Riding solo?

Carticipate is a social transportation experiment available via an iphone app and, hold on, you won't believe it, wait for it.... facebook. Carticipants enter where and when they plan to travel and the location-aware mobile software matches you up to others who are going the same way. I admire the effort to not only reduce emissions but also rush hour road rage. Eventually, I see the potential for retailers that are on someone's path to jump in on the game. Stay tuned over the next few months to see where this goes and how many carpooling carticipants sign up!

What is a Moment?

a little library love

I'm reading Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller and wanted to give a quick shout out to public libraries across the world. Although I wish I could afford to have a room full of the words of the greats, the inspirational, the provocative, the rule breakers, and the story tellers of today. But alas, I work in advertising and can't afford much more than this computer and have given up on this dream for the time being. Instead, I'm in a committed relationship with my public library.

Im helplessly devoted to the pages of Spent and am intrigued by the study of how people are driven to acquire more and more even though research has clearly shown that stuff won't make us happy. Like many of the books I've borrowed over the last few years, I've already reserved the next read and I'm only about 90 pages into this one.

My curiosity drove me to look for some statistics about library cards: how many have one, who is most likely to, how often they are used, etc. I found a site that was helpful in answering these questions ( apologies for not looking longer for more recent). If you don't have one, go get one. I guarantee you'll find something you like ;)

A little bit is better than nada...

This weekend, I saw what could very well have been the smallest product display on earth located above 10,000' in Leadville, Colorado. I could have been tempted had the product itself been a bit more enticing.

What Would You Do?-- With 6 seconds

This Retail Merchandiser article says the average section in a store gets only 5 or 6 seconds of exposure from the shopper. Five seconds! What can possibly be going on in our mind in these few fleeting seconds? We could and oftentimes do hours and hours of research to see what messages and visuals resonate best, in an attempt to feel secure OUR message will be of the few that is heard within this short window. We can also brush up on our understanding of cognitive biases-- which are basically adaptive- or maladaptive- mental shortcuts we all use to make decisions quickly.

This video shows how supermarkets use research to fight back and keep people in stores longer.

It's You, Or Y!ou, Or Ylou?

Next week, Yahoo! will launch its new $100 million dollar global marketing campaign, "Its Y!ou" right here in the U.S. of A. The campaign's focus will be on the personification of the homepage and its products. WIth Google's shares rising 50% in the last 6 months despite the country's recession, I give the company the best of luck with the new adventure. But... With all this effort to reinvent the brand, it begs the question, "why is the CEO seemingly bringing about bad PR?"

virtual barbershop

http://ccgi.bluerabbit.plus.com/virtualbarbershop/

You just have to do this. With headphones.

don't forget to be awesome

YouTube has tapped into its philanthropic users to ask them to put their video skills to good use. YTVideoVolunteers recognizes the need for those who make a difference by actually going out into this "hyper physical medium called real life", but are extending opportunities for creative video heads to bring attention to the organizations they support.
What a great way to use this enormous space that has universal usage ( every minute, 10 hours of video are uploaded- YouTubeFacts) to bring some attention to those who need it.

puma to the rescue

Tough economy dragging you down? Puma is taking some of the weight off... or should I say clothes? In support the recent launch of the company's athletic undergarment line, Puma "bodywear", Puma has stepped beyond traditional advertising to develop an iphone app that links the rise and fall of the stock market to models putting on or taking off their clothes. The app is called the Puma Index, as the stock market goes down, the index goes up. 

I wish I could get my hands on this project's brief.

Advice to those who still have jobs...

Take Recess.

