“Clients respect talent” is a quote I read recently by Vincent Cullers, Advertising Hall of Fame. I wonder if this is universally true. Personally, I think not.
I think sometimes that’s what we’d like to think. More often than not, I’ve witnessed clients showing “ad agency execs” and/or creative professionals the lack of respect and not thinking anything of it. Now, in my experience not all clients are like this, obviously. But it only takes a few to put a sour taste in your mouth.
These are usually the type who have a greater-than-normal ego and believe they know everything or at least more than the ad guy in the room. Now, by “ad guy,” I’m referring to the expert who really knows his or her profession and has spent more than a year or two practicing the craft. This client loves to do his/her own thing and truly believes his ideas are amazing and should be implemented. That, naturally, is not always the case.
When the ad guy tries to explain to the client why this or that proposed idea may not work or is not appropriate, the client usually just ignores the logistics involved or the expense anticipated with an actual production. Also, depending on the maturity and experience level of the ad guy, the client may not appreciate the advice being given.
Times change, of course, as do people. Society can be very cruel at times as was evidenced decades ago during the fifties and sixties. No matter how smart one was, the color of one’s skin often determined whether or not one would even be invited into the conference room for a presentation.
“In those days, no African-Americans were working in advertising. They not only couldn’t get in the door, they didn’t go beyond the lobby.”
Vincent Cullers
Vincent T. Cullers (b. 1924 – October 4, 2003) was an American designer, advertising professional, and civil rights activist. Motivated by the civil rights movement in the United States, Vince Cullers made history in 1956 by founding Vince Cullers Advertising, recognized as the first African American-owned advertising agency.
Nowadays the color of one’s skin matters less than it did decades ago but, alas, the respect issue remains in some circles of the industry and society as a whole. Even the best qualified ad guy can tear down years of respect and admiration if he/she comes across as unprofessional, immature or, dare I say, irrespecutful. After all, respect goes two ways. It should always be upheld at both ends.
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog,Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.
A short story aboutCharity Hospital New Orleans and its aftermath from Katrina
Prologue
NOLA. Its spirit stays with you long after you’ve gone. The sights, smells, music and culture all linger, sometimes even after one’s memories fade. Those thoughts, dreams, even nightmares can embody your neighbor’s flesh and blood even when that neighbor passed away long ago. Caution: Some photos may be too unnerving or unsettling for some viewers.
A little history . . .
Charity Hospital of New Orleans, LA has long been the medical headquarters for many patients. Some of whom, it is said, never left. If that is so, how many souls stayed behind after the hospital permanently closed? What of them? When alive they endured many horrific events with Hurricane Katrina. Many a sane person would have gone crazy during those times, not able to rid themselves of the nightmarish memories they must still have.
I wonder, do souls have nightmares? Do they wander around aimlessly and body-less seeking answers? Do they seek revenge of some sort? Do they yearn to inhabit other living or dead bodies to continue life anew?
Seems like this would be the stuff of an episode right out of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. While interesting to ponder, the hospital sat empty and abandoned for a long time without anything being done to recessitate it. A surreal set of circumstances led to its demise and only in New Orleans could an old, empty hospital reemerge as a haven for lost souls. Spirits, ghosts, whatever you like all need a place to gather, a place to call home. In NOLA’s Charity Hospital, they evidently found it.
But the story doesn’t end here; it merely continues. To what end, you may ask. Well, we don’t know . . . yet.
Chapter One
It was a dark and gloomy night in the French Quarter so we thought we’d stroll down a few blocks and see some old buildings. We eventually got to the section of Tulane Avenue where one of the oldest abandoned buildings in the area has sat empty for decades-Charity Hospital New Orleans.
Staring up at the 1939 built 20-story Art Deco building, one gets a feeling that the intimidating structure is not too keen on the idea of letting visitors inside its hallowed halls.
Nevertheless we marched slowly but steadily onward to see what had been left behind when it was evacuated because of Katrina in 2005.
In a word, not much. Yet there was a lot that remained. Indeed, some rooms we passed looked like time itself had died that horrific day. Other rooms appeared as if the patient had hardly gotten out of the room before the flood waters rushed in. And then there was the Autopsy Room.
The turn-of-the-century flooded autopsy theatre in the basement of Charity Hospital. Reddit.com
“Administration” Photo by Michael Alford
We drew closer not believing what we thought we saw. The patient appeared to be the only “living” creature in the room. Then suddenly one of the “surgeons” unexpectedly looked up and floated in our direction. It was obvious that he/she/it wanted us out of the room – NOW! We didn’t hesitate except for me; I felt like my shoes were glued to the floor. I kinda shook it off a bit and yelled “we’re going, we’re going!”
“And the Sky was Grey” by Michael Alford
As if these images didn’t make for an uneasy feeling in us, we made our way down this one hallway to see what more could be observed. That’s when we heard it; a soft, eerie-sounding voice whispering “Get out. Leave us alone. We don’t want you here.”
We all just froze. At first we didn’t know what to do or say, if anything. Finally, someone in our group said simply, “Let’s proceed anyway. I’m not going to let a strange voice scare me outta here.”
Well, we continued on, this time ascending two more floors. Alas, it was just as bad and desolate as downstairs. Some rooms appeared as if a bomb had gone off. Others looked like they had only recently been vacated.
Photo: Abandoned Southeast
Abandoned Southeast Photo (If one didn’t know any better, one might think that Housekeeping was running horribly late.)
Proceeding down the hallway we came to what appeared to be an operating room. As we peered inside we could see the patient on the table surrounded by ghost-like figures all dressed in surgical gowns.
Back in the hallway we all were grasping for breath and, yes, looking like we’d just seen a ghost! But before we had a chance to recover, approaching from the other end of the hallway were various other ghostly figures heading our way.
Adobe Stock
Upon seeing this, we wasted no time in locating the nearest stairwell and ran up, I don’t know, what seemed like several flights of stairs. We came out and were grasping for breath. At this point someone just spouted “to hell with the research, let’s get the hell outta here.”
“Okay, everyone, calm down. We’ve just had the wits scared out of us. If this were Halloween, it would be funny. C’mon, let’s proceed down this hallway and . . . “.
Chapter Two
Just then low screams came from a few doors down. When we got there we witnessed a shadowy figure sitting on the bedside with an ax and a pool of blood clearly visible on the floor with a severed hand laying in the blood.
“Oh my God,” blurted Selma. “Somebody do something! He’ll bleed to death,” she said.
“What makes you think he’s alive?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m sure he’s not. He’s been that way for decades,” says a voice emanating from a nearby chair on the far side of the room.
This time, this ghost appeared more visible than his counterparts before. His features were distinctive but his body had an iridescent glow to it. He was there and yet he wasn’t.
“Excuse me, sir. Do you know this person?,” I asked. “Yes,” said the ghost. “He was my brother, Warren. He died years ago,” stated the ghost.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said I. “By the way, I’m Joe, this is Selma, Thad and Fred. We’re just exploring the hospital before it gets torn down. We honestly didn’t expect to come into contact with anyone here. But we have; at least we think we have,” I stated.
“My name is Walter. I died some years ago, too. As for meeting folks here, you have indeed come in contact with them. If they’ve seemed to be a little skiddish, they are. They’re not used to visitors especially when the hospital closed some years ago. Everyone in New Orleans thought Charity had been completely evacuated; alas, it was not, as you have seen.
“Oh sure,” Walter continued. “Every body was taken out of Charity but some of those died before being taken out. Those souls decided to stay and remain with the friends they had made while here.”
“So what about you, Walter?,” I asked. “Well,” he started, “I kinda look after this place and my friends. We’re not leaving as we have no place to go. Our families have accepted our deaths and have moved on. Why would we want to go back after all these years and disturb their peace? No sir, not gonna do it!,” Walter stated flatly.
When we reconvened out in the hallway we thought about what to do next.
We all thought it best to leave then so we began toward the stairwell. As we started our descent, we could hear in the distance jazz music from the downstairs coffee shop where a jazz quartet played . . . decades ago. All would be dead by now.
Chapter Three
As Selma led the way and was making the turn on that flat “transition” area between floors, she was startled by the sudden appearance of a cloud-like image swinging an ax and, in the blink of an eye, thrusting it into the mid-section of Selma’s body.
