Motley Crue, Moore's Law & Meh, U of I Digital Bootcamp Kenote Speech 2014

INTERACTIVE
Brian Barthelt
SVP, Director, Leo Burnett Interactive
March 2014
An exploration of the effect of disruptive innovations
on markets, consumers, and you.
INTERACTIVE
Mötley Crüe, Moore’s Law and Meh
Thank you to U of I college of advertising for asking me back. Itʼs an honor to be your keynote speaker this year.

confessions,
fears &
promises
part 0:
Hopefully there’s SOME techies in the room that get my “0” joke. :-)

confessions,
fears &
promises
part 0:
(every good geek knows
that you start counting at
0, not 1)
Hopefully there’s SOME techies in the room that get my “0” joke. :-)

Let’s start with
confessions.

Confession:
This
presentation
has
slides.
221
This may seem overwhelming, but they’re going to go by really really fast.

Confession:
This
presentation
has
slides.
221
(So try to keep your eyes up here:
they’re gonna go by real real fast)

Confession:
This
presentation
has
slides.
221
(So try to keep your eyes up here:
they’re gonna go by real real fast)
(16.28 seconds per slide average)

Confession:
I tend to procrastinate when creating
presentations.
Analysis of Brian’s Progress on Keynote Presentation
I’m really really tired. I worked on this very late. My day job made it harder to work on
this than I wanted.

Confession:
I tend to procrastinate when creating
presentations.
Analysis of Brian’s Progress on Keynote Presentation
(Don’t you judge me. You all do the same with your homework.)
I’m really really tired. I worked on this very late. My day job made it harder to work on
this than I wanted.

Confession:
I didn’t major in
marketing
or advertising or
communications.
I am a technologist.
A geek.

Brian Barthelt
SVP, Director of
Acquisition and
Engagement
INTERACTIVE
Leo Burnett Interactive is a full service digital studio within Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide

Confession:
At times I
obsess a little
too much
about
technology.
I’m sorry if I sound like that professor that’s
WAY more enthusiastic about his class than any of the students are.

I help lead Leo Burnett’s stable of
“Supergeeks”
INTERACTIVE
My day job is to help lead Leo Burnett Interactive.
We have about 100 technologists of various ﬂavors who conceive and create digital
media. Leo Burnett is one of the oldest agencies in the business.

I know what you’re thinking.
(I’m well aware that it is highly unlikely that you were thinking this)

?
How did a geek like you end up at
an Advertising Agency?
(I’m well aware that it is highly unlikely that you were thinking this)

I just woke up one day and found myself in it.
Confession: I never targeted advertising.
I worked in the petrochemical / manufacturing industry for 3 years. Then joined “Giant
Step”: a digital solutions company. Leo Burnett owned 51% of them. Through mergers/
acquisitions over the years, I found myself at Leo Burnett.

Agencies are for cool people, Right?
Because agencies are typically full of cool kids. Yep. Hipsters.

Historically,
geeks have
not been
cool.

They wear
dockers and
stained polo
shirts.
I should have photoshopped some stains into these images.

They have bad
hair
They
have
greasy
hair.

They have bad
hair
And questionable
hygiene.

Not anymore.
It’s now cool
to be a geek.
That geek stereotype is dead.

Not anymore.
It’s now cool
and lucrative
to be a geek.
I’ll touch on this more a bit later...because you might actually be a geek, or you might
WANT TO BE A GEEK.

Fear:
You’re college
students.
You were doing this
all night last night.

Fear:
You’re
exhausted and
going to fall
asleep while
I’m talking.
And that means you’re probably tired.

Fear:
You’re starving
and the food
might be more
interesting.
And you’re trying to eat while I’m speaking.

Fear:
You might
tune me out
because you’re
brain is full from the
awesome stuff you
already heard today.

Promises
BUT: I’m going to make you some promises, and hopefully those keep you engaged.

Everything in this
discussion is
FOR YOU.
I promise you altruism. I am here for no reason other than my karma. I tried to give
you things you can use. To differentiate yourselves, and bring more value to your
employers. While I joked about doing this last minute, that might have been bending
the truth a little. I put a great deal of effort into trying to give you something valuable.

