Strands of Genius: Emotionally Intelligent Marketing, Back to Business Basics, Curious Futurists
Strands of Genius: Emotionally Intelligent Marketing, Back to Business Basics, Curious Futurists
plus our thoughts on: what's in a name?
WRITING FROM | Nashville, TN
WORKING ON | Full swing on a big consulting and training project, new writing, and more SoSG!
LOOKING AHEAD
Jan 8 - 17: Beersheba Springs, TN
Jan 17-28: Nashville, TN
Jan 28-Feb 4: Greenville, SC
Feb 4-11: Clayton, GA
Feb 11-15: Nashville, TN
Feb 15-April 15: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic*
(*TBD! But if you or anyone you know has been there, please hit us up!)
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Welp, the year is certainly off to quite a start! We’ve hit the ground running, and keep counting our lucky stars that we’re fortunate to work with such wonderful individuals.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Happy birthday to Teresa, David and Kathy and Scott, Judy and Rick and Madison and Paulie, Bahn-mi Salad with instant pickles, WandaVision [let’s discuss?], a new yoga space, Rosie’s chocolate and vanilla layer cake, and of course Claire Saffitz and her cookbook Dessert Person, new seasons of Blown Away and Headspace on Netflix, great take out over the weekend, de-escalation procedures,
S C H O O L O F S T O L E N G E N I U S >> H I G H L I G H T S
Enroll at http://schoolofstolengeni.us | Redeem a session-specific coupon code here.
:: THE LINKS ::
CARAT MEDIA TRENDS 2021
If you aren’t a member of SoSG and don’t bag one of the presentation invites for lucky Stranders [see above], you can still read the long-form version of the Carat Media Trends report, covering long term societal trends, innovations in the mediascape and then, crucially, the intersections and connections between the two. Dan’s report is always one of the best out there, and this is especially good. (Carat)
BACK TO BUSINESS AND BASICS
When we flip our minds over to work mode, we tend to assume a different role, a different mode of behavior and thought. That’s a good thing because it prevents mix-ups that otherwise happen when people work-from home too much and get caught with their pants down, so to speak. However, this cognitive division replicates when we switch from thinking about consumer marketing [fun!] to business to business marketing [serious!], which also leads to creative work that rarely inspires. Faris’ column looks at recent research on B2B marketing from LinkedIn, wondering why we forget things we know when we switch contexts and clients, to our professional diminishment. [creativity sells!] (WARC / ADMAP)
CURIOUS FUTURISTS
Damien Seamen, the Curious Futurist, is a Youtuber on emerging trends in tech and business. He also taught Faris a couple of great bass riffs back at university! He interviewed Rosie and Faris for his new video serious, about the future and creativity and strategy and balancing time and why art is r&d for humanity, the myth of the lone genius and much more. Plus Faris is full beard at the point this was recorded, plus he’s wearing his glasses. (Youtube)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: WHAT’S IN A NAME? ::
We did some naming work for The MarkUp last year and went deep into naming and words. In one way, names are arbitrary noises we apply to things, that’s the essence of the ‘signifier - signifier’ insight, that words [signs] have no essential relationship to the thing they denote [the signified].
It would seem that Shakespeare agrees, if one limits oneself to the tightest of quotes:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.”
Except, of course, that it wouldn’t really. Partially this is because we experience sensory smell in the brain, not the nose, as an amalgam of the particles appearing in our olfactory bulb and things we think or feel about them. It’s the same reason Coke always outperforms Pepsi in branded taste tests.
BUT, as Shakespeare was basically pointing out, names are also built from culture and language, and dramatically they are often there for a reason. They communicate. We can suggest, or infer, that it’s the forbidden fruit aspect of the Montague and Capulet’s feud that gives R&J’s young love such passionate urgency. That’s what Shakespeare is highlighting by having Juliet declare the opposite.
But it’s not a matter of interpretation that Shakespeare used the names Romeo - [someone from or who has been to Rome] and Juliet [female of Julius, as in Caesar]. He plucked them from The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet to tell a story that would have impact in his time and place, on his stage. Their fatal teenage passions are held up as a cautionary exemplar to the more staid English audience. Well, perhaps. We don’t know, let’s ask Franco Zeferreli, the Italian opera director and right-wing politician, who did the second-best version of the play for film, and then ask Baz Luhrmann if he agrees.
That which we call a Rosie would smell as sweet to Faris, of course. But Rosanne is a combination of Rose and Anne and means, gracious rose. Faris is an Arabic name that means knight. We often absorb names from other cultures but lose some of the playfulness that comes with their associated meanings.
“Heracles means Glory of Hera, a meaning that plays a significant role in his legend, albeit ironically.
Socrates means something like Safe Power.
Plato means Broad(-shouldered)
This also works in Anglo-Saxon, where surnames especially are often derived from professions. Will Cooper was originally Will the cooper - a cooper makes barrels, although a Cooper today may not, for example.
Alfred, the most famous early king of what became England, means Elf-Counsel - make of that what you will.
What does your name mean?
Are you ready for Emotionally Intelligent Marketing?
Dan Calladine is an old friend of Genius Steals, and acts as the Head of Media Futures for Carat & Isobar. When he's not tweeting, he's the author of an epic annual trend report, and his thinking is absolutely worth absorbing. This year, his 2021 media trends report takes a look at long term societal trends, shorter-term innovations, and the intersections between them both to guide brands in building smart, emotionally intelligent experiences for consumers. Join this session to hear him present some of the trends, as well as share some of the thinking that went into putting this report together.
Enroll at http://schoolofstolengeni.us | Redeem a session-specific coupon code here.
:: AND NOW… TEACH A FISH TO FISH ::
“if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day
but if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime”
but if you can teach a fish to fish …
:: STILL HERE? ::
January 2021 spreads itself across six different weeks, which is one reason it may seem like the longest month ever.
But the days are long and the months, even the oddly long ones, are short. It feels like we are just getting started, emotionally trying to come back up to full operating status, but we are going full steam ahead on new projects and developing a little more visibility on where we will spend some time this spring. Do let us know if you’ve got any expertise to share on the Dominican Republic :)
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
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Send ‘em our way!
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 out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, 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 :)