Declare Your MinorJohn Manley

11.06.12

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

We all major in planning, analytics, and strategy.

We are rare birds with passions, interests, and weird penchants that may often feel singular in their pursuit.

What we want to do is materialize those things into something bigger and more substantive.

Confessions of an Unapologetic Star Wars NerdI’ve always been fascinated by the bounty hunters in Empire Strikes Back and wondered which were the most popular among fans. So I explored a way to quantify this curiosity and bring the findings to light.

IMAGE STOLEN FROM EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Find an outlet for your passions so

they can gain momentum,

dimension and attract other perspectives

DECONSTRUCTION SYNTHESIS VISION CLARITY

TRANSMISSION

INSIGHTFUL CONSUMER, BRAND AND COMPETITIVE

RESEARCH

ENGINELOGIC, PERSUASION AND PRESENTATION SKILLS

FRAME

UNDERSTANDING THE CLIENT

CONTEXT

FRONT WHEEL

DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN AND

BRANDING TRUTHS

HEADLIGHT

STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS (POSITIONING, CREATIVE

BRIEF, ETC.)

STEERING PASSION, CURIOSITY, RESOURCEFULNESS, DILIGENCE

FUELSTRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATIVE, ACCOUNT, & CLIENT

SUPPORTKNOWLEDGE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES AND BRANDING PROCESSES

BACK WHEEL

IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THE COMPONENTS OF AN IDEAL PLANNER

THOUGHT STOLEN FROM GRIFFIN FARLEY

BUT YOU ALSO GOTTA LOVE THE RIDE

IMAGE STOLEN FROM CLASSIFIED MOTO

A PASSION FOR MAKING THE WORLD LOOK DIFFERENT LED TO A BRILLIANT SECOND ACT

From Unemployed to Entrepreneur in One Day

The day my friend, John Ryland, left his job as a creative director at The Martin Agency he went

straight to his garage and started work on how to

merchandise his passion of making unique, stunning

and gritty motorcycles.

STOLEN FROM JOHN RYLAND

HIS MINOR BECAME HIS MAJOR

STOLEN FROM JOHN RYLAND

BUT YOU ALSO GOTTA LOVE THE RIDE DETOUR FROM THE MAINSTREAM

Train new muscles.

Use different exercises.

Take alternate routes.

Become a resident expert in your passion area.

Gain deeper knowledge through innovative methods.

Flex those muscles.

ADAPT OR DIE

IMAGE STOLEN FROM MONEYBALL

HERE’S THE BRIEF

Be a guide in our ever evolving world of culture, media and transformative passions.

You are soothsayers for the agency. You separate the trends from the trendy.

We need your unwavering finger on the pulse of what’s new and next.

Identify something that fascinates you.

Declare your minor.

•Follow the trends and developments related to it.

•Create Google Alerts on the topic.

•Find experts in that area and follow them on Twitter.

•Scour their Slideshare decks.

•Explore what’s won awards or what’s gotten funding using that technology or innovation.

Become a resident expert in that area so when a question arises throughout the agency, you have the answer.

Share relevant news and stories with the department and make sure to add your POV – why you wanted to share it.

We will hoist your freak flagYour Minor will be housed on the agency intranet so that your curiosity can be found in our global network in case there’s a way to tap into it.

I need data storytellers...People who translate numbers into words

Turn results into action

Think like Ed Tufte

And make data visualization look even better

Make us feel the qualitative of your quantitative

Some Minor Ideas from Jack

People who can think and even become entrepreneurs...Organic FarmingWhiskey ConnoisseursMusic AficionadosAsian CulturalistsAnimation EnthusiastsFashion InfluencesImprov ExpertsZombie Theorists*Marijuana Marketing** My contributions, not Lee’s

Some Minor Ideas from Lee

Declare Your Minor