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artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: September 2011

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Monday, September 5, 2011. Why predictions are almost as boring as nostalgia or conversations I try to avoid. The interminable news coverage of last week's dark anniversary reminded me that back when I lived in NYC, the conversation I most tried to avoid was on the subject of whether New York City was getting better or worse. Nowadays, the conversation I most try to avoid. And how all our relationships on-line are more superficial than they used to be while- on the othe...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: October 2009

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Interpretation for fun and profit. Saturday, October 17, 2009. Why strat/plan is more like nursing than doctoring these days or a different defense of listening. Saw a great show on the growing Nursing Crisis on NOW. The other night. Now comes at the end of a series of newsweekly shows (Greater Boston, McLaughlin Group, Washington Week) that generally occupies the attention of my media junky. I don’t think this shift from big top-down thinking to continual ongoing vigilance is unique to our plannin...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: Service economy anxiety pt III, or good help is hard to understand

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011/04/service-economy-anxiety-pt-iii-or-good.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Monday, April 25, 2011. Service economy anxiety pt III, or good help is hard to understand. But the richest and most dynamic cultural expressions are often produced by artists and writers who intuitively tap into this underlying anxiety as a source for their work. I think I first noticed the popular expression of this anxiety in Louis CK's now famous "Everything's amazing and nobody's happy." riff on Conan ( here. I saw the indomitable Edie Falco pretend to be a restaur...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: June 2010

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Not dead yet: towards the reinvention of the focus group. Been hearing about the death of focus groups for about as long as I’ ve. Been in this business, which is now over a decade, and yet they keep happening, which makes you wonder: can they really be as stupid and pointless as all their detractors claim? But this is a pretty weak defense when the truth is I often get quite a bit out of qual. Intuitively and uses to great comic effect in Bruno&...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: Do-gooder brands or what counts as consumer advocacy today

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011/05/do-gooder-brands-or-what-counts-as.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Thursday, May 26, 2011. Do-gooder brands or what counts as consumer advocacy today. It seems like every brand manager I talk to these days is claiming that their brand is a consumer advocate. Whether they are selling cars or mortgages or checking accounts or shoes or health insurance or ice cream or travel packages or just about anything else, they want to align their product or service proposition with the notion of consumer advocacy. And they seem to mean it. Technica...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: August 2009

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Monday, August 17, 2009. Webinar hell or some elements of a good class I wish were in more them. Some thinly-veiled PR for the organization with a couple generic recommendations (I recently read "advertising" listed a key way to drive traffic! Followed by "contact us for more insight/info/consulting". A summary of past work/successes, usually bullet pointed, usually just thinly reformatted case studies that were used for an awards submission or new biz pitch. Which is m...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: February 2011

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Monday, February 14, 2011. If some consumer research company happened to call me today to ask me the standard series of brand sentiment questions about say Toyota or Bank of America, I’d likely say. That my feelings are more negative than they used to be. My reasons for these negative feeling are probably similar to everyone else. I know Toyota’s legendary quality has slipped in recent years (even if a lot of those careening Prius's. Jr since the financial meltdown.

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: Why predictions are almost as boring as nostalgia or conversations I try to avoid

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-dreams-are-almost-as-boring-as.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Monday, September 5, 2011. Why predictions are almost as boring as nostalgia or conversations I try to avoid. The interminable news coverage of last week's dark anniversary reminded me that back when I lived in NYC, the conversation I most tried to avoid was on the subject of whether New York City was getting better or worse. Nowadays, the conversation I most try to avoid. And how all our relationships on-line are more superficial than they used to be while- on the othe...

artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com

Artificial Simplicity: May 2011

http://artificialsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

Interpretation for fun and profit. Thursday, May 26, 2011. Do-gooder brands or what counts as consumer advocacy today. It seems like every brand manager I talk to these days is claiming that their brand is a consumer advocate. Whether they are selling cars or mortgages or checking accounts or shoes or health insurance or ice cream or travel packages or just about anything else, they want to align their product or service proposition with the notion of consumer advocacy. And they seem to mean it. Technica...