Complacency is the Enemy of Creativity...

It's natural for all objects to settle and cease to move - don't let it...

Over the last few weeks I have found myself telling a story of ours regarding complacency and decided it needed to be re-told here.

A few years ago we were asked by a contact we had at Quaker - Tropicana - Gatorade (QTG) if we could help them out with a project they had. Another design firm had been creating ads for them displaying QTG's products and current features. All was well in the beginning but after a year or so of producing these monthly ads they had become redundant and stale. The firm had become complacent and structured in their work, not creative.

We mocked up a couple of designs, impressed QTG and we landed the account. Our finished work was so well received the President had one framed on his wall!

So now the torch was now passed to us and we needed to keep up the creative inspiration. Something we thought about each month producing new ads.

So, I suggest we all take a hard look at all our clients, projects, initiatives etc. and decide what type of a job we are doing. Have we become complacent with any of them? Could we be more creative or just do a better job in general?

Take the time every once in a while and make that tough call...
it is always worth it!

Interested in how we can be creative for you? Drop us a line - we’d love to chat!

Sean Smith
Twitter: @ci2group
Website: www.ci2group.com

Social Media Breakfast: In-House or Outsource - Social Media for Business

Recently we had the distinct pleasure of sponsoring the 45th Social Media Breakfast hosted at the amazing Headspace creative area!

The guest speaker was Sean Sandurst (@SeanSandhurst). Sean is the Manager, Content and Social Media Marketing at Postmedia Network Inc. – he is a great advocate of Social Media and a really engaging presenter!

Our own Scott Garner (@inov8change) briefly talked about our company, Ci2 Group, and then introduced Sean.

Sean’s presentation covered a lot of ground reviewing how fast social media changes and discussing the pros and cons to Outsourcing or having In-house management. Very engaging and informative! You can view his PowerPoint presentation online.

Here are some of the highlights we took away from the morning:

• Describe your business model. Will Social help you achieve those goals?
• Business 101 - still applies for Social Media. What are your goals? What is your strategy? What is your measurable?
• When sending out messages use the Jab-Jab-Jab-Jab-Right Hook or 411 method: 4 gives, 1 sell, 1 re-tweet.

 
Thanks again to Sean for an amazing presentation!

If you have not attended a Social Media Breakfast you should. Donna McTaggart (@donnamct) and her team do an amazing job! The breakfasts are held once a month in varying locations with different guest speakers - all talking about Social Media. Free food and beverages are served and after the presentation there is time to network and share.

Follow @smbyyc on Twitter to receive notifications for the next Social Media Breakfast!

Sean Smith
Twitter: @ci2group
Website: www.ci2group.com

illumiBYTES - A Monthly Digital Newsletter... Get Yours Today!

Our illuminArt team publishes an online newsletter each month filled with tips, trends and observations on the digital world. They have been steadily releasing the illumiBYTES newsletter for nearly 5 complete years and have an archive of almost 60 articles!

The goal is to help keep you up-to-date with information on trends, news, breakthroughs and events.

The most recent publication:

Sep 2013 - illumiBYTES [ build 5.09 ]

Features the following articles:

• September is the New January - Is fall really the new start to the year?
  
  As a kid you look forward to school starting in autumn, the cool mornings, the beautiful golden leaves and the anticipation of a new school year!
  
  In business it seems that September has become the new starting point, almost more than January 1st! more

• Recognition
• Top 7 Resolutions

Take a look at this great publication here…
View the Archive of 5 years of articles here…

Sean Smith
Twitter: @ci2group
Website: www.ci2group.com

New Normal in People Potential

The Smartphone and more specifically the release of Apple’s iPhone five years ago has sparked a new mindset with customers and employees. I call it the “I should be able to” expectation.

From the palm of our hands we can manage our private & public lives, access a world of knowledge, know our location on the earth’s surface, and record the journey along the way. Hi-tech enabled ‘people potential’ has forever raised the standard for ease of access, engagement, and simplicity. Old methods, clumsy systems, inefficient processes, and time-consuming redundancy have quickly slipped from tolerated to unthinkable.

Leaders have an extraordinary opportunity to embrace the new “people potential” and guide change so that it aligns with the organization’s values and objectives. A free-for-all pursuit of change “for change sake” should be avoided as it will end up creating confusion, diluting focus, and interrupting proven delivery systems that you depend on. Engaging a Guide and carefully managing each step forward is essential.

Looking for a Guide to empower people potential?

Let’s have a conversation!

Jason Caldwell
Twitter: @ci2group
Website: www.ci2group.com