Turns Out … It’s NOT What You Eat
Posted on September 3, 2008 - Filed Under Cool Ideas
A new ad that McDonald’s is running (click on it to make it bigger):
I wonder if Chicken McNuggets will make me run faster.
- Christian
When Statistics Become Art
Posted on September 2, 2008 - Filed Under Inspiration
I’ve written an article before on information design. Basically, it is the art of of preparing information so that it can be used by human beings with efficiency and effectiveness. Chris Jordan is an artist who uses this in his art. In fact, his art is dedicated to representing shocking statistics in forms that we can understand.
When people hear statistics that are in the millions and billions, the numbers are so vast that we can’t process the information. How can we possible visualize how much space 40 million paper cups take up? It tough, so we don’t bother. We ignore the information. But 40 million paper cups is how many cups get used in America every day, mostly for coffee. And they get shipped to landfills.
But how would this motivate us to change if we can’t even comprehend the information? Chris’s solution was to display the statistics in a way that we can digest. That we can gauge our impact.
This is a shot by Chris Jordan of the 40 million paper cups. It equals the volume of a 40 story building. The Statue of Liberty is thrown in to give a size reference. Wow. With cigarettes, he constructed a piece that made up of 65,000 cigarette packs. Because that’s how many teenagers start smoking every month in the US. Hard statistics presented in a way that we can comprehend.
I highly recommend that you take 15 minutes and check out his talk at the 2008 TED Conference:
- Christian
Pitching Ideas Is Theatre
Posted on September 1, 2008 - Filed Under Pitching Ideas
Amateur theatre is campy. It tells the story in an awkward fashion that leaves you with the core ideas. Good professional theatre is inspiring. It draws you into the drama. It invokes emotions. You leave the playhouse elated. The same happens with pitches. Too often, people pitch in campy fashion hoping that the ideas themselves will inspire. But that is not the case. The ideas need to be supported by a good story and an excellent delivery.
All pitches have one thing in common. You are trying to get someone else to do what you want them to do - to hire you, to sleep with you, to invest a million dollars in your idea. People always assume that the key to these moments of persuasion is to present the information which should make people change their minds. These encounters actually depend much more on emotion than logical information.
When someone is asked to invest a million dollars in an idea, they are really asking one question: will this be profitable? This isn’t a logical question, because it’s asking to know the future. There is no logic that describes what is going to happen a few years from now. You can pour over the information, put it into forecasting models and graphs, but what you are really doing is guessing the future.
An investor doesn’t’ know whether your idea will be a billion dollar hit; a date doesn’t know whether what lies ahead is three hours of boredom or thirty years of partnership. So, when you’re pitching to someone, you’re asking them to judge the future. Since knowing the future is beyond logic, their judgment won’t be based on logical factors but on emotional factors: trust, confidence, hope, ambition and desire. These factors aren’t rational, they are instinctive. They are not of the head, they are of the heart.
Of course, logical arguments play an important part in a successful pitch. This is because they underpin emotional instinct with reassurance. But logic in a pitch is never an end in itself. it’s only a means to an end. So to pitch successfully, you have to understand that it’s not about widening someone’s knowledge base, it’s about giving them a jolting emotional surge.
A pitch does not take place in the library of the mind, it takes place in the theatre of the heart.
- Christian
Source: Life’s A Pitch
The Benefits of a Patio
Posted on August 27, 2008 - Filed Under Inspiration
First of all, I’m writing this as I’m waiting on a patio for a friend. As an Idea Drunk after work at the tail end of summer, there’s a drink on the table. But the whole experience of being on a bustling patio enjoying a chilled brew has shone a light on something I have overlooked. There is an abundance of inspiration on here on the patio.
When you get caught up in the bustle of your job, it’s too often that you sit in front of a computer and try to force creativity. Over the past couple of weeks, I admit to being guilty of this as well. You see, Canadian summers are compact. Before you know it, it’s going to be winter and I am going to be wading through three feet of snow. So, as Canadians, we try to pack our summer days, nights and weekends with activities. The time to remain idle is in the winter, not when it’s beautiful outside. Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave our brains (or bodies) time to relax.
