dan burgess // all life is an experiment

'brand obesity'

Iʼve been thinking a lot recently about what I can only describe as increasing signs of ʻobesityʼ in brands. This tweet from Marc the other night prompted me to try and write something down.

  

What I mean by ʻbrand obesityʼ is the result of innovation and marketing approaches which appear to have been junking out on the equivalent of NPD ready meals, BOGOF brand ideas, and super size portions of dubious insight.

 Business got fat and lazy and now it’s getting ill. The symptoms are there in the mediocre products and lowest common denominator marketing that we see all around us.

 As we rebuild from recession, businesses everywhere are clearly under huge pressure in what is a period of massive transformation. Surely now there is even more reason to use this opportunity to rebuild in a more restorative way - reshaping brands more positively not just piling more junk into an already creaking system.

 We should be starting by building more resilience into businesses through the people who create and manage their products and services. After all, it’s people and teams who really create brands, not faceless corporations.

 These people and teams need to re-discover their spirit and soul (read ‘purpose’) the more they can do this, the more it will encourages others to start moving in the same direction.

 To do this we all need to stop accepting shallow, short term ideas which do little more than exploit people’s desire for quick hits of novelty. Our intelligent, connected and increasingly cash-poor society needs something more and it is up to all of us to work towards delivering it.

I became diabetic a decade ago (not diet driven) , and one result of that was I started practising yoga. It has helped me reconnect whatʼs outside to whatʼs inside, it’s taught me the importance of internal awareness and balance, the need to nourish the soul, and importantly consciousness of the world around me.

I sense many organisations are losing touch with who they are, with where they are heading and critically how they are going to get there.

So hereʼs an idea: a more yogic approach to building brands and creating new products and services. One which creates a true sense of flow within an organization. Which establishes deep and real connections with both customers and the world in which it exists. An approach which wonʼt accept average, novelty for novelty sake or wastefulness.

 Iʼm not talking about stripping off, burning nag champa and posture development (though I think it might add something quite interesting to a workshop….).

 People talk about a holistic approach to marketing, but I think thatʼs generally more bluff. What we need imho, is a holistic approach to business which will see a re-awakening of strong, healthy, resilient, balanced brands with soul, developing meaningful products and services.

 How amazing could that be?

 Namaste.

 (Hereʼs what Marc was referring to btw

 originally posted on pipeline ideas

soul surfing

Grain from We Are Always Here on Vimeo.

i learn to surf in costa rica over christmas, it was an awesome experience. i spent a lot of time hanging in the pacific, i learned a few things about myself, i discovered the most amazing workout for body and soul, and i'm really missing it. I absolutely love the spirit of the guys here at grain surfboards. a company with seemingly true purpose and soul. And I want one of those boards! My eye is on the steamer.

phone in a cab

a sweet idea from O2, a free phone in a cab. we'd had a few ales, we called a friend, you talk through the speaker system in the cab, it worked, it was free, we all laughed. nice.

green my apple

this campaign by greenpeace is trying to get apple to clean up their manufacturing process (which appears to be quite toxic) and to get serious on recyling. i'm a big fan of apple but the claims made by greenpeace concern me. oddly i've always assumed that apple would be leading the drive for a green, sustainable technlogy business. the simpleness of apple design along with the human-ness of the brand and products is i think what has given me this impression. i wonder how many apple users are trying to pursue a more ethical existence and will sign up to this? or are we all just 'superficial semi-persons assembled from packaging' as this article in the guardian today suggests?
whatever, hats off to greepeace. the campaign is very cleverly done. thorough with loads of tools for people to get invloved. but what's great is its challenging apple to sort it out rather than a big negative public humiliation. it challenges Jobs to come up with a proper re-defining, industry leading Apple solution. it encourages mac users and advocates to put pressure on steve jobs via an email petition, it plays on mac creativity to develop campaign material including photos, alternative keynote speeches, ads and banners. then it's amplifiying user generated output through social media like flickr. i'm very curious to see how this develops. like it a lot.
oh yeah and there's a spoof of the new pc/mac campaign...