I know that soon you’ll be interviewing for
your ﬁrst “real job” in this industry.
You don’t want to look like every
other candidate.
I’m giving you information that can, if used correctly, help you differentiate yourself.

Watch for the pencil.
I tried to signal things you might want to write down with this pencil image.

Don’t have a ?
Who am I kidding. You probably only had plasticware.

Don’t have a ?
You can just use whatever’s handy.
Who am I kidding. You probably only had plasticware.

Promise:
I’m here to
help you.
That means
afterwards as well.
Twitter: @brianbarthelt
Email: brian.barthelt
@leoburnett.com
My commitment to do this speech includes a commitment to be available to you. To
coach and advise you if you need it.

Promise:
I’m going to show work to help
make my points.
Some of the work I demo is crafted
by Leo Burnett.
Some was not.
I promise that I chose work based
on RELEVANCE TO YOU:
Not based on bragging about the
awesome shit we get to do.
I’m not here to self promote, and despite the INTENSE pride I feel working for Leo
Burnett, I’m not here to promote my agency.

Promise:
You picked
one hell of a
profession:
Advertising.
Advertising is an AWESOME ﬁeld. I’ve been outside of ADVERTISING. I like it better
here.

So many job options for
college grads look like
this.
A sea of cubicles. Death by Cubicle. My ﬁrst job looked not unlike this.

Agencies are different.
Advertising culture is
addictive.
You won’t want to work
back in “the real world.”
Agency culture is addictive. Collaborative. Less rigid. Make no mistake though, we
work VERY hard and long hours are common. But we’re passionate about what we do.

The ﬁeld of advertising is
changing dramatically.
Advertising is currently
undergoing countless
Disruptive Innovations.
You are ENTERING advertising at a fascinating time. Everything is changing. RIGHT
NOW.

“Didn’t I see
Disruptive Innovation in the subtitle of
this speech?”
?

You DID see
Disruptive Innovation
in the subtitle of this speech!
Yes!

introduction
is now
DONE.
part 0:
Which means our introduction is now complete.

On to the actual presentation (42 slides later)
An exploration of the effect of disruptive innovations on
markets, consumers, and you.
And we can begin the ACTUAL speech.

Tip: Nothing makes for a
catchy title like alliteration.
An exploration of the effect of disruptive innovations on
markets, consumers, and you.
There’s your ﬁrst pencil!! Which means it’s something you might want to write down.

technology
part 1:
So let’s begin. Technology

technology
part 1:
the
behind
hair metal

technology
part 1:
the
behind
super bands

technology
part 1:
the
behind the demise of
super bands

disruptive innovations
part 1:
the
behind the demise of
super bands

“What exactly is a
disruptive innovation?”
?

Disruptive Innovation: noun
An innovation that helps create a new
market, and eventually disrupts an
existing market, displacing that existing
market or technology.

The theory of Black
Swans:
It is a black swan.
“This is how it works. Swans are white. Until one day....they aren’t. Everything we
thought we knew about swans is no longer true. Everything from that day forward is
different.

A metaphor to describe an event that:
Comes as a surprise
Has a major effect
Is often inappropriately rationalized
after the fact with the beneﬁt of
hindsight.
Black Swan
Theory

Black Swan
Theory
Interpreted:
The current so-called experts and
market leaders do not see it coming.
It deﬁes the current “conventional
wisdom”
It later becomes the NEW conventional
wisdom.
Black swans in my own words.

Black Swan
Theory
Interpreted:
The current so-called experts and
market leaders do not see it coming.
It deﬁes the current “conventional
wisdom”
It later becomes the NEW conventional
wisdom.
Read this book. Seriously.
Black swans in my own words.

How many of you actually know what this is? VCR. Video Casette Recorder. An
example of a technology killed through disruptive innovation.

Then Laser Disc. HUGE discs. Almost nobody had these other than hardcore
videophiles.
The promise: better quality cinema at home. But they could not record.