Creativity can’t be forced. It needs to be able to breath. The best ideas don’t come at two o’clock in the morning the day before a big pitch. They come at 9am on a Sunday when you’re walking on your way to brunch. Or during a long lunch on a Friday afternoon. Or when you’re on a patio waiting for a friend. The most creative ideas require stimulus. An environment that is relaxed, rich and inspiring. you won’t find that stuck in an office or a cubicle. You are far more likely to find it on a busy patio featuring unique personalities, drinks and good cheer. Where you can sit back an soak in the social constructs, watch people interact and overhear the hot topics of conversation. It’s a way of keeping a pulse on what’s happening to help generate fresh and relevant ideas.
- Christian
Brangelina Baby Photos – A Business Case
Posted on August 26, 2008 - Filed Under Random
I don’t pay as much attention to celebrity gossip as I should. Seeing as this stuff is more addictive than crack to the majority of the developed world, I should be more plugged in. On the weekend, I was reading this article on Ad Age. It gave the staggering figure that People and Hello! Magazine split a cost of $14 million for photos of the twin spawn of Brangelina.
But it got me thinking. What’s the value to People Magazine? Let’s assume that they split the $14 million cost evenly with Hello! Magazine. So their incremental cost for the photos is $7 million.
Brangelina with a couple of their nest eggs. Value? About $12 million.
Their revenue? An estimated 2.6 million newsstand copies of People were sold at a price of $4.49. Gross revenue from newsstand sales is $11.6 million. Additionally, they received 6 million unique visitors on People.com in the first 24 hours of publishing those photos. At a media cost of $200,000 per million unique web visitors, that’s an additional$1.2 million in online ad revenue. If we estimate normal in-magazine advertising revenues to be (conservatively) $8 million, total revenues are $20.8 million! For one issue!
Verdict? As astounding as it seems, it was the correct business decision to shell out millions of dollars for baby photos. Needless to say, making babies is a profitable business.
- Christian
PS. In future blockbuster celebrity births, perhaps People and other celebrity magazines can find a way to let their advertisers know so that they can customize their ads to the news.
Figure Out What You Want
Posted on August 25, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
The worst feeling in the world is not knowing what you want. Being unsure of what course of action to take. You reach a fork in the road and you don’t know whether to go left or right. You weigh your options. You’re not sure what to do. You waste precious time in a decision limbo.
The classic (albeit, scaled down) example is when you’re out to dinner. What do I want to eat? You examine the pages of the menu and an endless stream of questions scroll through your head:
- How hungry am I?
- What do I feel like eating?
- What’s good here?
- Will the person that I’m dining with think I’m fat if it eat ____?
This is what really grinds my gears. So you ponder your options for a bit. You ask for more time as the drinks arrive. You’ve narrowed it down to a couple of choices. Then you’re stuck. You make a last minute split decision that you immediately regret as soon as your server walks away.
I have a solution that I regularly employ to help people out in these situations. I have my friends narrow their choices down to two or three options. Then I make the choice for them. One of two things will happen - (1) my friend will be satisfied with the choice and order it, or (2) it makes them realize that they really wanted the other option, so they chose that one.
Sometimes you have to make a decision to realize that it wasn’t what you wanted. If it wasn’t the right one, you can always go back and change it.
- Christian
“Everyone who has taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference”
I’d Like to Play Golf With Jesus
Posted on August 21, 2008 - Filed Under Cool Ideas
About a year ago, I wrote an article on the Idea Drunks over at EA sports and how they are structured for creativity. Here’s the result:
Pretty good. It’s actually a response to a fan video that was posted a year earlier. It has over 350,000 views in only two days.
- Christian
Bell – Strategy Good, Creative Meh
Posted on August 21, 2008 - Filed Under Random
I have previously posted on the “Er…Bell” teaser campaign and reveal. There has been debate whether or not the creative is good. The truth is that it doesn’t matter if I think the campaign is good, because I am not the target market. I don’t have a landline. I am already locked into a cell phone contract for the next couple of years. I already subscribe to Bell Internet and am far too lazy to change. I also live downtown in a major city and work in advertising. In short, I am not a typical Canadian consumer. Thus, it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what Canada thinks. And only time will tell. Can an advertising campaign change people’s perceptions of a company that’s been around for more than 100 years? Or is it like when Wal-Mart changed their logo … a pointless exercise to make their board feel better about themselves?