As soon as it began it was over, with the image disappearing into and through the wall. Selma was writhing in pain lying down in a pool of blood grasping for breath. There was little we could do. In moments she would be dead.
Walking down fifteen flights of stairs in a building without power or air conditioning is taxing enough. When you add on carrying a dead body under these conditions it makes for a grueling exercise.
The remaining three of us just knelt there beside Selma, all stunned and in shock. Before we knew it, Fred jumped up, hysterical, and screamed, “I’ve got to get out of here; we’re not wanted!”
With that, he jumped up and proceeded to run downstairs, from the fifteenth floor, but seemed to trip as he was rounding the corner of the stairwell, broke through the railing and fell to the lobby and to his death.
Thad and I exchanged horrified looks and just remained there, motionless and not saying a word.
Chapter Four
Then I stated as calmly as I could, “Ok, let’s proceed together, steadily down the stairs to the lobby. It’s just the two of us now, Thad; there’s nothing more we can do here.”
“But what about Selma? We can’t just leave her here; she deserves better.,” Thad remarked.
“You’re right, Thad, she does,” I injected. So we both picked her up as gently as we could and proceeded resuming our trek downstairs. I suggested we take a moment’s break on the tenth floor to gather ourselves.
We reached the tenth floor and rested some. We were both sweating profusely but had nothing to wipe the sweat from our burning eyes.
Almost there we thought. Adrenaline had started to kick in and traversing the next five flights wasn’t nearly so difficult as we suspected it would be.
We each winked at one another and allowed a wry smile on our faces; we were close to getting out of here. We then took a few more steps then stopped. Froze. We heard something that sounded like crackling wood. Before either one of us could say anything, the floor of the stairwell began to give and in a flash both Thad and Selma’s body fell the remaining five floors. If she was still alive she wouldn’t have survived the drop. Thad wouldn’t have either.
Chapter Five
So now it was just me. Five floors to the lobby and exit. I was shaking so badly I could hardly stand. I managed to steady myself as best I could and slowly, holding onto the railing, got down to the second floor but I had to stop once more to catch my breath.
A few more steps and I’m home free, I thought. When I got to the landing area between first and second floors I just stopped again and thought about what we’d just accomplished. Just a few more steps . . . And then from behind I felt the unnerving sensation of being pushed. Before I knew it I was head over heels tumbling downward and unceremoniously heading for the first floor.
For what had to be only a few seconds, it felt like I was tumbling through infinity. Then, suddenly, I felt motionless, I wasn’t falling anymore. I guess I was laying on the concrete floor but I didn’t feel a thing. Didn’t even feel my heart pumping. My breathing? Don’t think I was. My mind was slowing down, now almost to a standstill.
Is this what it’s like when . . . you’re. . . dying . . .
A final thought to my story. Four new souls entered Charity Hospital to see what happened inside thanks to a wicked woman named Katrina. During their journey they met some very interesting residents, all of whom called Charity home. Never mind that the hospital has been closed for decades and that there are no living residents inside. As there have been since Katrina there are now only souls, the souls of Charity.
Epilogue
The historic Charity Hospital building in New Orleans is undergoing a massive $600+ million redevelopment with Tulane University serving as the anchor tenant and become the heart of Tulane’s Downtown Medical School. The iconic New Orleans hospital served the community for a century as the City’s safety-net hospital, saving hundreds of thousands of lives and training thousands of doctors and nurses. Old Charity will become the flagship building for Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, as well as housing for biomedical research labs, Tulane’s Innovation Institute and their School of Professional Advancement. The revitalized structure is expected to open around 2027.
The project is moving forward through a complex, years-long journey to revitalize the 90-year-old, 20-story structure that has been largely vacant since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Vision: The billion-square-foot facility is being renovated to include state-of-the-art medical and life-science labs, approximately 300 apartments, commercial offices, and retail space.
Tulane University’s Role: Tulane has committed to occupying at least 500,000 square feet of the massive building for public health, biomedical research, and teaching purposes.
Funding and Politics: The redevelopment faced a major political battle when the New Orleans City Council allocated $20 million in bond/trust funds to help speed up the construction. Mayor LaToya Cantrell previously vetoed this ordinance out of concern for other city budget priorities, but the City Council successfully voted to override the veto to keep the project on.
Hurricane Katrina flooded Charity’s basement, shutting down the hospital and trapping roughly 360 patients and 1,200 staff members inside. Weeks later, a team of volunteers, contractors and the military cleaned out the lower floors to get the hospital “medical ready,” but it would never reopen.
For a closer look at how this monumental structure is being reimagined, you can explore the Charity Hospital Redevelopment Project or read about Tulane’s plans on the Charity Redevelopment page.
The 90-year-old, 20-story Charity Hospital building that has been vacant since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (Photo by Lance Traweek.)
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog,Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.
This is not my typical blog post but an expression of an idea I had based on an old Twilight Zone episode. I turned it into a short story, sort of reminiscent of a half hour TZ episode.
Mr. Collins was on a guided tour at Dachau. While touring one of the deserted barracks, Mr. Collins wanted to lie down on one of the bunks in the dilapidated and abandoned barracks and fell asleep. When he awakened he heard loud and nasty instructions to rise for exercises. The voice said it was a balmy 5 degrees below zero. Judging from the sight of the soldiers’ uniforms and the others around him, it was no longer present day. It was 1941 all over again. It was like he was experiencing a Twilight Zone moment.
View of the Dachau concentration camp, after liberation on April 29, 1945. It shows the electrified barbed wire fence, the moat, and a watchtower.
Mr. Collins was dazed at first, having just been suddenly awakened. Once he was able to stand by his bunk, he noticed his clothes had been transformed into the prison attire like everyone else’s. He thought he was dreaming at first; no, more like having a nightmare.
Before he could gather his thoughts, the group was ushered through the door and outside into the bitter cold. Once outside standing in the snow and ice, he thought how in the world could anyone survive in conditions like this, especially without any protective clothing. As he thought it, he had already answered his own question; they can’t. They really weren’t expected to survive.
Several of his “colleagues” did not. They passed out during this so-called exercise routine. Dropped dead.
While standing there, Mr. Collins had lost feeling in his feet and his fingers were turning blue. He didn’t know how much more of this torture he could stand.
View of barracks and the ammunition factory in one of the first photos of the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau, Germany, March or April 1933.
Dachau opened in Germany in March 1933. It was the first regular concentration camp of the Nazi regime. Prisoners were subjected to horrific conditions, forced labor, and medical experiments. Dachau became the model for all Nazi concentration camps. It was liberated by American forces on April 29, 1945.
At what seemed to be forever, the group was finally lead back into the barracks. No heat and no warm clothing. The prisoners just had to make do. Just then another Nazi official entered the barracks and announced that two of the group did not survive exercises. So, two of the bunks would be available. However, there were three additional prisoners expected any minute so an additional bunk would have to be made ready.
“Mr. Collins,” the official stated, peering directly into Collins’ eyes, “your bunk will do nicely.”
“But where will I sleep?,” asked Collins. “Oh, you’ll have a permanent resting place,” replied the Nazi as he pulled out his Walther P38 pistol. Everything then appeared to be in slow motion.
As he pointed the P38 at Mr. Collins, the trigger seemed to take forever to be pulled back. Just at the instant of the bullet exploding from the barrel, Mr. Collins let out a blood curdling scream.
Then, all fell silent.
“Mr. Collins! Mr. Collins!,” a young woman’s voice was heard directly over Mr. Collins’ face. “Wake up, sir,” she said. “You fell asleep during our tour. Please follow us and we’ll lead you to the exit and the awaiting tour bus,” she explained.
Collins, meanwhile, was shaking even though he realized his nightmare was just that, a nightmare. Before he began to walk out, he looked down and was relieved to see he was wearing his clothes in which he’d started the tour. His nightmare was over.
Little remained of what he had dreamt. Interestingly, however, no one seemed to notice the Walther P38 lying on the mattress where Collins had been. Smoke was still emanating from the barrel.
All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing “local” prisons. The first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the extermination centers where the “Endlösung der Judenfrage” (the final solution to the Jewish question – the Nazi plan to murder European Jews) was carried out.
At the end of the Twilight Zone episode, Deathshead Revisited, the doctor exclaims “why do they let it remain standing?”