Then came this. Better picture. Digital Picture.
But you couldn’t record on them cost effectively. Well, not really.

These guys stuck around for a while so that you could still record your shows.

The Tivo was the very ﬁrst digital video recorder. Now OF COURSE every single cable
and satellite provider has their own, and this is already a commodity. But for a TIME:
TIVO was a black swan. A revolution. Overnight, VHS and VCRs were rendered useless.

“What does this have to do
with Mötley Crüe?”
?

I worried I screwed up...
When i ﬁrst wrote this speech last year...I forgot to consider something: the age of my
audience.

How many of you are familiar with
Mötley Crüe?
Raise your hands (no lying).
Less than I thought.

I was harshly
reminded while
creating this speech
that
I’m not as young as I
think...

Or maybe I just forgot how
much younger you are
(relatively speaking)...

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia (not old): My mom said you were doing a speech?
This was a conversation with my girlfriend’s daughter that made me realize that
maybe my whole topic/title were ﬂawed.

The revealing
conversation:
Brian (old): Yeah, tomorrow.

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?
Brian: It’s about innovation. It’s called “Mötley Crüe, Moore’s
Law, and Meh”.

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?
Law, and Meh”.
Olivia: Huh!?!?!? Who’s Molly Crews?

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?
Law, and Meh”.
Brian: You’re kidding, right?

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?
Law, and Meh”.
Olivia: No, seriously. Who’s Molly Crews? An Actress?

The revealing
conversation:
Olivia: On what?
Law, and Meh”.
Olivia: No, seriously. Who’s Molly Crews? An Actress?
Brian: <Long pause..................many swear words>

Who is
?
So just in case...who is Motley Crue?

Motley Crue is a hair metal band. This strange species existed from roughly the mid
80’s, and ruled the music scene until the early 90’s.

Hair Metal Band: noun
A group of 4 to 5 substance-addicted
low-to-moderately talented hard rock
musicians who wear the same clothes,
makeup and hairstyles as the trashy girls
that worship their 4-chord cliché music.
(My original deﬁnition. Apologies to those still in hair metal bands)

They arguably
marked the end of an
era.

This music video marked the pinnacle of the arena-ﬁlling super band era: #1 on the MTV top 10 video count down for months. (MTV used to
actually play music videos). Footage of Motley Crue ﬁlling stadius in this “Home Sweet Home” video made EVERYONE want to be in a super
band.

Mötley Crüe was also
a “Super Band”

Super Band: noun
A musical act with mass popularity, giving
them arena-ﬁlling draw that spans
multiple decades and multiple
generations of fans.
(I made this up)

Other Super Band Examples
All of these bands ﬁlled arenas for decades and multiple generations of fans love
them.

One of the Final Super Bands of the
“Super Band” era...But why?
If you dream of being in a super band...it will be tougher. MC was one of the last. Not
THE last, but one of them. Most ARENA ﬁlling concerts today are acts that are short
lived...OR...super bands from the super-band era.

Gordon E. Moore: cofounder of Intel. Will be true until about 2020.
EXPONENTIAL growth in technology. Look at the Y axis: EXPONENTIAL.
Technological capability DOUBLES every 2 years.

“That’s fascinating!!!
But what does Moore’s Law have to do with
the demise of Hair Metal bands?”
?

A series of technological advancements that combined to entirely disrupt the music
market.

UHF: Music Video Programming
market.

24 Hr. Music Video Channel
market.

The worldwide web / high bandwidth
market.

Shareable digitized music
market.

Peer to Peer Sharing Tools
market.

New radio distribution options
market.

New radio distribution options
Cheap hi-ﬁdelity recording
market.

It’s time for a crabby old man
moment

Back when I was a
kid, we didn’t HAVE
all these crazy
bands. We had
WRCK, 96.3, “The
Rock”, and we liked
it!

Advances in
Music Distribution
Technology
saturated the market.
Suddenly there’s 10x, 100x, 1000x, 10,000x
as many bands on your radar.

