Late last week I was asked to comment about behavioral economics on the heels of the Obama administration reporting in Business Week how it had impacted their decision making.

To be clear, i'm a believer.  Have been since Freakonomics.  Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational has been the most concrete and inspiring account of this field for me, personally.

Like i say in the article, behavioral economics gives PhD credibility and academic rigor to intuition and what smart marketers have been trying to practice for ever. 

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=145091

I'm a Red Sox fan.  I'm a member of the Red Sox Nation, and have been long before it was cool to be an official "member".  I grew-up watching and playing baseball, and some of my fondest memories are sitting up late at night with my parents watching the Sox play. Pictures of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio hang in my Dad's office.  Above any other sport, baseball is my favorite.

I was an avid fan in the late '80s and early '90s.  I could name every player on the team and knew who was who on rival teams.  My baseball card collection was pretty sweet. In the early 90s, I even (gasp!) liked the Yankees - it was a team filled with passionate players, from Don Mattingly to Paul O'Neill to Bernie Williams. 
 
Now, by nature and by loyalty, I don't root for the Yankees.  My heart broke when Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, and Johnny Damon traded in their Boston sox for Yankee pinstripes.  I ask my cousins what went wrong in their lives to turn them into Yankees fans.  I cried with pure joy when the Sox came back from a 3-game deficit and beat the Yankees to win the ALCS in the 2004 World Series battle.  Their victory meant so much for Boston and more to me, as it carried me through my Dad's heart surgery saga.    

In simple words, I love the Red Sox and despise the Yankees.  I uphold the age-old rivalry and respect it in more ways than I can describe.  Yet with that respect, comes a greater one for those who keep the spirit of baseball alive.

I, like many, was not a fan of Steinbrenner, Yankee owner or not.  And while it's easy to criticize him, today is a day to respect him and the empire he built, as he passes into another life.  He kept baseball alive for many years, when the strikes, ridiculous salaries, and drug scandals could have buried it permanently six-feet under.  He built an amazing team of star players, who, at the end of the day, love their game: Jeter, Rivera, Posada, and yes, even the over-paid A-Rod.  He fiercely wanted to win and did what he could to build a team loved by many.  Steinbrenner re-energized a team, a sport, a nation of fans.

And, as we head into tonight's All-Star Game, I'm sure baseball players and fans - former, current, and future - will bid him a fair adieu.  

Inside Out began in 2007 with the vision of showing artists work within the McKinney community to help infuse inspiration, creativity and discussion into our daily work lives.Today I am happy to curate the first show of its re-launch, Belize It Photography by John Hagerty. His photographs are quiet, dream-like narratives of the water, land and people he encountered while visiting Belize this spring. The pace is slow and relaxed. The repetition of waterscapes throughout the series creates a kind of meditation drawing us into the movement and peaceful solitude of its expanse. A dog rests in the sun in one image while bright yellow sheets hang limply against a pale home in another. These vignettes slow us down creating a sharp contrast to our vigorous pace here at McKinney.

John’s work will be hanging at McKinney between Reid and Strickland through August. I chatted with John more in depth about his work and this is what he said:

I've been interested in photography since I was a kid. My earliest memories are both from photographs and of looking through family photos albums. I didn't start thinking about photography seriously, or as a creative expression, until I went back to grad school about six years ago.             

I hardly ever have a specific idea of an image before I take a picture. I usually go somewhere new and meander until something catches my eye. Sometimes I'll have a general idea about a location. But the ideas wait until I get there and start to explore. I primarily shoot in color. I’ve used black and white film in the Holga a few times but have more luck with the Kodak Vivid Color Film. And it feels weird to make a digital pic black and white. I would like to explore black-and-white film more, however. Maybe I’ll get into it someday. For now I like rocking the color.

