CrapHammer

The Passion Economy eBook

It all started when I first read Saul Kaplan's article on "Creating a Passion Economy". I was so enamored with this concept that I asked eleven people I respect to weigh in on their views regarding "The Passion Economy" and it's role or impact on business, brands and each of us.

 

 
Downloadable Link:
The Passion Economy: opportunity for brands or jut a fad? (PDF, 2.3 megs)

First, a big thanks to:
Saul Kaplan for the article that kicked this all off (catalyst!)
Valeria Maltoni for the idea I stole (eBook)
Peter Flaschner for his design vision, ideas and wine
Eli McIlveen for urging me on and his amazing editorial reviews

And now, a round of applause for the contributors:

Scott Suthren
Ellen Di Resta
Gavin Heaton
Charles Frith
Mike Wagner
Mack Collier
Mike Arauz
Katie Chatfield
Alan Wolk
Peter Flaschner
Matthew Milan

Please share this document freely and join in the conversation!

Eat Sleep Blog #8

Wow.  There's actual content in this week's episode.  Crazy.

Running time: 14 minutes.  Myself, Paul and Gavin.

Eat.Sleep.Blog #08 from servantofchaos on Vimeo.

We briefly explore why people buy things vs. stealing them.  Why do people buy in a world where almost everything can be gotten for free?  We explore what O'Reilly is seeing in their sales of digital "books" and how it is now their third largest sales channel.

Then my connection from the Banff mountains forces us into the normal ESB videoconferencing experience.  That and I had to put pants on.

(My apologies for cutting off Paul when he was on a roll... we were not seeing what each other was saying in real time anymore... and I had to get dressed for dinner.  grin.)

Creating Experiences that Bring About Change - Part 1

When Experiences Must Do Something

I feel it is important to start with a simple hypothesis - that what we are able to think of is constrained directly by what we are able to imagine.  So if we can't imagine different futures beyond the present situation, then we can't effectively explore new ideas, cover new ground or innovate.

Now imagine we are on a project with a large team and our role as a planner or as a UX person is to help the group frame the challenges and opportunities facing the client/organization. Some would say this is our only role.  Here I turn to a much needed conversation going on between Matthew Milan and Adrian about the overlap and state of affairs within planning and UX.

"As a planner I saw my job as creating new possibilities. I wanted to always be on the side of providing an opening for my brands and my colleagues to explore and play within a completely different and unexpected context."  Adrian

I agree and feel quite strongly that we have to "change" the audience so that they have the ability to "see" different realities in a world where few people spend time imagining things differently.  How we accomplish this is the "black art" of our field.  Do we draw a picture, create a powerpoint or tell a story?I

I propose that we must do what they are asking us to do - create an experience that has the potential to involve the viewer and enable the change to occur.

A Model For Creating Change
Hillis spoke some time back (2004) at the Long Now Foundation about the "Progress on the 10,000-year Clock".  Hillis is attempting the impossible by many accounts.  He is looking to change how we see the world, the future and - by extension - what is possible.

37 minutes into his presentation, he stops presenting what has been built to date and begins talking about how the clock is more than a thing - how it is an experience designed to change the viewer/visitor. 

He presents a model for the stages of an experience that can change the participant. (I was surprised to find out that he had spent time at Disney focused on creating experiences.)

• Picture:  we require a picture in our mind of what it is we are going to accomplish. 
• Commit:  the moment where we choose to engage - to commit.
• Glimpse:  a glimpse of something that pulls us forward - the "weenie in front of the dog."
• Trial:  a period of confusion where we leave behind our old ways of thinking - where we are unsure and even frightened enough to look for something different or new.
• Arrive:  we achieve what we set out to accomplish.
• Payoff:  the "high". A moment of reflection.
• Secrete Payoff: secret and personal payoff that only the people who have the experience can realize.
• Return:  start over at the beginning.

((Rituals appear to share many of these.  Future article?))

7 simple stages to think about in crafting an experience (or series of experiences) with a loop back to the beginning.  For this article, I want to call our attention to the very first step.  To have a picture.  A step so very often overlooked and yet so critically important.

It seems simple enough.  We paint a "picture" of what the experience is going to be like and use our media people to get this picture in front of everyone that matters.  If only it was that simple.  Going back to the opening hypothesis, our audience has to believe something is possible and be able to imagine it before they can even have a hope of "seeing it" let alone believing it.  So what do we do when we are trying to invent something "out of the box" or "new/different"?

Role of Comics
I've spoken about comics a few times now and I've been using them as a prototyping tool in a variety of situations.  This has been great, but it is becoming clear that comics are applicable for far more than just prototyping. 

