Issue No. 10: Creative Passion and Disaffection
From Serial Marketer: "The Cutting Edge of Marketing” serialmarketer.net
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It took four years, or about 20, depending on how you define it, but I finally published a children's book.
That might be an odd optic for a marketing-themed newsletter, but as the year wraps, it feels like a good time to finish such personal projects. I think part of me didn't want to finish this anytime soon, as the process of it - merely having this as something to keep turning to - was why I was really doing it. This was a learning experience.
The book Poppy Seed did have some challenges along the way. I first came up with the idea behind it years ago, before the birth of my daughter who is now nearly four. As I wrote on my blog (where you can read the longer story), I noticed all the books and articles comparing the size of a baby's prenatal development to various kinds of produce. Sometimes, there was universal agreement, like with week 7 (blueberry) or week 16 (avocado). Sometimes, it made no sense whatsoever – see week 25 (cauliflower, rutabaga, acorn squash, and eggplant — who knows how big a rutabaga is?). I had some fun with the rhymes, inspired loosely by my decades-long love of Ogden Nash, and then sought out an artist.
I found a wonderful illustrator on 99 Designs after running a contest there. She got halfway through the project and couldn't do it anymore due to a personal issue. I had to restart, and 99 Designs found me another illustrator. The talented Nikolett Meresz, based in Hungary, made the whole thing possible. All the proceeds from the book go to DonorsChoose.org, so perhaps in some small way, this book will support the literacy of others.
Coincidentally, it turns out a friend in the industry, Ekaterina Walter, also wrote a children's book, but instead of writing one for her daughter, she wrote one with her daughter. Amber & Sapphire The Magic Spell is so good that when my family packing for a Thanksgiving trip to Dallas, this book was one of the only ones my daughter brought with us. The target audience is slightly older, but I'm sure many kids of many ages will enjoy it at least as much as mine. Congrats, Ekaterina.
There are more thoughts on creativity below, including a piece I penned in Ad Age about what worries me about the future for creative professionals. But I would love to hear more about your own creative pursuits as we head into the holidays. What are you making of yourself?
This may be the last edition of 2017. Thanks as always for reading and sharing this. May you have a fulfilling holiday stretch that includes some downtime with loved ones. Happy holidays.
David
----------------------------------------------------- READING LIST
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BRACING FOR THE AGE OF CREATIVE DISAFFECTION
The more that I learn about what artificial intelligence can do, especially with very specific applications dubbed "narrow AI," the more concerned I am for creative professionals. I was involved with the research Sysomos conducted with The Drum on marketers' views about AI, and I think the implications for the creative side haven't been discussed enough. Here's an attempt to get more of that conversation going. http://mrktr.net/creativityAI
REDDIT VISUALIZER
Reddit and visualization fans may both appreciate this site, where you can see how various kinds of Subreddits (topic pages) relate to each other. http://mrktr.net/redditviz
WHAT WILL BITCOIN LOOK LIKE IN 20 YEARS?
For the blockchain read of the week, check out this gem - one Medium says takes 34 minutes to go through. It's from late October, but I just caught it recently. One memorable entry in this list of predictions is that Bitcoin might not make it, so if you're going long, there could be such a thing as TOO long. http://mrktr.net/bitcoin20years
10 B2B MARKETING TOOLS
Econsultancy has a pretty good roundup of tools, and some were new to me. After reading this, consider subscribing to Econsultancy's newsletters, as they have great reads like this all the time. Articles are free, and their paid reports are often impressive and very well researched. http://mrktr.net/B2Btools
AUGMENTED BLOCKCHAIN REALITY HYPERLOOPS
Just kidding. The link below is actually to 36 Hours on the Left Bank, Paris in The New York Times from July 2016; I'm taking my wife there soon for our 10-year anniversary. It's a surprise trip; don't tell her where we're going. If she doesn't get this far in the newsletter; it'll be fun to show this to her on the way to the airport. Any recommendations you have for a weekend jaunt there would be most appreciated. http://mrktr.net/augmentedblockchain
I don't have specific ones to share in this edition, but I've been hearing about more opportunities lately and have made referrals to hiring leads. If you're exploring what's next, let me know what kind of thing you're looking for. Of course, any conversation is confidential. Similarly, if you're looking for thoughts on great hires, let me know. I respect confidentiality on that side too and never share a hiring manager's, recruiter's, or company's name unless you specifically ask me to, or unless it's a public post.
----------------------------------------------------- THE FOOTER YOU WON’T READ
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The most important rights reserved. You can have the other ones.
(c) 2017 Serial Marketer
PS: Thank you so much for reading this.
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