Lomography – Analogs Having Fun in a Digital World

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Lyn Bunch

“Lomography, an Analog Company Surviving in a Digital World” is a blog article by Jenna Wortham in the April 26 New York Times in the Technology section. I was struck by the title of a subject area I live in – Analog people coping and growing the Digital World, but I was totally unfamiliar with Lomography. As a consultant, I work with organizations to help integrate their people “Analogs” with their new digital surroundings and processes. I also work on guiding companies to bridge to our old Analog world and their adoption of digital strategies. Sometimes I feel like a luddite, but then I’m really a geeky nerd of the lower-high level order. I like digital things, but I like people more. Making them play well in both worlds is how I earn my living as a consultant now.

I am a child of two worlds, both the analog, now code for human side of things, and the digital, which is where the world is rapidly moving. Often the two worlds don’t mix well together, especially for boomers like many of my friends and associates. Having purchased one of the first iPhones (day 2) I am a card carrying geek, and that is how many of my friends, and family saw me. The gadget king is at it again. Now everyone in the family has iPhones, iPads and we Skype on the weekends with our family in Texas. We’re bought in!

Though I have all the digital tools I earn my living by helping others integrate them into their lives, their businesses, and help them survive a dark side of digital implementation…distraction, and a sense of loss of real human interaction. The question of personal productivity and multi-tasking is also now open for discussion. Not every gadget or digital process really makes us more productive research is recently finding.

That is why I loved this article by Jenna Wortham. It captures the true sense of ‘surviving in a digital world by humans/analogs. In 2008 my 20 year consulting practice branched in this arena and I became the Analog Sherpa. My tagline was, and still is…”An Analog Sherpa for a Digital World.” Now you can see why this article impacted me so much.

With the bankruptcy of Kodak recently the challenge of surviving a digital onslaught is high, just ask daily newspapers – or the USPS whose volumes are about to send them down, at least for a re-tooling.

Where did Lomography come from? Lomography started 20 years ago in Austria, by a group of photographers and artists who stumbled across a cheap Russian camera called the Lomo that used 35-millimeter film. The Lomo camera produced unique and charming photographs that often contained artsy blurry streaks and were oversaturated with color due to the camera’s body design and construction.

Matthias Fiegl, one of the artists who went on to found the company started smuggling Lomo cameras back from Russia to Western Europe in the early 1990s and sell them among his friends and then host exhibitions to celebrate the art photographs.

In the age of skype, cheap digital video cameras Mr. Fiegl found something different – sharing actual prints with all of their unique flaws from the film and cheap cameras. Retro was back, and suddenly it was different and cool. People got hooked. Now a large Facebook community is organizing Lomographer meet-ups around the world. Instant is out, and unusal is in. Waiting is a part of the attraction for the Lomographers.

They still use digital cameras and the iPhone – instant is not verboten, but the fun of seeing something later, and not perfect is even more cool. The digital world and the analog world can co-exist side by side…and be cool at the same time. There is hope for the Analog Sherpa in this digital world…and I’m still cool to boot. Cool!

A Death by Inches for Newspapers

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Lyn Bunch

Sometimes you see a chart that stops you dead in your tracks. I saw one today in The Atlantic that graphically displayed growing and shrinking industries. My sons both inhabit the top-growing field of the Internet…and I, still have my past linked to the bottom industry – Newspapers. Ouch!

This is a great chart because it shows growth and size of the industry losses or gains in terms lost at a single glance. I hope we can see more of these from the suppliers – LinkedIn Analytics.

As I deal with clients and prospects this will be part of my kit bag to help explain key opportunities, and the pockets of pain at the same time. This is why the recession has been both so deep, and so persistent. As employment shifts from the old sources to the high growth areas it is easy to see that needed skill sets must be transformed or much of the pain for those who have lost jobs will find it to be permanent.

No More “Kodak Moments”

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lyn Bunch

There are those things that are touch points to our past. This was a big week for key events that highlight how far and fast we have gone over the last several years. Growing up with a Brownie camera and Kodak film I was the model of American youth. The advertising phrase – ‘ A Kodak Moment’ was the catch phrase for time to store a happy memory that only film could do. Movies had many scenes of hapless dads and moms trying to capture their ‘Kodak moment’ while their kids were going crazy to get out of the scene. While working at Disneyland in college there were signs at various locations that encouraged people to take advantage of a Kodak Vantage Point with a sign in Kodak yellow. Kodak film was sold on Main Street and shops all over the park.

This week we got the news that Kodak, now in bankruptcy for reorganization, was going to drop most of their last links to photography. This is a sad story, and one we have seen repeated many time over in our ‘ industrial digital transition.’ Old services, products and companies are in decline as our economy, and lives, are changing in this new ‘digital’ world. Yesterday’s business leaders are tomorrows canon fodder…do they still ‘make’ canon fodder?’

The shame for Kodak is that it saw it coming and did not take the steps needed to survive. They saw the digital revolution in photography early on, and made some minor adjustments, but in the end the effort was staged to protect their lucrative film business, even when the ‘digital barbarians’ were at the gates.

