Release the Kreative

Everyone wants to say ‘yes.' It's addictive! But we think you should say ‘no' more often.   We're chatting with Mason Atlas of The Hive SLC Tattoo shop about what to do when you just don't feel like saying yes!

It's all about the details. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's bad. We talk with Juniper Finley about women's clothing and the maddening lack of pockets!

It’s our first live episode! We dive right in to cognitive communication and how it can help or hurt your message, depending on how you use it. Also: the “tamagotchi of the car world” plays into that somehow. You can watch us here now, and again live next Monday morning! (10 AM Washington DC time)

Experience is the best teacher and the only way to get it is to go out and get it. This week we talk about putting yourself out there to try new things, no matter how crazy they might seem. You’ll never know until you try and trying things is what creativity is all about.

What does your shopping cart say about you? Everything you do tells a story, even your logistical choices say something about you. The ‘Celery Test’ is a neat way to think about that and analyze your own decisions. All that plus we touch on Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why.”

Stealing is easy and fun!  At least, it sure seems that way. When someone else has success with something it might be advantageous to follow their lead! Or it might be a big waste of time. Join us as we talk about social media platforms and their habit of taking someone else’s feature the minute it gains traction.

It’s exactly what you’re thinking. That’s right, we’re talking about Mr. Potato head and Dr. Seuss. Or more precisely, this week is all about controversy! Of course you know that it gets people engaged, but let’s talk about why that is and how it can help you.

We’re always talking about turning your message into a story. Today we use the streaming show ‘Ted Lasso’ as an example of what makes good storytelling. Sit back and soak up some examples. And it’s all spoiler-free!

In which we continue talking about tattoo artists, key publics, and how you differentiate yourself. Don’t advertise for your competitors! Explaining why people need you is just the first step.

In which we talk about leaky funnels and end up shipping Kirk off to Utah. Well, not yet, but soon. We also hear about the convoluted circle of the social-media-telephone game. Is it just luck? Maybe not. If you’ve already listened, Thehiveslc.com is the website you’re looking for.

Have you ever gotten a tattoo or shopped at Montgomery Ward? It turns out whatever you do, someone is forming an opinion about it. Does it matter? Let’s talk about your personal brand and what it means to you.

The internet is out of control! Facebook is fighting Apple. Apps are free but take away your privacy. And Kirk just can’t stand the Apple Watch. We talk about all of this plus discover it’s pretty hard to say ‘Game Stop stock’ multiple times in a row.

Everything has changed. So you threw the rulebook away. But now we’re adrift. So what do we do? It turns out there’s still two guiding stars on the horizon. Two questions that haven’t changed and will help you rebuild. Listen as Jeff & Kirk explore your path forward for the coming year.

Explaining why humans do anything is always a challenge, but it’s extra challenging when it comes to pageantry. This week we ask why our new president has to stand out in the cold, what makes Disneyland a little bit special, and why we’re wearing makeup for a podcast. Learn how pageantry can be more than just fancy clothes; it can also give weight to your message. Show notes:00:00- Introduction00:53 - Inaugaration01:33 - Political Pageantry03:02 - Tradition matters05:37 - Downton D.C. as the America's themed park06:55 - Pageantry07:40 - Wedding Ceremonies08:27 - Anchoring effects of traditional practices10:20 - Why is pageantry necessary?13:02 - Disney World17:30 - Entertainment from false reality20:30 - Experience matters24:30 - New propaganda of pageantry26:50 - Don't reinvent the wheel29:34 - The last non social media president30:46 - What could have been34:01 - Questions to ponder35:22 - Conclusion

Stereotypes are shortcuts. We all try to avoid them in our real life, but they can be a useful tool when it comes to storytelling. Kirk and Jeff explore some common tropes and why you shouldn’t dismiss them out of hand.

“Donald Trump is a genius.” Yeah, we said it. It turns out there’s at least one good thing we can learn from this whole mess, and this week we’re going to extract it, examine it, and explain how you can use it.

Are we on the same page here? What’s your North Star? Do you even have one yet? How are you going to tell everyone else what it is if you haven’t figured it out for yourself yet? Join us while Kirk and Jeff talk about getting on the same track and making a plan. The perfect activity for a new year.

Over the last 20 years we have seen an unbelievable increase in not just the amount of content being produced, but also the channels available to produce them for and most significantly the texture and style of popular content.  The lather rinse repeat formula or the now all but defunct studio/ television system is dead or dying in most channels. Making headway for a new type “authentic” and vulnerable content.   Do you want to make a podcast?  Add your voice to the mix? 

It’s Christmas, the scariest time of the year!What better time to talk about fear? It’s one of the most basic human experiences and yet we don’t even have words to describe it well. Join Kirk and Jeff as they try to cut through the confusion around fear and what it can do for you.

Is it possible to make something from nothing? Isn’t that what creativity is? Much like the story of “Stone Soup” this week’s episode has a little bit of everything. We’re going to hunt an elephant, listen to accountants, and fail Chemistry class. It’s all about making your message into a story. Join us while we try our best.

