I See Patterns and The Zenification of Nearly Everything

I was waiting for the subway a month ago in San Francisco. A poster across the tracks read: "Free your burrito, the mind will follow. The Bol. Experience Tortillalessness." It's an advertisement for Chipotle restaurant's new offering.

Ah, the Zenification of nearly everything abounds, I thought to myself. The spiritualization of the material.

I pay a lot of attention to patterns - whether they are trends in the outer world or themes in my life that point to a cohesive direction. Paying attention to patterns that strike you as personally significant is vital in the Dwelve creative process.

So it was no surprise to read BrandChannel's article, Zen and the Art of Brand Maintenance, yesterday morning (thanks for the link Tom). I'll reserve my opinion for a day or so - but I'd love to hear yours FIRST.

OK, I lied. Here's just one opinion: I don't care for the lead. It begins:

Tragic events like the recent Asia-Pacific tsunami are glaring reminders of the fragility of life. Some turn to a belief system for comfort...

The article mentions the rise in interest in religion and spirituality as a lead-in to Starbucks Tazo tea branding and related quotes from Seth Godin based on his new book, All Marketers are Liars .

Here are some of the patterns that are revelant to me - that tied into this one Zen and the Art of Brand Maintenance article. It's a window into my mind in the saturation phase. In order to keep the list short I've narrowed it down to triggers within last week only.

1. In my email inbox immediately before Tom's link to the Brandchannel article, I'd received an email from a guy that was on Koh Jum, Thailand in early January after the tsunami. (More on that in separate post.) If you're new to this blog, I was in the tsunami.
2. Last week I'd been thinking much more about what I can personally do to help with additional tsunami relief all precipitated by the earthquake in Indonesia last week. Also in the last week the fate of some folks on Koh Jum, my favorite Thai isle, was revealed.  And I also bummed to learn that my story submission did not make the finalist cut for $1000 prize (to have been donated to SOS Koh Jum) in the Backpack Nation writing contest.
3. Honed a saturation brainstormed idea (thanks Kamal) that centers on returning to the Indian Ocean nations hit by the tsunami and going back this winter for a one-year anniversary tsunami relief blogging tour. Intriguing angle crystallized last night. (Sponsorships will be involved.)
4. I will be speaking on the spiritual lessons of the tsunami, April 26th, in Sunnyvale (more info in this Craig's List post) and finally created flyers for it this weekend. And nope, I won't be channeling Dr. Seuss on the meaning of life:

Could it be
Could it be
Why! It's in the tea!

