One Shining Mashup

Hello again. I was out all last week on vacation. More on that, specifically the "Disney Experience," in a future post.

As most of you know, college basketball is currently in "March Madness Mode" conducting its annual tournament to determine a champion. For as long as I can remember, at the end of the tournament, CBS has put together a video montage of photos and highlights from the tournament - game winning shots, tension-filled faces, cheerleaders cheering, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

This year they've added a new wrinkle in that you can go online and create your own video. Include only highlights from your team if you want. Make fun of that arch rival if you want.

It's a neat concept to engage the audience. Check it out at http://mashup.cbssports.com.

CleverThink is one

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my first post on this blog. After 218 other posts I can say that it's been a really fun year. Here's a Top Ten list of a few of my favorites and some of the most popular entries from CleverThink, Season One:

• Logopalooza
• Clever Outdoor Ads
• On Logos and Branding
• Broken Windows
• The Age of Ideas
• My needles please, hold the haystack
• Self service
• LP Content
• Choice and Loyalty
• The Slipping Point

Quotation: Restate the problem

"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution."

- Bertrand Russell

Having a thorough understanding of the problem, and knowing what problem it is you're trying to solve, are key elements to any project's success.

The 3 types of content

I read a lot online - articles, stories, summaries, blog posts, comments, etc. I think there are only three main types of content:

Worthless - Unreadable. Too wordy. Uninteresting. You think: "I'm too busy for this. What's next? Click."

Useful - Interesting. Informative. Edifying. Worthwhile. Applicable. You think: "I'm glad I read that."

Remarkable - Fascinating. Funny. Thoughtful. Engaging. You think: "This is great. I need to comment on it or share that with someone."

The trick is we're all different. What may be interesting to one person could be incredibly boring to another. What one person may find remarkable and forward to you, you may think is silly and unworthy of your attention. (Ever have those friends that forward you every silly joke they read?)

With so much content available to us every day, we all basically have constructed our own mental spam filters as a method of determining what's important and what's worthy of our time and attention. We bookmark sites we find valuable. We subscribe to feeds of blogs we like to read. We know not to waste time reading that email joke from that certain friend.

Knowing your audience and creating content that "gets around their spam filter" and provides them something useful or remarkable is the key.

Friday fun: Love in an Instant (Message)

This is cute - Internet Love Song, from comedian Nick Thune.

Mini memoirs

If you had to summarize your life in six words, could you do it? It's an exercise in brevity and identifying what's most important. Writers and advertisers use these skills everyday to compose headlines and catchy titles.

Mine: The years ahead? I'm curious myself.

Buy Buy Buy

Here's an interesting post on the methods retailers use to maximize their profit by increasing the amount you're willing to spend.

Listening

There's a great exchange between Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump regarding Harrelson's character's ability to "hear" Jimi Hendrix. Snipes' character argues that just because you're listening, doesn't mean you're hearing.

Along those same lines, the latest words of wisdom from Jesse James Garrett ring true in my experience as a consultant:

"Doing successful creative work is as much about being a good listener as it is about being a good thinker."

Sometimes the "big idea" that we all are looking for isn't really big at all. It's just a matter of seeing things clearly by listening and hearing.