Drumcircle « Just Curious

June 15, 2010

Change is in the air

Filed under: Advertsing, Brands, Marketing, People — Tags: Advertising, Creativity, Drumcircle — admin @ 9:06 am

In Ad Age this week, Brian Perkins, a Corporate VP at J&J, wrote a provocative article. For me, his most memorable line was the following:

“It’s time we (clients and agencies) stop talking about fundamental issues the advertising community needs to face and start making some changes.

Both clients and agencies are going to be on the hook soon to provide potential solutions in three critical areas: developing ideas and content that build brands; distribution of these ideas; and measurement of the results.“

Mr. Perkins suggests that the agency world is entirely too fragmented. While individual media, creative and digital shops do tremendous work, in many cases the pieces are stronger than the whole and “the brand” gets lost.

His piece generated a lot of reactions, including a call from digital shops to provide more open briefs and a call from all sorts of people for the clients to change their structure so the agencies can follow suit.

On some level, I felt the article generated very frustrated responses. Everyone on the client and agency side wants to do right by these brands, but the same everyones are being pulled in multiple directions. There is the natural tension between the need for creativity/big picture thinking on one hand and the need to produce sales and the cost-efficient execution of marketing plans on the other.

Are there any new models emerging that can address this tension? As a marketing professional, investor, and individual living in a complex world, I’d like to see all our corporations do really well by creating sustainable businesses that make our lives better materially and spiritually. Is that too much to ask?

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May 18, 2010

A Masters degree in Creativity? Really?

Filed under: Advertsing, Brands, CPSI, Creative Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, Creativity, Emotions and decision making, Innovation, Marketing — Tags: Add new tag, Advertising, brain, Creativity, Drumcircle, Innovation, Marketing — admin @ 9:54 am

Today I submitted my last paper. I’m done. I’ve now officially earned an MSc in Creativity, Innovation and Change Leadership. (Well, I might not have the degree in hand – but for me, finishing all the work is the moment to celebrate). It’s taken four years and I’m proud I finished what I started. But now for the big question: what did I learn? And why is it important? Here are my top four insights (one for each year in school):

Creativity is inherent in all of us. Definitionally, it is the act of creating something new and useful.

A first rate soup is more creative than a second rate painting. In other words, we all have the ability (and, probably, the need) to create things that are new and useful. We do it in small ways (figuring out how to get around a traffic jam and get to work; figuring out how to put a great meal on the table for the family) and big ways (how to raise a happy family; how to build a successful business).

Liberally distribute gold stars. The creative process needs to be nourished in order to grow. The biggest source of creative nourishment is praise. It takes a 4:1 praise-to-criticism ratio to keep on track and 8:1 praise-to-criticism ratio to change behavior. Give those stars to yourself and those around you.

No one can write and edit at the same time. Give ideas time to unfold before you pick them a part. Creativity requires the use of our neo-cortex, the learning part of the brain. Nothing kills ideas faster than the fears and habits that live in our brain stem. Those are the fears and habits that, when seeing something new and unknown, react by attacking it, running from it, eating it, or ignoring it.

For my money, coming to grips with these four fundamental ideas was worth the time and effort. I challenge you to do one creative thing today – even if it’s going home via a different route. See how you feel. And let me know.

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July 9, 2009

#2 What’s the value of emotions in decision-making?

Filed under: Emotions and Marketing, Emotions and decision making, Emotivation, Market Research, Marketing, People, Uncategorized — Tags: brain, Damasio, decision-making, Drumcircle, emotions, Innovation, neuro-science — admin @ 4:31 pm

The way to a man's heart is through his orbito frontal cortex.

In our work at Drumcircle, we often reference neuro-scientific research that supports the role of emotions in decision-making. One of our favorite stories come from Antonio DeMasio, author of the best selling book, Descartes Error.

Not long ago (in the early 1980s, in fact), neuroscientists believed that “good” decisions were rational decisions, based on fact and analysis. Emotions only got in the way. That belief was struck down in 1982 when a now famous patient named Elliot went to see Dr. Damasio.

Elliot was a great guy: a good father and husband, a respected executive and friend. He had been diagnosed with a small tumor in his frontal lobe, which was successfully removed. After the surgery, he seemed healthy and his IQ was exactly the same as it had been prior to the surgery - in the 97th percentile.

Then, Elliot’s life went downhill dramatically; he became incapable of making even the most mundane decisions. Here’s what Damasio observed about Elliot trying to decide when to return to the doctor’s office:

“I suggested two alternative dates. The patient began consulting the calendar…(and) for the better part of a half hour, enumerated reasons for and against each of the two dates: previous engagements, proximity to other engagements, possible meteorological conditions…an endless outlining of options and possible consequences. It took enormous discipline not to pound on the table and tell him to stop.”

As a result of his surgery, Elliot had lost the use of his orbito frontal cortex, a small part of the brain that, as it turns out, plays a significant role in producing emotions. Elliot was a smart, healthy and totally rational man who was utterly helpless because he couldn’t make even the simplest decision.

Lesson learned: Decision-making is impossible without emotions, so the concept of a “totally rational decision” is equally impossible.

When you can discover and tap the emotions that really motivate your customers’ purchase decisions (what we at Drumcircle call EmotivationsTM) you’ll make better decisions about your own marketing initiatives.

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July 2, 2009

#1. Why do elephants have long noses?

Filed under: Creative Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, Creativity, Innovation — Tags: Add new tag, Creativity, Drumcircle, elephants, Innovation, kipling, nose — admin @ 11:35 am

This is my first blog entry. To begin, I was told I needed to have a name for the blog. I settled on Just Curious because I am known for asking a lot of questions. In fact, I’ve made a business out of asking questions, not just because I am just curious, but also because I believe that curiosity is the foundation of all things new and improved. To explain why curiosity is important to me (and to you), I want to pose another question:

Why do elephants have long noses?

A New and Imoproved elephant's child - proof that following up on your curiosity, while sometimes painful, is essential to innovation.

According to Rudyard Kipling, it’s because of one very curious and persistent Elephant’s Child. If you recall the story, you remember that the Elephant’s Child lived in a time when elephants had short stubby noses. And this particular Child had a secondary trait, a “’satiable curiosity”, which meant he asked a lot of questions that annoyed all the other elephants. One day, he asked one question too many when he asked what crocodiles (a species he had never seen) liked to eat. His Mom and Dad, and all the elephants told him not to ask the question. But he couldn’t let it go. And so he decided to summon his courage, follow his (very short) nose and find the answer to his question. And he did. He found the crocodile. The crocodile grabbed his nose (in order to eat him), which is when the Elephant’s Child started to pull, and pull, and pull. And his nose grew and grew and grew. At the end of the story, the Elephant had a long and very convenient nose.

He was, in our terminology, a new and improved elephant.

And all the other elephants wanted noses just like his.

The story of the Elephant is a truth, if not true in the absolute sense. Curiosity, and persistence, are the foundation of innovation. Curiosity drives us to ask the important questions like “how does this work?” or “How can I find a better way to….”. Curiosity gets us dreaming, learning and “following our noses”. In other words, curiosity is the beginning of discovery and innovation. And curiosity – that is asking difficult questions, persistently - sits at the heart of our work at Drumcircle: how can we find ways of improving your business by asking questions, taking risks, and learning.

My partner Bill and I hope you will come along for the journey.

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