I usually try hard to find an interesting topic, until I realize that it is generally the most simple and day to day things that make great content. Maybe not great content, but short and sweet stories.

So, today, I really wanted to watch Bob Hoffman's speech at the Advertising Week Europe 2014. Bob Hoffman is, quoting from his blog, "The Ad Contrarian. Bob is an author, speaker, and partner in Type A Group, a consultancy to agencies and marketers. Bob is author of "101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising" which is the #1 selling advertising book on Amazon. Bob is also author of the book "The Ad Contrarian" and "The Ad Contrarian" blog, which was named one of the world's most influential advertising and marketing blogs by Business Insider. In 2012, Bob was selected Ad Person of the Year by the S.F. Advertising Club. Bob was previously chairman/ceo of Hoffman/Lewis advertising, one of the West's largest independent advertising agencies. He was formerly ceo of MOJO USA and president and creative director of Allen & Dorward. Bob has created advertising for McDonald's, Toyota, Shell, Nestle, Chevrolet, Pepsico, Bank of America, AT&T, and more companies than he cares to remember. He has served on the board of the Advertising and Marketing International Network. Bob has also been a middle school science teacher and served as Special Ass't to the Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences."

Bob is indeed a person you want to listen to, especially when his speech title is The Golden Age of Bullshit. And for the first 10 to 15 minutes I was really into it, and then, I lost interest, not in the topic though, but  in the way it is delivered.

I will definitely give it another shot later and I encourage you to watch it. Still, it is a  good reminder that as interesting as your content is (and Bob will hate that word), if the way of delivering it is not "great", then you can loose your audience.

Watch it, it is an amazing topic and it's good to have contrarian perspectives on the business!

[edited May 27, 2014]
I watch it entirely and again strongly encourage you to do it

I can't stop imagining new ways to do stuff, new objects, new hobbies, new restaurants.... However what's the point of an idea if I don't start something with it? Good or bad, if I imagine it, someone else will do or already did so. 
Then, as I am not going to open a gym, a restaurant or launch new products on the market - at least not for now - I am going to share some of the ideas I have, had, will have. I use to write down most of them, still I can't remember them all.

Today, I wanted to talk about strollers. Family law in France works effectively and children are everywhere! Have you ever noticed that many women/men with strollers are also checking their phone? giving one hand to another child? trying to blow their nose (don't forget it's winter time) ? Well, it's very impractical!

Nonetheless, parents know that you always need one hand to do something else while pushing a stroller! So, you have the jogging strollers, the lightweight strollers and the like, but there is still no one hand controlled stroller. Indeed, you might think that parents want to be sure that they have full control over the stroller, but wouldn't it be great to have the freedom to use only one hand sometimes?

Parents need the ONE hand free option! Strollers makers give it to them!

I really like the Nike "Find your greatness" campaign because I think it really speaks to most of the people. It inspires me and I was wondering about how a sport brand can acquire more market share. I truly think that there is a segment that could be more targeted in western Europe and the US as the population is aging: the “over 40’s”.

Let’s have a look at some figures: most of the athletes we see and admire are less than 30 years old and the median age for an Olympic athlete is 26. These 2 articles about age in sports are very interesting:
Could you be an athlete? Olympics 2012 by age, weight and height
Olympic Athlete Ages: What is the “peak” age to be an athlete?

So, yes, having an athlete for your sport brand is great, because we all admire them, but as the Nike campaign says, greatness is everywhere and “we are all capable of it, all of us”.

A campaign for the over 40 years old would be great with a direct message like  “let’s be honest, when you look at the mirror, you don’t see a 20 something Olympic athlete, but you are an athlete and you have your goals and your own merit”. It would be kind of sponsoring the real/strongest athlete, the ones that never stop their effort. Of course you need to improve this idea, add features (like a online Club with retired athletes who give advice on sport?), and make it more concrete, but that’s the essence.

Want to try?

Nowadays, the world is more connected than ever, but sometimes I feel that we are not taking full advantage of it. Have you ever think about how a fashion blogger from Japan can influence trends in Argentina?

That is the beauty of globalization and sometimes what most people fear about it. Every little thing can ¨travel¨ from one side of the world to the other in a nanosecond. Everywhere in the world, bloggers, designers and people like you and me express themselves about topics that they specially love and care about. On the other hand, we all know about video conference, video call, private network or platform.

So now, take a renown brand, mix the ingredients mentioned above and let´s see what happens!

You must be thinking : ¨where is she leading us?¨ Well, mesdames et messieurs, I am leading you to the first international fashion runway designed and created by young and soon to be famous designers in partnership with bloggers. And the brand in that?

Let´s imagine I am "BrandX", with a rebel image or an out of the box philosophy. Well, BrandX is offering to those designers and bloggers the extraordinary chance to put together a collection inspired by the brand for an international event during the fashion week of - maybe not NYC - but LA . How cool is that?

BrandX sponsoring and promoting designers in order to have a new collection that reflects what it inspires to people.... WoW!

On one side we have bloggers that follow trends and can contribute by sending insights about what they thing is next and how they see the brand, what it inspires them. On the other hand, you have the designers who take all of that and work together from remote places in order to create a collection inspired by the brand with their own touch. Of course, it might be difficult and complicated to make people agree on the same thing, so the project manager has to divide the collection and roles.

Once you have it running though, you gain valuable insights of the brand perceptions in different countries, the human resources and talent worldwide and of course media exposure.

Want to try?