future mapping

the why and the how

“It's about how our brand shows up in more interesting ways to get people to not be excluded but to participate more fully in what we either want or what they need to do with them.” From On Strategy Showcase: Adam Morgan on the cost of dull advertising, May 5, 2024

this is the point - i think this interview misses an opportunity to talk about the fact that what we have to talk about isn’t interesting. and that’s a business problem. it’s not just how we say what we have to say, but what we do so that we are able to go to market in interesting ways.

Most have relied on platforms and algorithms rather than tapping into exciting cultural myth markets. In many ways, brands have lost the magic of being brands: the advantage they generate when they create outsized meaning for people.

From Brand Strategy to Brand Anarchy

There Is No Brand Strategy Without a Prediction

Jasmine Bina conceptbureau.com

This transmission invites us to see inspiration and creativity not as a luxury or a frivolous pursuit, but as an essential capacity for navigating the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world. By cultivating creative resilience, we may not only unlock new sources of insight and innovation, but also develop the strength and... See more

Transmission #38

Brand Audacity Report

Strategies for brands to break free from industry norms and become audacious, engaging with culture in unique ways to stand out and connect with consumers authentically.

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Companies are built to be predictable and stable. That's a bad thing in today's world.

Naturally, these three ideas — uncertainty ability, the experimental organization, and strategy as creation — are just a sampling of the approaches we see emerging as complements to strategy in more stable markets. Uncertainty science doesn’t invalidate the prior strategic frameworks, but it does draw a boundary line, arguing that if you want to... See more

Nathan Furr • Strategy in an Age of Uncertainty

As Donella Meadows, co-author of the Limits to Growth studies, asks, ‘How did we arrive at a culture that constantly, almost automatically, ridicules visionaries? Whose idea of reality forces us to “be realistic”? When were we taught, and by whom, to suppress our visions?’

Rob Hopkins • From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want

Whilst incumbents might gravitate to jumping on the latest trend bandwagon or worse – playing into a lazy audience insight – Challengers lean into the fact that they have set themselves ambitions that might feel bigger than their brand. They continually find ways to recontextualise and evolve their message to keep them fresh.