Monday, October 29, 2007


Wish I had been there. .
From: garethk,
"Charts from Polygamous Marriage Connections Planning conference, New Orleans October 26 2007. Argues that we need to stop being in the message delivery industry and instead be in the business of creating energy for brands".
As I said, I really wish I had been there and not just for the food! Gareth has put together most of the salient ideas on new brand thinking and makes the point that we (planners and strategists) have a lot to unlearn first ("stop being in the message delivery business. . .).
Gareth's presentation mirrors a lot of the thinking that Russell Davies, John Grant, Richard Huntington, Jim Carroll and few others have been advancing. (See the "blogs we like" list over in left hand column). This new thinking started to take root before and during the dot com bubble of 2000 and has been gaining momentum in the last two years.
The problem, for many of us (with yours truly very much included), is how to communicate new brand thinking to our clients and potential clients.



Specialists or Generalists. Who fits where?

A thought provoking chart from xxxxx via xxxx at Logic and Emotion .
All this must
, inevitably, bring us to the polemic of the Executive (OK, Suits if you want), Nerds and Geeks. We will get to that in a couple of days.

Friday, October 26, 2007


Epic 2007 - Ethnography Conference -
Keystone Colorado. Oct. 4-6th.

"EPIC is the premier international forum bringing together artists, computer scientists, designers, social scientists, marketers, academics and advertisers to discuss recent developments and future advances around ethnographic praxis in industry. Please join us in beautiful Keystone CO USA as we explore the theme of Being Heard".

I am not a member of the Association of American Anthropologists. The theme was intriguing, the venue incredible and the price very acceptable, so off we went, not really knowing what to expect but suspecting it might be interesting for a few days in the mountains. We were not dissapointed.