Summary

Street musicians are to cities what birds are to the countryside. Universal Music, who suffers from a reputation as greedy and selfish from the struggle with the pirates of the web, captures the street artists of New York and gives them a chance to evolve while using the money that is generated to help homeless people leave the streets and develop a sustainable way of living.

We are

Art Director: Mattias Breitholtz
Copywriter: Kim Hartman
Sound technician: Moa Alneskog
School: Hyper Island (Karlskrona)

Script

For those of who that have a hearing problem I´ve published the script so that you don´t miss any goodies!

Urban Birds (script)

By Mattias Breitholtz & Kim Hartman

Our streets are full of musicians and entertainers that fill our cities with background music and personality. Some play the guitar; other masters the art of the trombone.

Street musicians are to cities what birds are to the countryside. Without them, our streets would be as cold and sterile as an empty room in an abandoned house.

What if we could acknowledge and celebrate all talent that puts a smile on our face when we walk through the alley of skyscrapers and neon lights?

That is what the record label Universal Music has tried to do. After a long and hard struggle with the pirates of the net, Universal is suffering from a reputation as greedy and selfish. The record labels have been categorized in the same class as penguins in suite with dollar signs glowing in their eyes.

To change the view of themselves as greedy and at the same time earn publicity, Universal setup a campaign in New York called Urban Birds. Urban Birds captures the artists that make the biggest impact on our ears and eyes while creating a foundation for poor people that sleeps on the same streets as we walk on.

This is what Universal did:

All street musicians were given a unique QR-code. The QR-code worked as a tool for voting, giving passers the opportunity to express their appreciation for the show with their mobile phones.

The scan also included a donation of one dollar and an automatically generated tweet that spread the donator´s good deed on Twitter. The vote was registered in real-time at Universal website, showing every artists number of votes along with a profile. The profile showed a picture of the musician and a map that indicated where he was about to play next. It was also possible to vote online.

The three artists that collected the most votes every month was rewarded with an audition, giving the artists the chance to play in front of Universals talent scouts in an online broadcast on Universals website. The audition was setup as a competition where anyone could vote on their favorite through the website. The winner were awarded a record deal and got a one month contract to play at Universal Studios club CityWalk´s Rising Star in Orlando under the name “Urban Bird of the Month”.

The money from the campaign was invested in accommodation for the people that had a cardboard box they called home, homeless people whose breakfast consisted of McDonald’s leftovers and polluted rainwater. Focus was on creating a way for people to leave the gutter and to create a sustainable way of living rather than on temporary operations that only provides shelter for the day.

The campaign resulted in a win-win-win situation; Universal got a better reputation that led to positive brand awareness while homeless people were given the first bricks to build a new life. And the Urban Birds finally got the appreciation they deserved, being the new local celebrities in a city that always have a song to sing.

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Jag hatar tabun, även om jag vet att jag rycks med på samma tåg ibland. Speciellt stor motståndare är jag mot gamla regler och normer som bestämmer hur jag ska leva mitt liv. Följer jag de reglerna så kan jag lika gärna spola ned min kreativitet, för min motivation skulle aldrig räcka till för att kunna skapa när möjligheterna begränsas av ett tak. Samtidigt så hjälper dessa tabun mim motivation, för jag har anarkistiska drag inristade i själen. Det finns ingenting bättre än att motbevisa en gammal norm genom att skapa något som överträffar. Reglerna lägger grunden för mitt driv på något konstigt, omvänt sätt; reglerna är en motvikt som drar mig fram i min jakt på visdom. Det sägs att tiden förändrar saker, men man måste faktiskt ändra dem själv.

