Appreciation of Beauty is the Core

Last weekend I was reading the philosophy of heavy-weight designers and creative gurus like Dr. Clotaire Rapaille and his Reptillian Brain Theory or "collective cultural unconscious" where we find that the general consumer population has certain deep attractions for products and material goods that they can't easily explain verbally. The famous product designers, Richard Seymore and Dick Powel echo similar ideas regarding feelings and how they move us to appreciate design qualities such as beauty. Denis Dutton, the philosopher and editor articulates that our understanding of beauty is the core of being homo sapiens. 


In the future, I'll try to post how this research influences upcoming marketing meetings I'm involved with... as we set a course for major consumer marketing campaign. BTW how does this photo influence your feelings? Inviting? Unreachable? Luxurious? Peaceful? I took the photo while on assignment in a stately MN Home.

New Studies about Inactivity

The company I work for, Ergotron,  has an excellent summary on their blog, regarding the concerns of sitting too much and some recent research on this topic.

http://blogs.ergotron.com/blog/2011/11/03/theres-a-reason-they-call-it-sitting-disease/

Unfortunately, many of us are stuck long hours sitting at a computer.  Did you know just standing more each day burns extra calories, tones muscles, increases blood flow and ramps up metabolism and increases productivity. Encourage your family and friends to stand-up more.

Here's another new product from Ergotron (not yet released) that will help people stand and sit throughout their day.... and get the creative juices flowing.

Ergotron's Sit-Stand Workstations in Local News

Minnesota's CBS group, WCCO, ran this article and video last night.

Eagan-Based Company and Sit-Stand Desks

In fact, it is just the latest in a long list of news organizations that are singing our song this year. As I've mentioned before, I work for Ergotron (Marketing Creative Director), and its been rewarding seeing our products and creative messages have some impact.

6/16/2011: WCCO News: Eagan-Based Company Cashes In On Sit-Stand Desks
6/16/2011: Star Tribune: New reason not to sit down on the job
6/15/2011: B2B Magazine: The uprising: Just stand! from Ergotron
6/6/2011: Buildings.com: 2011 Top Money-Saving products (See Occupant Wellbeing)
5/25/2011: KARE11 News: Stand up for your health
5/17/2011: KSTP News: FEATURED LINK: 'JustStand'
5/5/2011: Lifehacker.com: How Many Calories Would You Burn If You Switched to a Standing Desk?
5/3/11: Notebooks.com: Standing Desk Guide: Measurements, Examples, Benefits and Ergotron WorkFit-S Review: Standing Desk with Hinged Dual LCD Mount (Video)
3/2011: TwinCities Business Journal: The Big Stretch
2/26/2011: KARE11: Body monitor provides KARE 11 staffers surprising results
1/19/2011: Chrisfreytag.com:  Sitting Around Could Actually Be Killing You - So Stand UP!
1/17/2011: KARE11 News: Motivation Monday: Stand up for your health

The Most Dangerous Thing You'll Do All Day

Interesting article, The Most Dangerous Thing You'll Do All Day

By Bill Phillips and the Editors of Men's Health
Mar 30, 2011

It's very timely given my post from last month and Ergotron's emphasis on standing more. So if you find yourself sitting more than 6 hours a day, get some kind of ergonomic stand-up workstation. A workstation that allows one to sit or stand works best.

I'm working on a new info-graphic that focuses on the 100s of calories burned during the day be simply standing more. Stay tuned.

Standing desks and workstations

Do you want to boost your creativity and improve your health? Try standing more while you work at your computer.

For full disclosure: I work for Ergotron and we make all kinds of computer mounting solutions, including stand-up workstations (those are my arms in the photo at left).

It is a very simple equation: standing a little more each day burns extra calories, tones muscles, improves posture, increases blood flow and ramps up metabolism.

On the creative side, being freed from a "desk-sentence" (I can't take credit for that reference to "death sentence" I read it on a blog)... where one is usually hunched over and stuck in one place, and then freed to stand and move around sharpens the mind and creative juices. I can't fully explain it but you have to try it... I have, and I love it.

The standing workstations that Ergotron makes allow the user to stand or sit so if you get tired you can still sit. I think this form of standing while you compute is going to catch-on big in ad agencies and in corporations... we are receiving an enormous amount of positive feedback at Ergotron saying how standing at work is improving their health and productivity.

L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School

My good friend and fellow creative designer... along with his wife have devoted themselves to their two young children and have made countless sacrifices for their education and care. For example, Steve, stayed home and cared for his young girls and forfeited his salary and seniority at his workplace. He and his wife changed neighborhoods/home for his girls and as parents they spent countless hours choosing the right school for their girls.... and their choice was L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School (which is in their neighborhood). The school is the crown-jewel for the St. Paul school districts (highly rated, excellent parent involvement...) yet St. Paul wants to move it.