In Serling’s epilogue narration, he says “There is an answer to the doctor’s question. All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes; all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in the Twilight Zone but wherever men walk God’s Earth.”
When we last saw our time traveler, Mr. Curtis, he had returned to the Majestic of the Sixties and was rummaging around the evil GM’s office when he came upon an oddly shaped locket. It had a ruby red crystal in the middle which was obviously designed to be pressed into some form of action. Upon closer examination, Mr. Curtis discovered that it was already set to activate and, not only that, but was currently set to emit a beacon of sorts.
Mr. Curtis felt a deep, unsettling tenseness in his gut when he realized the beacon was “live” and transmitting. Was this some sort of homing mechanism and to whom was this signal being sent? In the pit of his soul, he didn’t really want to know but he feared it was already too late.
This scenario raised all sorts of questions. For whomever the beacon was intended, were “they” already enroute to Earth? If so, for what reason and who was behind this?
Unfortunately, his police buddy-Time Traveler had been killed in the explosion in the Majestic Hotel lobby years ago. He thought under the circumstances he’d get cooperation in his new search.
In any event Mr. Curtis figured he needed to alert and apprise the Space Time Continuum Authority (STCA) and the Timeline Police.
So he left immediately for Mars, the galactic headquarters of the STCA. Once there he’d visit Admiral Moratoki, the fiesty ole bird from the Gamma Quadrant. Curtis had worked with the admiral before on the Saturn Caper and felt good about seeking his opinions on this Ruby locket mystery.
“Why Mr. Curtis, it’s nice to see you again,” welcomed the Admiral. “Please, take a seat and let’s compare notes, shall we?” he remarked.
“I take it you know why I’m here,” intoned Mr. Curtis.
“News travels fast in these parts,” replied Moratoki. “We’ve had our suspicions about the ruby locket for some time but we haven’t been able to gather much information on it, I’m afraid. I was hoping you might be able to fill us in a bit,” he said.
“Well, sir, all I know so far is what I found in the Majestic GM’s old office; an ornate locket with a red ruby in the center that appeared to have been activated at some previous point. I say activated since it appears the ruby itself is gently vibrating and glowing,” explained Mr. Curtis.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” grumbled Moratoki. As he gently took the locket from Curtis’ hand, he indicated he wanted to turn it over to the Seismic Lab for observation. At this point the last thing they wanted to do was to make things worse by accidentally tampering with the device and further triggering an action they may not be able to reverse.
“How far in the future do you think this thing has come from?” asked Curtis.
“Just based on preliminary data, we’d guess about 500 light years,” replied the admiral. “Wherever its origin, we think it’s from unchartered space. We need you to try and track it down,” Mr. Curtis.
“And how do you propose I do that?” inquired Curtis.
“Why, simple, ole chap. Just program that walking stick of yours for 500 light years into the future. Here, I’ll do it for ‘ya,” volunteered Moratoki.
“But, sir, I . . .,” blurted out Curtis. Then, poof, in an instant he was gone.
“Hmmm, 500 Light Years into the future,” Curtis grumbled. Where would he end up, he wondered. He was about to find out.
Time travel usually doesn’t take that long, at least that’s been Mr. Curtis’s experience. He somehow felt this time would be no different. He was right. The transport process completed and here he stood: right in the middle of a vast wasteland or desert-like environment. The air was breathable so oxygen was present.
Adobe Stock
As he stood there taking his surroundings all in, he viewed mountains in one direction and a city skyline in the other. Fortunately for him, the city did not appear that far away, maybe only about a quarter mile. He figured he could walk that. The temperature was comfortable, not hot, not cold.
As he neared the city limits, he was impressed with the architecture he saw. The buildings were quite modern and a variety of styles and shapes. Very attractive and distinctive.
Where would Curtis begin his search and who, exactly, was he looking for? He couldn’t approach the first person he saw that looked like a time traveler and ask, “Excuse me, but are you the resident time traveler on this planet?”
His first thought was to go to the city’s “grand hotel” and seek out the general manager and/or the local police detective. As he walked further down what appeared to be the Central Business District, he stopped and asked a passersby where the local hotel was.
Well, conveniently, it was located at the end of Main Street and was very “grand looking.” “You can’t miss it,” the passersby told Mr. Curtis.
And he was right. The closer Curtis got to the end of Main Street, he stopped cold. Just stood there, frozen in awe and disbelief.
He was standing at the front entrance of their grand hotel . . . The Majestic.
1930 Louisiana Postcard, Majestic Hotel, Lake Charles, LA
Is it a reproduction of the original from Lake Charles, LA in early 20th century or was it mysteriously transported to the future and here it is?
Mr. Curtis hoped to find some answers when inside this Majestic. Well, as soon as he entered the lobby he heard a voice saying “Welcome to the Majestic, Mr. Curtis!”
Then everything went dark.
————-
The room was quiet except for what sounded like a low murmur of voices. Then, “Mr. Curtis.” Silence. “Mr. Curtis,” again. “it’s alright, sir, you’re amongst friends,” said a voice.
Mr. Curtis, feeling groggy, eventually began to focus on the room and the voices just heard. Or at least he thought he heard them.
Then everything came into focus and what, or rather who, he saw first alarmed him. Shocked, however, might be a better descriptor.
“It can’t be,” he murmured. “You’re dead; you’ve been dead for several centuries! How the Hell . . .”
“All in good time, Mr. Curtis. All in good time,” said the “dead” guy’s voice.
“But, you’re the time traveler/time cop I met at the Majestic back in Lake Charles in the early sixties. I saw you die in the lobby explosion,” blurted out Mr. Curtis.
“That’s correct,” said the cop. “You see, I didn’t really die. Over time, my cells regenerated and, in effect, brought me back to life. I’ll explain it more to you over a bourbon. For now, though, we’ve got a problem on our hands,” he replied.
“Do you know about the red ruby pendant that’s acting like a homing device?” questioned Mr. Curtis. “It’s our guess that the signal was emanating from this location, on this planet in this section of unchartered space,” he explained.
“Yes, I’m very much aware of it,” answered the cop. “We’ve been trying to track it for years now but haven’t made much progress,” he pointed out.
‘Mr. Policeman’ continued, “We think the Koralye are behind this. They’re a small but deadly band of galactic pirates who not only time travel but also shape shift. Their sole mission seems to be mind-altering destruction wherever and however they please. As weird as it sounds, we believe this culture seems to be their DNA,” summed up the cop.
“So where does that leave us with the locket?,” asked Curtis. “I mean it seemed to have been activated and its homing device armed and sending signals somewhere, presumably here,” pointed out Curtis.
“By the way,” he interjected, “where the Hell are we, anyway?”
“We’re on an asteroid circling the third moon of Axios, a planet in an uncharted galaxy in what we think might be the Butella Nebula. We believe the Koralye are headquartered here and for sometime have kept the nebula invisible and undetectable to our sensors,” explained the cop.
“How is that even possible?,” Curtis asked, somewhat bewildered.
“We think the Koralye have harnessed some sort of galactic cloaking effect but we can’t be sure,” offered the cop.
“Well, that may be a question to be addressed another day,” stated Curtis. “Meanwhile, regarding the Ruby locket, is the current theory that the signals sent here from Earth are meant to guide this Koralye group to Earth for invasion?,” asked Curtis.
“That is our belief as of now,” stated the cop. “But not just invasion; total destruction of our planet,” he continued. “We think it’s a strategic move on their part so they would gain a key foothold within the Milky Way Galaxy. We can’t let that happen,” declared the cop.
“But how would the destruction of an entire planet serve in their best interests?,” asked Mr. Curtis.
“It’s simple,” said the cop. “Since they would have created a hole in space, you might say, they’d simply replace that hole with their asteroid. The one we’re standing in.”
Mr. Curtis, sounding rather dumbfounded, replied, “You mean they can actually move this asteroid into the place in space that Earth currently occupies? That’s incredible, if it’s true.”
“Incredible as it may seem, Mr. Curtis, we think it’s entirely possible,” reasoned the cop. “Given their technology behind the galactic cloaking phenomenon. We don’t even know to call it a device, or what. But to transform through space and time an entire planet would be the type of devious technology that this species probably is behind,” he continued.
