La, La, La, La, La, La, La (Means I Love You)

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone and continued health and prosperity around the world.

A couple of things I’ve noticed in the past few days.

A book called Trading Up: The New American Luxury by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske caught my eye the other day. It was end-racked at my local Barnes and Noble (about fourteen steps below Borders on the loveometer in my humble opinion).

It’s about construction workers buying $3,000 sets of golf clubs and people in general moving up the quality chain. (No I didn’t read it). The authors put a luxury spin on it but in the context of quantum culture I would put a creative, qualitative and spiritual spin on it.

The recommendation, too, would seem to advise corporations to move their brand up the ladder (although the authors do, of course, note that many upscale brands have also lowered their “entry price” goods). I of course agree, but with a significantly different emphasis.

The activity they describe is people climbing the ladder, yes. And so try to aim for the top, of course. But don’t ignore the larger picture: that people can only consume what is produced. A lot of these goods are still shallow substitutes for what people really want. And, perhaps even more importantly, there are millions and millions of people sitting at the top of the ladder with nothing to consume and nowhere to go at all. There is no vital mature culture waiting to be consumed that speaks to people’s current needs, desires and concerns. There is no 3-D culture. So people settle for increasingly expensive, sometimes frivolous, higher quality goods and services available. Once there is some content to match these goods, the whole culture and economy is going to explode in growth. It’s like a tinderbox waiting for a match. And someone’s going to make a killing that makes previous killings look modest in comparison. We’re basically looking for our spiritual Elvis. Imagine Oprah to the Eminem power. O to the E. (Another opportunity to give props to the original OE, Eben Eldridge, to whom I am eternally grateful for his influence on my thinking and inspiration on my being.)

Elvis, you’ll remember, set new standards for what was charged everywhere from the Ed Sullivan Show to Vegas. The next wave will literally create new Vegas’s.

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably of themselves will not be realized.”

--Daniel H. Burnham, in the preface of a report about a comprehensive city plan developed for Chicago in the early 20th Century (Thanks to my brother Brian for bringing the quote up.)

So, move your brand up the ladder, but don’t forget, what all people want more than anything—my house, Lexus, wife-to-be, and kids included—is to believe. To feel the magic of one’s own soul. It’s simply all there is. And humanity’s greatest value. What we have all labored to make money to enjoy. And for the first time in history, we have the capital to pursue it as an economic force.

[And brands moving up the ladder watch out, just as there may be a bump in luxury consumption as people accept and head into their true desires, there may also be a slump as they move from their true material desires into their higher, true spiritual desires. Fulfilling your material desires doesn’t satiate the consumer. Only fulfilling spiritual desires can truly deliver long term. The corporation that figures out how to do that will have friends, customers, and love for ever. It will be remembered like any great prophet. And reap ridiculous profits. The only thing of value I believe the future will show us, is beautiful, hand-crafted necessities and glorious content. –Much like the Masai or any other of the traditional cultures we idolize from a distance (but would never submit ourselves to live within).]

The other thing I saw was an article today about Baby Boomers moving from the burbs back into the city—often into apartments. This is going to be a massive quantum culture trend—whoops, I mean movement. We don’t have trends in the quantum culture. With fashion being dead all we have is peace and predictability—the eternal.

I haven’t posted the draft of the article I’m writing for What Is Enlightenment magazine yet but it gets into this stuff. One of the beautiful aspects of the emerging focus on spiritual values is a massive return to the city. And an evolution of the city to a more enlightened place environmentally, communally, etc. I don’t have all the details yet but suffice it to say that the holders of the control (and keepers of the cash) are going to seriously commune with (and transfer cash and power to) the holders of the feeling (and keepers of the spirit). This is already happening and will continue and speed up once we overcome a few barriers. This is literally the last being first that Jesus talked about (Although no one is denied entry or access). Get ready to let go of all your fears and concerns.

Basically, I believe we are going to intentionally create the diverse, robust, thriving city that some of us think of the past as. It will be largely without the underprivledge, cronyism (hello, Chicago—it’s 2005!), discrimination, and injustice that have been and remain factors in most traditional communities and cultures that have enjoyed this togetherness. It will be a global togetherness if you will. Replicated and reflected at every level. That’s what I believe.

The one other thing that caught my attention this morning was that the Bush Administration had upped it’s tsunami relief aid from $35 million to $350 million. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

This is the true way to build a brand. To build intangibles you dive into giving up control. You give. You forgo control. You add value to others lives. You inspire. $350 million is a drop in the bucket—I don’t for a second imagine it will have anyone dancing in the streets (read Tom Peters and think about his “Wow!” factor)—especially when you consider we allocated billions to Florida after the hurricanes.

There is a reason that a brand’s value past its tangible assets is called goodwill. That’s what it is. It’s love, duh.

How do you build love? You write a poem. You give a gift. You make yourself vulnerable. You give up control for what your soul is aching to do. Responsibly, of course—no one wants a stalker. But the western mind is so far from that I don’t think that’ll be a problem for years and years to come. Unless by neurosis.

Most corporations (and many people) are afraid to relinquish control—to truly give—because they are afraid that they will not be rewarded. Not be recognized. Not be loved back.

This is your fear—and this is what must be overcome. This world is transparent. You need not advertise except for informative purposes. We know everything already. Believe in us. No good deed goes unrewarded. But you’ll never know how. Advertising and marketing is for used car salesmen. And we all know that. Go spend your extra time and money building a better, more loving product. Being more loving and relaxed people. Developing more loving and relaxed content. Making your employees happier. (Gallup, after enormous research, found that employee satisfaction—happiness—was the single largest driver of customer satisfaction, which was the single largest factor in growth. Do the math.)

But back to recognition. All we do is look. We can see it on your face. Hear it in your voice. Can tell as you shuffle home from work. You can’t do anything that goes unrecognized—by god or us. We pay attention to those who’ve got it and look away when you have nothing to offer, when you are emotionally unavailable, when you’ve got the office on your mind.

When you come from such a place of fear that all you can think about is money.


Love,

Eben


ps: Thanks to the Delfonics for the title of this post.