Your attention span is now
diluted across all those
bands.

...and 100 new bands pop up
every 12.4 seconds.

...and 100 new bands pop up
every 12.4 seconds.
(I might have made
up that statistic)

“What does that mean
for recording companies?”
?

Before: Bands needed
to be bankrolled
There was a barrier to entry. You needed to get signed by 1 of a few record
companies.

After: Record companies
are irrelevant.
XThere was a barrier to entry. You needed to get signed by 1 of a few record
companies.

“Each speciﬁc technology follows
a similar lifecycle toward irrelevance.
It is disruptive innovations move the
tech through this lifecycle.”
Brian’s Theory of Inevitable Irrelevance

Brian’s Theory of Inevitable IrrelevanceTM

Brian Barthelt, just now.

Innovation

Innovation
Competitive Advantage

Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation

Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation
Irrelevance
Disruptive
Innovation

As applied to Record Companies
Innovation
Irrelevance
TM
Disruptive
Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation
The theorem applied to the recording industry.

Innovation
Irrelevance
“We can capture music on a record!!”
TM
Disruptive
Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation

Innovation
Irrelevance
“There’s only a few record companies.
We’re making SO. MUCH. MONEY!!”
TM
Disruptive
Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation

Innovation
Irrelevance
“Uh oh. Lots of companies can record
music and distribute it. We’re making
SO. MUCH. LESS. MONEY. ”
TM
Disruptive
Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation

Innovation
Irrelevance
“Every !@#% with a computer is
in a band. They’re recording, and
distributing their own music.
Why are we still here?”
TM
Disruptive
Innovation
Commoditization
Disruptive
Innovation

Moore’s Law
ensures that
disruptive
innovations will
appear faster. and
faster. and faster.

“You’ve covered Mötley Crüe and Moore’s Law, but
what about Meh, Brian?”
?

meh: interjection
A snarky utterance used to express that
one is unimpressed, disinterested, bored,
or, like, whatever man.

We are utterly inundated with:
information,
media
&
technology
It’s not just MUSIC that’s affected by this.

Sensory overload makes us...
Easily Distracted

Brian’s Squirrel Distractibility Theorem

TM

Technology Advancement
Over Time
Less
Tech
More
Tech
TM

Over Time
SquirrelsDistractingUs
More
Squirrels
Less
Squirrels
Less
Tech
More
Tech
TM

Over Time
SquirrelsDistractingUs
More
Squirrels
Less
Squirrels
Less
Tech
More
Tech
As technology
continually advances
according to Moore’s
Law, the number of
squirrels distracting
us approaches
TM

Sensory overload makes us...
Harder to Impress.

Moore’s Law
continually
reshapes our
social experience
& our attitudes.

If you want to explore the social implications of this more, take a look at Doug
Rushkoff’s
“PresentShock”. He goes into fascinating depth on this topic.

“Information consumes the
attention of its recipients. Hence,
a wealth of information creates of
poverty of attention.”
Herbert Simon, 1978
HE SAID THIS IN 1978. I was 5 years old. Less than 1% of the people in this room were
alive.

INTERACTIVE
So we’ve covered
Mötley Crüe

INTERACTIVE
We’ve covered
Moore’s Law

INTERACTIVE
And we’ve covered
“Meh”

This effects you
more than it effects me.

Statistically, odds are that
you will be alive and working
longer than I will.

You will live and
work through more
technological
advancements than
those that came
before you.

Thinking of becoming a
media planner?
That’s a bad bet.
It will be almost entirely
programmatic within a
few years.
Some jobs will be eliminated entirely. The way robots replaced the assembly line
worker.

Content production costs
are plummeting.
Your clients will demand
more content for
less $$$$
Things that used to be expensive become cheap.

Your consumers will be
more distracted, more
suspicious, and harder to
impress.

You will need to be a
better, more innovative
marketer than those
before you.

The Leo Burnett
Humankind Scale
The bar is already set high. Look at 8, 9, 10. Every creative team strives for an 8+.
The “Global Product Committee” (GPC) meets regularly to review ALL work. This
incentive structure ensures every Leo Burnett creative team is trying to AT LEAST
“change the way people think and feel”.

