If you're looking for someone to blame for all of this, then blame Steve (Shardy) Hardy.
The quiet-on-the-surface/turbulent-under-it creative generalist is the reason I started blogging in the first place; a former Airborne employee, the way Steve expanded his intelligentia network via his blog impressd the hell out of me, and a little bit of advice later, well, here I was.
That said, the kind words he recently published about the Pow! book were most appreciated indeed.
But what really hit home was a comment published to his post, from a former colleague of Steve's named Alan Wiggan.
"You might remember a Creative Director we worked with, Trevor McConnell, whose - very successful - mantra was: 'Arrive unexpectedly and leave understood.'
"There is a very important element in this formula and it is 'understanding'. Surprise without meaningful purpose is a party trick; linking surprise to a meaningful end is damned hard to do well and those who can are deserving of our admiration."
The brilliant adman really hit the nail on the cranium--a "stunt" is for today, true Surprise is everlasting. In fact, Alan's eight word summation deserves repeating, albeit in a very un-Shardy-like uber-bold, shout-out fashion:
Surprise without meaningful purpose is a party trick