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Leif

Skrivet torsdag 17 juni 2010 under ämnet Artopod, Creativity
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Creative Summit 2010

We’re right in the middle of Creative Summit here in Skellefteå. 3 days of networking, inspiration and learning. Day 2 of 3 will start soon.

We had such great friends as Brian Solis from Future Works, Clemens Dopjans from Adidas, David Eriksson from North Kingdom, Peter Espersen from Lego and Mathias Fjellström from Direktörn & Fabrikörn yesterday. You can read all about Day 1 at the FilmArc blog.

Follow the hashtag #creativesummit on Twitter for behind the scenes info.



Leif

Skrivet lördag 12 juni 2010 under ämnet Artopod, Brands, Creativity
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Start a band – the best school in the world?

My formal education is in engineering, not in marketing. I have read tons of books and blogs on brand strategy, marketing and leadership over the past ten years, but nothing has tought me more than running the daily business of a band. We have been playing together for 15 years, released 6 albums, toured internationally, had good years, had bad years, had success, but mostly we have just worked hard to create interesting music.

The “side effects” of playing in a band is that you have to:
• keep the members happy and creative (leadership and idea management)
• make sure everyone shows up on time and performs (project management)
• think about image and audience (brand strategy, marketing, planning)
• create great artwork and communication (design, copywriting, social media)
• understand contracts and partner with the right people (business management)
• be comfortable in front of an audience (public speaking, body language)

If you fail at these things your band will most likely also fail, even if you perform well and your songs are great.

That’s why being in a band is an excellent way to learn about marketing, creativity, leadership, business, brand strategy and more. So even if you think of your band (or your kids band) as something that will never support you or them financially, it may be the most valuable education out there ;-)











Leif

Skrivet torsdag 22 oktober 2009 under ämnet Artopod, Creativity
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Speaking up (is so very hard to do)

We have always thought of Artopod as an extremely easy agency to work with. I have started to re-evaluate that…

The simple reason is that we speak up when something’s not right. May sound simple, but it’s not. It can be very uncomfortable telling clients they’re spending money unwisely, doing un-strategic marketing decisions, spamming potential customers, using social media wrong and so on. The easy way is to just shut up and complain in silence, but we just can’t keep our mouths shut ;-) It’s in our DNA to speak up.

We believe that what we do in this industry has such a big impact on the companies and organizations we work with, that we owe it to them to speak up when something’s going in the wrong direction.

So, when working with us – expect us to say what we mean and mean what we say. I’d rather be concieved as a pain in the ass, but honest and hard working than just easy going. Creativity has to hurt a little, you know? (Thanks to the brilliant Professor Alf Rehn for explaining that so graphically last week)

So, instead of “Artopod – easy to work with” we are now “Artopod – a bit painful, but honest and with great results” ;-)