“Well,” bemused Mr. Curtis, “taken into account what we already know, it seems like the Red Ruby locket can be disposed of, since they obviously know how to get to Earth. So the homing device is no longer needed. But after we stop them, seems like we’d need to destroy this asteroid, their headquarters. Then they would not be able to do anything. let alone literally move into Earth’s former space in the solar system,” Curtis conjectured.
“But if that’s the plan,” continued Curtis, “I alone don’t have the authority to give that authorization. That has to come from the… space time continuum authority,” he said.
The cop interjected, “Well, Mr. Curtis, I suggest you contact them immediately and advise them of our situation and ask for instructions.”
After several hours of discussion with the STCA and more introspection Mr. Curtis agreed with the Authority that the only option available was to destroy the asteroid housing the Koralye HQ. A not so minor problem was that they, too, were also on the asteroid.
How to destroy it and get out before complete obliteration took place was the challenge Curtis was going to have to address. Alas, the Authority was no help. What were a few lives lost in service to their planet Earth compared to the billions of lives potentially lost on Earth? In other words, Curtis and his colleagues were expendable.
So, when Curtis delivered the news to his group, the mood was understandably somber. And anxious. How soon could they enact a plan and could it be done without killing themselves in the process?
What about the Ruby pendant; could it be of use? Curtis thought of asking the STCA’s scientists and engineers who had been studying the pendant for clues as to what made it work and was it programmable.
If it can transport one over light years could it also work as a remote detonation device? Or, for that matter, could Curtis’ own walking stick with its emerald jeweled knob be used in connection with the pendant to bring about destruction?
The Authority’s experts would probably have some options. Mr. Curtis decided he’d immediately travel back in time to inquire as to what they’d found out.
Since it wouldn’t take Mr. Curtis that long to travel the 500 light years back in time, he thought he would first check in with Admiral Moratoki and compare notes as to what they knew before checking in with the “tech folks.”
“Not much, Mr. Curtis,” replied the admiral when asked about progress. “Oh, we have an idea or two about how that Ruby pendant works but it’s based on futuristic science and technology; we just don’t have that knowledge yet.”
“Well, since this Authority designed my walking stick, do we know if it’s plausible for it to connect with or talk to the Ruby pendant”?, asked Curtis.
“I’ve asked our chief technologist, Mr. Craig, to join us here for direct feedback,” stated the admiral.
“Ah, Mr. Craig, c’mon in. Right on time”, said the admiral. “This is Mr. Curtis whom I’m sure you remember. What’s the latest on the Ruby pendant? Do we know any more of its secrets”? the admiral inquired.
“Well, sort of,” replied Craig. “It’s composed of several chemical agents, most of which are unknown to us except one: hydrochlorabenzaprine; yeah, I know, it’s a mouthful! It’s commonly referred to as Hyzaprine. The Vulcans were using it back in the 24th Century in certain mining operations. And, yes, it does have destructive powers for good, as long as it’s under control. Out of control it’s extremely volatile,” explained Craig.
“How volatile?,” inquired the admiral.
“Extremely!,” answered Craig. “When combined with Veritol, an explosive, one can have a very impactful and lethal weapon,” stated Craig.
“Could it be developed for a cataclysmic explosion or destruction?,” asked the admiral, “like an entire asteroid?”
“Indirectly, sir,” Craig responded. “The combination of these chemicals would work to disrupt the asteroid’s inner core and thereby creating massive seismic shifts resulting in earthquakes and internal hemorrhages of that core. In this respect, yes, the asteroid could be obliterated; it would, in effect, blow itself up,” concluded Craig.
“How can the pendant be triggered to do this and how much time before all Hell would break loose after it’s triggered?, asked the admiral.
“Once the Ruby is pressed it would only be a matter of seconds before the chain reactions occur. And, sir, someone would have to press the Ruby; it can’t be remote controlled,” stated Craig.
Mr. Curtis interjected “Admiral, I can do that. I can certainly press the Ruby and immediately press the emerald on my walking stick to travel in time away from there.”
“But, what if something goes wrong? You’d have to be in position with Ruby in hand and then “beam” out into time and space as soon as you press the Ruby,” alerted the admiral.
“Yes, I know,” replied Curtis. “Considering what’s at stake, I’m the logical one to do this and this is the only way.”
“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Mr. Curtis,” Morataki intoned. “Mr. Craig, how soon can you revamp the pendant to do what we need done?” he asked.
“Give me a few hours, Admiral, and we’ll be ready,” confirmed Craig.
“Proceed, Mr. Craig,” the admiral instructed.
“As for you, Mr. Curtis, sit down with me, have a drink or two and let’s chat. I want to hear how you plan to pull this off,” the admiral reassuredly stated.
And waited and drank and chatted for several hours they did until the pendant was ready. Mr. Curtis would leave this timeline at first light tomorrow. Hopefully, if all went well, he would end up saving Earth, no small feat even in the 28th Century.
**********
First light: Mr. Curtis, standing there resplendent in his crisp, all white three-piece suit and white fedora is clutching his walking stick somewhat nervously rubbing the emerald on top.
He admits to himself that he’s uncharacteristically nervous about this mission. He’s never really been in a position to “single handedly” save the world or in this case Earth.
The emerald is pushed and Mr. Curtis feels the transition of going forward in time. It’s a good thing that this voyage won’t take but a few seconds since he won’t have long at all to think anymore about it.
Before he knew it, Curtis rematerializes in a secluded area he had not been before. No problem, he thought; he could remain undetected for a bit longer than he’d anticipated.
Where could he sneak away to for the most devastating vantage point to press the Ruby? He knew from previous excursions about where “their” HQ is located. By his estimate he wasn’t that far away. Now to get there unnoticed.
Wait a second, he thought. Although seldom used he recalled a setting on the area surrounding the emerald that could program site to site transport. He could set it to beam him a few miles directly to the HQ site, hopefully undetected.
Curtis then set the emerald to beam him to an area that his sensor told him was uninhabited. Perfect, he thought. One press of the emerald and, poof, he disappeared. Next thing he knew he was by himself outside some shelter at the heart of the Koralye HQ.
All he had to do now was press the Ruby on the pendant and “all Hell” would begin. Then he had to get out of there immediately.
All of a sudden he felt trembling from the ground below; the destruction had begun. Now press the emerald on your walking stick, he thought to himself, and get the Hell out of this timeline.
Just as he positioned his walking stick so that he could access the emerald, the ground beneath his feet shook so fiercely he lost his balance and fell to the ground. His walking stick landed a few feet away but was still intact.
He quickly gathered himself and reached out for his cane when he suddenly felt something blocking his way. Someone was standing on the cane.
“Well, well what do we have here,” said a voice. “You looking for me? Ha, seems you found me or rather I found you, Mr. Curtis,” the voice continued.
“I’m Nicholas Basba, the head of the Koralye. What you’re trying to do here won’t work. Our technology is way too advanced for your “modifications “ so pressing the Ruby won’t do a thing,” Basba proudly stated.
Meanwhile, nobody seemed to notice that the ground was continuing to break up and a large swath of land was quickly opening up beneath where Basba stood. He was instantly knocked off balance and swallowed up in the resulting sink hole formed by the ground movement.
Just as Curtis had managed to slightly stand to reach for his cane, he, too, began to slip downward into the sink hole. But, as he was slipping, he held onto the edge of the hole and, while struggling, pulled himself up and out of the cave-in.
He reached down to grab his cane and started to press his emerald to activate the time shift. In a moment he would vanish, leaving this time and world far behind.
“Here we go . . .3 .2 .1,” murmured Curtis. “Press the emerald and off we go”. . . Then nothing. No action whatsoever.
Okay, don’t panic he thought to himself. He tried again, even while all around him rocks and debris were falling.
“3 . . .2 . . .1 . . .press emerald,” he almost shouted and . . . Nothing. “DAMN,” he exclaimed. “What’s wrong? It’s never failed before. Must be these surroundings,” he thought.
Curtis then quickly stammered to an opening at the edge of the sheltered area and, without missing a stride, pushed the emerald once more and suddenly in a flash he was gone. Completely vanished.
Desolation was taking place behind our time traveler. An entire asteroid was being obliterated and an evil empire was being phased out of existence.
