Item #56: 'Elementary' Distributed Cognition

Distributed Cognition. Fancy words. It’s a fancy concept. But in true ‘me’ form, I’ll strive to share it in simplicity.

Distributed cognition can be summarized and understood as 'a series of distributed elements in an environment whereby there is some social component, in that the components have various and different properties but come together to work as a system of memory primarily, but also of knowledge and understanding’ – in order to achieve a cognitive function’.

Even more basically, distributed cognition is a process of thinking, computing and organizing that makes a system work to accomplish a cognitive task. And embedded is the notion that an effective system of distributed cognition makes a system smarter.

It can get very intricate; there are lots of moving ‘factors’: engineered usage of the environment; socially accessible information; physical representations of information or memory; adaptable or flexible forms of information i.e.: visual, kinetic or auditory; symbolic physical elements i.e.: altars, activity centers and artifacts.

But here instead I’ll provide a real-world example in hopes that tangibility explains better than any theory.

THE HOME-SCHOOL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM A.K.A. ‘ELEMENTARY’ DISTRIBUTED COGNITION (PARDON THE PUN)

My daughter’s school has a system of distributed cognition to manage communication between the school/ teacher and home/ parent. This home-school communication system works to ensure that my daughter is in control of and responsible for communication between home and school, however it is a system that supports her in that process, providing information to teacher and to parent without relying exclusively on her as the sole conveyor or the sole memory source. There are three key components of this system: The Red Folder, The Schoolbag and The Lunchbox.

The Red Folder is a plastic coated folder with two interior pockets, one on the left and another on the right. This Red Folder has spatial references that indicate the role of different kinds of information: the left side of the folder holds documents routing from school to home, while the right side of the folder holds documents routing from home to school. Because of this spatial reference, without having to rely on reading skills, my daughter is able to immediately discern whether there is an action she needs to take i.e.: provide information to parent or teacher, simply by noting whether a side of the folder holds documents. This spatial component of the system also allows parent and teacher to immediately be able to determine whether documents that were intended to be routed were successfully routed. If a document remains in the Red Folder for longer than a day, it becomes an alert to the routing party that communication has not been successful and that investigation is needed. This Red Folder provides social access to information, which accommodates family systems that are varied. In my daughter’s case, she spends half her time with me (mother) and half her time with my ex-husband (father) and his new family (step-mom); she also has a day-time caregiver. The Red Folder serves to make all parties aware of information being transmitted without interrupting its primary role to route information between home and school.

With the Red Folder, my daughter is unequivocally the center of the communication system; while it’s protocols create awareness for the larger group and ensure communication flows across many parties, her involvement is central.

The Red Folder interacts well with another important component of the Home-School Communication System: The Schoolbag. The Schoolbag serves as an important component of this Home-School Communication system. The Schoolbag also carries information between School and Home, by transporting the Red Folder as outlined above, but also because it transports The Lunchbox.

The Lunchbox conveys messages to the student each day when it is accessed, whether that be via a loving note from Mum or the implicit message conveyed by providing a fruit snack instead of cookies. It also conveys information to the lunch room monitors; the level to which it might be considered a healthy or well- packed lunch informs the monitors regarding the level of care being delivered by the home environment and an observed change in the standard of lunch by the monitors might prompt a need to investigate. For the parent in the home environment, The Lunchbox contains artifacts to be viewed at end of day which provide information to the parent: is she eating well, is she eating all components packed, are quantities being packed sufficient.

There are more factors in this system of distributed cognition (but I don’t want to bore any further if that’s a risk factor): there is an activity center in the school environment as well as the home environment and an altar in the home environment, all which bring spatial and time-oriented cues to the system, meaning they indicate spaces and cue to times where and when activities occur and transfers of information happen.

I suspect the school is unaware of the factors they have built into this system or the degree to which they have, perhaps unintentionally, created a system of distributed cognition. But it’s a great system: functional for all parties and supportive of the central user. Some individual teachers at the school have started employing technology to facilitate Home-School Communication – and, while there are clear benefits, I already see risks that may end up degrading the strengths of the ‘low tech’ system that is currently functioning.

This is the potential value of this understanding for you, reader: awareness of these systems functioning in your everyday. What distributed cognition systems are currently functioning in your life? In your workplace? What is driving their effectiveness? Where is the room for improvement? And what risks might be at play with the integration of technology? Awareness is the first step to understanding, change, growth…most of anything good that happens in life.

Item #55: Ode to the Imagination

Oh morning minutes,

When the eyes peek open,

And shut again as quick.

For the time is not yet,

For the day to begin.

Not yet to wash the night away,

Not yet to mask the markings,

Or taste the drops of starting.

No return to slumber,

The unconscious wasteful place.

Here to rest in respite,

In empty random space.

Here to rest in white land,

Where the mind becomes the canvas,

The sky has different colours,

The stars come out in day.

The leaves have blades between them,

Reflections that can sing.

The drapes blow words in poet form,

And church bells signal wonder,

His bark says hi, good morning,

Her smile says I am gold.

Her sighting is the first one,

His glance in 40 degrees,

Cars cease in clearing.

Situation mere detail,

Alteration a welcome demise,

Future is dotted with daisies,

Time is to arise.

Item #54: Recalibrating Perspective

When I go away on vacation, I look for a reset experience: to relax, to down-gear, to chill-out. My most recent vacation was none of those things. It was hectic, unfamiliar and stimulating, even over-stimulating. I visited about 19 places in 14 days. I jockeyed between English, French and Italian, drove a rented manual shift car up steep hillsides and on extended suspended Italian coastal highways. I ate new foods, saw new places, drove new streets and swam new waters every day. I loved every minute of it, but a reset was not my experience.

My experience was a recalibration of perspective.

Universally Human

What became very apparent to me amidst all the unfamiliarity was the clear similarity of the worlds we humans have built for ourselves in almost every corner of the world. The same key cornerstones of daily life define us all. Interactions with people: talking, smiling, laughing, yelling, hellos and good-byes, pleases and thank yous, regardless of the language. Eating and drinking: sometimes a cheeseburger and a Coke, sometimes a pizza and a beer, sometimes baguette with cheese and a glass of white wine. Sleeping: whether it be perched on a hillside with windows the size of doors, or looking over a town square where blinds are drawn to protect against the harsh sun, or in an expansive brick construction inside a gated community. Driving: tiny cars up steep terrain, roaring sports cars on sweeping mountainous highways, or sports utility vehicles along spacious suburban streetlight-laden roads.

