What do you expect?

Unfulfilled expectations are the death of any creative-type, or anyone, for that matter.

At the end of Season 3 of Mad Men (one of my favorite shows on TV, hands down), Don Draper, the world’s best ad man (in his own mind… but then again, no one does anything great without first thinking that he is worthy or capable of undertaking it… right?), is starting off on a new adventure…

As Roger Sterling and Don Draper look at their old offices for what could be the last time, Roger asks, “How long do you think it will take us to be in a place like this again?” Don replies, “I never saw myself working in a place like this.”

Work as if you’ll never get glory or wealth (or pay, for that matter), and you’ll find a jagged stone of some original, creative idea.  Ugly, but yours.  Polish that stone for a while, and you’ll have a diamond.  Maybe.  But if you did it for the love, and not for the money, it will be worthwhile.

My friend Sam Parmelee is composing some original music cues for a series of Generosity Water videos I’m producing, and he just sent me his invoice.

He’s doing me a favor and is getting paid very little compared to his normal rate, but he included this in his invoice: “Thank you for your business!” (I don’t think I’m a special dame — I bet he writes that for all the producers he works with.)

He might have said, “Thank you for believing in my talent,” or “Thank you for trusting me with this project,” or “Thank you for keeping food on my family’s table.”  It doesn’t matter.  He expressed his thanks for the business opportunity — that he, as a creative type, isn’t so precious about his artistry to not realize that I could go anywhere to get it, but I chose to work with him.  Thankfulness means a lot.

Expressing gratitude means you have to suck up your pride.  Be selfless.  Be humble.

And then, be crafty to use the tools you have — like an INVOICE! — to express it.

But it’s a short break.  One or two days later, he starts the process over again.  Working out.  Training.  Lifting weights.

Similarly, a lot of people have asked me what I’m doing now that I’ve sold a book.

I’m writing it.  Working it out.  Doing the heavy lifting.  Thinking about promotion.

Remember this.  When you’ve “made it,” you’ve only just started.

View the story here.

I work with the non-profit Generosity Water (we’re friendly with charity:water), and we often talk about the value of turning negative causes into positive proclamations.  I just think this is a great step in creating media that brings value and dignity to a situation, and doesn’t ask us to dwell deeply on the ugly issue.

Now, if I were in charge of social media at charity:water, I’d make a parody video of Single Ladies
called “Beautiful Women,” but that’s just me….

Internet funnymen Rhett & Link made this commercial for Cullman Liquidation, and I think that, even though it’s fraught with stereotypes and humor, it’s a real commercial for a real local company.

Rhett & Link created a site called I Love Local Commercials, as a platform for them to create low-budget videos for small town businesses that normally don’t consider video as a marketing device.

It’s a smart move for two guys who got some street cred from Hollywood, but famously live in North Carolina, where buying a house is cheaper.

It’s a good example of making your skills work for you no matter where you live.  That you don’t have to live in Los Angeles to make good entertainment (but it helps).

By “Jack,” she means Jack Skelington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some backstory: when October 1st comes around every year, our house gets transformed into a scare palace, and the 1993 Tim Burton masterpiece goes into our DVD player.  And it doesn’t leave for 31 days.  I had no idea this would happen when I said “I do,” but it’s a pleasant surprise.

In the movie, Jack is very successful at his job: scaring people.  His whole world is wrapped around his innate talent.  Everyone pats Jack on the back for doing his job so well.  But he’s frustrated with the monotony.

What does he do?  He changes his world.  He goes to “Christmasland,” where his talents are so unique that they’re shocking to people.  They literally change the world, in a Guy Kawasaki-type way.

As I try to apply this to the business of creativity, I consider my own hodge-podge of skills.  Writing and comedy.  Graphic design, Photoshop, and photography. Presentations and public speaking.  I’m always trying to apply them in a better way than others, but what about applying them to a new world?

I’m pursuing a career in TV screenwriting, and I’ve been thinking about how my skills beyond screenwriting will make me stand out there.  Coming from the worlds of marketing and online media, my skills may be shocking in a world that seems so rigidly defined.  I’m hoping it will make me stand out…

My tagline for myself: “A new breed of TV showrunner, a writer with an eye for digital media and marketing.” Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it’s a start.

