IDEA Challenge - The Brief
Posted on April 18, 2008 - Filed Under IDEA Challenge
As promised, here’s the brief for the IDEA Challenge. You can also download it here.
What can I say? I like to keep an idea brief … well, brief. It’s going to be a lot of fun figuring this out. Happy thinking!
- Christian
Ikea Train
Posted on April 16, 2008 - Filed Under Cool Ideas
Ikea has converted the Kobe Portliner Monorail in Japan into a moving showroom before the April 14 opening of a new store. The setup will be in place until May 6th.
Check out the original post and pictures on Kanye West’s blog here.
- Christian
Some Extra Coin
Posted on April 15, 2008 - Filed Under Inspiration
What would you do with $2,000? It’s tax season, which means that some lucky folks get money back. I view this as free money. It was never deposited in my bank account. I never had the opportunity to spend it. It’s almost as if it magically appeared in my bank account. I do the responsible thing and stuff it away for the “future”… until now.
I was talking to Nish a couple of weeks ago and he was explaining to me how Timothy Ferris didn’t believe in retirement. Reward yourself now. “Work” until you die. What’s the point of a nest egg if you are too old to enjoy spending it?
So back to my question. What if $2,000 dropped into your lap? Would you:
- Save for the future
- Buy a cool toy
- Splurge on a relaxing spa weekend
- Reward yourself with a tropical vacation
- Go on an epic adventure across Europe
- Buy a camera and make indy movies
- Learn Spanish
- Christian
IDEA Challenge – Call For Help!
Posted on April 14, 2008 - Filed Under IDEA Challenge
This weekend, I was hanging out with one of my friends explaining the IDEA Challenge and he had a couple of thoughts. Despite being an underdog, I have two advantages over the brilliant people I work with: (1) I understand how people want to communicate online, and (2) I have a smart audience. I also realize that I need help. More specifically, I need YOUR help. Because ideas come from everywhere and everyone, and we need brilliant ideas in order to win.
So here is my proposal. You help me with the ideas - generating insights about people, coming up with ideas, filtering thoughts and tweaking concepts. If we win the IDEA prize ($25,000), I will use my portion to throw an epic party. And you (my very special audience) will be the VIP guests.
What can you expect next? I’m working on a brief so everyone knows what client and product we are focusing on. I’ll post it later on this week … then let the ideas flow! There will definitely be some brainstorming sessions (with beer) to come, so stay tuned.
- Christian
The IDEA Challenge - The Road to $25,000
Posted on April 11, 2008 - Filed Under IDEA Challenge
What’s the best way to motivate people? Money. Cold hard cash. Or at least that’s the thought behind a new initiative at my company.
I work at a fairly prominent advertising agency in Toronto, Canada. The agency president thinks that we aren’t pushing to be innovative enough in our ideas. His solution? $25,000 to the team with the best idea. Twenty-five grand to spend however you like.
How they threw down the gauntlet
And the competition is going to be tough. Some of the smartest ad people in North America work here. The person who pretty much created the TELUS brand. The people who launched Mini Coopers in North America. Yeah … they all work here.
But I’m going to go for it. I mean, how are you supposed to know how good you are unless you compete against the best? It’s going to be a tough road ahead, but who needs sleep? From what I’ve figured, this is what I have to accomplish over the next 12 months:
- Uncover a couple of awesome ideas
- Sell the ideas to my boss
- Sell the ideas to my boss’s boss
- Sell the ideas to my client
- Bring the idea to life in the real world
It seems like a pretty simple five step process. Except it’s not. And everyone else will be trying to do the same thing. The difference is that they have the experience of having done it a couple of times before. I feel like David versus Goliath.
Fuck you Goliath.
- Christian
How to Grow Amazon’s Tail
Posted on April 9, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
Blurb is a website that lets you publish your own bookstore-quality books. What does this mean? That means that you can take that your manuscript, photos, or witty comics and make your own book. For cheap. You can get a single book printed for as little as $12.95.
Okay, so now I sound like I’m a shill for a random website. But no, I just have an idea that came to me as I was visiting the Chapters by my house. Amazon should buy Blurb.
Think about it. Blurb allows individuals to create and publish their own books. It’s the ultimate long tail. It allows people to create an infinite variety of books. Books that maybe only themselves and a handful of friends will buy.
But that’s the beauty of Amazon. It doesn’t cost them anything to list one extra book. And once the books are ordered, they could be printed on demand (as they are currently at Blurb). So, even if only 5 people buy the book, Amazon will make money.
This idea lowers the barriers to entry to the book market for millions of potential authors. Anyone can write a book and have the chance to sell it to millions of potential customers.
- Christian
Car Ads - How To Make Them Good
Posted on April 7, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
This weekend I was at a Toronto Blue Jay’s game and my friends Chris and Hamid asked me an interesting question – why do all car ads suck? If you’re watching an hour of television, you’ll probably be exposed to over 20 automobile ads from five or six different brands. Unfortunately for the car companies, you’d be lucky to remember one of the ads. Chances are that you would even get the brand confused with another.
There are two reasons that the majority of car ads suck - (1) they don’t break through the clutter, and (2) they try to say too much in too little space.
