What you think you know about fostering creativity is wrong. A look at what really works.

According to University of Oklahoma professor Michael Mumford, half of the commonly used techniques intended to spur creativity don’t work, or even have a negative impact. As for most commercially available creativity training, Mumford doesn’t mince words: it’s “garbage.”

An excerpt::

I also think the article beautifully plots out the path of creative thought:

“When you try to solve a problem, you begin by concentrating on obvious facts and familiar solutions, to see if the answer lies there. This is a mostly left-brain stage of attack. If the answer doesn’t come, the right and left hemispheres of the brain activate together. Neural networks on the right side scan remote memories that could be vaguely relevant. A wide range of distant information that is normally tuned out becomes available to the left hemisphere, which searches for unseen patterns, alternative meanings, and high-level abstractions.

What can I do with HTML5, and when can I start using it? The good news is that there’s a lot you can do with HTML5. The better news is that there’s a lot that you can do with HTML5 today.

But first, one major caveat: You need to know your audience, though, of course, this is true whether or not you want to start using HTML5. If the majority of your site’s visitors still use Internet Explorer 6, then you have no reason to rush. On the other hand, if your site is primarily for mobile browsers on iPhones and iPads, what are you waiting for? But if your site falls somewhere in the middle — as most do — here are some handy guidelines to ramping up to HTML5.

Check out this post written by Steven Snell.  Great list of Chrome Plug-Ins.

Firefox is the browser of choice for most designers and developers in part because of the vast selection of add ons that are available. While Chrome does not offer anywhere close to as many extensions (yet), there are still a number that can be very handy for designers and developers. In some cases they are not as robust as the Firefox versions (example, Firebug and Firebug Lite), but if you are using Chrome you may be interested to know about the extensions that are available. Additionally, Chrome comes with some developer tools built in.

That is exactly what I am going to do.

In the next few months, each one of Ozean’s divisions will launch their own website.  The first to launch is the political consulting division.    You may find the Ozean Political Consulting website here.

This means that all Alex Patton’s political comments will be made on the blog on that site:  the Ozean Consulting blog.

This blog will remain, but will be for you to keep updated on all things digital media - like website design, video on the web, SEO, SEM, and social media.

So, if you are interested in politics - read this blog.

If you are interested in media - continue to read this blog.

Happy Reading.

Authentic Hunters don't wear pressed jeans

In Mr. Deakins’ introduction to the public, he attempts to convince us that “tough times, call for tough leaders”.  In fact, he is so darn tough, he likes guns.  I could just be a real smart alec, and just mock the fact that it is hard to convince me you are TOUGH AS NAILS when dressed liked a dandy in your nicely pressed jeans (are those Jordache?) when out for a nice hunt with Fido.  My entire family hunts, NEVER have one of them pressed their clothes before entering the woods.   NEVER!  Never-ever have I heard, “Hey, wait up, I need the iron to heat up before going out to the stand!”  HOWEVER, I will not go that route, it is just too easy.

Instead, I will offer up that this election is about authenticity.  The times are too tough (as Mr. Deakins points out) to allow any candidate to get away with NOT being authentic.  The Tea Parties and the public are demanding straight talk from their candidates .  This entire mail piece just seems to try too hard - I hunt, work hard, and I am married.  Kind of like the dude in starbucks who is listening to his iPod, while surfing the web on his Ipad, while getting a call on his Iphone, drinking his triple latte with three different types of foam.   It is just too much, says everything you THINK a republican candidate SHOULD say, yet says NOTHING.

As you may be able to tell, I don’t have a lot of love for Mr. Deakins.  Already, I think this guy is running a nasty, sneaky, gutter campaign.  You would think with John being an officially declared candidate for 2 years, he would be secure in his self-proclaimed “monumental lead” and NOT have to stoop to underhanded tactics.

That is NOT the case, and luckily for him - there is still a campaign to run.

Campaigns have a way of exposing people - especially ones that are NOT being authentic. (More to come on that later.  )

However, if you like your Hunters TOUGH AS NAILS wearing pressed Jordache jeans, then you found your man - VOTE DEAKINS.    If you like your candidates a little more authentic, then you may want to hold off and survey the field a little more.

DISCLAIMER:  Ozean Consulting is assisting an opponent of John Deakins in the campaign for Florida House 22.  The words expressed here are of the authors, Alex Patton, not paid for by anyone, and not the sentiments of any candidate whatsoever.

paid political advertisement Alex Patton, 2831 NW 41st Street, Gainesville, FL  32606 -No candidate approved this advertisement.

Well they have just released their latest video: End Love, and it is brilliant!

Using time lapse, and again the video is in ONE CONTINUOUS shot.

The only thing wrong with this video is I will spend the rest of the day thinking about video production workflow and how to recreate this.

Go buy their album. These guys have to stick around to entertain us.