What are you good at?  Is it the same thing as 1,000 other people?  That level of competition makes you irrelevant; the line is too long to compete head-to-head.  So put yourself in a new world… one that makes you unique.  Stand out!

[Posted in the Pursuing Creativity series]

What helps me now?  A saying.

Do the work.  Do the work.

It’s a mantra I picked up while doing an interview for Script Magazine (“Big Names Change the Online Game”).  I was talking to Justine Bateman, Jill Kushner, and Wizards of Waverly Place EP Peter Murrieta, and during the interview, Peter took a call from what must have been a stressed-out, unsure understudy of his.  Like an AA sponsor to an addict about to take a sip, he said, “I don’t care if you’re tired, do the work.  If you’re frustrated, do the work.  If you’re sick, do the work.  No matter what, just do the work.”

It was probably the most poignant thing I personally received from the interview, and it happened in the background while trying to listen and take notes from Justine and Jill.

There’s some calming wisdom in those words.  That inborn talent matters little in the face of time.

When it comes to “honing your craft” or “getting good-er” or “putting in your “10,000 hours,” it’s all about getting better, step by step, at something that is really hard (like screenwriting, photography, lawyering, painting, negotiating, or anything that takes artistry).

Unfortunately, the AA analogy holds up.  We’re all a little addicted to ‘Not Doing the Work.’

It’s just too easy to get distracted.  To go to bed early.  To have “weekends.”

However, the people that succeed in anything worthwhile find a way to overcome that addiction and do a little bit of work every day.  Find that nanometer of improvement.  Over time, it adds up.

As for me, I’m not too worried any longer.  I’m on a journey to improvement, and I don’t expect the fast results I did a few years back.  I can’t stress about it.  I’m too busy doing the work.

Further reading on this subject: Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin, Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (”10,000 hours”), and Stephen King’s On Writing (”Get a closet and write there everyday.”).

[This is will be part of a series of posts under the Pursuing Creativity banner.]

And yesterday, they called and passed.

I am not, however, sad.  Let me shout it from the mountaintop that Kelly Luegenbiehl is one of the nicest executives I’ve ever worked with.  She took extra time to give us some feedback and welcomed us back anytime to pitch new pilot concepts.  She deserves all the accolades she’s getting right now for the ABC Wednesday night comedy line-up (sans Hank, of course).

It reminds me of a related funny story.

I’ve been in to pitch ABC three times now. The first time, the floor receptionist asked us if we wanted any water.  We said yes, and she offered either chilled or room temperature.  Giddy like unpopular schoolgirls asked to sit at the A-Group’s lunch table, we asked for chilled water.  We received a pair of perfectly cool Fiji water bottles.  It was a good meeting.  We sold our project.

Our second trip, right around the Writer’s Strike, we came in to re-pitch a few ideas, and were again offered water.  The receptionist didn’t ask our temperature preferences, so we assumed that she remembered!  What joy!  We had made it.  We were important producers!  Then the receptionist handed us some room temperature Arrowhead bottles.

Then, two weeks ago, we again approached the receptionist desk, and, this time, there was no mention of water.  Not even a look towards the mini-fridge under her desk.  So we grabbed a seat… right next to the self-serve Arrowhead water cooler.

Tough economic times have forced us all to scale back… even ABC!

It just goes to show you that no matter how far you’ve come, you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. It’s just drinking water, and it’s just doing work.  Keep on doing both.

(PS — During all of our visits, Kelly’s assistant offered us water, coffee, and candy!)

Marketer and artist Hugh MacLeod writes in his book Ignore Everybody,

“Put some of your ideas on a blog and ‘get it out there.’  Eventually the fish will start biting. Just remember that it doesn’t happen overnight.  It usually takes a couple of years of continual posting to build up enough trust to where people are willing to [buy from you consistently].  But you never know; it could be a couple of months.”

So, I should take this opportunity to write a starting blog post.  I started this blog at alecmcnayr.com to be a repository of all my online media, but maybe it can be more.

I’m a partner at a production company, a social media company, a co-writer at a humor blog that nabbed 2.5 million visitors in July,  and through all that, I have a book coming out in April 2010, I’m actively pitching TV and Web series, and I have a handful of active marketing clients, including Nokia, UCLA, and Generosity Water.  A multi-national corporation, a university, and a non-profit.

