#11 – Of brand building in digital, a humanist renaissance, the limitation of story, and great creativity
Good morning, good Monday!
You might notice that today isn’t Friday and that Strategy Bites is therefore a full three days late. I could just pretend that I forgot to hit send but I have a much better excuse: I was whisked away on a surprise city break with some of my best friends. So there you have it.
This week is a slightly schizophrenic selection of pieces that are written by optimists pushing against sceptics, or written by sceptics cautioning the optimists. (I’m then adding some skepticism towards the skepticism.) It contains high flying theory on one end and a very practical tool on the other.
Enjoy the read – and see you back in a few days. (Probably on Friday.)
Ignore the sceptics, brands can be built on digital platforms. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m sharing an article that argues you can build a brand on digital platforms (in a way, that’s what I’m trying to do here, after all.) It’s even less of a surprise that the compelling argument comes from Tom Roach. Time to embrace today’s media then.
The Coming Humanist Renaissance. A long read about humanity’s role in the age of ever accelerating technology bringing us this nugget of a comparison: “If Google’s search engine is the modern-day Library of Alexandria, the new AI will be a mercurial prophet.”
Against Story. I’ve shared plenty of pieces about language and words and writing – and often they come down to story. I’ve also just recently shared a Coursera course about “Economic Narratives” – so I think it’s only fair to share a piece that is provocatively titled, but then makes a much more nuanced point (that we seem to be drawn to repeatable, comfortable, neat narratives), before it stumbles over its own argument at the very end: “But if we pursue only that which fosters bodily homeostasis and mental balance, we’ll never get around to the spontaneous, exploratory, experimental. These things are needed in an ever-changing world. Any story that uses its form not to reiterate and comfort, but to challenge and extend, is therefore an allegory of progress and a muse of invention.” Ultimately a piece not against story but against stories that don’t change a thing.
Knock Knock. Last week saw the the annual celebration of occasionally great creativity, ego, hypocrisy, and hubris our beloved industry is capable of. This year’s Glass Lion winner is an example of the former. Cheil Worldwide Soul won for an innovation created for the National Police Agency that allows victims of domestic violence or who are unable to speak to request police assistance by simply tapping the handset.
Google Ads Transparency Center. Google just released a tool allowing you to check out all live (digital) ads by any advertiser on their platform. A handy tool to get a quick glimpse of what kind of visuals and messages and tactics your competition/category is deploying. Pro tip: deactivate your ad blocker.
A Twitter Thread About Violence in Games. If you have been playing video games you probably have heard about the argument that violence in games leads to violence in children. This Twitter thread lists a few papers that couldn’t find a connection between the two. And, even better, found that violence was reduced after playing GTA.
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