What will Kodak do now? Their next phase, if they can survive the bankruptcy courts, will be to continue as a provider to online and retail photo printing services – like Costco, where I get my prints done. They will also continue in the desktop printer arena, but with heavy competition from HP, Canon and others. Selling printer paper is also a key factor, but that is a commodity business, and margins are shrinking there as well.

What does the Kodak transition mean for us? I guess we have great role model for change – or at least what happens when you fail to adapt or change. Strong brands with years of earned equity in their brand can flame out just as easily as the next brand. Twinkies and Ding Dongs are still trying to find a new home since their founding baker has faltered.

Kodak shows us that the allure of circling the wagons and protecting the flanks because of high margins for existing core businesses will not work in this new world. Being both ‘digital and flat’ will be the keys to new high margins. Kodak saw the light coming down the tunnel and didn’t think it was a train. Everyone should be alert for their own ‘trains’ being aimed at them now.

My own experience in marketing and advertising has been in the publishing field – newspapers and shoppers, and in the direct marketing – mail. Think I don’t know the numbers and schedules of all the trains coming down the track – I do now.

My clients, mostly those with strong roots in the pre-digital world, are learning and alert to the transition. However, the force is strong with those who want to protect what they have built up, and that causes many to falter and lose sight of the pending changes. Now is the time for reinvention, for all of us. No more ‘Kodak moments’ will be coming, at least for Kodak in coming months.

A Tale of Two Texans

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Lyn Bunch

All is right with Texas, and all is thusly right with the World. As a former Texan, circa 1980-1983 I am a living testament to the uniqueness of Texas, actually really it’s the Texans who are so ‘unique.’ I now enjoy having Son#1 living in Austin, the unique heart of Texas, with his native Texan wife and native Texan daughter. I loved living in Texas, back then, and they love Texas of the 21^st Century. The last few months have been trying times for Texans as they cheered and mourned the fates of two favorite sons – Rick Perry and Lance Armstrong. Now there is resolution for both.

Rick Perry is back in Texas, some are happy, and some are sad. Texans love to cheer on favorite sons, but Rick didn’t come home with a victory, and Texans hate to lose. Texas papers are reporting the polls are showing that Perry’s favorability ratings have fallen in the state. They interpret this to mean that many Texans are not happy to have Rick back in the state after his run for the Presidency. His poor showing on the stump reflects poorly on them they think. Ouch!

Lance Armstrong is back in Texas, in fact he never left. Not only is Lance a great cyclist, perhaps the greatest of all times based on his Tour de France record, but he is a great businessman. Lance built an entertainment empire out of Austin, one that would be the envy of any rock impresario. It helped to build Austin into a center of the earth for entertainment of all ilks with the SXSW each spring. I’ve never been, but my son is there every year, and now each year he is a contributor in the digital field

Texas in a unique place with its own culture, actually cultures, since there is no single culture to embrace all Texans, except for Pride, and in Texas that is spelled with a capital ‘P’. They love to win, and love it when they get to bring home the glory. In the case of Perry and Armstrong, both favorite sons with unique stories, Texans regaled in their successes, and held fast to them when both got into ‘trouble.’

The Texas miracle is built on two factors – lots of cash, and a tight network of ‘good old boys.’ It was many of these good old boys who bank rolled the Perry run for President. Texans don’t like to lose, that is in every area including both money and face. Rick came up ‘short’ in both areas.

The money was bad enough for the donors; they can make it back, but losing ‘face’ with Rick’s poor performance in the debates and on the stump. Not only did Rick come back to Texas diminished from his performance, he came back to a deflated Texas, where many are now questioning the ‘Texas Miracle’ he was touting on the stump. That was embarrassing to all Texans, and Rick may find it hard to mount any future campaigns. His network is still strong, and full of cash, but they are likely looking to the future with other names in mind.

One more opportunity for Lance came this week with the Susan B. Komen flap over cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood. Stepping in to help offset the cut in funds were Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York and Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Fund who matched funds lost from the Komen actions. Nothing like a lot of great publicity announced almost simultaneously with the announcement that there would be no further legal actions planned against Lance for the doping/steroid allegations. Wow, what more can a man do to get his reputation back.

Texas, like California, has a very unique culture. They love their favorite sons, but sometimes when those sons go astray there is a price to pay. For both Rick Perry and Lance Armstrong, going ‘astray’ has had consequences on their reputation. The press has been all over the both of them. It appears that Lance has weathered the storm, and is back on top in Texas. His reputation is being restored, or at least it has been expunged from the official records. He will recover.

Rick Perry embarrassed Texans with his poor performance, his reputation is now down. It remains to be seen if it will recover. Time will tell, time will tell. For Lance, all is good, and all is forgiven. Perhaps Lance should consider a run for the Governor for the next term. I know a few Texans who would vote for him now.

