Think...distinctive...

                                                                                                               Bugatti Atalante Coupe

In French it's called Je ne sais quois - attempts to define an indefinable quality which sets something apart from others and captivates the attention.

In hip hop it's often called swagger - a demeanor that exudes a sense of style  and confidence that stands out in it's own distinct way.

In either case there's that something, that unique 'thing' possessed by a person, a place, or even an object which makes it  distinguishable from everything else around it.

Now, the question is, where does that 'something' come from? For some it may be natural, for others it may be something to work extremely hard at (be careful with this one...this can be a slippery slope to inauthenticity). The ideal situation may be to subtlety cultivate your uniqueness, which will in time, spotlight your individual flavor. 

For me, focusing on this came from my days as a design student in architecture. From day one in our studios, we would obsess over each of our design philosophies, which would directly impact everything from aesthetics to the building form of our projects. As young designers we strived to carve out our own niche in terms of our personal techniques of how we designed.

Just a few days ago I was reminded of the importance of this when I was reading this year's Fast Company special issue of the 100 Most Creative People In Business (the issue came out just this past June). 

Their number 22 most creative person was Andy Spade (I actually wrote a post on him last year). I was seriously diggin' what he said:

"A company has to be like that person who turns his cuffs up a different way, who smokes a certain brand of cigarette, who wears an obscure vintage watch."

Now for J Crew CEO, Mickey Drexler, he's loving Andy's disposition, because for him he created a New York store in a former Tribeca bar that's staffed with artists, writers and creative people, and is furnished with vintage pieces for a one-of-kind feel. . .tres cool.

In short a company can find plenty of value in having a certain kind of swagger. That je ne sais quois that you can't quite put your finger on, but it's there.

I'm feelin' you Andy. Definitely feelin' you my man. . .

At the end of the day it's very, very hard to argue against the power of uniqueness. The value of it is incalculable. So when I came across the Bugatti Atalante Coupe, I thought to myself, "Imagine if a brand was distinctive like that?!"

Waveriders

"Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life."

                                                     - Matt Warshaw, Maverick's: The Story of Big-Wave Surfing

Just this past Wednesday I came across a link on Facebook, posted by a friend of mine, of Cory Booker (the spectacular Mayor of New Jersey) and a speech  he did at the American Constitution Society here in DC. As usual, it was nothing short of passionate and powerful. Towards the end of it he spoke about a few books given to him by friends before his trip to the capital. One of them was The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. As soon as he mentioned it, my friend Ishita, immediately came to mind.

Ishita (who I met at Behance's 99% percent conference last year), is Head of Hoopla for Seth Godin (yup...that's her real title) and she publishes an online magazine called Fear.less, which captures the stories of how individuals get into the boxing ring with their fears. So with the Cory Booker video, hot off the press, I emailed her the link and a short message about how his story could be great for her magazine.

She emailed me back immediately (gotta love folks who get right back to you) saying thank you (exact quote - "I'll put him down on our list - brilliant idea homie!" - Ishita is aaawesome. . .). She then asked me if I was interested in volunteering as one of the core group members to help with the DC leg of Seth Godin's Road Trip in July. I said..."coool. . .would love to!" She also gave me the option of asking one other colleague.

With that option on the table, I decided to ask one of my mentor's and good friends, Michelle James - CEO of the Center for Creative Emergence, and see if she was interested. She said yes, but wanted to know more.

As is often the case with Michelle and I, we got heavy into a conversation about business, creativity and leadership. Of course, since it was Seth that was the impetus for our chat, his named was batted around in our discussion. 

Interestingly enough, in our conversation, Michelle used the word waveriding which I've used before when having similar discussions with other friends and colleagues. I actually remember using it for the first time in a blog post I did about a year ago, Ten absolutely, necessary brand considerations. The word centers mainly around the idea of being able to see what others don't (identifying the white space) , getting into position to successfully leverage that, then riding the wave of new opportunity (which can happen in so many different ways). 

As I mentioned in the post, it's one thing to recognize trends, but it's another to know how to utilize them for your brand. I likened it to being out in the ocean with a surfboard and seeing the wave coming, and then trying to figure out how to ride it. Now whether it's a wave of trends in the marketplace or a wave off the Gold Coast in Australia, to do it successfully requires two things: a tenacious comittment and unrelenting practice. 

In either case true waveriders are passionate, dedicated, and fervent zealots about their work and play. So I salute the Ishita Guptas, the Dane Reynolds' and the Michelle James' of the world (oh...yeah, and the Seth Godins as well too...).

Whether you're bobbing in the waters of the North Shore, or building a brand that will change the world. . .there's nothing better than being in your element and striving to be a waverider. . .

Demographics: DOA

"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?"

                                                                                                 - Chuck Palahniuk

This is the question that advertisers, brand strategists, and marketers should be asking about the demographic reports that they have traditionally been cozy with to help them determine who their customers are.

