Last fall, a small group of us ventured into the woods for our first offsite. Our intent was to get down to the brass tacks about the type of creative assembly we wanted to be and the sort work we wanted to go after. That first night over dinner, while talking about the creative outlets we needed as a team and as individuals, it occurred to us that we should share the larger purpose of our weekend with the world.
The Brass Tacks a blog for people who want to speak out, about, and around the power of creativity in business. That starts with us Buglers. We wanted a space to share the refreshing ideas that move us. Newsworthy stories, people, and projects that inspire us. Perspectives on stiff topics that challenge us. And the kind of results that make us believe in the value of it all.
The Brass Tacks is contributed to and curated by all of us at Bugle because we each have stories we want to share, and tips you might find useful. And knowing that so many voices have the potential to cause quite a racket we created four categories to frame our conversation. After all, creativity loves constraints.
Perspectives
Here, our assembly of strategists and storytellers, producers, designers, and markets share their point of view on creative problem-solving. At times these stories offer a retrospective glance in the rear-view mirror at problems we’ve solved, and continue to tweak. Alex Haederle’s post about the benefits and pitfalls of remote work, for example, offers a perspective on the collaborative nature of work in a truly connected age. Other posts form a researched opinion on challenges we’re eager to work on like questioning what your next conference should smell like.
Closer Looks
Closer Looks break down the work we’re jealous of and inspired by from all over the globe and right here in Washington, DC. To begin, we take closer looks at Cuba’s first online fashion brand and a recruiting campaign for New Zealand’s Police Department.
How-Tos
Posts like, Assembly Instructions For The Always-Fresh Simile Machine offer practical, actionable tips that we use to move our work from concept to belief on a daily basis. Our intent is to serve up methods, techniques, and blueprints that you can use right away on your next project.
Bottle Talk
Inspired by evenings spent chatting together about nothing in particular with a drink in hand, Bottle Talk posts are just for fun. They’re the stories and arguments that make us laugh and get us a little riled up. They’re the takes you read to close out a busy day. A recent bottle talk provoked our copywriters to keep a jargon jar of banned words in the kitchen.
Huh, I never thought about it like that
In the coming months and years, there may be times when participating in real-time conversations makes sense. In those situations, we’ll post as fast as the news breaks.
But that won’t always be our game. We’re not journalists. We’re storytellers. We appreciate that some ideas need time to breathe. We’re not afraid to spend the time learning the complexities of an argument, hunting down research, sifting through divergent opinions, and getting down to the brass tacks—if the result is a point of view that makes you go, “Huh. I never thought about it like that.” That’s part of the fun.
So join in. Leave us a comment. Tell us what you like and what you don’t. Challenge us to defend our perspective if you disagree. And reach out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to let us know about stories you think we should tell. We’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy the reads. Go Bugle!