Strands of Genius: Million $ Shot w/ No Budget, The Incredible Rise of Celsius Energy, An Alternative Smart Home
Plus: corporate anthems
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | finalizing the keynote for ARF Conference
LOOKING AHEAD
Aug 18-?? | Chattanooga, TN
Sept 25-28 | New York, NY
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Hiya! How’s everyone doing? This week it finally began to feel like Fall here with some cooler mornings and evenings. It’s a lovely time of year, back to school and all that, rebooting after the summer, giving yourself excuses to buy stationary and subscriptions to various AIs and that. That said, we are trying to rationalize some of our subscriptions - they do start to add up nowadays don’t they?!
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Marissa, Casey, Scott and The Woods - have a listen, they are great and lovely!
Kaos, Time Bandits, The Contortionist Handbook, (thanks Matt!), pottery, Slow Horses, TEDx Chattanooga, the weather & YOU.
HEY NYC AD FOLK ARE YOU GOING TO BE AT THIS?
On THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26th 2024 Faris is giving the closing keynote at the ARF Creative Effectiveness Conference after a whole list of of heavyweight experts so he better be entertaining.
His new talk, Measuring the Unmeasurable, will (hopefully) absorb and reflect on all the days content while poking at the challenges and considerations in quantizing creative things and their effects on human emotion and buying behavior, featuring quantum mechanics.
We’ll be around all day and at the cocktail hour and David Ogilvy Awards in the evening so drop us a line if you will be there too, if you want to hang out or say hi.
ANYONE GONNA BE THERE OR NAH?
:: THE LINKS ::
MILLION DOLLAR SHOT NO BUDGET
As advertising continues its industrialization, learning to be creative with production is going to be a big area. Some stuff will be made with AI, some stuff will be mega high end artisanal shoots, and lots of stuff will get shot for less money. This interview between the Patreon founder and a creator who specializes in making inventive-high-quality-very-low-budget film content is inspiring.
(Youtube)
BONUS: Faris wrote this article a while back about being creative with production.
MARKETING YOU DON’T SEE - THE INCREDIBLE RISE OF CELSIUS ENERGY
Faris’ new column is a deep dive on the rise of his new favorite energy drink, Celsius. He thinks it is about to blow up globally - see why, how they did it, and keep your eyes open for it appearing near you.
“According to an analysis from Jefferies investment bank, “nobody else has been able to break out in the way that Celsius has” during the last 20 years, regardless of the company’s experience, financial resources at its disposal or the strength of its distribution network. “Celsius had the right product at the right time,” analyst Kaumil Gajrawala said. “When it was time to break out, they galvanized it. They got it right.” By the end of 2023 80% of their growth was incremental to the entire category.” (WARC)
THE HOME AS A PLACE OF PRODUCTION
As someone who is new to home, we’ve been baffled by how much technology is truly required. Want to use your lights? There’s an app for that. Want to have art on your TV? You’ve got to pay Samsung for access to already copyright-free images. We try to optimize for comfort and convenience, but the overwhelming amount of technology… it’s not making us happier or healthier. Karen Rosenkranz has written a very lovely piece about these issues and her suggestion for an alternative vision… one that requires exposing ourselves to discomfort. Here’s what her vision of a smart home looks like:
”My vision of a truly smart home is one where some sort of knowledge work is done to generate part of the income, in tandem with some food production and preservation. It is a place for a multitude of activities, a place where we can acquire practical skills like gardening, woodworking or sewing. This home of the future is one of reduced complexity, a place filled with fewer things, but things we know how to care for and repair. It is a place that connects us to the outside, the weather, the seasons, also when that’s not always comfortable. Maybe it stimulates us to spend more time outside. Digital technology has its place, but we’ll have to rethink how it best serves us. Connectivity and the distraction it enables should be contained. It should be the opposite of frictionless. Imagine the time and focus we could gain!” (City Quitters)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 15,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.
:: KPMG CORPORATE ANTHEM JUNGLE REMIX ::
So in honor of
the news that KPMG was just awarded a massive UK govt contract
which has
raised some eyebrows since “in 2022, it was penalised with one of the largest fines in UK audit history, after former staff were found to have forged documents and misled the regulator over audits for companies including the collapsed outsourcer Carillion. KPMG resumed bidding for public sector contracts in 2022.” [Guardian]
HAHAHAH. Of course. Anyway
We felt a pang of nostalgia for their old corporate anthem which first did the rounds back in 2001 (i know!).
They have since scrubbed it from the web with copyright take down notices …but the jungle remix is still available….
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)
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Forward this email to them! We appreciate you spreading the word.
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 :)