The Pepperspective

Here’s a look at our first day back at the office in 2012. Apart from this simple exercise of planning our projects for the year (no big deal), we all decided to learn something new – one idea per person – by watching TED talks. It’s one of our favorite ways to grow and get inspired, and we thought we’d share our discoveries with you. With ideas about everything from public pranks to brain mapping, there’s hopefully something in here that inspires you, too.

In the hey-day of advertising – way back in the 80s and 90s – the theory was, the crazier the idea, the better. Clients would literally say to their agencies, “Make me famous with a crazy stunt. Get my name out there.” Those were the days when marketing budgets were the size of the national debt.

But alas, those days seem to be gone, and not surprisingly, some of those marketing directors are also gone. Today, clients demand smart solutions to their business problems.

If your biggest goal is to make award-winning advertising content, you’ll never do it.*

Why? For the same reason that you’ll never write a brilliant article by focusing on writing a brilliant article. You’ll end up regurgitating stale ideas in a pretentious way.

But if you want to write an article about, say, how to give good feedback, it might just turn out to be brilliant.

You’ve probably never heard of the Universal Law of Awesomeness, but it goes something like this:  If you want to be awesome at something, there are only two steps you must take.

1.  Learn all the rules.
2.  Play the game better than anyone else.

If your game is advertising, you might be tempted to argue that there aren’t rules to it anymore. Or at least that the good players break those rules all the time.

It’s a seductive argument, and it’s dead wrong. 

We all know relationships matter. But why are they sometimes so frustrating? With the importance, and complexity, of relationships, it warrants identifying and analyzing the elements that make them successful. Stefan Speligene, VP of client services at redpepper, dives into key relationship-building techniques and how their implementation will result in mutual satisfaction.

And the award goes to…..Tesco Korea.  This years Cannes Grand Prix Media Award winner had a goal of being the number one supermarket in South Korea.  To increase their market share without opening more stores, they created virtual stores in subway stations. 

How do you collect your inspiration? I’m sure everyone has their own system and after a conversation with a few of my office peeps recently, I began wondering what works for me probably doesn’t work for all. 

With 600 million members as potential shoppers, Facebook is on its way to becoming the largest online retail hub ever with brands like Delta and Coca-Cola already on-board. Read about the fast-approaching age of F-commerce, or Facebook-based retailing, from redpepper partner Tim McMullen on Forbes.com.

Expensive, good haircuts. Love ‘em. Hate to spend the money. Or do we? We are willing to spend money on quality services that matter to us, and good haircuts simply matter. A lot. So why do they matter so much? Because if you look at a person as a brand, hair would be the equivalent to the logo.

So, I recently made another pilgrimage to IKEA with my husband – one of our all time favorite stores – and it got me thinking…why? Why do we love this store so much?

Food…check

Daycare…check

A couple of months ago, I met one of redpepper’s idols, Seth Godin.  Quirky fella, but genius in his marketing and leadership expertise which is showcased in his latest book, Poke The Box.  This book is written kind of rant style and essentially is Godin’s manifesto about starting things.

As a relatively recent college graduate, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my learning at school versus the learning I’ve experienced in the “real world.” Many a day have I thought, Man, I really wish they would have taught me that in school in some type of “this is really how the business works” class. Of course, there are many things that you cannot learn in a classroom and that you simply must experience for yourself, but what if colleges really did provide a better opportunity for students to truly learn by doing?

Everything is a Remix is a 4 part series that proves to us just how much creativity is made up of 3 elements - copying, transforming, and combining.

The above video is Part 3. It shows how Apple straight-up copied almost everything Xerox had already done with history’s very first PC, then combined that with their own user-experience and marketing ideas, thus, creating a FRIGGIN EMPIRE.

Proof that:

1) being in touch with innovation +
2) strong UX design +
3) good marketing

may just be all it takes to start your empire.

Watch the entire series of Everything is a Remix by Kirby Ferguson, here.

Is being a mom a liability when it comes to your job? 

I (the one on the left) often asked myself this very question as I was pregnant with my son - wondering if I’d still be able to keep up my pace at work while adding a whole new job to my already full life. 

If someone asked you how you would measure your happiness over the past year, how would you respond?

Would it be an image, a phrase, a song or a combination of all?

It does take some thought and each individual answer would be different. I recently came across this article that challenged me to post my own version.  Here is a sample of my sister’s list.

Okoboji, IA •Houston, TX •Alta, IA (3) •Iowa City, IA •Munich & Oberammergau, Germany •Innsbruck, Salzburg & Vienna, Austria •Naples, FL •Miami, FL •Cozumel, Mexico •Georgetown •Grand Cayman •Roatan, Honduras •Belize City, Belize • Nashville (6) •Boston, MA •Rome, Florence, Pisa, Verona, Venice & Ferrara, Italy

Here is a sample of my list [pictured above].