The Leo Burnett
Humankind Scale
The Goal
The bar is already set high. Look at 8, 9, 10. Every creative team strives for an 8+.
The “Global Product Committee” (GPC) meets regularly to review ALL work. This
incentive structure ensures every Leo Burnett creative team is trying to AT LEAST
“change the way people think and feel”.

“How can I use all of this amazing
information to my advantage?”
?

INTERACTIVE
I’ll try to answer that using
these same three things.
Iʼll try to answer that in the context of these three things.

Stop
believing
you will
be in a
super
band.
We’ve established that there will be very few superbands again. Ever. The odds are
against you.

INTERACTIVE
Now that we’ve gotten that out of
the way...
Now that we have that one out of the way...

Don’t fear
Moore’s Law.
Capitalize on it.
It creates
opportunities. You
just have to
recognize them.
Every disruptive innovation has both victims and benefactors. You want to be the
latter.

Innovation
can be
codiﬁed to a
degree.
And I’ve done
that for you.

A stale market
A Small/Entrepreneurial Mindset
Passionate high-energy visionaries
High functioning makers/inventors
Take time to tinker
Operate with stealth
Brian’s 6-Ingredient Casserole for
Almost-Guaranteed Innovation

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
The Situation

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
The Situation
The Attitude

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
The Situation
The Attitude
The People

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
The Situation
The Attitude
The People
The Behaviors

A Stale Market
The entire
music
market
structure
was stale.
In our example: Both for the BANDS and for the RECORD COMPANIES. The technology was old, long since
commoditized. Markets like this are highly vulnerable.
Look for “That’s the way it’s always been done”. Find these, and the next disruptive innovation isn’t far
away.

Oligopolies & Market Barriers
Oligopolies: usually dominated by a few market players. Why?
There are barriers to entry. But BARRIERS TO ENTRY are usually EXACTLY what are
DESTROYED by DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS. So who is vulnerable now?

How about the automobile industry?
What about these guys? Disruptive innovation?
The automobile market is an oligopoly. Dominated by a few players. Barriers to entry.
Here comes a new guy, doing it COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY, and turning heads.
Time will tell.

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
We’ve now covered the stale market. On to the “Small Entrepreneurial Mindset”

A Small Entrepreneurial Mindset
Source: Maddie Hamill, Venadar
“Client Disruptions & Agency Implications”
Entrepreneurial thinking...small company thinking. That’s where innovation lives.

Work in Small Teams
Big teams suffocate ideas.

Hired by a
big
company?
You might get your ﬁrst job at a huge company.

Pretend
you’re the
black ops
division.
You have more control to deﬁne ANY job in your career than you realize. Think like
the black ops division and you will be just that.

So many innovations: the U2 spy plane, the SR-71 blackbird, the stealth bomber/
ﬁghter. A wonderful engaging book that is not only entertaining, but demonstrates
how an innovative team was structured.

Big Company:
Traditional Decision Pattern
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
We’re going to compare “big company” to “entrepreneur”. The big company way has
more steps, slower steps. The entrepreneurial way: “Fail fast and fail often, adjust and
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Observe
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Observe
Idea
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
Build
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
Build
Launch & Market
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
Build
Launch & Market
Involve Users & Learn
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
Build
Launch & Market
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design
Build
Launch & Market
Leap of Faith Assumption
try again”

Big Company:
Entrepreneur:
Lean Feedback Loop
Decision
Observe
Idea
Idea
Analyze & Present
Design Prototype/Experiment
Build
Launch & Market
try again”

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
On to the people: Passionate high energy visionaries, and high functioning makers/
inventors.

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
These two go
together like peas
and carrots.
On to the people: Passionate high energy visionaries, and high functioning makers/
inventors.

