I am sitting here with a great cup of coffee (Alex’s home brew, among his many talents he is a great coffee roaster), the dogs are milling around and it’s a beautiful sunny day. I can see the top of my Art Deco record player, yes the kind you have to crank, a couple of 78s are scattered about, “All Shook Up”, “Blueberry Hill” and “My Blue Heaven.” We played them Saturday night after arriving home from celebrating a dear friend’s 40^th. He began as a client of Anoroc, but they often become life long friends. Life feels good.

This sounds like a personal diary entry, but it actually spurred from working this morning. It’s Saturday but that’s OK. I was reviewing two different concepts, each from a different Anoroc designer we’re preparing for an up coming client meeting. I love branding enough to give up my Saturday morning for it. But somehow these concepts struck such a deep cord with me I had to stop and write about it. I am actually delaying shoe shopping so if you know me, you know something must have struck deeply.

Casey’s concept moves from iconic images to photos. There is the very record player I had as a child, the kind that sits in a case you can close. It has a handle on top making it easy to take to a friend’s house for a sleep over. I played “Bang Goes Old Betsy” on it ‘til I wore it out. My dad bought both the record and the record player for me. He loved the song too. Rachel’s leads with an aged black and white photo of a young couple in a paddleboat, they are looking over their shoulders smiling at whom ever was holding the camera. There are old faded photos in an album I keep a bookcase in my family room just like it. It is of my aunt and uncle when they were young.

The concepts are for a Hospice agency. It’s hard to market hospice, there are a lot of complexities in the decision cycle. Anoroc has been researching and marketing hospice for close to two decades, tons of hospice decision cycle focus groups, secondary research, analyzing obstacles to choosing hospice care, so on. But when you can distil it down to a memory of falling in love on the lake and a little girl’s favorite record, obstacles can tumble into dust. As always, it’s about insight.

“Human nature hasn’t changed for a billion years. It won’t even vary in the next billion years. Only the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man – what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man, you can touch him at the core of his being. One thing is unchangingly sure. The creative man with an insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will succeed. Without them he will fail,” Bill Bernbach.

I am proud of our 20-something designers and their artistry that touched me this morning. Even though it will inevitably result in a longing for the Louboutins left behind.