Posts tagged culture

On the Brink - The past, present and future of the networked society.

Just finished watching this wicked mini-documentary called ‘On The Brink’ which discusses the past, present and future of the networked society with a mix of people including David Rowan, chief editor of Wired UK; Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; and Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud.

It’s a really interesting, thought provoking film. David Rowan made some interesting points about the future of creativity as a result of the new, connected society.

“It provides borderless creativity. Borderless entrepreneurship. A more democratic feel, where it’s not only the big companies that can do things. But that does not mean that every idea is a good idea, or that everyone will succeed, or even that it’s easy to become successful. It’s no easier to become Lady Gaga today than it was 20 years ago. But just the fact that people can try is something that I like a lot…”

Anyways, check it out. It only goes for 20 minutes. Short but sweet. 

Be more than just a magpie. To quote a great planner I spoke to recently, “It’s all about connecting the dots, mate!” When I first started out in planning, I was like a magpie. Magpies constantly collect shiny, interesting objects. Like a magpie, I was constantly searching for new and interesting things in the world - Things such as emerging trends, products, brands and ads. But I just wasn’t connecting the dots. One of the most important things I’ve learnt is that you need to dig much deeper than that! There are always going to be shiny, interesting things out there in the world. Shiny things aren’t hard to find. Anyone can do that. Our job as planners is to dig deeper and understand what they actually mean. We need to understand the cultural significance of them. We need to understand why they are emerging, and how and why they are connected to other ‘shiny’ things. It’s just so easy to be a magpie and look for shiny things with no real understanding of what they mean. But proper planning is all about connecting the dots in seemingly disconnected ideas in order to create something truly brilliant.

Be more than just a magpie.

To quote a great planner I spoke to recently, “It’s all about connecting the dots, mate!”

When I first started out in planning, I was like a magpie. Magpies constantly collect shiny, interesting objects. Like a magpie, I was constantly searching for new and interesting things in the world - Things such as emerging trends, products, brands and ads. But I just wasn’t connecting the dots.

One of the most important things I’ve learnt is that you need to dig much deeper than that! There are always going to be shiny, interesting things out there in the world. Shiny things aren’t hard to find. Anyone can do that.

Our job as planners is to dig deeper and understand what they actually mean. We need to understand the cultural significance of them. We need to understand why they are emerging, and how and why they are connected to other ‘shiny’ things.

It’s just so easy to be a magpie and look for shiny things with no real understanding of what they mean. But proper planning is all about connecting the dots in seemingly disconnected ideas in order to create something truly brilliant.

How listening to music has changed. The other day I was waiting in line to order my morning coffee at a café near work. I had my headphones on. I was listening to the new Childish Gambino album (which is amazing by the way). Just as I got to the counter, I pulled my headphones out of my ears and placed my order. An older man, probably in his fifties noticed the headphones and said “all you cool kids are always plugged into something these days.” I laughed and ended up having this wicked conversation with him about the way that people listened to music back in his day. Back when he was a teenager, he bought vinyl records. He described it as being a tactile experience as he could actually open the wrapper, smell the sleeve, pull out the vinyl and feel the grooves. He spoke about the anticipation that would build as soon as he had bought the record. He would literally run home from the store to listen to it. And when he finally got home, he’d go to straight to his room, close the door, put the needle on the record, sit on his bed, and just LISTEN. It was a moment of pure concentration. He’d watch the record spin round and round. He’d listen to the hum of the needle as it travelled through the grooves. He loved the occasional crackling sound. It felt romantic. Poetic. Real. He’d play it from start to finish, carefully listening to every lyric that was sung and savouring each and every note that was played. It was deeply emotional. Almost like a drug, it took him to another world entirely. After speaking to him, I walked away and thought about how much things have changed. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time I’d sat down and just LISTENED to an album from start the finish and really given the music the appreciation it deserved. For me, and probably millions of others in my generation, music is just something we listen to while we’re doing something else - Like driving, working out, reading, or cooking. It’s more of a distracted style of listening, whereby music is not ‘the event’, instead it’s an ‘enhancement’ to another event entirely.

How listening to music has changed.

The other day I was waiting in line to order my morning coffee at a café near work. I had my headphones on. I was listening to the new Childish Gambino album (which is amazing by the way). Just as I got to the counter, I pulled my headphones out of my ears and placed my order. An older man, probably in his fifties noticed the headphones and said “all you cool kids are always plugged into something these days.” I laughed and ended up having this wicked conversation with him about the way that people listened to music back in his day.

Back when he was a teenager, he bought vinyl records. He described it as being a tactile experience as he could actually open the wrapper, smell the sleeve, pull out the vinyl and feel the grooves. He spoke about the anticipation that would build as soon as he had bought the record. He would literally run home from the store to listen to it. And when he finally got home, he’d go to straight to his room, close the door, put the needle on the record, sit on his bed, and just LISTEN.

It was a moment of pure concentration. He’d watch the record spin round and round. He’d listen to the hum of the needle as it travelled through the grooves. He loved the occasional crackling sound. It felt romantic. Poetic. Real.

He’d play it from start to finish, carefully listening to every lyric that was sung and savouring each and every note that was played. It was deeply emotional. Almost like a drug, it took him to another world entirely.

After speaking to him, I walked away and thought about how much things have changed. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time I’d sat down and just LISTENED to an album from start the finish and really given the music the appreciation it deserved. For me, and probably millions of others in my generation, music is just something we listen to while we’re doing something else - Like driving, working out, reading, or cooking. It’s more of a distracted style of listening, whereby music is not ‘the event’, instead it’s an ‘enhancement’ to another event entirely.

We all want to be young. But what’s it like being one of 300 million youth in China?

‘We All Want To Be Young in China’ is a film created by enovate, China’s leading youth insights company.  It was made in response to the popular youth culture video ‘We All Want To Be Young’, released last year. It’s an inspirational, 3-minute crash course on one of the most important consumers in the world today: the Chinese youth.

Today’s Chinese youth are quite interesting and unique. This is because youth in China aged under 30 were born under the one child policy, which means they were brought up in world with centralised attention, wealth & pressure.

Although youth culture in developed countries (i.e. USA, Australia) began in the 1950s and 1960s, it wasn’t until China opened it’s doors to the world in the late 1970s, that a youth culture began to emerge - One that is still evolving today.


PASSION OF THE CRAFT: How to Stay Authentic in the Jungle.

Passion Of The Craft is a short documentary coming out later this year. It’s the work of BANDIT, a strategic ideas agency in Copenhagen. BANDIT works with clients daily that don’t understand the real link between the lives of the consumers, and their brand.

Their documentary is about their journey to find like minded individuals who are masters of their craft; in fashion, branding, media, photography, marketing and design. The result is 10 frank and open conversations with 10 influential people in modern culture.

Seriously wicked stuff. Cannot wait to see this.

For updates, go to facebook.com/​passionofthecraft

We all want to be young.

Another wicked movie for all you young planner/creative types to check out. The movie “We All Want to Be Young” is all about today’s young generation and is the outcome of several studies developed over the past 5 years.

The movie was created by BOX1824, a Brazilian research company specialising in behavioral sciences and consumer trends.

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