Passionate High-Energy Visionaries
People who can
connect the
dots

"The quickest path to
innovation lies in making ‘novel’
connections.”
Steven Berline Johnson
Where Good Ideas Come From

High Functioning Makers/Inventors
It is easier than ever
to “make” things.
Arduino, Rasberri pi, cheap components (that is a servo motor on the right btw).

A video of our interns creating an interactive touch screen from a pane of glass, some cheap infrared lasers, a web cam, a
projector, and a computer.

Another video: This team turned the 15th ﬂoor lobby (a ﬂoor to ceiling glass wall) into an interactive experience.
Navigating years and years of broadcast work, client by client.

A video of the same technology recreated for Intel

Example of connection: Qualcomm releases marker based detection API. A technologist notices.
Makes the connection that detecting actual packaging IN STORE would be superior to, say, a QR code.

Inventors are more valuable then ever
in the world of media creation.
Agencies are hiring
geeks in droves.

Inventors are more valuable then ever
in the world of media creation.
Agencies are hiring
geeks in droves.
experience^

If you’re not a
geek, you
might want to
become one.
Becoming a
geek is easier
than ever.
I mentioned there’d be more on this later. If you’re interested in going the “geek”
route, here’s some advice.

Learn to
Program
Maybe learn a
Programming
Language.
Or Several.
Maybe learn a programming language or two. Learning a programming language is
easier than ever. The free online tutorials are outstanding. If you’re brain is wired for
it, this can be a VERY fulﬁlling life.

Learn Animation
& Motion Design
Animation tools are maturing faster than ever. And Motion is becoming increasingly
important in our world as DIGITAL Boards replace static boards.

Learn 3D Art & Animation
This space is exploding: it still requires tremendous skill and a gifted eye, but a lot of
the tedium is disappearing as the tools RAPIDLY mature.

Learn to
build things.
Building things is easier than it has ever been. And it will continue to get easier.

Subscribe to
“Make”
Magazine
Great magazine for tinkerers and inventors.

Chaotic Moon Board of Awesomeness
Video: the “Board of Awesomeness” by Chaotic Moon Labs. Assembly-ready tech
turned into something delightful and profound.

What was next?
Make it MIND controlled.
Then came the board of imagination. Mind-controlled version of the board of
awesomeness. Also Chaotic Moon Labs.

Chaotic Moon Labs again with “CUPID” (Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone)
(Video)

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
On to the behaviors: Time to tinker and operating with stealth.

“Contrary to social-science wisdom, almost no discovery, no
technologies of note, came from design and planning—they
were just Black Swans. The strategy for discovers and
entrepreneurs is to rely less on top-down planning and focus
on maximum tinkering and recognizing opportunities when
they present themselves. The reason free markets work is
because they allow people to be lucky, thanks to aggressive
trial and error, not by giving rewards or “incentives” for skill.
The strategy is, then, to tinker as much as possible and try to
collect as many Black Swan opportunities as you can.”
-Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan”
Long quote: but worth reading. Innovation REQUIRES tinkering according to Taleb.

20% Rule
Google used to require 1 day a week to be spent on “passion projects”. Yielded THESE
innovations and many others.

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
Operating with stealth:

Operate with Stealth
Theres’ no shortage
of these guys.
Your idea should be
pretty baked: either
partially or
completely built
BEFORE You ask
permission.
Beware the hall monitors. Beware those who cannot see your vision until it
materializes. Hide from them and innovate in spite of them.

of these guys.
“Look what I did!”
is SO MUCH MORE
EFFECTIVE than:
“Can I try this?”
Get your ideas baked, proven out...proof-of-concepts at a minimum before involving
anyone with a “hall monitor” mentality.

of these guys.
“It’s better to beg
forgiveness than ask
permission”

of these guys.
If you’re supposed to
be doing something
else 9am -5pm?
Then innovate on your
own time. If you’re
passionate about it,
you’re doing what you
enjoy anyway.
If you’re supposed to be doing something else during 9-5? Do it on your own time.
The most accomplished people in ANY craft put time in because they’re passionate,
not because they’re punching a clock.

TM
A stale market
Take time to tinker
And that covers the casserole ingredients.