I went back to film a year ago because I got tired of how perfect digital can look. I was getting sick of the computer in general and the coldness of digital. I think there's warmth to film that just looks better and feels more real. I also found that I was retouching my digital shots to look like film, which was time-consuming and felt a little like cheating. Also, you have to be more intentional and thoughtful with film because you have a limited number of exposures, and film and processing is expensive so you don't want to waste money. Film is nice in that it slows you down. A lot of time with digital I find myself back at my computer with 200+ photos, and editing can be overwhelming.

I love photography because it lets me get out and explore. I love to meander and go places I’ve never been before. Especially overlooked, everyday places. I also like that it’s very easy to just grab your camera and go. That’s one nice thing about digital. It’s a very convenient outlet. And a free pass to trespass.  These photos are special to me because I had an amazing time in Belize. It was my first real vacation in five or so years, and I got a lot of great shots. I picked Belize because I wanted to go someplace where I could completely disconnect and relax and do some good photo hunting. It was the first trip where photography was a key factor in deciding where I would go. And I had at least one camera with me the whole time. I love all the Holga shots I took—so, the three that I picked are basically my favorite. But the three digital pics I included work together as a nice triptych. And that was something unplanned that came together after I got home and started editing. I love how each photo has a punch of color and backdrop of horizontal lines in the wood siding. There’s a nice rhythm with the color and lines and shapes in each shot and between all three shots as a whole.

The low-angle shot off the kid on the bike heading toward the camera was really cool because it was unplanned, and I love the expression on the kid’s face. I was just squatting in the middle of the street looking around when this kid came around the corner and gunned it toward me. He had a mischievous smirk like he was going to run me over, and I took the shot a second before he swerved out of the way, laughing. It was great because I was a punk like that when I was a kid and would have done the same thing in his shoes.

One of my favorite photographers is Henri Cartier-Bresson. I like what he said about there being a natural geometry in what we see and how taking pictures means discovering rhythm, lines and gradations in reality and finding order within all the chaos of life. There’s also something mildly OCD about that sense geometry that I really appreciate.

Besides photography, I like to collage and draw. And I’ve recently been experimenting with different forms of print-making like screen printing and acetone transfers. I’d like to do letterpress next.

If I could go anywhere and photograph I’d like to go to Antarctica and shoot the next Pirelli calendar.

To view more of John Hagerty's work, visit his Flickr account:

“A bottle of Silk Hope wine is fitting for any Carolina occasion, from fine dining to an afternoon picnic, from vegetarian cuisine to a backyard pig-picking.”

I expected a vineyard straight out of a Napa Valley postcard. What my friend and I pulled up to was a metallic tube, a climate-proof, above ground cellar at the foot of rolling grape-filled hills. 

The owner/planter/vintner/sommelier/host was the only one there. Wally Butler was his name. He had a silver-streaked ponytail that said, “My office is God’s green earth. I punch in and out when the sun tells me to. Mother Nature is my boss. I make wine.”

I’m no oenophile, even if I can use the word properly in a sentence. Only recently have I begun to really taste wine, to notice the subtle variations beyond color and general category.

That said, our white sheets of tasting notes listed varieties I had never heard of. If anyone ever tells you the only grape that grows in North Carolina is the Muscadine, they haven’t been to Silk Hope.

There was Chambourcin. A French-American Hybrid. The French consider it “inferior”, but they’re missing out. It makes a red perfect for white wine drinkers or a voluptuous white with depth the color of rosewater and scotch.

Vidal Blanc. A hybrid of the Trebbiano and Rayon d’Or grapes. It’s sharp, like a clean sword going down your throat.

Traminette. My favorite. A child of Gewürztraminer (AKA Riesling) and a French something or other. It tastes like Goethe had an affair with a Southern Belle, all syrupy sweet talk and sharp wit.

We tasted and talked for three hours. About the troubles of lingering Blue Laws and a rigid mentality. About how the NC Wine industry has grown from 8 wineries to well over 40. About how Wally’s son is starting a mushroom farm.

Before we left, my friend and I split a case of wine and grabbed brochure of all the wineries in the state. Little ones. Big ones. All of ‘em, just waiting for us to arrive.

