Brand Mix

Photo: Culture Tubes Hey Paul (Flickr CC)

As you all know, it's who you know. And this was the week for meeting virtual friends in real life, specifically Grant McCracken who I met on Thursday along with a group of others interested in those cultural matters on which he is such an expert. So, to celebrate:

1) Business as the new rocket science: Grant McCracken
Some of the issues and themes we talked about on Thursday were also on Grant's mind in this post. Things like: How to monitor the constant churn of culture and markets where "new developments sweep through us like storms off the North Sea." For that, Grant proposes: "A 'big board' that identifies what changes are coming, how quickly we can expect them to arrive, and what to do when they get here."

2) Everyday Culture Officers: New Facebook Group
The conversation continues and now you can join in! After our get-together on Thursday, Cynthia Young set up this Facebook group to carry on the cultural chat. It's a group for those who "understand the importance of culture and the role it plays in the world of business."

3) For The Sake of Making It Easier: Optimistic Anthropology
The aforementioned Cynthia Young's most recent post starts: "Oh the inventions and processes we humans devise in order to make life easier and to take back our time from performing tasks. But, oh the crimes we commit to make a life easier, to be a bit lazy and avoid thought or work. When is making things easier right and when is it wrong?" This accompanied by a photograph of four Segway riders, clearly a strong case for the prosecution.

4) The twitimpact phenomenon on brand at light speed: brand as business bites
Then, on Friday, it was great to catch up with Denise Lee Yohn who was visiting SF from San Diego. This post, about how fast news travels in these Twitter-fueled days, was guest-written by Dan Phillips of Skybend. Not only does Dan coin a new word to describe the impact of Twitter (twitimpact) but he also gives us this analogy: "A minor slip-up in brand awareness is like peeing in the pool, no amount of chlorine can get the pee out." Nice. All while telling us what Jane Adams should have done once she (apparently) did what she shouldn't have done.

5) Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut: Monty Python


You only have to write about something once these days and you'll be on someone's radar screen. In this case, that "something" was my post about Monty Python turning 40. That prompted an email asking if I'd be interested in posting a behind the scenes clip promoting a new 3-disc set chronicling the history of Monty Python. Of the three to choose from, I thought this one where John Cleese is explaining how getting sick as a pepperpot led to the famous cheese shop sketch was the most interesting, although Stephen Coogan doing the "undertaker' was pretty good as well. IFC will be showing the documentary in a 6-part series starting October 18th. (Note to FTC: No money, free DVDs or any other form of compensation was given (unfortunately) in return for this plug. Willing to update as necessary. Brittney?)

6) A Day at the Office: sfeder331



OK. I don't know these guys at all. But, as this video made the rounds this week, most people had more or less the same reaction: That looks like a group of people it would be fun to know and work with. Powerful!

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).