The real potential of innovation comes from the power of surfacing unexpected ideas, connecting the dots, and putting them together in new and magical ways. Enter Campus Party, the next-next event in connecting ideas and sparking creativity.

So far, bloggy, viral marketing is working for the idiosyncratic men's clothes retailer. Stephen Colbert was sporting Betabrand’s star-spangeled pants during his "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, D.C. Regis and Kelly wore Caperons on their talk show. And "Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig endorsed the (ahem) Vagisoft blanket.

When leadership in an industry converges on a stage to discuss how their individual programs have lead to a collective shift in the entire equation, you have to admire the process unfolding in front of your eyes.

I recently had a chance to meet with the cofounders of evolveEA, an architectural design firm with a passion for sustainability. And that's when I learned about the work they did with the East End Veterinary Medical Center and how it completely flipped the clinic's customer experience on its ear.

Last chance for GM to be as cool as Apple

GM needs to do everything at once, and get it all right the first time. Where to begin?

Over the years, I've run a program with clients called Seeds of the Future. It's a one day brainstorming/presencing process designed to identify the "signals" that people are seeing on the horizon, but not necessarily discussing in a structured way. One of the things that makes the process successful is that ideas don't need to be fully baked in order to bring them up for discussion. And once on the table, participants can only build on an idea, not tear it down. Read More »

So, what is a sustainable brand identity? Let's start by defining a Brand Identity. Fundamentally, your brand identity is the visual interpretation of your cause, business, or products. It is the way in which we recognize and distinguish one company from another. A brand identity typically consists of one or more of the following elements:
- a logotype (the typographic treatment of the business name)
- a logo (a graphic symbol or icon)
- a tagline (a short description or slogan)
- a color palette (one or more colors used in the above components) Read More »

Originally, I started to write this entry about a Sustainable Brand Identity. But as I put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard, I realized that my opening paragraph deserved a bit more attention. It's about the importance of a sustainable concept behind the design. Think of it this way – sustainability can be applied to both the tangible and the intangible – the execution of the idea AND the idea itself. Read More »