DUO:Design and Marketing

Small world, and I love it!

The internet is 20 years old today! The first website, built at a lab in Switzerland just up the road from my ex-employer, DuPont, went online in 1991. And there are now more than 80m sites worldwide, which is a fantastic illustration of a concept that became a rapid success due to its overwhelming power to store knowledge, connect people and ideas and generally make the world and its wonders accessible to so many. I’ve always been the first to admit to being a bit anti-techie around the office. I’m the one who likes to read it on paper instead of on screen; to use my fountain pen as opposed to a keyboard and am most happy when I meet clients face to face instead of dialing into the dreaded virtual world of the teleconference. However, I’ve decided to be more techno-positive and to acknowledge and embrace the true power of technology for the way in which it enables me to fulfil my passion for connecting and communicating with people in my day to day work, no matter where they are in the world. Just the other day, I received a great email from a client colleague who has recently relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, after being based in China for the past six years. He’s been a regular contributor to the magazine called 'Going Further' that I write for my client, Lucite International, and we’ve shared many an amusing email as I’ve learned about his world and work through colourful stories of another culture. These stories are then edited and retold to many, many more, and are a wonderful way of creating understanding, removing fear, opening horizons and, above all, building great relationships. This world-shrinking technology also means that I receive information from all my sources in Asia through the night, can work on stories the following morning and have them into magazine design by close of play, making full use of a 24hr working day between us. So the next time there’s a frustrating technology blip, I’m going to think on the positives of technology and all that it can do for enriching my work-life.

Viv Middlebrook, Client Services Director

Its good to feel optimistic

Sometimes when you are in the 'present' it is hard to look forward to the future so it was good to see this more optimistic view of the future from my ex-boss - Sir Martin Sorrel at WPP. He said today after issuing a statement that revenues would be 2% less in 2009 compared to 2008:

“Although the economic gloom has heightened recently, with further earnings disappointments, surprise dividend cuts, continued financial restructurings and rights issues, we still believe there will be a recovery of sorts in 2010, partly driven by weak comparatives, as the massive Keynesian fiscal injections, quantitative easings and interest rate reductions take hold.

“These already approximate to $12 trillion or approximately 20 per cent of worldwide GDP of $64 trillion.

“The first half of 2009 is going to be extremely tough, it will probably be better in the second half of 2009 in comparison with the second half of 2008.

“It’s very foolish to try and call when the market will turn, and in the real world, but we’re sticking our necks out and saying that, in 2010, we will see some improvement — but it will be against weak comparatives.”

Certainly for DUO it has been a tough 6 months but we are starting to see a more 'green shoots' of recovery. Just this week we have been appointed to provide marketing support to a famous visitor attraction in our area - Barnsdale Gardens. With the trend for more 'staycation' holidays and the consumer desire for less costly experiences the gardens have a fantastic opportunity to prosper.

Creativity is disruptive

I thought that I would share this as it made me think and maybe it will make you think too. The message was posted on a blog by Dave Trott and mentions a speech by Sir Ken Robinson called 'Is Education Killing Creativity'. The most touching part comes at the end.

He talks about a little girl who was very disruptive at school. In class she was always chattering, moving about, fidgeting. She’d had to move school several times because of this problem. One day her mother was at her wit’s end when the headmaster called her in.

She sat with her daughter in his office waiting for the inevitable litany of reasons why he couldn’t have his daughter at his school. Waiting for him to suggest medical treatment: drugs that would calm her down and make her behave. But this headmaster didn’t do any of that.

He said to the girl, “Your mother and I are just popping outside for a chat. We won’t be long.”

Then he got up to leave, but he turned the radio on before he did. Outside the room he said to the mother, “Just watch this for a moment.” And they looked through a little window at the girl. At first she sat there, listening to the music on the radio.
Then she started tapping her feet, Then she stood up and began moving, swaying to and fro. Then she began moving rhythmically all around the room.

The headmaster turned to her mother and said, “Look, you haven’t got an unruly child, you’ve got a dancer. She needs a school that caters for her talent.” And that’s what happened. The mother put the little girl in dance school. For the first time in her life, she was with children like her, and she fitted in. First she became a ballet dancer, then eventually a famous choreographer.

And now she is worth millions, and arranges all Andrew Lloyd Webber’s productions. All because one headmaster saw an opportunity where everyone else only saw a problem. Because he wasn’t trying to make her fit the norm. He wanted to celebrate what made her different.

Her creativity was disruptive and sometimes awkward (not normal) but this was the thing that made her special. All it needed was for someone to see it.

Maybe, we all need to look harder for talent and passion rather than educational acceptance.