Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

Everyone is a prophet. Through the years we've witnessed a ray of prophets, usually in the form of writers both in books, radio skits or movies. Some able to foresee more accurate than others or maybe even contributed to the inventions of tomorrow, and some well, I will maybe rewrite this sentence once I get my time machine running.
Today's prophets so it seems, have an easier job. They no longer look at the far away future but rather at the near one. But the thing that is common with all modern prophets is pessimism. The question is really why? Do we all deep inside believe the future is grim? Or simply pessimism sells more than optimism? Not taking sides of course, but if you think about it, being a pessimist is way easier. You simply exaggerate the now, add a few twists in the plot and voila' you have a future. Being an optimist means one has to actually think and invent an alter, better future. It's true, there are exceptions, that write a completely different optimistic future, but still...
I guess the future will tell if they were right being pessimistic or the past will if the optimistic ones were right.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Back to reality

Every time I come back from a vacation, I get the feeling I wasn't born to work. Sorry if that sounds weird or gloomy but it's true. I realized that going on vacation is a sort of improved augmented reality, It's a mixture of other people's locations with your own fantasy life. So... I have decided (in my dreams of course) to go on vacation for a month every other month. Thus, every return will be a vacation from my vacation, call it a layover. The problem is, my so called "layover" will be in a form of hard labor in order to save for the next vacation.
Well as you can see I am on a bit of a downer due to the fact I've just landed (again) and I've yet to discover the real way of traveling for a living, so any ideas will be gladly excepted.
But, before you do think of ideas for me please, take a moment...

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Creative of the week

True, it's a tad late for Father's day, and true I posted some Mc's ads just a week ago but hey....




Thursday, July 14, 2016

I am MAD about this

Last night I participated in the 2016 MAD (Marketing. Advertising & Digital) conference.
I must admit, this year I really enjoyed it. There were quiet a few speakers but one stood out from the crowed. David Shing or "Shingy" as called by some. David, so I have learned, is an Australian thought leader and self-proclaimed "Digital Prophet". Well after yesterday, I believe self-proclaimed is not the correct definition. The content of his "lecture" was of course interesting as hell but the way he delivered it (as someone once called it "the art of story telling) was inspirational to me.
So... Enjoy

https://youtu.be/sE-jCeId9oQ

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Hello........

I have a question for you?
Do we tell our kids to lay off the screens or do we just leave them to grow up according to the times they live in?
It seems like they spend way to much time glued to their mobile.
On one hand, it looks like most of their relationships are virtual and not real, but on the other they open up to different people and cultures and a ridiculous amount of knowledge and information. So, are they're getting socially dumber while getting smarter?
I guess every generation has its own way of growing up, and that way is usually criticized by its predecessors (only this time it's us).
At the end, only time will tell, whether our choices dealing with this were correct or not.
But when I look at my girls I still believe in our next generation...




Monday, May 30, 2016

Dancing to your own algorithm

It sometimes feels like we live in an on line perpetual paradox. The more we try to open up and evolve the more we become categorized.
Most of us go on line to get info, to learn, to open our minds, and we usually do this in the same places or social networks to be exact. Now, everywhere we go is usually set into an algorithm that studies our on line behavior, where we are, what we like and what we tend to share or post. So the more we're on line in those places the more this algorithm learns how to "accommodate" us and decides what we really "want to see".
The thing is, when this algorithm floats the info we "want" by starting to show us posts or info we were previously interested in, chances are we will probably wan't get the stuff that could actually open our minds.

Monday, April 18, 2016

"There is no spoon"

What is that thing called creative? That thing I do all day and love so much?
Apparently it is extremely hard to explain. Especially to people you know.
So what is it that you actually do? No, really? You found someone who pays you to think? How much!!!?
It seems Creative is a code for things that are sophisticated, intangible or even unnecessary to some (like cloud technology :-).
Every now and than after a long creative standoff with a few of my non creative peers, a line from the Matrix leaps to mind, "There is no spoon".
One would expect me to get use to this after 22 years in the business but... I guess I'm creative.
Still I often find myself "defending" my way of life or even my actual professional being (very Matrix like right?)
So I will leave you with this thought:
If the creative is so sophisticated you don't understand it, is it still creative?

Monday, April 11, 2016

3 seconds rule

Growing up, there was a undeniable rule for food that's dropped to the floor. If you picked it up in under 3 seconds it was safe to eat. Maybe the lack of bacterial information, maybe just a sign of the times or maybe we were just kids. But that was the rule.
Nowadays everything is quicker. Especially our attention span, which is shortening every year.
A few days ago I've upgraded to the newest operating system on my smart phone. It appears that it works great but... In one area it has slowed down the phone by maybe 1/2 a second. Half a sec!
The weird thing is, that I've actually noticed that. Now how crazy is that? We are all used to such quick action-reaction that if things take more than half a second we get upset or even frustrated.
So no more. I have decided to go retro and allow for more "wasted" seconds in my life.
Therefore I may answer your calls, WhatsApp or even Facebook Messenger half a second to late so please try and bare with me, I'm from the 60's you know.

Great minds...