5. Zen and the Art of Brand Maintenance - cute. I'm currently reading (ok, flipping through passages as I'm too busy; I'm right in middle of saturation phase) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read a passage on "stuckness" yesterday in the book that really hit home. I started to blog it. When I was done with the post for some reason hit "draft" rather than "publish now."  The thought brewed all day. I realized it had jarred me from my mental rut and really helped me reframe. My best saturation phase ideas to date flooded my mind during yesterday's afternoon run.
6. Besides thoughts that totally surprise you out of your rut ("Whoa there!" thoughts - see #5) I've noted humor is brilliant at interrupting "stuckness." At church Sunday, I saw the spiritual comedian Swami Beyondanda speak. He spoke of humor as a way to rise above the puniness of our situations. Besides not taking ourselves and our problems so seriously, I see humor as jarring us out of our mental ruts. Jarring us out of our samskaras (Sanskrit for entrenched patterns of thought). My wily ego (or our self concept to be distinguished from our Self, aka the vicious part of the Dot) wants to be taken very very seriously and embroil me in its game to give its illusory existence power. It is best to laugh at your ego's tactics and engage in laughing-smiling aikado with it.
7. Tazo's site is very whimsical. Humorous. From the Brandchannel article: "And, importantly, our tea-centric philosophy is always delivered with a little wink."
8. I'm reading Seth's new book, All Marketers are Liars, which also features the Tazo story and he's generously quoted in the article.
9. I'd been thinking about tea companies and marketing since I read this interesting March 28, 2005 Forbes article "The Soda with Buzz" last Wednesday. Says Red Bull is test marketing a new brand of herbal tea. Besides the fact that I guzzle down tea in quantities comparable to coffee affectionados (I don't drink coffee).
10. Only a few days ago the thought occured to me: Why not pitch a tea company to sponsor a one-month blog project. Working title: The Camino: A Metaphor for Real Journeys. The Camino de Santiago is a 500-mile hike across Northern Spain that has attracted pilgrims since medieval times. Today, people from countries all over the world embark on the path. The idea would be to interview real folks about why they are on the Camino, a bit about their Journey and blog it in real-time (being mostly small towns without Internet cafes, I probably need a Blackberry sponsorship too). (I thought of walking the Camino since my incubation "advance" in January 2003. Yes, I can see the anticipated question...go ahead, ask.)
11. The Forbes article reminded me that Red Bull sponsors extreme athletes, so I was thinking if you do it right, daring to live an authentic life is an extreme sport (hosted first discussion group this past Sunday on topic: Daring to Live An Authentic Life.) Fits more with herbal tea too. And then that idea spawned another...
12. I've been thinking about real people. And fake blogs. And "complex, authentic stories." (Seth: "I think the trend of brands telling complex, authentic stories is just beginning to gather steam. It's the future of branding.") It's still a half-baked idea that firmed up during the run...more later when it's not gooey batter.
13. I'm reading Z.B.A. (Third book mention - yes, I read non-fiction in parallel.) I'm going to see author Marc Lesser speak tomorrow night in Mountain View. ("A Zen priest in the lineage of Shunryu Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Marc Lesser is the founder and CEO of Brush Dance, makers of Zen-inspired stationary and paper products." Event Info) Now he's actually speaking and writing about applying not buying Zen. His new book is Z.B.A.: Zen of Business Administration.

Ah, so much blogging fodder for each of these points. And also my thoughts on the article in question. And so little time...patience.

Comments

[Lisa Haneberg]

Oh, Evelyn, sometimes you make my head hurt :-). I've never known anyone who put so much speed into her writing. It can't be read slow - it's moving, like a train - and you gotta jump on or get blown to the side. I'm quite sure I did not get your deeper points, but I did want to say that I love the idea to pitch a tea/blog/journey project. If you had a group of bloggers that agreed ahead of time to share your posts, that might help attract the involved parties. I would certainly volunteer to be a satellite (for you, for fun, and for my love of tea).

I'm more of a Republic of Tea girl, perhaps you could be their Minister of Tea Blog Heaven. Their white teas and jasmines are to die for. I also like the Stash Exotica line - Jasmine. And Peets Dragon Pearls. Tazo Lotus is unique. I'm not a purist like Moby, I like the essence of flavor in many of my teas. I also love herbal infusions (I make my own lavender, rose, camomile). Oops, sorry for the digression.

[hugh macleod]

Thanks for the linkluv, Darlin'...

;-)

There's a wee bit of writing about marketers appropriating "Zen" imagery in the Hughtrain.

Go to http://www.hughtrain.com, then Contrl+F "Zen" and you should find it easily enough ;-)

[Amit C]

Thanks writing in advance about local events, I will be planning on attending the ZBA one.

This adds to the excellent books I have been introduced to, thanks to you. Clarity Quest in particular stands out in my mind and I plan to get to Vioce of Knowledge.

Best Regards
Amit

[Jay Sennett]

Evelyn,
You write, "so I was thinking if you do it right, daring to live an authentic life is an extreme sport." This is an excellent point!

On the whole Zen/Branding thing...zen teachers tell me that we can say about zen is not zen at all..but simply fingers pointing at the moon...if that in the case of tazo...given the number of people/companies claiming to know how to brand/market suggests to me we are all making it up as we go along.

Thanks again.