Viva La Revolución

GLOBAL SOUL BRANDING: Part I

Scott Goodson writes:

Terms like ‘global soul’ are not just mere hippy talk - some kind of Ben&Jerry’s rhetoric coming from the mouths of their ‘Chief Euphoria Officer.’  Socially progressive mores make sense; especially since we can all count on consumers just getting smarter in the future.  Hallelujah for that. We have to stay fresh and inspired! You can no longer effectively sell a product with a 30-second TV spot anymore - everybody’s burned out on those. Similarly, brands can no longer just put on the clothes of ‘greenness’ without putting their money--and actions--where their mouths are. Corporations, increasingly and popularly perceived as part the problem and not the solution, will have to REALLY become the solution if they want to survive. The people on the streets are getting only more and more ‘green’ and socially aware, as things like climate change are becoming more apparent.

In short: social values = survival. Socially progressive values are going mainstream - and global.

It’s all a result of our appetite for a taste of the bigger life, partially due to the freedom Internet is offering the emerging generation, partially the trend of restaurants like Vong that ‘mix up’ French and Thai cuisine, partially our lust for travel (or at least those glossy travel magazines) and a bunch of other stuff like, more and more opportunities to meet and work with people from other cultures and countries.

For example, I just came back to New York from a recent trip to our Amsterdam agency, via a stop over for din din with a female friend in Berlin. Not that this is anything odd. Except for the fact my friend in Berlin is part Brazilian, part German, part Swedish and a tad Dutch.

Imagine this scenario: she and I have dinner and discuss advertising. Me—a Canadian, who has worked and lived in Asia, Sweden, Holland and now New York.  She—a woman who has led major advertising brands across the globe. She speaks English, Portuguese, German and Swedish—fluently.  I speak English, French and Swedish fluently. What do we have in common? What separates us?

What we have in common is a set of values;…..(tbc).

The Changing Fascia of Marketing: LA Auto Show

It used to be diapers. Then there was Viagra. These were the ultimate marketing challenges. Now it’s cars. As symbols of status, mobility and the future, they used to be easy to sell. After all, can you imagine a more ultimately functional toy? But now they are increasingly seen as a threat to our, um, very existence. Yes: global warming. The car industry—especially the American one—is in a slump. As the budgets spiral downward, car brands continue to get their butts kicked by cars from Asia. And while the once

conversación de revolución

lee maicon writes:

welcome to the frogblog. bienvenidos al blog. we're here to collect thoughts, share ideas and join the broader conversation that's been going on out there. although we've each been a part of it as individuals, we're joining in to spread the word...

since i started posting on metafilter 5 years ago, i've always been fascinated by blogging as a modern version of the epistolary conversations that move ideas ahead in books like the baroque cycle . obviously, stephenson is operating from a similar analogy, but the question for me is, how differently are ideas processed and progressed when the conversation is part of the ether rather than between individuals. or, are these one on one conversations still important? or is it absurd to think that anyone will actually read this?