Epilogue
Back at STCA HQ, 500 light years in the past, Admiral Moratoki was both pleased and relieved. Seems a sensor array from an affiliated solar system picked up a tremendous explosion from a planetary system light years away. It could only have come from a sun going nova or a similar mass destruction. Perhaps an asteroid explosion.
In any event Curtis was exhausted but pleased the mission was a success. Now, what’s next? Curtis was in no hurry to find out.
The only thing of importance on his mind was to travel back to the early sixties in South Louisiana, Lake Charles specifically, to visit the old Majestic Hotel and relax in their comfortable lobby and enjoy a delicious, cool Mint Julip. After all, he never knew who he might run into, again.
Wondering that, Mr. Curtis rose to stand and bent over to pick up his walking stick. Then he noticed it: The emerald had been replaced with the red ruby. And it was vibrating! What the . . . ?
Spooky entrance to haunted neighborhood by the bay. Adobe Stock
It seemed tranquil enough at first sight. It also appeared quite spooky. The residents didn’t seem to mind, after all they were used to it. It was the outsider who would occasionally visit their neighborhood by the sea. It was the outsider who got queasy when he set foot in the neighborhood. It was the outsider who wouldn’t return from whence he came. It could be the outsider who might become a permanent resident if he didn’t end up dead.
You see, the residents were very selective as to whom they invited into their little neighborhood by the bay. It didn’t matter to them that it was haunted. That just added a bit of allure to the area. No, it wasn’t the Twilight Zone. It was just a little haunted neighborhood by the bay.
By what or from whom is it haunted you might ask? There have been rumors scattered around for years but nobody knows for sure. Seems like around the late 19th Century, a shipwreck happened upon the shores of what would become this little neighborhood.
The wreck was the result of a horrendous storm that destroyed the ship and caused the crew to abandon her. As the storm ravaged on, some of the crew was lost at sea with only a handful of them surviving and eventually making it to shore.
Once there, the remaining crew found refuge in an old abandoned shack from where they would ride out the storm.
As the story/rumor goes, the fledgling crew mates did what they could to survive but kept a low profile in the neighborhood. All appeared to be going okay for the neighborhood until about one year later.
That was the year, in fact the exact day, a year later when another massive storm hit the area and completely wiped out many in this shoreline populace. Including the house in which lived the crew mates. The house still stood but the crew was gone.
No signs of anyone, anywhere. No belongings, no nothing. They just vanished.
THREE YEARS LATER
One night as a couple of the residents were out for a stroll, one noticed a distant light coming from one of the houses on the edge of the neighborhood. As they got closer they discovered the light was emanating from the long abandoned house that was vacated after the bad storm several years prior. But how could that be; no one had been living there since the previous and only occupants from the ship wreck and they had completely vanished after the storm hit. They were all thought dead.
Through a bit of trepidation and curiosity, the couple decided to investigate and moved closer to the house. Because the house had been abandoned after the storm and not been kept up, it was in a state of disrepair and looked dilapidated. Nevertheless, the couple nervously managed to walk up to the front steps near the entrance. Then they froze as if they had encountered an invisible wall. They couldn’t move. The only thing they felt was cold, extreme cold as if from a meat storage locker.
Although they stood there frozen in place, they could still see their surroundings but it was as if time itself had stopped. That’s when they saw it. Slowly but ever so gradually the front door began to open. As they stood there they felt the expectation of finally seeing someone answering the door, albeit under very strange circumstances. But as the door creaked open, they saw no one. An empty space in the entrance way.
What to make of this? They didn’t know what to think. Or do. How long would they remain frozen in place?
It seemed like it was just a blink, a millisecond in time before they found themselves inside the house standing unfrozen in the entranceway. Though they could move, they did not. They just stared at one another as if to silently ask “what do we do now?”. They were in total darkness except for a tiny light at the end of the hallway. This couldn’t be the light they saw from outside. That one, they surmised, must have come from the upstairs. But how? Were these lamps, candles set ablaze. There had been no electricity turned on since the storm hit and as far as they knew, the house was abandoned.
Or was it? How were the lights on? Even if the light source was a candle, it would have to be lit. Like it or not, further investigation was in order.
So the couple slowly made their way toward the flickering light at the end of the hall and just as they approached it they suddenly felt immense cold, as if they had walked into a freezer. It was just like they’d experienced when they reached the front door.
Simultaneously at that point the light flickered out and they were standing in complete darkness. But for a moment. There, just a few steps away and up what appeared to be a staircase, flickered another light as if beckoning them up the staircase. Interestingly the cold seemed to immediately dissipate when they began walking upstairs.
But as soon as they approached the light it moved. It was as if someone or something was leading them somewhere and holding the light as they traversed the curving, spiral staircase. Even in this twilight setting they could see no one. The light seemed to be moving on its own, always staying just slightly ahead of the couple.
When they finally arrived at the top of the stairs, they discovered open air, no rooms or walls, save for one partly dilapidated door that lead to an empty, what was left of a bedroom.
The light was still flickering but just barely, given the slight evening breeze from the adjoining bay.
The couple just stood there, frozen, afraid to step anywhere for fear of the timbers giving way. It was at this moment that they felt an uncontrollable sense of movement like they were being pushed toward the large opening on the bay side of the house.
Haunted castle at night, with glowing ghostly figures drifting through the misty air outside. Adobe Stock
There was nothing here but open air and a drop of about 300 feet down to the rocks below. No one could survive that fall. But why were they standing there now, right on the precipice of falling to their death?
They were once again standing there in total darkness. No sound except for the uneasy beating of their hearts. Their pulse raced, blood pressure climbing and anxiety rising to new heights.
Could they have outstayed their uninvited welcome? Did someone want them dead? Who the hell was behind these flickering lights? Was this a convoluted prank or sick joke? In any event they were more than ready to take their leave.
Because of their unsure footing they slowly started backing away from the open air portion of the storm-torn wall and began to turn around and walk out.
That’s when they heard it; a scraggly old voice that sounded more like a whisper.
“Where are you going? You can’t leave now, the party’s just begun. Besides you just got here,” voiced something quite invisible to their eyes. As they were still trying to adjust their eyesight in the dark, a candlelight appeared right in front of them, seemingly floating in mid-air.
There was no one present. This time, though, instead of a rush of very cold air they felt only a slight chill. As if a door had simply opened to the night air.
“Who’s there?” blurted out the man. No one answered.“ I said, ‘who’s there? Show yourself or at least speak and answer me.”
Silence.
Finally, the man turned to his lady friend and urged, “come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”
They began to walk but the flickering light stayed just in front of them, floating in mid-air. Whenever they turned, it turned. Always in front.
When the couple reached out in front of them to see if they would feel anything, all they felt was air; nothing.
“I don’t know who or what you are but we’re leaving; we’ve had enough,” said the man. Just then the light seemed to move out of their way as if to let them by. As the couple made their way out of this “semi death trap” their way out was lit by another floating light.
They made their way safely down the stairwell and into the foyer and out the door. Once outside they stopped and just looked at each other. Totally perplexed but relieved they would now be on their way back home in the neighborhood.
An eerie haunted mansion with shadowy figures peering out of the windows in the night. Adobe Stock
While the couple was walking away, the door gradually closed and the soft sound of quiet laughter could be heard from within the house.
Then a distant voice, “you think they’ll be back?” “Oh, I’m sure of it,” said another voice. “And we’ll be ready.”
***************
Over the course of the next few weeks, the couple queried several of their friends in the neighborhood and told them of their encounter in the apparently abandoned house at the end of the block overseeing the bay. Not one person they talked to knew anything about the house and had understood it had long been empty, that no-one had lived there since before the storm hit.
After one such neighborly conversation, the couple returned to their abode where they had been residing for just the past six months. As they discussed with each other their various conversations with their neighbors, they agreed that something was amiss. No one knew anything and/or no one was talking.The couple suspected their neighbors knew more than they were letting on.
During these last few weeks the conversations with their neighbors did reveal circumstances about the shipwreck over a year ago and that some survivors did make it onshore to seek cover from the storm. It was at this time that the survivors sought refuge in the old house at the end of the neighborhood. This fact was confirmed by the neighbors who recalled that time. After that, however, no one could recall anything. On this topic the neighborhood grew silent.
