Here’s a quick blurb that I provided for Monster Thinking.  Monster Thinking – tip #2 is yours truly.

- Anson.

Who knew that staring at the color green increases your creativity?  Several recent studies suggest that the best route to an “aha moment” involves stepping away from the grindstone-whether its taking a daydream break, belting back a drink or two or simply gazing at something green.  According to a new study from the Wall Street Journal, that and some other surprising things will increase your creativity.

WSJ Advertising Creativity Graphic

Steve Jobs was famous for taking walks around Palo Alto with his top lieutenants as the simple act of getting out of your daily surroundings stimulated your brain

I’m lucky enough to have a roof top deck at our LA office, so hopefully staring at Palm Trees will make me more productive?

Unless you’ve been living under a social media rock, you may have heard about Oreo’s brand domination during the Super Bowl.  The simple yet powerful tweet, posted while viewers suffered through a 30-minute blackout during the megaevent, introduced the world to the strategy of Real-Time Marketing.  By having brand & agency teams on call during popular events, companies may capitalize on these unplanned moments to drive Awareness and Engagement.  Since then, Brands have flocked to this method to help capitalize on the technique to connect in the same way Oreo has.

Is this a good thing?  Well, as someone who has encountered the dreaded phrase “client approvals,” this is something that can help ease those troubles.  Often, brands are nervous to post anything without escalating it through the proper channels (e.g. legal department), and items such as Facebook posts can take days or even weeks(!) to approve.  Since social media by nature deals in the present tense, the opportunity can often pass before the idea makes it out of the gate.  However, by having a concrete example of how effective Real-Time Marketing (RTM) can be, agencies now arm themselves to work with brands, cut through the red tape, and effectively capitalize on these opportunities.  Meanwhile, for brands, they see a piece of content that dominated the conversation without the $4 million price tag for TV advertising placement.  Talk about a convincing argument!

During the Academy Awards this past Sunday, the champions were at it again with a string of timely tweets that featured relatable content.  Although these pieces appear pre-planned, they spoke to an immediate event and have extended the life of last year’s Daily Twist campaign.

What do you think of this content?  Has Oreo become the king of Real-Time Marketing?

Try this exercise: when I say “three social networks,” which come to mind? Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest? Maybe LinkedIn or YouTube?  Those were the sites that came to mind for me.  What is more important for purposes of this conversation is a site that may not have come to mind: Google+.  In June 2011, Google launched their response to Facebook, and fan reception was somewhat underwhelming.  Even despite a re-design in April 2012 that allowed for better page navigation, Google+ has remained an afterthought to many of its users.  Or has it?

According to the Global Web Index (managed by UK market research firm Trendstream), Google+ actually ranks second among all social networks in Number of Active Users & Monthly Active Usage, beating out Twitter and every other network with the exception of Facebook.  Their findings indicate that Google+ grew to over 343 million Active Users in 2012 (a 27% increase from 2011), and over 25% of those fans visit the site at least once per month.

The findings certainly surprise users who feel that Google+ fell by the wayside shortly after its release.  I personally created a profile on the network but have failed to update it in months.  However, it is important to consider the two main areas that drive Google+’s growth:

1. Google’s integration between products

When I signed up for YouTube, Google required that I use my Gmail account to do so versus any other.  When I signed up for my Google+ page, I was required to use the same Gmail account.  And just like that, all 3 platforms became linked to one another on purpose.  Now, when I access YouTube, my feed looks like this:

What’s important to note is that I do not connect with these users on YouTube; I connect through Google+.  Also, these videos appear on my YouTube feed as a result of my friends’ actions on Google+ (not on YouTube).  Therefore, I engage with friends’ content from Google+ without accessing the site at all.

Now I did not opt-in to this “feature,” but I indirectly help drive the active user count on Google+ without even knowing it!  This type of functionality will certainly affect other Google offerings, with search results featuring recommended results based on your Google+ network.

2. Growth outside of the U.S.

By looking at the below graph, the evidence is clear: growth among a number of global markets helps Google+ dramatically.

Although the U.S. presence grew moderately by about 75%, markets outside of North America have driven much of the growth for the social network.  This can be attributed to Google’s global reach (which trumps the usage stateside) and the continued dominance of Android phones in the global market.

With numbers like this, the message is clear: do not ignore Google+, ESPECIALLY if you’re a Global brand.  I am not saying that brands need to customize campaigns to Google+ just yet (Facebook will suffice for that), but much of the content brands create for Facebook & Twitter posts can also be easily broadcast on a branded Google+ channel.  Will your number of fans rise meteorically?  Not necessarily.  However, those posts will help brands appear in Google search results and YouTube pages (among other products), so the reach of your custom branded content already increases by at least 300%.  A brand will take that type of performance any day!

(Continued reading here and here)

It’s a known exercise for designers to put their own personal spin on things that they love.  They’re creative people, so they want to constantly exercise their level of creativity and skill by redesigning things that they love!  There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

Well, designer Matt McInerney tried his hand at re-designing a few logos from NFL teams, and the responses was….a little rough.  When posted here on Fast Company, the comments section turned a little vicious towards the project.  Now Matt himself has said that this was simply a “just for fun” project (which becomes a little disingenuous when posted on a notable website), and I applaud his attempt to apply his spin to something he loves.  However, you have to be very careful with sports logos, as sports fans are VERY passionate about their teams and visual representations.

If anything, let this serve as a cautionary tale to those promoting their “just for fun” projects, design or otherwise.  As for the design themselves?  I don’t dislike them, but let’s just say that if my team was featured (go Giants!), I’d probably have a thing or two to say.

Check out a couple of them below, or the complete collection here: