This is the back of a cookie bag from Subway IP Inc., telling me in 35 languages that my cookie may contain peanuts.

This page is from a typical IKEA furniture assembly brochure.

While there are five pages, also in 35 languages, warning of a possible tipping hazard, the other 30 pages get the assembly instructions across without any words at all.

IKEA is the conservation conscious global flat-pack furniture design + distribution leader. Had IKEA not made a serious, long-term commitment to illustration-driven-assembly-instructions over 50 years ago, they would probably be one of the world’s largest publishers + polluters today. 

I love to read. I also love looking for and discovering new authors whose work takes me down new planes of thinking.

I also love meeting and surrounding myself with people, places and things that are different. They nudge me out of my habitual thought-ruts and encourage me to entertain and embrace lots of different perspectives.

While I can see why this landing page from bookbub.com might be attractive to some, I see another flight feather being pulled from the wings of independent thought and free will. 

It tells “readers” that their editorial team will find great books for you at very low prices. A classic “appeal to the head and the heart” copy-writing tactic. 

It tells “readers” that “Book lovers have now become practically obsessed with this concept. In many cases, they’ve downloaded hundreds of books and saved hundreds of dollars. 

Translation:

• Booklovers, like others, are obsessed with “cheap”, not "good" goods.
• The more you buy the more you save.

Bing-book*-buying, reduces each book’s economic and intrinsic value. Each treasure becomes devalued to little more than cheap commodity status.

Over time this commoditization brings down the “value” of the entire book* category as well as the “book reading experience”.  

Sadly most of those books* will never be intensely read. Do the math. 

Of greatest concern is how this kind of social media content curating affects the choices groups and individuals make – including the value of free will and independent thought.   

*or anything else.

When I moved to Winnipeg about 10 years ago, a colleague asked me what kind of hours people are expected to work in Toronto. I told him that as a senior ad agency team manager I typically worked 50-60 hours a week, but that for him to catch up to and lap his peers, 60-70 hours would likely be required.

“Fuck That!” was his uncharacteristically brief response.

Since then I’ve discovered that his response is not uncommon for millennials in Winnipeg + elsewhere. Both then + now.

This picture of a Huawei employee napping at his desk at lunch-time should be a galvanizing example of why those with a false sense of entitlement (the right to live well on a 35 hr. wage) will always loose to those who, like this kid, are hungrier than you are.

Whether they're around the corner or around the globe.

For years I looked for and hoped to find a mentor to smarten me up and help me find "my path". For years I thought my prayers were unanswered because I never met him or her . . . per se. One day I realized that the Universe had sent me a little black dog. 

Let this sign remind you that the sign you need or want may be right in front of you – but that it might not look like you thought it would.

P.S. Charlie’s on the other side now but you can see a picture of us together on my About page.

When I was a kid our family’s last name was the only “Wehrmann” in the Toronto phone book. Whenever we traveled I’d look for the Wehrmann name in the local phone book.

I never found any until I went to Germany.

Today I can jump on Linked in™ and Facebook™ and find lots of people with my last name as well as many with my first name too - which is a great way to think about both personal + corporate branding.

Each Frank Wehrmann that you’ll encounter in life will likely be a white Anglo-Saxon male who utilizes German + English as his primary + second languages + vice-versa. He comes in all sorts of shapes + sizes, along with blonde or brown hair . . . in his younger years.  

And that’s about where the common denominators end.

Because there is only one Frank Wehrmann with 40 years of international media buying + planning + account service + creative service advertising agency experience. There’s only one who works out of Toronto + who has worked with many of the world’s top ad agencies + brands.

The previous paragraph is the foundation for my professional USP. It allows me to set myself apart from all of the other Frank Wehrmann’s out there - as well as all other ad agency practitioners. 

Note that it’s not just one specific thing that sets me apart, but a combination of many applicable (advertising business related) attributes. I can draw on many other experiences to demonstrate interest in + knowledge about all sorts of (advertising) stuff to further differentiate myself from all of the other Franks and Wehrmanns of the world. 

Pulling a brand’s USP together + bringing it to life requires a similar foundation to build future brand propositions + messaging around. The greater + more dynamic the brand character’s depth + breadth, the better. 

For a brand to engage a person the unique qualities need to come to life in ways that are meaningful intellectually + emotionally. 

The practical side of the equation needs to satisfy the logical Head that asks questions like; “do I really need that?”, “does this represent good value?” or “does this help me get to where I want to go today, or in life?”

The emotional side needs to give the “Heart” permission to believe that this product or service will help to refine my identity + contribute to my story in an emotionally compelling way.