As the couple thought back on their eerie encounter inside the house, they began to wonder if they hadn’t experienced the presence of the survivors in ghostly form. They didn’t really believe in that sort of thing but at this point it seemed a viable explanation. Or one very elaborate hoax. But why? And, what’s with the neighborhood acting clueless?
One thing was sure: The couple wouldn’t get any clarification from their neighbors. They’d have to further investigate on their own. So, by mid morning the next day the couple set out to walk down the neighborhood “streets” – if you could call dirty, muddy avenues streets – to end up at the old house on the edge of the neighborhood overlooking the bay. They anticipated a different experience that time of the morning in contrast to their initial visit late at night.
Before they even got near the house, they thought it was extremely odd that the neighborhood was so quiet. There wasn’t a soul stirring, no dogs barking, nobody out for a morning jog. There was . . . no life at all present. It was as if everyone and everything had died.
As the couple approached the house, the hairs on the back of their necks rose up and a genuine sense of anxiety increased within them. When they got to the front door, they stopped cold. They heard voices, although somewhat muted, coming from inside. It sounded like a gathering of people were having some sort of meeting. They knocked, politely of course, but no one answered. Then the door creaked open ever so slightly so they cautiously opened it and stepped in. There was no one inside and no noise whatsoever. What happened to all those voices? Where had they gone?
As they stood there in the foyer, seeing nothing, they heard a voice very distinctly say, ” Welcome. Nice to see you again. We’re having a little get-together of the neighborhood and discussing future plans for the area. Won’t you come in and join us?”. The couple hadn’t moved but said, “uh, sure, we’d love to join you.”
As they both continued walking into what appeared to be nothingness, the man let out an agonizing groan and immediately dropped to his knees. His wife, looking on with startled amazement, gasped as she saw a huge silver sword driven into her husband’s abdomen. Not knowing what to do at that instant, she started to kneel down beside him when he let out an horrific scream as another silver, razor-sharp sword was being thrust into his back, killing him instantly. As he fell to his side, she tried to embrace him but looked up at where she thought someone stood above her and yelled out, “Why in God’s name have you done this? What did we ever do to you?”.
The invisible voice soon took shape, as did the rest of the characters in the room, and remarked “We want to welcome you two into our neighborhood. Our neighborhood of ghostly beings, our disembodied souls who still want to live and rejoice.”
As the woman muttered, “but I don’t understand; why did you have to kill my husband?” “Simple,” the ghost said; “you need to be dead before you can enter into our neighborhood.” Just then the woman muttered in disbelief, “but I’m not dead.” Upon hearing that, the rest of the gathering shouted back to her, “Yet, deary, but you soon will be.”
Looking upon them with mystified horror, the woman, still bending down beside her dead husband, started to say something when everything went black. No noise, no voices, no feeling. She was numb except for an unknown sense of disembodiment. Turns out she hadn’t felt when her head left her body as it rolled down the floor in the foyer. She subsequently collapsed right beside her dead husband, blood spilling profusely from her body.
The “main ghostly figure” proudly announced to the group, “Behold, the newest members of our neighborhood. We shall call them Joe and Karen, such a sweet couple.” The group responded with an energetic round of applause. One of the ghost members added, “they will make such a nice contribution to our neighborhood.”
And with that the applause continued, thundering down the hallway into the misty night air. The Manor by the bay had done its job. The neighborhood would grow quiet again. Until the next time . . .
The neighborhood by the bay and its ghostly appearance at night is quiet for now. Adobe Stock
For other stories of mystery and the macabre, check out my collection at ideasnmore.net/gallery
The advertising industry has seen beaucoup changes over the past few years. One recent change that is sweeping the ad scene is Artificial Intelligence or AI for short. We’re still grappling with it.
Man and AI robot waiting for a job interview: AI vs human competition Credit: Adobe Stock
With this in mind, I came across an article written by the Op-Ed Contributor of MediaPost, Manjiry Tamhane, who sheds a fairly comprehensive take on AI and how best to understand it and cope with it to enhance our creativity and, in turn, our marketing and advertising. It’s a bit of a long read but worth it.
Writes Manjiry . . .
The marketing landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is not just transforming how brands engage with consumers—it’s revolutionising how we measure, optimise, and ultimately prove the value of creativity itself. For marketers eager to demonstrate the tangible impact of their creative work on sales, AI-powered measurement techniques offer an unprecedented opportunity.
This is an exciting, future-focused moment for our industry. Creativity has always been at the heart of effective marketing, but now, thanks to AI, we can finally unlock its full commercial potential with scientific precision.
Why Creative Effectiveness Is More Important Than Ever
In a world where consumers are bombarded by thousands of messages every day, creativity is what cuts through the noise. It shapes perceptions, drives engagement, and builds lasting brand equity. However while media optimisation—deciding where and when to place messages—has long been a focus, it’s increasingly clear that creative quality is just as critical. In fact, research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) suggests that up to 49% of a campaign’s sales uplift can be attributed to creativity.
Yet, for years, measuring the true impact of creative ideas and executions has been notoriously difficult. Marketers have often relied on intuition, anecdotal evidence, or basic metrics such as impressions and click-through rates. While tools like ad recall surveys, focus groups, and creative awards offer some insight, these methods frequently fall short of capturing the full contribution of creativity to business outcomes. Traditional measures tend to overlook how creative quality drives emotional engagement, brand equity, and importantly, sales impact.
Enter AI. With the advent of advanced data analytics and machine learning, we now have the tools to decode what makes creative work effective—and, crucially, to link it directly to sales performance.
The Evolution of AI in Marketing: From Data Mining to Generative Models
To appreciate the transformative power of AI, it’s worth reflecting on how far we’ve come. In the 1990s, AI in marketing was largely limited to rule-based systems—useful for direct marketing, credit scoring, and basic customer segmentation. The 2000s saw the rise of machine learning and web analytics, enabling marketers to understand online behaviour in new ways.
The 2010s ushered in the era of deep learning and personalisation. AI could now analyse unstructured data—images, text, even video—at scale, powering everything from chatbots to personalised recommendations. Fast forward to today, and generative AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Llama are producing compelling copy, visuals, and even video content tailored to specific audiences and platforms.
What’s changed most dramatically is speed and scale. Since 2010, the cost of computing power has plummeted, while the volume of global data has exploded. This abundance of data fuels ever more sophisticated AI systems, capable of processing information and generating insights in real time. While AI has enabled marketers to analyse vast datasets and uncover patterns, we are now entering an era defined by ‘agentic AI’—artificial intelligence systems that can act with autonomy and initiative. These AI agents are capable of proactively managing tasks, making decisions, and optimising campaigns in real time.
For marketers, this means moving beyond hindsight (what happened) and insight (why it happened), to true foresight—predicting what will work best before campaigns even launch.
Cracking the Code: How AI Measures Creative Effectiveness
So, how does AI help us truly understand the effectiveness of creative work?
The answer lies in the ability to analyse vast numbers of creative assets—across multiple channels, formats, and iterations—and extract the features that drive results. With agentic AI, intelligent agents can autonomously evaluate creative assets, identify high-performing elements, and recommend improvements, freeing up human teams to focus on strategy and ideation.
Here’s how next-generation AI-led techniques are transforming creative measurement:
1. Feature Importance
Machine learning models can automatically score each creative feature—be it a visual element, tone of voice, messaging, or format—against key business outcomes such as sales or brand lift. By connecting creative features to end-market measurement, marketers can pinpoint which elements have the greatest impact, and which may be holding back performance.
2. Feature Testing
With thousands of creative variations running across different channels, it’s impossible for humans to keep track of what works best. AI analyses past campaigns to identify which combinations of features consistently perform well. AI agents can continuously test and learn from past campaigns, autonomously adjusting parameters to find optimal combinations. This enables teams to establish rules and guidelines for future creative development, ensuring that each execution is built for success.
3. Predictive Modelling
Perhaps most excitingly, AI allows marketers to simulate and predict the likely performance of creative assets before they go live. If a particular advert underperformed, predictive modelling can reveal which features—if added or emphasised—would have boosted its impact. This empowers creative teams to experiment boldly, iterate rapidly, and optimise campaigns with confidence.