You’d think I would have learned to specialize.

Every time someone asks me what I do, I squint my eyes and try to formulate an answer.  I’m not prideful.  I’m probably more humble than I should be… I am just trying to contextualize why I do the creative things I do, and I never have a suitable answer.  Perhaps it’s just not that simple, or perhaps my personal confusion about my work complicates it.

Maybe I should just settle on “I create things, some written, some visual.”

All that to say, I hope to use this blog as a forum to explore an answer to that question: “What do you do?”

I hope you find my thoughts interesting and perhaps use me as a sounding board for your creative endeavors.

Like I said, I’m reading Hugh MacLeod’s book.  He’s an older creative guy with a lot of wisdom and experience.  I’m less experienced, but just as creative.

So, if I’m asking the question… how would you answer?  What do YOU do?

1) Can you request someone to follow you on Twitter without posting it on the wall for everyone else to see?

Nope — you can’t “request followers” like you do in Facebook. Think of Twitter like a blog. If someone wants to follow you, they will. And if you want someone to follow you, you have to ask for it out in the open (or via an email). (PS — asking someone to follow you in Twitter is looked down upon — it’s better to participate in a conversation they’re already having or RT some of their tweets. If they notice you and like your content, they’ll follow you. Easier said than done, but there you go.)

2) Can you direct message someone without them following you?

Again, no. When you follow someone, you give them the permission to DM you. If they don’t follow you, can’t DM them.

Always good to be thinking about both technological possibility AND etiquette when it comes to your personal online brand.

The simple concept was to capture the twitter messages of historical figures, and in doing so, create a funny and compelling new type of content.

Together with Alan Beard of Wave Strategies, we wanted to combine a hot new technology (Twitter) with the boring old history books to showcase how content can create a new conversation (and hopefully generate some laughs along the way).

I always wanted to enter the sleek, stylish world of AMC’s multi-Emmy nominated series “Mad Men.” And I just did! (That’s me in the suit.)

The show’s Web site lets you “Mad Men Yourself” — create your own “Mad Men” (or Mad Women?) avatar. Choose your body type, hair color, clothing, accessories and drink of choice. Then, put your character in a scene and set the image as your background. This. Is. Awesome. It’ll tide you over until the 10 p.m. Aug. 16 season three premiere.

Now, on to the video.  What a powerful, yet simply done message.  The tempo, flow, imagery, and music all come together to really get the point across.  This group targets church members around the United States and their YouTube video already has about 90,000 views.  Not bad for trying to reach a niche audience.

The simple concept was to capture the twitter messages of historical figures, and in doing so, create a funny and compelling new type of content.

Together with Alan Beard of Wave Strategies, we wanted to combine a hot new technology (Twitter) with the boring old history books to showcase how content can create a new conversation (and hopefully generate some laughs along the way).

Some messages are benign, some are lame puns, some push the envelope, and some will likely offend. But the goal was to create something of interest out of something common — history and pop culture.

The Early results: in three weeks, after 20 posts, with nothing more than a Twitter account, and submissions to both Digg and StumbleUpon, the site has generated 2400 unique visitors and 12,000 page views. Not bad for little to no marketing work.

As the site grows in interest, we will enact a more active marketing campaign, but, so far, this content experiment has yielded great results.

Do you have “common content?” Every organization has its own, boring content — history, milestones, stories, and more. How can you use this content to your advantage in an engaging way?

You can subscribe to Historical Tweets by Twitter, RSS Feed, or Daily Digest Email.

The “viralness” of your video depends on a) whether or not your video’s tone resonates strongly enough with your target audience, and b) whether or not your target audience is web-savvy enough to forward, blog about, re-post, and redistribute your viral video to their friends, contacts, readers, etc.

An interesting statement from the post:

Some respondents said a viral video for a marketing campaign is a hit if it draws 100,000 views, while others pegged success at 250,000 or 50,000 views.

One million views seems to be the number that everyone throws around, so it’s good to see smaller numbers get some attention as well.  50,000 views is an expensive ad buy for $100k, unless your 50,000 viewers were hitting your client’s sweet spot.

On being open to “less efficient” processes early on:
Appreciate the different creative types among your people—and realize that some are better at certain phases than others. And be very tolerant of the subversive. Creative work must, like Mark Twain’s character Huck Finn, avoid all “sivilizing” influences.