1. Breaking Through
When I was watching TV this weekend, every car ad was the same. Car driving. People in moderately funny situation. Punch line. Information about their features/financing. Car driving again. It seems as though there is a standard “formula” for how a car ad should be. But if you want to stand out and have people pay attention to your ad, you have to give them a reason to watch. Be interesting. Be different. Be brave.
BMW did an excellent job of this with their BMW films. Instead of spending their 2001 ad budget on normal ads and buying typical TV commercial space, they made a handful of short films and put them online. The films don’t have the typical driving-on-a-country-road scenes. They entertain. They make BMW look cool. They make me feel as though I could be James Bond if I drove a BMW.
For 10 minutes of awesomeness, watch this video:
2. A Clean Message
If text is on screen for two seconds in an ad, it shouldn’t be more than 8 words. But if you take a look at the end of some car ads, they have closer to 50 or 60 words on screen! It is humanly impossible to read that volume of text in that amount of time, much less remember it. Car companies will try to feature their new sunroof, sound system, financing options, JD Power ranking and safety ratings all in the same :30 second spot. With all that information, who can possibly remember what car is being sold?
If someone is seriously into buying a car, they will go online and research all of that information. The point of TV ads is to make people to want to buy your car. Having an extra cup-holder or 3.5% APR financing won’t make people say “Holy crap, I should check out that new Chevrolet Malibu.” You need to make it appealing with ONE simple message. Then, when people are interested, you make the rest of the information (financing, features, safety) readily available to them, so they can compare cars.
I’m learning how to play golf, and it’s the same. If I’m told to focus on change one part of my swing, it’s cool. If I’m told to think about 9 different part of my swing all at the same time, I do everything wrong. A clean message means that your audience will take away the single most important point. If you bombard people with multiple messages, you have no idea which ones they are going to remember.
I hope this answers your question guys.
- Christian
Mining For Insights
Posted on April 2, 2008 - Filed Under On Ideation
The most successful ideas are born out of brilliant insights. This is because the insight allows you to uncover a universal truth about people. You can then leverage that truth to help them improve their lives.
One of the most striking insights over the past couple of years was one about the myth of “real beauty”. So many women realize that they’re not going to acheive the perfect image of beauty portrayed in the media and advertising. Even though everyone knew this, it was Dove that was able to leverage it to create a movement - the Campaign for Real Beauty.
How do we find these insights? How do we uncover a universal truth that appears hidden to everyone outside a specific group? The old way would consist of the following:
- Focus groups
- One on one interviews
- Surveys
- Usability testing and labs
What’s the problem with these methods? They are not authentic. They are controlled environments where your “audience” knows that you are taking notes. So their behaviour changes. Their answers are different.
Additionally, you rarely get the insights you need by asking questions. insights are derived from observing real behaviour. This is because, as people, we don’t really know what we want. As Henry Ford put it:
“If I listened to what people wanted, I would have built a better horse-drawn carriage.”
The new way of mining insights is digital anthropology. With the vast array of niche cultural communities online, one can now observe honest conversations and interactions. All you need is your brain and this toolbox:
Source: Paul Isakson
The transparency of the internet now allows people access to an unprecedented level of authentic conversations. The cost of entry is so low to create a community online, that you can find blogs, groups and websites catering to every consumer niche.
So when you’re looking for insights to fuel your next big idea, log on and observe some real conversations.
- Christian
Some Advice For China
Posted on March 31, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
I was walking around the Eatons Centre in Toronto on Saturday when I came across a “demonstration”. I asked one of the participants what was going on, and was told that it was a “United China” rally. Wait … what? Since when do people protest FOR China? It’s like holding a pro-American rally in France. Or pimps demanding better legal rights for smacking up their ‘hos.
Pro-China Supporters in Vancouver
With all of the controversy and protests regarding the situation in Tibet, some patriots thought that it would be a good idea to hold a march to support their native land. But I’m not going to knock patriotism. It’s admirable to be proud of your heritage.
However, I asked a gentlemen participating in the chanting what they hoped to achieve by this. He told me he wanted all Canadians to know that China is united as one. And that’s cool too. I had only one piece of advice for him (and the organizers in Toronto).
MAKE YOUR SIGNS IN ENGLISH!
All of the slogans on their signs were in Chinese. From my personal experience, most Canadians don’t read Chinese. And if they can’t read what’s on your signs, or understand the rallying chants, I have a feeling that they might not pick up the message.
Vancouver supporters got it right… check it out! Signs in English!
It’s funny, because companies do the same thing. They are so internally focused that the forget how to connect with their customers. They’re just speaking to themselves. So my advice to China – remember who your audience is and speak their language.
- Christian
PS. On a more political note, check out this picture below:
I haven’t been able to authenticate it from a proper news source, but it appears to be members of the PLA preparing to get dressed in Tibetan monk garb. All I’m saying is that they probably aren’t doing it because it was Holy Week.
These Graphs Show Universal Truths
Posted on March 27, 2008 - Filed Under Thought Starters
I have written previously on information design and how by representing information in a graphical way, it is easier to understand. I believe that I have come across a couple of universal truths over the past couple of weeks. Instead of sharing them with you in a long-winded article, I thought that it would serve you (the audience) better if I put the lessons in a graphical context.
Props to Dan, who showed me the Venn diagram.
- Christian
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