They excel at the first step in the Hillis model.  They not only present a picture, they give the user the tools to imagine a different world and slowly change their perception to the point they can consider an idea.

There's been some high profile and really amazing uses of comics recently in just this context.

Google Chrome: Google wanted to introduce a new browser into the market that redefined a whole slew of protocols, technologies and methods used to build a browser.  They needed to generate awareness and buy-in on the concepts and why a new browser is needed - topics generally beyond most people's interest or ability to comprehend.   Yet critical if one were to imagine a new standard for browsers.  Their initial launch idea?  A brilliant comic by Scott McCloud.

Akoha: Akoha is attempting to bring "pay it forward" into a social networking environment.  This requires that people be engaged in learning what "pay it forward" is and then to be interested and willing to explore how Akoha works.  A lot of work when the goal is to create sign-ups and growth in the usage of the site.

 

I'm interested in what others in the field have to say about experiences that can bring about change, the Hillis model and/or the role of comics in this context.  Join in!

The power of dissonance

What's worth listening to?

This is.  A CBC Radio Ideas program regarding Elliot Aronson and his work on cognitive dissonance.  The link to the above program is worth a download to your iPod.  I'm also very interested in his new book, Mistakes Were Made (but not by me).

What is cognitive dissonance? 

According to Elliot Aronson, "if a person holds two ideas that conflict with each other, he experiences cognitive dissonance which is a negative drive state (like intense hunger, except it takes place in the brain) and he or she is motivated to reduce that dissonance."

The program prompted me to go back and forth on Twitter with cuthbertsteel based on a thought I had.

"Cognitive dissonance is likely the goal of persuasion. To create something to conflict and win out over a pre-held belief."

I'm unsure of cuthbertsteel's real name, so let's call him cuthbert for now.  Cuthbert wondered right back, "Wouldn't the elimination of cognitive dissonance be the objective of persuasion?  'Flow' with complete consensual hallucination."

He is right to question the goal and objective and to do so in less than 140 characters is nothing short of amazing.  And for sure, the objective inherent in any persuasion is to win, or so I assume.  But the method of getting there is far from ordained.  Is persuasion about an easy smooth win?  To gain a person to your side in as fluid a manner as possible? 

Shouldn't changing someones beliefs or views be a tumultuous event?

Bringing the concept of cognitive dissonance into the mix, I would argue that it is about the audience embedding our idea into their psyche with significant energy to place things out of kilter.  Otherwise, we are "winning people over" who already agreed with us in the first place.  Or worse, they appear to have been persuaded only to find out they have reverted to their old ways/beliefs/thoughts.

Yet where are these fireworks when we manage to instill a new idea inside someone?  Do they come later?  Or should we continue pressing with a new idea until our audience drops to the ground in spasms of spit and gurgles?

The beauty inside the theory of cognitive dissonance is that as human animals we work extremely diligently at a less than conscious level to eliminate dissonance in our lives.  We make the process "easy" and most of the mess is hidden from our consciousness.   This occurs AFTER the state of dissonance is reached.  After an idea has achieved significant strength to oppose other ideas or beliefs.

If the idea you are arguing for is not embraced by the audience, does not worm its way down, challenging an existing (and opposed) belief with its strength of conviction, then I would put forward that your idea is not likely to change the audience or their behavior in any significant way.

The challenge as professional persuaders, in my mind, is how we instill a new idea in such a way that it is embraced and placed in direct opposition to a view, position or belief we desire to impact.

Happiness

I've been tagged by Lewis to share a view of happiness and to do so by leading from the heart.  He offers a number of suggestions and I'm looking forward to reading his new book, Lead With Your Heart.

So here goes.

Many years back, I joined forced with some wonderful people to create a company that cared about more than just the bottom line.  An organization that worked with others to create a better world.  Whether we succeeded at that or not, we managed to build up some of the most amazing and wonderful people (clients and staff) that I have ever worked with.

In going back through all my photos, I had to laugh.  I have very few photos of our jobs, offices or the like.  What I have a lot of are cottage photos.  Every year we would shut down the company and rent a cottage up north.  And we would spend most of out time just chilling.  No breakouts or offsites.  And this really captures what it was to be "at spinglobe."

I can't come up with some easy equation, quote or philosophical outlook that defines happiness. But I can share some of what we managed to build.  And I am deeply and emotionally proud and grateful for the experience this team created in my life.

[embedded movie]

Music suggestion thanks to Gavin.

Music: The Fire, by Loveshadow and calendargirl

Peachpit: A big hard pit inside a nice juicy peach.

Talk about NOT getting it.

