The Studio Source.com

Image by Gyorgy Kovacs

A view from the creative front line
I just spent four days in an athletic facility with air so dry you could load in on Thursday with a bunch of grapes, and load out on Sunday with raisins.

It was a Christmas craft retail show, and I was there with my other business (the one I don’t talk about, but that’s a story for another day).

Both Friday and Saturday traffic looked like a Sunday, which is to say customer numbers were down substantially.

There was the inevitable knee-jerk reaction from some exhibitors.

“I’m not doing this show next year.”

“The venue should be advertising.”

The venue did advertise. That wasn’t the problem.

Shopping patterns have changed. But that’s not enough to kill a show.

From where I stand, as a designer, maker and marketing specialist, the extinction of the retail show is by no means inevitable.

Image by Pink Sherbet Photography

Market like you mean it
I was recently interviewed by Dave Charest for one of his Wicked Smaht podcasts. The recording went live today.

Dave has a background in acting and music, and when he’s not coaching indie artists, he also works as Marketing Director / Producer with Astoria Performing Arts Center in New York.

In the podcast, we talked about how to ditch cookie cutter marketing and think like a gourmet instead of just a recipe follower. I explain why the cookie cutter approach doesn’t work, and how creativity and exploring web sites, video and audio as artistic media can help you make great marketing.

Head on over to Dave’s to tune in. Enjoy!

Image by Sonny Abesamis

“It’s just a product. Get over it.”

I can’t recall where I read those words, but they were intended as advice to artists. I shook my head, snorted, and left the website. I can’t even remember what got me there, what link I might have clicked, who may have pointed me in that direction, or what search term I could have possibly used to land in the midst of that particular flavour of cynicism.

Not exactly a great way to describe the work that matters most to you, is it.

Sure, you can call an object, or even a service, a product, but the term is most often used to describe things that are mass produced.

A squishy definition isn’t the real problem with the above statement.

The problem is its inaccuracy.