Yes, boot yourself more than once if you can’t get to North Carolina in the next few weeks — up until January 15th.
Stunning Art Deco motor cars await you in Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art.
Fourteen shining examples, in fact, along with three motorcycles.
‘Rolling Sculpture, Art Deco Cars From The 1930s and ‘40s’ … that’s how this show is titled.
Go along and you’ll understand that gasping with appreciation isn’t discouraged.
We heard more than a few people audibly catch their breath. It’s that good.
Uncontained enthusiasm brought total strangers together to discuss the merits of the cars, streamline design and the crying shame that the era for these beauties has passed.
More than iPhone photography, Edsel Ford’s 1934 Model 40 Speedster had the Nikon brigade snapping shots from every angle. A serious attempt to capture all the art represents.
At shoelace level one enthusiast lay on the floor to capture a dramatic view of the 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B ‘Xenia’.
Another was on both knees to shoot the 1933 Pierce-Arrow. Silver Arrow model.
For a preview of the cars and motorcycles here’s a link: ncartmuseum.org
Pictured above is a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Teardrop.
Stunning only begins to describe it.
Ten years back a T150C-SS Teardrop sold at auction for $3,905,000.
Note the rich, earthy red color that completes a two-tone presentation.
We’re thinking it might have been inspired by the ancient Egyptians.
Reason for that lies with Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun.
On the heels of the King Tut find ancient Egyptian art electrified the world.
It dominated the jazz age and carried on to the 30s and 40s.
Art Deco, in everything from jewelry to motor cars and skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building, was heavily influenced.
The famous Tutankhamun death mask features geometric lines with the earthy red color you see on the Talbot-Lago.
More than that it’s a color that runs through Egyptian art.
Was there a chance the head of Automobiles Talbot SA, Antonio Lago, was swayed by Howard Carter’s discoveries?
Many of his cars feature that earthy red.
The way it combines with the deep, rich silver paintwork is …
Well … you finish the sentence with your own superlatives after you see the show.
More to that, we heard, ‘those in more senior positions are in decline and s%!t when it comes to effecting change.’
‘Pass 50 and you’re passed it.’
A bit harsh, of course, but maybe it was the Jack Daniels talking. In any case, someone said it’s no wonder clients are unhappy with agencies and business is shifting to consultants.
The thing is, why complain if you don’t have a solution. It’s just ear bashing.
So, how about better training programs? They’re bound to help young art directors, writers and account people. Agencies could invest more in courses to bring staff further along.
But what about seniors, those who could be well set in there ways and not exactly open to change.
The imperative could be ‘remake yourself, make a clean, new start’.
It’s easier said then done, but a model for that is Glenda Jackson.
Remember Glenda Jackson?
The great actress is coming out of retirement to play King Lear in an Old Vic production.
A woman in the King Lear role is intriguing as a re-imagination of Shakespeare.
But gender swapping is not unheard of in Shakespeare productions.
Women have played Hamlet.
And in the role they’ve come across as virile, manly and tough. Especially Sarah Bernhardt who played the role in Paris and London in 1899.
We’re wondering if a man could play Joan of Arc as well in George Bernard Shaw’s play Saint Joan.
Chances are you know Glenda Jackson’s work. Academy Awards for Best Actress, Emmy Awards … the list of her abilities is as long as your arm.
But imagine giving all that up to follow your political convictions.
Jackson did just that.
She retired from acting to stand for election to the House of Commons in 1992.
She became Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, served as a shadow minister and was appointed as parliamentary under secretary of state by Tony Blair.
No doubt we’re forgetting half a hundred other accomplishments including railing against Margaret Thatcher’s policies in order to redress the problems of unemployment.
Now Glenda Jackson is back.
She opens as King Lear on October 25th.
For those in decline, here’s a thought.
The Old Vic box office is open. So fly to London.
It’s bound to be inspiring, motivating and more to head for the Old Vic to see Glenda Jackson stage.
She’s a living example that you don’t have to be in decline and s%!t past 50.
Slow dynamite is the way Tennessee Williams characterized the ravages of time.
It’s a gradual explosion that changes everything.
The expression comes from his play, Sweet Bird of Youth.
As slow dynamite applies to marketing, how are you coping? How are you dealing with changes over time?
It’s a fair question as many agree, change is the biggest challenge we face today.
That’s change in consumer attitudes and the way brands are seen.
It’s the way people view social media and the intrusions that have come with online messaging.
As to the last, we’re thinking of pre-rolls, page take-overs, pop-ups and ads that pursue you around the Web.
Pesky stuff.
Little wonder ad blocking is seen as a new form of self-defense.
There’s also change in technology, the marketplace and development of new products.
There’s change in the way your competitors operate.
More to that, change can extend to old companies that suddenly get re-energized or merge to become a threat to your sales efforts.
American Airlines, General Motors and now maybe Kodak fall into that category.
It includes overseas companies that come to America to take brand share as well as start-ups like Uber and Airbnb that emerge to change the economic landscape.
It’s all part of dynamite that doesn’t seem so slow these days. Moore’s Law is one reason why.
But for too many people — those in management, marketing and sales — change is little more than an academic issue.
They talk about it; they put the idea of it on a pedestal.
But they live in the comfort of routine.
Could that be an inescapable human trait? That was a question a TED Talk speaker asked his audience recently.
One thing’s pretty clear, as security feels better than risk many people do things by habit.
It’s easy to slot in to convention and uniformity as you operate under the illusion you’re forging ahead.
Adding to that, the American writer Paul Auster has suggested:
Failure is measured by the
number of routines you have.
He could have a point there. Maybe he should expand on it in a TED Talk.
After all, when you give yourself over to habit you may miss the way consumer thinking and competitor efforts are changing.
The world can pass you by.
In that situation slow dynamite isn’t the worry.
It’s fast dynamite that’s the challenge.
Share with us. Leave your comment below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Steve Ulin, LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/1Bey3Jl
When the celebrated Welsh poet Dylan Thomas came to the United States in 1953 he was met at the airport by the press.
They mobbed him and wanted to know if he’d written new poems.
He said yes he had some recent ones.
As he was swept out of the airport on a tide of photographers, blinding flash bulbs and badgering reporters he said he also had written some decent ones.
Then he turned to all assembled, stopped them in their tracks and gave them an effortless account of his writing:
‘I’ve written some recent ones,
some decent ones
and some recent decent ones’.
The press broke up laughing.
They were delighted with the answer. The impromptu performance surprised them.
Surprise value also serves marketers well when communicating with a target audience.
You could say it’s the most important thing about commercial messaging.
That and the fact that brands should always be presented anew.
Saying or showing something surprising, new and unexpected is what stops people and extends attention spans.
It makes it easier for a brand to compete.
Put another way, it helps you become a real problem for your competition.
Southwest Airlines has a handle on that.
Remember the line, ‘Ding. You are now free to move about the country’.
There’s bags of character in that. It’s both surprising and unexpected.
It’s the opposite of the ‘try-hard thing’ which gives it surprise value.
Of course, Southwest is still at it with funny flight attendant announcements and safety briefings that are near enough sidesplitting.
You’ve seen them. And no doubt you laughed.
Why bother to create work like this, why go the surprising route at all?
As Dylan Thomas would have told you, you have to give people something if you want them to remember you.
Share with us. Leave your comment below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/1Bey3Jl