Although the research in this NYT health blog leaves a little to be desired from a scientific validity standpoint, the results support the fact that the human brain can see great benefits from aerobic exercise. I wont surprise anyone by saying exercise is beneficial to our mind's health, but this article explains that activities like swimming, brisk walking, running, and cycling ( I'm sure some of you can think of other things to do to keep your heart rate up) may actually allow the brain to recall more information than anaerobic activities like walking, pleasure jogging, or weightlifting. So, if you want to keep your brain in shape, find something that works for you to make you pant and puff each day. Oh, and don't forget to read.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/what-sort-of-exercise-can-make-you-smarter/

Art helping science tell the story of our earth's future

Using a team of time-lapsed cameras, James Balog and the Extreme Ice Survey are addressing the tragedy of our world's rapidly disappearing ice in a very impactful way. The project is a great example of how powerful a story can be when both science and art are allowed to write. I'm hopeful efforts like this will not only keep our eyes open to the world around us but also to challenge us all to consider both the emotional and rational side of our tales.

New Webster Words Illustrate Where We Are

I sporadically visit the Webster website in a weak attempt to keep my language colorful and recently noticed this page that highlighted a few of the new words incorporated into Webster for 2009. Its interesting how even in this abbreviated list, the language we use is a good indication of what our world finds important enough to create words to express. ( and how mother Mac's tenacity to add that red dotted line will never cease to amaze me)

Sharing Via the Web:
fan fiction, vlog, webisodes

Environmentalism:
carbon footprint, locavore, green collar

Physical Medicine:
cardioprotective, naproxen, pharmacogenetics...

advice to myself

A recent commute had me listening to callers expressing advice to their younger selves. To my surprise, most of the advice centered around a missed opportunity rather than encouragement. After some thought, I decided to give myself some of my own advice now before I wake up in 20 years calling into a morning talk show to share my life's regrets.  I gave myself 2 minutes to write down my thoughts ( note the "slow down" advice) and made it into a word cloud. Although I should spend more than 2 minutes on something with this much importance,  its still a very clear representation of my life's call to arms. I challenge you to match my thoughtful 2 minutes by going here and creating your own  http://www.wordle.net/

Inspiration in the everyday

When Brazillian designer Jarbas Agnelli saw a photo in the local newspaper of birds perched on 5 electrical wires, he saw something special-- he saw music. He mentions that he was "just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating."  Another fantastic reminder that organic creativity and inspiration are all around you and all you have to do is read the news (Ha!)-- Simply keep your eyes open and your mind free. Its out there. 

Doodle But Don't Daydream

( at least when you need to be listening...)

According to a study in Applied Cognitive Psychology doodling while listening can actually help you remember details as it may keep you from daydreaming and losing focus.  http://www.physorg.com/news154937903.html

My Inspiration

I'm interested in the community, identity, and empowerment that the online world allows. This idea of participant observation is key. In order to more completely understand how bloggers feel about exposing different levels of themselves to a keyboard or a webcam, I want to do it first hand. Hope to see you again along the ride ;)

"Design Something That Solves A Problem"

What a novel idea, right? I work in advertising, where its easy to get caught up in the day to day of our designs and the belief its going to soar miles above the rest and engage with people on unexplored levels ( okay, maybe a stretch here). The James Dyson Award is a design competition that not only inspires young engineers but also remains true to its problem-solving roots. I think a spoonful of reality soup is always a good treatment for over-active advertising execs (like myself). Here are a few examples from the competition.

http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/Default.aspx

Curiosity Killed the.. well boredom

Curious.Seven was borne out of my endless search to find the "right fit" while studying at Iowa State University. After seven majors in only 4 years, I walked away with a great understanding of human nature, and the ability to not only find the interesting angle of a story but also put that vision into words on paper- Journalism and Psychology. Since leaving the university about three and a half years ago, I've grown to accept that its not as easy beyond those walls to change your mind. There is no Dean's Office I can simply go to and explain my plan and within thirty minutes, I'm back out the door with a new path. I now understand I have my entire life to learn, not four years. And that's exactly what I plan to do.
For this blog, I envision it being primarily about what inspires me, thoughts I have about people ( and how that relates to business), and interesting things I find while pursuing this life of learning. I'm also open to letting the blog evolve into what it feels like.
Let's see where we go, and maybe, just maybe you'll even learn something new while you're on the ride.