ERIC MIXON'S BRAIN STORE

seeking the unexpected

In our increasingly targeted and calculated world, where our every move is recorded, analyzed and placed into an algorithm, some might find life a bit predictable at times. Naturally, people are deliberately seeking out unexpected experiences and new services are surfacing to accommodate. 

Here are some interesting ways people break for the joys found in the pursuit of serendipity:

• Chatroulette allows for randomly anonymous audio/video and text chats. Unlike our social networks, it’s a highly unpredictable, self-induced chance encounter where we can assume any role we wish. Hello, stranger.
• Mystery Google will surprise you with someone else’s search results and has several easter eggs of the unexpected. Better, it offers an opportunity to learn something completely new and possibly outside your comfort zone. What you discover depends on how often you play and how clever your search term. Feeling Lucky?
• MISSION:Missions is a social networking game where you complete and post mystery missions for others. By taking on a mission you’re inviting unpredictable circumstances; posting missions invites you in on the fun to surprise strangers or deliver unexpected pleasures to friends.
• Ogori cafe, inside the Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha of Kashiwa Japan, serves up surprises as patrons get what the person before them ordered, and the next person gets what they ordered, much like Mystery Google. To encourage interaction they include a card that ‘identifies’ the person who treated you, in case you’d like a word with that cheapskate. 

There’s even support that these activities are more favorable to our biological design. In fact, neuroscience research has shown that brain activity is increased when exposed to the unexpected. When your brain encounters some surprising stimuli, it increases processing, becoming more focused, aware, and engaged. (Note this form of stimulation differs from the mental bombardment within chaotic environments discussed in a colleague’s post).

One study found that, in comparison to expected pleasures, we react more strongly to unexpected pleasures and even find them more rewarding.

Interestingly enough, we’re not the only ones that function this way. Neurologists have found this reaction of the human brain to be mirrored in economic theory; efficient markets respond to unexpected events and expected events have no effect.

Online and offline, many experiences are built for consistency as opposed to being designed to exploit our natural desire for the unpredictable. As planners of ecosystems, interactions, and experiences we should remember that we are all curious creatures and should aim to develop frameworks that allow audiences to engage in the unexpected. 

So if life is a set up, upset the setup. Deviate. Incorporate the unexpected. Dare clients to surprise their fans. They’re asking for it.

THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING

ambitious title. but with all the focus on social media people can’t help make or request a prediction.  prior to closing  his presentation at GS&P, Mark Earls asked us to consider the HERD and perhaps what’s more interesting is the adoption by the influentials and not the act of influencers. to consider the herd in social media. i drop the latter to focus on the former. people coming together, in a single act or established partnership, to socialize.

consider we’re inherently social creatures seeking each other out; the web as social media since the beginning—AOL instant messenger, web forums, blogs and, more recently, online creative contests & collaborative projects. see NIKE+ whose building community around the tool—members track stats to compete w personal bests and each other; to take it further they’ve announced The Human Race 10K. to become part of communities, consider corporate chains catering to the consumer movement to “buy local.” not to worry, the fakes will be exposed. communities operate by word-of-mouth.

but back to the Future, to destine the future of our industry + art form to a singular existence would be, at the very least, restricting. now i say, A FUTURE of ADVERTISING is in building communities. real communities. where no one is in control.

waaait. community building must include relevant and authentic ideas/ communications/products/services. perhaps we should leverage the lessons of Mission Street Foods. designing new communities requires significant Quant behavior & network analysis. research strategists anyone?

Windows Brief

What is the problem?

Bigger than Mac vs PC, Windows (Live/Vista/Mobile) lacks community and identity as they have never told their story. Further, the disassociation between computers and the software that runs them has lead people to take Windows for granted—their idea of the internet and it’s impact is associated with the hardware of the computer not the software. Plainly, people do not know the potential or what to appreciate about the tool and, even, employees aren’t sure what to be proud of.

Who are we talking to?

The world basically, users, non-users, the old, the young; anyone engaged in technology with a playful sense of humor. In the words of our audience,” a PC or MAC does not define or represent me and my complexity of being, I define it.” They are not dorky nor are they pretentious, these people know who they are don’t need a company to remind them.

What we need to do?

Building on the momentum of the Life Without Walls concept, we need to get people to think differently about Windows by redefining it as more than PC software and show how Windows works against digital walls in life and humanize the brand by connecting it to real people and their individual lives. Gain a foothold on creating an emotional connection with the brand and rebuild it’s reputation by creating a cool and interesting identity for the software of Windows based on it’s one unmistakeable truth—it’s ubiquity in our lives and in our world. Present the size and power of Microsoft Windows as the driving force behind our contemporary society, an engine for the greater good and a tool fostering possibilities. Go beyond people’s lives showing that Windows is the common denominator between the systems and structures of our modern world; that everything is connected through Windows.

What is the main idea?

Honor the Omnipresence of Windows. (different way of thinking about a product)

What is reason to believe?

Windows works in the lives of more than a billion people around the world and in virtually every aspect of their lives and is looking to connect more—the company’s philanthropic efforts of the Unlimited Potential team are working in developing countries to bring connections to the next 5 billion people. Despite the fact that no two of those billion lives are exactly alike, Windows fits every one of them. An industry standard with 95% of the market, there is no easy alternative against it. Windows is the everyday, ubiquitous tool that is behind the very systems that enable and maintain our way of life—business, science, engineering, education, and entertainment.

In our research, people list the computer, internet and mobile phone as products with the most significant impact in shaping the modern world; Windows is a part of that. Windows offers the most popular, widely used software that offers the most access, anywhere, anytime and for anyone. As software exists across platforms, devices and even in the “cloud,” Windows is unbound by a physical nature, it is more than a computer, more than just a product, but better a tool to enable and empower and be transformed by the user into unique experiences.

What is the Tone?

authentic, egalitarian, engaging

Practical Considerations

Move away from the technology and its features to humanize the reputation. As an extension of the PC Pride campaign the work should be bigger than Mac vs. PC and operate under the Life Without Walls concept.