1. Nike launches a new sneaker every seven hours.

2. Coke puts out a new product every 21 days in Japan alone.

3. Grand Theft Auto IV took in $500 million globally in its first week.

4. Hillary Clinton has spent $157,384,855 in an attempt to become president.

The scale of everything is growing exponentially.

- Christian

At the Drake Hotel, a Toronto bar-lounge, employees are given $40 during their shifts to purchase on-the-house coffee or drinks for regulars or people from the neighbourhood. “We give them a budget amount and trust them to make the right call,” said general manager Bill Simpson. “We kind of empower them to promote hospitality.”

Very cool.

- Christian

In this recent post, he asks “Does the web make you more creative or is it all just noise?” Here’s my answer:

Access to the web makes you more creative. It provides you with an infinite access to information and inspiration. The more you know, the more you learn and the more you see, the greater the pool that you have to draw from to form ideas.

Granted, one might argue that there is a lot of crap out here on the interweb. But you’re in control. If you don’t like an article after reading the first two sentences, you can put it down. If you think a movie sucks after the first 15 minutes, you can turn it off. Just because there is an infinite flow of information out there, doesn’t meant that you have to look at it all. Pick and choose. And some of the best resources do that for you. Like the front page of Digg and the “Most Interesting” feed on Flickr.

The key benefit of the web is that it provides you with infinite inspiration, whether it be a funny YouTube video, a conversation with someone overseas or even looking at someone’s Facebook photos. And with more inspiration, the more creative you will become.

- Christian

The producers did a good job of integrated two brands into the storyline: Audi and Burger King. The integration of Audi was seamless. They featured a sexy new Audi R8, which fit with the main character’s persona so well. It made it seem like it was the type of car that a billionaire would drive, which is exactly what Audi wanted. They also had an Audi mini-van in it with a soccer mom that “brakes” just before hitting a giant robot. I thought that that was a little lame, but maybe it’s because I would much rather related to a fast sexy car than a safe mom-mobile.

And now for the Burger King. The product placement was humorous and delicious. I’m serious. When I saw the main character scarfing down a Whopper after a stint of being held hostage in Afghanistan, I wanted one. So much so, that it panged my stomach for the next 24 hours until I actually went to Burger King to eat one. (It was delicious).

The key to the effective product placement is that it has to be written into the script. The writing provides context for the product to be featured. In other movies, it seems like they just show a gratuitous product shot that does not relate to the story. By having the product actually written into the script, it prevents the brand association from seeming forced. When product placement is done correctly, it can influence even the most wary of consumers. When I was watching the movie, I knew exactly what was happening with the Burger King product placement. But I still got a Whopper.

- Christian

Why It’s Good
Cities have so much to see that we are largely blind to. We spend so much time focused on our destination that we rarely observe our surroundings on our journeys. If you’re driving through the city, you never have a chance to soak in what’s going on around you because you’re concentrating on the road.

The people, the traffic, the buildings, the interactions. Brainstorming on the Bus allows you to see everything from a different angle.

How To Do It
Buy a ticket, get on the bus, go to the back and soak it up. Doodling on a big pad of paper helps me bounce into ideas. There are three steps to brainstorming on the bus that will help you succeed:

1. Explore what grabs your attention
2. Apply it back to your issue
3. Come up with ideas

- Christian

Adapted from “How To Have Kick Ass Ideas”

Start a religion based around environmentalism. Not some extreme tree-hugger stuff, but something that is a little bit of a farce and humourous. This was my favourite idea from our inaugural Idea Session. What if we created a fake religion around respecting and protecting the environment? It creates a foundation for belief and education, just like a real religion. We create a Bible, a set of Ten Commandments, even a Church!

A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Can we not do the same for a belief in the environment? Indigenous cultures have worshiped the deity of mother earth for centuries. All we are doing is updating it to a modern day reality … albeit with a bit of humour and farce. We don’t want to come across as a science fiction cult (like Scientology).

A religion could leverage all of the disparate environmental causes and unite people under one common cause. It could generate an enormous cult following, as people embrace a more unified (and humourous) environmental message.

The Pastafarian version of Michaelangelo’s “Creation of Adam”

Inspired by the likes of the Church of the Fonz (thank you Family Guy) and Pastafarians at The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster I think our unnamed environmentally-based religion could work! All we need is a name. Suggestions? I checked, and Christianity is already taken.

- Christian

It was awesome. There were a lot of ideas (both good and bad) and a handful of really meaningful insights. Being that it was around the time of Earth Week, our topic was:

What’s your idea for the biggest, most exciting way to make a huge and lasting positive impact on the environment?

The conditions:

Please feel free to throw out some ideas on the topic. We are ironing out the kinks of the first session, but are excited at the prospect of making this an open event. And definitely stay tuned for notes from the session.

- Christian

- Your favourite team
- The athletes
- The sports league

My guess is that you cheer for your team or your favourite players. Who cheers for the league? No one. That’s because it’s difficult to be passionate about a league. Teams have rivalries, history and story lines. They have legions of loyal fans whose happiness revolves around the success and failures of the team. Athletes have personalities, and the ability to excite the crowd with skills that 99% of the population doesn’t possess.

Leagues are just the forum to showcase greatness. People aren’t loyal to the MLB – they’re loyal to the Boston Red Sox.

So why do all of these brands spend hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing league sponsorships, and billions telling people about the partnership? I mean, do you really care if Speed Stick is the official deodorant of the NBA? No!

To create a truly emotional connection to your brand, you need to align yourself with properties that people are passionate about. Like Team Canada at the Olympics or Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl.

- Christian

Originally found on the Creative Generalist blog.

- Christian

It also seems to be an international phenomenon. It’s appeal stretches across national boundaries, generations, skill levels and social cliques. Why? Because of a basic insight: everyone wants to be a rock star.

The success of Guitar Hero is based in its ability to help you fulfill your dreams in your living room. It lowers the barriers to entry (such as learning the actual guitar and practicing) and lets you rock out in a couple of minutes. The beauty of Guitar Hero is the fact that it doesn’t lose it’s cool when it takes rock and roll to the masses. It’s authentic. It almost works as an educational system on classic, contemporary and new rock.

It’s awesome to see an 8 year old kid get the Led out. It’s just as cool to see a 60 year old grandma play The Killers.

Guitar Hero makes being cool accessible. How can our products do the same?

- Christian