This particular cartoon shows how cooperating can help you achieve your goal.

###

For those of you not hip to Mad Men, you can learn about it here:.

The first show this season opened with Don Draper being interviewed by a reporter from Ad Age (”Who is Donald Draper?”).

Rance Crain of Ad Age wrote an interesting story that described what it was like being a reporter for Ad Age in 1964.

Here are a few excerpts:

…I was a member of the Ad Age editorial staff in Washington, New York and Chicago in the ’60s and, heaven help us, we would knock down walls to be the first to report a big account change, major product introduction or agency startup.

…We’d come to work in at least a sports jacket or suit and tie-we had to be ready to have interviews with ad bigwigs-and we did a lot of lunches, but they were of the relationship-building kind, where we’d try to get in good with our sources.

As interesting as Crain’s story was, I found the comments even more so.  For example, one person linked over to an ad from 1964 for Chevrolet’s 1965 line-up of cars.

I am glad I had a chance to hang out at Ad Age’s virtual water cooler and look forward to doing it again really soon.

###

###

“You can learn a lot from a dummy”

Hard to believe that it was 24 year ago, when Leo Burnett introduced us to Vince and Larry, the spokes-dummies for the Ad Council and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

You can find some examples of the ads on YouTube (see below).

These were quite effective and, if you search YouTube, you’ll see that Vince and Larry became a pop phenomena.

I wish they’d come back and do a series of PSAs to address today’s issue of  Driving while Distracted (especially driving while texting).

###

In a New York Times story, Tom Watson, a five-time British Open champion, was quoted saying:

“Lag putting here is crucial. You are going to have a lot of long putts on these greens. You can’t play to the pin positions. You can’t play at them. You have to play to the sides of them, and a good shot is 30 feet to the side, and that’s perfect distance. You won’t be that perfect distance on links golf.”

That same article quoted reigning Open champion, Stewart Cink who talked about the need for imagination. He was speaking in reference to Tiger Woods who, based on his victories at The Open at St. Andrews in 2000 and 2005, is considered one of the best lag putters in the sport.

“Tiger is really good,” Cink said. “And the reason is it’s almost all imagination. You have to have a lot of imagination to be able to predict the speed and the way the ball is going to roll off these humps.”

Imagination… definitely.   A sense of humor would help too. This time around Tiger struggled. One video clip catches Tiger’s frustration.

The following video captures the highlights (lowlights) of Open play over the weekend.

*****

Special honorable mention goes to Miguel Ángel Jiménez and his amazing “off-the-wall” shot:

###

Ike hits the Cove...

Ike's home run trot.

Being in the ballpark that evening, the folks in the rows behind us allowed us to cheer loudly.

And at “stretch” time, we kindly took our bows and bailed out.

Getting out with a smile...

Here’s a link to the game re-cap.

It was nice to be safely tucked into an Oakland (RockRidge) bar, drinking affordable microbrew beers when the game wrapped.

###

Embeded below, the ad features a skydiver eating cereal before jumping out of a plane. It is followed by a “making of” video.

mymuesli’s commercial aired on German and Austrian television.

The take-away here is that we all can become visual storytellers using tools we are carrying with us.  You aren’t limited to using an iPhone.  This capability is also available on Android powered devices.

###

mymuesli2go, a tv commercial - filmed and edited on an iPhone 4 from Max Wittrock on Vimeo.

Restoration 2.0: Icon CJ3B

It referenced how Mr. Ward refers to ICON as a restoration business.  “Restoration” does not begin to describe the effort put into each of the finished vehicles Icon produces.  So let’s take a page from the high tech industry and call it Restoration 2.0.

His latest creation is the CJ3B. It starts with an actual vintage CJ Willys (AKA Civilian Jeep by Willys-Overland Motors), which donates a handful of parts.

• The CJ3B’s frame is made in Washington and much of the body sheet metal is stamped in the Philippines.
• The engine is a 4-cylinder General Motors Ecotec that produces 210 horsepower.
• The axles are modified versions of the units in today’s Jeep Rubicon
• Most of the driveline comes from well-established industry suppliers.

