I always thought it would be easy to do the old Jackson Pollock paint drizzle thing. I always thought it was a clear case of an interesting, promotable guy creating a “style” that he could reproduce fast, in his sleep, and make a lot of money. Well, maybe that’s all true. But the paint drizzling thing is not as easy as one might think. And if you don’t believe me, try it.

My problem is knowing when to stop. Also, it’s hard do decide, on the fly, how much to use of a given color, or what color works well drizzled over what other color. Of course, unlike Pollock, we can just hit the refresh key and start over. Once he drizzled on a canvas, the die was cast.

Try it. Let me know what you think.

Very cool word. We like hearing it. We should say it more often. That’s it.

Thanks.

A month ago, the Obama campaign was trailing by about 20 in both Ohio and Texas. They said their strategy was to try to get close, and win their share of delegates. They did that. They did exactly what they said they wanted to do. When the dust settles from the Texas two-step, their delegate lead will have diminished by less than 10.

Here they are with a popular majority. A majority of states. A nearly insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. And the only surprise in the past month is the size of the margins in the states Obama won.

So why is NPR and other media spinning the Ohio/Texas primaries as this huge loss of momentum and direction for the Obama campaign? Spin just cracks me up.

Almost every brand comes with built-in assets and liabilities. For example, an ad agency in South Carolina has the built-in liability that people do not associate South Carolina with “hip,” “smart,” “sophisticated,” or much else you might associate with your concept of ad agencies. It’s external to us, so we have to acknowledge it and go with it. It would just be too costly to try to educate people to the contrary…especially since there’s a lot of truth in most folks’ perception of South Carolina.

One built-in asset some brands have, that you can’t buy with any amount of money, is a great story. I worked for a little while on a brand of tea that was served in Buckingham Palace. Now, if you’re into traditional English tea, you just can’t beat that for a story.

I remember when Banana Republic was actually built around war surplus warehouse buyouts. I actually got a Russian Air Force Officer’s overcoat at the one on on Walnut Street in Shadyside (Pittsburgh), back in the 1980s. Way to form fitting, and way to warm. But what a story!

We have some friends whose company was founded by some war heros…yeah, like Purple Heart winners. These were some serious guys. They were mostly from an under-served minority. They did planning sessions in a public park. They refused to fail. It’s a really cool story. You just can’t buy that kind of brand asset!