The idea of demographics; what they are, what they mean, and their usefulness has run its course. Reading the quote you can translate it as; demographics is in the process of leaving the stage, changing what it is and coming back as something else. If you want that reality to slow down because you hate change. . .well then get left behind. If you want it to speed up, then you're amongst those engaged and involved in the discovery of what's next, positioning yourself to be relevant in the burgeoning new economy.

One reason this information set, that "helps" to understand who your customers are, is soon to be/is doa, is because in a world of blogs, facebook fan pages, and ning sites (and this is just the tip of the iceberg), you can drill down exactly to who your customer is (her name is Cecilia, she has a dog named Choo Choo, and she loves youtube videos of Nirvana) and potentially interact with them on a much more personal level. As opposed to demographic data; analysis and understanding mainly in terms of generalizations, broad strokes, and approximations. The value factor comparison is like a typewriter on one hand and an iPad on the other.

As was stated in an Ad Age article last year, with the findings in the 2010 census "the message to marketers is clear: No single demographic, or even handful of demographics, neatly defines the nation. There is no such thing as "the American consumer." Demographics expert Peter Francese even goes as far as to say that "the concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever."

What needs to be done is to begin looking at customers as people (not as data). Who are they? What do they do? Why are they doing that?  You need to understand them through a behavioral lens. What drives them to the decisions they make? Behavior is independent of age, region or any of the usual demographic lenses. This approach begins to inject a type of orientation in which the relationship between the brand and the audience becomes more than just transactional, it also becomes organic and has meaning.

So now we're not dealing with resources that are lifeless and dead on arrival, but agile, nimble and dynamic. A direct reflection of where we are, right here, right now. 

Supermodels, Food 2.0 and Intangible Value

We live in a world where one of the fundamental ideas that drives our existence is economy. The trading, buying, selling, and giving and getting of stuff. That stuff could be advice, ideas, books, music, food, vacation tickets, entertainment (and the list goes on. . .).

On some level we seek to acquire these things, for a set amount of time - two hours, two days, two years, or two decades. . .it all depends on what it is. Now what we seek to possess may change; a tailored suit today, that sweet new app for your smart phone tomorrow, or getting that new hybrid model car next year. The item(s) may change from one moment to the next but what never changes is getting this stuff, because for you this stuff has. . . value.

Whether you want it, need it or yearn for it, at the end of the day you go out and get it because at that moment in time, from where you are sitting, you feel it will add value to your life. 

Now the question is - what is value?

In the below TED talk, Rory Sutherland discusses marketing, advertising, and customers and the idea of what value can be in this food chain.

I love his discussion. Funny, entertaining, and thought provoking. 

Enjoy!

The death of Crowdsourcing? Dun, dun, dun...

It's interesting.

For as long as I can remember whether it was my high school guidance counselor helping me write essays for college applications, or my architecture professors showing me the ins and outs of putting together my design portfolio, there was always that conversation of how to stand out from the crowd.

Not to mention the thousands of business books on on how to identify your unique selling proposition (a term I really, really, dislike by the way) on what sets your company apart from the rest of the competition/crowd. 

But during the course of the last 5 or 6 years entrepreneurs and companies are experimenting and trying their hands at tapping into the "masses" and building their business models around the new idea of crowdsourcing - a term coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing".

The idea rocks in theory - outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call - but when you start to deconstruct it, from its name to what it does/aims to do, it gets problematic on numerous levels.

About a month ago me and my business partner sat down with my good friend Peter LaMotte, who is the Executive Vice President of Genius Rocket, a crowd-source driven creative agency here in the DC area, to talk shop. We were discussing a business partnership and talking about community, the digital landscape and innovation. In addition to a slew of other conversation topics, we came to an agreement that "crowdsourcing" as a word, just doesn't cut it anymore.

Matter of fact Genius Rocket and 99Designs (another early player in the crowdsourcing game) have actually launched a new collaborative initiative that will crowdsource a new name for crowdsourcing  - (duuude...rock on!)

Here's a blurb from their Project: Rename Crowdsourcing page:

"The term 'crowdsourcing' has become such a buzzword that it has lost meaning on both ends of the equation. This makes it misunderstood by businesses new to the model. It's also used far too generally and ambiguously by those who understand crowdsourcing culture. We work with the crowd everyday, so we're walking the walk by tapping collaborative creative geniuses around the world to help us redefine what we do."

Additionally another close colleague of mine, Jeremy Epstein, opens up in his blog post, Remember: Community trumps Crowd:

Who do you trust more?

A group of strangers in a train station?

Or, people who were in your (insert college activity here)?

That’s the difference, in Thomas Myer’s excellent piece, between community-sourcing and crowd-sourcing. 

Jeremy is all about community, just as we are.

Now there are a ton of folks who have never heard of this term, so this does not apply to them. But if you are touting yourself as an early adopter and industry leader, and your brand is tied to this idea. . .now I'm not saying to drop it altogether but you may want to think about how crowdsourcing, and what it's about, becomes sustainable. Now if it is, the question becomes: how do you stand out from the crowd when you are the crowd?