DEEP READING: THE MEANING BEHIND THE MESSAGE
IN THE JOURNEY OF BRANDING—AND THE VISUALS AND MESSAGES THAT ARE PART OF ANY BRANDING INITIATIVE—THERE IS, INVARIABLY, A MESSAGE INSIDE THE MESSAGE. THERE’S A STORY IN THE STORY, THERE’S A TELLING INSIDE THE NARRATIVE. I believe that I first experienced this in the...
THERE’S A WAY IN, AND THERE’S A WAY OUT | NO GAP: THE MIND FINDS
YOU COULD FIND A WAY OUT, THAT COULD BE A WAY IN. I was first struck by this sign that I found in an antiques shop outside of London; and there’s a story—for those calligraphically-inclined—that this font [for the sign] was originally designed [1918] by early...
THE PRINCIPLES OF A VIRTUAL EXISTENCE | MEDITATIONS ON THE MOVIE IDENTITY: VIRTUOSITY
As a writer, I examine the import of words, where they came from, what they meant, and what they can mean now.
THE UNTOUCHABLE: MR. BOND
Contemplative of his passage, a robust 90 years, the Sean Connery Bond Legacy is a profound opening casting.
DESIGNING A WORLD BY HAND: STEP BY STEP, BUILDING A REALM BY BRANDSTORIES
BRANDS ARE, IN ACTUALITY, WORLDS. THEY ARE WORLD VIEWS, THEY ARE PLACES AND ENVIRONMENTS, DIGITAL REALMS; THEY ARE SPARKS OF IMAGININGS; AND THEY ARE THE QUANTIFIED AND ACTUALIZED DREAMS OF FOUNDERS AND FOUNDRESSES. THEY ARE THE RISK AND COMMITMENT OF SWEAT: \LOVE,...
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE LANDSCAPE | BRAND AND PLACEMAKING
ANY BRAND HAS TO THINK ABOUT ITS PLACE—THE PLACE THAT IT MAKES: HOW PEOPLE EXPERIENCE IT AND HOW THE STORYTELLING THAT IS REVEALED—AND, IN THAT, HOW THAT FEELS. I learned about brand and place-making earliest in my career—at the very beginning—college trade—painting...
RETHINKING THE SOULFULNESS OF PLACEMAKING
When you make a place, what gives it soul? Authenticity, material utility, legacy of use. Humanity in play, ingenuity of unexpected applications. Soulfulness wouldn’t support a clinical cleanliness or synthetic manufacture, soul— by its very etymology—refers to sea,...
BRAND WONDERMENT | ARCANUM MAGICÆ
JJ Abrams shared a similar telling—going where you’re not supposed to—as a storyteller, film-maker and “holder of surprises.”
GO GO RODEO | AMAZON’S GO GROCERY
STRATEGIES OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, JOURNEY AND RETAIL PLACEMAKING. Everything’s boarded up, downtown Seattle and Capitol Hill. As Seattleites, we protest. We don’t like something, we will let it be known. Things do get out of hand—by some, not the others. There are,...
FAST RETAIL RETOLD
SLOW BUT SURE Meditations on focus and acceleration—you are here, you are where? We preach that directed attention is a meaningful strategic pathway that brand teams need to use towards the most focused clustering of ideals and inspiration, soulfulness and integrative...