra added value to clothing, but the additional elements exist only in people’s imaginations and beliefs. Fashion is not visual clothing but is the invisible elements included in clothing. – Yuniya Kawamurra

This post was provoked by fashion activist, Adele Varcoe

Reach vs Algorithms

Industrial Age marketing thinks in Reach – the number of people potentially exposed to your message.

Reach on TV was estimated by Neilson ratings based on a small population of survey participants. Reach on magazines and newspapers was based on the number of issues sold multiplied by a factor to take into account that a newspaper/magazine can be viewed by more than one person.

This Reach only counted the maximum potential eyeballs, but could never tell you …

Ed Catmull quote on the difference between art and craft

Our Craft is the work we do that’s expected of us. Art is using our Craft in unexpected…

This we believe

The Apostle’s Creed has been a statement of beliefs used by the Catholic Church to rally and unite believers for centuries.

Today, your current and potential consumers deeply believe (as distinct from ‘like’) all sorts of things about themselves – and will subconsciously …

Fences: Triple J vs Taylor Swift

Fences define boundaries which send two messages:

To strangers: “You’re not welcome past this line. You stay out there.”
To family, friends and guests: “You have the privilege of access – unlike the masses”

By proudly banning Taylor Swift from its traditional Australia Day Hottest 100, radio station Triple J was absolutely able to …

Death by a thousand sales

If the only way to draw people to your brand is to constantly be on sale – you eventually won’t have a brand.

If you only ever talk to us about your daily, weekly or even monthly sales, eventually we will tune out, unsubscribe or unfollow you (assuming the algorithms haven’t already done this for us).

As brand trust is eroded over time, it gets harder and more expensive to reach fewer and fewer fans – the fatal downward marketing spiral.

Where are we going?

Dear Brand,

Why am I following you?

Where are you taking me?

Who am I becoming as a result of following you?

Regards,

Your Fan/Follower/Liker/Subscriber/Customer

George Bernard Shaw on creativity

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at…

Opportunities with Commodities

What is considered a commodity by the Industrial Age majority today, will become a target for Connection Economy…

Generosity 2.0

For brands trading in physical goods, the idea of giving away something digital still feels very much like giving away something physical.

We still count the cost of our time to create this thing, and our time is valuable, so when we give it away, we feel the love, sweat and tears we put into it.

But this feeling is actually a carryover from an Industrial Age mindset.

Gaming the system

My first paid online marketing role was as a blogger tasked with learning Search Engine Optimisation, SEO.

Almost 10 years ago now, this was a relatively simple task as there were several niches with no competition and the Google Search algorithm was relatively simple.

Famous for 15 People

In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes – Andy Warhol, 1968

Andy Warhol was partly right and partly wrong.

Today it is possible for anyone (or any brand) to be famous, but almost impossible to be world famous.

Quote on ‘Going through the motions’

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”

You only get one shot… is wrong

“You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo” – Lose Yourself, Eminem

Risking all or nothing on one shot makes for a great Eminem song and climax in a movie… but is based on zero sum scarcity.

Per Mission

Seth Godin prophesied 10 years ahead of his time, that in the future brands will need to earn the right to speak to their audience.

He famously called this concept Permission Marketing.

This prophecy has well and truly come to pass and most brands online have come to terms with this.

The rising importance of the Curator

What if you’re not an artist?

If we look to the art world there is another extremely important role that must be fulfilled (and not necessarily by an artist):

That of Curator.

The Peter Principle and Creatives

The Peter Principle states that within any company, managers are promoted to their level of incompetence.

This makes perfect sense – the gifts and talents that get someone noticed as a technician aren’t necessarily the same gifts and talents needed at an Executive Management level.

But this brings up something inherently broken in the system.

Quote on the purpose for the Web

“The highest and best use of the Web is to bring relationship to Art” Intentional

McDonalds quote on marketing today

The way we look at the business now is very much around: How do we stop selling to…

Zero Sum is Dead

For so long, we have been trained in Zero Sum Games – for someone to win, someone else must lose.

The Olympics, the Oscars & Grammies, board games, reality TV shows, honour rolls at schools etc are all Zero Sum Games.

The Zero Sum Game is based on scarcity – there is only a limited amount of the prize so only one player can walk away with it. This is classic Industrial Age thinking.

The myth of Passive Income

When I ask aspiring entrepreneurs what the goal for their business is, an answer that often comes up is: “passive income” (ie. earning recurring income so you don’t have to work) .

Passive income is not a goal – its a fruit.

If you want to earn passive income, the goal, then is to deliver passive value.

What if the technicals are a given?

If you were to strip away all the technicals you currently enjoy that provide your competitive advantage – what’s left?

Consider the once quite profitable wedding photography market. Many moons ago if you were one of the few who owned an expensive SLR film camera and understood all its manual settings, you would have had ‘clear air’ in this market and charged handsomely. Today that is not enough – the wedding market is now in a race to the bottom.

The Relationship Bank Account

Social Media works only because of one thing: Relationships.

The relationship between you and your audience.

Relationships between your audience and each other.

Stefan Sagmeister quote on being unreasonable

“The line where others say it can’t be done, is when we say go for it” – Stefan…

15 To-Do’s in ’15

As we launch into the New Year, here are 15 things to do, in no particular order,  to bring out your best creativity in marketing in 2015.

1. Follow

Seth Godin is the marketer’s marketer – he is the one every marketer in the world is subscribed to (or should be).

Out of the hundreds of blogs I’ve subscribed to over the years, his blog is the only one I make sure I read daily.

This Is Your Year

You are imaginative.

You are creative.

You are an artist.

Hands-On Adwords Workshop

I rarely do workshops as it takes me away from client work, but as a favour for close friends,…

Website Call Conversions now live in Australia

Barely 3 months ago I wrote about Adwords Call Forwarding becoming available in Australia. As useful as this…

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

I rarely do speaking engagements but close friends, Bruce & Jacquie Macintosh of the IT Department, managed to…

Quote: David Ogilvy on Copywriting

“Four times as many people read captions as read body copy” David Ogilvy