Solutions in our Subcultures

I was having a discussion yesterday with Donovan Beery and Nate Voss of 36point and the subject of discussion got me to thinking about something I've given a lot of thought over the past few years.

The way I figure it, your subculture is the key. The tint that colors your take on the world at large. Because at the core, it's 'subculture' that moves us, shapes us, teaches us the skillset that we operate with and in the end gives us our set of beliefs and our personal standard download of "right & wrong" answers.

There are very simple examples (among many others) of how our cultures filter down to us personally. For instance:

[global > regional > national > regional > state > local > neighborhood > household] or [economic > social > neighborhood > familial > personal]

It's a big world but it's made of millions of small ones. We are all a part of highly functional subcultures operating within the boundaries of that big picture. Our subcultures define choices, actions, personalities, styles and more. In each level there are things learned, habits created, walls built, and opinions formed. It begs the questions; What are your subcultures? How have they influenced the way you make choices? And have you even stopped to glance back at what subcultures you may have come from or are currently a part of? From the clothes you wear, to the groceries you buy, to the jokes you tell and laugh at, to the channels you watch on TV and the media you consume… subculture has done this to you.

In a creative sense, this is the conversation I would much rather have. Keep your creative brief. Well, I'll still need that, but it's are merely a list of simple questions to which a client will give conditioned responses. I'd rather know the conditions that shaped the responses in many cases, over the responses themselves. If I know where a client is coming from and what makes them tick just a bit, I can anticipate how to better serve the functional needs of that client.

As I dig for the subculture links that I need, the creative briefing process it does kind of turn into a mini therapy session… have I told you about that yet?

;-)