INTERACTIVE
Two down, one to go.
Now: how do we deal with “Meh”?

Meh doesn’t
have to win.
You can beat Meh. There’s a formula for that too.

Think...
What “things” do you
never want to have to
live without?
It can be anything. A technology. A cell phone. A single parent might say Peapod
grocery delivery.

Why don’t you want
to ever live without it
????
What do these things have in common?

Because they better the human experience!
They give you DELIGHT.

DelightBecause they better the human experience!
They give you DELIGHT.

My List
All of the things on this screen give me delight. I feel my VERY EXISTENCE is better
because of them and I don’t want to go back to my life before these things.

Let’s deep dive on just one.
This one is worth deep diving on. I don’t wanna live in a world without the
battery powered Dyson Animal. Because of “MILLER”. My children’s angora nunny. He
is the nicest, but also the furriest & messiest bunny on the planet.

Video of Tesco’s subway shopping solution in Korea. This solution delivers on the
mantra “design for delight”. Tesco is a grocery company. Korea is the 2nd hardest
working country (in hours). Tesco let them grocery shop during their commute, while
waiting for the subway train.

All the “meh” in the
world does not
entirely rob us of
three things...
Capitalize on these.
Inventing something that betters the human experience is hard. There are other ways
to combat meh as well. Three things to capitalize on...

Our Humanity
1. AS humans we have EMOTIONS. Except the sociopaths.
2. We WANT to be dazzled. We long for it, even it it’s getting harder to do so.
3. We ALL have dreams and desires: and this is VERY VERY powerful.

Our Humanity
Our desire for wonder and beauty

Our Humanity
Our dreams and desires

Examples from BROADCAST that conquered “Meh”, were highly acclaimed.

Two Examples From
a Traditional Medium
Examples from BROADCAST that conquered “Meh”, were highly acclaimed.

My hobby: analyze the most popular super-bowl commercials. Dissect what made
them effective. This was the most popular superbowl commercial in 2012 (video).

I know what you’re wondering.

“Why is that commercial so effective?”
?

Our Humanity
He’s cute. We feel EMPATHY for him. We want him to succeed. Notice he is not
wearing dark gloves like the real darth vader. This is deliberate. The visibility of his
CHILD hands remind us that this is a little kid. Who, besides sociopaths, isn’t moved
by the dreams of little kids?

We KEEP HOPING IT WORKS!!!! We WANT him to be able do this...if for no other reason
than that would be .... AMAZING!!!!!

Our dreams & desires
Last but not least: our dreams and desires. We all secretly wish we were jedi.
One with the FORCE. LIGHT SABERS!!!!!

Now let’s look at another example that uses these three things, AND highlights the
subtleties involved in achieving brilliant execution. The Budweiser “Puppy Love”
commercial was the most popular of all those shown at the 2014 Super Bowl. (Video).

“Why is THIS commercial so effective?”
?

Because they created
the perfect fantasy:
Again: it painted something that many viewers dreamed of. Men dreamed of being the
cowboy. Women dreamed of being that damsel. Of ﬁnding a love fated in concert with
this magical horse/puppy moment.

A pretty single woman

who raises the cutest puppies ever.

A handsome cowboy RIGHT NEXT DOOR.

...who has his own ranch:

where he breeds beautiful horses.

Oh, did I mention their puppies and horses talk to each other and play together?

...and they are both single and lonely.

And fate keeps bringing them together

And they are totally into each other.
And fate keeps bringing them together

And they consummate their
newfound love with a...

Understanding the Brilliance
Warrants a Play-By-Play
:01
One of our main characters. In ONE SECOND, she is instantly likable.
Pretty, while looking REAL. Not overly made up. Just right.

:02
The CUTEST. PUPPIES. EVER. Most of the audience is already going “awwwwwwww”.

:13
The majestic Clydesdale and the adorable puppy: they are FRIENDS. They LOVE each
other.
The magic of two beautiful animals from disparate species COMMUNICATING. The
same fantasy brought to life in so many disney cartoons.