När jag började intressera mig för kreativitet och satsa på mina skrivkunskaper på allvar var jag fullständigt självcentrerad. Jag var övertygad om att jag kunde åstadkomma storverk genom att ensam sjunka in i texten jag skrev. Jag tror fortfarande att jag kan åstadkomma storverk, men vad jag lärt mig är värdet i att använda flera hjärnor än en. Så många fler perspektiv och infallsvinklar som dyker in i idén när man är flera! Just kopplingen mellan ambitiösa hjärnor där idéer förädlas kontinuerligt är otroligt givande, inte minst med tanke på lärande aspekten. Du får ofta direkt feedback på dina idéer och kan använda den feedbacken till att ytterligare förädla dina tankar. Dessutom blir åtminstone jag mer på hugget när fler skarpa hjärnor är involverade i processen – jag vill tillföra det jag har till diskussionen och måste därför plocka fram det där extra.

En brainstorming session, till exempel, blir till en ovärderlig träning för hjärnan. Daniel Coyle (The Talent Code) kallar det Deep Practice – det stadiet man når när man är fullständigt fokuserad och därför snappar upp kunskap mer effektivt. Den agila processen är otroligt viktig – gör om, gör rätt. Just konflikten gör så mycket eftersom den får alla deltagande hjärnor att ställa sig på sin spets – alla vill ha rätt och använder därför sin hjärna för att försöka få rätt. Det är dock viktigt att man inte är dumt envis. Man måste kunna ta konstruktiv kritik på rätt sätt och se kritiken som något bra, inte som något som angriper en som person.

Numera försöker jag alltid se värdet i andras kritik – vad kan jag ta åt mig av det här som får mig att prestera bättre? Det finns inga data för ett företag som är så värdefull som ärlig feedback från sina kunder om man vill förbättra sig. Jag börjar inse att den regeln gäller även för mig som person. Nu förstår jag varför Hyper Island är så framgångsrika; här kombinerar man kreativa personligheter så att varje individ passar in i en större helhet. Genom att pussla ihop bitarna kan varje grupp skapa en helhet där summan är större än värdet av varje bit. Och det är när man når det stadiet som inlärning blir så fantastiskt effektivt.

Change agents

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most responsive to change. To us, tomorrow is already here. And it is our mission to make it the best of all times.

Entrepreneurs

If you have the hyper way in your heart you are creating your own profession. Titles and names are unimportant; what make you tick is the possibilities of walking paths that have never been walked before and see like-minded people follow your footsteps.

Creative innovators

Throw the wisdom of many into a blender and put it on maximum speed. What you will get? The Hyper Way in a nutshell – everyone’s ideas and knowledge melted together in the same pot. Ideas are meant to be built upon.

Learning by failing

You miss 100 % of the shots you never take. Mistakes are ways of god encouraging you to try again. Never let failing prevent you from trying. The day you let the fear of failing stop you from trying you have entered the path to false convenience and intellectual decay.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. Embracing the hyper way will mean that you are going to fail all the time. And enjoying it.

Fear fighters

Never let fear prevent you from trying. Fear lives because you let it live. The hyper way is combating fear at all times by standing up together. The hyper way is building dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

Determined

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. The hyper way is boosting passion and eliminating fear, creating determination of steel.

Learning for life

Never stop give, receive and share knowledge. A true ambassador of the hyper way glows with passion for the future and cannot avoid jumping on the train if it means a challenge.

DIY – together

The hyper way breeds doers. No one is going to carry your lazy ass to the top; if you want to get there you have to take the initiative yourself. Collaborate with likeminded souls and let your knowledge be theirs, but always remember to communicate through actions instead of empty words. The couch is for those who are afraid of reality.

Creating dynamic collaboration

Together is strong. Take advantage of everyone’s strengths and create a unity that will harvest the potential of every single unit. The sum is greater than its parts, and the hyper way is always out there to maximize the total.

Open minded

Give, and ye shall receive. You have to give your trust in order to gain a mind open to new knowledge. Make assumptions, but don’t rely on them as facts. The hyper way makes you see the world the same way as a baby sees it; the possibilities are all there, waiting to be harvested.

Having shitloads of fun

If you´re not is having fun you are not productive. If you´ve lost the spirit your output will be mediocre compared to what it could have been. Add to that the negative effect on your environment and you´ve created a spiral that is working against creativity.