Creativity is really about silencing the voices (inside or outside ourselves) that say “no.”  Little annoying, evil voices that kill ideas before they’re fully hatched.  Efficiency, profitability, and misplaced strategy are all enemies of creativity.

Certainly, creative-types shouldn’t be lazy, excuse-making slobs.  (Some are)  Because true creativity comes when your mind is fully engaged in something else, and something makes a connection.  Your mind’s freedom (or your organization’s or your team members’) is important.  I read that Steven Spielberg’s best ideas come in the car, while driving.  His mind, fully engaged in the passive/reactive state of driving is allowed to drift into other places.  Come on, we all do it.  He just takes what he dreams up and makes blockbuster movies.

So what can you do to either be more creative yourself, or foster an environment of creativity in your workplace?

Be positive to ideas. Nothing kills ideas like a steady stream of “no.”  Be open to rethinking yourself, your brand, and your goals.

Create a sandbox to play in. Create a place to execute ideas on a small level, before they must be canonized, and put into production for all the world to see.  A test blog, a low-end video shoot, a sketch rendering.

Be prepared for failure. Many ideas lead nowhere, but they are great lessons, and lead to better ones.

Creativity can come from anywhere, and in an era of media and commercial saturation, it is only true and genunine personal creativity that resonates.  Are you having problems standing out?

UK’s answer to the Cup O’ Noodles, Pot Noodle has a comedy-friendly brand (hey, the feature dwarf wrestlers on their web page, after all), and they recently worked with ad house AKQA to create a little viral buzz.

They created a news report from the 80’s about a guy who develops sheep-like wool after eating enough Pot Noodle. “You are what you eat,” the guy claims. It’s funny, but certainly not funnier than anything else I’ve seen online.

The value comes from its editing — the video itself was copied onto an old VHS tape and re-imported to give it that static-y, 80’s feel. AKQA also teamed up with The Sun to run a fake news article about the video.

The video only has about 1200 views on YouTube, but is creative enough for me to take note.

Where this doesn’t apply so much is the opening up of a marketing campaign to draw in viewers. As news continues to become commoditized, how do you stand out?

CNN crossed two mediums that don’t seem to work together. Headline T-shirts.

Brilliant. What does CNN have an endless supply of? Headlines. What would be the least-relevant news delivery-vehicle? Clothing. Put them together and you have a humorous, self-referential motif that really works.

In this case, the number of shirts they sell don’t matter as much as the concept itself. They are printed on demand, and carry the benefit of a buzz-worthy idea.

The home page, like every other university web site out there, has a large photo-centric center section that corresponds with a recent news-ish story.

There’s a tiny bit of interactivity with the mouse on LMU’s page, however, and despite how subtle it is, it really works. It got me to stick around the page minutes longer than I otherwise would, and it just makes it more fun.

Quantifiable? No. It’s a surprise a little feature like this made it through the various discussions that I know happen at institutions of higher learning (”Will people get it?” “Is it too flashy?” “Will this make us look too hip/trendy/fun?”).

Way to go, LMU. It almost makes up for your crazy, almost unreadable URL-naming system:

• Admissions = http://www.lmu.edu/page76.aspx
• Contact Us = http://www.lmu.edu/page70.aspx
• Quick Facts = http://www.lmu.edu/pagefactory.aspx?PageID=110

Give bloggers a chance, will ya?

I am really impressed by the size and brightness of that screen, and was overall impressed with the visuals that went behind it.  At times, they seemed out of sync with what he was saying, and other times, added to the moment.  The biggest problem with the setup was that they didn’t make sense to the TV audience during the close-ups (Garr goes into details about this).  He should make available a wide shot photo of each and every slide with him in front of it.  It would give bloggers something to talk about, rather than just the missteps.  My visuals grade: A for Effort, B+ for Execution.

Conversely, Barack Obama painted a different backdrop at his speech at the DNC.  His staging wasn’t that fancy: what seemed like a bunch of American flags in front of a building (looked like a ranch-style house, or stable?).  But the true backdrop was the crowded Denver stadium.  The TV cameras were able to cut away to thousands of average, seemingly middle-class people listening to the speech.  It was a different way to generating and furthering a message.  My visuals grade: B for Effort, B for Execution.