A Time For Levi-Strauss

The famous anthropologist and a jeans brand share the same name. While we were saddened at the news of the french intellectual's passing, we're commenting today upon the latter. The jeans brand has itself not been in the best of health in recent years. Grant McKracken points to this in his recent book Chief Culture Officer, by lamenting the billions of dollar in market opportunity the company missed out on by failing to understand the changes fashion in happening around it.

On the streets of San Francisco are examples of spirited Levi's advertising that fits the times. Jeans are a well-worn medium for self expression so it's no surprise that the brand is promoting a belief which it hopes will be shared by the followers it seeks. An added strength in the work (below) is that the themes echo the sentiment of the zeitgeist. Being a time of austerity and uncertainty has forced many people to question old priorities and focus on qualities that are basic yet enduring. We think it's a good move.

Communications carpet bombing

Is there some 'rule of five' that decrees communications are more effective when repeated multiple times?

One might be mistaken for thinking so given this street vendor spotted recently on the streets of NYC.

Perhaps it is no more than a left-over legacy of pre-enlightened communications theory from the 1950s.

His advertising room at a premium, the space would be far better spent on increasing the point size for each food he promotes - increasing legibility for further away.

It might also enable enticing adjectives to be included enhancing the appeal of his wares rather than advertising the basic items.

With street vendors a commodity business in this city, it would take only modest measures to brand a seller into a more distinctive, unique provider.

Being comfortable with the uncomfortable

Many people experience discomfort when they encounter something that challenges an existing held belief or understanding about their world. It is often not something people are conscious of, and while the reaction may occur in the form of a feeling, most often it does not: it is merely an immediate visceral rejection to the stimulus which emerges as a sense that it is simply wrong.

Comfort represents a condition or state in which a belief has solidified and become firmly entrenched. The stimulus is challenging precisely because it threatens this established order, it is literally stirring up that which has settled in the mind.

We are not talking about stimuli that are blatantly offensive, such an an image of one person violently kicking another; discomfort and rejection at a subconscious level can be precipitated by something relatively innocuous.

A case in point: OFD was invited to talk with some folks in the advertising industry recently about the luxury car brand they were representing. The task at hand was to understand how to sell more of these expensive vehicles in what is a heavily contested market. OFD raised the need to understand the intersection of the core idea of luxury with current cultural trends. The former is what people have a fundamental relationship with, but due to the modulating, moderating effect of the latter, it needs to be re-contextualized to attain contemporary relevance.

In this regard the group was asked to consider how the quality of power could be play out in the current luxury climate. There was immediate resistance. The associations which they had with this term - dominance, an aggressive attitude or display, abuse - were firmly entrenched and got in the way of openly engaging with the idea. There was much discussion, but the echoes of the deeply held beliefs about power kept coming out. The idea that the character of power could be different, something intimate, privately experienced and enjoyed rather than being aggressively and publicly displayed created real discomfort, real friction.

As a society we have stopped appreciating the value in feeling uncomfortable and forgotten how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. These are unpredictable and uncertain times, which only heightens people's tendencies to want to cling to the familiar. This is above and beyond the cultural forces that work beneath the surface of our daily consciousness which push us towards inertia and stability rather than flux and change.

In the pursuit of progress, the idea itself is not enough. The context in which the idea is exposed, the 'mental environment' in which people encounter it has a critical impact on the ability to fully understand the idea itself as well as the ability to fully engage with it.