Read more here and please sign the petition to keep the school where it is. Help keep the school where Steve's girls.. and their friends live and where it is dearly wanted.

http://www.eastsidepride.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-lnfi-school-in-its-current-location

Infographics

Infographics have become an important marketing vehicle on the web. Most everyone is familiar with the concept, it goes back to the old print publication technique found frequently in Time and Newsweek and even local newspapers. In short, an infographic boils down all the essential elements of a story or message into an eye-catching graphic that has few words and is contained usually on one page.

In this internet-age, they are very much the same in how they look, the difference is more in how they are delivered. Infographics are often designed with a very broad/open copyright position (see creative commons). By opening the infographic to the public domain the creators hope the bloggers, web content authors, tweet-ers, news-aggregators and such will use the infographic in their content and the message will be pushed out organically to their audience, sometimes called, "going viral".

Take a look at a few infographics...  juststand cause campaign from Ergotron (the company I work for); infonewt an infographic marketing group and a money blogger.

Monetizing Twitter?

The 2009 FTC regulation change that was directed at bloggers and product endorsements seems like it could offer some insight into Twitter relationships/endorsements as well. Read a more complete review of this FTC action in this NYT article.

Sometimes we forget that the new media, such as Twitter, is an effective and aggressive tool of capitalism. Slowly more people are becoming aware that famous twitter personalities, are getting $ to gently endorse products. Adding to these planned/tainted motives are bots cranking out the tweets every 5 minutes vying for your precious attention and buying power. BTW, can anybody really keep up with and follow more than 60 twitter persons? Doesn't following 2000+ tweets seem excessive, especially when some are tweeting around 5X a day?

It appears the pure stream of real people and their opinions is beginning to suffocate in the crowded and frenetic pool of strategic commerce.

Twitter is a great way to briefly communicate with a bunch of people. But just like our parents said, "don't believe everything you read or hear".

Photo is of a classic Minnesota fishing boat tied to the dock and ready for an adventure.

Hot video topic: Using new SLRs for HD video

I've had the pleasure of working with two very skilled director/cinematographers/producers from LA over the last 3 years. Teaming-up with our marketing team at Ergotron, and a local Twin city actor, we have produced some very fun product commercials (see left side of TesterGuy videos).

In our last film the guys from LA recommended they shoot the whole commercial on a new Canon 7D SLR. As many of you know, the new SLRs now have HD video capability and the Canon 1080p! The canon SLR's extremely sensitive capture system combined with some sophisticated lens action makes for some cinema-like footage. Check out our new Ergotron LX LCD Arm commercial which is completely shot on the Canon 7D SLR.

SLR videos are the rage, and for good reason (capability and affordability compared to high-end video camera), check out these great SLR video blogs/articles.
http://vimeo.com/6759220
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09090105canoneos7d.asp
http://photofocus.com/2009/10/19/learn-5d-mark-ii-canon-cinematography-with-philip-bloom-mini-review/ (mostly addresses Canon 5D MK II, but relevant for 7D)

Creative ramblings on Social Media

Photo at left is of Blackhills bison in S. Dakota. I enjoyed the trip as much as our kids!

As consumers, we still need to ask a question of social-media... is the content organic/authentic/accurate/what I need? Subtle yet persuasive distortions are difficult to detect in what is heralded as "your pure stream of truth". Many bloggers ran out of fresh meaningful content and also were influenced by monetize options. Tweets, although tiny and brief, sometimes lack integrity.

I've also noticed, people who have FB sites/groups and tweet now are web content creators and this neophyte audience is getting targeted by savvy marketing machines. The marketing snake oil says to the new web content makers "You can reach more customers if you do/use this" and the B to B or B to C.... or even niche or mass market categories often go unaddressed and misapplied.

Perhaps the prospect-pie isn't growing for some... but rather, the pie is shifting in how it finds information.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog on Social Media, the challenge is to not get bogged down while making use of the benefits.

A couple positives in this new trend: Many marketing groups that have embraced twitter, blogs and are active out in web-communities are reaching their audiences at a fraction of the cost of years past. The $8,000 4C ad for a 1 page ad, for one month, in a decent trade magazine is looking like yesterday's excesses. Inexpensive home-made youtube videos are becoming as influential as the big-coin professional video content.

Digital Slide Shows: Nikon Coolpix S1000PJ

In my generation, many remember the old slide-shows Mom and Dad and Uncle Harry projected on the wall. This manner of showing photos is alive and well in the digital world thanks to Nikon and other manufacturers of micro-projectors. What's unique in this example is that the micro-projecter is integrated into the digital camera.

See Popular Mechanics article

Sounds like a great addition for the family, but also it offers an improved workflow in some digital photography and design settings. If you have several people needing to review a set of images a micro-projector could be the answer... especially if a large display is not around.