Strands of Genius: A Month of Gratitude (& Giveaways)

(We appreciate you!)

Nov 02, 2022

WORKING ON | Wrapping up work for the year

LOOKING AHEAD

Oct 31-Nov 19 | Isla Mujeres, MX
Nov 19-26 | Mexico City, MX
Nov 26-Dec 7 | Nashville, TN
Dec 7-15 | Beersheba Springs, TN
Dec 15-19 | Atlanta, GA
Dec 19-21 | Athens, GA
Dec 21-Dec 31 | Nashville, TN

:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::

You may remember when we added this little “What’s new and weekly gratitude” section to Strands. Gratitude is something we’re big believers in, and it our gratitude practice was one of the things during the tougher parts of the pandemic that helped keep us sane (mostly, ha.) This little section here is often our favorite part to write, because we always end up feeling better about the moment/day/month/year. It reminds us just how much we have to be thankful for, for one. But we also love getting to shine a spotlight on others, too. We want the people we meet and work with, for our friends and family, to know that we are thankful for them.

We wouldn’t be here without you — yes, YOU! There have been so many people who have offered us kindness and support throughout the years, and you’re one of them. We are humbled that we’re allowed in your inbox, and honored when you choose to share our thoughts with your colleagues, friends and/or family.

Some of our favorite coffees or lunch meet-ups have come from someone responding to the newsletter and asking if we wanted to meet up with them, or someone they know, who happened to be in the place we were heading. Many of our favorite work projects have started as a reply to one of the emails we sent, or as a note saying someone forwarded them our newsletter and they want to work with us. We had no idea that this would the case when we started writing the newsletter — But again, we’re filled with gratitude for how it all played out.

Which brings us to today!

At the end of this month, we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving, and as we discussed our end of year plans, we decided we wanted to do something to give back to our community. So: for the month of November, we’ll be hosting a giveaway.

We’ll be featuring three creators as our next guest curators, and in addition to each of those product-based giveaways, we’ll also giveaway three 1-on-1 consulting calls, which can be used sometime between January 15th & March 15th of 2023. You can use the time to get some input on a live project (we’re happy to sign NDAs prior), to ask us about our nomad packing tips, or to chat about whatever’s on your mind :)

If you’re a subscriber on November 30th, you’ll automatically be entered. But we’ll also reward you with more entries in exchange for sharing any edition of the newsletter. Details on how this will all work below :)

This week, we’re especially thankful for:

SoDA, the entire planning team for the event in Greece, all of the people we met, but especially Tom&Kendyll&Lakai&Jessica, Hannah&Kemp&Alex&Mark from Area 17, Tommy&Annie, Blair&Colette, the team from TUX, Anshey, Lisa, Marija, Mike&Cole, family BBQs, getting to see D&F’s renovations, cuddling our niblings and also getting to see their epic dance moves, all the Halloween costumes we got to see from afar, our especially kind flight attendants & YOU.

:: HERE ARE THE GIVEAWAY DEETS ::

PRODUCT GIVEAWAY: EASY JUNE FACE OIL

Our friend Ivan founded skincare brand Easy June, and launched with a delicious face oil that you’re going to love. The inspiration behind it? As a Queer man, Ivan said he “never felt totally comfortable walking into places like Sephora.” Instead, it “felt like I was intruding in someone else’s space. That of course made me feel both down and shameful. Because I loved skincare and I wanted to feel like I belonged. I wanted to see someone like me in marketing posters or packaging. And I never have. That’s why I started Easy June.”

SERVICES GIVEAWAY: 6 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION TO FLOWLY

Flowly is backed by the National Institute of Health and is a clinically studied program which uses virtual reality and biofeedback therapy at home, founded by Celine. It helps you train your body using breath work, so that you can shift your body from that fight or flight mode into a state of relaxation and recovery. The science here can be used to help suffering from chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia and more. Dr. Robert Tien, the former Chair of Neuroradiology at Duke, says this, “Flowly's experiences help enhance a user's Vagus Nerve function, which plays a crucial role in preventing inflammation, increasing heart resilience, and treating symptoms of chronic pain and anxiety. Flowly is fun and accessible, but ultimately, can seriously improve overall life quality with consistent use.”

