Issue 28: A bulletin for big ideas and better business.

Game time.

As the heats take place at the Paris Olympics, The Business of Creativity has a red-hot dispatch. Issue 28 features a celebration of whistle-blowers, an ode to heavy metal as well as a creative review of pastry shop Greggs. Plus: why optimism trumps outrage. But first, Sir John Hegarty explores why it’s fine if not everyone loves you.

OPINION/ CREATIVITY 

Court disapproval: it’s usually a good sign

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Asking what someone thought of the Olympic Games opening ceremony has become a loaded question. The mad, explosive, chaotic display that took place along the Seine has drawn an astonishing level of outrage since Friday night. People have risen up in opposition of the weather (rain), the venue (a river), the duration (four hours), but mostly, the politics of the show. Specifically, the bit where Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper was recreated with drag queens, a transgender model and a portly man dressed as Dionysus, the Ancient Greek god of wine.

Organisers of the event should take heart that their performance has attracted such strident views. The greatest feats of creativity are recognisable in their capacity to spark scandal, draw scorn and alienate the people who aren’t intellectually prepared (“I just don’t get it,” they moan). Sometimes the most rewarding metric is a quick poll of who your work has aggrieved. In the case of the opening ceremony, it’s figures like Piers Morgan, Donald Trump Jr. and misogynist influencer Andrew Tate. Creatively, that’s a good sign.

The most rewarding metric is a quick poll of who your work has aggrieved

Difference draws judgement but time is the greatest critic. Creative efforts are often panned when they enter the public consciousness, then lauded as they age. For instance, Citizen Kane failed at the Oscars, Johan Sebastian Bach’s music became famous a century after his death, and Vincent Van Gogh – so the rumour goes – only sold one painting during his lifetime. The events of last Friday have already made history. Whether you loved or loathed it – you’ll remember it.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
Society owes a lot to those to draw attention to bad practices in corporations. National Whistleblower Day will be marked in the US this week. The courage of such people keeps truth in business.
30th July  

2.
The Toronto Caribbean Carnival kicks off. The event honours the abolition of slavery in Canada. Creativity doesn’t exist without freedom.
1st – 5th August  

3.
The annual official Star Trek convention beams into Las Vegas. Be there and be square.
1st – 4th August  

4.
Heavy metal is undergoing a revival. Rockers will assemble this week at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. The sub genres available are: black metal, death metal, power metal, thrash metal, gothic metal and folk metal.
31st July – 3rd August  

5.
This week the Scottish capital will erupt into a glorious cacophony of theatre. Edinburgh Fringe Festival opens.
2nd – 26th August 

US / POLITICS

Trumping outrage

Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Campaign
Contributor: Kim Chen / Alamy Stock Photo

The US presidential election is gathering pace. Likely Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and the Republican down-ballot candidate J.D. Vance are both attending rallies today. Anything can happen before Americans go to the polls on 5 November, but the winner will be the entrant that can most successfully employ creativity to connect with voters in swing states – and articulate a future that voters will wish to live in. While Joe Biden positioned the race as a battle for the soul of America, Harris has opted for something smarter – a strategy of lampooning Trump and offering a hopeful vision of where her leadership would take the country. Both business and politics are about savvy branding, and when it comes to connecting with the public there’s only one thing that might vanquishes Trumpian rage: optimism.

ON CREATIVITY

Contributor: Sir John Hegarty

BRUSSELS / TECHNOLOGY

AI regulations come into force

HAL 9000: definitely ‘unacceptable’ under the EU’s new law
Contributor: Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Silicon Valley might be where trail-blazing tech innovations are (mostly) developed and launched, but Europe is where lawmakers create rules to govern them. Anyone worried by the sudden rise of artificial intelligence can be soothed today by the EU Artificial Intelligence Act coming into force. The regulations classify technologies into four categories of risk – unacceptable, high, limited and minimal. Lawmakers say they aren’t trying to hamper the progress of AI, but create the conditions for its growth. With more public trust in applications that use such technology, EU companies that pioneer it will fare better in comparison with their American and Chinese counterparts. But critics have drawn attention to some weaknesses in the legislation. For instance, it’s been described as largely agnostic when it comes to how the creative industries use AI.

LONDON / FOOD

Making dough 

Staple diet
Contributor: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Greggs, a pastry shop, has become ubiquitous on UK high streets in recent years. Its products are flaky, its earnings are not. In the first 19 weeks of the year it reported a 7.4% rise in like-for-like sales, and hit a milestone of 2500 locations in the UK. It’s become a cultural phenomenon thanks to budget friendly prices and the stubborn cost of living crisis in Britain. Academics from Sheffield Hallam University have created a Greggs-Pret index to gauge the position of the north-south divide (latitude dictates whether people consume sausage rolls, or avocado wraps, apparently). Beyond price point and pinched wallets, Greggs has resonated with people after a raft of sharp creative initiatives. Earlier this month it opened a sausage roll-dispensing cash machine in partnership with Monzo, a bank. The invention was called the ATMmm. A spot of whimsy in straightened times is a sensible recipe.

Thoughts are tyrants that return again and again to torment us.

/Emily Brontë