Strands of Genius: Pixar's 22 Rules for Storytelling, The Liberation of Magic, Facing Things
Guest Curated by Shann Biglione
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Shann is the Head of Strategy at Zenith Media NYC, having moved over from a similar role in China.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, SHANN BIGLIONE ::
LOCATION: NYC, USA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Head of Strategy, Zenith Media
I'm a marketing Swiss-Army knife, born and raised in France, trained in the UK, strained in China, and now pretending I know what I'm talking about in New York. People like to think of me as "the media guy", probably because I have been heading strategy at various Publicis Media joints in the last 7 year. But I just love marketing. I love reading about it, I love arguing about it, I love meeting people who care about it. This led me to stalk superstars Rosie and Faris, just subtly enough that we were able to finally meet in New York a couple of years ago. A quick drink led to another, we hit it off, we spent some quality time together later on, and now all I get is a Google sheet to fill in. Roll up your Excel sheets, people!
Editor’s Note: We first met Shann on Twitter when he started reaching out to lots of likeminds across the world from his perch in China. He is smart, challenging and polite in discourse, brings a very interesting point of view, and we ended up meeting in NYC, hanging out in the Cumberland Mountains of TN, and enjoying each other’s company. Also, we really like his wife. At the start of the pandemic, when things were especially tough, they put together a cookbook for us, with their favorite recipes. (YES, really!) So, in addition to enjoying the industry discourse, we also very much enjoy our friendship. Over to Shann!
:: THE LINKS ::
PIXAR’S 22 RULES FOR STORYTELLING
As a movie buff and former movie marketer, I'm a sucker for storytelling. Having released some of my favorite Pixar movies in my earlier career (and having had the chance to meet some of its most talented filmmakers), I have a particularly sweet spot for Pixar. This link is an older one I bookmarked, a visual summary of the studio's rules for storytelling by Former Pixar story artist Emma Coats. I find them helpful to get back to when looking for inspiration in my own decks/narrative. Little fun fact, Pixar really struggled with following #7 in my experience, something we'd seen in films like Wall-E, Up and Brave. One thing I've definitely learned working on movies is that a lot of the magic happens on the fly, and sometimes it's good to not let a plan get in the way of a better idea. (Imgur)
THE LIBERATION OF MAGIC, BY MARTIN WEIGEL
The unlucky few who know me are familiar with my affinities with Byron Sharp's How Brands Grow. One of my favorite takes on it is from Martin Weigel, strategist extraordinaire at W+K Amsterdam, who wrote in 2013 an entire piece on how the teachings of Andrew Ehrenberg were a liberation for creativity. I'm a firm believer that before we strive to identify what changes, it's important to understand what doesn't, and I love the timelessness of this piece, delivered with Martin's usual verve. While some of this might have become more common knowledge amongst strategists, I find this intellectual time capsule brilliant to review where we came from, articulated around three tenets that unnecessarily get in the way of creativity:
1/ The notion that the purpose of marketing is to create and sustain devoted love amongst consumers of our brand
2/ The idea that in pursuing this the task must be to convert consumers of a competitor brand to ours
3/ And the belief that one of the primary goals of communications in attracting and keeping consumers is to create differentiation
And if you missed it, I'd equally recommend his take on some of Binet and Field's learnings - The Tragic Horizon: Resisting Marketing’s Drift Towards The Business Of Value Destruction (Martin Weigel)
FACING THINGS, BY NICK CHILDS
I met Nick Childs at a party organized by another one of my favorite ad people in New York. Nick is an awesome person, brilliant creative, and passionate filmmaker. In this 8 minute "IsolaTED Talk", he encourages us all to see the opportunity in what we're all facing right now. Taking a pause, reflecting what we we really want, embracing the reailty of failure, and taking action. It's a short talk, and Nick's soft voice felt like a soothing energizer to me. Maybe it will to you? (YouTube)
Looking for more from Shann Biglione? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: The Last of Us
:: City :: Los Angeles
:: Book :: The Little Prince
:: Podcast :: Totally nominating our own, The Overthinkers ;-p
:: Album :: Rage Against The Machine
:: ON A MOUNTAINTOP ::
Proof that trolling people on Twitter can lead you to great friendships!
[Editor’s note: only if you are nice ;-) <3]
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Shann Biglione
email: shann.biglione@publicismedia.com
linkedin | twitter
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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.
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