"Challenging the status quo has to be the starting point for anything that goes under the label of strategy." Gary Hamel

"The world's best poker players don't hanker for jobs in casino management." Tom Peters

"When the winds of change blow, some build walls, smart guys build windmills." Johnny Martin

Today's image: selfportrait with cat by smile with jul. Clever, very cool! Thanks for sharing.

GOT ATTENTION ?

Until and unless you get their attention nothing happens.

It's perhaps the single biggest challenge in cognitive process, that required first step, the square one of any effective communication architecture.

How do you get attention? How does one go about the capture and arrest of attention?

Long loyal readers of this blog will please forgive me, let me, once again, quote from the excellent writing by Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart about witty thinking in graphic design, A Smile in the Mind...

"The most precious gift a designer can give a client is the gift of someone else's time...The audience can be arrested by bold imagery, a startling use of colour or elegant photography. But for how long? The best way to win time for the message is to offer something that intrigues. The recipient is seduced into making a commitment. Someone who is intrigued will stay with the item until curiosity is satisfied. So the first benefit of witty design is that the recipient becomes willing to hear the message. The audience becomes captive. The communication has the best possible start...Wit can be the difference between a communication that is glanced at for ten seconds and one that is pored over for ten minutes...witty graphics have been interactive since the days of the long-playing record. The designer sets up an open not a closed system. For example, most signs are straightforward, like 'Fire Exit' or 'No Parking'. What about a sign that gives the information in a witty way? Suppose it says 'No Parking - don't even think about it'? This is a message with more than one layer. It acknowledges that not all drivers will simply go off and look for another space...The 'don't-even-think-about-it' sign accompanies that thought process...Then, as the mind considers the options, the sign makes a second hit. This is one aspect of participation, predicting and entering the dialogue."

Getting my attention, this morning: Michael Rosenblum, Brian Stelter, Rafat Ali, John F. Harris, Rob Barnett, Thomas P.M. Barnett, Tom Asacker, Chris Messina, Om Malik, David Weinberger, Kurt Hanson, Lee Arnold and the radio stations programmed by ace Brian Kelly [1037 KISS & 99.1 WMYX]

Today, spend some time thinking about attention. Have an amazing week; make something happen, catch somebody doing something right.

Previously: Inside baseball, Radio - Throwing away 41% of the inventory.

Bonus: Legendary radio star, Fred Winston is at work in his garden, camera in hand. He shares images, Photoshop mashups, and memorable quotations here and here. Kudos and cheers, Fred. Nice work.

Most emailed post: For reasons unknown a post on this blog from August of 2004 was the most emailed of the month in May. "Let's agree to stop describing our programming as compelling unless something actually happens on the radio station after the morning show that is not a liner, a sweeper, a promo, that day's music log, or one exceptionally good phone bit with a contest winner." Entire post here. Top ten May visitors by country: USA, Canada, UK, India, Spain, Australia, Ireland, France, Romania and Germany.

He said, she said: "Hollywood is a community that's so inbred, it's a wonder the children have any teeth." Barry Diller at D6. More quotes thanks to John Paczkowski via Digital Daily @ ATD.