Posts by Janneane Blomenberg

Over the past weekend, I went to a few local shows. It's interesting to see what separates the good bands from the great. The good typically have nailed the melodies and lyrics, but the execution suffers. The lead guitar is loud, the bass is loud, the drums are loud, the vocals are loud. Everything loud doesn't make it better. Rather it's the subtleties of volume and scaling back the supportive harmonies that makes an impact and great bands. Audiences can identify the emotion and story line of the music when the band uses loud and soft, complex and simple, instead of just maxing out every detail.

During the work week I see a similar situation. We frequently hear the request to make things bolder, make them pop, punch them up and…

One week ago, on December 1st, HeadBlade, the leader in head shaving razors and headcare products for head shavers, tweeted that they were looking to hire someone to lead their Social Media and Interactive Marketing. Within 24 hours, a candidate's social media plan unfolded before their eyes. A concerted effort linking a blog with Twitter and Facebook grabbed their attention - and wowed the likes of Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book and blogging consultant; Joe La Puma, Editor for Complex Magazine; Lance Moore, New Orleans Saints(#16); and the Career Builder Blog (written by Chris Baggott, CEO/Founder of Compendium Blogware).

5 years ago, Eric Romer of Indianapolis, who had been BBC (Bald-By-Choice) since 2002 in his…

I caught an interview on the Tavis Smiley Show the other night, with Malcolm Gladwell, regarding his latest book: What the Dog Saw and other Adventures.

His book is a collection of essays from his work with the New Yorker, and although I haven't read it yet, it did still feel familiar. One thing that Malcolm does well is deliver consistent messages.

The show kicked off with Tavis detailing Malcolm’s failed attempt to enter the ad world right after college. As Malcolm goes on to finish, 21 rejection letters later, he decided that advertising wasn’t his destiny, and thus turned to journalism. “Rejection is direction,” Tavis sums up. With 4 New York Times bestsellers and a 10+ year stint with New Yorker, I think this was…

Lists help us stay sane, organized, and get projects done - yet they don't get much honor in the end. However, from November, 7, 2009 to February 8, 2010, lists are basking in the limelight at the Louvre, thanks to Umberto Eco and his exhibition “Mille e tre" (the Infinity of Lists). Including ancient and contemporary graphic works, and multidisciplinary events, the exhibition traces the evolution of the list through history. "From its ancient use in funerary traditions to its present-day use in everyday life, via the creative processes of contemporary artists, the list is a vehicle for cultural codes and the bearer of different messages." (Louvre)

I recently read an interview with Umberto Eco, published by…

“In __ , once you’ve got something, you’re already thinking about what’s next. Maybe it’s a little hysterical. Now, every day I’m thinking about change. It’s a constant anxiety that is probably a reflection of society’s anxiety in general. The big deal about __ is really very recent, this frantic pursuit of newness. It may be a good thing, or a bad thing, but it’s really defining this moment.”

What do you think fits in the blanks of this quote? Although they could be filled with many words (digital marketing, mobile devices, restaurants, mechanical engineering, packaged goods, etc.), the original word is “fashion,” and the author of the quote is Miuccia Prada, as she describes her design process for her namesake label. I was struck by the universality of…

It might have caught your attention several weeks back when professor Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University was announced as a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, alongside Berkeley's Oliver E. Williamson, for her work in economic governance and the organization of cooperation. It was pretty awesome that she was the first female laureate in the 40 year history, but what was more meaningful was the work for which she was rewarded. As one of her interviewers summed it up:

Elinor's cooperation theories have the potential "to catch the public imagination... people getting involved in their own governance."

The Tragedy of the Commons, the over-exploitation of common…

Trendwatching.com, one of the world's leading consumer trends firms, released their report on NOWISM this month.

As a consumer, I can certainly understand the urge to have everything right now. But as a provider of a service, I’ve learned that there are benefits to those who wait. Here at KA+A, we serve a bevy of clients whose jobs are to fulfill customers who need their product or service on-demand: they need the latest data on their customers right now; they needed a new feature of the product yesterday; and they need to get the software rolled out in their company with little or no training. Satisfying these needs are no problem – their businesses are founded on…

I recently saw the movie Bright Star at the Heartland Film Festival which depicts the romance of Romantic poet, John Keats, with fashion designer Fanny Brawne. Early on, she asked him to teach her poetry which she could never seem to "work out" or understand. Keats' answer for her was:

"A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore; but to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out. It is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery."

It's a compelling thought, to simply luxuriate in the water - not one that we are prone to do. We…

I made my first batch of Chex Mix for the season. Roasted golden brown, with buttery perfection, it’s a cold weather treat that I look forward to every year. As I combine the cereal, pretzels, nuts and sauce, I’m filled with anticipation for that first bite, hot out of the oven. It’s more than just a snack – it’s a tradition, a ritual, a connection to comforting memories of the past. It’s a treat that has signified, since I was old enough to remember, the coming of holidays spent with family and friends.

This act of baking Chex Mix becomes so much greater than the end product, because there is an experience wrapped up around it. Whether by design or happenstance…

ExactTarget invited Malcolm Gladwell to speak at their industry leading annual one-to-one marketing conference, Connections, which took place in Indianapolis on October 13th-15th. The theme for this year's conference was "Success by Design."

Never speaking on a topic that his audience knows more about than he does (in this case one-to-one / email marketing), Malcolm chose to illuminate how Fleetwood Mac achieved "Success by Design," and proffer up the universal principles that are part of success' design, regardless of industry. Below is a summary of Malcolm's presentation.

Effort & Time
By now, everyone has read or heard about Malcolm's 10,000 hour rule, that throughout history, no one has been successful until they've spent at least 10,000 hours working…