It was delightful. I was happy to help in exchange for catching some of the presentations and panels.
Something interesting that Grant McCracken said during Got Trends: What Now? (I am paraphrasing): "Grad students have no knowledge of trends, but a ton of intuition about human nature. Marketers are the opposite." Kind of scary, if you think about it, but maybe optimistic for our future (if we're thinking about grad students that will ultimately end up working with us). He followed by giving an example of television networks that get it all wrong: saturating us with reality show after reality show. Latching onto a trend and then milking it for all its worth, and then "there is nothing compelling anymore." It's the difference between knowledge and meaning in trends, he points out.
Anothing thing I loved (also something that Noah (and probably more) pointed out): Mike Byrne, CD at Anomaly. He gave the closing speech and talked about being spoken to as a child. "The best brands are those that can talk to kids. Products can be sold as products... or as physical manifestations of hope." I couldn't agree more. My favorite part, though: his opening questions and observations. "When are we told to stop asking questions and being curious? It's only with the help of adults that we become self-aware, and detatched, and stagnant." beautiful.
