Best Songs of 2019

Better Oblivion Community Center - Dylan Thomas

Jenny Lews - Heads Gonna Roll

Bon Iver - U (Man Like)

Vampire Weekend - Hold You Now (feat. Danielle Haim)

Mark Ronson - Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (feat. Miley Cyrus)

Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

Maggie Rogers - Fallingwater

Big Thief - Masterpiece

Purpose. Not Products.

 In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO. His first task was to rebuild and reintroduce the Apple brand. The result was the "Think Different" campaign.

Just prior to introducing the new campaign to his colleagues at a company all-hands meeting, Jobs shared his thoughts on the role of marketing:

"Marketing is about values... This is a very complicated world, a very noisy world and we're not going to get the chance to get people to remember us. No company is. So we have to be very clear about what we want people to know about us."

The award-winning “Think Different” commercial did not once mention a computer. In fact, it didn’t even mention Apple by name. Instead, the campaign focused on people and personalities that changed the world. 

Instead of sharing information about their product, Apple focused on creating an emotional connection with their customer — more feeling than function.

The campaign was a tribute to the creative rebels, who thought differently and broke the rules. Although the campaign never once showed the Apple computer, it effectively positioned Apple, and those who purchased an Apple computer as people who were going to change the world — the computer was simply the tool to empower that change.

The most iconic brands in the world spend very little time marketing the features or function of their products. Most of the time, they avoid mentioning products altogether. Instead, they focus their messaging around a purpose or an idea.

In 2011, Patagonia took a stance against consumerism when they told their customers NOT to buy their products. The famous "DON'T BUY THIS JACKET" ad ran on Black Friday was intended to raise awareness around their environmental footprint:

"Each piece of Patagonia clothing, whether or not it’s organic or uses recycled materials, emits several times its weight in greenhouse gases, generates at least another half garment’s worth of scrap, and draws down copious amounts of freshwater now growing scarce everywhere on the planet."

The ad supported Patagonia's mission to inspire and implement solutions to the ongoing environmental crisis.

More recently, Nike took a calculated risk when they launched the Colin Kaepernick campaign during the NFL season opener. The video featured the tagline, "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything," highlighting Kaepernick's national anthem protest against police brutality.

The campaign instantly sparked outrage. At the same time, it connected with Nike’s belief-driven buyers — a predominantly millennial demographic who is much more socially and politically active than older audiences. According to a recent ESPN poll, the campaign effectively reached Nike’s core base of 18-29-year-old males, and online sales grew by 31% post-launch.

Nike CEO Mark Parker reportedly told Wall Street analysts that the Kaepernick campaign resulted in "record engagement with the brand."

Nike made a bold bet that their activism would resonate with their core audience. The tagline itself references the collective willingness to take risks to demonstrate values, even if it cost a career in the NFL or sales from certain segments of consumers.

Today's content ecosystem is rapidly shifting. Allowing for and pushing organizations to create content that reflects their beliefs. Previously, organizations were afraid to take risks and opted instead for a one-size-fits-all approach to content. In most cases, organizations completely avoided any polarizing political or cultural issues. In an increasingly noisy world, brands can no longer ignore these subjects. Customers want to know if you’re with them or against them. They want authenticity.

As Phil Knight recently stated during a presentation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business,"You can't be afraid of offending people. You can't try and go down the middle of the road… You have to take a stand on something.”

Brands like Nike, Patagonia, and Apple have become iconic brands because they have clearly communicated their purpose, ideas, and beliefs. This is how communities are formed and brand loyalty is built.

In today's market, customers are looking for more than a product. It's no longer about features or functions -- it's about ideas and beliefs. Today's customers aren’t buying products, they are buying purpose.

Just Do It. Differently

 What Organizations Can Learn from Pablo Picasso & Nike - Why Change is Better than Consistency in the Age of Constant Connectivity

What Organizations Can Learn from Pablo Picasso & Nike - Why Change is Better than Consistency in the Age of Constant Connectivity

I have a problem with brand guidelines. They are boring and get in the way of creativity. They may be designed to ensure and reinforce consistency, but they often get in the way of new ideas and innovation. Besides, isn’t consistency just kind of boring? Have you ever looked at the definition of consistency? 
con·sist·en·cy [kuh n-sis-tuh n-see]: “Acting or done in the same way over time.”

Consistency literally means acting or doing the same thing over and over again… It could easily be the same definition for boring. Translation, brand guidelines are just a set of rules that keep you in a box, or cube (you'll get that joke in a second). 

Pablo Picasso the pioneer of Cubism (see what I did there?) and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century would have also had a problem with brand guidelines. Famous for deconstructing the conventions of perspective, Picasso rejected the concept that artists should copy nature and the sensibilities that dominated the Renaissance movement. Instead, Picasso challenged the rules, consistently changing his style and experimenting with abstraction, color, and perspective. 
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
-Picasso

From the age of 15 to 90 years old, Picasso painted self-portraits that document his willingness to experiment with aesthetics. Below you will find 14 examples of how his style evolved over his life.

Picasso's disregard for uniformity and tradition was often met with harsh criticism. His willingness to experiment was viewed as “schizophrenic” and even called “satanic." Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, labeled his technique as "underworld form," and called it an "evil that did not belong in art galleries."

Departure from tradition, in any industry, is often met with criticism long before its recognized as innovative. 

Similarly to Picasso, the Oregon Ducks and Nike were once harshly criticized for their weekly alterations of the football team's uniforms. From 2002-2012, the Oregon Ducks football team wore over 100 different uniform variations. At the time, the frequency at which the Ducks changed their uniform was extremely unconventional. Not only were the Ducks changing their uniforms weekly, but they were also unveiling some of the brightest colors the sport had ever seen. Previously, teams consistently wore the same, basic color combinations for years (think Alabama or Penn State).

Uniforms, like brand guidelines, were designed to help players and viewers alike easily recognize a team. Nike’s bold departure from tradition and the bright colors drew several critics. The mixing and matching of hues and patterns were viewed as 'wacky' and 'outlandish.'

Regardless of the harsh critics, Nike continued experimenting with new patterns, colors, and uniform designs. Each variation was seemingly bolder and more innovative than the last. Over those ten years, no college football team received more media coverage than the Oregon Ducks. Changing the color combinations, logos, messaging, and tone frequently captured the attention of the country’s top football recruits, coaches, media, celebrities, and competing brands alike. 

A once small market team, the Oregon Ducks grew to become a national brand, and in the process, pushed the limits of uniform design. Today, you see teams across all sports, both collegiate and professional, routinely changing their uniform color variations and visual identity. 

In 2018, you are competing for your customer’s increasingly fleeting attention span. You only have a few seconds to capture it and keep it. It’s a never-ending battle and consistency is the enemy. In the age of constant connectivity, constant change is the only way to capture your customer’s attention and remain relevant. The same tired words, colors, tone, and stock images will get scrolled right over. Brand guidelines and the process of ensuring everything is “on brand” could severely impede an organizations ability to not only effectively communicate with this generation of buyer, but keep up with them too. 

So what can organizations learn from Pablo Picasso and Nike? 
“History is one long processional of crazy ideas.” 
- Phil Knight

Change is good. Consistency prevents innovation. Experiment more. Take risks. Push the limits. The unconventional can often become the influential — any movement in art, politics, or business started as a crazy idea.

In marketing, you’ll never be remembered for the rules you followed. Brand guidelines are like rules, they are meant to be broken.

Just do it, differently.