This is the daily life that defines us all: people, food, shelter, transport. And there’s more. But this is universal. And in the hierarchy of life, these indicate the deepest, most fundamental, most authentic, most important needs of humans.

Creators of 'Work'

Somewhere along the way, we must remember that we – humans – created something that we believed would improve the experience of this daily life I’ve just outlined. We created a tool that we believed would contribute to a betterment of this daily life: we created ‘Work’. ‘Work’ provided a number of outcomes: something to occupy our time, the creation of products and services that we believed would improve the experience of our daily lives, and ultimately through the development of this ‘Work’ into a structured system of activity, an economy. With the creation of Work, we believed we would create greater prosperity for ourselves, a more prosperous daily life.

Prosperous = Success or Economic Well-Being (Mirriam-Webster)

Let’s stay connected to the hierarchy I am clarifying here: we – humans – created Work i.e.: the manufacturing of products and the provision of services – and the consequent system of an economy - in order to occupy ourselves, provide the things we wanted or needed to improve our daily experience of life, in order to achieve greater prosperity. A human creation, Work and The Economy was intended to be a tool in our service, in service of improvement of our daily life experience.

The Recalibration

And that was the recalibration of perspective experience of my vacation. It struck me that we have lost sight of a) the original role and purpose of Work and The Economy in service of our human daily life experience and b) the hierarchical place that Work and The Economy were originally intended to play in this experience of our daily lives.

We – humans – the creators of this tool - need to raise our awareness around both of these things in order to recapture, reframe and recreate the original intentions of Work: manufacturing, services and The Economy. We – humans – the creators of this tool – need to recall that Work was created to be a tool to serve us, not the other way around. We have let the machine (The Economy) enslave us, to take on a life of it’s own, removed from its role and its purpose. We have let the machine (The Economy) separate us further from the things it was originally intended to bring us closer to. We have let the machine (The Economy) be taken away from it’s real master – everyday people – and be controlled by elites who want to abuse and manipulate it for means that are excessive and unnecessary.

We are all essentially and universally human. We talk, love, yell, eat, sleep, drink, travel and more. Work and The Economy is our creation, and we must be it’s master, not vice versa. Its role is to occupy us, to manufacture products and provide services that will improve our daily life experience so that our lives are more prosperous i.e.: successful defined by well-being.

I recalibrated my perspective over the last two weeks. And determined that this is what our economic system requires as well. A recalibration of perspective.

Item #53: Human Life

Just a few weeks ago now, the third weekend in July 2011 was a weekend of loss. 92 people corralled and executed in Norway, many under the age of 25 years. Talented British musician Amy Winehouse died, at the age of 27. And the tragic daily deaths continued to mount due to an unprecedented drought in Africa.

The loss of life fed discussions, debate, and even disdain from people across the corners of the world. Many expressed belief that it was an inevitable outcome for Amy, that she should’ve gone to rehab, even that it was her own choice and her own weak doing. Others were appalled that Amy Winehouse would receive more attention than the Norway deaths. And a few railed at the lack of attention being paid to the lives being lost daily in Africa.

In the midst of this, I came across an unrelated article. It’s a theoretical opinion piece whereby the author observes a growing discourse about humanity and the value of human life. To the statement that ‘every human life is valuable’, he questions, is that true? And based on what tenets? Is it a religious reduction? He wonders if it bears its roots in the biblical belief that every human life is sacred and that by definition, it is a spiritual concept, versus a scientific one.

Is every human life valuable? Equally? And if so, why?

The heart of every one of us should break equally at each of the losses that weekend in July, for Amy Winehouse, for each of the 92 killed in Norway and for every single death in Africa. And for every loss to come today and tomorrow, with whatever inevitable crisis erupts in this societal chaos we are living in the midst of.

Because yes, every human life is valuable.

Because every human life is in part our own human life. Because every one of us is valuable and a death of any one of us is in some way a death in all of us. Because the degree to which we each, every human, tap into, and feel the importance of every human life, and the impact of the loss of every human life, is the degree to which we will each independently and collectively be fully human.

Every single human life has equal potential. We are all the same: genetic material brought together inside a womb, a heart, a soul, a spirit; altogether a being of potential. We are each born into immensely varied situations in many different parts of the world, and we live days and lives of radically different experiences. Of hurt and loss. Hopefully of joy and laughter too. But none of us humans choose what we are born into.

Because no single human life ever ‘chooses’ death. Those living in Africa would rather have lived; were the land they live on capable of keeping them alive, life is what they have. Those youth in Norway would rather have lived; had the hateful person not shot them each with a bullet, life is what they would have. Amy would rather have lived; had her heart and her spirit not been eating her from inside, life is what she would have. We humans are all the same. We all, we humans, want to live.

And that’s what makes us human. That’s why every human life is valuable. We are all each born of the same parts, with hearts, souls, spirits and equal potential. And we all, each of us, want to live. This is not religious belief. This is biological reality. We are all humans, built of the same components. Not one human living a productive, happy, healthy, safe life would rather die. And if every human had the opportunity to be productive, happy, safe and healthy, every single human would choose life every time.

Item #52: Follow the Yellow Brick Road GUEST POST

Follow the yellow brick road?

As a child my parents bought me my very own pair of ruby red slippers. I would put them on every night and click my heels. I would click and click and click, but after all that clicking, I would still be standing clutching my blankie in the hallway with the blue carpet. Really, I think my main problem was that I was already home – dummy – I hadn’t yet started down my yellow brick road (YBR), I couldn’t even cross the street. I was 6 with an overactive imagination.

In high school, I had an aptitude towards creative writing, but I never really thought anything of it. I’d day dream about writing a book though - that and becoming a world famous figure skating pop star that EVERYONE in the entire world admired. Britney and Christina had nothin’ on me!

Reality checked in around 17 and I applied for university in Hotel and Food Administration.

After 6-ish years of post secondary education (4 years Uni + a 1 year victory lap, 1 year off working and then 1 more year of college), I was ready to begin my professional life as a big city Ad Girl. I was going to make it and I was going to make it big!


















