Strands of Genius: Having a Good Cry, How Brands Trick You, Snoop & Solo Stove
Plus: what's normal anyway?
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | contracts, analyzing respondent surveys, gardening
LOOKING AHEAD
June 17-28 | Chattanooga, TN
June 28-30 | Nashville, TN
June 30-July 3 | Chattanooga, TN
July 3-7 | Beersheba Springs, TN
July 7-23 | Chattanooga, TN
July 24-27 | Isla Mujeres, MX
July 29-Aug 13 | Chattanooga, TN
Aug 15-18 | Charlotte, NC
Aug 18-?? | Chattanooga, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
(Faris) This past weekend was our first without company for what seemed like quite a while and it was very pleasant and quiet. We are still trying to settle into domestic living, partially since we keep leaving (still not been here a whole 30 days in a row yet lol) and Rosie has transformed our very wild garden, with the help of Will and Corey. It’s looking awesome, come visit.
(Rosie) Over the weekend, I volunteered at Crabtree Farms, where my job was to cut and arrange beautiful flowers from their farm to be centerpieces on tables at their annual gala. It was such a fun way to spend Saturday morning, and beyond the creative expression piece, I loved getting to know other women in the community. We had all specifically signed up to arrange flowers, so we had that common interest. And we were volunteering, so community clearly another shared interest. I’m a gardening noob but they were pros and now I’ve got 4 more people who I can ask plant-based questions!
I’m very surprised Faris didn’t mention the heat because it’s hot AF down here, and while I’m loving it, it’s a lot for someone who grew up in London lol. But: we have an umbrella, a fan with a misting attachment and now… a lil micro pool. Because it turns out you can turn our hot tub temperature down to 80 and even after it dropped the first 10 degrees - from 104 to 94, it was glorious! I know, it sounds hot, but it wasn’t! It helped us cool down and we listened to the new Eminem single while bird watching which is almost too millennial, sorry not sorry. Anyway, this led me down a rabbit hole about water and how it’s much better at conducting heat than air. It can quickly transfer heat away from something, and in the instance of you, it’s pulling your own body heat away from you which makes you feel cooler than if you were in air that was the same temperature. Anyway, stay cool out there guys & gals & nonbinary pals.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
warm weather, turning our hot tub into a not-hot tub, party planning, family time, volunteering friends, getting to play with pretty flowers, getting to see the Lillian and her kiddos, hiking with Jennifer and the niblings, Will & Cory for all the work they’re doing to bring our screened in porch to life, Athletic NA Beer, & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE CASE FOR LETTING YOURSELF HAVE A GOOD CRY
I’ve been talking about a tattoo that says ‘keep crying, keep trying’ for years now because I *do* love a good cry! In turns out I’m not alone — Pepita Sandwich is a comic who wrote a book called The Art of Crying. She tackles the serious subject from a number of important directions, but with fun illustrations. “On average women cry 5.3 times a month, while men cry 1.3 times a month, with crying defined as anything from moist eyes to full-on sobbing.” Why is there a discrepancy? While there are obvious differences in how we talk to boys and girls about emotion, there are also biological differences — testosterone can inhibit tears, while hormones higher in menstruating people can encourage crying. I loved this excerpt from her book! (Self)
HOW BRANDS MINDF**K YOU TO BUY
When Faris first started in advertising the book No Logo had just recently become a best seller. The subtitle is “Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies” which gives you a sense of its primary thesis, which is that brands and their agencies have outsized influence and colonized all public spaces and globalization has lots of consequences, many not great for local working people. Inevitably, the idea of culture jamming - modifying mass media to change the ‘message’, was adopted by the advertising industry. Bogusky described himself and his agency as culture jammers, because capitalism absorbs all dissent and monetizes it. So it goes. So it’s fun reading this ‘warning’ post about how brands ‘manipulate’ consumers - consider it tips&tricks from the other side. “The truth is that for decades, major brands have employed an arsenal of psychological marketing tactics to override our logical thinking brain and leave us powerless against the urge to spend. What if I tell you that even as highly rational consumers, all our buying decisions are constantly being shaped by the hidden hands of marketing manipulation?” From the inside, it is rarely this arch, I think. (Medium)
SOLO STOVE AND SNOOP DOGG: UP IN SMOKE?
When this campaign first came out, a screen recording of my phone could have been a great intro to their case study campaign — Snoop was giving up smoking?! Everyone wanted me to know about this! It was sent to me by email, by text, and via Instagram. Awareness for the brand was through the roof. The creativity applauded. And then, the CEO was out of a job and the Solo Stove interim CFO Andrea Tarbox, was quoted as saying the campaign “raised brand awareness” but “did not lead to the sales lift that [they] had planned.” She’s essentially saying ‘the awareness wasn’t enough (to increase sales)’ — but it’s a mistake to judge a brand awareness campaign on short term sales metrics. This AdWeek article dives a little more into the collaboration and is filled with great puns throughout. (AdWeek)
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:: WHAT’S NORMAL ANYWAY? ::
Culture is a 30 year loop. This seasons hits of the Summer seem to include a huge amount of interpolations from older hits, perhaps they always did. \
(the I’m Good version of I’m Blue is an abomination).
Maybe this is what it was like being middle aged in the 80s when hip-hop emerged.
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 | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
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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. We have a distributed team ourselves, an 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 :)