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Fear is not a Growth Strategy.

So said Amy Cosper Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine. She went on to mention, “It’s bad enough that Detroit is wheezing, Rome is burning and all hell has broken lose, but what’s worse is that the situation is making normally rational people act like loonies. It’s fear. And it’s a real business issue these days. But fear is not a growth strategy. 

Fear makes us irrational – like thinking cutting and growing are the same thing. Cutting costs does not equal growing sales Never has, never will. 

As I look over the second half of the coming year I see it everywhere, wanton fear. The kind that paralyzes every nerve in front of the car that is speeding towards you at 70 miles an hour. That car, is the future and we are trembling between it’s headlights. 

There are few among us that are thinking above the tide. Few that realize that the tide is coming in, will continue to come in and must go back out….naturally. Few that believe they will survive these “tough times”. This few, this “remnant” are the ones that have been innovating all along not as the next cool business trend but those that innovate as a means to survive. They innovate not because some book on the NY Times best-sellers list said so. They innovate because it’s in their culture to do so. It’s at thier deoxyribonucleic acid level. It’s a kaizen mentality. It is this remnant that will be head and shoulders above the rest as the tide goes back to sea.

Although the financial capital markets have dried up to a trickle, the creative capital market that exists between our ears has the potential not only to help us survive but to catapult us ahead of the curve once we get around the bend. While everyone else is idling in traffic, project your business, organization or government ministry beyond this stagnant mess. But remember, fear can kill this. 

As I look forward in my own business I am seeing how difficult it will be to drive business, I see how tough it will be to increase the bottom line. Innovation as a culture and not a fad is the only way forward. Innovation is not about creative cost cutting it’s about adding value for your clients/customers and extracting value for yourself at every step of your business process from soil to dining table, from camera to screen, from pencil to product, from thought to finish. 

So as a designer I must ask myself where can I innovate not only in the designs I produce but in my process, how can I move the state of the art to a place that lifts everyone. My clients, my colleagues, my community? 

These are the questions that I ask myself, Which ones do you ask? At the same time remember…

Never Doubt,
what you can do
with a little imaji nation.

stay tuned……

- Yorkali

Fortune magazine covers the real estate mania in Panama. A very good read. It includes comments from a client of mine too, Paul McBride of Prima. Take a  look.

I read this article by Bob Garfield on Advertising Age. Excellent passionate commentary, just up my alley. As he whittles the grand Saturn/GM ad down to size I can see why brands like Oldsmobile eventually went belly up and why GM is in the financial mess that it’s in.

Mediocrity.

For decades whimpy design got pumped out of Detroit, now they have some fresh thinking but they are serving it up on cliche driven visuals and copy. The same thing is happening with Panama’s real estate advertising.

I am getting sick and tired of the same visuals and same copy EVERYWHERE. The low angle shot of the building, the infinity pools, the rolling view of Panama city. It’s nauseating! Then every other paragraph is genorously sprinkled with the word “lifestyle” Just typing it now gives me the hibby-jibbys. And of course the overtly repeated marble dripping luxuriousness of the apartments.

Now, let me be fair, not all develepors have this constrained, myopic approach to their ads. A few are actually quite uplifting, they draw you into the design and the use of the branding material is top notch. Makes me wanna call! My faves are Buena Ventura, Isla Viveros , Tucan Country Club, Valle Escondido and most recently Embassy Club.  Well targeted, well designed and millenia away from the prevailing mediocrity. The remnant I hope though will become the majority soon. As the party becomes more crowded and Balboa Avenue starts to look more like Biscayne Boulevard,  with the signal getting drowned in the noise of sameness, I look forward to the attitudes of the developers evolving and embracing a more mature, focused imaginative approach to thier advertising.

What most local promoters are having a problem with is transitioning from developing ad campaigns for the local market to focusing on a more design-savvy audience.

The baby-boomer.

Yes they have all the stats on how many are retiring and yes they are coming here in droves and are snapping up condos and villas at an alarming pace. Which is great for Panama and I hope it continues. BUT as the amount of projects escalate into the heavens and more Donald Trumps invest in the country, the developers will have to focus on a more powerful differentiator  than just location and the “new concept” design that emblazons thier current collateral. They need to write more tantalizing focused copy. Words that speak to people at this very special time in their lives. Not just an endless list of features and amenities. It’s time to be more creative. It’s time to use our noggins to escape this sea of mediocrity. Hopefully GM will do the same.

Yorkali
Just some thoughts from my Imaji Nation

disclosure:
i. I have worked on print design for Tucan and web design for Valle Escondido.
ii. I have decided not  link to or show the ads. I think it’s best to
simply mention the names of those who  in my mind are doing a good job.
iii. You be the judge. Pick up a couple real estate magazines while here in Panama and you will see what I mean.

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I recently visited a client up in Boquete at Valle Escondido to take some pictures of the locale and get to know the business some more. It was absolutely refreshing. I always enjoy going up in the cool crisp air. It reminds me so much of Mandeville in Jamaica, which is also a  popular retirement. The difference with the two places is that most retirees in Boquete are alot more active than those in Mandeville. You can see the pictures here.

caio,

Yorkali

technorati tags:haven, spa, valleescondido, boquete, chiriqui, mandeville, jamaica

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Upon recent public developments, it seems I am one degree from the Donald (why do they call him that). Anyway, I am in the final phases of developing a site for his local partner K Group headed by Roger Khafif. I was fortunate and blessed to be reffered to him by another client, Sam Taliferro founder of Prima Panama. Anyway, enough name dropping for one post :)