While busting my butt off working insane hours in the fast paced, intense industry of Advertising, I decided that I should take on more hours and work on a side project. With inspiration from a former colleague (Max Sawka), I decided that the world needed (yes, I said needed) me to write down my ridiculous scenarios and unnecessary opinions.

Jenerally Speaking (aka. www.jentalkstoomuch.com) was born and the internets (all three of them* ) became filled with my incessant ramblings and wild and/or mild adventures.

What’s next?

Where is my YBR headed? Well, to write that book (obviously). I’m currently working with the talented illustrator from Windsor, Jen Huggins, who has turned me into a cartoon:


















She also is beautifully and creatively taking the words from my stories, and visualizing them in imaginative, hilarious ways.

















To successfully accomplish this new goal, I now have a series of next steps to go though:
- Continue to work hard and love advertising/ marketing.
- Write, write, write.
- Determine printing costs. To do this I need to determine page count.
- Determine page count.
- Find money. (I hear there’s a money tree planted in Trinity Bellwoods – DIBS - if it’s not there when I get home tonight, I’ll come after you. I know where you live.)
- Find an editor. Just because I love to write, doesn’t mean I don’t make tons of grammar mistakes.
- Determine if I’m to work with a real publisher, or publish it on my own. Yikes.
- Get training again so I can be that world famous figure skating pop star. Twenty-nine’s not too old to be a teenage pop star right?

So, with some zigzagging and jigjagging, I now know what I’m supposed to do. No matter where I am in my life (professionally or unprofessionally), I need to write. It’s what I’m supposed to do. I feel it, writing is my YBR!

If you’ve managed to read this far and are interested in this new endeavour of mine or just feel like contacting me, my info is below:

http://www.jentalkstoomuch.com/
@jennyus
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jenlwoodall
http://www.facebook.com/jentalkstoomuch
jenlwoodall@hotmail.com

*Max gets joke cred on that one!

Item #51: In Pursuit of Simplicity

I am inspired to deconstruct what is an often used and potential widely mis-used word: Simplicity.

I hear colleagues give voice to varied expressions of the concept: “let’s stay focused on simplicity; let’s keep things simple” in different iterations, from different mouths, many times a week. In isolation, I applaud and encourage the pursuit, but then I end up hearing the following as identifier: “because we over-think things, we over-complicate.”

My alarm antennae go up and start buzzing when I hear this, because instead of pursuit of simplicity for the sake of smart, creative, and effective work, I start to hear the pursuit of simplicity being used as a proxy for ‘short-cut’.

I say this because I know for certain that ‘over-thinking’, and ‘over-complicating’ is NOT a problem plaguing most modern day advertising agencies. Au contraire, I’d suggest there’s a whole lot of under-thinking and under-complicating going on. While I know the pursuit of simplicity is intended to be a good thing, I am wary of its misguided pursuit ending up as the dictionary defines it i.e.: “artlessness of mind”, “weakness of intellect”.

So let’s not go there. Let’s discuss the somewhat oxymoronic path I believe is required to achieve simplicity and harness the wonderfulness within its pursuit.

The Path to Simplicity:

This won’t take me long, because it’s really quite ‘simple’. Millions of dollars are spent every year by advertisers against initiatives that don’t perform. Thousands of product innovations are introduced every year of which the vast majority fail. Hundreds of new businesses are launched every year of which the vast majority fail. I’m not against failure, I embrace it, but not when it happens because of ‘short-cutting’. Every business category today is packed with competitors, packed with dynamics. Every ‘consumer’ out there is motivated by different drives, different needs, different loves, many changed from even yesterday. The world in general needs radically different things: economies are struggling, people are starving, and violence is an ever-present issue. Communications today are so complex that we literally are in an embryonic stage of understanding how to effectively and meaningfully interact with people today. Today is COMPLEX. There is very little danger of over-thinking, or over-complicating in this environment. There is plenty of opportunity to ask more questions, consider more ‘considerately’, take a pause, and yes, also check in with our gut instincts. Under-thinking and under-complicating is not the path to simplicity; that is the path to artlessness of mind and weakness of intellect. Embracing complexity, wading into it bravely and thoughtfully, and applying artfulness and intellect to it, that is in fact the path to simplicity.

The Outcome of Simplicity:

I propose that the outcome of simplicity is the arrival at three things: focus, clarity, and elegance.

Focus: Per above, let’s call it as it is. The world today is COMPLEX. Business today is COMPLEX. People are COMPLEX (always have been). Communications today is COMPLEX. Have you wrapped it all up neatly and uncovered something that is real, true, meaningful and important within this inherently complex environment? If so, you have achieved focus.

Clarity: Have you managed to capture the heart and the essence of that thing you are trying to convey or to do in a succinct, easily understandable way. Can you wrap up the story you want to tell in 30 seconds, in the length of an elevator ride, in such a way that your mother would understand it immediately? If yes, then you’ve achieved clarity.

Elegance: Elegance is where the magic opportunity lies in the pursuit of simplicity. If you’ve found your focus, if you can convey it in an elevator to your mother and have her understanding immediately, you are still only part-way there. Elegance happens when the way you convey it, the how you convey it, brings it to life. When someone hears what you have to say, or sees what you want to do, do their eyes light up? Do they ask how they can be involved? Do they instantly have a million suggestions or ideas to share with you? If so, you have achieved elegance. [If you like the idea of ‘elegance’, I direct you to author Matthew E. May.]

This is a challenge to steer clear of short-cutting, to embrace complexity, to wade into the waters of thoughtfulness.

Item #50: Leadership is Responsibility

When you think about leadership, what comes to mind for you? A corner office? Higher pay? Power? Influence? Privilege? Be honest.

I’ve looked into it and definitions for what leadership means are mostly unclear. I’ve also seen varying versions of leadership firsthand in my years. Most of the time, it involves the leader feeling some sense of importance in having been granted the position of leader. But let me plant an alternative thought on the topic.

Paramount to successful leadership, in my opinion, is a sense of responsibility.

Successful leadership, to me, requires understanding that business strength depends on people. And also then, interdependently, and equally importantly, that people depend on business strength. Successful leadership requires understanding the delicacy of that inter-relationship. Successful leadership ‘lives’ the understanding that the best way to be responsible to people is by ensuring the business that employs them is strong. And the best way to build a strong business is to be responsible to the people that fuel it.

