The Culture Clash

Stockholm Addict, Pop Culture Anthropologist & Strategic Planner at Razorfish, Berlin

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We are in culture, not in sales!

When the mobile and the social web combine they create the basis for a completely new Internet.

The real impact & challenge of the internet is not about technology but about perspective. So stop focusing on marketing to consumers before they buy - the product is an invitation to the marketing relationship.

Some good thoughts by Helge Tennø.

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FanCulture - The Evolution of Influence

FanCulture - The Evolution of Influence by WeAreAmplify is a short film exploring the changes in fan culture in the digital age - the shift in power - and the growing importance of fans.

A short film exploring the role fans could, and should, play in brands and marketing. Featuring expert opinion and insight from academics, marketeers and the fans themselves, this documentary looks at how a brand can identify their fans and, more importantly, harness their passion. 

Watch the full movie here

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Spotting a Culture Creation Trend

At PSFK CONFERENCE NYC, Grant McCracken spoke about how he was looking at a trend where creative minds were taking culture and remixing it to make new culture. For his new book Culturematic, the ethnographer has studied Twitter users who mimicked an imaginary character in the real TV show Madmen, bar-owners who didn’t want their new establishment to be found and Syberian youths who created protests using lego men. via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/05/grant-mccracken-culturematic.html#ixzz1tn4LXfy9

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Be Effective, Not Digital!

What really matters: Be effective, not digital! Digital is changing the relationship between people and brands, but not what really matters - creating space for experiences instead of messages.

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These future vision films are getting more and more impressive, professional and different. Leo Burnett narrates a story and then the stats just sneaks up on you. Well played.

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The Transformation Of Aspiration

Leo Burnett Chicago unveils a forecast of human behavioral trends in 2012. It's their first annual study of people and behavior highlighting six key consumer trends that will have a lasting effect on American brands and marketers in 2012 and beyond.

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It's All About The Culture Club

It's not a secret that I'm a huge fan of Method:Home and one of the founders, Brand Architect Eric Ryan. I really like her way of doing business and the art of integrating a brand culture from the inside.

Method is an inspiring brand which defines business in a new way, showing that big brands could act like start-ups to succeed.

If you want an insight view into the Method way of doing business and marketing, watch Eric Ryan's talk about the key to Method's success: passion.

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The most awesome corporate values I've ever seen

(Taken with instagram)

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Indie Brands

For the past 2 1/2 years Annneloes van Gaalen has researched the indie brand phenomenon. Late November the book Indie Brands will be published in which 30 independent brands that inspire and tell a story are highlighted.

Indie Brands delves into the world of independent brands. The book shows the creative people behind the brand, the visual eye candy they create, the space they work in and the inspiring items they surround themselves with.

The brands literally come from all over the world and vary in size – from one-man brands to medium-sized corporations.

But as true indie brands they share three important characteristics: they’re independent, they have a story worth sharing and they all understand the magic of marketing.

The book will be launched officially at the Indie Brands event, taking place in Amsterdam on December 22. Make sure to visit the event if you are in Amsterdam.

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From Destination Social To Dispersed Social

Good thoughts from "The Social Practice" on why the new social network won’t need to be a destination but will add social context to every on-line interaction, and 10 trends that shed some light on this.

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The Innovators

Traveling with Entrepreneur Magazine in 2011 Sparkhouse interviewed some of the brightest innovators all across the U.S.A. and decided to bring them all together in this short film.

After the jump, all of the innovators featured in the video:

Bre Pettis of MakerBot Industries

Dennis Crowley of Foursquare

Jack Dorsey of Square

Ben Kaufman of Quirky

Daniel Lubetzky of KIND Healthy Snacks

John Laramie of ADstruc

Cyriac Roeding of Shopkick

Jodie and Danielle Snyder Dannijo Jewelry

Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries

Scott Hamlin of LooptWorks

Scott Belsky of Behance LLC

Angelo Sotira of DeviantART

Sara Blakely of Spanx

Maggie Nemser of Blackboard Eats

Trip Hawkins of Digital Chocolate

Adam Rich of Thrillist

Joe Fernandez of Klout

Ann Mincieli of Jungle City Studios

Peter Shankman of HARO

Scott Flora of Blik Wall Graphics

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Off Book: Video Games

Video games are more important than they seem. They are a storytelling medium, a place for self-expression. The age-old tradition of gaming teaches us strategy, maneuvering, and the importance of making choices. From the cinematic experiences of mainstream gaming, to the hyper-personal environments of indie games, gaming activity defines the way we live and interact with information, and each other.

The documentary from Off Book is featured by:

Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer Jesper Juul, Game Studies Scholar Leigh Alexander, Game Journalist Syed Salahuddin, Game Designer and Curator

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The Method Method

Eric Ryan, founder of Method spoke about the soap brand’s seven “obsessions” or inspirations, as an overview of his new book, “The Method Method” at the PSFK CONFERENCE SAN FRANCISCO, outlining how the company injects style, substance and fun into the core of their business.

Relative to the other companies in the soap category, Method is a small, but growing player that has had to build a brand and suite of products that are more creative, sustainable and transparent than the competition. In order to do this, Method has baked design thinking into every aspect of the way they run their company, creating a model that encourages both employees, brand partners and consumers to take part in the innovation process. As a result, Method has been able to develop a culture of advocacy from all these key constituents, enabling the company to quickly respond to emerging needs with forward thinking solutions that focus on improving the marketplace, the environment and the lives of their consumers.

In an era of social media where consumers are more informed, connected and ultimately less trusting of corporations, Ryan noted that brands need to build a level of transparency into everything they do and begin their inability to control all their messaging. We this set of consumer behaviors and expectations creating a new normal for the marketplace, we look forward to seeing how Method continues to innovate and inspire.

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On The Brink

In "On The Brink" Ericsson discuss the past, present and future of connectivity with a mix of people including David Rowan, chief editor of Wired UK; Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; and Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud.

Each of the interviewees discusses the emerging opportunities being enabled by technology as we enter the Networked Society. Concepts such as borderless opportunities and creativity, new open business models, and today's 'dumb society' are brought up and discussed.

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It's all about the culture

(Taken with Instagram at Neue Digitale / Razorfish)

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Urban Collaboration & Storytelling

What will inspire and connect cities of the future? At our core, we are linked together by the stories that we collectively tell. How can we create experiences that can bind us to each other, even as our technologies, economics and cultures are increasingly diverse and challenging?

Jake Barton explores collaboration at the urban scale, drawing on examples from the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Change By Us and the Frank Gehry-designed Eisenhower Memorial.

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Building A New Agency OS

Some good thoughts by Mel Exon from BBH Labs on the marketing landscape and the need to fundamentally change the way we work in advertising agencies.

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Break The Tiranny Of Big

Big problems don’t need big solutions. They need long lasting ideas build of small ideas. These small ideas are made of small actions that change people’s behavior and make a brand feel personal. To succeed in these actions you have to be humble, empathetic and interested in people’s lives.

This idea of "Think small" is what Gareth Kay presented at the Future Flash 2011, an event curated by Contagious Magazine for the Institute of Communication Agencies.  In the presentation, Gareth rips against the idea of “Big Ideas” and “Big Audiences” , arguing that “we’ve confused the end with the means.”  In the midset of this argument, he even manages to mix in some brilliant Tom Fishburne cartoons.