:17
Introduction of our hero. The handsome cowboy in the Budweiser hat.

:22
Our hero and heroin brought together. At this point it MIGHT be fate. This will later be
conﬁrmed.

:25
Our quintessential cowboy moment: he’s alone in his barn on a rainy night, gettin’
shit done. He’s living his dream. At this point: MEN fantasize about BEING this noble
hardworking cowboy.

:29
The puppy brought them together again, so now we KNOW it’s fate. The fantasy is
almost fully formed.

:49
The most unrealistic, yet triumphant shot of the entire commercial...the adorable
puppy, tiny, juxtaposed against the majesty of a team of Clydesdales.

:56
And ﬁnally: two dear friends reunited at last. Two lonely souls brought together at
last.
Budweisers in hand.

INTERACTIVE
And there you go.
Weʼve covered all 3

Inspiring Innovations & Predictions
We’ll wrap up with some inspiring innovations.

Technological Singularity: noun
The theoretical emergence of superintelligence through
technological means. Since the capabilities of such
intelligence would be difﬁcult for an unaided human
mind to comprehend, the technological singularity is
seen as an occurrence beyond which events cannot be
predicted.
(Which means your kids will be way smarter than you
while being simultaneously unable to function
WITHOUT technology)

“This computer (cell phone)
is thousands of times more
powerful than the computer I
used as a student, and it's
100,000 times smaller. In 25
years, it will be a billion times
more powerful in price
performance, a billion times
more powerful per dollar, and
100,000 times smaller. It will
be the size of a blood cell.
They'll be going through our
body and keeping us healthy
from the inside.”
Ray Kurzweil
Futurist, inventor, technologist

Wolfram Alpha:
Computational
Knowledge Engine.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
It’s like google, but rather than return documents that MIGHT contain the answer to
what you really want, Wolfram Alpha actually tries to give you an answer based on all
it knows. He’s working on a “preemptive mode” that will watch you work and try to
proactively give you the knowledge you need to accomplish your task.

IBM Watson
Watson read and, and more importantly comprehends, the entire body of human
knowledge. It understands subtleties like pun, metaphor, play on words. It creates
hypotheses.

Xiao Xiao The Mouse - Cloned from its mother’s skin cells
Every cell contains ALL our DNA: all our programming.
You can “boot” a cell to be the kind of cell you want.

“Printing” Human Organs, by
Organovo
Oganovo and other companies will conquer the 3d printing of working human organs
within the next 15 or so years.

Dean Kamen:
Deka Prosthetics
DEKA/Dean Kamen and his prosthetics that work like real limbs, controlled by your
nervous system.

Dean Kamen - Water Puriﬁcation
Also from DEKA: clean drinking water for the world, and sustainable power.

“But what if I’m not a geek/inventor/maker?”
?

That’s OK: But understand the
technology landscape:

Not this: “how does it work?”

Not this: “how does it work?”
But this:
“How does it affect the human
experience?”

Creativity has the power to
transform human behavior.
Our motto...think about it. You can TRANSFORM HUMAN BEHAVIOR with your
creativity!

Are you a leader?
Are you a super geek?
Are you an inventor?
A you a maker/tinkerer?
Are you creatively amazing?
Are you amazing in some other way?
INTERACTIVE
Then show us. We want to meet you.
I’m almost done. Before I wrap up, I know many of you are here looking for a career.
Stop by and see our recruiters today at the Job Fair. If you’re amazing, we want to
meet you.

INTERACTIVE
Brian Barthelt
Email: brian.barthelt@leoburnett.com
INTERACTIVE
Thank You / Q&A
Now for Q&A

INTERACTIVE
INTERACTIVE
Appendix
Brian Barthelt
Email: brian.barthelt@leoburnett.com
During questions, Iʼll leave this appendix up with the RECOMMENDED READING that ﬂew by
in this presentation. Also my Email & Twitter handle. Donʼt hesitate to reach out to me with
questions or for career advice.

Motley Crue, Moore's Law & Meh, U of I Digital Bootcamp Kenote Speech 2014

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