Leadership is therefore very little about ‘self’ and very much about ‘other’. Leadership means you’ve been trusted – to bear the responsibility - to do what is best for the business, and thereby for the people, and hence vice versa. Strong businesses will be best able to care for their people. And strong people will be best able to create business strength.

It’s very little about the corner office; it’s about being in the trenches. It’s very little about higher pay; it’s about heightened accountability. It’s very little about power or influence or privilege; leadership, in my opinion, is about responsibility.

Item #49: Katy Perry. Modern Marketing Wonder.

I took my 7 year old to see Katy Perry last night. Holy Moly. The whole thing was like a walk through a 3-dimensional version of the Candyland board game from my youth – but even way better because it’s done with 21st century technology!

The woman is a modern marketing wonder. The music is pure bubblegum teenage pop, the costumes deserve their own Tim Burton film and the stage design appears like a modern pinball machine that ate a ‘grow-humungous’ pill.

But what stood out for me was the permeation of social platforms like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook in her show production. And the degree to which she attaches to pop culture, embracing those platforms to build connection with her audience.

Here’s what Katy Perry Did:

She started out with the typical format of ‘the opening act’. Marina and the Diamonds, who I happen to love, put on a mediocre show at best, which disappointed me. But that’s for another post.

But that’s where ‘typical' ended and Katy started to mix it up. Opening Act 2 was DJ Skeet Skeet, helming a 30 or so minute dance party with a set list that included Dragonette, LMFAO, Kesha and more. Clearly a mix board master, he had the 14,000 odd fans on their feet, shaking their bodies fueled by their cotton candied sugar rush. DJ Skeet Skeet closed his set by directing us all to his Facebook page where we could download for free (“cause who doesn’t like free music!” he yelled) his debut remix of John Legend doing Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. I have not been able to locate said free download as yet, but that’s not my point. My point is that Katy Perry had a DJ for an opening act!

Then here’s what Katy Perry did. She posted the Twitter hashtag #TorontoDreams on the big screens. Within seconds, profile pictures and twitter posts started appearing on the big screens. Yes, I sent a post with the hashtag and watched to see my profile picture with my twitter post appear on the big screens at the Air Canada Centre for 14,000 odd people to see! Very cool. And there’s more. So many people were sending posts with the hashtag #TorontoDreams, that it started trending. Random Torontonians, having no awareness that it was the concert hashtag began tweeting about how they want world peace, a huge home, a lot full of fancy cars, or (apparently) to move to Vancouver. The power of Katy Perry.

And here’s the last thing that Katy Perry did. She had a little sojourn mid-concert, which she called her ‘Karaoke Break’, whereby she sang a few covers. And covers of what, you might ask? Well Rihanna’s Only Girl in the World, which was lovely, but then… oh yes, after a prefacing discussion about her favourite videos on Youtube (many of which involve cats it seems), she sang, to my dismay, the infamous Rebecca Black’s Friday, to which my 7 year old knew all the words, to my even greater dismay.

Katy Perry in Summary? Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Popular Culture Tie-Ins, Entertainment Production Goddess. Modern Marketing Wonder. And yes, I loved it all.

Item #48: The Inflection Point Upon Us

Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, June 2011

I, like many of you readers, work for a communication agency. Formerly known as an advertising agency. I was ruminating recently about the mountainous inflection point I felt we were in the midst of as communicators. Here is the story:

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was advertising. ‘Advertising’ agencies created television ads, ads for newspapers and magazines and ads to run on the radio. Structured advertising agencies had different departments producing these advertisements, presenting them to a client and ‘putting them on the air’.

Around twenty years ago came the internet and hence ‘the digital space’. It lingered in its formative stage, mainly driving the emergence of e-commerce, for about a decade. Only about ten years ago, ‘advertising’ agencies decided that the internet could be a canvas for advertising. So advertising agencies started developing web sites and digital banner ads. They’d build these websites and banner ads and then ‘put them up’.

Maybe around five years ago, social media came to be. Suddenly all kinds of conversations were being had in the ‘digital space’; shared information was circulating among people without advertising agencies or their clients having anything to do with it.

And then mobile devices came to be which sped up all this communicating and commerce-related activity in the digital space to a lightning fast pace.

A Reality Check

Today, people everywhere - colleagues and friends, moms and dads, students, artists, technology gurus, teachers, policemen, investment bankers and academics – ‘live’ the internet. They access Google dozens of time every day and get their daily news updates online. Photos are shared and commented on via Facebook, Flickr or Instagram. Vacations are researched, planned and paid for online. Moms right now are circulating blog postings about some new organic pasta on the market. Grandparents are Skyping with their grandkids from continent to continent every day. Youtube is an entertainment channel for just about every single person I know, including my 67 year old father. New bands are born every day on MySpace. My mom lives by her iPhone as does my Dad; my niece and my daughter both carry their Nintendo DSi in one hand and their iPads in the other. This is not a minority report tech future; this is today, everyday, for more and more people as part of daily life.

When we step away from the language in communication circles about ‘the digital space’, ‘the social space’, ‘the mobile space’, this is the reality.

And so, The Inflection Point:

For all the decades past, we communication agencies and clients have considered traditional media to be king and digital media to be secondary, not even at queen status, but more so a court jester. I could go on separately about why: it’s cheaper to produce digital media so it doesn’t get as much attention as traditional media which is incredibly expensive still. And we don’t have good impact metrics yet around digital media to PROVE how much it is contributing to communications and brand health in the minds of our audiences.

But this has changed. Now, today, traditional media and digital media sit at the same table. They have rapidly come to be equals. And we communications agencies and clients are waking up to that reality. Brands are being built exclusively in the digital space in many cases. And among the new generation of consumers, traditional media may indeed be falling by the wayside.

Insert panic here.

If you accept that the above is true, because it is - now, today, traditional media and digital media sit at the same table - then what? Communications that happen in the digital, social and mobile space do not function like traditional media. You do not ‘put them on the air’ or ‘put them up’. They are ongoing, immediate and dynamic by their very nature. And this simple reality radically impacts everything.

We have to think about communications today as an eco-system: interconnected, always-on, living, and constantly evolving.

Impact 1: We can no longer think of communications development as projects that follow a straight path, each one in a separate lane, being developed in parallel. We need new ways of working: fluid, connected, nurturing. We need to ‘carry’ communications, constantly. This has radical implications for the mindset and consequently the processes of developing communications, evaluating communications, and maintaining communications.