From Lieberman:

“The fastest we go is 172,800x, compressing 24 hours of real time into a blazing 1/2 second. The slowest is 1/32x speed, stretching a mere 1/2 second of real time into a whopping 16 seconds. This gives us a fastest to slowest ratio of 5.5 million. If you like averages, the average speed up factor of the band dancing is 270x. In total we shot 18 hours of the band dancing and 192 hours of LA skyline timelapse – over a million frames of video – and compressed it all down to 4 minutes and 30 seconds! Oh and don’t forget, it’s one continuous camera shot.”

“We also made a special friend in the process. Her name is Orange Bill and she’s a goose. You will agree that she clearly has a future in music videos.”

Alachua Self Storage Screen Shot

Alachua Self Storage is located in Alachua, FL. They offer both climate controlled & non-climate controlled storage units for commercial / business storage and residential storage.

They can handle all of your storage needs, offering a range of unit sizes and options.

Credits:

Account Executive:  Lauren Kruglanski

Designer:  Patrick Prugh

Developer:  Chris Lane

Asst Developer / Copywriter / SEO :  Alex Patton

Lauren Kruglanski in better times

She is a zealot about customer service, a dyna-mo sales person, a HUGE gator fan, web site expert, SEO guru, and all around great person.

What you may not know, is that Lauren has a serious problem.

In fact, this problem has become so severe that she needs your help.  Yes, Lauren has an addiction.

Lauren is addicted to cupcakes.

She can not see straight unless she gets her fix of icing.  She can not function without her sweets.  She can not operate without the “sweet manna from heaven” as she describes these little morsels of goodness.   It is the female version of Frank the Tank from Oldschool - only replace the beer with cupcakes and you get the picture.

It has gotten so bad, that Lauren even started a blog.  Cupcake Addiction .  Go check it out as she chronicles her saga to kick the habit.

We know the path will be difficult, but Ozean will offer her all the assistance we can.   After all, it is in Ozean’s best interest to help her so that she can continue her stellar record of web site sales.

So, call Lauren and offer her support.  Or better yet, bring her a cupcake and she will SURELY give you a discount on your next custom website.

This all started with Lauren Kruglanski in our office.  Ozean had the following CRAZY idea: “Let’s see if one of the world’s largest advertising agencies would allow Ozean to come sit with them and pick their brains and ask A LOT of really stupid questions.”  Lauren must have called every advertising agency in the southeast.  Finally, BBDO Atlanta said “sure, come on up!”

From the moment the entire Ozean office (interns and all) stepped off the elevator, we were treated to a first-class experience.  From the electronic signs welcoming Ozean to their buckhead location to the receptionist that greeted us with “You must be Ozean, welcome”, we quickly realized we were in for a fantastic time. The awesome Chief People Officer (Debbie) showed us around and welcomed us with open arms.

We were then invited to have an unrestricted, free-flowing discussion with Rob Cherof (A UF grad-Go Gators), the BBDO Chief Marketing Officer, and Sara Jones, the BBDO Director of Finance and Operations.  I will tell you this - I have not met more straight forward, honest, and great people as these two in the advertising agency business.  They allowed this idiot to ask any question I wanted and they provided us a honest answer.  I can not say enough about Sara’s willingness to share some Best Practices with Ozean, and Rob’s insight into the entire ad agency industry is unmatched.   Having access to these two professionals for an hour is like having a master level’s course for a semester.  Thank you both.

Once Sara and Rob excused themselves, we were treated to a panel discussion of 8 plus people.  They included designers, managers of digital operations, Resource Managers, account managers, studio managers, and others.  Here is the bottom line: each one of these professionals had one hundred things they COULD have been doing rather than sharing information with a small, piss-ant ad agency from Gainesville, FL.  Each one of them most likely had 10-15 job tickets opened while we were sitting there with them.   You NEVER would have known that.  They were the most gracious hosts, and all of them willing to share their battle scars and war stories to help Ozean.   There is NO DOUBT that AT&T is in the right hands with this agency.  These people know the advertising business and they know how to execute.

Ozean wrapped up everything with Debbie Linder, the Chief People Person at BBDO.  I had to resist hugging her (HR people are a little sensitive about those things), but I can not thank her enough for hosting Ozean.

Frankly, I cannot figure out why BBDO agreed to meet with Ozean.  There is no REASON at all that huge agency should take the time from their top management and their specific job functions to offer any advice to us.  HOWEVER, they did, and they did it with grace and awesomeness that I have not witnessed in a long time.

How valuable was it?

We had a 6 hour car ride back, and the entire car ride was filled with discussions about work flow, responsibilities, processes, needed changes, and these discussions possessed a rejuvenated enthusiasm not seen in a long time.

Ozean Interactive Media thanks BBDO Atlanta, and Ozean hopes that one day, at some time, we can return some small favor.

PS  The only bummer of the day - I didn’t get to show off my MAD ping pong skills on BBDO’s famous ping pong table.  Next time, I am SO BEATING someone.  Challenge!