What am I on about?  I was about to purchase the ZAG ebook in PDF format as I wanted to read it right away. As I love Neumeier, I wanted to be sure to give him some of the $$ and support his publisher all at the same time.  Naive of me, eh?

But then my eye caught this little box on the right side of the page.

I have an idea. Hey Peachpit, why not just put the following on your e-commerce website?

To think I was about to hit the BUY button and then my eye caught all these "warnings" and "instructions" about the DRM reader and special software and...  Fuck.  Can you make it ANY more difficult or BELITTLING to buy an ebook?

Sigh.

Digital in context of experience

"media are not extensions of ourselves but interfaces with experience"

Michele perras twittered the above statement over to me the other day.  Yup, just me (and her other 300 followers.)  What struck me, beyond the insight of the statement, was that the source of this thought was not a philosophical marketing, advertising or brand debate.  Rather it was a look at "Prosthetic Technologies as Interfaces".

This is something we have been talking about this week at Lift Communications.  Experiences are becoming the cornerstone of engagement and it's impossible to build a strategy of engagement without considering context.

Digital is just that:  a context.  It's an extension of our being.  Cell phones, PDAs, laptops, YouTube, portable entertainment devices, nike plus, etc.  So many of these tools are akin to cyber extensions.  They have become interfaces with experiences we are having or desire to share.

David Armano speaks on AdAge's announcement that digital agencies have failed to prove they can manage brands strategically.  And he concurs with AdAge's assessment, but in typical Armano style he paints a clear picture of a path forward.

And I think we can agree that it's not just digital shops that have to pay attention.  Many traditional agencies are so focused on the "Ad" as the ultimate expression and vehicle for a brand idea that they are missing the point.  Or rather, they are unable to interface with the very experience they wish to create.  ;)

Playing with therapy

I've been doing more "playing" of late.  Stop frame, drawing, writing and even juggling again.  It all started when I began exploring some writings from Jung about his own explorations of play in dealing with a dark period in his life after his breakup with freud.  These writings are pointed to by some as the beginning of play therapy.  It's part of what has allowed me to refocus on my own passion and to bridge this into my business.

How many of us take time to play in our lives?  I did a lot of things for fun, but when I examined how I played when I was much younger I noticed a marked difference from the things I now did for fun.  The suspension of disbelief had disappeared.  The act of "creation" had also been removed.  So I am working to find this again and to learn to play as before.

This playing has expanded to include some short format pieces.  So for those who are interested, here is a bizarre little piece I shot and a friend wrote and directed. [embedded video]

Turkey's Ready Oct.17 noPAR web from Blackheart Peirc on Vimeo.

 

A week to remember

I've had a lot of difficult weeks in my life.  But this has been one to remember.

A good friend's 21 year old brother died.
A key account put all work on hold for a few weeks.
I lost my designer jacket.
Our boardroom was just flooded.

What matters in this list is the death.  Nothing else.

And what matters even more is the people that I've managed to surround myself with (company and life) because they see our priorities in the same manner.

Is your information beautiful?

As the data available to us grows in complexity, it becomes a challenge to utilize this data effectively.

My friend, Katie the Shouter, once told me a story about the ability of an individual to relate to complex data, quickly and effectively. 

A famous race car drive, whose name escapes me, was coming up to a critical lap in a race.  As he approached a blind, hair-pin turn, he suddenly slammed on the breaks.  He emerged on the far side of the turn at a crawl and was able to navigate one of the worst accidents in the course's history.

Afterwards, everyone wanted to know how he knew to slam on the breaks, avoid the accident and subsequently win the race.  He replied that the color of the audience in the stands had "changed".  In mass, thousands of people all looking at him (as the leader in a race) became a color in his mind.  Suddenly as he approached the blind hair-pin turn, all these people had their heads turned.  They were not looking at him, but down the track where the accident was.

He had milliseconds to act.  And his response not only won him the race, but may have saved his life.

This got me thinking about all the charts, data models and academic research around complex relationships between data.  I've seen some pretty crazy charts in my day. 

Charts that are anything but actionable to someone not specialized in their creation and analysis.  I believe the answer is to present information that is "actionable" at a human level. And I propose that the model for doing this is to make information beautiful.

I would argue that this process of bringing beauty to information is about finding simplicity in alignment with chaos.  Both exist:  the design allows us to simplify the experience and yet the complexity of underlying data is maintained.  And this experience causes us pause.  We are struck not just by the image, but by our ability to relate to the underlying information.

Not surprisingly, Katie also found a wonderful example of beauty out of chaos.  Beauty in function and aesthetic.  The image below is from the Incom Project.  I found the reference to it on Get Shouty's secret new company blog.  The image below shows the google search terms from April to June of 2006 overlaid geographically on a world map.

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