PRODUCT GIVEAWAY: SET OF 4 COCKTAIL RECIPE BANDANAS

Meg is the founder of design studio Love & Victory, “a one-stop resource for thoughtfully-designed, quality goods that shine a spotlight on her favorite things: delicious food, stiff drinks, soulful tunes, and socially relevant causes.” I discovered her work back in 2018, when I fell in love with Meg’s “woman with whiskey pin.” Then, Kim, the founder of Ladies Who Strategize, suggested I get in touch with her as I was thinking through party favors for an event we’re hosting. It was such a blast to collaborate with Meg, and we’re so pleased with how the party favors came out! But, because our friends read this newsletter, we can’t reveal just yet what we made together. Instead, we’re spotlighting her set of 4 bandanas, which feature various cocktail recipes.

SERVICES GIVEAWAY: GENIUS STEALS CONSULTING CALL (x 3)

And lastly, we’re also offering three free hour-long consulting sessions. You can brief us on a live project that you want some feedback on, share some internal company struggles that you want our perspective on, ask for travel tips, or anything else that your heart desires. These will be voice calls, and we’ll mutually agree on a date and time sometime between January 15th & March 15th in 2023. And yes, we’re happy to sign NDAs and/or another confidentiality agreement!

Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 13,000 subscribers. Support us by becoming a member of The School of Stolen Genius, or encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe. If you’re interested in sponsoring this newsletter, hit reply and let’s chat!

:: HOW TO SNAG EXTRA ENTRIES ::

Just by being a subscriber, you’ll already be entered to win. However, we’ve also got a few ways for you to earn some extra entries, capped at 100 entries per person.

All you have to do is share a link to the newsletter in some capacity, and send an email to ashley@geniussteals.co on or before November 30th.

Here’s the scoop:

Sharing on social media = 5 extra entries, per platform. You’ll send a link to your post(s) to Ashley.
Sending an email to your team/department = 25 extra entries. We hope your team will thank you! Forward your email to Ashley for your extra entries.
Sending an email to your whole company = 50 entries. Damn, look at you willing to use that all-agency list serv. Thanks, we appreciate that! Forward your email to Ashley for extra entries.

We would like to grow our subscribers so obviously this is helpful for us and we are incentivizing that a little bit but we also believe that sharing is caring, that people we meet always tell us they find this newsletter unique and useful amongst the advertising industry, both broad and personal, and if you like it, wouldn’t people you like enjoy it too?

We’ll select winners on December 1st, and announce the winners on December 5th.

:: WHAT TO SHARE ::

We’re leaving that up to you. We’d love for you to share what you love about the newsletter, or why you read it, or what you appreciate about it — but just sharing a link will still get you extra entries.

We’ve flagged some of the more popular editions of Strands of Genius here, in case you want to share a past edition:

There was that edition where we explored grief, which included links about overcoming productivity dysmorphia, when a major life change upends your sense of self, and 3 questions to ask about trends.
Or the edition where we highlighted social media bans around the world, which included links about why community matters so much, retouching and influencer marketing, and shrinking The Gap (how the clothing brand lost its way.)
We covered the tough topic of abortions in May, and included links on big ideas in advertising, why Marvel is the most important cinematic innovation of the 21st Century, and why analogies are superpowers.
The newsletter we received the most responses to was when Rosie wrote about what it’s like working with a spouse, and included her favorite writings from Faris, including a post about America, Freedom & The High Cost of Healthcare, toxic nostalgia, how to get lucky, and Stone Junction.
And then there was a follow-up from Ashley, our Director of Operations, who wrote about what it was like working with a married couple, and included links on the nature of fame and attention, Italy’s B Corps, and the gay history of camels.
Or the time when Faris wrote about constraints, and included links on playing with brands, how tenderness and attention are related, and why we love the word ‘smooth.’
Rosie was a little nervous to send the newsletter where she talked about waning ambition, but it turned out many of you shared the same perspective. That edition also included links on why the return to the office isn’t working, the six forces that fuel friendship, and the first edition of the Warc Attention Economy podcast.
And there was the edition where we shared our favorite questions to ask, which also included links on being wrong, the insane cost of cars, and nine ways to channel stoicism to help your anxiety.

You can find and search the entire archive of Strands of Genius here, if there was an edition we didn’t spotlight that you loved and wanted to share :)

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If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co

@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius