It’s been a little more than a week, and I still have the FUSE conference on my mind. One of the more entertaining speakers at FUSE was a futurist by the name of Magnus Lindkvist who talked about “The Attack of the Unexpected: Trendspotting, Brands and Possible Futures.” I can’t shake two impactful images from his presentation, one still, the other moving.
First, the still one. Lindkvist noted, the easiest way to institute change in an organization is to do so slowly and incrementally, because no one will even notice (until your work is done):
My take on this image, from a branding perspective, is a little different: If the hard, day-to-day incremental work of brand building is taken seriously, over time, the bond between a brand and follower (or guest) becomes simply inextricable. This kind of bond is unlikely to occur over night.
As to the interesting moving image from Lindkvist’s presentation, it communicates to me how important the ingredient of courage is to inspire others to follow. This video is really worth the 3 minutes it takes to experience (more than 7 million others apparently agree).
I really love the metaphor of life embodied in it. By the way, did you hear the question asked at the end of the video? “How did he do that?” My answer, “courage” (albeit perhaps, “courage” of the liquid variety). Nevertheless, the question it begs, in stark contrast to the still image is, will what has been built last? In other words, for how long will your brand be “unstoppable,” if it is built too quickly, to borrow from the video’s soundtrack?