A Visit to the Heartland

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Lyn Bunch

Recently I had the occasion to travel from California to Arizona for both business and pleasure. Accompanied by my wife, the “LRHG” we took our usual route off Hwy 10 using Rte 60 that takes us through Wickenberg and a number of very small towns including Salome to reach our destination in the west Phoenix area. As we drove through all of the small towns in each one the local Post Office was one of the most prominent buildings in town.

Being a guy who has lived most of his life in larger metropolitan areas, and have worked in larger scale businesses, most the communications field, I was struck by the sight of these post offices. The local post office holds no personal sway for me. Most of my professional interactions have been with larger scale facilities. As a direct marketer I have spent my days selling and managing the design and distribution of millions of pieces of mail. I hadn’t been in a local post office for personal reasons in years.

The world has changed over the last couple of decades, and the days when we used to get cards and letters from friends and family have been replaced by email and Facebook. The mailbox is now a commercial place where bills, advertising circulars and catalogs dominate. Hard to come away from a trip to the mailbox and return with a smile.

My world is mainly digital world today, but all of those small towns in Arizona still live in that past world, mostly ‘analog’ and little digital communications. The residents are more like those who the USPS was the lifeline and center of commerce that Ben Franklin saw when he helped to pioneer our model of universal service.

In our attempt to find solutions to the current financial the plan is to close a number of post offices. I hope that we can find a way to keep those open to those who it means the most. My trip to Arizona found many, and I know that throughout the west there are many more, just are there across a wide swath of the mid-west and south.

In our rush to find cuts within the USPS to help it find solvency we need to prioritize the personal services to those who need it the most. Let’s make sure that in our plans to financially reshape our postal services that local post offices can remain a hub and key service provider to those who need it the most.

SXSW – Where Freaks and Geeks Rule!

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Lyn Bunch

A Walking Billboard for SXSW

This years’ major event for geeks and freaks of the digital world just ended recently in Austin, Texas. I’m sure they are still cleaning up after their digital messes and the subsequent music gatherings that followed just days later. For several days this was the digital and entertainment center of the earth. I’ve never been, but Austin is dear to me since my digital son and music daughter-in-law are there raising their daughter in all things digital and musical.

Why is this event special? The NYT article “Reality Crashes the Technocrats’ Party” this last week captures some of the feelings about the event, with a good dash of well deserved ‘snarkiness.’ The digital aristocracy have made this their place, and the very combination of rhythm bereft men, it is mainly men, dancing and partying after days longs digital presentations is amusing to say the least. I’ve gotten some insights on the presentations from my son who has presented there every year since 2007, this time in a solo event on the topic of ‘bot love.’

It is in Austin at SXSW, the acronym commonly used for ‘South by Southwest’ that many of the recent and future changes arriving on the scene in the digital world are unveiled and discussed, and celebrated with copious amounts of liquid cheer a the parties and bars held all over town. The author draws an incredible vision of the sight of all of these ‘digital technocrats’ drinking and dancing, most without a shred of real rhythum. I shudder, since I too suffer from the same maladies, and as a result I seldom drink much, and never dance. I think somewhere there is a restraining order on my regarding the matters.

This has become more and more important to how I conduct my own business. After consulting for over 20 years, mainly in the sales and marketing arena, I now find that my clients are really struggling with how to engage with these ‘digital technocrats’ as well as their customers who have been shifted into the new digital business stream. Everything is different now, and these people are the key to success in this new digital world.

My role has become that of the guide to helping human beings, mainly boomers like myself, understand these new digital thought leaders, and to find ways to harness their output for their organizations. This has really been a two-way translation course – helping the ‘analog’ bosses understand their digital native employees, and helping the digital natives understand their analog leaders and to be able to communicate with them via analog skills sets. So far, so good. It all seems to be meshing well. Now as far as those dancing skills for our tech gurus – I’m not going there, no expertise here to deal with any of that. You’re on your own there!

Change or Perish – A Song for Our Times

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Lyn Bunch

I am constantly searching for wisdom in today’s media, Some days are tough, but today I found a gem – and one that I will print and read every day. The Analog Sherpa is all about finding ways for to make the digital world workable for normal ‘analog’ people.

Roger Cohen in a NYT commentary pieced called “Change or Perish” has written the perfect prose poem that captures what so many see themselves going through. Living in a world that seems out of kilter and somehow distant and distorted. For our young, they have not anchors to the past and only see the world through their now frenetic eyes and hands, just another video game or Facebook update to read or post.

Here are a couple of graphs from this marvelous piece – I urge you to click through and savor it all:

“Before apps, when there were attention spans, before “I’ve got five bars,” when bars were for boozing, before ring-tone selection, when the phone rang, before high-net-worth individuals, when love was all you needed, before hype, when there was Hendrix, we got by just the same.”

“Before social media, when we were social, before thumb-typing, when a thumb hitched a ride, before de-friending, when a friend was for life, before online conduct, when you conducted yourself, before “content,” when we told stories, we did get by all the same.”

The Analog Sherpa has found his muse for the new age! Thanks Roger!

Analog Sherpa

Media, Marketing & Management For A Digital World

Tag Archives: Analog