a hundred avatars

Spread this! (it's not viral)

I enjoyed this deck posted by my-almost-Planningness-presenting partner Eva Hasson

Stop Saying Viral - A Case for Spreadable Media

View more presentations from Eva Hasson.

There's a lot of rich dense intellectual topsoil there (which i mean in the best possible way), fertile ground for breeding ideas around what makes people share ideas and why anyone could be interested in spreading ideas, either on behalf of another person or, God forbid, for a brand.

Far too often, the focus is on technology, not ideas and certainly not on people.  It sounds almost obvious to say it, but in the end, all that matters is satisfying what people want.  

Obvious, but all too often neglected.

This week at TEDxNY

Yesterday was the first time I attended TEDxNY, currently being hosted here at Grey Group's NY HQ.  My first time, and frankly at first I was thinking it was more TEDxBizarre, but I got the hang of it. It's hosted by Grey's own Don McKinney (attendee at several TEDs, apparently) and brings in people (from Grey too, but mostly other very interesting people who don't work for any of the Grey agencies) to hear speakers (apparently often online from TED.com) and then use the remaining 40 minutes of the hour to discuss the topic

We watched the following TED talk from last year, Dan Barber from Blue Hill talking about sustainable fishing practices and the implications for how we eat .  There's an interesting thought in there that goes beyond and implies the positive impact of sustainable practice on how we live as well.

More enjoyment, please.

Watch this space for more updates on TEDxNY.

Fascinating read

Thanks to Iñaki I came across this post from Some Clever Stuff on the power of being fascinating.

A Kelton Study conducted specifically to look deeply into what captures our attention, and how we can create fascination in our lives and livelihoods. A study was conducted of 1,059 Americans over the age of 18 in order to define the role of fascination in our lives, and measure it in tangible terms.

Without fascination, we can’t sell products, persuade shareholders to invest, teach students to read, or convince our own kids to stay off drugs. Some of the more interesting results are these:

* When asked how far they would go for a fascinating life, 60% of people said they’d be willing to bend their morals, standards, or loyalties.

* Only 9% of employees say their bosses are “extremely fascinating,” but 96% of parents say they’re fascinated by their own children.

* A fascinating brand can charge up to four times as much as an un-fascinating one.

* On average people will pay $288 per month to be the most fascinating person in the room. Five percent will pay more than $1000 per month. (Women will spend more to be fascinating than they spend on food. In fact, women will spend more to be fascinating than they spend on food and clothes combined.

Admittedly I'm fairly certain that lifting someone else's blogpost about someone else's blogpost does not make me fascinating. But she goes on to discuss the various triggers of fascination, in brands or in people, which is at the very least....interesting.

Nothing sadder than an Un-updated blog

I've been reduced so much to sub-140 characters lately, this blog hasn't been getting the love.

Nor will I now, but in the meanwhile, I'll freshen things up with a music video I quite like.