2012 ReCourses New Business Summit

On January 25-27, I had the pleasure of joining nearly 100 other professionals representing dozens of creative services firms in Nashville to attend the 2012 ReCourses New Business Summit (NBS). Hosted by ReCourses principal David C. Baker, and Blair Enns of Win Without Pitching, the event’s subtitle reads, “Using Your Positioning for More Reward, Impact, Control, and Fun.”

When it was all over, I asked many of my fellow attendees to provide two words that best describe their takeaways from the event, and the word cloud embedded above reflects their input. For anyone who has not spoken with me or others about our remarkable experiences at the summit, this provides quick insight into its powerful impact.For a bit more background,

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One amazing night in San Francisco

Thanks to the SF Egotist, you can be a fly on the wall throughout all 10 episodes, and take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn from some of the top minds in one of the world’s most creative cities.

Emerging Filmmakers: Polynoid

“Loom” is the title of this amazing short film created by Polynoid (a collaboration among artists Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Csaba Letay, Fabian Pross and Tom Weber) and featuring original music and sound design by Joel Corelitz of Waveplant Studios. The highly ambitious project screened at this year’s OFFF in Barcelona and has so far … Read moreEmerging Filmmakers: Polynoid

Greg Barker: Thanks for the Documentary

Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power’s biography “Chasing the Flame,” the feature documentary film SERGIO presents the story of Sergio Vieira de Mello – a key diplomatic ambassador who may have witnessed more human suffering than any man of his generation. Described as a cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy, Sergio earned a … Read moreGreg Barker: Thanks for the Documentary

Business and brand strategy alignment

For his recent post entitled “The Death of Branding and the Scam of Storytelling,” ghostwriter and author Jeff Haden reached out to the illustrious David C. Baker. David is the head of ReCourses, which provides consulting services and educational events for marketing firms. In Jeff’s story, David says a lot about branding and storytelling, including this.

“Alignment is simply telling the truth: To your customers, to your employees, and to yourself. When you do that everything else falls into place. Then your brand makes sense and the stories you tell support your brand — because your brand is you.”

Personally, I have long admired the dedication of my clients at global creative agency ATTIK focusing in on these critical areas of business. I believe their work for Perkins+Will featured above is a solid example of David’s ideas at work. I hope he agrees with me.

To learn more,

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Leviathan and V Squared project Drake and friends

Following the success of several recent live performance projection mapping feats, design-focused, Chicago-based production studio Leviathan partnered once again with its frequent collaborator VJ Vello Virkhaus and V Squared Labs… this time for platinum selling, Grammy nominated recording artist Drake’s sold out OVO Festival, which took place in Toronto in early August.

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“Brand New Conference” coming to SF in September

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The Brand New Conference is a one-day event focusing on the practice of corporate and brand identity, organized and hosted by UnderConsideration co-founders Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit. A direct extension of UnderConsideration’s immensely popular Brand New blog, the conference will feature eight sessions offering a broad range of points of view from these prominent speakers.

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Forces for Good: Al Gore

Three years ago, Nobel Laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore issued a powerful challenge to America: “Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100% of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon free sources within 10 years.”

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Great to know: Ian Albinson

ArtoftheTitle.com Founder Ian Albinson is a leading global authority on the art and craft of film and television title design. At this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, Ian produced and presented the fascinating video embedded here, which is entitled “A Brief History of Title Design.” Of the production, Stephanie Murg of Mediabistro’s UnBeige and LiquidTreat.com writes:

“In less than three minutes, he takes viewers from the title card for D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) to the Tokyo fever dream opening of Enter the Void (2009), pausing along the way to pay respects to the title sequences of everything from Singing in the Rain to Dexter.”

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Leviathan turns one

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of launching design-focused production studio Leviathan in Chicago, company principals Chad Hutson, Jason White, Matt Daly and their colleagues recently threw a very happy birthday block party.

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