Naked turned 5 last Friday and we celebrated our birthday with our clients and industry friends. The highlight of the evening was the Photo Spoof that Adam and Paul MC built with their bare hands! What is a Photo Spoof I hear you ask? It's constructed like an old school photo booth, however instead of taking photos we had an artists draw peoples' caricatures. The luminous ultra-violet painted ping pong tables were a hit too!
Yesterday I walked into a well-known computer store and was given a choice. Would I like to be a music producer, a moviemaker, a designer, a photographer….perhaps all of them at once depending on how much coin I wanted to spend.
Yes, the tools that breed creativity have been handed back to the people and yes, you really can be a bedroom banger overnight success story, but where does that leave a generation of idealistic right brained rock stars bottle necking toward a late 20’s boom-crash opera? Similarly, where does that leave businesses who are trying to harness the power of “the creative age” only to find their next “big thing” account manager has run off to be exactly that, with pilot script and movie in hand all written and produced in the bedroom to world class standards?
Behold a generation of multi-coloured brains. A problematic, self-indulgent hands-on cluster of people who make stuff, stuff thatin the past was reserved for private boys clubs in various categories…music, art, film, design are the obvious silo’s but underneath that sits a million strands of creative pursuit that is now accessible to everybody.
Such access to advanced creative tools at a young age (eg. Logic, Photoshop, Final Cut pro) as well as increased distribution channels to get ideas out there is breeding a generation of vibrant go-getters, able to pursue a multitude of interests at a pro level and get bloody good at them by the time they’re in their mid twenties. An account clerk with the weeks most downloaded single on iTunes, an IT guy working on a soon to be released M.M.O.R.P.G, a globally awarded designer and chef – these are the people of the future…how exciting.
Organisations of the beige cubicle era beware…you’ll need more than a pin-ball machine in the lobby to keep these guys inspired. I’m lucky to work in a place that is as multi-coloured as a 1998 Elton John press conference, but I am lucky.
For businesses the rules will be murky. Even more flexible working hours, vague job descriptions that will frustrate some but free others, job-sharing, horizontal entrepreneurialism, an interesting culture that extends beyond Friday arvo at the local…these are just some of the demands that will placed on businesses to attract and keep the good eggs. For multi-coloured brains the future is bright, but the rules will need to be established right from the get go.
Is this a revolution? Well, not quite, more like an evolution driven by the on-board creative palette that we’re all born with. Difference is in the year 2008 there’s more “tools” in the shed that help people realise their multi-coloured imagination.
- Glen
To go through our dirty laundry, visit the global Naked Communications website.
