Strands :: She Shed, Innocent Regret, City that Sleeps
WRITING FROM
Rishikesh
WORKING ON
Ad:tech talk and debate topics
UP NEXT:
Oct 22-Nov 11: Rishikesh & Delhi
Nov 12-24: Auckland, NZ
Nov 24-Dec 4: Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 5-9: Los Angeles, CA
Dec 9-12: Nashville, TN
Dec 12-19: Beersheba Springs
Dec 20-22: Atanta, GA
Dec 23-?: Nashville, TN
LOOKING AHEAD
Nov 14: ad:tech [Auckland, NZ]
THE WORD | THESE BRIEF BITS OF INBOX INSPIRATION BROUGHT TO YOU BY
A number of flights, [and in-flight entertainment including: Isn't it Romantic and Eighth Grade], Raising Dion on Netflix, jumping back on the book bandwagon, vegetarian diets and two weeks of sobriety (Rishikesh is a holy city, and therefore booze-free), and twice-daily with Shaile, our yoga teacher here in Rishikesh.
WHAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT | SPEED UP, SLOW DOWN
Arriving in India is always a good shift in context and expectations. Things are busier and more hectic, but also slower and more idiosyncratic.
Getting a SIM card for you phone requires a passport and it takes a day to activate the card. Data is insanely cheap - $12 gets you 1.5GB of data per day for a month - but you get text and SIM spam [the networks can push messages to your phone somehow that appear over everything].
Taxis are cheap, but if you aren't using Uber then it's likely they will start negotiating the price at about 4x what it should be. Taxis drivers that don't use Uber don't seem to be comfortable reading maps on phones and will stop to show your phone to people on the street, which can make one anxious since they hand it over, but it's always fine [knock on wood].
It's easy to take all your expectations from one frame to the next, and it takes a few days to settle into the new rhythms of traffic, customer service, speech, and so on. We gave a young traveller a lift from the airport, which isn't something we would likely do from JFK, and discovered they hadn't been born the first time Faris came to India in 1999.
We are here for a little detox [it's a dry city] and lots of yoga [home of yoga.] There are a few power cuts each day and limited bandwidth to help us remember to spend more time offline.
Context, to a great extent, dictates behavior.
"And so, inspired by two Oscar-winning stars, I devised the Innocent tone of voice."
- Paul Burke #ideasarenewcombinations
I Regret Inventing the "Innocent" Tone of Voice
#Branding #Language #CopyCopyCopy
Innocent smoothies was dreamed up by some entrepreneurial planners at an advertising agency but the name and original tone of voice came from one of their colleagues at the agency. The writer in question dissects the inspiration for it and why he abhors what has happened to it and how it has spread to packing and products everywhere. ::SPECTATOR LIFE::
That's What She Shed
#Language #Culture #Dilly
Faris' column this month considers those fragments of language that fly out of advertising and into popular culture. We call these expressions "winged words", a phrase that starts as a quote but then takes on a life of its own. The piece looks at some successful old and recent examples and the benefits of getting a catchphrase into culture, especially when it 'helps' win a Super Bowl. ::WARC ADMAP::
Empower Your Staff to Rest
#Advertising #LifeANDwork #Balance
Advertising agencies have a justified reputation for making endless demands on employees time, and glorifying working all hours and on weekends. People miss their children and destroy their social lives to a get some Facebook posts edited and up in time. As someone tweeted this week, when every agency has a reputation as a sweat-shop, shouldn't we all do some soul searching? Part of it is the state of the industry, but part of is bad cultural practices from leadership, especially in NYC where finance and hustle culture set the ridiculous 24hr pace. To which we say: RELAX! It's just advertising, and rested employees are happier, more creative and more productive. Empower is an agency in Cincinnatti that made this charming animated rap on the topic, because their town is a city that does sleep. ::YOUTUBE::
Holy Ganga! View from today's 'office' :)
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We always love getting to meet like-minded folks, so please let us know if you see if we'll be in a city near you :)
rockON,
rosie & faris & ashley, geniussteals.co
@rosieyakob / @faris
ICYMI: Genius Steals : Bag O' Tricks
#SpeakingSwagger #WatchThis #Obsessed
As you likely know from being a subscriber to this here newsletter, about half of our income comes from speaking at conferences and events around the world. It's honestly our favorite thing to do, and we're hoping that 2020 has even more speaking in store for us. Previously, we had an introductory video featuring Faris, but as now nearly all our talks are dual presentations, we needed one with Rosie. We collaborated with our friends from The Goondocks.tv to make this introductory video, which we'll start rolling out before our talk. No goldfish, or Ashleys, were harmed in the making of this video ;) (And if you might want to hire us for a talk, do be in touch...) ::THE GOONDOCKS.TV::
HIT REPLY & LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER.
STILL WANT MORE?
In March of 2013, Rosie & Faris left NYC. They've been #OutOfOffice for 6 years & counting. Want more on the nomad lifestyle? Check out Technomadix.co
Want to collaborate with Rosie and Faris? They are a husband and wife team that consult, speak, write, teach, strategize, facilitate & generally play well with others. You should definitely get in touch.