Impact 2: This acknowledgement that communications is now an eco-system, requires by definition that the people charged with managing those communications understand ‘systems’ and this is not a common capability. Understanding systems means having an incredible ability to see the big picture – how everything is working together – productively, seamlessly, responsively. And yet it also means having an ability to go deep into any singular ‘node’ within the system to maximize its individual role in the system. This is complex thinking.

Impact 3: Communications producers – writers, art directors, technologists, etc… – need to truly work together to create. Which means they need to understand each other’s craft, in order to truly be able to integrate and build off of each other. This is not a skillset that has been nurtured or taught either through the education system or inside agencies historically.

Journey through the Inflection Point:

There is a mountain to climb to be able to really traverse this inflection point. It may seem straightforward, but it is anything but. It requires:

a) The acceptance that the digital space is seated at the table right next to the traditional media space and that the need to adjust to it is urgent.
b) The acknowledgement that communications today are not about ‘putting it on the air’ or ‘putting it up’; communications today are about creating and managing eco-systems of activity.
c) A change in communications agency processes and client review, ‘purchase’ and maintain processes.
d) An upgrading of communication producers skill sets – to foster a better cross-discipline understanding.

Insert easy button.

I, for one, believe that if brands want to continue to have a place in people’s lives in the future, traversing this inflection point is a must-do. Adjust or be left behind seems to me to be the harsh reality. But more optimistically, this required shift in communications could get us to a much better place on so many levels. This shift will get us communications that matter to people; by default that means brands that are engaging in ways that matter to people. And ladder that further to a place where communications (and brands) can be positive contributing forces in the world. This is free market dynamics at work. Best to acknowledge and understand what people want, and deliver it, because it’s those who will survive.

Item #47: Upping-My-Game

I have been lucky enough to meet a few new and incredible people over the last few weeks. An amazing writer and art director team who truly get the new world of communications, an engagement planning guru and another new media strategist who is on-the-pulse and sees beyond the horizon.

It’s been an eye-opening few weeks, confusing and stressful at times. But in this short period of exposure, I realized something. They were upping-my-game. Big time.

And isn’t that a great thing? To have to up-your-game? It is, and I’m excited about it. But I’m also self-aware enough to recognize the other side of the challenge to ‘up-your-game’.

See… when you meet people who challenge you, people who are doing things differently, and differently in a way that you aspire to, well, you can either get energized and rise to the challenge, or it can bring up a bunch of ‘other’ ‘self’ stuff. Truth is, seems like both happen – you are energized and still ‘other’ ‘self’ stuff comes up.

‘The Stuff’:

For me at least, the stuff is all around questioning ‘what was’. I mean if you are suddenly exposed to people who are upping-your-game, then how can you not look back at what you have been doing, up until that very moment, and not feel like it was insufficient, not good enough. This is the ‘other’ ‘stuff’ side of people who inspire you to up-your-game.

‘The Flipside’:

Here’s the flipside, the accurate side. Maybe the side most of you are already all over. First of all, kudos has to go to people who are open to ‘upping-their-game’. Someone smart once said that the smartest people realize how little they know. So, it’s pretty damn smart and confident in my books to embrace continuous growth and development – continuous upping-of-the-game.

And here’s the very likely reality. Upping-the-game is likely not about going from bad to good. It’s probably more like going from good to great, or even, from great to awesome.

So if you are on an awesome-ness quest, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you are one who recognizes and embraces upping-your-game.

Bring it on. Up-your-game.

Item #46: On Finding Your Path

Sometimes people ask of me,
How do I know what I should be?
As I grow up,
Before I'm old,
What is my path?
Can it be told?

When I was young,
My Dad would say,
Work is hard, it isn’t play,
Your path in this,
Cannot be told,
It comes to you,
It just unfolds.

Others would speak,
Of a five-year plan,
Do you know where you’re going?
Are your goals all in hand?
Take the right job,
To get to that place,
That spot in the distance,
That you’ve crafted, that space.

I tried that,
The planning, the charting my way,
But something unexpected would always appear,
Throw me off balance,
Fill me with fear.
Then what should I do?
With the plans that I’d made?
Was all lost, all for nothing?
Have I failed, have I strayed?

Over time, I’ve decided,
That thinking of work,
As a rigid, unchanging, plan with a goal,
Is a hardship and a burden,
And no way to feed a soul.

Work should be fun,
Work should fuel you,
Work you enjoy,
Is work you’ll look forward to.

So instead now I say,
Forget the long distance, forget the planned path,
Instead decide what works for today.

What makes you happy?
What do you like?
What keeps your mind active,
In the middle of the night?
What would you do if you weren’t being paid?
If you had extra time, where would your energy be laid?

How can you make decisions,
About a future far away?
No need to worry about tomorrow,
When you’re living fully in today.

The career of the future,
Will be to shape, to learn, to play.
It will be discovering along the way.
It’s a long and winding journey,
Along a path sometimes unseen,
But this way, looking behind you,
You’ll feel good about where you’ve been.

Item #45: Why Marketing Can Be, By Definition, Authentic

Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, May 2011

I was recently in a room with some industry folk whereby I stated that marketing is not some manipulative discipline designed to aggressively and unethically sell people things they don’t need. I told them I had always considered that marketing is more simply about making people aware of options and related information about those options to aid in the mandatory decision making that takes place in the purchase process. I don’t know, maybe I sounded all naïve and idealistic (wouldn’t be the first time I was accused of that) but I really do believe that to be true.

Fundamentally, I believe that marketing is about conveying accurate ‘information about products, services or brands’, for those people who are interested. And furthermore, I believe good marketing makes that conveying of information enjoyable for the interested party. And that when you add these things together, you get marketing that is, by definition: Authentic.