What I am impressed with is the business strategy being done behind the scenes. It shows that (for now), Bell isn’t simply paying lip service to becoming “Better”. They are taking the steps to make it happen. Here are my three favourites:
1. HMV Partnership. Bell has done a deal with HMV to be the sole cell phone provider in HMV stores. It gives them greater exposure and more distribution around a younger audience. Good idea. But will Canadian be comfortable buying a cell phone where they buy DVDs and video games? Will people buy a Samsung Instinct when it’s displayed right next to the iPods (pretending to be an iPhone)?
2. Starbucks Partnership. Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks. Pretty simple idea. I’m a fan. Mostly because they gave me something really useful for free. How can they grow this partnership? Can they incorporate Starbucks into some sort of rewards program? Give away free coffees on the first of every month when you show your Bell cell phone? The best about this one is that they are partnership with something that is already entrenched in the lives of Canadians.
3. Re-doing the Bell Stores. Bell has remodelled a handful of their flagship stores to be WAY less confusing. They look good. They’re simpler. They don’t have me accidentally standing in the internet line-up when I’m trying to buy satellite TV. The challenge is rolling this out to the rest of their stores. It’s going to be an expensive overhaul, and some of the franchisees may not be willing to shell out.
There is no question that Bell has locked down some important strategic commitments. Now if only the creative was good enough to make people take notice…
- Christian
24 Hours Before A Pitch
Posted on August 20, 2008 - Filed Under Pitching Ideas
What are most people doing 24 hours before a big pitch? Making last minute changes to their ideas. Reworking the content. Panicking. What should they be doing? Practicing. Practicing their presentation. Why? Because when it comes to selling ideas, the presentation matters more than the ideas themselves.
Unique ideas are intangible. You can only imagine how they will work out in the real world. If you are selling a truly creative idea, than your audience won’t even know what to compare it to. How do they evaluate it as good or bad? How do they know it will work? They don’t. It’s the job of the presenters to make their audience believe that it will work … with minimal hard evidence that it will.
That’s why the presentation is so important.
The presentation needs to invoke enough emotional attachment to the idea that the people want to invest in it. It needs to demonstrate confidence from the presenters that it can be done. You need to convince them that this IS do-able. And that comes from confidence. To create a presentation that portrays confidence as well as invoking an emotional response, you need to practice.
Practice makes perfect. True story.
Memorize your lines. Rehearse your body movements. Practice your slide transitions or use of props. Do it 20 times. All of this will give you the confidence to perform at your highest level. That way, when you are in the presentation, you don’t have to worry about what to say or what comes next. You already know that. You can worry about controlling the room. Drawing people into the performance. Reacting to the audiences response.
That’s what people need to experience to buy your ideas.
- Christian
What Makes A Good Gift
Posted on August 18, 2008 - Filed Under Random
I am terrible at giving gifts. Especially for the people who are the most important to me (family, close friends, significant others etc.) I can never settle on the perfect gift, so I always panic and end up getting them alcohol. Being on the receiving end of some gifting love over the past couple of days, I came across two key insights as to what makes a good gift.
1. Make It Personal
Everyone loves to feel special. They like to be recognized for being unique. So try to get a gift that speaks to your unique relationship with the person. One that reminds them of a good experience that you both shared, or a hobby that you said that you wanted to pick up together. If all else fails, personalize it in the card. Get a blank card and write something that reminds them of why you think that they’re awesome.
If you’re a company, personalizing it can be as easy as saying happy birthday to them when they come in for their daily cup of coffee. Or sending you a cute stuffed animal at Christmas time. Or putting your name into a merge letter e-card.
2. Good Wrapping
The wrapping is all about the presentation and suspense. You don’t know what the gift it. Your mind starts to wander and explore the possibilities. Then you get to go to town on the wrapping paper and see what it is. It’s exciting! Samsung does an awesome job of creating a cool unpacking experience. Wrapping shows that you cared enough about person to take care of the presentation details. For a quick five minute job, you create an aura of excitement about the gifting experience. So don’t cop out with a gift bag, go to the dollar store and put in the 5 minutes it takes.
The most important thing it doesn’t always matter what the gift is. Or how much it costs. Or whatever. If you make someone feel special and seal it with love, your audience will love you back.
- Christian
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