Author: Carol Ainsburg

Now more than ever, we need a creative permission slip from ourselves and those who control our livelihoods. Now is a perfect time for bold, creative thinking for its own sake. In risk lie the answers (not exclusively based on revenue or stratospheric profit, either). Considering the broad, varied spectrum of human capabilities, how do we create sustainable income for both individuals and corporations and still foster a feeling of creativity? Re-invention requires creativity, does it not?

I was delighted to discover that one of the framing principles of Drive by Daniel H. Pink is intrinsic motivation. It describes the inner wiring of certain individuals to do their absolute best, with great passion and gusto, regardless of external reward. The quest for knowledge, or learning something new that interests you, is reward unto itself. Reward and motivation are excellent words. Reading this book and pondering motivation got me thinking about the word momentum, as well, which leads me to Media Logic’s annual company meeting. Today marks the 24^th I have participated in.

One of Media Logic's music aficionados Ron Ladouceur brought a Salon magazine article to our attention a couple of weeks ago. After reading "Why I miss the monoculture," he asked people under 25 if they felt a part of big cultural moments. Though I am a few (OK, a many few) years older than 25, I was inspired to respond. Those of us old enough to remember the profound impact of music pre-computer age have a kernel within us that feels like awe, the awe that comes from many thousands of people experiencing the same feelings you are at the same time. That was a rare, novel concept 20-40 years ago, and numbers that seemed impressive then -- 500,000 at Woodstock, by some counts – are dwarfed in a social culture where brands attract millions of fans.

Over the course of the past year, I’ve had the pleasure to foster several new vendor partnerships (B2B). In each case, an invitation to join their LinkedIn networks followed our initial project conversations. On the heels of one recent exchange, it occurred to me that an invitation to make social media alliances/associations had become a gesture grounded in normalcy – no different than adding contact info to a rolodex or data-base in the old days. Online life and offline life have aligned: tool in some cases, skill in others. It also occurs to me that although this mode of relationship-building requires little lift, it shares far deeper insight into folks who are all but strangers initially. For me, it has the makings of an unspoken trust initiator. Without much effort, you have some credibility with one other.

The launch of an innovative community website celebrating the Presidency and legacy of John F. Kennedy has our interests piqued – as an example of cause-related marketing and online community building… With the site launching today, we’re eager to watch how it will build engagement and inspire action.

I turn to Dwell for inspiration, for new ideas to populate my dreamscape. So maybe the context made me more “prepared” to see deeply into this recent article in the magazine. On one level, it is a pretty prosaic story about the gadgets and software that connect the online and real world. But somehow, the idea that architecture and portable communication technologies are allowing us to interact with space and with each other in new ways struck me as profound.

The June special issue of Fast Company featured "The 100 Most Creative People in Business". The section about JP Morgan Chase Foundation's President, Kimberly Davis, caught my attention instantly because her story helps illustrate some of our own findings here at Media Logic about brand engagement, and similar transparency versus authenticity obstacles that we have encountered with our financial clients and observed in our recent research whitepaper.

Media Logic’s Director of Studio Services and 30-year veteran of the graphic arts addresses how the overnight preeminence of social media has impacted the marketing industry and a generation of artists who have built their careers on the technical skills and software savvy required to build beautiful, effective means of communication.