4. Content Recommendations
Advanced AI models don’t just diagnose problems—they prescribe solutions. By analysing patterns across successful campaigns, AI can recommend specific changes to creative content, such as introducing the brand name earlier in a video or adjusting the call-to-action for greater clarity. Crucially, these recommendations respect brand guidelines and ensure consistency across all touchpoints.
5. Visualising the Brand Space
AI can also map out the “creative execution space” for a brand and its competitors, revealing who owns which creative territories and where there may be opportunities for differentiation. For example, analysis of fast-food advertising in the US has shown how one brand’s creative approach began to encroach on another’s distinctive territory—insights that would be nearly impossible to glean manually.
AI Across the Funnel: Precision at Every Stage
While AI is transforming creative measurement, it’s important to remember that the fundamentals of marketing remain unchanged. At its core, marketing is about guiding customers through a journey—from awareness and consideration to conversion, retention, and advocacy.
What’s changed is how AI enables us to execute each stage with unprecedented precision and agility:
Top of Funnel: AI analyses massive datasets to segment audiences and optimise ad placements, maximising reach and impressions.
Mid-Funnel: Personalisation engines ensure that potential customers see content tailored to their needs, while predictive analytics anticipate what information or incentives will move them closer to purchase.
Bottom of Funnel: AI streamlines the conversion process, optimising landing pages, personalising calls-to-action, and automating follow-ups.
Post-Conversion: AI-driven customer service tools provide instant support, while predictive models trigger retention strategies and suggest complementary products.
At every stage, AI helps marketers model key performance indicators (KPIs), attribute value accurately, and optimise investments for maximum growth. Crucially, it is creative that acts as the catalyst, moving consumers seamlessly through the funnel—from capturing attention at the awareness stage, to sparking interest and consideration, driving action at conversion, and fostering loyalty post-purchase. By harnessing AI to measure and refine creative effectiveness at each touchpoint, brands can ensure their messaging not only reaches the right audience but also resonates powerfully, guiding consumers along the journey and maximising the impact of every marketing investment.
Taking Action: How to Embrace the Future of Creative Measurement
To harness the full potential of AI-led creative effectiveness measurement, brands should consider the following actions:
Adopt a Data-Driven Mindset: Invest in AI-powered tools and talent to move from intuition to evidence-based creative strategies. Make data central to every decision.
Foster Experimentation: Encourage rapid testing and learning, using AI to simulate and refine creative concepts before launch. Create a culture where experimentation is celebrated and failure is seen as a step towards improvement.
Align Creativity with Business Goals: Use AI insights to ensure every creative decision is linked to measurable sales impact, not just aesthetic appeal or awards.
Assess Organisational Readiness: Evaluate your organisation’s data, technology, and people to ensure you’re equipped for sustainable, AI-driven growth. Tools like the Marketing Impact Readiness Assessment (MIRA) can help benchmark your capabilities.
Prioritise Privacy and Ethics: As you embrace AI, ensure robust governance and transparency around data usage. Build trust with customers by being clear about how their data informs creative targeting and measurement.
A Bold New Era for Creative Effectiveness
AI isn’t just reshaping creative development—it’s redefining how we measure, optimise, and prove the value of creativity. However, the true power of this new era lies in the collaboration between human ingenuity and AI-driven insight. While AI brings speed, scale, and analytical precision, it is human creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking that inspire ideas, craft compelling narratives, and connect emotionally with audiences.
Credit: Adobe Stock
Brands that embrace these future-focused techniques—harnessing the best of both human talent and artificial intelligence—will lead the way, delivering campaigns that don’t just look great, but drive real business results. The future of creative effectiveness is bright, bold, and powered by a partnership between imagination and intelligence.
Now is the time to combine your team’s creative vision with the transformative capabilities of AI, creating marketing that inspires, engages, and delivers measurable growth.
Are you ready to seize the opportunity? The next chapter of creative effectiveness starts now—with humans and AI working together.
What form that will take, who knows. One thing’s for sure; it’s the next stop on Creativity’s journey to persuasive excellence.
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.
Recently I came across this article on innovation but from a point of view I had not really thought about before. Its author, Gonçalo Melo, is an inspiring designer who has also authored many articles on design and design thinking. It’s an interesting read and I thought I’d share it with you.
Innovation has a history of being driven by those who refuse to conform, the self-proclaimed misfits of society. These individuals, often labeled as unconventional or rebellious, have a unique approach to innovation — they prioritize passion over convention. Let’s delve into the captivating world of misfit innovators and discover why their focus on passion is a key to their success.
The Power of Nonconformity:
Misfits have an innate resistance to conformity. They’re not motivated by societal norms or traditional paths; instead, they are driven by their own vision and unbridled passion. This refusal to adhere to the status quo allows them to see opportunities others might miss.
Passion as the North Star:
For misfit innovators, passion serves as their guiding star. They don’t embark on projects solely for profit or recognition; they pursue endeavors that genuinely excite them. This unwavering passion fuels their creativity and determination.
Embracing Failure as Fuel:
Misfits understand that innovation often involves risk and failure. They don’t shy away from challenges or setbacks; instead, they use them as stepping stones to refine their ideas and achieve their goals. Failure is not a deterrent but a source of motivation.
The Art of Authenticity:
Misfits are unapologetically themselves. They don’t conform to corporate or societal expectations of how they should behave or present themselves. This authenticity resonates with others and attracts like-minded individuals who share their passion.
Reshaping Industries:
History is rife with examples of misfits who disrupted entire industries. Think of Steve Jobs, who transformed technology and entertainment with his passion for design and user experience. His unconventional approach redefined what was possible.
Igniting Collaborative Fires:
Misfits have a magnetic quality that draws in collaborators who share their vision. These partnerships are not built on hierarchy but on a shared passion for innovation. Together, they challenge norms and drive progress.
The Passion-Driven Workforce:
In today’s competitive job market, misfit innovators are reshaping the workforce. They prioritize meaningful work over traditional employment, valuing companies that align with their passions and values.
Cultivating Inclusive Environments:
Misfits foster inclusive environments where diversity of thought is celebrated. They recognize that innovation thrives when individuals from varied backgrounds and perspectives come together in pursuit of a common passion.
A Misfit Renaissance:
As society evolves, the misfit spirit is on the rise. Increasingly, individuals are prioritizing their passions over conventional career paths, leading to a renaissance of innovation driven by authenticity and purpose.
The Challenge to Conventional Wisdom:
Misfit innovators challenge us to question conventional wisdom and explore new horizons. They remind us that passion is a powerful force capable of reshaping industries, redefining success, and inspiring a brighter, more innovative future.
In a world often driven by conformity and convention, misfit innovators serve as beacons of inspiration. Their unwavering focus on passion demonstrates that tru innovation arises not from adherence to norms but from the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. As we celebrate the misfits, we celebrate the future of innovation itself.
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.
Seems like I’ve run across a number of articles over the past month or so dealing with a variety of topics in the realm of creativity. This posting is no different, and, yet, it is, uh, different. While many may find it difficult to define what creativity is, many will no doubt have an easy time knowing about curiosity. While everyone is curious, not everyone sees themselves as creative. Well, maybe this post will alter your perspective.
An article I recently came across by Helge Tennø discusses what happens at the intersection of creativity and curiosity, and what doesn’t happen.
He states the reason we struggle to come up with original ideas is not for a lack of creativity but a lack of curiosity.
“Every year we go into the same room with the same information and the same questions .. what do you think happens? Every year we come out with the same ideas” — frustrated workshop facilitator.
Creativity is limited to what we already know, it is only the re-combination of available information and experience. Creativity is not magic, it doesn’t produce ideas out of thin air.
In addition, most competitors think the same way, because they use the same methods and the same questions to find the same insights.
Outperforming your competition is not as much about who is the most creative or who has the deepest data. It’s as much about who can see something nobody else can.
Currently the trend is to apply a lot of data to buy our way out of this problem. Hoping that the machine will magically see connections our human brains can’t.
But machines are only reflections of our own values, ideas and biases. If we are staring down one rabbit hole the machine will only help us dig deeper.
We should therefore redesign our creative workshops. From combining information into ideas, to exploring questions we need to ask and information we don’t have.
There is a simple way to unlock this behavior: just ask “what has to be true for x to be true”, where x is your strategy, an existing product, something you are already doing .. anything.
One of the most productive ways to learn something new is experimentation.