Does Momentarily mean “for a moment” or “in a moment”?  Is “bi-weekly” twice a week, or every two weeks? If millimeter is 1/1000, Centimeter is 1/100 and meter is 1… why did we skip the 10s place?  Is it because Decimeter 1/10 is also the word for 10 meters? Language is weird.  Communication is often backwards.  We use words all sorts of whacky. This week Jeff and Kirk tackle odd lexical gaps and words without a set understanding. Should be fun, no?

Why do we remember what we remember?  Why do we notice what we notice?  This week Kirk and Jeff unravel and unwrap perception and memory.  They talk about getting scared, being surprised, and take a walk down memory lane to a piece of viral content that was never intended to go viral.

It’s Thanksgiving here in America and we are getting started early by eating candy! It’s all British candy which leads us to explore how cultures diverge in some ways but not others. Join us as we talk about language, cultural norms, and orange chocolate.

Problem solvers! They’re great. Everyone wants to be one and hire more of them. But are the problem solvers good at identifying problems? You know how this works - google "Betteridge's law of headlines” if you don't.

Guys? Is creativity... everything? That might be insightful or it might be meaningless. Either way, Jeff and Kirk will hash it out and take you along for the ride.

Of course we'd all love for our content to go viral, but what happens when someone else's viral content is related to you? You may face a difficult choice on how to respond. Join us this week while we talk about a recent example.

Pitch, Pace, Poise, Pause, and Punch! It's not a limerick. It's a list of tools you can use to communicate more effectively. Join us as we dig into each one and teach you what they do.

We all know the world is getting smaller, right? But did you remember how the internet made the world a lot bigger before it turned around and made it small again? Things don't always progress linearly, let's talk about how your customer views you online these days.

It's time to talk about plot twists! They are a wonderful tool for storytellers, but be careful how you use them. This week we explore what makes a good twist and how they can help OR hurt your brand.

Urban Legends - Creepy? Fun? A good lesson on how stories grab onto our brains and make us want to share our experience with other humans? Maybe it's all three. Join us while Jeff and Kirk go down the rabbit hole.

What's your favorite movie? If you described it broadly enough, could that description fit any other movies?Your content will work one way with one audience and different way with another. Changing the channel also changes the outcome. So maybe that "failed" project that didn't really work wasn't actually bad. Maybe it just needs a different channel.What do you have in your past that you can brush off and try again in a new, unique way?

Entrepreneur Extraordinaire, Ronnell Richards joins the Release the Kreative team to talk about creativity and cognition.  What makes a bad idea a good one and why you'd record your podcast in a busy restaurant.   What makes success and how to use creativity to the success of your business. Misaligned memories and the drive to succeed.  This is an episode you don't want to miss. 

Our brain is a big prediction machine.  It gathers and collects data and observations and it applies them into relative "buckets".  Some things get ignored, somethings get misfiled, but everything gets categorized. Sometimes thats good-- It makes conclusions faster.  Sometimes its bad-- It forms false conclusions. The secret to life and creativity?  Know what categories you are putting things in, know why you are putting them there and most importantly, recheck those assumptions OFTEN.

The humans who affect our history have all been either a Conqueror or a Communicator. Don’t believe us? Make your own list of people and play along as we discuss it.Also featuring some emergency Bill & Ted related conversation. 

Gunpei Yokoi is a name you may or may not know, but even if you haven't, he affected your life. In fact his contributions have in many ways have had significant impact on modern culture. What do we do to affect innovation? How do we go about growth and invention? What does "upgrade" really mean? If you are a business owner, manager, inventor or innovator, this is an episode you should know.

Stories are powerful.  Not just in entertainment but in cognition and their ability to change reality.  Stories are the only way to take your a person from one mental state to another.  World building isn't only useful in fiction, it is also just the means of establishing common ground in reality.  So many issues these days come from people arguing from two different views of reality.  No agreement on the common ground.  That needs world building.Building your message into a story does more than make it palatable, it makes it effective. This week Join Jeff & Kirk as they dig into the power of stories. 

Stories are the single oldest way of conveying information.  We retell, relate, and exaggerate experiences to get certain outcomes.  Maybe we want to entertain, maybe we want to inform, maybe we want to influence.  But they are all just stories. If you know how to tell a story, there is very little you can't do.  

The wheel was first documented in 3500 BCE and has undergone 1000s of iterations of incremental innovation... why would we stop now?  Why do we lean on this phrase? What does it mean?  Why do we hear it so much?  Join Jeff Carpenter and Kirk Westwood while they unpack this phrase and how to avoid it.

The quest to "Build a better Mousetrap" is set upon by many a starry eyed entrepreneur and intrepid engineer.  The only problem is, this very phrase and the mentality that often accompanies it, preclude any genuine innovation.  Join award winning creatives Jeff Carpenter and Kirk Westwood as they unpack the approach to innovation through verbal and non-verbal programming.

Maybe you think of yourself as a "creative" maybe you don't.Maybe your job encourages "creativity" maybe it doesn't.Release the Kreative is a podcast unpacking cognition, creativity, and our need to let the beast out. What is creativity? Is it the same as being "artistic?" Is there any job or industry that you can't be creative?Join Jeff Carpenter and Kirk Westwood, both award winning "Creatives" with a drastically different approach to what that means.--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/releasethekreative/support