Lived Brands

In response to this recent article by Brian Millar:

Brian Millar’s recent article, “Branding Talk Isn’t Helping Your Company.  Here’s What Should Replace It,” misses the point of brands in the digital age.  The idea that a great product can become a great brand is half right.  Great brands are lived, not made.  That is a more true and involved process than ever in the digital age.

Sure, you can build a strong identity through a superior product.  But, brand-building necessarily involves all of a business’ activities.  To drift blindly in the sea of communication options and opportunities is to resign your business to drowning in the deluge of terabytes of information produced daily.

Because of the connectivity that digital has enabled brands are now the entire company.  Where corporate social responsibility projects, manufacturing practices, messaging and other public relations could at one time be divorced, they are now more intertwined than ever, interacting via a diverse set of digital communication channels to spawn “brand x”.  And, mobile connectivity will only magnify this effect. 

Is it locally sourced?  Where was that manufactured?  Is it BPA-free?  What are the workers’ contracts like?  Is the plant environmentally friendly?  The answers to these questions do more to influence consumers’ perception of “brand” more than ever.  Because every part of their business is now on display through media, social and otherwise, businesses must now walk the walk to build brand.

Does this mean that walking the walk is enough?  Not by a long shot.  The requirements of professional, polished and creative communication ideas don’t go away – they are merely applied to a different strategy.  Not hiding from aspects of a company’s identity might be what spurs some of the greatest creative ideas and engaging experiences for consumers. 

So, keep building your brand in all the ways you can.  The dimensionality and completeness of a brand may be what connects the most consumers to your product in the long run.  

Next, they'll have a club that hits for you...

Disturbing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/arts/music/21kanye.html

In Jon Caramanica's recent article preceding Kanye's upcoming album (his fifth) I can't help but see how complacent and thoughtless music criticism and appreciation have become - and thus popular music, which is beholden only to the consumer dollar.

Mr. Caramanica's quotations range from laughable to offensive. His praise of Kanye's output on the upcoming album reaches for descriptors like "great" and "better." There is not much description of what makes Kanye's music stand out. Indeed, "[Kanye]'s committed to pop, and savvy and talented enough to make it great, every time. What's more, for him to make something other than a universally accepted smash would be a thing that his ego couldn't bear. Every Kanye West album, until the cancer of the world around him begins to encroach on the parts of his cerebral cortex that control his musical ear, will be excellent and huge."

What?

Making it great, every time? I don't think that can be done. Greatness isn't consistency. If it were, we'd all say fast food is great - maybe we do too much already.

His ego couldn't bear to be without smash hits? Tough [noogies]. His ego doesn't sound like it's invested in the music. Nor does it seem like most other "artists" are truly musical talent. Why else would the disclaimer (as praise, no less) need to appear: "Mr. West controls all of the major elements of his songs, unlike the other artists who have to rely on their taste (or their record label's taste) in outside producers or songwriters." Is this merely to say that Kanye does his work and records his own material? Is that special? I am stymied to think that extra credit is now being given for the most basic of functions as an "artist." Maybe artist isn't the right word anymore. Maybe puppet-with-or-without-some-strings is better, no?

Finally, the most artistically offensive advance of the whole article is this:

"Music that is ornate, ostentatious, curious and vivacious. But risky? No. All of the fiddling is within recognized formulas."

How is this a triumph? Of course new doesn't equal better. Different doesn't equal better. But I am wondering how music can be curious and vivacious without at least hinting at innovation.

That Kanye can be mired in the work of others and lauded for a basic commitment to creating and producing his own music might very well be what is wrong with the world today. And, as Mr. Caramanica's ending paragraph states, "his effort is valueless without response." Maybe it's time to start ignoring this loudmouth - he's got enough bling.

Can't stop watching:

More ad campagins should be centered around the dichotomy of a cute animal and its tough behavior. Thank you, Panda cheese.

The Nascent Past

Acadia!

So, we went to Acadia National Park. No Obama, no moose, but it was beautiful anyway.



Josh, Elizabeth and I hike all around and eventually reached the top of one of the peaks in the park (where the video above was filmed). The views were spectacular as was the weather.

And, we got to pick wild blueberries (and eat them!):


Simply AWESOME. Too bad my camera died 3 pictures in, otherwise there would be more fun photos.

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Back in the world of music (why I'm here, right?) the quartet assigned to my piece has been rehearsing and played for me for the first time on Friday. They were awesome! Flexible, excited and very skilled. My piece, a movment for string quartet called "The Nascent Past," is being played Tuesday, I believe. Recordings, videos and whatever else I can post here will be available.

Beethoven: Ying style.

This past Friday held the most recent installment for the "Festival Fridays" concert series, which is most usually the venue for orchestral pieces and concerti. Ray Chen played the Brahms violin concerto, and very well at that. He is quite a showman, and an excellent violinist. Though I doubt his full potential was on display due to a lack of orchestra rehearsal time (2 rehearsals just isn't enough for an orchestra that meets bi-weekly), his ensemble and attention to the group as well as himself was remarkable, and it came across in the music.

The most interesting portion of the evening for me, however, was the first half of the program. The Ying Quartet, in residence here at Bowdoin for the first three weeks, played the Beethoven "Rasoumovsky" quartet. Simply awesome.

Their performances of the fourth movement and encore of it after a 5-minute standing ovation were spectacular, but not because they were necessarily supremely accurate. Many of my colleagues here remarked that the playing in their ultra-fast rendition lacked clarity and accuracy of sound. Of course they didn't sound like they were putting their bows or fingers down willy-nilly, but not every passage was pinpoint accurate. And, I think that might have been part of what was so incredible.

Given the blistering pace at which they took the movement it was astonishing to hear how cleanly and evenly matched the transitions, thematic trades dynamics were. Despite the number of notes that were sounding there was a constant sensibility of long lines and big, beautiful phrases that were built from the twittering beneath. The energy was palpable while they were playing and the way that each performer was able to communicate with the others was magical. That magic, that unspoken, inarticulable connection, is what made the music come alive. By "talking" to eachother on stage they brought the whole audience with them.

As a composer I am one step removed from that. I can't make sure of any performer constantly reaching that place, and to expect it would be unrealistic. But, there may be a way to do that on the page - to push things along in a way. Making that discourse happen on my manuscript paper is now explicitly and precisely part of what I am working towards with my music.

I'll let you know when I figure it out...

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Off to Acadia National Park (and maybe a little Bar Harbor). Pictures forthcoming!