The purpose of an experiment is not to confirm that you are correct (sometimes it is), but it should most often be used to surprise you.
To help you learn something that you didn’t know two minutes prior.
And the way to do that is to reduce the cost of an experiment to almost zero (because if experiments are expensive the organization will more likely prioritize experiments confirming their existing knowledge).
“The real measure of success is the number of experiments that can be crowded into 24 hours.” — Thomas Alva Edison
With cheap and fast experiments the company can explore hypotheses and assumptions they never tested before, learn new things, capture new insights, venture into new areas.
With their new learnings they can combine both information they never had before with questions they never asked before.
“Researchers suggest it is uncertainty, or when you think you know something then discover you don’t, that leads to curiosity and learning outcomes.” — Celeste Kidd, assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.
In short:
We only know what we know, and we know very little. (But we know a lot more than we think we do.)
We need to shift our focus from creativity to insights and questions. And experimentation is a low hanging fruit and one of the fastest tracks we can use to get us there.
Recommended places to start your experimentation journey:
While I agree with most of what the author states, creativity should always embrace insights and questions. Creativity is not borne out of thin air but rather from the insights and experiences we have within us. Curiosity can definitely spur on creativity and vice versa.
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.
And, check out creative selections from my website.
Whether it’s on TikTok, Twitter or television, storytelling is at the heart of advertising. Recently, storytelling mixing with creativity found its way into my inbox. I thought it appropriate to share here, on my creativity blog.
Margaret McGovern, Executive Creative Director of Boathouse, examines the key aspects of an engaging story.
Heading into a new year always prompts questions: What’s new? What’s trending? What digital platform has risen to the top?
And there’s a lot; from vertical format to generative AI. And shorter… everything keeps getting shorter. Six seconds! How can you capture someone’s attention in six seconds in a compelling way, and without sound?
Plus, it’s hard to predict anything anymore. From the rise of TikTok and the creation of the metaverse, to whatever is going on at Twitter, it’s all up for grabs. But, if there’s anything all of this change has shown, it’s that storytelling will be front and center because it’s the one thing that ties it all together
We still have a long way to go
What we are seeing is a rise in inclusivity and equity. Voices that have been marginalized in film-making, and in all creative fields, are finally being heard. These inequities are finally shifting and trending in the right direction. Toy companies are removing gender labels, fashion brands are embracing a non-binary world, welcoming anyone to wear their clothes. My hope that this uptick in acceptance and inclusivity of truly all voices continues.
The metaverse is trying to TikTok its way into the hearts and minds of Gen Z and the generation that comes after that or, basically, pretty much anyone who will pay attention to it. There will always be a new digital stage to perform on but one thing will remain the same, the extraordinary power of telling a great story. Be cutting edge, create something we haven’t seen before, put it on a platform we are just starting to understand but, without a story, it all falls apart.
We are in the business of capturing hearts and minds. It is our job to meaningfully connect people, brands, products and culture. Storytelling will always be front and center, it’s the one thing that ties it and us all together. Without a story, we come up short.
Narrative and storytelling
If a story is compelling, delivers on a universal truth or just makes us laugh or smile for six seconds, then it is a great story and will result in quality creative work, regardless of whether it has been shot on a phone, in someone’s dining room, or by a film crew of 30 people with a six-figure budget.
Never has it been more important to stick to the core of storytelling to help work stand out amid the proliferation of video. The world is full of video; we are living in self-created and curated bubbles and consuming more video content than ever before. But there is a reason for this; it drives engagement like nothing else.
However, attention is a limited resource, and we need to get the right message in front of the right consumer at the right time. Media is fragmented and attention is at a deficit. Narrative pulls it all together and lets us focus on what story needs to be told, when and where. Plus, AI is helping us understand what’s out there, what is working, and why.
New ways to tell essential stories
The pandemic taught us that stories can be shot on smartphones, or even filmed over Zoom. Who would have thought that a Zoom-created commercial would ever be a thing? But, however they were captured, riveting stories emerged, tapping into universal experiences shared by all of us. This approach to film-making, doing whatever it took to tell a story, helped to revolutionize and re-imagine the standards for quality content the industry had created. And the consumers came along with open minds, willing to engage, watch, digest.
Probably key to this work created in serious times was the notion of authenticity, and it has increasingly become an important component of marketing. Content that is too slick or too branded will be dismissed. The savvy consumer knows when they are being played and information needs to be imparted in a clear, concise manner. Messages can be entertaining and humorous, but most of all they should simply be human. We humans fall for humanity every time and we use story to understand our world and all that happens in it. Authentic storytelling, inclusive of all voices, is what we need in the politically charged, troubled and climate-challenged world we live in.
The opportunity for creativity and storytelling has never been greater. Our digital, always-on culture means we are consuming content at breakneck speed, which means there are countless opportunities to make powerful work that connects between brands and their audiences. Contrast this with the way work was created 25 years ago, when brands had such limited channels and opportunities, and 2023 is looking pretty good.
While brands may have countless opportunities, as Margaret points out, they also have more competition and more eyes and ears among which they must travel. Bud Light is finding that to be true as they endeavor to change the transgender story to a story much more positive. Today’s storytelling mixed with the right amount of creativity can make for a rather nice and appetizing recipe. Bon appetite!
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.
And, check out creative selections from my website.
Recently I came upon an article about creativity and productivity by Wall Street Journal best selling book author Scott Young. In it he explores various traits of creative people and how they transition into productivity. Below is an interesting excerpt of his findings.
Nearly two centuries ago, the Belgian sociologist Adolphe Quetelet observed the impressively tight link between personal productivity and creative success.
More recently, Dean Simonton has analyzed the creative output of individuals across many domains and suggests an “equal-odds” rule best describes it: once a creative individual starts publishing in a field, each piece of work they produce has roughly equal odds of world-breaking impact.
The Surprising Equipotential of Creative Success
Consider, for a moment, what this theory rejects:
Accumulating expertise. We might expect steadily improving skills through deliberate practice and a widening knowledge base would lead to increased creative success. Except, this is not what we see outside of the initial preparatory training to enter a career.
Youthful genius. Alternatively, we might expect creativity to decline as thinkers become burdened by old ways of doing things. Were this true, we would predict a reduced rate of creative success over time. But this wasn’t observed in Simonton’s research.
Instead, it looks like the most important determinant of creative success is simply how much work you produce.
Creative Success as Randomness
A simple model might capture the essential details of this trend:
Be at a knowledge frontier. You can’t contribute anything new if you’re not at the boundary of knowledge for a discipline. In academia, this usually prevents undergraduates from publishing many papers; in technology, this prevents unskilled inventors from obtaining new patents. Other work suggests painters and composers have similar ramp-up periods where their work is initially unremarkable. Getting to this threshold is non-trivial and takes considerable time and training.
Idea generation and public reception are randomly determined processes. Once you reach the threshold, further advances have a significant random component. This might be due to the trial-and-error process of finding new advances. Or it might come from the unpredictability of public taste as to what work receives acclaim.
The randomness of creative success favors those who are the most prolific. Price’s Law captures this relationship in scientific output. So in a field with 100 contributors, ten will produce half of the published output. If every paper in the field has a roughly equal probability of being cited, these ten highly prolific authors will capture approximately half of all citations in their field.
Intuitively, it feels like there ought to be a strong quality-quantity trade-off in one’s work. You can make a few excellent things, or you can produce a lot of mediocre work. Certainly there are lots of things that increase productivity at the expense of quality. Typing random words on a page and hitting publish would increase essay count at the cost of writing quality dropping to zero. However, it’s interesting to note that Mr. Young’s most-viewed articles have tended to come from his more prolific writing periods.
We prefer to attach creative success to a combination of innate talent, acquired ability and passionate commitment. Placing such significance on chance appears to cheapen the achievements of great artists, inventors and scientists.
Yet perhaps it’s because we’re so uncomfortable likening creativity to a lottery that this perspective is undervalued. Over a surprisingly wide range of pursuits, creativity is productivity, and we will have more hits if we take more swings.
That may seem quite obvious but one still should not downplay raw talent and determination, as Scott points out.
Scott H. Young, author of WSJ best selling book: Ultralearning www.scotthyoung.com
Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!
Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.
And, check out creative selections from my website.
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