How the Chinese discovered the Pythagorean Theorem hundreds of years before Pythagoras
Discoveries are often made by multiple people, but we tend to only celebrate one of those folks.
This is just as true for the theory of evolution (Wallace, but also Darwin), as it is for lightning rods (Diviš, but also Franklin), as it is for the electrical telegraph — invented…
The online contagion of feelings
“…the science of association is the mother science; the progress of all the others depends on the progress of that one.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville
This moment is a fact.
We have to start somewhere so let’s start with where we are, you and I, reading these words on a screen, staring into our orisons of…
A handy guide to the most useful frameworks for work and life
All you do, every day, is make decisions.
At work, you might decide to spend time on problem A instead of problem B. You might decide to use this product strategy over that product strategy. You might decide to place pixels here, not there.
But how do you make those…
A handy guide for understanding the planning fallacy, self-serving bias, and other reasons your project is behind schedule
I’ve worked for some of the largest publishers.
I’ve labored for some of the most successful brands.
I’ve done my share of work for creative agencies.
And after all this time, I’ve realized there’s one thing all of them have in common: hoo boy, none of them can finish a…
A map of attention targets for agencies and creatives
Every agency wants attention
The only way to get attention is to tell stories.
And while there are many different ways to express a story, there are only two business cases: Public Relations and Business Development.
PR is things you do to get noticed.
BD is things you do to get business.
Including some delightful templates which you’re welcome and encouraged to steal
Agencies are groups of people, people are organisms, and organisms do what they’re rewarded for doing.
Most observers would suggest that agencies are rewarded for winning awards for their creativity.
An agency is a business, a business requires revenue, and awards bring clients—which provide revenue.
But agencies aren’t rewarded for winning awards for their creativity. Agencies are rewarded for making the best decisions about being creative.
…
Getting client approval for your agency’s brilliant ideas isn’t an obstacle to doing your job. It’s your only job.
We live in a time of great change.
It’s not the best of times.
It’s not the worst of times.
But it’s definitely the changiest of times.
Everywhere you look, there’s disruption. Tumult. Eye-widening new shit:
Social influencers.
Content marketing.
A riotous kudzu of sponcon.
That’s all new.
Then also: marketing automation, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, attribution modeling.
…
Why it’s more important to focus on efforts rather than results
A few years back I had a client.
This client had a beautiful web site. That beautiful web site had been designed by a renowned design agency. And on that beautiful web site the client published articles that were well-reported and infographics that were quite attractive.
From the outside, everything looked professional. Healthy. Successful.
But the client had…
Frameworks first, ideas second.
The Framework Is More Important Than the Idea
Whenever we’re searching for a creative answer to a business problem, we begin with a simple rubric:
Right Ideas > Good Ideas
This is straightforward enough.
Everybody likes good ideas.
Everybody has good ideas.
Everybody (usually) recognizes good ideas.
But the definition of “good” is a bit wishy-washy. A bit…
Creatively solving problems in the face of uncertainty
Agency work is therapeutic work.
It’s just not a settled issue who, exactly, is the patient.
Agencies think the brand is the patient. The brand has a problem. The brand doesn’t know what to think. The brand needs advice. The brand, the creatives think, is on the couch.
But of course, creatives need brands, too.
…
Steve Bryant
Content Ops and Strategy for brands and agencies // itsmestevebryant.com // now with more newsletter: stevebryant.substack.com
