Finding Inspiration Outside the Ad Industry

Part 1: Alot of what we do in the advertising industry is to pinpoint the sweet spot mashup of meaningful storytelling and effective communication. (Strategic) advertising people are always up for thinking outside the box and finding inspiration in anything (if you look at it the right way).

Part 2: My good friend Ashly shared a post the other day which honestly, after each sentence, I found myself thinking: Yes! Exactly! Whomever wrote this is so freaking smart! Holla! Amen!

…you get the point.

The premise of the post: (directed at ad. people) ” . . . if we’re looking for ‘interesting’, then we should look beyond the industry magazines, trend company websites, planner blogs and specialist conferences . . . “

And an excerpt:

” . . . If you’re in adland – especially a planner – it appears the definition revolves around being able to quote the words or actions of someone respected in the industry that you’ve just seen or read about.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with that – especially when it sparks off your own thoughts or actions [because let's face it, doing things others find interesting is better than simply being known for knowing/repeating interesting things] – however what’s started to bother me is there appears to be some people in our industry who have created an elitist view of who – or what – can be classified as interesting … discarding anyone or anything if they’ve not appeared in Wired, TEDTalks or PSFK or worked in adland [as long as it's at one of the 'cool' agencies] or a highly regarded ‘intellectual’ industry/category.

Interesting isn’t purely about the views and actions of the celebrated or the elite, it does – and should – include things that come from the masses … those people we walk past every single day without giving them so much as a second glance . . . “

That’s good stuff right there.

Part 3: I attended the Austin Poetry Slam Slam Bowl 2011 this past week at the 29th Street Ballroom and it was awesome. bomb.com. baller. inspiring. yadda yadda.

The people who got up there were all phenomenal…I was blown away by the wordplay, presentation, ability to communicate & captivate an audience. As the wordplay is so intricate & presentation generally doesn’t follow typical speech patterns, poetry forces you to A: Think about what the poet is communicating via the poem on a deeper level and B. Listen alot closer, as the patterns frequently do not follow the conversational patterns our ears have been trained to hear.

Part 4: So to bring this full circle, though the poets I heard are (most likely) not “in the industry”, I’ve got to say, I was more inspired by them and their work/thoughts/ideas, than I have been in a long time by reading/watching industry blogs/books/talks.

Some of my favorites from the slam:

Intel Visual Life

I really can’t think of anything more profound to say, other than, I love this video.

Close your other windows/tabs, shut down your Tweet Deck, put your phone on silent, turn on your Facebook notifications…if nothing else, just for six minutes (I promise you won’t regret it, you will survive AND be inspired – what a deal!).

…then, enjoy:

Why Do You Always Take Pictures?

At an event this afternoon, I saw something that caught my eye, so I snapped a few pictures. Business as usual in my vida diaria.

However, the person sitting next to me turned & asked: ‘Why do you take pictures of everything?’

My initial response (which I elected to keep to myself): “Why DON’T you take pictures of everything?’ …ZING! [...sometimes the 'answering a question w a question' method just works oh so well...] (;

ANYWAY, this question really did get me thinking…hmmm…I know why I take pictures + document everything …but how do I explain this succinctly to others??

…and then all of a sudden the rain stopped, the clouds parted and *dun dun dun dun* – I came across some Keri Smith greatness while searching Amazon…nothing short of a Christmas miracle!

Love me some Keri Smith (super smart, creative, brainiac-y woman) so because of this & because what she said basically summarizes my thoughts…there’s no need to write it twice. Here you go:

I Went To A Drag Show

Yup, that happened. I’ve never been to one before but Dathan invited me to attend, so I figured why not?  Plus, it was a funraiser for a good cause. How can one turn that down?

So…I’m generally always down for anything…and…as a planner / strategist / ethnographer / curious person…I was intrigued. I love learning new things and putting myself in situations that are pretty foreign to me. I feel like we can all learn something from everything…I definately learned alot from this evening. (=

Took some video of course, check it out:

Hanging out at Goodwill

If you were ever curious about what I spend my Sunday afternoons doing…

I usually end up doing fairly random things that probably no one else would enjoy doing…but I find some element of enjoyment, so I suppose that’s all that matters, right? (= The Sunday before yesterday, I spent a good hour at Goodwill, doing some treasure hunting, spending some time in the record section.

This interest started when my friend Chris sent me a record of Rob Base + DJ EZ Rock for my birthday last month. I never spent much time mulling over records, but once I received this one, I realized how neat they actually are. Records / tapes / CDs / mp3 players are of course to house music; however, there is a whole other side we tend to forget, probably because they are mass production is often related to a decrease in authenticity and value (shoutout Gutenberg + the printing press).

ART!! Hello!! There is so much artwork involved in producing a CD; however, with technologies such as iTunes, there’s a decent chance we will not even see the art. I love the authenticity of record artwork…so much character and history. Here are a few favorites from my recent Goodwill adventure:

I liked this one not necessarily for the art, but because Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings is by far one of my favorite works to listen to and perform. I’d love to hear this via record someday (ahem, Michael Bova (; )

Oh my god, check out this workout record!!! And the exercises below. So freaking wonderful.

Ashly, I don’t know why, but this one DEFINITELY reminds me of you (=