Issue 29: A bulletin for big ideas and better business.

Looking for fresh ideas?

You’ll find them in abundance below. In Issue 29 we take a flick through a film festival, drop into Disney’s big production number, take a reviving draught of cola, then jog up a mountain in Japan. Plus: a creative resurgence of Gaelic? Cinnte! But first, why Sir John doesn’t believe in Gen Z.

OPINION/ CREATIVITY 

Generation game: cohorts are nonsense

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Each year brings countless surveys on the attitudes and habits of ‘consumers’. Most market researchers have form for divvying up people into neat cohorts. Each group has its cliché. Gen Z are socially progressive and morally outraged. Millennials are burned out. Gen X has a problem with authority. Boomers are optimistic, and wealthy. The silent generation are (still) thrifty and stubborn. If every generation had a blanket set of characteristics, the world would be a very boring place.

Relying on
generational
stereotypes
is a trap

But boring is often what businesses want. Humdrum means unsurprising events and repeatable sales. Better still – predictable people. It’s convenient to wrap your customer up into a comprehensive and understandable set of habits and views. Paste these banalities into a Keynote deck, and the effect is (hopefully) full conviction that whatever you’re selling or marketing will stick.

Here’s the problem – cohorts are made up. Relying on generational stereotypes is a trap for brands. If your strategy is based on a truth that is widely known (or at least, believed), it becomes harder to create something with difference. Your customer is idiosyncratic, unique, and nuanced. There’s a word for a practice that assumes characteristics about people based on their birthdays. It isn’t science: it’s astrology.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
Kamala Harris edged Donald Trump in a poll of US voters yesterday. Now she’s set to choose a running mate and start a campaign where it matters: the battleground states.
6th – 9th August  

2.
The Rossini Opera Festival comes to Pesaro, Italy. The concert is devoted to Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, a creative powerhouse who wrote 30 operas between 1812 and 1822.
7th – 23rd August  

3.
Art house fans will descend on Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival. The affair brings into focus the triumphs of short films. Brevity is key.
6th – 11th August  

4.
Exam results day is a turbulent moment for students. The Department for Education’s Exam Results Helpline will open today. Anxious teens will be able to share concerns with careers advisors.
6th August  

5.
Visitors to D23 will experience the ‘Ultimate Disney fan event’ according to the entertainment giant. Admirers of the world’s most famous cartoon mouse can cheese the day.
9th – 11th August  

US / BUSINESS

Is Coke still it?

Sweet sales
Contributor: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

Coca-Cola’s sales are fizzing. The soft drink giant recently announced that it expects organic sales to grow between 9% and 10% this year – a higher percentage than anticipated before. The bump in growth will be welcome news for bosses at the Atlanta-based company. It attracted criticism during the Paris Olympics. While single-use plastics were banned at the games, Coca-Cola (which is the key sponsor) continued to sell bottled beverages. The soda-maker won accolades for creativity this summer, picking up a Grand Prix at Cannes for its ‘recycle me’ campaign, which used images depicting a crushed can, urging people to dispose of its packaging responsibly. It fell flat with some who pointed out that Coca-Cola sells 100 billion single-use plastic bottles each year. Sustainability credentials not quite crushing it (yet).

ON CREATIVITY

Contributor: Sir John Hegarty

WEST BELFAST / CULTURE

Gaelic finds some flow

Kneecap: OG craic
Contributor: Entertainment Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

Languages are vanishing at an alarming rate. Irish Gaelic is classified as “definitely endangered” according to UNESCO, which reckons there are between 20,000 – 40,000 people who speak it. A rap group from West Belfast is staging a revival. Kneecap is a semi-fictitious film following the exploits of the hip-hop act of the same name. It’s struck a chord with audiences – and has 95% of the review site Rotten Tomatoes. The story follows the three MCs as they write music that helps their native tongue flourish. It’s a pertinent reminder that storytelling, humour and fresh beats can revive a cause that (lamentably) escapes the public’s attention.

TOKYO / LEISURE

Climbing culture 

Mount Fuji: time to ascend?
Contributor: K I Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

Japan has a public holiday dedicated to its undulations. Mountain Day was created in 2014 after mountaineering clubs lobbied the government for a special occasion dedicated to the country’s connection to nature. This Monday people will take to the hills and stage a nation-wide appreciation of high up places. The date is significant, August is the eighth month, and the kanji for the number – 八 – looks rather like a mountain. The date chimes with Shintoism, too. The ancient religion surmises that spiritual powers exist in the natural world. We applaud countries that express national gratitude for nature. Taking a day to explore, exercise and ruminate is a sure-fire way to boost creativity.

Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings.

/W.H. Auden