Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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A Moment of Krisis

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Watch as I answer one of my friend’s recent Facebook Poll queries: “Is pure altruism real? Do people ever do anything out of concern for others that is completely independent of their own self-interest?”

I know my examples of altruism aren’t exactly the work of Mother Theresa, but my point still stands – I think even when we do the best possible thing for someone else we get something for ourselves, even if it’s just a bit of satisfaction.

Do you agree? Can you think of something altruistic that you do totally free of any psychological reward for yourself?

A Moment of Krisis

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Watch as I answer today’s NaBloPoMo writing prompt: “When you are writing, do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?”

Somehow I don’t forsee these getting any more serious.

What I didn’t say in my moment is that I’ve also always been obsessed with the idea of permanence and archiving everything, so it makes sense that I don’t like to write things in pen – much harder to back up that way!

What about you? Are you a pen and pad devotee, even in our digital age, or would you happily elect to forget the dying artform that is cursive handwriting?

See me rock with Filmstar for free on 11/18!

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Reasons why you should plan to attend Filmstar & Cris Valkyria and the Opponents on Friday 11/18 at Fergie’s Pub.

(a) I play bass for Filmstar; E sings lead vocals.

(b) This could be Filmstar’s final gig of 2011, and it’s on a Friday night in a bar and it’s free. Beat that.

(c) I have been quietly agitating for a split bill with Cris Valkyria and her band since before I joined Filmstar.

(d) E’s minimalist concert posters have been growing increasingly awesome.

(e) The past handful of new songs from bandleader Glenn have been amazing, and I have to think we’ll play at least a couple at this show including at least one debut.

(f) Did I mention free?

Mark your calendars!

What are brands to you?

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Let’s conduct an experiment. There are no right or wrong answers.

Below are five consumer brand logos, and I want you to just shout out the first word that comes to mind other than the name of the brand.

(Don’t worry if other people are around, they certainly won’t think you are weird.)

(Well, I guess that depends on what you shout.)

Ready?

Got your words? Don’t forget them.

This is a common exercise to run with focus groups, or in training around brand identities.

The last few times I’ve done it, the majority of people have responded to each consumer logo with a noun. It might be the brand’s most prominent product, sphere of influence, or figurehead. McDonald’s gets “fries, burgers, fast food, toys, grease.” Apple gets “iPhone” but also “music” and “Steve Jobs”.

Still remember your words? Say them again. How many are nouns?

Not all brands get nouns every time. Brands spend significant time aligning itself with a particular adjective or phrase. In my session this week, the word cloud for Mercedes was almost entirely “luxury” or synonyms. No one has said “cars.”

(Also, brands in a crisis will get the word associated with their crisis, even if it’s not brand relevant. Right now Johnson and Johnson’s logo might elicit “cancer;” banks logos might get “occupy” or “1%.”)

Say your words again. How many of your words weren’t nouns?

I have discovered that I never, ever respond with nouns. It’s not like I’m trying to be contrary. Nouns never pop into my head. My words for the logos above were: healthy, unavoidable, wasteful, killer, and cohesive. In effect, my associations with brands are about perception, not products or people.

I suspect some crowds are more predisposed to give perception answers over the product answers. I’m sure there are studies to explain it.

For the moment, I’m only interested in you. What were your words?

Before you leave a comment, I have one final brand for you to shout out a word for:

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