Let me explain a little more what I mean about ‘information about products, services or brands’:

Consumer Joe has to navigate the world of purchasing on a daily basis. What kind of alarm clock will waken him, what shampoo will he use, what milk goes on his cereal, what car does he drive, what service provider powers his smartphone, what band does he listen to, what food outlet does he frequent for lunch, what supplier to use at work, what beer to drink at the end of the day, what camp to book his daughter into for summer and I could go on and on and on…

Every day, in every way, consumer Joe’s attention and time is spent consuming. And every consumption decision requires an evaluation of what to consume, from an ever increasing number of options. So how does each and every one of those decisions get made? Well, perhaps he chose it cause it was the cheapest. Or because it would be most reliable. Perhaps it was because it was locally produced. Or the one which did no wrong to its workers. Perhaps it was the one with the most appealing packaging. Perhaps it was one he had the most personal experience with. Or the one that makes the least impact on our physical world. Perhaps it’s the one that gives back financially to support social or charitable causes. Or perhaps it’s was the sexiest, fastest, most posh, most elitist option. Perhaps it’s the one his family has chosen for decades. And I could go on and on and on.

For varying reasons, reasons that vary from product to product, situation to situation and even day to day, consumer Joe makes his purchase decisions.

So how does a product, brand or service navigate within this chaotic consumer behavioural environment?

Option 1: Try to define the largest segment of potential buyers or some niche select subset of that buyer group, and define them as your ‘target market’. Seek to understand the drivers of behavior for this now defined target market. Craft a message about your product, service or brand that will be appealing based on what you’ve come to understand. This is the option that has the potential to slide down the slippery slope of becoming ‘manufacturing information about your product, service or brand to try to appeal to your defined target market to try to get them to buy your product, service or brand’.

Option 2: Consider your product, service or brand as an organism: a living, thinking thing. A living, thinking thing with strengths (and weaknesses), with beliefs and values, with a vision and a philosophy. Uncover them, capture them. They exist. Then be a product, service or brand that authentically lives those strengths, beliefs, and values. As a means of growth and development, build on that vision and that philosophy, as a product, service or brand. Then let this naturally attract interested people in the authentic merits of your offering.

Option 2 is where authentic marketing naturally occurs. A product, service or brand seeks to uncover and capture the qualities that define it. It prepares that ‘information about the product, service or brand’ for the attention of interested parties. And then if the product, service or brand is really good, it crafts its communication creatively to be enjoyable for the consumer’s consumption.

Good Example 1. Old Spice. Knows what it is, and isn’t trying to be something it’s not. And communicates it in an utterly entertaining way.

Good Example 2: Van City. Knows who it is, and isn’t trying to be something it’s not. And communicates it in an utterly entertaining way.

So, I’m going to go right back to the beginning, to that naïve, idealistic place where I stated that marketing can be about simply conveying ‘information about products, services and brands’ to interested parties. And doing it in an interesting way.

That’s Authentic. And I believe that can be Marketing.

Item #44: Guest Post - Bringing Love to Life

This will be a rare emotional chapter of Curated. My sister's guest post today is about that irrational thing called love. That head in the clouds thing called love. That shake your head and roll your eyes thing called love that works. My sister and her husband have experienced a transformational personal experience over the last 8 years. They have truly brought their love to life. And while everyone's way is unique, here today, she shares her personal secrets of success.

Bringing Love…to Life.
by Tammy

Being a couple in life is challenging. I have spent the past eight and a half years navigating the waters of my relationship. Some days the waters are rough, and some days, they are calm and enjoyable. I believe that the success of my relationship is found in the movements of the changing waters. It’s found in the moments that throw us off course. My husband and I have shared moments of drifting, where the wind takes us places we weren’t prepared for. This is how we survive:

1) We believe in each other, and never waiver on that. Being unable to do something is not even on our radar; our faith in each other gives us the strength to carry on.
2) We encourage each other to go after the things we dream about, even when we think they are out of reach, because what do we have, if we don’t have dreams or goals?
3) We have learned, together, that disagreements don’t mean the end. They are bumps in the road, or changes of course, and should be approached with the idea that they teach us something. Something about ourselves, something about each other or something about what we want out of our lives. Disagreements are good, because they help us to stay on our chosen path. They redirect us when we’ve lost our way.
4) We never give up, on ourselves, on each other or on us. We often discuss our life together. Where we came from, where we are, and where we want to be. We understand that we are only human, and can make mistakes and that while sometimes mistakes can hurt, they can teach us a whole lot too. Ultimately, we want to be in each other’s lives, and it’s that want, that desire that pushes us to keep going and sort things out, even when things seem irresolvable.
5) We love each other. Fully and completely. We shower each other with love. Our love has not strings, it depends on nothing. We never hang up the phone, go to bed, or start the day without saying “I love you”.

Our relationship works because we don’t try to be anything that we are not. In the early stages, we both had a take me as I am, or leave me policy. We change not because we feel we need to, but because we continue to grow together, and we want to be a better person for each other. My husband has shown me that love has no boundaries, and no expectations. It cannot be forced, or contrived. It just is. And when you meet the person who can complete you, only then does love bring you to life.

Item #43: The Great Familiarity

Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, January 2011.

In communications, from a strategic perspective, we spend a whole lot of our time thinking about positioning strategy, developing creative briefs and then guiding creative development. I find that objective setting most often includes “raise awareness”, “build opinion” and “improve purchase consideration”. With these priorities set, we create awareness-building media plans, craft messaging strategies that will grow brand value and put tactical traffic driving measures in place.

But of late, I am suspecting we may be overlooking a more important barrier and therefore, objective. Familiarity.

I feel like I have spent every day of the last 12 months of my life in consumer conversations. I executed more research than ever last year. And I heard something new.

I’m calling it The Great Familiarity.

Here’s what I’ve heard: “Well, I’ve had experience with Brand X so next time I’m going to just buy it again.” Or maybe, “Well I have been a Brand X person for a long time, so that’s where I’m starting, but my friends keep going on to me about Brand Y, so I will give it a look, but I’ll be honest, I’m really in the Brand X camp.”

In these discussions, we present compelling, credible, relevant and competitively distinctive reasons to look at our brand, and rationally, consumers will say “yes, we see it…but”… Fact is: most consumers are firmly stuck in the comfort zone of The Great Familiarity.

What is The Great Familiarity?

Well, in a nutshell, The Great Familiarity is a consumer mindset and behavioural state that ‘rests in the comfort of familiar satisfaction’. It is a consumer mindset that tunes out new messages, because there is little reason to attend to them. It is a behavioural state that frequents familiar brands as a routine, because it’s easier and it works.

