It is bright and festive at dd|a this morning: cheerful Christmas lights draped across every possible surface, the Pandora “Michael Bublé Holiday” station serenading us from the conference room, the scent of our nine-foot Frasier Fir wafting whenever anyone walks by … plus, a few empty wine glasses, abandoned cheese trays and wrapping paper shreds from last night’s open house – evidence that good times were had by all.

We celebrated the season with clients on Wednesday evening to say “thank you!” for such a memorable year. All of us had a great time decorating our space, wrapping National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation-themed gag gifts (requiring movie-viewing research, of course) and enjoying the company of those who make our world go ‘round. Read the rest of this entry »

Food is delicious. Sure, that’s a blanket statement that hardly makes sense, but I know you’re thinking, “She’s right: food IS delicious.”
It seems only fitting to be consumed by such a thought with the most gluttonous day of the year fast-approaching, but that’s really not what has fueled my hunger.

Instead, I’m inspired by a website of stunning menus featuring distinctive logos and savory typography and delectable descriptions and yummy paper stocks and … sigh … It’s just too much to bear.

Just a taste of www.UnderConsideration.com/ArtoftheMenu/

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are interested, as we are, in archetypal phenomena, especially as they relate to brands, then you will be as excited as us to see David Croneberg’s A Dangerous Method. It tells the story behind Carl Jung’s astonishing psychological insights, learned first under the mentorship of the great Sigmund Freud, but then innovatively developing after Jung’s break with Freud in a groundbreaking leap of psychoanalytical thought.

We have referenced Carl Jung’s analysis of dreams before in this post here, as well as our use of brand archetyping as a tool to aid clients in deciphering and articulating their true selves (such as that for Omaha Steaks here, for example). What is exciting about A Dangerous Method is the opportunity to see a rendition of the formative relationships and experiences that spurred Carl Jung towards his spectacular insights. Not only that, but the film is in the hand of the auteur, David Cronenberg, which promises a unique and memorable experience. It should be in Omaha this week!

“Work should ennoble, not kill, the human spirit. Promoting workers’ well-being isn’t just ethical; it makes economic sense.”

As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer point out in this New York Times opinion piece, happy workers are not just some wishy-washy feel good fluff. Engaged employees drive the business bottom line. What is not to love about a humanistic capitalism, where the business and the person succeed not in spite of each other, but by fulfilling each other’s aspirations?

Face it: the brand is not just what the executives say it is, nor solely what customers perceive it to be. Enron had its values engraved in its building. You know how that ended. Employee’s don’t reach for a brand manual for values, culture or the elevator speech. Employees understand the company’s brand, its values, behaviors and actions at the water cooler, the canteen, in the corridors and cubicles.

dd|a’s brand process ensures that a company’s brand is inextricably comprised and expressive of not just external facing values, promise and attributes, but internal cultural aspects also. You can look at the internal view of the brand through these lenses: What we say, meaning executive expectations (Business); what we do, meaning company actions (Systems) and what we believe, meaning culture.

It is abundantly clear that a company’s success in its market must be strategically viewed from the inside out. This means that those responsible for human resources and talent management have an integral strategic role to play. Alex Edmans of the Wharton School of Business has shown that,

“Employee satisfaction is positively correlated with shareholder returns.”

HR Directors belong in the Board Room not just because of functional duties, but because they can directly contribute to employee engagement, actively manage the internal elements of the brand, and drive business success.

Any of you writers out there who use The AP Stylebook as a guide know that “the Oxford comma” (that one in a series that comes before the ultimate conjunction) is considered superfluous and ill-advised. Obviously, The Oxford Guide to Style disagrees.

Style manuals can argue until the cows come home, but let’s face it – as an artist and history buff unbeknownst to me articulated so well – it all comes down to who’s invited to the party:

Sounds fun, right? Not always. Read the rest of this entry »