The Silk Hope Winery
2601 Silk Hope Gum Springs Rd
Pittsboro, NC 27312-6957
(919) 545-5696

Here's Project Leader Grace Tarrant grace-ing (hahahahaha, I slay me!) us with a terrible joke.

It’s got to suck to be a vegetable. Think about it − bugs bombard you, kids can’t stand you, and you always end up playing second fiddle to an entrée. Surely, a cruciferous plant or two has sadly muttered, ‘No one would miss me if I was gone.” But life without produce isn’t pretty.

Durham does the Supermarket Shuffle

Cities across the country did too. It's easy if you’re a supermarket; just step back from your urban surroundings to the wealthier, White suburbs nearby. Then watch as the city you left behind dips into the sadly ironic state of “malnourished obesity.” Here, fast food is your staple, feeding you both too much and not enough at the same time.

Areas like this are called Food Deserts (everything has a catchy name nowadays), places where markets with fresh food are more than 2 miles from a community.

The corner of Angier and Driver Streets in East Durham was one of those for 50 years. That ended on May 13th with the opening of TROSA Grocery.

TROSA Grocery
2104 Angier St.,
Durham NC

This year, MSN named Durham the 11th fattest city in the U.S. Next year, maybe Durham will be a little lower in the rankings.

Clive Sweeny was a McKinney-ite who was a passionate cyclist.  He was killed two years ago this week while out riding.  The annual Ride For Clive is this Saturday, June 5.

I never rode with Clive while he was alive.  But I could tell he was a good rider.  You can tell someone who is good literally from a mile away; just by the way they sit on the bicycle.  They way they move with it.  I watched Clive ride away from the building one night and thought "Hmm.  He's pretty good".

Clive died on a day much like today.  This morning the conditions were perfect.  Not too hot or humid; warm enough to ride without extra clothing.  As I started off I was thinking about how pretty it was: sunlight flicking through the trees as I warmed up, dappling the road; slight mist burning off the fields. 

Riding with a guy like Clive can be challenging.  He was big, and a big guy on a bike punches a huge hole in the wind.  It's great to tuck in right behind him, taking advantage of the shelter.  But he was also strong, and while you are behind him you can do nothing but watch those huge legs, banging away like cannons, and do all you can to hang on so he doesn't simply ride away from you.

I'm going now, and as I get warmer I'm thinking about Clive and how he loved doing this.  The  miles start to drop away; 5, 10, 20; we're flying along a smooth road, our fuel great lungfulls of sweet Carolina morning air, the sounds the tick of the bike and the whoosh of the wind and faint birdsong; we swoop down hills like falcons, then up the other side as the symphony changes and all we now hear are heart and lungs and legs pounding out a rhythm that drives to the crest of the hill and the incredible joy of being at the top with enough left over to do it again.  To keep flying.  Past farms and fields and lakes and moms getting the kids to school.  A great spectacle of green and blue and grey.

Finally as we approach home, there is one remaining short, sharp hill.  A mean little climb that strips away anything left.  Side by side we rise out of our saddles, and with the last remaining shreds of strength in our legs we Pound.  That.  Hill.  To.  Rubble.

Then we coast into the driveway, unclip before we fall over, and stand, gasping and grinning as we look at the numbers we have wrought on the bike computer.

I never rode with Clive while he was alive.  But I did today.  And he looks great.

Photo by Joseph Levinski

As much as I’d personally like Ms. Palin to join the BP suits in physically plugging the hole, I’m talking about tea.

Not Oolong or Darjeeling or fancy-blends like Fairy-eyelash flower or Lotus-sutra mint but straight-up Lipton tea-flavored tea. A 100-count box, with each individual bag sewn together by hand, by me, with needle and thread.

It was my sixth grade science project. This was the Spring of 1989, right after the Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 millions gallons of crude into the Prince William Sound. Inspired by Exxon’s slow-going cleanup efforts, I filled the biggest casserole dish I could find with salt water and a quart of Wesson Oil and submerged my 100-bag mass. It was Operation Tea Party, and while it didn’t get every last drop of oil, it soaked up enough for me to get an A.

