Strands of Genius: This is Water, Confuseopolies, 50 Creative Campaigns
Plus: bold beginnings & a poem for the new year
Strands of Genius is a newsletter from the co-founders of Genius Steals, Faris & Rosie Yakob. They are award-winning strategists, facilitators, creative directors, writers and public speakers who get excited about working with smart people on interesting challenges. You should probably go ahead and hit reply so we can collaborate on something together :)
:: THE UPDATE ::
Happy new year, folks! This is us standing on the side of the road, about 20 minutes away from where we now live. If you’re just catching up, 2023 was the year we bought a house and 2024 was the year we made the house a home. We spent 251 days at home in Chattanooga, TN (it still feels so strange to have a home! where we live!) and traveled for only 114 days of the year.
We’re kicking off the year with an updated format for our newsletter and couldn’t be more excited!
We know your inbox space is precious, and your time even more so. And three editions each week is a lot. It’s a lot for us, and we’re sure it’s a lot for you, too. So we’re going back to our basics (kinda.)
We’re switching back to a weekly newsletter, which will still arrive in your inbox on Tuesdays (if you live in the US, or perhaps Wednesdays if you live in the future.) Except we’re not getting rid of our guest curator program because you’ve told us how much you love hearing from others, and to be honest, we love hearing from others as well! We’ll alternate Tuesdays between us and a guest curator. We’re eliminating the longer interview, but we will ask each of our guest curators to give us their hot take on a topic.
We’re always looking for smart folks to highlight with our guest curators program, so if you have someone you’d like to hear from, hit reply and let us know! (And yes, you’re absolutely welcome to nominate yourself.)
There’s no elaborate application process, we’re just looking for a few sentences as to why this person could be a good fit, and some kind of link (LinkedIn, Instagram, etc) or email so that we can get can get in touch if we do want to invite them (you?!) to participate.
We’re also trialing out a new lil thing, where we’ll have monthly themes and prompts that go alongside the theme. Our intent is not to have a theme for the sake of having a theme, but instead to have a shared question so that we can highlight different perspectives around the same topic. (And also because sometimes we look at a blank page on a Monday and we’re like “oh no, what are we going to write about this week?!” So, yeah, the themes are a little present to the future versions of ourselves, so that we have a focused direction as well.)
:: A HOT TAKE ON BOLD BEGINNINGS ::
Our theme for January is Bold Beginnings. In an oversaturated marketplace bold beginnings can be used to grab attention, helping to establish your brand’s presence while also ensuring your message cuts through the noise. And that’s just externally. Internally, it can create momentum and excitement, setting the stage for continued energy and engagement amongst team members.
When you think bold, you might think BIG, but let’s be clear - being bold doesn’t require big budgets. Instead, boldness encourages brands to challenge assumptions, breaking free from predictable patterns. Because here’s the thing, being bold does require bravery. Oxford defines bold as, “(of a person, action, or idea) showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.”
So often, we (or, ahem, the legal department) are trying to eliminate risk. Instead, we should be thinking about how we can mitigate risk. We believe that strategy can be defined as:
Risks are known unknowns. You know what might happen, and you’re considering probabilities. For example, when a new campaign could receive backlash from certain audiences, it’s something that teams can plan for, and manage. Uncertainties are unknown unknowns — they are less predictable and harder to quantify, and usually involve unknown variables (like a cultural moment or economic shift.) Strategy acknowledges that there is uncertainty, but that we still want our ideas and comms to have the best chance of succeeding.
Yes, we want big and bold ideas, but we want them to be creatively effective, too. Creativity for the sake of creativity is great if you’re an artist, but in the world of brands, we’re looking for commercial impact.
