the fruits of imagination

At long last, coffee

For a while, many months ago, we had a semi-regular Toronto coffee morning going which fell by the wayside for reasons that included scheduling conflicts and my own organizational laziness.

I'm pleased to announce that it's back up and running, with a few changes. 
One is now we're officially part of the likemind fold (28 cities around the world and counting).
Second is to compensate for my organizational shortcomings, Organic's lovely Audrey Carr has graciously offered to co-host.
And third, as part of likemind, the nice folks at Anomaly NYC will be picking up the tab for the coffee. And who can resist free coffee?

In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, this is an opportunity to meet up over coffee (or other suitable beverage) and chat with some like-minded people. Some of these people work in marketing and communications. But anyone can come. There is no agenda, no speakers. Just conversation.

I hope you can join us.

Friday July 20th
8am-10am
Over Easy - 208 Bloor St W - at Avenue Rd, across from the new ROM - map.

The purpose of information is to foster communication

A few weeks back, Esther Dyson relayed something Mark Zuckerberg, the founder/CEO of Facebook, said to her:

"The other guys think the purpose of communication is to get information. We think the purpose of information is to foster communication."

I really like that line.  It's a tidy description of the shifts happening in marketing. In that vein, Richard has some nice points over on Adliterate about the power of a good old brand monologue to lay out a strong point of view which can foster conversation and action.

On presenting

"Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know."
- Jim Rohn

This might sound familiar

"The sentence 'We're just giving the people what they want,' when uttered by a studio executive, is always, always untrue...  It's the defiant lie told by those who want to pretend that their failures of ambition are your fault — that because ''the people'' eat what they're fed, they must like it."

Mark Harris, "Power to the People"
Entertainment Weekly, June 1 2007

John's moved

John Grant's had to move his blog, Brant Tarot, to greener pastures.  You can now find him here.  And if you don't know who John is, you really should.

What are you worth?

Well, this is good to know.

My blog is worth $82,987.38.
How much is your blog worth?

Apparently we're worth $82,987.

Now if you're shopping around, keep in mind that for that amount you could also get a bungalow in Macomb NY, an Assistant Director of Finance in North Richland Hills, Texas, or this really cool piece of industrial machinery.

Don't get me wrong, we're happy to entertain any offers.  But caveat emptor and all that.

You're great

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"That which you or I think is most unique about ourselves we hide. In ordinary discourse, in the normal state, we share our common self, our superficial self.

Yet what is most unique about us is what has the greatest potential for bonding us. When we share our uniqueness, we discover the commonality in greatness that defines everyone on the planet."

                                            - Robert E. Quinn

When you care enough to hit send

The maudlin pre-packaged sentiment industry has always made me vaugely queasy. So the awesome e-cards over at SomeECards.com (created by an art director at Avenue A/Razorfish in NY) made me laugh out loud. They already did the rounds last month, but I was on vacation so I'm just catching up now. And I couldn't let them go unremarked. They funny.



 

Oh Canada

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Today is Canada Day.  Happy birthday, Canada.

It's an interesting time to be a marketer in Canada. Many divisions of global companies have seen their decision-making power lessen over the past decade. Often we see strategy, and even creative ideas, get decided in head offices and mandated, giving little room (and lots of shackles) for original thinking and work. And of the Canadian-based companies that are left, most simply don't do marketing that earns fame outside of these borders.

The always thoughtful and prolific Grant McCracken recently wrote a few pieces called "Oh Canada, Poor Canada" (he's Canadian) including the observation that Canada has a "present obscurity on the world stage." He also pointed to a Conference Board of Canada report that concluded:

"[T]oo often we trail the pack.  The failure to innovate is a large part of the explanation for our mediocrity -- a mediocrity that is hampering what we can do and what we can be."

Is it really all that bad? I do think there's some truth to these points, especially over the past decade. But today, looking at the marketing world, there are some Canadians that are fighting the tide to do world-class work.

One need only look as far as the Dove "Evolution" spot from Unilever Canada and Ogilvy Toronto which won an unprecendented two grand prix at Cannes last week and has been picked up around the world (congrats to Tim, Mike, Janet, Nancy, and everyone else at Ogilvy, plus Stephanie & Mark at Unilever). These days Taxi is frequently mentioned as one of the most creative agencies in the world. Calgary-born Critical Mass is one of the most well-regarded interactive agencies in the world. And here at Leo Toronto, we won the first D&AD Black Pencil ever given to a website, on the way to making us the most awarded interactive agency in the world last year. We now also run several P&G brands for all of North America, export campaigns on Kellogg's and Wrigley around the world, and lead some Samsung work globally. 

But also, the Canadian marketing scene has really stepped up with some fantastic contributions to the marketing blogscape. So in honour of Canada Day, here are a few great Canadian blogs to add to your reading:

Chroma
My name is kate
The client side blog
Canuck Flack
Experience Planner
Craphammer
Buzz Canuck
Teehan+Lax (one of the only other Canadian agencies with a blog)

These are just some of my favourites - but for a more comprehensive list of Canadian marketing blogs check out Sean's helpful compilation here, or Kate's blogroll.

So is Canada hampered by mediocrity? Not by this evidence. On the contrary, it looks like we might just be on the cusp of a Canadian rennaisance. Oh Canada, indeed.

On negativity

"Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre."
                                            - Joe Klein

I guess I've been on kind of an anti-negativity kick recently (if that's not too oxymoronic).

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