By using the more modern components, the ICON vehicles (CJ Series and FJ Series) are more reliable and repairable than any restoration of a 50-year-old could be. Plus, more functional - the CJ3B is a much more usable off-road than a straight replica of the original Willys would be.

Ward mentioned how trouble spots in the original design, from the leaf springs (which can limit the wheel travel needed to negotiate rough terrain), to a balky choke cable (electronic fuel injection assures quick starting) and weak drum brakes (there are discs at all four corners) have been swapped out.

Check out this 10-minute video and you will get a true appreciation of Ward’s business — developing passion-driven products — is a true labor of love.

Sure the end product is impressive. But equally so is Ward’s process and the fact he is a living example of someone who has taken his passion and made it happen.

###

Link to the 60+ page brochure here:

icon_brochure_new_07_09_h

His story included comments from leading researchers, such as Jonathan Schooler and Jonathan Smallwood of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Memory, Emotion, Thought, Awareness (META) lab.

“People assume mind wandering is a bad thing, but if we couldn’t do it during a boring task, life would be horrible,” Dr. Smallwood says. “Imagine if you couldn’t escape mentally from a traffic jam.”

Dr. Eric Klinger, a psychologist at the University of Minnesota and one of the pioneers of the field, said “There’s an evolutionary advantage to the brain’s system of mind wandering.”

While a person is occupied with one task, the wandering keeps the individual’s larger agenda fresher in mind increasing the likelihood that the other goal pursuits will remain intact and not get lost in the shuffle of pursuing many goals.

Interesting points indeed!

The 2-page article covers a bit of ground including the ties to the creative process.

Dr. Schooler pointed to how it helps “if you go jogging, take a walk, do some knitting or just sit around doodling, because relatively undemanding tasks seem to free your mind to wander productively.”

“For creativity you need your mind to wander,” Dr. Schooler says, “but you also need to be able to notice that you’re mind wandering and catch the idea when you have it. If Archimedes had come up with a solution in the bathtub but didn’t notice he’d had the idea, what good would it have done him?”

Mt. Tam (Marin): Great for wandering

Journal Writing: The reason I am a advocate of journal writing is because it gives me an opportunity to clear my head of wandering thoughts first thing in the morning (after my morning coffee & newspapers).

Then I run. If I have more thoughts, they end up on scraps of paper when I get home that get tucked into the journal. Or, if extensive, then I pop that journal back open and do a “More Musings” segment.

I also believe it is helpful to keep a memo pad in the car with a pen/pencil handy. Sometimes a song may trigger thoughts while on a long ride (commute).  So when I am somewhere safe (i.e. parked), I’ll jot down a few words that I can expound upon in my journal upon my return.

Schedule Wandering Time: The other major point is to give yourself wandering time. Schedule it if you have to until you establish a regular routine. Wandering time could involve working out… or not. It is, essentially, “me time” with no duties or obligations except to free yourself up to let your mind move freely.

I have wander time first thing in the morning and I schedule it mid afternoon.  When in an office environment, I’ve been known to take smokeless, smoke breaks.

*****

So basically, you need to be proactive and somewhat disciplined — which seems like the opposite of what folks may think when the word wandering is used. But creativity just needs a fertile and open mind, not one that is crammed up with To Do items and “matters of consequence.”

A disciplined wandering mind is a really good thing!

###
Photo credit:  Dan Heller

“There is more activity on the venture capital front. There is renewed enthusiasm,” said Jamis MacNiven, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Margaret. “A year ago, it was about as bleak as it has ever been. People were talking about the drop in home values and joblessness as opposed to deal flows. Now the topic is back on business.”

The story mentioned how on a recent morning, just about every one of the cafe’s 110 seats were occupied - even at 10 in the morning.  Table-to-table networking was in full swing as servers swerved around handshakes and card exchanges to deliver bowls of granola and yogurt, the meal of choice for high-powered eaters.

Founded in 1991, thousands of start-ups trace their roots to Buck”s cafe in Woodside.  MacNiven wrote an engaging book (”Breakfast at Bucks: Tales From the Pancake Guy“) in 2004. Perhaps it is time for a sequel.

###

Worked on a promotion for InfoPartners where limited edition coffee mugs were made showing Jamis on one side and “InfoPartner Man” on the other.

###