The Great Familiarity is the outcome of a marketplace currently characterized by:

- Proliferation of Choice. Sure, choice can be a good thing, but it also adds complexity. It requires an evaluation of that choice, a wading through of yet another consumer option.
- Busy Lives. People are busy. Lives are hectic. If there were an extra minute to spare in the day, most people would prefer to spend it in conversation with a friend or child, or cuddled up next to their loved one. Not evaluating a new consumer option.
- Standardized Levels of Quality and Value. Amongst consumer products and services, the risk of a bad decision nowadays is actually quite small. Most computers, any computer will perform the task at hand, ditto a shampoo, frankly, ditto a car. There’s not much motivation to rigorously evaluate a new consumer option.
- Security of Purchase. If for some unlikely reason, it turns out that a bad purchase decision was made, it’s pretty easy these days to get out of it. Return the computer to the manufacturer, throw the vehicle up on Leasebusters, or at worst case, turn to eBay, Craigslist or Kijiji.

Addressing The Great Familiarity

I don’t have a silver bullet answer to that, but awareness-building media plans, brand value adding messaging strategies and tactical traffic driving initiatives might have limited impact. What is needed, when you are faced with the barrier of The Great Familiarity, is a clear objective to ‘Shake Up The Great Familiarity’. The core objective of the marketing strategy in this situation must be to dislodge the consumer from their existing perceptions and attitudes. It must not intrude or disrupt if you really want a positive outcome. But it must surprise, turn a head, boldly pique interest.

In short, the response to The Great Familiarity, might just be The Great Shake-Up.

Item #42: The Future of Marketing: Distribution, Rights and Exclusivity

Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, October 2010

My Prediction: The future of marketing is going to become radically more seller-led (which, as a corollary, is counter to the ‘consumer-choice’-oriented edicts of recent discussion in marketing circles). In five years, marketing will be more about: how much distribution a seller has, how many of those points of distribution a seller has rights to, and how much exclusivity a seller can carve out in those areas.

Situation 1: Distribution
Go into any grocery store today. Take any product category, cheese, for example. The consumer is presented with a range of options; this range however is NOT representative of the full range of cheddar cheeses available on the market. What is made available is a pre-chosen selection of cheddar cheeses, there for a number of reasons, such as: a) the seller paid the grocery store an incentive to be there; b) it’s a popular enough cheddar cheese that the grocery store must carry it to please their customers or c) it is the grocery store’s own private label cheese. A seller may make the most delicious cheddar cheese in the country but unless it is on those shelves, enough shelves, the right shelves, it will not sell. And securing this distribution is becoming more complex. This is Part 1 of my Prediction. That Distribution will be increasingly critical to the Future of Marketing.

Situation 2: Rights
Anyone visit the CNE this year? The CNE this year had a selection of beverages available for purchase via vending machines conveniently located in many locations throughout the grounds. All those vending machines and all the beverages within were manufactured by ONE company. No other beverage company was able to make their beverages available for vending purchase to the roaming public at the CNE this year. Consumers had a number of types of beverage available to them, but only ONE manufacturer of those beverages. This was the result of a contractual agreement between the CNE and this beverage manufacturer. The CNE likely would have derived financial benefits for this partnership because the beverage manufacturer would have compensated the CNE for these Rights. The beverage manufacturer gained a strong incremental sales channel for their beverages. This likely resulted in a mutually-beneficial partnership. As well, this meant a range of other beverage manufacturers were locked out of this selling environment. This is Part 2 of my Prediction. That Rights will be increasingly critical to the Future of Marketing.

One more quick situation here: In many cases, ‘consumer-choice’ doesn’t actually exist because it is outside of the consumer’s control, dependant instead on the acquisition of rights by a seller. Take for example wireless services. Increasingly, consumer wireless use is happening in public places like coffee shops, airports or other public spaces. Wireless sellers negotiate contracts with the spaces and consumers by default are required to use that pre-selected service provider. This situation is transferable to many other seller situations. Another example for Part 2 of my Prediction, for how Rights will be increasingly critical to the Future of Marketing.

Situation 3: Exclusivity
Exclusivity puts pressure on the dynamics of distribution because it is about sellers offering something that only they can offer. Sellers create something or acquire rights to something that consumers’ value, and then make it singularly distributable through them. For example, a Canadian fashion retailer might negotiate with a designer to create and produce a line that only they can sell, or they may go outside the country to a seller not currently distributed in Canada and negotiate to be the singular place of access for those sellers’ goods in Canada. This requires that consumers must go and can only go to Seller A in order to get access to Seller B’s wares. This is Part 3 of my Point. That Exclusivity will be increasingly critical to the Future of Marketing.

Advice for Marketers:

There is opportunity for much more focus on the ‘seller’ strategy in order to gain competitive marketing advantage.

- Look to achieve as much distribution as possible, while of course being conscious of good contextual fit;
- Strive to secure rights, especially in new distribution spaces wherever possible;
- And look for ways to build exclusivity to influence the dynamics of distribution.

Item #41: She Didn't Know Jack

Through the years she met many.
Through work and through play.
And they each taught her something along the way.
Through Kerry and Justin, David and Jen.
She knew of music, flowers, cooking and Zen.
Through others she knew of confidence and smarts.
Of frankness and tact. Business and Arts.
Because of Jenny and Gloria, David and Jill.
She knew of the way when there was the will.
There was Tammy and Sheryl, Lisa and Mandy.
Katie and Cathy, Doreen and even Andy.
This is just getting started; this could go on and on.
Each person had shaped her, helped make her strong.
She knew so many people, and many very well.
Yet she reminded herself daily and she never forgot.
That with all who she did know, with all the known fact.
It was always still the case that she didn’t know Jack.

Item #40: The Phenomenon of Rebecca Black

The recently circulating music video made by Rebecca Black, Friday, has at the time of this writing has received more than 68 million views on YouTube. That is incredible.

Rebecca Black’s Friday is an incredibly low budget music video production for a song called Friday, ‘sung’ by Rebecca Black. The lyrics can only be described as pedantic, the film common and ‘done’. There is no real value in this video: no musical talent, no entertainment appeal, no artistic element. Yet, it is a YouTube viral phenomenon. Rebecca Black is a YouTube viral phenomenon.

Or is she?

In watching this video and knowing a little bit about it’s making i.e.: funded by her parents, a few things are clear.

Rebecca Black is one confident little teenager.

Rebecca Black is one resourced little teenager.

Rebecca Black is one risk-taking little teenager.

