Strands of Genius: Jim Riswold, Faris Attempts to be Funny, Gen Z Broke The Marketing Funnel
Plus: Pyramid model of strategic leadership art piece
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | positioning, proposals, and party planning <3
LOOKING AHEAD
March 10 - April 11 | Chattanooga, TN
April 11 - 15 | Nashville, TN
April 15 - 19 | Chattanooga, TN
April 19 - 26 | Beersheba Springs, TN
April 26 - 30 | Miami, FL
April 30 - May 18 | Worcester Park, UK
May 18 - 20 | Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We went to a yoga class today! Thank you for being proud of us. It’s much harder on the road to maintain any kind of exercise practice — or at least that’s what we’ve told ourselves these past 10 years! But the truth is that it’s hard at home, too! We are still settling into our house and community, but it felt good to stretch. And equally felt good to be so welcomed by the folks at Yoga Landing here in Chattanooga. Rosie visited another local studio and found herself uninspired — the teacher herself was fine, but the studio itself didn’t feel welcoming (no one said hi, introduced themselves, gave me a rundown on the location, where to put my things, etc. It felt like they were inconvenienced by me being there.) That was a sharp contrast to what we experienced today at the Yoga Landing, and we’ll definitely be back.
We also just wrapped up a week of hosting our assistant, Chelsea, in Chattanooga. We’re a distributed team so it’s especially nice to get to spend time together in person. In addition to being super productive, we also had a blast hanging out, doing yoga, cooking dinner together, and of course, bird watching from the hot tub.
…And after what felt like a whole week of gray, the sun is shining! Faris only missed one of his calls on Monday by thinking it was Sunday, and we plan to have an early supper and a relaxing evening. How are you? Feeling Springy?
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
getting to meet my niece Carter, Chelsea’s visit, ladies night with Aisha & Alex & Rachel at Lyla Lila, lazy mornings, finding our yoga home at Yoga Landing & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
WE’RE ALL MAGGOTS: JIM RISWOLD ON ADVERTISING AND ART
Riswold is an advertising legend, for his work and art and his rather wonderful turns of phrase….See the bottom for a piece inspired by his time in advertising ;-). This is a lovely piece that captures a lot of the tensions of modern advertising.
”Riswold has described his careers in advertising and art, respectively, as “selling people things they don’t need” and “making things people don’t want”. The common thread binding these endeavours is an obsession with iconography and the cult of personality.”
”What’s increasingly hard to explain to anyone too young to remember those days is just how provocative and culturally significant “a really good commercial” could be in the 1980s and ’90s. “Riswold and early Wieden work stood out like a middle finger aimed at traditional advertising,”
“Advertising has grown more complicated,” Miller told me. “There is more data and research than ever before. But just because you know what your customer had for lunch and who they follow on TikTok, doesn’t mean you know how to inspire them or make them remember you. That can only come from somewhere human and instinctual. Trusting the gut of a singular voice like Riswold is hard to translate into [return on investment] and language that accountants can understand.” (FT, Archive Link)
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO A NETFLIX SHOW
For his column in Mediacat, Faris was briefed to consider humor in advertising and unfortunately he is very impressionable and decided to try being funny. This column is about a certain kind of advertising humor, and seeing ads in general, with a very embarrassing personal confession... 'Satire has been in a tough spot conceptually since about 2016.' (Mediacat)
GEN Z BROKE THE MARKETING FUNNEL
What does a path to purchase look like when Gen Z has radically different priorities and influences, not to mention technology platforms? When social media, a platform for entertainment, a social and news hub, has become their primary marketplace? This deep dive from Vogue Business is well designed and beautiful, with some great Gen Z insights for your next deck. (Vogue Business)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
:: AND NOW - PYRAMID MODEL OF STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP BY JIM RISWOLD ::
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 :)