Childhood Heroes

Via Andreas Preis.

It's NOT just a Game

Everyone needs inspiration in life. Some take it from books, some from historic events, some from personal life and some like me, also take it from random things ... like sports. I take it from my teams. From my players. From their journey. From their failures. From their success.

See, each one of these games is more than just a form of entertainment. They are part of our lives. Simply put, they are passion. A passion that [intensely] runs thorough our blood. A passion that [naturally] becomes an unifying common thread among players, fans, families and even nations.

I [strongly] believe that sports are quite inspiring stuff. That's why the below amazing compilation put together by ESPN to celebrate the 'Best Images of the Decade' back in 09, reminds me that when it comes to sports [any], it's NOT just a game.



Anyway, just felt like sharing it. Hope it inspires you as much as it did to me.

Impact of Digital Revolution on Ad Agencies

Love this presentation by the brilliant @Saneel.

Enjoy!

It's That Time of The Year

The Planner Survey 2010

Heather's Survey is back. This year better than ever! Congrats Heather for such a wonderful work and thanks once again for providing us with this wonderful tool!

True Blood: They’re Hot. They’re Sexy. They’re Undead

There is no doubt that this True Blood Rolling Stone cover will be the subject of many conversations moving forward.

Controversial? Perhaps, but definitely another example of how the show continues to push the envelope and goes way out to tantalize our imagination.

Particularly liked this part of the article:

“If we go from a base level, vampires create a hole in the neck where there wasn’t one before. It’s a de-virginization…creating blood and then drinking the virginal blood. And there’s something sharp, the fang, which is probing and penetrating and moving into it. So that’s pretty sexy.”

Lessons From My Interns

Are you one of those who think that motivation could almost beat mere talent?

Well, beginning today, I am.

I just finished my third year leading the internship program at my agency and after roughly four months immersed in the world of highly opinionated, yet unbiased, young professionals, the experience certainly made me think about some of the challenges strategy folks will face in the near future.

Chances are, you have lived most of your career believing that your endless curiosity made you a strategist. Well, at the end of the day, that is part of the job description no? But isn’t curiosity indeed part of human nature? So then, what makes a strategist really different from anybody else?

The truth is that while in theory we are all born with an inherent desire to understand behavior, usually looking for answers to questions such as why we never got that call back or why someone is wearing a certain shirt, in practice, strategists are unique at mastering the art of ‘digging deeper’. That is why going beyond the obvious is a characteristic that planners own. Or at least I used to think so.

The thing is, I got the chance to see these kids working on what, for many of us in this discipline, could be considered as very standard planning projects and it truly surprised me to realize that their approach was everything but ordinary. Their motivation to perform made them challenge everything we told them. Instead, it inspired a quest for new solutions to mundane challenges. Solutions that, although in most cases were objectively wrong, provided results so interesting that were just impossible to ignore.

Predictable? Perhaps. But I must confess that what really triggered my desire to write this post weren’t the results but rather the richness of their methods. Rules of engagement resulted from the dynamics between twelve kids born and raised in the digital generation, but certainly open to a world beyond that.

Shifting from curiosity to innocence as the driver to creativity

People often translate innocence as inexperience resulted from immaturity, but in its true meaning, innocence is the ability to experience life without the distorting filters of fear or cynicism. The reality is that in every project we approach, there is already a significant space of our mental capacity with information from the past and predictions of the future that do not allow us to tap into our inner innocence, and approach each project with a truly fresh and more imaginative viewpoint.

These kids had a natural pair of innocent glasses to see through every assignment, which allowed them to daydream and brainstorm without restrictions. Let’s copy that.


Cultivate the culture of err

There is no doubt. By instinct, we all aim for making things right. Since childhood most of us are taught to avoid doing things wrong. Like Sir Ken Robinson once said, school usually doesn’t teach us the incredible benefits of making mistakes and, as we grow in life, there are few people around to fuel that feeling.

Most of my interns’ ideas came from a place very far from their orthodox area of thinking. Ideas provoked by their ceaseless desire to stimulate change. That, leave us with a quite practical piece of advise: let’s get out of our bubble of rightness and take some risks from time to time, from brief to brief. The results may surprise us.


Don’t just ask why; ask why not?

Following the rules is definitely fine and there are certainly moments in which it should be the standard but, once in a while, it is tremendously healthy to challenge the status quo and try something new. Simply by asking, why not?

In over ten years working in this business I have never experienced a harder interrogation session like the one these kids made me go through. Why to the brief, why to the challenge and even why to the brand… you get the idea.

Just effin' do it.

I’m stealing this from @BBHLabs [which by the way just finished a quite awesome internship program] to make a pretty obvious point.

What I loved the most about this experience was to see these kids disrespect every single rule they were given and just do whatever they guts told them to do. Yes, they did embrace the sour taste of failure several times during the process but, at the end, they learned.

Isn’t that the goal of being a trainee?

What Are You Doing to Help?

A friend of mine put this video together. It is dedicated to the people directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the oil spill that started April 20, 2010. Man, we really need more stuff like this out there. Creative minds working together for a better world.

Check out the What Are you Doing to Help site for more info.

The Brief in The Post Digital Age

Via Gareth Key

A Change in Priorities?

Last night I read this article in the WSJ about how Americans are spending more on electronics like iPads and flat-screen televisions, and less on durable goods like furniture, washing machines and lawn mowers. The data is quite interesting, but this particular paragraph is still wandering through my mind:

"The shift reflects a change in priorities for American consumers. After pouring money into all aspects of their homes during the previous decade, consumers are redirecting their purchases to eye-grabbing technology and socking away more of what's left over into savings. Apparel company executives are worried the lure of electronics will eat into their sales as the back-to-school season gets under way."

Perhaps another sign of where things are heading to?

UnF—k The Gulf

Certainly, there has been a lot of controversy around this initiative but man, after 4.5+ million barrels of crude the gulf is so fucked up that all of the sudden this doesn't feel wrong at all.

Via Adcritic

Kick It Old School

I really hate this entire campaign [specially the creepy hamsters] but, passions aside, I have to admit that the animation is pretty cool. Word.

Bringing Great Ideas to Life

I took this paragraph from a piece I read this morning. It made me think about the [so many] shitty ideas I have thought have been great through the course of my career, but that never came to life for whatever reasons... It is true, having the idea is just a small part of the process.

Here’s the thing: coming up with an idea is a very small part of what we need to do to create great work. I look at this way - you should spend about 20% of your time coming up with an idea and the other 80% making it happen. We all know, if you don’t make it happen it doesn’t exist. It’s that simple. That’s how great ideas get shitty.

If you care about bringing great ideas to life, then you should read Scott Belsky, he has a wonderful book about it.

The Social Network

Directed by David Fincher [Fight Club], the movie is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal which profiles the rise of Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook empire.

Trailer isn't bad at all. Will definitely look forward to this movie. Check out more here.

Via @LendKendall

Decorate Your Walls With A Sharpie

Via Here

Stand By Me... By the Muppets

Happy Friday to you all!