When asked to sum up my approach to sales and marketing, I frequently say: “Educate and inform instead of interrupt and sell.” This phrase has been a slide in my presentations for many years and is by far my most popular tweet.
So it is with great excitement that I received a wonderful drawing that brilliantly communicates the essence of the phrase from my friends at Gapingvoid Culture Design Group. I’ll use this as a visual in my presentations around the world and will have a fine art print version hanging in my office. I love it.
I’ve been a fan of Hugh MacLeod, Gapingvoid co-founder and artistic director since Seth Godin first started talking about his work over a dozen years ago. Hugh manages to take a complex concept and turn it into a wonderful design that entertains as well as gets you to think.
Business art that gets you to think
The Gapingvoid daily email is an important part of my day. It takes just seconds to open the email, check out the image, and exercise a little brainpower every day. While a smile or chuckle is often a result, often I think deeply about a subject as a result of the daily email. It is a very short but important part of my day.
Founded in 2008 with business partner Jason Korman, Gapingvoid Ltd. has created custom art work for some of the largest, companies in the world - including Intel, HP, Microsoft, Roche, Zappos, VMWare and VW - and is hung in over 5,000 companies around the world. A special collection of MacLeod’s art, arranged around themes of entrepreneurship, appeared during Art Basel 2013 in Miami. Gapingvoid takes a unique approach to business communications. Including events, permanent corporate art installations, and outcome focused custom art implementation to help with behavior change in large organizations.
I love the artwork because it is so utterly different from the inane stock photography of happy multi-cultural people that so many companies seem addicted to. While stock images of people in a conference room to communicate an idea are universally ignored, a well-drawn visual representation of an important idea allows people to stop and think and learn.
Thank you Hugh, Jason, and team for the important work you do.
