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marți, 23 aprilie 2013
Is That the President on a Bicycle?
Seth's Blog : You don't have to pander
You don't have to pander
Merely giving the people what they want is a shortcut to banality, mediocrity and invisibility.
The agency that gives its clients exactly what they think they want never deserves to win Agency of the Year, and worse, is rarely seen as the leader in the field, the trusted advisor that is smart enough to know what the client ought to want instead. They certainly can't charge more or hire better team members.
I'm defining pandering as using your perception of your customer's wishes as an excuse to do work you're not proud of.
The public radio station that puts on empty, sensationalist coverage of the current crisis-of-the-year is chasing others down the rabbithole, a chase it can't (and doesn't want to) win. [The excuse is always the same—it's what the listeners want!]
The bookstore that gives customers toys, games and other junk to survive won't long be able to call itself a bookstore.
The restaurant that eagerly serves kids salty, fatty, tasteless junk food because that's all they will eat is inevitably training an entire generation not to eat at restaurants when they grow up.
The architect who proclaims that times are tough and ends up doing nothing but ticky tacky work because it's easy to sell gets the clients he deserves.
The copywriter/editor who trades in meaning for lists, using calculated SEO keyword loading and sensationalism designed to attract the drive-by audience, earns the privilege of doing it again and again, forever.
The reason you don't have to pander is that you're not in a hurry and you don't need everyone to embrace you and your work. When you focus on the weird, passionate, interesting segment of the audience, you can do extraordinary work for a few (and watch it spread) instead of starting from a place of average.
Go ahead and make something for the elites. Not the elites of class or wealth, but the elites of curiosity, passion and taste. Every great thing ever created was created by and for this group.
There's a surprisingly large amount of room at the this end of the market--among those that care enough about what they do to say no, and better yet, to teach the market why they're right.
They earn their niche at the top of the market by leading, not pandering.
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luni, 22 aprilie 2013
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| China PMI barely Above Contraction; Chinese Stocks Slump as Manufacturing Slows Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:10 PM PDT Bloomberg reports Chinese Stocks Slump Most in Three Weeks as Manufacturing Slows China's stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index down the most in three weeks, as data showed the country's manufacturing growing at a slower pace.China PMI barely Above Contraction As I have said on numerous occasions, China's infrastructure build-out is both ridiculous and unsustainable. Yet that does not stop for one second the cheerleading. For example please consider the Markit report headline for China Manufacturing that shows Operating conditions improve marginally in April  It is really tough to spin that stagnation, assuming you even believe it (I don't), into something positive. Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC managed to do just that. Qu stated "The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI came in at a two-month low, but still managed to expand modestly in April, albeit at a much slower pace. However, new export orders contracted after a temporary rebound in March, suggesting external demand for China's exporters remains weak. Weaker overall demand has also started to weigh on employment in the manufacturing sector. Beijing is expected to respond strongly to sustain the economic recovery by increasing efforts to boost domestic investment and consumption in the coming months." Really? 50.5 is "modest expansion"?! Would 49.5 have been "modest contraction?" Let's at least be honest about this. At best China is stagnating and this is in spite of an unwarranted and unsustainable infrastructure build-out. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| A Brief Lesson in History: Video of Mish Presentation at the Wine Country Conference Posted: 22 Apr 2013 10:31 AM PDT My speech, "A Brief Lesson in History", is available at Wine Country Conference Speaker Presentations. The videos are the actual presentations, and we are making a couple of them available each week for three weeks. John Hussman's presentation "An Unstable Equilibrium" was posted last week. Speaker presentation material, Yahoo! Finance media interviews, and associated articles on Advisor Perspectives are now available online at Wine Country Conference Speaker Slides. If you enjoy the videos and slides please consider making a Donation to the Les Turner ALS Foundation. Specify "Mish Campaign" on the donation to earmark funds for research. All told, we raised nearly $500,000 for ALS research, subject to final audit. $100,000 of that came from a very generous matching donation from the Hussman Foundation. Thanks again for a successful 2013 WCC and we look forward to many more! The 2014 conference will raise money for autism research and programs. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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Damn Cool Pics
Damn Cool Pics |
- Everyday Objects As Bongs
- 1950's Mountain Dew Can
- Bad Kisses
- Photos Tourists Must Stop Taking
- Happy National Park Week! [Infographic]
| Posted: 22 Apr 2013 04:42 PM PDT Sometimes you need to get resourceful.                     |
| Posted: 22 Apr 2013 10:30 AM PDT So cool.      |
| Posted: 22 Apr 2013 10:03 AM PDT Bad and awkward kisses.                     |
| Photos Tourists Must Stop Taking Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:24 AM PDT I got none of these. Kissing the Sphinx  Falling into the Grand Canyon  Fondling the Wall Street Bull  Blending in with the Terracotta Warriors  Doing the Rocky Balboa  Pinching the Taj Mahal  Mimicking Christ the Redeemer  Using a British phone booth  Rubbing Buddha's belly  Imitating the Royal Guard  Posing like the Statue of Liberty  Treating the Washington Monument like a penis  This goes for ladies too.  Walking across Abbey Road  Holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa  "Walking like an Egyptian"  Eiffel-towering at the Eiffel Tower  |
| Happy National Park Week! [Infographic] Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:52 AM PDT In honor of National Park Week, we wanted to share a number of fun facts with you. For instance, did you know that all national parks have free admission April 22-26 for National Park Week? Take advantage of this great opportunity to experience some of the country's most exhilarating parks and wildlife. And don't forget to support your national parks! Click on Image to Enlarge.  Via nationalparks.org |
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