Chaos embracers

Chaos may bring uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth. Embrace chaos as a part of your everyday life and let it lead you into unexpected roads that just might be covered with glimmering pearls.

Having balls and doesn´t keep them in our pants

If you have something to say, say it. Keeping an idea to yourself is a crime according to the law of the hyper way.

Role models

Be a role model and make people want to follow you. Create movements by leading through your actions and inspire people to follow you with your heart.

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Soon no one will care about which degrees you can style your CV with. Why should anyone care, when there are a dozen applicants that have the exact same degree as you? Soon no one will care if you know how to follow Kotlers marketing models or make a classic SWOT analysis. Why should anyone care, when there are a dozen of applicants that have the exact same competence? This is the time when people create their future without the need of a formal degree in their backpack.

Failing is progress

When something gets standardized it becomes less desirable, no matter if you are titled M.sc or factory worker. The difference from the industrial age is that our times factory workers are having a much bigger opportunity to niche themselves in the crowd of blue suits. Where the old factory worker needed the money to survive, the new needs the money for buying nice stuff. When the need has moved from the lower steps in Maslow´s need hierarchy, it is much less risky to go your own way. If you fail you don’t have to starve, just buy a little bit less costly shoes. Fail a couple of times for the price of a couple of pairs of shoes, and you´ll soon have built up knowledge that will be able to give you even more costly shoes in the future.

Grades are shit

We are living in a world where you can learn practically anything for free. It is not economic reasons that stops us but motivational. In theory you could learn about nuclear physics on your own if you dedicated your lazy ass enough. But you probably won’t. Why? There seem to be a fixation about having your competence on paper. Sometimes it seems to be more important what other people think that you know than what you actually know. This fixation has created an uncertainty for those who are bragging with their grades.

Even if you have your knowledge confirmed on a paper it doesn’t prove that you actually know what you´re talking about. If you learn something on your own, you may not get it on paper. But will it really be wasted time if you´re the only one that are aware of your competence? It is up you to make other people aware of what you can. Not by saying that you know how to do. Not even by showing a certificate where someone else says that you know how to do.

You are what you do

What you need to do is showing what you know by the way you are. Your actions are communicating your competence in a way that makes you stand out from others with the same competence on a paper, even if your actions aren’t visible to everyone. If your actions are true, their reputation will spread and make your communication honest.

Since people will hear about your competence from other sources than yourself, it will seem a lot more trustful than if it had come directly from you. And that will be more powerful than having a mass produced degree that puts an already created stamp on you.

If you´re a branded cow, you will be treated as one. If you´re aiming to become the purple cow you will the star of the show.

When you’re joining the LD&F program you will be questioned. Many people won´t understand what you´re trying to do, and many people won´t see the huge potential value in you efforts. You may even be mocked for being a hybrid between the digital and analogue world. But none of that matters.

Because, If you´re brave enough to be a pioneer of digital learning you are brave enough to ignore arrogant people that have stopped embracing change and its mysterious ways. As these people lives in the now, you devote yourself to the future. You are the link between technology and organizations, focusing on the humans that are using the tools rather than on the technology itself.

The world is full of people that can develop and implement the digital tools to perfection. That´s great. But who is ameliorating the gaps that occur when the tools are there but not aligned to the organizations core values, culture and way of working? Who is maximizing the potential of the technology? You can´t just give your customer a tool and think that it will integrate itself with the existing organizational culture

When this become obvious the arrogant people stops mocking the Learning Designer & Facilitator, gets down on their knees and starts begging for his expertise. It is those hurdles that you fight through when the wind cuts like a razorblade in your face that makes your skin thicker and it is those efforts that will fill your heart with durable joy and creative passion. Work hard, play hard and fail often.

Failing will only lead to failure if you give up.

What: Hyper Island open house - Learning Designer & Facilitator program

Why: Because it will be a fucking awesome workshop

When: 11/2 at 11.30 am

Where: Tellusgången 5, Stockholm

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