I can’t remember a time when fellow designers and myself weren’t concerned about reducing packaging waste and the impact our work had on the planet. We shared stories like, “The time I went fishing and saw the Downy fabric softener bottle I designed floating in the pristine mountain lake.” Our clients were looking at light-weighting,…
For years, the digital advertising industry has operated within a system built for a legacy world that no longer exists. There used to be a few hundred top advertisers that bought media through a handful of agencies, all of which were large companies with deep financing, and the idea that they would be unable to…
Last month, Verizon finally switched on the first commercial 5G signal in Chicago and Minnesota and now promise another 30 American cities by the end of the year. The launch beat out South Korea, the traditional network new generation leader, by a couple of weeks. It’s a moment that seems to have been so long…
I often imagine what it was like to be the team that created Apple during the time when they were working out of a garage. There was a point in time when only they could visualize the technology that would one day change numerous lives through consumer product inventions. Most consumers had no idea what…
Inside the jury room at Cannes Lions this year, the definition, value and influence of innovation across the industry sparked heated debate. My jury and I looked for the highest level of innovation and creativity in the work we judged across a range of factors. Defining innovation From converting a good idea or invention into…
In the world of branding, the dream of any company is to create something so visually distinct and impactful that it is instantly globally recognized. Pride, although not a company, has unintentionally achieved this to huge success. The rainbow flag is ubiquitous with Pride and the LGBTQ rights movement. It has become an icon through…
Marketers continue to call for both performance and transparency. They’re rightfully demanding to know how their dollars are spent, and they want specific information about the quality of media they buy. I’m hearing this frequently from customers and partners, and it’s a healthy thing for our industry. This was on full display at Cannes Lions,…
As simultaneously one of the most personal and one of the most commercial global holidays, Pride is in a moment of conflict. During June, you will find rainbows everywhere, from major urban areas to some of the smallest cities in America. It’s heavily debated both in the queer and trans communities, as well as in…
This year’s Pride commemorates, as ever, the Stonewall riots, which saw members of the gay community embark on a series of spontaneous uprisings against New York police, who had raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in June 1969. Marking the 50th anniversary of the pivotal moment in the LGBT history in the U.S., this…
As media all over the world breaks down the aftermath of Cannes, conversations seem to revolve around one word specifically: purpose. From the audio branding industry perspective, it’s hard not to feel like Mr. Burns about it: Excellent. This is great news because sound’s ability to transcend something as intangible as purpose to create palpable…
Six days. A dark room with no windows. One giant screen. Ten jurors from around the world. Ten little black bags for us to keep our phones in. This year was my first time judging at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and here’s what I learned from my experience. Context matters We had…
There was quite a bit of chatter at Cannes Lions this year when Samsung’s CMO, YoungHee Lee, uttered the word “storyliving” onstage during a presentation at the Palais. While I can’t quite figure out the merits of the “living” part, I do know for a fact that the “story” part is alive and well and…
Around the corner from the main Palais at Cannes Lions is a meeting of uber experts, health and wellness leaders who work every day to fuel life-changing creativity. The major trends in their conference this year focused on a new age of inclusivity, unexpected new ways to get people involved in topics they might prefer…
Steve Jobs killed sonic quality. In October 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, irrevocably changing the world of recording music. Today, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), about 75% of the recorded music industry’s revenue comes from streaming. Bandwidth keeps getting cheaper and faster. Hardware and software continue to improve at an exponential…
In an increasingly time-poor world, it’s incredibly rare to have the opportunity to reflect on the work we produce. But as a member of the Cannes Lions Media jury, that’s exactly what I was able to do for four days. Working from an initial haul of over 2,300 original entries, the jury interrogated and analyzed…
My first memory of the existence of a gay man was watching Richard Simmons on Late Night With David Letterman. Nobody said he might be gay, but I thought he was. But that was on TV, not in real life. In real life, I was a 13-year-old seventh grader who didn’t know anything about anything,…
For years, pundits have blamed millennials for the demise of everything from music to mayo, but this diverse group of young adults is more than just a mindless demographic. They’re founding companies, creating new industries and leading the charge on innovation by coming to the table with a unique mindset. Studies show that millennials are…
The 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last week answered a nagging question for me: Is all this chatter about brands being more human authentic or just marketing speak? After several days attending speeches and panels and seeing awards won along the Croisette, it became clear that our industry’s focus on empathy is not…
If you asked a psychologist to evaluate most brand purposes, I imagine the diagnosis would be somewhere between megalomania or delusion. The latest attention-grabbing ad from Nike hits the nail on the head. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” The whole purpose space has moved from being a trust-building commercial exercise to…
The explosion of cannabis and hemp-based (THC and CBD) products, peripherals and applications is remarkable. Perhaps because of the blind rush to cannabis riches, most of these companies are also terrible at modern brand building. The spate of apothecary-inspired fonts, motifs and tropes that permeate the cannabis landscape are bad enough. And as upstart brands…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
