Full disclosure...my dad works for IBM, but I don't want anybody to get the idea that it's influencing my opinion towards them, good or ill.
So have you noticed these new ads on television yapping about innovation? IBM has a few spots of this nature - one featuring "Innovation Man", another about "innotation" (innovation meditation) and various others which appear to mock the widespread corporate speak and pompousness of our day. I'm still having trouble finding any YouTube clips. Either they're too new, or hey, maybe IBM commercials aren't that exciting :-)
Regardless, I can sum up the gist of the campaign with the screen-clip below:
Now I don't know how sincere International Business Machines is about this slogan, but they have a clever (albeit HEAVILY Flash-ified) page that delves further into the concept and sarcastically decodes contemporary corporate jargon. I think my favorite example is their explanation of "bleeding edge":
I really like the point they appear to be making here, and it's often echoed by one of my favorite firms, 37signals. Too often companies and teams get bogged down by the details. They over plan, build mountains out of mole hills, and beat around the proverbial shrub. People use stupid phrases and jargon instead of just spitting out what they mean.
I am SO FREAKING TIRED of attending meetings where we endlessly argue about the fine points of a project instead of diving right in. I'm sick of start-dates moving back again and again because nobody can make up their minds. I'm sick of myself coming up with ideas and letting them stew in my head or in my Moleskine.
I want to start doing. I want to see my ideas on the Internet, not simply sketched out or half-completed in TextMate.
I need to get pissed off enough to take my own advice :-)
So have you noticed these new ads on television yapping about innovation? IBM has a few spots of this nature - one featuring "Innovation Man", another about "innotation" (innovation meditation) and various others which appear to mock the widespread corporate speak and pompousness of our day. I'm still having trouble finding any YouTube clips. Either they're too new, or hey, maybe IBM commercials aren't that exciting :-)
Regardless, I can sum up the gist of the campaign with the screen-clip below:
Now I don't know how sincere International Business Machines is about this slogan, but they have a clever (albeit HEAVILY Flash-ified) page that delves further into the concept and sarcastically decodes contemporary corporate jargon. I think my favorite example is their explanation of "bleeding edge":
It's what you call the "cutting edge" if you think the term "cutting edge" isn't "cutting edge" anymore. Of course, the term "bleeding edge" isn't "cutting edge" anymore, either. If confused, just say "new."
I really like the point they appear to be making here, and it's often echoed by one of my favorite firms, 37signals. Too often companies and teams get bogged down by the details. They over plan, build mountains out of mole hills, and beat around the proverbial shrub. People use stupid phrases and jargon instead of just spitting out what they mean.
I am SO FREAKING TIRED of attending meetings where we endlessly argue about the fine points of a project instead of diving right in. I'm sick of start-dates moving back again and again because nobody can make up their minds. I'm sick of myself coming up with ideas and letting them stew in my head or in my Moleskine.
I want to start doing. I want to see my ideas on the Internet, not simply sketched out or half-completed in TextMate.
I need to get pissed off enough to take my own advice :-)