aj on brand

u.s. culture has been thrown into a bit of a tizzy, and in the fray it’s reframing luxury. while the classical conversation on luxury has always been grounded in craftsmanship, the new conversation appears to be biasing to ethics and values.

there’s an emerging overlap where the money of older generations and the values of millennials are aligning in a way that is driving both makers and consumers to put their money where their mouth is. and in the process they are resetting what the new luxury badge purchase looks like.

gone are the days where global brands play their values cards close to their chest. as more and more ceos on the frontline of pop culture — including airbnb’s brian chesky, facebook’s mark zuckerberg, apple’s tim cook, and levi’s chip bergh — make their ethics known, they are being met by a surging consumer expectation for transparency on issues of sustainability, equality, and human rights. don’t like a brand’s values, don’t buy. don’t like a demographic’s values, don’t sell.

if the new york times is right and 2016 was “the year politics took over our closets,” 2017 may be the year it takes over our cars and travel itineraries, too.

the year kicks off with the detroit motor show. “the future is here,” they tell us. must be, when the self-driving cars of the future are suddenly of the now. looking forward to seeing what’s next in the luxury and electric markets (are they even separate anymore?), how the ford skedaddle plays out, and what the european shows will bring. in fact, january in detroit is an excellent place to plan the dream road trip… shanghai in april, late summer in moscow, frankfurt and paris in the fall…

most brands that i work with put a fair amount of investment into reaching their audience through social media. but the nation is tired. in a USAToday article Jon Swartz reported that “The abrupt decision to turn off the social media spigot of news — 62% of U.S. adults get their news from it, says the Pew Research Center — as well other media that covered the polarizing election resembles reactions people have after a car crash or assault.”

fomo becomes lma (leave me alone).

the wise brand pays attention.

i had planned on writing about the role of a transition team today, the team that comes in to lead the first phase of a large scale change. i’ve been on many.

instead i’m remembering a project that hal and i created at the very beginning of our careers. ‘hope is power’ for amnesty international.

hope is power.

hope is a feeling, a force that helps you stay with what you value over what you fear. a focus on your vision of the possible through adversity and challenge. hope is a fierce strength, and an extraordinary tonic.  i’ll look for the project and post it here. i’m grateful to have a task at the moment. hope is power. i know it’s there. somewhere.

if you follow an exhale all the way to the end, you’ll notice a moment, a space, where you are neither breathing in nor breathing out.

this suspension of breath lasts no more than a millisecond, and then you’re either holding your breath or inhaling once again.

this millisecond of space also exists in the moment between the mapping and the implementing of change. you’ve done everything you can to plan for the best possible outcome. on the other side of this moment you begin the doing.

deep breath. go.

for the last two years i’ve been writing about how everything changes, all the time.

there are also things that will seemingly never change. at least not often or easily. this unyielding or stubborn reality — i call it ‘property x’ — exists in our personal lives and our work, our organizations and our families. it seemingly stymies progress, neutralizes genius, tanks relationships or takes the sparkle off the most brilliant of plans.

it is, at best, inconvenient. at worst, horrifically impossible.

property x is different than the 800 lb gorilla — the thing in life that everybody knows but no one talks about. property x is different because it’s not that you don’t quite deal with it, it’s that you can’t.

property x is that thing that isn’t going to change. you have no control over property x, only in how you work with or around it.

what immovable behemoth (x) stands between you and your vision of success? having identified it as such, how could you work with it, or step into a current of change that flows around it?

this year marked the historic 100th running of the indy 500. racing’s greatest spectacle is the stuff of legends with all its speed, obsession, glory and heroes.

what defines a legend is the third in a series of campaigns designed to get the hearts of casual and avid fans racing again.