BP should try this. Lipton tea would get a boost and hey, what do they have to lose? I’ve read the headlines, seen the live video feeds and heard the poor excuses. Like millions of Americans, I’m upset by the current comedy of errors. I’m also sad, and scared, that with all the science that money can buy, BP is still getting an F.

I know these posts are usually for sharing innovative ideas and the 
latest/coolest trend, but wanted to ask if you'd consider a few 
things. I'll try to keep it relevant.

1. I'm pretty old school and love the idea of a handwritten note or 
letter expressing something, communicating or thanking someone, but 
technology has taken the place of doing a lot of this. Specifically, 
we can send or share our thoughts with anyone and everyone in a tiny 
second - social media being our venue.

Despite the irony, consider this: Since we all can't hand-write a note or be be physically present today, maybe it could be a neat support system to post something 
on your facebook wall about anyone who means something 
to you. Would be interesting to see how many people posted words from 
the heart rather than what they ate for lunch. Just a thought.

2. At times, it seems we've forgotten some of the basics for everyone 
at work, one of them being to remember that a simple pat on the back 
goes a long way. Not just to your peers, but to someone who you don't 
know very well that made your project successful. Go find them. 
Interesting article debunking myths about praise at work below:

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2007/ca20071227_941417.htm

3. It's one of our own 5 words, but really LISTEN to people, in and 
out of work. We're all busy and there will never be enough time in this life. But 
the outcome of the time you take, and the relationships you create, is 
what I think leads to success, in whatever form.

Practice using your words, speak your mind, and don't let anyone interrupt. 

The progress we have made over the last eight years toward being an agency that fundamentally operates real time shaping and participating in consumer conversations has been nothing short of very hard work.  I call it McKinney 2.0, and it was a huge leap forward from the prior decades.

We probably had an easier start than many agencies because we didn't have to break down silos or collapse business unit P&L's because we never had them.  But it did require an orientation shift, big bets and a belief in where this business was headed.

Lately, however, it seems like I've seen a rash of holding company babble about new "chiefs of things" that are supposed to come in and make networks integrated or digital or something other than irrelevant.

ADWEEK, May 11, 2010:  UM's Daryl Lee becomes Worldgroup's chief integration architect

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i1ad262646f40d099b24b73b0885a480f

ADWEEK, May 10, 2010:  The twisting path to new agency models

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3ieedb56d6b7d314952ff36536412ceca9

Unfortunately, the list goes on...

What strikes me is this is not a new trend.  It's easy to find links dating back 5-7 years ago as "major" agencies hired major talent to solve their integration woes.  You know the drill, hire rock star up-and-comer to walk into a new holding company or network and make people integrate.

This has not and does not work (see link above about TBWA's 10 Digital Artist superstars).

Integration, and particularly digitally-centered integration, is more orientation than mandate.  It's more bottoms-up than top-down.  It's more spontaneous than planned.  It's more consumer-driven than process-driven.

We fundamentally believe and require digital competency for every role and level in the agency.  We start everything with the business opportunity (not the brand or consumer).  We approach creative development based on a Conversation Architecture - a deliberate and flexible tool created to help our clients' brands engage consumers.  We're really clear on what we do and don't do as an agency...and have killer partners to fill the gaps.  We do more every day to learn and optimize our work.  We put in place process to prevent chaos.  Etc., etc.

Yet, despite all we have done, we are not done.  We have more work to do. 

One thing this new world requires is a constant look ahead.  Clients want to build their brands and create demand.  They understand the power of emotional connections and the reality of daily results. 

I'm ready for McKinney 3.0...the even faster, more big-idea-integrated and more digitally savvy version of us!

I'm incredibly restless about figuring out what is next, and I know that mastering this new world doesn't happen by one "chief" no matter how big the title or stick.