So much of our work over the last few years has been helping brand and agency teams understand what makes for good ideas, and how they can have even better ones. When we’re working with clients who want to develop big, brave ideas, we aim to keep in mind the following considerations:
data-drive insights | what does research tell us about audience insights, market trends and competitive analysis? how can we use this research to deliver a competitive advantage?
success metrics | how will we measure the impact of the idea? what metrics (if any) could be negatively impacted from our bravery stemming from this campaign?
scenario planning | what’s the worst backlash or failure that could happen? how can we recover if the worst does happen?
partnerships | are there specialists that we could partner with to help reduce uncertainty through fresh perspectives or additional expertise?
stakeholder motivation | who are the key stakeholders involved in the project and how are they motivated? what are their bonuses based on? how risk adverse are they as individuals?
How do you believe brands can balance bold ideas — that inherently involve risk — with strategic safety nets?
:: THE LINKS ::
THIS IS WATER
While I don’t opt for new years resolutions, I do take some time to reflect about my desires for the year ahead. Faris and I spent Christmas in Isla Mujeres, Mexico with his dad, Abdulla, who has a Buddah-like sort of way of interacting with the world. I asked him what he does when he’s mad at someone, and he said he simply closes his eyes and when he re-opens them he’s no longer mad. For someone like me who is, um, let’s just say more quick to react, it’s especially impressive. But I think what Abdulla does is assume the best in people. He becomes friends with everyone, from the staff at his local grocery to the receptionist at our hotel in Isla. It’s something I want to be better about this year: assuming the best in people. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, rather than assuming something less flattering. And this video, from David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech, “This is Water,” couldn’t be a better reminder. (YouTube)
TOP 50 CREATIVE CAMPAIGNS FROM LAST YEAR
We can’t start the year without a little reflection, and we loved this list of some of the most creative campaigns in 2024. While we had seen many, there were still a few surprises, too! (How did we miss Pedigree’s tail orchestra?! Or Tesco getting rid of their logo for a print ad?) It’s a great way to start your year with a reminder of just how much fun work got made last year, and left me feeling inspired! (SoftBank)
RISE OF THE CONFUSEOPOLIES
Advertising’s most powerful profit driver has always been reducing price elasticity of demand, allowing brands to defend price rises - but what happens when confusing pricing structures become the norm? I mean, have you even tried to buy a flight lately?! From varying fees for baggage, to costs for selecting seats, it’s hard to even get to the final price without spending a half an hour. Faris’ latest piece for Warc dives into this, and it’s one of my favorites of his recent pieces. (Stitch Fix)
:: YOU’RE INVITED TO THE FUTURE OF FINANCE MARKETING SUMMIT ::
Our friends at Social Fresh are hosting a virtual summit, Future of Finance Marketing (February 11-12, 2025). Sessions include exclusive brand case studies, 2025 trend reports, creative strategies, and personalization tactics from Stripe, Vanguard, Ally, Brighthouse Financial and more. You can register here for free.
(Also, Fun fact: A few years ago at the Social Fresh Conference in Orlando, Faris took the stage (to rave reviews!!), sharing insights from his book Paid Attention. More conferences where you can go to Disney World afterward, please. And yes, there was the situation with a lightsaber and a stormtrooper, but we made it around the world at Epcot. But besides the amazing time at Disney World, we absolutely love the folks behind Social Fresh. They never fail to design amazing events and you’re surely in for a treat.)
:: A POEM FOR NEW BEGINNINGS ::
For A New Beginning | John O’Donohue
“In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”
This week, we’re writing to you from Chattanooga, TN. We’re especially thankful for:
our first snow day at the house, Bubbles the hot tub, all the birdies but especially the cardinals that were looking gorgeous with the snow white backgrounds, our neighbor Jennifer and her lovely banana chocolate chip muffins, snowy walks through the woods, Below Deck, Silo, catching up with friends visiting from Paris over Satco’s tacos, bestie wine nite, celebrating Stephanie’s birthday, Christmas in Isla Mujeres, and generally just eaaaaasing into the new year.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. You can hit reply to this email if you’ve got anything to say, and we’ll endeavor to get back to you promptly!
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 :)