This experience could go a couple of ways for her: the experience makes a fool of her for a short span of time and then is promptly forgotten, while she goes down in history infamously as ‘the girl who did that awful video back in 2011’.

Or, it could go another way. Her buzz continues, reporting in news media all over the world continues, everyone continues talking about her, she grows rich in the process and then somehow this spins into something bigger. She gets recognized as one with notoriety, with influence and therefore with commercial potential. Someone picks her up and begins working with her to develop her 'career'.

Either way, for plan or for fluke, for better or for worse, Rebecca Black is very likely to translate this buzz situation into ‘something’, into her start on the path to ‘be somebody’.

This is arguably the phenomenon of Rebecca Black. A confident, resourced, risk-talking little teenager.

Or is it?

Perhaps this is nothing more than the phenomenon of society in 2011.

A society that values and rewards confidence, without any criteria. Unmerited confidence. Confidence without substance. Confidence without talent. Blind, ignorant confidence.

A society that values and rewards resources, without any criteria. Resources mis-used. Resources mis-applied. Resources carelessly distributed.

A society that values and rewards risk-taking without any criteria. Risk-taking without calculation. Risk-taking without integrity. Risk-taking without consideration of impact.

This is the society that drove those YouTube music video views to over 68 million.

This is the society that has made Rebecca Black one of the top stories of March 2011.

This is the society that has turned Rebecca Black into a ‘known’ figure.

This is the society that may very likely make Rebecca Black rich and famous.

Perhaps Rebecca Black is not the phenomenon here. Perhaps it’s just the opposite. Rebecca Black is just a teenager with dubious talent. At this point anyway. For now. Who knows what she might have been with real training and meaningful assistance. This value and reward society is lending Rebecca Black is unfortunately not in response to her talent. It is in response only to her confidence, her resources and her risk-taking. It’s our society today that is the phenomenon. The things we value, we reward, we deem as the basis for success. That is the phenomenon.

Item #39: Make Fresh Tracks

My life philosophies. Now available in video format. This was fun.

Best to watch in small window. Resolution lost on upload for some reason.

Item #38: Why the Hatter is Mad

My daughter asked me the other day what The Mad Hatter’s background was, "Where did he come from Mummy?". A very reasonable question I think. And so I went in search of answers.

To understand who a person is, one can seek to understand what he came from. The interesting thing though is that the reverse is also true. One can understand what a person came from in understanding who he is.

So, who is The Mad Hatter? He loves to dance, has orange hair, wears hats (obviously), loves making hats, wears make-up, as well as a suit. He lives in Wonderland, loves Alice and not The Red Queen. And he goes crazy when his hat is not on his head.

Most essentially, The Mad Hatter is a hat fanatic. His hat fanaticism could be seen as evidence that he seeks to cover his head. But why might he want to cover his head? We know that when his hat is removed from his head, he goes crazy. So maybe he wants to cover his head because he fears his craziness. Maybe he covers his head because he doesn't want to 'lose’ his head. A fear of his which is likely further entrenched with The Red Queen constantly threatening to take everyone's head off all across Wonderland.

And were this true, it would be a good choice of course for Hatter to choose Wonderland to live. Wonderland is a place where one 'can' in fact lose one's head. Many do, at the orders of The Red Queen. There is some social acceptance at least for the possibility of ‘losing one’s head’. So Wonderland might actually be a socially safe environment for a head-losing-fearer like Hatter.

As an aside, maybe The Red Queen isn't so mean after all; perhaps she is merely voicing encouragement for the losing of one's head.

But, back to Hatter. Perhaps Hatter's hat provides him with some extra protection against the risk of losing his head. Hatter also wears make-up. Perhaps his make-up disguises him so that should he lose his hat, and hence his head, he will not be recognized! Thus protecting him additionally from potential social condemnation from having lost his head.

This has all the signs of a case of classic childhood repression. Hatter was simply forced to grow up too soon! Even as he tries to comply by the wearing of the manly adult suit, Hatter is a child living inside a man's body, burdened with his 'crazy' inclinations and his need to protect himself from them. Instead of fully embracing and integrating this expressive, imaginative self, he carries it around as though it is a dangerous weapon that must be sheathed: 'handled with care'. His Hattering serves a twofold purpose: one part defense mechanism to ward off said 'craziness' and, a second part outlet for imaginative expression. Also, his Hattering offers a commonality with which to bond with fear-stimulator, The Red Queen, who is herself “of such a bulbous head” that she and Hatter are able to connect excitedly on hat design possibilities.

So there we have it! The mysterious epidemiology of the Mad Hatter's hat fanaticism: solved. A child with a wondrous imagination that was re-interpreted and misinterpreted, likely by some parental authority figure as ‘craziness’. A child who learned to fear this part of himself, and thus began a lifetime of carefully hiding it away and protecting himself from it. Ultimately this falsely labeled ‘craziness’ sublimated into an outlet for both defense and expression – Hats. And thus was born The Mad Hatter. My daughter will be pleased to have this clarity.

And perhaps a message to us all:
Unleash the crazy. Remove the hat. Indeed: Off With Your Head.

Item #37: Cautious Listening

I think there is often a difference between what people say and what is the truth.

Recently I sat ‘behind the glass’ listening to people talk about a service they are loyal to (my word for consumers is 'people' because calling people consumers objectifies them and makes it easy to disregard what they have to say). This group of people spoke for 45 minutes, unprompted, unanimously and universally about this service. What it gave them. Why they valued it. What expectations they had of it. When they use it. Why they use it. How they feel about it. What’s good about it. Even where they see room for improvement.

During this time, not once, did even one person, at any point, mention that they were a loyal frequenter of this service because of anything to do with price. No one said: “because it is cheap”, or “because I get the best price there”. No one even ventured into the territory of ‘value’, saying “well, for what I get from this service compared to what I pay for it, I find it affordable”. Price never came up. Affordable never came up. Value never even came up.

But a little further into the discussion, when these same people were then asked what might incent (I know incent is not really a word, but it should be) them to try out a new, different, alternative service, they all unanimously, universally, consistently, said, “a special price offer”, “something for free”, “a price-oriented promotion”.

My internal truth meter started ringing off the hook. I just don't buy it (pardon the pun). And it signifies just one situation where we really have to listen with caution.

Just because someone says it, doesn't make it true.